Chapter 34

Cassiopeia

Harry and Cassie spent the next day at her house, not doing much of anything really too important. She was crossing off most of the items on her list, making phone calls and taking care of things around the house. They did leave the house a few times for her to run some brief errands and they did stop by the video store. She helped him pick out four videos, saying that they could watch one that night and then he could take the others back to his place for later. They looked okay, although Harry wasn't too enthused about any of them.

He had arrived that morning around 11 and Cassie was practically frantic as she pulled him in her front door, convinced that he had been located and killed. Harry reassured her, shaking his head in exasperation. He explained that he had had to buy something for that night but that it was a surprise. He brought in a fairly large package, which was all wrapped up in brown paper, and carried it back to the boys' bedroom, where he laid it on one of the beds. . She asked him several times what was in the package, but he just smiled. "You'll find out later. It's a surprise. Don't worry, though. I know you'll love it." He caught her once in the room, trying to pick up the box to figure out what it was.

Harry had been watering the plants in the back garden like she had asked him to, enjoying being outside in the warmth of the sun. He had always had to do a lot of yard work at the Dursley's and it was nothing as easy as watering plants, either. He had hated it then, but found to his surprise that this afternoon it was very enjoyable. Their garden was the exact opposite of the Weasley's, well-ordered and neat, but the same appreciation for the plants existed in both - it just came out in a different way. Also, there were no gnomes in this garden to bite at your ankles if you did something they didn't like. He had finished the watering, put the hosepipe away, and even pruned one particularly wild bush before he entered the house. Cassie had told him that she would be working in the family room on a project but she was not there. He became suspicious when after a moment she had not come out. He stepped into the back hall and heard the unmistakable squeak of bedsprings. The boys' door was closed when he was quite sure he had left it open earlier. He had opened the door slowly, to see her bent over one end of the box, testing its weight. Then he had sneaked up behind her, allowing all his Seeker instincts full reign, grabbing her around the waist and growling in her ear, hoping that he sounded menacing, "Little girls who go snooping into things they're not supposed to don't get their presents."

She jumped about a mile, but laughed and turned in his arms. "I'm not a little girl, Harry. I'm surprised you haven't noticed."

"Oh, I've noticed." They hadn't been too physical today, aside from a brief kiss when he first arrived. Somehow, they had come to an unspoken agreement that it probably wasn't a good idea to start anything since they were all alone in her house and would be the whole day. But, the feel of her in his arms was too hard to resist now, so he bent down and kissed her. She felt wonderful and was very responsive to him, reaching around his neck and threading her fingers through his hair. After a few minutes, he could tell that this was going a little further than was probably a good idea, so he pulled back. She made a small noise of protest in her throat and it took a lot of strength for Harry to not pull her into his arms and start kissing her again. "I think . . . .that we'd better stop." She looked frustrated and Harry thought he would probably look the same if he were to look in a mirror. He reached for her hand. "Come on, let's get out of here. I think you're just trying to convince me to tell you what's in the package." He knew that really wasn't it, but it broke the intense mood. She followed him into the family room where she sat down and reluctantly went back to folding some laundry left over from the mad packing two days ago. Harry just sat on one of the recliners, and flipped idly through the television channels. There wasn't much on, but he didn't really care, as long as it distracted him from the thoughts of kissing her again.

Before too much longer, he realized he was hungry,. "What are we doing for dinner tonight, Cassie? I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry, Harry Evans." She blushed a little and looked down at her hands. "I thought we could cook dinner together. Does that sound nice?"

"Sure. But you'll have to do most of the work." They wound up having a great time that evening. She really was a good cook and had found a recipe that allowed Harry to chop a lot of vegetables and kept him busy that way. She was actually really impressed at how good he was with the knife. Harry was pleased though he did not tell her where he had learned. He thought that maybe some day he would thank Snape for training him so well. That would make him mad and that was always one of Harry's great goals in life.

