Chapter 17

House-elves and a Howler

About 45 minutes later, the five friends hurried as fast as they could up the steps of the castle into the entrance hall and stood there for a few minutes letting the relative warmth of the room soak into their bones. Ron was still looking a little pale but in general he seemed to have recovered from his wounds. Ginny's eye still looked puffy and dark but the shower she had taken in the changing rooms had washed all the blood from her nose off her face. Harry, who was the only one of the Quidditch players to emerge from the match completely unscathed, still had a frustrated look on his face. He had asked both Cassie and Hermione repeatedly what Malfoy had said to them but they both had just said he had called Hermione a Mudblood and insulted Ron. He didn't believe them, that was obvious, but he had stopped asking.

Cassie had told Hermione that she didn't want Harry to say anything to Malfoy about the earlier comment and his rather twisted flirtation. "For one thing, it would be strange. He isn't supposed to be more than a casual friend and Draco might get suspicious if Harry is acting all protective. But if Ron confronts him, Ron is likely to get himself into trouble. He's not exactly what you call level-headed around Draco, is he?" Hermione had to admit that everything Cassie had said was true. They also had decided, while they were sitting in the small anteroom off the girls' Quidditch changing rooms waiting for Ginny to emerge, that Cassie had handled the situation well enough and there was no point reminding Draco of the entire incident by having either Hermione or Ginny confront him.

"Just stay away from him, though, Pia. He's scaring me a little bit." The girls' changing rooms, unlike the boys', were a common room - shared by all the girls on all the teams, as there were usually very few of them. "And," Hermione had muttered to Cassie when she had questioned the logic of this, "let's face it, girls are less likely to start wrestling over something that happened on the field than the boys are."

"Well, he doesn't scare me, exactly. It is making me a little nervous that he keeps staring at me. Do you think he really knows who I am? Maybe he remembers me from the last time . . . ." One of the girls (the Seeker, Cassie thought) from the Hufflepuff team had emerged from the changing rooms at that point and they had talked to her for a few minutes, congratulating her on a good game. She was a nice girl and didn't seem too frustrated about what had happened during the game. She recognized that Harry was one of the best Seekers Hogwarts had seen in years and that she had been very unlikely to beat him in a head-to-head confrontation. But she had been pleased at how the rest of the team played and that their score was decent. Cassie bit her tongue when she was tempted to remind the girl that this was only because Ron was injured and the Chasers on her team had taken full advantage of that little fact.

Cassie was unsure as they all stood in the entrance hall what they were going to do now for the rest of the afternoon. She still needed to mail her letter to her parents but she didn't think that would take very long. She thought perhaps they could do homework but that really held no appeal. However, she didn't have to wonder for very long. "Ron, why don't you take Hermione up to the Commons Room? Ginny and I will go visit the kitchens. And Pia, you probably want to come with us. It's interesting." Hermione scowled at this and Ron got a very amused grin on his wan face.

"Good idea. Hurry. I'm sure they'll all be waiting. I think the rest of the team is already back." Hermione scowled even more deeply at both Harry and Ginny who had plastered very angelic looking smiles on their faces, looking like butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.

She and Ron started climbing up the stairs and Cassie heard Hermione talking to Ron in a very angry voice. "What's going on? Why can't they come with us to the kitchen?"

"Well, Ron could if he wanted, but he looked like he might fall over so I figured he should probably keep track of Hermione." Harry and Ginny both still had very strange looks on their faces and Cassie knit her brows together. After a minute or two, they both started laughing and Ginny had to lean back against one of the walls, holding herself by the stomach as she tried to catch her breath.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" She tried not to be angry but it was strange having people laugh at private jokes all around her. Most of the time she couldn't really ask but they were alone in the corridor and she figured she was safe.

"It's Hermione. She gets so mad when we have to come down here."

"Why?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story." Harry was still chuckling but they were walking down a set of steps now with Ginny close behind. "The elves have told her in no uncertain terms that she is not allowed. And it makes her very mad."

"The elves? We're going to see the house-elves?"

