Mia was discharged from the hospital a few days after she had regained her memory because the Healers and nurses needed to check that it wasn't some kind of fluke and they needed to make sure that she was definitely better before they let her go. The question of where she was going to go was also raised and Mrs Potter even offered to take Euphemia home with her herself (which made Charlus very excited but freaked out at the same time). However, just when Mia was about to leave the ward with all her things in hand beside a fussing Mrs Potter, Cassiopeia Black turned up out of the blue.

"Hello, Euphemia. I'm glad to see you're better. Come along now," Cassiopeia said sharply, her cold eyes scanning over Mrs Potter and she curled her lip before marching forward and cementing her grip on a now subdued Mia's wrist. "Why have you just turned up now?" Euphemia demanded - she was a little hurt that her mother hadn't come to visit her but it was something that she was used to so it hadn't bothered her that much.

"She's been in hospital for five days, you know, Cassie. Did you even know? Or did you not care?" Mrs Potter suddenly spoke up and Mia sent her a surprised look at the fact that she seemed to know her mum. How did they know each other? It was obvious that the two women didn't like each other either as Cassiopeia sent Mrs Potter the deadliest glare ever. "I did care but I was busy, Everleigh. Not all of us can afford to stay at home all the time because we depend on our husbands to keep the family insanely rich," she said snidely and Everleigh Potter scowled whilst Euphemia sent her mother a confused glance. How hypocritical...

"But, Mother, you sit at home all the time and rely on Fa-" Mia started to say but Cassiopeia simply snapped "Quiet, girl," in her direction before she walked forward and grabbed Euphemia's luggage from Everleigh's hands, which made Mrs Potter narrow her eyes. "She has a name, you know. I would've thought you would've known it seeing as she is your daughter," the woman retorted and Mia winced internally as she saw her mother's temper mount to the ceiling. If they weren't careful, someone was going to get hurt.

"Okay! I'm ready to go, Mother. Thank you for your help, Mrs Potter but we must be going now..." Euphemia started to babble in slight panic as she saw Cassiopeia remove her wand from her robes pocket and she also noticed that Everleigh already had her wand clutched in her fist.

"I'd watch your back if I was you, Potter. You're going to get your comeuppance very very soon and then you will regret everything," Cassiopeia hissed and Mia shot an apologetic look at Mrs Potter which was also full of slight fear as her mother span on the spot and dissaperated, taking Euphemia with her so that Everleigh disappeared in a flash.

"Seriously, what is your deal with her?" Mia asked incredulously as soon as they arrived back at the Black Manor, forgetting her fear of her mother for a moment and she swore she saw something similar to pain flash across her mother's face. "Let's just say she stole something of mine a long time ago..." Cassiopeia started to say softly before she snapped herself into sense, "...but it doesn't matter now because I had a duty to fulfil and I have now upheld it. Like you will in the future. Now get inside," Cassiopeia said all of this rather mysteriously and Euphemia swore she was seeing a different side of her mother but it was soon gone as she snapped at Mia to get inside.

Euphemia scrambled inside with a slightly timid look on her face and, as she walked into the glamorous Entrance Hall, she eyed the stairs that she had 'fallen' down with an apprehensive expression plastered on her face. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to risk going up them alone again so the girl whispered for Tibet and the house elf appeared with a crack and helped her with her luggage and up the stairs. "I is very glad you is being okay, Mistress Euphemia!" Tibet exclaimed as they got to the top of the stairs and their voices soon faded off into the distance.

As for Cassiopeia, she had stayed outside for a moment and she looked at the clear summer sky for a moment before sighing and taking out a ragged photograph that she kept in an extremely secret inside pocket of her robes. It was faded now and grey in colour with ratted edges but the picture was still intact - the smiling picture of Cassiopeia in a charming boy's arms as they laughed at a little joke.

"Oh, Henry, where did it all go wrong?" Cassiopeia whispered and she placed her lips to the photographed version of her once sweetheart before he had betrayed her for another girl and had turned her heart to stone once and for all. It was only after she had kissed the photograph did Cassiopeia scold herself for being weak and letting down her defences so easily. He was a blood traitor and she had had her duty to carry out her arranged marriage with Arcturus. It was never meant to be....

1st November 1932 (4 years before Euphemia was born)

Cassiopeia Black sauntered across the Hogwarts courtyard with a spring in her step, her eyes darting around for any signs of black ice that could bring her down with a thump. She got a few looks of admiration and powerful glances sent her way as she barged through crowds for Cassiopeia was a very important girl in the school. Head Girl, a member of one of the most powerful pure blood families to date and girlfriend of the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, Henry Potter, she was one well known girl.

It had been a little strange at first to the students of Hogwarts that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin were dating but it really wasn't that unusual. Everyone knew that Cassiopeia was lined up to marry her second cousin, Arcturus Black, but the boy in question had graduated the school the past year which left Cassiopeia to do whatever (and whoever) she wanted. And what Cassiopeia wanted, she got.

