[Spitfire : Chapter Forty-Two]

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14-17 September, 1994

Minerva McGonagall wasn't unfamiliar with Hogwarts old tactics with disciplining children. When she joined the Hogwarts staff they were just getting out of their unlawful practices. As a student herself she received a few chain lashes on her knuckles and wrists by some of her old cranky caretakers. But now it was the nineties, it wasn't like that anymore, no matter how much caretaker Filch complained otherwise. When McGonagall heard that Alastor Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, disciplined a student by forcing her to watch the torture and murder of a living breathing creature, not allowed to do anything as he abused his higher authority, she was more than pissed.

She first went to Dumbledore, the man simply dismissed all she said with his commonly used charm and went on his way talking about the newest strawberry-lemon drop treat sold at his favorite shop in Japan. She loved the man dearly but sometimes she just wanted to put a laxative in his drink and take over the job for a day or so to fix up a few things.

    She thought about going to Moody herself but the man was nearly untraceable when he wasn't teaching a class. He clearly had a lot of training from his auror days still leftover. What she didn't expect as well was him repeating that class with all his others, even with the second and third years. None of the staff truly enjoyed his teaching tactics, except for Snape, maybe, but no one did anything about it or even attempted anything except her.

    One against many didn't do nearly as much as she hoped. So rather than continuing her ineffective boycotting, she decided to contact the family of Cassie Snow. She had a probable reason, the girl acted oddly since the incident. She no longer was found hanging around Fred Weasley, changing her hair to extravagant colors, or even speaking unless she was directly spoken too.

    The girl was truly affected by watching the rodent die. Most students already washed the incident from their minds, but not Cassie Snow. The girl reminded McGonagall of an old visitor that used to visit the school; Newt Scamander.

    First, McGonagall fished out the girls adoptive mother; Kendra Snow. She even did as much as going to the woman's small cottage on Hardhome Drive. She found the home surrounded by junk, mainly empty glass bottles of alcohol and old trash bags that were ripped by the weather erosion and squirrels. McGonagall climbed the stairs of the porch, holding up her robes so it didn't mash with any grime, and knocked on the door. A drunken sorry-excuse of a woman opened the door and angrily slurred for the professor to leave.

    McGonagall and Kendra had met before, but in her drunken haze Kendra failed to recognize the Hogwarts professor.

    After many attempts to understand the woman's slur, McGonagall finally understood that Cassie no longer lived there. Instead, she resided at the Deehan's. McGonagall refused to go to the home, Indra and Eugene Deehan got more on her nerves than Filch on a good day. When she found no one else to contact, as Cassie's birth mother was dead and her birth father was a fugitive and therefore occupied with other matters, McGonagall went to the next person.

    Someone she truly trusted and knew would be concerned for the metamorphmagus' well-being.

  She went to a Remus Lupin who surprisingly resided in a home with his former lover Wendy Collins. They sat for a cup of tea and McGonagall explained everything that happened. The werewolf was both furious and surprised. Professor McGonagall broke Hogwarts rules and contacted someone outside of family for a student and told them what was happening with said student.

McGonagall never broke Hogwarts rules, not even during his days. They spent that evening sipping tea and exchanging stories about the girl. McGonagall was one of the only professors who knew of Cassie's true heritage, as Dumbledore's second-in-command she had to. She even knew when Aspen Lee was in mortal danger those many years ago, not allowed to stay anything because Dumbledore promised he had it under control.

That's when McGonagalls trust in the man finally dwindled from its full capacity. When she knew she shouldn't trust the great wizard blindly. Even he makes mistakes.

When McGonagall left Wendy and Remus, the mutt laying in the corner morphed into a man. An angry man. An angry Sirius Black. The long-haired animagus punched a bookshelf first, knocking every single book down and shattering a photo graph of Wendy's late-grandmother. Remus had to tackle the older boys arms behind his back and hold him like it until he was no longer breathing heavy. When Sirius finally calmed down, he fell onto the couch and stared blankly across the living room at the wall. He was a bomb, bound to explode any second.

"I'm going to shave off his tail and use it as a belt!" Wendy seethed as she and Remus were in the kitchen to make Sirius some calming tea. Or, at least, Remus was. Wendy was attempting to fix the photo that Sirius destroyed. It was extremely old and every time she lifted a piece with magic it would tear. "Snip his ears and feed them to the guppies in the pond."

