Harry Potter and the Lady of Dreams
Chapter One: Summer Vacation without the Dursley's?
Harry Potter was anything but ordinary; in fact he was highly unusual even for been a wizard, which was one of the reasons why he was unusual. Yes, Harry Potter was a wizard and attended a wizarding school known as Hogwarts, where he had lived for the last four years, with his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The reason he was unusual even for a wizard was the lightning shaped scar that he had on his forehead. He had received this scar the same night that his parents were killed, by the darkness wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort, although most of his life Harry thought they had died in a car crash. This meant that Harry had to live with the only living relatives he had, the Dursleys. Ever since Harry was a year old he had lived with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and their son Dudley, a very fat and mean little boy. The Dursley were what wizards called 'Muggles', who didn't have a drop of magic blood in them, and the Dursley were the biggest Muggles that he had ever known.
Harry never wanted to stay with the Dursleys, at number four Privet Drive, for the summer, but this summer he didn't mind if he stayed with them, because this summer the Dursleys were going on vacation and leaving Harry at the house. He was so excited that he would be able to have the house all to himself for the rest of the summer and not have to stay with Mrs. Figg, an elderly woman, who lived a couple of streets over from Harry with her cat (and she had a lot of them), for she had been away from home for the last couple of months. According to Aunt Petunia, Mrs. Figg one just packed up a couple of trunks and felt, no one in the neighborhood knew why she had felt or where she had gone, she just felt. It was the subject of much gossip in the neighborhood.
Harry waited anxiously for the day to come for the Dursleys to leave, and when it finally did Harry woke up rather earlier than normal to help them on their way, by carrying their vacation trunks down to the car happily. As Harry finally put the last trunk into the car and came back in to sit at the kitchen table for breakfast he notice that all the Dursleys were dressed in their best clothes. Uncle Vernon a very beefy man with almost no neck and a lot of mustache was wearing a dark suit with a bright blue bow tied. Aunt Petunia a horse-faced woman with too much neck was wearing a dress suit that made her look as if she just stepped off a time machine from the fifties. Dudley was extremely fat and pink, which made him look as through he, was a rather large pig, he had apparently abandoned the diet he was on the year before sometime last year. He was wearing the same thing as his father, but his bow tie was barely visible from under his many chins.
If someone would never see the Dursleys and compared them to Harry they would think that they weren't even related. The Dursleys had very sever looks and Harry with his lightning scar on his head were the exact opposite. Harry was a very small boy for this age, and also very skinny. He had untidy black hair, which he could never seem to tame, and brilliant green eyes, which were ringed by the circle famed glasses he always wore. He always wore clothes that were three sizes to big because the Dursleys would never spend money on Harry if they could help it so he wore Dudley's old clothes.
Harry sat down at the kitchen table under the watchful eye of Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be practically angry with Harry that morning, although Harry hadn't done anything, but help them pack. It was the fact that Harry was being so helpful that seemed to irritate him so much. "So you think you have gotten rid of us that easy boy. Do you?" Uncle Vernon shot a sideways glance at Harry as he took another sip of his morning coffee.
"No Sir." Harry said in the most polite way he could, but this just made Uncle Vernon even madder.
"Don't talk to me in that tone of voice!" Uncle Vernon's face started going purple as it usually did when he would get mad at Harry. Dudley, who was watching the television, which was sitting only feet away from him, turned to watch Uncle Vernon yelling once again at Harry. Dudley always loved it when Uncle Vernon yelled at Harry; it was more interesting to him that whatever was on the television. "And you will not mention anything about your unnaturalness to the house sitter when she gets here, or when we get back you will be locked in you room until next summer. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
Uncle Vernon was expecting a 'Yes Sir', but had a very surprised look on his face when he heard Harry say. "House sitter?"
"Yes boy. Did you think that we would leave you here alone while we go on vacation? We don't want to come back and find you have burned the place down and Mrs. Figg didn't want to taken you in again. Poor old woman having to look after you." Uncle Vernon sneered a Harry.
"You mean babysitter not House sitter then?" Harry glance from Uncle Vernon to Aunt Petunia.
"No boy. I said House sitter and that is the way it is going to be. I don't want to explain it to my friend why I had a babysitter for a ruddy little nephew that I don't even have, so we are calling her a house sitter and that is the way it is going to stay." said Uncle Vernon. Harry noticed that Dudley's chins were shaking with laughter, but then something amazing happened, Aunt Petunia started to speak, but that wasn't the amazing thing. The amazing thing was what she said.
