15. Christmas Cheer
Harry couldn't help but be happy at the fact that Cassie was spending the winter holidays with them. He had a feeling that being inside the stuffy old Black House, filled to the brim with memories would be brightened by the girl's presence.
They lugged their trunks through the castle and to the front of the grounds loading them into the back of a horse drawn sleigh. The four of them squished together in the sleigh, the pure white horse taking off through the snow, sending powder up behind them. They were dropped off at Hogsmeade Station, putting all their belongings on trolleys before they went to the luggage compartments to store their trunks and owl cages.
The four of them met up with Ginny inside one of the compartments and they sat there and talked about past Christmas holidays while waiting for the train to depart from Hogwarts. Harry remembered that his Christmases before Hogwarts were stories he would have liked to forget. Harry sat there and listened to Ron and Hermione talk about wonderful Christmases filled with Christmas cheer and family. Harry never remembered any Christmases like that and he looked over at Cassie and noticed she didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation either.
Finally, the train started to roll out of the station, the scenery soon rushing by them like a wave of pure white water. Harry smiled as he leaned back in his seat. He was going to have a good Christmas, even if it meant spending time in Sirius' old house.
*~*~*~*
When they arrived at King's Cross Station, Harry saw that not only Mrs. Weasly came to pick them up, but Mad Eye Moody, Tonks, and Remus Lupin. The children unloaded their luggage, putting them on three separate trolleys to be taken to two large cars that would take them to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
Mrs. Weasly hugged all of the students and shook Cassie's hand warmly when Remus introduced them. "I've heard so much about you from your father!" Mrs. Weasly said in a pleased voice before she ordered the four of them to follow her out to the cars.
"I'm sorry I couldn't make it out to Hogwarts, Cassie. . ." Remus Lupin began as he went to hug his daughter. Cassie evaded his onslaught of affection by pushing her trolley rather violently towards the exit.
"You're not sorry," Cassie grumbled, leaving her father standing in the middle of the platform.
"That was rude," Hermione commented to Harry before Cassie caught up with them. They successful loaded everything into the cars and they were ready to head off to Order Headquarters. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cassie, and Ginny were all situated comfortably in the back seat of one of the cars, Remus Lupin, Mrs. Weasly and Tonks were situated up front, the young female Auror behind the wheel.
"I hope she knows how to drive a car," Hermione whispered to everyone in the backseat.
"Everybody buckled up?" Tonks asked looking behind her in the backseat. "I only learned how to drive this morning!" she exulted before she threw the car in reverse and stepped on the gas. Everyone went flying back, Mrs. Weasly screaming at her to put her foot on the breaks. "Oh! Oh Molly! Which one was the break? I forgot!" Tonks exclaimed in a panic voice as she started to slam her foot on the floor of the car. Hermione, who was sitting next to Harry, had grabbed his arm and squeezed it tightly as they came to a sudden, screeching halt. "Sorry about that," Tonks said as she gave a feeble laugh before putting the car into drive.
Three broken mail boxes and a very red faced Mrs. Weasly later, the group found themselves getting out of their cars and standing in front of the empty lot. Harry thought of the address and he saw the door come out of the ground, followed by the rest of the house. Grabbing his trunk, he followed the others inside the house of Sirius Black.
"We're home everybody!" Tonks yelled for the whole house to hear.
"FILTHY BLOOD TRAITORS! MUDBLOODS AND IMPURE WIZARDS ALIKE! RUINING MY HOUSE! KREACHER! KREACHER!" Mrs. Black screamed from her position on the wall. Tonks moaned an apology before she tried to close the drapes that kept the portrait of Mrs. Black quiet.
Everyone was standing in front of the foyer except of Cassie. She was walking into the front parlor where Mrs. Black was situated. She peered into the sitting room, and Harry saw her eyes stop on the portrait of Sirius' mother.
"FILTHY TRATIORS! INSULT TO THIS HOUSE! GET OUT! GET-" Mrs. Black was about to continue with her rants but her screams were cut short and she fell into a deadly silence. Harry walked into the parlor and saw that Cassandra had stepped into the parlor, her eyes dead set on the portrait of Mrs. Black. Harry could see for the first time that words failed Mrs. Black. "W-What are you doing here?" Harry heard the portrait stammer. He gave Hermione and Ron confused looks as Mrs. Black store flabbergasted at the sight of Cassie.
"I'm here for Christmas," Cassie replied as she inspected an overstuffed armchair that looked extremely uncomfortable.
"GET OUT! GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE! YOU BRING GREAT. . ." Mrs. Black was about to continue her sentence but that was until Mad Eye Moody came running into the house his magical eye swiveling all over the place.
"SHUT HER UP!" Moody yelled as he grabbed one of the curtains, Tonks the other and they tried to envelope the portrait in the draperies. Mrs. Black was putting up a tremendous fight and she was still bellowing at Cassie before Moody and Tonks were able to fully cover up the yelling portrait.
"I'll put the trunks in your rooms; all of you best hurry into the kitchen. Ron, you'll show Cassie where it is won't you?" Mrs. Weasly whispered before she whispered a spell to make the trunks lighter, all five of them traveling up the stair case after Mrs. Weasly.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked his friends as they sat down at the large table in the kitchen. Harry could see that it looked a lot homier than it had before. It had looked like Snape's dungeon classroom but he realized that Mrs. Weasly had done some decorating and a large; shag rug lay underneath the table. Harry thought he could hear it groan as he stepped on it and he reminded himself not to tread on it so heavily the next time.
"I don't know," Hermione said before she threw a sidelong glance at Cassie who was inspecting the kitchen with utmost interest.
"She's never acted like that with anyone. What'd you bring with you Cassie that made Mrs. Black freak out like that?" Ron asked excitedly.
"I didn't bring anything with me aside from my clothes and homework we're supposed to do over the holidays. That and Christmas presents," she added with a wink. Mrs. Weasly came bustling into the kitchen muttering about Mrs. Black's horrible behavior.
"Would you all care for a spot of tea before I make dinner?" she asked them. The five of them nodded politely before Mrs. Weasly informed Hermione that her parents were in the upstairs library, looking through some of the old books in the house. Hermione was extremely pleased that her parents were getting along fine with the people who resided in the Black House and she hurried up to meet them.
"We won't see her for the rest of the night," Ron commented as his mother handed him a tea cup, "She'll be up there all night with her parents reading about spells and curses and stuff. I say we go visit Buckbeak again," Ron suggested before his mother gave him a stern look.
"You will not be setting that hippogriff loose around the house again Ronald Weasly. Unless you want to spend your entire winter holiday cleaning up after him," Mrs. Weasly scolded as she started on dinner.
Pretty soon, some of the members from the Order filed into the kitchen all of them talking about how starved they were. Tonks took a seat next to Cassie and started to talk to her about Quidditch and her duel with Romulus Lupin. "Heard you put him in a right state after that battle during one of your classes. You should think about becoming an Auror," Tonks suggested before she changed her lucid red hair into an ice blue color.
"I'll never be an Auror. My potions grades are abysmal. So are my Transfiguration grades now that you mention it," Cassie explained as she sipped her tea thoughtfully. Tonks nodded and gave the girl a secretive wink before she got up to help Mrs. Weasly for dinner.
"Tonks, go sit down," Mrs. Weasly ordered from her position by the fireplace. Harry could smell beef stew settling in the pot and he heard his stomach give a rumble. He hadn't eaten sine the friendly witch from the train had given him some Cauldron Cakes and Wand Licorice earlier that day. Tonks didn't seem to take heed of Mrs. Weasly however and she went over to the cupboard where the cutlery and plates were stored. "I'll set the table Molly," Tonks began before a plate flew to the ground with a SMASH! "Oops, sorry Molly," Tonks said a light blush creeping on her cheeks.
"Go sit down Tonks," Mrs. Weasly repeated and Harry could tell her patience with the klutzy witch was wearing thin.
"We'll set the table Mrs. Weasly," Harry offered before he and Ron got up from their seats, "How many?"
"Better make it for about twenty Harry," Mrs. Weasly advised before she busied herself with her cooking.
After they finished setting the table, Ron and Harry agreed to take Cassie on a tour of the Black House. They showed her where she would be staying (in Hermione and Ginny's room) and they took her all over the house, explaining how much they had to clean when they first got there and how much more they had to clean after they accidentally let Buckbeak loose in the house.
"I'd like to meet Buckbeak," Cassie inquired as they hurried up the stairs to the master bedroom. Ron and Harry exchanged uneasy looks. They didn't know if they should go in there, if they set Buckbeak on a rampage again Mrs. Weasly would have their heads even if it was Christmas.
"Maybe tomorrow. We'll have your dad go up with you, that way if Buckbeak does escape again, mum can't put the entire blame on us," Ron explained with a final nod. Cassie nodded in agreement before she squinted her eyes and pointed to something in the distance.
"What's that?" she asked before she started off at a brisk jog after the stubby figure that was hobbling towards the end of the hallway. Cassie, Ron, and Harry finally caught up with the thing and Harry realized with a sort of displeased squelch in his stomach that it was Kreacher, the Black Family's house elf.
"What can I help you with?" Kreacher asked, "Stupid mudbloods, poisoning Mistress' house. Stupid, stupid, stupid blood traitors." He added under his breath.
"Who are you?" Cassie asked her voice kind and reserved. Harry could feel the bit of tension in her voice as she kneeled down and looked at Kreacher with interest and disgust.
"I am Kreacher, here to serve those in the Black House. . ." Kreacher began before his voice trailed off when he looked at Cassie. The house elf gave an odd sort of squeaking noise before he limped down the hall, hurrying as fast as his short, stubby legs could carry him, "Oh," Harry heard Kreacher cry out as he turned a corner, "It's back. . .it's back. He's back. . . He's back!"
"What was that all about?" Cassie asked looking at Ron and Harry in confusion.
