Oh my god, you can't imagine the shock I had when I found out that I had
close to fifty reviews! Thank you all so, so, so much for reading my story
and giving it a chance. I'm also very sorry that this update has taken me a
long time to write. There are several factors that helped.
I had a severe bout of writer's block for about a portion of the chapter but as I was nearing the end it became easier to write. I was on eighteen pages before the most horrible thing happened, which leads us to number. . .
MY STUPID COMPUTER LOST CHAPTER FOURTEEN! I have to start from scratch and it's going to be extremely difficult to accomplish. This was going to be my longest chapter to date but my damn computer is spazzing out and won't load it for me. Again, I'm sorry for the wait. I'm going to kill my computer after I finish this story.
Other than that there are quite a few people I have to thank:
radarPLO: Thank you so much for your review and I am so glad you are enjoying the story so far.
Lily Skylo: Thank you so much for reviewing to like every single chapter! You have no idea how happy that makes me! Thank you so much for your kind words and wonderful reviews on the characters!
Coolerimmortal: Thank you so much for your review I truly appreciate the time you took out of your day to read my story!
Bookworm127: Thank you for thinking my story is great!
J-chan: Thanks for thinking my story is great. I know what a Mary Sue is and I thank you for your criticism (how else am I going to get better at writing?)
BigFan1: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you think my story is good!
Snivellus: What can I say, I'm so happy you reviewed! I missed hearing from you and thank you for reading 'Whispers' as well. I'm thinking that after I finish Black Diamond I'll make 'Whispers' a novel length story! What do you think? Anyway, I'm so glad you enjoy Cassie. I was thinking that she was toeing the line as a Mary Sue but I retract my statement in lieu of upcoming chapters. And thank you for giving me suggestions! I think that giving suggestions to other authors is the best way to improve your writing. I will defiantly reconsider the catalogues. Oh and before I forget, Hermione's teddy bear had a proper burial so there is no need to worry.
If I forgot to thank anyone its just that my computer is slow in showing the reviews on ff.net and it hasn't shown up yet but it doesn't mean that I don't disregard you! You guys are the best readers ever and thank you so, so, so, so much for reading and reviewing!
Chapter Fifteen coming soon!
14. Snow Days
Professor Lupin's face went as white as a sheet as he jumped from his seat and ran to the side of his comatose niece. Lupin knelt down in front of her, grabbing her wrist and searching for a pulse. He quickly dismissed the class before he let out a low curse and beckoned Harry and Ron forward his hands trembling as he picked up his niece.
"Could you please go and send an owl to my brother and inform him what happened?" Lupin asked as he shot a worried look at the unconscious girl in his arms. Cassandra had gone deathly pale and she lay limply in her uncle's arm almost as if she were dead.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded in agreement before Professor Lupin hurried out of the classroom, leaving the three behind in a wake of confusion. Without hesitation, the three headed up to the owlrey to relay a message to Cassie's father.
Once they reached the rotund building, Harry immediately called his owl, Hedwig down from the rafters. She hooted happily at the sight of him, glad he had finally given her something to do. Harry hurriedly wrote out a letter to Remus Lupin, explaining the situation of his daughter and that he should come straight away. He signed the letter and then tied it to Hedwig's leg. "Hurry as fast you can and get this letter to Remus Lupin. It's extremely important, Hedwig," Harry begged. Hedwig gave him a reassuring hoot before she took off and hurried out one of the windows to deliver her message.
"What are we going to do now?" Hermione asked as they departed from the owlrey.
"We should at least tell Professor Lupin that we delivered his message," Ron suggested as he immediately started off towards the infirmary, Harry and Hermione right behind him.
When they arrived at the infirmary they saw Professor Lupin sitting on a vacant bed, looking towards the back of the room where a bed was surrounded by curtains. Harry could hear Madame Pomfrey's busy voice behind the curtains talking to a patient behind the curtains.
"We sent the message, Professor," Harry announced as they went to stand by the worried man. He smiled his gratitude before he looked over at the bed surrounded by the curtains and sighed loudly. "Is she going to be okay?"
"I believe so. But she'll be in the hospital wing for about a week. Madame Pomfrey wants her under close watch, what with Cassie going under cardiac arrest and all."
Hermione stared at Lupin as if he were insane. "She went under cardiac arrest?" She asked as she looked at him sternly. The professor nodded offering a grim smile before Madame Pomfrey walked over a satisfied smile on her face.
"She's expected to make a full recovery. She's to stay here for a week so I can monitor her health and to make sure she doesn't do it again," she explained directing the last part of her sentence to Professor Lupin.
"Thank you Poppy. Can we see her?"
"You can of course, professor. After all, you are family. As for these three," she said looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione sternly, "you can see her tomorrow. Is her father coming?" she asked looking at Professor Lupin again.
"I believe so I had an owl sent to him not to long ago to tell him the news. I should be expecting a reply no later than tonight."
"Wonderful. If you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to," she said before she nodded curtly to each of them. She headed over to another bed where a third year Hufflepuff lay, his feet propped up on a stand. Harry noticed that the young boy had distinctively yellow duck feet, reminders of a spell or curse gone awry.
"You should be heading to your Transfiguration class, I don't want you to be late," Professor Lupin said as he saw them to the infirmary doors. "Thank you for sending that letter for me and I'll tell Cassie you'll be along later to speak to her."
They hurried out of the hospital wing and jogged up the stairs, hoping they weren't late for their classes with Professor McGonagall. "I can't believe she went under cardiac arrest," Hermione muttered to herself.
"Cardiac arrest?" Ron asked as they walked down a corridor.
"Don't you read Ron, honestly? Cardiac arrest is like a heart attack but it's pretty obvious as to why her heart stopped," Hermione explained.
"It is?" Ron asked her his voice conveying confusion.
"Didn't she explain to us that she's part werewolf and that her heart pains are from her wanting to change into a werewolf?" Hermione asked her two friends as they walked up another flight of stairs and onto the second landing. They both nodded and she continued, "The part that's werewolf inside of her probably tried to make an effort to get out, trying to get her to transform. The stress of this probably caused her to go into cardiac arrest," Hermione explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"How do you know all this Hermione?" Ron asked incredulously as they entered Professor McGonagall's classroom.
"Well, maybe if you picked up a book once in a while you'd know what I was talking about and understand it." Hermione said sarcastically.
"So glad you three could join us," McGonagall said at the front of the classroom as they took their seats. "I see Miss Lupin isn't with you, any clue as to where she is?"
"She fell ill in Professor Lupin's class. She's expected to be out of the hospital wing in a week or so," Hermione announced. Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed," she said her voice curious, "well, be that as it may, Miss Lupin will still have to do her homework and so will you three." McGonagall explained before she went to the front of the classroom to begin the lesson.
That day they were learning how to transfigure inanimate objects into mice. Professor McGonagall went around and handed out various things to her students. She handed Harry a rather small, grey rock and then gave Ron a ratty looking old quill.
They began their spells, Hermione turning a piece of parchment into a mouse on her fourth try. After half an hour of yelling the spell at his rock, the stone finally turned into a rather small mouse. Harry reached out to touch it and he realized that the rat was just a sculpture of one. Ron laughed at him explaining that if he kept that up, he would have his own miniature sculpture garden.
"Shove off Ron, you don't seem to be doing as well as me," Harry replied. They both looked down at his quill which had been turned into a rat but its tail was still the end of the quill. The rat spun around a few seconds before it made a sickening gasping sound and keeled over on the desk, apparently dead.
"Lungs, Mr. Weasly," Professor McGonagall explained as she turned the dead rat back into the quill, "You forgot to give it lungs." Ron looked around embarrassed before the professor began to lecture him on transfiguring inanimate objects into living, breathing things. "You have to want your quill to be alive. You have to picture the lungs, the heart, the mind if you want to transfiguration to go successfully." She explained before she dismissed the class assigning them a large amount of homework. As they left the classroom, heading for their Charms class, Harry couldn't help but wonder what Cassie was up to and how she was feeling.
*~*~*~*
Later that evening, during dinner, Harry got a response from Remus Lupin. Hedwig flew into the Great Hall and landed in front of Harry, dropping a note she held in her beak. He gave her some of his shepherd's pie before she hooted her thanks and left the Hall quickly. He looked up at Professor Lupin, unsure if he should open the letter here, not knowing if the professor himself wanted to read it. The man looked at Harry and nodded giving Harry permission to open up the letter.
"What does it say?" Ron asked excitedly as he and Hermione leaned forward so they could hear Harry better. Harry pulled out a letter addressed top him and another envelope that was rather thick, addressed to Remus' brother. He opened up his letter and began to read aloud.
Dear Harry,
Thank you very much for sending me an owl regarding Cassie's health. Unfortunately I will not be able to make the journey out to Hogwarts due to certain reasons concerning my own health. Please tell my daughter I'll not be able to make it out to see her, but I'll certainly see her during the Christmas holidays.
Hope you're well,
Remus.
"Why can't he come out to see her? She's his only daughter!" Ron explained as he grabbed the letter from Harry's hand to read it for himself.
"Ron, do you ever pay attention in Astronomy? There's a full moon this week. I don't think he'd want to travel to Hogwarts as a werewolf!" Hermione exclaimed in a rather annoyed voice.
"She's going to be very upset," Harry commented as he put his letter and Professor Lupin's in the pockets of his robes. "I hope she won't go into a relapse if we tell her he isn't coming."
"She won't," said a voice behind them. They looked up and saw Professor Lupin standing over them a grim smile on his face. "She's awake right now and Madame Pomfrey has allowed you to come in to see her for a few minutes," the man explained before Harry handed him the letter and he smiled warmly at him. "Thank you Harry."
*~*~*
"I can't believe I have to stay in this hospital wing for a week! I'm perfectly fine I could play a game of Quidditch all by myself if I had to!" Cassie exclaimed loudly. The third year with the webbed feet snorted loudly in his sleep before he turned over and began to snore again.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the hospital wing shortly after dinner to inform Cassie that her father couldn't make the trip out to Hogwarts to see if she was okay. Hermione told her this news rather quietly as if to soften the outcome from Cassie.
"Gee, what a surprise. He's always too busy to come and see me. It's not like I'm his only daughter!" Cassie yelled out as she looked out the window, probably hoping her father heard her words. Madame Pomfrey hurried over to her bed, handing her a potion.
"Drink up dear, this will give you a dreamless sleep, you'll need it."
"Do I have to take it?" Cassie asked eyeing the potion suspiciously.
