Author's Note: This chapter begins a series of several that are mainly flashbacks, to explain how and why Cassie is at Hogwarts. I also want to mention that the very happy, bubbly girl we met in the first story is definitely absent from this chapter. But don't worry, she'll come back. She's just got a lot on her mind right now. With that thought, then, enjoy the story!



Chapter 2

Arrivals

Cassie and Remus Lupin arrived in Albus Dumbledore's office with a loud noise as the trunk hit the floor. Cassie blinked and blew her hair out of her eyes, happy that she was only half off her trunk. Remus was right, each time she used a portkey, it seemed to go a little better and she was less beat-up looking when she got there. She let go of the handle of her trunk and slid in an ungainly heap onto the floor. She glanced up at Remus and grimaced. He looked cool and collected, still sitting calmly on the trunk. Cassie got up from her undignified position, straightening her robes and skirt in the process. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?" Remus stood up, smiling.

"Well, we got here in one piece. I guess I can't complain too loudly." Cassie looked around Dumbledore's office, noting some slight changes since she had been here last. Fawkes was looking much more like when she had first seen him, although he wasn't as large as she remembered. But at least he was a normal color, not the gray bundle of feathers he had been before. The extra chairs that had been here for the meeting where she had decided not to have her memory modified were gone, also. But she imagined that was a pretty easy bit of magic for someone as powerful as Professor Dumbledore seemed to be. Remus put the lion paperweight back down on the desk and it looked to Cassie like there were a few new gadgets there also, although she couldn't be sure.

The door opened and Dumbledore walked in, smiling kindly at her. Cassie swallowed nervously. He had never been anything but kind to her, but she knew she was always troublesome for him. "Hello, Remus. Did everything go well? And hello again, Miss Robinson. We are so pleased to have you at our school even though the situation is a little unusual."

"Thanks." She relaxed a little. She imagined that he was not exactly thrilled with the situation, but at least he hadn't turned her into a toad or anything. Yet.

"I see you're wearing your school uniform - and the Gryffindor colors. Very good. Very good. Ordinarily we would have you wear the Sorting Hat and allow the hat to select the house in which you belong. However, I felt it would be better for me just to place you in a house. Did Mr. Potter tell you that the main requirement for students in Gryffindor house is courage?" Cassie shook her head. She had absolutely no idea about any of that - and how did the hat decide, anyway? "You, young lady, have already exhibited great courage, so I am sure you will fit in just fine there. Also, your friends are in Gryffindor and they will be very helpful to you while you're here."

"You normally let the hat decide which house the students go into? How does that work? It changes colors or something?" She had decided she was going to be very open-minded while she was here. She had seen some pretty incredible things - things that a few months ago she would have called impossible.

"No. It talks. It calls out the house once it has read what is in the student's mind." Dumbledore smiled again. "It's amazingly accurate at deciding on each student's greatest strengths."

"The hat . . . talks?"

"Yes, and sings." Remus smiled at her as he said this. "It's quite interesting to see, really."

Dumbledore spoke again. "The Sorting Hat has been used since the school was founded a thousand years ago. And, no, I wasn't a student then." His eyes twinkled brightly at her when he said this and Cassie was embarrassed to hear herself giggle in response. If she wanted to sound mature and sophisticated, giggling was definitely not allowed. His face got serious, then, as though both of them had remembered at the same moment the circumstances that had brought her here. "I presume you have your wand?"

"Yes," Cassie answered. She pulled her wand out of the pocket of her robe where she had slipped it and showed it to him. "Is it okay?"

"It's perfect. I'm sure Remus has already told you, but you must keep your wand with you at all times." Cassie nodded. Her head was spinning with exhaustion and strain. She wondered if this was a dream she would wake up from. The warmth of the room was making her feel very tired but she thought they would think she was rude if she sat in a chair uninvited. She felt herself almost sway on her feet, though, and she looked longingly at the chairs that she knew from prior experience were extremely comfortable. Dumbledore stopped talking to Remus and glanced at her. "Why don't you sit down for a moment. We have a few minutes before the others arrive. Then we'll talk about your dorm assignment, your class schedule, and the extenuating circumstances surrounding your arrival in the middle of the year. But, for now, why don't you relax? I imagine you are fairly nervous." She nodded and sank gratefully into one of the soft chairs, picking the one on the side of the room where she had sat while she, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all waited for the battle to begin. It felt welcoming, in a way.

