Chapter One: Unexpected Meetings

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, sadly.

Harry was lying on his bed, his hands folded beneath his head. All day long he had been thinking. Tomorrow he would leave for the Burrow, to see Ron and Hermione again on Bills wedding before…

He turned to the side and put his feet on the ground to sit up. He wanted to find the Horcruxes more than anything, but somehow he was doubting if he could manage to find them all on his own. The last weeks he had felt more isolated than ever before.

Suddenly, someone rang the doorbell. Harry got up. It was very unusual for the Dursleys to receive guests at this hour. It was already half past ten.

Curious, he looked through the window. Whoever had rang the doorbell, had already stepped inside. It must be someone they know, Harry thought, otherwise the Dursleys would never have let them in without a fuss.

He sat back down unto his bed and took out the photo-album Hagrid had given him after his first year. He turned the pages to his favourite picture: his mum and dad with baby Harry.

Harry closed his eyes. He wished he could go back to that time, when he had parents. While the years passed, his life became more and more empty. Nearly all the people he really cared about were dead.

Outside the door he heard people on the stairs. Then a faint knocking.

"Come in!" he called out.

The door opened and there on the landing stood "Professor McGonagall!"

The elder witch took a step inside the room. "Good evening mr Potter."

Harry frowned. "I don't mean to be rude professor, but why exactly are you here?"

A faint smile appeared on McGonagall's face. "You'll find out in a minute."

She turned her head and called out: "Please come up, Cassandra!"

A cloaked figure came up and through the door. Slender hands came out of the sleeves and gently put back the hood. "Good evening Harry."

Harry stared. The woman in the cloak could barely be any older than 20. Who was she?

"We've come to bring you something," professor McGonagall said, "Well, Cassandra has come to bring you something."

Quietly, the younger woman handed over a sealed letter. The curly handwriting was very familiar. Out of nowhere a tear rolled over Harry's cheek.

"Where did you get that?" he asked, looking up into her eyes.

She smiled gently. "I think you know as well as I do from who I got it. Just read it please, Harry, so we can get out of here."

Puzzled Harry opened the envelope. The moment he started reading there wasn't a doubt about who wrote it.

Dear Harry,

Seeing that you are reading this must mean that I'm not with you all anymore.

There are probably a lot of things I haven't told you yet, and even more questions you wanted to ask me, but that doesn't matter anymore now.

I will give this letter to dear Cassandra the moment I have finished it, being absolutely sure that she'll put it into the right use. I've known her from when I was just a little boy and would trust her with my life. She knows everything, all my suspicions, my theories and perhaps even more.

All I ask from you is that you listen to her. Let her speak, hear her out. I know that you will only receive this when sad things will have happened, but I'm sure she can help you.

I hope that in a way, she can help mend the pain.

Yours faithfully,

Albus Dumbledore

By the time Harry finished the letter, tears were streaming down his cheeks. "I don't understand," he said, "you know everything? About Vol.."

"Shhh!" Cassandra whispered, "Not here. We've come to take you to the Burrow a bit early. And then to school."

"No, I can't go to school, I haven't got any time to waste!"

"Hear me out," Cassandra sighed, "please."

Unwillingly, Harry sat down again.

"I know you want to go find them and destroy them. But you don't know how. Nor where they are," Harry opened his mouth to interject, "no, let me finish please."

"I can help you. But only if you let me, only if you come back to Hogwarts with us. Even if it's just for one term."

"I don't understand," Harry said, "it makes no sense. How could you have known Dumbledore from when he was a little boy? All of this must be a scam!"

He turned to professor McGonagall. She sighed. "Please Harry, just come to the Burrow with us, we can discuss this later. This isn't the time nor the place."

"No," Harry interjected, "I want to know. If I'm to come to the Burrow with you I want to know exactly what's going on!"

No-one answered. Harry turned to Cassandra. "I want to know who your are!" She only looked him dreamily in the eye. "You have the impatience of your father in you. He was terrible at waiting for something. But then again your mother was one of the most kind, caring and patient women I've met. You have so much of them in you. Albus was very proud of you."

