Chapter 53

Surprises

Harry spotted Draco Malfoy easily in the nearly-empty entrance hall. He was, as usual, flanked by his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle and all three of them were smirking up at him. Malfoy continued, his voice raised a little so that anyone interested could hear him. "It's a pity you hadn't figured it out years ago, Potter. Maybe you could have saved your worthless Muggle-loving parents and your mangy godfather, too." Harry felt the familiar anger and frustration rise in his chest but he thought quickly of Cassie and looked over to where the four friends had been standing. It was imperative that Draco not see her or find out about her. Apparently, Hermione and Ginny had had the same thought because all three of the girls were gone and only Ron was standing there, wand out, looking up at Harry for some clue of what he wanted to do. Harry forced down his emotional response. If he could be calm around Voldemort, Draco Malfoy was certainly no threat.

"Yeah. I agree. I wish I somehow could have brought my parents back from the dead, Malfoy. However, maybe there's still hope for you." Harry kept his voice calm but carefully enunciated. He wanted to make sure that Malfoy understood every word he said. "I could owl your mother just in case. Last time I saw your father - last night - he was getting his butt kicked by, um, yeah, the good guys! By now, for all I know, he might already be dead." Draco's pale face went even paler. He said nothing, so Harry continued. "Have you heard from your dear mother yet, this morning? No? Well, then we can always hope, can't we?" And even though Harry knew this was not the case, he thought he was probably the only student who did, and it was a good insult, so, . . . "Anyway, I noticed that none of you brave Slytherins left the safety of your dungeon to come out and fight with Voldemort. Couldn't handle us, huh?" Harry made sure to put every ounce of contempt that he felt for all dark wizards everywhere into that last sentence, and Draco had finally had enough. This time, his voice was not only raised; he was yelling.

He pulled his wand out and aimed it at Harry. Harry already had his out and Ron's was aimed carefully at Draco. Malfoy's two goons had faded away as they usually did now when confrontation was eminent between Harry and Malfoy. They had been on the receiving end of one too many hexes and didn't stick around to get another one. "Never, never mention my father or mother again! You and your kind aren't worthy to mention his name or the name of his Master!" Harry was about to respond when an oily voice came up from the steps that led to the dungeons.

"Mr. Malfoy. 10 points from Slytherin. Quiet down immediately. Weasley, 20 points from Gryffindor for having your wand out in the entry hall. Now I want silence. I have a headache that would make Potter scream, my pain potion won't touch it, and the noise you two are making is not helping." Ron started to protest, but Harry shook his head quickly. This was going to be good. Harry stood on the steps, waiting for the inevitable. He didn't have to wait very long. Snape stepped from the stairs to the dungeon and turned the corner apparently to head into the Great Hall. He followed Malfoy's eyes and saw Harry standing on the step. Harry couldn't help it. He really couldn't. He smirked.

Snape's face changed expressions from aggrieved to, well, Harry really couldn't tell what the expression was. It was part shock, part disbelief, and part (to be honest) dismay. And then there was something else. Harry didn't know what that part was, but he didn't care. Snape changed directions suddenly, sweeping like a malevolent bat up the same staircase where Harry was standing. "Potter." His lips curled. "Ten points from Gryffindor for still being alive." Harry caught a quick glimpse of Ron's face, shaking his head again. This was actually fairly funny. Then Snape drew abreast of Harry and his face settled into a glare. "And five points more, just for the hell of it." Harry laughed but Snape ignored him and continued up the steps. Ron grinned up at him and Harry continued down the stairs. Draco just scowled up at him and stalked into the Great Hall.

"That was worth the 35 points we lost, I think."

Ron grunted in agreement. "I really don't think it's against school rules to still be alive, though. Maybe we should protest it." They both looked over at the huge hourglasses that kept track of the house points and several rubies left the bottom of the Gryffindor hourglass and joined the others in the top.

