Chapter One: Nightmares
"Cassie, run!" came her brother's voice from
the living room. Cassie hid under the stairs in the
cupboard.
"Stand back, boy," said a deep and menacing
voice. There was a blast of red light, which she could
see even from her hiding place.
"Greg!" Cassie said in a whisper. A single tear ran
down her cheek. Then there were two
piercing screams,
and a blinding stream of green light.
"No!" Cassie sat up in her bed, her
long
brown hair hanging limp over her face. The room was
dark, and her owl, Sunny, was hooting like mad. Her
door creaked open; a small blonde head poked in.
"Cassie? Are you all right?" the owner of the head
asked as she walked over to Cassie's bedside. She put
her hand on Cassie's leg.
"Yes. I'm fine." She turned to the girl.
"Virginia! What are you doing out of bed?"
"Well, you're the one who shouted!"
Virginia said defensively. "Are you really all right?"
Cassie sighed. She had just had a dream - a
memory - about something horrible. How could she be
'really all right'? "Yes, I am. Where are mum and
dad?"
"They went out, and Greg went along.
Kyle is sleeping."
"And you should be too!" Cassie said,
getting out of bed. She grabbed Virginia's hand and
dragged her back to her own room. "Now stay in here.
You're gonna get it if mum finds out you were awake."
I'm gonna get it, she amended in her own mind. After
all, it was Cassie who was supposed to be in charge
here. "Just get back in bed." Virginia crawled under
the covers. Cassie tucked her in and walked back to
her room. She turned on the light, then went to
inspect the calendar on the wall next to her bed.
Her room was filled with all sorts of wizarding
things. She had posters of a different Quidditch team
in each corner of her room, a poster of The Weird
Sisters hanging over her bed, and moving
pictures of her and her family all over her walls. Her
barn owl Sunny was sleeping soundly again. A Nimbus
2000 racing broom was leaning on her desk chair, blue
robes with moons and stars on them were scattered
everywhere. But Cassie went unerringly for her
calendar and flipped the it to
September first.
It was marked in red marker; "Term begins at
Underwater University of Magic." She smiled with
satisfaction when she saw it. Only a week left now,
she kept telling herself. She turned off the purple
lamp and crawled back into bed. It took her what
seemed like hours to get back to sleep, but when she
finally did, it seemed only minutes before her mother
came in to wake her.
Cassie climbed out of bed reluctantly, and walked
sheepishly downstairs in her blue dressing gown. When
she
arrived at the breakfast table her brothers Greg and
Kyle were already eating. But, oddly enough, Virginia
wasn't there. She must still have been asleep. Her
father was engrossed in the muggle newspaper, and her
mother was reading the Daily Prophet. There were
on in the center of the table. Cassie sat
down and helped herself to some pancakes and orange
juice. "Morning," she greeted everyone with a yawn.
No one looked up. No one even seemed to notice her
presence except her older brother Greg, who simply
mumbled. Greg had brown hair and grey eyes, he was
well built and had a mellow voice. He kept shoveling
pancakes into his mouth. Cassie's mother looked up at
him in disgust. "Slow down dear, or you're going to
choke," she chided him. Ignoring her completely, he
continued to gulp down his meal.
"We're going to go get your school supplies
today," her father said without looking up. Mr. Small
was a tall black-haired man, who had a deep voice. He
had gentle grey eyes, the same color as Greg's.
Cassie looked up with a very pleased smile on her
face. "We are!? I'll go get cleaned up then." With new
energy she hopped up from the table and ran toward the
stairs.
Mr. Small called after her, "No, no, you're going to
be watching Kyle and Virginia."
Cassie was upstairs by now. "Yeah, fine" she called
down. "As long as they don't nag and ask me to buy
them something, when I'm looking for books and new
robes."
"No, Cassie, I mean you're staying here!" Mr. Small
yelled back. Cassie, shocked, came running back down
the stairs. Her long hair was in a very messy
ponytail, as though she had been in the middle of
putting it up when she had stopped.
"What do you mean I'm not going? You said we're going
to go get my supplies for Underwater University. And,
and I need to get new robes!"
"I already bought you some, dear and all the potion
vials, and all the quills and parchments you'll need."
Mrs. Small said from behind the Daily Prophet, "All we
need to do is get your books." Mrs. Small was a tall,
brown haired woman with green eyes, a pale complexion,
and a pleasant sweet voice.
"Yeah, well, I still want to come along, mum! They're
going to be mine, after all!" Cassie said in protest.
"Oh, right, mum, can I come with? I need to get some
new potion vials." Greg, attracted by the
conversation, had finally looked up from his now empty
plate.
Mrs. Small smiled at him, "Of course dear."
Cassie's jaw dropped, "Okay, so you let the human
garbage disposal go with
you and not me?! Are you mad?"
Mr. Small looked up from his paper. "Don't talk to
your mother like that," he reprimanded her. "Gregory
is older than you are, he can handle more. When
you're his age, you can come too."
"But Dad, I've never been to any parts of the
wizarding world. We've always lived in cities and
towns packed with nothing but muggles. I want to go, I
want to see! Please?"
"No and that's final!" Mr. Small said with a stern
voice. "Now go upstairs and wake up your sister."
Cassie walked up stairs without enthusiasm, shouting
into her sister's room as she passed, "Get up,
Virginia! Dad says."
Then she walked across the hall to her own room and
sat down on her bed. Sunny was still asleep on his
perch, and the pictures of her family were all waving
and smiling at her, as though to lighten her mood.