"Dudley stop laughing at Harry." Said Aunt Petunia in an offhand sort of way. Ever since Aunt Petunia got the letter from Harry's school, Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she hadn't been acting so cold to Harry. The letter explained the horrible things that Harry had gone through the year before. How Voldemort kidnapped Harry, torture and forced to watch as a friend of his, Cedric Diggory, was killed, something, which still gave him nightmares. Harry had figured that she had finally realized that Harry could die and that no matter how much she didn't like him being a wizard he was still family and she really didn't want to see him dead, but this was not something that she shared with Uncle Vernon who was now looking at her with a very shocked expression. Dudley had stopped laughing and was also looking at Aunt Petunia with the same expression as Uncle Vernon, but Harry had a small smile.
Just as Uncle Vernon opened his mouth to say something there was a knock at the front door. Uncle Vernon glanced down at his wristwatch and then said. "She is a little early. I like when someone is early to their job it shows that they are serious about working and not a lay-about like some people." He shot another sideways look at Harry as he got up and walked to the door. Harry followed him into the hall so that he could get a good look at this House sitter, who was going to watch after him for most of the summer. Harry was bracing himself to come face to face with someone just like the Dursleys, when Uncle Vernon opened the door to show a young girl who couldn't have been farther from the Dursleys than he was.
There standing on the doorstep of number four, Privet Drive, was a girl of twenty-five with a big smile that could light a room. She had shoulder length black hair and sky blue eyes; she was also just as skinny as Harry was but as tall as Uncle Vernon. Even though she was skinny, she looked as though she could handle herself in a fight, thought Harry. This wasn't a girl you wanted to mess with, without a wand that is. She wore loose fitting clothes and looked as though she was ready to go out for a run. She had a backpack slung around her right shoulder and in her left hand she was holding a rather large workout bag, with CJ Knight write on top of it, full of clothes.
Uncle Vernon looking slightly shocked as he saw her standing there, which told Harry that he had never seen this girl before. "Cassandra Knight?" said Uncle Vernon in a very unbelieving tone. The girl nodded and smiled a very polite smile at Uncle Vernon. "It is so nice to meet you after all the correspondence over the last year." Correspondence, thought Harry. What had Uncle Vernon never met this girl? That was unlike him, he always wanted to know never single little detail of every that was going on around him, but not as much as Aunt Petunia, with her very nosy personality. Which Harry noticed was kicking into high gear as Aunt Petunia sneaked out of the kitchen and into the hallway to get a better look at this girl who was standing in the doorway looking a little uncomfortable with everyone staring at her. She smiled awkwardly at Uncle Vernon who realized he was staring at her and motioned for her to come inside the house. She took a shy step into the house and closed the door behind her. Then another shocking thing happened
"Thank you. I thought I was going to be on that doorstep all day." Said Cassandra with an odd accent that Harry realized was...
"American. You're an American." Uncle Vernon said in a very shocked tone. Cassandra giggled then spoke again.
"Actually I was born in London, but when I was a year old my father got a job in New York City and we moved there. Now I live with my Aunt and Uncle cross town as I finish up my last year at University." Cassandra finished, that was when Harry heard a slight hint of an English accent hidden behind her American one. When the whole of what Cassandra just said sunk into Uncle Vernon's thick head he straighten up.
"University eh? Very good. I like to see young people making something of themselves." Uncle Vernon looked at the heavy load, which Cassandra was carrying. "Here let me get that for you." He smiled, but Cassandra seemed to be handling it very well on her own.
"I am fine thanks." Said Cassandra, but Uncle Vernon wasn't going to take no for an answer, so finally she gave up her bag and handed it to Uncle Vernon, who almost fell over when he first took a hold of it, it was so heavy.
"Okay." He grunted as he pulled it up over his shoulder and went upstairs, Cassandra close behind him, to show her the guest room, where she would be staying. Moments later they came back down stairs as Uncle Vernon was explaining to her what her job as House sitter would be. "You will be tending to the gardens and making sure the house stays clean, also you will be watching after my nephew... err... You know about his unfortunate condition. We don't like to talk about it much around here." Harry, who was now back in the kitchen, watched as the two of them entered, Cassandra listening to Uncle Vernon intently, just like Hermione would listen to one of the Hogwarts teachers. Uncle Vernon gestured towards Harry and said. "That is Harry. He will be helping you with the chores." Uncle Vernon gave Harry a threaten look and then turned back to Cassandra with a quick glance at his watch.
Cassandra pulled out a piece of candy from her pocket and stepped towards Harry. Dudley's greedy little eye staring at the piece of chocolate he probably wasn't going to get. "Do you like chocolate Harry?" She asked and Harry nodded. "Well what is the Magic word?" Said Cassandra in a causal tone as if they word magic was nothing, but she didn't know the Dursleys, who were now giving each other frighten looks.
"Please." Said Harry with a huge smile on his face glancing back a Uncle Vernon, who was straighten out so that Cassandra couldn't see. After Cassandra gave Harry the piece of chocolate she turned back to Uncle Vernon, his face still had a bit of shock on it.
