Cassia soon learned that flying didn't necessarily mean brooms.

Because thestrals was how Luna proposed they ride to London, and no one had any better ideas.

I mean, it was fucking weird, riding in the air on a thing you can't see, but it was something. They'd managed to snag four thestrals, so Harry and Cassia, Poppy and Hermione, Ron and Neville and Luna and Ginny was how they split the pairs.

Cassia had a lot of help from Harry in getting up onto the thestral, but so did everyone except him, Luna and Neville (who didn't talk about how he could see them). However, once Cassia was up, she found that the experience was quite enjoyable.

She was sitting behind Harry, her arms wrapped firmly round his waist and her heart thumping against her chest (because of Sirius, of course, and nothing to do with how close she and Harry were). She could feel the thestral, but she couldn't see it, so it was just so strange.

The thestrals got them to London in around twenty minutes, dropping them off on the dark streets just outside the ministry's guest entrance.

"That was the strangest experience of my life," Cassia announced. "I think I'll stick to a broom.

Harry rolled his eyes.

Soon enough, they were in the atrium of the ministry, sprinting through it. Harry had been here in the summer for his hearing, so he knew the way.

They all had to cram into the lift, causing Cassia to be shoved up against Harry. She valiantly tried to stop her racing heart and shaking body, but she just couldn't.

Then she felt a hand grab hers.

Looking down, she saw it was Harry.

And as he squeezed it slightly and ran his thumb along her knuckles, she hoped he was thinking the same thing she was.

We're gonna save Sirius.

As the gold grating slid sideways, the woman's voice on the speaker announced it. "Department of Mysteries."

Cassia took a chance to look at where they were. The lift had taken them to the end of a black tiled, scarcely lit corridor. At the end of that corridor was a blue door, with a single big gold handle in the middle of it.

And just by the way Harry looked at it, she knew exactly what it was.

That's the door Potter's been dreaming about.

They slowly approached it, Harry saying. "This is it."

Cassia's heart was hammering against her chest, as if trying to break free. Beyond that door, Sirius was getting tortured. Beyond that door, Voldemort was there.

But, when they got inside, no screams were heard.

"Lumos," Cassia hissed, lighting her wand as everyone did the same.

Cassia frowned, looking round.

They seemed to be in a room with aisles upon aisles of shelves containing little glass orbs with white fog swirling inside them. The shelves reached the ceiling, which was way up, and were almost all filled with these orbs.

But where was Sirius?

A rumbling noise from behind made Cassia jump and turn, inching closer to Harry.

"Ninety five," the boy muttered, looking at them all. "In my- my vision, Sirius was in row ninety five."

Then before she knew it, they were running, Harry power walking at the front, Cassia desperately trying to catch up.

"Ninety one, ninety two, ninety three..." he started muttering when they got close. "Ninety four... ninety fi-"

He stopped abruptly, Cassia right next to him and the others a bit behind, at the place where Sirius had been.

"He should be here!" Harry raised his voice, calling back to the others.

But Cassia's brain was working hard, and panic was starting to set in-

"He's not here, Harry," she said in a low voice. "So we need to get out, because something's coming for us-"

"Harry," Neville's voice rang out. "There's one here with your name on it."

Harry and Cassia frowned, looking at each other and heading back to where the group was.

When they got there, to the orb Neville was pointing at, and the little tag beneath it, which Cassia got close enough to read.

S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D
Dark Lord
and (?) Harry Potter

Cassia frowned. "Harry, we need to get out of here right n-"

But instead of getting out, Harry was extending a hand towards the orb, lifting it out of its place. He looked at it in his hand, his face frozen, as everyone else stared at him in shock.

And then-

"Harry!" Cassia shouted, panic setting in.

Because, just up the aisle, only just visible in her wand light, was a death eater. They had their mask on, of course, but Cassia would recognise those robes anywhere. It was a death eater.

Harry forced his way to the front of the group, wand held out. Cassia, as well, pushed to the fore, because she wasn't letting Potter do this on his own.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry shouted, voice ringing through their ears.

The death eater, which Cassia hadn't expected to speak, started to.

"You know, you really should learn to tell the difference. Between dreams..." they said, drawing their wand and vanishing their mask. "And reality."

Cassia froze.

The panic she was feeling increased a hundredfold, and her ears started to ring, her heart thumping in them. Made sense, considering it was in her throat.

She felt herself start to shake, and inch closer to Harry. Suddenly, her whole body started to ache again, and everything that happened that summer replayed in her head.

Because the death eater before them was no longer a 'they'. It was a 'he'.

And he was her father.

"You saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see," Lucius hissed, turning to his daughter. "Ah, Cassia. It's been a while since we've caught up."

Cassia trembled, feeling so fucking vulnerable in his presence. She couldn't think, her ears were ringing and her head was hurting.

"I hear you've been very defiant this year, it's about time we snap that out of you," Lucius told her. "But don't worry, we've got plenty of time."

"Stay away from her," Harry snarled, looking Lucius right in the eye. "Stay away."

"Oh, yes, and I hear you and Potter here have been getting closer," Lucius smirked. "Another cause of punishment, I'm afraid."

Cassia's knees felt wobbly, she didn't know how much longer she could stand-

"Don't touch her," Harry said angrily. "Don't you dare touch he-"

"Calm down, Potter, let's not get agitated," Lucius snarled, popping every syllable. "Now, hand me the prophecy."

Of course, a thought in Cassia's fuzzy, hurt brain surfaced. They're not orbs, they're prophecies-

"If you do anything to us, especially Cassia, I'll break it," Harry warned.

A cackle was let out from behind Lucius, and someone else was revealed.