Dumbledore and Remus turned to each other, talking in low voices. Cassie couldn't hear what they were saying although she was sure that they were talking about her. Her eyelids felt very heavy, and she wondered vaguely if they would be upset if she just closed them for a minute and slept. The low rumble of the two men's voices was soothing and she found herself drifting off, with sleep hovering near. However, it stubbornly refused to overtake her, and instead she found herself contemplating the strange circumstances that had brought her back to Hogwarts.

Her return home from Hogwarts that summer day five months ago was as quick as it had been to Hogwarts with Harry, Ron, and Hermione the day before. Remus Lupin and Arthur Weasley had accompanied her and it had been Mr. Weasley that had picked her up off the sidewalk after they landed. They had landed in a park about two blocks from her house and had walked quickly to the familiar white house which Cassie had thought never looked so welcoming. She had fumbled quickly for her key and all three of them had slipped inside after looking around quickly outside.

"Do you think I'm safe here? Could they . . . would they follow me here?" Cassie remembered very clearly that it was Ron and Hermione's use of the portkey that had brought the Death Eaters down on the four of them at Harry's house.

"Well, there's no reason to suspect that they would. After all, the battle they were all worried about is over, and their ranks have certainly been thinned. All of us, Dumbledore included, feel that you will be perfectly safe here. But that is why we did not arrive in your house, although it would have been easier." Remus patted her gently on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Dumbledore is very smart. If he thinks you're safe, you're safe."

"Okay." She smiled bravely at the two men, but somehow the anxious butterflies in her stomach did not quiet. They had stayed with her for almost two hours, making sure that no one had followed the portkey and helping her calm down. Cassie also suspected that Mr. Weasley stayed longer than necessary because he was enjoying looking around her house so much. He had poked his head into almost every cupboard and room, but Cassie couldn't bring herself to ask him to stop. He had unplugged clocks, turned on the coffee maker (without a pot underneath it), run water out of faucets and even given himself a nasty shock when he had poked a knife into an electric socket. He had talked at quite some length about his plug and battery collections and Cassie had made him very happy when she had given him a size D battery out of an electric torch. He had been very curious about her father's collection of miniature cars and her brothers' remote control airplanes. Cassie had laughed along with Remus at his childlike enthusiasm.

Finally, Remus had insisted they needed to leave and Cassie had watched with (despite herself) some surprise as the two of them disapparated out of her living room.

And then, she had been alone. And the house was very quiet. It took her quite a while to get things back into shape where Mr. Weasley had made a mess but then the house was clean and she had nothing to do. She looked with apathy at the to-do list her mother had left her several days before. She could remember laughing with Harry at some of the items on it. Now she couldn't have cared less about any of them. There were quite a few still unchecked and she imagined her mother would be mad at her. She didn't care about that either.

The rest of the day passed excruciatingly slowly. Cassie tried watching the television but had no interest. She tried reading but couldn't concentrate. Instead, she found herself roaming from one room to another and looking out the window more often than necessary. Several times she took the pictures out of her pocket and marveled each time at how they moved, showing her riding on a broomstick and petting real unicorns. Every so often Cassie would think about Harry and the others and wonder what they were doing at that moment and replayed in her mind the things she had seen and done. And, her thoughts would again turn to the four friends in particular. At one point Cassie laughed to herself that Harry and Ginny were probably snogging somewhere like the Astronomy Tower while Hermione and Ron were arguing about something in the common room. She was frustrated with herself when her laughter turned to tears.

Cassie knew logically that Harry was better off with Ginny. She genuinely liked Ginny and knew she would take care of Harry. Even so, it didn't make the loneliness any easier to deal with. The emptiness and pain she felt inside gnawed at her. "It was for the best. You know it was," she kept saying to herself. After all, how could she have a relationship with a bloody wizard? For heaven's sake, how could they ever really be together? He was magical and she . . . wasn't. But it still hurt horribly.

At dinner time she thought of fixing something and settled on some toast and juice. Even this meager fare triggered memories of Harry and Hogwarts as she thought of iced pumpkin juice and elf-supplied toast. After dinner, she washed up a little and stared at the television schedule for a while, trying to settle on something to watch. She thought about a video but that made her think about Harry. She turned on the radio but every song seemed to be about lost love and she finally gave up. The phone rang about 9 and Cassie jumped a mile at the sudden intrusion of noise into the quiet house. Her heart rate was incredibly fast as she walked to the receiver. Maybe it was Harry . . . No, she knew he didn't have access to a phone.

