Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter and Co., do you think I would be writing fan fiction about it?

A/N: I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY! bows repeatedly gomen nasai! I'm really, really, sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter out!

Gone Over

Chapter Five: Importance

Slowly, Harry became conscious of what was going on, but only vaguely. He knew that it was still raining and that he was very comfortable in his current position and certainly wasn't going to be moving any time soon. His pillow was a little too far away so he brought it closer to him. The air had an odd mixture of rain and an unusual tangy, metallic smell.
It was then that he realized that his so-called pillow was moving. Breathing, in fact.
Pillows don't breathe. They definitely don't breathe.
The 'pillow' then decided that it would move - closer to him. Snapping his eyes open, Harry became aware that he was much closer to Cassie than he had been last night.
Much closer.
Slowly, Harry looked around, wondering if he could somehow get away without waking Cassie, dimly noticing that the tangy, metallic smell he had noted earlier was the blood that was still caked around Cassie.
Blood.
Death.
Last night.
Memories of the events from the night rushed to the forefront of Harry's mind. He was surprised that neither of them had any nightmares, as he assumed he would have woken up if Cassie had a nightmare.
Harry steadily removed himself from the bed that was not his own and went to the attacker's prone body, although first making sure that Cassie was still asleep.
"Huh. The knife is still in the body," he murmured out loud.
Grabbing it, Harry made to pull it out of the body. It wouldn't budge. Scowling at the wedged blade, Harry pulled even harder for what seemed to be an hour, but couldn't possibly have been longer than ten minutes, at most. Finally, the stiff corpse released the blade. Grimacing at the dried blood, Harry walked into the kitchen and began his task: cleaning the knife.
It was taking longer than he had expected. Harry had never realized just how hard it was to get blood off. You'd think he'd know by now, with all the injuries he's had.
After drying the knife, Harry noticed something. It was different. The knife wasn't the same as it was before. It was still the same length, but it didn't look like a regular kitchen knife anymore. It was more dagger-shaped now, with strange symbols going up and down the blade. To Harry, they seemed like some sort of set of odd runes.
Shaking his head, Harry left the kitchen for his room, setting the knife/dagger down on the top of the dresser.
"I need a shower." He muttered to himself with a yawn. He was still incredibly tired, even after such a comfortable sleep...
After his much needed cold shower, Harry headed back to his room once more with naught but a towel on him. Just as he was about to put on a shirt (with his towel still wrapped around him. Cassie's definition of privacy, he discovered, was limited to diaries, the shower, and locked doors. The lock on his bedroom door had broken recently and he hadn't gotten around to fixing it just yet.) Cassie screamed.
"Harry!"
Dropping his shirt, Harry dashed to Cassie's room. Bursting through the door, Harry faced a wide-eyed and terrified-looking Cassie. As soon as she saw him, however, she gave a sigh of relief and leaned back. Confused, Harry looked at her. She was still caked in the blood from last night.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Nothing really, I..."
"What? You wouldn't scream like that for nothing."
"I was afraid you had left me." Cassie said quietly, after an obvious pause.
Harry was confused. Why would he leave her? Especially since all that trouble he went through just to get her back.
"Every time someone finds out what I – about me – they leave." Cassie continued when she noticed Harry's confusion, though wouldn't meet his eyes.
Harry chuckled; he couldn't help it. After all the things he'd seen, Cassie's secret was the last thing that could make him run. The sound must have startled her because Cassie finally looked at him.
"I'm not going to just get up and abandon you, Cassie," he told her firmly, "you're too important to me to just let go."
Cassie didn't say a word. Harry wasn't even sure if she would be able to if she tried. The only thing Cassie did was grasp him in a bone crushing hug. That alone said more than words ever could.
And then she let go.
Granted, Harry was thankful to be able to breathe again, but he didn't understand why the sudden redness covered her face.
"What's wrong now?" he asked.
"Well, um, you see, uh, you don't really have much in the, uh, way of clothes at the moment..." Cassie trailed off, clearly embarrassed, which was kind of odd since she normally never noticed this kind of thing.
Harry blushed himself, noticing that the only thing between himself and pure mortification was a towel.
"Right...um...I'll just – go back to my room now...yeah..."
Cassie just nodded and said that she'd probably get in the shower now, the blood was getting quite nasty.
Once Harry got dressed he went back to the body. He stood there for a moment, just staring at it, not really knowing what to do now. Sighing, he grabbed Necromancion off the ground, headed for the nearest comfortable chair (which was, conveniently enough, the farthest one from the body) and began to read. Maybe it would tell him what he's supposed to do with the body used for a Raising. By the time Cassie had finished her shower, Harry had gotten to somewhere around the middle of Chapter Three: Various Equipments and Their Uses. Cassie set herself next to Harry as he closed the book, carefully marking his place. He had been desperate when he Raised Cassie. He would be skilled when he Raised Sirius.
"Ready for story-time?" Cassie asked, some of her former humour returning to her eyes.
"Story-time?"
"Yeah, story-time. I find it highly doubtful that you know an Empath is."
"Well – "
"Oh shush, Harry."
Harry opened his mouth for a smart retort when it hit him. Cassie called him Harry.
Harry. Not Robbie. Harry.
He racked his brain, but he couldn't remember when he had told her his real name.
"When did I tell you my name was Harry?" he asked out loud.
Cassie glared at him.
"Ok, I'll be quiet now." He replied with pretended meekness.
"An Empath is a person who can sense what others are feeling," she began, "depending on how powerful this ability is, an Empath must either concentrate very hard or they can do this naturally. Some can even turn this off and on at will. We can always sense intent – although I had turned my ability off at the time, which is why I didn't sense the attacker," Cassie answered his unspoken question.
She's a powerful Empath then. Is that why she was able to talk to me in Death?
"I knew that you're name wasn't Robbie as soon as you said it. I always know when I'm being lied to, but I also knew you wouldn't do anything and were, as far as I could tell, trustworthy. And it seemed like you needed someone to just sort of...be nice."
Harry nodded. It made sense, as odd as it was.
"When you were in Death and trying to Raise me, it allowed me to sense even more about you than I would normally. That's how I found out your name was Harry, not Robbie, and that you're a wizard on the run," Cassie smirked, "you fugitive, you."
He grinned, glad to see Cassie was being more of her light-hearted self.
"However," she said, a tinge of wariness entering her eyes, "I'm slightly different than that."
"How?" Harry asked with a small frown of slight confusion,
"Well...it has to do with spells, you see. An Empath, I don't think, is supposed to be able to do any spell work. A price to pay for their abilities I guess."
"And you can?" he questioned.
"Well – not exactly. I can – redirect – a spell. Or absorb it. I found out this little tid bit when I was attacked by a group of wizards five years ago."
"You were attacked? By who?" Harry exclaimed. What if they were still looking for her? Was Cassie in hiding, too?
"Don't worry about it. They're – unable to bother me, now."
"Oh." A pause. "Ohhhh."
So Cassie isn't as innocent as he thought.
"So...that's it then. That's my story. The end!" Cassie stated, adding a happy tone at the end to try and lighten the mood. Well, fair is fair, so Harry told her his story in return. He told her of his life at the Dursley's (curse them) before Hogwarts and of Hermione and Ron and the adventures they had during his first five years. He told her all about Sirius; what he was like, how he died, and his plans to try and bring him back. He talked about his parents, how they died and the Mirror of Erised which had allowed him to see them, if only for a little while. Cassie asked him if he planned on bringing them back, too. But no, no, he wasn't going to bring his parents back. He really wanted to, though. Except they've been dead for over a decade and would be rotten corpses by now. If Harry wanted his parents, he wanted them as they were, not as they are.

