Ok, first things first. I am terribly sorry for not updating! I was working on my thesis and needed one last experiment to get enough date to figure out if the changes were significant and - of course - nothing worked like I wanted it to. That's Science for you..
Since I had a deadline coming up, I spent almost all of my time working on that problem and no time writing HWHH. Once again, I'm really sorry for the long wait and I hope I'll be able to update more regularly again.

Cassiopeia woke, feeling well-rested, warm and safe. It confused her, since usually she only felt one of them - and it was rarely the latter.

What puzzled her even more was, that she found her pillow to be moving slightly. The witch blinked a couple of times, adjusting her eyes to the dim light, before she could study her surroundings. Bill was still sleeping peacefully on the old couch in the Burrow's living room and she was laying halfway between him and the backrest, halfway on top of him.
Trying to move without waking up the Curse Breaker, she noticed his arm around her waist, preventing her from leaving.
Since there was little else to do, she busied herself with watching her boyfriend.

The word sounded strange in her mind but she could not think of a better term. Perhaps it wasn't the word itself, that was strange but the feeling to have it associated with herself. Time would tell whether she could get used to it or not.

Cassiopeia made herself more comfortable on the Curse Breaker's chest and thought of the day ahead of them. Sooner or later, they would have to return to Grimmauld Place. Sirius, the Weasleys and everybody else were probably worrying about what had happened. For all they knew, she could have cursed Bill six ways to Sunday and simply left without looking back. The chances of that happening had not been so slim - after all, she had been quite angry with Bill.
She did not look forward to explaining everything to Bill's mother, though. They should probably decide on a story they could tell everybody, before they left the Burrow. Perhaps they should simply say it was a misunderstanding. That was, what it had initially been after all. They could leave out the rest and safe themselves a lot of embarrassment. Besides, she had been raised to keep her private life as, well, private as possible. It was a potential source of weakness after all and a Black never appears weak.

"Stop thinking. I can't sleep when you're thinking so loud," Bill said sleepily, his brows furrowing slightly.

"It's almost seven. Your mother told me you were an early riser," Cassiopeia chuckled, "Seems like she was wrong."

Bill grumbled something unintelligible.

The smile on the witch's face grew. "I'm sorry, I did not understand a word. Can you repeat that without mumbling into my hair?"

"I said it's Sunday, the sun is already shining and I am comfortable. There is no reason to get up. Go back to sleep," Bill repeated with a sigh.

"Shouldn't a shining sun be a reason to get up and not to stay in bed?"

"No. If there's no sunrise to watch, it's not interesting," Bill mumbled, pulling the witch closer and burying his head in her hair once more.

"What's the deal with the sunrise?" the witch asked, decidedly not giving him a chance to doze off. This was far to interesting for her to let it slide.

"Desert sunrises are spectacular, as is the night sky. You get used to watching them. It's calming and you can think in peace," the Curse Breaker explained after a while, seemingly having given up on going back to sleep. He sat up a little, resting his back against the armrest and pulling the witch up with him. Cassiopeia let him do so without complaint. Cuddling with Bill felt far more natural than any other close physical contact she had had with others. The witch marveled at how much the past few weeks had changed her. Where once had been an overworked, snarky and deadly witch, who tried to avoid all contact besides the professional work relationship with her colleagues and her boss was now a... well, she was still deadly - and probably snarky - but she was far more relaxed and actually had people she really cared about. A couple of weeks ago, this realization would have scared her, now it just made her happy.

"I used to watch the night sky during my first months in Egypt. It's easy to see the stars there and I used to search for the Cassiopeia."

The witch looked up at the Curse Breaker. It made her sad to know he had been miserable because of her.
Bill gave her a kiss on the forehead. "It helped. It calmed me and sometimes it gave me ideas on how to break a curse or a ward."

Snuggling into his chest, Cassiopeia asked, "What are we going to do today?"

"I thought you already had a plan, since you insisted on keeping me awake."

