The Girl Who Had No Escape [1]

Year 2 - 26

When they got there, Harry was the first to speak.

"Hermione, come out. We've got loads to tell you." Harry said.

"Go away." Hermione said from inside one of the cubicles.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked. Then Myrtle came out.

"Wait until you see, it's awful." She teased. Cassiopeia then realised.

"Harry, Ron, go outside." She told them, they looked to her. "Now." She ordered. They shrugged and both left the room. She then turned to the ghost. "You too Myrtle, go into your toilet."

"You can't make me." She said. Cassiopeia then took out her wand.

"Oh, can't I?" She challenged. Myrtle then squealed and went into her toilet. She then knocked on Hermione's cubicle's door. "Hermione, you can open it now, it's just me."

"No, go away." She replied. Cassiopeia shook her head.

"I'm not going anywhere. Either you come out and show me your tail or we can stay here all night." She said, sitting on the floor opposite the door.

"What do you mean?" She said.

"Well, I assume you made the potion correctly, because Harry and Ron managed to be Greg and Vince. So, the major thing that could have gone wrong with the Polyjuice potion for you, is that you used something inhumane in the preparation. Meaning like dog or cat hair, then that would be what you are stuck as now. Half something, half Hermione. Then there's the fact that Millicent has a cat, who's fur gets all over our common room, I assume you would have a tail." Cassiopeia replied. There was a sound and the door opened. Hermione walked out and had cat ears, face, eyes and tail.

"Look at my face." She said in shame.

"Look at your tail." Cassiopeia replied, with a small chuckle. "Want me to get you to the hospital wing without being seen?"

"Yes, please." She replied. Cassiopeia stood up and nodded.

"Right, I want you to climb on my back. Wrap your arms around my shoulders and your legs around my waist." Cassiopeia told her. She nodded and did as asked. Then Cassiopeia closed her eyes. Hermione watched as her hands glowed, Cassiopeia then walked in front of a mirror and they both saw that Hermione was invisible. "Ready? Harry and Ron will be out there, you know?"

"We can tell them. I just don't want anyone else seeing." Hermione replied. Cassiopeia nodded and then made her way to the door. When she opened it, she saw Harry and Ron spring over to her.

"What happened to Hermione, is she alright?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine." Hermione replied. They looked in shock.

"When she took the hairs from Millicent, they were actually cat hairs. The Polyjuice Potion is only for human transformation. So..." Cassiopeia said.

"So, I'm half cat." Hermione finished.

"Can we see?" Harry asked.

"Okay." Hermione replied, Cassiopeia nodded and then made Hermione visible again. "Look at my face."

"Look at your tail." Ron said in amusement. Hermione asked Cassiopeia to make her invisible again, so she did.

"I'm taking her to the hospital wing. If you want to come. You can call tell me why you left me in the dark." Cassiopeia said as she walked.

"So, you thought Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin?" She checked, after they told her. "And didn't tell me because..."

"We were worried you would tell Malfoy." Harry told her.

"Fair enough." She replied. They looked to her in shock. "I'm not annoyed. I just I need to keep my friends close. With all the attacks, someone could get hurt. And I don't want to be in an argument with anyone, if I knew that my last words to them were an argument, I would never forgive myself."

"That's one way to view these attacks." Hermione said.

"What were you dreaming about earlier?" Ron asked Cassiopeia, she tensed. Hermione noticed this- being on her back.

"The attacks. I saw the next attack." She admitted. They turned to her in shock.

"You saw who's going to be attacked next?" Harry asked in shock.

"Not exactly. I saw the way it was going to happen, but not. I see blurred faces and hear muffled conversations." Cassiopeia admitted.

"Do you know who is going to be attacked next?" Hermione asked. Cassiopeia nodded, tears coming to her eyes.

"Who?" Ron asked. Cassiopeia shook her head.

"I don't want to tell you. I might be wrong, it's a lot of guess work." She told them.

"Can you give us your suspicions?" Ron asked.

"I don't want you to be weighed down with this. It's already hard enough for me, I don't want to make you suffer the same. In this moment, knowledge is pain." She told them.

"Please?" Harry asked. Cassiopeia shook her head.

"It will eat you alive. I won't do that to you three." She replied. Then they arrived at the hospital wing. When they entered Madame Pomfrey came over to them. She looked confused.

"Who's injured?" She asked.

"Can we go somewhere private? Put curtains around a bed in the corner away from the door." Cassiopeia asked. The nurse nodded and led the quartet to the corner bed. She pulled the curtains around and then turned to them, expecting something. "Ready?" Cassiopeia asked.

"Yeah." Hermione whispered. Cassiopeia closed her eyes and Hermione became visible once more. She then let Hermione off her back, letting Madame Pomfrey care for her. Hermione thanked Cassiopeia, and she nodded in reply heading to the door. Before she left, she turned to Hermione.

"Hermione?" She asked. The said girl turned to her- along with Harry and Ron. "Carry around a hand mirror." She told her. They looked to her in confusion. "Just please, do it for me?"

"Okay?" She replies, more like a question. Cassiopeia nodded and left the wing. Walking back to the Slytherin common room. But before she could she found herself changing direction to her godfather's office. She knocked on the door, and a tired Professor Snape opened the door. She looked to the clock and realised it was almost two in the morning. Her eyes widened.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't realise how late it was." She told him. He nodded and let her enter his office.

"How can I help?" He asked.

"Let's be hypothetical for a moment. If you hypothetically knew something. Something that would hypothetically change someone's life. But then if you tell them, they would hypothetically forever be scared. But if you tell them, they could hypothetically be prepared. And there's also the hypothetical possibility you could be wrong. Would you tell them?" Cassiopeia asked. He looked to her in confusion.

"Well, hypothetically you don't really want to scare someone unless you are certain. But then hypothetically it would help them, but if you're wrong then you are preparing them for nothing." He replied. "Sorry, I'm really tired. I'm probably not helping."

"No, you are." She replied. "I'm just hypothetically not going to tell them. Thank you, Severus."

"You're welcome?" He replied, more like a question.

"I'm going to sleep. You should too." She told him. He nodded and she made her way to the Slytherin common room. She then changed and lied in her bed, awaiting the sleep and the nightmares.

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Thanks for reading

-Zoe