"Yeah. That's why I thought you'd like it." They stopped in front of a gigantic painting of a bowl of fruit and Cassie had the fleeting thought that at least this portrait wouldn't talk to her. Then, Harry reached out and started rubbing his finger over the pear that was in the middle of the painting and Cassie could have sworn she heard giggling. She looked around to see who was giggling at them but when she looked back, where the pear had been was a bright green door handle . Harry pulled on the door handle and the painting swung away from the wall. A second later all three of them were standing inside a cavernous kitchen and Cassie was staring with complete amazement at the little creatures bustling about.

She wasn't sure what to expect in an elf. The only reference she could even think of to elves were the ones supposedly working at the North Pole to make Christmas toys. And any picture she had had in her mind when she was a child was nothing close to what she saw now. Well, okay. She had to take that back. They were short. And their ears were pointy. But they weren't cute. And they weren't wearing pointed shoes.

They weren't exactly ugly. It was hard for her to think of exactly what words she would use to describe them. Their heads were very large and bald and their eyes were absolutely huge in their small pointed faces. Their ears looked like overlarge bat ears or like Spock's on Star Trek. Their arms and legs were very skinny with hands and feet that looked like they had been transplanted from a bigger creature. Most of them were dressed in what Cassie could have sworn were pillowcases.

Just as she was trying to take it all in, one little bundle of energy approached them. Cassie had to bite her lip hard to avoid bursting into frantic laughter. The elf was wearing the strangest collection of things she had ever seen. She could not even begin to tell exactly what the various articles of clothing were. She did, however, identify two or three knit caps on his head and what she could have sworn was a tea cozy on top of them all. The thing that was the most obvious though were about 30 different socks and none of them looked like they matched. He had several different ones on each foot and then also had others that seemed to be pinned to his outfit. He was not wearing the pillowcase that the others had on but seemed to be wearing some shorts that were big enough to cover his entire body and what looked to be a very small maroon knit sweater. He was smiling broadly.

"Harry Potter. It is so good to see you, Harry Potter. And you has brought your Ginny Weasey and your Cassie with you. What does you want, Harry Potter? What can Dobby get for you?" Harry got a rather sick-looking smile on his face. Cassie had an immediate feeling of panic. The elves - the elves knew her real name? How? Would she have to leave Hogwarts?"

"Look, Dobby. I know you remember Cassie from before but she is calling herself Pia now and you must never call her Cassie. Ever. Not even down here in the kitchens." Harry got a fairly stern look on his face. "I mean it, Dobby. Pia, never Cassie."

"Whatever you say, Harry Potter. Harry Potter's Cassie is now Harry Potter's Pia. I won't forget, Harry Potter. I won't."

"Good." Harry smiled. "How are you, Dobby? And Winky?"

"We are good, Harry Potter. How is Harry Potter and his Weasey and his Ginny Weasey? Ginny rolled her eyes as Cassie tried not to laugh out loud.

"All fine, Dobby. My Weasey, uh, Ron, had his arm hurt today during Quidditch, though. But we did win and we hoped you would have some food we could take up for a small victory celebration."

"Of course, of course. Dobby got some ready earlier. Dobby knew Harry Potter would win the match. Harry Potter is the best Seeker to ever play for Hogwarts and the best wizard to ever live. Dobby knew he would catch the Snitch." Harry flushed a little at the superlative praise and Cassie smiled to herself. Apparently, Harry had a lifelong fan in this little house-elf. But that was okay. In her opinion, Harry needed a few more fans.

Dobby had a case of butterbeer under one of the tables. Harry smiled gratefully and pulled it over to the door. "Great. Thanks, Dobby. I was hoping we could get some of that. Do you have anything else we could take?"

"What does Harry Potter want?"

Cassie thought a few minutes later that the Gryffindors must be a hungry bunch. All three of them were loaded up under rather large piles of pastries, cakes, biscuits, pumpkin pasties, and pies. Harry also was going to spell the case of butterbeer up the steps although Cassie had no idea how he was going to carry his wand in order to do it. She thought it might be rather handy to shrink it all and carry it in their pockets but apparently that wasn't as easy as it sounded because neither Ginny nor Harry suggested it and she decided against asking, in case it was a stupid idea. Harry put his things down on the nearest table and took his wand out of his pocket. "Locomotor butterbeer." The case rose in front of them and then Harry put his wand under his arm and picked up all of his stuff. "Come on. We better get going or there's bound to be a riot. Thanks, everyone. We appreciate it." They left the warmth of the kitchens and started back up the stairs to the commons room. As they walked, Cassie was still marveling over Dobby and the other elves. They were so strange looking, but nice. And why was the one wearing clothes when none of the others were? Then she remembered Hermione and her ban from the kitchens.

