Cassia felt memories come rushing back as she and Harry entered the room she spent so much time in last year. The room she had been ridiculed in, the room she'd hated being in. The room she had sworn she'd never go in again.

But here she was. Back with Harry, gripping him close as she stared upon the miles and miles of junk in the room.

"Cassia..." Harry shook his head. "Are you sure this is i-?"

"Oh hell, yes," Cassia nodded, looking around. "I spent too much of my time in this place last year, believe me, I know."

"Right, come on," Harry said. "Let's go."

"Should we split up?" Cassia asked.

Harry sighed, pressing his lips together. "I want to say no, but... this place is massive."

Cassia giggled slightly, going closer to him. "You'll get me back in a few minutes," she murmured, her eyes going from his eyes to his lips.

The kiss was quick, and chaste, but it was a kiss, and Cassia loved it.

Loved him.

They parted ways, going to search for the diadem that Cassia could only hope they found. She wasn't losing Harry. Not when she'd just got him back.

She walked slowly through the aisles and aisles of stuff, praying she didn't come across the Vanishing Cabinet. She knew she probably wouldn't see it, but she couldn't get it off her mind.

Then the call came, around two minutes later.

"Cass? Cass, I think I've found it!"

Cassia almost ran to where Harry's voice was coming from, coming round the aisle and running to see what Harry was looking at.

It was... beautiful. It was silver and had a huge polished sapphire in the middle of it, and it was decorated with a small raven and was just absolutely beautiful.

But it was the words scrawled on the bottom metal band that made Cassia sure they'd found it.

𝒘𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆

"Harry..." Cassia said, looking up into his eyes. His stupid emerald eyes that she totally didn't think were the most beautiful thing in the universe.

And Harry stared right back. And he was the one glancing down at her lips this time.

But just as they started leaning in, a voice stopped them.

"Well, well."

Cassia and Harry jumped apart and round, both shocked to see Draco, Goyle and Blaise standing around ten metres away, all three of them with wands trained on the two.

"What brings you two here?" Draco, who had spoken before, spoke again, his voice mocking and cold. "I take it making out was secondary."

"Fuck you, Draco," Cassia muttered, trying to hide her flushing cheeks.

Draco switched who his wand was pointing at, instead putting it on his sister.

"We could ask you the same," Harry said, standing up straighter.

"You have something of mine," Draco told him. "I want it back."

"What's wrong with the one you're using?" Cassia asked, knowing he was referring to his wand.

"It's mother's," Draco shrugged. "It's powerful, but, it's not the same. It doesn't quite... understand me, you know?"

"No one fucking understands you," Cassia snapped.

Harry didn't answer, instead posing another question.

"Why didn't you tell her?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. "Bellatrix? You knew it was me. You didn't say anything."

For the first time in the conversation, Draco looked scared. His expression changed and his wand hand wobbled just a bit.

"Come on, Draco," Cassia heard Crabbe hiss to him. "Don't be a prat. Do him."

Both Cassia and Harry reached into their pockets, grabbing their wands.

"Easy," Draco said, but he looked positively terrified by now.

But before either of them could react, Hermione and Ron came running round the corner, both drenched for some reason, Hermione yelling. "Expelliarmus!"

Draco instantly backed off, his wand flying from him.

"Avada Kedavra!" Goyle screamed, the green light flying from his wand.

"Stupefy!"

Neither curse hit, but Cassia was blinded by rage at the fact that Goyle aimed to kill.

And then one of their stunners hit the diadem, sending it flying upwards into a pile of junk, Harry and Cassia both crying out as it went.

Ron, meanwhile, charged after the other three, bellowing. "THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND, YOU NUMPTIES!"

Hermione smiled, her face slightly flushed.

Cassia rolled her eyes. "I don't know who was worse, you and him or Poppy and Neville."

"Um, it was obviously you and Harry," Hermione replied with a slight smile as they watched that very boy start to climb up that pile.

"Harry-" Cassia sighed, as she hoisted herself up, as well. "Harry, wait!"

She caught up with him in seconds, the two of them clambering up over random chairs and bits of furniture. Harry tried to dig beneath things, but ended up grabbing a Cornish pixie instead.

"Ah, shit!" Cassia yelled, as one got ahold of her, too, and she batted it away. Then a load of them came flying out, and Cassia fought through them to get to the sofa the diadem was buried in-

"Got it!" She yelled, as she felt the cool metal diadem and pulled it from the sofa, letting Harry offer her a hand down and grabbing it before they landed next to Hermione on the ground.

They were looking towards the corner Ron had ran round to go fight Draco and Goyle and Blaise, but something was different. Around it, there was a sort of orange light, almost as if-

"AHHHHHHH! AHHHHHH!" Ron came running full pelt round the corner, his face a mixture of terror and fright as he screamed out what was wrong, grabbing Hermione on the way past. "GOYLE SET THE BLOODY PLACE ON FIRE!"

