I know this is a day late, and I apologize profusely to any of you who have been dying to read this chapter. I won't explain except to say that real life interfered in a rather brutal way and I have been working as hard as possible on it all day and this was truly the soonest that it could have possibly been posted. Please forgive any bad phrasing or spelling. I just don't want to spend time proofreading. Enjoy! We're getting too close to the end, in my opinion.
Chapter 74
Home Again
When Cassie awoke, she guessed it was about two hours later. George was still holding her hand and he was talking quietly to someone else in the room. She rolled over and then sat up suddenly as she saw who was there.
"Mum!" Her mother smiled broadly and stood up and joined her on the bed, sitting down gingerly. They hugged tightly and Cassie breathed deeply. Her mother smelled familiar, like home, and Cassie felt tears rising up in her throat and she tightened her grip even more. She hadn't realized how much she missed her family until just this second. "I missed you so much!"
Her mother leaned out of her embrace and looked down at her. "We miss you, too! You are going to be coming home, soon, though. That's what Arthur said." Cassie nodded and pulled her mother close again.
"Is Dad here? And the boys?"
"No. Arthur said that the boys might be a bit too rambunctious to be around you at the moment, and Dad stayed home to watch them. He wanted to come, but I wouldn't stay home. I wanted to know for sure that you're all right."
"My brothers . . . . rambunctious? I think you must have them confused with someone else." They both laughed softly and Cassie heard George laughing, too.
"Your brothers are the very definition of rambunctiousness, Cassie. They're about as bad as Fred and I used to be, and that's saying something." Cassie leaned back against the pillows and looked up at her mother, who reached over the brushed the hair off her forehead, shaking her head a little as she smiled.
"So, Arthur told you what happened?"
"Yes. I think he told us everything, although I have to admit that I didn't understand most of what he said. Of course, I was so panicked at the moment and what he said happened to you that I probably wasn't listening very well."
"I'm all right. Much better now than I was yesterday."
"Are you still in pain? I understand that Ashenhurst person tortured you for a long time." Cassie sighed.
"Well, I was hurting a bit yesterday, but today I feel better, I'm just really worn out. I keep falling asleep."
"That's a reaction to the potions she took," George explained. "It helps her feel better, but it also makes her sleepy."
"But I haven't taken any potions lately."
"No, but we really dosed you up well yesterday. You may not even remember taking some of them because you were sleeping when Mum would pour some down your throat." He came over to the far side of the bed, across from her mother, and took her hand again. "We were all pretty worried about you. Mrs. Robinson, Cassie was very brave to stand up to what Ashenhurst did to her and I don't know what Dad said to you, but believe me when I tell you that she's incredible."
"I already knew that." They smiled at each other and Cassie looked wide-eyed between them. Apparently whatever bad feelings had existed between them before now had been set aside while they both worried about her. "We all miss you so badly. When I sent you away, I really thought it would only be for a few days. Your dad warned me it would be longer, but I didn't believe him. I didn't want to believe him. This has been the longest month of my life."
"Oh, Mum! I bet you were happy to have me gone." Cassie teased, because although they got along well, her mother was always saying that having a teenager in the house was more work than the other two put together.
"That's not true. I don't how Molly sends her kids away for months at a time. I would go mad." Cassie looked at her mother for a little while as they both sat silently. She did look a little older than when she had really seen her last, not counting Christmas.
"Why don't I leave the two of you alone for a while. If you need anything, Mrs. Robinson, just call down the stairs and someone will come up."
"Does Cassie have to stay in bed?"
"No. She can do anything she feels up to doing. You're welcome to come downstairs, if you'd rather. It's just that if you want any privacy, you're probably best up here." He smiled down at Cassie and then bent and kissed her softly on her cheek. "I'll check on you in a while, okay?" and then he walked out of the room. Cassie watched him go and then turned back to her mum. She pushed the covers off and sat up, swinging her legs off the bed.
"I'm actually dressed. I was downstairs earlier today, but I got sleepy."
"Yes. Well, rest is probably the best thing for you. Do you think you need to see a doctor, a real doctor? I worry about all those weird potions they give you. Do they even work?"
"They seem to work all right. No, I don't need to see a 'real' doctor. Madam Pomfrey saw me, I guess. And it's her potion."
"Who's this Pomfrey woman?"
"She's the school nurse. But she seems to be really good at fixing up magical problems. Harry says she is excellent, and he should know. He says he spends a lot of time in the hospital wing at school and all."
"Still, though . . . does she know anything about actual, you know, medicine?"
"Well, it was magic that he was using on me. So she'd know about that." Cassie felt a bit disconcerted about having this conversation with her mother. She sounded a bit . . .bigoted against the wizards. And Cassie didn't want to think about her mother in that way.
"If you say so." She got off the bed and returned to the chair. "So, Arthur told me that most of the awful men who were in that dreadful meeting have been arrested."
"Yeah, I guess. That's what Professor Dumbledore said today."
