Chapter 10
Breakfast and Owl Post
Cassie stirred in her sleep, stretching contentedly in the warmth of her very comfortable bed. Her little brother Matthew was so dead -- when she woke up she was going to kill him slowly for bothering her this morning. But since he didn't shut up after a minute, even when she told him to go away, she cracked open one eye. She was surprised because it was still dark. What time was it? She stretched again, turning to see her bedroom clock. It wasn't there and she felt a moment's panic with the disorientation that suddenly swamped her. She closed her eyes again, thinking that maybe she was just having a bad dream. But that annoying boy was still calling to her. Finally, she just had to answer him. "Tell Mum I'll be out in a few minutes," she sleepily mumbled. Cassie was brought out of her lazy slumber with another shock as the curtains to her bed were pulled back and she heard Ginny's urgent tone.
"Pia! You need to get up now or we'll be late."
Cassie's stomach did somersaults and her pulse quickened as she remembered where she was. She was at Hogwarts and she was trying to masquerade as a witch. Was she out of her mind? Were Dumbledore, Remus and her other friends out of their minds? She was suddenly terrified. This entire scheme was beyond insane. She started to tell Ginny this, tell her to take her to Dumbledore's office so that she could go back home. But Ginny threw her bathrobe at her and told her one more time to hurry. "We've got to meet Hermione in about 45 minutes downstairs. We're not going to make it if we don't hurry." Cassie thought that sounded a bit unrealistic. How long did it take to hop in the shower and then throw on her school robes? It wasn't like she had to spend a lot of time picking out her wardrobe after all. Another thought followed quickly on that one's heels, though, and she resignedly pulled her bathrobe on over her flannel nightgown, insulating herself against the cold that was now invading the warmth of her bed. Who knew how hard it would be to take a shower here? The wizards seemed to live with a strange combination of modern conveniences and ancient traditions. She hoped the plumbing was more on the modern side but she wouldn't be terribly surprised if she had to pump her own water out of some well, break the ice off the top, and hold her breath as she scrubbed her back with the resulting cold water. So, if Ginny said they needed to hurry, then they'd better do so.
They hurried down one level to the showers. "The seventh year girls have their own bathroom, but the fourth, fifth, and sixth years share this one" Ginny was explaining. "So there are about -" and then suddenly they were there and the door swung open and Cassie wondered if she had just stepped into an insane asylum "-15 of us in here all at once" Ginny finished with a faint smile at the look of shock on Cassie's face. Cassie was an only girl in her family and had grown up having the use of her own private bathroom. She suddenly realized why Ginny was rushing her so fast. There was a line for the showers, girls three deep trying to get their makeup on at the mirrors, and so much steam, chaos, and noise that Cassie couldn't believe it. They stepped onto the tiled floor and Cassie smiled to herself. Well, at least she wouldn't be pulling ice water out of some well. It was obvious that the showers were hot from the clouds of steam rolling off them and being added to the already heavy fog of the room. After putting down her bag, she and Ginny joined the shorter of the three queues. They leaned against the wall and Cassie wished they had a little more privacy so she could ask about today's classes at least, but that conversation needed to be out of earshot of all these girls.
Finally, it was Cassie's turn and she stepped into the shower, grateful that the faucets looked like standard type that her parents had in their bathroom. The water was hot and plentiful. When she had gotten her bathrobe back on and wrapped her hair in a fluffy towel, she exited the shower a few minutes later. Ginny stepped in behind her, saying, "Go on over to a sink and stake us out a spot. I'll be done in a minute." Cassie looked over at the row of sinks lining a far wall. The crowd had diminished a little for the mirror and she was able to find a nice looking sink with a shelf above it to hold their odds and ends. Cassie reached into her bag and glanced instinctively at the walls around the mirror. Where was the nearest plug? If there wasn't one nearby, she would have to change locations. Then she suddenly remembered. No plugs. No electricity. She reluctantly covered her blow dryer back up at the bottom of her bag. Great. Now she'd have wet hair for most of the day. It always took hours for her hair to dry if she didn't give it a good head start with the blow dryer. She started brushing her teeth, studying the other girls as covertly as she could while she waited for Ginny to come out of the shower.
