"I thought you weren't coming."

Those were the first words Draco decided to bestow upon her as they walked throughout the Room of Requirement, footsteps echoing around.

"Well, you thought wrong," Cassia snapped, looking straight ahead.

She'd made up her mind not to tell Draco that Harry and Dumbledore had left, but turns out he already knew.

"And so I hear, Dumbledore went exploring tonight," Draco snapped back at her as they arrived at the vanishing cabinet, looking her up and down.

Dumbledore, Cassia thought. He just said Dumbledore. He didn't say Harry. Whoever told him, must've not told him Harry was involved.

And she certainly wasn't going to.

Cassia sighed, looking up at him as they came face to face. "Okay, doesn't that mean our mission is kind of worthless?"

"No," Draco answered. "He'll be back before midnight."

He looked at her, his gaze steely. "Are you even ready for this?"

No.

"And..." he smirked. "What about Potter? What's he going to think of you after this? You look at him as if he's your world, but he's going to hate you after he realised what you've d-"

"Shut up!" Cassia screamed at him, tears sparkling in her eyes. "Shut. UP! I KNOW HE'S GONNA HATE ME! I KNOW HE'S NEVER GONNA SPEAK TO ME AGAIN! I KN-!"

She stopped, almost sobbing, as a swooshing sound and a CLICK were heard. Cassia jumped around, turning as the vanishing cabinet began to open, trails of black smoke leaking from it.

They consumed the area before Cassia and Draco, filling it completely and making stuff impossible to see.

Then, it all cleared.

And there stood Bellatrix, and Greyback, and Amycus and Alecto.

And Cassia had never felt worse in her life.

"Well hello, Draco, Cassia," Bellatrix smirked, holding up her wand. "I see your work is done."

She gestured to the vanishing cabinet and Draco smirked. Cassia's stomach crawled.

"Now come," Draco told them. "Your job is to make sure no one disturbs us, and then Cassia and I will sneak up to the tower where Dumbledore will return."

"Tower?" Amycus scoffed. "Why's he gonna be on a tower?"

"Severus told me," Draco answered.

"Oooh, Severus," Alecto snorted. "Quite like to see how he's doing these days, considering he abandoned u-"

"Shut up!" Bellatrix snapped. "Draco, are you absolutely sure Dumbledore's going to be there?"

Draco nodded.

"And you, Cassia?" Bellatrix looked at her.

Cassia nodded as well, avoiding her aunt's eyes.

"Then, come on," Bellatrix smirked. "We have work to do."

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Every nerve, every muscle, every bone inside Cassia's body was telling her to turn back.

Every single one.

But she wasn't.

Whilst the death eaters secured the school, Cassia and Draco had their own battle to fight, as they walked up to the astronomy tower, side by side.

However, as they got to the area below the tower, they stopped. Voices could be heard above them, or rather one voice.

"Trust me," Dumbledore was saying. "Trust me."

And Cassia knew who he was speaking to, she knew it was Harry.

But she couldn't bring herself to feel anything anymore, or to sob out more tears.

As footsteps were heard descending the tower, Cassia and Draco ascended. Cassia was feeling the worst she'd ever felt in her life as she raised her wand, climbing the tower like some sort of assassin when she was never, ever going to kill him.

I love you, Harry, she thought, as she climbed. Even if you'll never love me again.

When they got to the top, Cassia saw Dumbledore. He was standing across the tower from them, a look of curiosity on his face as both boy and girl raised their wands at him.

"Good evening Draco, Cassia," Dumbledore told them, very conversationally. "What brings you two here?"

And Cassia couldn't see it, and she didn't want to, but down below, a certain Harry Potter was watching. And when he saw Cassia with her brother, wands levelled at Dumbledore, he felt a lot of things.

"Who else is up here?" Draco shot back, wand shaking. "I heard voices."

"I often talk aloud to myself," shrugged Dumbledore. "I find it extraordinarily useful."

He's covering for Harry.

"Have you two been whispering to yourself, Draco? Cassia?"

He took a look at the two teens, the brother and sister, one looking terrified, one looking torn up. Then he said. "Draco, you are no assassin."

"How do you know what I am?" Draco shouted back.

