Chapter 38

Proof

The four continued to try to look out the small window, and it wasn't working at all. Finally Harry said, "This is ridiculous. Let's just look out the window in the living room." Everyone turned and hurried quickly into the living room to the large plate-glass window. Hermione and Ron were both at the side of the long beige curtains peering cautiously out through a crack they had made by pushing the curtain aside. Cassie was at the middle of the window peeking through the slit in the large curtain. Harry, who had come into the room behind the rest, just shook his head, walked over and opened the curtains wide.

"I don't know why you're all sneaking around the curtain. He can't see in."

Ron and Hermione jumped back against the wall and Cassie, who was now standing in the middle of the bare window, first froze, then looked right, then left, and then back to the right before crouching and hurriedly moving right out of the frame of the big window. She looked at Harry with an exasperated look.

"What do you mean he can't see us? He's only a few feet from the window."

"He really can't see us. Remember, the house is invisible to him," Harry muttered as he took a better look at Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy was standing there looking carefully up and down the street and, every so often at the buildings surrounding him.

"That can't be. It's impossible for a house to be invisible."

Cassie had interrupted Harry's thoughts. He turned and looked at her and then glanced over at Ron and Hermione. "No, it really is possible. We're here in this house, he just can't see it. No one can see it unless they have the correct address and are thinking about it when they arrive."

"But," countered Cassie, "I've seen the place each time we came here."

No. You only saw the place after I showed you the address, you thought about it, and we kissed."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other with silly grins on their faces. "I don't remember kissing being part of the Fidelius charm," Hermione said in a sort of teasing voice. "We just had to think about the address and the house appeared - just like at Grim -"

"Yeah, well, I thought would keep Cassie busy so she wouldn't notice a house suddenly appearing where one hadn't been before." Harry blushed a little. It had worked and very well but that didn't mean he had wanted Ron and Hermione to know about it. Ron just smirked. Cassie looked at Harry and blushed, too.

"But I still don't understand how anything can make a place invisible. It's just not possible." No one answered her. There really wasn't any answer to give.

Harry wanted to get off of this subject and onto something of more importance - getting Cassie home. He began to think to consider various options as Cassie, Ron, and Hermione went back to staring out the window. Cassie was paying particular attention to Malfoy with his long blond hair, black robes, cape and cane. After a moment, she turned from the window with a deeply troubled look.

"That man is evil. I can feel it from here. Who is he?"

"Do you remember what I told you about the boy named Draco? Well, that's his father, and evil is a pretty apt description. He hates me. Wants to kill me." Harry tried to sound casual about it although he was quite panicked about this whole situation.

Is he a part of that Voldemort guy's gang?"

"Gang?" Ron had turned from the window and was staring at Cassie.



"She means Voldemort's Death Eaters," Harry explained. "That's how I explained them to her."

"Death Eaters!" Cassie exclaimed. Her eyes were wide with concern. "Is that their name? They sound awful." She gave an involuntary shudder.

Harry looked at Hermione. "Hermione, you need to tell me everything you know about a Fidelius charm and we need to figure out how we can get Cassie safely home and still not let Malfoy figure out where we are."

"You don't ask for much do you, Harry?" Hermione was shaking her head but Harry could tell she was intrigued by the challenge. This was the sort of thing she really liked to do. For the next several minutes, the two of them talked to each other offering ideas and arguments. Ron didn't join in. Cassie just stared out the window and Harry tried to keep the trembling out of his voice so she wouldn't hear it and be frightened.

"Well, let's think of the obvious solution. She could go out a back way perhaps."

"Hermione, that wouldn't work. As soon as a door is opened the house will be visible. Besides, the other doors and windows are all charmed to not open."

"Oh, of course. How about a portkey of some type?"

"No, that won't work either since none of us know how to charm something well enough to become a portkey."

"It can't be that difficult. We've seen Dumbledore do it several times." Harry thought for a few minutes about the one time he had been there when Dumbledore had made a portkey. The spell was easy enough but he had no idea how he had set the destination.

"Hermione, I'm not trusting Cassie to an untried portkey when we have absolutely no idea how to set one."

"Good point. That only leaves the portkey we'll be using tomorrow evening. That, obviously, won't work to get her to her house."

Ron gave a curse under his breath which made Harry turn toward the window and brought a reproachful glare from Hermione. There were now two more Death Eaters, both big and burly looking.

"I think they might be Crabbe and Goyle. They're both big and ugly. And I think they look a little like the two goons we know so well. What do you think, Harry?"