"House elf is a complete nutter. Don't listen to anything he says. He should be killed and have his head mounted up on the wall like his family," Ron muttered.
"That house elf's family is hanging up on the walls somewhere?" Cassie asked wonder coming over her face.
"Yea, it's disgusting," Ron began.
"Oh that is so neat! Where are they?" Cassie asked looking around the walls excitedly.
"Yeah it's disgusting but neat," Ron stammered back before the three of them hurried down the stairs to show Cassie where the beheaded house elves were located.
*~*~*
Dinner was served about half an hour later. Harry followed Cassie and Ron who were in a deep discussion on how idiotic and pointless potions was into the kitchen were about seventeen people were situated.
Harry saw that all of the Weasly children, with the exception of Percy, were seated around the table as well as Mr. and Mrs. Weasly. Hermione was talking to her parents about her latest term at Hogwarts and Tonks was talking to Remus and Romulus Lupin who had saved a seat for Cassie in between them. Harry noticed that Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Dedalus Diggle were talking about Auror business and the conversation was soon called to a halt just as the last bit of food was placed on the large table.
Harry sat in between Hermione and Ron as he grabbed some beef stew from one of the bowls and a roll of bread as well. Harry saw that Remus was making an attempt to talk to his daughter but she seemed to have developed a one word vocabulary and only answered him with 'yeah' or 'no' she even said 'maybe' when her father asked if she was doing well in her classes.
"Do I have to make Romulus keep tabs on you?" Remus Lupin asked in a joking voice as Cassie took a sip of her butterbeer. She shook her head and offered her father a smile.
"No. Because if I found out that Uncle Romulus was keeping tabs on my grades, I would have to beat him up in another duel," Cassie said as she beamed up at her uncle, who became extremely interested in a scorch mark on the table.
"Don't go dueling again Cassie alright? You know it's not good for your health and I don't want you to get hurt," Remus said his old and tiring face pulled into a mask of seriousness.
"I won't get hurt dad. You know I won't," Cassie said a determined air in her voice as she helped herself to some more stew. Remus rolled his eyes and gave Harry a wink.
"Whatever you say Cass, whatever you say."
*~*~*~*
Over the course of the next week, Harry and his friends had to provide themselves with their own entertainments. Harry couldn't wait for meals because there was no telling who would show up for some of Mrs. Weasly's cooking. Harry had met some new people who had just decided to join the Order that year.
The most exciting part came after dinner when Harry and the rest of the children would be kicked out of the kitchen so the members of the Order could have nightly meetings. Harry was glad to find that Fred and George had a few Extendable Ears lying around the house and the group; all seven of them would press their Ears under the door, trying to hear what was going on in the Order.
But, much to their dismay, Mrs. Weasly had put every sort of Concealing Charm and spell on the kitchen and it was almost impossible to hear what was being discussed over tea in the kitchen. The only person who wasn't extremely interested in what was going on with the Order was Cassie. While the others were all pressing the side of their faces against the door, the girl calmly thumbed her way through different books and journals that she had found in the library. It was a surprise to Harry that if someone so much as called her name and disrupted her reading, she would snap and leave the room, her nose still stuck in her tome.
"Reckon she's taken a page out of Hermione's book?" Ron asked a few days before Christmas as Cassie told Fred off for bothering her, leaving the room for a more suitable reading place. Harry shrugged and went back to his Extendable Ear, trying to hear anything he could about the Order.
"Well, well, well. What have we got here?" a smooth, dangerous voice said behind the group. Harry dropped his Ear which fell to the ground with a loud 'squelch' and he turned around slowly.
He could see black dress shoes in his line of sight (Harry had been lying on his stomach, trying to push the Ear under the door) and when he looked up more he saw that the shoes were the same color as the long, billowing robes around the figure. Looking up more, craning his neck, Harry saw the greased back hair and hooked nose of Professor Severus Snape, his mouth twisted into a malicious grin.
"Sticking our nose in other people's business again are we Mr. Potter?" Snape asked as Harry got to his feet, "Don't you remember what happened last time?"
"Ah Severus you've arrived," Moody said as he opened the door from the kitchen, the rest of the children recoiling slightly guilty looks registered on their faces.
"Alastor," Snape said nodding curtly at the Auror.
"We were just waiting for your report," the man explained his magical eye swiveling around wildly. Harry saw Snape give Mad Eye Moody a look of disgust as the Auror popped out his eye and dried it with his robes. The older man gave a satisfied grunt before he popped the ice blue eye back into his head, the orb still moving around crazily.
"I'll be there in a moment. I need to deliver something to Miss Lupin,' Snape explained looking around for the girl. Harry couldn't help but notice the way Snape said her last name, almost as if it were a joke.
"There's no need to search the whole house for her. Just give the package to her father," Moody advised before he turned around and headed back into the kitchen.
Snape followed and Harry walked into the entrance of the kitchen, standing at the foot of the steps that led down into the large and spacious kitchen. "Hello Severus!" Harry heard Romulus Lupin exclaim happily. Harry saw his professor get out of his seat to greet his fellow professor. Snape ignored the man's hand and threw Lupin an annoyed look before he sat down on the opposite end of the table as the Lupin brothers. Harry saw Snape's eyes widened as if he remembered something. He pulled out a large bottle of black liquid from his robes.
Harry watched as Snape slid the flask down the table, the vial stopping right in front of Remus Lupin. "For your daughter Remus," Snape said with a sneer. Snape had said 'daughter' as if it were a nasty word, a lie.
"That's enough Severus!" Moody barked. The potions master shot the Lupin brothers another nasty look. Harry saw a look of regret and sadness stretch across the face of his Dark Arts professor and a sour expression appeared on his twin brother's face. He heard Moody clear his throat, both his eyes landing on Harry.
Realizing he was intruding the Order's meeting, Harry smiled apologetically and left the room, the door shutting softly behind him. "What was all that about?" Ron, who had been right behind Harry, asked.
"I don't know. It almost seemed like Professor Lupin tried to be friendly to Snape," Harry said thoughtfully.
Fred scoffed and George looked at him like he had eaten a canary cream, "That's impossible! No one could be friends with Snape!"
The meeting ended shortly after Snape's arrival and Harry and Ron decided to go up to the library with Hermione so they could work on some of the homework they were assigned to over the Christmas holidays.
Hermione was upstairs during Snape's appearance going over her Transfiguration homework and trying to turn books into birds. Harry and Ron entered the library to see Hermione hunched over a large book a parakeet on her shoulder.
Harry and Ron told Hermione about Snape's advent and how strangely he acted around Romulus Lupin. "Well its obvious isn't it?" Hermione exclaimed as she shifted the enormous book in her lap, the parakeet taking off in alarm.
"What's obvious?" Ron asked, knowing that Hermione was about to refer to a book.
"I was just looking through this Hogwarts yearbook. . ."
"Hold the phone," Ron exclaimed, "How come we never got Hogwarts yearbooks?"
"They stopped making them in the beginning of the 80s. If you had read 'Hogwarts: A History' you would have known," Hermione exclaimed. "This yearbook is from the year 1976, when your father went to Hogwarts, Harry."
This perked Harry's interest immediately and he sat in an empty chair next to Hermione looking at the old leather bound book intently. "So what's so obvious?"
"Well, according to this yearbook, Snape and Romulus Lupin were best friends," Hermione explained. Harry looked down and saw that there was a page dedicated to best friends. His eyes landed on a picture of his father and Sirius Black both of them grinning insanely and waving frantically to the three youths in front of them.
"What? Best friends? I thought Snape was an outcast," Ron exclaimed as he pulled the yearbook out of Hermione's grasp. She gave a squeal of protest and tried to grab the yearbook from Ron's grasp. "I don't believe it!" Ron said in disbelief as he handed the yearbook to Harry.
There, in the middle of the page, was a fifteen year old version of Romulus Lupin and Severus Snape. One of Snape's arms was draped around Romulus' shoulder, their Dark Arts professor mimicking the same movement. "But Snape hates Remus, how could he be best friends with his twin brother?"
"Well, Snape and Professor Lupin must have had a huge fight when they were younger; they hate each other now," Hermione explained as she started to put the yearbook back on one of the shelves.
"Wait a moment," a voice said from the entrance of the library. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up to see Remus Lupin standing in the doorway, a faraway look on his face when his eyes landed on the yearbook. "I haven't seen one of those in years," the man explained as he grabbed the yearbook from Hermione. They watched as Remus' eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the pictures in front of him, "Ah yes, Romulus and Severus, they were quite the conniving team when we went to Hogwarts."
"Both of them?" Ron squeaked out.
"Oh yes, you see, even though Romulus and I were twins, we weren't in the same house. He got shoved off to Slytherin while I was in Gryffindor with Sirius and James. Those two became inseparable. They were the Slytherin version of James and Sirius if I do recall correctly," Remus said reminiscing his past.
"What happened between the two of them? They aren't exactly best friends now," Harry pointed out, looking at the werewolf intently.
"It was all because of me, of course," Remus explained giving a guilty look, "it was right after Sirius played that joke on Severus that almost cost Sirius and your father their magical careers." Harry nodded, remembering how Sirius had told Snape that he could find out where Lupin went every month. His father, James, had stopped Snape just before he went under the Whomping Willow to see Remus.
"Well, Romulus thought Severus was extremely stupid for sticking his nose in other people's business. He believed that you should only be interested about the things that went on in someone's own house, not others. He and Severus got into an enormous fight about it and if I remember correctly, Severus cursed Romulus' voice right out of him and he couldn't talk for months."
"They fought over something so stupid?" Hermione asked shaking her head in disbelief, "I don't believe it."