Of course, Cassiopeia was a little worried about what her parents would think but she was so besotted with Henry that she didn't really care - for once in her life she didn't feel constricted or trapped and she liked it. She didn't have to be some prestigious Black who was forced into a marriage in order to keep the family lines pure, she could be in love for once in her life and it didn't matter as long as she still met Arcturus at the altar in the summer of 1933 when she had left Hogwarts. For now, she could have a bit of freedom.

So, Henry was only a temporary boyfriend but Cassiopeia was head over heels in love with him and just had to pretend that he wasn't a Gryffindor nor a blood traitor - she could persuade him to her ways after all. Cassiopeia continued on walking through the courtyard until she reached the path that led down to the Quidditch Pitch where she knew the Gryffindor team were practicing that evening.

When the pitch came in sight, Cassiopeia couldn't help but smile as she saw Henry flying around in the evening sky, his silhouette by far the most handsome. She rushed down the final part of the path and dashed across the slightly wet and frosty grass before she reached the stadium. The practice was in full swing and the Slytherin didn't want to interrupt anything so she went and sat herself down in the stands to watch her boyfriend take charge.

"He's so dreamy, isn't he?" a voice from behind her sighed and a giggle accompanied it which immediately told Cassiopeia that two girls were sat behind her and her blood boiled at the prospect that they could be talking about her boyfriend. Henry belonged to her and no one else and so the brunette span around in her seat and gave the two girls death glares.

"You better not be talking about my Henry," Cassiopeia snapped and she took in the girls' profiles - one of them was obviously a Gryffindor by the looks of it because she had a maroon and gold scarf wrapped around her neck and the other had a Ravenclaw scarf on. The Ravenclaw girl had brown hair that frizzed around her freckled cheeks whilst the Gryffindor was a pretty blonde with sleek curls down her back and warm hazel eyes. They looked nice enough but were obviously shocked and startled to see Cassiopeia there which, to the bitchy girl, meant they had been talking about Henry.

"So what if we were? You're not entitled to him, you're getting married anyway so it's not like you're going to be together forever," the blonde said and her frizzy haired friend giggled the same infamous giggle that had caused Cassiopeia to spin around in her seat. The Slytherin puffed in rage and she narrowed her eyes in a death glare so powerful that it would destroy any student that she bestowed it on but the blonde girl held her stare calmly, without blinking.

"Are we going to have a problem?" Cassiopeia asked in a hiss, leaning forward and the frizzy haired girl squeaked in slight terror but, again, the blonde didn't react but instead kept serene and composed. "Not unless you make it a problem, I'm not looking for a fight," the blonde shrugged and her eyes flitted to the pitch, "I'm just complimenting your boyfriend. Or would you rather me say mean things about him?"

"Have you got a bone to pick, little lady? Do you want me to slap your face off right now where everyone here can watch?" Cassiopeia threatened and the blonde Gryffindor girl seemed fazed for the first time in the entire confrontation as an alarmed look came onto her face. "No, of course not!" she exclaimed and Cassiopeia smiled manically.

"Then I'll be nice, here's some advice - STAY AWAY FROM MY BOYFRIEND!" Cassiopeia yelled so loudly so that even the team practicing on the field could heat her and there were a few snickers from the boys up there. Once they had died down, the infuriating blonde whispered something to her friend and the two of them moved down the row so that they were removed from the situation.

It was a very mature and responsible move for them to do but for some reason it angered the already insecure and overprotective girlfriend of Henry Potter and so Cassiopeia raised her wand slowly and sent a hex in the blonde girl's direction. The Gryffindor stood up with a roar of rage and wiped the blood that was trickling from her cheek before she shot a Bat Bogey Hex at Cassiopeia.

Cassiopeia dodged it, but just barely, and ended up tumbling down some of the seats with a few horrible sounding bangs as she crashed into the floor again and again, rolling from a great height as the two girls looked on, horrified. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Cassiopeia's hand and pulled her up from the floor and Cassiopeia looked up to see the blonde girl with a determined but concerned expression on her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked and Cassiopeia hissed back at her that she didn't need her help and, discarding her wand as it had rolled off somewhere, the Slytherin clenched her fist and aimed it right at the Gryffindor girl's nose where there was a satisfying crunch as Cassiopeia's knuckles made contact with the girl's nose. "You maniac! Are you mental or something?" the blonde screamed as she clutched her nose, "I'm bleeding, you psychopath!"

All hell broke loose after that, the Gryffindor jumped on the Slytherin and started shooting spells at her repeatedly whilst Cassiopeia made her defence strong with flailing legs that kicked the girl and long nails that scratched her face up. It was only when a few of the Quidditch players were informed that there was a fight did they get pulled apart by a strong pair of arms clad in a sweaty Gryffindor kit.

"Girls, stop it! Cassie, Ev - STOP!" Henry yelled and the two girls eventually stopped griping at each other and simply glared. Everleigh, the blonde girl, had had more damage bestowed upon her - there were long, deep scratches on her face which were oozing blood that mingled with the blood coming from her nose as it was bleeding heavily and was possibly broken. Her left eye bloomed a particularly nasty looking purple bruise whilst she clutched at her ribs that had obviously been kicked at and punched.