After dinner and cleaning up, they sat down to watch one of the videos, although Harry told her that it had to be over by about 8:30 because that was when her surprise started. He really enjoyed the movie, which was another action/adventure type. He noticed, though, that she kept looking at the clock. At about 8:00, her telephone rang. It had done that periodically throughout the day and every time, Harry jumped. This time was no exception. She was curled up against him and laughed when he practically fell off the couch at the noise. It turned out to be her parents and she had a quick chat with her mum, reporting on her day and asking how the family was enjoying the trip. Harry tried not to eavesdrop too obviously, but since Cassie was still sitting right next to him on the couch, he was able to follow the gist of the conversation pretty well. Before she hung the phone up, he asked if he could speak to her mum. She handed the phone to him in surprise, "I guess so." He actually took the cordless phone into the hallway and shut the door between the two rooms, leaving it open just enough so he could make sure Cassie wasn't eavesdropping. He felt like he should ask permission to keep her out later than the 10:30 that was on the list of rules. Her mother had been hesitant until Harry explained what he had planned and then she had been enthusiastic. Harry did promise to get her home safely as early as possible and felt gratified when she said that she trusted him. By the time he got back out into the family room and handed the phone back to Cassie, she was giving him strange looks. He ignored her and they watched the end of the movie. The movie ended shortly after that and he rewound it. She looked up at the clock. "It's 8:20, is that good enough?"

"No. I think you can wait 10 more minutes, don't you?"

"I don't think so."

"Yes, you can. I will tell you this, though. You're going to need a light sweater and a blanket. We're going out and it will probably get a little cold."

"We're going outside? Tonight?"

"Uh-huh." She shook her head in wonder, but did as he asked. She offered him a light jacket of her dad's. He didn't think he would need it as he was used to a lot colder weather than she was, but he took it anyway. He was probably better safe than sorry.

Finally, it was 8:30 and she looked expectantly at him. "Do I get to know what's in the package now?"

"Nope. But we are going to get it and leave." This was a great disappointment to her. She had thought that certainly now he would tell her what was in the heavy odd-shaped package. But he just picked it up, letting her carry the bag with the blanket and sweaters and they left the house. They went back to the Underground station. It had taken Harry quite a long time the night before to figure out how to get the two of them to the place he wanted them to go on the Underground. It necessitated changing lines once and then when they got there they would have to walk about two blocks. But he felt confident now, so when she asked where they were going, he just answered, "I know right where we're going. Don't worry. I won't get us lost." She seemed anxious, though, until he actually announced their stop was coming up in just a few moments.

Harry was grateful that they had not run into anyone he would need to hide from. He was certainly not inconspicuous with his big package. He probably would have been smarter to stay home. But he really wanted to do this for Cassie so he would just be extra careful.

They found the place without any difficulty, although she was even more puzzled now than she had been when they left the house. "Where are we?"

"We're at a park."

"A park? It's a little late to play outside, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but we're not going to play. Here, read this." Harry handed her the article he had clipped out of last night's paper. While she read in the fading light, he spread the blanket on a nice patch of grass and laid the mysterious package off to one side. He waited while she finished reading.

When she looked up at him, she had such a look of wonder and joy on her face, that Harry thought he had never seen anything so lovely. "Is that a. . . ."

"Yes. A telescope." The article that Harry had noticed at the last minute before he threw away last night's paper and then had read and re-read as well as clipped out had been a human interest story about people who liked to stargaze. Tonight, the moon was almost new, which meant that it was a great night to observe the night sky. This park was a particular favorite because it was far away from most of the bright lights of the city and light pollution was minimal. The article had discussed how every month when the moon was waning a large group of stargazers came out to observe the wonders of space through their telescopes. Harry was instantly captivated at the idea of doing this for Cassie. He had promised her that he would show her the constellation she had been named after. And he knew somehow that he would not be here for this next month. So it was either now or never.

The sun was almost down now, and Harry hurriedly unwrapped the box before he lost all the light. Cassie watched as he assembled it. Fortunately, it was fairly straightforward and he had it together quickly. He would have felt like a big idiot if he couldn't have done it. But he had had enough experience with the astronomy tower telescopes that he felt comfortable around them and knew how they worked.

He was busy getting the telescope focused on the general area of the sky where he wanted to look while Cassie looked around. By now, there were quite a few people at the park although none were particularly close to them. Harry was pleased that they would have a little privacy. He was unsure what to expect but did not relish the idea of being around a lot of strange people. In the dark, it was a little more dangerous for him.