"Well, after their friendship fell out, Snape became a loner. He never tried to make more friends and he would do everything by himself. It was actually quite sad to sit there and watch him be all by himself. Romulus didn't care though, he started to hang out with me and Sirius and James. He was the only Slytherin we ever liked," Lupin said with a laugh. Lupin offered them all a comforting smile, "Its best that you don't talk about this to anyone. Romulus would kill me and I'm sure you don't want Professor Snape on your case at the start of next term," Lupin explained as started towards the exit, the yearbook still clutched in his hands.
*~*~*~*
Harry awoke the next week to Ron's yells of excitement. Mumbling to himself that it was too early to be awake, Harry reluctantly sat up in his bed and grabbed his glasses from the bedside table.
"What's going on?" Harry asked as he gave Ron a questioning look.
"It's Christmas Harry! It's Christmas!" Ron exulted as he pulled the covers off of Harry's bed. "Let's go downstairs and open presents!"
Stifling an enormous yawn, Harry nodded stupidly and got out of bed, trying to ignore Ron's hooting and hollering as he ran out of the room and hurried into the girls' room to get them out of bed. Harry made his way into the family room that was located near the back of the Black House.
He entered the room and was surprised to see that just about everyone in the house was awake. Harry noticed that most of the Aurors (aside from Tonks) had left to be with their families on Christmas. Harry saw an extremely sleepy Romulus Lupin and his equally tired twin brother sitting on one of the old couches two large loads of presents in front of them. Mr. and Mrs. Weasly were sitting with the rest of their children at another couch. Somehow this couch was large enough to hold all nine members of the Weasly family. The only two that were missing were Ron, which was understandable since he was upstairs rousing the girls and. . .
"Say, where's Percy?" Harry asked. The truth was, the entire two weeks he was at the Black House he had seen neither hide nor hair of Percy Weasly.
"Oh, the Minister decided to invite him over for Christmas," Fred explained rolling his eyes, "But don't worry, George and I sent him a couple of self exploding Dungbombs."
"Fred!" Mrs. Weasly exclaimed loudly. She shook her head in disappointment before she turned to Ginny who had just appeared from her room, Hermione and Cassie in tow.
Hermione's parents were already in the room, both of them being interrogated by Mr. Weasly about muggle Christmas customs. Harry saw that Mr. and Mrs. Granger were growing uncomfortable with Mr. Weasly's questionings and Mrs. Weasly called her husband off with much scolding. Hermione made her way over to her parents and hugged each of them, wishing them both a Happy Christmas.
Cassie looked exhausted and judging by the look she threw Ron as she went to sit with her father and uncle, she was upset that he had waken her so early in the morning. "Come sit over here with us Harry," Mrs. Weasly ordered and the couch magically grew another cushion so Harry could sit down.
Soon the room was filled with the ripping of wrapping paper and a rather nasty off tune version of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' by some of the Christmas lights on the Christmas tree. Harry had received many presents this year. Hermione had given him a book on translating dreams and Ron had given him a gift certificate to Zonko's and Honeydukes for their next visit into Hogsmeade.
He looked over at Cassie who was opening a present from her father. Harry guessed that her father had given her a stack of books and his guesses were confirmed when Cassie opened the present and was met with a stack of eight books. Harry recognized that they were all Hogwarts yearbooks dating from 1971 to 1978, Remus Lupin's seven years at Hogwarts. There was a rather small and beaten up book on top of them all and Harry saw that there wasn't a title or a name of an author on top of the book. Harry heard Remus whisper something into Cassie's ear and she smiled and nodded.
"How is it that you knew I wanted exactly this?" Cassie asked suspiciously.
"Can't a father know what his own daughter wants?" Lupin asked with a smile before he patted her shoulder. Harry didn't notice it, but after Lupin had said this comment, Cassie was considerably more curt and refined with her father for the rest of the day.
Harry returned to his presents and found yet another Weasly sweater, some Weasly Wizard Wheezes from Fred and George, a book on the inter workings of Gringotts Wizard Bank from Bill Weasly, a handsome picture book on dragons from Charlie and a small model of a Firebolt broom from Ginny.
Five hours later, most of the presents had been opened and many of Harry's friends had gone into the kitchen to get ready for Christmas dinner. Harry was cleaning up his mess when his eyes landed on a small present addressed to him. Picking it up, Harry realized that it was from Cassie. He opened the package and saw that there was a small note attached to a box. Picking up the letter, Harry opened it and read it to himself.
Harry,
Just wanted to say thanks for lending an ear to all my problems. Anytime you need anything feel free to ask and I'll help you out! To tell you about your present: It's kind of a hoax thingamabobber but I believe it'll bring you a little extra bit of protection. I have a feeling you'll need it.
Cassie
Harry opened the box and saw that there was a sort of small amulet inside. The amulet was pure crystal and Harry could see through it. He noticed there was something inside and he lifted the little amulet out of the box and held it into the light. The light hit the amulet and the room erupted into millions of different colors. Harry looked at the crystal amulet and saw a shard of something red so dark it was almost black. His head hurting from looking at all the different colors, Harry pulled the amulet out of the light and inspected it while it was clutched in his hand. The shard was indeed a dark blood red and Harry thought it looked like a fragment of a jewel. Harry shrugged and reminded himself to thank Cassie for his gift.
After carting all of his presents upstairs into his room, Harry joined everyone down in the kitchen for an enormous Christmas dinner. Harry didn't realize it, but they had spent the entire day in the living room opening presents and talking about different things. Harry sat in between Ron and Hermione both of them ogling over an extremely handsome ostrich quill Hermione's parents had bought her for Christmas.
Dinner was soon underway and Harry had never tasted a better Christmas turkey in his entire life. "Have some more Harry," Mrs. Weasly encouraged as she used her wand to cut a piece of meat from the enormous turkey.
"I don't ever think I've seen a turkey that big," Harry muttered to Ron. And indeed the turkey was so big that Harry could hardly see Remus and his daughter over the top.
"Mum put an Engorgement Charm on the turkey," Ron explained as he took a bite of mashed potatoes looking at the turkey as if it were no big deal. "You should have seen it a couple years ago when Bill and Charlie had some friends and their families over for Christmas. The turkey took up the whole parlor and that's the biggest room in the Burrow," Ron explained before he sighed sadly, "I miss it terribly."
Harry nodded in understanding. True to their word, the Weasly had not stepped foot in their beloved home since August for fear of an ambush or attack from Voldemort's forces. Even Hermione's parents were forced from their straight-forward non-magical world and were compelled into the world of wizards and witches. The two muggles seemed to have been adapting well though, clapping in delight as Tonks turned her hair into a bright red and green color.
"Aren't you going to try some of the mashed potatoes Cassie? I know they're your favorite," Remus Lupin asked his daughter. Harry stretched up to look over the gigantic turkey just in time to see Cassie give her father a sickly sweet smile as she reached for the potatoes. 'That's odd,' Harry thought to himself as Cassie dumped the potatoes on her plate giving her father a scornful look.
Dinner continued on and soon the turkey was cleared away and everyone was leaning back in their seats; all of them completely stuffed from a stupendous dinner provided by Mrs. Weasly. Fred and George brought out butterbeer and Tonks hurried into another room to pull out brandy and other beverages for the adults.
Soon everyone was in good cheer and laughter filled the room as Mr. Weasly finished telling a joke about a banshee, a manticore and a rather stubborn sorcerer. The table erupted into laughter and Ron shook his head, a monstrous grin on his face, "Dad's told that joke about a million times," Ron explained to Harry before he gave a polite laugh. Mr. Weasly grinned and took another sip of his brandy.
Ron soon got into a deep conversation with Cassie who seemed to be having the worst time of all. She rarely took sips of her butterbeer and she seemed to be ignoring everyone who tried to talk to her. It was only Ron's complete stubbornness that kept Cassie interested in the conversation.
"But really, Snape is. . ." Cassie started but Ron looked up and grinned.
". . . A brainless git!"
". . . A brainless git!" the two said at the exact same moment. Romulus gave Cassie a rather scolding look and Cassie looked at Ron as if he had said something completely vulgar. The smile disappeared from her face and she withdrew herself from all conversation for the rest of the night.
Once the dishes were cleared away everyone sauntered up the stairs to their bedrooms all of them wearing tired yet happy expressions on their face. And as Harry got into his bed he couldn't help but think that it would have been one of the best Christmases he had ever had. If only Sirius had been there to enjoy it with him.
*~*~*~*
The next few days flew by rapidly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione finished the rest of their schoolwork the day before New Year's Eve and they had the rest of the day to themselves. The trio was just leaving the Black Library when Ginny hurried up to them a shocked look on her face.
"Did you know it was Cassie's birthday today?" she questioned staring the three down.
"Hold on," Harry said holding his hands up to stop the youngest Weasly from speaking, "her birthday's today?"
Ginny nodded, "I heard her and her dad talking about it downstairs in the parlor. He asked if she wanted to go get her Apparation/Disapparation license today."
"We didn't know. Wow we didn't even get her a birthday present," Ron muttered. Harry looked at Hermione who shrugged her shoulders. Apparently she didn't know that today was Cassie's seventeenth birthday either.
"Not today!" they heard someone snap from downstairs. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all hurried over to the banister that overlooked the bottom story just in time to see Cassie turn away from her father and headed up the stairs. She had an angry yet determined expression on her face. She didn't notice Harry or his friends standing there and she walked right past them and hurried into the depths of the house. Harry could hear a door slam a moment later.
He looked down at Remus who was shaking his head in discourage before he headed down into the kitchen. "That was a bit weird," Ron commented before he grabbed Harry and Hermione's arms and led them into Ron and Harry's room. "Go away Ginny."
"Gee, thanks Ron," Ginny said rolling her eyes before she headed downstairs, probably to the kitchen.
Once they were alone, Ron turned to Harry an accusing expression on his face, "You had another dream last night didn't you?"