"Yes you have to take it! I'm not some bloody muggle school nurse, I'm a trained mediwitch, and I know what I'm talking about. Now drink up," Madame Pomfrey said in her usual stern voice.
The Hogwarts nurse then hurried Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the exit as Cassie started to drink from the glass, falling asleep immediately. "You can come and see her tomorrow; off to bed with the three of you, off you go!"
"I'm surprised she kicked you out mate," Ron said, a mischievous smile on his face, "After all, you've been in that ruddy hospital wing more than Neville, and that's saying something." Hermione rolled her eyes as they hurried back to the Gryffindor common room.
*~*~*~*
Harry opened his eyes and found himself in the large parlor in the Riddle House. He saw that the fire in the inglenook was blazing casting off long eerie shadows that flickered along with the firelight. He could just make out the hoods of the Death Eaters amidst the armchairs but the chairs remained unoccupied. Looking a bit ahead, Harry could see a large circle of Death Eaters just to the left of the fireplace, all of them surrounding three figures.
Curious, Harry walked up to the circle and found a vacant spot next to two large and menacing looking Death Eaters. He couldn't identify them because they were in full Death Eater uniform, the masks protecting their faces from any prying eyes. Harry looked into the circle to see two young men cowering in front of a tall, dark figure, his face hidden in the shadows and he was laughing in a vicious manner.
"Who's ready?" the figure asked and Harry knew at once it was Lord Voldemort, his cold, high pitched voice sending shivers up his spine. Harry saw one of the men, a blonde haired blue eyed man, not a day older than eighteen, stand up bravely, his friend, a short and pudgy young man with brown hair and green cowering in fear on the ground. "Ah, Quentin Jones, are you ready to be initiated?" Lord Voldemort asked in a high pitched whisper. The man called Quentin Jones nodded firmly before Voldemort pulled back the sleeve of his robe on the left arm, positioning his wand on the man's forearm. "Say it," Voldemort growled before he began to whisper an incantation a green glow omitting from his wand.
"I, Quentin Jones, swear to uphold the duties of a servant to Lord Voldemort. I, Quentin Jones, swear to show the utmost amount of loyalty to his lordship. I, Quentin Jones, swear that my faith in my lord will never waver. I, Quentin Jones, swear to follow his command and to succumb to his every wish. And I, Quentin Jones, swear that I will never waver from my lord's guiding hand and I will stop at nothing to fulfill his every desire. This is my solemn oath and vow," Quentin Jones murmured as he winced in pain. Once his pledge had been completed, Voldemort dropped his hand and Harry saw the Dark Mark, glowing in a faint green color on his left forearm.
"Did you do as I instructed?" Voldemort asked the newly appointed Death Eater, a sneer in his voice.
"Yes my lord," Jones said quietly before he set off into another room. Harry could hear the young man shuffling something about in the adjoining room and knew he was going to bring something in. Harry saw Jones reenter the room, dragging along with him, three large sacks. A foreboding feeling in Harry's stomach gave him a feeling as to what Quentin Jones was bringing in to show his master.
Voldemort walked up to the three sacks and threw off the cloth, revealing three dead people. Moving closer, Harry saw an older man with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Quentin Jones except a small trickle of blood was coming from his mouth. It looked as if the family had been killed recently. Harry assumed that the man was his father and the woman, close to the dead man in age was Quentin's mother. Harry let his eyes fall onto the third body and he shook his head in sadness. There was a little girl, probably no older than six years old with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as her brother but her face was deathly pale and the expression on her face seemed to ask 'How could you?'
Harry opened his mouth in shock as Voldemort walked up to the three lifeless people, kicking them all extremely hard. Harry closed his eyes as Voldemort laughed viciously as he kicked the dead girl, Quentin Jones laughing along with him.
"I'm very pleased Jones. Very pleased. You have destroyed your past life and have moved on to your next life. Welcome." Quentin smiled before he joined the ranks of his fellow minions.
Voldemort walked up to the other man, who was quivering in fear on the floor, his hands covering his head. "Now Paul, surely you don't want to back out of this wonderful offer?" Lord Voldemort asked as he stood over Paul, the young man shaking in fear. "Get up," Voldemort demanded. Paul rose to his feet and faced the Dark Lord finally putting a brave look on his face.
Voldemort put the Dark Mark on Paul Strong as he announced his loyalty to the Dark Lord. Once the short ceremony was complete, Voldemort sent Strong into the other room, no doubt bringing his dead family. Strong returned dragging along five bodies into the room with him. Harry saw the malicious grin on Voldemort's face when he saw that one of the bags was wriggling. Paul Strong had brought someone from his family, alive.
The Dark Lord first inspected all the comatose people first, kicking them in the stomach as he went, making sure the new Death Eater had done his job. He then turned on the moving bag and Harry could hear a tiny voice crying inside, a child's voice. Paul Strong pulled back the cloth covering the trembling body and Harry saw a little boy, around the age of five staring at his brother with tears in his eyes.
"Pauly? Pauly what are you doing?" the little boy asked as Strong stood in front of him with his wand pointing at the little boy's heart.
"You know what to do," Lord Voldemort sneered before he stepped back to give Strong room. Harry could see the hesitation in his eyes as he pulled his wand back, ready to say an incantation.
"Pauly, Pauly please don't Pauly, I love you Pauly," the little boy pleaded in a whisper that was so innocent, so pure, Harry could feel the bile rising in his throat.
"Crucio," Strong said in a whisper. Harry watched in terror as the little boy fell to the ground, screaming loudly in pain and clutching his head.
"PAULY! PAULY PLEASE!" the little boy managed to gasp out as he withered in pain. Harry could hear Voldemort laughing and he wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him so badly that he began to see red.
"Finish it," Voldemort said coldly and Pauly looked back at his brother who was panting and crying loudly.
'I'm sorry Johnny.' Harry saw Strong mouth these words to his little brother before he thrust his wand hand forward, "Avada Kedavra!" he bellowed. Harry saw the flash of green light and he heard the rushing sound around him, almost as if death had come on wings to carry the little boy up. He heard little Johnny Strong yell out before he fell to the ground, not moving. Johnny Strong was dead.
"The meeting will take place, now," Voldemort explained, leaving the dead bodies in their heap, not caring. The Death Eaters followed him and sat down in their armchairs, Paul Strong and Quentin Jones sitting in the oldest of the group. "Has anyone found my Diamond yet?"
Harry could tell he was extremely upset because of the dead silence that followed. He saw the Dark Lord's lower jaw tremble before he looked around at his Death Eaters, "Anyone? Anyone know where it is?" he demanded. Harry saw Paul Strong stand up, his bottom legs trembling. "You?" Voldemort asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "You know where the Black Diamond is?"
"Yes my lord," Paul Strong said quietly looking down at his feet.
"Where?" Lord Voldemort asked. Harry could see the hunger in his eyes as he leaned forward in anticipation.
"I've heard reports in Knockturn Alley. Some lesser dark wizards were talking about a magical diamond with extraordinary powers in a wizarding family's house. Just outside of London. I went to inspect it myself and asked some of the locals. They told me that the family has an enchanted jewel that they keep in their house, under a loose floorboard in their foyer. They claim this diamond is to ward off intruders and to stop curses and death," Strong explained, Harry could hear the anxiety in his voice as he shifted from foot to foot waiting for his master's approval.
"I think I've underestimated you Strong. Good work. I believe if this is the diamond we're looking for, you will be rewarded beyond even your wildest imagination. But if you're wrong, well you best start digging out an early grave. . ."
*~*~*~*
Harry woke with a start, looking around the room. He expected to see Lord Voldemort's face staring back at him, a wide grin on his face but he realized he was only in the sixth year boy's dormitory at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He let out a heavy sigh and looked out the window overlooking the grounds of Hogwarts. He saw it had snowed during the night, a fresh new blanket covering the once green, well kept grounds.
Looking around, Harry saw that it must have been a short time before breakfast because the dormitory was unoccupied, all his roommates either in the common room or the Great Hall. Harry got dressed quickly and headed downstairs; hoping Ron and Hermione had waited for them.
He thundered down the dormitory steps, happy to see that his friends had indeed waited for him because they were both situated on one of the couches in front of the fire. "I had another dream," he announced to the two of them. He saw Hermione give him a frightful look and Ron looked as though someone had canceled Christmas break.
"What happened?" Hermione asked in a hushed whisper. Harry sat down next to his two friends and told them, in detail, about his dream. Hermione let out a small cry and put her hand up to her open mouth when Harry told her about Paul Strong killing his younger brother.
"You should go to Professor Dumbledore, immediately. He needs to know that they probably know where the Black Diamond is!" Hermione explained in a rather loud voice, making two first year Gryffindors look at them in confusion.
"I know, I'll go see him after the day's over," Harry explained before they walked out of the common room and towards the Great Hall for breakfast.
*~*~*~*
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just finished their breakfast, Hermione going into great detail at what Harry's dream could have meant, when Harry saw Professor Lupin heading towards the hospital wing, no doubt checking up on his niece before his day at work.
"How's Cassie this morning professor?" Harry asked as he stopped the older man in the hallway.
"Well, according to Madame Pomfrey, she's been trying to get out of bed all morning, thinks she's in perfect health the little imp," Lupin explained shaking his head, laughter in his eyes. "I'll tell her you'll see her after lunch?" Harry nodded and the professor smiled at him and his friends. "Have a nice day."
"What class do we have today? I forgot," Ron said as Harry and Hermione started to walk off towards the dungeons.
"Your favorite. Potions," Harry said with a small, grim chuckle. Ron looked as if he were going to throw up before he followed them down into the dungeons.
"I want two rolls of parchment on my desk on Thursday about the side affects one receives when one brews and drinks the Polyjuice potion incorrectly," Snape announced to the class after an hour of sheer torture. Neville looked like he was going to suffer a nervous breakdown and Hermione looked positively frazzled. "Oh, and Potter," Snape said as he walked up to Harry who was still trying to clean off his lacewing remnants off the table. Harry looked up and saw the malicious gleam in his eyes, "tell Miss Lupin," he said Cassie's surname as if it were a funny joke, "that I expect four rolls of parchment from her." Harry could hear Malfoy snicker in the background as Snape dismissed the class. Harry gathered his books and headed towards the classroom door, anxious to get out of the dungeons as soon as possible, wanting to get to his History of Magic class.
*~*~*~*
"That was a particularly boring lesson don't you think?" Ron asked his two friends as they walked out of Professor Binns' classroom, sleepy expressions all over their faces. Harry nodded before letting out an enormous yawn as they headed towards the Great Hall for lunch.
