I know that a lot of you are tired of depressing chapters! But never fear. These next few chapters are going to be fun and hopefully funny. This one if definitely not depressing and the next one (on Friday) should be downright hilarious. So thanks for sticking through the sad stuff and enjoy this one! No, it's not quite Saturday, but we're getting there quickly. Just endure a little bit longer.

Chapter 31
Cassie and the Centaur

Cassie was awakened early by Ginny and fought to pull herself out of bed. This was the second morning in a row that she had slept only a few hours and she wondered how long she would be able to keep up with such a small amount of sleep. Nevertheless, Cassie put on a smile, wished Ginny a good morning and dutifully followed her down to the bathroom. It was going to be a very hectic and stressful day for everyone and Cassie needed to be as awake as possible. They hurried quickly through their standard morning routine before heading downstairs to the common room where they were going to hold their usual morning meeting. Cassie and Hermione had spent quite a bit of time talking about today's classes the day before but this morning they were going to finalize all the plans. Her stomach was doing nervous flip-flops but she trusted Hermione and if she said this crazy plan would work then Cassie believed her.

When the two girls stepped into the common room, they found Harry and Hermione sitting on the couch by the fire. Hermione's face was pale and Harry was staring fixedly at the fire. Neither of them were saying anything. Ginny and Cassie looked at each other before hurrying over to the two of them. "What's wrong, Hermione? Is everything okay?" Hermione nodded and wiped at her eyes with a grimace.

"Yeah, I'm all right. It's just that last night . . ." She couldn't continue and she looked pleadingly at Harry who reluctantly turned from the fire.

"Hermione's upset about the battles last night, girls."

"Why?" Ginny looked extremely concerned and sat down by Hermione. "Was someone hurt?" Cassie sat down reluctantly next to Ginny. She wasn't sure she could bear any more bad news. It had been a couple of difficult days and she dreaded hearing more news of death and destruction this early in the morning. But of course, she said nothing as she was sure that if she was sick of it, it was nothing compared to how they were all feeling.

"All the information we had before the battle told us that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were trying to strike once more against people completely unable to defend themselves. They were going after Muggles again, but this time it was specifically the families of the Muggle-born students at Hogwarts."

"What?!!" Ginny and Cassie said together and Hermone smiled faintly at them.

"My parents, apparently, had the honor of being top of the list. Probably in an attempt to draw Harry there."

"What happened, Harry?"

"I wound up spending the entire night apparating from house to house, fighting, and then apparating somewhere else. It was exhausting. Death Eaters were everywhere and I must have fought at least 20 of them. It was just a nightmare, honestly. We were never sure who would be where and, of course, we kept expecting Voldemort would turn up at the next house. He never did, though, which I guess is a good thing."

"Are your parents all right, Hermione?"

"Yes. They're frightened, of course. I guess the fighting got pretty nasty around their house but Harry said they were okay."

"That's terrible, Hermione. Why would they be doing that, targeting students' families like that? It doesn't make sense to me."

"I don't really know. We thought it might be kind of a morale thing. About 40 families were targeted and now everyone's upset and aggravated. Some of the parents want to take their children out of school, but Dumbledore is talking to them and I guess the Order is working on strengthening the wards around their houses and everything. I'm not really sure about all the details." The four of them sat quietly for a few minutes before Cassie got brave enough to ask a question.

"Where's Ron, Hermione? Does he know about this yet?" Harry shook his head.

"Ron will absolutely blow a gasket when he hears about it. He's having a bit of a lie-in this morning because he doesn't have a class until 10. I told Hermione I'd wake him up, but . . ."

"I don't see the point. There's absolutely nothing he can do about anything. He'll just be fuming and throwing a fit and realistically, this meeting is too important to have that distraction. We'll just fill him in later." Hermione wiped her eyes again and pulled a piece of parchment out of her bookbag, spreading out the class schedule for the day and smoothing it. However, Cassie couldn't help but notice that her eyes kept straying to the stairway as if she was hoping that Ron would wander down earlier than expected. Cassie tried really hard to focus on what Hermione was saying but it was difficult because she kept thinking about how she would feel if her family had been the target of Death Eaters and her stomach was in serious knots. "The key to getting through today is careful attention to detail and the timing has to be exact. Do you have a watch, Cassie?"