"Are you okay Mr. Dursley." She asked him as he glanced at his watch again.
"That is all I have to say for right now. Harry will show you the rest of the house. We must get going now." He gathered up Dudley and Aunt Petunia and head for the door not even say goodbye to Harry (not that he thought they would) and with a slam of the door they were gone. Harry began to feel happier than he had in months. The rest of the day went by in a blur. It really wasn't until dinner when Harry actually talked to Cassandra. Cassandra had made them she very special recipe of New York style pizza and she had brought her own cola, which she admitted that she became quite addicted to while she lived in America.
"So how did you like coming back to England after all these years?" Harry asked Cassandra as he chewed a mouthful of pizza.
"It is very different. Even though I was born here and my parents talk with the accents. I find it a little difficult to understand what people are saying." She smiled and Harry asked her a couple more question before saying something that kept nagging at the back of his mind.
"Err, Cassandra." Said Harry and she looked at him with the smiled that always seemed to be on her face. "Do you believe my Uncle when he told you that I am a... err... pathological lair." Harry felt his face go red, just as Ron's would if he were asking the question. Cassandra chewed whatever was left in her mouth and swallowed hard.
"To tell you the truth Harry. I think your Uncle in the one who is the pathological lair. I can always tell if someone is lying to me." Said Cassandra a little warning in her tone. "Anyway. Anyone tells someone they just met about something they clam to keep secret around the house isn't really telling the true if you ask me." She added.
When they finished dinner Cassandra let Harry pick what he wanted to watch on the television, something that Harry was looking forward to. It wasn't until one o'clock in the morning that Cassandra asked if Harry wanted to go to bed. Harry wasn't at all tiered, but when he look over a Cassandra he could tell that she looked completely exhausted, so he told her that he was ready and they both climbed up to the top of the stairs and went to their separate rooms. As Harry was getting ready for bed a hooting noise was coming from his window. He turned to look what it was and saw a very beautiful snowy owl sitting at his window staring at him with a letter tied around her leg.
"Hedwig." Harry said happily as he walked up to her and untied the letter. He opened Hedwig's cage with was sitting on his desk and allowed her to drink out of her water dish. Harry quickly unrolled the thick parchment and read it.
Dear Harry
My father says that Dumbledore told him that he wants you to come stay at our house two weeks before schools starts so be ready. It only little over a month more with those Muggels you live with. When you are here we can go to Diagon Alley and get our things. Can wait to see you. I will write back on your birthday with more details about us picking you up. Until then.
Ron
Ron Weasley one of Harry's best friends at Hogwarts always asked if Harry could stay at his house at the end of the summer and Harry was more than willing to do so. He was glad that it was two weeks before school started that he would be able to go to the Weasley's, because that was when the Dursleys planed to be back, so he didn't have to put up with them at all that summer. Harry quickly wrote Ron back about how the Dursleys were on vacation and that he had a Muggle girl, who was the total opposite of Dursleys that was babysitting him for the summer. When he was finished he tied it to Hedwig and she took off into the night heading for Ron's house. Then he finished getting ready for bed. Much to his surprise he fell quickly asleep.
Sometime in the night he heard a scream, and he woke with a start. It was coming from the guest room. He though it only a dream, but when the second scream came Harry jumped to his feet his heart pounding so fast in his chest, he was worried it wouldn't slow down again. He went to the loose floorboards in his room where he kept some of his school things and pulled out his wand, in case there was an emergency and he had to use it. The Ministry of Magic wouldn't kick him out of Hogwarts, as they had threatened in the past, if this was an emergency (underage wizard aren't allowed to do magic outside Hogwarts). Scared that some how Voldemort had found out where he lived and now was attacking this innocent Muggle girl who never hurt anyone, he ran quickly to the guest room and flung open the door. Then he looked inside the room ready to attack whoever was there, but there was no one there except Cassandra, who looked as through she was having an extremely bad nightmare. She looked as though she was trying to run in her sleep and she was mumbling something that Harry couldn't quiet hear. Harry went to wake her from her nightmare, but as he bent over her she shot straight up in her bed flinging her arms widely about, as through she was fighting something off. One of her arms hit Harry square across the head, sending him to the ground with a thud.
"No get away! GET AWAY! STOP! No! Stop! FATHER!" screamed Cassandra as she sat up looking about widely. When she finally realized where she was she placed her face in her hand and started to cry silently, Harry notice her body shake as she cried. Then she took a deep breath and wiped her tears about as she looked around the room to notice Harry still on the ground next to the bed. "Oh Harry what are you doing there?"
"I came in to see if you were alright. You were screaming and it scared me. You were having a bad dream and when I went to wake you up, you hit me and I fell..."
"Oh dear, Harry I am so sorry about that." She said. "Are you okay?" She got out of bed and helped Harry off the ground.