"Oh, Mum!" She was grateful to hear her mother's voice, comforting and loving, even when her mum was actually hundreds of miles away.

"Are you okay, Cassie? I tried to call you last night, but you never answered."

"I'm sorry. I hope you didn't worry. I, I went to sleep early and guess I didn't wake up." Cassie suddenly realized exactly how hard it was going to be keeping this secret from her family. She hoped that after a little time had passed, it wouldn't be so bad.

"So . . . how are you doing? Harry and his friends got away okay?"

Cassie was silent for a long moment. "Yes. They got away . . ." and suddenly is was just too much and her voice broke, and despite all her efforts to get control of herself, she started to sob. She cried for a long time and her mum didn't say anything, just let her cry. Cassie was grateful. There was nothing her mum could say to make it better and she was glad she didn't try.

"I'm sorry, Cassie. I know how much you liked him."

"I did, Mum, I really did."

"Is there any reason that has to stop? I mean, you can write him, can't you?"

Cassie smiled wryly to herself. "Not really, mum. It's kind of complicated." She kicked herself mentally. She sounded like Harry. "Maybe I can explain more later."

"Well, all right. We're coming home tomorrow night, you know."

"Yeah. I know. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you, even Matthew and John."

"They miss you, too. They'll never say it, but they do. Did you want to talk to your dad?"

"Um, no. Are his feelings going to be hurt if I don't?"

"No. I'll just tell him . . . you were on your way to bed."

"Okay. I just . . . I'll just start crying again."

"Are you going to be okay? Do you want to call a friend or something? Maybe you shouldn't stay home alone." Cassie thought about that. She hadn't even considered calling one of her girlfriends from school to keep her company. It was a little late to be inviting someone over, but in the summer, it would be all right.

"That's a good idea, mum, but I think I'll be okay. I'm perfectly safe here."

"Well, it wasn't your safety I was worried about, Cassie. I thought maybe you and a friend could eat ice cream and cry about boyfriends." Cassie laughed in response, mentally kicking herself again for bringing up the safety issue. She was scared, it's true, but her mother didn't have any concern about dark wizards showing up on their doorstep and Cassie didn't intend to enlighten her about the possibility.

"Yeah. That does sound fun. Maybe I will." She had no intention of doing so. She knew she wouldn't be good company, but her mum didn't need to know that. They talked for a few more moments about nothing in particular and then her mother hung up and Cassie hung up and she stared for a long time at the phone. Maybe she would have called someone but she couldn't remember anyone's phone number and she didn't have the energy to find one.

Bedtime was met with mixed reactions from Cassie. She hoped for release from the melancholy, but was afraid to turn out the lights and go to bed. Three times she checked the doors and windows to make sure they were locked. Not that a locked door would do anything to protect her, but it was the best she could do. She took a hot bubble bath to try to relax and found herself jumping at every little sound both in and out of the house. Finally, after dressing in her pyjamas and once again looking down the hall for any sign of intruders, Cassie crawled into her bed and, for the first time since she was a little girl, she slept with the lights on.

Cassie had a dream where at first she had been flying, first with Harry and then on her own broom. She, Harry and Ginny had chased each other, laughing and enjoying the freedom of being up in the sky. However, near the end of the dream the skies had turned dark and they had been engulfed by red, purple, and green streaks from wands of Death Eaters. She awoke to the sound of screams of pain, agony and fear and realized after a moment that some of the screams were her own and she was sweating. Her face was wet with tears she didn't know she had cried and she laid in bed for a very long time staring at the ceiling before she fell asleep again.

The next morning, she woke up feeling like her head was stuffed full of cotton batting and she went through the day mechanically, trying to get a few items crossed off the list but her memory was bad and she found herself making stupid mistakes at things she had done a million times before. She left the hose running in the front yard and made a big mess of her mother's flowerbeds. She picked at her food for breakfast and lunch. She was going to start dinner so her mum wouldn't have to worry about it later but forgot to turn on the slow cooker until it was too late. She checked outside the window probably 100 times if not more and whenever someone walked by she didn't recognize, she stared at them for a long time until they had moved past without looking at her. She wasn't sure she would recognize a dark wizard if they happened to show up at her house - well, as long as they walked up and didn't just pop out of nowhere - but she figured if they pulled a wand out, she could at least duck.

