Chapter 24

Pizza and a Problem

Harry's stomach growled as he stepped up onto the Robinson's porch and he grimaced. He hadn't eaten breakfast this morning because he had been in a big hurry. He had awakened early and went directly to the Laundromat to do much-needed laundry. On the way there he had dropped his hurriedly scribbled letter into the post box. In fact, he had written and folded the short note so quickly he was afraid the ink had not properly dried and would smudge. He hoped that Dumbledore could read it, or at least figure out that Harry was still alive and well.

Harry stopped for a second before he rang the bell and swallowed hard. He had been thinking of nothing except this moment since last night as he had walked back to his house. He had played over and over in his mind how it had felt and how she had looked when they had kissed - the look of happiness in Cassie's eyes afterward. He had gone to sleep with the taste of her kiss on his lips.

But with the cold light of morning, he was not so sure he was remembering it right. He had enjoyed kissing her, that he knew for sure, but now he was wondering if she was still happy about being kissed or if she had reconsidered And if she was still happy, would she expect him to greet her with a kiss on the lips, or on the cheek, or just a hug? He was still debating this issue in his mind when the door opened and he looked into Cassie's pretty face and sparkling eyes. She reached out and he instinctively took her into a hug. He decided that he definitely wanted to kiss her again and he bent forward to do just that.

It was then Harry noticed Mrs. Robinson standing in the background watching. The boys were staring at them, Matthew with a rather goofy smile on his face. Harry all of a sudden felt very self-conscious. He began to redden a little so he turned his head quickly and gave Cassie a quick peck on the cheek instead. She looked at him with an expression of surprise. Then she remembered they had an audience and she giggled a little, obviously also a little self-conscious.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked as she took his hand and led him into the house, where he was promptly set upon by her brothers, pestering him to come play with them.

"No, not quite." She didn't explain further and she disappeared into the back, presumably to her bedroom. Harry thought she looked fantastic as usual, but he didn't protest. He had been on enough dates to know criticizing or complementing a girl's appearance at a bad moment could cause a major trauma. She didn't reappear for quite a while, and Harry had time to lose badly to Matthew in the same video game they had played the night before even though John tried to help him as much as possible. When she finally did emerge, Harry did not comment that she looked the same as before. Again, experience had taught him the mistake that could be. She was wearing a nice pair of jeans that emphasized her slim figure as well as a light pink T-shirt with small white flowers scattered all over it. She grabbed a white woven bag, slipped it over her shoulder, and came over to him. "I'm ready."

"Great. Well, I guess we should go." Harry and Cassie had just reached the front door when her mum said "All right, you two. Have a fun time. And be good."

Once they were on the street, Harry turned to Cassie and asked, "What did your mum mean when she said to be good? I sounds like she was, um, well . . . thinking we wouldn't be."

Cassie blushed a little and said, "Well, she knows we were kissing last night and she just doesn't want us to get carried away."

Harry turned even redder than before and thought to himself that going to a boarding school had its advantages. Parents knowing exactly what you were doing on dates was not something he was used to having to deal with. He mumbled something to Cassie about, "She isn't mad at us, is she?" Cassie turned to him, laughing, and said, "Oh no, she isn't mad. She likes you. She knows I like you. She just wants us to be careful."

Harry took Cassie's hand and half turned around, wondering if Mrs. Robinson or the boys were looking out the window. They were not and he sighed a little in relief. They walked for a few moments in silence. All of sudden Harry realized he didn't have the slightest idea where they were going. He stopped and Cassie looked at him in surprise.

"Do we have any idea where we are going to eat?" Harry asked. He was seriously thinking that he might pass out from starvation if he didn't eat in the next few minutes.

"There are several places to eat another block or so this direction. Besides, there's an electronics store near here where we can pick up the VCR."

"That's great," Harry said, and they continued in contented silence until Cassie asked, "Do you like pizza? They have a great pizza parlor here."

"Yeah, I do like pizza a lot. But I haven't had it for years. Sounds fantastic."

"Good, why don't we go there?" A few minutes later they were sitting at a cozy booth and, although Harry would have liked to be closer to Cassie, he contented himself with smiling at her over the table. "So, what do you want on it?" she asked as they both looked at the menu. Harry was not particularly fussy about any food, and right at this moment he just wanted something quickly.

"I don't care. Whatever you usually get." When the waitress arrived a few seconds later, Cassie ordered.

"We'll take a large vegetarian and I'll have iced . . ."

Harry cut her off mid-sentence. "Wait. Wait. What did you just order? Did you say vegetarian?"

"Yeah."

"I'm starving. I need something more substantial than vegetables."

"It's good pizza. You told me to get what I usually order." Cassie's voice was a little indignant.

"I didn't know that you could even get lettuce on pizza."

"There's no lettuce on it. That would be gross. There's good stuff on it, just not meat."