Then she saw something and she knew that she was doomed. This would never work. There was a petite brown-haired girl at the sink next to hers that had pulled her wand out of the pocket of her bathrobe and pointed it at her head. She muttered some sort of spell and Cassie heard the soft whoosh of air. Oh. Cassie grimaced. She hadn't even brought hers down with her. She had never expected that she would have to use the stupid thing to blow dry her hair! Ginny joined her at the sink a moment later and Cassie looked at her, wondering if she had any great ideas of what she should do now. Ginny had her own wand, of course, and pulled it out of her pocket. She must have caught the look on Cassie's face. "I didn't bring it down with me. I didn't think I'd need it in the shower. Plus, to be honest, I just forgot." Ginny smiled.
"That's all right. I think we can manage." Ginny hurriedly dried her own hair and Cassie watched as Ginny muttered various words under her breath as she pulled the heavy weight of her hair off her neck and curled small tendrils of it to frame her face. "There. All done."
"Wow." That was all Cassie could think to say. It was incredible that Ginny used her wand for blow drying her hair and curling it as well as everything else she undoubtedly used it for during the day. She had a momentary stab of envy at the fact that Ginny could use magic. How wonderfully handy it would be. Then she turned her own attention back to the long mass of wet hair that hung down her back and wet her bathrobe as Ginny closed her own bag and turned to face Cassie.
"All right, Pia. Let's see what we can do here." Ginny muttered the spell that Cassie had now heard three times and she felt the soft blow of air against her face. Ginny helped Cassie dry her hair which caused quite a few of the girls in the bathroom to look at the two of them rather strangely. Ginny just explained as briefly as possible.
"This is my cousin, Pia. She's new at Hogwarts. She forgot to bring her wand down from the room."
Cassie gave an embarrassed grin. "Silly me. I won't do that again. I thought we'd go up there to do our hair and stuff."
Several of the girls gave friendly smiles, even coming over and introducing themselves which made her feel a little better. "We'll just come down earlier in the mornings, maybe we can beat the rush. Then I can dry your hair without everyone wondering why you aren't doing it yourself." Cassie tried not to think how early that meant they'd be getting up. If that is what she needed to do, then she'd do it. After all, Ginny was right there beside her.
When her hair was dry, Cassie pulled it back from her face with some combs, admiring the soft strawberry color that her hair was now. She remembered that they were going to have to dye her hair tonight. She hoped that it looked as good afterward. Ginny's roommates had come in and Cassie watched Elspeth as she chatted with another girl whose name Cassie could not recall. "She's really pretty."
"Elspeth? Yeah. I think all of my roommates are, though. I'm really the odd woman out, so to speak."
"What?" Cassie's attention was suddenly focused completely on Ginny. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, I've long since accepted that I'm no stunning beauty." Ginny smiled broadly but Cassie thought that behind the smile, there was a bit of sadness.
"I disagree, Ginny. You've got beautiful features. It's just . . . do you ever wear makeup?" Cassie thought that Ginny might look a little older if she used a bit of color on her face and that was probably all she really needed.
Ginny flushed. "No. I . . . I've never really learned how. I'm not sure it would help much anyway."
"Do you have any foundation?"
Ginny shook her head. "No, it's too expensive. My mum, well . . ." Her color raised another notch and Cassie felt bad she had embarrassed her friend.
"Here, I think our skin is close enough in tone that you could probably use mine." They spent quite a few minutes as Cassie helped Ginny even out her skin tone and then helped her further with a soft shade of blush she had in her makeup bag. She then loaned her some eye shadow, commenting that it would accentuate Ginny's brown eyes. Ginny knew a spell to darken her eyelashes and did it for Cassie also. By the time they left the bathroom, Ginny was smiling at the transformation she saw in the mirror.
"I look a lot different."
"Not so different. Just a little, um, more put together. You look great. Harry will notice and be impressed, I bet." Ginny was practically glowing in anticipation of Harry's reaction. Cassie thought to herself how beautiful Ginny looked with her vibrant red curls and twinkling brown eyes. She really sold herself short if she didn't think she was pretty.
