The New Scar

Chapter Four

It seemed that the four of us sat there in the 5^th year girl's dormitory for quite some time in silence. Then I, feeling again the hate of bated breath, spoke. "You saw...me?"

Harry nodded, although the pain in his head seemed to be unbearable. I realized that the pain in my arm was just as bad, but I was already growing numb to its white-hotness. "You and Hermione..." he took another couple of deep breaths. "And...a-and..."

Ron put his hand out on Harry's shoulder. "It's ok Harry. We'd better get back up to our dorm. Come on." He lifted his best friend up by his armpit and had Harry lean against him; his head drooped over once again, as they left.

I was on the verge of sobs, when I broke loose, not able to hold them back any longer. Hermione took me in her arms and we embraced like the good friends that we were. I wanted to go back home. I didn't want to know that an evil wizard was hunting me down. I wanted none of this to be real.

As Hermione let go and went back to her own bed, and I lay down again, I wanted to wake up in my dormitory at Shawmain, and see all of my old friends again. I just wanted it to be a dream.

<*>

In the few weeks that followed, the "dream" that I wanted life to be, progressed. Classes kept at a normal pace. I was ahead of most people in almost all of them, but it had become a friendly competition between Hermione and me. Snape, according to the other three, was acting very oddly. Some days, Potions was cancelled, and others, he just didn't show up. I overlooked this because the nights were just as worse as the days.

After that one night where I had just discovered the new pains that Harry and I shared, they got ever so slightly worse. Harry was pulled out of classes to go to the hospital wing, but we all knew that nothing could be done for the pain.

As for me, I was taken to the wing only a few times. I had learned to deal with pain since that night the Death Eaters attacked our innocent muggle town...

...The car was lifted from my small body, and before me was a masked wizard in black robes. He pointed his wand at me and yelled, "Imperio!," with a hint of amusement in his voice. I was lifted in the air with another unrecognizable spell behind me. A nasty voice came from the back of my mind. Take off your pants.

I had answered it. No thanks; I think that I'll keep them on.

Take them off!! Now!

No.

After refusing the voice, I was thrown against a house. Even as a 4-year-old though, I was strong for my age. I slid down the wall and was unconscious for the rest of the massacre. I don't know what happened to me, if anything happened at all...

It was one Saturday at lunch when these thoughts came floating back to me as fresh as ever. I must have zoned out or something because I noticed that half of my corned beef sandwich was gone when I zoned back in. I looked at Ron as the sides of his mouth were bulging out. "What?" he asked with unbelievable innocence. I shook my head and smiled overlooking it. I wasn't that hungry anyway.

I looked around the Great Hall. Again, that "home" feeling began to take over. I felt unstoppable, invincible...Protected once again.

Hermione stood up from the bench. "Shall we go and visit Hagrid then?"

Visits to Hagrid had become routine. Over the weekends the four of us would walk down to his hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He'd greet us along with his boarhound Fang, (whom had grown an unmistakable liking for me.) and pour tea and serve the occasional treacle fudge (which I had learned the hard way not to eat unless I'm in the desert without food or water.). I was amazed at how such a gruff looking man was such a gentle creature.

As we walked out to his hut, I was, again struck with the feeling of vulnerability. It was stronger this time than last, and I stopped in my tracks. The other three kept going, but Hermione looked back. "Cassie?"

The two boys turned around and followed Hermione over to me. "What's the matter?" she asked. "Is it your scar again?"

I was afraid to speak, so I just shook my head. I stood stock-still and said, "Just under the main doors, behind me, there's a big dog sitting there. Right?"

In my peripheral vision, I saw Hermione look behind me at the door. There was a pause of shock. I felt it in the air.

"How did you know that?" Harry asked in amazement. He caught my eye and I loosened my stiffness.

Again, I was caught off guard because of something that I didn't know that I could do. "I-I don't know."

I felt another feeling tingling all the way up and down my backside. "It's coming this way."

After a few seconds of silence, Ron's voice broke through. "HEY SIRIUS!" He was cut off abruptly after he called the name. Harry grabbed Ron's arm and put his hand over his mouth.

"It's Snuffles. Ok?!" he hissed at Ron. "You say that name here and someone is gonna find out."

I turned to the dog which was now only about a yard away from me. "You mean...that's Sirius? Your godfather?"

The huge black dog bolted into the Forbidden Forest.

The three of them followed as fast as they could. I wasn't sure what to do. At first I just stared after them. Then I looked at Hagrid's inviting hut, with smoke curling softly out of its chimney. Finally, I made my decision and sprinted after Sirius, and the others.

After I had gone into the forest a few yards, I started walking and calling their names. "Hey, Harry! Ron?" after I had called their names for a few minutes, I just stood in a small clearing.