And then, before Harry or Cassia could think, a huge bunch of flames shaped like a dragon came burning round the corner, and Cassia didn't even think before grabbing Harry and legging it.

They ran throughout the room, trying desperately to get back to the door. They tried collapsing things to stop it, but the fire only burned through it, coming back even harder. Cassia was sprinting, Harry on her heels, she two of them covering their heads and probably grunting and screaming.

All four of them met as they got cornered, trapped on all sides. Harry tried conjuring water to stop it, but it only vaguely worked, pausing it for a second.

But then Ron fell back, tripping over some brooms.

"Oh thank god-" Cassia said, as she saw there were four of them.

So, as the fire burned the room down, Cassia, Harry, Hermione and Ron flew above it, and towards the door.

"Come on!" Ron yelled. "Let's go!"

Then Cassia noticed something. The whole room was burning now, there were no places to hide. But at the top of one of the piles of junk were Draco and Blaise, clinging on for dear life. Goyle clearly hadn't made it.

And Cassia knew Draco didn't deserve it. She knew he was a coward and an asshole and that she deserved way better, but she couldn't sit here and let him die.

"Harry, we can't leave them!" Cassia yelled. "I- I just can't!"

So Cassia did a hairpin turn, going straight back.

"CASSIA, WHAT THE HELL?!" Ron demanded.

"WE CAN'T FUCKING LEAVE THEM TO DIE, RON!"

"CASSIA'S RIGHT!" Harry agreed, turning himself round as well.

Ron and Hermione followed them, the former yelling. "IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I'M GONNA KILL YOU TWO!"

So, as they rode past, Harry pulled Draco onto his broom and Cassia pulled Blaise onto hers.

"Cassia, thank you so-" he tried to say to her.

"Save it, you don't deserve this," Cassia snapped back.

They flew back round, heading towards the exit. At one point, fire burned in their way, but Cassia shot water at it and it momentarily subsided.

As they got out the door, Cassia and Blaise were thrown from the broom by a giant gust of wind, and so were Draco, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Draco and Blaise ran immediately, but the other four were there to see the three massive fire faces fly towards the door, and see the smoking diadem by the entrance.

"Cassia, here, stab it!" Hermione screamed, chucking Cassia a basilisk fang.

Cassia wasted no time in catching it and plunging the fang down into the diadem, which emitted a weird sort of thick black smoke. To finish it off, Cassia picked up the diadem and chucked it into the burning room before the doors blew shut on the three fire faces.

For Harry, however, everything was not over. He was sat against the wall opposite the door, and his face was a mixture of terrified and realising. His eyes were unfocused, though, which meant he was seeing into Voldemort's mind.

Cassia, Hermione and Ron instantly stood around him, knowing they needed to be there for him.

Then, finally, he looked up at them, saying. "It's the snake. She's the last one. The last horcrux."

Ron, Hermione and Cassia digested this, as Ron knelt down in front of his best friend.

"Look inside him, Harry," he said firmly. "Find out where he is. If you find him, you can find the snake. Then we can end this."

Harry nodded, closing his eyes as Hermione and Cassia dropped to the ground too, kneeling around him.

It felt like an eternity that they sat there, watching as Harry saw into their enemy's mind.

Then, eventually, he opened his eyes.

"The boathouse by the lake."

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Unfortunately for them, that meant they had to run through almost the entirety of the castle and the grounds to get there.

The situation of the battle had completely dissolved by the time the four of them were running down the stairs, stunning and disarming death eaters.

When they got to the bottom Cassia made to run round the corner, but Harry hauled her backwards as a spell came two millimetres from her head. Her boyfriend shot a spell round the corner at the one who'd tried to get her, though, and blasted him back.

"Come on!" Harry yelled, running round as he ducked another spell, coming into the courtyard.

It was absolute carnage, people fighting, rubble everywhere, but all that the four of them were focused on was the mountain troll above them, wielding a huge metal weapon.

Their eyes widened as they scrambled backwards, hiding behind a huge of stone before he took a swipe at them. Cassia hurled her body into Harry's, feeling his frame bend to fit hers.

As the troll moved away from them and they escaped, they encountered massive spiders, or rather acromantula, scuttling towards them. They instantly switched tracks, running backwards through the mounds of rubble and rocks.

They sprinted across the courtyard where teachers and order alike were duelling death eaters. Cassia didn't even look at any of them, bolting across the place she once felt so safe in.

As they exited the courtyard they came across Fenrir Greyback, feasting on the neck of a student that, with a cold dread, Cassia realised was Lavender Brown.

But before she could do anything, Hermione raised her wand and screamed. "NO!"

She blasted the werewolf back, leaving Lavender on the ground, tears streaming from her eyes, neck bloody. Cassia didn't know if she'd live, but they couldn't stick around to find out.

