The days after the Dementor incident slipped back into the rhythm of Hogwarts life—at least on the surface.
Classes resumed.
Homework piled up.
Quidditch practices retook the evenings.
The castle buzzed with the usual gossip and spring-damp chatter, but under it all lay a tension only a few could sense.
And Cassius was one of them.
By day, he played the role expected of him:
Attentive in Transfiguration.
Predictably brilliant in Charms.
A menace in Potions—Snape insisted on the term "innovative," even if no one else agreed, though none coudl dispute his results.
Whisper-consultant to Professor Lupin in DADA, refining that new Patronus lesson plan the older wizard seemed determined to immortalize in curriculum.
By night?
He hunted.
Quietly.
Carefully.
Obsessively.
For weeks.
The Marauder's Map became an extension of his own mind—spread across his lap under the glow of enchanted candles in the hidden study the girls still didn't know about.
Every night, he traced the dots, watched the patterns, waited for the glitch, the flicker, the mistake that would give Peter Pettigrew away.
And every night…
Nothing.
No strange points of magic
No odd disturbances
No footprints in the snow outside the castle
No unauthorized movements through the dungeons
Not even a whisper of dark magic
It was the silence that frightened him.
Pettigrew was many things—coward, traitor, rat—but he was never still.
Stillness meant planning.
Stillness meant preparation.
Stillness meant danger.
Cassius rubbed his eyes, closing the map for the hundredth time.
"Where are you hiding, you little parasite…"
Serepha lifted her serpentine head from where she had curled around forming a natural barrier to protect him from the wind, a faint plume of silvery smoke drifting out.
You look tired, she murmured in his mind, her true-dragon voice soft, melodic, ageless.
Hunting ghosts yields little rest.
"I'm not hunting ghosts," he muttered. "I'm hunting a rat."
The distinction is negligible. Both hide in walls.
He sighed. "Thanks. Very comforting."
The problem with pettigrew in rat form, he smelled just like any rat, and sadly the countryside was filled with them, Serepha could waste months roasting the lot of them and never hitting the right one.
~
The problem with having six very observant, very stubborn friends was that they noticed everything.
Hermione cornered him first—of course she did.
"You're distracted," she accused lightly as they left Charms, her hand brushing his sleeve with casual familiarity.
"I'm always distracted," he countered.
"Yes, but normally you conceal it better."
Cassius gave her a tight smile. "It's nothing dangerous."
So she relaxed.
Hermione trusted him.
That hurt more than her suspicion would have.
Later, Daphne and Cho exchanged a look during dinner when he didn't touch his treacle tart.
Astoria kept slipping him chocolate from her pocket stash, whispering, "For emergencies."
Ginny nudged him during Quidditch practice. "Seriously. What's eating you?"
Luna simply patted his shoulder and said dreamily, "Don't worry. Shadows only win when you stop walking."
None of them suspected the truth.
And that was the problem.
If Cassius was right…If Pettigrew was planning something…If the Carrows and Bellatrix were still nearby…
Then telling the girls meant risking them demanding to help.
He'd seen what Hermione could do with a wand.
What Daphne could do with her cunning.
What Cho could do mid-air.
What Ginny could do with reckless courage.
What Astoria could do when protecting her sister.
What Luna could do simply by being Luna.
They were brilliant.
Fearless.
Determined.
And entirely too willing to follow him straight into hell.
He couldn't allow it.
Not for this.
Not for war, at least not yet, they were getting there but compared to ruthless deatheaters they would fair not much better than Dumbledores Army during the fifth year.
~
After another week of this passed by Cassius was struck with a thought he was surprised he had never considered before as it arrived in his mind like a bolt of lightning from the blue.
"…Maybe we shouldn't wait."
Serepha uncoiled slightly, her scales shimmering in the moonlit shadows of the forest.
You speak of the ambushers.
"Yes, they must be near hogwarts, otherwise their deception was beyond idiotic to use a double bluff just as a means to escape which they could have managed to do without the need. No they must still be nearby but outside the current sensor range of my means."
You propose we hunt them instead.
"Yes."
'It comes with inherent risks.'
"All things come with risk, but at least if we are the one to spring the trap we know when it will happen and wont be caught by surprise."
Cassius paced the floor, mind racing.
A preemptive strike made sense.
The longer Pettigrew remained inside or near the grounds, the greater the chance he'd be able to spring whatever devilry he'd setup upon entering the castle before.
The Carrows and Bellatrix holed up somewhere nearby meant future assaults, or worse, a coordinated breach just like they had done before only this time with a proper plan rather than a half-assed assault.
If they found the hideout first?
They could be the ones springing a trap.
But…
The girls would want in.
And Sirius.
And Remus.
And Snape.
Three professors he trusted to fight.
Six girls he absolutely refused to endanger.
That was the problem.
Cassius dropped into a hastily transfigured chair, head in hands.
"This is insane. And reckless. And impossible."
And correct, Serepha added calmly.
He looked up at her.
"You agree with this plan?"
You forget—I am a dragon, she replied, amused. We do not wait for threats. We erase them. Swiftly. Unapologetically.
Cassius exhaled.
"Then the question becomes… how do I convince Sirius, Remus, and my father without alerting the girls?"
Serepha hummed thoughtfully.
One problem at a time, little flame.
~
The next night, Cassius sat in Sirius's quarters again, under the pretense of discussing Patronus variations.
Instead, he dropped the real issue.
"I think we should strike first."
Three heads turned.
Sirius blinked. "…I'm sorry, what?"
Remus frowned. "Cassius, you mean—"
"Exactly what you think I mean."
Severus crossed his arms. "Finally."
Sirius sputtered. "WAIT—Snivellus agrees with something insane and dangerous? That's how I know this is bad."
Snape ignored him entirely.
"Explain," Remus urged.
Cassius laid out the reasoning—clean, calm, tactical.
The lack of signs.
The likelihood of a nearby hideout.
The staged Dementor attack.
The danger of waiting.
Then, the final blow.
"If Pettigrew is preparing for something… we can't wait for him to make the first move. Doing so could result in harm to us, or even the other students."
Silence.
Then Sirius grinned, sharp and wolfish.
"Well," he said, "I've been bored."
Remus sighed in the way a man does when he knows he will absolutely be dragged into a terrible idea. "It is… strategically sound."
Snape simply nodded. "I will join."
Cassius hesitated.
"There's one condition."
Sirius raised a brow. "Which is?"
"We tell no one else. Especially not the girls."
Sirius opened his mouth.
Snape cut him off. "Agreed."
Remus rubbed his temples. "Cassius… they won't take this well."
"I know," Cassius murmured. "But this is my fight. My responsibility. I won't endanger them."
Sirius's expression softened—rare, but real.
"…Alright, pup. Then let's plan a hunt."
Cassius exhaled.
It was beginning.
His own organization similar to the order of the phoenix but rather than being purely defensive was going to make the first move before Voldemort and his forces could.
Four heavyweights of Hogwarts would contend with four Voldemort loyalists.
But what all of them didnt know was that Cassius was prepared to bring a Dragon to a wandfight.