In the days before Christmas that followed, quite a lot happened.

Poppy, Parvati and Padma left that night to go and be with the Order and hopefully see their mum. In the meantime, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cassia and the rest of the Weasleys remained at the castle until the holidays began.

Lucky for Cassia, Draco left early the morning they started, so that left her and the others free to use the fire in Dumbledore's office to get to Grimmauld Place by floo power.

As soon as they got to the house, Cassia wasn't even given a chance to explore it before a teary Poppy was running at her, hugging her tightly and informing her that her mum would be okay.

"She's in St Mungo's," she explained. "She's bandaged and still a bit bloody, but otherwise okay."

Cassia had been relieved to hear this, and after Poppy had finished telling her, she embraced Harry just as tightly.

"Thank you so much," she whispered tearily into his shoulder. "If it wasn't for you, they might not've got there in time."

Harry had brushed her off, of course, but when Parvati and Padma hugged him just as much, he looked like he started to believe it.

After all this, Cassia had been taken on a tour of the house, seeing the old drawing room, the kitchen, where everyone ate, that had a long table that furnished around thirty when needed, the bedrooms (one of which Cassia would share with Poppy, Hermione and Ginny. Parvati and Padma were in a separate one) and other dusty, old rooms that they were allowed to take her in.

The house itself was interesting, as it was invisible to muggles and also to wizards that weren't in on the fidellius charm. Apparently, residents of Grimmauld Place had longsince stopped wondering why number twelve was missing in the row.

But anyway, Cassia spent most of the run up to Hogwarts lazing around the house, and meeting other Order members such as Tonks, Cassia's apparent cousin. Her mother, Andromeda, was Narcissa's sister and Cassia's godmother, but Andromeda had been disowned after she had married a muggle called Ted Tonks. Nymphadora, their daughter, was part of the Order and was also a metamorphagus, able to change her appearance at will. Cassia had a hoot of a time with her as she changed her nose into a pig snout and her mouth into a duck beak.

Needless to say, Cassia had shoved her and Harry's relationship out her mind for now, just acting normal around him, and she was actually succeeding at it.

Christmas Day came around quicker than expected, and it was even more special, because it was the day Pippa was coming home.

Everyone reacted amazingly to her return. She had come hobbling in the front door in her crutches, her face still a bit scabbed but no bandages adorned on her body anymore, and immediately, her three girls had ran to hug her.

"Mum!" They all yelled, running at her and almost tackling her over.

"Whoa! Be careful, I'm delicate now!" Pippa chuckled, hugging her daughters tightly. "I've missed you three!"

"We've missed you too, mum," smiled Poppy.

"Yeah, it's been boring without you here," agreed Parvati.

"Yeah, there was no one here to tell us off," laughed Padma.

After Pippa had given her daughter a joking slap for this, everyone else got in. Cassia hugged the woman tightly and greeted her, having not seen her in around two years.

"I've missed you, Cassia," Pippa told the girl. "Though I think I heard your name enough from this lot during the holidays to feel your presence!"

She gestured to Poppy, Hermione, Harry and Ron, who all either rolled their eyes or smiled.

As Cassia hugged Pippa again and let all the others in, they crowded round her, all giving her a hug and a wish of good luck for her recovery.

Then Pippa came to Harry, smiling wryly.

"I hear I've got you to thank for not getting killed," she said to him.

Harry shrugged. "I guess."

"Oh, come here!" Pippa smiled, hugging Harry tightly and grinning.

But the best reaction by far was Sirius'. After all the kids had spoken to her, he got his own chance, and didn't waste it.

He ran straight up to her, grabbing her face gently and kissing her passionately, in front of the kids and everything.

"Called it!" Poppy was the first to recover, yelling.

"Shut up!" Sirius yelled at her, only breaking away from Pippa's lips for a moment to.

"Ron, you owe me five galleons!" Poppy also yelled, causing everyone to laugh.

Cassia, however, was pleased to see Pippa and Sirius finally happy together. Their romance had sort of been doomed between other men and Azkaban, so it was nice to see that they had fought for their love and now had it again.

