Sorry for the late upload. I was away on holidays and did not have my computer with me. I hope you are enjoying the tale!

This is a shorter chapter than normal, hope you like it!

Harry was both proud and angry at hearing his grandfather's story. He was proud that he came from a line of witches and wizards who fought bravely against evil. He was glad that they were a noble and honourable family, not a family like the Blacks or Lestranges who had a history of dark allegiances. He was angry, however, that like him his family had been through so much pain and seen too much war, yet the magical folk that they had fought and died for took advantage of them.

Never in his History classes with Binns or in any conversations with older witches and wizards did they speak of his grandfather. He was a mighty wizard who had spent his life fighting dark wizards, he had lost so much during the War with Grindelwald and yet all people could talk about was Dumbeldore. The man who only fought Grindelwald when his power was waning and the war was nearly won. Thanks mostly to Harry's grandfather. It seemed the list of grievances Harry held against Dumbledore was getting longer each passing day. He had meant what he said when he left the room, it seemed pain was what united the Potter family, especially in the last century. Potter's always seemed to be at the forefront of the wizarding world's problems and always paying a great price to save ungrateful, selfish, bigoted witches and wizards.

He made his way through the manor, avoiding conversations with any of the portraits, up to the roof. There was a little coop up there that Hedwig would use and Harry needed some time to think. He sat up there for a long time with Hedwig softly rubbing against his cheek. The weather had continued to be miserable of late and this time a storm had erupted around them. He sat under the coop and watched as lighting and thunder raged around him. He followed the streaks of electricity as they lit up the sky and reached out for the earth. The more he sat there the more he believed he had made the right decision to withdraw from the wizarding world. It didn't matter how many times his family had stood against evil, it always found a way back and always worse than before. It was time that magical Britain found some new defenders.

Harry had eventually made his way back to his bed in the early morning and despite his late night still woke early to do his routine. Due to the horrible weather his traps were again empty. Unfortunately his chicken coop had suffered some damage, as had his veggie garden. He spent a few hours fixing the damage and removing fallen branches from around the property. Doing this all by hand was hard, taxing work but Harry continued to find comfort in the work. His wand remained untouched, it was still currently buried in the bottom draw of his dresser unseen in quite a while. It was a very sore and very tired Harry that meandered towards the kitchen in the late afternoon with the intention of making himself some venison that he had currently still in stock.

Before he was able to reach the kitchen he was stopped by Cassandra. 'Harry, I understand that you and your grandfather has a long conversation yesterday.'

Harry nodded silently, weary from the past two days.

'I see. I am sorry again that you have had to learn more of our families difficulties and be reminded once more of what you have missed out on.'

'I am used to it.' Harry mumbled. Cassandra's heart broke for the poor boy for what felt like the hundredth time. He had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders his whole life and had very little joy.

Eyeing his dirty clothes she decided to change the conversation to try and engage her descendant. 'How did everything hold up against the storm last night? It seems you've been hard at work today, I hope there wasn't too much damage?'

'The chicken coop took a hit, part of the roof had lifted off and there was general debris among the veggies, as well as fallen branches across the property. I managed to fix it all but it took some time. I made the roof much more secure for the chickens, it seems I didn't secure it well enough the first time. But, at least I have firewood to last me a while.'

Cassandra smiled warmly as she saw the concern on his face, he took great pride in his garden and it pleased her greatly to see him care about something, 'I am sure you have done an excellent job! I so wish I could see what you have built, it sounds like you have quite a gift!'.

Harry chuckled. It was obvious that Cassandra was trying to cheer him up, but he didn't mind, it was nice to see she cared enough.

'And how are you holding up Harry? I know you said you are used to it but it still must be tough hearing about it all.'

Harry didn't answer straight away and looked directly at Cassandra for a few moments and studied her features. He knew that she genuinely cared about his answer and wanted him to tell her everything, but he could see that she wouldn't push him. He sighed and decided to unpack all that he had been thinking about the previous night. He explained his mixed feelings of anger and pride and how despite the joy he felt at finding so many ancestors he could talk to, but how he wished he could speak to his parents. They were strangers to him, people from a story, no different to the fairy tales he had heard Petunia read to Dudley. Cassandra listened quietly throughout Harry's concerns and when he was finally done she replied with the only words she could think of.

'It's all a bit fucked up isn't.' This comment took Harry completely by surprise and he laughed the first proper laugh in a very long time.

'Yep, pretty much sums it up.' Harry replied. Cassandra was glad to see him at least laugh. She had one more thing she wanted to say to Harry and hoped he would take it in the spirit that it was meant.

'I know you have your reasons for keeping the wizarding world at a distance and we, as your family, fully agree with that decision. You need time away from it all and as far as we are concerned those bastards can look after themselves for a while. However, after everything you have told me there is one person who has never let you down and I think it would be nice if you reached out to her.'

'Hermione' Harry whispered.

A small smile crept on Cassandra's face, 'Yes Harry. That girl clearly cares about you and I know you're still annoyed at her for letting those people from Hogwarts and the Ministry put their letters in with hers, but she is concerned about you and you haven't responded to her in a very long time. I know...' Cassandra cut off Harry's interruption by putting her hand up 'I know that she can be overbearing, but this is your first Christmas since Voldermort and we, as your family, think it might be nice to see her. You went through so much together and you haven't seen her in a very long time. We do not mean that you need to go to the Burrow or even go to her house, but just think about seeing your friend. Please don't respond know' Cassandra preempted another Harry interruption 'Just think about what I have said, can you do that?'

Harry remained silent for a while before slowly nodding.

'Thank you Harry' Cassandra smiled at him a warm motherly smile. Harry didn't know quite how to feel about this conversation and so quickly moved off and began making his dinner. The smile Cassandra had given him had unnerved him, as had her general demeanor during the conversation. He had never had a mother and so felt awkward with the way she had treated him. Lily had died before he had a chance to know her, Petunia had only ever seen him as a freak and problem to be forgotten, Molly had been so overbearing and smothering that his opinion was never taken into account and McGonagall was quite cold and detached. Cassandra was clearly trying to give him some motherly advice but not in a way he had ever seen before. Sure she had stopped him from interrupting but she had been kind and understanding. She already knew how Harry felt and had merely asked him to think about it. She was supportive of his feelings and actions and respected them. She didn't demand him to do anything as those other women usually had, or decided what was best for him without his input, she had merely asked him to think on her words.

He didn't know when it started but slow silent tears had begun to roll down his cheek. It had been a long time since he had mourned his parents and this wasn't even that. He stopped preparing his food as the weariness of the last few days finally overtook him. His body slunk to the floor in the kitchen and silently wept. There were no cries of anguish, no screams of loss, Harry just sat and let the tears pour out him and eventually he fell asleep on the kitchen floor, his dinner untouched.

Sorry for the short chapter, Harry just needed to deal with some things before we can move and finally have a conversation with Hermione!