Chapter 63
Meeting the Spencers

Molly woke all three girls up the next morning very early. "I need help with breakfast, girls, but we also are going to have a bit of a planning session for the day right afterwards." Ginny groaned and buried her face in her pillow, obviously trying to ignore her mother's voice.

"A planning meeting - what do we need a planning meeting for?"

Hermione popped out of bed, looking refreshed and cheerful and Cassie could feel her scowl on the two of them, who were both trying to bury themselves deep under the covers. "I don't know but it's probably important. Maybe she just wants to make sure all the work gets done. What's the problem, you two?"

"Nothing." Cassie groaned as she sat up and put her feet down on the cold floor. Of course, she knew what the problem was. Neither she nor Ginny had gotten to sleep until well past 2 and it was now 6. Four hours just wasn't enough sleep, but it was going to have to do today. She just hoped she didn't have bags under her eyes the whole day. Maybe there was some magical trick to getting rid of them. Well, plus she had some concealer somewhere in her makeup bag. She would just have to dig it out and make liberal use of it under her makeup. Despite her exhaustion, somewhere in her stomach, a flare of excitement curled up and she couldn't help the grin that spread over her face. Her parents were coming today. She just had a feeling that today was going to be important in a lot of different ways.

The three girls trooped a few minutes later to the bathroom, very unsurprised that there was already someone waiting in line. It was Tonks and she grinned at the three of them, although her eyes were droopy. A few seconds after they got in line, Harry and Ron joined them. Hermione and Ginny kissed their cheeks nicely, but didn't give up their places in line. Charlie came up a minute or so later. There was no sign of either of the twins and Cassie was unsure whether to be happy or sad about that because she knew she wasn't looking her best at the moment. After another minute passed, Ron groaned. "Who's in there, for hell's sake? There are some impatient people out here."

"I don't know," Tonks admitted. I've been here for about ten minutes and whoever it is was in there already."

"Are you sure anyone's in there at all?"

"Well, I've heard water running and things. Let's see . . ." she looked over the line. It could be either twin, or maybe both of them, Bill, Remus, or . . . I guess that's it."

"It can't be Bill. He's still downstairs." Charlie leaned back against the wall, looking unconcerned.

"And I heard George and Fred talking when we passed their landing a minute ago, so it can't be them."

"What about Angelina?"

"Maybe. That would make sense."

"It's obviously a girl!" Ron groaned. "I don't want to offend anyone, but I have got to -" He stalked up to the door and pounded hard on it. "Get out of there. Some of us are getting desperate out here." At that moment, Angelina poked her head out of Bill's door.

"Is she still in there?"

"Is it Fleur?" Tonks looked incredulous. "She left the room a half hour ago!"

"I know. But you didn't see the huge bag of . . . junk she hauled in there. I did and I think she had to levitate it or she couldn't have managed the weight."

"Oi! Fleur! Get out!"

"No. I am beezy. You vill just wait a few more moments, pleeze." Ron looked frustrated and groaned as another moment passed with no sign of her imminent departure. He pounded on the door again.

"I'm going to do something in a few minutes that I haven't done since I was a small child." Everyone laughed, mostly because they could all empathize with his anxiety.

"That's not true, Ron. Just last summer-"

"Oh, shut it, Ginny." His ears turned bright red and he sulked his way back behind Harry in line.

"What's her idea of a minute?" Hermione asked about three minutes later. Cassie was starting to feel a bit of anxiety herself. "She should know that proper etiquette demands that everyone be allowed to get into the bathroom for certain . . . necessities . . . before you come back for the hair and makeup stuff. That's the rule!"

Harry smirked and Cassie caught the look on his face as he said, "And no one should disobey the rules, should they, Hermione?" She just scowled in response, but Ginny stuck her tongue out at her boyfriend and Cassie's sympathies definitely lay with Hermione as well. Tonks groaned but it was Charlie who finally snapped.

"I'm getting Bill. He can get her out of there. Even if he has to stun her to do it. But I'll let him take the brunt of her temper." He climbed downstairs and not more than 30 seconds later, Bill apparated into the hall by the bathroom door.

"Sorry, everyone. She can be a bit temperamental. Fleur! You've got to get out, right now!"

"Beel, I cannot. I am not yet ready for-"

"You're ready enough. Come on out or I'll come in and get you."

"You wouldn't dare. The door is locked."

"Yeah. Well, I don't think that'll do much. Get out." The door opened but much to Cassie's chagrin and Ron's obvious pain, "Beel" went in and there was no sign of Fleur.

"Great! Now they're both in there!" A moment later, though, Bill led a very disgruntled-looking Fleur out of the bathroom. She was, indeed, carrying a very large bag.

"Thees is just impossible, Beel. I cannot be expected to . . ."

