Well, this chapter had a mind of its own. It stubbornly refused to let me finish it the way I wanted to. Sorry about that. But despite that, I think it turned out well and I'm very happy with it. I hope you are, too. And for some of you on the feedback forum, I hope this answers some of your questions.

Chapter 73
Explanations

Cassie's return to consciousness was somewhat like swimming up from a deep depth. She could see the light above her but it was a very long distance away and almost seemed like too much trouble. But despite her almost desperate desire to stop swimming toward that elusive goal and return to the safe darkness below, it got steadily closer. She felt the return of her senses in layers and bits and pieces that seemed to have no logical rhyme or reason. The first thing she really recognized was the feel of soft sheets around her, then the sound of someone softly calling her name, then the smell of flowers, and then again touch, her hand clasped firmly in someone else's. She wanted to tell whoever kept calling her name to quiet down, but she couldn't figure out how so she decided she would just scowl at him instead. She tried to form her face into what she thought was a strict dressing-down expression, but instead of this producing the desired result, the calls just got more insistent and the hand holding hers tightened its grip even further. Then, in one blinding instant, she suddenly remembered why she had been unconscious in the first place and her eyes flew open to confirm that she was where she thought she was.

That was a mistake. The room's lighting was dim, but it was obviously still midday and enough wintry sunshine was coming through Ginny's curtains to send sparks of pain directly into her brain. "Cassie? Cassie? Come on, sweetheart. Open those amazing eyes again for me. Please." She smiled in resignation. He wasn't going to leave her alone, obviously, until she told him to and so she cracked one "amazing" eye open and looked at the red-headed boy who was so desperately clinging to her left hand like if he let go she would disappear.

"Hi." It was nothing, a mere whisper of a sound, scratched over aching vocal cords. But it was enough. The boy didn't react like she expected him to. She thought he might run to the door and tell everyone in the house that she was awake, or maybe ask how she was doing, or maybe try to hug her again. Instead, he took one look into her face and started crying, huge sobs racking through his chest as he tried to catch his breath. That confused her. Why was he crying? Did she look terrible or something? She brought her free hand up to her face. No. It felt like it was supposed to and her hair, although extremely knotted and tangled was all still there as far as she could tell. "George? What's wrong? Is someone hurt?"

He wiped his face on the bedspread and looked at her like she was insane. "Yes. You."

"What? I'm okay. I . . ." She lapsed into silence for a minute. Maybe she wasn't okay. Maybe they'd had to do some drastic wizard surgery that she didn't even know about yet. She took mental inventory. She wiggled all ten toes, which she noted in some corner of her mind were not in her shoes anymore and then all ten fingers, her one hand flexing in both of George's. "I think I'm okay." He didn't say anything for a moment, just stretched on hand out to cup her cheek. "I feel much better now. How long have I been asleep?" If he'd have said five minutes or three weeks, she wouldn't have been surprised in either case. She honestly had no idea, except that she knew it was mid-day, of whatever day it was.

"Only about two hours, but that sleeping spell Dumbledore cast on you, was really only supposed to last long enough to get you back here, so we were all starting to wonder if you were going to wake up." He scrubbed at his eyes again with the back of his hand, as though embarrassed to leave any trace of his tears on his face. Cassie wanted to make a comment about that, but had more important questions to ask.

"It's still Saturday?"

"Yeah, at about two, like I said."

"What happened? Is Fred okay? What about your Dad? He was supposed to . . ."

"Shh. Don't get too excited. Everyone's fine. Really." Cassie wanted to ask more questions, but her little spurt of energy had drained quickly and she thought almost everything else could wait until later.

"My parents?"

"I think they're either back at your house already or will be there by tonight. I can't remember what Dad said about that."

"You got him, then?"

"Well, it wasn't too hard, considering that he was lying senseless in the middle of the floor." She felt a sob come up from somewhere in her gut and she laid there and cried for a long time, the tears rolling down her face in a steady stream, punctuated by gasps for breath every once in a while. He didn't say anything, just patted the hand he was holding over and over again. She never even knew when she stopped crying because she fell back asleep before all her tears were spent.

When she awoke next, the room was a lot darker, and she suspected that it was late afternoon and that the short winter day was almost past. George was still holding her hand, although much more casually than he had been before, when he had had it in almost a vice grip. Now he was sitting in a chair that he had pulled close to her bed and the fingers of one hand were interlaced with hers as he turned the pages of a book with the other. "George?"