What she really meant was that, living in a loveless house with parents that married out of necessity, it was nice to see that love like that existed. That it was real.

Cause she had never really had an example of that.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

By lunch, everyone was sitting round the table, exchanging presents and enjoying each other's company.

Cassia had never really had a family Christmas like this one before, with love and food and trees and presents. And everyone was acting like it was so unremarkable, so normal, when to her it really wasn't.

She watched as Mrs Weasley handed out all her jumpers that she apparently knitted for everyone every year. Cassia hadn't expected to recieve one.

"Oh, and for you, Cassia dear," Molly said as she handed her the last package.

"I- what?" Cassia asked, taking the package.

"Well, I make one for the kids every year," Molly shrugged. "I mean, this year we've got the Patils and you and obviously Harry and Hermione but... there's no difference, you're still family."

This alone almost made Cassia burst into tears.

She didn't though, and joined in in putting her jumped on, finding out she had got purple with a green C and Poppy green with a purple P. Molly had matched them.

She laughed at Ron's present; a furry jacket with his inital stitched on, and joined in with the teasing, exchanging a knowing glance with Harry. Inside, her stomach swooped at the look she recieved back, but then her cheeks started to go red and she quickly looked away.

As everyone else exchanged their presents, Cassia earned a small pocket mirror from Hermione, a new perfume from Ginny, a Skiving Snackbox from Fred and George and loads of sweets from everyone else. She wasn't complaining. This was the best she'd felt at Christmas in a long time, and especially as she gave everyone her presents... it just added to the good feeling.

However, there was one person who hadn't given her a present. And that same person was one she hadn't given his present to.

She had intended to take Harry aside, to talk to him properly.

But she was interrupted.

"A Christmas toast!" Pippa called suddenly, raising her glass high up in the air. "To Mr Harry Potter, without whom, I would not be here. Harry!"

"Harry!" Everyone called in unison.

"Harry!" Sirius said with a smirk from the doorway, winking and raising his glass.

Cassia sighed and looked down. She wanted to talk to Harry, to tell him how much he meant to her, how much she liked hi-

"Cass?"

He had beat her to it, it seemed, as Harry tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yeah, Potter?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Can you... come with me?" Harry asked somewhat nervously.

"Yeah, course," Cassia nodded, swinging herself off the bench and getting up.

Well, that's the hard part over, Cassia tried to convince herself as she walked with Harry out the kitchen.

Now it's just the easy part, I guess?

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Cassia's heart was thumping so loud she feared Potter would hear it as she faced him in a small room just off the first floor landing. The wallpaper seemed to be some sort of tree pattern, but she wasn't looking at it.

Because she was looking at him.

"Um-" Harry stuttured. "So, listen, I- I put a bit of thought into your present, and I really tried to find something that you'd like," he explained. "So I'm sorry if you don't."

Cassia scoffed. "Harry, I'm not going to kill you if it's terrible."

"Well, I hope it isn't," Harry told her, a small thrill running through him at her saying his name, handing her a small, nicely wrapped present.

Cassia frowned, taking it and beginning to unwrap it.

Once the paper was off, a small, black box was revealed. Cassia's heart beat even faster.

"Harry, this is a... jewellery box."

"I know," she couldn't hear Harry's heart, but safe to say it was beating as fast as hers. "Open it, Cass."

She did, and inside it, nestled on the small cushion, was a silver necklace.

It was beautiful. It was a heart, with a smaller heart inside it, the small one encrusted with diamonds. Cassia gasped just looking at it.

"Harry, it's... it's amazing," she gasped, looking up at the nervous boy. "Are you serious?"

"Well, yeah," Harry shrugged.

"How did you get this?"

"Well, Poppy helped me," Harry admitted. "She described all the ones to me she thought you would like and bought it for me after visiting her mum one day."

"Holy shit," Cassia shook her head. "Um- I have something for you too but it's not on this scale."

"That's fine," Harry said, double checking. "But- I wasn't overstepping boundaries with this, right? This is okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Cassia smiled. "Can you help me put it on?"

And Harry did, his fumbling hands stringing the necklace round her as she pulled her hair to the side. Cassia smiled gently as he did, her cheeks going slightly red.

