Snape.

Amycus.

Alecto.

All stood before them, watching them.

Ginny was holding the Sword of Gryffindor.

And there was glass all over the office.

Cassia's whole body was shaking and tense. Her top instinct was saying to curl up and cry, but she didn't. Instead, she stayed put, unable to comprehend what was going to happen to them now.

"Well," Snape said, eyes flitting over each of them. "It seems we have a little thieving operation going on here."

Cassia knew the others would be looking for her to say something. She knew they'd want to hear sarcasm, and fighting. She knew they'd want hope.

But she was frozen, her mind going back through the abuse she'd fought since she was thirteen, and how getting caught here meant she would probably have to face all that and more.

She thought about the gash on her cheek, which was still throbbing slightly, though the bleeding had stopped. She didn't want to get more, she didn't want to be abused, and she didn't want to be tortured.

"What were you hoping to achieve?" Snape was talking again. "Hmm? Trying to steal a timeless artefact? With power you don't even understand the meaning of?"

No one answered.

"This behaviour is unacceptable," Snape told them. "I have no choice other than to punish you."

"Let us do it, Severus," the big fat smirk on Amycus' face made Cassia's skin crawl. "We could punish them properly."

"In a way they'd never forget," added Alecto, grinning.

"If that's what you call torturing kids, then yeah," Neville suddenly snapped, causing Cassia to come to life again, turning to see him looking disgustedly at the Carrows, body shaking in anger.

"How dare you?" Amycus snapped. "I'll show you wh-"

Snape waved his wand, silencing him.

"Let's all just calm... down," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "All of you need to be punished. Clearly you have no respect for authority, and you need to learn."

He looked round at all of them, even Cho and Seamus, his face indifferent.

Then his eyes locked with Cassia's.

You killed him, she wanted to scream. HE TRUSTED YOU AND YOU FUCKING BETRAYED HIM-

But she was a coward.

She was weak.

So she didn't.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

In the end, the punishment was not that bad.

It wasn't a torture, it wasn't a blood drawer. It was going into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid to do some work with him. They'd enter at dusk the next night, to be there until dawn. For now, they were sent back to their common rooms.

The early hours of the morning found Cassia Malfoy sitting by the window, silently sobbing hard into her hands.

She was a mess, a complete mess. But she couldn't help it. She'd tried to do the right thing, but again she'd failed. And she'd dragged six innocent, undeserving people into the mess, as well.

She'd been so reckless before, throwing herself and others into danger without thinking properly of the consequences. She was such a fucking idiot. Yes, she'd known that this was a possible thing. Hell, she'd warned everyone that this was serious, but she hadn't properly thought.

And all that shit about Harry being proud of her. Yeah, right. He'd be disappointed in her. He'd be sad that she'd led their friends into danger without thought, and hadn't managed to keep them safe.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed into her hands at the thought. "I'm so fucking sorry, Harry..."

She didn't really remember when Poppy woke up and joined her. She just remembered crying into her chest, and then eventually letting her lead her down to the common room so they could talk.

Once there, they laid on the sofa, Cassia's head on Poppy's shoulder, her tears still coating her face.

"Cass..." Poppy whispered to her. "You have to stop blaming yourself."

"H-Harry wouldn't be proud of me," Cassia told her best friend. "H-he'd be disappointed, and he'd be sad, and h-he'd hate me so much-"

She dissolved into more sobs, tears falling down her face and onto Poppy, who just shook her head.

"Cassia..." Poppy sighed, whispering to her. "You have no fucking idea how in love Harry is with you, okay? No idea. And even if he wasn't, he wouldn't be disappointed. He'd be proud, okay? Proud that you managed to get people with you, proud that you're not lying down and following the orders."

"Yeah, and where has that got us? In detention, going into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid and possibly never coming out," Cassia cried.

"No," Poppy's voice was firmer this time. "I'm not having you lose all hope again, Cass. No. I love you, and so does everyone else. Everyone thinks you're brave, and bold, and there's nothing you can do to tarnish that."

Cassia wiped her tears. Something about the way her best friend said that made her think. She knew Poppy was being harsh on her, but she needed it. She needed to get her head in the game.

"Thanks, Poppy," she said weakly, smiling slightly as she looked up at her best friend. "You're amazing."

"Thank you," Poppy nodded, slinging an arm round her best friend. "I'm always here for you, Cass. Always."

And as they both drifted off to sleep on the couch before the fire, Cassia was calm.

Poppy never failed to reassure her.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

The day was terrible.

News had spread round the school like wildfire, and as usual, everyone had a different opinion.