"Cassie." This time he did smile and she wondered if he was feeling any better. He put his book down and slid out of the chair onto his knees next to her head. "How are you doing?"

"I'm thirsty."

"Of course you are. I'll get you something." There was a small tray sitting on the bedside table next to Hermione's bed and Cassie could see a pitcher of what she assumed was water, a glass, and a covered plate. George tried to maneuver around to get the glass without relinquishing a hold on her hand but only managed to twist her wrist into an unnatural position.

"George, you're hurting me. You can let go of me. I'm not going to float away or anything." He looked with somewhat vague surprise down at their interlaced fingers, swallowed hard, and dropped her hand. A moment later, the glass of cool water was pressed into her right hand and her left was again captured by his. She managed to drink a little bit of it, then set it down on her own bedside table. The drawer was slightly ajar and she was suddenly reminded of something.

"He ripped up my sticker." Despite herself and a little lecture to herself that she was over-reacting, she felt her eyes prickle again with unshed tears.

"I know. Fred found the pieces. Don't feel bad about it. I can buy you a new one."

"Fred's okay?"

"Everyone's fine, really. But we can talk about that later."

"I want my sticker, not another one." She knew she sounded stupid, like a petulant child, but she just remembered the look of triumph on Ashenhurst's face as he shredded it and wished she could make it go away. George just sighed and kissed her hand.

"I understand, sweetheart. I'm sorry." She lay back against the pillows and screwed her eyes shut against the sudden flood of images that were flashing through her mind's eye now. A moment later, she was mercifully interrupted by Ginny and Hermione, who came bursting into the room.

"I thought you said you'd tell us when she woke up this time!" They scowled at George.

"I was going to. She wasn't ready for visitors, yet."

"And what are you? Furniture?" Ginny shot back at her brother but he didn't budge.

"Whatever you say. Cassie's awake now." This was said without much enthusiasm but she just smiled. She was happy to see them, even if George didn't want to be interrupted. A few minutes later, the room seemed to be straining at the seams with people as everyone had crammed in to see her and wish her a rapid recovery. She didn't talk much, just nodded and smiled when she needed to. Her throat still hurt and trying to speak loudly took more energy that she really had. Harry kissed her on the cheek and told her that he was proud of her, that breaking the wand had been quite a stroke of genius. Ron shook the hand that wasn't being held prisoner by George and said that it sounded like she had been bloody amazing! Hermione shushed him and both she and Ginny patted Cassie on the shoulder and told her that they had brought the flowers. Cassie turned her head rather awkwardly toward her trunk and saw some rather abused looking flowers, but considering it was winter and these had been picked out of the sleeping garden, it was a nice gesture.

Molly fussed as much as usual, and kept rattling on and on about how she intended to give Albus a piece of her mind when she saw him next. Cassie just smiled her gratitude and allowed the older witch to fluff her pillows even though trying to sit up that way was rather painful. Remus and Tonks both apologized for letting her down that morning, but she just waved a weak hand in dismissal and told them that they had done what they could with what they knew and that she didn't want to analyze this yet. Bill and Charlie offered brief hellos before they both headed out into less crowded areas of the house. Even Arthur patted her briefly on the shoulder.

His voice was low and hesitant and she had a feeling she knew what he was going to say. "Cassie, I . . .I feel like I was responsible for the debacle this morning."

"Oh, Arthur. You're not. You couldn't have known." Cassie was sure that Arthur wanted to discuss this further, but she couldn't bear the thought of rehashing the whole sorry episode again. The thought just exhausted her and despite the fact that she was sure it was very rude to go to sleep when someone else was talking, her eyes closed of their own volition and she let Arthur's voice float over her in a comforting cadence that seeped into her bones and relaxed her. A little later, George's aggravated voice woke her from the half-dreamy state she was in.

"Dad, you've worn her out. I told you it was too soon for visitors." She heard George shooing everyone out of the room, even Ginny who protested rather noisily that it was her room and that if anyone should leave it should be him. George just shut the door on her face and Cassie relaxed in the sudden quiet everyone's departure left behind. A sudden terrible thought crossed her mind and she examined it for a few minutes before decided that she was just going to have to ask.

"Am I dying, George?"