Harry's eye hardened. "Don't speak of them like that. Like you knew them. You have no idea." Cassandra smiled again. "Well, godfather Sirius is present as well. Always on his toes… I guess it's not a bad thing."

Professor McGonagall gave a little cough. "Well, if you two are finished, could we please…" She was cut off by a knock on the door.

It opened a bit, and a head of bright fuchsia became visible. "Are you ready now? We're all waiting!" Then the door opened a bit more and Tonks briskly walked in.

"Wotcher Harry! It's time to pack again!"

Harry stared. "You've come here too?"

"Well, to pack your bags of course!" Tonks said, "what do you think? And I promise not to make a mess this time. Cassandra," she turned a bit, "would you mind giving me a hand? We don't want to…"

Cassandra smiled again. "Of course," she flicked her wand and all of Harry's belongings flew into his trunk, "there you go. No reason for Remus to get annoyed again. Don't forget your broom, Harry. Let's go downstairs."

They all started to move out the door when Cassandra turned around. She looked intently at Harry. "Are you ok?"

He shrugged. "I guess so," he said quietly, "as everyone else seems to be ok, I guess I'm too," he paused for a moment, "and who was that like?"

Cassandra grinned. "Sounds like Pettigrew, don't make a habit of it." She winked and ushered him out onto the landing.

Once out of his room, Harry was suddenly surrounded by very familiar faces. The woman standing closest gave him a big hug.

"Hello Harry. Had a nice summer?"

He smiled back. "It was ok Mrs Weasley, it could have been worse."

"Good then, but we'll have to feed you up a little bit I can see," Mrs Weasley commented, tucking at his shirt.

"Molly, could we please do this once we're out of here?" said another familiar, slightly hoarse voice, "it's quite cramped up here." Lupin smiled. "Hello Harry, how have you been? Okay?"

Harry nodded, at once at ease. He was leaving the Dursleys, maybe for good, and he was to stay at one of his favourite places in the world.

Professor McGonagall went downstairs first, followed by Cassandra. To Harry's surprise they turned right and walked right into the living room. There, more people were waiting. Apart from the Dursleys there were Bill and Charlie Weasley, Mad-Eye Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt. They all greeted Harry with a smile.

"So," Lupin said, "I guess we're off."

He gave the Dursleys a little nod.

Harry gave them a faint smile. Aunt Petunia seemed more nervous than ever, chewing her tongue. She stared at Cassandra.

And then, to Harry's surprise, she walked towards her and they shook hands. He couldn't believe his eyes. Aunt Petunia, willingly shaking hands with… Well, he didn't know exactly who she was, but that didn't matter. She was certainly no muggle. Aunt Petunia whispered something and Cassandra at her turn nodded. It must have been obvious that he was staring at them in disbelieve because she suddenly laughed out loud.

"There's much for me to explain, but we'll have to do that a bit later. Thank you, Petunia, it means a lot to me, well, to us." After that she put the hood of her cloak back on and gave Lupin a little nod. "We're off."

Confidently she walked through the back door. Dumbfounded, Harry followed. He watched Cassandra as she raised her wand and made a broomstick appear out of thin air. He turned and watched Bill and Kingsley take their broomsticks from where they were standing against the wall.

Next to them, aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon were standing, their arms crossed, Petunia not looking near as uncomfortable as uncle Vernon did. He was even more uncomfortable when Moody turned to him.

"You're bloody lucky today, muggle," he said, "I'm not allowed to use magic on you by…" he jerked her head towards Cassandra, "Consider yourself very lucky."

And with that he disapparated.

"Is everyone ready?" Cassandra asked, perched sideways on her broomstick. After a nod from Lupin she took off.

"Why aren't we apparating?" Harry asked Lupin, "Just like Moody did?"

"We're flying to a secure place to take special Floo to the Burrow. Cassandra has taken a lot of security measures," Lupin said, "She's not taking any chances. We are very lucky to have her among us. Now let's get out of here or we'll grow roots. Ron, Hermione and Ginny will be anxious to see you."