"Yea, what was he saying about the Vampire Act of 1432?" Harry questioned before Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Honestly, don't you two pay attention in that class?" she asked in a huffy voice as the entered the Great Hall.
"Depends," Ron said with a shrug.
"Depends on what?"
"I pay attention to the comic books I read in the class, not Professor Binns and his droning lectures," Ron said with a laugh before Hermione gave him a scandalized look.
*~*~*~*
"He wants me to do how many rolls of parchment?" Cassie asked Harry, her face registered with surprise. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had just finished their lunch and they were now in the infirmary, giving Cassie all the notes and homework she would have to make up.
"Four rolls," Harry repeated and Cassie made a disgusted noise.
"Unbelievable! I don't believe him! What a brainless idiot! As if being stuck in this bed all week isn't bad enough, but I have to sit here and do all my homework! This bites," she complained as she sat back on her bed, gazing out the window to the grounds.
Ron and Hermione started to talk to her about different things, to take her mind off of her school work but Harry sat back, drawn into his own thoughts. Did all the Death Eaters have to kill their family in order to join Lord Voldemort? Did Snape have to kill his family, what about Lucius Malfoy? Crabbe and Goyle? Nott? Did all of them have to take their families' lives in order to pledge their lives to the Dark Lord? Harry then realized that Sirius' younger brother was a Death Eater, so was his cousin Bellatrix. Why didn't they kill Sirius and his parents? Maybe, a small voice said in the back of his head, maybe the Blacks already supported the Dark Side. That's what Sirius had told him that day when they were cleaning out the drawing room of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. So maybe Voldemort only had his Death Eaters kill friends and family who were on the Light Side. Harry wasn't so sure and he didn't want to confirm these beliefs.
"Harry, what's wrong? You okay?" Cassie asked him in a worried voice. Harry then realized that Cassie, Ron, and Hermione were staring at him with confused and worried faces.
"Just thinking about the dream I had last night," Harry explained.
"You had another dream?" Cassie asked fearfully, "not about the Black Diamond again?"
"Yes. But this time, Voldemort initiated two new Death Eaters," Harry began.
"Yea, but I've never heard of their names before," Ron explained, "Quentin Jones and Paul Strong. They weren't Hogwarts students were they?"
The three didn't realize that Cassandra went extremely silent as soon as Ron said their names. She shook her head and muttered something under her breath. "What was that Cassie?" Hermione asked looking at the girl in concern.
"Quentin Jones, I can't believe it," she whispered to herself shaking her head again.
"Don't tell me you know him!" Ron exclaimed.
"I did know him at school. He went to WillowBoil; Quentin was three years ahead of me. You could sort of call him my mischief mentor. We'd run around the school at night and play pranks all the time. I can't believe he would do something like that though, are you sure it was him?" Cassie asked.
"Blonde hair, blue eyes, slightly pointed face," Harry began but Cassie held up her hand and turned away, a shocked look on her face.
"That's him. I can't believe he would do something like this! He had better hope he never meets me again or I'll set him in his place."
"You're not in a state to do anything right now Miss Lupin, except sleep," Madame Pomfrey exclaimed as she came up to Cassie's bed, holding another glass of Dreamless Sleep Potion.
"I'll come down everyday after dinner to help you with your homework alright?" Hermione asked as Cassie took the glass from the nurse. Cassie nodded and smiled her thanks.
"Off you three go, hurry up! You'll miss your next class!"
*~*~*~*
Dinner that night was extremely uneventful. The only thing worth remembering on Harry's part was approaching the dais where the teachers sat and ate to speak to Professor Dumbledore, requesting a word with him after dinner. Dumbledore nodded knowingly before he told Harry the password ('Ice Mice.') and asked Harry to return to his seat.
Once dinner was over, Harry said goodbye to Ron and Hermione (who was going to the infirmary to go over homework with Cassie) and walked up to the gargoyle that sat in the niche in the wall, the entrance to Dumbledore's office. He said the password, and the gargoyle jumped aside, revealing a flight of steps that moved like an escalator up into another chamber.
Harry stepped off the stairs and knocked on the door, it opened by itself and Harry walked into the Headmaster's office. Looking around he could see hundreds of pictures of the Headmasters and Headmistresses of the past, some of them looking at him and pointing excitedly, others dozing in their portraits. There was an extremely fat man in one corner who was snoring like a steam engine. Trying to ignore this, Harry walked up to the second landing where Dumbledore's desk was. He could see the large bookcases behind it and saw the Sorting Hat placed on the very top of one of the shelves. He saw a glass case holding the sword of Godric Gryffindor, polished and buffed to reveal a reflection. Harry saw the perch behind Dumbledore's chair and saw Dumbledore's Phoenix, Fawkes staring back at him.
"Good evening Harry," a wise old voice said. Harry turned to the sound of the voice and saw Professor Dumbledore enter through his private chambers, wearing the same purple robes he wore to dinner. Without another word, Dumbledore sat down in his chair, leaned forward and clasped his hands together, looking at Harry intently.
"Hello, sir," Harry said as he approached the Headmaster's desk.
"Was there something you'd like to talk about?"
"Yes sir, there is," Harry began. Soon he was telling the Professor all about his dreams this year about Lord Voldemort's meetings in the Riddle House and his quest to find the Black Diamond. Harry finished his story and stood there in silence. He thought about the last time he had stepped foot into this office. How emotionally distraught and physically drained he was. The last time he was in this room, he was destroying some of Dumbledore's possessions, upset at the fact that an hour earlier, he watched his godfather die. . .
"Harry, I want you to listen to me," Dumbledore began, his voice serious, "I don't want your thoughts to dwell on Voldemort. You've been through so much, I want you to act as normal as possible. Continue to work on your Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape and don't worry about the Black Diamond, leave it to the Order. I assure you that it is in very, very safe hands," Dumbledore explained giving Harry a stern look. Harry nodded in comprehension before the Headmaster looked at papers on his desk. Harry had a feeling Dumbledore had dismissed him and he walked towards the door, some of the portraits whispering goodbyes.
*~*~*~*
The week past quickly, and Cassandra's last day in the hospital wing approached. Hermione, true to her word, had visited Cassie every day, helping her with her school and homework. This left Harry and Ron to spend their nights in the common rooms by themselves, asking each other rather stupid questions that would only be amusing to a sixteen year old boy. The two were currently having a discussion on who they would snog an inch from their life. Harry laughed incessantly when Ron blushingly admitted he would snog Violet O'Hara, a famous witch actress.
Harry and Ron had just erupted into peels of laughter when Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil entered the Gryffindor common room, looking at the two of them as if they had gone completely mental. Harry could hear them muttering something about 'immature teenaged boys' as they headed up to the girls' dormitory. The conversation soon turned to girls they wouldn't snog and the two of them had a rather impressive list going on.
"I would never snog any of the Spice Girls, even if they were the only women on earth!" Ron proclaimed his cheeks a bright red from laughing so hard.
"Oh come off it Ron! You know you like Baby Spice!" Harry said with a loud laugh as Ron blushed, confirming that Harry had been right. Harry leaned back in his chair and laughed once more. It felt so good to act like a normal teenager. It felt so good not to sit there and think about his dreams with Voldemort or the Black Diamond. He was so happy he didn't have to think about deaths and losing people close to him. Right now, he was happy just being Harry. Not Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived. Just Harry. The two boys were laughing so hard that tears were rolling down their cheeks. Ron leaned forward and slapped Harry on the back. He was now hiccupping back his tears shaking his head in disbelief.
"Well if you two are done acting like ten year olds, you can join me in doing our homework," a stuffy voice said above them. Harry and Ron looked up to see Hermione standing over them, a displeased look on her face.
"We were getting around to doing our work, honestly Hermione," Ron said as he straightened himself up, pulling out his Divination book. The class was working on seeing the future through the smoke of incense burners and Hermione had scoffed when they had told her about the procedures.
Hermione pulled out her Arithmancy book, pouring over her lavish notes and text book writing things down in a hurried fashion. Harry dug around in his bag, searching for his Divination text book but found that it had gone missing. "Has anyone seen my Divination book?"
"Didn't you predict you would lose it?" Ron asked, a smile playing on his lips, "I haven't seen it mate, sorry."
"Oh! I forgot to tell you!" Hermione exclaimed looking up from her book, "I took it out of your bag to give to Cassie since she misplaced hers . . .again," Hermione explained. "I'll go down to the hospital wing to get it," Hermione said the lack of enthusiasm in her voice apparent. Harry knew Hermione would rather stay up in the common room to work on her homework.
"I'll go get it. Besides, I didn't' see Cassie today," Harry exclaimed as Hermione smiled gratefully at him.
"You best wrap yourself up, there's a big blizzard outside and the castle's gotten extremely cold," Hermione advised not looking up from her homework. Harry hurried upstairs into the boys' dormitory and grabbed his scarlet and gold scarf and cloak, wrapping himself up tightly. Even though it was warm in the common room, Harry knew how cold it could get in the Hogwarts corridors at night. He bade Ron and Hermione goodbye as he walked out of the Gryffindor common room, the Fat Lady talking to her friend Violet.
Harry was glad he followed Hermione's advice because as soon as he ventured out of the hallway close to the Gryffindor Tower, a sharp wind blew through the castle, sending a shiver up his spine. He looked out one of the large windows on his right and saw that a large blizzard had surrounded Hogwarts Castle, the wind outside howling like mad.
He finally made it to the first floor and set off to the infirmary, hoping to get his Divination book and to have a short chat with Cassie before heading back up to the common room. He neared the two enormous oak doors of the hospital wing and he saw that it was open a crack. Harry was about to push it open when two voices made him stop in mid air. He put his face up against the crack and peered inside.
Harry couldn't see Madame Pomfrey anywhere. Looking to the far back of the room, he saw that the door to her office and living quarters was closed shut. The mediwitch had obviously turned in for the night. Harry let his eyes wander and he saw Cassie sitting up in her bed, a pained expression in her face. Harry noted that she was speaking to Professor Lupin, a rather serious expression on his face. Harry wished he had one of Fred and George's Extendable Ears because he could have really used one at the time. Instead, he put his head as close to the crack without being seen and tried to listen to the conversation.
"I hate this pain Romulus, I wish I were dead." Cassie muttered her voice dripping with shame. Harry saw that she was looking at the sheets on her bed, tracing a wrinkle in the fabric with a finger.
"Don't be foolish. You don't want to die, think of all you have to live for," Lupin explained in a rather loud and stern voice. He threw his hands up in the air as if to emphasize his point.