She picked up her wand from the dresser next to her
bed. It was 11 inches, made of maple, and with a
unicorn hair at its center. If the hair was still
there. She was beginning to doubt that. The wand was
all beaten up; it had chinks in it. It
wasn't new and
shiny like Greg's wand had been when he started at
university. Cassie sighed, hoping that her mother
would change her mind, that she'd come up to her room
and say, 'Cassie you want to go with us? Get ready,
then.'
Sunny had just woken up, he hooted at her softly.
Cassie turned to him. "An old beat up wand. Yeah,
that's what I really wanted. My mum's old wand." Sunny
hooted again in reply. "I wish it were all nice and
smooth. Like Greg's." With a sigh, she stood up and
put the wand back on the dresser. And now she had to
spend the day with the children, pretending everything
was all right.
Later that night, Mr. and Mrs. Small went out again.
"They always go out! They're never home!" Cassie said,
knocking a lamp over in her frustration.
"Come on now Cass, they're just busy people, that's
all," Greg said mildly, picking the lamp back up
again. At least this time he'd stayed home to watch
Kyle and Virginia. But still, he wasn't here to watch
her! Couldn't he just let her be miserable in peace?
She scoffed and ran to her room where she flopped down
on her bed. It's no fair!, she thought. Why do they
always let themselves go out! It's rare that I even
leave this house!
Cassie rolled over on her bed; Sunny was
hooting and flying around his cage, and the stars
outside shone brightly against their navy blue
background. Cassie got up and let Sunny out. He flew
out the window and into the night. There came a soft
knocking on her bedroom door; followed by her
brother's voice, "Cass, come on now. You're being
silly. Mum and Dad have a right to go out-"
"Yeah well I have a right too," Cassie
interjected, "but you don't see me going! You go out
with them all the time!" Cassie interjected, "It's not
fair!" Cassie put her face in her pillow; she didn't
want to hear her brother's infuriatingly reasonable
words anymore. She had had enough; she hated how the
adults got to go out and she had to stay home. It
wasn't as though she wasn't practically an adult
herself. She'd be starting University in a few weeks,
for heaven's sake!
"Well, Cassie, I'm sorry, but it's just not allowed.
So this 'right' you're complaining about, it's not
really there." Greg said carefully, trying not to
sound harsh, trying not to sound as though he was
closing doors to her.
"Thanks Greg, that helps a lot!" Cassie said, her
voice and tears muffled by the pillow.
Greg grinned sympathetically and walked out of
Cassie's room. "Glad to serve."
Cassie didn't sleep that night; instead she lay awake
until her parents came home. When they finally did,
it was about two in the morning. When she heard
their
footsteps on the stairs outside, Cassie quietly
walked
into the hallway and over to the stairs. As she
listened, the front door opened, and she could
hear the
sound of her father's hushed voice echoing throughout
the entrance hall, along with the muted sobs of her
mother.
"Don't worry, Abby dear, she'll be safe." She could
hear her father saying.
"Oh, Daniel I, I don't want her to get hurt, that's
all. How can that be wrong?" Her words were broken by
her sobs. Fascinated, certain they were speaking
about her, Cassie inched closer to the stairway.
"She won't, I promise." A strange mellow voice
floated up from the bottom of the stairs; Cassie had
never heard this one before. She was certain she
would have remembered.
"I swear, Alan, if anything and I mean anything - "
"Abby. Don't worry. You have the promise of the DADWL
second class, if I may be so bold as to remind
you.
Listen, just relax. I'll see you tomorrow night.
Goodnight."
"Goodnight," both of her parents answered in unison.
They headed for the stairs; Cassie, suddenly realizing
where she was and what she was doing, ran for it. She
was in her bed, eyes closed, but the time her bedroom
door creaked open and her mother and father popped
their heads in.
"Don't worry about her, Abby. Come on, let her sleep."
Her father held her mother's shoulders firmly and
steered her back to the hall.
"I just hope you're right," Cassie heard her mother
answer as they went to look in on the others. Then
there came a soft hooting noise. Sunny had returned
from his nightly flight. She opened the window so he
could return to his cage. Then she lay back in bed,
thinking about her parents and what the mysterious
stranger - the DADWL, he'd called himself - had said
only a few minutes before.
Chapter Two: First Freedom
"I'm going to Underwater University today!" Cassie
yelled, right before she tripped down the last few
steps and hit her head on the mirror at the bottom.
Even this did not quell her enthusiasm, and she stood
up and took a bow like a successful gymnast. "I'm
okay!" she said to her staring parents, and walked
over to the breakfast table. It was September first;
Cassie had been ready to leave since five o'clock, and
at last it was nine and everyone was awake. Mr. Small,
recovered from his fright, had returned to reading the
paper. Mrs. Small was still staring blankly into
space toward where Cassie had fallen, Kyle and
Virginia were fighting over the last piece of bacon , and Greg
had 3 eggs on his plate alone with 4 pieces of toast.
Cassie was wearing her school robes and had her hair
in a tight ponytail. She was almost afraid to eat -
what if she dropped something on her beautiful robes?!
"So, when are we leaving?" she asked eagerly. No one
answered. "Hello?" she repeated. "I said, when are we
leaving?"
"At ten thirty." Mr. Small said with a quiet
sigh. "Are you
all packed?"
"Yes! I've been packed for a week now!" Cassie said,
flopping down into a chair. Maybe she really wouldn't
have anything. She was too nervous to eat anyhow.
"It says we go to Dock three and five eighths. That's
odd."
Greg gave a small laugh, distracted from his food as
he almost never was. Cassie looked over at him.