"Yes I am fine. Are you okay?" said Harry. Cassandra had a slightly shock look on her face as through no one had never been polite to her before in her life.
"Yeah I am fine, it was just a nightmare." A small, sad smile stretched across her face. There was a moment of somber silence that was only broken by the noised of a car door being slammed shut across the street. Cassandra noticed that he was still on the ground, so she got out of bed and gave him a hand to get up.
"Thanks." said Harry as he headed toward the door. "Are you sure that you are okay?" Cassandra nodded. Harry had just stepped outside the door, when suddenly there was a surge of panic that went through his whole body. He moved his hand to his pocket where he had put his wand, but it wasn't there, turning back into the room, he saw Cassandra bending down to pick up something from the ground where Harry had fallen. "NO!" thought Harry.
"Harry you dropped your little stick." said Cassandra as she turned around Harry saw his wand in her hand. Harry rushed forward and quickly grabbed the wand from Cassandra.
"Thank you Cassandra." said Harry, and then rushed from the room. His heart beating so fast he thought he was about to have a heart attack. He went to his room and laid down on his bed, his mind racing at what could of happened if Cassandra, a simple Muggle girl, got a hold of a wand for a long period of time. Could she even use it? If she could what would happen? His mind raced with these questions for a good awhile until he became too sleepy to stay awake any longer. When he finally fell asleep he dreamt.
It wasn't a good dream; it was images of what happened the year before at the final task of the Triwizard Tournament and what happened after he and a friend of his, Cedric Diggory, touched the Triwizard Cup. He watched in his dream has Cedric died with the flash of green light from the killing curse, Avada Kedavra curse. Then Harry watched as he, himself, was tortured by Voldemort as the Death Eaters laughed in the circle around him. Harry suddenly had a feeling that something was wrong; there was one extra Death Eater than there had been. This person was standing in one of the places that had been empty before, he or she, Harry couldn't tell, was dressed in black hooded robes. The hood was up which throw a shadow over this person's face, so Harry couldn't tell who it was, but what Harry could tell was that this person wasn't laughing, in fact this person was crying at Harry being tortured. After a while of Harry's torture the person couldn't watch anymore, so he or she turned it head and looked straight at the Harry who was dreaming. When the person noticed that Harry knew that he or she was there it seemed shocked. They stared at each other for a long while, until something strange happened, it spoke.
"Harry..." a familiar voice called out to him, it seemed far away. "Harry..." Harry realized who the voice belonged to, Cassandra, but how. "Harry time to get up." The hooded figure pulled back its hood to reveal the face of Cassandra. "Harry..." Cassandra moved closer to him, passing Voldemort by inches, before standing directly in front of Harry. "Harry you need to wake up now." Said Cassandra in her soft voice. Harry was confused, what was happening? Suddenly Cassandra grabbed both of his arms and started to shake Harry a little. "HARRY WAKE UP!"
Harry woke with a start. The room was lit with the noon sun, and Cassandra was standing over him smiling down at him. "It takes forever to get you up." Said Cassandra with a giggle. Harry jump out of bed and back away from Cassandra.
"Why were you in my dream?" asked Harry franticly. Cassandra looked at him confused, so Harry asked the question again. "Why were you in my dream?"
"What are you talking about silly? It was only a dream. The mind can play trick on people." Said Cassandra with an anxious tone.
"You were in my dream!" exclaimed Harry.
"Well if I was in your dream, you put me there. How can someone get into another persons dream, Harry? Honestly I think you are watching too much television for you own good." Said Cassandra as she walked out of the room. "Harry lunch is ready, please hurry." And with that she went downstairs leaving Harry confused. Why had he over reacted? Of course she couldn't get into my dream. Harry shook of the feeling that still lingered about Cassandra and hurried to get dressed. When Harry went downstairs for lunch he smelled the most delicious smell he had never smelled coming for the kitchen. Harry walked down the hall leading the kitchen just smelling what Cassandra was cooking. As he entered the kitchen he heard Cassandra humming a song that seemed quite familiar to Harry, but he could remember where he heard it before. He took a seat at the table listening to the song trying to stretch his memory to figure out where he had heard it before.
"Cassandra, what song is that, I think that I have heard it somewhere before." Said Harry, still trying to remember.
"It is a song my mother would sing to me when I was small." Said Cassandra. There was a sad look on her face as though she were remembering something very sad, but then she turned her back to Harry and finished with lunch. She had made them both a turkey sandwich and oven baked French Fires. They sat in silence as they both eat their lunches, Cassandra's expression was one of great sorrow all the way through lunch and Harry sat wondering what sad memory would make this, seemingly, happy-go-lucky girl so sad. After lunch it was as if Cassandra never had that bed memory and she was off around the house cleaning everything and humming the song again. Harry still couldn't get that song out of his mind.
