Secrets Surfaced ((Blackfire clan))

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cassandra Blackfire, the proverbial black sheep of the family, was becoming more and more frustrated by the moment. " Damn Transfiguration. You would think an animal transformation would be easier, but no." Muttering to herself, Cass scribbled what looked like complex mathematical equations on a very used piece of parchment. She had spent hours propped up on her bed working on some extra homework McGonogall had given her during her last animagi lesson. According to the Professor, she seemed to be getting lax in her studies on the art, and if Cass wanted to actually transfigure next year, she was going to have to put in overtime in her studies. Not only was that weighing on her mind, but her O.W.L.S. were just around the corner. Even Pyro, not the most studious person, was feeling the strain. She had actually caught him reading a text book in the library the other day. Lucky for him, he had tutors come during the holidays to help him prepare for the test. Uncle Charles had offered her the same thing, but she felt that she could prepare adequately on her own. However, at moments like this, she wished she hadn't declined the offer.

Bamf! A tiny house elf suddenly popped into her room with a medium sized brown box in his hounds. "A package arrived by courier for you a few moments ago." Bamf! The elf disappeared. " I wish they would stop doing that," Cass muttered to the empty room as she went to retrieve her package. Picking it up, she walked it over to her bed and laid it on top of her homework. Loud paper crinkling sounds filled the room as she tried to force the overly taped box open. "Who would send me something?" Cass looked at the top of the box. "Hmm? No return address." Mangling the box in her endeavor, Cass finally opened the mysterious package.

"Merlin's Beard!" On top of a very large pile of paper, set several keys that she recognized as Gringott's Bank keys. She placed them aside and continued to rummage through the box. There was an array of wealth in just this tiny box. Muggle Banking records, land deeds, stock records, and checking account numbers floated in front of Cassandra's eyes. At the very bottom of the pile, a single land deed remained that answered the question of who sent the box. " Craig's deed to the dojo!" Confused, she sat with what seemed like a million pieces of paper in her lap all with her name on them. Inspecting them closer, she also noticed one more peculiar thing about everything in the box. They weren't just written for Cassandra Blackfire, but they were written for Cassandra Logton Blackfire.

Not liking the lurching feeling in her stomach, she got on the floor and began to shuffle things out of the way under her bed. Finding a large wooden box, she pulled out her wand and cried, " Accio!" The box lid flew open and she pulled out the note she had received by owl a couple of months ago. Finally determined, she put the entire contents of her package into her little box of treasures that was unknown to the rest of her family. Taking the letter, she marched to the back of her house to her Uncle's study. Knocking on the door, she heard her Uncle say quite nastily, " Who is it?"

" It's Cassandra." After a moment of silence, her Uncle stated that she could enter. Cass pushed open the heavy mahogany door to reveal her Uncle sitting behind a very imposing desk. Entering quietly, she waited for her Uncle to get done writing on a piece of parchment. " Uncle Charles, I hope you are doing well this evening. However, I need to let you know about this mysterious letter I received." She handed the letter to her Uncle who snatched it out of her hand. "Pyro and I both received the same thing, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it. Surely, someone wouldn't be trying to heckle our family by rubbing old bruises."

[charlesb]

Hand cramps was something that Charles had managed to move past for many years now. Which was a good thing with the amount of paperwork he had to do in his day now. First off there was all the work from the ministry he had to do. Most of it consisted of paperwork and logging of stuff. So he brought most of it home, it was easier that way to make copies of certain documents and allow them to fall into darker hands, for a price of course. Than there was all the at home paperwork that needed to be done: Bills, Reports, Family messages and Invites. It seemed that the older he became, the longer he spent here in this study, surrounded by mountains of paperwork. Luckily Charles wasn't a stupid man and he had furnished the Study to take care of all of his needs if need be. He sighed as he put his quill down and rubbed his eyes for a second.

Family Politics had started to become a pressing issue on his mind. Pyro was starting to get older, that much was certain. It would only be a few months before Pyro was off age and set to inherit the Blackfire family and all its fortunes. Normally something like this wouldn't even remain a flicker in his mind, but the thought of how Charles himself had become the head of the family floated into his mind. Charles life had always been a trek on the dark side. It had started with the assassination of his father, and it had only grown from there. Now Pyro was quickly approaching that same age, it was no secret that Pyro held no love for Charles and that he had his eye on running the family.

He sighed as he returned to his work just as a knock came on the door. "Who is it?" he said not looking up from his work. "It's Cassandra." Came the answer from the other side. Great, what did she want at a time like this? Ever since she had entered the household she had been nothing but a nuisance. Although she had kept Pyro busy and off his back, so it appeared like she did have her uses. "Come in." He said and waited for her to enter. Quickly finishing up with the document and slid it aside and put the quill down and looked up at her, focusing his attention on her.