Finally, around 10:00, stars started being clearly obvious in the inky black. Harry was used to observing the sky at midnight from a lot further north so it took him a few minutes to re-orient himself but soon he found it. He was glad that tonight was clear and that they had such a good view of her constellation. He had set the height of the telescope very low so that they could look through it when they were sitting down on the ground. They could have stood up, of course, but Harry thought it would be nicer if she could sit.

"Are you ready to see Cassiopeia?"

"Yes. Oh, this is so wonderful, Harry. I can't believe you bought this just for tonight!"

Harry pulled her by the hand over to where he sat on the blanket and patted the ground between his knees. "Come sit down." She sat down where he indicated and he pulled her close to him. Her back was firmly against his chest and his left arm sneaked around her waist. "All right. To find Cassiopeia, you need to be able to find the North Star first. Do you know where that is?"

"Uh, North?"

"Very good." He laughed. This was much more fun with her in his arms and the scent of her hair against his mouth and nose than it was in the astronomy tower at school. If class had always been like this, he would have kept taking it to N.E.W.T. level, whether he needed it or not. "It's the very bright star over there." He indicated the general area and helped her line the telescope up so that she was looking at it directly. "Do you see it?"

"I think so. It's part of the Little Dipper, isn't it?"

"Yes. It's the end of the handle."

"Okay, I can definitely see it."

"All right, now you need to move a little down and to your right, until you see a cluster of five fairly bright stars in a sort of flattened W shape. Can you see them?"

"Uh, not yet." Harry watched carefully as she moved the telescope. "I can't find them."

"Here, let me help." Harry removed his glasses and bent over her shoulder so he wouldn't move the telescope at all. "A little further to the right. Yes, there she is."

Cassie looked again through the eyepiece. "I see it. It's a flattened W."

"Well, that's Cassiopeia."

"I thought it was supposed to be a queen or something?"

"None of the constellations look very much like the things they're named after. It's very abstract. She is a queen, sitting on her throne, but at this time of year she is sideways, almost laying on her side."

"Oh, this is so wonderful! I've never been able to see the constellations before. Tell me some of the others. You know all of them, right?"

"I'm supposed to. But I have to tell you that Astronomy was never my best subject. I barely skimmed by with a passing grade some terms. Let's see. Well, right above Cassiopeia is my least favorite constellation of all."

"Which one is that?"

"Well, you'll probably like it. It's Draco."

"Draco? You mean the dragon?"

"Yes."

"I didn't know there really was one." He helped her find it, showing her the stars that made up it's head and long tail. "Why do you dislike it so much?"

Harry sat quietly for a moment after she asked that. He wasn't sure how much to tell her. Finally, "Remember I was telling you that I knew many people who were named after constellations and stars?" She nodded, still staring in wonder at the "dragon." "Well, I know someone named Draco."

She pulled her eye away from the telescope and looked at him, completely amazed. "You're kidding! Who would saddle their kid with that terrible name?"

"Yeah, well He's definitely not nice. Neither is Draco. He's actually, um, probably my worst enemy at school."



"Really?"

"Yeah."

"No wonder you didn't like that movie." He looked at her surprised. He didn't think she had noticed his rather cold feelings about it. "I didn't know, Harry, when I brought it."

"I know. I wasn't offended or anything. Let's see, what else? Well, you've already seen the Little Bear, or Ursus Minor." They spent a pleasant hour looking around at everything that he could see to show her. He was amazed at how much she enjoyed it. Finally, he could tell that she was getting really chilled although he was doing his best to keep her warm with his body heat. "I guess we better get you back home."

She glanced down at her watch. "Oh, no. I'm really late! Oh, wait. They're not home. I guess I can't ground myself."

"That's what I asked your mum. If I could keep you out later than the time that the rules said. She said it was all right this once."

"You did? That's sweet." She kissed him then, and several more minutes passed when Harry did not think she was worrying too much about being cold. Finally, he stood up and started packing the telescope into its case. He chuckled softly to himself. "What's funny?"

"Nothing."

"What? Come on, you can't laugh after I just kissed you and then not tell me why. Did I do something wrong?"

"No. I was just remembering . . . ."

"What?" She looked quite concerned, so Harry decided that he better tell her, even if it was a little embarrassing.

"Well, I was just thinking that now I understand why the astronomy tower is the favorite make-out place in the entire school. This has been very fun. And I think that sitting with a girl you like close by and showing her the sky and then kissing her has a lot going for it."