"Nah. It's not worth it. It looks like we're going to take the house cup anyway." The leaving feast was in a few days, Harry imagined and it looked like Gryffindor had a fairly sizeable lead.

"Yeah. Plus Dumbledore is sure to award Gryffindor a few more for last night and there won't be any for Slytherin." Harry didn't say anything in response. Why bother to make the Slytherins look better in Ron's eyes? Malfoy and company were still gits. They both entered the Great

Hall a minute later and sought out their friends at the Gryffindor table, sitting down quickly. Harry sat next to Ginny and Cassie like he had the night before, and across from Hermione and Ron, who had just sat down next to her. Harry scanned the table for bacon and eggs, saw the platter and pulled it over to him. He smiled at the three girls.

"So what happened out there in the hall?" Hermione asked the two boys as they sat down and started piling food on their plates. Ron and Harry filled her in and everybody laughed at Harry's description of the look on Snape's face as he realized that Harry was standing on the stairs. Hermione pursed her lips in disgust at Snape's taking points away from Harry for just being alive, but Harry told her not to bother to protest.

"We all heard what that boy said to you," Cassie said. "He should have had more points taken off than you."

"Well, Malfoy's in Snape's house, so he doesn't get . . ."

"That was Malfoy?" She practically hissed. "The son of the . . . Death Eater? Draco?"

"Yeah. That's him." Harry was kind of surprised that the girls hadn't filled Cassie in on that already, but Ginny explained.

"Seamus was here talking to Hermione, so we couldn't really say anything before."

"He's a mean little git, isn't he?" Cassie said and Harry laughed in response, blushing bright red as a bit of toast flew out of his mouth and hit Ron who was sitting across from him. Ron scowled and brushed off the offending piece of toast.

"Yeah. That describes him pretty well." Harry didn't want to talk about Malfoy, though. "What are you having for breakfast?"

"Oh, I don't know. I was going to have an egg and toast but there's no more wheat toast. That boy took the last piece."

"Seamus?"

"I think that was his . . . hey, was that Seamus Finnegan?" Harry nodded and grabbed a piece of bacon.

"I won't tell him you think his name is stupid, okay?" Ginny looked confused at Cassie's having heard Seamus' name before but before Harry could explain about the museum and the old wizard, a plate of wheat toast appeared next to Cassie's plate.

"Ooh, wonderful. Those elves really know what they're doing." She grabbed a piece off the plate and bit into it. She took two pieces of toast off the plate and turned slightly to pass it to Harry and Ginny. Harry was just going to politely decline when he noticed something pinned to her robe.

"What are you wearing?!" He actually didn't need to ask. He recognized the badge. "Hermione! Honestly!"

Hermione looked up, her eyes flashing. "She happens to agree with me about the elves."

"Hermione, that's not fair. Cassie doesn't know anything about the situation."

"She just hasn't been brainwashed by the . . . ."

"She's supposed to be blending in!" At this, Cassie looked a little confused.

"This isn't blending in? Hermione said that . . . ."

"Do you see anyone else wearing the stupid things? Take it off. You're just calling attention to yourself." Harry watched, rather exasperated, as Cassie undid the pin of the S.P.E.W. badge and pulled it off her robes.

"They're not stupid. Like I said, Cassie agrees with me about the elves' slavery and she . . . ."

Harry just scowled. "Stop it. I don't want to hear about it. You only presented one side to the story. Ginny, why didn't you stop her?" Ginny just shrugged.

"I don't think Hermione is really wrong about it, it's just that I don't know how much chance she has of changing anything. And as far as Cassie wearing the badge, it doesn't bother me. You and Ron wore them for a while, if you remember correctly." Harry just scowled harder and drank his pumpkin juice. But after a minute, he decided that he wanted to change the subject.

"So, how did the three of you sleep?"

"Sleep?" Ginny said, purposely trying to sound exhausted. "What's that?"

