Don't even ask . . . it's been one of those days!! Warning: Heavy snogging scene in htis chapter. As it was in AMA, it's between the asterixes. Feel free to skip
over it if you're not interested.
Chapter 62
Decisions
"Well, I don't think anyone else can lecture me about dating you. Well, not unless Fleur decides to talk to me about it."
"That would be interesting."
"And if she does, I'll hex her." Cassie laughed.
"I'm sorry everyone's been giving you such a bad time."
"You're worth it." Cassie smiled up at him.
"Thanks. I'll run in and get the rest of my presents. But where are we going to wrap them? We can't really use any of the bedrooms - well, we shouldn't - and
there isn't anywhere else to go I can think of where we won't be bothered."
"I have somewhere in mind." Cassie retrieved her presents out of her trunk and hoped he didn't mean the loo. Wrapping might be possible in there, but it
wouldn't be comfortable. And besides that, the bathroom was in almost continual use all day so if he thought they wouldn't be bothered in there, he was wrong.
But he didn't lead her to the bathroom. He actually took her down to the laundry room, which was at the moment fairly empty of laundry and the long tables
Molly used to fold the washed and dried clothes, sheets, towels, and robes for her large family were sitting bare. "What do you think?" He conjured a couple of
chairs and put the bag holding her gifts on the nearest table.
"This is great! I never would have thought of it myself."
"I've been wrapping Christmas presents in this house for years and this is by far my favorite place. Everyone else just uses their bedrooms, but I like to spread
out and our room has always been cramped." The next half hour passed with a lot of laughter and teasing as he helped her wrap her presents. He laughed at what
she got for her father. "This should be interesting sitting on his bookshelf. He'll just have to make sure that your brothers don't show it to the neighbors." It was a
big thick book, heavy and solid, and actually would probably look pretty nice on his bookshelf. But it was a wizarding book on the history of the development of
wizarding government and had all sorts of moving pictures of the various wizards (and more recently witches) who had been important through the centuries.
"Do you think he'll like it?" George frowned slightly.
"I don't know your dad at all, so I couldn't say. It looks informative, at least. And I think you can be pretty sure he doesn't already have a copy." He also liked
her gift of chocolates for her mother and helped her do some really fancy wrapping on the presents for her brothers which made Cassie happy. She hoped they
didn't feel too deprived as she was only giving them the large lollipops and the boxes of fireworks from George's shop.
He thought her gift for Ginny was nice and Cassie was glad about that. She had worked really hard on finding a nice selection of makeup for Ginny and had
managed to do a fairly decent job. Of course, George already knew about the gift certificates for Ron and Harry as they had brought them home themselves.
Cassie was pretty positive those two boys would be thrilled with their gifts.
She was more nervous about her presents for the adults, really, and George didn't help matters any by his teasing her about her present to his dad. "He'll be over
the moon about these, but I don't know if the rest of us will thank you. I'm sure he'll shine these in our faces on numerous occasions." Cassie insisted on
wrapping each of the electric torches separately so that he could have more presents to open. George had laughed but had dutifully cut all the pieces of wrapping
paper that she needed. It was easier to have him cut the paper as he was used to avoiding the moving figures on it and didn't cut a single one.
They were just finishing up the last package when Cassie jumped. She heard Hermione squeal right behind her and she whipped her head around suddenly to see
where she was. She and George's eyes met. "I thought I just heard-" She didn't even get to finish her thought because she heard Hermione again, this time she
was talking. "Where is she?"
"I don't know. I don't think she's in here, though."
"Oh, I bet she's up in Ginny's room. I know you can overhear conversations from in here when you're there and maybe it works in reverse." Cassie suddenly bit
her tongue, remembering that the time she had overheard a conversation from in here, it was George and his mother having an argument about her. But he
seemed to either not remember the entire conversation or didn't connect it with her comment because he didn't say anything or even flush. He just walked closer
to the wall.
"I hear her really well here. I think she's yelling at Ron."
"Poor Ron. I wonder what she's mad at him for." They had instinctively started talking in whispers and as Cassie approached George and slipped her hand into
his, they smiled at each other as they both shamelessly eavesdropped on the other conversation.
"She's going to think I sent you to find out."