After it was on, Cassia got her present for Harry, handing it to him. It was a moderate size rectangle, but not very thick.

"There you go," she said. "It's, um... it's just a little something."

Harry nodded, tearing open the wrapping paper.

Inside was what could only be described as a photo frame, except this one was split into three, with three photos in it.

The first one was one that Colin Creevey took in second year. It was very funny to watch. In it, Cassia and Harry were arguing, and Colin had snapped the moment. Cassia's nostrils were flared and her mouth moving fast. Harry was side eyeing her, looking sassily annoyed as his mouth moved at equal speed. Cassia laughed at the picture now, but twelve year old her had screamed at Colin when she'd realised he'd taken it.

The second one was a group picture of Harry, Cassia, Hermione, Ron and Poppy in fourth year, after the second task when the papers had been wandering about, snapping pictures of anyone and anything. Cassia had asked them to at least take nice pictures and had then commanded the others to join her picture. As you watched it, it was just the five of them putting their arms around each other and laughing their heads off.

The last one had only been taken a few days ago, with an old camera they'd found in an abandoned cabinet in Grimmauld Place. It had almost been out of film, but Cassia and Harry had got one picture out of it before it finished.

It was just of the two of them, poking each other in the sides and laughing and having fun, like normal people did.

And as Harry looked at those three pictures right now, those three memories, it made his heart go absolutely nuts inside.

"Cassia..." he breathed. "It's amazing."

"Really?" Cassia asked hopefully. "I hoped it would be, but I didn't really know-"

She was cut off as Harry hugged her tightly. "It's brilliant," he murmured into her shoulder. "Better than mine."

Cassia shook her head. "You're kidding, right?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "It used to be that we would fight our own corner, not each other's."

Cassia sighed, pulling back. She looked at him for a second before saying. "Thanks, Potter. I really mean it."

Harry smiled at her, then a look took over his eyes. He seemed to be fighting a battle in his head, wondering if he should say something.

Then he took a breath. "Cassia-"

"Harry, Cassia, there you are!" Molly said as she burst into the room. "We're carving the turkey, come on!"

Cassia gave Harry a tight lipped smile, which he returned as they left the room.

She sighed, looking forward and focusing on following Molly and the smell of turkey. And, of course, trying not to think of what Potter would've said just then had they not been interrupted.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

T

he Christmas holidays sped by in a rush, and soon enough, it was time for the group to pack to go back to Hogwarts.

They'd be arriving quite early, to ensure Cassia got in before Draco did, so on the last day, they set about packing their things up.

But naturally, this bored Cassia, and she allowed herself to wander around the house a bit as she did this, eventually ending up in a small room off the stairs, with weird wallpaper that kind of looked like a... tree?

She sighed, turning round slightly and trying to clear her head. They were returning to Hogwarts, where Umbitch was, where Snape was, where Draco was. She didn't necessarily want to, because it had been nice this Christmas, to live with people that actually liked and respected her.

"Nasty brats standing there bold as brass!"

Cassia and Harry jumped at the hoarse and harsh voice behind her. Turning round and looking down, the girl saw it was a house elf that had made the sound. Clearly, one worked here, even though she'd never seen him throughout the holidays.

But this house elf didn't look like Dobby, her family's old elf, who had been very innocent and not defiant whatsoever. Well, until Harry trucked her father into giving him a sock and set him free.

But this house elf was entirely different. He had the same hooked nose, pasty skin and pointy ears, but he looked very sour and pissed off, which were qualities Dobby had never had.

"Cassia Malfoy," the elf snarled at her, even though Cassia had never spoken to him. "You had such potential to be good, Cassia, but you befriend mudbloods and blood traitors, oh if my poor mistress could see me now-"

"KREACHER!" Suddenly, Sirius was standing in the doorway, yelling the elf's name. "Enough of your bile! Away with you!"

"Of course, Master," Kreacher bowed low. "Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black."

What? Cassia frowned heavily. Black was her mother's maiden name. Had- was this-?

As Kreacher left and Sirius entered, the man said. "Sorry about that. He never was very pleasant, even when I was a boy."