"Oh, Harry!" He couldn't see in the darkness, but he imagined that she was blushing. "You're terrible. Is that really true? About that being the favorite make-out spot in school?"

"Yeah. I understand sometimes you practically have to make reservations. I haven't ever been up there with a girl, though. Well, I mean to make out, just for classes." Now it was his turn to blush a little. They folded up the blanket and put it back into the bag. They were both wearing their jackets so that made leaving a little easier than coming.

They walked back to the Underground station slowly, enjoying the quiet of the night. "Who else do you know named after stars or whatever?"

Harry was quiet for a long moment. He wanted to tell her, he really did. When he did, he had to clear his throat and try it again. It barely came out, even the second time. "My godfather. His name was Sirius."

"We didn't see that tonight?"

"No, it's not visible from here this time of year. It's a winter star. But, it's the brightest star in the sky."

"Are you okay, Harry? What's wrong?"

"I just . . . . miss him, Cassie. I miss him so much."

"Well, why don't you call him or write him a letter or something?"

"I can't. I'm in hiding, remember. I can't let anyone know where I am."

"But . . . .your godfather? He wouldn't hurt you."

"No. But I . . . just can't." Harry didn't want to go into all the reasons why he couldn't talk to Sirius. It would be too depressing tonight. But the familiar ache in his heart throbbed and he knew that he would feel it for a long time.

When they arrived back at Cassie's house, it was almost midnight. She unlocked the door and pushed it open. She looked up at Harry expectantly, then down at her feet, nervously biting her lower lip. He put one thumb under her chin and tilted her face toward him, and then bent down and met her lips with his. She was so sweet. Her lips were cool from the night air, but soft and moist from where she had bitten them, a little swollen. Harry decided that he should linger and explore that a little more. He shifted a little closer to her, his other hand behind her neck angling her head for easier access to her mouth. He turned slightly and pushed her back against the doorjamb. He took one small step closer and felt her against him from his shoulders down to his knees. His thumb left her chin and traced her jaw, finding the soft spot behind her ear. He stroked it carefully and he could feel her response in the soft shudder in her body. He pulled back a little but, by then, Cassie had wrapped her arms around his neck and she gently pulled him back down to her lips.

After a moment or so, they reluctantly pushed back from each other. Cassie's cheeks were flushed and she whispered with a quiet voice, "Harry, you don't know how much I want to invite you in. But I really better not . . ."

"No," Harry agreed, "You definitely better not invite me in. I . . . I really better go home and you need to go inside." She was warm in his arms and it took more strength than Harry thought he had to step away from her. She followed him for a brief second, but he stopped her with a gentle touch on her shoulder. Her hands fell to her sides, where they formed into soft fists, like she was restraining herself from reaching for him again.

Cassie looked at him with an embarrassed smile that could not hide the burning in her eyes which were such a deep blue they almost looked purple. Harry knew he better leave while he still had the strength to do so.

As he stepped back, his foot connected with the heavy box he had carried to and from the park this evening. His mind cleared slightly. "Oh, Cassie. I . . . . I want to give this to you."

"What!? I couldn't accept it. It's much too expensive!" But despite her words, Harry could sense the longing in her. She had enjoyed the evening so much. It pleased him to imagine her looking at the stars after he had gone and thinking of him.

"I have no use for it. I can't take it with me when I leave and I have my own at school. I bought it for you. I mean it," he said when he could tell she was going to once again decline, just for the propriety of it. "I want you to have it. Really. Buy a good star chart. And this winter, when I am back at school, I will find Sirius' star and I will think of you looking at it, too. Promise me?"

"Are you sure, Harry?" She sounded like a little girl who has just been given the thing she wished for most. All traces of the young woman who had been so shyly kissing him just a few moments before were gone.

"Yes. I'm sure." He set it inside the door but was very careful not to allow himself to kiss her again.

"Will you come over again tomorrow?"

"Yes. We'll decide what to do when I get here, okay?" She nodded slowly, and Harry had a sudden longing to pull her into his arms again. He didn't and she stepped inside the house and closed the door. He stood there for a long minute, considering what would happen if he were to knock on the polished wood. He didn't. It was a very long walk home.