It was Ron's turn to scowl this time. "You mean you didn't sleep much? Oh, you're all going to collapse." But truthfully, his interest seemed to be more with Hermione than with either his sister or the Muggle girl sitting at their table.

"Oh, we got a bit. I just have one question for you, Harry." Ginny touched his arm, as he was concentrating on reaching for the platter of bacon.

"Yeah?"

"Did you really ask to play a game of chest?" She put a subtle emphasis on the last word and then looked innocently up into his face, like she meant nothing by it.

Harry spluttered and felt the heat rising in his face. He turned to Cassie feeling very embarrassed. "Did you have to bring that up? Now I'll never-"

"It wasn't me! It was Hermione!" Harry looked across at Hermione and she just winked and smiled.

"That's, um, of minor seriousness compared to some of the other things we talked about last night!"

Both Ron and Harry groaned. "Don't tell me," Harry said. "You spent all night talking about the two of us and telling every embarrassing thing you could think of."

"Basically, yes." Ginny laughed and her eyes sparkled.

"You were right, Ron." Harry wanted to bang his forehead against the table. "So, what's the damage? What sorts of, um, stories did you three discuss?"

"There was the deboning incident."

"And the time the twins turned you bright yellow, Ron."

"And the story about you nearly falling off your broom, Harry, that first year."

"And the time that . . . ."

"No more. No more." Ron was covering his ears. Hermione took some pity on him.

"Sorry, Ron. We won't tell you any more." Ginny gave a funny little smirk and put her arms around Harry's waist, turning on the bench to reach him.

"Yeah, sorry. We shouldn't have told you about it." Hermione patted Ron's arm consolingly.

Harry laughed. "So it's okay to embarrass us in private, as long as we don't know about it?"

"Yep. Hey, did you guys talk last night? Before you went to sleep?" Both Ginny and Hermione looked like they were unsure if they wanted to know, but were compelled by some morbid anxiety to find out if they talked about them.

Harry laughed and the girls looked even more nervous. "I didn't want to talk. I wanted to sleep. But Ron had a hard time settling down." Ron looked up at him suddenly, eyes wide. Harry ignored his look of pleading. It was too funny not to tell.

"Why?" Ginny asked innocently.

Hermione looked slightly nervous but didn't say anything. "He wanted something soft and warm to cuddle." Ron let out some sort of choking noise and Hermione's face matched Ron's hair color. Cassie and Ginny both laughed and Ginny started to say something, but she broke off before she could because there was a sudden sound of hundreds of owls and they all looked up. There was a lot more mail than usual this morning and Harry thought this probably was because of the incident the day before. Parents had undoubtedly heard about the battle and were trying to find out exactly what had happened. Plus, he noted, most of the owls were carrying Daily Prophets. Hermione got a copy of the paper and Ron and Ginny got a note, most likely from their parents, as it was one of the Weasley's family owls that brought it. Harry didn't get anything, but he wasn't too surprised. He turned back to Cassie to try to explain away any other embarrassing stories she had heard, but the seat next to him was empty. He panicked and started looking around frantically. Where had she gone? He suddenly felt a warmth next to his knee and he looked down to see her, huddling under the table. "What are you doing?"

"Um, I'm . . . hiding from the birds."

"They're owls."

"Owls . . . birds, same thing."

"Get up here. Come on, before somebody notices you." She shook her head.

"They're still up there."

"Come on, get up here. They're not going to hurt you." She hesitantly crawled out from under the table and sat back down next to Harry. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed and saw that a few students from another table were looking strangely at Cassie. Before he could say anything, Ginny spoke up.

"She dropped her fork." The students nodded and turned back to their own mail.

Harry looked at Cassie. "Scared of birds?"

"I didn't think so." She was flushed a bright red color. "It's just . . . there were so many and, I mean . . .I wasn't sure." She looked down at her plate, obviously embarrassed.

"Owls bring the mail. Every morning."