"That's good. Then things can go back to normal. You can come home and go back to school and everything."
"What have you told everyone about where I was?"
"I called your school and told them that there was a family emergency and that you had to go away to help out."
"Did they say anything about my make-up work?"
"Not specifically, but I am sure that you will very busy the first few weeks when you get back. I was hoping that you'd be able to go back in the morning, for the start of the new term, but . . ."
"I don't want to leave here until tomorrow." Her mother pursed her lips a bit but then she sighed.
"Yes, I know. This has been a wonderful holiday for you. But you need to come back and get into real life again. You can't hide forever." Cassie wondered if she looked as incredulous as she felt.
"Holiday? Mum, I . . . I haven't exactly been relaxing on the beach eating sweets, you know!"
"I know. But you haven't done anything important. . .like school work or anything. I hardly think your playing at wizard school qualifies."
"Mum!" Cassie felt sick to her stomach and it wasn't anything to do with potions. "You don't understand what I've been through, do you? And you don't really care!"
"Of course I care! And I know you think you've found a boyfriend and everything - I can understand why, when you're so far away from everything you know and love. Anyone would be wanting someone to turn to, but-"
"Mum!" Cassie said again. So much for her hope that she and George were getting along better. "I don't think I've found a boyfriend!"
"Oh, really? I thought you were getting rather attached to the boy."
"I have found a boyfriend! And I'm not just attached! I love him!"
"I understand. I do. He's very nice. And he's obviously devoted to you, but I'm sure you'll be pleased to find a nice normal boy to date when you go back to school. You never dated much before, I know, but now you know how fun it is, you'll be looking more." Cassie stared at her mother and wanted to ask who she was, but decided that would probably be rude.
"Okay. You can think that. But George and I will still be dating."
"Surely not!" Her mother looked surprised.
"Surely yes! He just said so. Well, before I went to sleep." Cassie looked at the door to the bedroom and considered making a run for it. She didn't know this stranger, but she knew she wasn't very nice.
"But . . . doesn't he want to date some nice . . . er, witch sort of person? I mean, isn't that what his parents want for him? I'm sure that that would be better all around. For both of you."
"I thought you liked Arthur?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"He's a wizard and-"
"I like Arthur. That doesn't mean that if your father wasn't around I'd marry him. There's a big difference, dear."
"That's fine." Cassie felt like hitting something. She decided that she definitely needed to get out of this room. She didn't need this aggravation. "It's good to see you're being so open-minded about things. I'm hungry. I'm going to go downstairs and get something to eat. If you're sure I won't get poisoned by weird wizard food or anything." She stalked over to the door and ripped it open then started down the stairs, not even checking to see if she was behind her.
"Cassiopeia! What was that supposed to mean?" She heard her calling, but ignored her. Once downstairs, she looked around for George in the group gathered in the kitchen and then in the living room. George was standing next to Fred and they were talking about something, both of their hands moving frantically through the air in the way she recognized as meaning he was very excited about some idea or another. She wanted to rush up to him and cry onto his shoulder and was almost there when she decided she'd hold on the crying. She'd done enough of that already. But she grabbed him and was pulled naturally into his embrace. She just held him, listening to the twins as they discussed some invention or another that they thought would be successful in the store. When there was a break in the conversation, George looked down at her.
"I thought you'd talk to your mum for longer. You must have a lot of catching up to do."
"Not really. She was just depressing me talking about going back to school. And besides, I'm hungry."
"Come on, then. We'll get you something. I think Mum's about got lunch ready." He kept his arm around her shoulders. "I think your mum's come around to the idea of the two of us being together."
"Yeah. I think so." Cassie lied, smiling a little at him, hoping she wouldn't start crying which would make him wonder. "She said she can tell you love me."
"Smart woman. Like mother, like daughter, I guess." He looked closer at her. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem upset. You do have to go back to school, you know!" He was teasing her, but Cassie grasped onto the idea like a lifeline.
"But . . . can't I stay here, with you? I could read a lot and I've already taken my GCSE's And I'm old enough to . . "
"We can talk about this later, but-" He pushed open the kitchen door and was interrupted.
"Cassie! What's wrong? Why did you leave like that?" Her mother was now sitting by the kitchen table, her hands wrapped around a mug of what Cassie assumed was tea. Molly was at the stove and it looked like George had been right about it being time for lunch.
"I told you, I was hungry." Her mum glanced at the arm George still had around her and just took a sip of tea. Cassie raised her chin and silently dared her to say anything about their earlier conversation.
"Okay. I can understand that. Molly's got lunch about ready."
"So . . . I forgot to ask. When are you going home?" It was sort of a rude question, but Cassie suddenly wanted her to leave very quickly. She wasn't supposed to be here . . . ruining her last day of being at the Burrow.
"I'm not. I'm staying here until tomorrow. You'll be coming back with me. Unless you want to go home today?" Cassie ignored the hopeful note in her mother's voice.