I looked around. No one was in sight. All of a sudden, something grabbed me by the back of the arms and threw my back against a tree. A man grabbed my shoulders and pressed me into the trunk. "What the hell are you doing here?! You trying to get Harry killed?!" The man was unmistakably Sirius Black. He was very thin, but incredibly strong. His hair was thin, and shoulder length.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him. His face was just inches from mine. Behind him, I saw Hermione, Harry, and Ron come out of the tangle of bushes. "Sirius!" Harry started. "What are you doing?"

I put my hands on Sirius's wrists to try and pull his grip off of me. His face turned to Harry who had come up behind him. "Why are you hanging around with another Scar?"

"Another what?" asked Harry, clearly as confused as I was.

Finally, Sirius let go of my shoulders, and instead grabbed my right arm and yanked it out from my robes. "Scar," he simply grunted and showed him.

"Sirius, just calm down and tell us what's going on." Harry put his hand on his godfather's shoulder.

During the next few tense minutes, we had all calmed down, and were standing with Sirius listening to him explain his actions.

"You my friend," he started, indicating me. "Are considered a rarity in Voldemort's circle. After what happened with Harry 14 years ago, Voldemort just went after him. You..." he sighed. "I think that Voldemort was just waiting until he found out where you were, then would come after you after he had finished Harry off."

I was full of questions. "How is Harry in danger if he's with me then?"

Sirius shook his head and looked at the forest floor. "Have your scars ever hurt?"

Ron blurted out. "Oh yeah. Loads of time. These two seem to time it every night or so."

Hermione looked at him sternly, "Ron!"

"What? It's true."

"Never mind Ron." Sirius said. "I'm not surprised. I'm sure that both of them have hurt before. When so close together, they sort of...emit a signal that usually results in pain."

Hermione looked shocked. "How can you know all this? I've looked in hundreds of books and never found anything."

Sirius smiled quite eerily. "Its just logic though isn't it? Why did you think that they were in pain together? I've been keeping an eye on you Harry. I know that you don't want me too, but what with Voldemort around..." He eyed his godson narrowly. "Can't be too careful."

Harry replied. "I know Sirius. I'm not going to go looking for trouble. And I'll stay close to Hermione, Ron and Cassie."

Sirius nodded in approval, obviously over looking the hint of sarcasm in Harry's voice. He looked at me. "As for you. I know that I don't have authority over you, but still...Just keep an eye out for yourself and Harry."

"I will." After that, Sirius transfigured back into a dog, and ran off into the forest.

"Hope that he doesn't go too far in. Aragog...you know." Ron said.

<*>

After the incident with Sirius, I had been seeing him everywhere, outside and as close to Harry and I as possible.

"It's like I'm seeing death omens everywhere and I'm gonna die." I had told Harry one day. I was worried, and I'm sure that Harry was too, that someone would spot Sirius lurking around the castle. But we had been lucky thus far to prevent this from happening to go out of our way once in a while to block him from view.

Classes came and went throughout the course of the day as blurs in my life. I was excelling in most, tailing Hermione, and since that was apparently the best that I could do, I just left my grades where they were.

One day after Charms, I was walking with Ron to the common room to get a forgotten textbook of his, while Hermione and Harry went to Transfiguration. We were, you could say, "jumped" by a two Slytherins. I was slammed into the wall by Malfoy, (who else?), and Ron was pounced to the ground. "We already have a Scar here," the Slytherin whispered in my ear. "You're just gonna make everything worse." I looked to my side and saw Ron being straddled by a larger Slytherin. I turned back to Draco.

"Get your scummy hands off of me, dirt bag," I said through gritted teeth.

Malfoy smiled slyly and moved his head closer to mine, his eyes glinting with malice...

"Draco!" Percy Weasley came running down the hallway. The Slytherin boy on Ron scattered off down the corridor. Percy pulled his bother up and came over to Draco and me. He wrenched his hands away from my shoulders. "Get off to class," he demanded. Draco cast me a glare, and walked off down the hallway.

I sighed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Percy. I don't know what I would have done..."

"What were you two doing in the hallways? You're supposed to be in class." Percy cut me off.

"Well Perce," Ron started. " We were getting... hey wait a minute. What are you doing here? Class started a few minutes ago."

At that moment, a Ravenclaw girl walked out of an empty classroom. "Percy?" She whispered as she straightened her tie. When she saw the three of us, she looked surprised and began to flatten her ruffled hair.

As Ron and I had both been looking at her, our heads both turned in unison to Percy and each raised an eyebrow and smiled a little bit.

Percy looked nervously to each of us and became stiff. "Yes...well...Ron, you had better head to the hospital wing. Cassie, why don't you take him? And...umm, I'll tell Professor McGonagall that you won't be to her class." And with that he cleared his throat, and ushered himself and the girl out of the hallway.

I took Ron to the hospital wing, each of us unable to contain our laughter.

When we got there, Madame Pomfrey didn't ask anything, she just took care of Ron. I noticed that he had a cut on his temple and it was bleeding. Also, just under his eye was a black and blue bruise.

