The Clockwork Locket || SIRIUS BLACK

The Snake Pit

"Take their wands," Carlisle ordered, "and give them to me."

Cassie had no choice but to stand, seething, as Avery approached her, his wand still angled at her chest while the other Slytherins searched the Marauders. Avery pawed through her robes, refusing to make eye contact, and her anger built.

"You snake," she hissed at him.

Finally, his eyes flicked up to hers. They were completely unreadable, not a trace of emotion in them. She would have thought he was under some spell if not for the clarity in those pale, pale eyes. He said nothing, only extracting her wand and passing it off to Carlisle, who pocketed it with savage glee.

"Excellent," she said. "Now, follow me."

With wands still pointed at them and their own confiscated, Cassie and the Marauders were forced to obey Carlisle's command. Cassie wondered if Carlisle was really so reckless as to risk being seen in the corridors holding a bunch of students hostage, but when the witch led them into a secret passageway, she began to despair.

She can't do anything terrible, not with Dumbledore around watching her every move, she assured herself.

Then again, Mary Macdonald had been attacked under his very nose, and the headmaster still did not know who did it, even if the attacker stood only three paces to her right, his wand aimed in her direction.

She sensed the Marauders at her back as they walked through the tight, dimly lit passage, but she didn't dare turn. Fury rolled off James so viciously the air seemed to be tinged with it, turning it hotter, tenser. The haughty indifference Sirius locked into place whenever he wanted to hide his true emotions was wholly different to James's anger—it was pure ice, unfeeling and unforgiving. Vengeance in its purest form. Remus was a calm, steady presence at her back, a warm wall of strength and comfort all at once. But she knew he was drinking in every detail; every crack in the stone floor; every twitch and tick the Slytherins let slip, unaware of his scrutiny; every possible way they could escape, even with the odds stacked against them so badly. Peter was shaking beside Remus, and Cassie could taste the tang of his fear, sharp and sour, for it echoed her own sense of panic and dismay.

But she couldn't afford to be afraid, not then—not when her friends' safety was compromised, not when her own life might be in danger. So she straightened her spine and tugged on her best attempt at armor, the sword that promised wrath and the shield that vowed protection from her enemies. She was iron and steel and frost and fire. Carlisle would not—could not—break her.

The passage led them to the second-floor corridor. With all the students still out on the grounds, enjoying the weather and the near end of exams, the castle was empty and quiet. Their footsteps echoed on the floor as Carlisle entered Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, the Slytherins herding them in behind her. Cassie looked around frantically, but there was no sign of the ghostly girl anywhere. There would be no help this time.

The Slytherins ushered them into the center of the room before retreating back into a circle, surrounding them on all sides. Carlisle turned, her black robes sweeping the floor and her red lips curled into that sweetly cold smile as she beheld Cassie.

"I have waited a long time for this, Cassie Alderfair," she said. "Too long have you been a thorn in my side. Too long have you openly defied the Dark Lord. And now you're mine to deal with."

"Go on, then," Cassie said, feeling as if she were pulling her false bravery out of thin air. "Get rid of me. I'd love to see the look on Voldemort's face when he finds out you killed me. Did he tell you he spared me once already?"

"You dare speak his name?" Carlisle shrieked. Some of the Slytherins flinched back—either at Carlisle's shout or Cassie's use of Voldemort's name, she had no idea. Carlisle's eyes had blown wide, the whites showing and matching the fury on her face. "Your insolence is at an end, Cassie Alderfair. Your family name no longer matters to the Dark Lord—not when your brother is still alive. Surely no one will miss one less Alderfair in the world."