"Oh, Lockhart." Cassian shook his head, almost impressed. "Why?"
The man standing before him, if he could still be called that, smiled faintly, as if pleased to be recognised. His posture wasn't his own. The expression on his face didn't sit right. There was no sparkling smile, no sudden heroics. Gilderoy Lockhart, for all his vanity, had always been approachable. This, this was something else wearing his skin.
Cassian's jaw tightened, looking at the diary, "Well. That answers tha...
2025-09-26 17:37:51 +0000 UTC
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For the next few weeks, the castle stayed still. Too still. Cassian had grown used to the rooster illusions crooning every hour, faint, scratchy caws that echoed through the halls like a haunted farmyard. Annoying, but comforting. Meant the wards were still alive and shrieking on schedule.
In their quarters, Cassian stepped barefoot over a half-folded cloak, then spun sharply, striking a pose and gave Bathsheda a look.
She didn't glance up from her book.
"Nothing?" he said, ...
2025-09-26 11:39:53 +0000 UTC
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Lucius struck again, a week later. This time, he managed to have Dumbledore sacked. He was insufferably smug about it, gliding through the castle as though the victory had cost him nothing. But everyone knew the truth... he'd poured an obscene amount of gold into greasing the right palms and twisting the right arms to make it happen. What no one could quite figure out, though, was what he truly stood to gain from driving Hogwarts into chaos.
Cassian walked into the garden, biting into a...
2025-09-25 22:16:48 +0000 UTC
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After breakfast, Cassian walked into the classroom with a half-eaten apple in one hand and the other already drawing his wand.
He flicked the wand, and the centre of the room darkened. Wind picked up from nowhere, rustling hair and parchment. A black castle rose in mid-air, jagged at the edges, its towers jutting like broken teeth into a smoky, churning sky. Thunder grumbled behind it. One window lit up, briefly, before going dark again.
Students leaned back instinctively. The ill...
2025-09-25 17:18:27 +0000 UTC
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"I'm learning more of Yrsa's runes."
He caught something in her tone and stepped closer, tugging her gently into his chest. Her body settled against his without resistance, but her shoulders stayed tight.
"How's it going?"
She shivered faintly, breath brushing his collar. "I'm still me. I don't know where they're coming from, but now that I know they're there, I can track my memories from those appearing later. Runes... they don't force themselves in. They feel like somethin...
2025-09-24 20:22:22 +0000 UTC
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Halfway to his own room, Casian frowned, stopping.
He turned, changed course, climbed to the fifth floor and down an unused corridor most students forgot existed.
There, at the base of a short stairwell, sat a small figure in blue and copper, legs drawn up, a wand tucked behind one ear.
Blonde hair like straw. Bare feet. Staring off into the dark.
Cassian tilted his head. "Miss Lovegood. Why are you out after curfew? Alone, at that."
Luna smiled, as if she'd been...
2025-09-24 16:32:45 +0000 UTC
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Standing in the middle of the first Duelling Club meeting after Christmas, Cassian let his eyes sweep the room. Students in uneven lines, some fidgeting, some pretending not to. Glasses were actually on their faces, miracle of miracles.
He gave a nod. "Good."
Lockhart, after the embarrassment of opening night, withdrew from the club entirely. In fact, Cassian hadn't seen so much as a flutter of his robes near a single session, not even to watch.
Shrugging, he turned to the g...
2025-09-23 21:26:25 +0000 UTC
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Since Dumbledore refused to station the last of the roosters inside the castle Cassian gave up on asking nicely.
"I’m not putting the safety of children in the hands of politics," he snapped. Bathsheda didn’t argue. Just handed him her hand and pulled the books open to the chapter on illusion constructs.
With Bathsheda's help they’d created a full battalion of illusory roosters. Not just static charms, either. These bastards strutted, fluffed, pecked at dust that wasn’t th...
2025-09-23 16:48:42 +0000 UTC
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Bathsheda caught his sleeve. "Cassian," she said quietly, "this is Minister Cornelius Fudge."
The woman puffed herself up, clearly pleased with the introduction but when Bathsheda didn't continue, she cleared her throat again, louder.
"Hem hem."
Bathsheda turned to her with a polite blink. "Sorry. I don't know you."
The woman's face flushed the exact colour of her cardigan, before Fudge laughed awkwardly. "This is my Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge. Professors ...
2025-09-22 21:17:16 +0000 UTC
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Miranda closed the book with a soft thud. "The charm's wrong, then?"
Cassian turned slightly, eyeing the diagram again. "The anchor's off-centre. As the book says, some of the old scholars used mirrored or twice mirrored writing. Mirrored is often upside down. Rarely right to left. Twice mirrored is upside down and right to left."
He tapped the parchment with one finger, right over the fifth line. "They botched it here. This one's meant to reflect the directionality of the second ...
2025-09-22 18:12:39 +0000 UTC
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Dumbledore's hands folded together on the desk, but he didn't speak.