"No. Tomorrow. That's when everyone else is leaving. Besides don't you want a bit of a holiday?" She felt like smirking, but kept her facial expression carefully neutral.
"Being away from my family is never something I want, dear. And I want the five of us to be together again. That's all." Cassie heard the ring of steel through her mother's words and didn't answer. She was probably taking everything all wrong. They usually got along so well. But as she ate the wonderful soup Molly had prepared for lunch and listened to the conversation around the table, she realized that maybe they had always gotten along because she had always done everything her mother wanted her to do, rather than any innate sameness in their personalities. Well, that wasn't going to be the case anymore. She had her own brain and her own opinions. And she knew what she wanted. And if it wasn't the same thing her mother wanted anymore, then that was just going to be tough, because she wasn't going to be pushed around. After Ashenhurst, she could certainly stand up to her parents. Neither of them had access to a wand.
George seemed to sense the tension in Cassie's body and several times looked questioningly at her. Cassie just ate her soup and listened to everyone else and didn't volunteer any information to either her mother or her "supposed" boyfriend. By the end of lunch, though, she was really angry. How dare her mother come here and tell her what she could and could not do, and to call this last month a holiday . . . that was just . . . and to say she had just been playacting at Hogwarts . . . it was just ridiculous! That's all! She was being an idiot! After lunch, Cassie helped Molly wash up and didn't even explain anything to her mother as the dishes were magically cleared, washed, dried, and put away. She did her usual cleaning of the table and counters and helped with the heavy pot, which always was stubborn about being dried magically and needed someone to do it by hand. Molly tried to shoo her out of the kitchen so that she and her mother could talk some more, but Cassie resisted and eventually the witch just shrugged her shoulders and didn't say anything else. When that was finally over, Cassie wanted to go upstairs to be with Hermione and Ginny, who were packing their trunks for the next day. Her mother caught her arm.
"Cassie . . . can we talk?"
"I . . ." It was on the tip of her tongue to say no, that they had talked enough, but Molly was beaming at the two of them and she didn't have the guts to be rude in front of her. "Okay. I guess so."
"Where can we have some privacy?" Cassie just shrugged. She actually knew a few places, but she didn't necessarily want to spend the time in the laundry room.
"It's a lovely day out - spring is practically coming early. Why don't you two go walking. You could use the fresh air!" Molly had grabbed a heavy cloak of her own to give Rebecca who had brightened considerably at the idea of being outside.
"All right. I'll get my cloak." She climbed the stairs slowly and analyzed what exactly her mother had said that had made her the most upset. Was it really what she had said, or the nagging feeling that maybe she was right about George really needing to marry a witch. Ginny and Hermione were chatting as they were packing up their clean clothes and school books.
"Hi, Cassie! It's nice your mum could come!"
"Yeah. Nice."
"What did you need?" Cassie crossed the room to the third bed and looked at the empty spot on the floor.
"My winter cloak. Molly thought we could use some fresh air. Where's my trunk?"
"Didn't they tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"You're sleeping with your mum tonight. In Bill's room. Tonks has already left to go back to her house, so there's plenty of -"
"Tonks left?"
"Yeah. Didn't you notice she wasn't at lunch?" Now that she thought about it, Cassie realized Hermione was right. She hadn't seen Tonks since this morning.
"I wanted to say good-bye. I may never see her again. And I want to sleep in here tonight!" Cassie looked longingly at "her" bed. She wanted to go back to bed. Maybe when she woke up this time everything would be right again. Everything was going so horridly wrong now.
"You can see her in the morning. She's helping us get to King's Cross. Well, helping Harry but the rest of us are going, too. So's Lupin."
"Lupin? He was at lunch!"
"But I think he's gone now. He was supposed to see what they needed to do with Grimmauld place to get it habitable again. And next week's the full moon again so he needs to find somewhere to -" Cassie sat down on the bed.
"This is great!"
"What's wrong?"
"Everything! My mum doesn't think George and I should see each other after I leave." Both girls were silent. "So you agree with her?"
"No!" Ginny said hastily, but Hermione said "Yes!" and Cassie scowled.
"I thought you had decided it was all right?"
"It's one thing when you're here. I decided there was no use fighting about it. But when you go home . . . you'll meet other Muggle boys and then . . ."
"My mum is the one who told your mum that after you left, she wouldn't let George come see you anymore. So, she got that idea from her, I'm sorry to say." Ginny stood up and slammed the lid down on her trunk. "But she's wrong. She can't really do anything to control him, no matter what she thinks."
"Your mum . . ." Cassie felt the tears gathering in the back of her throat again and hit the pillow hard. "I thought she liked me!"
"She does. She loves you. It's just, well . . ."
"I'm not a witch, right! I thought this was all over with! I thought everyone knew how George and I felt and they were okay with it."