Her family arrived home about 5:30 that evening, and the noise and chaos of unpacking, hearing the details of the trip, looking at souvenirs, etc., did a lot to make Cassie feel better. By the time bedtime rolled around again, she thought that maybe she was over whatever irrational fears and thoughts had occupied her mind for the past 24 hours. However, when she once again found herself sleeping with her light on and her face wet she realized that maybe it was going to take a little longer than she hoped.

Her mum kept shooting her concerned looks the next day even though Cassie tried her best to act natural. She still jumped every time a door slammed or if there was a loud noise. She kept telling herself she needed to get a grip on reality. Then, just when she thought she had calmed herself down, one of the boys would come screaming through the house and she would feel herself tense up again. Her mum kept asking her what was bothering her, but Cassie just mumbled vague platitudes about Harry and plastered fake smiles on her face. Cassie knew her mum was not fooled for a minute but she just didn't feel up to talking about things. Especially since she didn't have a clue what to actually say. She kept reminding herself that she had chosen to remember these things and that since she had been safe this long, she didn't have to be so concerned. She just knew that Harry wouldn't have sent her back home if she was really in danger.

By the next morning, she actually did feel a little better. She had still slept with the light on but had not had any nightmares. She hoped that her fear of one of the Death Eaters coming after her or her family would fade in time and she could just remember the good things she had seen while she was at Hogwarts.

She was eating breakfast that morning when something interesting happened that showed her just how much her life had changed. There was a tap at the window next to her. First she jumped and then she looked out carefully. There was a huge white owl, sitting on the window sill, looking as though it was waiting to be let in. Cassie remembered Harry had mentioned something about an owl, but she was still a little hesitant to let the large bird into her mother's kitchen. Not that she had any choice. As soon as she opened the window, thinking that she would just take the letter she could see tied to the owl's leg, the owl hopped right inside like it had every right to do so. She was very nervous about actually touching it. She didn't really fancy having her hand ripped to shreds by the very vicious looking beak the owl was clicking. After a moment, though, she laughed. The owl stuck its leg out at a 90 degree angle, almost looking like it was waiting for her to remove the letter. She very slowly reached over and pulled on the string that tied the note to the scaly leg. As soon as the letter fell into her hand, the owl hopped away from her and started picking at her breakfast. Cassie grimaced. That couldn't be very sanitary. "I do hope your housebroken, at least. I really don't want to be cleaning up owl droppings." She was amazed as the owl turned its big eyes to her and actually looked disgusted. "Uh, you don't really understand me, do you?" The owl turned away, looking (although Cassie couldn't believe it) insulted and clicked its beak a few more times. Cassie unrolled the piece of parchment and read what Harry had sent her.



Dear Cassie, Hi. This is Hedwig. She's nice and won't hurt you. Please give her something to eat and a little water to drink. How are you? I hope you're doing okay. We're all doing fine. School is officially over but this year I don't have to go to my aunt and uncle's house. I actually am going to stay with Ron. Please write back. Hedwig will know where to find me. Harry



Cassie read and then re-read the short letter. Harry seemed to be happy and she was glad about that. She then found a saucer and put water in it for Hedwig. She was perplexed over what to give her to eat. Hedwig continued to nibble at Cassie's corn flakes. She didn't seem too excited with the food offering and Cassie wasn't too pleased with an owl eating from her cereal bowl. She found a pen and some paper and tried to write a short note back. But after several failed attempts, Cassie gave up. How could she tell Harry of her continuing nightmares of the battle, her loneliness after breaking up with him, and her feelings of jealousy about Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron being together. Besides, her mum could come into the kitchen at any moment and Cassie did not want to try to explain why there was a rather large bird of prey sitting on the kitchen counter.

After tentatively patting Hedwig on the head and sending her out the window without a return letter, Cassie poured the remainder of the cereal down the drain and quickly cleaned up the dishes. She had just finished when her mother walked in Cassie tried to smile at her, but she was pretty sure her smile looked more like a grimace. Her mother again gave her a concerned look and asked her to sit down at the kitchen table.