"Compared to Platform 9 and three quarters?!?" He set
down his fork and looked up. "Isn't everything a
little 'odd' in the wizarding world? Compared to the
muggle world, I mean."
"I suppose you're right." She shrugged and looked
over at Kyle and Virginia. Kyle had syrup on his face
and Virginia had butter in her hair. Cassie gave a
small laugh. "You guys look like pancakes yourselves!
Mum?" she asked, turning her attention to the
quietest member of the family. "Are you okay?"
Mrs. Small blinked and finally looked at Cassie.
"Good morning dear," she said, as if she had just
noticed that Cassie was here.
At 10:30, Mr. and Mrs. Small left the house. Cassie
had been sitting in the car for fifteen minutes
already, nearly jumping on the seat in her excitement
to get going. What would happen if she started the
car herself, she wondered idly. She'd probably crash.
Greg, Kyle and Virginia appeared in the door way to
see her off as her parents got in the front seat.
"Have fun Cassie!" Virginia said, and Kyle repeated
the same thing. Greg just waved. They were off; off
to Dock three and five eighths. Cassie restrained
herself from laughing wildly; that would not help her
cause.
When they finally arrived at the docks, Cassie checked
her letter again. 'Dock three and five eighths.' She
walked around not sure what to do. There weren't walls
like there were in the London train station, and it
wasn't at all obvious where you could get through the
barrier - if there was one. Her parents weren't sure
either.
"It has to be around here somewhere," Mr. Small said.
They stood about half-way in between docks 3 and 4.
Cassie looked around, wondering if something would
happen. There were a lot of people around, fisherman,
sailors, and others. But none that looked even close
to being wizardly. Cassie's stomach did flips and
turns. She had no idea if they were in the right
place. What if we missed it?, she worried. What if the boat already came, and she was stuck waiting for
next year? Then she spotted a boy just about her own
age, or a little older, with dirty blond hair who was
carrying a large trunk and wearing robes, wizard
robes. Cassie sighed, relieved to find someone who
looked like he knew what he was doing.
He was walking calmly toward the ocean as Cassie
watched, not sure what he was about to do. It looked
as though he was just about to take a swim, robes,
trunk and all. Then magically boards of wood appeared
below his feet, plank by plank as he continued his
even walk. Cassie's jaw dropped, and she hastened to
follow him. But then she realized the boards
disappeared behind him as quickly as they appeared
before him, just as each of his feet left it. He
reached a red plank and stopped, about fifteen feet
off the shore. He took out his wand and tapped it in
mid-air without saying a word, then stepped out onto
the water as Cassie stared, horrified. Surely he
would drown! But no, he stood there momentarily
suspended then proceeded to descend slowly down into
the ocean with no apparent water protection.
Cassie looked back at her parents. Mr. Small's mouth
was hanging open, but Mrs. Small just stood there
looking calm as ever. Maybe a little pale. She looked
down at Cassie. "Go on, dear," she said. "Have fun,
and send us a letter every week! Bye, now." Mr. Small
stepped forward to hug Cassie, and after a moment her
mother followed suit.
"Bye," she replied back, returning the
hug. She walked forward, hoping this would work for
her as it had for the boy. She walked onto the dock,
and saw to her relief that indeed it was there, and
continued to be there as she walked. She was careful
not to look back. There she was at the red plank. As
the boy had done, Cassie gripped her wand in her
trembling hand and tapped it, and took one last look
at the above ground as she stepped out onto the water.
Cassie swallowed hard; she then realized that the
water stayed away from her, as though she were in a
bubble. Her weight dragged the bubble down, until it
closed over her head, and the water closed over it.
She turned and gave one last wave at her parents. The
bubble floated slowly making its way down though the
sea into its depths. On the way, Cassie saw marvelous
sea life, fish swimming by in schools and a great
white shark that stopped only for a second to look
Cassie in the eye before moving onward. Finally after
what seemed like hours, an enormous underwater school
came into sight. "Wow Sunny, look at that," she
breathed. Sunny, awakened by his unexpected
surroundings, had awakened with a start and was now
hooting and flying around his cage. They sank further,
and she could see the castle, the Quidditch field and
some other buildings that she couldn't quite make out.
The bubble made its way down to the entrance of the
underwater grounds. The university had a dome-like
roof that stretched over the whole place. It was
bewitched to look like the sky, the sun rising and
setting just as it would above the water. It seemed to
provide light in the deep dark depths of the sea. The
water was kept magically out as if by invisible walls.
The bubble floated through a tunnel which led into the
bigger balloon that would be her home. It popped;
Cassie dragged her trunk forward and walked into the
Grand Hall. Delicious smells were coming out of one
of the main rooms off of the Hall. That had better be
lunch!, she thought. She'd never managed to swallow a
bite of breakfast. Someone else would deal with her
trunk; she had to eat! She set all her things down.
"I'll see you later Sunny," she said and walked off,
stomach churning with excitement.
Outside the door, though, she paused. This was what
she'd been so nervous and so excited about. She took
a deep breath, clutched her necklace for strength, and
pushed the door open.
Inside were more people than she'd ever seen in one
place before. They were scattered around the room, at
little round tables, bigger long ones, booths, or just
sitting on the windowsills. And the food..! It
looked wonderful, and her fears momentarily forgotten,
she walked up to the nearest table. It was one of the
rectangular ones, it was covered with food, and it was
occupied. A tall boy with dirty-blond hair - was it
the same boy she'd seen at the dock? - sat with his
back almost exactly to her before an empty plate,
lounging in his chair with one leg stretched out under
the table and the other knee pushed up against the
table's top. Around him sat two girls and a boy. All
were apparently involved in an animated conversation.