"Uh, you never really explained why Hermione's banned from the kitchens."

Harry and Ginny laughed a little, trying hard not to jiggle their arms. Cassie smiled at their amusement but was still perplexed. Finally Harry explained. "It's that S.P.E.W. thing of hers. Every time she went down into the kitchens she would give speeches about breaking the chains of elf slavery and rising up in rebellion. They tried shoving muffins or fruit into her mouth to keep her quiet, but she just kept it up. That's when they nicely but firmly invited her not to come back again. Now, they just try to avoid her. They think she's a bit nutters."

Cassie smiled but felt bad for Hermione. She was only trying to help. And besides, Cassie agreed with Hermione. She was not only amazed but shocked at the elves. Their simple devotion to completely please the witches and wizards in the castle was unbelievable. Cassie felt sorry that the only thing that seemed to make the elves happy was servitude. "Why did Dobby wear different clothes than all the others? And he seems to like you a lot more than the other elves do."

So Harry briefly outlined his history with Dobby.

"So, now that he can wear whatever clothes he wants to, he tends to overcompensate a little bit for all those years he had to wear a dirty pillowcase. And you saw how much he loved socks."

"That's a funny story but it's terrible he was a slave. And to someone who was so mean to him." Cassie looked carefully at Ginny and Harry. "You know who it was, don't you? You just didn't say, to be diplomatic."

"Yeah. I just. . . . well, okay. It was the Malfoys."

Cassie scowled. "They really are some slimy individuals, aren't they? But the point is, anyone could treat the elves like that and it would be perfectly legal. That's why they really need to be free."

"You're right, Pia. And so is Hermione. It's just not so simple to tell all the elves they're free and think everything will be fine. They've had generations of doing the same thing. That's all they know. I'm sure they'll be free someday - maybe not so far in the future. But it has to be done in a way where they won't be left with nothing to do and no purpose in life. But we're all hoping that having Dobby down there will be a positive influence on these elves, anyway. They seem to be fairly accepting of his strange ways."

Cassie smiled at Harry. "You're right. I . . . uh, hope I didn't offend either of you. I just didn't grow up where you have slaves . . . I mean . . . servants. It's really different for me."

Ginny nodded. "We don't have a house elf. Mostly because we're poor. But I don't think we'd have one even if we were rich. I can't picture my mum and dad having someone serve them when one of us could do it ourselves. But you have to admit, it is rather amusing the way they act like Hermione is a leper or something, just because she is trying to free them."

It wasn't long after that when the three of them arrived at the portrait hole. Cassie called out the password and someone came over to help them get the food inside. She could hear loud talking, laughter, and music through the entrance. As the three entered the commons room, the crowd within broke out into loud applause and cheers. Cassie suddenly felt very conspicuous and self-conscious. She tried to edge to the side and out of the spotlight that was obviously meant for Harry and Ginny. She had never seen so many people in the commons room and figured every single Gryffindor student must be in the room. And in that very crowded room, she felt very alone.

The cheers, hugs, and claps on the back were dying down a little as Harry and Ginny waded through the see of red and gold to the refreshments table. Cassie fell in right behind Ginny, pressing ahead and trying not to draw attention to herself. They deposited the food and butterbeer at the table and watched as the students swarmed like locusts. Harry handed Ginny and Cassie each a butterbeer and told them they had better grab what they wanted because there might not be much left after the rush. Each girl took some cakes and pies and followed Harry over to the fire where Ron and Hermione were sitting.

Ron, who had his head leaning against Hermione's shoulder, appeared to be falling asleep; something rather miraculous in the midst of the tumult. Harry handed each a butterbeer and Ron gratefully took a couple of swallows. As Hermione took a drink from her bottle, Ron's eyes began to droop and he nearly lost grip of his drink. Hermione took the bottle from his hand.