"I have nothing to live for. I'd be dead a long time ago if this never happened," Cassie explained bitterly as she looked out the window that overlooked the grounds, now being attacked by a monstrous blizzard.
"If what never happened?"
Harry heard Cassie mutter something but he couldn't make out the words but he caught the end of her sentence, ". . . if I wasn't born into this stupid family!" Cassie cried out pounding her hands onto the side of the bed, her face twisting into yet another mask of anger and disconcert.
"Cassie, we can't choose who our parents are supposed to be. I'm sorry she was never there for you. I'm sorry she wasn't a good mother. I know if your father knew how she treated you, you would have been living with him instead of her."
"Why should he care? He never cared about me. He can't even care for me now!" He never loved me, he never will. Just like mom," Cassie spat out, her eyes were blazing with a blue fire as she looked at her uncle angrily.
"Of course he cared! If he could be here now. . ." Lupin began.
"But he isn't!" Cassie cried out cutting him off.
"But if he could be here, I know he wouldn't leave your side. Not for a moment."
"Whatever," Cassie muttered, clearly ending the conversation.
"Maybe when you've stopped being so stubborn you'll come to your senses," Lupin explained as he patted her leg in reassurance. Harry heard Cassie let out a 'humph' before the professor got to his feet and started to head for the door. Fear leapt into Harry's throat. If Lupin and Cassie had found out he was listening to their conversation there was no telling what would happen to him. He turned around quickly and ran up the hall towards the upper floors. He turned a corner and then stopped himself, out of breath. He could still hear Professor Lupin giving his goodbyes to his niece before he heard the oak doors shut. Taking a deep breath, Harry turned the corner in what he hoped was a casual manner and he headed towards the infirmary again. Professor Lupin caught his line of sight and the older man smiled.
"What are you doing out of your common room?"
"Cassie has my Divination book professor. I need it back so I can do my homework," Harry explained as the professor smiled at him.
"Make sure you don't stay in there too late, she needs her rest if Madame Pomfrey is going to let her out of the hospital wing tomorrow," Lupin advised before he walked away towards his private quarters.
Harry sighed in relief before he walked off towards the hospital wing, glad that Lupin or Cassie didn't realize he had been eavesdropping.
*~*~*~*
The next morning, Harry awoke to find that the blizzard outside the castle was still raging, dumping inch after inch of snow onto the grounds creating a winter wonderland. Harry was glad that their Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures classes had been canceled due to the fact that the sixth years would have to shovel their way to the greenhouse and Hagrid's hut. Harry couldn't help but think about his Wood Fairy huddled in his tree, bundled up with a spare piece of fabric Harry had found at the bottom of his trunk.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down to breakfast together to find that Cassie was sitting in her regular spot wolfing down her eggs and pumpkin juice. "Glad to see you're back," Ron said as he took a seat next to her, food instantly appearing on his plate.
"I've been locked up in this castle for over a week and what happens my first day back? It snows. It snows so hard that all the outside classes have been canceled! I swear if I stay inside this castle one more time I'm going to scream," Cassie grumbled as she stabbed her eggs over and over again.
Instead of their classes with Professor Sprout and Hagrid, the sixth years found that they would be taking Divination (or Arithmancy in Hermione's case) and Charms instead. Cassie was happy they had Divination claming she could finish her History of Magic homework while Professor Trelawney wasn't looking.
The rest of the day went smoothly for Harry. Not once did he let his thoughts wander to Lord Voldemort or the Black Diamond. He was a bit upset that he would be having his Occlumency lesson with Snape in two days' time, but he knew he had to master the practice or he would never be able to escape Voldemort.
*~*~*~*
The next day, the blizzard stopped and Harry found himself looking out at grounds the next morning. The Hogwarts' grounds were covered in a blanket of snow. Harry could see that the lake was solid ice and the trees in the Forbidden Forest were dusted with snow.
They had their morning classes and everything went extremely well. Harry saw that Cassie was starting to fall asleep in Professor Binns' class, her head was propped up by her arm and she was looking outside with a dazed expression on her face. Harry was also glad they survived through another class of Potions, Snape demanding that Cassie turn in her homework immediately.
"The lacewings need to sit for twenty one days not twenty two. I think I'll give this, oh half credit," Snape said with a sneer as Cassie looked at him with a shocked expression on her face. Harry could hear Malfoy and his friends sniggering behind him and he resisted the urge to turn around and offer them a rude gesture.
After the disaster in potions, the Gryffindors hurried to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry noted that Cassie was picking at her food again, gazing outside the windows longingly. Finally, after twenty minutes, Cassie let out an exasperated cry and she started to pick up her food and throw them in her robes.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked her as she threw a ham sandwich into her bag.
"I can't stand it anymore! If I spend one more second in this castle I'm going to lose it. I haven't been outside in almost ten days and if I don't get outside I am going to go insane!" Cassie replied frantically before she grabbed her bag and hurried out of the Great Hall.
"Should we follow her?" Ron asked with a shrug. Harry nodded and together, he, Ron, and Hermione all gathered their things and walked outside into the cold, December afternoon looking around for Cassie. She had vanished.
"Where'd she go?" Hermione asked looking around wildly trying to find a trace of the girl.
Harry was about to respond when a large snowball hit Ron in the back of the head. He stumbled forward before he whirled around and looked about him stupidly trying to find his attacker. Harry could hear Cassie laughing in hysterics behind Ron, another snowball clutched firmly in her hands.
"That was not cool. I'm going to kill you," Ron exclaimed before he picked up a patch of snow and mashed it together to form a ball. He drew his arm back to throw it at the girl but she was too quick and before Ron had time to react, Cassie had thrown another snowball and it his him right in the face. Hermione and Harry burst into laughter at the expression on Ron's face as he threw off the remaining bits of snow on his face.
"Now it's on," he declared before he picked up a snowball and threw it at Hermione. She screamed in protest and threw up her arms to defend herself, the ball of snow making contact with her crossed arms. Cassie hurried forward and grabbed Hermione's wrist the two of them running away from Ron and Harry, the two of them laughing loudly as they went.
Harry and Ron picked up patches of snow and made their snowballs before they started after their two friends holding their snow creations above their heads as they went.
*~*~*~*~*
Four extremely cold and soggy teenagers staggered back into the castle with large grins on their faces. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Cassie's snowball fight had continued for the rest of lunch. Harry and Ron walked into the castle first, throwing their fists up into the air, dancing around like a bunch of raving lunatics, throwing the fact that the two of them had come out victorious in the snowball war.
Hermione glanced at her watch quickly and let out a small squeak of fear. "We're going to miss Transfiguration!" she exclaimed before she sped off towards Professor McGonagall's classroom at a sprint the other three following behind her, leaving large puddles of melted snow behind them. 'Filch is going to kill us,' Harry thought to himself as they ran up the stairs all of them breathing hard.
The ran into the classroom just as the late bell sounded throughout the castle, all of them extremely wet and flustered as they took their seats at the front of the classroom. Harry looked up and saw that Professor McGonagall was looking at them with a displeased look on her face.
"I'm so glad you four decided to join us," McGonagall said as she shook her head in disappointment at her four Gryffindor students before she looked up to address the rest of the class. "Would you please turn in your homework?" she requested as she walked to the front of the classroom, watching her students pull out their homework.
Harry pulled out his homework and looked over at Cassie who was frantically dumping out her bag and shifting through all the papers and books that were strewed about her desk.
"Oh no, I can't believe it," he heard her mutter under her breath as she opened her Transfiguration book and fanned through all the pages.
"Is there a problem Miss Lupin?" McGonagall asked as she walked up to the sixteen year old witch.
"I seemed to have misplaced my homework professor," Cassie said with an apologetic grin. Harry knew that Transfiguration was Cassie's worst subject. No matter how many times she tried to work with Hermione on the spells and incantations she still couldn't get the workings of Transfiguration down pat.
"Misplaced or forgot, Miss Lupin?" McGonagall asked.
"I guess I forgot. Sorry," Cassie said hanging her head before she started to clear away her desk.
"Well, sorry doesn't put the homework in my hands now does it Miss Lupin?" Professor McGonagall asked in her regular stern voice. "Turn it into my by tomorrow and I may consider giving you full marks." And with that said, Professor McGonagall turned away and began the day's lesson.
*~*~*~*
"Hey Harry!" Ron called out the Wednesday before winter holiday. Harry looked up from his seat in the library to see Ron come barging into the library a happy grin on his face, "McGonagall just put up a note saying the next Hogsmeade trip is the Saturday before Christmas Holiday! We can get all our shopping done before we go off to the Black House!"
Harry looked up at Ron excitedly. He was happy they would get a Hogsmeade visit right before the holidays. He didn't know when he was going to be able to go off to purchase presents for his friends. His Christmas list had expanded since last year. Not only had he included Ron and Hermione since his first year at Hogwarts but there was also Hagrid, the Lupin brothers, Tonks, the Weasly family and of course, Cassie.
Harry hadn't asked if she was spending her winter holiday at the Hogwarts Castle or with her father and uncle. She still seemed a bit touchy at the subject of her father. She was still rather mad at him for not showing up when she was in the hospital wing for a week and Harry didn't know if she was going to forgive him at all.
Of course, Harry, Ron and Hermione were spending their Christmas holiday at the Black House, seeing as all of their family members and friends were situated at the Order H.Q. Harry was quite saddened by the fact that he would be spending his Christmas holiday in his dead godfather's house. He remembered his last Christmas with Sirius and he could feel the lump rising in his throat at the thought of it.
"Aren't you excited Harry?"
"Yes, very excited," Harry answered before he started to talk to Ron about Christmas shopping.
*~*~*~*
The last day of the fall term had arrived and Harry was busily packing his trunk for the train ride back to Platform Nine and Three Quarters when Cassie and Hermione ran into the boys' dormitory. Neville, Seamus, and Dean had already gone down to the front of the castle with their things, all of them going home for the holidays. Harry and Ron were trying to stuff their trunks filled with the gifts they had bought for their friends and families, Cassie doing a sort of excited dance, hopping from one foot to the other.
"What's wrong with you?" Ron asked as Harry sat down on his trunk and tried to close the clasps on the side of his trunk shut.
"Guess what!"
"What?" Ron asked as he closed his trunk with ease.
"I'm coming with you guys to the Black House! My father and uncle are spending Christmas there!" Cassie exclaimed happily as she whirled around in a circle an excited laugh escaping her mouth.
*~*~*
I'm sorry it took so long to write this! But if you read the reasons at the beginning of the post you'll understand why! I hope to update more frequently now that I'm done with summer school!