They hurried and threw on their school robes and then Ginny helped Cassie pack her book bag, making sure that she had her wand as well as parchment and a quill and a bottle of ink. Cassie shook her head. "I don't think I can use that quill. You may as well not bother to put it in there." She hadn't been reassured when Ginny had insisted.
"You'll need it for notes. Trust me." Cassie threw the surprisingly heavy bag over her left shoulder a few minutes later and they climbed down the staircase to get to the common room. As Cassie had expected, they found the other three friends pacing back and forth impatiently in the commons room. They looked up with a mixture of relief and frustration at the two sixth-year girls and Cassie apologized.
"I had a bit of a problem in the showers. We'll get an earlier start next time." Harry gave Ginny a quick kiss and then stepped back from her and took another, longer look at her face. He commented on how beautiful she looked. Ginny beamed and gave Cassie a sideways glance and smile. Cassie smiled and felt like maybe she had made at least a little contribution to help her friend. All four of them then turned and looked at Hermione expectantly.
"All right. Here is a copy of Ginny's and Pia's schedule." Hermione handed out parchment copies of what looked like a fairly full class schedule. Cassie took hers gladly. She had absolutely no idea what sort of classes she would be expected to take here. The only thing she knew was that Potions was first and no one seemed to think that class would be very fun for her. She looked at the schedule. It was like none she had ever seen before. She had a wide variety of classes and the names were all strange and unusual. And she had no idea what she would be expected to do in any of them. They were all colored and she supposed this was Hermione's way of sorting the classes. There was some sort of key underneath the squares but before she could really figure out what they meant, Hermione started explaining and Cassie decided it would be easier to listen than to figure it out by herself.
"I have broken the classes into three categories of magic use, each of which is represented by a different color - red, yellow, or green." The boys were snickering behind their hands and Cassie felt a spurt of irritation. It was her tush on the line here, after all. But then she remembered that Harry had told her that summer about how Hermione always color coordinated their testing study schedules and realized this was probably the boys' usual reaction forged by long exposure to Hermione's rather compulsive ways. She tried to relax and listened again to Hermione. "Green is the best - that means no magic is required in those classes at all. For example, Care of Magical Creatures." Cassie's eyes flew over the paper, trying to figure out when she had that class (which sounded like a lot of fun), but Hermione was continuing with her discussion and Cassie decided that she could look later when she had some time. "Yellow is intermediate. In other words, some magic may be required but Cassie can probably fake it. One example of this is Firenze's Divination class. Didn't you say, Ginny, that sometimes you have to magically levitate stars and move planets around and things?" Ginny nodded and Cassie wondered what the heck the two of them were talking about. "Then, of course, that only leaves red - I call that the 'We're in big trouble' category. In these classes, you will definitely need magic, powerful magic. And it would be really conspicuous if you either didn't do it or couldn't do it. Potions is one example, of course." Oh, great, Cassie thought with frustration. The first class of her first day was a "We're in big trouble' class. She really wished that she could hide in her dorm room for the entire day. Maybe Monday would be easier. Before she could really look at what torture was scheduled for Monday morning, Hermione was handing out another piece of parchment.
"Look at this and then hand them back. We can't have them getting lost. I'll destroy them all once we've discussed the information." Cassie looked with interest at this sheet. It was titled "Ways to fake Pia's magic" and Cassie read over the items quickly. Some of them didn't make much sense to her, but everyone else murmured their agreement. "The main thing we have to worry about is coordinating Pia's need for the magic with our ability to provide the fake-out method. So we'll need careful coordination. And then, Pia, here is our ace in the hole." Hermione handed over four very small boxes. Cassie looked at them and blanched. She recognized them.
"I don't know, Hermione . . . Do I have to?" Hermione nodded.
"You know what they are, then?"
"I think so. Tell me again, though." In her hand were four of George and Fred's two-wand school specials - something called Skiving Snackboxes. All she knew about them was they made you horribly sick. And although right now her stomach was jumping so much that she thought she probably didn't need help with the puking part, she remembered something about nosebleeds on the packaging also.