"Yes."

"Well, make sure you put it on today and keep your eye on it. Everything depends on all of us being where we need to be, when we need to be there."

"What about Ron?"

"Oh, he doesn't have anything particular to do. I'll make sure and talk to him for a minute and fill him in on our plans. That'll be enough."

"I'm sorry to tell you this, Pia, but I'm not going to be able to help you in Charms today."

Cassie blinked and looked at Harry. "Why not?"

"I've got a nasty exam this afternoon at the same time. Sorry."

"Oh. Well, I guess that's okay." She looked at Ginny for confirmation. Ginny nodded.

"We'll be fine. After the fancy stuff he had us do last time, it will probably be pretty easy today, discussion of a new charm or something." Cassie thought that she was glad she still had George's skiving things. They may come in useful in charms.

They finished the plans and started putting everything away so they could head down for breakfast. Hermione just wanted to go over the plan one more time. Cassie had never seen her so agitated. "Make sure you two meet me right outside your Divination classroom immediately when it ends. We need all the time in between classes to get this done."

"Yes, Hermione." Ginny winked at Cassie. "We'll be there. Don't worry." Cassie grinned back at Ginny when Hermione couldn't see. Truthfully, she wasn't looking forward to Divination today and the fact that she would have to sit through it, knowing how critical everything was that had to happen afterward did not help her feel any better about it. It was a very subdued group that entered the Great Hall a few minutes later.

The four of them sat down in their usual seats and Harry pulled over a platter of eggs. Despite the tensions of the morning, he must have been hungry because he piled on an extra-large portion of eggs, and then added sausages, fried potatoes, and four pieces of toast. Hermione ate some eggs, too, although Cassie thought she didn't really look like she was enjoying them. Cassie wasn't particularly hungry but Hermione had warned her to be sure to eat. "It'll be easier. Take my word for it." Cassie dutifully poured some Cornflakes and spooned marmalade on two pieces of toast she took off the ever-present plate that was right by her goblet of pumpkin juice. Bless those house-elves. The entire Great Hall seemed quiet and Cassie studied various students who she knew to be Muggle-born. Apparently, news had traveled fast because they all looked as pale as Hermione and some of the girls were actively sobbing into their hands as they spoke to friends. Colin and Dennis were resolute, and even though Elspeth sat by Colin, wringing her hands in nervous distress, the two brothers just ate their breakfast and Colin patted her arm occasionally. Cassie really wished she could hear what they were saying to each other, but they were too far away. She reminded herself to ask Elspeth later. Dean Thomas only picked at a piece of toast and Cassie felt bad that no one was sitting by him trying to reassure him that things were going to be all right.

Cassie was finishing up her Cornflakes when the now-familiar rush of owl wings caused a small stir among the students at the four tables as students looked up in anticipation of their mail. There seemed to be more than usual today, which Cassie supposed was to be expected. Parents would be writing to reassure their children that family members were all right. Cassie couldn't help herself and she looked up, also. She hoped to hear from George this morning and she had to admit to herself that she was disappointed when the only item that dropped into their little group were Harry's and Hermione's copies of The Daily Prophet. Cassie grimaced to herself and looked down at her toast. A letter from George would have been a welcome change from the somber mood of the morning but now she didn't even have that to enjoy. Ginny caught her eye and smiled sympathetically. Cassie smiled back and shrugged, determined that she wouldn't let it upset her. After all, it was Thursday and she only had two more days until she would see him in person. She could last that long. Couldn't she?

They all finished breakfast a few minutes later and they left the Great Hall together. Harry kissed Ginny and hurried to his own class. Ginny hugged Hermione for a brief minute before they separated. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Not really. But it's all right. Dumbledore will make sure the wards are strengthened around the house." Cassie hugged Hermione, too. She wished she could say something wonderfully insightful that would really make her feel better, but she couldn't think of anything.

"We'll see you in two hours, all right?" They all smiled at each other and Ginny and Cassie watched as Hermione started up the stairs. Cassie tightened her grip on her book bag and started to follow the older girl up the stairs but Ginny grabbed her arm.

