way to go, tiger | Lorenzo Berkshire

࣪𖤐 Y7 | 7 . Radios and reminiscing

DEAD BOYS — SAM FENDER
'Nobody ever could explain all the dead boys, in our hometown.'

Cassie feels surprisingly okay the morning after the moon. It's a strange feeling; waking up after transforming into a literal werewolf and going about your day like nothing happened. Not remembering what happens as the wolf is probably the only kindness of her condition. She thinks it'd be all the more dreadful if she remembered the pain of each scratch, and the zero remorse when tearing animals apart.

And she's also very relieved to hear that the charms worked and she didn't destroy the others in their sleep.

It's the little things that comfort Cassie nowadays.

Cassie learns when she wakes up that Hermione and Harry have decided to start hunting for Horcruxes on foot until Ron can apparate. This immediately boosts Cassie's mood, excited to just be doing something— even if she is a little stiff after the events of last night.

Hermione forces Cassie to show her all of her wounds— which is only a whopping three this time (shocking, we know), and even those aren't too deep. It's easy enough for Hermione to repair them in a few minutes. She also re-bandages Ron's arm as Harry collects all of their belongings.

Cassie takes the portrait of Sirius and Regulus out of her pocket, and looks at Regulus. She hopes they're doing him proud. It satisfies her to know that she's trying to fulfil his legacy— the one he never got to complete. It's almost like one of those cliche-full-circle moments you see in films.

"Got everything?" Harry asks, facing Cassie across the empty tent.

"Think so. I didn't exactly have much in the first place." she huffs.

He smiles, "Great."

Within the next half an hour, they're off. Ron has the locket today— they all thought it'd be best for Cassie not to wear it the day after a moon. If her pre-full moon anger was bad enough, imagine her post-moon anger with the locket to make matters worse. She'd have enough rage to slaughter a village, she reckons.

Cassie walks with Harry and Hermione as Ron doesn't seem to be in the mood to talk at the moment. They've ended up in a huge field, nothing but overgrown crops for miles. After a while, Cassie's eyes start to go funny after seeing the same thing for a solid forty minutes. Harry passes a bottle of water to Cassie, who gratefully accepts and passes it onto Hermione.

"What did Sirius tell you about his brother and his friends? He never really opened up to me about that sort of stuff." Harry comments as Hermione falls back in step with Ron.

"Er— Regulus was in the year below our dads, but he was still friends with mine and Enzo's parents, Dorcas Meadowes and Barty Crouch Jr, who were in their year. Evan and Pandora Rosier were his year, though. Pandora was Luna's mum— I don't doubt she's told you all about her."

"Yeah, she died in a potions accident, right?"

"Yeah, it's sad, really. Dad spoke really highly of her. She was a seer, apparently. One of Regulus' closest friends throughout school."

"What about Dorcas...?"

"Meadowes. She was the Slytherin keeper and dated Marlene Mckinnon— Sirius probably mentioned her, right?"

"Yeah. He said it was him, our dads, Peter and the girls. Mum, Marlene Mckinnon and Mary Macdonald. I think that was her name."

"Yeah, that's it. He ever tell you about Gryffindor parties?" Cassie smiles.

"Of course he did." Harry chuckles. "And all of the Marauder's pranks, the detentions with Mcgonnagall. The fights with Snape, the full moons."

The pair smile to themselves at the thought of Sirius and their dads causing mayhem around the castle walls. It hurts to know neither of them ever got to have those teenage years; ripped away from them by the hands of grief, and the blood of those that took their lives. At least Cassie got a few years of peace at Hogwarts— poor Harry didn't get any. Reckon Dumbledore could've mentioned the endless years of suffering he'd endure at Hogwarts when he sent him his letter all those years ago, right?