"Well, everything just stops. As far as I knew, one
second I was looking for that fancy bit of shiny paper
my sister gave me, and the next I was in St. Mungo's a
hundred years later being hovered over by all kinds of
crazy people," the blond boy was saying as Cassie
approached.
"Adam!" one of the girls whispered, seeing Cassie for
the first time. "New kid!"
The knee came crashing down off the table, and the
boy stood up and turned. "Hello, there, New Kid.
Care to join us?"
"Hi, my name is Cassie Jane!" she told him. "But my
friends call me Cassie. Can I sit here? Or is this
seat saved?"
"Go right ahead, there's plenty of room. I'm Adam,
by the way," he caught her eye focusing on the badge
pinned inconspicuously on his somewhat
battered-looking green robes. "And I'm a prefect,
yes, but don't worry about that. I'm not in it to get
people into trouble. May I introduce Driana, Lisbet,
and Cavenleigh." Each of the three smiled at Cassie
as their name was mentioned. Driana was the girl
who'd noticed Cassie first; she had curly brown hair
down almost to her waist, and couldn't have been more
than five feet tall! Lisbet was a bored-looking
redhead, thin as she could be and still standing, and
Cavenleigh's wide blue eyes looked friendly, but very
shy.
Cassie smiled. "Well I'm Cassie Jane, like I said
before. But you can just call me Cassie! My other
friends do." She hesitated before continuing, "Well,
at least they would if I had any friends." She sighed.
"You see, I never made any real friends. The people in
the town where I lived thought my family was a little
odd. All the parents forbid their kids to play with me
or even talk to me." Cassie's eyes grew heavy. She
looked down at the table, her long hair gently falling
over her face. Then she looked back up and said,
"Well, that was then, this is now!" With that
thought, she smiled a little.
"Exactly," Driana told her. "And 'now', you ought to
have some lunch or your 'later' is going to be awfully
hungry. Go on, stop staring at it and start eating
some of it!"
Cassie served herself something that looked like
squash, and Adam continued the conversation. "Lived
with the Muggles, did you?" he said sympathetically.
"Well, don't worry, no one's going to be scared of you
here. Unless, of course, you're scary." He grinned.
"Well, I...." Cassie stopped talking and laughed
uneasily. Her eyes wandered around the dining hall.
Then she looked back at other dishes on the table,
grabbed a random serving spoon and put something on
her plate. She sighed, sad and depressed. She wanted
to go home. She'd just arrived and now she wanted to
leave. No, that wasn't what she wanted to do. She
marshaled her strength and looked up from her plate
with a forced half smile.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it," Adam told her.
"Sorry if it came out wrong."
"Yeah, don't worry about him," Lisbet put in, her
first word in the conversation. "He never learned to
think before he speaks."
"Oh, no! It didn't come out wrong." Cassie paused,
taking a bite of pizza-flavored potato. She took her
time chewing and swallowing before trying to explain,
"It's just that...no, never mind." She couldn't do
it. She sighed and returned to eating.
Lisbet checked her watch as she spoke; her eyes
widened. "Oh," she said, looking at the dining hall's
clock for confirmation. "It's nearly one thirty I've got
class!"
"Muggle Studies with Professor Franke?" Driana asked in excitement. "I
didn't know you were taking that! Here, I'll walk
with you - and I heard Professor Franke's a genius!
Bye, guys! Bye, Cassie!" And the two girls
disappeared.
"Got a one-thirty?" Adam asked.
"Uh, no, actually."
"Right then, but I've got a two o'clock, charms
tutorial, so I'll be heading out in not too much
longer." Cavenleigh had disappeared somehow without
either of them noticing. Adam caught her craning her
neck to look for him. "Don't worry about Cavenleigh,
he does that sometimes. He'll be back. Takes him a
while to get used to folks."
"Right..." he went on uncomfortably, clearly
searching for something to take the flavor of the
previous conversation, the one that had upset her so,
out of their minds. "Well then, what house are you
in?"
"Sorry I can't tell you about that ..." Cassie had
started at the same moment, but stopped and tried to
switch gears. "Well, I'm in Iocose house, how 'bout
you?" She waited for a second and before he could
answer switched back to the old topic. "I wish I
could tell you but I can't." There was a sad look on
her face. "Let's just say I'm not who you think I am."
"So you're not actually Cassie, but another girl by
the same name?" Adam asked with a grin. "Since I never
met the other Cassie, I guess I can't mind too much.
Oh, and I'm a Iocose, too."
Cassie grinned. "Cool, we're in the same house. Well,
you're kind of right." Cassie took another bite of her
food.
"Right, listen, I know you want to talk about this,
or want to not talk about this, but talk about it, or
whatever, but could we put it away for a bit?" He
smiled apologetically. "It's nearly two, and I really
must run."
"Of course," Cassie mumbled, disappointed. Her
confession, no matter how much she wanted to make it,
just never would come out. Then she realized
something. "Wait, it's two?!? But then I've got to
get to History of Magic!"
"With Professor Geo? That's right on the third floor second classroom on your left. Have your
equipment - notepaper, quills..?"
"Um. yeah ." she said, searching her pockets for the
items.
"Right, then," and he set off at a good speed out of
the room and down a hall. "Come on, don't want to be
late on the first day!"
By the time they were at the History room, she'd
given up on finding anything to write with, and Adam
lent her some 'foolscap', as he put it, from his own
supply.
