Chapter 17

Dinner and a Movie

Although he would not have admitted it to Cassie for the world, Harry was a little bit nervous about what he would be served for dinner tonight. His only experience in the past with "eating healthy" had been when Dudley was on a diet and Petunia's idea of supporting his dieting was to make everyone in the family starve. Harry had been expected to survive on quarter grapefruits, carrot sticks, small bits of cottage cheese, etc for a whole summer. He probably would have died, he had thought at the time, if it had not been for his friends sending him care packages of sweets. Looking at the table tonight, though, he felt reassured. There was a great deal of food on the table and no grapefruit or cottage cheese seemed to be on the menu. He stood hesitantly just inside the door of the dining room, unsure of where he should sit. John bounded directly to a chair and called out to him, "Come on, Harry, come sit by me. Here! Here!" He was shaking the chair next to him with excitement. Harry walked over to it, unsure if someone would protest his sitting there. No one did, so he sat down, looking up to find Cassie heading over to the chair on his other side. But before she could actually sit, Matthew slid under her arm and planted himself on the seat, grabbed a slice of bread, and began eating with gusto. Harry stared at him in surprise. Cassie was looking equally shocked and unsure of quite what to say. Matthew just concentrated on eating. A moment later, Mr. Robinson looked up and noticed Matthew.

"Matthew, get out of that chair."

"Why?" His look of studied innocence convinced Harry that this was a plot to embarrass his sister rather than an oversight.

"Harry is Cassie's guest, Matthew. She would like to sit by him."

"I thought she said that he was just a friend, just someone who she thought should not be alone all the time. Just earlier, she said . . ." Cassie's hands immediately covered his mouth before he could get out one more word and Harry thought to himself that he would very much like to know what she had said just earlier.

"Matthew." There was a definite warning tone in Mr. Robinson's voice.

Matthew forced Cassie's hands away from his mouth but apparently knew better than to continue his earlier sentence."What? Is he her boyfriend?" The last word was drawled out as if implying that the whole concept of his sister actually having a boyfriend was ridiculous. Harry saw Cassie out of the corner of his eye, but did not turn to look at her. Her color was very high and her eyes were bright, like she was not sure whether she wanted to scream in anger or run away in embarrassment. Harry felt terribly bad for her although he thought the whole situation was rather funny than humiliating.

"Get up and out of that chair, or you will be having no dinner tonight at all." His voice was firm, and Matthew apparently decided that the invisible line had been reached. He got up, pretending disappointment, and sat at the last available chair, across the table from Harry. Cassie sat down and her hands were shaking as she unfolded her napkin onto her lap. She was biting her lower lip. She looked up from her hands and gave him a sort of half-smile. He smiled back at her, hoping that it would reassure her that he wasn't mad at all and that he understood how it was with siblings. He had seen enough good-natured teasing among all the Weasleys to not be too surprised at Matthew's behavior.

Harry felt like it was up to him to break the rather uncomfortable silence that had descended around the table. Cassie's mum was still in the kitchen dishing up the rest of dinner, he imagined, and no one else seemed to quite know what to say. He cleared his throat and said, "I've never had little brothers to fight with or play with, so maybe after dinner, the two of you and I can do something fun." John squealed in enthusiasm, immediately launching into a recitation of the video games they had available and his high scores and Harry looked over at Cassie. She was still quite red in the face although her shoulders had relaxed a little bit. Harry reached for her hand, prying her clenched fingers from around her napkin. He squeezed her fingers a little bit and mouthed, "It's all right." She smiled a little grateful smile at him. Just then, Mrs. Robinson entered with a big platter of food and the tense atmosphere broke completely as everyone started helping themselves to the food.

The food was fantastic, some sort of chicken dish with spinach, brown rice, and a huge bowl of salad. He had taken three bites of the chicken and tried the rice when the questions started. He tried to relax. He had expected it.

"So, Harry. Tell us a little bit about yourself." Well, that was vague. Harry swallowed the rice he had been chewing and concentrated on the answers he had prepared earlier.

"I'm sure Cassie told you that my parents were killed when I was a baby . . . . So, I've got one more year of school and then I guess I'll concentrate on finding a job." The tale had been fairly easy to tell, really. He had not lied about anything, just tried to give generalizations and leave out details that were too specific. He ate the remainder of the chicken on his plate and was in the process of getting another piece when the second question was sent his direction.

"Where do you go to school?" He had thought earlier about saying Smeltings, at least it was a real boarding school. But the thought of their thinking for even a moment that he had ever gone to such a horrid place had dissuaded him from that course.

"It's a small private school that I am sure you would never have heard about."

"Around London somewhere?"

"Uh, no, actually. It's up north, in Scotland, northern Scotland." Mr. Robinson and even Cassie looked a little surprised at this. Harry understood that and could respect their slight confusion.

"Well, then why are you here? In London, I mean." Cassie asked him quietly and Harry dared to hope for a second that she looked a little crestfallen. Maybe she had hoped that they could see . . . but then Mrs. Robinson weighed in with a comment.

"Cassie told us that you took an astronomy class in school." Harry was grateful for her interruption and the chance to change the subject. He seized on it with enthusiasm. "Oh, yes. It's really a great class. Of course, it's fairly difficult learning to track all the stars and planets and things. It was three years before I could consistently find Neptune. I always got it confused with . . ." Harry's voice trailed off into silence. Both Cassie and her mum were looking at him strangely although her dad was busy talking to John and hadn't heard his statement, apparently. Harry had to think carefully over what he had said that had caused those expressions. He suddenly realized. He had said that he had taken astronomy for at least three years. That probably hadn't been the most intelligent thing to admit. He thought for a second over what he could say to cover for that mistake but had not settled on anything when Mrs. Robinson again spoke up to change the subject.

