Cassia had fought dementors, death eaters, trolls, rogue bludgers, come face to face with Voldemort and been hit over a hundred times by her father, but none of that, none of it, came close to what she was feeling right now.

She was stood in the drawing room, holding Draco's wrist tight. Her brother stood opposite her, clutching her wrist, and not looking at her.

Bellatrix was stood in between them, waving her wand at their hands, now locked together, and non verbally casting the unbreakable vow spell.

Orange, glowing ropes shot out her wand and wound their way round the place where Cassia and Draco's ghostly white skin met.

Cassia took a deep breath, and tried to stop her body from shaking. This was it. This was the moment where her life changed forever. Where her side changed. Where her loyalties changed.

Bellatrix started in a low, sort of threatening whisper. "Will you, Cassia Malfoy, aid Draco Malfoy, as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes?"

Cassia fought to keep the tears out her eyes, knowing her voice was going to be wobbly whatever. "I will."

"And will you do this to the best of your ability?" Bellatrix went on. "Protect him from harm? From failure?"

Cassia couldn't look at Draco- "I will."

And then came the stickler.

"And do you swear not to speak, communicate or give anyone word of this mission?" Bellatrix smirked. "Including your friends, including the teachers... no one is told or spoken to about it, except Draco... and Severus."

Cassia took a deep breath, hoping her aunt didn't hear the quivers in this. This was it. It was this or death. It was her life or Dumbledore's.

And Cassia had never thought of herself as selfish. Never thought of herself as the one who would save her own skin over someone else's.

But here she was, doing just that.

"I do."

As Bellatrix waved her wand, the orange ropes diminishing around Cassia and Draco's hands.

And Cassia fought against the tears in her eyes, against the scream that was worming its way up her throat-

Until she was in her room, all the tears flowing and the scream getting let out into her pillow.

There goes my chance with Harry.

Or any chance at life at all.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Diagon Alley was bleaker than Cassia had ever seen it. Even after ducking in and out of a few shops all day, buying her school books and supplies, she still wasn't used to it.

The whole Alley was practically shut down. Shop windows were smashed, lights were off, posters were torn and paint was peeling.

The only exception to this was Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Fred and George's new joke shop. It was huge, and colourful, and right in the middle of the Alley, and it was full of love and light and laughter-

Too bad Cassia wasn't going there today.

It had been a week since she'd made the vow, and in that time, Draco and her hadn't spoken much.

In fact, they hadn't really spoken at all.

Yet that morning, as Cassia got up, Draco had come into her room, saying. "Get up. We're going to Knockturn Alley today."

"Wh-?" Cassia had cut herself off, confused. "What, why?"

Her brother had looked her dead in the eyes. "To let you in on the plan. And to Diagon, to buy school supplies."

Cassia had gaped at him as he left the room, absolutely shocked. She had even felt a tiny spark light in her chest. Finally, finally, she was going to find out what was going on.

But the thing is, as she stood in Diagon Alley, next to her brother and mother, she felt guiltier than ever.

It was weird, because sure, she had felt guilty as she made the unbreakable vow, and committed herself to the mission, but as her mother pulled her down Knockturn Alley without a backward look, it made her stomach explode with a squirming, scuttling feeling.

But she didn't have a choice.

It was this or nothing.

Do or die.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

The feeling didn't fade.

By the time Cassia was following her mother and brother through the twisty, windy, cobbled streets of Knockturn Alley, she had thought it would've at least calmed down, if not disappeared.

But no. The squirming feeling was still there. The guilt was still there.

And it didn't disappear when they reached their destination.

Borgin & Burke's.

Cassia felt her mouth go dry as she stared up at the rickety sign, swinging back and forth, attached to the shop with dusty, dirty windows and several old antiques in them.

Borgin & Burke's was a junk shop. Well, more of a dark junk shop. It was where dodgy people went to buy and sell dark artifacts, knowing their business would not be spoken of. Cassia had been in a few times with her father, but she had never thought this would be where she was let in on the plan.

However, once she was in, she realised it was not only her that was being informed of this plan.

They were gathered in the front room of the shop when they all came. Borgin was nowhere to be seen, probably asleep in the back room, like he always was.

But that only meant he wasn't there to see it when the death eaters in disguise apparated into the shop, all taking their masks off as they got in.

There was Bellatrix, smirking like always, giving a small chuckle.

There was also Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf with a taste for human flesh. He wasn't lime Lupin; at the full moon, he positioned himself close to people so he had the perfect opportunity to attack. He even attacked outwith the full moon.

And he scared the shit out of Cassia, smirking like crazy with scars all over his body, greasy hair and slits for eyes.

Joining Bellatrix and Fenrir were two others. A man and a women, each with greying white hair and similar features.

"Amycus, Alecto," Narcissa said, welcoming them.

"Narcissa," the women said to her.

Narcissa gave her a slight nod, saying. "Cassia, Draco, this is Amycus and Alecto Carrow, brother and sister."

Amycus, the brother who was quite bulky with a permanent smirk on his face, smirked. "Yes, we've met Draco. Your little bird, however... we have not."

The look he gave Cassia made her skin crawl. She didn't want that man anywhere near her. She didn't want him to speak to her, look at her or even think of her.

