Author's Note: For those of you unfamiliar with the British tabloid press, the newspapers have what are termed "Page Three Girls" in them. These are, um, "well-built" girls who pose topless. Their pictures are always printed on the third page of the newspaper. You have to understand that to get the humor in part of this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it!



Chapter 28

Cooking Lessons

Harry looked at his watch again and felt the knot in his stomach twist even tighter. It was now 2:10 and Cassie was ten minutes late. She had never been late before and, no matter how many times Harry had looked at his watch and paced back and forth in front of the supermarket, it had not willed Cassie to the store and Harry.

Naturally, the doubts and fears Harry normally kept barely below the surface began percolating to the top and emerging into his consciousness like a parade of little demons sneaking into his thoughts. When he had left the Robinson's the night before, he had thought everything was fine. In fact, he was sure that everything had been fine. Cassie had hugged him goodbye and smiled at him in that special way she had that made Harry's insides feel all fluttery. All night and all today, Harry had hardly been able to think about anything except this afternoon. But now she was ten, no, almost fifteen minutes late, and he began to reconsider yesterday evening, finding fault with everything he had done.

He could not help but wonder if his complaining about his scar had finally convinced her parents that he was too strange for Cassie. Or, even more likely, all the strange words he had used in the Scrabble game had turned them against him. At the thought of some of the words he had used, Harry mentally harangued himself one more time. He could not believe his own carelessness. He had, in fact, chewed himself out all the way home - well, when he wasn't thinking about Cassie's sparkling blue eyes and beautiful smile. When he got back to his house the night before, Harry had definitely noticed a change there, and it wasn't just because Sir Lionel wasn't snoring in the living room. And even though the VCR was conspicuously new and modern looking attached to his old television set, it wasn't that either. It just felt different. More welcoming, somehow. More like home rather than a hotel room or something. He liked that feeling. He liked it a lot. And everywhere he looked, he could remember seeing her and that had made him anxious to see her in these rooms again.

Harry's happy thoughts about Cassie were abruptly jarred out of his mind when he looked at his watch and realized she was now definitely fifteen minutes late. The same old thoughts circulated again. Maybe Cassie had decided he was just a little too weird for her. Or perhaps Cassie's mother had talked with her after he left and told her she did not want her daughter associating with someone like him. After all, they really did not know who this Harry guy was or much about his background. It would not take a genius to know that something was definitely different about him.

Feeling quite miserable and surprisingly lonely, Harry reluctantly went into the supermarket and decided to shop for the items on the list she had given him the day before. If Cassie had not come by the time he had finished he would . . . .What would he actually do? There were not many options. He could go to her house and see what the problem was. Maybe she had gotten sick. She wouldn't be able to call him to let him know, after all. He felt a little better then, but immediately felt guilty for hoping that was what had happened to her. Harry did feel a little better, though, because he had a plan. He always felt better, no matter what he was facing, if he at least had a plan.

With his plan firmly in mind and the doubts, fears, and numerous "what ifs" gnawing at his insides, Harry picked a grocery cart and numbly began to select the items from the shopping list. Looking at the list didn't make him feel any better. He could remember so very clearly writing it out carefully with her dictating to him just the day before. She had been smiling and laughing, then. He wondered if he would ever see her smile again. He involuntarily glanced down at his watch again. 20 minutes.

He even managed to find the double A batteries by himself and picked a package with several in it although he only needed two. 25 minutes. He had no idea how long the batteries would last in the remote. These seemed small. Maybe they would only last for a day or so. Harry had almost finished the shopping when he heard behind him a high-pitched squeak of frustration and delight. There stood Cassie, out of breath and panting slightly, with a light sheen of moisture accentuating her soft skin. She let out an audible sigh of relief and Harry thought he had never heard anything as beautiful.

Cassie quickly moved the last few steps and practically fell into Harry's arms. "I'm so sorry I'm late," she gasped. "My mum had to run some stupid errand and I had to watch the boys. She was sure she would be home in plenty of time but got hung up in traffic. I thought you'd have given up on me by now. I tried to get them ready so that we could all come together but Matthew couldn't find one of his stupid shoes and John was . . . ." Cassie would have kept going, obviously having planned for the last half hour what she was going to say, but Harry kissed her hard and fast and then again and by the time he finished, she seemed to have forgotten everything she was going mention after all.

She pulled away to look up at him, hugged him hard again, and then pulled out of his arms completely. "I'm all sweaty! I'm sorry! I forgot!"

Harry just pulled Cassie back into his arms. "I don't care. I'm just glad you're here." He hesitated a moment and then continued, "I was afraid you weren't going to come."

Cassie looked into his eyes with a bewildered expression "Why not?" Harry didn't answer, afraid that if he voiced his fears, she might agree with him that he was insane. He'd rather her not think about those things at all. They held each other for another moment or so and Harry found himself thinking how nice she smelled even after she had run all the way there.