"Or we could do neither of those and maybe just help him instead." Remus said, looking towards his friend.

   "I've been helping him for nearly a year now, Lupin, and he's yet to grasp the concept of not destroying my things." She stated, giving up with the ageless photo and placing its pieces on a paper towel. "He just killed grandma Louise for the second time. He deserves payback."

    "Did you not listen to a word Professor McGonagall said?" Remus asked, his knuckles turning white as he grasped a mug. Wendy was getting on his nerves. "His daughter was just forced to witness unforgivable curses. And now she's all alone at Hogwarts with no family or comfort. He's got a right to feel this way."

"Do you truly think she's missing her father at the moment?" Wendy asked in a harsh whisper, Remus was taken aback by the question. "He said they barely spoke to each other, just a measly little conversation before—"

"I ruined it." Remus finished, looking at the kitchen tiles. Wendy stopped her angry pacing and let out a deep sigh, looking up at her former boyfriend.

"Before life screwed him in the ass again and forced him into hiding." Wendy corrected. "What Cassie needs now isn't family, she probably feels betrayed by everyone. And you've heard what McGonagall said, she can't even talk to her friends because of what Moody did. That great oaf. A bloody rat forced her into closure, remember when Sirius killed that spider for Aspen and she didn't talk to him for two days? It's just like that."

"Yeah," Remus said, glancing at his friend with a sad smile. He lightened his Welsh accent to sound more like Sirius. "'I didn't do anything, Moony, she was screaming like a mad woman, I thought she wanted the thing dead!'"

"'I just wanted it out, not dead!'" Wendy whined, impersonating her late friend. "Merlin, am I dating a psychopath, Wend?"

    "Why was she even scared of a spider, anyway? She was a witch for Merlin's sake." Remus said, shaking his head in amusement.

    Wendy leaned her small stature on the table as the kettle continued to boil on the stove. A grin was on her face. "Why don't you wail at the sight of silver? You're a werewolf, for Merlin's sake."

    "Touché." Remus responded. He rubbed his face. "Just because Cassie may not be wanting Sirius right now, that doesn't mean it's the same the other way around."

    "He's always going to want to protect Cassie, family allegiance is in his blood. And ever since meeting Aspen, the switch finally clicked. But Cassie doesn't know Sirius, she has no memories of him other than the ones of him as a crazed killer wearing Azkaban clothes trying to tackle a ginger-boy." Wendy said, Remus' lips quirked in amusement. "Maybe one day she'll allow him in, allowing him to kill a professor won't make the process any easier. Sirius is going to have to deal with that. Besides, if Cassie is anything like her mother, she'll be completely over the incident by next week. You didn't really think I brought up that memory for shites and giggles, did you?"

    "I may have." Remus confessed, Wendy chuckled and poured the boiled tea into a mug. Saving them both from the kettles merciless scream before it began. Wendy's words made Remus feel better, Cassie was nearly an exact copy of her mother; Aspen Lee. Meaning that despite what she saw, she was going to be alright in no time. But the person they'd have to convince was Sirius who was in a catatonic headspace, wanting to express his dog-loyalty and protect his teenage daughter.

    Remus pulled out a tea packet from Wendy's cabinet and settled it in the mug. Once it was finished he brought it out to his older friend, who still somehow had a baby-face after his twelve years of imprisonment. "Drink, Black. Before you implode."

    "Is th—"

    "No, there's no firewhiskey in it. No firewhiskey until you're in a rational mentality." Wendy said, an authoritative hand on her hip. "I'm not letting you destroy anymore of my relatives, no matter how bitchy they may be."

"Fine." He grouched, taking warmth from the mug and taking a long sip. The loss of adrenaline forced him into some cold shakes. "And screw grandma Louise, that damn soviet broad."

   "Hey, quite attacking grammy." Wendy huffed. "Get off whats really on your mind, chop chop. We don't have all day."

    "You already know, I heard you two talking in the kitchen." He grouched, Remus bit his lip. He forgot Sirius had some heightened abilities like himself, due to his k9 alter-ego. "I know I can't help her, she doesn't trust me. She has no reason to. I just . . ."

