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HP: The Unchosen One-Malfoy SI Ch.54
🕑 Added 2025-06-24 18:37:58 +0000 UTCChapter 54
CASSIUS BLACK
The Yule Ball fever had swallowed up the entire school, as Cassius found himself conflicted in a thousand choices. Despite it being weeks since the Headmaster gave him the memory and the stone, he still had not tried to confirm Harry’s survival.
He had worked out how to, but in the end, for some reason, he hesitated.
He was lying, though. He knew the reason.
“All it would take is three turns?” added the whisper of Perenelle from the front, and the Resurrection Stone was truly mysterious. It did not bring back the person in his entirety, nor did it simply show you a person’s soul.
No, what it brought back was something in between. It allowed them to carry memories, experiences, even perform magic, and so she knew better than most the dilemma that he faced.
“I know,” he answered, and even if he did not view the memories, he could confirm his suspicion all by simply turning the stone thrice in his hands, and call for Harry just as he had called for her.
One trick. One would answer all his questions.
But he hesitated. And not just in this. His life seemed to be full of hesitations as of late.
“Yet you still stop yourself from knowing the truth,” Perenelle teased, and he sighed.
“You must also know why?” he added, and the older woman nodded. And it was comforting for him to know that he could share his burdens with someone, that there was someone there to help him, guide him in these unique and troubling circumstances without passing judgment.
“Because you wonder if you would be able to do what is necessary, if there is a slight chance that Harry Potter still lives,” and indeed. Limited in power and confined to a teenager’s body as he may be, Voldemort was not an opponent he could underestimate.
Even though he probably lacked many of the enhancements and buffs he had gained over the years through rituals and other artifacts. He was limited in his capacity to wield magic by the limitations of Harry Potter’s body, that still made Tom Riddle quite a formidable opponent.
Cassius was not even sure that he could defeat him, let alone subdue him. But killing him, that was entirely different matter.
But if he knew that Harry still lived, that his actions or spells could somehow lead to the death of an innocent boy, would he still be able to fight with reckless abandon and disregard?
He believed the answer was no. So, he hesitated. But he would have to make a decision one way or another.
“Let’s talk about the other issue then,” the Flamel witch added in a sing-song voice as she flew through his study, and plopped down in front of him on the sofa, as he rolled his eyes.
“The Ball!” and much like the rest of the school, the Flamel witch was rather excited about it for some reason.
“I can’t believe that you are excited for a Ball. Given your age, you must have participated in like thous...” but before he could finish, he winced as his arm stung.
“Ouch!” he rubbed his arm and looked up, and saw the older woman eyeing him.
“You should know better than to speak about a woman’s age,” and he rolled his eyes.
“You are dead already,” and she huffed.
“That does not change the fact that I am a woman,” and in their short time together, he had come to learn much about the witch Perenelle Flamel. And despite her age, she had maintained a childish disposition.
And that the stone allowed her to share his own experiences, and though he was quick to shut that down, she still had ways of knowing nearly everything.
“The scorned love or a lifelong friend,” she dramatized his choices, and honestly, things were theatrical.
“Honestly, I would much rather skip the whole thing,” but Professor McGonagall had given him quite a dire warning and he did not want to piss her off anymore than he already had, specially given that he was to spend three more years at the school.
“You are such a bore!” she nagged.
“And you are such a good dancer. I myself was quite good actually, and it was because of me that Beauxbatons had Dance as a compulsory class,” and he did not know that, nor did he really need to know that.
“Still, you have to make a choice,” and he had to. Hermione’s actions had hurt him deeply, and even if he was willing to forgive it all, the simple nature of the circumstances meant that their future did not lay together.
Not after what she had done and where she had moved. Not after she left — and left him with so much unanswered
But in this whole scenario, Cassius may have been blind to the affections of some other people, and only recently did he begin to see the hints that he had missed for so long.
Daphne and him were childhood friends. They had literally known each other even before they had begun to talk, and yet never had they tried to be anything more than friends.
She was the rock he could depend on, a reliable friend, but in these recent days, he began to feel that she wanted to be more than that. That a part of her wanted to be more than just friends.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked Perenelle, and the aged woman sighed and nodded once more.
“Yes, I could bet my entire fortune that the girl likes you,” and she was six hundred years old, so she did have the experience.
“But why would she never give me a hint before? I am not the smartest when it comes to these things, but I am not so oblivious,” he defended himself and the woman nodded.
“Perhaps, she could not,” she suggested, and he frowned.
“Why?”
“That girl? Her sister is cursed, right?” and indeed, he had told her about Astoria as well and even shown her the cure they had prepared for her, which would be complete after the Samhain.
“Yes,” he agreed.
“Perhaps, she was saving herself for that. She had hoped to use her marriage, or herself as a bargaining tool to find that cure. Maybe she had never really had the time to think of herself,” and she also knew about his affection for Hermione.
She may have held herself back for that.
