Home sweet home.

Not.

Cassia had, again, been stripped of all her belongings as soon as she'd arrived home for easter. She wasn't even surprised this time.

What she had been surprised at, however, was the fact that her father hadn't laid a hand on her since she got home. She'd been prepared for a lot from him. She'd been prepared for treating bruises until midnight tonight.

Clearly, Amycus hadn't said anything to Lucius. Cassia didn't know why. Maybe he didn't want to talk about him almost raping his friend's teenage daughter, who knows? Cassia didn't really care, all she knew was that she didn't get hit.

However, one thing she did realise was that her Aunt Bellatrix was at Malfoy Manor. When Cassia asked Narcissa that night how long she'd be staying, she got the nonchalant answer of "I don't know".

By night time, Cassia was finished. She went up to her room, but before she could fall into bed, she needed to wipe off all the concealer on her face.

She stood in the mirror, gradually revealing every bruise, both dark circles, every slash. The slashes hadn't been able to be covered up, so they were always visible, but right now, looking at the full extent of her injuries, not even mentioning the ones that were covered, and the ones she felt inside.

She didn't cry, as she looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't really react at all. She wanted to just look at herself, not judging herself and being detached.

She wanted to forgive herself, really. But she knew that wasn't happening today.

It wasn't as if she hated herself, but she didn't exactly love who she was, either. She still hadn't got over what happened last year, but in all the craziness over the new Hogwarts and the rebellion and everything, she hadn't had a lot of time to think about it.

So she'd just shoved it to the side. She'd confront it at some point in the future, but she couldn't at the moment. Her life was a twisted web of good and evil and friends and enemies and haters and lovers, and she was finding it hard to manage.

She climbed into bed that night with a blank face, and slipped into a peaceful sleep.

In a couple weeks, her life would turn upside down.

But she didn't need to know that yet.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

"We've got Potter!"

Cassia was just washing dishes.

She was just. Washing. Dishes.

In the kitchen. Which was the best place in the house to eavesdrop on the drawing room.

It was the last night of her Easter holidays. She was going back to Hogwarts tomorrow. Except, if he was here, maybe she wasn't.

So at the moment, Cassia was frozen, soapy plate still in hand.

They've... 'got Potter'?

Harry?

Harry's here. Right now.

Her head was spinning and her ears ringing, but she could still hear everything as footsteps were heard coming up the steps.

"Well, that's not Potter!" Lucius spluttered after a second. "Potter has glasses! And- what's wrong with his face?"

"I don't know," said an snarling voice, which Cassia recognised as Fenrir Greyback.

Oh, shit.

And just like that, everything fell into place.

At Christmas, Cassia remembered Bellatrix mentioning that Fenrir was now working with gangs called Snatchers, who rounded up muggle borns and half breeds and sold them to the ministry for money.

Clearly, they'd caught more than just a muggle born on this particular occasion.

"Well, his face isn't important, the important thing is, is that Potter?" Bellatrix's voice was hissing and to the point. "Lucius?"

"Well, I don't know!" Lucius shouted indignantly. "Draco, you know him, is that him?"

Draco's voice was more hesitant. "I- I can't be sure."

Cassia was just waiting for it-

And it came.

"Hold on! My daughter! My daughter Cassia will know if it's him!" Lucius said, raising his voice. "Cassia? CASSIA!"

But Cassia was frozen.

She couldn't go up there.

For months and months, all she'd wanted was to see Harry. Now it was happening... she wasn't so sure how to feel about it.

If it was him (and she was pretty sure it was) then he would die before night fell. As soon as Voldemort heard he was here, he'd come and kill him.

And Cassia would never get to say she loved him in perso-

"Cassia!"

She jumped out of her trance as her father's voice was heard a lot closer. Looking up, she saw he was in the door. As soon as she looked up, he started forwards and grabbed her, saying. "Cassia, there's a boy here we think is Harry Potter, but we need your help to be sure it's him."

Each foot felt encased in concrete as Cassia was marched to the drawing room, her father's arm wrapped tightly around her arm. She knew bruising would appear there tomorrow, but she wasn't even thinking about it. She was thinking about the fact that Harry was in the next room, and she was about to see him again.

It was immediately obvious to Cassia upon entering the drawing room that Harry was Harry. This was because, at the back of the room, different men (who she presumed were snatchers) were holding Ron and Hermione, who's eyes went wide when they saw her.

To Cassia's relief, they didn't look hurt. They looked scared, and dishevelled, and their clothes were dirty, but they did not look hurt. However, she forgot that even though they didn't, she did.