~Aislin
P.S. REVIEW!
I had a severe bout of writer's block for about a portion of the chapter but as I was nearing the end it became easier to write. I was on eighteen pages before the most horrible thing happened, which leads us to number. . .
MY STUPID COMPUTER LOST CHAPTER FOURTEEN! I have to start from scratch and it's going to be extremely difficult to accomplish. This was going to be my longest chapter to date but my damn computer is spazzing out and won't load it for me. Again, I'm sorry for the wait. I'm going to kill my computer after I finish this story.
Other than that there are quite a few people I have to thank:
radarPLO: Thank you so much for your review and I am so glad you are enjoying the story so far.
Lily Skylo: Thank you so much for reviewing to like every single chapter! You have no idea how happy that makes me! Thank you so much for your kind words and wonderful reviews on the characters!
Coolerimmortal: Thank you so much for your review I truly appreciate the time you took out of your day to read my story!
Bookworm127: Thank you for thinking my story is great!
J-chan: Thanks for thinking my story is great. I know what a Mary Sue is and I thank you for your criticism (how else am I going to get better at writing?)
BigFan1: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you think my story is good!
Snivellus: What can I say, I'm so happy you reviewed! I missed hearing from you and thank you for reading 'Whispers' as well. I'm thinking that after I finish Black Diamond I'll make 'Whispers' a novel length story! What do you think? Anyway, I'm so glad you enjoy Cassie. I was thinking that she was toeing the line as a Mary Sue but I retract my statement in lieu of upcoming chapters. And thank you for giving me suggestions! I think that giving suggestions to other authors is the best way to improve your writing. I will defiantly reconsider the catalogues. Oh and before I forget, Hermione's teddy bear had a proper burial so there is no need to worry.
If I forgot to thank anyone its just that my computer is slow in showing the reviews on ff.net and it hasn't shown up yet but it doesn't mean that I don't disregard you! You guys are the best readers ever and thank you so, so, so, so much for reading and reviewing!
Chapter Fifteen coming soon!
14. Snow Days
Professor Lupin's face went as white as a sheet as he jumped from his seat and ran to the side of his comatose niece. Lupin knelt down in front of her, grabbing her wrist and searching for a pulse. He quickly dismissed the class before he let out a low curse and beckoned Harry and Ron forward his hands trembling as he picked up his niece.
"Could you please go and send an owl to my brother and inform him what happened?" Lupin asked as he shot a worried look at the unconscious girl in his arms. Cassandra had gone deathly pale and she lay limply in her uncle's arm almost as if she were dead.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded in agreement before Professor Lupin hurried out of the classroom, leaving the three behind in a wake of confusion. Without hesitation, the three headed up to the owlrey to relay a message to Cassie's father.
Once they reached the rotund building, Harry immediately called his owl, Hedwig down from the rafters. She hooted happily at the sight of him, glad he had finally given her something to do. Harry hurriedly wrote out a letter to Remus Lupin, explaining the situation of his daughter and that he should come straight away. He signed the letter and then tied it to Hedwig's leg. "Hurry as fast you can and get this letter to Remus Lupin. It's extremely important, Hedwig," Harry begged. Hedwig gave him a reassuring hoot before she took off and hurried out one of the windows to deliver her message.
"What are we going to do now?" Hermione asked as they departed from the owlrey.
"We should at least tell Professor Lupin that we delivered his message," Ron suggested as he immediately started off towards the infirmary, Harry and Hermione right behind him.
When they arrived at the infirmary they saw Professor Lupin sitting on a vacant bed, looking towards the back of the room where a bed was surrounded by curtains. Harry could hear Madame Pomfrey's busy voice behind the curtains talking to a patient behind the curtains.
"We sent the message, Professor," Harry announced as they went to stand by the worried man. He smiled his gratitude before he looked over at the bed surrounded by the curtains and sighed loudly. "Is she going to be okay?"
"I believe so. But she'll be in the hospital wing for about a week. Madame Pomfrey wants her under close watch, what with Cassie going under cardiac arrest and all."
Hermione stared at Lupin as if he were insane. "She went under cardiac arrest?" She asked as she looked at him sternly. The professor nodded offering a grim smile before Madame Pomfrey walked over a satisfied smile on her face.
"She's expected to make a full recovery. She's to stay here for a week so I can monitor her health and to make sure she doesn't do it again," she explained directing the last part of her sentence to Professor Lupin.
"Thank you Poppy. Can we see her?"
"You can of course, professor. After all, you are family. As for these three," she said looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione sternly, "you can see her tomorrow. Is her father coming?" she asked looking at Professor Lupin again.
"I believe so I had an owl sent to him not to long ago to tell him the news. I should be expecting a reply no later than tonight."
"Wonderful. If you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to," she said before she nodded curtly to each of them. She headed over to another bed where a third year Hufflepuff lay, his feet propped up on a stand. Harry noticed that the young boy had distinctively yellow duck feet, reminders of a spell or curse gone awry.
"You should be heading to your Transfiguration class, I don't want you to be late," Professor Lupin said as he saw them to the infirmary doors. "Thank you for sending that letter for me and I'll tell Cassie you'll be along later to speak to her."
They hurried out of the hospital wing and jogged up the stairs, hoping they weren't late for their classes with Professor McGonagall. "I can't believe she went under cardiac arrest," Hermione muttered to herself.
"Cardiac arrest?" Ron asked as they walked down a corridor.
"Don't you read Ron, honestly? Cardiac arrest is like a heart attack but it's pretty obvious as to why her heart stopped," Hermione explained.
"It is?" Ron asked her his voice conveying confusion.
"Didn't she explain to us that she's part werewolf and that her heart pains are from her wanting to change into a werewolf?" Hermione asked her two friends as they walked up another flight of stairs and onto the second landing. They both nodded and she continued, "The part that's werewolf inside of her probably tried to make an effort to get out, trying to get her to transform. The stress of this probably caused her to go into cardiac arrest," Hermione explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"How do you know all this Hermione?" Ron asked incredulously as they entered Professor McGonagall's classroom.
"Well, maybe if you picked up a book once in a while you'd know what I was talking about and understand it." Hermione said sarcastically.
"So glad you three could join us," McGonagall said at the front of the classroom as they took their seats. "I see Miss Lupin isn't with you, any clue as to where she is?"
"She fell ill in Professor Lupin's class. She's expected to be out of the hospital wing in a week or so," Hermione announced. Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed," she said her voice curious, "well, be that as it may, Miss Lupin will still have to do her homework and so will you three." McGonagall explained before she went to the front of the classroom to begin the lesson.
That day they were learning how to transfigure inanimate objects into mice. Professor McGonagall went around and handed out various things to her students. She handed Harry a rather small, grey rock and then gave Ron a ratty looking old quill.
They began their spells, Hermione turning a piece of parchment into a mouse on her fourth try. After half an hour of yelling the spell at his rock, the stone finally turned into a rather small mouse. Harry reached out to touch it and he realized that the rat was just a sculpture of one. Ron laughed at him explaining that if he kept that up, he would have his own miniature sculpture garden.
"Shove off Ron, you don't seem to be doing as well as me," Harry replied. They both looked down at his quill which had been turned into a rat but its tail was still the end of the quill. The rat spun around a few seconds before it made a sickening gasping sound and keeled over on the desk, apparently dead.
"Lungs, Mr. Weasly," Professor McGonagall explained as she turned the dead rat back into the quill, "You forgot to give it lungs." Ron looked around embarrassed before the professor began to lecture him on transfiguring inanimate objects into living, breathing things. "You have to want your quill to be alive. You have to picture the lungs, the heart, the mind if you want to transfiguration to go successfully." She explained before she dismissed the class assigning them a large amount of homework. As they left the classroom, heading for their Charms class, Harry couldn't help but wonder what Cassie was up to and how she was feeling.
*~*~*~*
Later that evening, during dinner, Harry got a response from Remus Lupin. Hedwig flew into the Great Hall and landed in front of Harry, dropping a note she held in her beak. He gave her some of his shepherd's pie before she hooted her thanks and left the Hall quickly. He looked up at Professor Lupin, unsure if he should open the letter here, not knowing if the professor himself wanted to read it. The man looked at Harry and nodded giving Harry permission to open up the letter.
"What does it say?" Ron asked excitedly as he and Hermione leaned forward so they could hear Harry better. Harry pulled out a letter addressed top him and another envelope that was rather thick, addressed to Remus' brother. He opened up his letter and began to read aloud.
Dear Harry,
Thank you very much for sending me an owl regarding Cassie's health. Unfortunately I will not be able to make the journey out to Hogwarts due to certain reasons concerning my own health. Please tell my daughter I'll not be able to make it out to see her, but I'll certainly see her during the Christmas holidays.
Hope you're well,
Remus.
"Why can't he come out to see her? She's his only daughter!" Ron explained as he grabbed the letter from Harry's hand to read it for himself.
"Ron, do you ever pay attention in Astronomy? There's a full moon this week. I don't think he'd want to travel to Hogwarts as a werewolf!" Hermione exclaimed in a rather annoyed voice.
"She's going to be very upset," Harry commented as he put his letter and Professor Lupin's in the pockets of his robes. "I hope she won't go into a relapse if we tell her he isn't coming."
"She won't," said a voice behind them. They looked up and saw Professor Lupin standing over them a grim smile on his face. "She's awake right now and Madame Pomfrey has allowed you to come in to see her for a few minutes," the man explained before Harry handed him the letter and he smiled warmly at him. "Thank you Harry."
*~*~*
"I can't believe I have to stay in this hospital wing for a week! I'm perfectly fine I could play a game of Quidditch all by myself if I had to!" Cassie exclaimed loudly. The third year with the webbed feet snorted loudly in his sleep before he turned over and began to snore again.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the hospital wing shortly after dinner to inform Cassie that her father couldn't make the trip out to Hogwarts to see if she was okay. Hermione told her this news rather quietly as if to soften the outcome from Cassie.
"Gee, what a surprise. He's always too busy to come and see me. It's not like I'm his only daughter!" Cassie yelled out as she looked out the window, probably hoping her father heard her words. Madame Pomfrey hurried over to her bed, handing her a potion.
"Drink up dear, this will give you a dreamless sleep, you'll need it."
"Do I have to take it?" Cassie asked eyeing the potion suspiciously.
"Yes you have to take it! I'm not some bloody muggle school nurse, I'm a trained mediwitch, and I know what I'm talking about. Now drink up," Madame Pomfrey said in her usual stern voice.