Daphne Greengrass. The Ice Princess of Slytherin. She had earned that moniker for good reason, and it was not entirely out of the realm of possibilities that Perenelle’s words were true.
“Just do it,” Perenelle advised softly.
“But what if we are wrong?” he asked, and she shrugged.
“Then so be it. I can assure you, years later you two would be laughing about this whole thing with your friends and children,” and indeed, that may be true.
“But if you don’t, and you let this wither away, both of you will regret this for all of your lives,” and so he nodded.
“I will think about it,” and she nodded.
“Then I believe my work here is done,” and just as she began to vanish away, she added one last thing.
“And do the other thing as well, Cassius. Waiting will not change the reality,” and with that she shimmered away, as Cassius was left alone in the room once more, as he thought of her words.
In the end, after half an hour, he reached for the stone once more, and twisted it thrice in his hands as he had done so for days now, and closed his eyes as he thought of a young, green-eyed boy.
“Harry Potter...” he whispered, and yet as he opened his eyes, he found the room empty and turned towards the memory vial and whispered.
“Well, I guess I have no choice now...”
0000
DAPHNE GREENGRASS
She had never felt so nervous in her life before. In her mind her life had always been perfectly mapped out. Graduate from Hogwarts and then find the cure for Astoria’s sickness no matter what.
That was it.
That was her life’s entire plan, and she had never dared to think beyond that.
But now she could, and as she did she began to dream of a future life, and in all her dreams she found someone besides her, someone who had been by her side for years.
And as much pain as it brought her, she had decided to take a chance.
“I am going to do it,” she declared to Tracey, as they walked towards the library.
“What?” her friend asked, and Daphne.
“I am going to ask him out myself,” and it was beyond the norm and tradition, but she did not have it in her heart to suffer another heartbreak. That dance, that they had done at the Professor’s command, had just confirmed what she had already known.
That she liked Cassius, and it should have been obvious enough to her, but the duty to her sister had bound her heart and mind, and now with those locks gone, Daphne believed that she deserved a semblance of happiness for herself.
That she had to take a chance.
“No,” Tracey disagreed.
“That’s a terrible idea,” and it was, but she could see no other path.
“Just give him a little more time,” she suggested as she had been for days now.
“But what if he chooses her again. What if?” she asked, and her friend had no answer.
“She is gone, Daphne, and Cassius may be blind, but he is no fool. I think he has caught the hints,” but even if he had caught them, what was stopping him then.
“I just want to know,” she whispered as they reached the gates of the library. he was there, waiting for them.
“Hey,” he greeted them, as Tracey eyed her, but before she could say anything.
“Tracey, do you mind holding the spot for us. I need to talk with Daphne for a second,” and Tracey gave her a look before she smiled.
“Sure,” and she went off, leaving her alone with him as he motioned for them to move towards the gardens to the side.
“So, what do you want to talk about?” and immediately she berated herself for her chilly tone. But she was like this, she had always been like this, and did not know how to act like other girls.
“Well, I just wanted to ask you a question,” he said, as they came to a halt at the pillars and stood face to face against one another. He looked her in the eyes, and that dark gaze had never felt darker, as she heard him sigh and whisper.
“I am a fool,” and she felt that she may have misheard, but hope began to bubble in her heart.
“What?” and then she saw him shake his head.
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” and it was as if the world had come crashing down. When it came to the two of them, they could read each other’s minds, and so she knew exactly what he was talking about.
“What was I to say?” she replied as her eyes grew heavier.
“I had never thought that I would ever have such an opportunity. I had resigned myself to becoming a bargaining chip for Astoria’s future,” but he had freed her of that fate, and of a hundred other worries.
“And you were in love with someone else,” and she would never dare interfere in that. He had simply done too much for her, so she could never put his happiness in jeopardy.
But now, things were different.
And so she felt the bustle around them halt, as Cassius smiled and knelt down on one knee, much like a Prince in those animated movies he had shown her.
“Daphne Ophelia Greengrass, would you please accompany me to the Ball?” he asked, and she chuckled at his theatrics, and heard a few boys nearly scream.
“THE ICE PRINCESS CAN LAUGH!” “FUCK!”
And she took the offered hand, as he gave him a nod.
“Yes, I will....”
0000
In the distance, a brown-haired girl watched it all happen from the corner of the garden and immediately turned around and ran away. Although she was happy for her two friends, it did not lessen the pain from the heartbreak she had suffered.
In that moment, she ran back to the dorms where she had felt the safest.
And as she lay there hours later, a familiar face came and joined her, spoke nothing, and simply accompanied her until later, and asked her the same question.
0000
Comments
Radiant Tiefling
Thank you for the chapter.
FallenMetalGod
Thank you, and I am glad that Harry's alive, which is always a good thing. I am surprisingly behind the Cassius and Daphne pairing. However, it looks like Voldemort is going after Hermione, which is never a good thing. Great job as always, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