A noise had Cassiopeia jump up, flickering her wrist to draw her wand out of its holster. In this moment, she realized they were at the Burrow, where there were no wards protecting them. Any witch or wizard could come here at any time. They had slept completely unprotected, vulnerable to any kind of attack - something she had not done in years. It was also something, that was not recommendable doing while a Dark Lord was rising once more and his followers quite possibly out to get you.
Bill got up as well, looking for his wand, which lay on a small table nearby but the witch pushed him behind her back, her own wand pointed at the door. Dueling in this confined space would be easier without Bill getting in her way.
They waited, listening for any telltale sounds.

There were steps outside in the corridor and Cassiopeia slowly moved towards them. It sounded like two, certainly not more than three people. They were trying to be quiet but the old panels on the floor creaked under their weight. The witch waited silently, all senses on alert. She needed the right moment for opening the door, so the intruders would be surprised and she might have an advantage. Not knowing her opponents and having to keep an eye on Bill to make sure he was save made her even more careful than usually. Had it been one of her colleagues with her, they would have acted already, having practiced scenarios like this more than a dozen times.
The witch took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for a possible duel with opponents of unknown strength. Then she grabbed the door handle - and paused, suddenly hearing voices.

"Molly, let's wait a little longer. I am sure they will come back on their own. Perhaps they were simply too tired to return to Grimmauld Place," Arthur Weasley sounded exasperated, as if this wasn't the first time he had said that today.

"But she was so angry with Bill... I need to know if my son's alright - and if they made up. It would be such a pity, if they broke up. She's the first girl he ever had the courage to bring home with him and they look good together. Cassiopeia is such a nice and clever girl, even though she's a Slytherin. Just look at how close friends she is with Charlie. Now that she's given up that dangerous job and is teaching at Hogwarts instead..."

"Molly, maybe the two of them just want to be alone for a bit and make up without everybody poking their noses into their business. We shouldn't just barge in. Or maybe Bill just wants to be left alone for a while. We should give him some space anyway. Our son is old enough to decide how he wants to handle this."

"But Arthur! What if Bill's sitting somewhere miserable and heartbroken? I need to know if my son's alright. What kind of mother would I be if I didn't check on my son in a situation like this?"

Shaking her head slightly, Cassiopeia lowered her wand. Bill, who had remained close to the couch gave her a questioning look. By now, he had picked up his wand and the witch noted they had to get him a wand holster as soon as possible. Having to search for your wand while strangers entered your house was dangerous and with a Dark Lord around, it could be lethal.

"Your parents," she mouthed at Bill.

The Curse Breaker's eyes widened as he looked around, seemingly searching for something, though the witch had no idea what in Salazar's name he could be looking for. Bill motioned for her to follow him, as he went to the window. "Let's go! They'll hear us, if we disapparate. We have to use the window and put some space between us and the house."

Cassiopeia stared at him incredulously. He was not honestly planning what she thought he did, was he?

"I don't want to explain anything to Mum right now. We can do that in the evening, after dinner. She'll be easier to handle then. Let's spent the day somewhere else," he said, opening the window and hopping onto the window sill.

"Won't they worry even more, if they cannot find you anywhere?" Cassiopeia asked, her eyes moving between the window and the door.

Bill jumped onto the lawn outside the window and held out his hand to help the witch. "I'm old enough to look after myself and Dad will manage to calm her somehow. If not, Ginny and the twins know how to distract her. Now come on. Where is your sense for adventure?"

"I think you are forgetting I'm a Slytherin. We like to plan things first, you know, like, think about what we want to achieve and any problems we could encounter on the way..." Cassiopeia grumbled but climbed out of the window anyway, pointedly ignoring Bill's outstretched hand. This was not the first time she left a house through a window - though, luckily, this time said window was on the ground floor. Last time, it had been on the first floor and she had jumped out full speed to tackle a suspect, before he could manage to disapparate. The landing had not been too pleasant for her - and even less pleasant for the wizard she had landed on. "It's a good thing I befriended Charlie at school and not you. I have a feeling that you would have managed to get us into trouble even I couldn't have talked us out of."

