Cassius landed lightly on a moss-coated stump as Serepha lowered her wings, the rhythmic hum of her scales quieting with the cold breath of the Forbidden Forest.
"Rest," he whispered in Parseltongue.
The drake rumbled and curled into her den, tail flicking once before she vanished into the thick shadows.
Cassius exhaled, lifting his hood, layering spell over spell until his presence dimmed to a faint ripple — silent, weightless, undetectable.
By the time he reached the castle walls, he was invisible to all but the most ancient wards.
The stones accepted him.
The halls let him pass.
A final quiet spell muffled the sound of his boots as he approached the door of his dormitory.
He turned the handle.
The door clicked open.
Cassius stepped inside—
And immediately froze.
His bed was full.
Packed.
Overstuffed with six girls.
All six Draconis witches sat upon his blankets like a jury of tiny, furious dragons — arms folded, eyes burning, cheeks puffed with indignation.
Cho. Daphne. Hermione. Astoria. Ginny. Luna.
All glaring.
All silent.
And in the corner of the room, half-illuminated by moonlight that passed straight through her ethereal form, floated Lady Draconis herself — the founder, the ghost, the matriarch.
She looked delighted.
Smug.
Utterly entertained.
Cassius closed the door behind him.
"…I take it you're all awake," he said.
The six stared at him in perfect synchronization.
Lady Draconis gave a soft, musical hum.
'Oh this will be entertaining.'
Cho was the first to speak.
"You left the castle."
Daphne followed. "Twice."
Hermione's voice trembled with both relief and outrage. "With a dragon."
Astoria added sharply, "In the middle of the night."
Ginny's eyes shimmered angrily. "Without telling us."
Luna finished, voice cracking, "And you didn't take any of us with you!"
Cassius blinked slowly.
"…I see."
Cho leaned forward, finger pointed accusingly. "You promised you wouldn't face danger alone."
"I didn't promise that," Cassius replied calmly.
"You implied it!" Hermione insisted.
Daphne sniffed. "And implying something is as good as making a promise."
"That's not—" Cassius began.
"No," Ginny cut him off, "we're not doing this. We are not letting you talk your way out like some clever little—little—"
"Luna," Ysolde finished for her.
Cassius stared at them.
Lady Draconis nearly glowed with amusement. "My dear heir… it seems you have a problem."
Six glares sharpened.
Six voices united:
""You scared us.""
The words hit harder than any spell.
Cassius inhaled slowly.
Then his expression changed — sharpened — settled into something they had never seen before.
Not defensive.
Not apologetic.
Not evasive.
Authority.
Pure, unfiltered, Draconis authority.
The air thickened.
The room dimmed.
The old magic of House Draconis, slumbering in his blood, rose around him like rippling smoke.
He spoke one word:
"Silence."
The command wasn't loud.
It was gentle.
But it sank into the bones of every Draconis girl in the room.
Their mouths shut instantly, hands dropping into their laps.
Lady Draconis's eyes widened in delighted approval. "Oh, you finally used the command call, i'm honestly surprised it's taken you this long to do so."
That's right Cassius a third year, had finally after all those months of enduring the girls torment and treatment but in this moment his patience had finally reached its end.
He had done quite literally nothing wrong.
He'd kept them safe from harm, eliminated a threat to the school and returned to them safe and sound.
And yet instead of praise or gratitude he was being given the third-degree?
Tired as he was thanks to staying up late past his bedtime already Cassius was not in a mood to entertain the girls antics right now.
So breaking the seal he unleashed his hidden power as their 'master' silencing their endless stream of complaints.
"You will forgive me, for i did nothing wrong."
His sharpened gaze scanned across each girl, who in turn straightened up to sit proper when his eyes landed on them.
Hearing his second 'command' each girls wary eyes instead shifted to one of a glistening moistness.
Cassius had never used this power but that didnt mean he'd forgotten about it.
The rules behind his command call was simple, he could command just about anything though nothing that would be refused by the subordinate in question.
In this case, his two commands were simple enough that the girls collectively stood no chance.
It's not like they wouldnt be silent, nor would they choose to never forgive him, and as such in adherance with the command Cassius's problem were solved thanks to his cheat level power granted to him as Heir to the house.
Only that even after his use of this power, while Cassius turned his back on the girls taking his robe off and hanging it up on a simple clothes rack he was surprised to find that all six were still seated atop his bed when he'd turned round again.
"What?" this one word was all he could bother to bring out, the commands had clearly been accepted so why hadnt this ended yet...
"Cassius."
"No fair."
*Sigh*
it seems while the command was all powerful that didnt mean it happened without them knowing about it.
But even still he didnt want to explain himself, surely they knew they were out of line.
"Using your master power on us."
"Naughty master."
Ugh, gods above their getting cheekier with age.
Just as Cassius was contemplating unleashing a magical torrent to throw the girls from his room before they could say something truly damming.
But he was too late.
"You owe us! So tonight you let us sleep with you!"
He wasnt even sure which one had said this.
The voice was just barely audible, said so coyly and shyly that Cassius even enhanced as it was could not figure it out without the use of a time turner, but that wouldnt be possible in this situation.
Even as he wanted to deny the request, looking at the faces of the six assembled before him, he couldnt bring himself to say the words.
He had stolen their planned chance to guilt him into something, but even still had adapted to deploy a fallback plan to still guilt him into giving something up.
And as far as requests go...
This one well it was certainly absurd but at least it was normalish.
Left with little choice, rather than upsetting them further and getting to sleep Cassius agreed to the request.
Finding himself in his bed, wrapped on all sides by the girls, clearly something they had planned as they had a whole pattern created allowing each of them to cling to a different part of his body as he tried to sleep.
Sleep...
That came easily to the girls...
... Unfortunately for Cassius it did not easily come for him.
But thankfully this was a world of magic, and so after wiggling his hand enough to point a finger at his own body, Cassius could only sigh one last time before the words escaped his lips.
"Stupify"
After that his own magic struck himself, and darkness took him.