"What!" His voice was appalled and she shrugged, her eyes still closed, unwilling to see the look on his face. "Of course not! What makes you ask that?"

"Everyone's being so, I don't know, overly friendly. And I don't think you've let go of my hand for more than 10 seconds the entire time since I got here." She tried to make it sound sort of light-hearted, but in reality, she was very curious why he was clinging to her like she was going to be snatched out of her bed any moment unless he physically held her down.

"Everyone else feels sorry for you. And I . . . I left you, Cassie. And you went through Hell in there. Absolute Hell. I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again." This time she didn't have to force the smile.

"That could prove slightly problematic. Really." She moved the blankets and glanced down at herself for the first time, confirming what she had suspected since the first time she woke up. "Like this, for instance. Who changed me into my nightshirt? It wasn't you, was it?" He shook his head.

"I was tempted but they forced me to leave; but seriously . . . . don't make me go now."

"I won't. You can stay." His fingers interlaced with hers again and she closed her eyes. "I'm so tired."

"That's normal. It's a reaction to the pain. The more you sleep, the better."

"I don't hurt anymore."

"No. Pomfrey gave you a potion. There's more if you need it, okay?" She wanted to answer him. She really did. But her mouth wouldn't open and then she forgot what she was supposed to say anyway.

Darkness was fully settled on the room when she woke again and George, still holding her hand, was asleep in the chair, his head held at an awkward angle, his mouth slightly open, his breaths rough and uneven as he sat there. She watched him for a few seconds without moving. She had never seen him sleep before. It wasn't his best time, obviously. She hoped that when he was holding her and she was sleeping in his lap she looked a little more graceful than he did at the moment. She tried to retrieve her hand carefully from his so that he didn't wake up. She really wanted to turn on her side and watch him for a little while when he didn't know he was being watched, but the second she tugged on her hand, his eyes flew open and he looked down at her.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything? I can get you some more water or maybe something to eat. Mum said you might want some soup or maybe some pumpkin juice. She can . . .."

"Water's fine. Thank you."

"I went to sleep, didn't I?" She nodded as he filled up the water glass again and helped her take a few small sips. "Sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"George! I was asleep. I'm glad you got some rest, too. You look about as exhausted as I've felt today." He rubbed an open hand over his face and blinked a few times.

"It has been a bit of a stressful day." He laughed sadly and then leaned back in his chair, staring up at Ginny's ceiling as though memorizing the cracks in the plaster.

"What happened?" He looked at her again with a rather rueful smile on his face, then back up at the ceiling.

"Before, during, or after the little son of a - well, fill in the blank, tried to kill you?"

"Uh, all three, I guess. I never really knew what was going on before, of course, and I guess I slept through the after, and-" He reached for her hand again and grasped it tightly.

"I thought you were dead. I kept seeing the picture over and over again in my imagination. We would finally break through the door and you would be laying there, all beat up and bloody, but cold, your eyes staring at nothing, your face with a look of absolute horror, and I would know I had failed you. When it really counted, I had left you and you would never . . ." He stared at the ceiling one more time and Cassie looked away for a moment. It was obvious he was trying not to cry and she didn't want to embarrass him.

"You can't blame yourself, George. You had to trust him. He was on your side, you thought. And then he told you that Fred was hurt - you had to go. You could never have forgiven yourself if something had happened to Fred."

"Well, maybe not. But Fred had someone to look after him and he could take care of himself pretty well anyway. But I left you, completely alone and helpless, with some crazed berk when I had promised I never would." She smiled and pulled her hand close and kissed his fingers where they intertwined with hers. She wanted to mention Galileo but she didn't. She was afraid she would start crying again. There would be time to talk about that later.

"Not so helpless. After all, when it was over, he was the one lying unconscious on the floor, not me."

"That is very true. Very true."

"And besides. I'm glad you left." George looked at her with a very confused expression.

"What?"

"I'm glad you left. He didn't kill me right away because he needed information from me, but he had no such qualms about killing anyone else. If you would have stayed, he would have killed you, too. Just like he did . . .the other one." She couldn't bring herself to say his name. It still hurt too much to think that he had died for her sake. George nodded.

"He may have tried, but-"

"No buts. He would have killed you before he even said anything. He never even said anything to . . . him. He just pointed his wand and killed him. I didn't even see him die. I just heard this thud and then I thought . . . I don't know . . . that they were teasing me or something . . ." She pulled her hand out of his grasp and curled up into a ball, trying to block out the memory of seeing Galileo lying on the floor, staring unseeingly up at the ceiling.