By the end of his lengthy tale, Cassie knew all about everything, including Grimmauld Place and the Order of the Phoenix. It was a kind of relief, really. Harry had never spoken to anyone like that. Not Hermione, not Ron, not even Sirius. Maybe it was because Cassie was able to understand like no one else could. He didn't know. He found he didn't really care. Just as long as Cassie was around, he would be fine.
"So you have to leave in three days?" Cassie asked him sadly. Harry felt suddenly uncomfortable. He had just promised her that morning that he would never abandon her and now he would be going off to Hogwarts in three days.
"Well, yeah, I kinda have to. I need to learn what I can, you know?"
"I understand. We'll keep in contact. Write letters using Hedwig and all that! It'll be fun! I've always wanted a pen pal!"
At the moment Harry wished desperately that he had her same ability to sense what others felt so he could tell what she was really feeling.
"I have to get to the Dursley's though, and pick up what I can. Dumbledore, I'm sure, would find me eventually. I'm surprised I lasted this long without getting discovered."
"Oh that's because you're living with me."
"Huh?"
"Empaths have a kind of built-in anti-locator or something. You'd be surprised how many people think we aren't human and just want to experiment or something."
"That's terrible!"
"Oh don't worry about. They've given up looking for us anyway. It's kinda like how an Empath can't sense anything about an Empath of equal or superior power. Anyway, I'll drive you."
"Wait, wha?"
"I'll drive you. To the Dursley's. In a couple days and I'll take you to Kings' Cross as well. But what are we gonna do about the body?"
"Uh...surround it with air fresheners." Harry replied.
"What?"
"Surround it with air fresheners. I'll be able to use magic again, legally, in three days so I'll just get rid of it then."
"As long as you get rid of the smell with it. Geez, we're gonna have to bury that thing in air fresheners!" Cassie responded, wrinkling her nose. The smell was beginning to be a bit noticeable. "Yech! I can't stand it – I'm getting another shower!"