"He knows how to play!" The woman death eater cackled, putting on a mock baby voice. "Itty, bitty... baby Potter."

And as soon as she came out from behind Lucius, Cassia realised who she was. Maybe it was just from the papers that she recognised the mass of black curls and the gaunt, hollow cheeked face, but she recognised it nonetheless.

Her Aunt Bellatrix stood before them.

Oh fuck. To get out of this, she was going to have to somehow dodge both her aunt and father...

Who both wanted to kill her.

And she wasn't alone in recognising Bellatrix. Neville, who was stood behind her, gasped. "Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Neville Longbottom, is it?" Bellatrix smirked. "How's mum and dad?"

Fuck, she tortured Neville's parents-

"Better now they're about to he avenged-"

But Cassia stopped him as Neville raised his wand, because Bellatrix had also raised her's, and she could (and would) kill him in the blink of an eye.

"Now let's, everybody, just calm down," Lucius said. "Shall we?"

"Says the man who beats his own daughter," Harry snapped.

In a flash, Lucius had his wand raised, but it wasn't at Harry, it was at Cassia, who still hadn't said anything, and was still frozen.

"You filthy traitor!" He hissed at his daughter. "I make you a better witch, and all you do i-"

"Leave her alone," Harry snapped. "She's not the problem, you are."

Bellatrix let out another high pitched cackle.

"Oh, he's really clever, this one!" She yelled, absolutely grinning. "And Cassia dear, I almost didn't realise you were here, you know I'd get a better looking man, personally, but-"

"Bella, this is not the time!" Lucius snapped, turning to Harry. "All we want... is that prophecy."

"And why did Voldemort need me to come and get this?" Harry demanded.

"You dare speak his name," Bellatrix hissed, facing him. "YOU FILTHY HALF BLOOD!"

Cassia jumped back slightly.

"It's alright, Bella, he's just a curious lad, that's all," Lucius shrugged, voice low. "Prophecies can only be retrieved by those about whom they are made. Which is lucky, for you, really."

The group was moving about now, because more death eaters in masks were approaching them behind, and the sides. Poppy, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Neville were all turned round, with their wands raised, but Cassia was still frozen and Harry was still talking to Lucius and Bellatrix.

"Haven't you always wondered what was the reason for the connection, between you... and the Dark Lord? Hm?" Lucius whispered, advancing forwards slowly. "Why he was unable to kill you when you were just an infant?"

As he came closer, Cassia started backing away, remembering the feeling of his fist flying into her face-

"Don't you want to know the secret... of your scar?" Lucius hissed. "All the answers are there, Potter, in your hand. All you have to do... is give it to me... and I can show you everything."

Harry stepped in front of Cassia, slightly, as Lucius reached them, leering over him.

As death eaters approached them on all sides, only one thought surfaced in Cassia's mind.

Don't give it to him.

"I've waited fourteen years," Harry said to Lucius.

"I know..." the man smirked.

"I guess I can wait a little longer - NOW!" Harry yelled.

All at once, every single DA member except Cassia fired a stunning spell at the death eaters approaching them.

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!"

Of course, most of the death eaters deflected these, smashing some nearby prophecies, but it did clear the way for the group to run.

However, Cassia was still stuck in place, frozen, heart thumping.

"Cassia!" Harry yelled, running towards her and grabbing her arm. "Cass, come on! It's okay, I'm right here- we need to get out-"

The group quickly split up, all trying to find the exit. Harry and Cassia ran round the corner, only to find a trail of black smoke transforming into Lucius, holding his hand our. The black smoke was a way for the death eaters to travel, Cassia knew, and they were using it here.

Harry, still holding the prophecy, led Cassia through an aisle, both of them running for their lives.

Then Lucius materialised right in front of Cassia, punching her in the jaw.

"ARGH!" She let out a strangled sound of pain as she fell to the ground.

"CASSIA!" Harry yelled, running to her and helping her up, whispering. "It's okay, I'm here, I'm right here- stupefy!"

As he blasted Lucius backwards, Cassia tried to ignore the pain in her jaw and the swelling that would no doubt start happening in a moment.

"Cassia-" Harry said, helping her. "Cassia, please-"

He stopped as a half materialised death eater started flying alongside them, body half gone in the black smoke. Harry tried to outrun it but it was futile, he couldn't do i-

"Stupefy!"

Cassia, low and behold, had drawn her wand whilst running, and had managed to hit the death eater right in the face, stopping him from hurting Cassia.

Completely unaware of how Harry was looking at her, they ran up the aisle, eventually hitting into the others with a scream.

"Urgh!"

"Aa-"

"Argh-!"

Cassia slammed straight into Poppy, wrapping her arms around her. "Thank god..." she uttered, looking around. They were all here, all eight of them. None of them had been deterred.

But, looking down the aisle, not many of the death eaters had been deterred either. There was a load of black smoke down the aisle, and it was all coming towards them-

"REDUCTO!"

Just because Cassia had been frozen for most of the past ten minutes, didn't mean she was any less of a badass, as she had just proved. Her reductor curse produced a bright light, shooting all the way down and exploding right near the black smoke.

The problem was, this caused most of the tall, tall shelves to crash in on themselves, prophecies raining from them and crashing to the ground.

Next thing she knew, they were running.

"GET BACK TO THE DOOR!" Harry yelled, all of them trying to get out before the prophecies started falling on them-

Row after row after row, they smashed and fell and filled the whole room with white smoke and bright light. Cassia didn't look behind her, though, because they needed to leave-

And they did leave. They found a door, right in the middle of the aisle, but the thing is, this door wasn't the one they came in, so-

Next thing Cassia knew, she was falling. She didn't register much more, but she did register that. She was falling.

Down... down... down.