"How may I help you?" He asked in a regular tone. He eyed the letter in her hand and quickly snatched it away and scanned it. His eyes went wide with shock and his grip tightened on the letter. He scanned it once again to make sure he didn't make a mistake. He growled inwardly, that clever little brat. Just when Charles had thought that particular issue had been buried and finally brushed aside, the dead found a way to bring it right back. He quickly reset his face though, perhaps there was a way to slide past this without causing suspicion. He handed it back. "Well, I don't know. You probably have many enemies out there. Perhaps some of them are just trying to get under your skin." He smiled and stood from his desk, picking up his cane in the process. "What makes you think that I could possibly have any idea what the letter is about?"

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass watched as a flurry of emotions passed across her uncle's face. She stood their uncomfortably feeling like an ant under a young child's magnifying glass. Cass almost laughed when her Uncle mentioned she had enemies. "I seriously doubt that, Uncle. Look at the letter. It is addressed to both Pyro and me. Usually his enemies are my friends and vice-a-versa. Plus, it looks like Craig's signature." Cass looked at the floor under her Uncle's penetrating stare. "It just seems odd is all. I got the note on the anniversary of the, well, you know." She was losing her nerve. She had come in here expecting to the storm the castle and to confront her uncle with her suspicions about her family's death. "Even if this was a prank, it is a very sick one."

Cass stood in front of her Uncle through a very uncomfortable silence. "I just felt that this needed to be brought to your attention. If someone was willing to send this to Pyro and me, then they obviously know something that none of us do. Maybe this person might know something about who set the fire that night." Cass ' speech was beginning to build up steam. "Even if my mother wasn't your favorite person, did you ever think that whoever did this bears ill will to our entire family?" Cass gulped as she bodily stated stated what she knew was a lie since she had been with him the evening of the fire. "Please, Uncle, I hate to say ill words against my cousin, but we all know how he has been acting lately. Pyro has been acting slightly unhinged. Our bedrooms are close to each other, and you should hear how he mutters at night. On top of all that, he has joined some sort of secret society with some other Slytherins. From the rumors at school, they are rumored to have a book with some really dark magic." Cass squeezed her right hand that held the scar that she received when she picked up the book she had just mentioned.

"Uncle, I'm frightened of him. Pyro isn't sane." Cass looked at her Uncle to see his reaction.

[charlesb]

Charles smiled, hoping to disarm the girl in front of him and get her out of the room without being suspicious. But he could see the visible discomfort on her and practically saw the thoughts and questions enter her head. He glanced down at the letter once more, it was definitely that brat's hand writing. Charles had seen it first hand when the boy had dared to send an owl to him. His mind worked quickly to work up something. "Well, doesn't all of that point more accurately toward a prank? If they are you're enemies, than they know you quite well. Perhaps they just added Pyro into the letter so that it would seem like they are enemies of him also, that way the letter looks more authentic." Charles seemed to back up a step as the girls next comments seemed to be border line accusing.

He smiled once again in hopes of disarming her. "Although what happened to your mother was tragic. They had an eye witness at the scene who described everything. Your mother set the house on fire by herself." Only he and a few choice people knew that to be incorrect, but they had all been paid well for their silence, not to mention that they themselves had been in on the attack. Charles couldn't have picked a better witness either. He had passed many lie detector tests to get the ministry to believe the story. He sighed. "Alright, lets say that this was the work of some, outside, force." He turned and opened a drawer in his desk and pulled forth a book. Flipping it open and running his finger down the page to find what he was looking for. "Although you're family was discovered to be part of the Blackfire family at the time. You were all still disowned and apart from this clan."

He snapped the book shut and looked at her. "You've been living as a muggle for your entire life. So you probably don't have much experience in the ways of the pureblood wizard world. Disowned family pacts are rarely attacked by enemies of the original family. The fact that they are disowned makes them seem.....unclean, to the rest of the world and therefor untouchable."

He sat down once again at his desk and placed his chin in his hands. "I do thank you for bringing this to my attention though. If it will make you feel any better I'll keep my eyes out for any approaching danger." He couldn't help but chuckle at her comments regarding Pyro. "I assure you, Pyro is of no danger. Though he may seem unhinged at times I assure you. He is quite sane. Just call this a, Pureblood heir phase." Though some of her words did sink in to him. Mutters at night? Secret society? Charles would have to keep a much closer eye on him in the future.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Damn!, Cassandra thought. This wasn't going as expected. Maybe she should tell him about the rest of the package, but that could only hurt her in the end. If he found out about those, he would surely demand to see it all and take it away from her. Thinking as quickly as she could, she tried to keep the conversation going. " Yes, Uncle. I understand, but it's really hard with Alex being in the same room with me. You can't tell me that they aren't working together to undermine the family. Even though it doesn't seem it at times, I'm more committed to our family than you actually know. I would hate to see the Blackfire name tarnished because of something else that Pyro has done. In fact, I'm hoping that you would help me find a, um, suitable match in a good wizarding family. I know I can't expect a wonderful match considering my parentage, but you have already been so kind to me that I would hope that you would give someone a respectable dowry. I am sixteen now, Uncle. I'll be of age next year. We have to start thinking of these things."

