Chapter 36
Hogsmeade
Cassie opened her eyes suddenly as if something had woken her. But she lay in bed for a long
moment and heard nothing strange. She stared into the darkness for a few minutes before she
decided she would have to risk looking at her watch. She pulled the torch out from under her
mattress again. 5:30! It was way too early to get up, especially if she considered that she hadn't
fallen asleep until almost midnight. She rolled over, pulling the covers tighter around her. After a
few minutes, though, she conceded to herself that the butterflies were not going to settle down.
"I'm as bad as a kid on Christmas morning," she muttered to herself. She sat up and pushed the
curtains open, looking around at all the other beds. Everyone else was obviously smart enough to
still be sleeping. She stood up, cringing at the cold of the floor against her feet. She hurriedly
stepped into her slippers and grabbed her bathrobe from the hook next to her bed. She went to the
bathroom first, thinking that this may have been what woke her up. But when she returned to her
room, the thought of getting back into bed was not enticing. So, instead, she grabbed her top
blanket and started down the steps that led to the common room. At the bottom of the steps, she
looked around cautiously. The room was completely quiet and still so she crossed over to what
she now thought of as "their couch" and curled up in the corner. The fire was low, but the warmth
covered her as surely as the blanket did and she stared into the barely flickering flames, hoping
that she might drift off and get another hour or two of rest.
It was almost 7:00 when she finally stirred. She hadn't really slept but she had been in that sort of
near-sleep trance that she always found extremely refreshing. As she climbed the steep steps back
up to the dorm room, she allowed the butterflies full reign. Three hours. That was all before she
would see George again, assuming everything went right. But she wasn't going to think about the
possibility that they wouldn't. He was going to be there, she was going to be there, and whatever
happened after that - well, she'd have to wait and find out.
She opened Ginny's curtains carefully but Ginny was definitely still asleep. "Ginny. Wake up. We
need to get up."
"Five more minutes, Mum, please," and she rolled over, pulling the covers over her head. Cassie
felt really bad but she decided that she really did need to get Ginny up so they could start getting
ready for the day. If they had showered and done their hair the night before, they could have slept
later, but as it was, she imagined the showers were going to be crowded.
"Ginny. Wake up. Ginny." She shook her gently and this time, the redhead's eyes popped open,
looking slightly unfocused and dazed.
"Pia? Is something wrong?"
"No. It's 7 though and I thought we would want to get in the showers." Ginny squinted and
looked over at her clock.
"You seem kind of awake for this hour of the morning." It wasn't really a question and Cassie
fought down the urge to laugh at the sullen undertones in Ginny's voice. She had been waking
Cassie up by this time every morning for a week but when the shoe was on the other foot . . . .
"Come on, Ginny. Wake up. I'm going to need a lot of time to get ready."
"Fine. Fine. I don't think he'd care if you went looking like that." Cassie laughed happily and
Ginny suddenly shot her a teasing look. "Or went wearing nothing at all."
Cassie blushed furiously and stammered, "We . . . we don't have that sort of a relationship."
"I know, I know. I'm just teasing you." She sat up and blew out a quick puff of air. "Let's go. Are
you still going to braid my hair?" Cassie nodded and 10 minutes later the girls were standing in the
warmth of the bathroom but all the showers were already occupied. Cassie glanced down at her
watch, feeling some anxiety as to the time. "Relax, Pia. We've got plenty of time." Cassie took a
deep breath and tried to relax. Plenty of time. Yeah. Plenty of time. It didn't help. Ginny shooed
her into the first open shower and by the time she got out a few minutes later, Ginny had
obviously found an open one herself. Cassie crossed to a mirror and started combing out her hair,
trying to decide what to wear that day. She had a limited selection as most of her trunk space had
been filled with school robes and uniforms. So there really were very few options. She had two
pairs of jeans and three shirts along with two jumpers. She briefly toyed with the idea of wearing
the one skirt she had brought that was not her uniform but discarded it. She wanted to wear tennis
shoes as she got the impression it was a pretty decent hike to the town and she was positive that
the cold snowy roads would not be easy going. Ginny emerged from her shower at that point and
joined Cassie at the mirror, starting to work through her own hair with a brush.
