"Cassia."

It was just supposed to be the end of potions. She was supposed to be chatting with Poppy, laughing with Harry, and just enjoying herself.

Instead, she was getting hissed in the ear by her brother.

"Six tonight, sharp," was all he said, before leaving. He'd taken that she knew where he was meaning.

So, at six sharp that night, she was inside the Room of Requirement, looking at her brother, both of them stony faced.

"What. The fuck?" Cassia questioned, crossing her arms.

"Oh shut up," Draco snapped at her. "I needed to talk to you, it's no big deal!"

"Well, it kinda is, cause you dragged me in here when I have a load of better things to be-"

"Listen," Draco leaned forward menacingly, shocking her into silence. "The cabinet isn't working, okay? The apple is gone, and when I wrote to mother and asked her about it, she said one hadn't come through. Whatever goes in there is getting lost at the moment."

Cassia had been thinking about the apple, but hadn't said anything. If it was gone... their chances were scuppered.

"So listen, we're going another way," Draco said, drawing a package from his pocket. It was relatively flat, brown paperd, rectangular package.

"What th-?"

Draco unfolded the brown paper to reveal a... necklace?

Cassia frowned as she saw it. It was beautiful, with bluey-green opals and small square gems attached to it. Instinctively, Cassia reached out to touch i-

"No!" Draco said rather quickly, drawing the necklace away.

Cassia frowned. "What? Can I not touch it?"

"It's cursed, idiot!" Draco told her. "It'll kill whoever touches it. I just have to get it to Dumbledore somehow..."

"Wh- are you crazy?!" Cassia demanded. "That could get into anybody's hands, and you want to- to release it to someone?"

"Shut up," Draco snapped. "I've got a plan."

"Oh, I'm so glad," Cassia bit back.

Draco stomped hard on her foot.

"You need to remember," he snarled, voice low and threatening. "That I'm in charge here. Not you."

Cassia held his gaze, just as fierce. "So then tell me the plan."

Draco stared at her.

"It's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend," he said eventually. "And this is where you come in."

Oh... shit.

Cassia had known it was going to happen. She knew that eventually, she would be dragged straight into the middle of the mess and she wouldn't be able to get out. Not that she was able to at the moment, but still.

"I stole some of the polyjuice potion in Slughorn's class, and it changes you into a teenage girl," Draco said. "You just have to hide out in the bathroom at the Three Broomsticks and hand the necklace to the first trustworthy Hogwarts student that comes by, but make sure that they're going to give it to Dumbledore. Make sure of it."

Cassia stared at him in disbelief.

He'd gone mad. He'd actually gone mad. This plan was based completely on his madness and desperation.

"Dr- Draco," she stammered. "I- I can't-"

"Oh really?" Draco towered over her, voice threatening. "Because from what I saw, you swore you'd help me. And that's... what you're going... to do."

Cassia was shocked. He was crazy, it was confirmed.

"Why can't you do it?" She questioned.

"Because I need an alibi," her brother snarled. "And that's what I'll be doing, when you're giving someone the necklace. People might be watching me, but no one would ever suspect you."

Cassia stared at him, her top lip quivering. He was right. No one would suspect her, but... it just made the betrayal worse.

"I'll see you on Saturday," Draco said, pulling back from her. "Three Broomsticks. Two o'clock."

But as he turned round, Cassia shook her head.

"Draco," she said. "This... this is fucking mad. An idiot can see how desperate you a-"

"Is it a wonder why?!"

Draco's head whipped round, and Cassia was expecting angry eyes, and a snarl. Instead, she was met with cloudy, conflicted eyes, and a desperate expression. Her brother was being vulnerable, but in the wrong way.

"You don't understand," Draco's lip curled as tears appeared in his eyes. "You- you didn't see him... didn't look into his eyes..."

He looked at her, advancing towards her.

"He threatened to kill mother," he said. "And father... and you, Cassia. He- he said you'd all die if I didn't m-manage to-"

"LET HIM FUCKING KILL US, THEN!" Cassia was screaming in his face, her shout echoing all around the room. "Let him! I don't see him threatening YOUR life, you coward!"

Draco looked at her, for once shocked out his life.

"Cassia-"

"Shut it," Cassia snapped. "Hogsmeade, Three Broomsticks, two o'clock, right?"

She didn't even see his nod.

Because she was already out the door.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Cassia had cried herself to sleep on Friday night.

She'd never felt this low before.

To be honest, she didn't think she'd ever reach heights again.

She was about to do something that could possibly kill Dumbledore, or... anyone.

It could even reach Harry's hands. Not that he would walk into the girls' bathroom, but... someone could still give it to him. He could still touch it.

And she didn't even want to think about that.

She'd handled her disappearance just fine, however. She'd told the others that she was going to meet Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin who was friends with her family, at two. It'd be a perfect opportunity for her to sneak away, but she'd just have to make sure her friends, or boyfriend, didn't see her sneaking into the Three Broomsticks.