"I understand, love. You can use my mum and dad's loo. And you can stay in there as long as you need to."

"What!" Hermione turned brick red. "We're all suffering here. Why should she get to-" But no one answered her and she didn't even finish her question as Ron apologized to Tonks and darted into the bathroom.

"Sorry. I'm desperate!"

"Oh, for Heaven's sake!" Hermione scowled. When Ron emerged about two minutes later, he looked significantly less agitated, although he was bright red as he passed everyone in line. Tonks pulled her wand out.

"No one better even think about it." Everyone laughed, including her. The young Auror stepped into the bathroom and the line moved in an orderly way for the next few minutes.

It was about a half-hour later before Cassie managed to make it downstairs. She had slipped into a comfortable pair of jeans, although she had foregone the jumper and was just wearing a plain T-shirt. The kitchen would be hot this morning. She had seen Molly's list of items to cook and it was formidable. She would change later, before her parents and brothers arrived. Breakfast was a simple affair by the usual standards and Cassie just munched on some toast as she stood at the stove browning bread crumbs for the stuffing they would be assembling later in the morning. Molly was making a beef roast, a goose, and a ham as well as innumerable side dishes, salads, and breads. The desserts were all taken care of for the most part although there was still some sort of hot bread pudding that needed to be boiled. A good portion of the preparation could be done with magic, of course, but Cassie had learned that most of the work was just plain old cooking like her own mother did at home.

"All right, everyone. I think we need to have that planning meeting soon."

"What's this all about, Molly?" Remus asked, looking slightly concerned which sent an answering jolt of nerves into Cassie's stomach.

"It's about the plans for the day. Nothing complicated." But her smile, although it was supposed to be reassuring, looked stretched thin and now that Cassie was looking, she noticed that Molly had dark circles under her eyes - the ones that concealer didn't really hide. Arthur also looked rather pale and fretful, which worried Cassie a lot more than Molly's similar appearance. Arthur was the kind of man that didn't let much get to him. Something was obviously upsetting them and she gulped as everyone headed into the living room.

George and she had traded shy smiles across the room this morning and even though she had tried to speak to him, they had not had a chance to say more than a hasty hello. After the intimacy of last night, it seemed strange to be separated again by a bustling crowd, but like George had said, they didn't get much privacy these days and they certainly wouldn't today. George also looked fretful which would have worried Cassie more if Ron had not had the exact same look on his face. Both were very aware that their respective girlfriends' parents were coming and that they needed to make a good impression. However, she doubted that was what this meeting was about. The Weasley boys would have to sink or swim on their own merits. This meeting was certainly about something else.

Arthur was the one who stood in front of the group and exposed what obviously was a cause of great concern for them. George sat behind her and she felt his hands tighten on her shoulders as the truth of what was bothering the elder Weasleys was brought out in the open, to be met by angry silence. "I don't really think we can trust Percy. I hate to say it, but it's true. Molly and I have been talking about it now for a few days and we, well, we just . . . well, we just need to be very careful. Very careful." He cleared his throat and continued, Molly's hands gripping his to offer her silent support.

"Things have changed since we made the arrangements for his arrival and . . . with the arrest warrants and all . . . things are dicey. We've even considered rescinding the invitation, but, um, we have decided we can't do that." Arthur glanced at Molly and their eyes met. He drank the strength from them and stood a little straighter as he looked at his children and friends. "Bill, Charlie, if something goes wrong, I need you to be able to obliviate him. I would like to think I would have the strength to do it, but I don't know that I could. We could just . . . erase the whole day. Make him think he stayed home in bed with a cold or something."

"All right, Dad." Cassie relaxed against George with that last exchange. The word obliviate had sounded dreadfully final and for one brief moment, she thought they were discussing eliminating him as a problem completely. Then she remembered that they could modify memories and that this is obviously what they had in mind.

"I . . . well, I'd like to think that it would be accidental, the casual mention of Remus staying here or Tonks or something like that. I don't think he would purposely betray us again. However, certain precautions have to be taken. And that is what we need to discuss. First of all, Remus, Tonks, I don't think that he should know you are staying here. It would be best if you apparated into the kitchen as though you had traveled a very long way, perhaps in heavy cloaks, and mentioned that the new Order headquarters is very drafty and located a very long way from here. Albus and Minerva will do the same. No mention of either of them still being at Hogwarts, please, anyone."

Ron looked with horror at his parents. "Please tell me you haven't invited Snape."

"Well, we did, actually, but before you lose control, I should tell you that Severus declined." There was a purposeful look at Fred and George. "He seemed to fear that he would be fed something that might make him ill. All my assurances did nothing to calm him."