"Cassie, I'm worried about you. Every time I ask, you say you're fine. But I don't think you are. Look, I know you're sad about breaking up with Harry. But do you really have to break up? If it's just because he's in Scotland, you can still write each other. You can even call. I'm sure he'll be back to London some . . ."

"It's not that easy, mum." Cassie broke in. "You see, Harry has another girlfriend and . . ."

"He what? Do you mean he was dating you and kissing you and he had another girl in Scotland the whole time?"

"No mum, it isn't like that." Cassie belatedly realized the hole in which she had so quickly and unwittingly dug herself. She had wanted to make the conversation short in order to save herself from unwanted pain and to make sure she wouldn't say anything she shouldn't. Instead, she had made Harry sound like some kind of heartless cad. "When Harry came to London, he thought it was all completely over with Ginny, uh, the girlfriend. That's why he thought it was okay to kiss me. Then when his friends, Hermione and Ron, came to get him, they told him how much Ginny had missed him and how much she wanted them to be together. Harry and I talked and, the more we talked, the more he realized he still cares about her. We both agreed she was best for him. And, she really is a nice girl."

"How do you know she's nice? She didn't come to pick up Harry, did she?"

Oh no, Cassie thought to herself. I'm making this worse. I never was a good liar. "Uh, well, no, of course not. But from what I heard the three of them say about her, she seems like a very nice girl."

"Well, okay. I can understand your being upset about that. But, I think there's more than just the breakup bothering you. It seems more to me like you're frightened about something. For one thing, you slept with the lights on again last night. What's wrong, Cassie?"

"Uh, nothing mum, really. I . . . I just wanted the light on because I was . . . uh, missing Harry . . . and I couldn't sleep, so I was reading and then I sort of fell asleep and . . . well, I just never got up to turn it off."

"So that's your explanation? You're going to stick with that?"

"Uh, yeah. I think I will."

Her mother shook her head in frustration and Cassie, sensing an opportunity to get out, announced she was going for a walk to get some fresh air and help clear her head. A moment later, Cassie slipped out the door and started walking, trying to relax in the warmth of the afternoon. After a little while, she realized that she had headed out of habit toward Harry's old house. She thought about turning around or stopping somewhere else, but she was curious whether she could see it or not now and so she kept walking, smiling to herself as she thought about the fun times that she and Harry had had as they had often walked this way.

Cassie was actually beginning to feel better by the time she arrived at the street on which Harry had lived. Her new-found contentment evaporated quickly at the sight before her eyes. There in the middle of the block were the crumbling, burned-out remains of a building. Cassie's heart skipped several beats and she felt nauseated as she stood there open-mouthed and staring. It was Harry's place. She could recognize the stairs. That was all, though, that remained. There were a couple of women standing nearby, visiting and looking now and then at the ruins. Cassie walked hesitantly up to them. "Wha . . .what happened?" She had a feeling she knew but she hoped that maybe it had just been something normal, something like a bomb or a freak tornado or something. That's what it looked like, the devastation was so total.

The younger of the two women looked thrilled at being able to gossip about an old subject to a new listener. "Well, of course, no one is really sure. It just suddenly blew up . . . Four days ago. The firefighters think it was a gas leak or something." Cassie's heart sank. Four nights ago they had taken the portkey and left the house to the kind sympathies of the Death Eaters. She was very grateful she had not been left standing there by herself.

"What time? I mean, what time of day?" She may as well know the worst of it.

"Right at dinner. I was just sitting down to my soup when suddenly it felt like a nuclear blast had . . ." Cassie tuned the woman out. It had only been a few minutes after they left, she imagined. Maybe as long as an hour. No longer. She blinked and was amazed that she felt tears in her eyes. It was just a stupid house. And it wasn't very attractive either. But she and Harry had been there together. They had kissed there. They had talked about . . . everything. He had told her his biggest secret, taken her in his confidence. And that made the little house special to her. Cassie smiled automatically and thanked the woman as she wound down her recitation of the facts, real and imagined, that pertained to the excitement.