The sky was still filled with the early darkness of morning when Cassie and Harry pulled up to Number Four Privet Drive. Shutting the engine off, the two got out and creeped up to the door. Pulling out the spare key, Harry quietly opened the door as Cassie looked around to see if they were being seen.
The entered the house as quietly as a mouse would, shutting the door with a soft, barely audible click. Cassie looked around and then mouthed to Harry, "Looks stuffy." Harry merely nodded with a half-disgusted grin at his old residence. He motioned for Cassie to follow him.
Clearly Dudley had wasted no time in reclaiming Harry's room. It was already all but full to the brim with stuff that could only be described as Junk. It permeated everything!
"You weren't kidding when you said your cousin was a pig!" whispered Cassie with a look of mingled horror and disgust, "No wonder you keep your room so clean!"
"You should see his face."
Harry looked around and swore.
"My trunk is gone. They must have put it back down in the cupboard under the stairs. Wait here."
"Wait! Is your stuff in the trunk or buried somewhere in this mess?" asked Cassie.
"There's a loose board under the bed. I put everything in there so they wouldn't throw it out."
Cassie looked from Harry back to the all but invisible bed in horror. "I have to dig through that!"
Harry just grinned and darted back down stairs with the silence of a cat. He picked open the lock to the cupboard with a fleeting feeling of déjà vu. Happily, his trunk was there. Harry picked the empty box with ease and carried it up to the old room where Cassie was all but visible. There were various piles surrounding her, but she had apparently made it to the loose board because one of those piles was of Harry's things. Amusingly enough, it was the smallest pile.
"Almost done!" she whispered, pulling out some more books as Harry began putting everything in his trunk. They didn't bother with clothes as all that was back at the apartment. Slowly, afraid the sound of the trunk lid would wake his uncle, they closed the trunk and locked it.
Now for the trip back downstairs. They both grabbed an end and lifted as Cassie let out a soft grunt of surprise at the weight. Harry and Cassie gradually made their way down the hall and stairs, discovering that it's a lot harder to move quietly when you're trying to carry something. Especially when that something is heavy and full of mostly books.
The two had just made it down the stairs and set the trunk down for a small rest when, as Harry opened the door to make it easier to get out, a sound stopped them.
"Harry!" called out a very familiar voice.
Cassie and Harry both wheeled around to see a figure standing in the kitchen, staring back at them.
It was Dudley Dursley, standing there open-mouthed with a slice of cake in his hands.

A/N: You have no idea how sorry I am that it took me this long to get this chapter out. I've already started working on Chapter Six, so that shouldn't take nearly as long...hopefully...
Thank you all for reviewing! It means a lot to me, it really does. It's nice to know that people actually read my so-called writing!

Thank You's

fire: Thank you so much! I'm really sorry it took me so long! I'll try to be better!

Wiccan-Willow: Thank you! I'm rather fond of Cassie myself. .

GJMEGA: thank you! I'm glad you enjoy!

Lady Phoenix Slytherin: I'm sorry I took so long! Thank you for reviewing!

vamperfly: heh...I guess this isn't very 'soon' is it? Thank you for reviewing!

Anonymous: I'm so sorry! bows forgive moi! Forgive moi! Ta muchly for reviewing!

Caroline Hal: Yeah, it is kinda darky, but its also supposed to be that way. It might get darker even later on...

jackie: Thank you for reviewing! I canna say if Harry will turn evil! Not yet anyway...

liz: Thank you! It really means a lot to me to hear all these great comments!

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ER: I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG! bows repeatedly I was actually planning on doing the tips silver, but then I changed my mind as I was writing it. Yeah, silver would have looked cooler, but its also a Slytherin colour and I didn't want anything read into the hair dying bit, you know?

Toria: I'm sorry I took so long! Thank you for reviewing!

Lanfear1: Yes, Harry can raise the dead. Fun stuff, huh?

Ms. Issues: Ta muchly! bows So sorry I took so long!

WithAPenInHerHand: Thank you! It was an...intriguing...chapter to write. Took a while to figure out how to make the Realm of the Dead more original while still keeping the flavour of what Garth Nix wrote. I hope I succeeded! Harry is about to go into his 6th year. I'm sorry I wasn't clear on that!

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szelij: Thank you for reviewing! Sorry it took so long!

EriEka127: Thank you! Yep, Harry's gonna be a necromancer now! Will he go dark? Take a guess! As for Cassie, I'd never kill her off!...I hope...o.o...gah! Don't scare me like that! LoL

Siri Kat: Continuing! Continuing!

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Yami Bite Yumi Me Chan: Thank you very much! Heh, I had a lot of fun calling Harry a twit, like that! . good stuff, good stuff.