George gave her a minute to compose herself, just patting her shoulder gently. "Do you remember what happened in there?"

"Yes. Everything."

"Well, Dumbledore was hoping you would. He wants to talk to you tomorrow. Tell you what happened, find out what happened with you."

"Oh, George. I'm not sure I can handle having to remember that again. I don't want to think about it."

"I understand, love. I do. But this isn't a testimony sort of thing. He's talked enough for both of you. He confessed everything. And what he didn't confess, we were able to figure out through the wand. But he wouldn't talk about how you managed to knock him out and survive when he was so dead-set on killing you. I think it may have been an affront to his pride - that he was bested by a Muggle. So that's all Dumbledore wants to know."

"All right. I guess I can talk about that all right." She was silent for a long moment and wished she had remembered to tell Remus earlier how much his classes had helped her today. Well, she would definitely do that tomorrow. "What time is it now?"

"About 9:30, I guess. Ginny and Hermione will be wanting to come to bed soon. I don't want to leave you. I just keep being afraid you'll somehow be gone and this will all be a dream." He stood up and walked to the other side of the bed. She tried to roll over to watch what he was doing but he gently turned her shoulders so that she was facing the empty chair where he had been sitting. She felt the bedsprings depress as he sat down and then felt his warmth all along her back. "I've wanted to do this all day. Just this once, please. I just want to hold you." He was laying next to her, his long body curling around her smaller one. He was on top of the covers and she was under them, so they weren't actually touching her anywhere except for her shoulders, but she sighed and laid very still. His arm slipped between her pillow and her head so that she was resting on him and his other arm sneaked around her waist and pulled her back snug against him. She hardly dared to breathe now, unsure of what to do to make this last longer. "Just let me hold you for a minute, please."

She knew that if her mum saw her lying here like this, she would be very unhappy, but at the moment, she didn't care. They weren't actually doing anything wrong and she deserved a little bit of comfort after her morning. The arm that had been around her waist shifted and stroked her hair gently, then moved her hair aside and she felt his mouth on her neck. This was heavenly, she decided. Absolutely heavenly. His kisses were soft and undemanding, more comforting than seducing, and she closed her eyes and let him explore the soft skin under her ear and jaw without protest. He stopped after a few minutes and she tried to turn her head to see him, but her neck hurt and she wasn't really able to, so she just turned her head again toward the empty chair and savored the feel of his breath in her hair.

Ginny and Hermione came in a little later and both of them raised their eyebrows at the couple on the bed, but Cassie was enjoying it too much to care. "George. You've got to go now. It's bedtime. And Mum says that in no circumstances are you allowed to stay in here tonight." She felt movement behind her and the warmth along her back shifted and then was gone.

"She wouldn't have to know if . . ."

"I would tell. So don't ask. Go on. She'll still be here in the morning." Cassie understood Ginny's point of view on this, but she really wanted George to stay. He could just sleep in the chair all night. But then she remembered how uncomfortable he had looked earlier and that it probably wasn't fair for her to ask him to sleep like that all night, so she just smiled at him as he looked down on her. He bent and kissed her, very gently. So the pain surprised her. Then she remembered, her lip. It was cut and hurt from earlier and obvious very tender. She reached up and ran a hand over her bottom lip. Yeah. It hurt.

"I'll see you in the morning, okay?" She nodded, not really trusting her voice to reply. She felt surprisingly desolate, like her only hold on reality was walking away from her. She didn't know why she felt that way. Nothing had really changed that much since yesterday when she had been perfectly content to know he was in another room close by and thinking about her.

But as she lay there in the dark a while later after good nights and light gossip had been exchanged with the other two girls, she realized that something had changed. Herself. She was not the same person who had gone by portkey that morning to that old house outside of Hogsmeade. Something had changed inside her. And she wasn't sure whether she was happy about it or not. The confrontation with Ashenhurst had taken away her innocence. Her naivete, whatever you wanted to call it. She had grown up in that few minutes; she had faced fear, pain, death, and fought her way back to tell the story. She laughed silently at herself. Okay, she was probably getting a little overly dramatic, but she felt like she had aged 10 years that day, and she wished with all her heart she could crawl back inside and go back to the way she was before. She was aware of the wetness on her face when she went to sleep, but she didn't bother to wipe away the tears. There were just more to follow.

