Amycus only got worse.

After seeing Cassia and Poppy's defiance to follow his rules in class, he cracked down even further in all classes. Cassia was haunted by stories of girls being called up and crucioed. Girls as young as thirteen.

And it was all girls, she noticed. Unlike Alecto, Amycus never picked on boys. He always preyed on the girls, picking on them and also, in Cassia and Poppy's case, getting them to pick on each other.

At the first DA meeting back, Cho declared. "It's just like you said, Cass, he's sick, and he's not going to stop."

"I know," Cassia nodded. "I hate him."

"We need to do something about him," Neville said pointedly, holding Poppy's hand in his. He'd been angry beyond belief that she'd been tortured the other day, but none of that anger was towards Cassia.

"So what do we do about him?" Ginny asked. "Because I'm not waiting for him to pick on more girls before we stop him, I want him gone."

"But that's where we hit the fucking hard and indestructible wall," Cassia said. "We can't do anything about him. He's not going to stop, and Snape's not going to listen to anything of reason."

"It's true," Poppy said. "He enjoys seeing girls suffer. And it's just girls. Always. Which just makes the whole thing so much more terrible."

"And I hate to say this, I really hate it," Cassia said, bracing herself. "But I think... I think it's only a matter of time until he tries to... to assault someone."

She let this lie, because she didn't wanna push people, but she had to explain herself.

"I just-" she took a deep breath. "The first time I met him, his eyes trailed me up and down, and he's done that with so many others. He's got no respect for personal space, either. So I just... I'm just preparing everyone for the worst, because I couldn't last year and... look how that ended up."

She looked down, tears filling her eyes. She blinked them away, however. She didn't need more people telling her she was amazing, she'd had too much already.

"Thanks, Cassia," Cho said, her voice comforting to Cassia. "You're an inspiration for most of us, I hope you understand that."

She didn't, Poppy thought, as Cassia looked up and nodded at Cho. She really didn't understand how much of an inspiration she was to everyone.

And she never, ever in a million years, would.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Two weeks dragged by, and Cassia kept her head down for most of it. She managed to crucio a toad in DADA, telling herself it's it or Poppy, it or Poppy, it or Poppy... and sat through many boring muggle studies lectures from Alecto.

By the time the second week was up, she wanted to collapse down and cry.

The DA had been quite active recently. More grafitti had gone up, this time saying WE NEED TO STOP THE CARROWS and DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY IS READY TO REBEL. Cassia had been proud of it at the time. Now it seemed cowardly compared to what the Carrows and Snape were clapping back at them with.

Alecto had clamped down on her punishments as well. After seeing what her brother had done with Cassia and Poppy, she was determined to keep up. She dished out detentions for the smallest of things, and Cassia had to try very hard not to earn one.

There were rumours that some people were getting beaten in the Carrows' offices. There were rumours someone got chained up. Cassia felt a sickness stirring in her stomach as she heard this, determined to help them but unsure of how.

Then came the day she got to witness it first hand.

It had just been a normal muggle studies lesson. Alecto had been droning on about muggles being dirty and terrible, and Cassia hadn't been listening.

"... and in the case of mudbloods, they're not at all innocent. You see, you can only obtain magic from the generations before, so for them to be magic they must have obtained it by theft. This is why they're getting prosecuted, because- yes, Mr Longbottom?"

Cassia and Poppy both turned in sync to see Neville sitting, hand thrust up in the air, determined look on his face.

No, Neville-

"So how much muggle blood have you and your brother got, exactly?"

Shit.

Alecto was still for a second, just staring straight at him. Cassia was speechless. Why the fuck would Neville say that, after he saw what happened to Cassia and Poppy the other week?

Then Alecto slashed her wand through the air, causing Neville to cry out in pain. She'd done the same thing she'd done to Cassia when she'd rebelled about Harry.

"You should've learned to keep your mouth shut by now, Mr Longbottom," Alecto said with a smirk. "If you don't want another one, I suggest you keep quiet."

"What, quiet when you're insulting innocent people?" Neville demanded. "Muggles aren't dirty or terrible, and they certainly haven't stolen m-"

"Right, that is i-"

"No!"

But before Alecto could slash Neville a second time, Cassia plunged to her feet, shouting to stop her.

"No?" Alecto repeated, raising her eyebrows dangerously at Cassia. "I think you'll find, Miss Malfoy, that I make the rules in this classr-"

"I told Neville to say that," Cassia blurted, even though she didn't. "I- I told him to tell you that, i-it's my fault."