"Want to." Remus finished. "And that's perfectly plausible, Padfoot, you're her father. You were taken away from her—"

"I gave her away."

"You never had the chance to get her back." Remus corrected himself. "Don't make me explain to you again why you giving her away was one of the smartest decisions you made in your life. You were in mourning and spiraling downward by the second. Plus, Dumbledore didn't give you much of an option. As much as I hate saying this, but he seemed to twist your vulnerability in his hand."

"Yeah, and I was still here. I could've taken her, I'm her bloody godmother." Wendy said, sitting beside Sirius with an annoyed expression on her own face. "Nobody asked me anything. Not Dumbledore or that drunken broad who got custody of her."

"You could say it even seemed a little planned." Remus thought out loud. "How quickly she got rehabilitated."

    "Can w-we keep Dumbledore out of this? He's done nothing but help her." Sirius said softly, rubbing his face. "He's done more for her than I ever have."

    "We could change that." Wendy said, receiving looks from both boys. "What? She knows that Sirius is innocent, that he's not a killer. From what Remus says, she doesn't seem much like the grudge-holding type. You guys could try to build a relationship. So anytime in her life she's stuck in a pickle she has an actual dad to fall back to."

    "I think you forget, Collins, but I'm a wanted criminal." Sirius said, showing her his prison number that the Azkaban guard magicked into his pale arm. "There's no way I can contact her without getting myself caught, or even her in trouble for speaking to me."

     "Codswallop, Black! Don't think I haven't heard you speaking to Harry through the fire." Wendy scoffed, smacking him with a towel. "Don't be a coward, talk to your kid."

    Sirius stood up, at the motion, Wendy stood too. Despite her small stature, she still seemed scarier than the man in front of her. "I'm not a coward, Collins. Are you sure I'm the one who isn't rational? You're sounding quite bloody psycho right now."

    "You bubble-headed dragons dung!" Wendy smacked him with the towel again . . . and again, and again.

    "Okay, children, please stop fighting." Remus said, getting in between the two and earning himself some smacks. "I swear, you two are worse than any of the students I taught."

    Wendy flopped back onto the couch with crossed arms. "All I'm trying to say is that Sirius can still rekindle his relationship with Cassie. But he's being a bull-faced—"

    "We get it, Wend, thank you." Remus stopped her before she could provoke another bicker match. "She's right, Pads, I'd say Cassie would be more open than Harry if you tried contacting her."

    Sirius opened his mouth to fight back but he couldn't get a word out. Eventually, he just closed his jaw and frowned. Wendy huffed a scoff, biding a smirk, as she could tell her side of the argument was going to win. To be honest, she mainly wished that Sirius would rekindle with his daughter so she could have an excuse to meet Cassie herself.

    "Plus, she needs a distraction from Moody and his shite-technique of teaching." Remus grinned, his school-boy playfulness taking hold of his brain. "What's better than an estranged father popping into her life?"

"A job, maybe." Sirius grumbled. "Fiiine, I-I'll write her a letter?"

"There you go, old sport." Wendy said, enthusiastically patting his back. "Finally thinking straight, I'll go fetch a quill and parchment."

"I'm not old." Sirius scoffed at Wendy's receding figure. He looked at Remus when she ignored him. "I'm not old."

"And I don't have to shave every week, mate." Remus said, taking a last gulp of Sirius' ignored tea. "Now clear your thoughts, I don't want you ruining you and your daughters relationship via first letter."

ツ

Cassie was at breakfast when a bright blue-enveloped letter came soaring towards her in the claws of an unusual peach-feathered owl. The color of the owl caused a lot of attention towards it and then her. Once again Cassie caught the eye of the Hogwarts population, and once again she didn't want it.

After the chaos in Moody's classroom, rumors of Cassie falling to the floor in sobs and going bat-shite insane circulated around the school. Once again enhanced by the gossipers of the school. Truthfully, Cassie did shed a few tears and may have shouted at Fred Weasley, but after that class she went to her dorm and shut herself in for the rest of the day. The next day she returned to classes a little different then before.

All because of the attention she now attracted from everyone and anyone, even by the professors.