It was then that Cassia realised she hadn't covered her face in concealer that morning. Every bruise, both eye bags, every slash across the face, they were all visible.

Cassia also took in that both her mother and brother were stood to the side. Both looked half scared, half hopeful. Cassia pressed her lips together as she looked at them, vowing to never be as cowardly as them again.

But her father wasn't pushing her towards Ron and Hermione. He also wasn't pushing her towards Draco and Narcissa.

He was pushing her towards Bellatrix and Harry.

Bellatrix was just the same as always. Her hair was huge and curly, her black corset was done up, her face boasted a huge smirk that rather reminded Cassia of Amycus Carrow.

But the blonde girl wasn't thinking about Amycus right now. Or Bellatrix.

Because her aunt was holding someone by the hair. This boys had bright green eyes, and a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. His lips were pressed together in the same way hers were, his eyes flickering all around the room, and settling on her. His clothes were dirty as well, but again, he showed no signs of having been tortured. Half his face was swollen (Hermione had clearly performed the stinging jinx upon him to disguise his face) but he was still him, there was no doubt.

He was still Harry.

"Well?" Lucius' voice was cold behind her, and made her jump slightly. "Is it him, Cassia?"

"I- I don't know," escaped Cassia's mouth.

"Then LOOK!" Lucius yelled sharply, shoving Cassia to her knees. She landed hard, causing tears to spring to her eyes. But she didn't cry, she couldn't.

Because Harry Potter was just across from her, his face barely an inch away from hers. His face stayed still, but his stupid green eyes instantly locked on hers as she kneeled in front of him, both of them caught looking straight at each other.

Cassia hadn't been face to face with her boyfriend in around a year.

She was sort of fighting the impulse to grab his face and kiss him, because she wanted to do that so badly, just once more before he was killed and she was imprisoned in a life of evil.

However, as she looked at Harry, up and down, she could see he was trying to say something to her.

Are you okay?

Cassia could only give him one answer.

No.

She wasn't. It was the simple answer. Just looking at her face, you could tell she'd been hurt so much, maybe beyond repair. But Cassia didn't concentrate on that, because Harry was speaking to her again.

You can give us up if you need to, Cass. To keep yourself safe.

So Cassia stared back, trying to communicate back to him.

I wouldn't be safe even if I did give you up.

She knew what was about to happen. Her father would get angry, and he'd take it out on her. He'd hurt her in front of Harry, and he'd have to watch silently to try and convince them he wasn't him.

So as she looked at Harry for quite possibly the last time, she tried to say something else

Please, no matter what happens, keep silent.

She didn't know if he got the message, but she didn't have time to. She was too busy gritting her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut and saying loudly. "It's not him."

She knew it was coming, she knew it was coming, she knew it was coming-

"He's WHAT?!"

Cassia didn't register getting hauled up off the ground by her father, or getting shaken hard. She did, however, register the ear splitting SLAP sound as he struck her across the cheek, sending her flying to the ground.

The tears came in a burst, the ones from the pain of her raw cheek and the ones from finally seeing Harry again.

But this time, Cassia wasn't lying down and taking it. Seeing Harry again had given her confidence to do something, and she knew exactly what it was going to be.

She wiped the tears quickly, dragging her body upwards as her father yelled. "Look again! Look again, you brat, and tell me if it is Potter!"

"I did," Cassia snapped back, aware of all eyes on her and trying to ignore it. "It's not him."

"Cassia, dear, are you quite sure-?" Narcissa started.

"Of course she's not sure, Narcissa!" Lucius shrieked. "Because she's an interfering little brat who doesn't deserve a family, or a home!" He turned to Cassia. "Tell me. Right now."

"It's not h-"

SLAP!

This time, the slap send Cassia's head to the side, but it didn't send her across the floor.

"I don't know what you want me to say," the girl snapped. "It's not Potter, I can't make it Potter, and if you think I'm lying then you should get glasses, because-"

"Oh, you insolent little-" Lucius drew a hand back-

"Go on, then!" Cassia screamed at him, raising her voice against her father for the first time in her life. "Hit me! Hit me, I DARE you, because that is NOT Harry Potter!"

Lucius paused, not speaking as he tried to control his anger for the girl in front of him.

"What are you waiting for? HIT ME!" Cassia screamed. "Fucking SLAP me, knock me out! I can't change anyth-"

THUMP!

The punch to the jaw hurt more than Cassia was expecting, and she toppled again, her body falling to the floor.

Don't react, Potter, don't react- was all she begged, as she heard her father talking above her. She didn't have enough energy to drag herself up, so she just listened. She was good at that.

"We need to be sure," Lucius was saying. "Cassia says it's not him, but Draco, you said it could be, alright?"