"What? No, she didn't!" Neville cried. "Professor, Cassia never said an-"

"I did, I promise," Cassia said.

"No, she didn-"

"Yes, I d-"

"Enough," Alecto said, looking at the both of them as they fell silent.

Then, she slashed her wand at both of them. Neville got a second, Cassia got a first. The blonde girl was so overcome; she'd tried to take the blame to stop Neville getting hurt, but now he was hurt just the same. And she was too.

"Sit down, the two of you," Alecto told them calmly. "And next time, don't interrupt unless you have something of use to say."

Cassia lowered herself into her seat, avoiding looking at Poppy or at Neville. She didn't want to face them right now.

She wasn't ready.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

"I think we need to face the fact that grafitti and failed theiving attempts aren't going to stop them," Cassia said to her best friend as she put a plaster on her newest wound in the bathroom. The ironic thing was, it wasn't the most painful thing on her face as of now. It wasn't the most painful, and that tore her up more than anything else.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Poppy asked miserably.

"I can't see anything," Cassia turned, gripping the worktop tightly with her hands, her knuckles turning white. "Your boyfriend got hurt today, Poppy, and so did I, even though I tried to stop it."

"You did your best, Cass," Poppy said. "It's not like you're betraying us or anything-"

She stopped abruptly as she realised what she had just said. "I'm sorry-" she started.

"It's fine," Cassia said, furiously blinking tears from her eyes. "And thanks."

"You're welcome," Poppy nodded, voice lower. "Thank you for trying to save Neville. Even if it didn't work, I still appreciate it."

Cassia's lips twitched. "It's just what I do," she joked, trying to keep the mood light. "I won't ever leave you hanging, any of you. It's better I get hurt than you guys. At least I'm prepared for it."

"Cassia..." Poppy sighed, putting her hands on the blonde's shoulders. "I know you think we're not prepared, but we are. We're all prepared to get hurt for this."

And Cassia knew it was true.

But she was having a hard time believing it.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Harry and Ron sat in the tent side by side, not really talking. The air between them wasn't filled with tension so much as just awkwardness, but it was still strange.

"I'm, er..." Ron's voice was thick with emotion. "I'm sorry about... what I said about Cassia."

"Don't worry about it," Harry replied stiffly. "You've made up for it, I promise."

"But it wasn't on, mate," Ron shook his head. "And on top of that, I was completely wrong."

Harry's head turned so fast he almost got whiplash, his eyes wide. "Y-you saw h-?"

"Nah," Ron said, biting his lip. "I wasn't even at the Burrow for Christmas, I was at Bill and Fleur's place, Shell Cottage."

"S-so what happened?" Harry asked, very interested.

"Well... they got a letter from Pippa," Ron shrugged. "It, um... it said that Ginny and Poppy were both saying the same thing. Hogwarts isn't really like Hogwarts anymore. Er... they've got these two teachers, I can't remember their names, and they're death eaters, and they've completely wrecked the place. And Snape isn't helping, either."

"So- so what was said about Cassia?" Harry didn't wanna ask, but he needed to go.

"She's organising the resistance," Ron said with a smirk. "They're fighting against them, and Cassia's orchestrating it all. Pippa said in the letter how brave Poppy and Ginny thought she was."

Harry shook his head, a smile forming on his face.

She was amazing. She'd been completely broken down last year, and the easy option would've just been to lie down and take it this year. But no, she was actively fighting against it, and he was so, so fucking proud of her.

"That's amazing," he told Ron, half grinning at this point. "She's amazing."

"She wasn't at the Burrow for Christmas, either," Ron shook his head. "She was at home."

"With her so called father," Harry spat, not even wanting to think about what Lucius was putting her through. "It's sick. What she's having to handle."

Ron nodded, lips pressed together. "But, er... I am sorry, mate. I shouldn't have said that about Cass, it just sort of slipped out... and I didn't mean it to."

"It's fine, genuinely," Harry said. "I just hope she's okay. She needs to be okay."

"She'll be okay," Ron said firmly. "It's Cassia, mate. She's got the sharpest tongue in the world, the most wit, and she's amazing at magic, she'll be fine."

Harry looked him in the eyes, wanting to believe him wholeheartedly.

He believed all that about Cassia.

But that didn't stop him praying that she was okay, every second.

Because he loved her.

And if he lost her, he lost himself in the process.