The Hogwarts nurse then hurried Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the exit as Cassie started to drink from the glass, falling asleep immediately. "You can come and see her tomorrow; off to bed with the three of you, off you go!"
"I'm surprised she kicked you out mate," Ron said, a mischievous smile on his face, "After all, you've been in that ruddy hospital wing more than Neville, and that's saying something." Hermione rolled her eyes as they hurried back to the Gryffindor common room.
*~*~*~*
Harry opened his eyes and found himself in the large parlor in the Riddle House. He saw that the fire in the inglenook was blazing casting off long eerie shadows that flickered along with the firelight. He could just make out the hoods of the Death Eaters amidst the armchairs but the chairs remained unoccupied. Looking a bit ahead, Harry could see a large circle of Death Eaters just to the left of the fireplace, all of them surrounding three figures.
Curious, Harry walked up to the circle and found a vacant spot next to two large and menacing looking Death Eaters. He couldn't identify them because they were in full Death Eater uniform, the masks protecting their faces from any prying eyes. Harry looked into the circle to see two young men cowering in front of a tall, dark figure, his face hidden in the shadows and he was laughing in a vicious manner.
"Who's ready?" the figure asked and Harry knew at once it was Lord Voldemort, his cold, high pitched voice sending shivers up his spine. Harry saw one of the men, a blonde haired blue eyed man, not a day older than eighteen, stand up bravely, his friend, a short and pudgy young man with brown hair and green cowering in fear on the ground. "Ah, Quentin Jones, are you ready to be initiated?" Lord Voldemort asked in a high pitched whisper. The man called Quentin Jones nodded firmly before Voldemort pulled back the sleeve of his robe on the left arm, positioning his wand on the man's forearm. "Say it," Voldemort growled before he began to whisper an incantation a green glow omitting from his wand.
"I, Quentin Jones, swear to uphold the duties of a servant to Lord Voldemort. I, Quentin Jones, swear to show the utmost amount of loyalty to his lordship. I, Quentin Jones, swear that my faith in my lord will never waver. I, Quentin Jones, swear to follow his command and to succumb to his every wish. And I, Quentin Jones, swear that I will never waver from my lord's guiding hand and I will stop at nothing to fulfill his every desire. This is my solemn oath and vow," Quentin Jones murmured as he winced in pain. Once his pledge had been completed, Voldemort dropped his hand and Harry saw the Dark Mark, glowing in a faint green color on his left forearm.
"Did you do as I instructed?" Voldemort asked the newly appointed Death Eater, a sneer in his voice.
"Yes my lord," Jones said quietly before he set off into another room. Harry could hear the young man shuffling something about in the adjoining room and knew he was going to bring something in. Harry saw Jones reenter the room, dragging along with him, three large sacks. A foreboding feeling in Harry's stomach gave him a feeling as to what Quentin Jones was bringing in to show his master.
Voldemort walked up to the three sacks and threw off the cloth, revealing three dead people. Moving closer, Harry saw an older man with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Quentin Jones except a small trickle of blood was coming from his mouth. It looked as if the family had been killed recently. Harry assumed that the man was his father and the woman, close to the dead man in age was Quentin's mother. Harry let his eyes fall onto the third body and he shook his head in sadness. There was a little girl, probably no older than six years old with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as her brother but her face was deathly pale and the expression on her face seemed to ask 'How could you?'
Harry opened his mouth in shock as Voldemort walked up to the three lifeless people, kicking them all extremely hard. Harry closed his eyes as Voldemort laughed viciously as he kicked the dead girl, Quentin Jones laughing along with him.
"I'm very pleased Jones. Very pleased. You have destroyed your past life and have moved on to your next life. Welcome." Quentin smiled before he joined the ranks of his fellow minions.
Voldemort walked up to the other man, who was quivering in fear on the floor, his hands covering his head. "Now Paul, surely you don't want to back out of this wonderful offer?" Lord Voldemort asked as he stood over Paul, the young man shaking in fear. "Get up," Voldemort demanded. Paul rose to his feet and faced the Dark Lord finally putting a brave look on his face.
Voldemort put the Dark Mark on Paul Strong as he announced his loyalty to the Dark Lord. Once the short ceremony was complete, Voldemort sent Strong into the other room, no doubt bringing his dead family. Strong returned dragging along five bodies into the room with him. Harry saw the malicious grin on Voldemort's face when he saw that one of the bags was wriggling. Paul Strong had brought someone from his family, alive.
The Dark Lord first inspected all the comatose people first, kicking them in the stomach as he went, making sure the new Death Eater had done his job. He then turned on the moving bag and Harry could hear a tiny voice crying inside, a child's voice. Paul Strong pulled back the cloth covering the trembling body and Harry saw a little boy, around the age of five staring at his brother with tears in his eyes.
"Pauly? Pauly what are you doing?" the little boy asked as Strong stood in front of him with his wand pointing at the little boy's heart.
"You know what to do," Lord Voldemort sneered before he stepped back to give Strong room. Harry could see the hesitation in his eyes as he pulled his wand back, ready to say an incantation.
"Pauly, Pauly please don't Pauly, I love you Pauly," the little boy pleaded in a whisper that was so innocent, so pure, Harry could feel the bile rising in his throat.
"Crucio," Strong said in a whisper. Harry watched in terror as the little boy fell to the ground, screaming loudly in pain and clutching his head.
"PAULY! PAULY PLEASE!" the little boy managed to gasp out as he withered in pain. Harry could hear Voldemort laughing and he wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him so badly that he began to see red.
"Finish it," Voldemort said coldly and Pauly looked back at his brother who was panting and crying loudly.
'I'm sorry Johnny.' Harry saw Strong mouth these words to his little brother before he thrust his wand hand forward, "Avada Kedavra!" he bellowed. Harry saw the flash of green light and he heard the rushing sound around him, almost as if death had come on wings to carry the little boy up. He heard little Johnny Strong yell out before he fell to the ground, not moving. Johnny Strong was dead.
"The meeting will take place, now," Voldemort explained, leaving the dead bodies in their heap, not caring. The Death Eaters followed him and sat down in their armchairs, Paul Strong and Quentin Jones sitting in the oldest of the group. "Has anyone found my Diamond yet?"
Harry could tell he was extremely upset because of the dead silence that followed. He saw the Dark Lord's lower jaw tremble before he looked around at his Death Eaters, "Anyone? Anyone know where it is?" he demanded. Harry saw Paul Strong stand up, his bottom legs trembling. "You?" Voldemort asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "You know where the Black Diamond is?"
"Yes my lord," Paul Strong said quietly looking down at his feet.
"Where?" Lord Voldemort asked. Harry could see the hunger in his eyes as he leaned forward in anticipation.
"I've heard reports in Knockturn Alley. Some lesser dark wizards were talking about a magical diamond with extraordinary powers in a wizarding family's house. Just outside of London. I went to inspect it myself and asked some of the locals. They told me that the family has an enchanted jewel that they keep in their house, under a loose floorboard in their foyer. They claim this diamond is to ward off intruders and to stop curses and death," Strong explained, Harry could hear the anxiety in his voice as he shifted from foot to foot waiting for his master's approval.
"I think I've underestimated you Strong. Good work. I believe if this is the diamond we're looking for, you will be rewarded beyond even your wildest imagination. But if you're wrong, well you best start digging out an early grave. . ."
*~*~*~*
Harry woke with a start, looking around the room. He expected to see Lord Voldemort's face staring back at him, a wide grin on his face but he realized he was only in the sixth year boy's dormitory at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He let out a heavy sigh and looked out the window overlooking the grounds of Hogwarts. He saw it had snowed during the night, a fresh new blanket covering the once green, well kept grounds.
Looking around, Harry saw that it must have been a short time before breakfast because the dormitory was unoccupied, all his roommates either in the common room or the Great Hall. Harry got dressed quickly and headed downstairs; hoping Ron and Hermione had waited for them.
He thundered down the dormitory steps, happy to see that his friends had indeed waited for him because they were both situated on one of the couches in front of the fire. "I had another dream," he announced to the two of them. He saw Hermione give him a frightful look and Ron looked as though someone had canceled Christmas break.
"What happened?" Hermione asked in a hushed whisper. Harry sat down next to his two friends and told them, in detail, about his dream. Hermione let out a small cry and put her hand up to her open mouth when Harry told her about Paul Strong killing his younger brother.
"You should go to Professor Dumbledore, immediately. He needs to know that they probably know where the Black Diamond is!" Hermione explained in a rather loud voice, making two first year Gryffindors look at them in confusion.
"I know, I'll go see him after the day's over," Harry explained before they walked out of the common room and towards the Great Hall for breakfast.
*~*~*~*
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just finished their breakfast, Hermione going into great detail at what Harry's dream could have meant, when Harry saw Professor Lupin heading towards the hospital wing, no doubt checking up on his niece before his day at work.
"How's Cassie this morning professor?" Harry asked as he stopped the older man in the hallway.
"Well, according to Madame Pomfrey, she's been trying to get out of bed all morning, thinks she's in perfect health the little imp," Lupin explained shaking his head, laughter in his eyes. "I'll tell her you'll see her after lunch?" Harry nodded and the professor smiled at him and his friends. "Have a nice day."
"What class do we have today? I forgot," Ron said as Harry and Hermione started to walk off towards the dungeons.
"Your favorite. Potions," Harry said with a small, grim chuckle. Ron looked as if he were going to throw up before he followed them down into the dungeons.
"I want two rolls of parchment on my desk on Thursday about the side affects one receives when one brews and drinks the Polyjuice potion incorrectly," Snape announced to the class after an hour of sheer torture. Neville looked like he was going to suffer a nervous breakdown and Hermione looked positively frazzled. "Oh, and Potter," Snape said as he walked up to Harry who was still trying to clean off his lacewing remnants off the table. Harry looked up and saw the malicious gleam in his eyes, "tell Miss Lupin," he said Cassie's surname as if it were a funny joke, "that I expect four rolls of parchment from her." Harry could hear Malfoy snicker in the background as Snape dismissed the class. Harry gathered his books and headed towards the classroom door, anxious to get out of the dungeons as soon as possible, wanting to get to his History of Magic class.
*~*~*~*
"That was a particularly boring lesson don't you think?" Ron asked his two friends as they walked out of Professor Binns' classroom, sleepy expressions all over their faces. Harry nodded before letting out an enormous yawn as they headed towards the Great Hall for lunch.
"Yea, what was he saying about the Vampire Act of 1432?" Harry questioned before Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Honestly, don't you two pay attention in that class?" she asked in a huffy voice as the entered the Great Hall.