Harry looked at his best friend in shock. He didn't know how Ron could have figured out about Harry's recurring dreams. Hermione looked at Harry expectantly and he could tell that she was waiting for Harry to disregard Ron's accusations because more dreams meant more possibilities of the Black Diamond being found, or Voldemort plotting Harry's demise.
But the truth was, Harry was starting to have dreams about Voldemort again. They weren't as vivid as they were at the beginning of the year but they were growing stronger. Harry already knew that the Dark Lord or his minions had not made a move on the house outside of Liverpool that supposedly had the Black Diamond and Harry was grateful for that.
"Yea I did," Harry said softly. Hermione gasped and Ron nodded. "How did you know?"
"It was kind of hard not to notice. You were mumbling about that stupid Diamond and death eaters and just about everything else. You. . .you were yelling about Sirius too, Harry," Ron explained.
Harry felt the bottom of his stomach drop out from under him. No one was supposed to know about those dreams. He hadn't told anyone about his recurring dreams of what happened at the Department of Mysteries almost a year ago. Harry hadn't discussed with anyone about watching his godfather fall. . .Maybe it was being back in the house again, maybe it was all the memories of Sirius that were flooding back to Harry that made him start to have those dreams again. Harry didn't know.
"Oh, Harry," Hermione whispered in a sympathetic voice. She had no idea, neither did Ron. They had no idea what it was like to lose someone that you considered a father figure. No idea what it was like to lose parents. They didn't understand what it was like, not having parents. What it was like not having a family to sit down with and open presents with. They could never understand. Never.
"Forget it. Just forget about it okay?" Harry asked his voice rising. He saw Ron and Hermione recoil for a moment. Both of them knew his godfather's death was still a touchy subject for him. "Can we just go downstairs and not talk about all this?"
Ron and Hermione nodded submissively before they all turned and headed towards the kitchen. When they got there, Mrs. Weasly was making an enormous birthday cake that was decorated with the Gryffindor colors of red and gold. Harry saw the top of the cake read, 'Happy Birthday Cassie!' in big bold letters that sparkled and moved around the cake. Harry saw that Tonks was creating large balloons that sang 'Happy Birthday' in perfect harmony. One of them exploded in her face with as shriek and Harry saw that Tonks' hair had turned white.
For the next few hours Harry watched Hermione and Ron bustle around the kitchen trying to prepare things for what seemed like Cassie's birthday celebration. But Harry's mind was on other things.
He kept thinking back to his dreams of watching Sirius fall through the veil, the laughter frozen on his face, a look of surprise coming over him. He was probably with his parents now, somewhere beyond that veil. His father had his wife and best friend with him now and Harry had no one to call a parent. 'I hope you're happy now dad. You took away the only person who was the closest thing I had to a father,' Harry thought bitterly as he wrapped his arms around his chest. The balloons were singing in loud voices and Ron, Fred, and George were using Silly Snakes to attack Hermione and Ginny. Mrs. Weasly was yelling at her three sons and Ginny and Hermione were cowering behind the giant balloons who had now changed their tone of singing from utterly happy, to that of utter despair. Harry couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't think, couldn't concentrate with all the racket going on in the kitchen. He had to get out.
Harry left the kitchen and headed upstairs. He walked down one of the second floor corridors and he entered the drawing room trying to get a few moments of peace and quiet. He couldn't stand to be in the house anymore. Not when there were memories of last year flooding around him like a surging wave of grief. He turned around slowly, rubbing his forehead with his hand shaking his head sadly.
A throat clearing made Harry look up in surprise, he looked around the room, his eyes finally landing on the large tapestry that held the family tree of the Black Family. Cassie was standing in front of the hanging looking at it with utmost interest and yet, an unmistakable trace of sadness.
She let her fingers trail against the old cloth, resting on the name of Mrs. Black. Harry watched as she went down the line and pressed her finger against Sirius' younger brother's name. Harry heard her sigh loudly before she let her finger rest against the spot where Sirius' name should have been. Harry remembered that his godfather had been blasted off the Black Family tapestry because he ran away from home, turning away from the Dark Side.
Harry took a step back in uncertainty when he heard Cassie cry out in sadness bowing her head, the tears falling from her face and onto her shoes. She shook her head and looked back up as her fingers traced along below Regulus' name and Harry saw that her tears became more abundant.
Sure Harry had seen Cassie cry, but never like this. He had never heard such heart wrenching sobs coming from another person in his life. She let her hand drop to her side and she looked back up at the heading of the tapestry, shaking her head again, wiping away her tears with a stray hand.
Harry took a step towards the girl, hoping he could comfort her, if even a little bit. He was about to tap her shoulder when he heard her take a sharp intake of breath. "Go away, Harry."
"Are you alright? Is there anything I can do?" Harry asked concern edging around his voice.
"Just go away," she repeated not turning around and Harry could see her shaking.
"You better get back downstairs, your birthday dinner is about to start," Harry advised. When Cassie didn't budge he tried another alternative, "We could talk about it Cassie, I think I'll be able to understand," Harry explained hoping she would talk to him.
Harry stepped back in shock as Cassie whirled around her face masked in an unrecognizable façade of anger. Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she hadn't slept in a few days and they were puffy, as if she had been crying a lot. "I don't think you'll be able to understand. You couldn't understand!" she said in a dangerous whisper.
"Try me."
"You think you know me don't you Harry? You think you've got me all figured out?" Cassie asked her voice rising as she moved her face into Harry's. "There are things about me that would make you not want to be my friend. You wouldn't want to know me at all if you knew."
"Then why don't you tell me? I'm sure I'd understand!" Harry asked. Everything was too much for him at the moment. The memories of his dead godfather, his dead parents, thoughts of Voldemort creeping back into his mind, and now this, Cassie yelling at him almost telling him he knew nothing. The wall blocking his temper was slowly fading away and he could tell that if he didn't get out of that room, he would explode.
"Do you have to know everything?" Cassie questioned hands positioned on her hips. "I can't tell you! Just go away and leave me alone!"
"There's something going on, I know there is, why don't you just tell me? Don't you trust me?" Harry demanded the rage was boiling inside him now he wanted to hit something. He hadn't been this mad since that night in Dumbledore's office.
"No I don't trust you! Just leave me alone!"
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on!" Harry didn't realize it but they were now in a full fledge screaming row. Cassie turned around and put her hands to her face, screaming in frustration. She turned around again, a scowl on her face, her blue eyes a fire of rage.
"NO!" Cassie screamed shaking her head frantically.
"You think you're so cool Cassie, don't you? The girl who shows up and takes Hogwarts by storm! You think you're God's gift to everyone, acting like you own the Quidditch pitch and everything else in that ruddy castle! But you're just a scared little girl who doesn't even know who she is! You push everyone away when they get too close don't you? You even pushed your own father away because he was starting to get under your skin, to figure out how you really work! That's what you're doing right now! You started to ignore Hermione when she started to figure out your parentage but then forgave her because she was wrong! You're pushing all three of us away now because we're starting to figure you out! Just give it up!" Harry screamed. He could hear people murmuring from the doorway and he glanced over to the door and saw that Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were looking at them; all three of them had stunned expressions plastered on their faces.
Harry could tell he had struck a nerve because Cassie had recoiled before she countered and gave Harry a small push. "So you want to play that game don't you? What about you Harry Potter huh? What about you? You sit around all day and complain that nobody understands you. You think that no one cares about you. That it's only Harry Potter. You have no idea how many people care about you. How many people there are that have sacrificed themselves for you. Look at your mother! Your mother died trying to save you so did your father. But you're so caught up in yourself that you don't realize how much they loved you! I would kill to have parents like that even if they are dead! Just to have the thought that they died trying to save me. . . I wouldn't care if they weren't there for me, at least they cared! But you sit there, and you portray yourself as a hero! You sit there and let people assume that you are the real hero but you aren't! You got lucky all those times you faced off with Voldemort! Your parents are the real heroes Harry, not you. Oh but there is one more person I forgot to mention. The one person who gave his life for you because of your stupid mistake? What about Sirius, Harry?" Cassie asked with a sneer.
"DON'T YOU DARE DRAG HIM INTO THIS!" Harry bellowed as he returned Cassie's push. Harry heard Hermione gasp out loud as Cassie looked at Harry with an extreme amount of rage.
"Sirius died trying to save you from Voldemort and it got the better of him in the end didn't it? He went off and got himself killed because you had to play the hero! It was entirely your fault! It's because of you that my father is without his best friend and it's your own fault for playing the hero which resulted in your precious godfather's death. But he deserved what he got he deserved it. . ." Cassie said in a quiet whisper.
Harry couldn't take it anymore, the rage building up inside him finally exploded like a ton of fireworks. He let out a yell before he tackled Cassie to the ground; anger and fury were the only emotions he could feel as he punched the squirming girl in the eye.
Hermione was screaming in panic and Harry could feel two pairs of arms grab his, pulling him off the sixteen year old. Harry looked around and saws that Ron and Ginny were holding him back, Cassie rising to her feet. "Get off Ron!" Harry yelled fighting against the two Weaslys. "You heard what she said! You heard what she said!" Harry repeated over and over again.
Harry finally settled down enough to see Cassie shaking her head in disgust as she left the room. "I never want to speak to you again!" Harry yelled out after her. A few short moments later, Ron and Ginny had let him go, Mrs. Weasly and Remus Lupin hurrying into the room.
"What happened? We could hear Hermione screaming," Mrs. Weasly asked looking around the room to find the source of Hermione's panic.
"It was nothing." Harry said as he tried to tidy up his hair, placing his glasses back in place.
"Nothing?" Lupin asked eyeing him suspiciously and then looking out into the hallway. Harry could hear a door slam far off in the house.
"Nothing," Harry repeated before he walked out of the room and headed towards the bedroom he shared with Ron, the rage finally settling down. He thought he could hear someone far away laugh in a sinister way before Harry slammed the bedroom door shut, the laughter abruptly cut off.