She had strange dreams that night, nightmares most of them, not surprisingly consisting of flashbacks of memories from that day. She woke several times, frightened and worried. Several times, she thought she felt George there beside her, and when she did, she was easily able to go back to sleep. A few times, he wasn't there and then she laid awake and cried for a while before her exhaustion would take over and she would eventually fall into uneasy rest again. She didn't really question why he was sometimes there and sometimes not. She didn't care. She was just happy when he was.

By the time her eyes opened in the morning, she felt she had relived that scene in the library at the McKinnon house 50 more times in the night and her head ached as a result of the sleepless night. She pulled herself out of bed and dragged herself to the bathroom where she indulged in a very long hot shower. Afterward, she worked hard on her makeup, trying to cover the dark circles under her eyes and the bruise on her lip and make herself look a little more lively. Studying herself in the mirror a little later, she decided that she had probably done an adequate job. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and called it good. She just didn't have the energy for anything else. Back in her room, she dressed in her most comfortable jeans and the jumper that Molly had knitted for her. She slipped on her trainers and sat down on the bed, unsure if she was really ready to go downstairs and face everyone. And she wasn't really sure why. There was a soft knock on the door a few minutes later and she said it was okay to come in. George's anxious face showed through the opening and she smiled in relief.

"Are you okay? I heard you moving around, but then . . . you stopped."

"I'm just . . . not sure I want to go downstairs."

"Why not?"

"I don't really know." He let the subject drop and just looked at her. "Did you come into the room last night?" She thought she must have been dreaming that he was there, but she wasn't sure.

"Well, yes, actually I did a few times. I would just apparate down here and sit by you. I . . . told myself I shouldn't, that I should just let you sleep, but . . ."

"It's all right. It helped me a lot."

He walked from the door where he was still standing in toward her as if asking permission to come closer. She smiled at him and he came to sit next to her on the bed. "You didn't sleep well."

"No. Does that surprise you?"

"He's in Azkaban at the moment, you know? But I feel like going there and slowly breaking every bone in his body." She nodded.

"Maybe I could come and help. Give me a hammer or something and you could hold him down while I actually hit him." They both laughed quietly and he took her hand again. "Why did he do it? What did he hope to . . ." George shook his head.

"I don't know. I brought you home right away. I guess they questioned him right there so Dumbledore will probably be able to tell you more about what he actually said. I'm only getting second-hand information from Dad and Fred. Mum came home with us, by the way. All I know, is that before you and I left - you had to be checked by Madam Pomfrey so we were there about 20 minutes - he woke up and started ranting and raving about how he was going to kill you. Dumbledore stupified him until we actually left the grounds."

"He wanted to make you suffer before he killed me."

"I know." He let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her. "I was trying so hard to get in there to get to you. I kept begging Dumbledore to let down the apparition wards. I didn't care if he got away as long as he left you there. He tried, but they were very complex and before he could, you broke his wand."

"I heard you yelling. I . . . he wanted me to get undressed." George's already angry expression took on a deeper hue and Cassie knew that this wasn't just frustration. He was mad enough to kill. A moment later he confirmed her gut instinct.

"I am going to kill him. I don't know how or when, but I'm going to kill him. Did he actually touch you?"

"No. He . . . I fought him."

"Oh, Merlin! I just . . . I can't believe he hurt you like that, just to get back at me."

"I think that . . . it was sort of a mixed thing. He wanted-"

"Cassie, George. Albus is here. Do you want him to come up here or do you feel up to coming downstairs?" Molly was looking in on them, smiling, and Cassie clutched George's hand as they stood up and walked toward the door.

"I'm not sure I can do this. I don't want to think about what happened in there."

"I understand. So will he. He doesn't want to interrogate you or anything. Just talk about what you want to. And what you don't want to discuss, just skip over." When the got downstairs, Cassie wanted to just tell her story quickly and then retreat upstairs. She felt awkward with all of the sympathy in everyone's eyes and she still felt worn out and stretched, and like she could burst into tears at any moment. But Molly insisted that she eat something so she managed to eat a bit of toast and some egg as well as some porridge, surprised at how good everything tasted. Then, everyone insisted on listening to her and so despite her protestations, she realized this was going to be a very long drawn out process.