Everywhere Cassia walked that day went with a comment. Whether it was one of admiration, jealousy, annoyance, pride, didn't matter. She was judged wherever she went, no matter how good or bad.

Cassia wrapped up warm that night in the dorm, looking in the mirror and trying desperately not to cry again. She needed to stay strong for whatever they were doing tonight.

"You ready?" Poppy asked her once they were finished, and Cassia nodded, hugging her tightly before the two of them headed out into the cold and down to Hagrid's hut.

They met Seamus, Neville and Ginny in the courtyard and all five of them walked down together. Luna and Cho were already there when they arrived, neither looking particularly inspired. Alecto Carrow was also there, watching all seven of them with disinterest as she waited for Hagrid.

"You're late," she snapped at the five Gryffindors as they arrived at the agreed time on the dot. "When will you learn to take rules seriously?"

Presumably the same time you get fucking fired.

Alecto banged harshly on Hagrid's door, evidently just wanting to get back inside.

"OPEN UP!"

"I'm coming!" Hagrid could be heard shuffling around from inside, and Cassia couldn't help but feel amused. Alecto evidently hated Hagrid, but unlike students, she couldn't do anything to him. She was powerless.

Five seconds later, Hagrid's door opened and he, dressed in plenty layers with a muggle rifle in his belt, shuffled out. Alecto looked at him boredly as she said. "I'll be back at dawn for who still remains. Put them to work and keep them there."

And before he could reply, she turned, marching back up to the castle.

Cassia looked imploringly at Hagrid, who looked straight back. It was almost amusing, the unspoken hatred flowing between them.

"Right then," he said, smiling round at the seven of them. "You're just gonna be doing some basic weeding, but due to a request from the headmaster, you're gonna have to cover the whole patch, which is quite a lot. I'll be going into the forest with you, to show you how to do it, and then we'll split up to cover more ground. By any luck, we won't have to be up all night."

"And to death with Alecto Carrow, right?" Cassia asked with a smirk. She knew it was dangerous, but she was in trusted company, and after the day she'd had, she needed some amusement.

Hagrid gave her a disapproving smile. "You have a death wish, Cassia Malfoy."

"Maybe," Cassia shrugged.

"Anyway," Hagrid said, turning to the whole group. "Grab a bucket and a pair of gloves, everyone. This is a non magical job so keep your wands in your pockets."

Cassia sighed, grabbing a bucket and some gloves and following Hagrid into the forest.

She was original gonna walk with Poppy, but after she saw her and Neville begin to make their way in together, she determinedly walked away from them.

She ended up walking behind Hagrid and next to Cho, who hadn't spoken much since being caught by the Carrows.

"So," Hagrid said to her as they walked. "I heard you got into trouble defending a certain Harry Potter to the Carrows the other day."

"Yeah," Cassia sighed. "They deserved it."

"Oh, I heard that, as well," Hagrid said with a laugh.

"You defended Harry to the Carrows?" Cho frowned at the girl.

"Um... yeah," Cassia nodded, suddenly remembering that Cho still liked Harry. She didn't know the full story. "They, er... they were calling him a half blood and insulting him. I wasn't standing for that."

"Of course you weren't, considering how much he means to you!" Hagrid said, grinning.

You're really not helping me out here, Hagrid-

"You mean as friends? How much he means to me as friends?' Cassia emphasised, not even looking at Cho.

"Wha-? Oh, yeah," Hagrid said once he turned to see the intense look Cassia was giving him. "Yeah, totally."

Cho was frowning, looking between Cassia and Hagrid, but she didn't say anything. Cassia knew there was gonna be an awkward conversation, probably soon, but she also knew that she wasn't ready to talk about her relationship with Harry with someone she didn't know all that well.

When they got to the patch they were to be non magically weeding, Cassia was shocked. It was huge, and covered, and she was not looking forward to the hard labour they were all about to be subjected to.

"Right, er..." Hargid said. "Cassia and Poppy, do you-"

"Actually, Poppy and Neville are gonna go together," Cassia interrupted him, slipping a small wink at Poppy as she did so. She got an irritated yet amused middle finger in return.

"Oh, right," Hagrid shrugged. "Poppy and Neville, you go up that corner, Seamus, Ginny, Luna, you go up that one, and Cassia, Cho, you come down here."

Cassia sighed, giving Cho a weary look. "Guess you're stuck with me again."

Cho sighed, smiling. "Guess so," she told her. "But that's not a bad thing."

❦︎❦︎❦︎

An hour in, and Cassia was aching.