"They're actually brilliant - Fred and George's greatest idea ever, if you ask me; although, I would never tell them that. You eat one side of the candy, the dark side of each, and it makes you look really sick. You either faint, puke, get a nosebleed, or develop a really high fever. That gets you out of class almost immediately. Then when you are out of the classroom, or back in the dorm or whatever, you eat the pale side of the same candy and that fixes your problem. The teachers might be suspicious but as there is no way to really tell what made you sick they basically have to let you out." Cassie nodded, seeing how useful this could be if she got in a tight spot. Then she felt a sudden rush of panic.
"Uh, will this work for me? I mean, what if I use one of them and then I can't stop bleeding or vomiting since I can't do magic? I could die." She looked around the group and her eyes narrowed. "Stop laughing Ron. It isn't funny. How would you like to be vomiting until you drop over?" With that, Ron laughed harder and Hermione gave him a quick jab in his ribs with her elbow. Ron moaned and rubbed his side but at least he stopped laughing.
Hermione continued. "That's what's brilliant about these. They'll work for anyone. You shouldn't have any problem. There are several of each kind in these boxes, certainly enough to get you through the next couple of weeks or more. If you get put in a position where you absolutely are stuck - either do magic or die, use one of these." Cassie sighed to herself. They would probably be helpful, she had to admit. She just hoped that she never had to use them. She looked over the schedule again and noticed that one class was not color-coded at all. There was a big yellow star on it each time and she had it three times. She didn't even know what class it was for sure, there were only letters rather than actual words on each square.
"Um, Hermione, what is DADA? And why is it starred rather than colored?"
"Oh, yeah. Good question. That's kind of an interesting situation. I think we should . . . ." But then she had to stop because several more students entered the common room and some looked curiously at their little group. Hermione quickly gathered up the second parchment she had handed out from each of them and stuffed them into a very full looking book bag. Hermione pretended she had just finished telling a very amusing anecdote, laughing rather loudly and everyone else joined in. "So, anyway, Pia. That's the story." They all stood as though to leave and Cassie felt her panic renew itself in her stomach. Breakfast and then what almost everybody seemed to think would be the worst class of the week - Potions. It may very well be that the entire plot would be exposed within two hours. She hoped not. She owed it to her parents and brothers as well as to Remus and Arthur to do her best to keep up the pretense as long as possible. She took a deep breath. It was going to take every bit of acting ability she had to get through this morning. She hoped she had it in her. Then they were out of the portrait hole and Cassie plastered a smile on her face. Today was going to be a very interesting day.
When they entered the Great Hall, the five went straight to the Gryffindor table where they began to dish eggs, bacon, and sausages onto their plates. Cassie was too nervous to eat much so settled for toast. She was pleased to see they offered wheat toast. As she nibbled at the crust, she looked across the table at the three boys eyeing her with interest. Neville smiled and said hi. She smiled back and asked him if he could pass the pumpkin juice. He promptly reached down the table, took the pitcher and started to hand it to Cassie. The tall black boy sitting next to Neville took the pitcher, though, much to Neville's displeasure, and handed it to Cassie with a big smile. Cassie felt herself flush a little.
"Hi. I'm Dean Thomas. I guess you already know Neville."
Cassie smiled at him. She remembered Rhiannon commenting on Dean Thomas's good looks the night before and quietly agreed with her. "I'm Pia Spencer. I'm new here at Hogwarts." The young man sitting on Dean's other side also smiled at Cassie and introduced himself in a strong Irish brogue.
"Hi. My name's Seamus Finnigan. I understand you're Ron and Ginny's cousin." Cassie fought hard to hold back an actual laugh and allowed only a slight grin and a sideways glance at Harry who was snickering into his cup of hot chocolate. Both obviously remembered her comments about Seamus Finnigan being a silly name when she thought he had made it up during his stay in London a few months before.
"It's really nice to meet both of you. And it was nice meeting you last night, Neville." Neville blushed with pleasure and the other two smiled back. The next few minutes were filled with eating, small talk, and introductions to other Gryffindors whose names Cassie knew she wouldn't remember the next time they met. Various students looked up at a rush of wings as the morning owl post arrived and a flurry of Daily Prophets, packages and letters descended. Harry reached up and grabbed his copy of the wizarding newspaper and both he and Ginny began pouring over it. Hermione grabbed her copy and she and Ron did the same.