"I like sausage and pepperoni - you know, the usual pizza stuff." He turned to the waitress, who was standing patiently, looking faintly amused at their discussion. "Is it possible to get one pizza with half one set of toppings and half another?"

"Of course. Or you could just get two different . . ."

"Yeah, okay. Let's do that. She'll have a small vegetarian thing and I'll have a small, um, let's see." He quickly surveyed the list of available toppings. "I'll have pepperoni and sausage and olives and mushrooms and extra cheese, please."

"I'd also like iced tea, please." Cassie spoke from across the table.

"Make that two of those." Harry had a distinct recollection of once liking iced tea although it had been a while. He wondered why it wasn't offered more at Hogwarts. The waitress left and Harry smiled across the table at Cassie. "There. That solved that problem, huh?" Cassie rolled her eyes, laughing.

"Yeah. Sorry about not asking first before I ordered. I guess it will take a little while to convert you to more healthy eating." A moment later, the waitress saved Harry from having to respond to that by bringing their iced tea and Harry sipped it quietly for a second. "I haven't had iced tea for ages. This is really good."

Cassie looked at him with a strange sort of expression. "That is about the fourth thing that you like that you said you haven't had for a long time. You haven't had pizza for years, you said. You haven't had fish and chips for a very long time. You haven't had iced tea for ages and I think you even said it had been a long time since you had had popcorn. Do you ever eat anything? What sort of food do they feed you at that school of yours anyway?"

Harry blinked owlishly across the table at her. He had said all those things, he remembered, but at Hogwarts he never felt deprived. Actually the opposite. He cleared his throat.

"Well, we eat a lot of food, it's just, um, well. . . . I guess you could say it's traditional English food."

"Is there something more traditional than fish and chips?"

"No. I mean . . . ." Harry tried hard to think about what they actually did eat at school. The tables were always full. "We have a lot of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, shepherd's pie, steak and kidney pie, sausages, bacon, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, fried potatoes - well, a lot of potatoes. We also have the usual vegetables and desserts. I've never been hungry there."

"Oh. It all sounds very heavy."

Harry laughed, more of a snort really, at that comment. "You sound like Fleur. Zeee foood, eet ees all so 'eavy." He imitated her French accent fairly well, he thought to himself. He was spared having to explain this further by the arrival of their pizzas. He was on his second piece by the time Cassie finished her first. She had not forgotten his off-hand comment, and Harry regretted saying it.

"Who's the French girl?"

"Uh, Fleur?"

"I think that's what you said her name was."

"She was from France. This was fourth year. She came and she constantly complained about, well, about everything, really. I don't think she liked our school much."

"Hmmm. Was she pretty?"

"Yeah. She was really pretty. She had silvery blonde hair . . ." Harry cut off. He somehow didn't think that was the desired response to the question. He quickly amended. "Of course, she was three years older than I was and she called me 'leetle boy.'"

This seemed to lessen the tension a little bit, and Cassie started into her second piece of pizza. Harry had to admit that hers really didn't look bad. It had stuff he recognized for the most part, although he noticed what he thought were artichoke hearts and spinach leaves on there and was glad he had insisted on a normal combination.

She asked another question to change the subject from the unknown French girl and Harry was relieved he did not have to explain more. Her next question, then, caught him off guard. "So, if they don't give you iced tea to drink, what do you normally have with meals? Soda?"

"No. Pumpkin juice." Oops. Double oops. Shouldn't have said that.

"Yuuuck!" exclaimed Cassie, "Pumpkin juice? That sounds horrible. I've never heard of pumpkin juice before."

Uh oh, thought Harry, how do I explain this one? "Well, uh, pumpkin juice is a real favorite at our school. I think it is, um, exclusive to it. You know, they invented it and it's kind of traditional and everything. It's actually fairly good, cold. . . ."

"Well, it just sounds foul as foul could be."

"I guess I can see your point." They ate happily in silence for a while after that, and Harry even finished Cassie's last piece of pizza when she declared she was full. It wasn't terrible, although Harry had a big long drink of iced tea afterwards to wash the taste out of his mouth.

They paid the bill and made their way to the electronics store. They admired all of the televisions, radios, stereos, computers, and numerous other electrical gadgets, some of which Harry had never heard of before. They all looked very sophisticated and interesting.

"Mr. Weasley would love this place," Harry mused out loud.

"Who's Mr. Weasley?" Cassie asked.

"Oh, that's my friend Ron's dad," Harry explained, kicking himself mentally because Weasley was such a different name and he tried not to mention stuff that could identify anyone specific in his life. He continued, "Mr. Weasley really likes electronic things." Harry smiled to himself about Mr. Weasley's plug and battery collections.