"Owls?" She narrowed her eyes a little "Oh, yeah. Send an owl to Dumbledore." She remembered what that old wizard had said at the museum and it suddenly made sense to her. Before she could comment, though, Ron interrupted her.

"Harry, you've got a new nickname."

"Tell me you're joking, please." He covered his face. He had been the Boy Who Lived until last year when he became the Boy Who Lied and then back to the Boy Who Lived. He didn't want to know what it was now.

"The Boy Who Still Lives." Ginny made gagging noises and Hermione laughed at the look on Harry's face.

"That's horrible. The rest of the articles aren't bad, though. At least they got most of the details right." Hermione read parts of the paper out loud and they all commented on the fairly decent reporting. Hermione read part of an article about Death Eater captures and casualties and Harry wanted to make a very loud comment so that Malfoy would hear him, but he had already left the hall so he didn't. What was the point? Cassie was fascinated with the moving pictures on the front page. There were no pictures of the battle, of course, as no photographers had been present at Hogwarts at the time, but there were plenty of shots of the major participants including an old one of Harry riding a broom during a Quidditch game, apparently trying to portray the way he looked fighting yesterday. There was a big picture of Fudge and a smaller one of Dumbledore. After a few minutes Hermione fell silent and folded the paper. "I'll read the rest later. So what's on everyone's agenda today?"

"Um, Dumbledore wants us in his office at 11."

"Us who?"

"All five of us. Ginny, what are you going to be doing for the next couple of hours?"

"We got a note from Mum. She'll be coming from the village this morning and wants us to come with her and Dad up to the hospital to see Charlie."

"Oh. Give Charlie my best. I still feel horrible about his being hurt. Tell him I'll get up to see him this afternoon."

"Okay, but Harry, Charlie isn't going to blame you, so stop blaming yourself. Ron, are you about done? They should be here any minute now." Ginny finished her food and shoved the plate back and it disappeared. She stood up, and Harry stood up next to her. "Can I talk to you for a minute, Gin?"

"Um, sure. Ron's eating slowly anyway." Ron scowled at Ginny and then went back to talking quietly with Hermione. Harry and Ginny stepped away from the table.

"I want to show Cassie a few of the sites around here today before that meeting. She's going home right after that. I was going to take you along with us, but now . . . ."

"Oh, that's fine. Look, Harry. You don't need to worry about hurting my feelings or whatever. Cassie and I had a nice long talk last night and I'm all right with things. She's a really great girl and I . . . I'm glad she was there for you." Harry looked with new eyes at Ginny, a great girl herself whom he had known for six years. She still continued to amaze him.

"You are so wonderful, Ginny. You know that I really love you, don't you?" Her eyes widened, she blushed with obvious pleasure and nodded slowly.

"Thanks, Harry. I love you, too." It wasn't until a long time later that Harry had time to think about that exchange and realize why Ginny had looked so surprised. That was the first time they had really said that to each other. But he didn't regret it. He did love her. And it was time he told her that.

Harry looked up at the staff table and headed there to talk to Hagrid. He would need his help if the surprise for Cassie was going to be really special. Not very many of the teachers were sitting there. Harry supposed they all had various things to do. Not even Dumbledore had made it. McGonagall was there and smiled at him. He returned her smile. Harry had noticed that Snape never had come into breakfast. Too bad, he had really wanted Cassie to see him. Not that he would have dared introduce them. But he was interested in Cassie's opinion of him - good or bad? She seemed to have an instinct about that sort of thing. He glanced back at Cassie. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were still sitting there by her, but he had better hurry. It wasn't safe for her to be sitting there alone and he had gotten the distinct impression that Ginny was anxious for Ron and Hermione to hurry so they could all go together to see Charlie.

