The Cassiopeia Project [George Weasley] ✓

EPILOGUE

"You've been awfully quiet all day. Are you okay?"

Alicia's voice rang through the dorm, making two of the three other girls turn. The addressee was sitting on her bed, stroking absent-mindedly Charlie's fur while looking out of the window. Dark bags piled under her eyes, but she didn't seem to mind.

Seeing as her friend didn't show any signs of even hearing her question, the brunette sighed loudly, setting yet another shirt in her neatly packed trunk.

"Don't bother." Angelina said in a low voice, side-eyeing the redhead. "She's been like that for a few days now. Not even Fred and George have managed to get a word out of her."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she glanced at her friend again. Their other dormmate, Patricia Stimpson, butted in then, a curious expression plastered in her face as well.

"I saw her talking to Harry Potter this morning." She commented in a quiet voice. "She looked stressed."

Both Angelina and Alicia opened their mouths in surprise. Since when Cassie had any kind of relationship with Harry, aside from quidditch practices?

Suddenly, the red-headed girl stood up, leaving the cat softly onto her mattress. She looked hesitant for a second, and then picked up her things and started throwing them messily into her trunk. The three other girls watched with curiosity and then returned to their activities, a tense silence filling the dorm.

The Hogwarts Express left a few hours later, filled with ecstatic students that chatted excitedly about their marks and the summer holidays. Angelina, Alicia, Fred, George, Lee and Cassie all shared a compartment near the end of the train, five of them playing exploding snap while Cassie stared out of the window. Every once in a while, one of them would glance at her worryingly, but she didn't show any signs of noticing it.

The train clattering, the sounds of her friends yelling and cheering and the hum of the air as the vehicle sped through the tracks seemed to not affect the girl at all, her face blank until a bird smacked into the window.

It carried two letters, dropping one on the redhead's lap and flying away with the other. Her friends watched intently as she opened it carefully, her eyes tracing along the handwriting.

A small sound erupted from her throat, and everyone gasped in surprise at the huge grin that made its way across the previously emotionless features as she traced with her finger the last three words of the letter.

Your father, Sirius.