"Pity. It is Christmas after all." Fred's cryptic remark was met with stares all around but he didn't elaborate. Cassie wasn't sure if he meant that since it was Christmas he wouldn't hex Snape or poison him or it he meant that his own personal Christmas gift to himself had failed to materialize. She strongly suspected the latter, but the conversation had moved on and Cassie turned her attention back to Arthur.

"And I think it goes without saying that no business of any kind should be discussed in front of him. None. Also," he looked at Cassie with something akin to pity in his eyes, "the Spencers call their daughter Pia and I would appreciate if you all remembered to do so while they are here." There was a beat of silence in the room as everybody stared with various degrees of surprise and confusion at him.

"Yeah," Cassie smiled at Angelina and Fleur who were certainly looking the most confused. "My name, you see, is actually Cassiopeia and I prefer Cassie but they've always called me Pia. If you called me Cassie in front of them, they may not even recognize it was me you were talking to. " She felt a certain sense of loss when she said that. Once again, she would be pretending to be something she wasn't, someone that she wasn't. And her parents couldn't even be known by their real names. She wondered if there was ever going to be an end to this. But George's hands were warm on her arms and she tried to center herself on him. After all, at least they could still come. Things could certainly be worse.

"Also, you know they are Muggles, of course. Though they've seen Cassie, er, Pia, do some magic, it will still be new to them so let's keep the chaos down to a dull roar. And the same goes for the Grangers, who always seem quite unsure of our sanity at the best of times." He looked around at the little group. "Percy, fortunately, is supposed to go to Penny's at 4, so he will be here less than four hours. Please, let's try to . . . make things look as normal as possible."

"I'm surprised he deigns to be in the company of so many wanted criminals," George said and the hurt and anger in his voice registered in varying amounts in everyone else's face. "He does know, doesn't he? And are you sure he's actually coming?"

"We received an owl from him two days ago. He is most certainly aware of the situation and rather stiffly said that he is going to ignore it. I like to think he's making an effort, but . . . ." Arthur's face looked suddenly much older and Cassie wondered if he was going to fall over. "I want everyone to chip in today to help Molly. She's quite nervous about the Spencers' and the Grangers' arrival."

"Oh, Arthur . . . I am not!" Molly flushed and Cassie looked at her with surprise, a lot of things suddenly clicking into place. Molly had been agitated every time her parents were mentioned and she had assumed it had to do with the crowd. But she realized with a moment of blinding clarity that she was actually worried about failing to measure up to the glowing praise that Arthur always heaped on her mother's and father's heads. Too bad she was so nervous, because her mother would be so thrilled to see her that she doubted if she would notice she was being served mud pies on a 2X4 in the snow.

"Yes, you are. I'm not blind, you know."

"Well, I . . .I want things to be nice."

"I know, love. I know." Arthur stepped over to where George and Cassie were sitting. "I need to talk to the two of you privately, please." Cassie wondered if they were going to get yelled at for the night before. She didn't know how he would have an idea of what had happened on this couch a few hours earlier, but maybe some of the pictures down here kept an eye on things and reported upstairs. She glanced over at the smiling faces in the frames and wondered which ones had done it. But they dutifully stayed behind and Cassie was grateful that George had enough sense to keep his hands quite decorously in his lap or on her shoulder as they waited for the others to drift out of the room.

He jumped into the meat of the discussion with no preliminaries and it took Cassie a good 30 seconds to realize that it had nothing to do with the night before. "Dumbledore is very concerned about Percy knowing Cassie, er, Pia is a Muggle girl. He thinks that she needs to do magic again today in front of him. He thinks he'll be less likely to remember one more witch in a crowd of them. I agree. So, we need to work out a plan. Just one or two spells, really, should do the trick."

"I don't like this whole idea, Dad. I really think we need to -"

"No. It's out of the question. He is making an effort and all we can offer in return is suspicion and distrust. He's coming. We'll just have to deal with it."

"I can easily do a spell or two. But I'll obviously need help." Fifteen minutes later the plan was in place and Cassie nervously fingered her wand. She had taken to carrying it around constantly again with Angelina and Fleur in the house and George liked to tease her by having it shoot sparks periodically just to watch her jump. "I hope no one in my family keels over in shock when they see me doing magic."

"Dad's going to warn them in advance of the whole plan. I'm sorry about this whole thing, Cassie."

"Pia."

"Yeah, Pia. As I was saying, this was supposed to be a special day for you and now it's ruined."

"It's not ruined." They were alone in the room, now and she slipped easily into his arms. "You're still here and my parents will still be here and you get to meet them."

"Aaah. Now you've ruined my day." He pretended to look put out, but as their lips met softly, they were both smiling.

"I do love you, you know," she said, reveling in how easily it came to her lips now.

"I love you, too. What do you think our chances of putting a locking and silencing charm on that door and having another snogging session on this couch are?"