"What are you going to wear today, Ginny?"
"Oh, jeans and a jumper, I guess. Nothing too exciting. What about you?"
"Same, I think. I've got a blue jumper than I think will look nice. I . . . What do we do to keep
warm on the walk over there?" It suddenly dawned on Cassie that she had no winter coat or
jacket to keep out the cold.
"Winter robes. They'll be warm enough."
"Oh."
"But don't worry. They can be shrunken and tucked into a purse or pocket if you don't want to
keep them on in town. Most people do leave them on, but keep them open."
Cassie was ready to braid her hair and started working it into the braids that Harry had liked
earlier and that she hoped George thought were pretty. When she was done, Ginny conjured up a
ribbon from somewhere and the two of them wove it into the end of the braid to add a bit more
color to the style. "Do you think he'll like my hair red?" Cassie asked quietly as she started on
Ginny's braid.
"Sure. It's barely red. Besides, it's not like he's not used to red hair on people." By then, the room
was extremely crowded so Cassie didn't ask any more, just worked on finishing up Ginny's hair so
they could retreat to the quiet of the bedroom. They both applied their makeup quickly and left
the steamy bathroom as soon as they could. All three of their dorm-mates were up. Rhiannon was
sitting on her bed looking like she was trying to decide whether it was worth it to actually get up
and Elspeth was standing in front of her trunk, looking into it with a fairly panicked expression.
They had seen Saffron just a few seconds before standing in line for the showers, so Cassie knew
it would be a while before she was back up here. When Ginny and Cassie entered the room,
Elspeth turned immediately to Ginny.
"I have no idea what to wear today. I'm so nervous. I want to look nice, but not make it too
obvious that we're uh . . . on a date."
"What choices to you have?" Ginny and Cassie looked over Elspeth's clothes as she pulled them
out of the trunk. The clothes were of extremely high quality, Cassie fingering one jumper and
confirming that it was cashmere, but didn't really suit the girl's coloring or her figure. Ginny made
a few suggestions that Cassie privately thought were not right and Elspeth obviously agreed
because she shook her head in frustration a few minutes later.
"I'm not going. I'll look terrible. It's bad enough that he has to put up with grief for dating me. I
should at least look nice for him."
"We're about the same size, Elspeth. Why don't you try on this jumper?" Cassie pulled out the
dark pink sweater that she really liked but couldn't wear now because she thought it might look
stupid with her hair color. But against Elspeth's dark hair, it would probably look pretty nice. She
couldn't help but notice the other girl's eyes light up as they saw the jumper.
"Ooh. That's nice. Are you sure you wouldn't mind?"
"Not at all. I'm going to wear blue. See?" And she pulled the light blue jumper out of her trunk.
She liked this color because it brought out the color of her eyes. Rhiannon spoke up.
"That pink will look great on you, Elspeth. I've been telling you for years that your mum has no
taste in clothes. All those yellows and whites make you look washed out and sallow. You need
dark colors. When is she going to let you choose your own clothes? You're 16 for Merlin's sake."
Cassie could tell this was an old argument, because Elspeth just grunted in response. Cassie was
just glad that other girl wasn't tormenting Elspeth for dating Colin. She didn't really want to have
to listen to that again. Ginny was looking at some of Elspeth's clothes out of the corner of her eye,
trying not to be too obvious in her admiration of one particular jumper.
"Um, Elspeth? Would you mind if Ginny wore that jumper? If you're not going to?" Ginny flushed
bright red and stared at Cassie as if she had just grown another head.
"I . . . I've already decided what I'm going to wear."
"I know, but Harry will like you in that one. It will look really nice on you." Elspeth handed it
over to her.