Cassie walked away a few minutes later, staring back at the wreckage. She was sort of surprised that she wasn't more amazed at the destruction. She had seen what magic curses could do to living human beings and creatures. An unprotected house would pose no problem at all. Her house would pose no problem at all and her parents and brothers would not even be able to put up a good fight against anyone who could do this. Cassie practically ran home, panting with relief and exhaustion as she raced up her porch 10 minutes later. Her mum looked up in surprise as Cassie slammed the door behind her, leaning against it and wishing that she had the magical locks that had been on Harry's house. At least then she would feel a little safer. She gave her mum a shaky smile. "You all right, Cassie? You look upset."

"I'm . . . I'm okay. I just . . . uh, just glad to be home." That sounded really lame and her mum raised an eyebrow, undoubtedly agreeing with her. Cassie pulled herself away from the door and went into her room. She honestly didn't know how Harry could stand the complete tension, the feeling that any second someone could step out from behind a corner and try to kill him. She was amazed that he had been brave enough to go with her places. Of course, she thought, he could at least defend himself. She remembered the numerous times his hands had crept up under his shirt to grip what she now knew was his wand. She - along with her family - was completely defenseless. She tried to calm herself down by looking at her pictures again. There were a lot of good wizards. In fact, she had a feeling that most of them were really good, with just a few of the dark ones running around causing havoc. And a very powerful one, Professor Dumbledore, knew about her and her situation. He would make sure they were all right. And Harry. Harry wouldn't just abandon her - not if he thought they had anything to be worried about.

Over the next two days, her mother kept asking her what was wrong and Cassie thought quite a bit about what sort of an excuse she could come up with to explain her behavior, but there really wasn't one that would sound reasonable. So she just kept insisting that it was stress over the breakup. She didn't think anyone believed her but they didn't try to pressure her too much. Cassie was grateful for that.

That afternoon, she heard from Harry again. Hedwig arrived, sitting outside her bedroom window, another parchment tied to her leg. Cassie seriously considered ignoring the big owl but decided that was rather cruel to the bird who was undoubtedly thirsty and tired. She hesitantly opened the window, hoping that her mum would leave her alone for a few more minutes and that neither of her brothers, who were outside playing with friends, had noticed the owl being admitted. Cassie was braver this time with the large bird, reaching for the parchment immediately, rather than waiting for Hedwig to hold out her leg. She unrolled it, quite nervous about what it said.



Dear Cassie, I didn't get a return note from you. Maybe Hedwig just didn't wait for you to tie your letter on. She gets rather impatient. By the way, please feed her a little toast. Whatever you gave her last time didn't make her very happy. I had to really bribe her to go back to your house. Please write back. I want to know how you are doing. I am fine. We are having a good time together. Harry



Cassie looked at the owl and scowled. "He had to bribe you to come back? You were eating out of my bowl! You're lucky you got anything at all." The owl just looked serenely at her and preened herself, quite comfortable apparently, on Cassie's desk. Cassie slipped out of her room and quickly went to the kitchen. She was just about to take her toast and water back to her room when her mother walked in.

"Lunch will be in just a few minutes."

"I know, mum, but . . ."

"You know you're not allowed to eat in your room."

"I know, but . . . .Just this once? I promise, I won't make a mess."

"It's not . . . ." Her mother bit her lip. "All right. At least you're eating something. I guess I'd be stupid to complain."

Cassie fed and watered the bird but she didn't even try to write a note back to Harry. She didn't have anything to say. The bird looked a bit perturbed as Cassie tried to shoo her out the window but she finally was convinced to leave and Cassie watched with a pang as she soared over the neighbor's roof and disappeared from view. She hoped Harry wouldn't write back. Maybe she should have been brave enough to tell him that. It just hurt worse to think about him. She needed to just put him out of her mind.

Three more days passed with no word from Harry and Cassie hoped that he gotten the message, well, lack of message, really. She was sitting in the family room that afternoon, watching a television program. It was stupid, but at least it was something to do. When she first heard the knock, she ignored it. Then it came again, firmer, and she had a sudden flashback to angry pounding on Harry's front door and she decided she didn't really didn't want to answer at all. Who knew who could be outside? She was alone at home at the moment and there was no one else to answer the door so after a few moments and another louder set of rapping, Cassie finally decided she would have to. She took a deep breath and stepped into the hall. She put her hand on the doorknob and turned.

Her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her. He was as thin as ever and looked slightly tired, but he was smiling. "Hi, Cassie. I was, what's the expression, in the neighborhood."

Cassie smiled back, quite surprised at the warm feeling of familiarity that he engendered. "Hi, Remus."