Harry stepped closer to the window, swallowed hard, nodded and then turned and looked at Cassie. He tried to give a reassuring smile but figured it probably made him look even sicker than he was already feeling. It was them, all right.

Ron turned to Harry. "Why are they here? Why all of a sudden do we have three Death Eaters right outside this place? They've never been here before, have they?"

Harry shook his head to answer Ron's question. "Because Ron, like I said before, people know when we do ma . . .," Harry glanced at Cassie and then continued, "when we do what we do. They obviously noticed when the two of you arrived by portkey. They came to see who's doing this at a place where it wasn't expected.

Cassie looked confused but Ron looked thoughtful. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I've heard the Death Eaters are trying to keep track of where every wiz . . . uh, one is so they know who they'll be fighting tomorrow. School has practically been in lockdown the last few days."

Harry nodded to Ron, cast a sideways glance at Cassie who was standing in the middle of the room looking worried and out of place. He walked back over to Hermione. He hoped that she had figured something out.

"Hey, how about my invisibility cloak? Cassie and I can get under it and slip out the front door and . . ."

"Harry! Now you need to think about it. If you opened the door, you would be invisible, but the house would still appear and they would attack us. We could make the house invisible again, but by then it might be too late. Of course . . . ." She was thinking hard, now. "Of course, you'd be gone and presumably safe and then Ron and I could try to fight them off but . . . ."

"No absolutely not, Hermione. I'm not leaving you two here to face them alone. That's just ridiculous." After another few minutes, though, he said, "What if all four of us went? Then, if they got in the house, we would be gone and . . . . Hey, we could all just stay at Cassie's until tomorrow!" To Harry, this seemed like a perfect solution.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea." Hermione was looking like she was on the verge of tears.

"Why not?"

"Two reasons, Harry. First of all, we don't know anything about the portkey Dumbledore made. It might only work from here although it's unlikely. But the main thing is this - you would be completely defenseless there with no guards at all." Harry was about to interrupt, saying that he had been at Cassie's house plenty of times and been safe there. Then he realized that the fact that Lucius Malfoy was hanging around on his sidewalk made things totally different.

Harry sat down in the easy chair and sighed in frustration. "You're right."

Cassie, who had been silently watching and listening with a puzzled look on her face said, "I don't know anything about this being invisible - I still have doubts about that - but why don't we just call a taxi cab? It can pull up and I'll run out and get in. What are they going to do with a taxi driver around?"

"Plenty!" said the other three at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise and couldn't help grinning -- even under the circumstances. Harry continued, "Cassie, they won't care if there's a taxi driver, they'd kill him too."

"Kill!" Cassie exclaimed with a horrified expression. "They would kill me?" But why would they kill me? They don't even know me."

Harry explained, "Cassie, it doesn't matter. If they saw you coming out of a Fidelius charmed house they would automatically figure you were with our side and they would kill you just for being here."

"Well, then. I say we call the police and tell them there are dangerous men outside."

"That won't work either. They would just kill the police as soon as they showed up."

Cassie had a horrified expression on her face. "Yes, but the police'd have guns."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. Harry said, "Believe me, Cassie, police guns are no match for what those creeps have."

After a few minutes of silence, Harry looked at the other two and stood up, putting his arm around Cassie's shoulder. "I don't think there is a way to get Cassie out of here and home tonight." A look of relief crossed Cassie's face, followed quickly by a panicked expression.

"My mum said she'd call me tonight. I need to be home or I'm dead."

"Cassie, you really will be dead if we try to get you home tonight. I think your mum and dad will understand under the circumstances. Do you have the phone number to their hotel? Maybe you can call them instead."

"Well, just exactly what am I supposed to tell them? I don't think they will be too happy to hear there are vicious gangsters waiting outside of your invisible house to kill me if I should try to go home."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other and Ron just shrugged and grinned, "Your problem, mate."

"Thanks, Ron," Harry muttered, and then turned to Cassie. "Uh . . . well . . . I see your point. Well, on the positive side, you have a couple of hours before you have to call them. Hopefully you will think of something by then." Cassie just glared at Harry.

Harry turned to Ron and Hermione. "We'll probably be safe in here. We need to set up a regular watch to keep an eye on them and make sure that they aren't doing anything too bizarre. And, just in case they do find a way in and are able to attack us, I think we should come up with a defensive plan."