"Tom Riddle," Cassian pressed. "That name came out of the diary before it vanished. Was he Voldemort? Is that who opened the Chamber fifty years ago and pinned it on Hagrid?" His voice dropped slightly. "Voldemort could speak Parseltongue. I don't buy for a second anyone else could've been pulling the strings on that monster."
Dumbledore's fingers drummed the desk, then stilled. His eyes, normally warm and twinkl...
2025-09-21 18:40:03 +0000 UTC
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That night, once Bathsheda finally gave up pacing and drifted off to sleep, Cassian stayed put at the desk. A half-finished mug of tea sat by his elbow, cooling fast. His pen scratching over parchment, trying to piece his thoughts together into something useful.
Horcruxes.
Plural.
He remembered the word too well. Back on Earth, one evening they sat around debating whether the proper plural was “Horcruxes” or “Horcruxi.” He’d given them a deadpan look, one that said...
2025-09-21 16:20:09 +0000 UTC
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The snake froze mid-lunge. Its head lowered, and its body slackened until it lay on the floor like a coiled rope.
The hall went silent. You could've heard a pin drop.
Cassian lowered his wand slowly, his eyes flicking from the snake to Potter.
Harry was staring at the creature, his lips still moving faintly.
"Potter?" Cassian said sharply.
Harry blinked and looked up.
The room erupted.
"Did you hear that?"
"He spoke to it!"
"Snake language...
2025-09-20 18:13:17 +0000 UTC
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"I watched James Potter take down a Slytherin half-blood with a charm no student should've known. And I watched the professors lie about it."
Flitwick stirred, but didn't speak. His silence was confirmation enough.
"I saw the Slytherin boy carried out," Cassian went on. "Still twitching. Wand hand shattered. Mind nearly burned out from magical feedback. And it was all swept away. Brushed under the rug because Gryffindor's golden boy couldn't possibly be that brutal."
Lockhar...
2025-09-20 08:59:56 +0000 UTC
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"Sir... what about Mrs Norris? Could this spell have done that to her?"
"No," he said after pausing. "This spell isn't strong enough for that sort of work. What happened to the cat... that is a whole different kettle of fish."
He set the chalk down, brushing the dust from his fingers. "All right. I want three historical examples of immobilisation spells in use outside combat. Off you go now."
Cassian watched the last student slip out, the door clicking shut behind them. He s...
2025-09-19 19:02:15 +0000 UTC
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Hi! Just a quick reminder I love you all and really thankful for the support!
Now that I've made a wild confession, before we get to the new chapter, a quick note about Bathsheda's first guess being a Horcrux. It's not that I'm pushing the plot forward or giving her meta-knowledge. This isn't really a spoiler, so here it is: just as she once thought she could draw Yrsa's runes for her whole life, her knowledge and experience are becoming fuller.
I'm using fuller here, because I do...
2025-09-19 10:28:37 +0000 UTC
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Bathsheda's eyes flicked to him. "Then what is it? A horcrux?"
Cassian frowned faintly. "A what?"
She waved a hand. "Dark magic. Splitting a soul, locking it in an object. Just a theory."
Cassian's brow tightened as if the word itself left a bad taste in his mouth. Bathsheda reached over, slipping her hand into his. "Do you know anything about them?"
Cassian shook his head slowly, eyes distant. "I don't... but the word is familiar."
That familiarity wasn't from H...
2025-09-18 20:50:27 +0000 UTC
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"That name mean anything to you, Headmaster?"
Dumbledore tilted his head. For a moment, the only sound in the room was Fawkes shifting on his perch. He then said, "Please, continue."
Cassian didn't press. "We thought we had it under control. The diary wasn't showing any real power. No curses flying about, no possession or hexes, nothing except words on paper. Until recently, when we realised it was gone."
"Gone?"
"Vanished," Bathsheda said tightly. "It was behind layer...
2025-09-18 17:18:00 +0000 UTC
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"What do you think you are doing?" Snape asked coldly, already drawing his wand.
Bathsheda stepped forward before Cassian could even open his mouth. "If you wave that wand, I will make you regret it."
Snape's lips thinned. His gaze flicked between them, but his wand didn't lower.
Dumbledore's eyes went from Cassian to Bathsheda, then swept to the wall and the angry crimson letters still dripping faintly. "Please lower Mr Malfoy, Professor Rosier."
Cassian didn't move. ...
2025-09-17 16:56:34 +0000 UTC
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On a casual and normal day, Bathsheda woke Cassian with an elbow jab to his ribs. He let out a groan, tugging her back under the blankets.
"What the hell?" His voice was thick with sleep. He wrapped her into the blanket and went on snoring.
She squirmed free, hair a mess, eyes sharper than they had any right to be this early. "Where is the diary?"
Cassian froze, hand still resting on her hip. "I dunno. Wasn't it with you?"
Bathsheda frowned, looking jittery, gaze unfoc...