"Well, I couldn't say about the charm - but I can tell you that you're out of luck about the snogging. That was a one-time deal. You can consider it your Christmas present." He looked crestfallen but she looked him straight in the face and told him the truth. "It was wonderful, George, but it was . . . not right. And I hope you'll accept that."

"Do I look like that big of a prat?" George scowled at her. "I have never felt anything more right in my entire life but I still would never force you into doing anything you didn't want to do."

"You don't have to force me, love. You touch me and every other thought I have flies out the window, so-"

"I'll do my best, Pia, but I'm not going to promise that I'm not going to touch you. And I intend to kiss you. A lot. And if at some point, there should be a repeat of last night, I'm not going to apologize for it, either." Cassie raised her chin at this, thinking he was teasing her. But his eyes were serious and she knew he was spoiling for a fight. She was just about to protest but Ron came in.

"Come on. Mum's having kittens about something Pia's supposed to do to help with dinner. And she wants you and Fred to get to work on the table and chairs. She wants to remind you that it will need to sit 24 and have plenty of room for food. Plus, she says she wants everyone to have elbow room."

"Go tell this to Fred. I'm busy."

"Can't. He's locked himself in your room with Angelina and I think they put a silencing spell on or something, 'cause he won't answer the door. They're probably starkers or something."

"Oh, grow up, Ron. Go tell Bill to get them out of there. He can break into Egyptian pyramids. He can get into our room."

"I'm not a bloody messenger service. Tell bloody Bill to get your own bloody brother out of your own bloody room!" The door slammed behind him and George started laughing.

"I think he's jealous that he isn't starkers."

"With Angelina?" And they both laughed for quite a few minutes before they managed to make it into the kitchen.

Although Cassie was very anxious for her parents to come, the morning passed quickly. Arthur left about 10 to go to retrieve her family. Charlie left at 10:30 to go get the Grangers and it was then that Cassie ran in a panic upstairs to get herself looking presentable. George had disappeared quite a long time ago and she hoped that he remembered they were coming at 11 and that she really wanted him down there with her. She was extremely nervous now and was glad that she had only eaten toast this morning. Anything heavier and she's probably have thrown it back up. She dressed in the nicest dress she had with her but then didn't know what to do with her wand because it had no pockets. She tried tucking it in various places but was about to give up in total frustration when Hermione breezed into the room to get ready for her own parents' arrival. "You need robes if this is going to work. Sorry. Pretty dress, by the way."

"But all I have are my school ones and they won't do."

"I can modify them a bit. What about white?"

"Um, no. I don't look good in white." The dress was a deep dark blue that she knew brought out the color of her eyes. She just hoped that Fleur wasn't wearing blue, which was obviously her favorite color. If she did, though, it would probably be a pale misty blue with silver, so she wouldn't be an exact match, no matter what.

"How about a violet, with a lot of blue in it?" Despite Cassie's initial misgivings, Hermione fussed with the shade until they found one that looked nice with the dress and then she added a bit of trim and some fancy buttons and when Cassie looked at herself in the mirror when it was all done, she thought she looked really nice, very sophisticated. "You look very grown up, Pia. That's really stunning together."

"Thanks. I'm so nervous, which is ridiculous."

"No. I'm nervous, too. And I've been doing this for years. It makes sense, with George and all." As Cassie tucked her useless wand into the sleeve, the two girls smiled at each other for mutual support and Cassie hurried downstairs, leaving Hermione to finish up her own preparations. At five minutes to 11, Cassie was sitting anxiously in a kitchen chair. Most of the chaos had settled although there were still eight pans simmering on the stove, which had been magically enlarged as had the table to allow for the preparation and presentation of a meal to feed a group as large as this one.

The Grangers arrived first, both looking tussled and slightly agitated, but Hermione swept down the stairs and into their arms and the warmth with which they greeted her did a great deal to calm Cassie's nerves. They looked none the worse for wear and hadn't even landed on their bums in the middle of the floor. She hoped that this wasn't just from years of practice and that her parents, who would be traveling by portkey for the first time today, had identical luck. She felt a pair of warm hands on her shoulders and it was the smell of his cologne that announced George's presence. A few moments later, the air shimmered in the way it did when a portkey was activated and a small group of people materialized in the middle of the kitchen, all eyes pressed tightly closed and white-knuckled hands gripping several gift boxes tightly as though this would save them if this magic didn't work. It was Matthew who opened his eyes first and squealed in delight. John was next and both her brothers attacked her with a ferocity that she did not expect.

"Pia!!! We miss you! When can you come home?" Harry had come into the kitchen and smiled indulgently at the two whirling dervishes as they abandoned their sister and started to explore the kitchen of the Burrow with an embarrassing thoroughness. Cassie's parents, despite undoubted forewarnings from Arthur, still looked surprised that they were actually standing somewhere besides their own family room. Then Rebecca looked at her and suddenly all her Cassie's nerves were gone.

