"Coming, Cass?"

The Hogwarts Express ride had been bleak, but Cassia would take a thousand of them if it meant she didn't have to go home.

Poppy was stood at the compartment door, looking at her. Cassia sighed, nodding and getting up. She wasn't ready for this, and she was more afraid than anything, but there was nothing she could do.

She spotted her parents on the platform immediately. They were standing stiffly, her mother hugging Draco with only a small smile. Her whole body tensed as she saw her father, standing right there as if he was a normal man, picking up his two children.

(As if he wasn't an abuser).

"I love you," Cassia said, hugging Poppy quickly before her parents saw her. "Merry Christmas."

"You too, I love you too," smiled Poppy, as they left each other.

Cassia watched enviously as Poppy went with her sisters to go and see Pippa, Molly Weasley also standing there to greet Ginny. Her heart burned with jealousy as she watched them all laugh and hug and even (in Molly's case) cry.

Meanwhile, she got two parents who hated her.

"Hello, Cassia," her father said, his face cold and unwelcoming.

"Hello," Cassia said in her bravest voice possible, facing him bravely.

"Hello, dear," Narcissa said with a nervous smile.

Cassia gave her a nod, lips twitching.

As the Malfoys left the platform, however, her father gave her a look of simple fury, eyes burning, mouth closed.

Cassia didn't even get to give Poppy a look before she was whisked away.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

SLAP!

It took about two seconds for things to return to the way they had been. When they got inside the manor, her owl, her books, her robes, her cauldron and her wand had been stripped from her, everything shoved into the store cupboard apart from her wand, which Lucius took back to use.

Then the punishment started.

"How dare you sneak into that office and try and steal that sword!" Her father yelled at her, slapping her again so she fell on the ground. "Utterly disrespectful - this is not the way we raised you!"

Cassia didn't reply, her whole body shaking, her cheek stinging hard. Tears were falling down her cheeks, and she was shaking her head. "S-stop," she cried. "Please st-"

THWACK

She was thrown backwards, hitting the ground.

"And I hear from Amycus you've been spending time around that Patil and Longbottom," Lucius snapped. "Seems that, despite all we've taught you, you just can't help yourself."

"Please stop it," Cassia sobbed, on the ground before him. "P- please-"

But Cassia Malfoy had never been one to get lucky.

And that didn't change today.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Harry Potter stood before his parents' grave, Hermione's head on his shoulder, his head on hers.

All he could think was how much his mum and dad would've loved Cassia. They would've hated her family, but they would've loved her.

Just like he did.

He couldn't help but think of where she would be now. He wondered whether she was with her family for Christmas, which is somewhere he did not want her to be, or whether she'd gone with Poppy, or whether she'd remained at Hogwarts.

Whatever it was, he hoped she was healthy and, most importantly, happy.

He tried to stop thinking about her, but he really couldn't.

"Merry Christmas, Harry."

"Merry Christmas, Hermione."

Merry Christmas, Cassia.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Christmas was joyless and terrible, and Cassia never wanted to go through it again.

First of all, she'd had to cook everything. Then they'd had Aunt Bellatrix round for dinner, and Cassia was disgusted by some of the stuff she'd said.

She'd had to use concealer by the gallon to cover up the bruises her father had left, but she was used to it by now, it had become second nature.

It was boxing day that things really got interesting, though. Cassia wasn't actually part of any events, but she was in the kitchen, which, she had longsince learned, was a prime eavesdropping spot.

"Aaargh!"

She was just cleaning a plate when she heard the yell. It was one of pain, and fear, and Cassia was instantly interested.

"Get in there!"

Then the snarling voice of Amycus Carrow was heard, and Cassia was immediately still. If Amycus was here, with a yelling man, then it must mean something.

"Amycus, what is going on?" The demanding voice of her father snapped.

"He's called Ollivander, he's a wand seller," Amycus told Lucius. "Dark Lord wants you to imprison him and another one here in your cellar. Alecto's got him, he's a goblin."

Ollivander? He's here? Cassia thought, listening to all this. Voldemort wants him here? And what's all this about a goblin?

Needless to say, Cassia was very confused as she heard the pained groans of the wand seller getting dragged to the cellar. What was happening?

But deep down, she knew the answer. The cellar was a cold, lifeless place that Cassia almost never went. And even though she hated to admit it, it'd be the perfect place to imprison people.

Looks like Voldemort is gonna be keeping his hostages here from now on.

And this fact made Cassia scared.

Because what if Harry turned up one day?

❦︎❦︎❦︎

And around an hour after Ollivander was in, Alecto came with her hostage. Only this time, there was much less struggling and a lot more talking, which was great. It was great because Cassia, who was still in the kitchen, could hear every word.

"Am I to be imprisoned here like a common man?" The goblin had started in a twisted, sarcastic tone.