After a minute or two, Cassie asked how the shopping had been going. Harry showed her the things he had gotten up to that point. He just had 2-3 more items to get and he had not been able to find them the first time through the store. Cassie examined his list and they moved toward the shelf holding the cocoa powder. Cassie selected the type of powder she liked to use and added it to the cart. At the same time, she looked at the other items in the cart, making sure that Harry had understood the various items on her list and picked up the right things. She gave an approving nod of her head at the cart. She glanced at the corner of the cart where Harry had a bag from a nearby drug store folded around something. "What's that?"

Harry smiled at her. "You'll see later. It's a surprise." After they had double-checked that they had everything, Harry paid the cashier and they started toward the door.

Near the exit, Harry looked automatically over to the newspaper rack and saw a newspaper that caught his attention immediately. The very large headline read"Giants Seen In Scottish Highlands." Harry did a double-take and then wordlessly thrust the bag into Cassie's hands and snatched up the copy of The Sun. He rapidly began to read the front page article as Cassie stared at him open-mouthed, juggling the weight of the bag in her arms to make it easier to hold. Regaining her voice after a second, she said, "I can't believe you are looking at that paper. I really thought you had a little more, uh, class."

"Hmmm?" Harry mumbled as he scanned the article. It was an obviously highly sensationalistic account of how two backpackers in the Scottish highlands the week before had claimed to have seen not one, but two, giants who had screamed at and threatened the astonished tourists. The two men had run for their lives, telling their tale to anyone who would listen. Harry read the description of the giants with interest. It was fairly accurate as far as he could tell. He had met a giant once and, of course, one of his best friends was half giant. He did kind of wonder how the giants had threatened the hikers as they didn't speak English very well at all; but he figured sign language from a giant would be fairly plain to read - especially if it involved any sort of squashing. It was hard to believe exactly how big giants really were unless you had seen one. He had always described them as "too big to be allowed." He became aware of Cassie talking to him again and tuned in to her, continuing to read as quickly as possible.

"That paper there," Cassie continued, sounding fairly disgusted, "has silly, unbelievable articles and then it has that smut in it."

"Does it?" Harry asked, not really paying attention to what she was saying, trying to focus on the parts of the story that seemed believable.

"Yes . . . ." Cassie answered a little sarcastically, "You know? Page three?"

"Uh, huh," Harry mumbled as he came to the end of the article and began to turn to continue the article on another page.

Cassie grabbed at the paper and exclaimed, "Well! Don't turn to it!"

Harry looked up in surprise, focusing fully on her for the first time since he had picked up the paper, "Turn to what?"

"Page three, of course," Cassie retorted, blushing a little. "That's where they have, well, you know -- that's the, well. . . . the picture." Harry gave Cassie a puzzled look and said, "I was going to turn to page eight. That's where the article continues."

"Oh," mumbled Cassie, turning a shade pinker. "So what great article are you reading?" The sarcasm in her voice was new to Harry. She sounded more like Hermione for a minute. She looked over Harry's shoulder at the other copies of The Sun, adjusting the bag again, obviously anxious to hand it back to him. "Are you reading about the latest royal scandal, or the latest on the love life of Hugh Grant, or . . . ."

"Giants," Harry cut her off. "The article is about some giants people saw in Scotland." He finished reading the article, which concluded by quoting locals who insisted that the lads had a few pints too many in the local pub before setting off on their giant-spotting journey. Harry set the newspaper back in the rack and said disgustedly, "The article didn't say anything worthwhile."

Cassie rolled her eyes, "Did you really expect it to? I could have told you that before you picked the paper up."

Harry took back the bag, shaking his head in silent laughter at the theories that the newspaper had advanced about what giants were doing in Scotland. Of course, he had his own theories, none of them really comforting. He took Cassie's hand and they started the walk back to her house. After a few minutes of silence, he said. "What was that you kept muttering about page three?"

She blushed bright red at that point. "Nothing. I just . . ., Well, you know. I kind of figured . . . Oh, forget it, Harry. If you don't know, I don't want to be the one to tell you. Just promise me that you won't ever buy one of those kinds of papers." He didn't promise, but he changed the subject and she didn't press him. The whole way home, she periodically kept chuckling over his reading the article. Harry took her gentle teasing in stride, not trying to justify his interest in giants. He also thought carefully about giants and what their moving through Scotland might mean in the fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The fact is that he did not know whether the giants were with Voldemort or against him.

Once they arrived at Cassie's house, Harry unloaded the groceries onto the counter while Cassie set out the recipe, a large bowl, and a flat pan. She then sat down at the nearby kitchen table and smiled angelically at Harry, "I guess I'll just sit over here and watch you prepare my biscuits."

"Oh," mumbled Harry as he looked at the ingredients, bowl, utensils and pan with a look of dismay. He studied the recipe for a second. He tried to look on the bright side of things. It couldn't be as bad as Potions class. Cassie was a lot cuter than Snape and couldn't take any points from him. Or award detention.

