| Searching through the drawers of random dressers at Twelve Grimmauld Place was more than just plain painful to Harry Potter. Dredging up the memory of his deceased godfather only made his bout with evil that much more true.
I�ve lost my parents and Sirius. What more can be taken from me? �Harry!� called a voice from down the stairs. It was Remus. Harry whirled around quickly, knocking a drawer loose in the desk he had been cleaning. Something had fallen out of the drawer. Remus reached the room and smiled warmly at Harry. �I thought I�d find you up here. Are you hungry? Molly�s just whipped up something really nice for all of us and she�s insisting you get down there�� Remus frowned at the piece of paper in Harry�s hand. �What have you got there?� Harry shrugged, unfolding the paper carefully. Mistakenly thinking that it was a letter from Sirius to somebody else, he began reading eagerly. It was his last hope to be near something of Sirius�. But this wasn�t a letter written by Sirius. The lettering was different. Tears threatened to escape Harry�s eyes as he read and reread the letter in his now trembling hands. Remus was watching in interest. �What is it, Harry?� Harry looked up, flashing the letter in front of Remus. �Who was Cassie?� Remus� face registered a fresh wave of pain. He turned paper white and leaned over to take the note from Harry. Harry only backed away. �Who was Cassie?� Harry�s green eyes flashed frustration. Something else his godfather had forgotten to mention to him. Why did everyone feel the need to hide things from him? It wasn�t like it could hurt him anymore than he had already been hurt. �Remus!� Harry called. �Let me see the letter, Harry.� Remus� voice was steady and calm. �Not until you tell me who Cassie Black was.� Remus let his hand fall back to his side and he walked over to the door to close it. He looked solemn and defeated. Without turning around to face Harry, he whispered, �It wasn�t kept from you for any specific reason, Harry. That much I can tell you.� Harry said nothing. �Cassiopeia Reye was a Ravenclaw, in our year. She was one of Sirius� best friends in his sixth year. He fell in love with her in his seventh. She was in love with him, but didn�t want to be with him for a long time. He spent over two years chasing her, trying to convince her that he loved her and that he wanted to marry her. She had been subjected to this curse which made it impossible for her to have children.� �So what happened?� Harry asked hoarsely. �She eventually realized that Sirius was sincere. They got married. She wrote that letter to him when the Dark Lord came back into power and there were attacks all over the country. She knew that Sirius was in danger, working for the Order of the Phoenix, so she lived in fear for hers and his life every single day.� Harry stared at the letter in front of him. �So� she did die?� Remus sighed shakily. He remembered the events so specifically that it brought a fresh wave of tears to his eyes. �Yes. Sirius came home to see the Dark Mark above the house. The Death Eaters had performed their own special curse on Cassie. It made the victim die slowly, painfully. She was trying to tell him something, but he wouldn�t let her speak. It wasn�t until later�� Remus choked up. Harry turned the letter over. �It says that when the victim of the curse meets their one true love, it�s rendered ineffective. What happened?� Remus wiped the tears from his face before they had a chance to fall. �We found out later that Cassie was pregnant. She was going to tell Sirius when he got home that day, and was trying to tell him when she was dying, but Sirius didn�t want her to talk. He wanted her to save all of her strength.� Harry stared at the letter in his hand disbelievingly. Sirius� married� when had all of this happened? Why hadn�t he ever told him before? Harry voiced these questions to Remus. �You have to understand, Harry,� he replied, getting to his feet. �It�s not that he wanted to keep it from you. It�s just that� well, Harry, I�m his best friend, and if I hadn�t been there through all of it, I wouldn�t have ever known either. It wasn�t something he liked to discuss. Cassie was the only woman Sirius ever loved. After he saw that the war was real, that Cassie had been taken away from him� it was over. He didn�t know what to do. He just lost touch. It was only a matter of months later before we lost your parents, too. Sirius became despondent. He almost went to Azkaban willingly.� Harry blinked. He couldn�t believe what he was hearing. After all that had happened, Sirius had a background, he had a life before everything horrible had occurred. �So� he just never told me because�� �It was too painful for him to relive it, Harry. It had nothing to do with you. He wouldn�t have told you about it if you�d asked him. Every single trace of Cassie is gone. I guess that was the only thing he kept.� Harry glanced at the letter once again. He gulped. �I guess she really loved him, huh?� �They were more in love than your parents, Harry, if that was possible,� Remus laughed. �She said not to spend the next few years grieving.� Remus nodded. �That was Cassie. She was very giving, very caring. The only thing she ever wished for Sirius before she died was for him to be happy. He couldn�t be the merry widower she desperately wanted him to be.� Tears filled Harry�s bright green eyes. �I bet, if she had lived, I would have liked her.� A smile lit up Remus� tired and worn face. He sat beside Harry. �She was your godmother, Harry. You would have loved everything about her. She was fun, playful; she had a nickname for everyone. Even you. You were her little �Harry Grabber.� You were constantly grabbing fistfuls of her hair and yanking on it.� Harry smiled fondly. �I wish I could have known them.� �You would have liked everyone, Harry. Your father was an absolute riot, with your mum always in the background, scolding him for everything. She knew how to let her hair down, though. Your mum and dad were quite the pair. It�s a shame you couldn�t know the valiant people they truly were, Harry.� Harry said nothing. �I suppose all we can do for Sirius is be happy that he�s finally somewhere where he can be happy again, too. For almost fifteen years he�s had to carry around this grief, Harry. Don�t mourn his death. He�s going to be just fine wherever he is. He has his best friend back. He has his wife back. Everyone who is important to him will be with him someday. He�s happy now.� �REMUS! HARRY! ARE YOU COMING DOWN?� Remus jumped up at the sound of Molly�s voice. He walked over to the top of the stairs and called, �We�ll be right down, Molly!� He turned and looked back at the boy sitting in the room, looking lost and alone. �All right, Harry?� Harry looked up at Remus, his eyes red-rimmed. �Yes. I�m all right. Can I keep this?� Remus stared at the note in Harry�s hand. �I think Sirius would have liked that.� Harry watched Remus disappear down the stairs and he continued to stare at the note in his hand. Cassiopeia Reye-Black. She must have been extraordinary if someone like Sirius Black had fallen so deeply in love with her. He looked up toward the ceiling, as if speaking to Sirius, wherever he was. �I hope you�re happy now.� Harry got up, clutching the note in his hand, and walked out of the room. He took one last look at it before sighing and shutting the door. |
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