She was settled into the most comfortable chair in the living room a few minutes later, the warmth of the fire helping to drive away some of the cold in her bones. George had pulled another chair very close to her and even though he wasn't touching her to begin with, she knew that if she needed him, he was only an arm's length away. The entire living room was full of people, the entire Weasley clan (except for Percy) was there along with Harry, Hermione, Tonks, and Remus of course as well as some other Order members she recognized from the morning before, although she couldn't remember any names. Professor Dumbledore eventually sat on a chair not too far from hers and when everyone was settled, he started talking.

"First of all, I want to let you know, Cassie, the aftermath of yesterday's confrontation. Cornelius Fudge was shown my memory in the pensieve of your trip into Knockturn Alley. He was hesitant at first to believe it, but when he heard them discussing the basics of the plan against him, as well as Madam Bones' testimony, he quickly came over to our point of view. As a result, six of the eight wizards you saw that night are currently under arrest and the other two, one of them the American, are being sought and will hopefully be caught shortly. And, of course, Ashenhurst was arrested easily and is already in Azkaban. The arrest warrants against all the various Order members, and Harry of course, have all been rescinded. The Muggle Prime Minister has had the Imperious curse lifted off him and is currently on a short holiday at St. Mungo's for a little recuperation period. Grimmauld Place, although in a bit of a shambles right now, has been vacated by the Muggle policemen and will shortly be back in our possession, once the wards have been recast and strengthened. Your family is back at your home and is anxiously awaiting your arrival. So, all in all, the mission was a success. It was not without a price paid, however. A steep price for two people. Ashenhurst told us much of what happened in the library, but to say he was not in his right mind would probably be a charitable way to state things. We were hoping that you could perhaps paint a clearer picture of how young Mr. Podmore died, and also how you came to be hurt and how you hurt Ashenhurst in return."

Cassie nodded but before she could really even start, Dumbledore continued. "However, since you were up in the library the entire time and unable to see what was going on elsewhere in the house, I feel that you deserve to know that story first. Then there will be time to tell yours." So, he began:

"Ashenhurst has from all indications been spying on the Order for just a few months. We are not sure what made Lord Voldemort decide to try and infiltrate us and we may never know what made Ashenhurst decide to agree. I suppose for our purposes today, it matters little. It is only important to know that Lucius Malfoy knew about him and contacted him when he started putting this group together. At least, that is what Blackman is saying now. He thought it would be helpful to be able to know what we knew about their group and how we were reacting to their various maneuvers. Of course, you already heard my explanation on Wednesday morning to the entire purpose of the group to begin with, but let me just give a really quick summary to those who have not heard this already."

Cassie stared at the fire as Professor Dumbledore outlined once again how he believed that Lucius Malfoy tried to eliminate Harry by using the Ministry or even by using the Muggle government in hopes that once Harry was gone the path to power for Lord Voldemort would be clear. But eventually, he got around to the discussions about yesterday's events and she turned her head to look at him again.

"So, he knew this was a trap set for some mysterious ninth wizard, which of course was actually himself. However, with the rather predictable arrogance of all evil men, even Lord Voldemort as I think you will all agree, he thought that he could use our plan for his own purposes and escape unscathed. He wanted to continue spying on the Order for Lord Voldemort and was desperate that he not be discovered to be a traitor. Cassie, I will tell you this although everyone else in this room already knows. You don't back out or change your mind once your are in the service of Lord Voldemort. Once you work for him, the only way out is death. He had no options. And had the plot been uncovered and he been exposed as one of the conspirators, death would have been a certainty in any case. Lord Voldemort does not take kindly to his minions doing any individual thinking. In fact," and Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in a rather disturbing way, "I believe Lucius was caught so easily because he knew that his punishment at the hands of his master right now would not be an easy one." Cassie thought about that for a minute and shuddered. Much as she hated Lucius Malfoy, and she did, the thought of anyone being subjected to what she had gone through yesterday evoked feelings of pity.

"His plan was a simple one, from what we can deduce. He would simply have himself made one of your protectors and then kill the other one and then kill you." Cassie nodded.

"He told me all about that."