"Cassie, run!" came her brother's voice from
the living room. Cassie hid under the stairs in the
cupboard.
"Stand back, boy," said a deep and menacing
voice. There was a blast of red light, which she could
see even from her hiding place.
"Greg!" Cassie said in a whisper. A single tear ran
down her cheek. Then there were two
piercing screams,
and a blinding stream of green light.
"No!" Cassie sat up in her bed, her
long
brown hair hanging limp over her face. The room was
dark, and her owl, Sunny, was hooting like mad. Her
door creaked open; a small blonde head poked in.
"Cassie? Are you all right?" the owner of the head
asked as she walked over to Cassie's bedside. She put
her hand on Cassie's leg.
"Yes. I'm fine." She turned to the girl.
"Virginia! What are you doing out of bed?"
"Well, you're the one who shouted!"
Virginia said defensively. "Are you really all right?"
Cassie sighed. She had just had a dream - a
memory - about something horrible. How could she be
'really all right'? "Yes, I am. Where are mum and
dad?"
"They went out, and Greg went along.
Kyle is sleeping."
"And you should be too!" Cassie said,
getting out of bed. She grabbed Virginia's hand and
dragged her back to her own room. "Now stay in here.
You're gonna get it if mum finds out you were awake."
I'm gonna get it, she amended in her own mind. After
all, it was Cassie who was supposed to be in charge
here. "Just get back in bed." Virginia crawled under
the covers. Cassie tucked her in and walked back to
her room. She turned on the light, then went to
inspect the calendar on the wall next to her bed.
Her room was filled with all sorts of wizarding
things. She had posters of a different Quidditch team
in each corner of her room, a poster of The Weird
Sisters hanging over her bed, and moving
pictures of her and her family all over her walls. Her
barn owl Sunny was sleeping soundly again. A Nimbus
2000 racing broom was leaning on her desk chair, blue
robes with moons and stars on them were scattered
everywhere. But Cassie went unerringly for her
calendar and flipped the it to
September first.
It was marked in red marker; "Term begins at
Underwater University of Magic." She smiled with
satisfaction when she saw it. Only a week left now,
she kept telling herself. She turned off the purple
lamp and crawled back into bed. It took her what
seemed like hours to get back to sleep, but when she
finally did, it seemed only minutes before her mother
came in to wake her.
Cassie climbed out of bed reluctantly, and walked
sheepishly downstairs in her blue dressing gown. When
she
arrived at the breakfast table her brothers Greg and
Kyle were already eating. But, oddly enough, Virginia
wasn't there. She must still have been asleep. Her
father was engrossed in the muggle newspaper, and her
mother was reading the Daily Prophet. There were
on in the center of the table. Cassie sat
down and helped herself to some pancakes and orange
juice. "Morning," she greeted everyone with a yawn.
No one looked up. No one even seemed to notice her
presence except her older brother Greg, who simply
mumbled. Greg had brown hair and grey eyes, he was
well built and had a mellow voice. He kept shoveling
pancakes into his mouth. Cassie's mother looked up at
him in disgust. "Slow down dear, or you're going to
choke," she chided him. Ignoring her completely, he
continued to gulp down his meal.
"We're going to go get your school supplies
today," her father said without looking up. Mr. Small
was a tall black-haired man, who had a deep voice. He
had gentle grey eyes, the same color as Greg's.
Cassie looked up with a very pleased smile on her
face. "We are!? I'll go get cleaned up then." With new
energy she hopped up from the table and ran toward the
stairs.
Mr. Small called after her, "No, no, you're going to
be watching Kyle and Virginia."
Cassie was upstairs by now. "Yeah, fine" she called
down. "As long as they don't nag and ask me to buy
them something, when I'm looking for books and new
robes."
"No, Cassie, I mean you're staying here!" Mr. Small
yelled back. Cassie, shocked, came running back down
the stairs. Her long hair was in a very messy
ponytail, as though she had been in the middle of
putting it up when she had stopped.
"What do you mean I'm not going? You said we're going
to go get my supplies for Underwater University. And,
and I need to get new robes!"
"I already bought you some, dear and all the potion
vials, and all the quills and parchments you'll need."
Mrs. Small said from behind the Daily Prophet, "All we
need to do is get your books." Mrs. Small was a tall,
brown haired woman with green eyes, a pale complexion,
and a pleasant sweet voice.
"Yeah, well, I still want to come along, mum! They're
going to be mine, after all!" Cassie said in protest.
"Oh, right, mum, can I come with? I need to get some
new potion vials." Greg, attracted by the
conversation, had finally looked up from his now empty
plate.
Mrs. Small smiled at him, "Of course dear."
Cassie's jaw dropped, "Okay, so you let the human
garbage disposal go with
you and not me?! Are you mad?"
Mr. Small looked up from his paper. "Don't talk to
your mother like that," he reprimanded her. "Gregory
is older than you are, he can handle more. When
you're his age, you can come too."
"But Dad, I've never been to any parts of the
wizarding world. We've always lived in cities and
towns packed with nothing but muggles. I want to go, I
want to see! Please?"
"No and that's final!" Mr. Small said with a stern
voice. "Now go upstairs and wake up your sister."
Cassie walked up stairs without enthusiasm, shouting
into her sister's room as she passed, "Get up,
Virginia! Dad says."
Then she walked across the hall to her own room and
sat down on her bed. Sunny was still asleep on his
perch, and the pictures of her family were all waving
and smiling at her, as though to lighten her mood.