"Harry," Hermione had that annoying tone she adopted when she knew she was right but didn't want to set him off. Harry braced for whatever comment she was about to make. "That's what's so great about a Fidelius charmed house. They can't see the place and they can't get in unless they are told how by the secret keeper. You know that, Harry."

Harry felt the blood go to his head and tried not to lose control of his temper. He knew more than most. "Yeah, well being in a Fidelius charmed house didn't help my parents, did it? They were still murdered."

Cassie gasped in shock. "Your parents were murdered? You said they died. I didn't realize they were murdered." She hesitated a moment and then asked, "Then the scar was from when they were murdered?"

Harry really didn't want to worry about all of this right now. He had enough problems to deal with. However, he realized it was about time Cassie knew the truth. He was tired of side-stepping questions, leaving out parts of stories and just plain lying.

"Yes, Cassie. My scar is from the night Voldemort murdered my parents and tried to kill me. And he's still trying. Fun life I have, isn't it?"

"Harry." Hermione took a step toward him and put her hand on his arm. He looked at it and then at her face. Harry could see worry in her eyes. "Harry, what happened to your parents won't happen to us. Wormtail was your parents' secret keeper and he gave the secret to Voldemort willingly. Dumbledore would never do that. Ever. And . . .and, we won't go out. We'll keep the door closed and they'll never know we're here."

Harry thought for a moment and then nodded. He then looked at Ron and Hermione.

"It's my fault Cassie is here and in danger with the rest of us. We know what it means to be involved. She doesn't. She's not even a part of . . ." Harry searched for a way of expressing himself and settled on the less than satisfactory, ". . . our world."

Cassie snickered, "Oh, then you really are an alien."

Harry smiled a smile which quickly disappeared from his face as he contemplated what he was about to tell her. He turned again to Ron and Hermione.

"Cassie deserves to know the whole truth. No more hiding, no more lying."

"Are you sure, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"I'm sure." With that, Harry sat Cassie down on the couch next to Hermione. Ron finally pulled himself away from the window, closing the curtains as he also went over to the couch and sat down. Harry decided there was no easy way to do this. "Cassie, I'm a wizard."

Cassie smiled at Harry, "Oh, that's even better than some of the other stories you've given me. Are you going to stick with that?"

"Uh . . .yes, I am. Because, it's true. It really is." Harry continued, "And Ron is a wizard and Hermione is a witch."

Cassie turned to Hermione, "That's really rude, Harry. Hermione, I think you're really nice." Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry continued to flounder.

"Cassie, I'm serious. We are wizards and a witch. That's why I have had to keep so many things from you. We usually don't tell Muggles." Cassie stiffened a little when Harry said Muggle. He noticed and continued on. "Muggle is our name for people who are not magical. It's not an insult. It's just our name for people who don't do magic."

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, Cassie, I understand you're a little skeptical. Look," Harry pulled out his wand as he continued, "You've wondered what this is. I'll tell you. It's a wand. All three of us have wands." With that, Cassie's smile faltered a little and it was obvious she was thinking about what he had said. Finally, she smiled even more.

"Nah. You three may think they are magical wands or whatever, but that just isn't possible. Okay, I'll play along with you. The sticks really are magical and you three can do magic. Let's see some."

Harry turned a little red and cleared his throat. Well . . . you see, we can't do any magic right now. That's why Malfoy and the others are hanging around outside. They detected magic being done and came to see who it was and what was going on. That's why I haven't done any magic. We don't want to bring any attention to ourselves."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Oh, Harry, I see. You are a wizard who usually does magic, but you can't exactly right now."

Harry thought desperately how he could prove to Cassie they were wizards. At the same time he was thinking of the irony of how he had tried for weeks to hide from Cassie his being a wizard and now he was doing everything he could to make her believe it. He suddenly thought of something. His cloak. That was magical.

"I know something that'll prove what we're saying. Ron," Harry said, turning to him, "where did you put my cloak?"

Ron looked around the room for a second. Then he got an odd expression on his face. "Oh, Harry. I left your cloak on the front porch!"

Harry gasped and ran to the front door window, followed by the other three. There it was. The cloak was lying on the front porch. Fear gripped Harry as he thought of the Death Eaters getting his father's cloak. He reached up to the first lock.

"I've got to get it before they do."

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as she pulled his arm down, "Don't go out. They're not going to get your cloak. Remember, they can't see it because of the Fidelius charm. Before we go, we'll open the door, grab it and then go before they can get in."