I sat with Ron while Madame Pomfrey went in back to get the antidote for a swelling solution.

"Does that happen to Gryffindors a lot?" I asked Ron as he held some gauze to his cut.

He shook his head in what looked like disbelief. "No. Never. Usually they just call us names or put on simple hexes, but...this was unexpected."

I looked off into the air in front of me and said, more to myself than Ron, "Why would they do that?"

Ron shook his head again, "I don't know." He took a sharp intake of breath. I looked back at him. "Move the gauze Ron." He did, and I saw that the cut had turned a sickening shade of green.

"Good Lord. Madame Pomfrey!"

She came dashing into the room. "What is it?"

"The question is, 'What the hell is it?'" I brushed Ron's bangs from his head and showed her the gash.

She dropped the antidote and it shattered and splashed on the floor. "Oh my word! How did this happen?"

Before I could stop myself, I answered, "Malfoy." Ron closed his eyes in both pain and disappointment.

Madame Pomfrey looked at me in very slight surprise. "Draco Malfoy?"

"No." Ron said quickly. "It must have been someone else."

"In Slytherin?" She inquired.

"Were not sure," I caught on. "Could have been."

She didn't push. Ron and I were both glad that she didn't. Madame Pomfrey hustled to the back room once again.

I sat down on the bed and stared at the cut. "What'd he do to you Ron?"

"I-I don't know," he stammered out. "There was obviously something in the knife."

I heaved out a heavy sigh. "It's all my fault," I breathed quietly. "If I hadn't come here..." I paused for a few seconds. "A scar Ron!" I pulled back the arm of my robes and revealed it, once again. "What does this thing mean? It's just a permanent scratch on my skin. Nothing more! Why does everyone make it out to be such a horrendous thing?"

I'd never been more worked up because of anger and confusion. This was my life, but there were so many people controlling it! I had no choice but to come to Hogwarts, even though I didn't want to. But I knew that if I protested, it would be rejected. I was being kept from safety, and love in America. Here, I was across an ocean of water, problems, and emotions. Swimming across would prove impossible.

<*>

A few weeks later, Ron's forehead was looking better, although there was still a tinge of green around the cut. Madame Pomfrey had given it some swelling solution, and it went down. But a huge feeling in my gut, as well as Ron and Harry's I'm sure, told me that it was something acting as a swelling potion.

"Oh Cassie, you're just being ridiculous." Hermione and I were sitting outside by the lake on an early fall afternoon after classes.

"Come on Hermione! If it was just a swelling potion, it would have been gone by now."

She looked out over the lake and her eyes sort of glazed over, not really focusing on anything. "I know that Slytherins are...unrefined at some points..."

I scoffed. "Interesting word choice."

"...But they wouldn't do something like that. Not right under full-teacher supervision."

I sighed. "It was an empty hallway Hermione. Anyone could have been picked off."

We stood in silence for a while. Not an uncomfortable one, but it was silence. Silence that suggested that one of us was walking around the obvious, and the other was walking right into obviousness itself.

Hermione took a small breath and hesitated on her next words, "What did Malfoy do to you?"

I didn't answer right away. I contemplated on the best words to describe the harsh yet smooth words that he used. "He pinned me against the wall...got really close, and said that I'd just make everything worse by having another Scar here. Then he...um..."

Hermione noticed the stop in my explanation and looked at me, a worry line across her forehead. "What? What did he do?"

I looked back at her. "I guess that he tried to kiss me or something. I was too worried about Ron to really notice." I looked out across the lake.

Again, another long pause. Only this silence was almost unbearable. The uneasiness pressed against my ears in a deafening ring.

"It's not fair Hermione. I didn't know that my scar could cause so many stupid problems. Like I have control over them! It wasn't my choice to come here, and it certainly wasn't my choice to be attacked my Voldemort!" I was so confused. I couldn't even begin to elucidate away my feelings to this other 15-year-old witch.

Hermione put a hand on my shoulder. "Let's go inside Cassie."

A single tear ran down my cheek. I brushed it away quickly so as not to seem as weak as I had acted. She reached up a ways to put her arm around my shoulders and I reached down to do the same.

I glanced across the lake and saw a dark shape crawl along the edge following our footsteps around the lake.

"Snuffles must really love Harry." I said.

"Harry has no one else but him. And the same for Snuffles."

A passing boy and girl in 6^th year looked at Hermione and me oddly. We realized why and quickly pulled our hands off of each other's shoulders. They kept on their way shaking their heads.

"Hope they don't get the wrong idea about us. That was weird." She whispered.

I laughed a little bit. "People can think what they want. But we know about each other, and that's what matters."

I had never had such a good friend in my life. Even at Shawmain people and I didn't exactly click. Even Henry and I were kind of distant. Hogwarts had somehow changed me. I knew myself better here. Although a lot of it, I wish that it had just stayed away from me.