In the end, the story was quite confusing.

Moody hadn't been Moody at all. He'd been Barty Crouch Junior, who faked his death, returned to Voldemort, and went to Hogwarts undercover to make sure Harry won the tournament, and went straight to Voldemort.

The person who put Potter's name in the goblet, the person who told Hagrid to show him the dragons, the person who told Cedric about the bath, the person who'd turned the cup into a portkey, it was Moody.

It was always Moody.

Except it wasn't.

Apparently, it had been quite nasty. He had been force fed veritaserum, the truth telling potion, and had changed in front of the teachers, and Potter.

But when Poppy had told her this, Cassia had hardly listened at all.

She wasn't trying to be like this. She hadn't meant to be like this.

But losing Cedric had really torn a part out of her. She was broken at the moment, and the wound still wasn't healing.

It had been three weeks since the third task. The end of term was tomorrow, and there was a service for Cedric that morning.

Cassia was all packed, bar the things she needed for the last day, and was sitting on her trunk in the dorm, staring off into the distance.

"I love you, you know that?"

Cassia turned, eyes glazed over, and saw Poppy, walking slowly towards her.

"We all do," she continued. "We all love you so much, Cass. Come back to us."

Cassia let out a sigh.

"I'll try."

She had distanced herself from her friends over the past few weeks. It had been hard for her, and she didn't want to make it hard on them, too.

"Cassia," Poppy said, dropping onto the bed opposite her. "I'm not telling you to just move on, because I know that's going to take a while, but I also love you and it hurts me to see you like this."

Cassia looked down.

"I love you too," she murmured, her eyes filling with tears. "But I- I can't. I just can't, okay?"

"Cassia..." Poppy said gently, switching beds to sit next to her. She put a hand on her best friend's shoulder.

Cassia shrugged it off. "Poppy, I'm trying, okay? I have been trying, but... I need more time."

Poppy pressed her lips together. For a second, Cassia got deja vu, and remembered their argument at the beginning of the year. If Poppy went all crazy on her now like she did then... she didn't know how she would cope.

But all she did was say. "I'll tell mum you're not feeling yourself, and that we'll have to give you a bit of space for the holidays, okay? But... don't think I'm just dropping you, Cass. You're still coming home with me."

Cassia smiled gently, still not looking up.

"Thank you," she murmured, more tears brimming in her eyes. "Look, I love you but I need some time."

"Of course," Poppy nodded, her own eyes teary. "I love you too."

She gave Cassia's shoulder a squeeze as she went to shut the door.

And once she was sure her best friend was gone, Cassia let herself break.

She didn't know if she would ever be able to put herself back together again.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

"Miss Malfoy, could you come with me, please?" McGonagall approached Cassia that evening when the girl was wandering towards the common room.

"Okay?" Cassia frowned. "Where are we going?"

"Professor Dumbledore's office," McGonagall answered. "There's someone there for you."

Cassia didn't understand this.

Who would be there for her? For just her?

She spent the whole walk there wondering, very confused. McGonagall walked at a brisk pace and Cassia tried to match it, but failed quite badly. She wasn't really in the mood for walking, let alone walking fast. So she just daundered along at her own leisurely pace, allowing her mind to wander.

Maybe it was Amos Diggory. He had thanked her very tearily for making Cedric happy, just after the task, but she didn't really remember that, having been too dazed to.

It could be Pippa Patil, confirming that she was coming home with Poppy, Parvati and Padma.

It could even be Molly or Arthur Weasley, but she didn't know why they would come to see her.

And so it was that when she got on the moving staircase up to Dumbledore's office, Cassia still had no idea who was here for her.

When she got to the top McGonagall knocked, only this was different than last time, because there were no voices heard now.

Wha-?

The door opened and McGonagall gestured for Cassia to go in, which the girl did.

And then her heart stopped.

Because sitting in the office were Draco, her mother...

And her father.

All the muscles in her body locked up, and her whole world stopped. Her head was dizzy and her eyes unfocused. What. Were they doing here?

They were standing stiffly to the side as Dumbledore sat at his desk, not looking at or talking to anyone.

"Ah, Cassia," Dumbledore said. "Your father was just explaining how he and your mother want to take you home today, instead of tomorrow, in light of recent events."

"What?" Spilled out of Cassia's mouth before she could she could stop it. "Wha-? No, I-"

"Dumbledore was just explaining exactly what happened during the tournament," her father told her coolly. "We thought we should take you and Draco home early, as a... treat."

But his tone suggested that Cassia's time this summer would be anything but a fucking treat.

She didn't know what to do. She had no proof, she couldn't just spurt out to Dumbledore and McGonagall about him hitting her, especially since it hadn't happened this summer.

But she also couldn't go home with him.

No, this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. She was supposed to go home with Poppy, to not give a fuck about her family, to heal from losing Cedric and maybe enjoy herself-

"And you'll be pleased to hear, Cassia, that with much persuasion, I've granted permission on this for one time only," Dumbledore said, little twinkle in his eye. "You and Draco will leave today, and your luggage will be sent on ahead. I presume you are packed?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Y-yes, but-" Cassia stuttered. "I need to- my friends-"

"There'll be plenty of time to see your friends in the summer, darling," her mother's soft voice was put on, was fake. And so was the smile that went along with it.

"Well, I think that's settled," Dumbledore smiled. "It's been a good year, Cassia, Draco. I'm looking forward to seeing you back for the next."

Cassia internally scoffed. 'Good year'. Yeah, right.

"Thank you," she said, to both Dumbledore and McGonagall. They both nodded in appreciation.

"Good day, Dumbledore," Lucius said, he, his wife and their son sweeping through the office.

Cassia's body was frozen in fear as her father, mother and brother approached her, walking past her and reaching the door.

"Come along, Cassia," Lucius said, a hint of annoyance in his tone.

But Cassia was frozen, unmoving. This couldn't be her future, it just couldn't. This wasn't supposed to happen- and Poppy didn't know-

"Come along, Cassia," Lucius' voice was slightly harsher this time as he caught his daughter's arm, gently pulling her out the office.

However, as soon as the door shut behind them, the pressure on her arm increased. Her father was squeezing it so hard, and it was painful, and there were tears in her eyes.

As they got down the moving staircase and out into the empty corridor, Cassia tried to pull her arm from his grip.

"Let go."

Lucius stopped walking, letting Narcissa and Draco continue along. "What did you just say to me?"

"I said let go-"

Cassia stopped as she was shoved up against the wall, her father's face glaring down at her in the semi-dark corridor, his eyes slits in her mind. His hand was still on her wrist, as well, squeezing just as hard.

Then he did something she didn't expect. He fucking scoffed.

"Did you really think... that you were going to escape me?" He said, his smirk almost glittering in the moonlight. "Did you actually believe that I would let you get away?"

"You won't get away with this," Cassia snarled, a hot tear running down her face as she shook her hear. "You won't."

"Oh, I already have," Lucius smirked. "You see, I gave you a chance. I gave you a chance to be a normal girl, have a normal life, and be part of a normal family. But you blew it."

"Our family isn't normal," Cassia cried. "Normal doesn't mean abusi-"

"I think you'll find that this summer will be very different than the last," Lucius said to her in a venemous hiss. "So I would be very careful with what you say to me."

Cassia's heart was going to bounce out her chest, it was beating so fast. She was terrified, and scared, and it was all of him, of him, of him, of him.

"Let's go," Lucius said, pulling her harshly off the wall by her arm. Cassia hissed in pain but he payed no attention to her, harshly dragging her along.

Cassia had no idea what to do, say or think.

This year had been an absolute rollercoaster ride.

Too bad it had ended with a crash.