Harry couldn't help but be happy at the fact that Cassie was spending the winter holidays with them. He had a feeling that being inside the stuffy old Black House, filled to the brim with memories would be brightened by the girl's presence.
They lugged their trunks through the castle and to the front of the grounds loading them into the back of a horse drawn sleigh. The four of them squished together in the sleigh, the pure white horse taking off through the snow, sending powder up behind them. They were dropped off at Hogsmeade Station, putting all their belongings on trolleys before they went to the luggage compartments to store their trunks and owl cages.
The four of them met up with Ginny inside one of the compartments and they sat there and talked about past Christmas holidays while waiting for the train to depart from Hogwarts. Harry remembered that his Christmases before Hogwarts were stories he would have liked to forget. Harry sat there and listened to Ron and Hermione talk about wonderful Christmases filled with Christmas cheer and family. Harry never remembered any Christmases like that and he looked over at Cassie and noticed she didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation either.
Finally, the train started to roll out of the station, the scenery soon rushing by them like a wave of pure white water. Harry smiled as he leaned back in his seat. He was going to have a good Christmas, even if it meant spending time in Sirius' old house.
*~*~*~*
When they arrived at King's Cross Station, Harry saw that not only Mrs. Weasly came to pick them up, but Mad Eye Moody, Tonks, and Remus Lupin. The children unloaded their luggage, putting them on three separate trolleys to be taken to two large cars that would take them to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
Mrs. Weasly hugged all of the students and shook Cassie's hand warmly when Remus introduced them. "I've heard so much about you from your father!" Mrs. Weasly said in a pleased voice before she ordered the four of them to follow her out to the cars.
"I'm sorry I couldn't make it out to Hogwarts, Cassie. . ." Remus Lupin began as he went to hug his daughter. Cassie evaded his onslaught of affection by pushing her trolley rather violently towards the exit.
"You're not sorry," Cassie grumbled, leaving her father standing in the middle of the platform.
"That was rude," Hermione commented to Harry before Cassie caught up with them. They successful loaded everything into the cars and they were ready to head off to Order Headquarters. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cassie, and Ginny were all situated comfortably in the back seat of one of the cars, Remus Lupin, Mrs. Weasly and Tonks were situated up front, the young female Auror behind the wheel.
"I hope she knows how to drive a car," Hermione whispered to everyone in the backseat.
"Everybody buckled up?" Tonks asked looking behind her in the backseat. "I only learned how to drive this morning!" she exulted before she threw the car in reverse and stepped on the gas. Everyone went flying back, Mrs. Weasly screaming at her to put her foot on the breaks. "Oh! Oh Molly! Which one was the break? I forgot!" Tonks exclaimed in a panic voice as she started to slam her foot on the floor of the car. Hermione, who was sitting next to Harry, had grabbed his arm and squeezed it tightly as they came to a sudden, screeching halt. "Sorry about that," Tonks said as she gave a feeble laugh before putting the car into drive.
Three broken mail boxes and a very red faced Mrs. Weasly later, the group found themselves getting out of their cars and standing in front of the empty lot. Harry thought of the address and he saw the door come out of the ground, followed by the rest of the house. Grabbing his trunk, he followed the others inside the house of Sirius Black.
"We're home everybody!" Tonks yelled for the whole house to hear.
"FILTHY BLOOD TRAITORS! MUDBLOODS AND IMPURE WIZARDS ALIKE! RUINING MY HOUSE! KREACHER! KREACHER!" Mrs. Black screamed from her position on the wall. Tonks moaned an apology before she tried to close the drapes that kept the portrait of Mrs. Black quiet.
Everyone was standing in front of the foyer except of Cassie. She was walking into the front parlor where Mrs. Black was situated. She peered into the sitting room, and Harry saw her eyes stop on the portrait of Sirius' mother.
"FILTHY TRATIORS! INSULT TO THIS HOUSE! GET OUT! GET-" Mrs. Black was about to continue with her rants but her screams were cut short and she fell into a deadly silence. Harry walked into the parlor and saw that Cassandra had stepped into the parlor, her eyes dead set on the portrait of Mrs. Black. Harry could see for the first time that words failed Mrs. Black. "W-What are you doing here?" Harry heard the portrait stammer. He gave Hermione and Ron confused looks as Mrs. Black store flabbergasted at the sight of Cassie.
"I'm here for Christmas," Cassie replied as she inspected an overstuffed armchair that looked extremely uncomfortable.
"GET OUT! GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE! YOU BRING GREAT. . ." Mrs. Black was about to continue her sentence but that was until Mad Eye Moody came running into the house his magical eye swiveling all over the place.
"SHUT HER UP!" Moody yelled as he grabbed one of the curtains, Tonks the other and they tried to envelope the portrait in the draperies. Mrs. Black was putting up a tremendous fight and she was still bellowing at Cassie before Moody and Tonks were able to fully cover up the yelling portrait.
"I'll put the trunks in your rooms; all of you best hurry into the kitchen. Ron, you'll show Cassie where it is won't you?" Mrs. Weasly whispered before she whispered a spell to make the trunks lighter, all five of them traveling up the stair case after Mrs. Weasly.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked his friends as they sat down at the large table in the kitchen. Harry could see that it looked a lot homier than it had before. It had looked like Snape's dungeon classroom but he realized that Mrs. Weasly had done some decorating and a large; shag rug lay underneath the table. Harry thought he could hear it groan as he stepped on it and he reminded himself not to tread on it so heavily the next time.
"I don't know," Hermione said before she threw a sidelong glance at Cassie who was inspecting the kitchen with utmost interest.
"She's never acted like that with anyone. What'd you bring with you Cassie that made Mrs. Black freak out like that?" Ron asked excitedly.
"I didn't bring anything with me aside from my clothes and homework we're supposed to do over the holidays. That and Christmas presents," she added with a wink. Mrs. Weasly came bustling into the kitchen muttering about Mrs. Black's horrible behavior.
"Would you all care for a spot of tea before I make dinner?" she asked them. The five of them nodded politely before Mrs. Weasly informed Hermione that her parents were in the upstairs library, looking through some of the old books in the house. Hermione was extremely pleased that her parents were getting along fine with the people who resided in the Black House and she hurried up to meet them.
"We won't see her for the rest of the night," Ron commented as his mother handed him a tea cup, "She'll be up there all night with her parents reading about spells and curses and stuff. I say we go visit Buckbeak again," Ron suggested before his mother gave him a stern look.
"You will not be setting that hippogriff loose around the house again Ronald Weasly. Unless you want to spend your entire winter holiday cleaning up after him," Mrs. Weasly scolded as she started on dinner.
Pretty soon, some of the members from the Order filed into the kitchen all of them talking about how starved they were. Tonks took a seat next to Cassie and started to talk to her about Quidditch and her duel with Romulus Lupin. "Heard you put him in a right state after that battle during one of your classes. You should think about becoming an Auror," Tonks suggested before she changed her lucid red hair into an ice blue color.
"I'll never be an Auror. My potions grades are abysmal. So are my Transfiguration grades now that you mention it," Cassie explained as she sipped her tea thoughtfully. Tonks nodded and gave the girl a secretive wink before she got up to help Mrs. Weasly for dinner.
"Tonks, go sit down," Mrs. Weasly ordered from her position by the fireplace. Harry could smell beef stew settling in the pot and he heard his stomach give a rumble. He hadn't eaten sine the friendly witch from the train had given him some Cauldron Cakes and Wand Licorice earlier that day. Tonks didn't seem to take heed of Mrs. Weasly however and she went over to the cupboard where the cutlery and plates were stored. "I'll set the table Molly," Tonks began before a plate flew to the ground with a SMASH! "Oops, sorry Molly," Tonks said a light blush creeping on her cheeks.
"Go sit down Tonks," Mrs. Weasly repeated and Harry could tell her patience with the klutzy witch was wearing thin.
"We'll set the table Mrs. Weasly," Harry offered before he and Ron got up from their seats, "How many?"
"Better make it for about twenty Harry," Mrs. Weasly advised before she busied herself with her cooking.
After they finished setting the table, Ron and Harry agreed to take Cassie on a tour of the Black House. They showed her where she would be staying (in Hermione and Ginny's room) and they took her all over the house, explaining how much they had to clean when they first got there and how much more they had to clean after they accidentally let Buckbeak loose in the house.
"I'd like to meet Buckbeak," Cassie inquired as they hurried up the stairs to the master bedroom. Ron and Harry exchanged uneasy looks. They didn't know if they should go in there, if they set Buckbeak on a rampage again Mrs. Weasly would have their heads even if it was Christmas.
"Maybe tomorrow. We'll have your dad go up with you, that way if Buckbeak does escape again, mum can't put the entire blame on us," Ron explained with a final nod. Cassie nodded in agreement before she squinted her eyes and pointed to something in the distance.
"What's that?" she asked before she started off at a brisk jog after the stubby figure that was hobbling towards the end of the hallway. Cassie, Ron, and Harry finally caught up with the thing and Harry realized with a sort of displeased squelch in his stomach that it was Kreacher, the Black Family's house elf.
"What can I help you with?" Kreacher asked, "Stupid mudbloods, poisoning Mistress' house. Stupid, stupid, stupid blood traitors." He added under his breath.
"Who are you?" Cassie asked her voice kind and reserved. Harry could feel the bit of tension in her voice as she kneeled down and looked at Kreacher with interest and disgust.
"I am Kreacher, here to serve those in the Black House. . ." Kreacher began before his voice trailed off when he looked at Cassie. The house elf gave an odd sort of squeaking noise before he limped down the hall, hurrying as fast as his short, stubby legs could carry him, "Oh," Harry heard Kreacher cry out as he turned a corner, "It's back. . .it's back. He's back. . . He's back!"
"What was that all about?" Cassie asked looking at Ron and Harry in confusion.