"So this is- it's your old house?" Cassia frowned.

"Yes, my parents'," Sirius nodded. "I offered it to Dumbledore as Headquarters for the Order. About the only useful thing I've been able to do."

"That's not true," Cassia said instantly.

Sirius gave a small scoff.

"So, wait-" Cassia looked around the wallpaper of the tree. "Is this a-?"

"Family tree?" Sirius raised his eyebrows, nodding. "My mother liked to keep track of it, as mad as she was."

He pointed to his mother's name, Walburga Black, and then trailed his finger down to his, which was burnt through, his picture obliterated but name still present.

"What happened there?" Cassia frowned.

"My mother did it," Sirius sighed. "After I ran away when I was sixteen."

"You ran away?" Cassia was shocked. She had never heard any of this before. "Where did you go?"

"James'," Sirius shrugged. "I was always welcome at the Potter's."

Cassia couldn't help but smile at the thought of this. James had once saved Sirius like Poppy had saved her.

She frowned at the name next to Sirius'. Regulus Black.

"You have a brother?" Cassia gaped.

"Yeah," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Golden child, he was. The perfect son, perfect little Slytherin, friends all pure blood. I was just the misfit Gryffindor they tossed aside."

"Sounds familiar," Cassia couldn't help but mutter.

Sirius gave her a look, only now just realising how similar their stories were.

"And I'm not the only one scorched off here," he continued, pointing to another name. Andromeda Black. Her picture was also burned through.

"Andromeda..." Cassia murmured.

"Your godmother, I hear," Sirius nodded. "And Tonks' mother. She was disowned after she-"

"Married a muggle," Cassia nodded. "Because my- our - family's so fucking terrible."

Sirius chuckled, nodding. "But I think you see where I'm going here."

And Cassia did, as Sirius trailed his finger over the names beside Andromeda. The names that still had their pictures above them, fully formed and thriving. Bellatrix Black. And Narcissa Black.

And joined to Narcissa was a line to Lucius Malfoy.

Cassia's body stiffened at his name, and at how life like his picture was to his actual looks. I mean, her mother was accurate, and she had never met her Aunt Bellatrix properly, but her father... he just looked so real.

And as she looked below them, Cassia knew it was coming, but she wasn't sure she was ready to see it. Under Bellatrix there were no children, for she never had any. But under Narcissa, there were two. Draco Malfoy... and Cassia Malfoy.

It was just something about seeing her own name on this tree and own picture, that made Cassia want to throw up. She didn't want to be grouped in this these people, she wanted to be blasted off the bloody wall like Sirius had been!

"Don't worry," Sirius said dryly. "If my mother had been here when you'd been sorted into Gryffindor, she would've blasted your picture quicker than she blasted mine."

Cassia sighed, looking down at her picture, then sliding her eyes over to Sirius'.

"We're not too different, you know," she told the man, looking at him and explaining further. "You know. First of the family in Gryffindor. Brother's the golden, Slytherin, child. Family disappointed in everything you do."

Sirius nodded, agreeing completely.

"But listen," he said finally. "We're like this because we chose to be different, because we chose to stand out. That's not a bad thing."

Cassia looked down. "Really? Cause people have spent the last five years telling me it is."

Sirius looked at her, smiling slightly and saying. "Don't listen to them," he told her. "You don't strike me as the type to lie low and let people tell you what's good for you."

Cassia chuckled. "No, I certainly am not," she said. "But... it's just hard. Y'know... with my father and stuff."

Sirius nodded, as if he understood. Maybe his parents abused him, Cassia found herself wondering. But it wasn't really a good question to ask.

"Cassia?"

As Poppy's voice rang up the stairs, Cassia sighed, shouting back. "What?"

"There's a pair of your socks down here that Harry said he'll burn if you don't get down here!"

Cassia rolled his eyes. "Then tell Potter he can't use magic outside school!"

"No, like, he's actually going to burn them!" Poppy shouted back. "He's going to chuck them in the fireplace - Kreacher's just given permission!"

Cassia rolled her eyes, giving Sirius a knowing look before sliding out the room.

"Coming!"