After a minute, Cassie laughed and said, "If you have any questions I'll be glad to help." That was also a lot different than Snape. Harry decided to just begin and, to his surprise and relief, he didn't have any major problems. She did need to help him with creaming the butter and sugar. Then there was the rather horrible moment when Harry stuck his finger in the cocoa powder to taste it, expecting a sweet flavor when he licked the finger. Cassie laughed for about five minutes solid until she had to get a drink of water to calm down. She kept saying, "The look on your face, Harry! It was just too funny!" Harry imagined that it was very funny. He hadn't had anything that bitter in a while and it had been a total surprise. That had somehow made it much worse. He didn't mention that the potions he occasionally had to taste or use for one reason or another were actually more bitter but at least he always expected that.

Time passed quickly as he worked through the instructions and before he knew it, they first batch was ready to bake. She helped him set the timer. "All right. We've got about ten minutes but we better keep an eye on them."

Harry sat down at the table across from her. "Are you ready for my surprise now?"

"I guess. Is it a good surprise?"

"Well, I think you'll like it." He proceeded to pull a chess set out of the bag he had with him in the supermarket. He had bought it before going over to the market at a drug store down the street. It was a fairly decent set although the pieces were only plastic. The pieces were heavy which Harry thought would make it easier to play. Cassie watched with interest as he set up the board and pieces, explaining what each of them were as he arranged both hers and his on the board. He was not quite done when the timer went off for the first batch. It took them about ten minutes to remove them to a cooling rack and get the next batch ready to go in. Harry and Cassie both took two biscuits over to the table and then Cassie poured two glasses of milk. Harry had to admit that for a first baking attempt, they turned out very delicious. He continued explaining the way the pieces moved as the next batch cooked. By the time the fourth and final batch was in the oven, they had started a trial game, with Harry playing both black and white, explaining how you can predict and counter moves by your opponent.

The timer for the fourth batch had just gone off, when the front door opened and their little island of solitude was breached by the arrival of the rest of the family. The boys immediately descended into the kitchen like a hoard of crickets descending on a green field of grass. Their mother was two steps behind them, reminding them that it was almost time for dinner. Mrs. Robinson said hello to Harry but then deftly stowed the remaining biscuits into a container. Harry thought she seemed a little upset that they had baked the biscuits so late in the afternoon. He swallowed hard and was about to apologize when Mrs. Robinson smiled, reached down and selected two of the fresh batch for herself. She munched contentedly, complimenting both Harry and Cassie on how good they were before she put a lid on the container and put it up on the fridge. "When you leave, Harry, be sure to take those with you. You made them, so you deserve to eat them." Cassie and Harry shared a smile. She had mentioned earlier that her mother would probably try to get the biscuits out of the house as soon as possible.

Cassie stood behind Harry and rubbed his back and shoulders, saying, "You did a great job. I can't believe this was your first time baking biscuits." Harry grinned and again assured her he had never baked biscuits before.

He decided that he really should be heading home. He wasn't sure if they would invite him for dinner. Cassie seemed to be about ready to do so when he interrupted her. "Cassie, I've had a great time, but I really better be getting home. I haven't spent as much time there as I should have lately." She accepted that explanation without protest and fifteen minutes later he was standing on her front porch with the container of biscuits, the recipe, and some of the left-over ingredients in a shopping bag. He had the chess set in the bag he had brought it in.

"Would you like to come to my place tomorrow? We could play chess again." He was anxious to get her back to his house now that he knew she could get in without too much difficulty.

Cassie looked at her mother, who nodded approval, and then said, "That sounds great. You're good at it. Do you always win when you play your friend Ron?"

"No. Actually, I lose most of the time, but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow."

"What time shall we get together?"

"How about 10:00 and then we can also have lunch at my place."

"Okay," Cassie nodded. "I'll come over . . . ." She suddenly stopped talking, closed her mouth, opened it again, and said, "I can't believe it. I can see your house in my mind and I can see the paper with your address on it but I can't remember it. Could you give it to me again and I can just have my mum run me over?"

Harry answered carefully, not wanting to say anything too suspicious. "I'm not surprised you can't remember the address. I'm afraid it wouldn't help to give it to you because neither you nor your mum could find the place." Actually, Harry couldn't tell her the address if he wanted to. He could try, but it wouldn't come out. As he was not the secret keeper for the Fidelius charm, he could not say the address out loud or write it for her. "I'll just come here, pick you up, and we can walk back together."

"My mum has lived around this neighborhood for some time. She could find it, I'm sure." Cassie retorted, a slight hurt creeping into her voice.

"Normally, I'm sure you'd be right but this is rather . . . ."

"Let me guess." Cassie broke in with a smile, "It's rather complicated."

"Well, it is," Harry responded. He didn't try to explain further. "So, shall I come about 10?"

"That sounds good." She then gave a mischievous smile and asked, "So, do I have to get into your house the same way I did last time?" Harry nodded and Cassie said, as she wrapped her arms around Harry, "I guess that won't be so bad." They both laughed and then kissed goodbye and Harry left with Cassie watching from her porch, waving every time he turned back to look at her again.

As Harry walked home, his thoughts ranged from Cassie to giants in Scotland and back to Cassie. He again wondered how much longer he would be in London. He always had a little worry when he left her. He hoped that when Dumbledore sent for him he would at least have time to say goodbye.