"I told George - uh, Fred, that you hadn't!"
"And he'll believe you, of course! Ron, I can't believe you asked that. She already thinks I'm a big snoop who won't leave the two of them alone. I'm going to
have to apologize to her."
"I know she likes you. Don't be so paranoid."
"You don't understand, Ron!" Cassie pulled away from him, her guilt at snooping finally pricking her conscience.
"Come on, George. That's none of our business."
"What do you mean? They're talking about us." George tried to tug her back over to the wall.
"I know, but I can't just eavesdrop on their conversation." George reluctantly followed her to the center of the room where they could hear the voices but not the
words.
"I don't see why not. Do you really think Ron asked that on his own initiative?"
"Apparently. I doubt they're upstairs staging an argument so that we can overhear it. They don't even know we can, and that's assuming they knew we were
down here." Cassie gathered up all the packages and put them in George's arms. "What should we do with these?"
"I think leave them in your room. Um, there was no present for me in this bunch."
"You're not getting anything from me this year. Sorry." She laughed as they stepped out of the laundry room and started up the stairs. "Silly. I wrapped yours
earlier. I'm not quite that stupid." She glanced at her watch and started. "It's getting really late. Your mum is going to need help with dinner."
George looked slightly put out but he helped her stow her presents in her trunk, glancing meaningfully at the other wrapped presents in there and then followed
her back downstairs into the kitchen. Molly explained they were just having an easy dinner because she still had a lot to do to get ready for the dinner tomorrow.
But she put both Cassie and George to work anyway and had Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and even Angelina and Fred busy in the kitchen before too long.
They were all frantically getting food ready for the next day. The afternoon passed quickly enough. Hermione kept glancing at Cassie nervously and she finally
decided to put her out of her misery. As they were both dicing celery for some sort of casserole, she smiled brightly at the older girl.
"I want you to know, Hermione, that I've thought about what you said earlier. I appreciate your concern for me. I really do. I know that what you said makes
sense and everything, but I'm going to give the two of us a chance. I don't want to risk missing a great thing because I'm afraid of what might possibly happen."
Hermione looked at her steadily and smiled faintly.
"I won't say anything else about it, Cassie. I like both you and George, it's just -"
"Hurry up with that celery, girls! I need to get it cooking with these onions!" They both smiled at each other and dropped the subject. Cassie seriously doubted
that Hermione would never say another word about the matter, but maybe at least they would have some sort of understanding between the two of them.
Angelina and Cassie had a fun time getting to know each other better and found out that although they didn't have much in common they got along really well.
That changed, though, toward the end of the afternoon when Molly had them rolling out pie crusts for the eight pies she still needed to make.
"I'm horrible at this stuff. These pies are going to be terrible if she's counting on me." Cassie winced as Angelina's lump of dough was once again pounded into a
ball before she started rolling
it into shape.
"Just, uh, treat it a little more gently. The less it's handled, the better. See?" Cassie showed her how to roll it smoothly into a circle.
"How come you're so good at this?"
"I had to help my mum a lot when I was younger. I like baking."
"George is going to be lucky. I don't suppose that Fred and I could move in with you two? Then you could do the cooking." Cassie looked at her in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"It would be terrible to separate the two of them - don't you agree? So the four of us could just live together."
"I - I really-"
"Please. I've seen the way you two look at each other. If he isn't thinking about marrying you, I'll eat my broom!" Cassie stared at her in complete shock.
"Marrying me?!"
"I know you're young and all, but wouldn't you like a family of little red-haired wizards and witches running around underfoot?"
"I won't deny I've thought about it, but-."
"See? Hey, George! Get over here!" George left his chore of peeling a mountain of potatoes magically (with a knife because no one else would even try the
potato peeler). "I was just telling Cassie that after the two of you get married, Fred and I can move in with you, what do you think?" George smiled at Angelina
and wrapped his arms around Cassie's waist, pulling her close to him and kissing the top of her head.
"I think that's the best idea you've ever had, Ange. But you two would have to be married, too. Cassie doesn't condone any licentious behavior." He raised an
eyebrow at Cassie, who was sure she looked like an idiot, standing with her mouth hanging open. "Isn't that right, sweetheart?" He winked and patted Cassie on
her tush, heading back over to where Fred and Ron were bellowing some sort of very irreverent Christmas carol while they peeled the potatoes.
