TRIGGER WARNINGS: Off-Screen/Implied Violence, Off-Screen/Implied Drug Abuse, Off-Screen/Implied Abortion, Off-Screen/Implied Suicide


Cassana smiled as she unlocked the door to her dorm, whistling an interesting tune she heard from a record player at a bookstore she'd recently visited. She had been having a good after Christmas day. Well technically they called it Boxing Day in England, but Cassie didn't care. She'd received her gifts from her parents, her mother's had been a large sum of money, since Cassie had yet to find an appropriate job for herself, and her father's had been- well it was lasting gift that typically included him paying for her bills and Netflix. She bit her lip, worried about how she had been living off a silver spoon from her parents.

It was true that a large part of her growing up had been her decision to move to the United Kingdom, it was a huge step for her.

However, she had yet to completely become independent from her parents. It was hard, since most of her life had been her and her parents. It was true she had an older sister, but besides the occasional picture or two included in the arbitrary letters, her sister was a phantom figure in her life. When Cassie was six, her sister left for Hogwarts. She could remember it all very vividly, for it was the day that Cassana grew out of her sister's shadow.

August, 2002

"I want to attend Hogwarts." Mommy and daddy exchanged a nervous look at the tone of Gabriella's words. Cassie felt nervous too; Ella was such a big girl, but she couldn't be so demanding of mommy and daddy.

"Who would be your guardian, sweetie?" Mommy asked reaching out, Ella took a step back.

"Uncle Maxie, he told me so." Ella was confident, Ella was a big girl and Cassie loved Ella because she was so confident. She bit her lower lip, watching her family talk without her from behind the big oak doors of mommy's study through the ancestral keyhole.

"When did you talk to Maxwell?" Daddy asked, slightly thick eyebrows scrunched together.

"It's Maxie," Ella said with a frown, "and we send letters. Uncle Maxie calls me his best friend." Mommy looked at Daddy, and Daddy didn't look happy. Mommy didn't either, mommy looked sad, but Cassie didn't know why. She wanted to go inside and curl into mommy's lap. She hated the idea that mommy was sad because of her.

"Is this really what you want, Ella?" Mommy asked, her voice gentle as she opened her hand for her daughter. Ella looked at the hand, then at daddy and nodded fast.

"Yes mom, please dad?" She asked, her voice uneven.

"Fine, let's start the arrangements."

Cassie can't remember any of the things that happened before that, but she remembers now how strange the setting was. It was at night, pretty late too and something had woken Cassie up that had her racing towards the sounds. When she got there, she took a moment to compose herself before watching silently. Cassie had such high thoughts about Gabriella then. Even though Gabriella tended to get more annoyed with Cassie, she did love her younger sister. Those were the times, Cassie thought to herself with a small smile as she put her wallet down onto the desk in her room. At the table there was little brown box. Pausing she considered asking Brooke if it was perhaps a gift for her. Except she'd gotten all the gifts she'd expected; even one from Uncle Max, a cute box of accessories for her dog, Max.

The box was the usual FedEx box, but it was addressed to Cassie with handwritten writing on a card in the front. Her heart jumped because she knew who's handwriting it was. When Gabriella went off to Hogwarts, there was a bit of a gap between the Rose sisters; they spoke a buttload in the beginning of Gabriella's education at Hogwarts as a Slytherin, however they dwindled over the years. Gabriella got busy living life and so did Cassie. Their letters were often full of fondness.

Holidays were a terse time because Gabriella would come for a few days, but then leave to spend the rest of the time with Uncle Max. Cassie just thought of it as a fondness for her third guardian, he was a lovable guy truly. Uncle Max was such a constant in Cassie's life, she couldn't pinpoint the exact part of her family he was from. She just sort of assumed it was her mother, since they were always talking and her mother was more European looking than her father. She pushed the thought away as she opened the box from Gabriella with excitement.

There amongst trinkets that were clearly from South America, as there was Mayan and Aztec influence on the design, was a USB flash drive with a note saying: "Watch me". She quickly opened her laptop and turned it on before pressing it. It was a video, so she pressed play, her heart in her throat.

When her sister's face appeared, the same heart shape face that her mother and Cassana shared, but the green eye's probably also from her mother's side that Cassie yearned for shining. She was beautiful, Cassie thought in awe. At the age of 24, she looked refined, gorgeous with short dark hair that framed her exquisitely featured face. She was the image of a pureblood queen.

Cassie pressed play and watched the video, her eyes wide.

VIDEO

"Hi Cashew," Gabriella smiled fondly at the camera, "it's been a while since I've sent you a picture of me but it is indeed your infamous older sister, Gabriella." She bit her lower lip, the smile gone and nervousness setting in.