"Don't worry. I would have gotten us out anyway. Do you really think Dumbledore would have given the studious Gryffindor Head Boy detention? As long as nobody was permanently harmed, he would have laughed, offered us a lemon drop and sent us back to class," Bill answered with a carefree smile.

Cassiopeia grumbled about Gryffindors getting preferential treatment good-naturedly, silently thinking they needed it, otherwise none of them would manage to get into seventh year. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws rarely, if ever, broke the rules and the Slytherins were far too cunning to get caught - unless one of their own ratted them out, of course. Gryffindors on the other hand were notorious rule breakers, whether it was for fun or for a good cause and - unfortunately for them - often got caught in their rush.

She jumped from the window sill and, while landing on the ground, could barely managed to suppress a pained hiss, as she felt the cursed wound rip open once more. The Curse Breaker noticed her tense up and grabbed her arm to steady her. "Is everything alright?"

The witch pressed a hand over her side, noticing how her shirt was getting wet. "Depends on what you call 'alright'. I guess we'll net to make a short stop at my flat. I can't walk around with a bloodied t-shirt, people will stare," she said, quickly pulling him away from the house. Once they were out of earshot, they disapparated.

Cassiopeia had brought them right into the middle of her living room. She could see Bill's surprise and his - not very inconspicuous - surveying of his surroundings before he returned his attention onto her. He carefully pushed her shirt up and inspected the wound. The witch peered over his hands and grumbled, when she saw how it was oozing red liquid.

"It's quite a mess. The original spell would have been more or less harmless - at least for someone with my bloodline - but the healing spells interfere," she explained and proceeded to tell the Curse Breaker everything Snape had told her before. If someone might be able to sort this out, it would be Bill after all. The way he had handled all of the cursed objects at Grimmauld Place had been brilliant and she knew he had encountered far more sinister spells.

Once she had finished he wizard raked a hand through his hair, messing up his ponytail even further and motioned for her to sit down on the couch. "Well, that's certainly not how I like to start my day. I hope you won't get hit by curses and allow other people to mess them up regularly. I'll have to take a closer look at that."

Cassiopeia sat down immediately, waiting for further instructions. Bill carefully pulled up the shirt, cursing when he notices that this left him with only one hand to examine the wound, when he clearly needed two hands to do so. He bit his lip, seemingly trying to decide how to continue.

"Would you mind taking off your shirt? You could also hold it up if you prefer that but it may take a while, so it might get uncomfortable for you," he finally said.

"You have no idea what uncomfortable means in my job," the witch snorted. "You try being crouched in a damp, hollow tree trunk for hours, waiting if the suspect passes you. And the emphasis is on if here. Or try being on a broom during a thunderstorm for a couple of hours. Now that is, what I call uncomfortable. I couldn't feel most of my body anymore after that."

While she was talking, she was trying to figure out quickly, if she was comfortable with taking off her shirt. Usually, she wasn't very prude. Living in a dorm and being on the Quidditch team, there had been enough people, that had seen her in various stages of undress. Had it been anybody but Bill, a Healer for example, she wouldn't have hesitated, since it did make their work easier. With Bill however, being willing to take off the shirt could have a quite different meaning. This was not a simple, clinical Healer - patient setting, there was a lot more behind it. Taking off her shirt would make her vulnerable to his judgment and she couldn't help but be scared of that.
Still, she had agreed to trying the relationship and she trusted Bill. It wasn't as if he was asking her to give him her wand, because that was something where she really drew a line. Never, ever be defenseless, that was the first thing one was taught after being accepted into the Hit Wizard Office and, by now, she already lived subconsciously by that rule. Taking of her shirt would be no danger to her physical wellbeing and her mental... This was Bill she was thinking about, bloody Merlin! He wouldn't hurt her, at least not on purpose.
Determined, she grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it off. Bill eyes widened a fraction in surprise, when he realized what she had decided to do but his smile was pleased.