"Did he just propose to me?" Cassie turned to Angelina once she could finally get her mouth to work.
"Naah. He was just agreeing that I had a great idea. Why? Are you ready to say yes?" Cassie just shook her head wordlessly.
Cassie mechanically rolled out the rest of the pie dough, sending Angelina off to help with dicing some other vegetables and rescuing what parts of the crusts she
could still save. The noise and confusion of the kitchen passed by her rather bemused self and she did what Molly asked. She imagined she answered questions
and made appropriate comments but her mind was not on anything except what George had said. Well, that and the feeling of his hand on her rear end, a place
that she was sure was burned on her skin forever. It wasn't until they sat down to eat dinner that she started to emerge from the fog Angelina's conversation had
put her in. George acted the same to her as ever and she realized that he probably had not even meant it but was just playing around with Angelina. For some
reason, that thought did not make her feel any better. Cassie studied Fleur across the table, wondering how she had managed to get out of doing any of the work
in the kitchen. She was once again dressed in a new outfit, this one a flowing skirt and blouse that seemed to float of its own accord around the girl. Bill and she
were deep in discussion with Arthur and Remus but Cassie couldn't hear anything they said.
Finally, she asked George what Bill was doing during the day while he was here. Cassie never saw him and she couldn't imagine he was just hiding in Charlie's
room for hours at a time.
"I think he, Charlie, and now Fleur are doing stuff for the Order every day. Drawing up plans, studying blueprints of buildings, etc. I think they've even got Fleur
working on some new charms they're trying to develop to help during battles. She looks like a big air head, I know, but she's really smart. And powerful. She and
Bill are a good match that way. You should see her fight."
"Oh, really?" Cassie had to admit she was surprised.
"Yeah. She was one of the Tri-wizard champions, remember? So, she had to really know some powerful magic then. And that was three years ago. She's learned
a lot since then, I imagine." Cassie looked around the table at everyone and the little bubble of hope she had allowed herself to live in all afternoon popped quite
suddenly and completely and she felt rather depressed. The couples were all well-matched, able to help each other in this war they were all fighting.
All except for her and George. She was as useful in this fight as a newborn baby. She looked down the table at Hermione, who was debating something with
Harry, and thought to herself, "Maybe you were right."
After dinner, the entire family helped clean up and then they all went into the living room for what everyone called "The traditional Weasley Christmas Party
Game." Cassie swore it was capitalized just like that when they said it. Amidst good-natured groans and exaggerated expressions of pain at the thought of
playing the game, sides were quickly chosen and the group divided into two teams. The first team was made up of Arthur, Molly, Bill, Fleur, Ginny, Harry, Ron
and Hermione. The second team comprised Remus, Tonks, Charlie, Fred, Angelina, George and Cassie.
Cassie felt uncomfortable. She almost volunteered to sit out and watch so her team could have one of the others who could really do magic come over to their
team and help them. However, she knew if she were to say something, it would be painfully obvious she was a Muggle who couldn't do magic. So, she listened
nervously to the directions of the game and, as they were explained, began to feel a little more confident. What it boiled down to was basically the Muggle game
of Pictionary except it was with wands and, instead of drawing on paper, they drew moving pictures in the air.
Arthur was first up to draw and Cassie's team all huddled together to select a subject. They decided on object and picked an automobile. Arthur grinned broadly
as Charlie whispered the word to him and he started into an intricate picture of a car in mid-air. The picture appeared to be a combination of beams of light and
smoke. Cassie was very impressed not only with the fact a picture could be drawn in mid-air, but at Arthur's artistic abilities, and his team quickly identified his
drawing.