"Mum!" and Cassie forgot about everything else except wanting to be held by her mother and as she felt those solid warm arms around her she just closed her eyes and held on tight. They were both sniffling a few moments later as her father peeled her away.

"Don't I get a hug?" She didn't know how long the three of them stood there clinging to each other. It seemed like a very long time, but she supposed it hadn't really been longer than a few minutes. Her father smelled the same as always and her mother, though she felt thinner to Cassie, was dressed in something Cassie recognized and had always liked.

Cassie wiped her eyes and stepped away from her parents, hoping her voice didn't betray how emotional she was to everyone in the room. The boys were gone and she hoped that Harry had them and they weren't destroying the household in some way. "Uh, let me introduce you. This is Molly Weasley and these are my parents, Rebecca and Andrew."

"I'm so pleased to meet you at last. I've heard nothing but praise from Arthur. But mostly, I want you to know how much I appreciate your daughter. She's a wonderful girl." Her parents beamed and truthfully, Cassie felt like beaming, too. That made the next introduction a little easier.

"And this is George Weasley." He stepped up to them and shook their hands, smiling politely although Cassie could practically feel the waves of nervousness radiating from him. It was the first time that she noticed how he was dressed as he had been standing behind her the entire time. He was in very formal dress robes, dark green in color, that made him look very handsome (in her eyes, at least). His hair was tamed rather severely but she could tell he had really made an effort to impress and she was grateful for his thoughtfulness."

"Nice to meet you, George."

"And I'm very pleased to meet you, as well. It's obvious where Pia gets her stunning looks," he beamed at her mum and Cassie blushed. To her shock, her mother looked pleased by the compliment and smiled at Cassie with a sort of wide-eyed girly expression that Cassie had never seen on her before. "I want you to know, Mr. Spencer, that no harm will come to Pia, ever, if I'm alive to stop it."

"Well, thank you, George. That . . . means a lot to me." And they shook hands with their eyes meeting and Cassie knew that somehow a formal bargain had been struck and both sides accepted the terms. She had the momentary thought that George had somehow enchanted them, but she shoved it aside. He wouldn't do that. Not without telling her about it.

"Shall we go into the living room? It'll be easier to talk there." But before they could actually adjourn to the larger room a sudden loud explosion echoed through the entire Burrow and everyone in the kitchen jumped a mile.

"Oh my God! Where are Matthew and John?" Her mother looked around with complete panic in her eyes and Cassie hoped that the Death Eaters hadn't found them today of all days. There were running feet on the stairs, some heavy and some light. The boys.

"They're alive, Mum!"

"Cool!! That was the neatest thing I've ever seen!"

Fred's panicked voice was the next thing they heard. "Let me clean you off! Please! Your mum will-"

Then Harry's "Don't stupefy them now, Fred! They'll fall down the-"

"Please! Uh, Mark, Joe, uh-"

But then it was too late and two soot-blackened faces attached to two smoking heads of hair attached to two running boys launched themselves at their parents. "You won't believe what Fred has in his room - it blows up! On purpose! And these sparks just fly all over everything and -" "It was the coolest thing ever!" "Let's go up and do it again!" A rather sheepish-looking Fred peeked down the stairs and George shot him a death glare.

"I'm sorry about that, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer. I can get you all cleaned up if you
can-" But the boys were gone again, back up the steps and with one last frantic look at George, Fred followed them up. They heard Harry again.

"It's Matthew and John!" Cassie wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Her parents' clothes and faces were all sooty now and the look on her mum's face had gone from suitably impressed with George to panicked to shocked and now Cassie couldn't read the expression at all. Molly was standing there staring at the couple as though they had suddenly pulled out Death Eater masks and brandished wands. The absolute horror on her face at what had just happened would have been funny if Cassie didn't think it was mirrored on her own.

"Uh, well, I can at least get you cleaned up!" George pulled out his wand and did a quick Scourgify spell on them, which removed every trace of soot and grime but didn't remove the expression off her mum's face. "Um, let's go into the living room. Fred will take care of them. Get them cleaned up, I mean." Cassie shot him a panicked look. She wasn't sure the thought of Fred taking care of the boys would do much to reassure her now-skittish parents.

"Harry will help. The boys love Harry." Molly followed the group out, her sentences alternating between reassurances that her son wasn't crazy to threatening the same son within an inch of his life when he was at the business end of her wand. The Grangers were looking white and anxious in the living room and Cassie didn't blame them. Only two weeks ago they had been attacked in their own home by some wizards and that big explosion had to bring back a bit of the same terror. Cassie remembered well how helpless she had felt against the mere threat of a magical attack on her or her family and was sure that any Muggle aware of the existence of magic would feel the same. However, she latched onto Hermione's family's presence as a useful diversion and proceeded to introduce them. Ron was sitting there with them, looking very uncomfortable in his dress robes, trying to sink into the couch so that they wouldn't ask him any questions.