Clearing his throat, Bill fixed his gaze on the wound. "Alright, let's see what I can do about this mess."

The Curse Breaker took his time examining the different spells. He slowly and carefully traced his wand over the witch's left side and Cassiopeia could see him bite his tongue in concentration. The wand movements got more complex and Bill began to murmur spells the witch didn't understand. Her skin started to tingle wherever the Curse Breaker's wand touched it. The sensation got stronger and stronger, until it felt like a burn.

A quiet hiss left the witch's lips and Bill mumbled an apology. "Sorry. I'm separating the curse from any other magic in your body. They've intermingled with each other far too long and I guess you can't even feel the difference anymore. I can imagine that it doesn't feel good, when I essentially rip out something you have come to consider a part of you."

Cassiopeia just gritted her teeth and endured the burning, that did not stop for another ten minutes, when Bill pulled back with a sigh. "Snape was right. The curse itself was harmless for you. It dissolved as soon as I had it separated from the healing spells. I hope it didn't leave any lasting damage, considering how long this mess was drawing on your reserves. If it ever bothers you again, or if something like this happens again, you have to tell me immediately."

Nodding in agreement instantly Cassiopeia allowed Bill to finish his task. Making quick work of the remaining spells, the Curse Breaker dropped down on the couch next to the witch, exhausted.

Meanwhile, Cassiopeia marveled at how easy it suddenly was to breath. The injury seemed to have restricted her far more than she had noticed. How much had she really pushed her body, forcing it to work as normal, which was already pushing the limits of a healthy person?

"I couldn't remove all of the spells. Some remnants have intermingled with your own magic and are difficult to make out. I'll try again some other time but, for now, I am too tired," Bill said with a yawn.

"Didn't you just get up? Shouldn't you be more awake?" Cassiopeia teased him, fully aware that what he had done had cost him a lot of energy. Bill looked at her, eyes only half opened.

"Alright, take a nap. I'll make some tea and see if I can find us some breakfast somewhere."

They spent the day just as Bill had planned to do the day before. They had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant - after Bill stopped gapping at the fact that Cassiopeia Black actually knew a Muggle restaurant and had gone there somewhat regularly -, gotten some ice-cream and went into the park Bill liked so much. He actually went as far as asking her if she officially wanted to be his girlfriend, just as he said he would have. Cassiopeia fondly shook her head at that, suppressing a giggle but said yes anyway. Sometimes Gryffindors were just... Gryffindors.

In the evening, they returned to Cassiopeia's flat with some take-out, having decided it was better to face Molly after dinner - just in case she decided to refuse to give them any. Well, according to Bill, she would probably only refuse to give him any of her cooking - which he may or may not deserve in the witch's opinion - leaving his mother worrying about him - but, since she had decided to forgive him, she would take the Chinese food - even if chopsticks were a menace.
It had actually taken her less than a minute to drop some rice onto her shirt.

"Great. That's the second shirt today. At least I will have plenty material to practice cleaning spells on. They should really start teaching those at Hogwarts, so people won't have to start practicing when they already have to do their own washing," the witch grumbled, trying to brush off the rice and summoning a fresh t-shirt from her closet.

"You still have rice on you," Bill laughed and started to pick the grains off of her with his own chopsticks. Cassiopeia blushed and halfheartedly tried to bat him away.

"Alright, we've established that you are great at using chopsticks and I have absolutely no talent," she said, grabbing the fresh shirt and turning around. She threw the stained one into the general direction of her bedroom, before she felt Bill's arms snaked around her from behind. "There is no need to be shy. I've seen you without a shirt before."

Cassiopeia could feel herself blush even harder. "I know, it's just..."

Actually, she didn't know. Maybe she had turned around to hide. Maybe she did it, because, this time, there was no cursed wound around to justify anything. She could even have left on the stained shirt. The probability of her dropping more food while trying to eat with chopsticks was very high, so that may have been the wisest course of action. But, maybe she was afraid of what this could - one day - lead to.