"What male doesn't?" Cassie said with a laugh. Harry didn't really care much about electronics but didn't want to disappoint her, so he said nothing in response. They made their way to the VCRs and Harry found a nice one that was not too much money. He had decided the day before that he would be giving it to Cassie when he left and actually being here picking it out made him remember how little time he really had left with her. He didn't know how he would get along without her when that time came. He already missed her.

"You're all of a sudden very quiet," Cassie said. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, not at all," Harry lied, pushing the unpleasant and unwanted thought out of his mind and refocusing on the pretty girl at his side helping him to buy a VCR. He should enjoy the time he had with her, however long it was.

"Good," Cassie said, sounding a little relieved. "You're sure that you still want to do this?"

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"I just don't want to you to feel that I bullied you into it."

"You, bully me? Don't worry. I've been bullied by a lot worse than you. I can stand up for myself."

"That's true, I guess. You seem really quiet but when you want to, you can definitely have your way - look at the pizza incident!" A few minutes later, they were standing in line at the counter and before long, Harry had paid for and was the proud owner of his first piece of electronic gadgetry. Cassie had also grabbed a video of a cartoon as they were leaving the store so he could make sure the VCR worked once it got hooked up.

They left the store and stood on the sidewalk outside. Harry was not sure what they were going to do next. The VCR was heavy and he wasn't sure how he was going to carry it around with them the rest of the afternoon.

They stood there for a moment. Cassie asked, "Now, do you know how to set up a VCR?"

"Oh sure," Harry responded, "I know how to plug it in to the wall."

Well, that's fine. That's certainly an important first step." said Cassie, and Harry could have sworn that she was laughing behind the words. "But I meant do you know how to hook it up to the TV and make sure everything is attached properly?"

Harry had a puzzled look on his face and asked, "You mean it hooks up to the TV also? I never paid attention at my aunt's house, I guess." Harry had a few dark thoughts go through his mind about the Dursleys and Dudley's possessiveness with his VCR, TV, computer and other toys.

Cassie gave Harry a bemused look and said, "I guess I better come with you to your place and help you set up the VCR."

A lightning bolt of sheer panic struck Harry with those words. Cassie's going to his place was, of course, out of the question. How would he ever explain the Fidelius charm to her - that is if he could even get her into the house? No. There was absolutely no way she could come to his house.

"Oh, . . . no, thanks," Harry said a little too hastily, "I can figure out how to hook it up. I'm sure there are instructions with it. You really don't need to come over."

"Have you ever tried to read a manual like that? I swear they're written in some foreign language or something! Anyway, I told my mum I wouldn't be home until later this afternoon so we have plenty of time to go over to your place and I'll just hook it up for you. It won't take long. I set up ours at home so I know what I'm doing."

"No, you really can't come," Harry said. He remembered what they had just talked about in the store. He could stand up for himself if he really wanted to. Now, he really needed to.

Cassie had a puzzled and, perhaps a bit hurt, look on her face. She said a little hesitantly, "It really will be okay, Harry. I'll only hook up the VCR for you. We don't need to stay long."

"It's not that I don't want you there, Cassie. It's just . . . Well, it's just really complicated." Cassie bit her lip. "You promised that you wouldn't ask too many questions, Cassie."

"I'm not asking questions. I just want to see . . . I mean, I want to help you with this. If you've never done this, I promise you won't be able to do it yourself. Why won't you let me come over?"

Harry realized that he had hurt Cassie's feelings. That was the last thing he wanted to do. His mind was racing a hundred miles an hour as he thought over and over what to do and how to get out of this sticky situation. He could not think of anything that would not end up hurting or embarrassing Cassie. He tried again. "I really . . . Well, I . . . Look, Cassie you really cannot come over to my house. Maybe you can show me at your house and write down some instructions or something." Harry grabbed at that idea like a lifeline. That would certainly work.

"That won't do at all. Every television is different, Harry. What works on ours may not work at all on yours. I'm trying to understand what is going on at your house that I cannot see."

"Nothing's going on, Cassie, honestly. I'd love for you to come. It's just not possible." He tried to sound firm, putting an end to any debate. However, she would not give in and Harry realized that he had two choices. He didn't like either option. He tried the least horrible. "I'll take it home tonight and if I can't get it to work, I'll call you and you can help me over the phone. I'll read the instructions and you can interpret them or tell me what to do or whatever."

That was a mistake. Her eyes flashed. "You said you don't even have a phone. And trust me when I tell you that is not going to work."

Harry realized that he only had one way now of not having her come to his house and that was simply to say no and walk away, leaving her there. The panic that was causing his stomach to do great somersaults told him that this might be the wiser choice. But he could not bring himself to do that. If he still wanted to see her, he was going to have to at least attempt to have her come to the house. If it didn't work and she never wanted to see him again, then he would be no worse off than if he left her there on the sidewalk. Fine, then. That was what was going to have to happen.

"Okay," said Harry, resigning himself to the inevitable. "We'll go to my house and you can set up the VCR for me."