She picked up her wand from the dresser next to her
bed. It was 11 inches, made of maple, and with a
unicorn hair at its center. If the hair was still
there. She was beginning to doubt that. The wand was
all beaten up; it had chinks in it. It
wasn't new and
shiny like Greg's wand had been when he started at
university. Cassie sighed, hoping that her mother
would change her mind, that she'd come up to her room
and say, 'Cassie you want to go with us? Get ready,
then.'
Sunny had just woken up, he hooted at her softly.
Cassie turned to him. "An old beat up wand. Yeah,
that's what I really wanted. My mum's old wand." Sunny
hooted again in reply. "I wish it were all nice and
smooth. Like Greg's." With a sigh, she stood up and
put the wand back on the dresser. And now she had to
spend the day with the children, pretending everything
was all right.
Later that night, Mr. and Mrs. Small went out again.
"They always go out! They're never home!" Cassie said,
knocking a lamp over in her frustration.
"Come on now Cass, they're just busy people, that's
all," Greg said mildly, picking the lamp back up
again. At least this time he'd stayed home to watch
Kyle and Virginia. But still, he wasn't here to watch
her! Couldn't he just let her be miserable in peace?
She scoffed and ran to her room where she flopped down
on her bed. It's no fair!, she thought. Why do they
always let themselves go out! It's rare that I even
leave this house!
Cassie rolled over on her bed; Sunny was
hooting and flying around his cage, and the stars
outside shone brightly against their navy blue
background. Cassie got up and let Sunny out. He flew
out the window and into the night. There came a soft
knocking on her bedroom door; followed by her
brother's voice, "Cass, come on now. You're being
silly. Mum and Dad have a right to go out-"
"Yeah well I have a right too," Cassie
interjected, "but you don't see me going! You go out
with them all the time!" Cassie interjected, "It's not
fair!" Cassie put her face in her pillow; she didn't
want to hear her brother's infuriatingly reasonable
words anymore. She had had enough; she hated how the
adults got to go out and she had to stay home. It
wasn't as though she wasn't practically an adult
herself. She'd be starting University in a few weeks,
for heaven's sake!
"Well, Cassie, I'm sorry, but it's just not allowed.
So this 'right' you're complaining about, it's not
really there." Greg said carefully, trying not to
sound harsh, trying not to sound as though he was
closing doors to her.
"Thanks Greg, that helps a lot!" Cassie said, her
voice and tears muffled by the pillow.
Greg grinned sympathetically and walked out of
Cassie's room. "Glad to serve."
Cassie didn't sleep that night; instead she lay awake
until her parents came home. When they finally did,
it was about two in the morning. When she heard
their
footsteps on the stairs outside, Cassie quietly
walked
into the hallway and over to the stairs. As she
listened, the front door opened, and she could
hear the
sound of her father's hushed voice echoing throughout
the entrance hall, along with the muted sobs of her
mother.
"Don't worry, Abby dear, she'll be safe." She could
hear her father saying.
"Oh, Daniel I, I don't want her to get hurt, that's
all. How can that be wrong?" Her words were broken by
her sobs. Fascinated, certain they were speaking
about her, Cassie inched closer to the stairway.
"She won't, I promise." A strange mellow voice
floated up from the bottom of the stairs; Cassie had
never heard this one before. She was certain she
would have remembered.
"I swear, Alan, if anything and I mean anything - "
"Abby. Don't worry. You have the promise of the DADWL
second class, if I may be so bold as to remind
you.
Listen, just relax. I'll see you tomorrow night.
Goodnight."
"Goodnight," both of her parents answered in unison.
They headed for the stairs; Cassie, suddenly realizing
where she was and what she was doing, ran for it. She
was in her bed, eyes closed, but the time her bedroom
door creaked open and her mother and father popped
their heads in.
"Don't worry about her, Abby. Come on, let her sleep."
Her father held her mother's shoulders firmly and
steered her back to the hall.
"I just hope you're right," Cassie heard her mother
answer as they went to look in on the others. Then
there came a soft hooting noise. Sunny had returned
from his nightly flight. She opened the window so he
could return to his cage. Then she lay back in bed,
thinking about her parents and what the mysterious
stranger - the DADWL, he'd called himself - had said
only a few minutes before.
Chapter Two: First Freedom
"I'm going to Underwater University today!" Cassie
yelled, right before she tripped down the last few
steps and hit her head on the mirror at the bottom.
Even this did not quell her enthusiasm, and she stood
up and took a bow like a successful gymnast. "I'm
okay!" she said to her staring parents, and walked
over to the breakfast table. It was September first;
Cassie had been ready to leave since five o'clock, and
at last it was nine and everyone was awake. Mr. Small,
recovered from his fright, had returned to reading the
paper. Mrs. Small was still staring blankly into
space toward where Cassie had fallen, Kyle and
Virginia were fighting over the last piece of bacon , and Greg
had 3 eggs on his plate alone with 4 pieces of toast.
Cassie was wearing her school robes and had her hair
in a tight ponytail. She was almost afraid to eat -
what if she dropped something on her beautiful robes?!
"So, when are we leaving?" she asked eagerly. No one
answered. "Hello?" she repeated. "I said, when are we
leaving?"
"At ten thirty." Mr. Small said with a quiet
sigh. "Are you
all packed?"
"Yes! I've been packed for a week now!" Cassie said,
flopping down into a chair. Maybe she really wouldn't
have anything. She was too nervous to eat anyhow.
"It says we go to Dock three and five eighths. That's
odd."
Greg gave a small laugh, distracted from his food as
he almost never was. Cassie looked over at him.