"I think everyone was hoping that once you got home . . . you would just sort of, uh, forget about it." Ginny said and she glared at Hermione. "Of course, she knows she wouldn't forget about Ron, and I wouldn't forget about Harry, but you . . . your feelings are real enough or something to last!"
"I don't think they're not real! And I never said that I thought you'd forget! I just thought that . . . you know, you'd realize why it wouldn't work." Hermione scowled back at Ginny and Cassie just got up, shook her head at the two of them and walked over to Bill's room where her trunk was sitting at the end of one of the beds and her mother's blue suitcase was at the end of the other. She grabbed her warm cloak out of her trunk and slammed it shut with a very satisfying crash. Great. She loved the idea of sleeping with her mother. And if she was here all night, she and George wouldn't even be able to kiss good-bye. Wonderful. Things were just getting better and better.
Once outside, Cassie had the fleeting thought that Molly must be mental. It was freezing today and a stiff wind was blowing that made the cold air seep in even through the heavy cloaks the two of them wore. After 20 minutes, her mother was shivering hard and Cassie wasn't far behind so they made a direct beeline for the Burrow and the warmth of the kitchen. They hadn't really said anything much. They had tried vainly for a few minutes, but the wind was blowing the words out of their mouths and making it hard to even understand what the other one was saying anyway.
Cassie glanced at her watch. It was only 1:30, which meant at least five hours before dinner when there would again be something to do. Then another three or four hours before she could go to bed. With her mother in the bed next to her. And what was she supposed to do with her mother now? Show her photograph albums? Take her out flying? Sit and chat about the news of the war? Yeah. That would go over well. Fortunately, her dilemma was solved a few minutes after she came back downstairs from putting away her trunk, when both she and her mother were looking a little awkwardly at each other in the living room.
A gray barn owl arrived with a Sunday Prophet, which normally wouldn't have been that exciting, but once Harry opened it, that changed. "You made the newspaper! And it's a pretty nice article, too!"
"Who? Me?"
"Well, Pia Spencer . . . but yeah! It's all about the arrests and everything."
"Read it to all of us, Harry! Who wrote the article?" Molly asked, obviously thrilled at the idea.
"There's no byline I can see . . . but I'll read it."
"Wait! Let's get everyone down here so we can all hear it together." Harry kept skimming as Molly ran into the kitchen to call down the people who were still upstairs.
"This is great! Fudge comes off looking like a hero, but I don't expect anything else from the Prophet."
"I thought you were going to wait," Cassie laughed. Harry blushed and folded the paper up.
"You're right. I'll wait. I just hope they hurry. I'm dying to know what they say." Cassie's mother was studying the paper with undisguised curiosity and even picked it up to look at it.
"The pictures move in the paper, too. I can't believe it!"
"All wizarding pictures move. It's normal for them, and strange for them to see ours where everyone just stays still." Cassie smiled. "It's the same for paintings. They can even talk to you."
"Yes, I know." Her mother smiled at her in the same warm way she always did and some of Cassie's anger melted away. Maybe she had been over-reacting earlier. This was her mother. Not the enemy.
"How do you know?"
"Don't forget we were in hiding these last few days, too. And there were paintings there. Lots of paintings. Your father and I about screamed our head off the first time one of them introduced himself, which then scared the others so that they didn't speak to us again for almost a full day. I still say they should have warned us, though, when they settled us in."
"Where were you hiding, anyway? They wouldn't tell me."
"You know what, sweetheart? They didn't tell us, either. It was a house. A big house, obviously belonging to someone quite wealthy because the furnishings were very fancy. And I think we were on the west coast, but we never saw anyone from the area, so we were only guessing that by the way the wind blew and the fact we could sometimes smell the ocean. But we were comfortable there. Worried, of course, but comfortable." Cassie suddenly felt guilty for not asking sooner where they had been all that time, for just focusing on her own self and not on the rest of her family. Her mother seemed to sense that because she reached over and patted her knee.
"We were fine. Very well taken care of. Beds were made and clothes washed and things - I sometimes wondered if the entire building was magic. Fires were lit and . . ."
"A house-elf. They had a house-elf, Mrs. Robinson. That's the sort of thing they do."
"But we never saw anything that looked like an . . . elf?"
"No, you wouldn't. They aren't really supposed to be seen. If they're a good house-elf. Unfortunately, most of my experience has been with ones who aren't quite that efficient. But, in theory, you could go your whole life and never see one."
"Ah. Well, then. See, Cassie? We even had a house-elf."
"Be glad you didn't see it. You wouldn't have been impressed. They're, uh, sort of frightening."
"Hey! They aren't frightening." Harry laughed. "Just not very elf-like. Well, what you would think of as an elf."
"Do they have sort of bat-like ears and are they bald?"
"Yeah, that's a pretty good description."
