Chapter 6: Harry's Arrival
Cassie began her walk downstairs to the kitchen. Upon arriving on the first floor, she saw Remus standing near the front door. She walked over to him, hugging him from behind.
"Wha..? Oh hi Cass. Hey, I'm sorry about…" he turned to look at her, blushing. "About earlier. I didn't realize…"
Cassie laughed at his frustration. "It's okay. I'm not upset, and I doubt Sirius is either. Although, you do need to wait a moment before you enter a room after knocking." She laughed again, giving him another quick hug. "Good luck getting Harry. We'll see you all when you get back." She gave him a peck on his cheek and walked off, laughing as she descended the stairs to the kitchen.
She hardly paid attention to where she was walking and ended up walking straight into Molly Weasley.
"Gracious! I'm sorry Cassie!" Molly quickly apologized. "Come on, let's get into the kitchen and start preparing snacks for the meeting."
Cassie followed Molly and soon the two were busy cooking. Molly had decided to begin preparation for dinner, since they wouldn't be eating until almost 10 o'clock. Cassie smiled at Sirius when he came and grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the counter. He kissed her neck as she continued to peel and cut potatoes, laughing as she shivered in pleasure. He laughingly left Cassie and Molly to their preparations after Molly threatened him with her wooden spoon for distracting her helper.
After two hours, the Order members began filing in. Mundungus Fletcher arrived, as did Arthur and Bill Weasley.
"Hullo Cassie!" Arthur said, giving her a hug. "Haven't seen you much, not since we arrived."
"Yes, well, I've been trying to keep Sirius company and away from Severus. That isn't a very easy task." Cassie laughed as someone else entered the room.
"What's not an easy task?" Sirius asked, coming up behind Cassie and kissing her neck. He buried his nose in her long, black hair, inhaling deeply.
"You," was the quick response. She turned and kissed his nose.
"Ah yes, well you learned that early on. Many don't realize that until it's too late." He grinned and sat down in a chair at the table, grabbing another apple from the bowl. Leaning the chair back on two legs, he rested his feet on the table.
"Everyone else is picking up Harry, right?" Molly asked, setting a basket of crisps down on the table along with some humus. She slapped at his shoes and pushed them off her table.
"That's right. They shouldn't be much longer, unless old Mad-Eye had them go by way of Greenland," Bill Weasley laughed. "Knowing him, that's exactly what happened."
"Oh Bill don't talk like that. He just wants to make sure that Harry's safe." Molly kept walking around the kitchen, getting out plates and water goblets. "Oh! That must be them!" Molly hurried out of the room as Bill and Sirius began getting out the plans that were to be discussed at the meeting.
Cassie sat in silence, watching the men work. She eagerly wanted to see Harry, but let Molly go ahead. She'd see him later. Sirius looked up and caught her eye. They smiled at each other and Cassie felt warmth spread through her body. I really do love him she thought. I want to spend the rest of my life with him!
The meeting began and finished almost as quickly. The members that had gone to retrieve Harry had arrived and filled the others in on the uneventful trip. Molly scurried out to tell the children to come in for dinner. Tonks followed her and almost as soon as the two left, a loud crash was heard from the hallway. Mrs. Black's screams were heard throughout the entire house. Sirius, Remus and Cassie jumped up to close the curtains.
"HALF-BREEDS! MUTANTS! MUDBLOODS! DESTROYING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS! RUINING MY POSSESSIONS! REMOVE…" The voice continued.
"Shut up! Shut up you old hag! Quiet yourself!" Sirius yelled. The two men managed to shut the curtains, while Cassie pulled out her wand and began stunning the other portraits. Sirius screamed once more, "SHUT UP!" as the curtains were finally pulled shut, blocking the hideous woman from view.
Thoroughly exhausted, the three turned to Harry and his friends. "Well Harry, I see you've met my mum." Sirius said bleakly.
"Your…your mum?" Harry stuttered, trying to decide what was more shocking, seeing his two remaining family members in the same place or knowing that the ugly old portrait was Sirius' mum.
"Oh yes, my darling old mum. We've been trying unsuccessfully to get her down for over a month now. Knowing her, she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the canvas. It's exactly like her…never wanting to leave…" Sirius glared at the black curtains that covered the portrait.
"But…what's a portrait of your mum doing here?"
"No one told you? This is my house. I lent it to Dumbledore to for Headquarters…" he scowled. "It's the only useful thing I've been able to do…"
"Now Sirius, don't you start again! I just got you in a better mood!" Cassie moved towards him and put her arm around his waist. She pinched his side and he jumped slightly. "Hullo Harry."
"Hullo Aunt Cassie. What are you doing here?" Harry asked, accepting a hug from his aunt.
"I'm staying here with Sirius and Remus. That way I can keep an eye on him." She jerked a finger towards Sirius.
"Umm, I'm standing right here. Please don't talk about me as if I'm not." He wisely stuck his tongue out at her.
Cassie laughed. "Come on. Let's go to the kitchen and eat. Molly should be finished by now. She'll need to fuss more about how thin you are and how peaky you look."