Chapter One: Summer Vacation without the Dursley's?
Harry Potter was anything but ordinary; in fact he was highly unusual even for been a wizard, which was one of the reasons why he was unusual. Yes, Harry Potter was a wizard and attended a wizarding school known as Hogwarts, where he had lived for the last four years, with his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The reason he was unusual even for a wizard was the lightning shaped scar that he had on his forehead. He had received this scar the same night that his parents were killed, by the darkness wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort, although most of his life Harry thought they had died in a car crash. This meant that Harry had to live with the only living relatives he had, the Dursleys. Ever since Harry was a year old he had lived with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and their son Dudley, a very fat and mean little boy. The Dursley were what wizards called 'Muggles', who didn't have a drop of magic blood in them, and the Dursley were the biggest Muggles that he had ever known.
Harry never wanted to stay with the Dursleys, at number four Privet Drive, for the summer, but this summer he didn't mind if he stayed with them, because this summer the Dursleys were going on vacation and leaving Harry at the house. He was so excited that he would be able to have the house all to himself for the rest of the summer and not have to stay with Mrs. Figg, an elderly woman, who lived a couple of streets over from Harry with her cat (and she had a lot of them), for she had been away from home for the last couple of months. According to Aunt Petunia, Mrs. Figg one just packed up a couple of trunks and felt, no one in the neighborhood knew why she had felt or where she had gone, she just felt. It was the subject of much gossip in the neighborhood.
Harry waited anxiously for the day to come for the Dursleys to leave, and when it finally did Harry woke up rather earlier than normal to help them on their way, by carrying their vacation trunks down to the car happily. As Harry finally put the last trunk into the car and came back in to sit at the kitchen table for breakfast he notice that all the Dursleys were dressed in their best clothes. Uncle Vernon a very beefy man with almost no neck and a lot of mustache was wearing a dark suit with a bright blue bow tied. Aunt Petunia a horse-faced woman with too much neck was wearing a dress suit that made her look as if she just stepped off a time machine from the fifties. Dudley was extremely fat and pink, which made him look as through he, was a rather large pig, he had apparently abandoned the diet he was on the year before sometime last year. He was wearing the same thing as his father, but his bow tie was barely visible from under his many chins.
If someone would never see the Dursleys and compared them to Harry they would think that they weren't even related. The Dursleys had very sever looks and Harry with his lightning scar on his head were the exact opposite. Harry was a very small boy for this age, and also very skinny. He had untidy black hair, which he could never seem to tame, and brilliant green eyes, which were ringed by the circle famed glasses he always wore. He always wore clothes that were three sizes to big because the Dursleys would never spend money on Harry if they could help it so he wore Dudley's old clothes.
Harry sat down at the kitchen table under the watchful eye of Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be practically angry with Harry that morning, although Harry hadn't done anything, but help them pack. It was the fact that Harry was being so helpful that seemed to irritate him so much. "So you think you have gotten rid of us that easy boy. Do you?" Uncle Vernon shot a sideways glance at Harry as he took another sip of his morning coffee.
"No Sir." Harry said in the most polite way he could, but this just made Uncle Vernon even madder.
"Don't talk to me in that tone of voice!" Uncle Vernon's face started going purple as it usually did when he would get mad at Harry. Dudley, who was watching the television, which was sitting only feet away from him, turned to watch Uncle Vernon yelling once again at Harry. Dudley always loved it when Uncle Vernon yelled at Harry; it was more interesting to him that whatever was on the television. "And you will not mention anything about your unnaturalness to the house sitter when she gets here, or when we get back you will be locked in you room until next summer. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
Uncle Vernon was expecting a 'Yes Sir', but had a very surprised look on his face when he heard Harry say. "House sitter?"
"Yes boy. Did you think that we would leave you here alone while we go on vacation? We don't want to come back and find you have burned the place down and Mrs. Figg didn't want to taken you in again. Poor old woman having to look after you." Uncle Vernon sneered a Harry.
"You mean babysitter not House sitter then?" Harry glance from Uncle Vernon to Aunt Petunia.
"No boy. I said House sitter and that is the way it is going to be. I don't want to explain it to my friend why I had a babysitter for a ruddy little nephew that I don't even have, so we are calling her a house sitter and that is the way it is going to stay." said Uncle Vernon. Harry noticed that Dudley's chins were shaking with laughter, but then something amazing happened, Aunt Petunia started to speak, but that wasn't the amazing thing. The amazing thing was what she said.