"Compared to Platform 9 and three quarters?!?" He set
down his fork and looked up. "Isn't everything a
little 'odd' in the wizarding world? Compared to the
muggle world, I mean."
"I suppose you're right." She shrugged and looked
over at Kyle and Virginia. Kyle had syrup on his face
and Virginia had butter in her hair. Cassie gave a
small laugh. "You guys look like pancakes yourselves!
Mum?" she asked, turning her attention to the
quietest member of the family. "Are you okay?"
Mrs. Small blinked and finally looked at Cassie.
"Good morning dear," she said, as if she had just
noticed that Cassie was here.
At 10:30, Mr. and Mrs. Small left the house. Cassie
had been sitting in the car for fifteen minutes
already, nearly jumping on the seat in her excitement
to get going. What would happen if she started the
car herself, she wondered idly. She'd probably crash.
Greg, Kyle and Virginia appeared in the door way to
see her off as her parents got in the front seat.
"Have fun Cassie!" Virginia said, and Kyle repeated
the same thing. Greg just waved. They were off; off
to Dock three and five eighths. Cassie restrained
herself from laughing wildly; that would not help her
cause.
When they finally arrived at the docks, Cassie checked
her letter again. 'Dock three and five eighths.' She
walked around not sure what to do. There weren't walls
like there were in the London train station, and it
wasn't at all obvious where you could get through the
barrier - if there was one. Her parents weren't sure
either.
"It has to be around here somewhere," Mr. Small said.
They stood about half-way in between docks 3 and 4.
Cassie looked around, wondering if something would
happen. There were a lot of people around, fisherman,
sailors, and others. But none that looked even close
to being wizardly. Cassie's stomach did flips and
turns. She had no idea if they were in the right
place. What if we missed it?, she worried. What if the boat already came, and she was stuck waiting for
next year? Then she spotted a boy just about her own
age, or a little older, with dirty blond hair who was
carrying a large trunk and wearing robes, wizard
robes. Cassie sighed, relieved to find someone who
looked like he knew what he was doing.
He was walking calmly toward the ocean as Cassie
watched, not sure what he was about to do. It looked
as though he was just about to take a swim, robes,
trunk and all. Then magically boards of wood appeared
below his feet, plank by plank as he continued his
even walk. Cassie's jaw dropped, and she hastened to
follow him. But then she realized the boards
disappeared behind him as quickly as they appeared
before him, just as each of his feet left it. He
reached a red plank and stopped, about fifteen feet
off the shore. He took out his wand and tapped it in
mid-air without saying a word, then stepped out onto
the water as Cassie stared, horrified. Surely he
would drown! But no, he stood there momentarily
suspended then proceeded to descend slowly down into
the ocean with no apparent water protection.
Cassie looked back at her parents. Mr. Small's mouth
was hanging open, but Mrs. Small just stood there
looking calm as ever. Maybe a little pale. She looked
down at Cassie. "Go on, dear," she said. "Have fun,
and send us a letter every week! Bye, now." Mr. Small
stepped forward to hug Cassie, and after a moment her
mother followed suit.
"Bye," she replied back, returning the
hug. She walked forward, hoping this would work for
her as it had for the boy. She walked onto the dock,
and saw to her relief that indeed it was there, and
continued to be there as she walked. She was careful
not to look back. There she was at the red plank. As
the boy had done, Cassie gripped her wand in her
trembling hand and tapped it, and took one last look
at the above ground as she stepped out onto the water.
Cassie swallowed hard; she then realized that the
water stayed away from her, as though she were in a
bubble. Her weight dragged the bubble down, until it
closed over her head, and the water closed over it.
She turned and gave one last wave at her parents. The
bubble floated slowly making its way down though the
sea into its depths. On the way, Cassie saw marvelous
sea life, fish swimming by in schools and a great
white shark that stopped only for a second to look
Cassie in the eye before moving onward. Finally after
what seemed like hours, an enormous underwater school
came into sight. "Wow Sunny, look at that," she
breathed. Sunny, awakened by his unexpected
surroundings, had awakened with a start and was now
hooting and flying around his cage. They sank further,
and she could see the castle, the Quidditch field and
some other buildings that she couldn't quite make out.
The bubble made its way down to the entrance of the
underwater grounds. The university had a dome-like
roof that stretched over the whole place. It was
bewitched to look like the sky, the sun rising and
setting just as it would above the water. It seemed to
provide light in the deep dark depths of the sea. The
water was kept magically out as if by invisible walls.
The bubble floated through a tunnel which led into the
bigger balloon that would be her home. It popped;
Cassie dragged her trunk forward and walked into the
Grand Hall. Delicious smells were coming out of one
of the main rooms off of the Hall. That had better be
lunch!, she thought. She'd never managed to swallow a
bite of breakfast. Someone else would deal with her
trunk; she had to eat! She set all her things down.
"I'll see you later Sunny," she said and walked off,
stomach churning with excitement.
Outside the door, though, she paused. This was what
she'd been so nervous and so excited about. She took
a deep breath, clutched her necklace for strength, and
pushed the door open.
Inside were more people than she'd ever seen in one
place before. They were scattered around the room, at
little round tables, bigger long ones, booths, or just
sitting on the windowsills. And the food..! It
looked wonderful, and her fears momentarily forgotten,
she walked up to the nearest table. It was one of the
rectangular ones, it was covered with food, and it was
occupied. A tall boy with dirty-blond hair - was it
the same boy she'd seen at the dock? - sat with his
back almost exactly to her before an empty plate,
lounging in his chair with one leg stretched out under
the table and the other knee pushed up against the
table's top. Around him sat two girls and a boy. All
were apparently involved in an animated conversation.
