Cassie Potter - Lady Gryffindor

Chapter sixteen

Chapter sixteen

Cassie's head felt like it was about to explode, all the emotions swirling around inside of her at the prospect of being able to hold a conversation with her brother again. She knew it wouldn't quite be the same but if he had used the potion her dad had made for their parents portraits then he would have all of her James' ability to think and retain memories. How was she ever going to be able to tell her beloved brother that she had let him down? That his son had gone to the last place he would have ever wanted him to me. When they got home from the bank, she had left Sirius and Harry chatting away to James and Lily whilst she snuck off to her room to read his letter. She clutched the thick white envelope in her hand, running her fingers across his handwriting. A tear dropped onto the envelope and smudged the ink slightly. Cassie panicked and quickly opened the envelope, fear gripped her that she had ruined the letter. As she pulled out the thick cream letter, the nerves in her stomach increased. These were her brothers last words to her, for her. It was now or never.

"Moonlight,

I know if you are reading this letter then you were right. Lils and I should never have trusted Dumbledore, I know this because if you are reading this then we have died. I need you to believe me Cass that I am hoping with everything I have that I am right and you are wrong, I need this to be the first time you are wrong because if you aren't then I've risked Lily and Harry. I know you are usually right with these things, you have an uncanny ability to read people and judge them accordingly. I never got the Black family gene of being suspicious of everyone. You did though. There have been many times in my life that I have been glad that you did. I will never forget when we were little and Sebastian Rowle pretended to be my friend for weeks, you just knew he wasn't genuine in his friendship. We were only 7, but you my darling sister, you read him and knew he was bad. You pulled me into your room one day before Sebastian arrived for his visit and you told me that you didn't like him, you said 'he's not good enough for you Jamie, he's naughty.' You just knew and you were right, he was stealing my collection of snitches. We set up a plan and we caught him in the act. That was the first time in our lives that I realised that if you told me someone wasn't worth it, they usually weren't. If you are reading this, your probably shouting at this letter saying 'well Jamie if that's the case why in Merlin's name didn't you listen to me about Dumbledore or Pettigrew eh?!' and I wish I was there to give you the answer you seek to that question Moonlight. I just wanted to believe in the good of people, Pete was the secret keeper and if we are dead then he betrayed us because that's the only way for HIM to find us, and he must've or I'd have destroyed this letter when we'd won the war. I put my trust in the headmaster because we'd known him since we were 11 and I wanted to believe that he wouldn't put my family at risk. I should've known that you never steered me wrong before Cass, I should've known. I'm putting all this at the beginning because you need to know that there was nothing you could have done to convince me not to move out of the Manor. This was never and will never have been your fault Cass. The fault lies with Voldemort and me for trusting the wrong people when my brilliant and intuitive sister told me otherwise. Forgive whatever guilt you have Cass, I know you, I know you will feel guilty.

If Harry has managed to survive the impossible then I know you will have fought with everything you have to take care of him and do what is right for him. It's what you always done for me, especially after mum and dad passed away. If I could've picked the person who would be by side my whole life from Womb to Grave, I could never have found a better one than you. You were the calm to my wild, the rational to my irrational, the moonlight to my sunshine. You are the very best of us and I could not be more proud to be your brother. I know Sirius has probably told you how wonderful you are on your wedding day and I am so sorry Moonlight that I wasn't there. I'd have walked you down the aisle in place of dad and gladly handed you over to Pads. I couldn't have picked a better person for you than him. He is my brother in all but blood and the way he looks at you is the same way I look at Lily. I know that he will keep you safe and look after your heart. He will keep you laughing when you really can't see any reason to. You'll need that. Please don't ever change, don't let this war and the heartache harden your heart. It is what makes you, you and that person is perfect as she is. There is much I'd like to tell you but I think no matter what, I will never have enough time to tell you how wonderful you are, how glad I am that your are my sister and how proud I am to have you in my life. You have always been my rock Cass and I trust that you will always be that for Haz.

Love Always,

Jamie"

Cassie didn't think she'd ever cry as hard as she had when he died but here she was alone in her room clutching his final words to her and bawling like a baby. He got to tell her how much he loved her and she never got to do the same. He never knew. She lay there sobbing for what felt like hours until she felt Sirius wrap his arms around her, pulling her into his chest.