Charlie stood up to draw for Cassie's team, muttering that he was not a very good artist. Unfortunately, he was not just exhibiting false modesty. The other team
had selected an action and time had run out before the team could decipher Charlie's attempts at drawing. Everyone had a good chuckle as it was announced that
the action was Remus turning into a werewolf. Cassie looked nervously at Remus wondering if he was bothered by this but he just groaned and said he should
have been able to figure it out, even if no one else could. The game went back and forth for the next couple of hours, interrupted only by Molly and Ginny
bringing in two large trays of coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits, which everyone enjoyed. The teams were seriously competitive and the Weasley red-head hot
temper sparked quite a few arguments over the acceptability of certain clues or hints. But, it was all in good fun. Cassie couldn't remember laughing that hard in
a very long time. They had obviously played this game a lot because they were all pretty good at it, with the obvious exception of Charlie, who didn't wind up
getting one single point for their team when he was drawing. He was pretty good at guessing, though, which went a long way to redeeming him.
For the most part, Cassie was able to not only participate but be quite helpful. There were a few things, like hinky punks, that Cassie did not have the slightest
idea what they were. There was also the potentially uncomfortable situation the first time it was logically Cassie's turn to draw. Angelina smiled at her. "Hey,
Cassie, it's your turn to draw."
"Oh, well, I don't think I'd be good at it."
"You can't be any worse than Charlie. No offense, Charlie."
"I really don't want to. I'd be too embarrassed."
"You shouldn't force her to do it if she doesn't want to. She's good at guessing," Molly said and Angelina shrugged.
"Sure, okay." Cassie looked innocently at Angelina who just smiled back.
Eventually, the game was winding down and the score was tied. Arthur wrote a number down on a piece of paper and George and Harry guessed. George was
closer so their team got to go first. Ginny was giggling as she told George what he had to draw. George groaned, but gamely started. He quickly drew a large
fire-breathing dragon and then something flying around it. They identified the dragon quickly but had a difficult time with the flying object. George kept guiding
the little flying thing around and around until Fred jumped up and yelled, "It's Harry with the Hungarian Horntail!" They had won the game! However, George
wasn't done. He kept drawing and the dragon hit Harry's broom with fire. The little Harry squealed as the broom flew around and around with smoke trailing
behind. Even Harry joined in the laughter.
They were all still chuckling as they headed up to bed. Cassie gave George a quick goodnight kiss and turned into the girls' room where Ginny and Hermione
were already busy changing. All three hurried over to the bathroom to brush their teeth before the inevitable line formed of people waiting to use the loo. As they
settled down to sleep a little later, Cassie laid in bed for quite awhile thinking about tomorrow and her family's arrival. She thought about seeing her brothers
again and her dad, and especially her mum. She was so excited to see them but nervous, too. She hoped they liked George. Of course they would. But what if
they didn't? What if they thought George was too old for her? The more she thought about her parents meeting George, the more agitated she got, until she
realized that sleep was never going to come unless she got her mind off this merry-go-round. Finally, she got up, slipped on her dressing gown and went
downstairs to make herself a cup of hot chocolate, hoping that would help her relax.
She was surprised to see some light coming from the living room and tiptoed to the door. The room was lit only by the red, green and gold candles in the
Christmas tree. There, sitting on the sofa with a forlorn expression was George. As he was still fully dressed, it was obvious he had never even tried to go to bed.
Cassie stepped into the living room and went over to sit by him.
"Hi, sweetheart, what are you doing up?"
"I could ask you the same thing, George. Why aren't you in bed, getting your beauty sleep?"
George gave Cassie a half-hearted smile at her joke. "Would you believe nerves? I was thinking about your parents coming tomorrow and I just couldn't relax."
Cassie didn't want to admit to him how nervous she was about tomorrow's visit because then he'd be really uptight. "My parents are pretty nice."
"I'm sure they are, but what if they don't like me? What if they have a thing against wizards?"
"Silly. I know they'll love you. How could they not?" Cassie leaned over and kissed George on the cheek. "They love your dad, and Remus, too. And they know
they're wizards."
"Yeah, well, my dad and Remus aren't dating you." Cassie laughed.
"That's true. I'm not quite sure how to introduce you. What should I say?"
"Just say, 'This is George, we're . . .'" His voice trailed off. "Cassie I asked you a question earlier today and you never answered it. Do you think that you could
possibly maybe love me, even just a little bit?" He stared at the tree but Cassie could tell by the way he was sitting so stiffly that he was listening closely to her
answer.