Silence followed her statement. Charles was probably just as shocked about Cassandra saying these things as she was hearing them coming out of her mouth. "I just hope whoever you choose for me will be good enough to put with me is all. I do tend to be a handful." Biting her lip, a nervous habit, Cass continued to plunge along. "I will take my leave of you, Uncle. However, whoever wrote that letter must be very good at duplicating handwriting. It looks an awful lot like Craig's hand. I've seen it so many times before. In fact, I found a letter he wrote me write before he died. You know that little curl at the top of the 'C' on the letter," she paused so Charles could take in what she was saying, "in high school, he took so much time trying to perfect that. Apparently, he said it looked like Grandfather's signature."

[charlesb]

Charles eyed the girl in front of him. She knew more than she was letting on, he could see it within her eyes. Exactly how much he did not know, but he wasn't going to blow his cover, not now, not after everything he had done to keep this thing under wraps. If she wanted some kind of confession out of him, she would have to try much harder than she was now. He sighed as the conversation once more turned toward Pyro and the stray that he had let into the family. The Ricci girl. Charles hadn't managed to meet this girl much, and he preferred it that way. It was much easier to just let Pyro and her grow weary of their relationship and than the girl would be booted out of the house once again. "If it would help, I can have an extra room built and than you two can have separate rooms."

He arched an eyebrow in curiosity as Cassandra continued onto the subject of family loyalty. He was surprised that she would be so bold as to say that she was more loyal to the family than Pyro. Pyro hated Charles, and the feeling was mutual. But Pyro wasn't stupid enough to try and ruin the Blackfire name completely. Doing so would dig his own grave. No, Pyro merely wanted Charles out of the picture. He decided to humor this girl though and listened to her words when another shocker came from her lips. One that Charles had a hard time finding a response to.

She wanted him to find her a match? Things like this weren't unheard of in the wizard world, but he did not expect it from her mouth. Finally, an out. It seemed like she was about to leave. He smiled, searching for the words. "Well, thank you for bringing all of this to my attention. It's good to know how devoted you are to this family and its future." He winked at her. "I'll see what I can do about finding a perfect match for you." It seemed she wasn't done, she had to get one last thing in. Charles' eyes flashed, but he hid that quite well. "This is the magical world Cassandra. Before you learned about your witch blood was the fact of floating objects just as crazy to you? There are more than one way to forge someones signature."

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

"Trust me, Uncle. I know very well that there is more than one way to forge a signature. In fact, Professor Flitwick showed us a very interesting way of doing it in charms." Cass took out her wand and pointed to a piece of paper with her Uncle's signature. She tapped the paper three times, and then placed her wand on another piece nearby. Cass said the magic word and her Uncle's signature appeared on the what had been a blank page. " However, as you know, someone has to have an actual copy of that person's signature to duplicate it. Seeing as that Craig has been dead for over a year now, it would be a little hard to get a copy of his signature unless someone was keeping it for this reason. Now, I know his signature might be on bank notes, credit card statements, and any sort of official document, but I doubt someone would break into a bank just to get a copy of Craig's signature for a stupid prank."

Cass snatched the note away from her Uncle. "No need to wonder if it is an original. I've already performed a nifty little spell that I learned in my third year. It is definetly Craig's handwriting. It only means one of two things. Craig is still alive, or he arranged to have this letter delivered before he died. I believe that it is the latter, and that means that his death was no spur of the moment atrocity caused by a woman who had finally lost her mind." Cass smiled, triumphant. "Think about it, Uncle Charles. That fire was big news. If this got to the Daily Prophet, they would plaster it all over the news. I can already see the headlines."

[charlesb]

Charles watched uninterested as Cass performed her little “Trick” and copied his signature onto a blank page. Charles blinked, rather bored with the whole meeting. Still he knew that the girl in front of him knew something, or at least suspected something, and she wasn’t going to go unless she received perfect proof. He sighed as he eyed her. It wasn’t like she could prove anything. The case had been closed and all the evidence that had pointed at Charles had already been destroyed. The only shred of proof that this girl had was in her hands right now, and it would hardly hold up in court. He was getting tired of this whole charade.

Perhaps it was time to stop beating around the bush? Why not let her in on his little secret? He held no love for the girl, so watching the shock and anguish on her face would be delightful. He grinned inwardly and pulled out his wand. With a quick flip all the windows in the study quickly snapped shut and locked themselves with a soft [/i]click[/i]. The door to his study slammed shut and also locked itself. Sitting himself down at his desk once again Charles placed his hands on his chin and stared directly at Cass.

“Young lady. Let’s stop beating around the bush.” His eyes never wavered as he stared at Cass. “You are suspecting something. And I strongly believe that I fit into your suspicions. So why not save us both the trouble and you tell me what your suspecting.” A twinkle appeared in his eye. “And I’ll tell you how true you really.”