"Then I owe John an apology. He kept talking about a friend he had made, but we thought he was just making him up to sort of deal with the change, you know, as kind of a security thing. He kept insisting he was real but that he was very shy. Matthew teased him about it." Both Cassie and Harry nodded, but the rest of the family came into the living room, and Harry snatched up the newspaper to read the article out loud. He stood, cleared his throat, and began.
"'Nightscall Arrested' is the headline. Which I guess makes sense. He'd be the most important of the bunch. Okay, here goes the article. Now, remember, I didn't write this. I'm just reading it."
"Read already, Harry!" Ginny said and everyone clapped in agreement.
"Just reminding you. Here goes: "Yesterday morning, in a very surprising development, a devious plot was exposed that has led to the arrest of a number of prominent wizards and shaken even the Ministry of Magic and will almost undoubtedly leave aftershocks for many months, if not years, as our community tries to come to terms with the loss of these great wizards."
"Oh, yeah. They're great all right - great prats!"
"Ron! Stop it. Let Harry read." Ron smirked at Hermione, but Harry continued without comment.
"This reporter is not exactly sure of the original circumstances and no one who would know is willing to speak to us. However, Mr. Percival Weasley, personal assistant to Cornelius Fudge, . . ."
"Oh, Merlin! You must be kidding! What are they doing quoting him?"
"May I continue, please? Mr. Percival . . . yeah, assures us that a young witch, Miss Pia Spencer, saw this meeting and has since then been working tirelessly to expose the wizards involved. Yesterday, everything came to a head as she was to put her memory into a Pensieve so that it could be used to testify against those she had identified in a trial. Some of the wizards who knew she had seen them that night but had been unable to find her previous to this time, hoped to stop her from doing so, and were trying to kill her. We do not understand why they had such a hard time finding her, as we have been informed that she has been at Hogwarts for the last month. However, be that as it may, they couldn't. Cornelius Fudge was with the young witch at the time and helped defend the girl by personally stunning several of the conspirators. Others ran but were stopped by some of Fudge's assistants who were there as well."
"Fudge's assistants!" yelled Fred. "You cannot be serious! Tell me you're just teasing us!"
"That's what the article says."
"And I love the fact he supposedly stunned several . . . he was locked in the room! He didn't even come out until it was all over!" George practically grabbed the paper out of Harry's hand. "He wasn't even smart enough to try a simple 'Alohamora' spell on the door to get out himself. The prat!"
"And I was only at Hogwarts for a little more than a week, not a month."
"Like I said, I'm just reading the article. I am not responsible for its content. Now quiet down so you can hear the rest. At press time, these are the wizards arrested so far: Nicholas Nightscall, acting head of the Ministry, undoubtedly drawn in to the unfortunate situation because of his position. There was no comment from his family or his solicitor, but we are sure he will be released soon. Fortunately, Cornelius Fudge is feeling strong enough to resume control of the Ministry and so he assures us that he will be back in his office Monday morning.
Singent Sootspinner new head over the Aurors, seems to be the main instigator of the group. The Aurors were even forced to look for members of a secret organization who they were convinced were fighting against the Ministry. Also included in this sweep was Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived who only last summer came out of hiding to prove once again why You-Know-Who fears him. These arrest warrants have been rescinded and we trust that there will be apologies issued to those affected by them."
"I hope so. I would like a formal apology." Molly said and Fred nodded at her.
"Mum, shush." Molly just shot a look at Ginny and Harry continued.
"Richard Blackman, who is connected in some way with the Office of Muggle Relations, was another wizard arrested. His supervisor insists that he does not actually work inside of the office and that they had no idea what he was doing or why he chose to align himself with these other wizards.
Lucius Malfoy, (everyone booed loudly at his name, even Cassie) who was arrested yet again, (Harry grinned) must be starting to be very familiar with the legal process. It seems to this reporter that at least once a year he is arrested for one reason or another, the details of which are unknown. His family solicitor insists that he is innocent and that there is all a misunderstanding. We are unsure this is true. Time will tell."
"It'll tell all right! It'll tell he's a big prat. And I love the fact that they blame Sootspinner, when in fact we all know it was Malfoy who started this whole thing." Harry nodded in agreement with Bill, but continued.
"Also arrested is one of the only wizard member of Gringott's Bank, Caedman Grimwood. We are unsure of his position in the group, although helping with the financing would be the seemingly obvious answer." Bill raised his eyebrows, then stood and bowed to applause, as he had been the one who had suspected Grimwood to begin with. "David Ashenhurst was almost killed before he was arrested although we do not know the details of how this happened. Amelia Bones, who was supervising the arrests yesterday morning, refused to tell us more about him except that he attended Hogwarts and finished three years ago." Again there was a chorus of boos all around, but Harry didn't stop reading, just raised his voice over the clamor. "Sean MacConnell, a reporter at this very paper, was also arrested although details were shaky as to what his role was in the scheme. We are examining the articles he has written in the last six months and will certainly print any apologies or retractions as we discover errors under his by-line."
