little miss black

-106-

Cass shook slightly as she stumbled through the corridors. Her head was reeling after a run in with Avery and now she was attempting to find Narcissa so she could fix her undoubtedly broken arm. Her robes, which had been pristine this morning, we're now torn in multiple places and the blouse underneath had lost half of its buttons. Cass heard footsteps and ducked into the closest room, holding her breath until the person passed.

"Non, Pierre." Clarisse laughed. "Aller."

Cass couldn't make out what they were saying, extremely fast french from what she could hear. She waited until the sounds of their voices had faded. She turned around to see where she was, a forgotten music room by the looks of things. There was a magnificent grand piano sat in the centre, covered in a thin layer of dust.

Cass hesitated before sitting down on the stool and opening the lid. Her arm screamed out in pain as she placed her hands delicately on the keys. She hadn't played the piano since she had left Grimmauld place the previous year, but it was the one thing she had enjoyed about her upbringing.

Her fingers danced smoothly over the keys, playing what she could remember of a song. She nearly slammed her hands inside as the door opened, jumping a foot in the air and knocking over the stool. 

"I'm so-sorry, I-I was j-just-" Cass began, not daring to look up and see who it was, assuming it was Avery.

"You're good." Narcissa said. "At playing I mean."

"Thanks." Cass said, keeping her eyes trained on the floor.

"Although, I don't think it's the smartest idea to play with your arm looking like that." Narcissa said. She came towards Cass. "Can I take a look at it?" Cass nodded slowly.

"I-I-I th-think i-it's bro-broken." She said. Narcissa nodded, taking her wand slowly out of her robes. Cass tensed.

"Okay, I'm just going to point my wand at your arm and heal it. That's all I'm going to do." Narcissa said. "Is that okay?"

Cass nodded again, closing her eyes as Narcissa adjusted her arm and cast some spells to fix it.

"Okay, all done." Narcissa said. "Do you want me to take a look at anything else?"

"N-no." Cass said. Narcissa nodded and handed her a small tub of yellowish paste.

"Rub that on any major cuts and they should heal pretty quickly." She said. "You're spending the night in the room beside mine, it's bad luck for a groom to see his bride before the wedding so Avery can't see you tomorrow."

"Is- is he o-okay with that?" Cass asked nervously.

"Yes." Narcissa said firmly. "Come on, you need to get a good night sleep before tomorrow."

Tomorrow... possibly the day that Cass dreaded the most because if, no when, she married Avery it was over. Any hopes of her own life would be completely gone.

We're glad you left. Lily's voice rang through her head.

There was no point in fighting the wedding, her friends didn't want her back anyway. She knew it was all in her head, but it just seemed so real.

"Cassiopeia, let's go." Narcissas voice drew her out of her own head.

"R-right." Cass murmured. "Let's."