As for Daphne, she was going to send Draco to her to tell her she was caught up in something. If all went to plan, Daphne would never knew she was ditching her to go try kill Dumbledore. Nor would her friends.

And just thinking that in her head, she wanted to cry.

But she was trying not to, because right now, it was ten, and not two, and the ground was covered in thick snow and Cassia was marching through it in her boots and wooly hat and scarf right now, arm linked with Poppy's, other hand in Harry's, and listening to Hermione rant on.

"For weeks you carry that book around, practically sleeping with it, and yet you have no desire to find out who the Half Blood Prince is!"

"I didn't say I wasn't curious and I don't sleep with it!" Harry objected.

"It's true!" Ron, who was on Hermione's other side, snorted. "I like a nice chat before I go to bed, but now all you do is read that bloody book!"

"Ooh, jealous, Cass?" Poppy poked her friend in the side.

"Shut up," Cassia smiled, glad the cold wind was turning her cheeks red and disguising her blush.

Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. "Well, I was curious, so I went to-"

"-the library," the other four finished for her, causing her to look round at them, half amused, half irritated.

"And?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows.

Hermione sighed. "And nothing. I couldn't find a reference anywhere to a Half Blood Prince."

She spoke the name as if it was something foul in her mouth.

But Harry said. "There we go, that settles it, then."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Filius!" A shout from ahead made them look up, seeing Professor Flitwick walking hurriedly out of Hogsmeade, and Professor Slughorn passing him.

"I was hoping to find you in the Three Broomsticks!" Slughorn continued.

"Uh, no- emergency choir practice, I'm afraid, Horace," Flitwick said quickly. Cassia chuckled gently, knowing this was an excuse.

Harry sighed. "Right, what are we going to do?"

❦︎❦︎❦︎

It was ten to two.

Cassia was checking her watch every five seconds, making sure she was reading it right.

For three hours, she'd been walking round Hogsmeade with her friends (and boyfriend) and it'd been really good.

Unfortunately, this was now the moment she was being brought back to reality.

"Right, I need to meet Daphne at two, so what are you guys gonna do whilst I'm away?" Cassia asked gently, trying to keep them as far away from her plan as possible.

"Well, I was thinking," Harry smiled over at her. "We can go to the Three Broomsticks, and have a butterbeer whilst we wait for you. You can go and see Daphne then come back, the you can walk up with us."

Shit.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit-

This hadn't been part of her plan.

"O-okay," she managed, smiling slightly.

But it wasn't.

It really, really wasn't.

Because if Harry, Ron, Hermione and Poppy were going to be in the Three Broomsticks... then one of the two girls, or any of them, could recieve or just touch the necklace.

And she couldn't let it be one of them. She couldn't.

"Brilliant," Harry was grinning at her.

Cassia nodded. "I- I told Daphne I'd meet her at Honeyduke's, so that's as easy walk."

"Do you want me to walk with you?" Harry asked.

"No," Cassia said immediately. "Uh- no, I mean- I'll be fine. You should just go get a drink."

Harry smiled at her, and fuck her he looked so good, before leaning in slightly and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "See you later," he murmured, smiling gently against her.

And Cassia tried to smile, really tried to, but she couldn't. But it was hard to do that when her heart was racing at a thousand miles per hour and her whole body was quivering. And not with the cold weather.

Because inside, all she felt was guilt and betrayal.

"See you," Cassia said, drawing back to smile at Harry before waving at Poppy, Ron and Hermione, who smiled back.

She turned, heading away from them and down the road.

Just as the first tear slipped down her cheek.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

She'd doubled back by now.

It had taken about five minutes for her friends to go into the Three Broomsticks, and Cassia had been standing, shivering profusely in her billowing cloak, watching them from afar.

When they'd finally gone in, Cassia had crept towards the door, spying in. The pub was packed, with barely a space to move inside it.

Good.

So now Cassia would be able to sneak past everyone and evade her friends.

So now she could execute the plan.

So now she could kill Dumbledore.

The tears were threatening to come again.

As she watched Harry, Ron, Hermione and Poppy get their table, far away from the stairs up to the toilets, the clock behind the bar struck two.

Cassia winced, trying to hide her face as she entered the bar, pushing through the thick crowd. She had to get up to the toilets without being spotted.

When she got the the stairs she practically ran up them, as they were the only empty place in the whole building.

She climbed them with an emotion that was more than dread pooling in her stomach. She was hyperventilating, and her palms were sweating, and her whole body was shaking.

She didn't want to do this.

She didn't want to turn her back on Harry, or on Poppy, or on any of them.

She reached the girls' bathroom absolutely terrified, desperately trying to stop shaking. She stumbled over to the sink, gripping it, her knuckles turning white-

"You're here."

Wait, what?

That wasn't Draco's voice.

Cassia turned to see a small-ish, spot faced, brunette girl, in the open stall behind her.

"Wha-?"