"House elf is a complete nutter. Don't listen to anything he says. He should be killed and have his head mounted up on the wall like his family," Ron muttered.
"That house elf's family is hanging up on the walls somewhere?" Cassie asked wonder coming over her face.
"Yea, it's disgusting," Ron began.
"Oh that is so neat! Where are they?" Cassie asked looking around the walls excitedly.
"Yeah it's disgusting but neat," Ron stammered back before the three of them hurried down the stairs to show Cassie where the beheaded house elves were located.
*~*~*
Dinner was served about half an hour later. Harry followed Cassie and Ron who were in a deep discussion on how idiotic and pointless potions was into the kitchen were about seventeen people were situated.
Harry saw that all of the Weasly children, with the exception of Percy, were seated around the table as well as Mr. and Mrs. Weasly. Hermione was talking to her parents about her latest term at Hogwarts and Tonks was talking to Remus and Romulus Lupin who had saved a seat for Cassie in between them. Harry noticed that Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Dedalus Diggle were talking about Auror business and the conversation was soon called to a halt just as the last bit of food was placed on the large table.
Harry sat in between Hermione and Ron as he grabbed some beef stew from one of the bowls and a roll of bread as well. Harry saw that Remus was making an attempt to talk to his daughter but she seemed to have developed a one word vocabulary and only answered him with 'yeah' or 'no' she even said 'maybe' when her father asked if she was doing well in her classes.
"Do I have to make Romulus keep tabs on you?" Remus Lupin asked in a joking voice as Cassie took a sip of her butterbeer. She shook her head and offered her father a smile.
"No. Because if I found out that Uncle Romulus was keeping tabs on my grades, I would have to beat him up in another duel," Cassie said as she beamed up at her uncle, who became extremely interested in a scorch mark on the table.
"Don't go dueling again Cassie alright? You know it's not good for your health and I don't want you to get hurt," Remus said his old and tiring face pulled into a mask of seriousness.
"I won't get hurt dad. You know I won't," Cassie said a determined air in her voice as she helped herself to some more stew. Remus rolled his eyes and gave Harry a wink.
"Whatever you say Cass, whatever you say."
*~*~*~*
Over the course of the next week, Harry and his friends had to provide themselves with their own entertainments. Harry couldn't wait for meals because there was no telling who would show up for some of Mrs. Weasly's cooking. Harry had met some new people who had just decided to join the Order that year.
The most exciting part came after dinner when Harry and the rest of the children would be kicked out of the kitchen so the members of the Order could have nightly meetings. Harry was glad to find that Fred and George had a few Extendable Ears lying around the house and the group; all seven of them would press their Ears under the door, trying to hear what was going on in the Order.
But, much to their dismay, Mrs. Weasly had put every sort of Concealing Charm and spell on the kitchen and it was almost impossible to hear what was being discussed over tea in the kitchen. The only person who wasn't extremely interested in what was going on with the Order was Cassie. While the others were all pressing the side of their faces against the door, the girl calmly thumbed her way through different books and journals that she had found in the library. It was a surprise to Harry that if someone so much as called her name and disrupted her reading, she would snap and leave the room, her nose still stuck in her tome.
"Reckon she's taken a page out of Hermione's book?" Ron asked a few days before Christmas as Cassie told Fred off for bothering her, leaving the room for a more suitable reading place. Harry shrugged and went back to his Extendable Ear, trying to hear anything he could about the Order.
"Well, well, well. What have we got here?" a smooth, dangerous voice said behind the group. Harry dropped his Ear which fell to the ground with a loud 'squelch' and he turned around slowly.
He could see black dress shoes in his line of sight (Harry had been lying on his stomach, trying to push the Ear under the door) and when he looked up more he saw that the shoes were the same color as the long, billowing robes around the figure. Looking up more, craning his neck, Harry saw the greased back hair and hooked nose of Professor Severus Snape, his mouth twisted into a malicious grin.
"Sticking our nose in other people's business again are we Mr. Potter?" Snape asked as Harry got to his feet, "Don't you remember what happened last time?"
"Ah Severus you've arrived," Moody said as he opened the door from the kitchen, the rest of the children recoiling slightly guilty looks registered on their faces.
"Alastor," Snape said nodding curtly at the Auror.
"We were just waiting for your report," the man explained his magical eye swiveling around wildly. Harry saw Snape give Mad Eye Moody a look of disgust as the Auror popped out his eye and dried it with his robes. The older man gave a satisfied grunt before he popped the ice blue eye back into his head, the orb still moving around crazily.
"I'll be there in a moment. I need to deliver something to Miss Lupin,' Snape explained looking around for the girl. Harry couldn't help but notice the way Snape said her last name, almost as if it were a joke.
"There's no need to search the whole house for her. Just give the package to her father," Moody advised before he turned around and headed back into the kitchen.
Snape followed and Harry walked into the entrance of the kitchen, standing at the foot of the steps that led down into the large and spacious kitchen. "Hello Severus!" Harry heard Romulus Lupin exclaim happily. Harry saw his professor get out of his seat to greet his fellow professor. Snape ignored the man's hand and threw Lupin an annoyed look before he sat down on the opposite end of the table as the Lupin brothers. Harry saw Snape's eyes widened as if he remembered something. He pulled out a large bottle of black liquid from his robes.
Harry watched as Snape slid the flask down the table, the vial stopping right in front of Remus Lupin. "For your daughter Remus," Snape said with a sneer. Snape had said 'daughter' as if it were a nasty word, a lie.
"That's enough Severus!" Moody barked. The potions master shot the Lupin brothers another nasty look. Harry saw a look of regret and sadness stretch across the face of his Dark Arts professor and a sour expression appeared on his twin brother's face. He heard Moody clear his throat, both his eyes landing on Harry.
Realizing he was intruding the Order's meeting, Harry smiled apologetically and left the room, the door shutting softly behind him. "What was all that about?" Ron, who had been right behind Harry, asked.
"I don't know. It almost seemed like Professor Lupin tried to be friendly to Snape," Harry said thoughtfully.
Fred scoffed and George looked at him like he had eaten a canary cream, "That's impossible! No one could be friends with Snape!"
The meeting ended shortly after Snape's arrival and Harry and Ron decided to go up to the library with Hermione so they could work on some of the homework they were assigned to over the Christmas holidays.
Hermione was upstairs during Snape's appearance going over her Transfiguration homework and trying to turn books into birds. Harry and Ron entered the library to see Hermione hunched over a large book a parakeet on her shoulder.
Harry and Ron told Hermione about Snape's advent and how strangely he acted around Romulus Lupin. "Well its obvious isn't it?" Hermione exclaimed as she shifted the enormous book in her lap, the parakeet taking off in alarm.
"What's obvious?" Ron asked, knowing that Hermione was about to refer to a book.
"I was just looking through this Hogwarts yearbook. . ."
"Hold the phone," Ron exclaimed, "How come we never got Hogwarts yearbooks?"
"They stopped making them in the beginning of the 80s. If you had read 'Hogwarts: A History' you would have known," Hermione exclaimed. "This yearbook is from the year 1976, when your father went to Hogwarts, Harry."
This perked Harry's interest immediately and he sat in an empty chair next to Hermione looking at the old leather bound book intently. "So what's so obvious?"
"Well, according to this yearbook, Snape and Romulus Lupin were best friends," Hermione explained. Harry looked down and saw that there was a page dedicated to best friends. His eyes landed on a picture of his father and Sirius Black both of them grinning insanely and waving frantically to the three youths in front of them.
"What? Best friends? I thought Snape was an outcast," Ron exclaimed as he pulled the yearbook out of Hermione's grasp. She gave a squeal of protest and tried to grab the yearbook from Ron's grasp. "I don't believe it!" Ron said in disbelief as he handed the yearbook to Harry.
There, in the middle of the page, was a fifteen year old version of Romulus Lupin and Severus Snape. One of Snape's arms was draped around Romulus' shoulder, their Dark Arts professor mimicking the same movement. "But Snape hates Remus, how could he be best friends with his twin brother?"
"Well, Snape and Professor Lupin must have had a huge fight when they were younger; they hate each other now," Hermione explained as she started to put the yearbook back on one of the shelves.
"Wait a moment," a voice said from the entrance of the library. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up to see Remus Lupin standing in the doorway, a faraway look on his face when his eyes landed on the yearbook. "I haven't seen one of those in years," the man explained as he grabbed the yearbook from Hermione. They watched as Remus' eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the pictures in front of him, "Ah yes, Romulus and Severus, they were quite the conniving team when we went to Hogwarts."
"Both of them?" Ron squeaked out.
"Oh yes, you see, even though Romulus and I were twins, we weren't in the same house. He got shoved off to Slytherin while I was in Gryffindor with Sirius and James. Those two became inseparable. They were the Slytherin version of James and Sirius if I do recall correctly," Remus said reminiscing his past.
"What happened between the two of them? They aren't exactly best friends now," Harry pointed out, looking at the werewolf intently.
"It was all because of me, of course," Remus explained giving a guilty look, "it was right after Sirius played that joke on Severus that almost cost Sirius and your father their magical careers." Harry nodded, remembering how Sirius had told Snape that he could find out where Lupin went every month. His father, James, had stopped Snape just before he went under the Whomping Willow to see Remus.
"Well, Romulus thought Severus was extremely stupid for sticking his nose in other people's business. He believed that you should only be interested about the things that went on in someone's own house, not others. He and Severus got into an enormous fight about it and if I remember correctly, Severus cursed Romulus' voice right out of him and he couldn't talk for months."
"They fought over something so stupid?" Hermione asked shaking her head in disbelief, "I don't believe it."