"And Cassia..." Dumbledore sighed, turning his gaze upon the girl. "You are not a killer, either. Just perhaps a... little unlistened to."

Cassia shook her head, tears appearing in her eyes.

"You don't know what we've done!" Draco shouted across the tower. "We've done things that would shock you!"

"Like cursing Katie Bell and hoping that in return she'd bear a cursed necklace to me?" Dumbledore asked. "Like replacing a bottle of mead with one laced with poison. Forgive me, Draco, Cassia, but I cannot help but feel these actions are so weak that your heart hasn't really been in it at all."

"He trusts me!" Draco's voice was thick with emotion. "I was chosen!"

And with that, he pulled up his sleeve, revealing the dark mark branded upon his left forearm. Cassia stood in the silence that was Draco shaking, and Dumbledore staring from him to the mark and back.

Then the old man shrugged, raising his wand. "Then I shall make it easy for y-"

"Expelliarmus!" Draco yelled, darting forward as Dumbledore's wand flew from his hand to the ground. The long bearded man didn't even flinch, relinquishing his wand with no fight.

"Very good, very good," he said, smiling at the two of them, as the door was heard opening downstairs. His face flashed with realisation. "You're not alone. There are others."

Draco and Cassia both looked down the stairs, but the death eaters hadn't appeared yet. And then Dumbledore was taking a step forward, asking. "How?"

Draco swallowed. "The vanishing cabinet in the Room of Requirement. We've been mending it."

"And let me guess," Dumbledore sighed. "It's has a sister, a twin."

"In Borgin and Burkes," smirked Draco. "They form a passage."

"Ingenious," Dumbledore grinned. "Draco, Cassia, years ago, I knew a boy who made all the wrong choices. Please let me help you."

"I-I don't need help," Cassia spoke for the first time in a while, her voice rough and shaky. "Don't you understand? We need to do this."

"We have to kill you," Draco nodded, bringing the topic into conversation. "Or he's gonna kill us."

But before Dumbledore could tell them to just do it, or convert them to good, or repent their sins, footsteps were heard, and from the other side of the tower came the death eaters.

"Well," Bellatrix smirked, stopping them all in their tracks. "Look what we have here."

She walked over to the brother and sister, neither of whom looked set on this anymore.

"Well done, Draco, Cassia," she whispered, coming up behind them.

In the silence that remained, Dumbledore sighed. "Good evening, Bellatrix. I think introductions are in order, don't you?"

"Love to, Albus, but I'm afraid we're on a bit of a tight schedule," Bellatrix taunted, turning back to Draco. "Do it!"

Draco's hand shook, but no spell was uttered.

"He doesn't have the stomach, just like his father," Greyback's mouth curled into a smirk. "Let me finish him in my own way-"

"No!" Bellatrix raised her voice. "The Dark Lord was clear, the boy is to do it," she closed in on Draco, her mouth right in his ear. "This is your moment. Do it."

Draco's hand shook more than it ever had before.

"NOW!" Bellatrix screamed.

And he was shaking, and so was Cassia, and she was about to shove him, to make him do it-

"No."

In one word, everything was silenced.

Because Severus Snape was now stood on the tower, his face a mask of indifference, his whole posture upright.

He walked in front of Draco and Cassia, turning to look at Dumbledore, his wand gripped in his hand.

"Severus," Dumbledore said, looking at the man he trusted, at the man he defended. "Severus... please..."

But Snape didn't listen.

"Avada Kedavra."

In years to come, Cassia wouldn't remember the way the bright green light hit Dumbledore, sending him over the edge of the tower, falling to the ground. She wouldn't remember Snape's face, or Bellatrix' whoop of glee, as she ran to the edge and cast the dark mark, or Draco's gasp beside her.

All she would remember was how she felt herself. How much grief she was overcome with, and how she knew that once Harry found out, she would never be the same again.

But in that moment, she remembered it all. All of it.

And it damn near tore her apart.

Then Snape's hand was on her shoulder, almost shoving her forwards and down the stairs.

She was in tears by the time they made it into the corridors, sobbing by the time they got to the great hall. Bellatrix went on a rampage, smashing plates and trampling tables. Breaking all the glass in the windows.