Cassie froze. She wasn't sure yet, what her feelings were. No, that wasn't really it. She knew how she felt, she just wasn't sure she could trust them. "Oh,
George. That's, that's sort of a tricky question."
His eyes were bright, even in the dim light when he turned back to face her. "Not so tricky. Cassie, I . . I love you. There, I said it. I love you." Cassie wasn't
sure this conversation was good for her own nerves and she decided she wanted to change the focus onto something a little more enjoyable. Cassie slipped her
arms around him and kissed him on the cheek and then on his chin, and then his lips.
George looked sadly at her. "I take it that means no?"
"George, I -"
"Just say it. Then I'll at least know the worst."
"I do love you, George. I do. I love you."
He looked like the entire world had just been handed to him on a platter. "You do? Really? Are you sure?" She nodded and felt complete relief that she had
finally said what she had felt for so long.
"I have for a long time. I've just been afraid to say it."
"Well, you never need to be afraid of saying it again, right? Say it again. Say it again."
Cassie laughed. "I love you, George."
His hand lifted up her chin and he kissed her softly. "I'm the happiest man in the entire world tonight. I love you so much." She kissed him back and after a few
minutes he pulled away and settled her further into his arms. "This is nice. A little privacy."
"Yeah. We don't get much at the moment, do we?"
"No." She turned her head and kissed his cheek again.
He turned his head to meet hers and their mouths met hard. She pulled back a little bit and put her hand up to her mouth, where the tender bruise from his bite
earlier twinged. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just . . . nothing." He looked at her mouth and smiled grimly. His thumb found the spot and brushed it softly. The feeling of his finger on his lip was
sending shivery feelings through her whole body and she turned her head into his hand when he brushed her lip again.
"I'm sorry it still hurts."
"It's okay. I didn't mind. You didn't mean to."
His eyes flared in the darkness. "Yes, I did. I meant to. I meant to."
There was an undercurrent in the air that Cassie was not used to. She felt like she was getting in over her head, but she didn't care. Right now, she wanted
nothing more than to be here with George and she trusted him. "Oh. Well, um, okay. It doesn't hurt much." He bent down and kissed her again hard and this time
she ignored the sting in her lip. She wrapped her arms up around his neck and pressed herself closer to him. His hands roamed over her back and held her tightly.
He picked her up suddenly and put her on his lap, leaning back against the cushions so she was bent over him. She sat up and looked down at him, smiling.
"You look comfortable."
"I am." His eyes roamed over her bathrobe, and he reached for the tie. Cassie watched wide-eyed as he loosened it and then parted the edges of the robe.
"You're wearing my shirt, aren't you?" She didn't even answer him, too surprised to make any movement at all. "I want to see you in it." She held her breath as
he studied her. "It looks better on you than it ever did on me. That's for sure." There was a husky note in his voice as he closed her robe again and tied it tightly.
His hand came up and tangled in her hair. "You are so beautiful."
Something had changed between them. Cassie could feel it although she was helpless to find the words that would describe what exactly it was. Admitting their
feelings toward each other had opened the floodgates to a depth of passion that both frightened and fascinated her. So, as she bent down and kissed him one
more time, she didn't protest when his tongue traced the seam of her lips. She sat back up straight and looked down at him, silently asking him what he was
going to do next. He shifted again so that he was sitting upright, looking directly into her eyes. His thumb traced her slightly swollen lips and she opened her
mouth a little. He slipped his thumb just inside and she bit tentatively down on it. The shivery feeling from earlier returned in full force in the pit of her stomach
and she gasped in air as he pushed down on her teeth, opening her mouth wider.
"Just like that," he said. And Cassie didn't even have to ask what he meant, because his mouth was on hers and his tongue was sliding through her parted lips.
Cassie's eyes closed automatically and she lost herself in the feeling of his kiss. This was heavenly, dark and heavy and wonderful. He tasted good, like
peppermint and chocolate. If you had asked her even an hour ago what it would feel like to be kissed so deeply, she may have scrunched her nose up and said it
sounded a little bit gross. Now, though, she realized that it was nothing like that. It was like opening yourself completely to being possessed by the other person,
allowing them to come inside, not just into your mouth, but into your soul. His tongue met hers and she pulled back instinctively, unsure what she was expected
to do in return. She shifted on his lap and George groaned, then put her back down on the couch, his eyes never leaving hers. "You taste like a dream. Can I do
that again?" Her nod was so faint that she barely felt her head move, but he apparently got the message because his mouth covered hers again and this time, she
knew what she was supposed to do and when his tongue slipped past her teeth and met hers, she just held onto his shirt more tightly and concentrated on
breathing. It seemed that she had completely forgotten how. The smell of his cologne was seeping into her very pores and she felt drugged and warm and
relaxed.