"Well, after their friendship fell out, Snape became a loner. He never tried to make more friends and he would do everything by himself. It was actually quite sad to sit there and watch him be all by himself. Romulus didn't care though, he started to hang out with me and Sirius and James. He was the only Slytherin we ever liked," Lupin said with a laugh. Lupin offered them all a comforting smile, "Its best that you don't talk about this to anyone. Romulus would kill me and I'm sure you don't want Professor Snape on your case at the start of next term," Lupin explained as started towards the exit, the yearbook still clutched in his hands.
*~*~*~*
Harry awoke the next week to Ron's yells of excitement. Mumbling to himself that it was too early to be awake, Harry reluctantly sat up in his bed and grabbed his glasses from the bedside table.
"What's going on?" Harry asked as he gave Ron a questioning look.
"It's Christmas Harry! It's Christmas!" Ron exulted as he pulled the covers off of Harry's bed. "Let's go downstairs and open presents!"
Stifling an enormous yawn, Harry nodded stupidly and got out of bed, trying to ignore Ron's hooting and hollering as he ran out of the room and hurried into the girls' room to get them out of bed. Harry made his way into the family room that was located near the back of the Black House.
He entered the room and was surprised to see that just about everyone in the house was awake. Harry noticed that most of the Aurors (aside from Tonks) had left to be with their families on Christmas. Harry saw an extremely sleepy Romulus Lupin and his equally tired twin brother sitting on one of the old couches two large loads of presents in front of them. Mr. and Mrs. Weasly were sitting with the rest of their children at another couch. Somehow this couch was large enough to hold all nine members of the Weasly family. The only two that were missing were Ron, which was understandable since he was upstairs rousing the girls and. . .
"Say, where's Percy?" Harry asked. The truth was, the entire two weeks he was at the Black House he had seen neither hide nor hair of Percy Weasly.
"Oh, the Minister decided to invite him over for Christmas," Fred explained rolling his eyes, "But don't worry, George and I sent him a couple of self exploding Dungbombs."
"Fred!" Mrs. Weasly exclaimed loudly. She shook her head in disappointment before she turned to Ginny who had just appeared from her room, Hermione and Cassie in tow.
Hermione's parents were already in the room, both of them being interrogated by Mr. Weasly about muggle Christmas customs. Harry saw that Mr. and Mrs. Granger were growing uncomfortable with Mr. Weasly's questionings and Mrs. Weasly called her husband off with much scolding. Hermione made her way over to her parents and hugged each of them, wishing them both a Happy Christmas.
Cassie looked exhausted and judging by the look she threw Ron as she went to sit with her father and uncle, she was upset that he had waken her so early in the morning. "Come sit over here with us Harry," Mrs. Weasly ordered and the couch magically grew another cushion so Harry could sit down.
Soon the room was filled with the ripping of wrapping paper and a rather nasty off tune version of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' by some of the Christmas lights on the Christmas tree. Harry had received many presents this year. Hermione had given him a book on translating dreams and Ron had given him a gift certificate to Zonko's and Honeydukes for their next visit into Hogsmeade.
He looked over at Cassie who was opening a present from her father. Harry guessed that her father had given her a stack of books and his guesses were confirmed when Cassie opened the present and was met with a stack of eight books. Harry recognized that they were all Hogwarts yearbooks dating from 1971 to 1978, Remus Lupin's seven years at Hogwarts. There was a rather small and beaten up book on top of them all and Harry saw that there wasn't a title or a name of an author on top of the book. Harry heard Remus whisper something into Cassie's ear and she smiled and nodded.
"How is it that you knew I wanted exactly this?" Cassie asked suspiciously.
"Can't a father know what his own daughter wants?" Lupin asked with a smile before he patted her shoulder. Harry didn't notice it, but after Lupin had said this comment, Cassie was considerably more curt and refined with her father for the rest of the day.
Harry returned to his presents and found yet another Weasly sweater, some Weasly Wizard Wheezes from Fred and George, a book on the inter workings of Gringotts Wizard Bank from Bill Weasly, a handsome picture book on dragons from Charlie and a small model of a Firebolt broom from Ginny.
Five hours later, most of the presents had been opened and many of Harry's friends had gone into the kitchen to get ready for Christmas dinner. Harry was cleaning up his mess when his eyes landed on a small present addressed to him. Picking it up, Harry realized that it was from Cassie. He opened the package and saw that there was a small note attached to a box. Picking up the letter, Harry opened it and read it to himself.
Harry,
Just wanted to say thanks for lending an ear to all my problems. Anytime you need anything feel free to ask and I'll help you out! To tell you about your present: It's kind of a hoax thingamabobber but I believe it'll bring you a little extra bit of protection. I have a feeling you'll need it.
Cassie
Harry opened the box and saw that there was a sort of small amulet inside. The amulet was pure crystal and Harry could see through it. He noticed there was something inside and he lifted the little amulet out of the box and held it into the light. The light hit the amulet and the room erupted into millions of different colors. Harry looked at the crystal amulet and saw a shard of something red so dark it was almost black. His head hurting from looking at all the different colors, Harry pulled the amulet out of the light and inspected it while it was clutched in his hand. The shard was indeed a dark blood red and Harry thought it looked like a fragment of a jewel. Harry shrugged and reminded himself to thank Cassie for his gift.
After carting all of his presents upstairs into his room, Harry joined everyone down in the kitchen for an enormous Christmas dinner. Harry didn't realize it, but they had spent the entire day in the living room opening presents and talking about different things. Harry sat in between Ron and Hermione both of them ogling over an extremely handsome ostrich quill Hermione's parents had bought her for Christmas.
Dinner was soon underway and Harry had never tasted a better Christmas turkey in his entire life. "Have some more Harry," Mrs. Weasly encouraged as she used her wand to cut a piece of meat from the enormous turkey.
"I don't ever think I've seen a turkey that big," Harry muttered to Ron. And indeed the turkey was so big that Harry could hardly see Remus and his daughter over the top.
"Mum put an Engorgement Charm on the turkey," Ron explained as he took a bite of mashed potatoes looking at the turkey as if it were no big deal. "You should have seen it a couple years ago when Bill and Charlie had some friends and their families over for Christmas. The turkey took up the whole parlor and that's the biggest room in the Burrow," Ron explained before he sighed sadly, "I miss it terribly."
Harry nodded in understanding. True to their word, the Weasly had not stepped foot in their beloved home since August for fear of an ambush or attack from Voldemort's forces. Even Hermione's parents were forced from their straight-forward non-magical world and were compelled into the world of wizards and witches. The two muggles seemed to have been adapting well though, clapping in delight as Tonks turned her hair into a bright red and green color.
"Aren't you going to try some of the mashed potatoes Cassie? I know they're your favorite," Remus Lupin asked his daughter. Harry stretched up to look over the gigantic turkey just in time to see Cassie give her father a sickly sweet smile as she reached for the potatoes. 'That's odd,' Harry thought to himself as Cassie dumped the potatoes on her plate giving her father a scornful look.
Dinner continued on and soon the turkey was cleared away and everyone was leaning back in their seats; all of them completely stuffed from a stupendous dinner provided by Mrs. Weasly. Fred and George brought out butterbeer and Tonks hurried into another room to pull out brandy and other beverages for the adults.
Soon everyone was in good cheer and laughter filled the room as Mr. Weasly finished telling a joke about a banshee, a manticore and a rather stubborn sorcerer. The table erupted into laughter and Ron shook his head, a monstrous grin on his face, "Dad's told that joke about a million times," Ron explained to Harry before he gave a polite laugh. Mr. Weasly grinned and took another sip of his brandy.
Ron soon got into a deep conversation with Cassie who seemed to be having the worst time of all. She rarely took sips of her butterbeer and she seemed to be ignoring everyone who tried to talk to her. It was only Ron's complete stubbornness that kept Cassie interested in the conversation.
"But really, Snape is. . ." Cassie started but Ron looked up and grinned.
". . . A brainless git!"
". . . A brainless git!" the two said at the exact same moment. Romulus gave Cassie a rather scolding look and Cassie looked at Ron as if he had said something completely vulgar. The smile disappeared from her face and she withdrew herself from all conversation for the rest of the night.
Once the dishes were cleared away everyone sauntered up the stairs to their bedrooms all of them wearing tired yet happy expressions on their face. And as Harry got into his bed he couldn't help but think that it would have been one of the best Christmases he had ever had. If only Sirius had been there to enjoy it with him.
*~*~*~*
The next few days flew by rapidly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione finished the rest of their schoolwork the day before New Year's Eve and they had the rest of the day to themselves. The trio was just leaving the Black Library when Ginny hurried up to them a shocked look on her face.
"Did you know it was Cassie's birthday today?" she questioned staring the three down.
"Hold on," Harry said holding his hands up to stop the youngest Weasly from speaking, "her birthday's today?"
Ginny nodded, "I heard her and her dad talking about it downstairs in the parlor. He asked if she wanted to go get her Apparation/Disapparation license today."
"We didn't know. Wow we didn't even get her a birthday present," Ron muttered. Harry looked at Hermione who shrugged her shoulders. Apparently she didn't know that today was Cassie's seventeenth birthday either.
"Not today!" they heard someone snap from downstairs. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all hurried over to the banister that overlooked the bottom story just in time to see Cassie turn away from her father and headed up the stairs. She had an angry yet determined expression on her face. She didn't notice Harry or his friends standing there and she walked right past them and hurried into the depths of the house. Harry could hear a door slam a moment later.
He looked down at Remus who was shaking his head in discourage before he headed down into the kitchen. "That was a bit weird," Ron commented before he grabbed Harry and Hermione's arms and led them into Ron and Harry's room. "Go away Ginny."
"Gee, thanks Ron," Ginny said rolling her eyes before she headed downstairs, probably to the kitchen.
Once they were alone, Ron turned to Harry an accusing expression on his face, "You had another dream last night didn't you?"