"She's right. All these years, I think my mum has been buying clothes for you, Ginny. She's got
coloring like yours and she likes the lighter colors." The jumper was a deep ivory and against
Ginny's tan, it looked fantastic. It was shot through with some sparkly stuff that Cassie didn't
recognize but it looked nice. Ginny hesitated, and then took the jumper.
"I . . . Thanks. But that means the ribbon won't match." The girls had woven yellow ribbon
through Ginny's hair as she thought that was what she was going to wear today. Cassie smiled.
"That's no problem. We are witches after all." And a few seconds later, Elspeth had changed the
ribbon's color to match the elegant jumper because Cassie was fumbling around, trying to get her
wand out of her toiletry bag and the other two had gotten impatient.
"I love your hair, Pia and Ginny. Who did it?" Elspeth was looking with interest at their braids.
"Me. I'll do yours if you want."
"Ooh. I'd love it. Thank you." Cassie had Elspeth sit on the floor and she sat behind her on the
bed. They were still talking and laughing when Saffron came in, looking rosy from the steamy
heat of the shower. She looked at the other girls and smiled.
"You'd think you three had dates or something. You all look great." She went to her bed and
started pulling clothes out of her trunk. The outfit she laid out was beautiful and Cassie told her as
much.
"Thanks. I'm hoping to catch someone's eye today myself." But despite repeated questioning, she
wouldn't say which boy in particular she hoped to attract. Rhiannon was looking pouty but in a
playful way.
"So, everyone has someone to look nice for but me. Maybe I should just stay here and study."
Everyone teased her gently about her crush on a boy from Hufflepuff that Cassie couldn't
remember ever meeting but she joined in the teasing, too. But then she felt like she had better
clear up a misunderstanding that seemed to be gaining momentum as the morning progressed.
"I don't have a date or anything, you know, girls. I'm just going to be hanging out with Ginny and
Hermione and of course Ron and Harry." Saffron flashed her a disbelieving grin, eyebrow raised.
"Right, right. So where are you meeting him?" Cassie was genuinely confused now and looked
with questions in her eyes at Ginny.
"Who . . . do you think I'm meeting?"
"We all know, Pia. You just can't keep secrets around here. But if you want to keep playing your
game, we'll go along with it."
Oh, dear. Cassie thought for a moment and then decided maybe it would be better to explain
before any rumors about her and George started circulating in the general school population. She
finished Elspeth's hair and stood up. "I should explain . . . you see, we're just good friends and I . .
."
"I don't think he wants to be friends with you. At least that's not what I heard."
"But how did you hear about this?" Cassie wondered if she had left an incriminating note or letter
out where it could have been found, or maybe muttered George's name in her sleep.
"It's all over Slytherin house. Almost everyone is taking bets on one thing or another."
It suddenly dawned on Cassie that they were talking at cross-purposes. Saffron assumed she was
meeting Draco. Gag. And she thought that Cassie was just playing games when she protested.
"Do you think I'm going with Draco today?" Saffron looked at her again with that supremely
confident, questioning expression.
"Yeah. I don't know who else you would be dating."
"I'm not dating anyone. I'm certainly not dating Draco Malfoy. I can't stand the little worm. And
you'd feel the same if he was making bets about you!"
"Yeah. Right. Me thinks she doth protest too much. I don't know what you would have against
him. He's rich, older, extremely good looking. . . Good breeding . . . he's got it all, honey."
"Look, Saffron, I've told you this 100 times. I don't like him. I don't care if he's rich and has good
. . . breeding. I'm not in the market for a race horse. He may be good looking but I don't care."
Saffron didn't reply, just started pulling on her jeans. "His father is a Death Eater . . . does that
mean anything to your little brain? Death Eater. Bad guy. Very bad. Wants to kill me . . . Ginny,
and Harry Potter. Probably you, too." Saffron just looked at her.