After the introductions were all made, the two Muggle couples started talking, hesitantly at first and then more openly as they warmed to each other. George looked like he was about to hyperventilate and Cassie reached for his hand as they sat on the couch. "You did great."

"Yeah. I shouldn't let the fact that my identical twin almost killed your brothers deter me from making a good impression, should I?" Cassie couldn't help it. She giggled and her mother shot her a speculative look before turning back to Hermione's parents to answer a question. Fortunately, the next hour passed with no more explosions although Matthew and John were like miniature hurricanes, running in and out at completely unexpected moments, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake as they tried to examine every magical thing in the house. Fred and Harry were gamely trying to keep up with them. Charlie tried to help at one point and George was stupid enough to say that he could probably handle them. "He trains dragons, you see, for a living. Two boys shouldn't be a problem." When Charlie declared defeat 15 minutes later, Cassie's parents seemed torn between happiness that someone who actually trained dragons was no longer looking after their sons and concern that the aforementioned sons might actually find something in this house that could succeed in blowing them up.

There were a few bright spots, though, and Cassie tried to focus on those rather than get bogged down in the tense situation with her brothers. Her parents were really pleased to see Remus again and the genuine affection for them in his eyes did a lot to reassure Cassie on the future of the afternoon. They liked Tonks, too, and she actually did get the boys to settle down for a few minutes by letting them dictate what she should look like and doing some very amazing impressions of other members of the family, changing herself to look like Rebecca, Andrew, Remus, Hermione, Ron, etc., in turn, egged on by the two boys' enthusiastic clapping. Harry managed to sneak in to say hello and Cassie was pleased that the warmth they had always exhibited toward him did not diminish now that they knew the truth about him. They also liked Ginny and commented several times how pretty she was, much to her embarrassment. They were stunned speechless by Fleur and both Andrew and Hermione's dad went almost immediately into that trance that Cassie was quickly learning to recognize as her "Veela charm." She supposed that as Muggles, they had very little resistance to the magic so she was grateful when Fleur excused herself shortly thereafter to rest a little before dinner. They liked Angelina, too, and even asked several intelligent-sounding questions about Quidditch although she wasn't sure they understood her overly-technical replies.

It was Fred that they seemed to take an almost immediate dislike to, although Cassie could see that they were trying not to let it show. She didn't know if it was because of the earlier explosion or whether all the hostility that they wanted to show to George but couldn't was being transferred instead to the boy that looked exactly like him but didn't have the protection of being the one their daughter was in love with. She suspected the latter although she thought they may have misunderstood the entire incident about stupefying them and thought that Fred was somehow going to hurt the boys. Either way, though, it didn't matter. Fred stayed only briefly and shot Cassie a small understanding smile as he excused himself again.

The entire house started to get tense as the time of Percy's expected arrival drew closer and even her parents could sense it. The conversation with the Grangers, which had just become irrelevant (though they didn't know it) as they were talking about the difficulties in having a magical child in the family, came to a rather abrupt halt and everybody sort of started looking around, as though wondering what was going on. Arthur was pacing and trying not to look like he was and Molly was bustling in and out of the kitchen at such a rate that Cassie wondered if she had not decided to make another set of desserts or something to help relieve the stress.

"I'd like to see your workshop, Arthur. Is this a good time?" Arthur seemed grateful for the distraction and both the Grangers and Andrew went outside with him to cross the frozen ground to the shed out back. Cassie's mum stayed in, though, and Cassie knew why. Time for a chat. Great.

"Hey, uh, Mum. Would you like to see my room? Our room?"

"Yes, that would be nice." She examined that magical pictures carefully, touching a few of them and smiling back at Harry. "So . . " she finally said as she sat gingerly on Cassie's bed, fingering a frayed spot on the bedspread, "you seem happy."

"I am."

"George is a nice boy."

"Yes, he is."

"He loves you."

"Yes." Her mother met her eyes.

"I guess the big question is whether you love him back."

"Yes, I do."

"Okay." Cassie wasn't sure what she expected her mum to say, exactly. She thought she might forbid them from seeing each other, rail against the possibility of Cassie's feelings being real, or insist that she be moved out of the Burrow immediately to somewhere her boyfriend wasn't, but whatever she had expected, it wasn't that one word answer.

"Okay? Is that all you're going to say?" Somehow Cassie felt cheated. She wanted to have a chance to use all the arguments she had been developing over the last few weeks, wanted to defend George, wanted to insist that she was mature enough to make this decision, something.