"I've always loved the stars. I'm sure Cassie told you that she has never forgiven me for naming her . . ."

"Mother." Cassie interrupted. "Harry says he knows lots of people named after stars and things. So, he doesn't think my name is weird at all. He likes it." She met his gaze fully, lifting her chin a little as if daring him to take back those things he had said yesterday at the pool.

"I do like it, Mrs. Robinson. I think it's a beautiful name." J

ohn started chanting a little rhyme about "Pia, pia, she's a pain, . . ." but was shushed immediately by a stern look from his mother and he put a piece of lettuce in his mouth with a bored look.

There was a comfortable silence again around the table as they kept eating their dinner. Small talk rose to fill the void and Harry listened and made the occasional comment. Harry had moved onto his third piece of chicken when Mr. Robinson asked a question that Harry had not prepared for, and he was grateful that he had a few moments' grace as he chewed and swallowed.

"You mentioned getting a job after you were done with school. What exactly do you want to do with your life?"

Harry actually wanted to be an Auror, a dark wizard hunter, and was taking the N.E.W.T. classes that would allow him to do that. He could not, however, say that tonight. "Um, well. I'm kind of thinking about law enforcement." That was true, he thought, they would just assume something else.

"You mean like being a lawyer?" Harry realized that the subject was not going to be dropped that easily. "Or the police?"

"No, I'm thinking . . . Well, more like a detective, I guess. You know, tracking down bad guys."

"Would you work for the government, then?" Harry was not quite sure what to say to this question. He did not want to make another misstatement.

"Well, that's an option. I'd have to go for more schooling, of course . . ." Harry hoped that this vague answer would satisfy. It seemed to answer Mr. Robinson's question, but Matthew had leapt onto his last answer with more enthusiasm than he had shown since he had been banished to his seat across the table.

"You could be a spy, Harry! A spy like 007! Like Bond! Ooooh, that would be so cool! Think of all the neat little gadgets you could use! Man, I'd love that." Everyone was smiling and nodding at that comment although Harry was not exactly sure what he was talking about. Harry nodded, too, like he had some idea what Matthew had meant.

"Yeah, maybe."

Cassie explained. "He went a couple days ago to see the new Bond movie. He can't stop talking about it, now. Have you had a chance to see it yet?" Harry was completely out of his depth with this conversation. He did recognize the word movie, though.

"No, haven't had a chance."

"I hear it's very good." Cassie was staring determinedly at her plate and Harry wondered what was bothering her. She had been her usual animated self through most of the meal, although he could tell she was embarrassed when her parents were questioning him, like somehow she had subjected him to this torture. But now she seemed anxious for something, like she was waiting . . . Suddenly, Harry remembered a conversation he had had with Cho Chang in the winter of his fifth year. She had mentioned about an upcoming Hogsmeade weekend and Harry had thought it was strictly for informational purposes. It had taken Harry a little while to realize that she was hoping he would ask her to go with him. This was exactly the same pattern. Did girls read books to learn this stuff or what?

"I'm sure it is. Would you like to go see it together?" He felt like a bit of a fool asking her out in front of her whole family, but she smiled her dazzling smile and accepted and all those feelings were swept away in the flood of pleasure that she had just agreed to go out on a date with him. An actual date.

His feelings of euphoria only lasted a second, though, because she immediately said, "Maybe we could go tonight after dinner." It wasn't that he minded going with her, not at all. It was just that he was hoping he could figure out a little more about movies in general and what one did with a girl at one and something about this Bond, and well, everything. If they went tonight, he'd have no time to get ready. No reprieve was forthcoming; however. Even John's disappointed cries that Harry had promised to play with them did not do it. Apparently, going to see the newest "Bond movie" with Cassie was thought by one and all to be a very fun way for Harry to spend an evening and both parents were not going to let anything interfere.

While Mr. and Mrs. Robinson tidied up the kitchen, they insisted that the boys as well as Harry and Cassie go into the living room. Harry sat down on the couch and John climbed all over him, yammering loudly about some television show. Harry listened carefully but did not really understand what he was talking about. Matthew had left the room and came back a few minutes later carrying some drawings that he had made that he wanted Harry to see. Harry liked having the kids around, but really wanted to talk to Cassie privately for a minute.

Harry knew that he would have to do something about getting them to the movie but he really was at a loss about quite what to do. The boys had moved on to showing him their various toys while John was insisting that he play a video game but Cassie slipped out of the room and Harry was not sure what to do. He wanted to follow her, but didn't want to embarrass her if she had gone into her bedroom or something. She came out a minute later smiling with what looked like the day's newspaper in her hand. "Let's decide what movie we want to see, all right?" Harry was kind of surprised at that. He thought that had already been decided.

She sat down next to him on the couch, and opened the paper to a page full of advertisements about movies. Harry recognized a few of the names from advertisements he had seen on television. Then, to his surprise, she leaned against his shoulder and held up the paper. "I think the 8:15, what do you think? That's a great theater and we can get there easily on the tube."

Harry tried to get his voice to work, but the feel of her leaning against him was rather distracting. "Um, yes. That sounds good." He leaned a little closer to her ear. He really did have to ask her something.

"Cassie. I haven't been to a movie for a long time. Do you think 45 pounds will be enough for everything?" He only had that much money with him because it was left over from his shopping trip earlier that afternoon.

She laughed quietly and leaned back against him a little more. "It should be okay. As long as I don't make you buy me a large popcorn." She hopped up and walked into the kitchen to tell her parents and Harry was left sitting there, thinking that he would be perfectly content just to sit on this couch all evening with her as long as she leaned against him like that.