Chapter: A Night In the Forest
"Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil" - Aristotle
Saturday, December 13th, 1979
Cassidy felt her eyelids closing on her. Ugh, not now. I need to finish this, I only need three more inches she thought as she stared at the potions book in front of her. Her stomach growled. She stood up and decided to have a bit of a snack. Remus had shown her where the kitchens were after all. "Lane, I'm going to the kitchens," Cassidy whispered. Lane grunted in her sleep.
She crept down the stairs and out of the common room. The hallways were eerily silent as the full moon shone in from the stained glass windows.
"Shh, come on," a voice said from a hallway in front of her. Cassidy traveled towards the sound until a small group came into her view. They traveled down the hallway, Cassidy was intrigued. Part of her wanted to follow them, but she knew it wasn't a good idea, sneaking around the castle at night just dying to be caught. Sarah would do it a small voice said from the back of her head. Sarah Cassidy thought bitterly,
Cassidy made up her mind and hurried down the hallway after them. She followed them down the staircase that led to the Great Hall, and then she hid behind the knight at the bottom. She watched them as they opened up the oak doors, the moonlight casting a sliver of light across the stone floor. The group quickly stepped outside with their cloak hoods still up. The last person to exit pulled the door almost shut, but the tiniest amount of light still shone through the crack. and didn't close them completely.
She stepped out of her hiding place, her heart beating wildly. She couldn't follow them outside. Wandering the hallways after curfew was bad enough. Cassidy wanted to follow them, but she was scared. She had no idea who they were or what they were doing out at this time of night. It had to be past twelve o'clock. She bit her lip. Finally she gathered up enough courage to walk across the room and open the oak door slowly. Remus would be proud, she smiled in the dark. She slipped out the door and watched the group travel across the grounds to the Forbidden Forest. She stepped onto the first step and closed the door behind her. She snuck down the steps and rand across the grounds until she was at the edge of the forest.
She looked around, but she couldn't find the group of people that she had been following. She took a deep breath and stepped into the forest. To her surprise, nothing grabbed her. She took another step. And another. She tried to listen for sounds of people as she carefully made her through the forest. She tried not to step on too many twigs or let too many branches hit her in her face. After a few minutes she came to a little clearing and stopped as she heard movement.
She suddenly froze at the sight before her.
A werewolf stood at the opposite side of the clearing. Her heart started beating rapidly and she knew she should run, or do something but her body refused to respond. The monster walked slowly towards her. It swung one of its large claws at her, hitting her right arm. She didn't know what to do and she couldn't move even if she wanted to. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shrubbery move as a stag and dog appeared. They quickly charged at the werewolf, sending him away from Cassidy. The werewolf must have decided that the dog would make a better snack than her because as the dog ran away from the spot where Cassidy stood, the wolf followed it. Cassidy stumbled backwards, unable to comprehend what had just happened. She stepped backwards and her foot touched a rock. As she placed her weight on her food, the rock slipped out from underneath her and she fell to the ground. She blacked out.
Cassidy awoke with a splitting headache. She tried to move, but found it extremely difficult. A few twigs cracked under her. She was lying on her back and she could only see a patch of sky that remained unobstructed by the trees' branches.
"What was that?" she heard someone, a girl, shriek. Footsteps told her someone was coming towards her.
Severus' face appeared in Cassidy's line of vision. "Look what I found," Severus said nastily, towering over Cassidy. Cassidy quickly looked around to see who was with him. Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Vance all stood around her too. She tried not to panic as she realized that she was alone and that there were four of them.
"What are we going to do with her?" Narcissa asked.
"I have a few ideas," Severus told her. "Grab her," he told Vance. Vance moved toward Cassidy. She winced as Vance grabbed her right arm and pulled her up. He supported most of her weight. Blood trickled down her arm. Severus led them deeper inside the forest to a tiny clearing, barely big enough for all five of them. He said something that Cassidy couldn't make out. Not that she could if she really wanted to. Her head was swimming with pain. Immediately her hands and legs were bound. Vance let her fall to the ground. Cassidy looked up, but she couldn't even see the sky, the trees weaved together and let no light in.
"What is Remus?" Severus asked her. Surely Cassidy knew. Severus had sworn not to tell. But no one else had, not Bella, Narcissa, or Vance. The whole school would know and Remus would surely be kicked out.
"What?" Cassidy asked from her place on the ground.
"What is Remus?" Snape demanded.
"A…guy?" Cassidy said.
"No!" Severus yelled, his voice echoing. Why wouldn't she say it? "Crucio!"
Pain coursed through Cassidy's body. She never felt anything as excruciatingly horrible as this.
"No," Cassidy insisted, biting her lip in effort to not let the tears spill out her eyes. There's nothing wrong with Remus. "Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you," Cassidy spat, the tears flowing freely down her face now.
"Then you're of no use to me," Severus decided. "Avada kedavra."
Cassidy's tears stopped.
"Hey Lane," Sarah greeted as she walked into the Girls' Dormitory.
"Hey Sarah," Lane responded.
"Is she still sleeping?" Sarah asked as she pointed to Cassidy's bed that had the curtains drawn around it yet.
Lane shrugged, "I guess. She usually doesn't sleep this late." She crossed to Cassidy's bed and pulled the curtains open, "Cassidy, wake up-" she stopped. "Cassidy's not here."
"What?" Sarah asked. "Where could she have gone?"
"I don't know. Maybe she just went down to the common room, and I didn't hear her get up," Lane suggested hopefully and headed for the door.