Her eyes were closed again and she just wanted more and more of him, never wanted to surface from this whirlpool. It was hard to tell now where he stopped
and where she started and she liked that. His mouth left hers and trailed soft kisses down her jaw and neck. She sucked in deep breaths of air, her eyes opening
to stare unseeing at the darkness of the living room. His hands were still on her hips, but as he kissed her neck and behind her ear, she felt him loosen the tie
again of her robe. Somewhere a little voice said that he really shouldn't do that, but the need to feel his hands on her skin was more pressing than the voice and
she closed her eyes again and lost herself once again in the feeling of belonging to him. His hand was hot through the material of the shirt and she clutched
fistfuls of the shirt he was wearing. The emotions swirling through her brain all boiled down to basically one thing. She wanted to feel more of him. He was
touching her waist and hips, his hands stroking her shoulders and arms. She wanted to be able to touch him, too, but she didn't seem to be able to move very
well. She tried to move back, wanting to free her arms so she could reach more of him; that was the first time she noticed that she was laying down. She started,
her eyes opening suddenly. Yes. The couch was behind her and the ceiling was above her. George kissed her mouth again and the heavy weight of his body felt
so good and solid over hers and she closed her eyes in silent agreement with what he was doing. This was perfect. Kissing him like this was absolutely perfect.
He shifted slightly and deepened the kiss more by tugging down on her jaw so that her mouth was open even wider. After a few more minutes of this, he lifted
his head.
"I love you, Cassie. I love this. But, we really need to stop."
"Stop what?" She gasped, turning her face toward his, unwilling to let him move.
"This. It's really going somewhere that I don't think you want to go."
"What?" The heavy drugged feeling pulsing through her veins was making it hard for her to think.
"You need to go up to bed. Now. Come on, love." She felt him tie the robe one more time and as the cotton cleared from her brain the voice from the back of
her mind came in louder.
"Get up! Get up! What are you doing? This is totally wrong! Get up!" It still took a minute, but when the realization of what had been happening she practically
jumped off the couch. She stared at George in absolute shock. "George! I . . . I . . . what were we doing?" He stood up and folded her into his arms.
"I, at least, was telling you how much I love you. And I think you were doing the same with me."
"But . . . we . . . but . . ."
"It's all right, sweetheart. We didn't do anything wrong."
"I didn't stop you."
"No, you didn't. And I'm glad. It was wonderful. You don't regret it, do you?" She shook her head in confusion.
"You . . . I . . ."
"Go on up to bed, Cassie. I'll see you in the morning, okay?" He led her gently to the stairs. The color was high in her cheeks. She was so embarrassed that she
just wanted to run into her room and hide and never show her face again. "I love you, Cassie. Tonight was . . . incredible." She climbed the stairs slowly and
slipped into bed.
Well, that didn't help me get to sleep, she thought. In fact, I'm more awake now than I was before. Now she had all the same emotions of worry and concern
about tomorrow, coupled with embarrassment at what she had done and guilt about breaking several of her mum's rules. And her mum was coming tomorrow
and would undoubtedly be able to tell just by looking at her what she and George had done. Then she would probably blame George for it and then she really
would hate him and forbid them to ever see each other again. These thoughts got all muddled up in her head along with the memories of how wonderful being
with George downstairs had been. She needed to talk to someone or she would just explode. She glanced over at the other two girls in the room. She needed to
talk to Ginny about this. And no, it couldn't wait until morning. She felt bad waking her up, but she knew she would know what to do. She stumbled over to
Ginny's bed and carefully shook her awake. Ginny mumbled sleepily and strained to focus her eyes.
"Cassie. What's wrong? Please don't tell me it's time to get up. I know my mum's nervous about today, but it's still dark, for Merlin's sake."