"It's me, you idiot," Draco, or girl Draco, snapped. "I took polyjuice potion to get in here, and you're going to become the same girl. Take this," he handed her a vial of a muddy green, not appetising potion. Cassia wrinkled her nose.

She hesitated in extending her hand.

This was it. This was her first direct act of betrayal. Her first act of betrayal that could perhaps influence everything from now on.

And, looking down at the polyjuice potion she was about to take, she wasn't sure if she could play both sides anymore.

But too bad the side she didn't want to play was the one she had to.

"Take it."

Her brother's voice may be higher and more girly, but that didn't matter. It was still as bitchy and commanding as usual.

So Cassia took the vial and, without hesitation this time, downed the whole thing. It tasted vile, and she almost gagged on it, but eventually she managed to swallow it down.

"Eugh," she said. "That was disgusti-"

However, she stopped in the middle of her planned rant, because she felt her skin start to morph and change, and her hair grow shorter and her voice sound squeakier.

She felt no regret in shoving Draco to the side, standing in front of the mirror.

Because staring back at her was not Cassia Malfoy.

Staring back at her was the same small-ish, spot faced, brunette girl Draco was playing.

Except Draco wasn't playing her anymore.

Because as she looked behind her, she saw her bother was back to his bleach blonde, snake eyed and smirk faced self.

And it was her that was the girl now.

Draco smirked in his too-small robes, moving closer to her and hissing. "I need to get changed. See you back at Hogwarts, without this package."

And with that, he handed her the necklace package, and headed out the room.

"B-but wait-" Cassia started, stuttering. "How do I-?"

But the door was already slamming.

She was alone.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

It didn't take her long to work out how she was going to do it.

But it took her a while to get to grips with everything.

So there she was, sat in a cubicle, necklace in the package on her lap, head in her hands, sobbing gently.

About four girls had come into the bathroom, but she'd been frozen, deadly silent, for all of them. She didn't want to give the necklace to anyone, and risk them getting hurt.

She didn't know what to do.

And if it was Hermione that came into the toilets, if it was Poppy... she wasn't sure what she would do.

Knock, knock

Cassia jumped as someone knocked on her cubicle door.

"Hey, uh..." a voice said. "You... okay in there?"

Cassia recognised that voice.

Outside this cubicle was Katie Bell, who chased with her on the Gryffindor quidditch team.

And she couldn't give her the necklace, she just couldn't-

But as she checked her watch, she saw she had fifteen minutes left before she reverted back to her own self, and she also needed time to get herself out the bathroom and get out the pub before she went back to meet her friends.

If she could even them call that.

So, in short, she was time constricted, she was tearing herself apart, and she wasn't sure what to do.

But she didn't want to give the necklace to someone she knew.

"Y- yeah," she croaked. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"No, no come out," Katie begged. "Please, I want to help you. What's wrong?"

I can't do this-

You have to.

But I-

You have to.

No, listen, I need-

YOU HAVE TO!

The words were screamed inside her brain, and she couldn't handle it. Yes, she had to do this, but she couldn't at the same time.

Yet, her hand was extending to unlock the door.

As the lock clicked out of place, Cassia opened the cubicle door, and was met with a concerned and earnest Katie Bell.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Y-yeah," Cassia nodded, looking down, squeezing her eyes shut and begging Katie would just leave.

"No, you're not," the girl was persistent, however. "What's that? On your lap?"

No-

"It's- it's-" Cassia stammered.

And later, she would tell herself she didn't have a choice.

She would tell herself she was bound to this mission, and couldn't fail it.

But she would be wrong.

Because there was always a choice.

"It's a package for Professor Dumbledore," Cassia told Katie, her voice thick with emotion. "But I- I'm too scared to go speak to him myself."

Katie shrugged.

Take the bait, part of Cassia was screaming. Come on, take it, and then I'm okay...

But part of her was yelling. Don't take it! Don't. Fucking. Take. It.

"Well-"

Don't.

"I could always take it to him."

Cassia fought against more tears as she physically felt her heart shatter into bits. She looked up at Katie. "You will, really?"

Katie smiled gently. "Yeah, really. Out of curiosity, what's inside it?"

Cassia tensed slightly.

"It's just- just from my mother," she said. "I don't know. Just don't open it, and please give it to Dumbledore."

Katie frowned slightly. "But-"

"Please," Cassia repeated. "Please take it... and take it straight to Dumbledore, please."

Katie was now deeply confused. "So- so- I just take this to Dumbledore? That's it?"

Cassia nodded. "Yeah, that's it."

"Okay," Katie nodded. "I'll do that for you. Will you be okay here?"

Cassia nodded instantly. "Y- yeah. I'll be fine."

Katie nodded, smiling. "Okay- uh... what's your name?"

Cassia had decided this about a minute after she had changed appearance.

"Chloe."

Katie grinned at her. "Okay, Chloe. See you later."

Cassia smiled warmly at her as she left.

Until she was out of eyesight.

Then Cassia collapsed against the wall, chest heaving, eyes flowing with tears and her whole world shattering.

She would never come back from this.