"Would it help you, if I took off my shirt as well?"

Cassiopeia swallowed. She had caught a glimpse of what Bill was hiding underneath his shirt, after the incident with the rain maker. The sculptured muscles had been impossible to overlook.
It would probably be very counterproductive if he walked around topless, she decided, feeling her cheeks flush.

"The shirt is all you get for free. The rest has to be earned."

Narrowing her eyes, the witch turned around, ignoring the fact, that she had not put on the shirt yet. He was clever, using her competitive streak against her and her fears. No matter what she was afraid of, being able to win something was enough to make her try. She would have to think of a clever way to get him back.

"And how do I earn such an honor?" she asked, giving him a very calculating look.

Bill grinned, letting go of her, taking off his shirt and throwing it at the witch. "I will think of something."

Cassiopeia caught the shirt midair, laughing, and carelessly threw it into a corner.

Her laughter almost drowned out the soft plop, that came from that very same direction.

"You know, I am used to have a lot of things thrown at me when I enter a house unannounced. Pots, vases, curses, that all happens on a regular base but this is the first time I had a shirt thrown at me. You are full of surprises, Black."

The witch froze and for a moment she felt as if her heart had stopped beating. Her body had recognized the voice immediately and suppressed any instinct telling her to draw her wand but that did nothing against the blush that was creeping up her face.

"Gumboil! For Salazar's sake! Use the door for once in your life!"

This had to be the most embarrassing thing, that ever happened to her.

"Interesting. This is something I may have expected coming to Ophelia Haywood's for a surprise visit... and a Weasley of all people. I've seen quite a lot of Weasleys running through the Ministry today. Even more than usual..."

Cassiopeia glowered at her boss. "Alastor! Is there a reason to why you are here?"

Sometimes, she truly wished she could curse him to Antarctica - that was, until he once again proofed to be the best head her office could wish for.
Gumboils face turned grave. "There is indeed. I'm afraid I have bad news."

"Bad news? Did something happen? Is Denbright alright?" the witch asked, starting to gnaw on her bottom lip. Since Jason Denbright was the only one she knew to be working in a very precarious place, she was immediately concerned about him. Especially, since she was the one who caused him to do this in the first place.

Gumboil put up his hands, signaling for her to calm down. "Not Jason, he's alright. He was the one who told me, about it actually. It's you I'm worried about. Maybe you've heard about-"

A knock on the door had all three of them turn their heads.

"Who in Salazar's name..?" Cassiopeia wondered out loud.

"I thought Denbright, Haywood and I were the only ones, who knew where you live?" Gumboil asked, moving to the door. Cassiopeia drew her wand, so she could counter any attack, as soon as Gumboil opened the door. She mentally reviewed the list of people, that knew her address. Apart from the ones that Gumboil knew about, there were only Dumbledore and Snape and she sincerely doubted that one of them was standing in fromt of her door.

"There are a few others but none of them have any reason to come here. Bill, stay back," she said, motioning for him to take a place out of sight. This was starting to feel like a déjà vu.

"Ready?" At Cassoipeia's nod, the older wizard pulled open the door, coming face to face with a very worried Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was pacing up and down in front of the door.

The Auror stared at the head of the Hit Wizard Office for a moment.

"What are you doing here?" he finally asked, eying Bill's shirt, that the older wizard was still holding in one hand with a raised eyebrow.

"Kingsley? How in Merlin's name did you find out where I live?!"

The Auror's critical gaze wandered over to Cassiopeia, who glared at him, when his eyebrow raised even further at her lack of certain clothes.

"I think Ms Black asked a question, Auror Shacklebolt," Alastor Gumboil said calmly, drawing the wizards attention back to him.

"Is he here, Kingsley?" Mrs. Weasley's worried voice asked from somewhere outside the door, "Is my son here?"