Cassie decided she wanted to keep herself on the down-low, and if that meant wearing her original raven-colored hair and only using her ability in seclusion, she didn't mind. Her friends asked her reasonings and she ignored them, usually finding a way to twist the attention on someone else. Neither Cassie or Fred attempted to rekindle their friendship, the most they did was send salty glares to each other.

Cassie was eating breakfast in the great hall with Kennedy, Rose, Fiona, and Myrin when the owl came. She covered her head from all the attention and shyly grabbed the mint-colored letter. She handed the kind bird an apple slice and it merely flew away.

"Looks like Cassy-Cas has got herself an early Valentine's day letter." Kennedy smirked, grabbing the blue letter with Cassie's name on it. "Who's it from, Snow? Got a summer-lover?"

"I have no idea who it's from." Cassie said in a harsh whisper, grabbing the letter. "And quiet down, you're so loud!"

"Sue me, I'm half-American." Kennedy grinned, receiving a chuckle from Fiona.

"Could it be family?" Rose asked.

"Snow's got no family, Murphy." Myrin snorted threw the chews of her food. Her Slytherin tie lying in powdered sugar. "No offense."

"Krow, how about you take your french toast sticks and uninvite yourself from this conversation." Kennedy said through gritted teeth, both annoyed and disgusted by the seventh year.

"Zahel, mind your business." Myrin meekly responded, eyeing Cassie to make sure she can stay.

Cassie bit her lip while observing the letter. "Actually, I'm going to head to class early. I wanna open whatever this is without an audience."

"Since when have you not wanted an audience?" Kennedy snorted as Cassie stood up. Rose elbowed the freckled-girl who grunted a confused, "what?"

"And why is your hair normal? It's weird." Fiona stated. Her eyes widened. "Not like it isn't pretty, because it is beautiful. But it's unnatural for you."

"I'm trying something new." Cassie lied. She then grabbed her things and went to the dungeon, sitting down in an empty corridor beside it and using her magic to smoothly slice open the envelope. She didn't recognize anything about it, not the color, handwriting, or even the owl that delivered it.

     Right on the left corner of the parchment, in a bright green-colorized ink, 'Dear Cassie,' was scribbled. Her eyebrows scrunched, in the back of her mind she was begging this was not another Nutcracker-like letter. If she saw any coordinates she was surely going to burn the letter. She wasn't in the mood to go on a scavenger hunt.

     "You may be wondering who this is writing to you, and I'll answer that shortly. I'd just like to ask first that you kindly ignore all the mistakes written in this letter. I'd crumble this up and restart but I currently have a wolf-of -man staring me down with full-moon eyes. I'm afraid if I throw away another letter I'd start to resemble a chicken wing, I don't think I'd look swell in the trenches of my best mates esophagus.

Speaking of my wolf-like friend, Professor Lupin says hello.
(That should give you an indication of whose mailing this — sorry I cannot confirm.)

But what I can say is that I really want to meet you. Truly meet you, not like how we spoke in the mess of everything that was happening. I know I have no right asking this of you, as the thought must be more stressful than any Hogwarts exam, but would you like to meet and have a chat anytime soon? It is perfectly fine if you don't, or would just wish to continue with the letters for a while, but I think it's long past due for us to talk.

If you wish to meet, my mates lovely owl will be back October second to receive your response. If you don't have any response, that's okay. Just send her away (with a treat, if you will.)

I really hope you decide we should meet. It has been a pleasure callusing my fingers to write the perfect letter for you. Truly. (I recommend rating this letter a 10/10.)

-Your mother's 70s lover.
(B.S backwards)"

    The second of October couldn't have come any slower. Ever since reading B.S backwards, Cassie's skin was left burning with intense adrenaline. Right away she knew she wanted a meeting, that night she scribbled her response on a sheet of Kennedy's muggle-notebooks paper. When the peach-feathered owl, apparently named Frankenstein, returned for a response (which a name tag wrapped around her twig-leg), Cassie gave the bird her accepting response and a biscuit. Then she was left to wait for further information.

Authors Note:

I honestly have some pretty gnarly chapter ideas but I'm crap at writing them. Whatever, here you guys go. Vote and comment if you liked, or if you just want to be nice, it'd be appreciated. (:

January 23, 2020
3,348 words