Cassia watched in horror as the place she'd grown up in, the place she'd found friends in, she'd fallen in love in, was wrecked.

As she walked in a group of death eaters out the castle into the dark night, her heart broke. She fully wanted to drop down and cry her heart out, but she couldn't do that.

"Whooooooooooo!" Bellatrix was yelling as they ran down the hill to Hagrid's hut. "Whoooo-!"

"SNAPE!"

She thought things couldn't get any worse. But she forgot, things always got worse when Harry fucking Potter got involved.

He was running down the hill, his face a mixture of anger and frustration and betrayal. That would be Cassia's doing.

He was there, she realised with a jolt of her heart. He was who Dumbledore was talking to. He saw all of it.

She let out another sob as Harry screamed. "HE TRUSTED YOU!"

BOOM!

Everyone stood back as Bellatrix set Hagrid's hut on fire, and Cassia sobbed even harder, her whole body jolting with each horrible sound.

"Go on!" Snape yelled commandingly at her, and the others. Bellatrix rolled her eyes, but the others left.

Cassia didn't. She couldn't.

"Incarcerous!" Harry screamed, waving his wand at Snape, who deflected the spell easily. "FIGHT BACK, YOU COWARD, FIGHT BACK!"

Then Bellatrix shot a cruciatus curse and he cried out in pain, collapsing backwards on the grass.

"ARGH!"

NO! Cassia wanted to scream, but she couldn't. She was frozen in fear and shock, and she couldn't move.

"No! He belongs to the Dark Lord!" Snape shouted at Bellatrix, who shrugged, giggling openly. She sighed, putting her hand on Cassia's shoulder. "Come on, Cassia, let's leave them alone."

Cassia found she could walk when Bellatrix was holding her. She was scared out her life, but she could walk.

She knew that this was the last time she would see Harry. She knew that she'd miss Dumbledore's funeral, and memorial, and saying tribute to the man. She knew her boyfriend (who probably would not be now) would hate her and publicly announce this.

And it broke her heart, but she'd longline realised she couldn't change it.

No one could change their destiny.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

I

t'd been a month since Dumbledore's death.

The castle had been fixed, of course, and the body moved. His funeral had been today, and everyone was on edge.

Harry Potter most of all.

In the month since he'd witnessed his girlfriend, the girl he loved, the one he trusted above all else, betray him and his friends, he'd not decided much.

But one thing he did know was that none of this was Cassia's fault.

He had heard her that night. He'd seen her. He understood that she didn't want to be in that position and it was because of the family she had that she was there.

But he was still angry at her. He didn't understand why she didn't just tell him, why she didn't just trust him enough to say something. He was hurt that he had placed her above all else, and she'd been hiding something from him all year.

He was currently up the top of the astronomy tower, alone. He was sitting, forearms pressed against the railing that Dumbledore had gone over, lips pursed.

"Um- Harry?"

Hearing Poppy Patil's voice turned him round. She was stood behind him, tears of mascara leaking down her face, body shaky, something clutched in her hands.

"Yeah?" Harry asked, as Poppy came closer, sniffling slightly.

"Um... I have this," she said, holding out a... letter? "It's, um... it's from... from her."

He and Poppy had talked quite a few times in the past month. Poppy had wanted to know everything that Cassia had said, everything that she'd eluded to, on the top of that tower. She'd been confused, as well, and frustrated at her best friend, but again, she hadn't blamed her.

"What is it?" Harry asked, even though he knew.

"It's... it's a letter," Poppy bit her lip. "She- she told me to give it to you a month ago, but I... I forgot. But if it says anything..."

Harry nodded, starting forward to take the letter from her outstretched hand. He took it gently, seeing the Potter on the front in her handwriting and opening it.

From there, he sat down next to Poppy on the steps, and read her letter.

Dear Potter,

I know this is the cowardly way out. Hell, I'm so ashamed of myself even writing this, but I know you need to know. And I'm not telling you in person, whether I get the chance or not.

I should start off by telling you I've known about Draco's mission since the start of the year.

Yes, it's true. And I know you'll hate me for it, I know you'll probably never speak to me again, you or Poppy or Ron or Hermione, but I had to tell you.