"We're not going up there."

"What? I thought we had double Divination this morning."

"We do . . . but it's not up in the tower." Ginny started down a hall Cassie was sure she had never been into before and they continued talking as they walked.

"Um, okay. Why not?" Cassie could have sworn that Ginny was trying not to laugh. "I thought that Trelawney woman hardly ever came out of her tower."

"We're not having Trelawney this morning."

Cassie couldn't help it. She actually smiled. "Okay. Why do I think I'm going to like this class a lot more than I thought I would?"

"Because it's true. You'll love it. We have two Divination teachers and we have one class from each of them during the week. On Tuesdays we have Trelawney and on Thursdays . . . we have Firenze."

"Firenze? That's an unusual name."

"Not for a centaur. They seem to like those sorts of exotic sounding names." Cassie stopped in the middle of the hall.

"A centaur? I think I saw those last June. Aren't they like half horse?"

"Yeah."

"Okay . . ." Cassie tried to remember what centaurs looked like. She had noticed them, of course, during the battle. It was a little hard to ignore creatures that were half horse and half men but for the life of her, she could not remember specifically what they looked like. "Is he scary?"

"No." Ginny laughed. "Actually, most of the girls have crushes on him. He's very nice-looking, if you get into that sort of thing."

"He's a horse! I won't even let my mind go that far."

"He's half a horse. And the human part is very handsome. Well, the horse part is handsome, too, I guess."

"So, Ginny. Does Harry know he has competition for your affections?" Both the girls laughed.

"I didn't say I fancied him. I just said that most of the girls have crushes on him."

"Ah, I see." Cassie thought that it would take a lot to convince her to have a crush on a horse - even if it had the head of a man. A few minutes later, they stood outside a classroom and Cassie checked her watch, noting they had made it with time to spare. Ginny made no effort to enter the classroom, though. "What are we waiting for, Ginny?"

"Well, unlike Trelawney, Firenze has actual Divination ability. I really don't think we want him getting to up close and personal with you. I'd rather not have him announce your, uh, rather unique circumstances to the rest of the class."

Cassie nodded and leaned back against the wall. "So, what do we do? "

"Well, what we'll do is wait until the last moment and then go in and sit down in my usual spot. I always sit in the back which will work out well today."

"Why?"

"Normally, in this class we talk about the effect that the movements of stars and planets have on world events. He really is not one to spend a lot of time talking about our individual futures. I really don't think he cares about them. He wants us to see the big picture, so to speak."

"Okay. That makes it easier for us, then. So I don't understand why we are out here in the hall."

"Unfortunately, several of the students have been pestering him to help them develop their own individual horoscopes - life plans so to speak. Trelawney has us do it in fourth year, but I think most students just wind up faking it. I know I did. Not that this made me unhappy, mind you, but some of the students wished that they could have a real Seer, so to speak, help them make an accurate one."

"Oh." Cassie could see where this was going and she didn't like it.

"He's been deferring it for months but I think as a gift for us, because of the Christmas hols and all, he is doing it for each of us. It's a small class and he's about half done. If he sees you in there, he may take it in his mind to do yours."

"Well, I've never believed in astrology, but I don't care if he tells me my horoscope. I read it every once in a while in the newspaper just for laughs."

"No, you really don't want him to do one of these. It's a lot more complicated than a regular Muggle horoscope. Hermione has showed me a few of those, and believe me . . . this is nothing like it."

"Okay. I'll take your word for it." The bell rang and before it had really stopped, both girls slipped into the still-open door and into the semi-darkened classroom. Ginny stopped suddenly, glancing at the back where there was no row of desks as Cassie had expected, but just a collection of what looked like tree-stumps. She blinked in surprise. What seemed to upset Ginny, though, was the fact that every stump seemed to be occupied by students either sitting on the stump or sitting in front of it, using it as a back rest. The floor felt springy under her feet and Cassie shook her head to clear it. She would have sworn they were outside if the air weren't so warm. She knew it would be a lot colder if they actually had stepped outside the castle.