Harry looked at his best friend in shock. He didn't know how Ron could have figured out about Harry's recurring dreams. Hermione looked at Harry expectantly and he could tell that she was waiting for Harry to disregard Ron's accusations because more dreams meant more possibilities of the Black Diamond being found, or Voldemort plotting Harry's demise.
But the truth was, Harry was starting to have dreams about Voldemort again. They weren't as vivid as they were at the beginning of the year but they were growing stronger. Harry already knew that the Dark Lord or his minions had not made a move on the house outside of Liverpool that supposedly had the Black Diamond and Harry was grateful for that.
"Yea I did," Harry said softly. Hermione gasped and Ron nodded. "How did you know?"
"It was kind of hard not to notice. You were mumbling about that stupid Diamond and death eaters and just about everything else. You. . .you were yelling about Sirius too, Harry," Ron explained.
Harry felt the bottom of his stomach drop out from under him. No one was supposed to know about those dreams. He hadn't told anyone about his recurring dreams of what happened at the Department of Mysteries almost a year ago. Harry hadn't discussed with anyone about watching his godfather fall. . .Maybe it was being back in the house again, maybe it was all the memories of Sirius that were flooding back to Harry that made him start to have those dreams again. Harry didn't know.
"Oh, Harry," Hermione whispered in a sympathetic voice. She had no idea, neither did Ron. They had no idea what it was like to lose someone that you considered a father figure. No idea what it was like to lose parents. They didn't understand what it was like, not having parents. What it was like not having a family to sit down with and open presents with. They could never understand. Never.
"Forget it. Just forget about it okay?" Harry asked his voice rising. He saw Ron and Hermione recoil for a moment. Both of them knew his godfather's death was still a touchy subject for him. "Can we just go downstairs and not talk about all this?"
Ron and Hermione nodded submissively before they all turned and headed towards the kitchen. When they got there, Mrs. Weasly was making an enormous birthday cake that was decorated with the Gryffindor colors of red and gold. Harry saw the top of the cake read, 'Happy Birthday Cassie!' in big bold letters that sparkled and moved around the cake. Harry saw that Tonks was creating large balloons that sang 'Happy Birthday' in perfect harmony. One of them exploded in her face with as shriek and Harry saw that Tonks' hair had turned white.
For the next few hours Harry watched Hermione and Ron bustle around the kitchen trying to prepare things for what seemed like Cassie's birthday celebration. But Harry's mind was on other things.
He kept thinking back to his dreams of watching Sirius fall through the veil, the laughter frozen on his face, a look of surprise coming over him. He was probably with his parents now, somewhere beyond that veil. His father had his wife and best friend with him now and Harry had no one to call a parent. 'I hope you're happy now dad. You took away the only person who was the closest thing I had to a father,' Harry thought bitterly as he wrapped his arms around his chest. The balloons were singing in loud voices and Ron, Fred, and George were using Silly Snakes to attack Hermione and Ginny. Mrs. Weasly was yelling at her three sons and Ginny and Hermione were cowering behind the giant balloons who had now changed their tone of singing from utterly happy, to that of utter despair. Harry couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't think, couldn't concentrate with all the racket going on in the kitchen. He had to get out.
Harry left the kitchen and headed upstairs. He walked down one of the second floor corridors and he entered the drawing room trying to get a few moments of peace and quiet. He couldn't stand to be in the house anymore. Not when there were memories of last year flooding around him like a surging wave of grief. He turned around slowly, rubbing his forehead with his hand shaking his head sadly.
A throat clearing made Harry look up in surprise, he looked around the room, his eyes finally landing on the large tapestry that held the family tree of the Black Family. Cassie was standing in front of the hanging looking at it with utmost interest and yet, an unmistakable trace of sadness.
She let her fingers trail against the old cloth, resting on the name of Mrs. Black. Harry watched as she went down the line and pressed her finger against Sirius' younger brother's name. Harry heard her sigh loudly before she let her finger rest against the spot where Sirius' name should have been. Harry remembered that his godfather had been blasted off the Black Family tapestry because he ran away from home, turning away from the Dark Side.
Harry took a step back in uncertainty when he heard Cassie cry out in sadness bowing her head, the tears falling from her face and onto her shoes. She shook her head and looked back up as her fingers traced along below Regulus' name and Harry saw that her tears became more abundant.
Sure Harry had seen Cassie cry, but never like this. He had never heard such heart wrenching sobs coming from another person in his life. She let her hand drop to her side and she looked back up at the heading of the tapestry, shaking her head again, wiping away her tears with a stray hand.
Harry took a step towards the girl, hoping he could comfort her, if even a little bit. He was about to tap her shoulder when he heard her take a sharp intake of breath. "Go away, Harry."
"Are you alright? Is there anything I can do?" Harry asked concern edging around his voice.
"Just go away," she repeated not turning around and Harry could see her shaking.
"You better get back downstairs, your birthday dinner is about to start," Harry advised. When Cassie didn't budge he tried another alternative, "We could talk about it Cassie, I think I'll be able to understand," Harry explained hoping she would talk to him.
Harry stepped back in shock as Cassie whirled around her face masked in an unrecognizable façade of anger. Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she hadn't slept in a few days and they were puffy, as if she had been crying a lot. "I don't think you'll be able to understand. You couldn't understand!" she said in a dangerous whisper.
"Try me."
"You think you know me don't you Harry? You think you've got me all figured out?" Cassie asked her voice rising as she moved her face into Harry's. "There are things about me that would make you not want to be my friend. You wouldn't want to know me at all if you knew."
"Then why don't you tell me? I'm sure I'd understand!" Harry asked. Everything was too much for him at the moment. The memories of his dead godfather, his dead parents, thoughts of Voldemort creeping back into his mind, and now this, Cassie yelling at him almost telling him he knew nothing. The wall blocking his temper was slowly fading away and he could tell that if he didn't get out of that room, he would explode.
"Do you have to know everything?" Cassie questioned hands positioned on her hips. "I can't tell you! Just go away and leave me alone!"
"There's something going on, I know there is, why don't you just tell me? Don't you trust me?" Harry demanded the rage was boiling inside him now he wanted to hit something. He hadn't been this mad since that night in Dumbledore's office.
"No I don't trust you! Just leave me alone!"
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on!" Harry didn't realize it but they were now in a full fledge screaming row. Cassie turned around and put her hands to her face, screaming in frustration. She turned around again, a scowl on her face, her blue eyes a fire of rage.
"NO!" Cassie screamed shaking her head frantically.
"You think you're so cool Cassie, don't you? The girl who shows up and takes Hogwarts by storm! You think you're God's gift to everyone, acting like you own the Quidditch pitch and everything else in that ruddy castle! But you're just a scared little girl who doesn't even know who she is! You push everyone away when they get too close don't you? You even pushed your own father away because he was starting to get under your skin, to figure out how you really work! That's what you're doing right now! You started to ignore Hermione when she started to figure out your parentage but then forgave her because she was wrong! You're pushing all three of us away now because we're starting to figure you out! Just give it up!" Harry screamed. He could hear people murmuring from the doorway and he glanced over to the door and saw that Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were looking at them; all three of them had stunned expressions plastered on their faces.
Harry could tell he had struck a nerve because Cassie had recoiled before she countered and gave Harry a small push. "So you want to play that game don't you? What about you Harry Potter huh? What about you? You sit around all day and complain that nobody understands you. You think that no one cares about you. That it's only Harry Potter. You have no idea how many people care about you. How many people there are that have sacrificed themselves for you. Look at your mother! Your mother died trying to save you so did your father. But you're so caught up in yourself that you don't realize how much they loved you! I would kill to have parents like that even if they are dead! Just to have the thought that they died trying to save me. . . I wouldn't care if they weren't there for me, at least they cared! But you sit there, and you portray yourself as a hero! You sit there and let people assume that you are the real hero but you aren't! You got lucky all those times you faced off with Voldemort! Your parents are the real heroes Harry, not you. Oh but there is one more person I forgot to mention. The one person who gave his life for you because of your stupid mistake? What about Sirius, Harry?" Cassie asked with a sneer.
"DON'T YOU DARE DRAG HIM INTO THIS!" Harry bellowed as he returned Cassie's push. Harry heard Hermione gasp out loud as Cassie looked at Harry with an extreme amount of rage.
"Sirius died trying to save you from Voldemort and it got the better of him in the end didn't it? He went off and got himself killed because you had to play the hero! It was entirely your fault! It's because of you that my father is without his best friend and it's your own fault for playing the hero which resulted in your precious godfather's death. But he deserved what he got he deserved it. . ." Cassie said in a quiet whisper.
Harry couldn't take it anymore, the rage building up inside him finally exploded like a ton of fireworks. He let out a yell before he tackled Cassie to the ground; anger and fury were the only emotions he could feel as he punched the squirming girl in the eye.
Hermione was screaming in panic and Harry could feel two pairs of arms grab his, pulling him off the sixteen year old. Harry looked around and saws that Ron and Ginny were holding him back, Cassie rising to her feet. "Get off Ron!" Harry yelled fighting against the two Weaslys. "You heard what she said! You heard what she said!" Harry repeated over and over again.
Harry finally settled down enough to see Cassie shaking her head in disgust as she left the room. "I never want to speak to you again!" Harry yelled out after her. A few short moments later, Ron and Ginny had let him go, Mrs. Weasly and Remus Lupin hurrying into the room.
"What happened? We could hear Hermione screaming," Mrs. Weasly asked looking around the room to find the source of Hermione's panic.
"It was nothing." Harry said as he tried to tidy up his hair, placing his glasses back in place.
"Nothing?" Lupin asked eyeing him suspiciously and then looking out into the hallway. Harry could hear a door slam far off in the house.
"Nothing," Harry repeated before he walked out of the room and headed towards the bedroom he shared with Ron, the rage finally settling down. He thought he could hear someone far away laugh in a sinister way before Harry slammed the bedroom door shut, the laughter abruptly cut off.