Voldemort met with our family halfway through the holidays. I wasn't there, but my mother and aunt let me know in the last couple weeks. It was so scary, swearing that I'll be good and faithful, that I'll help Draco kill Dumbledore. I lied my way through the whole thing, then I saw that awful skull and snake on my brother's forearm. I didn't get one, and I'm fucking glad. I also promise I was going to tell you about the mission, but I couldn't.

Voldemort's clever. You know that as well as I do. He made me make an unbreakable vow with Draco, swearing that I would help him in his attempts and aid him with all I have. That I would never inform Dumbledore of the plan in any way. That I wouldn't speak of the plan to anybody but Draco.

I would've died if I had told you.

And I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Harry. Because I knew. I knew Draco was a death eater when you were talking to Hermione about it. It was me that gave Katie the cursed necklace that day in Hogsmeade, not Draco. I knew exactly where he was and what he was doing in the Room of Requirement. I was with him for most of it. I knew he was the one behind the poisoned mead, almost killing your best mate. I've known all along.

There were many moments this year when I considered giving in. Telling you about the plan and dying because I cared about you more than I did about me. The problem was I couldn't give you a warning discussion.

I need you to know that you're what got me through this year. I need you to know that, Harry. Being in a relationship with you and being able to call you my boyfriend was the best thing that's ever happened in my fucked up life, and I'm so thankful for you.

I love you. I know it's the first time I've told you, so remember it, Potter. I love you.

I love when you protect me, even from myself. I love when you kiss me and my lipgloss smears on your lips. I love how your hair looks when you get up in the morning. I love how determined you are, about everything. I just love you.

I'll love you forever. If there's anything I can promise you, Potter, it's that.

When Dumbledore dies, my parents are going to take me out of Hogwarts for the rest of the term and I'm probably going to be forced to become a death eater. If I refuse, I'll be tortured and killed and I know you won't want that. I'm just sorry it's come to this.

If you want to move on, you can. Find a girl that's less fucked up, that'll care for you better then I could've, that's less selfish and would've told you about the plan this year, even if it meant her dying.

I know I'm a shitty person. I know I don't deserve you. It doesn't stop me hoping that one day, I'll be able to be with you again, but if you don't want me to be, I'll respect that.

In the meantime, I'll try to get messages to you. I don't doubt I'll be sent back to Hogwarts after the summer, but I know you'll probably not be going back. I know you have your job from Dumbledore, and I really, really want you to do it and succeed.

I wish I could kiss you again. Just one more time, because it would remind me that you're real, that people as kind and pure and good as you really exist.

I've got that last kiss, though. The one you gave me before going off with Dumbledore. And I promise, I'll carry that with me wherever I go, wherever I'm going.

Never change, Harry Potter. I'll love you forever.

Yours always,

Cassia Malfoy

Harry was unashamedly sobbing by the end of the letter. Poppy was, too.

So that was why-

"S-she was under a vow," Harry sobbed, looking at Poppy.

"I know," the girl whispered back. "S-she- she had no choice-"

"She's the bravest person ever," Harry said, looking at the ground, kicking his heels against it. "Sh- I just can't imagine the way she felt..."

"She's been feeling terrible all year, and this is why," Poppy sobbed. "But sh-she'd have died if she told us what was happening."

Harry nodded.

This cleared everything up. Cassia hadn't told him what was going on, simply because she couldn't. She couldn't tell him she was completing a mission to kill Dumbledore, because had she done that, she would've been killed herself.

Harry skimmed over the part of the letter telling him how terrible she was, and how he could move on.

Move on? Move on? She wasn't getting that lucky. He wasn't moving on in a million years. He loved her.

And she, apparently, loved him.

He skimmed back over that part again, his finger tracing the words.

I love you.

He couldn't help but smile slightly. He knew she would want him to be happy about this, and he knew that wherever she was, he wanted her to be happy, too. And safe. He knew she maybe wasn't, but it was all he wished for her.

So, as Poppy asked for the letter to read again beside him and he handed it to her, letting her own tears stain it, he made a single vow inside his head.

I love you too, Cass. And I'm going to save you.

I promise.