I spent a long time trying to forget that day. It was surprisingly easy, actually. I think whatever Roy did was supposed to make me forget that day forever.

At first, I didn't want to forget, and I prattled about it constantly. My parents never seemed to know what I was talking about, and signed it off as childish make believe or a dream. Eventually I gave up and moved on to other things. After all, I was starting my first year of secondary school, and even if the professors hadn't looked down on that sort of childish behavior, it wasn't deemed "cool" by the other children anyway.

And so I moved on, doing my coursework and never looking back. Once I stopped trying to remember, the memories slipped away quite easily, until I couldn't have remembered if I tried. For years, I plugged on, trying the best I could to please my professors and my parents. The work was difficult, and I often found myself struggling to keep up. Whatever I was doing, it never felt quite right. It was times like these that I wished Hermione was around to help me.

I tried to contact her once, but her parents sent me a letter back saying that she had not ended up going to the public school after all and consequently was not at home for the term. They did not tell me where she was. I thought maybe it was because of the fight we had before we left. What was odd was that I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the fight was about. It puzzled me, because I was sure I would remember a thing like that. Either way, though, that was the end of that.

After seven years, I finally graduated. Granted, not as highly ranked as I would have liked, but high enough to go to a decent university in London. The time came for me to go, and I packed up my things, excited to be in the city. I had never experienced the city before. Sure, I'd visited once or twice, but for the most part I spent my time, as my Uncle Tom would say, out in the boonies.

I plugged along in college, just as I had before. There was so much more work, but somehow it was different. I had an incredible sense of freedom, and often just went out for a walk simply because there was nobody there to tell me I couldn't.

It was on one of these walks, during my third year there, that something completely unexpected happened. I remember that it was late October, on a grey and cloudy day. Even though it was beginning to get rather chilly, I had still gone out to clear my head. I was walking though a particularly pleasant park when I caught sight of somebody very familiar.

After a moment, I realized who it was. It was Hermione. I approached with some caution; after all, I wasn't sure she would remember me. It had been almost ten years since I had seen her, and time has a way of changing people. I had to say, time had been good to her. Though she was still rather short and had the same bushy hair I remembered from our youth, her eyes possessed a kind of warmth that made me feel like she was still the type of person I would want to be friends with.

I was about to make my presence known, when I realized that she wasn't alone. There was a man with her. He was tall and a bit lanky, with a good deal of bright red hair. He seemed rather uncomfortable.

"Honestly Ron," I heard her say, "act like a muggle."

"I'm trying," he replied. Muggle. That word sounded oddly familiar, but I couldn't place it. Something tugged in my head, like there was something in there, waiting to break free.

"A muggle wouldn't pull out a wand and try to Stun a remote toy car Ron," she said, slightly exasperated, yet amused at the same time.

"But it was attack-" he started.

"No magic in public."

Magic. Somehow, I remembered everything. The letter, Roy Stevens from....from where? That's right...the Ministry of Magic.

I gasped in shock and stumbled forward. Hermione and the man called Ron turned in time to see me fall flat on my face. Hermione rushed forward to help me up.

"Are you alright?" she asked as she helped me to my feet. I could see the concern in her eyes. And as I looked into her eyes, I remembered something else.

"I- I'm fine," I said, "Thank you, though." I shuddered slightly; the memory of how I had so cruelly told her that she was evil so long ago came flooding back. She mistook my shudder as injury and asked me if I was sure I was alright. I told her I was, despite the fact that it was a lie.

She looked at me for a moment.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" she asked me, ignoring the man standing beside her, who obviously felt a bit out of place.

"I think so," I replied. "Your name's Hermione, Hermione Granger, I believe," I said, a bit boldly. She looked taken aback for a moment.

"Yes," she replied, "though it's Weasley now. I'm married."

"Oh," I said, feeling very uncomfortable all of a sudden. "My name is Cassie Butler," I ventured, "We went to primary school together." I desperately hoped that she wouldn't remember all the hurtful things I said to her the last time we talked. It was in vain, though. Her features formed into a faint scowl.

"Oh, you," was all she said.

"I see you remember me," I said, unsure of what else to say.

"Yes, indeed I do."

"In that case, I would just like to take this opportunity to apologize."

"Apologize?" she asked, looking confused.

"I was jealous, and jealousy made me cruel. I know jealousy is a sin, and if I could take it back, I would, but all I can do now is pray to be forgiven," I said, aware how ridiculous that must have sounded to her.

"Jealous, why?"

"I was supposed to go to, err.." I faltered, unable to recall the name of the school. I cast about in my mind, and finally came up with the name. "Hogwarts," I finished.

"You were? But then why did..." She left the sentence hanging, but I knew what she was asking.

"When we were told about it- the school, magic, that I was a witch- my dad flew off the deep end. He said that such things were evil. I guess he didn't want me 'corrupted' or something. So I got stuck going to Saint Francis's instead. I was so hurt, that I didn't know how to handle it when you called and told me. I'm sorry." There was a pause after I finished speaking, as if Hermione was processing what I told her.

"That must have been really difficult," she finally said. "I couldn't imagine never knowing magic, I..." she suddenly looked very sad, as if remembering something.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Oh, it's, just... not everything about it was happy, there was a war and..." she trailed off.

"I understand," I said, thinking that she must have lost someone.

"No, you couldn't," he voice was soft, not accusing- rather as if she were merely stating a fact, "and in some ways, that makes you very lucky." Ron put his arm around her in a comforting fashion.

"It's ok 'Mione," he said quietly.

"I should go," I said, sensing this was something that did not concern me, as curious as I was. "Bye," I said.

"Wait," she called out as I turned to leave. "Maybe I could call you... we could get to know each other again."

"I'd like that," I said. I gave her my number and we parted ways. I didn't really think she'd call, but at least I had been able to apologize to her. In the end, that's all that really mattered.

Hurray for all my lovely reviewers! -hands them each a cookie (::)-

Donroth No need to fear, there will be no "sue"-age here! I just happen to love the name Cassie....

Sabrith Alastar: I have a friend who's the same way... she's kind of what inspired this story, actually. Glad you like the controversy, though!

fence4life21 The thought was that I wanted Cassie to have a link back to the wizarding world, and being muggle-born, I figured the best way to do that was to have her be a friend to a muggle-born who went to Hogwarts. Hermione seemed a good choice, especially because I didn't want too many non-canon characters.

Pookah: Yay! I'm clever! Glad you think so!

millie-mione andKaleena Mason I'm ecstatic that you liked it! Yay!

---

Oh...and anything you recognize doesn't belong to me....