And then, just when they were about to escape the castle, the dementors came. About a hundred of them, all flying towards them, ready to give them the kiss-

"Expecto Patronum!" Cassia tried, but her doe didn't come. "Expecto-"

She was cut off by another bright white light, that burst forth and stopped all the dementors getting through it. Cassia looked behind her, and saw Aberforth Dumbledore, wand outstretched.

So he hasn't given up.

It was a nice thought to think as the four of them sprinted down to the boathouse, where Voldemort was no doubt waiting.

Cassia was leading them all, Harry on her heels. She tiptoed down the stairs, almost slipping on countless occasions, until they finally reached the house, hearing voices coming from it.

"You have performed extraordinary magic with this wand, My Lord, in the past few hours alone," Snape's voice was cold yet fearful.

"No," came Voldemort's hissing tone. "No, I am extraordinary, but this wand... resists me."

The four teens outside the house ducked down, getting a look inside as they did. Snape was stood in the back corner, posture upright, and Voldemort was pacing around, Nagini right beside him.

"There is no wand more powerful, Ollivander himself has said it," Snape assured his master. "Tonight, when the boy comes, it will not fail you. I am sure of it."

Voldemort just stared at him, his face hard.

"It answers to you..." Snape snarled. "And you only."

"Does it?" Voldemort hissed.

Confusion flitted across Snape's face. "My Lord?"

"The wand, does it truly answer to me?" Voldemort questioned. "You're a clever man, Severus. Surely, you must know."

He circled Snape, who was looking more confused and more fearful by the minute. "Where does its true loyalty lie?"

"With you... of course, My Lord," Snape said immediately.

"The elder wand cannot serve me properly because I am not its true master," Voldemort disclosed. "The elder wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner."

He took several steps closer to Snape. "You killed Dumbledore, Severus. While you live, the elder wand cannot truly be mine."

And Snape looked afraid, but he also looked weirdly ready, in a way.

"You've been a good and faithful servant, Severus," Voldemort told the man. "But only I can live forever."

Snape looked at him, eyes widening. "My Lord-"

Voldemort slashed his wand through the air, and Cassia winced as Snape let out a gasp before falling back against the wall of the boathouse with a loud THUMP!

"Nagini," Voldemort told his beloved snake. "Kill."

There was another thud as the snake struck. And then another, and another. Snape gave small gasps of pain but didn't otherwise react. Cassia leaned into the shaking wall, squeezing her eyes shut to stop the tears falling.

Then, everything came to a stop. And the sound of Voldemort and Nagini disapparating could be heard.

Harry waited for all of three seconds before pushing himself up and running into the boathouse. Cassia, Ron and Hermione followed him, all three very confused.

Cassia wasn't sure what to think as she watched Harry kneel down in front of the professor he'd claimed to hate for seven years, and press a hand to the bloody wound on his neck.

Snape wasn't dead yet. His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he looked at Harry, a single tear falling down his face. They just stared at each other for a second, Snape's eyes pained, Harry's sorry.

Then Snape stammered. "T-take them."

With a shaking hand, he gestured to the tears on his face. "Take them," he repeated. "Please."

"Give me something!" Harry turned to the others. "Quickly, a flask, anything!"

Hermione dug for a second before pulling one out, letting Harry collect the tears in it.

"T-take them... to the pensive," Snape told him.

Harry looked down at the flask, his whole frame slumping.

"Look at me," Snape told him, one last thing. Harry looked straight at him, abiding his dying wish.

His last five words hit hard, and made tears leak down Cassia's face.

"You have your mother's eyes."

As Snape's chest stopped rising and falling and he shut his eyes, Harry moved away slightly, still looking at him.

And then the whisper came. The rolling whisper that was the exact same as the one in the great hall earlier.

"Harry..."

Harry stood up, falling against the side of the boathouse as he clutched the scar on his forehead, which was no doubt burning.

And then Voldemort was addressing them.

"You have fought valiantly, but in vain," he told them, as Cassia ran over to Harry, trying to comfort him. "I do not wish this. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a terrible waste."

"Shut it out, Harry," Cassia whispered to her boyfriend. "Shut it out, it's not th-"

"I therefore command my forces to retreat. In their absence, dispose of your dead with dignity."

Then he switched tracks, addressing the boy Cassia had in her arms right there and then.

"Harry Potter, I now speak directly to you. On this night, you have allowed your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. There is no greater dishonour."

"Don't listen to it, Harry, block it ou-"

"Join me in the Forbidden Forest and confront your fate. If you do not do this, I shall kill every last man, woman, and child, who tries to conceal you... from me."

As the whisper finished, Cassia pulled Harry tighter and kissed just behind his left ear.

She didn't care anymore. If Voldemort wanted to kill her, he could.

Her life wasn't anything without Harry anyway.