"Well, good, maybe you can enlighten us as to how he thought he could walk out unscathed." She nodded again and Professor Dumbledore continued with his recitation. "We believe, and this is just guesswork on our part, that when he learned he was not going to be one of the assigned protectors, a role he had been asking for, he planned a small diversion so that he could get the other people away from you. That was nicely taken care of by us, I'm sorry to admit, when we told Nightscall about the planned memory transfer to the pensieve. Had we not done that, it is possible that they never would have known about the entire incident. He didn't want them anywhere near there and had in fact hired several thugs from Knockturn Alley to come and fight with the Order members, make a lot of noise, throw a lot of curses about and then get arrested at the end. That worked up to a point although our guard was stronger than even he knew, and several of his friends came to save their own skins by attempting to kill you. So, in the end, we caught five of them right there which would have been more than enough witnesses against him, no matter what else he had done to you." He paused and took a deep breath and she knew instinctively that this was the point where she was supposed to ask questions if she had any.

"He didn't hurt Percy or Fudge, then, when he took them away?"

"No. He simply took them to another room, told them it was secure, and locked them in. They never saw any of the battle at all or heard any of it either. We found them still sitting in there looking quite angry almost an hour after we got into the library to get you."

"And there really wasn't a big fight where people were hurt and Fred was calling out for George?"

"No. I think he hoped they would put up a bit more a fight, but like I said, we hadn't even let him know of how many guards we would have for you. We operated on a strictly need-to-know basis for this plan, and it worked to our advantage this time."

"He was surprised George came back so early but he didn't know about the stickers. That's why he came back when he did." George nodded beside her.

"That's right. Otherwise, I would have stayed and helped finish the fighting. I knew that some of the wizards we were fighting were from the group Cassie saw, but then the sticker hooted and I knew she was in trouble."

"What stickers?" Molly asked in confusion and George briefly explained the charm he had placed on them and how he thought they could probably help that morning and how they actually had. Cassie cried again at the thought of Ashenhurst ripping hers up, but wiped hastily at her eyes before anyone else could tell her she was being a big baby.

Proffessor Dumbledore beamed at the two of them and then he finished his side of the story. "After that, we just were trying to get in to get you. Everyone was stunned or chained downstairs, Madam Bones' guards had several of them spilling their life stories right there, and then we heard the screaming. After that, there's really not much to tell that I haven't already mentioned. So, what we are hoping you can tell us . . . is what he was thinking. Why did he do this? It doesn't make a lot of sense to us, but we think we're just missing one piece of a very complex puzzle. Maybe one piece will help it all make sense."

Cassie gripped George's hand tightly and started to tell the story of what happened in the library once Galileo locked the door behind Hestia and George, starting with small talk, hurrying briefly over the shock of seeing the dead body on the floor and then telling how he had started questioning her, rather than just killing her outright. " . . . . It was really just for kicks, I think. Maybe something he could hold over their heads later, that he had saved them from being arrested. I still don't know why he wanted to know who we had seen and identified. I couldn't figure it out then either. Anyway, he knew I was a Muggle and that there was no way to put my memory into a pensieve and thought the entire thing had been just the bait for the trap." Professor Dumbledore nodded. "But he wanted to know who I had seen. I told him I hadn't recognized anyone there at all and then he said that he knew we had identified a few and that you" she nodded at the Headmaster, "had said that almost all of them were identified. But I told him you had been lying, that I had only been able to identify Malfoy, Blackman, and Nightscall and that I had no idea on the others. He knew I was lying and that infuriated him because he kept putting me under Imperious and I still wouldn't tell him the truth."

"So you were able to resist the curse?" Professor Dumbledore asked quietly.

"Yes. Remus taught us how in class. Harry can resist it. So can I, I guess. Ginny is really good at resisting it." There was a long period of silence in the room and when Cassie met George's gaze, his face was pale so that his freckles stood out against the skin.

"That's amazing. Incredible. Unbelievable. Is this true, Remus?"

"I was quite impressed at her mental strength even back then. I think that the fact she is a Muggle is unimportant. I have always thought resisting Imperious just takes strength of will, a refusal to submit. And she's right. Harry cannot be forced to do anything he doesn't want to. And Ginny . . . well, Ginny is quite amazing in and of herself." All three of them blushed and Cassie hid her face behind her hand in embarrassment.

"Anyway. Back to the story. I think he was just going to kill me, though, and give up trying to find out about what I had or hand not seen when he just sort of idly looked in the pensieve. He saw the memory you had put there earlier, Professor, and that frightened him a great deal."

"Why?"