"We're wasting time, Lucius," Bellatrix snapped. "Draco, why aren't you sure? Is it because of his face?"

Draco nodded, turning to the Snatchers. "What's wrong with it?"

"He was like that when we found him," one of them shrugged. "Something he picked up in the forest, I reckon."

"Or a stinging jinx," Bellatrix shrugged, getting a snatcher to cover the responsibility of holding Harry as she stood up. "Was it you, missy?" She raised her eyebrows at Hermione, walking over to Fenrir. "Give me her wand, we'll see what her last spell was."

As she retrieved Hermione's wand, she giggled. "Ahhhh, got you!"

And then, all at once, the whole narrative changed.

And Cassia, who was hauling herself off the ground, saw it at the same time Bellatrix did.

It was in the lead snatcher's, Scabior's hands. It was a sword. It had a shining silver blade, and a ruby encrusted hilt.

It was the Sword of Gryffindor.

Cassia inhaled sharply at the sight of it. The last time she'd seen it was just after they stole it, Snape taking it back swiftly. And now it was just... here?

Bellatrix looked just as shocked as her. "What's that?" She asked, her voice a breathy gasp. For once, she looked... afraid. "Where did you get that?"

"It was in her bag when we searched her," he said nonchalantly. "Reckon it's mine, now."

Then Bellatrix slashed her wand through the air, causing black vines to appear out of nowhere and wrap around all the snatchers' and Fenrir's necks.

"Are you mad?!" One of them let out, strangled.

But Bellatrix paid no attention, screaming. "Get out! GET OUT!"

They scrambled away as the vines unwrapped themselves, leaving the sword behind them. Cassia then watched as she grabbed Ron, yelling. "Put the boys in the cellar!"

Draco got ahold of Ron and Harry, dragging them down the steps to the cellar where, Cassia knew, they would find Luna, Ollivander, and the unnamed goblin.

Then Bellatrix got up in Hermione's face. "I want a little conversation with this one! Girl to girl!"

Cassia wanted to scream. She wanted to yell that this wasn't fair, and that they had to help Hermione, but she couldn't.

"And you, I have some words for you, Cassia!" Bellatrix raised her voice, still holding Hermione as she stood over Cassia. "Knowing it was Potter and not saying! Still loyal to him, eh?"

Before Cassia could reply, Bellatrix kicked her hard in the ribs, causing all the air to be knocked out her body and black spots to appear in her vision.

She was broken.

And her knight in shining armour had just been disarmed.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

"Then LOOK!"

Harry had to fight hard against the impulse to yell as Cassia Malfoy was shoved to her knees in front of him.

Jesus, her face... it showcased bruises and gashes. Her eyes looked dead, yet still were an enchanting ice blue, and her lips were pressed into a thin line.

But God, she was beautiful. Despite all that, just seeing her... it made him so happy.

He wanted to kiss her, to run his fingers through her hair, to tell her he loved her, to hold her in his arms until she felt safe. He wanted to kiss every bruise, every scar, every gash, letting her know she was breathtaking, and didn't need to change.

He was trying to let her know that if she needed to give them up to save herself, she could.

But she was Cassia. She was his girlfriend. He knew her. She wasn't going to give them up to save her own skin, she wasn't like that.

However, after watching her get slapped twice and punched once, he was ready to kill Lucius, and Bellatrix behind him. He didn't care if it wasn't what Cass would want, he was going to rip them to pieces for even thinking of hurting her.

However, when he got shoved to his knees on the cellar floor, he realised that maybe there was no hope.

But just seeing Cassia had given him some.

And if he could stand up and fight even half as well as she'd clearly done, then he'd be satisfied.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Bellatrix dragged Hermione to the centre of the floor from where she was lying, dumping her down hard. Cassia wasn't turned to face them, but she was pretty sure her aunt then got on top of her, Hermione letting out a sob as Bellatrix hissed. "That sword is meant to be in my vault at Gringotts, where did you get it?"

Hermione just wailed, and somewhere within Cassia's broken form, her heart broke.

"What did you and your friends TAKE FROM MY VAULT?!" Bellatrix screamed.

"P-please, I- I didn't take anything!" Hermione sobbed. "Please-"

And Bellatrix didn't use the cruciatus curse, but Hermione let out a scream that Cassia related to one. She didn't want to know what Bellatrix was doing to her, she just wanted everything to stop.

The scream was ear splitting, and Cassia had no doubt that Ron and Harry could hear it echoing down to the cellar. Tears streamed down her face as she listened to the torture happening, but she couldn't do anything, because she couldn't move.