"Dudley stop laughing at Harry." Said Aunt Petunia in an offhand sort of way. Ever since Aunt Petunia got the letter from Harry's school, Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she hadn't been acting so cold to Harry. The letter explained the horrible things that Harry had gone through the year before. How Voldemort kidnapped Harry, torture and forced to watch as a friend of his, Cedric Diggory, was killed, something, which still gave him nightmares. Harry had figured that she had finally realized that Harry could die and that no matter how much she didn't like him being a wizard he was still family and she really didn't want to see him dead, but this was not something that she shared with Uncle Vernon who was now looking at her with a very shocked expression. Dudley had stopped laughing and was also looking at Aunt Petunia with the same expression as Uncle Vernon, but Harry had a small smile.
Just as Uncle Vernon opened his mouth to say something there was a knock at the front door. Uncle Vernon glanced down at his wristwatch and then said. "She is a little early. I like when someone is early to their job it shows that they are serious about working and not a lay-about like some people." He shot another sideways look at Harry as he got up and walked to the door. Harry followed him into the hall so that he could get a good look at this House sitter, who was going to watch after him for most of the summer. Harry was bracing himself to come face to face with someone just like the Dursleys, when Uncle Vernon opened the door to show a young girl who couldn't have been farther from the Dursleys than he was.
There standing on the doorstep of number four, Privet Drive, was a girl of twenty-five with a big smile that could light a room. She had shoulder length black hair and sky blue eyes; she was also just as skinny as Harry was but as tall as Uncle Vernon. Even though she was skinny, she looked as though she could handle herself in a fight, thought Harry. This wasn't a girl you wanted to mess with, without a wand that is. She wore loose fitting clothes and looked as though she was ready to go out for a run. She had a backpack slung around her right shoulder and in her left hand she was holding a rather large workout bag, with CJ Knight write on top of it, full of clothes.
Uncle Vernon looking slightly shocked as he saw her standing there, which told Harry that he had never seen this girl before. "Cassandra Knight?" said Uncle Vernon in a very unbelieving tone. The girl nodded and smiled a very polite smile at Uncle Vernon. "It is so nice to meet you after all the correspondence over the last year." Correspondence, thought Harry. What had Uncle Vernon never met this girl? That was unlike him, he always wanted to know never single little detail of every that was going on around him, but not as much as Aunt Petunia, with her very nosy personality. Which Harry noticed was kicking into high gear as Aunt Petunia sneaked out of the kitchen and into the hallway to get a better look at this girl who was standing in the doorway looking a little uncomfortable with everyone staring at her. She smiled awkwardly at Uncle Vernon who realized he was staring at her and motioned for her to come inside the house. She took a shy step into the house and closed the door behind her. Then another shocking thing happened
"Thank you. I thought I was going to be on that doorstep all day." Said Cassandra with an odd accent that Harry realized was...
"American. You're an American." Uncle Vernon said in a very shocked tone. Cassandra giggled then spoke again.
"Actually I was born in London, but when I was a year old my father got a job in New York City and we moved there. Now I live with my Aunt and Uncle cross town as I finish up my last year at University." Cassandra finished, that was when Harry heard a slight hint of an English accent hidden behind her American one. When the whole of what Cassandra just said sunk into Uncle Vernon's thick head he straighten up.
"University eh? Very good. I like to see young people making something of themselves." Uncle Vernon looked at the heavy load, which Cassandra was carrying. "Here let me get that for you." He smiled, but Cassandra seemed to be handling it very well on her own.
"I am fine thanks." Said Cassandra, but Uncle Vernon wasn't going to take no for an answer, so finally she gave up her bag and handed it to Uncle Vernon, who almost fell over when he first took a hold of it, it was so heavy.
"Okay." He grunted as he pulled it up over his shoulder and went upstairs, Cassandra close behind him, to show her the guest room, where she would be staying. Moments later they came back down stairs as Uncle Vernon was explaining to her what her job as House sitter would be. "You will be tending to the gardens and making sure the house stays clean, also you will be watching after my nephew... err... You know about his unfortunate condition. We don't like to talk about it much around here." Harry, who was now back in the kitchen, watched as the two of them entered, Cassandra listening to Uncle Vernon intently, just like Hermione would listen to one of the Hogwarts teachers. Uncle Vernon gestured towards Harry and said. "That is Harry. He will be helping you with the chores." Uncle Vernon gave Harry a threaten look and then turned back to Cassandra with a quick glance at his watch.
Cassandra pulled out a piece of candy from her pocket and stepped towards Harry. Dudley's greedy little eye staring at the piece of chocolate he probably wasn't going to get. "Do you like chocolate Harry?" She asked and Harry nodded. "Well what is the Magic word?" Said Cassandra in a causal tone as if they word magic was nothing, but she didn't know the Dursleys, who were now giving each other frighten looks.
"Please." Said Harry with a huge smile on his face glancing back a Uncle Vernon, who was straighten out so that Cassandra couldn't see. After Cassandra gave Harry the piece of chocolate she turned back to Uncle Vernon, his face still had a bit of shock on it.