2025-09-17 09:49:56 +0000 UTC
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The first Quidditch match of the season kicked off under a sky that couldn't decide between drizzle and downpour. Cassian leaned back in the stands, coat collar turned up, breath fogging faintly in the cold.
Next to him, Bathsheda was halfway through a flask of something.
The Bludger went rogue three minutes in. Not the usual, half-feral wobble, but proper targeting, snapping after Harry with a grudge.
Cassian frowned. "That can't be normal."
Bathsheda tilted her head,...
2025-09-16 18:24:57 +0000 UTC
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Cassian stepped into the classroom and scrawled a single word across the board, Avis. The chalk squeaked before snapping. He gave it a look, then turned to the students with a wide grin.
"Today," he said, tapping the board with what was left of the chalk, "we're learning a spell that's technically a charm, but for reasons only Gods and your curriculum designer understand, you were taught it by the Deputy Headmistress, in Transfiguration class." He let that hang. "I know. It's a mystery....
2025-09-16 08:30:34 +0000 UTC
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Fred grinned wide. "You actually know a werewolf, sir?"
"Course I do. He is very polite. Used to be a scholar before he got bitten. Knows more about lunar cycles than half the Astronomy professors." Cassian sipped his tea. "You lot probably think they are all drooling beasts who tear through forests every full moon. Most just want to keep their limbs attached and avoid the Ministry breathing down their necks."
Hermione perked up, eyes gleaming with interest. "Is it true their tran...
2025-09-15 17:01:54 +0000 UTC
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Cassian and Bathsheda made it something of a sport to bully the diary whenever the chance arose. "Daisy" managed to coax the name of its creator out of it, some chap calling himself Tom Marvolo Riddle. Cassian checked the archives for anything remotely close. Nothing. He considered asking Binns, but the ghost was still sulking about Cassian swiping his History post and refused to answer more than a single-word grunt if cornered.
They also realized how the Diary recognized who was writin...
2025-09-14 20:31:39 +0000 UTC
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Neville's gran turned up the next morning like a general storming enemy territory. Her handbag swing weaponized, and the clip of her heels on the stone floor announced she wasn't the sort to wait for an invitation. She rapped hard on the door, once, twice, and it swung open before Cassian even finished setting down his tea.
"Who is Professor Rosier?" she barked, stepping inside as if she owned the place.
Cassian glanced up from a stack of papers. "That would be me. And you are?"
2025-09-14 17:30:04 +0000 UTC
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'Let's be clear, you are not special. You are not clever. You are not even dangerous. You are a relic of someone else's failed plan, and now you are stuck here, begging me to care.'
The response came quicker this time, the words snapping across the page.
'I am not begging. You don't understand what I am.'
'No, I understand perfectly. You are a parasite. You latch on, suck people dry, then act like it is their fault for being soft enough to listen. But unlucky for you, I don'...
2025-09-13 21:58:39 +0000 UTC
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Bathsheda’s fingers brushed the desk. “Do you want me to try?”
“Not yet.” He wrote once more, 'You say you can help me. How?'
The response came quickly this time, as though eager, 'I know things. Things hidden. Things others have forgotten. I can teach you, if you trust me.'
Cassian let out a low hum. “Oh, that is not sinister at all.”
Bathsheda crouched lower, her shoulder brushing his. “You think we can trust it to tell truth?”
He smirked. “...
2025-09-13 17:09:58 +0000 UTC
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Marius Vale turned the envelope over twice.
It was thick cream parchment. The wax was indigo, stamped with a phoenix that looked like it might rise right off the flap if he stared too long. No mistaking the handwriting. No mistaking the sender.
Albus Dumbledore had written to him personally.
Vale sat heavily at the little desk in his rented flat, boots kicked off near the hearth, coat half-slipped from his shoulders. The room smelled faintly of firewhisky and spell oil. He'd...
2025-09-12 19:57:05 +0000 UTC
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Three weeks into the new term, Bathsheda ambushed him with what might’ve been her most dangerous idea yet.
“Absolutely not.” Cassian’s head whipped side to side so fast it stirred the papers on his desk. “You are out of your bloody mind.”
She leaned back in her chair, looking infuriatingly calm as she twirled her quill. “You haven’t even heard the full plan.”
“I don’t need the full plan.” He jabbed a finger at her. “The first ten seconds were enough...
2025-09-12 19:00:27 +0000 UTC
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Cassian stretched out his hand, palm open. “Right. Your wand, Mr Weasley.”
Ron jerked upright in his seat, clutching the battered stick as if Cassian had just asked for his right arm. “What? You are taking my wand?”
Cassian gave him a flat look. “Yes. Congratulations, you’ve cracked the code. I am confiscating it. How this school even lets you carry a snapped wand is beyond me.”
“It is not that bad,” Ron muttered, voice trailing off as the wand gave a sad l...
2025-09-12 17:04:16 +0000 UTC
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