Cassiopeia was sporting a few boils that were burning and ripping at her skin from a particularly bad hex that Everleigh had sent at her whilst her legs wobbled from the Jelly Legs jinx so she couldn't actually stand up and therefore collapsed to the ground in a most undignified way. "Are you okay?" Henry's concerned tone came from up above and Cassiopeia opened her mouth and was just about to reply when she realised that Henry was aiming the question at Everleigh, who he had grabbed so that she didn't fall over from the lack of blood.

Hot, angry tears spilled over Cassiopeia's boiled skin as she watched her boyfriend fuss over a random chick. She had been trying to defend his honour and this was how he repayed her? By looking after a blonde girl that he didn't even know over his own girlfriend? "Henry...help me..." she croaked out and Henry turned around but the look on his face was not friendly at all. In fact, he was glowering at her.

"Really, Cassie? You expect me to help you when you just attacked Everleigh for no reason whatsoever but your own jealousy? And don't even try to defend yourself because Isabel Ross told me everything," he gestured to the frizzy haired girl behind him, the one that had been with Everleigh, and Cassiopeia scowled. Isabel had ran to go and get Henry as soon as the two started fighting and had filled him in on the way up so Henry was not pleased whatsoever with Cassiopeia.

"B-but-" Cassiopeia tried to talk but Henry held up a hand to show that he wasn't listening, "Save it, Cassie. We're over," he said simply and turned swiftly back to Everleigh, a truly concerned gleam in his eyes. It was then that Cassiopeia realised that Henry had never loved her in the way that she had loved him and she staggered to her feet as tears ran down her cheeks. Her heart had broken in two because Henry had chosen that Gryffindor slag over her and Cassiopeia vowed there and then that she would make the Potters pay for it someday.

Weeks after, in the lead up to the Christmas of 1932, it was known all around the school that Henry Potter and Everleigh Mason were dating at that they were the 'cutest couple ever.' Meanwhile, Cassiopeia exchanged letters with her parents to apologise for her behaviour and she claimed that she had been imperiused which got her back into the good books of her parents. She was right on track now to marry Arcturus and fulfil her duty by producing children for the Black family.

And on the 31st August 1936 they did just that - Euphemia Cassiopeia Ophelia Black was born and Cassiopeia had done her duty but every day she would think of those glorious months that she spent with Henry - the happiest moments of her life. And she would forever hold a massive grudge against the blonde beauty that stole him from her.

"That bitch hasn't changed - first my true love and now my daughter, how many more things of mine does she want to steal?" Cassiopeia muttered resentfully underneath her breath as she thought back to how Everleigh Potter had taken charge of Mia and tried to take her home with her. Over Cassiopeia's dead body - her daughter would never step foot in that Potter household whilst she was still alive, that was for certain.

"Euphemia!" Cassiopeia shouted up the stairs as soon as she had walked inside, having composed herself from her thoughts and memories now. Mia scurried to the top of the stairs like a frightened mouse and looked questioningly at her mother who smiled a twisted smile and ascended up the stairs towards her. "We need to discuss your...punishment," Cassiopeia said quietly and Euphemia paled considerably. "Punishment...for what?" Mia asked, biting her lip as her heart pounded in her chest.

"Hmmm, let me think. For betraying your family, eavesdropping on important conversations, causing trouble with your cousins, allowing yourself to get injured - that is a sign of weakness and is not allowed - and for fraternising with a blood traitor family. Need I go on?" Cassiopeia walked towards her daughter threateningly and the petrified girl shook her head and Cassiopeia smiled. "Good. Now go!"she barked and pointed at the closed door that led to the isolation room but Mia seemed to have frozen in fear.

So, Cassiopeia grabbed her daughter and dragged her along whilst the girl screamed out and kicked in her mother's grip as fear pounded through her body like a current, making her entire body shake and she hadn't even been hit with the curse yet. Dread pooled in her stomach and turned into a horrible acid that rose into her throat and spilled out so that Cassiopeia was covered in vomit just as she walked into the isolation room with Euphemia in her grasp. Her mother looked coolly down at her and glared into her daughter's grey - blue eyes.

"Oh dearie me," Cassiopeia said mockingly with a cold tone before she waved her wand and the sick disappeared off her clothes, "Another 5 minutes added onto your punishment, girl," she hissed and Euphemia felt tears pool in her eyes. "Please, no! I've just come out of hospital - I need to rest!" Mia pleaded with her mother as Cassiopeia dragged her further into the room, throwing her into the corner.

"You shouldn't have been such a bad girl then. Crucio!" Cassiopeia's voice was soon drowned out by her daughter's hair rising screams as the pain stabbed at her body over and over. Cassiopeia closed her eyes and did exactly what she always did when she was torturing Euphemia - she pretended that the girl writhing in agony on the floor was Everleigh Potter nee Mason, the girl that stole Henry Potter away from her.

I believe a few of you may find the date 31st August interesting :)