"Madame Pomfrey gave him something to drink to help with the pain. She told him he would be very tired." She smiled fondly at him and continued. "She tried to get him to drink it during the game but he knew it would put him to sleep. That's why he waited until after."

Ginny looked sympathetically at her brother. "Good thing he waited. It was a tough game as it was. Maybe he should just go up and go to bed."

"He can sleep against my shoulder for awhile. When he's really asleep I'll have Harry and a few others take him up. Right now he seems pretty comfortable." Her fingers were smoothing through his hair and Cassie thought that he actually looked dreadfully uncomfortable but Hermione was enjoying having him there and she didn't want him moved.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and then at Cassie and they all tried to hide their smiles. The two of them took drinks from their bottles but Harry noticed Cassie had not yet taken a drink from hers.

"What's wrong, Pia? You haven't had any of the butterbeer."

Cassie looked embarrassed. "It won't get me drunk, will it?" Her family as a rule did not drink and her mother had been pretty adamant about her not getting out of control. Plus, if she was not in complete control of herself, she might let something slip that could be dangerous.

"No, it won't. I promise. There's barely enough alcohol in there to get a house elf drunk."

She held the bottle up and got ready to take a sip, then lowered it again. She had never had regular beer before and her few tastes of wine on holidays had not exactly convinced her that she ever wanted to drink it on a regular basis. "Um, I was just wondering . . . does it taste good?"

"Yeah. It's good. It's better warm but it's good right out of the bottle, also."

Cassie took a tentative swallow and a pleasant, smooth, buttery taste flooded her mouth. "Ooh, this is good. I should always trust you when it comes to drinks. First pumpkin juice and now butterbeer. Maybe when I go home I can smuggle some with me. I bet even my parents would like this." Harry grinned as he swallowed again and Cassie took a more liberal drink out of her bottle. She sighed heavily, though. She really had to get that letter sent to her parents. She didn't exactly relish another trip up to the owlery but if that's what she needed to do, then she'd better get it done. They'd be seriously starting to wonder about her now. Cassie squatted down next to Hermione, who was still holding Ron's head and running her fingers through his hair. "Uh, Hermione, you were going to tell me how I can send my letter to my parents. . . but we were interrupted."

"Oh, yes. Sorry about that. Professor Dumbledore said to just leave the letter on your bed and the elves will pick it up. They'll also leave any letters from your parents there." Cassie thought for a few minutes. That system seemed fraught with potential problems, but if that was what Professor Dumbledore wanted, then she would do it.

"All right. Um, when?"

"What?"

"When would they pick it up?"

"At night, I guess." Hermione got a slightly pained look on her face and Cassie remembered that Hermione's experiences with the elves was a little bit of a touchy subject and she decided she wouldn't ask anymore. She would leave the letter out tonight. If it wasn't gone in the morning, she would track the headmaster down and ask him personally what she was supposed to do.

Cassie looked around at the commons room which was, if possible, even more chaotic than it had been when they had first slid in through the portrait hole. A few students were showing each other some interesting charms that seemed to involve a lot of hair on faces, hands, and arms. The girls were shrieking in disgust but the boys were enjoying rescuing them by removing it. Some of the other students obviously had been to the twins' joke shop because some were turning into big yellow birds and then molting while others had fire spewing out of their mouths. One girl was screaming as flames burst from her mouth and then, as soon as the fire had extinguished, she commented how good the chocolate tasted and asked for another from a boy who was smiling as he handed it to her. A few of the Gryffindors were dancing to the music. Cassie did not recognize the music at all. She had never heard any of the songs being sung and the tunes sounded sort of discordant. She didn't even recognize the sounds of the instruments. "What is this music? It's . . .uh, a little different."

Ginny gave her a bewildered look. "It's the Weird Sisters. They're great. Everybody listens to them." Cassie was about to comment that it was nothing like anything she'd ever heard before, but Ginny and Harry were pulled away by Colin for a team picture. Hermione was involved in talking to another of the seventh-year girls who was perched on the arm of the sofa so Cassie decided she didn't want to interrupt. She watched the Quidditch team for a few minutes as they hammed for the camera and Colin tried to get them in some sort of order.