"He doesn't want to kill me, or anyone in this room, probably." She glanced over at Rhiannon,
who was studying her bedspread with extreme concentration. "Besides. That's his dad. Not him.
He's not marked."
"She's right about that." Elspeth chimed in. Cassie glared at her.
"Don't defend him. He'd undoubtedly put Colin and his family high on the list of potential targets.
I just don't understand the logic, or lack thereof, you people seem to govern your lives by. Does
morality mean nothing to you? His father is a cold-blooded murderer who works for yet another
cold-blooded murderer. And you can blabber all you want about how that's Lucius and not Draco,
but I don't exactly see him out there dismissing everything his father stands for. As far as I can
tell, he's not marked because he's too young. And that's the only reason." Cassie was kind of
faking it at the end. She had no clue what they meant about marking, but since Draco seemed to
be a carbon copy of his father, she thought if he could have been marked he probably would have
been. She grabbed her jeans and pulled them on, zipping the front angrily and then swearing under
her breath as she snagged a fingernail and broke it. There was complete silence in the room, all of
them tense, dressing quickly like they couldn't wait to get away from each other. Cassie looked at
her watch. It was almost 8:30. Time for breakfast. Thank heavens.
It was Rhiannon who broke the silence. "If you weren't talking about Draco, then, who were you
talking about? The good friends thing?" Cassie stared at her with wide eyes and thought fast.
"Um . . . I've heard some rumors about Neville and me. But they're totally ridiculous. We're just
friends . . . in Herbology. I assumed that's who Saffron meant since we have the class together and
things."
"You and Neville? I haven't heard anything about that."
"Well, good. Because they're not true. Not at all. We're just friends. I mean . . . he's cute enough,
in a sort of cuddly teddy-bear like way, but . . . he's not my type at all." Ginny forced a laugh and
Cassie closed her eyes in gratitude at the interruption.
"Neville does think you're cute, though. Maybe he's starting the rumors himself." Everyone
laughed and some of the tension dissipated. Ten minutes later she and Ginny started down the
steps, Ginny smoothing the ivory jumper nervously over her hips. "This is so fancy, Pia. What if I
spill something on it?"
"Magic. You can clean it using magic. Don't worry. Didn't she say she'd never even worn it once?"
"Yes . . . but it must have cost a fortune. I don't even know what it's made of."
"It's fancy, all right. Don't worry about it, though. You look fantastic." They entered the common
room and Harry was standing there waiting for them. He smiled at Cassie but then saw Ginny and
Cassie could have burst into flames like a Phoenix right then and Harry wouldn't have noticed. He
only had eyes for his girlfriend.
Both Ron and Hermione had to call his name to get him to come back to reality. "Uh, Harry. Are
we ready for breakfast?" No reply. Ginny was blushing furiously under Harry's gaze. "Um, Harry.
Stop ogling my little sister." Still no reply and all three of those not involved in the tableau
grinned at each other. "Harry! Voldemort's just broken into the castle! We better hurry to set up a
defense!"
This time he answered, "Okay, okay. Just a minute." He never took his eyes from Ginny, though.
Ron shook his head sadly. "Poor boy. Falling head over heels for the Weasley charm." Hermione
snorted, but Cassie just grinned at her. She may protest, but Cassie knew she had fallen for Ron
hard. And it wasn't like she could protest either. She had fallen for it herself.
"Harry! Let's go eat. Or we're never going to get to Hogsmeade!" This time, Harry turned.
"Uh, yeah. Sorry." He took Ginny's hand tightly and they slid through the portrait hole and
walked down the steps to the Great Hall. Breakfast was uneventful and Cassie personally thought
everything tasted like sawdust. Her stomach was in knots and she couldn't decide whether it was
from excitement or dread. She was really thrilled that Saturday morning had finally arrived and
that it was now just a matter of minutes before she could see George. But at the same time, she
was dreading the conversation that she could no longer delay. She managed to force herself to eat
a little bit, two pieces of her usual wheat toast and a glass of pumpkin juice. It was almost 9:30 by
the time everyone had finished eating and stood up to leave the Great Hall. Ron and Hermione
volunteered to go back up to the tower to get everyone's winter cloaks.