"Well, I think that he was convinced it could not be my memory of the shop because I am a Muggle and it just would be impossible for it to be my memory. So, he naturally assumed that it had to be someone else's memory. He didn't really know whose, but he reasoned that someone else had been there that night."

"I don't understand why that would make any difference to him, though. Because you never saw him. He was never there that night at all that we know about." Ginny was shaking her head. "This is the part about this that I haven't understood since Wednesday."

"It has to do with the fact that with a witness, the others who were there could be forced to drink Veritaserum and then would reveal his role in the entire scheme. Without a witness, he didn't have anything to worry about, because none of them would ever willingly betray a member of one of Lord Voldemort's inner circle. None of them. So, they would go to prison, maybe, but he would be safe." Professor Dumbledore finished, his brows drawn together. "So that memory convinced him that rather than just one easily-killed Muggle girl as a witness, there was someone else, a witch or wizard, an unknown quantity."

"Yes, that's right. I think that is when he gave up his plan of escape. I saw the change in his eyes. He knew, then, that there was no way out for him. Well, unless he managed to force his way out or somehow get you to bring down the wards so he could apparate away or something. Who knows? Maybe that was his thinking. If you brought down the wards so you could get into me, he could leave. But it doesn't matter. For whatever reason, he decided that he needed to find out whose memory was in the pensieve. And he wasn't going to kill me until I told him. At first, he was just going to use Imperious on me again, but then he realized that that was getting him nowhere, so he . . . thought he would up the ante a bit." Cassie sighed and looked at the fire again. "Plus, to be honest, I think he wanted to aggravate George."

"George?" about five people asked at once and Cassie couldn't help but smile. George filled them in on their school rivalry and their strong dislike for each other even now, five years after they had last met on the pitch. Fred growled and grumbled louder than anyone else but after the noise eventually died down, Cassie continued her story.

"So, he would lift the silencing charm so George could hear me scream and then put it down again so I couldn't get any strength or encouragement afterward. It was pretty bad. Worse than you can really imagine." She noticed that a lot of the faces around the room were nodding and she realized that rough as it had been for her, she wasn't the first to be so treated and it wouldn't be the last time many of them would go through it. She particularly glanced at Harry. Ginny had told her once that Harry had had the curse cast on him so many times now that he had given up counting at 15 and that he fully expected he would get to experience it a few more times before he managed to get rid of Lord Voldemort. Cassie watched him for a minute as he whispered into Ginny's ear and her admiration of him went up another notch. The thought of going into battle, knowing that you were almost certainly going to get Cruciatus cast against you, would be enough to make her stay home and hide under the bed. She honestly didn't know how someone could force themselves to take that sort of a risk. "Anyway, fortunately, Remus had taught us how to deal with the pain, and so I did and then he gave me another opening. I honestly don't know if I could have withstood it another time and I think he knew it. But by then, he also knew that George was absolutely going insane in the hall and so he wanted to egg him on a bit." She told about taking off her robe and the kiss and the way he had touched her hair.

Then, blushing furiously, she told them about the two knees in the groin and the good solid kick. All the men looked slightly pale when she was done, but the girls all enthusiastically agreed that she had done the right thing. Then, she hesitantly told them about the green curses that went wide and how she knew that death was near if she didn't manage to get rid of that wand. She ended with the satisfying crack of the wood across her knee and then she fell silent, completely worn out from reliving it one more time.

George stood and picked her up from the chair. "She's told you everything she knows. I'm taking her back to bed." Cassie clung to him as they climbed the stairs and looked at him as he tucked her one more time into bed. "You did a good job. You made things a lot easier to understand."

"When do you think I can go home?" He sat down next to her on the bed and cupped her face in his hand.

"I think that physically you can probably go home any time you want to. The other kids go back to school tomorrow and I was kind of thinking maybe you would want to stay here until then. You know, kind of a good-bye thing. And let you recuperate a bit emotionally. But, if you want to go once you've rested, there's nothing stopping you."

"Yes, there is. There really is." She reached up and cupped his face in the same way he was cupping hers. "My heart is here. And I'm not really sure I can bear to leave it behind."

"Your heart, love, will not be left behind. It's going to be stubbornly following you anywhere you go." And he waved his wand at the chair he had spent so much time in for the past 24 hours to bring it close to the bed once again. Then he sat down in it, keeping a firm hold of her hand as she once again drifted off to sleep.