Gumboil looked between Cassiopeia and Bill, who was still hidden out of Kingsley's sight, a questioning look on his face. The witch pinched the bridge of her nose. They really should have contacted the Weasleys earlier.

"I didn't kidnap him, I promise," she told her boss.

"Where is Bill, Peia? Molly is very worried, since she cannot find him anywhere," Kingsley told her with a sigh, "You know, I had expected a quiet Sunday shift, when there were suddenly four Weasleys in my office, asking me if I knew where you lived."

Cassiopeia threw up her hands in surrender.

"Come on in then, all of you. For Salazar's sake, Bill is fine! Bloody Merlin, I told you they would worry!" She added the last piece for Bill.

"I know you did. I never expected them to search for me like this," the Curse Breaker answered, shaking his head.

Having heard her son's voice, Molly Weasley pushed the Auror in front of her aside and entered the flat. Her eyes narrowed as soon as she noticed her son's lack of shirt.
Cassiopeia wanted to say something but Bill pointedly looked at the shirt in her hand and the witch took the hint, trying to pull in on as quietly as possible while Molly's attention was elsewhere.

"Hey Mum," Bill said, fiddling with the end of his ponytail. He seemed to be preparing himself for another lecture that was sure to come.

"Hey Mum? HEY MUM?! THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY? NO SIGN OF YOU FOR A WHOLE DAY! NOT EVEN A NOTE! YOU COULD HAVE SENT AN OWL OR EVEN A PATRONUS! DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED WE ALL WERE? "

"Mum was worried -"

"- not us", the twins interrupted their mother, before she could truly explode.

"Cool flat. Not much -"

"- one for interior design -"

"- are you?" the twins asked, taking a look around and the witch gave them a lopsided smile, waiting for everybody else to enter her flat.

Cassiopeia's living room suddenly seemed very crowded. Never before had here been so many people in it, and they had to conjure additional chairs. The twins were still busy gazing around, trying to find any interesting personal belongings, while Kingsley and Arthur seemed to be uncomfortable just being there. Alastor Gumboil looked halfway interested in the background story, halfway twitchy - probably because he did not want to tell Cassiopeia what had happened around so many strangers.

"Look, Mum, I can explain but can we please not do this here?" Bill asked, giving his mother his best puppy dog look. Molly seemed to crumble for a minute before resolutely shaking her head.

"No. I want an explanation right now."

Cassiopeia pinched the bridge of her nose once more. Of all the ways she had imagined this very scene in the previous hours, none of them had included her very twitchy boss sitting next to her.

"Alright," Bill sighed. "Well-"

"It was a misunderstanding, we clarified it, problem solved," Cassiopeia interrupted him, her eyes wandering to Gumboil.

"If it was only a misunderstanding, why didn't you come back and tell us? You could have saved us all a lot of worrying!"

"Molly, I promise I will explain it in detail later but I really need to talk to Alastor right now," Cassiopeia said. Gumboils uncharacteristic fiddling was making her nervous.

Molly looked at Gumboil, as if noticing him there for the first time.

"Oh!" She furrowed her eyebrows, studying the wizard closely. "Wasn't he your boss?"

"Come on, Molly. Let's go. We can talk once we're all at home," Arthur said and, with Kingsley's help, dragged his overly curious wife out of the room. Bill gave Cassiopeia a questioning look and, at her unconcerned nod, disapparated with the twins.

"Alright, just spit it out. There's nothing you can say that'll surprise me anymore," she told him, convinced that she was braced for anything.

"Fudge created a new position at Hogwarts. The High Inquisitor. He's supposed to evaluate the classes and decide, whether they are up to the ministries standards, which are quite ridiculous I might add."

Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow. "Apart from the fact that I am not sure if that is legal, I don't see the problem here."

There was a small pause, before Gumboil answered. "He gave that post to Dolores Umbridge."

The witch stared at him, mouth open, before she managed to form a sentence. "You've got to be kidding me!"

All comments are appreciated, as I love to hear your opinion. Next we'll move on with Peia's first day at Hogwarts