"The day the Prophet prints a retraction, I'll eat my shorts!" said Ron. "They've never apologized to you, have they Harry, for all the stuff they printed about you fifth year?"
"No. Look, do you want me to finish this or not?" Everyone nodded, so he read the last little bit. "A wizard by the name of Cadwalder, who owns a shop in Knockturn Alley in London allowed the conspirators to meet in the backroom. He is still on the run as is the last wizard identified, a Mr. Jonathon Wilson, an American wizard, here for holiday. How and why he got involved in this scheme we are unsure and no details are being given by any others. That's it, I guess." Harry sat down to muted applause.
"Typical," said Hermione. "But at least they named them all. I guess that's good."
"Percy didn't know she was pretending to be our cousin, so that didn't come up. People will think that was a little strange."
"Yeah, probably. Notice how Dumbledore didn't get any credit at all, and it was his plan."
"I noticed," said Harry. "But he may have wanted it that way."
"I'm glad the article is in the paper. So at least people know now. But they never said what the group wanted to do. You know, about killing Harry. And they never mentioned about the Prime Minister."
"No, of course not." Ginny pursed her lips, much like Molly did when she was disgusted about something and Cassie was surprised at how much she sometimes looked like her. "Because it was the prat Percy giving the interview. So he didn't know."
"Ginny, dear. He is your brother." Molly clucked her tongue.
"Sorry, Mum." But she rolled her eyes at Cassie, who smiled back in sympathy. The group sort of broke up then, everyone going separate ways and back to whatever else they had been doing. George got up from where he had been sitting on the floor by Fred and came over to Cassie.
"What are you going to do this afternoon?"
"Uh, I'm not sure. Have you got any ideas?"
"Yeah, actually, I do. How about if we teach your mother how to play Exploding Snap and the three of us get a good game or two in before dinner?"
"Exploding Snap? What's that?"
"It's a really fun game. The cards blow up sometimes. But don't worry, Mum. They don't hurt, just make a loud noise and a little smoke."
"Okay . . . is it hard?"
"No. You'll like it, I think." And she did. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing. Fred, Harry, and Ron joined in. Even Ginny sat in on a few games, although Hermione never did, saying she needed to get her schedule ready for the upcoming term and didn't have time for such things. Cassie's mother loved to play cards and actually was a really excellent bridge player, so even though at first the exploding cards had frightened her a little, once she got into the game, she ignored them and played like winning was a matter of life and death, which made the boys happy as that was the way they liked to play best.
Cassie was actually surprised when Molly announced that dinner was ready and thought at first that they must be eating early for some reason, although when she looked at the time, she realized that wasn't the case. They had just played the entire afternoon away. "I'm sorry I didn't help, Molly."
"Nonsense. You were spending time with your mother. You have always been very helpful and you deserve a bit of a rest. It was no trouble." Cassie still felt guilty, but there wasn't much she could do now anyway. Dinner was on the table already.
Arthur was at dinner which was the first time Cassie had seen him since George had carried her up to bed much earlier that day. He looked wan and exhausted and George explained in an undertone that he was helping take care of the paperwork for all of the arrested wizards and also helping to track down the last two. "I think they found Cadwalder, though. So that's good news."
"Oh. He was the shop owner, right?"
"That's him. I don't know how much he was actually involved, beyond supplying the meeting place."
"Mm. Did you know him? Being a fellow shop-owner and all?"
"No. Uh, Knockturn Alley merchants aren't exactly welcomed in the merchant group meetings for Diagon Alley, you know." Dinner was good as ever and by the time they stood up from the table, everyone was groaning that they had eaten too much. Molly and Rebecca said that they would handle the cleaning up. Cassie wasn't sure what to make of that, but George didn't give her much of a chance to protest, hauling her out of the kitchen quickly. "It's our last night here. Don't spend it doing dishes." Cassie had to agree with his reasoning but was a little disappointed when he didn't take her somewhere they could be alone. Instead, they just sat in the living room and visited with everyone else. Ron and Harry finally got nagged enough by Hermione that they went upstairs to pack their trunks, coming back down 10 minutes later and insisting they were finished. She scowled and nagged some more, but the boys insisted they were done and she finally shrugged in resignation.
"If we run behind in the morning because of you two, I'll never forgive you, Ron Weasley!"
"Uh huh. Okay." But he wasn't really listening because Fred challenged him to a game of chess and he was setting up his pieces at the moment. Cassie's mother was suitably impressed at the moving pieces although she didn't play chess and so didn't watch much of the actual game. For a long time, George just sat with his arm around Cassie and didn't say anything at all, just held her close and let her visit quietly with her mother. Cassie could tell her mother was a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of George holding her so close, but she ignored that and just tried to keep the conversation on light and interesting topics, like family members the family had seen at Christmas and what the boys were doing in school.
