Chapter 5: But if One Was a Dream
"Ron, try to think, okay?" Harry was frustrated. It was after dinner, and Ron was so full talking to him was getting a cat to learn a trick. "I know I've seen that girl somewhere before, and if I have, then chances are so have you."
"Why?" demanded Ron. "Why do I have to have seen her too? Couldn't she have met you before you met me, and you both just got hit really hard on the head or something? I mean com'on."
From downstairs, the sound of the two girls doing dishes drifted up. Kera had left, saying the Malfoys were having guests and she was serving. That, in turn, had set off Mrs. Weasley, who spent the rest of dinner mutter about, "Some families." Percy, then, began to go on and on about some new report he was doing on the alarming rate of mortar erosion in old mansion, and it was no wonder everyone was relieve when Fred finished his dessert.
"Look, Ron, odd as this may sound, when I'm with the Dursleys I don't exactly run into too many wizards," Harry replied tartly. "But it really feels like the meeting was recent."
"How recent?" They were on the last flight of stairs.
"I don't know." He shook his head then lapsed into silence. As they opened the door, he spoke, "Definitely within the last month."
The door, by default, closed behind them. Ron threw himself on his bed. "But you've been with us and the Order for the last month. And Fred and George said that the Malfoys hadn't left their house since they got back from Europe. (A/N: Fred and George have joined the Order, and are in the area to keep an eye on wizards like the Malfoys.) How could you have seen her?"
Harry was on his own cot now. "I know, that's why it's bugging me. If Kera really does work for Malfoy, then there's no way we've even seen each other."
"Unless she's lying."
"She can't be." With a squeak the door swung to reveal Hermione and Ginny, who continued, "Kera's only fifteen, and from what she's told me, it's sounds like she depends on them more than you realize."
"How?"
"Well, from what I was told, her family all died five years ago." Hermione hissed sympathy and Harry looked down. Ginny stopped and he looked up.
"It's okay, Gin, I'm fine. Go ahead, I swear I won't get suicidal."
He smiled and she took it to be true. "Apparently, the Malfoys were the closest relatives, linked only by grandmothers who were 4th cousins, or farther. They had her go to some private school play 'aide' to Julia, but since the little beast is starting Hogwarts, she's free to do the same."
"And I thought I had it rough," Harry murmured.
"So," Hermione quickly changed the subject, "how did Lucius Malfoy get out of Azkaban?"
Ron leapt on it. "Well, it was a matter of time, really. See, as my dad mention a couple of weeks ago, the dementors of Azkaban did like Dumbledore predicted and practically ran to You-Know-Who's side." Despite being at the Order's Location, now moved from Grimmauld Place, the three were still fairly in the dark about what went on a few doors away from them. "Luckily, though, that was the last straw. At least Fudge is out now, and we've got someone who might actually be able to do something."
"You don't suppose it was a dream, do you?" Harry clearly wasn't paying any attention.
"No."
"How could it?"
"But if one was a dream, how could they become real? Think about what your saying, Harry."
"Then how do you explain it?"
"Dunno."
"Maybe you just remembered my description."
"You might've seen someone just like her."
"Yeah, you're probably right."