"Okay, I guess." He thought for a minute and decided Hermione was right. "Anyway, Cassie, uh . . . well, it's an invisibility cloak. It makes people disappear."

"Uh, Harry," Cassie said with a bemused expression, "How can you be invisible if you can see the cloak?"

"Uh . . . good question. I don't know. It's just . . . magic." Harry thought to himself for a few moments as they once again went into the front room and sat down. Suddenly Harry had a brilliant thought. "Wait a minute. I have something that will definitely convince you." Harry ran into his bedroom. The painting of Sir Lionel was still facing the wall. Without taking the time to look at it, Harry grabbed the painting and raced back into the living room. He held it up facing Cassie, Ron, and Hermione with a triumphant grin.

"See Cassie. You don't have anything like this in the Muggle world."



Cassie looked at the painting with an odd expression that turned into wide grin. "You're right Harry. I've never seen a painting before." Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione. Both of them were shaking their heads like they felt very, very sorry for him. They could see him heading on a collision course with disaster, but they couldn't do anything to save him. Ron was staring at the ceiling again.

Harry had a sinking feeling. He flipped the painting around and almost laughed. Sir Lionel was not there. "Uh, well, usually there's a guy here but he's apparently . . . . Remember that day when we had that huge fight?" Cassie nodded, looking like she was trying not to smile. "Remember how I was talking to someone? Well, it was this guy. See, wizard pictures talk and move and they can . . . ." She was laughing now, quietly, and Harry tried not to get too offended. He must really sound ridiculous. He smiled, too. "He comes back and forth, and if he's gone he's probably getting a message for me and then you'll be able to see him." Again, Ron and Hermione shook their heads.

"Harry, Dumbledore took Sir Lionel's painting down and locked it away. Sir Lionel won't be back."

They all sat and stared at each other for a few moments, Harry feeling very frustrated at the entire situation, Ron and Hermione less concerned. But no wonder, they didn't have crushes on the girl who now thought he was certifiable. Cassie cleared her throat, apparently feeling that it was up to her to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Um, so let's assume for a minute that you really can do . . . . magic. What sort of, uh, tricks can you do? Because, I mean, I've always wanted to know better magic tricks. I saw this magician once on television make Big Ben disappear and I thought that was pretty neat. I've always wondered how he did that."

Ron got a very offended look on his face. Being from a pure-blood wizard family, he took the comparison to Muggle sleight-of-hand tricks as a personal affront. "That was a magic 'trick,' Cassie. We actually do Magic. The real stuff."

"Oh." There was a small silence like she didn't quite understand the difference but was willing to put a good face on it. "Like what? What do you actually 'do?'"

Hermione, Harry, and Ron all looked at each other, and then they all started talking at once. "I can do a great summoning charm." "I can levitate anything." "I can put you in a full-body bind." "I can make a pencil box run around on little feet." "I once turned a rat into a water goblet." "I can make blue fire that you can hold in your hands." "I make a wicked truth serum." "I know how to read a crystal ball - well, sort of." (That was Ron.) "I can banish a boggart." "And I," Harry said into a sudden silence, "can fly on a broom like I was born to do it - at least that's what everyone says."

"Fly on a broom?" She turned to look at Hermione. "Shouldn't that be your job?"

Hermione did not take offense at this, which Harry thought was big of her. "As little as possible," she said primly.

Harry was disappointed. There was nothing he or the others could say or do to convince Cassie and he realized it. They had spent enough time on this fruitless endeavor. "I'm sorry, Cassie. We really don't have any way to prove who or what we are. I guess you'll just have to . . ." Harry hesitated a moment and got a rather embarrassed expression on his face as he finished the sentence, "Trust me on this." Cassie chuckled good-naturedly, like she still thought they were playing a joke on her. But Harry continued, "Either way, you're going to have to stay the night here and then tomorrow we'll try to get you out of here and home." Cassie's smile faltered a little as she realized again the seriousness of the situation. Harry set the empty painting down and moved over to Cassie. He sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry I got you into this mess. I'd do anything to get you safely out."

Cassie put her hand on Harry's leg and patted it a little. She forced a smile. "It'll be fine, Harry. I know it will. You're smart. I think you can figure something out."

Harry smiled at Cassie and then looked at Ron and Hermione. "Let's get down to business. Just pretend Cassie is a witch. We can't keep trying to have short conversations when she's out of earshot. Now, I'm sure a lot has happened at Hogwarts. Fill me in, okay?"