Finally, it was time for bed and Cassie unwillingly followed Rebecca up the stairs and into Bill's bedroom. Her mother fell asleep almost instantly but Cassie lay there, thinking. She tried her hardest to think about really interesting things so that she wouldn't fall asleep and even lay flat on her back, a position she hated, so that she wouldn't accidentally drift off. Fortunately, she had slept so much the last day and a half that she wasn't really tired and so she was able to stay awake until her mother had been breathing steadily for at least 30 minutes. She quietly got out of bed and slipped her bathrobe on. She was back to wearing her flannel pyjamas as she knew her mother would die if she tried to put George's shirt on. With the bathrobe on top of that, she was really hot. But there wasn't much she could do. She crept silently over to the door and opened it. Her mother didn't move or shift and all and so Cassie stepped out into the hall and shut the door behind her. At this point, she was still safe. If someone saw her, she could always say she had to go to the toilet. But as she walked as quietly as possible down the hall and then up the stairs, she knew that excuse wouldn't stand scrutiny anymore. She was on dangerous ground, now. She carefully avoided all the places that she knew squeaked but her heart was still pounding loudly as she stopped in front of her destination. She knocked quietly, appalled at how it seemed to echo through the quiet house. But no alarms went off, no one yelled.
It was a few moments before a very dazed-looked Fred opened the door. "Oh. I, uh, oh. George, you have company. I'm feeling suddenly rather peckish. I'm going to go down for a bite to eat and a very large mug of hot cocoa. I'll be back in about, oh, 30 minutes or so." He grabbed a robe and left Cassie still standing out in the hall looking in at George, who was rubbing his eyes and blinking sleepily.
"Is something wrong?" He stood up, obviously very worried, and then realized he didn't have a shirt on. He grabbed one off the floor and threw it over his head, approaching her quickly. "Are you okay?"
Cassie just looked at him, so overwhelmed that she didn't even know what to say. She shook her head. "You're not okay?" Then she nodded. "You are okay? I . . ."
"I'm fine. I just . . .I didn't want to leave in the morning and . . ."
"Yeah. I know you said you didn't want to go home, but . . ." He stopped because Cassie had suddenly collapsed against him, sobbing, and he wrapped his arms around her. He drew her carefully into his room and shut the door behind them. "Do you mind?" She just shook her head and let him lead her where he wanted to. He sat her down on his bed, which was still warm from where he had been only a minute before and then he sat down on Fred's. But she was still crying, so after another few seconds, he came over to his own bed again and sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around her.
"I'm going to miss you so much. I can't stand the thought of leaving! And I feel terrible about it, too! But you're going to forget me. I know it. You're going to find some nice witch to date and . . . I'll just be a, a, a fling that you barely remember." She clutched his arms tightly and then threw her arms around his neck.
"Oh, sweetheart. Is that what's bothering you?" She nodded, embarrassed as a hiccup echoed through the room from her sobbing. "Well, it's just not true. I'm not going to forget you! You're not going to give me a chance because I'm going to be visiting you all the time."
"You are?"
"Yes. There are some distinct advantages to being a wizard. I can just pop in anytime. And now I know where you live. So just try to keep me away."
"Your mum said she won't let you come see me."
"Well, I'm a bit old for her to try to stop me, but . . ."
"And my mum and dad don't want you to come, either."
"Ah. I see." He looked seriously down at her face as he raised her chin. "But what do you want?"
"I want . . . you." He bent down and kissed her and his mouth tasted like mint and George and she sighed as he deepened the kiss, holding her head still in his big hands. After a few minutes, he lifted his head again and brushed softly at the tears on her cheeks with his thumbs.
"It's rather bad form to cry when someone kisses you." She smiled, and was amazed again at how he always managed to make her feel better, even when she felt terrible.
"Sorry." He just pulled her close and tucked her head under his chin in that way that always made her feel the safest.
"I bet if I talked to your dad and mum a bit, told them that I really wanted to date you . . . like a normal boy would, they would come around. What do you think?"
"I don't know. I thought they had kind of decided they liked you, but then today, my mum said some rather rude things and I don't know . . . said I should date other people."
"If you want to, you can." Cassie froze suddenly. That had been the last thing she wanted him to say at the moment. "Of course, I'd have to kill him afterward, but you can."
She relaxed. "You don't really want me to?"
"Of course not! I love you, Cassie Robinson. I really love you. If you weren't so young, I . . . well. Look, I want to do the best thing for you and for me. I think we need to date. And I mean really date. I'll come visit you and we can go to a . . . movie and dinner. And then you can come with me to meet my friends and then I'll come meet your friends and . . ."
"You would do that?"
"Yes. I want to know everything about you. I want to see where you go to school and go on walks all around your neighborhood. And, I don't know, whatever you do for fun, I want to do that, too."
"But . . . you couldn't, could you?"
"Why not?"
"Well, I mean . . . you are kind of, um, not a Muggle."
"Do you think your friends could tell by looking?"
"No. I mean, I guess not. As long as you don't wear your robes." He laughed.