"Shut up!" Alecto had shouted, in the same way she spoke to students.

"Well, you could've at least got me some better living quarters," groaned the goblin.

"I said shut up!" Alecto told him, before her tone became lighter. "Lucius, Narcissa!'

"Alecto," Lucius said back, rather strained. "This is the other prisoner, I take it?"

"Prisoner," the goblin spat. "I am no prisoner-"

"Crucio!"

Cassia's head jerked up at the sound of the curse being cast and, by the sound of the goblin's screams, working. She could still remember Alecto's brother cursing this on her twice, and enjoying doing it.

"There we go," Alecto said, evidently grinning as the screams stopped. "That'll teach you to get mouthy, goblin."

There was no sounds made as he was dragged down the steps to the dungeon, to where Ollivander was no doubt waiting. Cassia was stock still in the kitchen until the sounds ceased and she couldn't hear them anymore.

She didn't want to cry again.

She really fucking didn't.

But screw that, right?

❦︎❦︎❦︎

As the snake dove at Harry, all he could think was that he'd never got to tell Cassia he wasn't mad at her, and that he forgave her a thousand times over.

He'd never got to hear that she loved him, spoken from her lips.

He'd never got to kiss her again, just one last time.

And Voldemort was on his way- and this could be the end-

And then Hermione got ahold of him and apparated them away.

And all Harry could think of was her.

And how happy he was that he might be able to say and hear those things.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

It was another couple days until the next prisoner arrived, and this time, Cassia got to see them up close.

That didn't make things any easier.

The four Malfoys were eating dinner when the sounds of footsteps on the stairs were heard. All four heads turned at the sound, not knowing what it was or where it was coming from.

"Lucius?" Narcissa asked, looking at her husband and asking silently whether he knew of who was coming. Lucius shook his head, frowning as his eyes flitted to the door.

And then in walked a man Cassia didn't recognise, with long blonde hair, holding a girl she very much did recognise in a headlock.

Luna.

Luna Lovegood.

Luna Lovegood who was Cassia's friend. Who was now standing in her kitchen, being held hostage by the death eaters.

She looked terrible. Her hair was matted and there were dark circles under her eyes, which were a lot more harrowed than usual. Cassia's heart was impaled with sadness as she looked upon this once bright and breezy girl, now completely conquered.

"Yaxley," Lucius said, both him and Narcissa standing up to greet the long blonde haired death eater holding Luna. "Here with another prisoner, I take it?"

"Yeah, Dark Lord wanted this one locked up because of the shit her father's been writing in his paper," Yaxley told him. "If he complies with the Dark Lord's wishes, we might be back to take her, but if not..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but he and Lucius shared a look at the end of it.

But what shocked Cassia most was that it wasn't Luna who was causing this perceived 'trouble', it was her father. Clearly, the death eaters were getting more clever, and using people as bait.

But that also meant that people such as Poppy and Neville and Ginny were in just as much danger, because they too could be locked up if their families on the outside caused too much trouble.

This was one thing Cassia at least was spared of. For the longest time, her family was something to be ashamed of. Now, it was her golden ticket out of not being dragged from her home and locked in a cellar. Times had changed.

"Alright," nodded Lucius, pulling his daughter back to the real world. "You know where the cellar is."

Cassia looked down as Luna was dragged away. They weren't- okay, they weren't close, but they were friends. And the amount of guilt in Cassia's stomach was in danger of consuming her as she watched such a dear friend get locked in her cellar.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't care, don't cr-

Well, she didn't at dinner.

Nor when washing the dishes.

But late that night, when most of the inhabitants of Malfoy Manor were sleeping, sobs of anguish and grief and deep, deep sadness could be heard from the bedroom with the door labelled Cassia.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Cassia was ready to go back to Hogwarts by the time the holidays drew to an end.

She wasn't ready to face her friends and tell them that one of their DA leaders was imprisoned below her bedroom, but she was ready to go back and fight some more.

Hogwarts was terrible, but so was her house.

And at least at school, she could do something about how terrible she was feeling.

At least she could rebel.

At home, it was her father's way or no way, and if Cassia said otherwise, she was punshed.

She had been strictly forbidden from the cellar. Even going down to the door of it, which was actually a sort of fancy black metal gate that was enchanted to be unopenable, but you could still talk to the prisoners through it.

Cassia hated that her home had become a prison. Even though there'd been no more people being brought into it, it was still a working prison, where Voldemort chose who to put in it.

It made Cassia sick, and her stomach churn. She hated it all, and she wasn't afraid to say it.

So going back to Hogwarts did have its perks, but it also had its downsides. Cassia knew she'd be back at her house for easter in a month or two anyway, as her mother had already mentioned that.

So no need to worry, she'd be back home in no time.

Except home wasn't home anymore.

Neither in the case of Hogwarts, or her house.