"I know this is hard to understand so I had to create a video that would explain everything that transpired since I graduated from my own college. As you know I took my little sabbatical to find out more about myself. Clearly since I've showered you with expensive little magical trinkets." She held up the Aztec one that was in the box. She closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them, her green eyes were haunted with emotion.

"On December 23, 2014 I was officially disowned by the Rose family."

Cassie gasped, pressing pause as her mind spun. She hadn't received any sort of formal indication from her parents that said so; what was Ella talking about? She pressed play, hungry for information.

"I know that information comes as a shock to you, but allow me to explain that this has been a long time coming." Gabriella clasped her hands together. Calm despite all the emotions on her face.

"For many years, I have neglected to tell you the sorts of things that I've been getting myself into. The troubled life I've been living, I wouldn't dare tell you any of it." She said, twiddling her thumbs, looking down, shame all around her face now. She gulped and closed her eyes.

"In this past summer, while you were packing for your first year of college, I had overdosed from an extreme dosage of heroine." She looked up then, eyes gaunt. "It was on purpose." Her voice was soft.

"Ever since I was younger, your parents and I had an agreement. A deal that we wouldn't dare tell you about ever." Ella murmured, eyes stone cold now.

Cassie inhaled deeply, her heart aching for her sister, the one woman that despite all conflicts with basically never seeing her, Cassie loved with most of her being. She didn't miss the way that Ella had said "your" and her stomach began churning. It was the kind of churning that started when one just knew which direction the story was turning. When a romantic watched the Titanic, knowing the tragedy ahead, when an army wife watches her husband or wife leave with a deep seated fear. That was the feeling Cassana had as she watched on in avid interest.


"Our parents don't talk about this fact but it means so much to every Rose to breath the Boston air. You were a miracle child, Cashew, mom had six miscarriages in between my birth and yours. Dad was appalled, heartbroken, and when you were born," Ella chanced a smile, it was rueful and bitter, something Cassie had never seen, "he was the most happiest man on the earth. There was more pride in his eyes just holding you then any other thing I'd ever done." She closed her eyes again, collecting her emotions. Then her eyes opened, business-like now.  

"In his own way, Macen Rose loved me to an extent. This was because he loved Idna with his entire being. The love Macen feels for Idna is incomparable and he loves you too, more than a greedy man loves gold." She paused in her words and then looked down before lifting up a piece of standard people vertically.

"I was born on October 23, 1990, to Idna Faulter and Maxwell Westmeister in Nuremburg, Germany." She said, holding up a certificate.

Cassana's eyes paused the frame, greedily staring at the HD birth certificate, she felt sick to her stomach. How could she be so stupid? To actually believe that the small similarities between her and Ella were enough for them to be sisters, that was the paramount of idiocy. Hot tears begun to cloud her vision, but she braved the tears, and pressed play.

"Uncle Max was not a pureblood, he was a muggle with magic from Bulgaria. However, he was also in the group of lower class students to attend Durmstrang. When he met my mother, he was sure that she was the one. Then Idna met Macen and she took me and left with him." She bit her lower lip.

"I never would have known that Macen wasn't my father if it weren't for my eleventh birthday party when he showed up and demanded he get full custody. I was so angry that I'd been lied to, my magic flared up and the party ended when the eating tables were set alight with fire." She inhaled deeply then opened her eyes. "I'd been getting letters for months before from him that told me he was just my uncle, nothing more, and to keep it a secret because dad would get mad."

"I screamed for hours, angry and full of contempt for both of our parents at how they lied, and it was the night I decided to go to Hogwarts. I left the next day." She lifted her hand then, showing a picture of Max and eleven year old Gabriella on the platform of 9 and 3/4ths. Gabriella's smile was brighter than the sun.

"You know him as Uncle Max, but I know him as dad. I love him as a daughter loves a father," she said, "I thought I could love Macen as well as a father, but to no avail." She closed her eyes again, the emotion she was displaying was more than Cassana had ever seen in her entire life time.

"What you don't know about Macen Rose is that in his youth he was a secret Death Eater." She took in a deep breath. "As far as I know, I'm the only one who knows this fact." She held up a photo where Macen's distinct features were clear as he was surrounded by other criminals, known ones, such as Greyback, Jugson, the Carrow Twins, etc. He was smiling like he was safe. There was another of him and their mother, a bright grin on his face as he kissed her forehead. The anger in Gabriella's eyes was palpable.