Then Hermione yelled. "WE DIDN'T GET INTO YOUR VAULT! WE DIDN'T STEAL ANYTHING!"

"Well, there's an easy way to settle this," Lucius announced. "There's a goblin down in the cellar, you can ask him."

As Draco went down to get the goblin, Cassia heard small sniffles, and managed to maneuver her body to see Hermione, lying motionless on the ground next to her.

But it was her arm Cassia was looking at. The arm Bellatrix had carved.

mudblood

Cassia's blood boiled as she saw the bloody word on Hermione's forearm. She wasn't a mudblood, she was a brave, smart, beautiful witch, who didn't deserve any of this.

"Ah," Bellatrix's voice made Cassia look and see the goblin in front of her. "Now, tell me goblin, have you heard of any break ins at Gringotts?"

The goblin's voice was low, and growly. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Bellatrix repeated. "Were you not doing your job properly? Who got into my vault?!"

She was circling him, hissing.

"When I was last in your vault, the sword was there," the goblin said calmly.

"Oh, well then perhaps it walked out on its own, then!" Bellatrix shouted.

"There is no place safer than Gringotts."

"LIAR!" Bellatrix yelled, slashing her small dagger across the goblin's face, leaving a small gash there. Then her voice lowered. "Consider yourself lucky, goblin."

She got up, walking back over to Hermione and Cassia.

"The same can't be said for these two," she tutted-

"Like HELL!"

Cassia didn't know how Harry and Ron had broken free. She didn't know how they were here, with Draco's wand, but she couldn't explain the wave of relief crashing through her as Ron and Harry burst forth, Ron yelling. "Expelliarmus!"

Lucius tried to draw his - no, Cassia's - wand, but Harry yelled. "Expelliarmus!" Then. "Stupefy!"

As Lucius crashed across the room, it became a duel; Harry and Ron against Narcissa. Harry had Cassia's wand, Ron had Draco's.

And then Bellatrix was dragging Cassia upwards, putting the knife to her throat.

"STOP!"

Everything went silent.

Harry and Ron slowly turned to see Bellatrix, holding Cassia's head back to reveal her neck, the blade of her dagger pressed lightly to her throat.

"Drop your wands," Bellatrix ordered dangerously, as she began to press the blade into Cassia's neck. The girl gave a small whimper, and Harry clenched his fists.

"I said DROP THEM!" Bellatrix shouted, the wands clattering to the ground. "Lucius, pick them up."

Lucius, who had just recovered from being stunned, didn't even hesitate, scrambling to the ground to pick the wands up.

"Well, well, well," Bellatrix smirked, as the swelling in Harry's eye finally went down, and he was able to open it. "Look what we have here," she murmured, partly to the room, partly to Cassia. "It's Harry Potter. He's all bright and shiny and new again. Just in time for the Dark Lord..."

Harry watched as she turned her head to Lucius, raising her voice. "Call him."

When he did not comply straight away, she got louder. "I said CALL HIM!"

Lucius wasted no time. Slowly, he peeled back the layers of clothing, eventually revealing the black branded snake and skull on his left forearm. Then, he took his - Cassia's wand - and brought it down-

Chink

Chink, chink

Cassia was already looking up, but as her eyes focused she realised that the unthinkable was happening up above them.

Because a house elf none other than Dobby was sat up on the chandelier, slowly unscrewing it.

"AAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!"

Bellatrix threw Cassia from her as both of them escaped the smashing glass. Cassia slammed into a hard chest, not even having to look up to know who it belonged to.

"I've got you, Cass," he murmured. "I'm not letting you go again, I promise."

She didn't remember how they got across the room, or how Harry managed to wrestle all the wands from Lucius, but soon, Cassia, Ron, Hermione, Harry and the goblin were all standing up near the fireplace, Dobby right in the middle of all of them.

Harry's arms were around Cassia, and the tears were already coming from her eyes as she struggled to stand, even in his arms.

"Stupid elf!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You could've killed me!"

"Dobby never meant to kill," said elf spoke. "Dobby only meant to maim, or- seriously injure-"

Narcissa, the only one left with a wand, tried to wave it at him, but Dobby clicked his fingers and her wand flew across the room into his hand.

"How DARE you take a witch's wand?" Bellatrix screamed. "HOW DARE YOU DEFY YOUR MASTERS-?"

"Dobby has no master," Dobby declared. "Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends."

And before they could say anything, before they could do anything, they all held hands with Dobby, and apparated away.

They didn't see Bellatrix chucking her dagger into the mix.

And for now, Cassia didn't care.

Because right now, she was feeling something she hadn't felt in well over a year.

She was feeling safe.