The Girl Who Had No Escape [1]

Year 1 - 49

The following morning Cassiopeia and her friends got to the Hogwarts Express and gave their trunks to the bag handler. Cassiopeia sat with Draco, Goyle, Crabbe, Theo, Blaise, Pansy and Millicent for the beginning of the journey, each discussing what they were doing in the holidays. Of course, Cassiopeia couldn't exactly say 'I'll probably be spending my time in the dungeons getting punished', so she just stayed quiet. She then decided to go and see Hermione, Ron and Amelia, but just before she could leave Draco called her.

"Cassiopeia, can I have a word?" He asked her, she nodded and together they walked into an empty compartment. He turned to her. "Look, I'm going to ask you something and I want you to be truthful. Okay?" He said, nervousness in his voice. Cassiopeia nodded. "What are the scars on your wrists?" Cassiopeia was shocked.

"Look, Draco I can't-" Cassiopeia began.

"No, please I just want the truth. I've kept them a secret since Christmas, and haven't asked you about them. So now, all I ask is the truth." Draco pleaded.

"I can't. You just have to trust me that I'm not hurt. They are old scars and they don't hurt anymore." Cassiopeia lied.

"Fine, at least I know they don't hurt anymore. Maybe one day you'll tell me." Draco said. Cassiopeia pulled Draco into a hug.

"I'm going to miss you." Cassiopeia said. He pulled away and looked at her with a confused expression. "It's the holidays." She clarified.

"Oh right. It just sounded like you were going away and never coming back." Draco said with a laugh. Together they walked out of the compartment, Draco going back to his friends while Cassiopeia went to find Harry, Ron, Hermione and Amelia. When she entered, they turned to her.

"Look, we don't have long till we get to the platform. So, I wanted to say goodbye now so my father doesn't see." Cassiopeia said to them, they nodded in understanding and each one hugged her. When they saw the platform approaching, she went back to Draco and the others and waited for the moment where she had to go back to her nightmare, of a life. When they pulled up, she got off and gave each of her friends a hug, then walked over to William with her trunk and owl. She curtseyed to him, he nodded his head in response.

Out of the corner of Cassiopeia's eye she saw the Weasleys watching the exchange, but she made sure not to let William see this. She then saw Marcus in the crowd calling her.

"Sir?" She asked, he looked to her. "May I quickly say goodbye to my friend?"

"Be quick." He replied quickly. With that she walked quickly towards Marcus, when she reached him, they pulled each other into a hug.

"Goodbye Marcus." She said.

"Bye, Cass. Look, promise me you won't make him angry." Marcus said, with a serious tone.

"I can promise I will try." She replied.

"I guess that will have to do." He replied with a laugh, she returned the laugh and then went back to William. She noticed the Weasleys watching again. William looked in the direction of the Weasleys and glared at his daughter, the family realised that they have just made the situation worse for Cassiopeia. As William grabbed Cassiopeia's arm tightly, the family felt a sense of guilt. Mrs Weasley went to walk over but Mr Weasley stopped her, as the pair apparated away. Mrs Weasley turned to her husband, "We've made matters worse for her, haven't we?" She asked him. He nodded and the family felt pangs of guilt, as they looked in the space where they last saw the girl, who would change a lot over the holidays- but only she would know the full extent of the change.

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And that's the end of Year 1 at Hogwarts!

Thanks for reading

-Zoe