Little Miss Marauder

Chapter 28 - Blunt Revelation

Chapter 28 – Blunt Revelation

The group of five had returned to Hogwarts in January of their fourth year. They caught up on the train about their respective holidays, Cassadee and James spending time with their father trying to create new potions, Sirius avoiding his family, at least that's all he told them happened, Peter spending time with his own family and Remus reading ahead for his subjects this term. Their carriage was joyous, planning pranks to carry out this year and just looking forward to spending more time together again. They were all glad to be back home.

Late that evening Sirius was sat alone in the common room, all of the others were in bed. This wasn't unusual, he was typically the last one asleep, finishing last minute essays that Remus couldn't persuade him to do before, or planning other ways to annoy Snivellus and the Slytherins. This time however, he was thinking of a way to get into the restricted section. He had managed to get McGonagall to give him a pass last year, but it seemed unlikely to him that she would give him another. He had managed to get a quick glance at his family's library over the Christmas holiday but had promptly left when he heard his father approaching. The few books he had managed to grab gave only small information to what he was searching for, nothing that gave away much, but he had something to go on at least. Surely the library here would be of more help to him.

Sirius was alerted from his thoughts by James collapsing onto the sofa next to him. "You alright mate?". James. That was his answer. James. He had shown him the invisibility cloak in their first year, he could use that to get into the library. "Yeah. Definitely good now." The smirk didn't leave Sirius' face after his realisation, now he just had to figure a way to get the cloak. That shouldn't be too hard, James wasn't the most perceptive. "Are you sure? It's 2 AM and you're sat like a weirdo still in the common room. That doesn't seem alright, to me at least."

James had noticed how Sirius now acted around Cassadee. It wasn't bad, not much different, but James knew him too well that he saw the slight alteration in behaviour. He was certain that Sirius knew about her, but he himself was also aware of Remus, noting how similar the two acted around the full moon. He was always looking at a way to help Cassadee, he had worked together with his father attempting different potions to help her. James would never say cure, this wasn't something he saw as a defect, a disease. Sure, it was not a best-case scenario, but it didn't make Cassadee any less of the person she had been before. So far only wolfsbane seemed to help her, allowing her to sleep through the night. He persuaded his father to send enough to Pomfrey each month for both Cassadee and Remus, knowing that their father was one of the few that could easily brew the potion correctly. But he wanted to either fully stop them, or find another way to help her through it, to actually be there and prove that he would always be there for her. James' love for his sister was second to none, after he failed to protect her years ago, he swore it would not happen again.

After Sirius' silence from James' further inquiry, he decided that now was the time. "You know, don't you?" This question made Sirius stop smirking, he thought that he had been subtle enough, even with the jokes, that no one else would realise. Sure, he wanted to get Cassadee and Remus to know he knew, but James? Ignoring that thought Sirius turned to his best friend, "What are you on about?"

"We both know here mate. Let's be honest. If its to do with Cassadee, I know about it."

"Well then. It looks like we have a trip to the library then James."

The next full moon came and went, the morning after, as per usual, Cassadee lay in the hospital wing wide awake at 6 AM. James had gone to see Remus who also had come in early this morning, falling out of his bed during the night and cutting his cheek on a stack of books by his bed. She knew that Remus was clumsy, the amount of times they had both been in the infirmary, but this was a new level. This was the day when she realised how often they were in the hospital wing at the same time. Always at the same time. She was released by Pomfrey first so went to join the others around Remus, as the four of them waited on the lanky boy to wake up she knew, maybe she wasn't as alone in this as she had thought.

From that moment on Cassadee wanted to tell the four boys about her lycanthropy, but she had to find the right moment. This moment came sooner than expected. It was only two days since the full moon and they had all just returned to the Gryffindor common room after a detention with Slughorn for each exploding a potion in their lesson. The common room was empty so Cassadee stood in front of the fireplace facing the boys. "I'm a werewolf." That was it. Those three words. She had built it up in her head and planned a whole speech, but when she stood there, that was all she managed. They were her family now, she couldn't keep lying to them.

The four boys stopped laughing, staring at the youngest Potter. They had each heard the girl but were still absorbing her blunt words. This did put the girl on edge. No words were spoken for what felt like hours to her. Her heartbeat was echoing in her ears overpowering the silence surrounding them. This was broken by Black's laughter. "That's all it took? Cleaning cauldrons? I would've got us into trouble with Slughorn months ago if I knew that!"

"You... Your knew??" Of course, the Potter girl was shocked, she thought that her and James had covered it well, using bad reactions to her period as an excuse, but clearly she believed in her own acting ability too much. "What? Yeah I knew. Figured it out around a year ago. Did all my own research and everything." At this statement James was startled. "Wait! Research? You can read?" This earned him a shove to the floor as the two best friends cracked up laughing. The remaining three joined in seeing the sprawled-out figure on the floor. This caused the group of five to return to their regular jokes and messing.

This joking though, it was different. Cassadee didn't have the looming pressure of her secret hanging over her. Granted she expected more of a reaction, but they weren't treating her different, she still remained their friend. Her worst fear had dissolved. They knew what she was and they still remained with her.

She bumped her shoulder against Sirius, grinning at him when he faced her. "Thank you. Thank you for leaving it that night in first year and just for being you." Sirius had his confidence, Godric, all of Hogwarts knew the boy had confidence, but after years of hearing that who he was as a person was never good enough, that he was wrong for existing the way he did. That statement from someone he cared for, someone he loved, that being him was enough, caused a toothy grin to form as he pulled her into his side, despite her protests.

It had taken Remus another month to tell the group. He did trust his friends but he wanted to see if anything would change with how they treated Cassadee, or if the information managed to get around the school. He would do everything he could to protect her but he wasn't quite ready to reveal his own issue. Not until the next time he lay in the hospital wing with them all surrounding him. Rather than the blunt statement like Cassadee, Remus divulged into the full story of what happened to him as a child, how he didn't believe he would be allowed at Hogwarts, all of it. The remainder of fourth year seemed as though it would be a high for the two lycanthorps. They had no more secrets. The high lasted until they found out the plan of the other three. That quickly changed their mood.

Despite their differences and own opinions of themselves, the five had formed a family. One they believed would never be broken. If only they knew how wrong this thinking was. Cassadee sat in her office at Hogwarts reliving her fourth year. Despite what she had found out since that moment, regardless of the betrayal she knew had taken place, they were part of her family.