"Great. Come on. We'll have to sit up front after all." They fortunately managed to find two stumps next to each other and sat down. Cassie looked around, studying the extremely unusual classroom and also hoping to see this handsome centaur. There was no sign of him and Cassie was pretty sure she would have a hard time overlooking him. A second later, a door in the front wall opened and a creature walked through that absolutely made her catch her breath in surprise. He really was, if you could use that word, quite handsome. His horse half was what she was pretty sure was a palomino and the rest of his coloring was equally stunning. His hair was pale gold and his eyes, even in the half-dusky light of the room, were bright blue. He walked sedately into the middle of the room. Cassie expected him to smile or to at least welcome the students, but he did neither. He simply started in on the lecture, convinced that everyone would hang on his every word. And truthfully, he was right. No one made a sound as he lectured. Cassie could not take her eyes off of him. It was incredible to see this creature, whom she had been told all her life did not exist, stand in front of her delivering a lecture on the stars and the planets.

Most of what Firenze said made no sense to Cassie although she sincerely tried to listen. Ginny was taking notes at a frantic pace and Cassie tried to at least write down a few things so that it didn't look suspicious. However, she found it extremely difficult to write with the quill and parchment on her lap and she could not figure out where to keep her small ink bottle where it would be easy to continually dip her quill. No one else seemed to be struggling, but she was making more of a spectacle of herself by trying not to be a spectacle, so she quickly gave up the attempt and instead just listened.

The first hour of the class passed quickly and she breathed a sigh of relief. There was no reason to be nervous. Everything was great. No wonder Hermione had marked this class a yellow. She was warm, relaxed, comfortable, and enjoying the entire experience. Ten minutes later, though, everything changed.

"Class, I believe we are ready to continue what we started last week, if you wish." There was a general murmur of ascent and Cassie felt her stomach give a nervous lurch.

"Fine. Let us begin where we ended." He pointed a rather delicate-looking hand at a student, who hurried to the front of the class and sat down on a rather tall stump next to the professor. She was a Ravenclaw girl and she smiled self-consciously as she looked out at the rest of the students. "Miss Lightner, just relax. All of this is being recorded for you so you don't need to worry. Can you bring the sky to the proper alignment as it was on your birth date, which I believe was August 11, 1981. Is that correct?" The student nodded but no one else said anything. Obviously, his figuring out the birth date was a part of the process.

"Oh, yes, Professor. I can." She produced her wand, pointed it at the ceiling and the room darkened and the ceiling above them lit up with a perfect recreation of the night sky. Even Cassie recognized a few of the constellations as this was a summer sky and Harry had taught her well. Firenze looked at Miss Lightner for a few moments as he paced slowly back and forth for a moment or two. She stirred on her stump with anticipation. Finally, he began to speak.

"Yes, a very interesting birth date. As you well know, your astrological sign is Leo, the lion, and your ruling planet is the Sun. All of that is very common knowledge that any first-year would know. What is not as well known is that at the time of your birth, Saturn and Venus were in line with your ruling planet. People born on this day are of a very superior intellect. However, because of the characteristics of those born with Venus in their first house, you are not only of superior intellect, you are also very impatient with those whose intellectual capabilities are not to your level."

A girl who had been sitting next to the brown-haired Miss Lightner grinned. "Well, that's true." The whole class burst out laughing and the subject of the analysis blushed. Firenze smiled for the first time and, once the class had settled down, continued.

"I would think you come from a pure blood, of at least six to eight generations, wizarding family. Furthermore, you have probably experienced a stable household but been witness to a more unstable, in terms of changing dynamics and allegiances, extended family. You tend to be outwardly friendly but a very deep thinker who desires time to be alone and brood about complicated and dark thoughts. Indeed, I would say your magical powers are very strong in the area of charms, in which witches typically tend to have a more natural strength I would also think you do very well at Divination, and I have personally seen that. However, you are not as strong in areas such as potions or transfiguration as the fundamentals of those areas of magical ability are directly opposite the strengths of people, particularly women, born on your birthday.