"Depends," Ron said with a shrug.
"Depends on what?"
"I pay attention to the comic books I read in the class, not Professor Binns and his droning lectures," Ron said with a laugh before Hermione gave him a scandalized look.
*~*~*~*
"He wants me to do how many rolls of parchment?" Cassie asked Harry, her face registered with surprise. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had just finished their lunch and they were now in the infirmary, giving Cassie all the notes and homework she would have to make up.
"Four rolls," Harry repeated and Cassie made a disgusted noise.
"Unbelievable! I don't believe him! What a brainless idiot! As if being stuck in this bed all week isn't bad enough, but I have to sit here and do all my homework! This bites," she complained as she sat back on her bed, gazing out the window to the grounds.
Ron and Hermione started to talk to her about different things, to take her mind off of her school work but Harry sat back, drawn into his own thoughts. Did all the Death Eaters have to kill their family in order to join Lord Voldemort? Did Snape have to kill his family, what about Lucius Malfoy? Crabbe and Goyle? Nott? Did all of them have to take their families' lives in order to pledge their lives to the Dark Lord? Harry then realized that Sirius' younger brother was a Death Eater, so was his cousin Bellatrix. Why didn't they kill Sirius and his parents? Maybe, a small voice said in the back of his head, maybe the Blacks already supported the Dark Side. That's what Sirius had told him that day when they were cleaning out the drawing room of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. So maybe Voldemort only had his Death Eaters kill friends and family who were on the Light Side. Harry wasn't so sure and he didn't want to confirm these beliefs.
"Harry, what's wrong? You okay?" Cassie asked him in a worried voice. Harry then realized that Cassie, Ron, and Hermione were staring at him with confused and worried faces.
"Just thinking about the dream I had last night," Harry explained.
"You had another dream?" Cassie asked fearfully, "not about the Black Diamond again?"
"Yes. But this time, Voldemort initiated two new Death Eaters," Harry began.
"Yea, but I've never heard of their names before," Ron explained, "Quentin Jones and Paul Strong. They weren't Hogwarts students were they?"
The three didn't realize that Cassandra went extremely silent as soon as Ron said their names. She shook her head and muttered something under her breath. "What was that Cassie?" Hermione asked looking at the girl in concern.
"Quentin Jones, I can't believe it," she whispered to herself shaking her head again.
"Don't tell me you know him!" Ron exclaimed.
"I did know him at school. He went to WillowBoil; Quentin was three years ahead of me. You could sort of call him my mischief mentor. We'd run around the school at night and play pranks all the time. I can't believe he would do something like that though, are you sure it was him?" Cassie asked.
"Blonde hair, blue eyes, slightly pointed face," Harry began but Cassie held up her hand and turned away, a shocked look on her face.
"That's him. I can't believe he would do something like this! He had better hope he never meets me again or I'll set him in his place."
"You're not in a state to do anything right now Miss Lupin, except sleep," Madame Pomfrey exclaimed as she came up to Cassie's bed, holding another glass of Dreamless Sleep Potion.
"I'll come down everyday after dinner to help you with your homework alright?" Hermione asked as Cassie took the glass from the nurse. Cassie nodded and smiled her thanks.
"Off you three go, hurry up! You'll miss your next class!"
*~*~*~*
Dinner that night was extremely uneventful. The only thing worth remembering on Harry's part was approaching the dais where the teachers sat and ate to speak to Professor Dumbledore, requesting a word with him after dinner. Dumbledore nodded knowingly before he told Harry the password ('Ice Mice.') and asked Harry to return to his seat.
Once dinner was over, Harry said goodbye to Ron and Hermione (who was going to the infirmary to go over homework with Cassie) and walked up to the gargoyle that sat in the niche in the wall, the entrance to Dumbledore's office. He said the password, and the gargoyle jumped aside, revealing a flight of steps that moved like an escalator up into another chamber.
Harry stepped off the stairs and knocked on the door, it opened by itself and Harry walked into the Headmaster's office. Looking around he could see hundreds of pictures of the Headmasters and Headmistresses of the past, some of them looking at him and pointing excitedly, others dozing in their portraits. There was an extremely fat man in one corner who was snoring like a steam engine. Trying to ignore this, Harry walked up to the second landing where Dumbledore's desk was. He could see the large bookcases behind it and saw the Sorting Hat placed on the very top of one of the shelves. He saw a glass case holding the sword of Godric Gryffindor, polished and buffed to reveal a reflection. Harry saw the perch behind Dumbledore's chair and saw Dumbledore's Phoenix, Fawkes staring back at him.
"Good evening Harry," a wise old voice said. Harry turned to the sound of the voice and saw Professor Dumbledore enter through his private chambers, wearing the same purple robes he wore to dinner. Without another word, Dumbledore sat down in his chair, leaned forward and clasped his hands together, looking at Harry intently.
"Hello, sir," Harry said as he approached the Headmaster's desk.
"Was there something you'd like to talk about?"
"Yes sir, there is," Harry began. Soon he was telling the Professor all about his dreams this year about Lord Voldemort's meetings in the Riddle House and his quest to find the Black Diamond. Harry finished his story and stood there in silence. He thought about the last time he had stepped foot into this office. How emotionally distraught and physically drained he was. The last time he was in this room, he was destroying some of Dumbledore's possessions, upset at the fact that an hour earlier, he watched his godfather die. . .
"Harry, I want you to listen to me," Dumbledore began, his voice serious, "I don't want your thoughts to dwell on Voldemort. You've been through so much, I want you to act as normal as possible. Continue to work on your Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape and don't worry about the Black Diamond, leave it to the Order. I assure you that it is in very, very safe hands," Dumbledore explained giving Harry a stern look. Harry nodded in comprehension before the Headmaster looked at papers on his desk. Harry had a feeling Dumbledore had dismissed him and he walked towards the door, some of the portraits whispering goodbyes.
*~*~*~*
The week past quickly, and Cassandra's last day in the hospital wing approached. Hermione, true to her word, had visited Cassie every day, helping her with her school and homework. This left Harry and Ron to spend their nights in the common rooms by themselves, asking each other rather stupid questions that would only be amusing to a sixteen year old boy. The two were currently having a discussion on who they would snog an inch from their life. Harry laughed incessantly when Ron blushingly admitted he would snog Violet O'Hara, a famous witch actress.
Harry and Ron had just erupted into peels of laughter when Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil entered the Gryffindor common room, looking at the two of them as if they had gone completely mental. Harry could hear them muttering something about 'immature teenaged boys' as they headed up to the girls' dormitory. The conversation soon turned to girls they wouldn't snog and the two of them had a rather impressive list going on.
"I would never snog any of the Spice Girls, even if they were the only women on earth!" Ron proclaimed his cheeks a bright red from laughing so hard.
"Oh come off it Ron! You know you like Baby Spice!" Harry said with a loud laugh as Ron blushed, confirming that Harry had been right. Harry leaned back in his chair and laughed once more. It felt so good to act like a normal teenager. It felt so good not to sit there and think about his dreams with Voldemort or the Black Diamond. He was so happy he didn't have to think about deaths and losing people close to him. Right now, he was happy just being Harry. Not Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived. Just Harry. The two boys were laughing so hard that tears were rolling down their cheeks. Ron leaned forward and slapped Harry on the back. He was now hiccupping back his tears shaking his head in disbelief.
"Well if you two are done acting like ten year olds, you can join me in doing our homework," a stuffy voice said above them. Harry and Ron looked up to see Hermione standing over them, a displeased look on her face.
"We were getting around to doing our work, honestly Hermione," Ron said as he straightened himself up, pulling out his Divination book. The class was working on seeing the future through the smoke of incense burners and Hermione had scoffed when they had told her about the procedures.
Hermione pulled out her Arithmancy book, pouring over her lavish notes and text book writing things down in a hurried fashion. Harry dug around in his bag, searching for his Divination text book but found that it had gone missing. "Has anyone seen my Divination book?"
"Didn't you predict you would lose it?" Ron asked, a smile playing on his lips, "I haven't seen it mate, sorry."
"Oh! I forgot to tell you!" Hermione exclaimed looking up from her book, "I took it out of your bag to give to Cassie since she misplaced hers . . .again," Hermione explained. "I'll go down to the hospital wing to get it," Hermione said the lack of enthusiasm in her voice apparent. Harry knew Hermione would rather stay up in the common room to work on her homework.
"I'll go get it. Besides, I didn't' see Cassie today," Harry exclaimed as Hermione smiled gratefully at him.
"You best wrap yourself up, there's a big blizzard outside and the castle's gotten extremely cold," Hermione advised not looking up from her homework. Harry hurried upstairs into the boys' dormitory and grabbed his scarlet and gold scarf and cloak, wrapping himself up tightly. Even though it was warm in the common room, Harry knew how cold it could get in the Hogwarts corridors at night. He bade Ron and Hermione goodbye as he walked out of the Gryffindor common room, the Fat Lady talking to her friend Violet.
Harry was glad he followed Hermione's advice because as soon as he ventured out of the hallway close to the Gryffindor Tower, a sharp wind blew through the castle, sending a shiver up his spine. He looked out one of the large windows on his right and saw that a large blizzard had surrounded Hogwarts Castle, the wind outside howling like mad.
He finally made it to the first floor and set off to the infirmary, hoping to get his Divination book and to have a short chat with Cassie before heading back up to the common room. He neared the two enormous oak doors of the hospital wing and he saw that it was open a crack. Harry was about to push it open when two voices made him stop in mid air. He put his face up against the crack and peered inside.
Harry couldn't see Madame Pomfrey anywhere. Looking to the far back of the room, he saw that the door to her office and living quarters was closed shut. The mediwitch had obviously turned in for the night. Harry let his eyes wander and he saw Cassie sitting up in her bed, a pained expression in her face. Harry noted that she was speaking to Professor Lupin, a rather serious expression on his face. Harry wished he had one of Fred and George's Extendable Ears because he could have really used one at the time. Instead, he put his head as close to the crack without being seen and tried to listen to the conversation.
"I hate this pain Romulus, I wish I were dead." Cassie muttered her voice dripping with shame. Harry saw that she was looking at the sheets on her bed, tracing a wrinkle in the fabric with a finger.
"Don't be foolish. You don't want to die, think of all you have to live for," Lupin explained in a rather loud and stern voice. He threw his hands up in the air as if to emphasize his point.
"I have nothing to live for. I'd be dead a long time ago if this never happened," Cassie explained bitterly as she looked out the window that overlooked the grounds, now being attacked by a monstrous blizzard.