Feeling a little braver than she had a few minutes earlier, she decided to mill about the room and get a better view of what everyone was doing. She went over first to Neville, Dean, Seamus and Pavarti. There were a few younger girls there also who Cassie did not know. All of them were enjoying some of the twins' products and Cassie smiled as she watched. The girl was fanning her mouth as smoke was wafting out. Neville popped a canary creme into his mouth and a moment later he turned into a very large canary. The small group, including Cassie, started laughing. A moment or two later Neville molted and grinned. "I love those things. They taste so good, they're worth turning into a bird." Cassie almost started laughing again as she remembered his saying the same thing last summer. Neville turned to Cassie and smiled. "Hi, Pia. We're trying out some of your cousins' products. Do you want a canary creme?"

Cassie hesitated and then started to reach for one. As she did so, she noticed Ginny watching her with a worried look. Ginny gave a slight shake of her head and Cassie realized she wasn't sure how George and Fred's canary creme would affect a Muggle The Dragon Kisses had worked out all right, but that had not actually involved her turning into an animal. "Um, thanks, but no thanks. I've had plenty of their stuff in the past and I've made it a policy to avoid it whenever possible."

"Are you sure?" She nodded and took another drink of her butterbeer.

"Have you started on that Herbology assignment yet?"

"No. I'll probably do it tonight or tomorrow. I hope I can do better at the homework than I did with those nasty little plants." Neville laughed.

"You didn't do too badly, considering you obviously haven't had much training. It is an advanced class, after all."

"Yeah. I guess I was rather stupid to think I could do it."

"Oh, you'll be fine. Look, um, if you need help with it, Herbology is one of my best subjects."

"Okay. Thanks, Neville." Cassie knew there was no way she could ask Neville for help. For one thing, she could not allow herself to make an error that would expose her as someone completely ignorant of all things magical but even more of a problem was the fact that she could not even write with the quill pen. "I really do appreciate it. I'm sure you have enough to keep you busy. But, I'll keep it in mind." She spotted Colin now over by the refreshment table and decided to go talk to him. She had felt kind of bad earlier leaving him up in the stands even though Elspeth had been with him and neither of them had looked too unhappy.

"Hi, Colin. Did the picture turn out?"

"Once they stopped goofing off. Did you have fun today?"

"I had a great time. I wasn't really sure I'd like watching. . . ." Oh, dear. Colin didn't know she had never seen a Quidditch game. What was she going to say now? "I wasn't sure how good the school teams would be, you know? I've mainly watched professional, but they were really impressive."

"So, who's your favorite?"

"What?"

"Quidditch team. Who do you cheer for?"

Oh, oh. What had she just gotten herself into? Her mind scrambled. "The Cannons?"

"Oh, no! Not you, too! What is it with you Weasleys? Do you just enjoy cheering for the losers?"

"I guess. Either that, or it's the orange -- kind of goes with the hair." Colin laughed uproariously and Cassie was proud that she had remembered that. She had completely forgotten that Hermione had said the Cannons were the worst team in the league, though. Not that it mattered because that was the only team she knew. Colin got called away a moment later to take some more pictures, but not before reminding her that both she and Elspeth were going to look at his photo album tomorrow.

As Cassie walked away, a younger looking boy with a freckled face and a big smile came up to her and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Zach. You must be the Weasleys' cousin. You're as pretty as all the guys said. Uh, how would you like me to show you around the place and help you feel at home? Have you ever seen the Forbidden Forest, or the lower dungeons, or maybe the astronomy tower?" Cassie didn't know whether to laugh or be offended. She gracefully thanked him and tried to get away as quickly as possible.

Cassie saw Saffron and Rhiannon visiting with a couple of the Quidditch players and walked over to them. She smiled shyly at the group. Saffron introduced her. "Pia, have you met Honey Tattershall and Kenton Wandweelder?"