"Wait Lane," Sarah ordered before Lane could pass through the doorway.
"What is it?" Lane asked her impatiently.
"You're not dressed."
Lane looked down at her attire. Indeed, she was still wearing her night clothes. "Oh. Right." Lane quickly changed into more suitable attire. "Ok, now I'm ready," she said and Sarah followed her down into the common room. They scanned the room quickly, seeing no signs of Cassidy.
"Do you think she went to the Heads' Room?" Sarah suggested although she would have seen her in the hallways if she had gone there.
"Maybe," Lane said uncertainly. Nevertheless, they made their way to the Heads Room to find Lily reading a book on the couch. "Lily, did you see Cassidy at all today?" Lane asked her before Lily could even get out a 'hello.'
"No," Lily said. "Why? Is something wrong?"
"We don't know," Lane replied.
"Is she at breakfast already?" Sarah asked.
"Breakfast?" James said as he entered the room. "That's a good idea."
"We can't find Cassidy," Lane told him. "We're worried about her."
"Oh really? I can fix that," he said disappearing back into his room. The girls shot each other doubtful looks, but waited for him anyways. James came back with a piece of parchment in his hands and the girls quickly stood around him, Sarah mentally kicking herself for not thinking of it in the first place. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
"What is it?" Lane asked.
The map of Hogwarts appeared with all of its little dots and names.
"Look for the one titled Cassidy Ashwell," James instructed, and the girls did as they told.
After a few minutes of searching Lane cried out "I found it!" as she pointed to a small dot.
James' face paled. "She's in the forbidden forest."
"Come on!" Lane urged them as she recklessly barreled ahead of the group through the forest, afraid of what she would find. A mess of branches revealed a tiny clearing. "Cassidy?" she called out. "Cassidy? Cass, where are you?" She scanned the clearing. There-she ran towards the dark figure. She didn't have far to run when she reached it and her hand flew to her mouth.
There was Cassidy before her, sprawled out on the ground with twigs in her hair and her faced smudged with dirt. Her cheek had a cut on it that had obviously been bleeding.
The tears started to fall as she rushed forwards and dropped to her knees, frantically trying to find a pulse in Cassidy's limp wrist.
"Lane?" a voice called out from behind her.
"Over-" Lane choked, "over here!"
She was joined by Lily, James, Dumbledore, and McGonagall. Lily was in shock, and James held her hand.
Dumbledore learned down and gathered Cassidy's body into his arms and started back. McGonagall quickly followed after him, not saying a word to the three either. Lily helped Lane up from the ground, and they followed in silence, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. Before they knew it, they had arrived at the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore laid Cassidy's body on the nearest bed and pulled the curtains closed around the bed while McGonagall fetched Madame Pomfry. James, Lily, and Lane all took seats near the door. McGonagall and Pomfry rushed back to where Dumbledore was and they started speaking in hushed tones, with a glance in the three's direction every once in awhile.
Suddenly Dumbledore turned towards them. "Miss Evans, Miss Channing, Mr. Potter?" The three of them jumped to their feet at the sound of his voice interrupting their thoughts.
"Yes professor?" James asked.
"Would you three gather Mr. Black, Miss Jonstone, and Mr. Pettigrew and meet me in my office?" Dumbledore asked them.
James nodded and the three headed towards Gryffindor tower. When they arrived, a flurry of questions were thrown at them, but Lily merely shook her head. "Dumbledore wants to see us all," she said, not answering any questions. Everyone grew silent as James and Lily led them to the Headmaster's office.
James gave the password and the gargoyles sprang to life, letting their little group pass up the stairs and into Dumbledore's office where six chairs were waiting for them.
As soon as they were all situated, Dumbledore spoke. "I'm afraid I have some rather sad news for you all. Your friend, Cassidy Ashwell died last night in the Forbidden Forest." Sirius and James exchanged nervous glances. "She did not suffer any physical harm from any creature last night, but rather of something much worse, a human."
Dumbledore went on and asked each of them what they knew about the situation. Once he was done with them he dismissed them with the exception of Lily and James. He informed them that the dance was to be cancelled and he had half a mind to cancel the Hogsmeade trips, but he did not. He then dismissed them and they were all too happy to oblige. Neither of them had ever seen him look so angry before.
Remus walked into the Heads' room. James and Sirius were sitting side by side. Strangely, both were silent and the mood seemed somber instead of the cheerfulness that followed the two everywhere. They both looked serious and Remus, quite frankly, was scared. Something was going on.
He took a seat across from them and asked, "What's wrong?"
James and Sirius exchanged looked, but neither said anything.
"What's going on?" Remus asked them, more afraid than he had been moments ago.
"We have bad news, Moony," James said quietly, avoiding his gaze.
"What is it?"
"Cassidy's dead," James told him and looked into his eyes.
"No she's not. I just saw her. What's really going on?" Remus asked as he laughed a nervous chuckle.
"Moony, we're serious," Sirius said with a stony face. He didn't even try to smile like he usually did when he said that word.
Remus' face went blank, betraying no emotion. "How?"
"She was in the forest last night-no don't worry," James said quickly at Remus' look of horror, "it wasn't you. Or any of us. There were people in the forest last night. They did it."
"Who?" Remus whispered.
James shook his head, "We don't know…it had to be a student. And it wasn't an accident either."
"I bet Snivellus and the rest of those slimy gits had something to do with it," Sirius muttered darkly.
"I think I'm going to go lie down," Remus said and left before James or Sirius could think of anything to say.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" Sirius asked.
"I hope so," James replied.