Cassie choked out a reply. "N-no. It isn't time to get up. I, I need to talk with you. I think George and I made a really big mistake tonight." Ginny sat up, her
eyes wide with surprise and concern. Cassie heard Hermione stir and looked at Ginny with fear. "I don't want her to wake up. She'll never let me hear the end of
it."
"Hop up on the bed. I'll put a silencing charm around it." Cassie climbed up on the bed and thought it would be very handy to be a witch. Ginny looked at her
with sleepy eyes but it was obvious that Cassie had her full attention. "What exactly is the problem? You two didn't . . uh, go too far, did you?"
Cassie nodded slowly, feeling the hot color creep up to her face.
Ginny muttered something under her breath and then asked, "Where were you?"
"In the living room on the sofa."
Ginny's mouth opened and then shut, and then opened again. "You two did it on the sofa down in the living room?"
Only then did Cassie realize what Ginny was asking her. "Oh, no . . It was nothing like that. It's just . . . we went further than I wanted to and on top of that,
George is the one that had to stop it. So, I'm embarrassed about that, but the main thing is that I need to make a decision, and I'm not quite sure what to do or
how to make it."
"What are you deciding about?"
"Us. I need to decide whether I really love George. I mean, really love him. Like marrying love. Before tomorrow."
"Why? Did he ask you to marry him or something?" Ginny practically squeaked.
"No. But . . . well, Angelina was talking about her marrying Fred and, I don't know, George seemed to kind of go along with us getting married, too. The thing
is, I do love him. I mean, I really do. And he loves me, too. He told me so. But I know it isn't going to be easy, being together, and I need to decide if I'm willing
to stick it out for the long haul, or if it's just infatuation. Just physical, you know. Because he is really handsome, and funny, and sweet . . And a great kisser."
"Please, don't go there!" Cassie smiled in reply, but her mind was whirling a million miles a minute. "So, what exactly did you two do?"
"You'll probably think it's stupid. We just French kissed." Ginny looked at her with a half grin.
"I see."
"But we've never done that before. I've never done that before."
"Was it great?" This time Cassie genuinely smiled, remembering how good it had felt.
"It was amazing. But definitely against my mum's rules. Definitely. I mean, we were laying down and everything. Which is also against the rules. Now, I have to
face her tomorrow and she's going to be able to tell. And that's why I need to decide. So I can tell her-"
"She's not going to be able to tell - not unless either your face or George's gives it away. He, um, didn't bite you or anything, did he?"
"No. Of course not." Although Cassie really wasn't sure now that she thought about it. So much had been going on that she wasn't exactly positive what had
happened and what hadn't.
"Well, then. She's not going to be able to tell. And if she thinks you look flushed or something, she'll just put it down to the Christmas excitement. Too much
butterbeer." They quietly sat for a few minutes and Cassie's mind started wondering if Ginny was in the same situation she was.
"Are you going to marry Harry?"
"What!!!"
"I just meant . . . it's like you've loved him forever, and I just wondered if you had ever thought about marrying him."
"Well, of course I've thought about it. I want to marry him and he wants to marry me." Ginny laced her fingers together and then studied the interlocking digits
carefully. "But, we, um, are sort of waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"To find out . . . well, he says he doesn't want to marry me and leave me a widow. I've told him that I don't care, even if I only had him for one day, as all mine, I
would be happy." Ginny looked up and Cassie tried to wipe the horror off her face. Suddenly all her little problems seemed rather petty compared to Ginny's.
"Don't feel bad. It's . . . just how it is, you know? But, I think I'll manage to talk him into it." There was a long pause. "You haven't said, but is it . . . the physical
part that scares you, or what?"
"No. I love that. I mean, if tonight is any indication. It's just that it makes it harder to tell when you love someone emotionally, with your whole self, or if it's just
. . . you know, lust." Cassie could feel herself blush and was glad they were having this conversation in near darkness.
Ginny laughed. "You sound like my mum, trying to tell me to be careful with Harry."
"No, I sound like my mum, trying to tell me to be careful with . . . boys." Cassie forced a laugh. She had just been about to say Harry, too. "She hasn't had a
chance to warn me about George. Although I'm pretty sure it will come up tomorrow. You see my problem."