"I want to say more, but I . . . don't want to be hasty."

"I've loved him for a long time."

"I remember. I . . . " Her mother gave a rather sad little smile. "Are you being careful, Cassie?"

"Yes. We are. I won't lie and tell you we've been perfect. But he doesn't push me, and we don't have much privacy anyway."

"When you were 6 years old, you had a crush on Melvin Shumann, remember?"

"I remember him! I couldn't have ever had a crush on him! He was horrid!"

"Well, you did. Kept talking about how you wanted to kiss him and how you wanted to hold his hand. He never did any of those things, of course. You say he was horrid but I think that was later, after primary school. He was nice, then, when you were 6. Shy, but nice."

"Is there a point to this, Mum, because you're giving me the creeps." Cassie visibly shivered. She refused to believe that she ever could have liked anyone named Melvin. That in itself was enough to disqualify him from boyfriend possibilities.

"I remember one night lying in bed at that time and telling your father how much I was wanting you to hurry and grow up so you could have your first really serious romance and I could share it with you, giggle with you at night when you came home after a date, flash the porch light at the two of you if you were kissing on the porch, holding my breath, too, if he didn't call when he said he would, and all that really great stuff. I thought maybe with Harry . . . but that happened while we were away and now you're away and . . ." Cassie was surprised to see tears in her mum's eyes. "And now you've gone and fallen in love again, and I missed the whole thing."

"Mum-"

"No. Don't say you're sorry. Because you're not. Nor should you be. But, your father and I have come to the agreement that when you come back home to us, we don't think it should continue."

"What?!" Cassie pulled the box of arguments back off her mental shelf and opened the lid. "You can't tell me who I can fall in love with!"

"It's nothing against George, per se. You have to understand. It's just that-"

"You love Arthur! He's a wizard."

"Look he's-"

"And you love Remus! Even wizards don't like him."

"I-"

"You don't even know him."

"We-" Cassie opened her mouth again and her mother glared at her. "Let me finish a sentence, young lady." Cassie shut her mouth. "As I was saying, it's not just because he's a wizard, nor because of the age difference, nor because of what he does for a living, or anything like that."

"So those are all the reasons you don't like him?"

"Cassie, it's just that . . . we don't want to encourage you in this situation. You can't fit in here. All of this magic stuff is just an act for you, a game. You will come back with us and forget this ever happened. You can finish school, fall in love with a nice boy, marry him, have 15 children, and entertain them at night with make-believe stories about unicorns and flying on broomsticks." Cassie shook her head.

"No. I love him."

"That's fine. You loved Melvin, too. But you got over it. You got over Harry, too. And-"

"No! Don't compare George and Harry. That's not fair."

"I don't see why not."

"It's not the same. Not at all." Cassie felt suffocated, like she wanted to run screaming from the room out into the cold sunshine and never look back again. This was so much worse than she had ever imagined, somehow. Her mother sounded so final. "Please, Mum, please. Don't . . . don't give up on him so quickly. Please, come down and get to know him. I . . . you can't help but love him. He's so wonderful. Please!" Her mother's hand found her chin and lifted it so that their gazes locked.

"I will, of course. We'll be here for several more hours, and I have no intention of grabbing you and forcefully dragging you back home with us. I just want you to think about what you're doing."

"And just so you know, broomsticks aren't make-believe. I've ridden them and it's the most wonderful feeling in the world." Her mum smiled in a rather vague way and Cassie had the sudden urge to run to George and beg him to take her flying right now, but of course that would not happen. Not today. By the time, they got downstairs, a tall red-headed boy was sitting in the front room that Cassie knew had to be Percy. He had Ron's build and she was glad. She had already decided she didn't like Percy and she was glad he looked nothing like George. He stood as she was introduced as Pia Spencer, a good friend of Ginny's, and her parents were introduced in turn.

He talked quite a bit about his work in the Ministry of Magic although no one seemed particularly interested. He may have been more enthusiastic about her dad if he told him what he did for a living but that was forbidden and so Percy rambled on for quite a long while about how important his office was and that although he had a minor job at this point, he was bound to be promoted soon. Various brothers and Ginny drifted in, exchanged pleasantries, and drifted out again. Cassie's brothers never surfaced during that long period of dry recitation and Cassie almost wished they would run in just to stir things up a little bit. She liked the idea of Percy with sooty hand prints on his immaculate charcoal-gray pants and crisp white shirt. His formal robes were black (quelle surprise!) and looked quite expensively simple. Cassie didn't like them.

Percy studied her for quite a long stretch at one point, and George rescued her by taking her hand and saying that she needed to help Molly as she had promised. "Why was he looking at me like that?"

"I don't know. Merlin, he's a prat."