"Plus, I've got to get my galleons. I've got big plans for that money today." Cassie gripped her
small bag nervously. She had some money but not a lot. She sincerely hoped it was enough to at
least have a good time today and not have to worry about every penny . . . okay, knut. Harry saw
Dean and Seamus across the hall and went to tell them something or another. Ginny watched with
a big smile on her face as Colin and Elspeth stood in the hall for a few minutes talking.
"I think I'll go say hi. Is that all right?"
"Sure. No problem. They look really cute together, don't they?" Elspeth looked good in the
jumper Cassie had loaned her and Colin looked slightly shell-shocked. Cassie smiled at them
across the entrance hall and stood there feeling out of place, suddenly realizing how alone she
was. And it didn't pass unnoticed.
"Pia." The voice was pleasant enough, smooth, and getting to be entirely too familiar. Did the boy
have an alarm or something that went off when she was alone for more than five seconds? It's a
wonder he hadn't started turning up in the girls' toilets.
"Go away. I don't want to talk to you." She didn't even turn around to look at him. She started to
walk toward Ginny, Elspeth, and Colin but his hand on her arm stopped her. She turned and fixed
him with a nasty glare. "I thought I told you the other day that I don't like your touching me!" He
dropped his hand.
"I wanted to spend the day at Hogsmeade with you."
"No way, Malfoy! I'm going to be hanging out with my friends."
"Doing what? Buying candy at Honeyduke's or stupid pranks at Zonko's? Let me show you a
more elegant time. Have lunch with me. I've arranged for strawberries and champagne." Cassie
just shook her head.
"No. I . . "
He interrupted her. "I know for appearances sake you have to walk with them, but meet me at
noon. Here." He pushed a piece of parchment into her hand. "It's a private club. My dad's a
member which means my friends and I have access. We'll have a good time. I promise." Cassie
wadded up the parchment and stuffed it into her pocket.
"Malfoy. I am not going to . . . "
"I'll see you at noon. Don't be late, okay?" And then he was gone, stepping away from her and
mixing with some other Slytherins who were headed out the door, past Filch, and into the wintry
sunshine. Cassie stared after him, wanting to drop the parchment on the ground and grind it into
the floor, but feeling Filch's eyes on her as she stood there. She looked around for a dustbin but
there wasn't one convenient. Ginny rejoined her a moment later and almost at the same time Harry
returned. Ron and Hermione were there just seconds behind him and it was time to leave. Cassie
decided not to tell them what had happened with Draco. They were all going to have a great time
today and she didn't intend to let that little creep spoil their mood. Filch crossed their names off a
long list as they walked past him. Cassie tried to catch his eye and smile, but he didn't look at her
again and she shrugged. She was grateful for the warmth of her winter cloak as they stepped out
into the December air and she drew its folds around her.
As the five of them walked, Cassie just listened to the conversation. They were talking about
various classes and people and she just didn't feel like joining in, preferring just to let it wash over
and around her. It wasn't until Hermione mentioned something about Christmas that Cassie felt
like jumping into the conversation. "Has anyone thought of any other places where Professor
Dumbledore could want to hide me?"
"What places have we already discussed?" Hermione asked.
"Well, let's see. There was Grim Old Place, and Diagon Alley and then some place called the
Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. That sounds really unpleasant, though."
"The Shrieking Shack! Who suggested that as a possibility?" Cassie's eyes flicked to Harry and
Hermione groaned. "That place is a pit. There's no way they would hide you there!"
"They may have fixed it up a little. You have to admit, Hermione, no one would think of looking
there." Harry seemed a bit defensive about his suggestion.