"If what never happened?"
Harry heard Cassie mutter something but he couldn't make out the words but he caught the end of her sentence, ". . . if I wasn't born into this stupid family!" Cassie cried out pounding her hands onto the side of the bed, her face twisting into yet another mask of anger and disconcert.
"Cassie, we can't choose who our parents are supposed to be. I'm sorry she was never there for you. I'm sorry she wasn't a good mother. I know if your father knew how she treated you, you would have been living with him instead of her."
"Why should he care? He never cared about me. He can't even care for me now!" He never loved me, he never will. Just like mom," Cassie spat out, her eyes were blazing with a blue fire as she looked at her uncle angrily.
"Of course he cared! If he could be here now. . ." Lupin began.
"But he isn't!" Cassie cried out cutting him off.
"But if he could be here, I know he wouldn't leave your side. Not for a moment."
"Whatever," Cassie muttered, clearly ending the conversation.
"Maybe when you've stopped being so stubborn you'll come to your senses," Lupin explained as he patted her leg in reassurance. Harry heard Cassie let out a 'humph' before the professor got to his feet and started to head for the door. Fear leapt into Harry's throat. If Lupin and Cassie had found out he was listening to their conversation there was no telling what would happen to him. He turned around quickly and ran up the hall towards the upper floors. He turned a corner and then stopped himself, out of breath. He could still hear Professor Lupin giving his goodbyes to his niece before he heard the oak doors shut. Taking a deep breath, Harry turned the corner in what he hoped was a casual manner and he headed towards the infirmary again. Professor Lupin caught his line of sight and the older man smiled.
"What are you doing out of your common room?"
"Cassie has my Divination book professor. I need it back so I can do my homework," Harry explained as the professor smiled at him.
"Make sure you don't stay in there too late, she needs her rest if Madame Pomfrey is going to let her out of the hospital wing tomorrow," Lupin advised before he walked away towards his private quarters.
Harry sighed in relief before he walked off towards the hospital wing, glad that Lupin or Cassie didn't realize he had been eavesdropping.
*~*~*~*
The next morning, Harry awoke to find that the blizzard outside the castle was still raging, dumping inch after inch of snow onto the grounds creating a winter wonderland. Harry was glad that their Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures classes had been canceled due to the fact that the sixth years would have to shovel their way to the greenhouse and Hagrid's hut. Harry couldn't help but think about his Wood Fairy huddled in his tree, bundled up with a spare piece of fabric Harry had found at the bottom of his trunk.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down to breakfast together to find that Cassie was sitting in her regular spot wolfing down her eggs and pumpkin juice. "Glad to see you're back," Ron said as he took a seat next to her, food instantly appearing on his plate.
"I've been locked up in this castle for over a week and what happens my first day back? It snows. It snows so hard that all the outside classes have been canceled! I swear if I stay inside this castle one more time I'm going to scream," Cassie grumbled as she stabbed her eggs over and over again.
Instead of their classes with Professor Sprout and Hagrid, the sixth years found that they would be taking Divination (or Arithmancy in Hermione's case) and Charms instead. Cassie was happy they had Divination claming she could finish her History of Magic homework while Professor Trelawney wasn't looking.
The rest of the day went smoothly for Harry. Not once did he let his thoughts wander to Lord Voldemort or the Black Diamond. He was a bit upset that he would be having his Occlumency lesson with Snape in two days' time, but he knew he had to master the practice or he would never be able to escape Voldemort.
*~*~*~*
The next day, the blizzard stopped and Harry found himself looking out at grounds the next morning. The Hogwarts' grounds were covered in a blanket of snow. Harry could see that the lake was solid ice and the trees in the Forbidden Forest were dusted with snow.
They had their morning classes and everything went extremely well. Harry saw that Cassie was starting to fall asleep in Professor Binns' class, her head was propped up by her arm and she was looking outside with a dazed expression on her face. Harry was also glad they survived through another class of Potions, Snape demanding that Cassie turn in her homework immediately.
"The lacewings need to sit for twenty one days not twenty two. I think I'll give this, oh half credit," Snape said with a sneer as Cassie looked at him with a shocked expression on her face. Harry could hear Malfoy and his friends sniggering behind him and he resisted the urge to turn around and offer them a rude gesture.
After the disaster in potions, the Gryffindors hurried to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry noted that Cassie was picking at her food again, gazing outside the windows longingly. Finally, after twenty minutes, Cassie let out an exasperated cry and she started to pick up her food and throw them in her robes.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked her as she threw a ham sandwich into her bag.
"I can't stand it anymore! If I spend one more second in this castle I'm going to lose it. I haven't been outside in almost ten days and if I don't get outside I am going to go insane!" Cassie replied frantically before she grabbed her bag and hurried out of the Great Hall.
"Should we follow her?" Ron asked with a shrug. Harry nodded and together, he, Ron, and Hermione all gathered their things and walked outside into the cold, December afternoon looking around for Cassie. She had vanished.
"Where'd she go?" Hermione asked looking around wildly trying to find a trace of the girl.
Harry was about to respond when a large snowball hit Ron in the back of the head. He stumbled forward before he whirled around and looked about him stupidly trying to find his attacker. Harry could hear Cassie laughing in hysterics behind Ron, another snowball clutched firmly in her hands.
"That was not cool. I'm going to kill you," Ron exclaimed before he picked up a patch of snow and mashed it together to form a ball. He drew his arm back to throw it at the girl but she was too quick and before Ron had time to react, Cassie had thrown another snowball and it his him right in the face. Hermione and Harry burst into laughter at the expression on Ron's face as he threw off the remaining bits of snow on his face.
"Now it's on," he declared before he picked up a snowball and threw it at Hermione. She screamed in protest and threw up her arms to defend herself, the ball of snow making contact with her crossed arms. Cassie hurried forward and grabbed Hermione's wrist the two of them running away from Ron and Harry, the two of them laughing loudly as they went.
Harry and Ron picked up patches of snow and made their snowballs before they started after their two friends holding their snow creations above their heads as they went.
*~*~*~*~*
Four extremely cold and soggy teenagers staggered back into the castle with large grins on their faces. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Cassie's snowball fight had continued for the rest of lunch. Harry and Ron walked into the castle first, throwing their fists up into the air, dancing around like a bunch of raving lunatics, throwing the fact that the two of them had come out victorious in the snowball war.
Hermione glanced at her watch quickly and let out a small squeak of fear. "We're going to miss Transfiguration!" she exclaimed before she sped off towards Professor McGonagall's classroom at a sprint the other three following behind her, leaving large puddles of melted snow behind them. 'Filch is going to kill us,' Harry thought to himself as they ran up the stairs all of them breathing hard.
The ran into the classroom just as the late bell sounded throughout the castle, all of them extremely wet and flustered as they took their seats at the front of the classroom. Harry looked up and saw that Professor McGonagall was looking at them with a displeased look on her face.
"I'm so glad you four decided to join us," McGonagall said as she shook her head in disappointment at her four Gryffindor students before she looked up to address the rest of the class. "Would you please turn in your homework?" she requested as she walked to the front of the classroom, watching her students pull out their homework.
Harry pulled out his homework and looked over at Cassie who was frantically dumping out her bag and shifting through all the papers and books that were strewed about her desk.
"Oh no, I can't believe it," he heard her mutter under her breath as she opened her Transfiguration book and fanned through all the pages.
"Is there a problem Miss Lupin?" McGonagall asked as she walked up to the sixteen year old witch.
"I seemed to have misplaced my homework professor," Cassie said with an apologetic grin. Harry knew that Transfiguration was Cassie's worst subject. No matter how many times she tried to work with Hermione on the spells and incantations she still couldn't get the workings of Transfiguration down pat.
"Misplaced or forgot, Miss Lupin?" McGonagall asked.
"I guess I forgot. Sorry," Cassie said hanging her head before she started to clear away her desk.
"Well, sorry doesn't put the homework in my hands now does it Miss Lupin?" Professor McGonagall asked in her regular stern voice. "Turn it into my by tomorrow and I may consider giving you full marks." And with that said, Professor McGonagall turned away and began the day's lesson.
*~*~*~*
"Hey Harry!" Ron called out the Wednesday before winter holiday. Harry looked up from his seat in the library to see Ron come barging into the library a happy grin on his face, "McGonagall just put up a note saying the next Hogsmeade trip is the Saturday before Christmas Holiday! We can get all our shopping done before we go off to the Black House!"
Harry looked up at Ron excitedly. He was happy they would get a Hogsmeade visit right before the holidays. He didn't know when he was going to be able to go off to purchase presents for his friends. His Christmas list had expanded since last year. Not only had he included Ron and Hermione since his first year at Hogwarts but there was also Hagrid, the Lupin brothers, Tonks, the Weasly family and of course, Cassie.
Harry hadn't asked if she was spending her winter holiday at the Hogwarts Castle or with her father and uncle. She still seemed a bit touchy at the subject of her father. She was still rather mad at him for not showing up when she was in the hospital wing for a week and Harry didn't know if she was going to forgive him at all.
Of course, Harry, Ron and Hermione were spending their Christmas holiday at the Black House, seeing as all of their family members and friends were situated at the Order H.Q. Harry was quite saddened by the fact that he would be spending his Christmas holiday in his dead godfather's house. He remembered his last Christmas with Sirius and he could feel the lump rising in his throat at the thought of it.
"Aren't you excited Harry?"
"Yes, very excited," Harry answered before he started to talk to Ron about Christmas shopping.
*~*~*~*
The last day of the fall term had arrived and Harry was busily packing his trunk for the train ride back to Platform Nine and Three Quarters when Cassie and Hermione ran into the boys' dormitory. Neville, Seamus, and Dean had already gone down to the front of the castle with their things, all of them going home for the holidays. Harry and Ron were trying to stuff their trunks filled with the gifts they had bought for their friends and families, Cassie doing a sort of excited dance, hopping from one foot to the other.
"What's wrong with you?" Ron asked as Harry sat down on his trunk and tried to close the clasps on the side of his trunk shut.
"Guess what!"
"What?" Ron asked as he closed his trunk with ease.
"I'm coming with you guys to the Black House! My father and uncle are spending Christmas there!" Cassie exclaimed happily as she whirled around in a circle an excited laugh escaping her mouth.
*~*~*
I'm sorry it took so long to write this! But if you read the reasons at the beginning of the post you'll understand why! I hope to update more frequently now that I'm done with summer school!
~Aislin
P.S. REVIEW!