"He's just trying to compensate for his feeling of being the outsider," Hermione chastised. Ginny had told her that Hermione had always liked Percy, well, before the family break-up, but in Cassie's opinion this did nothing to recommend her taste in friends.

"I don't care what he's compensating for. If he looks at you again like that, I'm going to hex him blind."

"George!"

"It's true."

Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall arrived a few minutes later, leaving the kitchen quickly to go visit in the living room. When Remus and Tonks apparated in a few minutes after that, clothed in thick winter robes and heavy boots, Cassie was confused until she remembered about the fooling-Percy campaign. They entered the living room a moment later, stomping their feet and complaining mightily about how cold the new Order headquarters were. Tonks launched into a blistering tirade about how someone should think of these things when they were stuck in North Umbria before Remus coughed in a meaningful way and she didn't say anything else.

When dinner was finally on the table and the 24 chairs were starting to fill with both Muggles and wizards, Cassie knew it was showtime for her. Molly looked around in frustration. "Where are Ginny and Harry?"

"Upstairs snogging. I just passed them on the steps."

"Oh, Merlin's beard! Ginny said she'd help with carving the goose. Go get her, would you, Fred? And you can hex Harry with a nice anti-snogging spell while you're at it." Everyone laughed and Fred started up the steps. Cassie was busy getting the final dishes on the table when Ginny came down a minute later. Fred was teasing Harry about the anti-snogging spell upstairs while Ginny started carving the goose. "Pia, could you get the wheat rolls out of the oven, please. I've got them in there warming."

"Certainly, Molly." She whipped out her wand and opened the oven door, doused the flame, and levitated the wicker basket over to the table where it landed gracefully on the linen tablecloth next to her mother's elbow. She then pointed her wand at the oven door again which closed with a satisfying bang. Fred came down the steps.

"Harry's washing up to remove the lipstick off his face. He'll be down soon." Ginny turned suitably pink and Cassie sighed in relief. The invisibility cloak had proved its worth once again when it came to her doing "magic." And she was happy that her mother hadn't shrieked in shock. Even her brothers had not done more than ooh quietly when they saw her whip out her wand, "just like Harry's."

Percy studied her in long intervals through dinner and she shifted uncomfortably. Tonks predictably spilled the pumpkin juice, and Cassie was the one to do the Scourgify spell on the rapidly spreading stain turning the crisp white linen a soggy orange. George was able to slide his wand home into his sleeve with no one the wiser and Cassie also did a "warming spell" on her gravy, although she had to pretend hard on that one, because it was still quite cold and she had to pretend she had burned her mouth. "I understand you are being tutored at home?" Percy asked at one point soon thereafter.

"Yes. My parents didn't want me to go so far away for school."

"I understand. You seem very well-trained."

"Thank you. I work hard at it."

"You know, your description - it's almost identical to that of a girl I'm looking for."

"Oh, really?" Cassie tried to look only mildly interested.

"Yes - a young blonde girl with blue eyes, small frame, etc."

"How do you know I'm not her?" She asked pleasantly and ignored the sudden intake of breath by most of the people at the table.

"She's a Muggle. You're not. Otherwise, I'd be quite sure . . . but, no."

"Why are you looking for her?"

"Our Acting Minister of Magic, Nicholas Nightscall, has asked those of us he trusts to keep an eye out for her. Apparently, she's some sort of criminal."

"Ah. Like your parents and siblings?"

"No." Percy scowled. "Everyone knows that these arrest warrants are nothing - the Ministry is only nominally involved in those. In fact," and his chest swelled visibly with pride, "Nightscall specifically endorsed my coming here. He said to make sure to convey his best wishes and that he intends to continue to pursue this matter until all of your names are cleared."

"Send him our gratitude." Arthur's voice was less sincere than Cassie had ever heard it.

"So, tell me more about this girl." George's hand on her knee was gripping so tight that she knew she'd have a bruise the next day. She saw a quick movement from Charlie and realized that he had pulled his wand out.

"Well, the matter is top secret, of course. Only those of us with a particularly close relationship with the Acting Minister know anything about her. Apparently, she has stolen some very valuable items from a shop."

"A wizarding shop?"

"Of course. Otherwise, the Ministry would not be involved in looking for her. Nightscall himself is personally involved. He says he wants her found. Like I said, you are really remarkably like his description."

"Why would a Muggle be in a wizarding shop? She must be a witch." She didn't think it was possible for George's hand to be any tighter on her leg, but it was. Her foot was going to sleep quickly but she smiled pleasantly and buttered another roll.

"No. The Acting Minister told me that he personally did Expelliarmus on her and she didn't have a wand. She's definitely a Muggle." That time, even Percy couldn't fail to notice the harsh indrawn breath of almost every single person around the table and in a way that reminded Cassie forcefully of Ron, he looked around, obviously confused. "What? Did I say something wrong?"