"Okay. Well, I can't decide if you love George or not. But, when I think about trying to live a life without Harry in it somehow, it's just not possible. So, can you
imagine living in any way without George? Either back in the Muggle world or here with him? I mean, ignore all the difficulties and the complications and just
ask yourself that."
"Truthfully?"
"Yeah."
"No. I can't."
"Well, there's your answer then."
"But-"
"There are no buts about it. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, mind you. And, of course, he may not feel the same way about things, although I think he does.
But if I were you, I would sort of think in the back of my mind that this is the man I am going to marry and start trying to decide how you are going to make it
all work."
"You make it sound easy."
"It won't be. I can tell you that right now. But once you've made up your mind, things at least become clear. Because they either lead you toward marriage and
the type of marriage you want, or away from it. Stick with the things that take you where you want to go and leave the rest, no matter how attractive it might be
at the moment."
"So, you're saying that . . ."
"What I'm saying is that you shouldn't let what happened tonight bother you. Realize that you have built the basic relationship very nicely and now you're ready
to move on with a little bit more physical stuff. Not that you can go crazy or anything and climb up the stairs to his room right now, but . . . maybe you can just
accept that it's okay to, um, you know, move past pecking each other on the cheek And you need to forgive yourself for this, uh, indiscretion."
"But after I finish identifying the bad guys, I'll have to go back home. He'll forget me."
"You go home. He visits. You write. London isn't that far away, and George can be there in about two seconds, you know. Harry and I are going to be
separated next year, too, because I still have one more year of school. But that won't change our feelings. It'll be good for you, really. You can have one more
chance to decide if you really want to be with him. Personally, I think the fear of having children just like him would be enough to scare me into celibacy
permanently, but, um, you obviously don't feel that way." They both laughed.
"But that's another problem . . ."
"Look, Cassie. There are a million problems I can think of, and probably another million I can't. That's why I'm saying you need to decide if it's worth it. If he's
worth it. If he is, then you'll find some way to solve them. Because there are always problems with two people getting married. Always. I could tell you stories
that my mum told me about when she and dad got married. And Harry's parents, well . . . I don't even have time to start on that. And even Angelina and Fred,
for all her casual mention of marrying him, have problems. Her parents wanted her to marry someone a little more. . . sophisticated. They don't really like him
much."
"That reminds me, no one told me Angelina was black before she got here."
Ginny looked at her sideways. "Is that a problem?"
"No, no. It's just sort of . . . surprising." Cassie bit her lip for a minute. "I mean, at home that probably would have been the first thing anyone told me about
her."
"Why?"
"Well, I don't know. . . . I mean, it used to be really looked down on, blacks and whites or any mixing of the races . . . not so much anymore, I don't think. At
least it's not acceptable to be prejudiced against that. Although there are people who still do have a problem, of course."
"I get the idea this is leading somewhere."
"I was going to say that it's interesting to me . . . because skin color doesn't seem to matter at all. I noticed that with Dean Thomas at Hogwarts. For Muggles,
it's skin color or race that's important, but for wizards . . . it's blood. All completely blood."
Ginny sat quietly for a minute, thinking hard about what Cassie had said. "It's not so different. Skin color or race is just another indication of blood, right? An
outside indication of the blood inside."
"That's true. I hadn't really thought of it that way before."
"And in a way . . ." Ginny scowled slightly, "I think our way is worse. Our prejudices are worse."
"What makes you say that?"
Ginny sighed. "Well, a black person is black or an Asian person is Asian. You look at them, and you know. They never have to mention it to you or tell you or
anything."
"Yeah . . . "
"But we force people to reveal their own blood, their own reason why they should be disliked, by remembering and describing their genealogy back sometimes
several generations. So . . ." she scowled again, "we are forced to remember our own shame, so to speak, and remind everyone else about it constantly. Because
from the outside, we all look the same."
Cassie stared at Ginny for a long time, remembering the conversations she had had about bloodlines at Hogwarts. "You're right, Ginny. You're absolutely right."
Cassie felt a lot better now and when she climbed into bed a few minutes later, she fell asleep quickly.