"This is fucking torture," she muttered to Cho, tugging out a particularly sticky weed. Then her eyes widened. "Er- sorry. I shouldn't have said that. There are some people who are facing... actual torture at the moment."

"Including you," Cho pointed out.

Cassia didn't answer, finally pulling out the stupid fucking weed and chucking it into the bucket.

Then Cho asked, rather hesitantly. "What did... what did Hagrid mean earlier? When he said Harry meant a lot to you?"

"Oh, nothing," Cassia lied. "You know Potter and I, we go back and forth and upside down, Hagrid probably just misinterpreted that."

"Oh," Cho nodded, laughing slightly. "I thought he meant you two were together or something."

"Nah," Cassia lied again.

The work was considerably more awkward after that.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

After hour three was up, they'd covered around half the patch, and the sky was well and truly dark. Cassia was exhausted as she and Poppy headed back through the forest with all the buckets, ready to empty them where Hagrid wanted.

"I can't believe you did that to me!" Poppy said, but she didn't sound annoyed. "Putting me with Neville!"

"Relax, he's, like, in love with you," Cassia shrugged. "I'm just enjoying this because the shit I've had from you over the years about Harry..."

Poppy giggled. "Doesn't give you the right to do this to me!"

"Oh, it does," Cassia smirked. "My life is fucking itself up at the moment, I need all the amusement I can get."

They reached the dumpster point, chucking all the weeds out the buckets.

"Anyway," Cassia shrugged. "What have you guys talked about so far?"

"Just- stuff," Poppy shrugged. "My family, his family, the DA, everything."

"You're blushing..." Cassia teased, Poppy teasingly hitting her with a bucket.

"I don't like this," she rolled her eyes.

"When are you becoming official?" Cassia raised her eyebrows.

"Shut up!"

"Come on Poppy, I don't get any romance in my life, I need to live yours through you," Cassia complained.

Poppy rolled her eyes, saying. "Come on, let's go and pull more weeds."

Cassia reluctantly followed her.

Key word: reluctantly.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

By the end of hour six, Cassia's fingers were numb, her back was aching, her head was spinning and her legs were sore.

And still, the weeding was not finished.

They had conquered quite a bit of the area, and were now converging at the very edge. All seven of them had come together there, and they were all complaining.

"It's so cold," Seamus was saying.

"My arms hurt," Ginny moaned.

"My body's aching," said Poppy.

Cassia stayed silent, pulling out weeds and soon feeling hot tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Cass, I-" Poppy stopped talking as she saw her best friend, pulling weeds and wiping tears. "Cassia, what's wrong?"

Cassia looked round at them all, silently sobbing. "I'm sorry, guys," she said, looking round at them all, her voice breaking. "I'm so, so sorry. I... I dragged you all into this, and I was reckless and I shouldn't have been, and I-"

"Cassia, stop," Ginny said firmly but gently. Cassia looked at her. "We all put ourselves into this situation and we all knew the consequences it could bring. I, for one, don't really care if we didn't steal the sword, we still got to show that we're not with the Carrows."

Cassia smiled slightly. "Thanks, Ginny."

"Cassia, come here," Cho said, opening her arms. Cassia hugged her tightly, letting all the awkwardness flow from them as she held her.

"I-I'm still sorry," she said, smiling slightly at all of them. "But I'm glad to see you don't hold it against me."

And she knew she was right. Cassia had gone through a lot of her life knowing she was lucky to have who she did, given how terrible her family was. And even if her plan hadn't gone completely to plan, Ginny was still right.

It was worth it.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

By the time their detention was over, the sky was practically light. They marched back to the Forbidden Forest entrance, all tired and weak and not speaking much. Hagrid, as well, was half asleep, eyes dropping down shut as they left the forest.

Alecto was waiting for them as they came out, standing by Hagrid's hut with a smirk on her face.

"Well, I see you've been busy," she said to them, arms crossed. "You should all know that the headmaster has informed your parents of this, and has left them to decide what they want to do with you when you go home for Christmas."

Six people in the group did not care for this information. Six people knew they could tell their parents their side of the story and get away with it. Six people knew they were safe.

Cassia was not one of the six people.

Her whole body was frozen as she tried desperately to not show Alecto she was reacting to this. She knew she was the reason Snape had done this. Because Lucius Malfoy was not a forgiving man, and he was also completely on the Carrows' side.

Cassia could already imagine the shouting, the hitting, the abuse. She could already feel the bruises on her skin, his flat palm striking her face.

And she was terrified.

"Well, that's all you need to know," smirked Alecto. "Come on."

Each foot was encased in concrete as they walked back up to the castle.

And Cassia didn't know what to do.