"Well, it's settled then. And we can write each other. Nice long letters. I want you to tell me all about your school and your friends and your family. And I'll keep you informed about this lot. And you can come to the Alley to visit me sometimes. It's not far from your house, really. After all, Harry said he went right by it once when he was with you last summer."
"He told you about that?"
"He told me. Said you had a very interesting time at some museum. We could do that sometime, too."
"That was rather fun." She wiped at her eyes. "Do you really think it'll work?"
"I think, sweetheart, that if you want something badly enough, you can make it work. I want it badly enough. You need to decide if you do."
"I do."
"Okay. Then we will. I'll come visit soon and get your mum and dad's permission. And I'll bring my dad along. They have a rather hard time saying no to him." Cassie smiled and snuggled closer to George, feeling much more confident about the two of them than she had since she had woken up to find her mother sitting in her room. George held her tight for a minute. "How long ago did Fred leave?"
"I don't know. Maybe 20 minutes ago or so. Why?"
"I don't mean to take advantage, but I want to kiss you so badly that I think I might just die if you say I can't."
"I have a rather hard time saying no to you." And George's eyes got wide and then he picked her up and set her on his lap, then tilted her head and kissed her. Very thoroughly. She lost herself in his kiss, kissing him back with just as much frantic passion as he was kissing her. Her hands were running up and down his back, then slipping under the silk of his shirt to feel his warm skin. She remembered how he had liked that before and she even tried to unbutton the blasted thing before he raised his head, looked very seriously at her and moved her hands.
"Not here, love. You're just too tempting at the moment." And then he kissed her again, untying her bathrobe and reaching under it to her pyjamas. He raised his head again and looked down at her. "I haven't seen these for a while."
"I thought my mum might die if I put your shirt on tonight."
"Darn. You look so good in it. Of course, you look nice in this, too." He stroked his hand over the soft flannel at her waist. "Not that there's much you don't look nice in. Wear my shirt at your house, okay? When you can?" Cassie just nodded and then kissed him. His mouth opened under hers. He let her control the kiss for a little bit, but then drew back. "Can I . . . lay down with you? Just for a second?"
She knew she should say no, but she felt fairly safe. Fred would be back any moment, so she nodded shyly. He laid her back against his pillow and she breathed in the smell of him before gasping slightly as he laid down next to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him. "We really should not be doing this. Your mother would kill me." This was much more intimate than it had been last night and Cassie shifted slightly in embarrassment. "Just a second, love. I promise." He didn't even kiss her, which was probably good, all things considered. He just held her close to him, stroking her arm. She kissed his neck a few times and he sighed. "I'm going to miss you so badly. I can hardly stand the thought of your leaving."
"I want to stay. But I have to go."
"I know." There was a soft knock on the door and Fred stepped inside.
"Ah. Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt. I can go get more. . ." Cassie sat up, rather awkwardly pulling her untied bathrobe from under George's leg.
"No. We were just talking. I need to get back before my mum notices I'm gone." George sat up, too, and grasped her hand.
"I love you. You know that, right?" She nodded.
"He does. Talks about you all the time. It's quite sickening, really."
"Thanks, Fred. I appreciate the help."
"Whatever I can do." They kissed once more at the door before she reluctantly left him standing there and descended the stairs again. She laid awake in bed for a long time, trying not to think too much about the way he had felt laying next to her and the fact that if he ever wanted to, he could apparate anywhere in her house he felt like. No. It was definitely best not to think about that.
The morning was rushed and panicked. As Hermione had correctly supposed, neither Ron nor Harry had actually packed their trunk the night before and that meant that when they accidentally overslept it through the entire house into total chaos. Remus and Tonks both were sniping about the schedule, Mrs. Weasley was yelling about how the girls had managed to be packed and ready why couldn't they do the same, Fred kept slipping the kids Wheezes samples, some of which were actually exploding at bad times, Pigwidgeon choked on an owl treat, and Hedwig refused to get into her cage until Harry cleaned it out rather haphazardly with some sort of vanishing spell that only seemed to get the worst of it. All in all, Cassie gathered, this was a pretty typical start-of-term ritual but by the time they flooed out of the Burrow with great green flashes of smoke and flame she was almost happy to see them go. They had hugged good-bye and promised to write, but they were too rushed to really get too emotional. Arthur was taking her and her mum, home, and he was also in a hurry, saying that he needed to get back quickly to his office as the Ministry was undoubtedly in complete chaos after Saturday's events.
So, despite a last minute hug and good-bye kiss from George, her departure was rather anticlimactic. They were using the same ugly little knick-knack figurine she had used most of her time there and she and her mother both sat down on her trunk before Arthur held it out to them. George waved good-bye, Cassie smiled, and then she grabbed the portkey, felt the now all-too-familiar feeling of being pulled inside out by her navel, and then, suddenly, her time in the Wizarding World was over. And she wondered, in the split second before everything dissolved around her, if she would ever see the Burrow again.