Miss Lightner sat there with her mouth open and face flushed from a combination of embarrassment and excitement. She had nodded and cringed at various times during the analysis and was now looking at Firenze in wonderment. He continued into areas that Cassie could not even hope to understand and pointed out on the ceiling the various movements of the planets and stars that would affect the girls' life. It was actually very interesting and when he was done, the class clapped respectfully as she returned to her seat. The room lightened and the night sky disappeared. Firenze bowed his head in appreciation of the student's pleased applause and pointed at another student.

His eyes met Cassie's for a brief second and his eyebrows drew close together in vague surprise. Cassie immediately dropped her gaze from his and stared at her hands, twisting them in her lap. He had noticed her. She just prayed that he hadn't immediately figured out she was a Muggle. Her stomach was now doing flip-flops and she realized that she was in serious trouble. The lights dimmed again as the Slytherin boy, a Mr. Derek, confirmed that his birthday was indeed 5 January 1981 and aligned the night sky to now duplicate how it had been on that night, almost 17 years before. Firenze started the analysis and Cassie quietly pulled her bookbag close to her and opened the top.

"Your astrological sign is Capricorn, the goat, and your ruling planet is Saturn. Again, this is common knowledge. What is interesting is that the alignment of planets at the time of your birth produced a complex and secretive individual. As with most people whose ruling planet are Saturn, your desire to lead, in fact rule, is very strong. Because of this, you appear to be open and positive in your disposition. However, the opposite is the case. Because the planet Pluto was in the first house and Uranus in the second house at the time of your birth, you are secretive, brooding and pessimistic. It is your nature and disposition to hide things." Cassie slowly pulled a small box out of the pocket of her bag and held it in her hand. She opened the container and caught Ginny's eye. Ginny just nodded and Cassie looked down. She smiled, despite her fear. There was a small folded pile of tissue and she moved it aside to pull out the small pink candy.

Firenze continued, "You are intelligent, but in a more calculating than contemplative way. You are successful through a combination of careful analysis and sheer perseverance. You carefully evaluate the pros and cons of every action, trying to anticipate the reaction. I would assume this has been both beneficial and detrimental for you, depending upon the situation. In terms of your magical abilities, I would think you do very well in potions and arithmancy. You are weaker in charms and transfiguration." Cassie felt bad interrupting this but didn't want to give him a chance to get suspicious. She bit the end of the candy off, chewed and swallowed. She picked the tissues up and slid the box back into her bag. At first, nothing happened and Cassie had a momentary fear, or was it relief, that it wasn't going to work for her. But then, the first drop of blood fell onto her hand and she took a deep breath. A second later, there was another and before she could have even said Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, there was a veritable flood. She was immensely grateful for the twins' foresight of the tissue and pressed it up against the scarlet tide. She stood up and Ginny hastily explained to a rather bemused looking professor that her cousin would have to leave. Cassie didn't stay around to wait for permission, she just grabbed her bag and tore out into the corridor. She tried not to panic. She was bleeding a lot, but it had to look scary so that teachers would actually let you out of class and not expect you back five minutes later. She had seen a toilet close by and she pushed open the door, blinking at the sudden brightness of the room after the dim "forest" she had come from only a minute before.

She dug the box back out of her bag and opened it. This was rather more difficult than she had expected. She was trying very hard not to get blood all over her robes and herself but she couldn't hold the tissue with one hand and hope to open the bag, get the box, and retrieve the necessary antidote with the other. The tissues were soaked anyway by the time she realized she was going to have to set them down, so she did and stared with some chagrin at the blood that instantly soaked the front of her black robes. She grabbed the candy and stuffed it in her mouth, biting hard and swallowing, trying to ignore the coppery taste of blood that had come in with it.

Fortunately, the nosebleed stopped immediately and she remained kneeling on the floor for a long moment as she considered what to do next. If she were really a witch, she could have done a simple cleaning charm and things would have been as good as new. But, of course, she wasn't, she couldn't, and there was no changing that fact. She wanted desperately to return to the relative safety of Gryffindor tower and change robes and maybe even take a quick shower, but a glance at her watch confirmed what she suspected. There were only 20 minutes before Divination ended and she would need to meet Hermione there. If she didn't, things could be totally screwed up. So, she stood and braved the mirrors over the sink. She looked as bad as she feared. Her face was pale but other than that, there was blood everywhere, even in her hair. Her white blouse was stained red at the collar and she was sure that if the robes weren't black they would be absolutely horrific looking.