"Everything you knew about the Rose's is true, but Macen went under another name during the Second Wizarding War as Delphino Travers." She showed another picture of a man who looked nothing like their mostly Asian descendent father. "His reasons for coming to the United Kingdoms were to see if there was a way for the Rose's to gain more wealth by affiliation. Macen's father, Ericson, had went under an alias as Delphino Travers and hid his actual face by using the DNA of a nameless 'blood-traitor' and when the First Wizarding War ended, Ericson shaved the blood-traitor's head clean and hid the hairs. He raised Macen with the same pureblood agenda in secret, in America."

Ella's eyes were leaking tears, but her voice was steady.

"I found this all out two Christmas's ago, when I went into the basement and found Macen's father's journal containing all this information." She held up a black notebook, and wiped away the tears once she set it down again. "Macen met Idna, who he had asked if she was a pureblood and when she answered yes, he was confident in marrying her. Mom went so far as to lie and say I was also a pureblood. I grew up as so. Until two years ago."

She closed her eyes.

"I took up drug use the beginning of this year because of the guilt that was eating at my stomach," she says, her voice low, "I was in Amsterdam for six months and in that time I took up cocaine, heroine, anything I could get my hands on." She opens her eyes, eyes cold. "I held my tongue, said nothing, for your sake, for mom's sake." She spat out those last words, full of vindictive anger. Her eyes then changed into full of sorrow, shame, regret. "I was lying to the people I loved the most for fear of what they'd do. I was afraid for myself and the high I got from drugs was a lasting feeling."

"I was full of torment over being lied to, over trusting a man who could have killed me that I overdosed this summer. My dad found me, fixed me up, and then handed me my- my ," she inhaled sharply, tears flooding her green eyes that were tinged redness. The pure desperation and the devastation in Gabriella's face was as clear as the blue sky.

"He handed me my medical report that told me the overdose had killed the fetus growing inside me." She closed her eyes. "I had a baby, Cassie, and because I was keeping Macen's secret the guilt from keeping the truth from you had literally killed me." She took a moment to wipe away her tears, took a moment to compose herself, but the tears wouldn't stopped. For a good moment all of the angst was poured out of Gabriella in unstoppable tears that she tried to stop. Finally, once they were gone she lifted her head with such brokenness that anyone who stared into her eyes would feel a pain worse than a Crucio mixed with the sectumsempra.

"I'm so sorry but I can't keep this a secret from you any longer, Cassie, when I found this out, I had a long thorough conversation with my dad. I wrote mom an extensive letter and sent her copied documents of Ericson Rose's journal," she held up a letter, "she wrote me back saying that I was wrong to have done everything that I had, and that because she loved me she was willing to overlook my lies in favor of me staying secretive."

She inhaled deeply.

"For your sake, for mom's sake, I won't tarnish the Rose name. However, I wrote Macen telling him I knew, and he disowned me immediately. My dad told me I could stay with him, but I don't think I can stomach to be around anyone lately. I- I'm starting over, I'm changing my name, my face, and going off the grid." She smiled then full of love, the light in her eyes back. "Know that whether or not we're blood sisters, I love you, sweet sister, more than any person alive."

Then the video ended.



It felt as if everything around Cassie had shattered.

Her father was an ex-Death Eater.

Her far yet close sister-nay, half sister-was gone from her forever.

Her hands were shaking, her eyes were flooding tears, and her heart had felt completely and utterly broken. She closed her laptop silently before crawling into her bed. Grasping her wand she shut the door to her room, cast a silencing spell and then screamed. She screamed in anguish, in pain, in the utter disbelief of what she'd just witnessed. Her throat was hoarse as she screamed silently, sobs falling from her mouth. She grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it, letting the tears get sucked into the pillow case. She felt a myriad of emotions; none of them positive.

Everything she had known was a lie, now the question was where to go from here.

When Cassana awoke, the previous night's events keeping her up until late in the night. She felt lost. Then she looked at the mirror in her room attached to her closet. She was still Cassana Rose, she could never change that. She could either let the loss of her sister break her or make her. Cassie was never one to let anything break her, despite the torturous sadness she felt that night, her imagination so vivid that she conjured images of Gabriella's pain and it made her feel fear like none other. She stared at her reflection in the mirror a moment longer before pressing her fingers to the face that stared back at her.

She couldn't tell anyone.

She'd have to talk to her parents, then uncle Max, but she couldn't do it. Not yet.

She left a note on her door for her roommate saying something like: "Running errands." When in all actuality, she sat in her room. She took out all the trinkets Gabriella had ever given her, all the gifts she'd taken from America (counting up to 365 of them in total, not including the boxes from other gifts she'd kept) and begun hanging them and putting them all over the room using her magic. Then she grabbed the one that Gabriella had sent her for her birthday, a little stuffed, pink pig and pressed it to her chest as she laid down on the middle of the floor.

For the entire day, she secluded her self and mourned, she simply mourned the loss of her sweet sister.