"Are you okay Mr. Dursley." She asked him as he glanced at his watch again.
"That is all I have to say for right now. Harry will show you the rest of the house. We must get going now." He gathered up Dudley and Aunt Petunia and head for the door not even say goodbye to Harry (not that he thought they would) and with a slam of the door they were gone. Harry began to feel happier than he had in months. The rest of the day went by in a blur. It really wasn't until dinner when Harry actually talked to Cassandra. Cassandra had made them she very special recipe of New York style pizza and she had brought her own cola, which she admitted that she became quite addicted to while she lived in America.
"So how did you like coming back to England after all these years?" Harry asked Cassandra as he chewed a mouthful of pizza.
"It is very different. Even though I was born here and my parents talk with the accents. I find it a little difficult to understand what people are saying." She smiled and Harry asked her a couple more question before saying something that kept nagging at the back of his mind.
"Err, Cassandra." Said Harry and she looked at him with the smiled that always seemed to be on her face. "Do you believe my Uncle when he told you that I am a... err... pathological lair." Harry felt his face go red, just as Ron's would if he were asking the question. Cassandra chewed whatever was left in her mouth and swallowed hard.
"To tell you the truth Harry. I think your Uncle in the one who is the pathological lair. I can always tell if someone is lying to me." Said Cassandra a little warning in her tone. "Anyway. Anyone tells someone they just met about something they clam to keep secret around the house isn't really telling the true if you ask me." She added.
When they finished dinner Cassandra let Harry pick what he wanted to watch on the television, something that Harry was looking forward to. It wasn't until one o'clock in the morning that Cassandra asked if Harry wanted to go to bed. Harry wasn't at all tiered, but when he look over a Cassandra he could tell that she looked completely exhausted, so he told her that he was ready and they both climbed up to the top of the stairs and went to their separate rooms. As Harry was getting ready for bed a hooting noise was coming from his window. He turned to look what it was and saw a very beautiful snowy owl sitting at his window staring at him with a letter tied around her leg.
"Hedwig." Harry said happily as he walked up to her and untied the letter. He opened Hedwig's cage with was sitting on his desk and allowed her to drink out of her water dish. Harry quickly unrolled the thick parchment and read it.
Dear Harry
My father says that Dumbledore told him that he wants you to come stay at our house two weeks before schools starts so be ready. It only little over a month more with those Muggels you live with. When you are here we can go to Diagon Alley and get our things. Can wait to see you. I will write back on your birthday with more details about us picking you up. Until then.
Ron
Ron Weasley one of Harry's best friends at Hogwarts always asked if Harry could stay at his house at the end of the summer and Harry was more than willing to do so. He was glad that it was two weeks before school started that he would be able to go to the Weasley's, because that was when the Dursleys planed to be back, so he didn't have to put up with them at all that summer. Harry quickly wrote Ron back about how the Dursleys were on vacation and that he had a Muggle girl, who was the total opposite of Dursleys that was babysitting him for the summer. When he was finished he tied it to Hedwig and she took off into the night heading for Ron's house. Then he finished getting ready for bed. Much to his surprise he fell quickly asleep.
Sometime in the night he heard a scream, and he woke with a start. It was coming from the guest room. He though it only a dream, but when the second scream came Harry jumped to his feet his heart pounding so fast in his chest, he was worried it wouldn't slow down again. He went to the loose floorboards in his room where he kept some of his school things and pulled out his wand, in case there was an emergency and he had to use it. The Ministry of Magic wouldn't kick him out of Hogwarts, as they had threatened in the past, if this was an emergency (underage wizard aren't allowed to do magic outside Hogwarts). Scared that some how Voldemort had found out where he lived and now was attacking this innocent Muggle girl who never hurt anyone, he ran quickly to the guest room and flung open the door. Then he looked inside the room ready to attack whoever was there, but there was no one there except Cassandra, who looked as through she was having an extremely bad nightmare. She looked as though she was trying to run in her sleep and she was mumbling something that Harry couldn't quiet hear. Harry went to wake her from her nightmare, but as he bent over her she shot straight up in her bed flinging her arms widely about, as through she was fighting something off. One of her arms hit Harry square across the head, sending him to the ground with a thud.
"No get away! GET AWAY! STOP! No! Stop! FATHER!" screamed Cassandra as she sat up looking about widely. When she finally realized where she was she placed her face in her hand and started to cry silently, Harry notice her body shake as she cried. Then she took a deep breath and wiped her tears about as she looked around the room to notice Harry still on the ground next to the bed. "Oh Harry what are you doing there?"
"I came in to see if you were alright. You were screaming and it scared me. You were having a bad dream and when I went to wake you up, you hit me and I fell..."
"Oh dear, Harry I am so sorry about that." She said. "Are you okay?" She got out of bed and helped Harry off the ground.