"Well, everything just stops. As far as I knew, one
second I was looking for that fancy bit of shiny paper
my sister gave me, and the next I was in St. Mungo's a
hundred years later being hovered over by all kinds of
crazy people," the blond boy was saying as Cassie
approached.
"Adam!" one of the girls whispered, seeing Cassie for
the first time. "New kid!"
The knee came crashing down off the table, and the
boy stood up and turned. "Hello, there, New Kid.
Care to join us?"
"Hi, my name is Cassie Jane!" she told him. "But my
friends call me Cassie. Can I sit here? Or is this
seat saved?"
"Go right ahead, there's plenty of room. I'm Adam,
by the way," he caught her eye focusing on the badge
pinned inconspicuously on his somewhat
battered-looking green robes. "And I'm a prefect,
yes, but don't worry about that. I'm not in it to get
people into trouble. May I introduce Driana, Lisbet,
and Cavenleigh." Each of the three smiled at Cassie
as their name was mentioned. Driana was the girl
who'd noticed Cassie first; she had curly brown hair
down almost to her waist, and couldn't have been more
than five feet tall! Lisbet was a bored-looking
redhead, thin as she could be and still standing, and
Cavenleigh's wide blue eyes looked friendly, but very
shy.
Cassie smiled. "Well I'm Cassie Jane, like I said
before. But you can just call me Cassie! My other
friends do." She hesitated before continuing, "Well,
at least they would if I had any friends." She sighed.
"You see, I never made any real friends. The people in
the town where I lived thought my family was a little
odd. All the parents forbid their kids to play with me
or even talk to me." Cassie's eyes grew heavy. She
looked down at the table, her long hair gently falling
over her face. Then she looked back up and said,
"Well, that was then, this is now!" With that
thought, she smiled a little.
"Exactly," Driana told her. "And 'now', you ought to
have some lunch or your 'later' is going to be awfully
hungry. Go on, stop staring at it and start eating
some of it!"
Cassie served herself something that looked like
squash, and Adam continued the conversation. "Lived
with the Muggles, did you?" he said sympathetically.
"Well, don't worry, no one's going to be scared of you
here. Unless, of course, you're scary." He grinned.
"Well, I...." Cassie stopped talking and laughed
uneasily. Her eyes wandered around the dining hall.
Then she looked back at other dishes on the table,
grabbed a random serving spoon and put something on
her plate. She sighed, sad and depressed. She wanted
to go home. She'd just arrived and now she wanted to
leave. No, that wasn't what she wanted to do. She
marshaled her strength and looked up from her plate
with a forced half smile.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it," Adam told her.
"Sorry if it came out wrong."
"Yeah, don't worry about him," Lisbet put in, her
first word in the conversation. "He never learned to
think before he speaks."
"Oh, no! It didn't come out wrong." Cassie paused,
taking a bite of pizza-flavored potato. She took her
time chewing and swallowing before trying to explain,
"It's just that...no, never mind." She couldn't do
it. She sighed and returned to eating.
Lisbet checked her watch as she spoke; her eyes
widened. "Oh," she said, looking at the dining hall's
clock for confirmation. "It's nearly one thirty I've got
class!"
"Muggle Studies with Professor Franke?" Driana asked in excitement. "I
didn't know you were taking that! Here, I'll walk
with you - and I heard Professor Franke's a genius!
Bye, guys! Bye, Cassie!" And the two girls
disappeared.
"Got a one-thirty?" Adam asked.
"Uh, no, actually."
"Right then, but I've got a two o'clock, charms
tutorial, so I'll be heading out in not too much
longer." Cavenleigh had disappeared somehow without
either of them noticing. Adam caught her craning her
neck to look for him. "Don't worry about Cavenleigh,
he does that sometimes. He'll be back. Takes him a
while to get used to folks."
"Right..." he went on uncomfortably, clearly
searching for something to take the flavor of the
previous conversation, the one that had upset her so,
out of their minds. "Well then, what house are you
in?"
"Sorry I can't tell you about that ..." Cassie had
started at the same moment, but stopped and tried to
switch gears. "Well, I'm in Iocose house, how 'bout
you?" She waited for a second and before he could
answer switched back to the old topic. "I wish I
could tell you but I can't." There was a sad look on
her face. "Let's just say I'm not who you think I am."
"So you're not actually Cassie, but another girl by
the same name?" Adam asked with a grin. "Since I never
met the other Cassie, I guess I can't mind too much.
Oh, and I'm a Iocose, too."
Cassie grinned. "Cool, we're in the same house. Well,
you're kind of right." Cassie took another bite of her
food.
"Right, listen, I know you want to talk about this,
or want to not talk about this, but talk about it, or
whatever, but could we put it away for a bit?" He
smiled apologetically. "It's nearly two, and I really
must run."
"Of course," Cassie mumbled, disappointed. Her
confession, no matter how much she wanted to make it,
just never would come out. Then she realized
something. "Wait, it's two?!? But then I've got to
get to History of Magic!"
"With Professor Geo? That's right on the third floor second classroom on your left. Have your
equipment - notepaper, quills..?"
"Um. yeah ." she said, searching her pockets for the
items.
"Right, then," and he set off at a good speed out of
the room and down a hall. "Come on, don't want to be
late on the first day!"
By the time they were at the History room, she'd
given up on finding anything to write with, and Adam
lent her some 'foolscap', as he put it, from his own
supply.