The group walked down to the kitchen and the adults sat down at the table while the teens stood in the doorway. Once Harry had walked in, Bill murmured "Evanesco" and the scrolls disappeared, leaving behind a bare table.
Sirius began introducing Harry to everyone, including Mundungus Fletcher.
"Rih' sorry 'bout leavin' ya. Good business opportunity. Had to take it." He murmured and fell back to sleep.
"So, have you had a good summer so far?" Sirius grinned and winked at Harry.
"No" he said bluntly. "It's been right awful."
"Now I don't know what you're complaining about myself. I'd have welcomed a Dementor attack. It would have livened things up around here."
"SIRIUS BLACK!" Cassie exclaimed. "I do not want to hear about that again!"
Harry stared at the small woman in shock. He'd never heard her yell, and had the feeling she didn't do it quite often.
"What?" Sirius asked innocently. "We all know I'm tired of being locked up in this house…" he trailed off.
"Yes well you don't need to go around reminding everyone of it." Cassie glared at him, her blue eyes flashing with anger. Stop Sirius; just stop she thought, wishing she could help him in some way.
"Why are you stuck here? Can't you…" Harry asked.
"No. The Ministry has a 10,000 galleon price on my head and Wormtail will have told Voldemort about my being an Animagus by now. And there isn't much I can do for the Order… or at least that's what Dumbledore thinks."
Cassie watched as Harry and Sirius continued to converse. It was so nice to see Sirius smile, Merlin knows he hasn't done enough of it in the past month. They got along so well, Cassie could hear how much Harry sounded like James.
The meal was a quiet one as everyone talked about everything from the War to the Goblins to finally Quidditch. Once the meal was over Molly jumped up, "Time to head off to bed I believe. We've got a long day tomorrow."
"Not so fast Molly," Sirius said turning towards Harry. "I thought you'd ask about Voldemort first thing." Several people noticeably flinched, including Hermione and Ron. Sirius ignored this and continued to watch Harry's reaction.
"I did! I asked Ron and Hermione, but they said they didn't know anything because they're not in the Order!" Harry said hurriedly.
Molly stopped and stared, halfway to Ginny's chair. "Too right they are. You are too young; these are matters for adult wizards."
"Since when does someone have to be in the Order to ask questions?" Sirius stared at Molly, the two unflinching and unblinking. The members of the Order held their breath, waiting to see who would move first.
"He's only fifteen! He's not James, Sirius!"
Cassie's head snapped up. Until that moment she had remained quiet, but that was the last straw. Standing up, Cassie said firmly, "Molly Weasley, I would recommend you rethink anything further on that subject. Sirius and I both know he is NOT James. But he IS his son. They have the same reckless streak and I for one know that once James put his mind to something, it was finished. In this case, whether we tell him or not, Harry will find out. He's too smart not to. And I personally would rather him find out from us." Cassie sat back down, blushing. I can't believe I just did that! Sirius must have been thinking the same thing because he reached his hand over and squeezed hers, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand.
All was silent until Remus cleared his throat and spoke. "Molly, I think that it may be a good idea to let Harry in on some of the facts…not too many, but enough. It's better that he gets the truth, rather than some garbled version later on." Remus looked back and forth between the two. "I don't think we should let him ask too many questions, but he should know. After all he's been through…" Remus trailed off.
"Fine! I can see I'm out numbered. There are reasons Dumbledore said we shouldn't tell him and I was just trying to keep in mind his best interests."
"He's not your son Molly." Sirius said quietly, looking down at his lap. Sirius was trying to keep his temper under control, and was winning, slowly. He squeezed Cassie's hand tightly, attempting to calm himself.
"He's as good as! Who else does he have?" Molly's voice rose, becoming shriller with each syllable.
"Me!" yelled Cassie and Sirius at the same time.
"Yes well, Sirius, it's been hard for you keep an eye on him while you've been in Azkaban hasn't it? And Harry didn't even know you existed until quite recently, right Cassie?" Molly's lip curled similarly to Snape's.
"That was uncalled for." Cassie said softly. "You know there were circumstances regarding that, some that were out of my control. I'd thank you kindly if you wouldn't bring them up."
"Fine. Everyone else…up to bed!" Molly argued with the rest of her children, finally allowing Ron, Hermione and the twins to remain downstairs while she fought with Ginny to get her to bed.
"Well Harry. What would you like to know?" Sirius asked, looking closely at his godson.
"I want to know what Voldemort's been up to! I want to know what's going on."
The Order attempted to fill Harry in on the matters regarding Voldemort until Molly came back downstairs and insisted they stop.
"Yes Sirius, I do believe we've said enough." Remus said, rising from the table. "Why don't you all head off to bed. We've got a long day ahead."
The kids rose from the table as did Cassie. "I'm going off to bed. G'nite all." She said and walked out of the kitchen.
"Aunt Cassie?" She heard from behind her.
"Yes Harry?" Cassie turned around and looked at her nephew.
"Thank you for what you said. It really means a lot that you and Sirius want to be there for me. And what you said to Mrs. Weasley…wow."
Cassie laughed. "Yes well, I'm not happy about it, but it did the trick. Go on to bed." Cassie hugged her nephew and continued her trip up the stairs.