"Yes I am fine. Are you okay?" said Harry. Cassandra had a slightly shock look on her face as through no one had never been polite to her before in her life.
"Yeah I am fine, it was just a nightmare." A small, sad smile stretched across her face. There was a moment of somber silence that was only broken by the noised of a car door being slammed shut across the street. Cassandra noticed that he was still on the ground, so she got out of bed and gave him a hand to get up.
"Thanks." said Harry as he headed toward the door. "Are you sure that you are okay?" Cassandra nodded. Harry had just stepped outside the door, when suddenly there was a surge of panic that went through his whole body. He moved his hand to his pocket where he had put his wand, but it wasn't there, turning back into the room, he saw Cassandra bending down to pick up something from the ground where Harry had fallen. "NO!" thought Harry.
"Harry you dropped your little stick." said Cassandra as she turned around Harry saw his wand in her hand. Harry rushed forward and quickly grabbed the wand from Cassandra.
"Thank you Cassandra." said Harry, and then rushed from the room. His heart beating so fast he thought he was about to have a heart attack. He went to his room and laid down on his bed, his mind racing at what could of happened if Cassandra, a simple Muggle girl, got a hold of a wand for a long period of time. Could she even use it? If she could what would happen? His mind raced with these questions for a good awhile until he became too sleepy to stay awake any longer. When he finally fell asleep he dreamt.
It wasn't a good dream; it was images of what happened the year before at the final task of the Triwizard Tournament and what happened after he and a friend of his, Cedric Diggory, touched the Triwizard Cup. He watched in his dream has Cedric died with the flash of green light from the killing curse, Avada Kedavra curse. Then Harry watched as he, himself, was tortured by Voldemort as the Death Eaters laughed in the circle around him. Harry suddenly had a feeling that something was wrong; there was one extra Death Eater than there had been. This person was standing in one of the places that had been empty before, he or she, Harry couldn't tell, was dressed in black hooded robes. The hood was up which throw a shadow over this person's face, so Harry couldn't tell who it was, but what Harry could tell was that this person wasn't laughing, in fact this person was crying at Harry being tortured. After a while of Harry's torture the person couldn't watch anymore, so he or she turned it head and looked straight at the Harry who was dreaming. When the person noticed that Harry knew that he or she was there it seemed shocked. They stared at each other for a long while, until something strange happened, it spoke.
"Harry..." a familiar voice called out to him, it seemed far away. "Harry..." Harry realized who the voice belonged to, Cassandra, but how. "Harry time to get up." The hooded figure pulled back its hood to reveal the face of Cassandra. "Harry..." Cassandra moved closer to him, passing Voldemort by inches, before standing directly in front of Harry. "Harry you need to wake up now." Said Cassandra in her soft voice. Harry was confused, what was happening? Suddenly Cassandra grabbed both of his arms and started to shake Harry a little. "HARRY WAKE UP!"
Harry woke with a start. The room was lit with the noon sun, and Cassandra was standing over him smiling down at him. "It takes forever to get you up." Said Cassandra with a giggle. Harry jump out of bed and back away from Cassandra.
"Why were you in my dream?" asked Harry franticly. Cassandra looked at him confused, so Harry asked the question again. "Why were you in my dream?"
"What are you talking about silly? It was only a dream. The mind can play trick on people." Said Cassandra with an anxious tone.
"You were in my dream!" exclaimed Harry.
"Well if I was in your dream, you put me there. How can someone get into another persons dream, Harry? Honestly I think you are watching too much television for you own good." Said Cassandra as she walked out of the room. "Harry lunch is ready, please hurry." And with that she went downstairs leaving Harry confused. Why had he over reacted? Of course she couldn't get into my dream. Harry shook of the feeling that still lingered about Cassandra and hurried to get dressed. When Harry went downstairs for lunch he smelled the most delicious smell he had never smelled coming for the kitchen. Harry walked down the hall leading the kitchen just smelling what Cassandra was cooking. As he entered the kitchen he heard Cassandra humming a song that seemed quite familiar to Harry, but he could remember where he heard it before. He took a seat at the table listening to the song trying to stretch his memory to figure out where he had heard it before.
"Cassandra, what song is that, I think that I have heard it somewhere before." Said Harry, still trying to remember.
"It is a song my mother would sing to me when I was small." Said Cassandra. There was a sad look on her face as though she were remembering something very sad, but then she turned her back to Harry and finished with lunch. She had made them both a turkey sandwich and oven baked French Fires. They sat in silence as they both eat their lunches, Cassandra's expression was one of great sorrow all the way through lunch and Harry sat wondering what sad memory would make this, seemingly, happy-go-lucky girl so sad. After lunch it was as if Cassandra never had that bed memory and she was off around the house cleaning everything and humming the song again. Harry still couldn't get that song out of his mind.