"Yes," Narcissa said, seemingly uncomfortable herself. "Now-"

"Now I think we all know why we're here," Bellatrix spoke over her sister. "Draco, have you made your plan?"

Draco looked down slightly, eyes showing a raging battle going on inside his head.

"Um-" he began, clearing his throat. "S-so, I'm going to need some help, y'know, in... killing Dumbledore... then I need a way to get you all into Hogwarts."

Bellatrix scoffed. "Would be easy if we could apparate in-"

"Except we can't, Bella," Fenrir spoke for the first time in a mocking tone, his fangs protruding from his mouth-

"You dare speak like that to me-"

"Bella, please, quiet down," Narcissa said quietly. "Let Draco finish."

Bellatrix gave her sister a look that was more than hostile and Cassia would've winced if her whole body wasn't feeling numb.

Draco, meanwhile, looked even worse than her.

"Er..." he started, breathing funny. "Well- I've got a way," he breathed. "But I don't know how long it'll take me to perfect i-"

"Oh, spit it out," Fenrir snapped, so harshly Draco jumped. "What's the plan?"

"Uh- I- it's here," Draco gestured to behind him.

Cassia hadn't been looking there.

But as she looked behind her brother, she knew it wouldn't have mattered, anyway. Because she didn't know what she was looking at.

It seemed to be some sort of- cupboard? It was huge, way taller than Cassia, and all black and dusty. The opening was at a corner, and the whole way down it was metallic and ornate. Aside from that, it was made out of a rich oak wood, which had a rather magestic feel, though slightly tarnished and splintering.

Cassia frowned at the cupboard, wondering what the fuck it was and how exactly it was going to get the death eaters into Hogwarts.

Her brother answered all her questions, however.

"It's a vanishing cabinet," Draco said, turning round to the cabinet and running a hand down the metal opening. "And there's a twin at Hogwarts. You'll be able to get in that way."

He turned round with a seemingly new confidence, as now all the death eaters facing him had gone speechless.

Then, finally, Bellatrix asked. "H- how do you know this?"

"I saw it. Last year," Draco answered, looking her right in the eye. "I-"

He stopped as a swoosh was heard from behind them. They all looked round to see Fenrir, wand pointed up at the blinds.

"Apologies," he said with a smirk to Draco. "But I think I saw some... spies, on the rooftops."

"Who?" Narcissa asked hesitantly.

"Didn't catch sight of them," Fenrir answered. "But carry on, Draco."

Draco looked a but surprised, as if he was confused at being spoken to with respect. "Er- yes, er- well, as I was saying, I saw this vanishing cabinet last year, it's in the, um... the Room of Requirement."

When in the fucking hell was he in the Room of Requirement last year? Cassia wondered. And then: and how in the fucking hell did he find a vanishing cabinet inside it?

Bellatrix, meanwhile, was chuckling.

She clapped slowly, grinning. "I can't wait to see the look on Dumbledore's face."

She didn't thank Draco, or congratulate him, or give him any acknowledgement at all. For the first time since she was very young, Cassia felt annoyed on her brother's behalf.

But before she could say anything else, Draco spoke up.

"But there's a problem," he said. "The one at Hogwarts is broken, so I- I mean, Cassia and I... will have to work to fix it."

Cassia frowned. How on earth were they going to fix that?

But Bellatrix, meanwhile, was asking. "So how long is it going to take? We can't spend lots of time on this, Draco, we need to-"

"Do you have a better idea to get us in, Bella?" Alecto snapped at her. "No? Then shut your big fat-"

She stopped with a gasp, because Bellatrix had drawn her wand, pointing it straight at Alecto, both women radiating anger.

Cassia instantly got a flashback to when Bellatrix killed Sirius.

No, she thought quickly. No, don't flashback, stop-

"If you want to live, stop talking... now," Bellatrix muttered, voice low and threatening.

"If you want to live, lower your wand," Alecto retorted.

"Alright, let's all just calm down," Fenrir said, smirking slightly as he stepped (bravely) into Bellatrix's wand line, separating the two women.

Bellatrix scoffed, lowering her wand.

"If you think I did that because of you, Greyback, you're delusional," she bit back at Fenrir.

"Bella, please, just stop-" Narcissa started.

"Cissy, I swear-"

"Bella, please-"

"It won't take a lot of time," Draco announced loudly, causing the sisters to stop and fall silent. "We'll get straight to work when we arrive, and we'll work on it often. We'll manage."

Bellatrix gave him a sick little smirk, shifting her gaze onto Cassia.

Cassia hadn't spoken throughout this whole meeting. She had decided to not, she had decided to stay out of it-

And then she had to speak. And her mouth was dry, her throat aching, she was forgetting everything-

"Yeah," she said, her voice rough and gravelly. "Yeah, we will."

Bellatrix smirked, scoffing.

"Right," she said, looking at Draco. "Send word when you need us. You know how."

And then, with that, she and the other's said their goodbyes, and apparated out the shop.

Leaving Cassia, her mother, and her brother inside it, the vanishing cabinet behind them, and the sound of Borgin's snores echoing in from the back room.

Cassia didn't feel any more assured.

If anything, the guilt was consuming way more of her.