Cassie was watching the two couples while she continued to nibble at her toast when she had a sudden lurch in her stomach. A letter addressed to Cassie Robinson had landed in front of her. She sighed in relief and with excited anticipation when she recognized George Weasley's handwriting. Cassie quickly tore the envelope open and dropped it onto the table as she read the short letter.
Dear Cassie, Dad told me that they've decided to hide you at Hogwarts until they can figure out who is behind this scheme. I'm glad. You'll be safe there. Dumbledore will take care of you. I'm sorry we didn't get to spend any time together last time you were here. I'll look forward to seeing you again soon. Write back to me to tell me how you are settling in and just send it with one of the school owls. Love, George P.S. Don't believe anything Ron or Ginny tell you. It's all lies! G.W.
Cassie could feel a rather sappy grin turn up the corners of her mouth and she fought to regain composure. It wasn't that she was embarrassed about her friendship with George or anything. She just wasn't sure how to tell Ginny and Ron. Just then, Ginny glanced at the envelope and Cassie thought that might force her hand as she would certainly recognize her brother's handwriting. Ginny shot a sharp look at the envelope and then at the letter in Cassie's hand and proved her wrong. "I don't know who he is, but you better tell him that if he's going to write you here he's got to address you by your correct name." Cassie gasped. She hadn't even thought about that. She would definitely have to let George know. She grabbed the envelope and folded it as well as the parchment it had contained and stuffed the whole thing into her book bag. She stared for a second at the heavy books that Ginny had stuffed in the bag a few minutes ago. She pulled out the potions book and thumbed through it for a few minutes as the noise of the Great Hall faded into the background. It sounded kind of interesting if she could have hoped to have actually made any of these potions. She looked at the different ingredients and suppressed a small shudder. She hoped that she wouldn't actually be expected to touch any of the nasty things. She wouldn't need the Skiving Snackboxes to puke. She'd be able to manage it all on her own, thank you very much.
"Um, Ginny?" Ginny was talking to Harry now and Cassie noticed that he had his arm around her shoulders with his fingers interlaced with hers. She smiled to herself. She had been right. They were definitely still in love. "Ginny?" This caught the red-head's attention.
"Yeah?"
"Um, what exactly is so terrible about potions?" She figured she might as well be prepared for whatever nastiness she was going to have to face.
"Snape. If it weren't for him, it wouldn't be bad." Cassie noticed that Harry's eyes lit with a rather strange expression but then Ginny continued. "He hates Gryffindors and he hates most of the students and I . . ."
"Yeah. And we have to have him right after breakfast. today and after lunch on Tuesday. It's enough to make me put off food completely." Elspeth spoke up from down the table a bit and Cassie and Ginny laughed in response although Cassie felt that she might be onto something. She certainly felt like the toast she had managed to cram into her stomach this morning was suddenly going to be appearing again if she got any more tense. "Come on, though. We'll be late if we don't move it." The three girls stood up, grabbing book bags and stepping away from the table. "Oh. There's Colin." That was Elspeth again and Cassie glanced at the girl. It was obvious that she had a severe crush on the boy. She wondered vaguely what was stopping her from getting together with him. Then she looked up and felt a brief flare of recognition. What worried her most, though, is that she saw an answering spark in his. He obviously remembered her. She could only hope that he didn't remember her name or the fact that Harry had told him she was Muggle-born, which was the complete opposite of what she now would be telling people.
But before she could find out if he really did remember, the three girls hurried past him into the entrance hall. "Come on. It's in one of the more distant dungeons. And Snape loves to hand out detentions if you're late." They took off walking at a fast clip and Cassie struggled to keep her wand tucked into its pocket, her book bag from falling off her shoulder, her robes up so she wouldn't trip, and her feet from tripping over the uneven surface of the stone floor they were crossing at such speed. As they started down a dark staircase whose bottom she could not see, Cassie stopped.
"Where are we going?"
"Dungeons. Potions, remember?"
"Were you serious about it being in a dungeon?" That word brought to mind all sorts of unpleasant thoughts and Cassie could almost feel her skin crawl at the feel of the moist close air that was settled in this stairway.
"Yeah. We're serious. And it's as nasty as you're thinking." Cassie thought as she started down the dark stairs that at least Ginny could have lied and made her feel better.