"The only way to fix that place up would be to raze it to the ground. Don't you agree, Ron?"
"Well, I . . ."
"It's horrendous. I've spent only a few hours there and that was enough for me."
"But -" Harry tried to interrupt, but Hermione was having none of that.
"No. If they're going to hide you in Hogsmeade, which seems unlikely to me anyway, it would be
at someplace like the Hog's Head."
"The Hog's Head!" Ron looked at Hermione incredulously. "Are you mental? They wouldn't put a
young girl in that place, alone! I'd be afraid to put a full-grown wizard in there. It's scary."
"It's not that bad . . . but you're probably right Ron. Too dangerous. Actually, I don't suppose
they could put you anywhere like a hotel or inn or anything. Too many people. And they did talk
about strengthening the wards around it, which means it's already warded." They walked in
silence for a little while and no one had any other suggestions.
"We still have a week to get this figured out. Don't worry. We've never failed yet." Harry smiled
at Cassie. "I'm sure they've got all sorts of safe houses like mine."
"Yeah. Right." Cassie didn't mention that this was her biggest worry - that they'd hide her
somewhere completely alone, unable to have friends or anything, for weeks at a time. It probably
shouldn't be her biggest worry, but it was.
"Maybe the twins will have a suggestion. After all, they're privy to Order business." Cassie looked
at Ron carefully to see if he was being sarcastic, but he wasn't as far as she could tell. He glanced
at her. "Did you forget we're meeting my brothers?"
"No. I remembered."
"You've met them, haven't you?"
"Yes. I've been to their store a few times. Plus, I met them when I was at Hogwarts last June."
"That's right. I'd forgotten. The whole thing about the chickens, right?" Cassie nodded,
remembering how George and Fred had made their roasted chickens run up and down the length
of the Gryffindor table at dinner after the battle. It had been very funny although it had made her
pass on eating any of it. "Well, they're here on business today, they said, although I don't think
that's quite the whole truth." Cassie felt her heart speed up a little as Ron continued. "Why would
they come today? When they know that the entire town is going to be overrun with Hogwarts'
students? It doesn't make sense to me. I keep thinking there must be another reason."
Ginny jumped in, "Maybe they're hoping to test some new products or something. You know how
they like to demonstrate in front of their target audience. It saves them a fortune on advertising.
Plus, they know everyone's here shopping today. Maybe they're going to be selling something."
"Maybe." Ron sounded skeptical. "But I just can't help wondering if there isn't something else
going on. I wouldn't put it past them." Cassie just looked down at the road and didn't say
anything. She realized that it might be a lot harder to keep this a secret than she thought it was
going to be.
"There's the town, Pia," Hermione suddenly said and Cassie looked up to see a cluster of shops
and homes.
"Oh. It's lovely."
"Yes. Hogsmeade is the only entirely wizarding town in Britain. It was established in . . ."
"Oh, Hermione. Pia doesn't care about any of that stuff. Stop lecturing." Hermione sniffed, but
Cassie noticed that she didn't argue with Ron. She actually may have been interested on another
day, but right now she was so nervous and excited that it was all she could do to remember how
to walk properly. It was only a few more minutes before they were walking down the main street
and Cassie was trying to see everything at once. There were so many amazing stores and
interesting people walking in and out of them. But then, they were stopping outside a pub. "This
is the Three Broomsticks, Pia. Come on in and have a warm butterbeer. It's even better than when
it comes out of the bottle." Ron held the door for the girls and they all slipped inside, Harry
bringing up the rear. It took a minute for Cassie's eyes to adjust to the lighting after the bright
sunshine and she blinked, trying to see.
"There they are!" Ginny said and Cassie turned her head to where Ginny was indicating. Her
breath caught. He was here. (He had promised.) His face. (How could she have been afraid she
wouldn't remember what he looked like?) His smile. (Had it really only been a week and a half
since she had seen him smile?) He stood up and the group made its way over to the table the twins
had saved for them.