"Yes, earlier. That was a great game." They thanked her and they talked for a few minutes about the game, Cassie just nodding at their various comments. Cassie looked across the room, trying to find Ginny again, and noticed Zach watching her. He smiled and winked at her. Her eyes widened a little in surprise and she shifted so she wouldn't be facing him. A moment or so later she moved back to the refreshment table. She picked up another pumpkin pastie and then turned to see Zach standing next to her. She looked down at him in disbelief as he smiled broadly and winked at her again. She smiled, excused herself and headed directly back to Harry and Ginny who she could now see were visiting with Hermione.

"I don't believe this."

"What's wrong, Pia?"

"That boy over there. The one with the brown hair who looks like he's about twelve. He keeps flirting with me. He even volunteered to show me around, but mainly areas like the Forbidden Forest and the Astronomy Tower."

Harry looked over at the boy. "The little flirt. Those are the main places everyone goes to snog."

Ginny laughed, looking at him with a mixture of humor and surprise. "You've never taken me there, Harry. I didn't even know you knew about them."

Harry grinned rather sheepishly. "Well, they can be pretty busy at times. We've found some better places, anyway. But that's beside the point." Ginny looked questioningly over in the direction where Zach had been standing a few minutes before.

"Who is it?" Cassie pointed him out for her.

Harry asked Hermione for confirmation. "Isn't that the Parker boy?" At Hermione's nod in the affirmative, Harry said, "I'll make sure he doesn't bother you again."

"Please don't hurt him, Harry. I don't think he meant any harm."

"Don't worry, Pia, I'm not going to hurt him. I'm just going to let him know you're not interested."

Hermione stirred, gently laying Ron's head on the arm of the couch. She asked Harry if he and a few others could help Ron up to his room. Harry grabbed Dean who happened to be walking by and they both took one of Ron's arms and led him carefully toward the steps. Hermione stood up and stretched.

"Well, I think I'll go upstairs and read before dinner. I suppose you're going to wait for Harry to come back down, Ginny? How about you, Pia? Do you want to head up?"

By this time, Cassie decided she needed a break from all the people and noise and gratefully accepted Hermione's offer. The two of them climbed the winding staircase to their respective rooms and Cassie laid down for a short nap. She awoke only when Ginny shook her and told her it was time for dinner. "Come on, Pia. It's time for dinner. And remember, the elves were fixing stew and pork chops."

"Well, I'm not really hungry." Cassie actually was extremely full from all the sweets she had consumed in the afternoon. But since she knew it would now be several hours before she had a chance to eat again and since she was feeling a little bit nutritionally deficient, she decided she would at least try to eat something healthy. "Okay. I'm coming." She stood up slowly and slipped her school robe back on. She looked Ginny over carefully. She had a distinct pinkness in her cheeks that Cassie did not remember from the cold and wind. "What have you been up to since I saw you last?"

Ginny face got a little pinker. "Nothing, really. Just celebrating." Cassie chuckled under her breath.

"Okay. Let's go. I'm seriously in need of something with a vitamin or two. I promised my mum I'd eat healthy here and I don't think I'm really living up to it." The two of them walked down the stairs where they met Hermione.

"Harry should be down in a minute. I sent him upstairs to see if Ron would wake up. I didn't think that pain potion Madam Pomfrey gave him was that strong. But he was really asleep."

"Maybe he didn't sleep well last night," Ginny offered. "He always worries so much before a match." Before Hermione could reply to this, Ron emerged from the stairway, looking a little run down but his eyes were open. Right behind him was Harry.

"Sorry, we're a little slow. He wanted to get up but he had a hard time getting coordinated enough to get his robe on." They all walked down to dinner, all of them guiding Ron periodically as he tended to stop in the middle of hallway and look around like he wanted to sit down somewhere if he could just find a comfortable seat. He did revive a little at the sight of the stew, ladling some into a bowl quickly and grabbing a couple of the rolls that were in bowls along the table.

Cassie thought the rolls looked good and took one. As she did so, she looked down the table several places and saw the same young boy smiling at her. However, when their eyes met, he got a nervous look on his face and looked down at his plate. Cassie chuckled under her breath and turned to Harry who was sitting next to her. "I get the feeling you talked with that boy, uh, what's his name."