As she was contemplating her options, the door opened and she turned in relief, expecting that Ginny would have wanted to come check on her. But it wasn't Ginny or even Hermione who stood in shock at the bedraggled girl in front of the sink. It was the Hufflepuff seeker, Zyz . . . Cassie remembered.

"Oh, Merlin! What happened to you?"

"Uh, would you believe an accident with a bludger?" The girl smiled at Cassie's obvious attempt at humor.

"No, I wouldn't. Seriously, you look like someone punched you in the nose."

"It was one of George and Fred Weasley's Skiving Snackboxes. Have you ever heard of them?"

"The twins or the boxes?" She smiled. "Yeah, I remember the twins - bloody brilliant at pranks I must say and darn good Quidditch players, too - but I don't think I've ever heard of the boxes. What exactly do they do? Because truthfully, you're not a very good advertisement."

"You're wrong. I'm a brilliant advertisement for a brilliant product." Cassie told the girl about the Snackboxes as she calmly washed most of the blood off of herself, trying to restore at least some sense of cleanliness to her face and hands.

"Those sound great. I think I'd prefer the fainting ones to the nosebleed, though. Yuck!" She studied Cassie with a bemused expression. "What don't you clean yourself up using Scourgify?"

"Oh . . . well, I forgot my wand in the class. I rushed out so quickly. I'm hoping Ginny brings it out, but in the meantime, I just have to wait here. I don't dare leave in case she didn't see it fall on the ground when I stood up and ran."

"Ah. Do you want me to do it?"

"Could you? That would be great. I'm afraid a first year might faint if one happened to see me in the hall."

"Yeah. That's a distinct possibility." And the girl waved her wand and Cassie felt immediately a lot cleaner.

"Thanks! I really appreciate it." Cassie glanced at her watch and realized that she better go back to the classroom door and wait for Ginny and Hermione to meet her. "I better run. Thanks again. I'll see you around."

"Maybe you could bring me an order form for those Snackboxes. I'd love to have some for next week. Do you have any idea of the shipping time?"

"Uh, sure. I think just a couple days by owl. At least the wands got here pretty quickly." Cassie opened the door and stepped back out into the hall, unsure of whether to wait right outside the classroom or just in the general vicinity. She didn't want to take a chance on Firenze seeing her there and stepping out to visit. But she also needed to make sure and find Hermione. She settled on waiting partly concealed behind a suit of armor just a few feet down the hall from the classroom door. Hermione came early, glanced at her own watch, and leaned against the wall, obviously impatient for the girls to emerge. Cassie stepped out from behind the armor which startled Hermione. She told her the entire story and Hermione looked her over critically.

"She did a really good job, which I am grateful for."

"Why? I mean, what difference does it make to you?"

"We're close to the same size, but I think we'll still need to . . ." She stopped talking right then because Ginny came barreling out of the classroom.

"Oh, Pia. You're here. I was worried sick. That was terrible to watch. Did it stop okay?"

"Yeah, no problem. Fortunately, that Hufflepuff seeker, Zyz I think is her name, came in and helped me get cleaned up. Plus, I think she's going to order some of the Snackboxes. She seemed pretty impressed."

"Great. They'll pay you a commission like they did for Ron."

"Well, come on, Pia. We better get going if we want to get this done on time." The three girls walked down the hallway to a different toilet, one that Cassie really did not want to enter. It was one that she had been warned against entering and she had had every intention of heeding the advice. Apparently, there was a very unpleasant ghost in this toilet and everyone else in the school avoided it like they would the plague. But no . . . here she was, walking into it just like it was no big deal. "Okay, Pia. I was going to say that we are going to have to wear each other's robes. We're enough different in size that I think it would be obvious. Let's change now. You take that stall and I'll take this one." Cassie grimaced and opened the stall door Hermione pointed her to. She looked in, cautiously, afraid she might see a ghost. But the stall was miraculously empty and she stepped inside and locked the door behind her.