"Maybe, just maybe, this can work out in the end."
In which stereotypes and expectations are exactly what ended up destroying her.
"Are you willing to put in the effort?"
lily evans x fem!oc
marauders era
slow burn
{ON HOLD}
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
WITH SCHOOL ENDING, Cassiopeia, unfortunately, had to go back to the place she dreaded the most - home.
Kalon had already left for Florida and Cassiopeia ended up on the awkward train ride home alone. Truth be told, she would rather sit alone than have to see her sister's friends.
Leaning her head on the window, Cassiopeia sighed as the train pulled into the station, knowing that her mother was going to be very shocked when she stood with her sister.
Her shaky hands fumbled with the braided friendship necklace Kalon had given to her so many years ago, the worn strings which used to be bright now faded into an array of brownish greens. Oh, how alone she truly was at this moment.
The train pulled to a screeching stop as students started to trickle by, laughing with their peers as they did so. Cassiopeia hated the other students.
With a sharp sigh, Cassiopeia stood and grabbed her bags, beginning to walk off the train and into the hoard of annoying, loud, useless, students.
"I see you're coming with me today, Cassie?" She heard a kind voice behind her as she stepped onto the platform, finding her sister Narcissa approaching quickly, "Bella and Andromeda have already gone somewhere else for the summer, so it'll just be us two."
Cassiopeia nodded, a fake yet kind smile only lightly tugging at the corners of her lips as they began to walk side by side to the platform exit.
"I take it the wench isn't coming to pick us up again this year?" Cassiopeia inquired solemnly, an almost aggravated tone lacing her words, "I knew that I hadn't seen her in quite awhile - never thought that she would just abandon her child though."
"She knows you're coming home, Cassie," Narcissa pointed out as they walked into Kings Cross, the bustling crowds growing in size as they headed for the exit, "it's mum, how could she not know? She's not exactly mad, if anything she's excited to have another child at home."
"Another child at home to boss around," The black-haired girl rolled her eyes, following her sister as they made their way into an old alley, "and I also take it you're apparating us there? Are her knees already too broken to just bloody stand and go poof?"
"Don't be too hard on the woman," Narcissa sighed, reaching out a grasping onto her sister's hand tightly, "now I'm sure you remember to not let go? I don't have to re-teach you this?"
A strong huff left Cassiopeia's lips as she grasped her sister's hand back, a slight nod making it known that no, she wasn't that dumb.
Cassiopeia closed her eyes and felt as her body began to shift, her skin squeezing and moulding as the two sisters began to travel home. She had always wondered if she could just let go. If she could just run away.
What if she left Narcissa? Would anyone be able to find her? "What a dream that would be..," Cassiopeia let her thoughts wander as she felt her feet land onto the pavement in front of her home.
Cassiopeia wanted to go somewhere where no one could find her. Where she could be alone for all time. No judgement, no wandering eyes, no wins or losses. No terrified little girls, no angry screams, no liars, no pain, no control, no wisdom, no legacy, no expectations, no mom, no dad, no sisters, no brother, no-
"Cassie!" The black-haired girl heard her sister yell out, suddenly coming to realization as she saw the concerned expression that laced her sister's eyes, to corners of her eyebrows tightly pulled together, "you spaced out again..."
"I was thinking about how much I hate the old wrinkly hag that sits behind those doors, dear sister," Cassiopeia smirked, her lips pulling even further up as she watched the girl in front of her roll her eyes, grasping to the black-haired girl's wrist as they began to approach the gloomy door.
"I think she'd be sad to hear you say that, given how much she's done for you," Narcissa shook her head lightly, unlocking the front door and entering the home, making sure to drag her sister along as well, "we've all done so much for you."
Cassiopeia knew what she was getting at. How they took her in when she was just a baby. How they found her small, lifeless body lying on the pavement. How they went against all odds from other pureblooded families to take in a bastard child. But Cassiopeia didn't care.
Standing in the dim hallway, Cassiopeia looked up at her sister through her now tussled hair. Her expression was dark, her normally darkened eyes almost resembling black holes as the two sisters looked at each other. That look meant a lot to Cassiopeia.
She would never understand. She was kind. She loved her family. She wasn't raised how Cassiopeia was. She was never treated how she was. Because Narcissa was always perfect. She was never on the brute end of the mother's anger. Cassiopeia doesn't think any of her sisters ever were.
"Then maybe you shouldn't have," Cassiopeia whispered, not even breaking her stare as she watched her sister's eyes widen, a shocked expression quickly making its way onto her face, "you shouldn't have done so much. You shouldn't have."
"What did you get out of it, huh? Being nice? Extra credits in the good sister department? Everything you gave me I always had to pay back ten-fold!" Cassiopeia's voice slowly rose, tears just lightly prickling at the sides of her darkened eyes, "I always had to be grateful! I always had to be the best! But you... you always beat me. I had to prove myself... my worth in this family, y'know? That what you all gave wasn't worthless... that I could be something. But you never let me have that."
Cassiopeia stormed towards the stairs that lead to the second floor, stomping quickly with every step she took, the floor creaking as she stepped onto the first stair, hesitating as she turned back around.
"You'll never know, Sissy. You'll never know. I'm glad honestly... you don't- deserve that- you didn't deserve that. But honestly, I didn't either. I saved you so many times... lost just so you wouldn't take the fall when I won. And I never even gained anything from it."