Harry grinned. "Yeah. I don't think he'll be bothering you again. And, before you even ask, I didn't threaten him. I just told him you were flattered, but weren't interested in dating a younger boy."

Cassie chuckled again and reached for the salad rather than the stew, piling her bowl high with it. Neville, who was sitting next to her, raised an eyebrow at her as she dug right in it a moment later. "Oh, uh, don't worry, Neville. I'm just full from the party. I'm not a vegetarian or anything."

"What's a . . . vegetation?"

"A vegetarian. Someone who doesn't eat meat? Haven't you ever heard of one?" He shook his head, and Cassie felt a little twinge of nervousness in her stomach. Maybe they didn't have vegetarian witches and she had just made a huge mistake. "I learned about them in my travels with my parents. They're quite the in thing in America."

Neville laughed. "Well, that explains it. I'm not very aware of anything that could be considered the in thing." Cassie just smiled back and continued eating. Those elves must know magic. It was December and these vegetables tasted like they had just come from a backyard garden. A few moments later, just has she had taken a bite of her roll, a soft murmur rose from the table all around her. Even Ginny, sitting on her other side, said something to Harry. Cassie looked around. Everyone was watching an owl fly in from a window high up in the wall. And it was headed right for the Gryffindor table. There was nothing particularly odd about this, but every eye along the entire table was watching it and some from the other tables as well, Cassie noticed.

The owl got closer and Cassie noticed that it was carrying a large red envelope which it promptly dropped on the table, right in front of Saffron. The entire hall was so quiet now that she could have heard a pin drop if she'd have had one. Cassie stared, like everyone else, at the envelope and the girl who regarded it with a mixture of resignation and disgust. Saffron reached for it, and opened the flap. What happened next shocked Cassie so much that she almost fell off the bench, only barely keeping her seat. An extremely loud voice suddenly echoed through the hall. It was so loud that it hurt her ears and she could have sworn that the pumpkin juice in her goblet was rippling as each word burst into the air.

"SAFFRON NIGHTSCALL! I HEARD ABOUT YOUR TRANSFIGURATION GRADE AND I AM TOTALLY DISGUSTED! YOU HAD BETTER GET YOURSELF TOGETHER, YOUNG LADY, OR YOU ARE GOING TO FIND YOURSELF STUDYING OVER CHRISTMAS BREAK RATHER THAN GOING OUT WITH FRIENDS! AND I MEAN IT!"

Everyone in the entire hall laughed long and loud as the envelope disappeared in a puff of flame and smoke. Cassie just sat and stared down the table at where the envelope had been a second before. Ginny leaned over to her and whispered, "That's a howler. You get them when someone is really mad at you." Cassie didn't say anything but it wasn't the screaming or the small explosion that had frightened her. It was the fact that she had heard that voice before. She knew she had, even though it was now magnified about 100 times. She had heard it before, but she didn't know when or where.

"Who was that?"

"Saffron's dad. He's in the Ministry, I think. No. I'm positive. He's like the Assistant Minister or something to Fudge. You can ask her about it. She's proud of it."

"Have I ever met him before?" Cassie tried to keep her voice light, conversational. No one was really listening to them, but she didn't want anyone to start.

"I don't think so. I mean . . . where would you have?"

"I don't know. He's in the Ministry?"

"Yeah." Cassie thought for a minute, trying to place the voice. She'd probably met him in George and Fred's shop at some point. In fact, she remembered one time there had been someone who obviously thought he was very important in the shop demanding that the twins help him with something. She couldn't really remember what he looked like but he was dark-haired like Saffron. She was positive about that. She tried to remember what he had said and what his voice had sounded like, but it wouldn't come to mind. Oh, well. It wasn't important anyway. She finished her salad trying along with Ginny not to laugh too hard when Ron fell asleep at the table partway through his stew and Hermione had to wake him up.

After dinner, they all straggled back up to the commons room, Harry helping Ron along. Hermione was clucking over him like a mother hen. The room had been straightened up and Hermione was torn between upbraiding everyone for leaving it a huge mess which the elves then had to clean up or making sure that Ron got up to his bed safely. Cassie could tell it was a very big internal struggle. Hermione opened her mouth several times, prepared to say something to the various students lounging about the commons room, but then she would snap it shut and turn to Ron and Harry again. Finally, she focused all her attention on Ron as Harry and Seamus half carried him up the steps.

Cassie threw herself down with the other two girls onto one of the soft squishy couches by the fire. She supposed she should rouse herself to do some homework and she was feeling terribly guilty that she still hadn't mailed the letter off to her parents. After all, she had found time to mail one to George. But right now, she just wanted to sit in front of this fire and not move for at least an hour. She was warm and full and content. And any niggling fear that she had in the back of her brain about what had happened on Wednesday night was easily suppressed. It was at least 30 minutes before Harry emerged again and he looked a little worse for wear.

"Okay, Hermione. You owe me big time. I don't know why he couldn't have just slept in his robes and things. It was almost impossible to get his robes and shoes off and get him under the covers. He's not small. Plus, he was grouchy and didn't want to move an arm here and a leg there."

"Sorry, Harry." But Cassie thought she didn't look terribly contrite.

"Is anyone up for a game of chess?" He indicated several boards over on one of the tables. Hermione groaned and shook her head. Cassie considered it for about 15 seconds. She had quite enjoyed playing against him the previous summer but she hadn't played since then and wasn't sure she was ready to be humiliated in front of a room full of strangers. Ginny accepted Harry's challenge and a few minutes later Cassie was staring in complete amazement at the chess pieces as they were placed on the board.

They really did move and seemed to like to complain loudly as they were moved into positions where they were at risk, or even worse, captured. The first time one of the small pieces was smashed to smithereens by another one and hauled off to the side of the board, Cassie had to almost cover her mouth to keep from shrieking in surprise. It was terribly gory to watch. Both Harry and Ginny were evenly matched, as far as Cassie could tell, and most of the players were removed from the board in pieces before Harry finally triumphed. "Learned that from your book, Pia. It's served me well. I've practically got some parts memorized."

Cassie smiled happily. "I'm glad. Have you beat Ron yet?"

"No. But I have made him work a lot harder to beat me. I'm still optimistic that one day I'll catch him off guard." Cassie excused herself a few minutes later and headed up to bed. She was exhausted and even though she knew she would be able to sleep in late the next morning, she was anxious to get to bed as early as possible.

She was alone in the room when she got up there and she reached into her bookbag to pull out the letter to her parents. It seemed like days since she had written it even though she knew it had only been yesterday afternoon. She read it over quickly and then placed it at the foot of her bed. She hoped that the elves would find it there even though it was inside her bed hangings. Ginny hadn't said anything about the elves actually looking in on them while they slept and that thought made her a little uncomfortable. But, if that was what Dumbledore thought was best, then she would endure it. After all, the elves had been very nice in the kitchens.

She put her clothes at the end of the bed again, marveling at how they managed to get all that laundry done every night. She had changed into her flannel nightgown (with her back to the picture that kept insisting on winking at her) and slipped into the warmth of her bed when Ginny came in. Much to Cassie's surprise, she was carrying a huge armload of clothes, crumpled and dirty, in her arms which she threw down by the bed.

"What are those, Ginny? Are those more of your robes or something?"

Ginny looked up at her wryly, and Cassie thought that she was trying not to laugh. "No. They're Hermione's. The elves refuse to pick up her laundry anymore."

"You're kidding! Just because she tells them about maybe being free one day?"

"Well, no. It's mainly because she tried to hide clothes for them in with the laundry, trying to trick them and force them to be free. For a while, Dobby was the only one who would even clean this tower at all and he would have to do everyone's laundry. But it got to be too much for him. So, now they just refuse to pick anything up around her bed. I bring her clothes down here every week and they wash it and return it to me. I'm sure they know it's actually hers . . . but it's a compromise."

Cassie just shook her head in amazement. "Poor Hermione. She's just trying to help them."

"Yeah. But she hasn't figured out that they really don't want her help." Ginny settled into bed a few minutes later and they both were tired enough that they didn't feel like talking. "Goodnight, Pia. Sleep well."

"Yeah, you too." Cassie pulled the bed hangings closed, snuggling deeper into her covers. And it didn't take very long for her to fall asleep.