Harry hurriedly explained to Hagrid what he wanted to do and Hagrid agreed to it readily. Good. Harry hadn't been too sure if he would be willing this morning. After all, at least two Centaurs had been killed the night before and he was also trying to deal with two full-grown giants and Grawp as well. However, Hagrid said he didn't mind and Harry was grateful. He wouldn't have wanted to do this without Hagrid's help. He moved back to his friends.

"Good. Come on, Ron, let's go."

"All right, all right. Keep your knickers on. I'm sure that Charlie won't notice if we're a minute or so later than Mum and Dad." He helped Hermione up and all five of them walked out of the Great Hall. They split up a few minutes later and Harry reminded everyone to meet him at the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office at about 10:50 so they wouldn't be late for the meeting.

When it was just Harry and Cassie again, she asked, "I thought I was going home first thing this morning."

"Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to you a little before he sends you back home and that is the earliest he could see you. Is that all right?"

"Yes . . . it's just that . . . You don't think I'll have any trouble getting home, do you?"

"No, not at all. Don't worry. Professor Dumbledore will make sure you get home safely. But since we have about two hours before we have that meeting, I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise? Is it a good surprise?"

"Of course it is. What do you think I'm going to do?"

"Well, I don't know. The last time you surprised me wasn't so pleasant."

"What do you mean? I thought you loved the telescope and everything?"

"The telescope? Oh, Harry, I loved the telescope. You know that! I was meaning when you told me you were a wizard!"

"Oh." For some reason, that made Harry feel a little depressed.

"I didn't mean that like it came out, Harry. Not the magic and stuff. I meant more like the war and the Death Eaters and the portkey and everything. I mean, someone was trying to kill you!"

"Oh, yeah. I guess that wasn't too great of a surprise was it? Well, this is more like the telescope surprise."

"Great! What is it?"

Harry laughed. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise! You've got to figure that out eventually, Cassie." She looked a little sheepish.

"So, when do I get this surprise?"

"Pretty soon." Just then, Harry saw someone coming out of the Great Hall and smiled in greeting. A thought crossed his mind. "Cassie, will you just wait right here for a minute?"

"Sure, I guess so. Where are you going?" She looked worried and Harry couldn't blame her.

"Just over to talk to someone. I'll be right back." Harry stepped over and spoke to his friend, asking if what he had in mind would be possible. After being assured it would and that he would be willing to help, Harry rejoined Cassie. "Everything's set. Come on." They walked together over to the front doors. Harry opened them quickly, pleased at the bright sunlight that entered. Cassie looked hesitant, almost fearful as she glanced out onto the grounds. "What's wrong?"

"I'm . . . What's out there?"

"Grass." Harry couldn't understand what she meant and then it hit him. The last time she had gone out those doors, she had walked into the middle of a big battle. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not being very sensitive. I'll look and make sure things are okay, all right?" He stepped out onto the steps and looked over the lawns. There were scorch marks and burned areas but no dead bodies or anything were still lying around. "Things are all right, Cassie. Come on." She stepped out onto the steps to join him and looked out over the lawns like he had done.

"It's beautiful here. The lake, and the forest . . . And the castle is incredible! I can't believe I've never heard of this place. I mean, tourists must be . . . ."

"We don't have tourists." Harry didn't really want to explain this to her, but he probably owed it to her.

"You've got to. There's no way that people wouldn't love to come see this . . ."

"No, really. We don't. See, the castle is hidden." She got a very puzzled look on her face.

"Hidden?"

"Yeah. It's got Muggle-repellant charms on it and Hermione says its unplottable. In other words, you can't put it on a map or chart or anything." Cassie didn't say anything for a long time, just looking at Harry like she expected him to start laughing and say he was kidding.

Finally, she spoke. "Muggle-repellant charms? What does that mean?"

"Well, it means that if a Muggle comes by, they don't see the castle. Instead, they see signs warning them that the ruin they do see is unsafe and they can't come closer."

Another long period of silence greeted that statement. "But, I'm a Muggle. And I can see the castle."

"Yeah. I don't really . . . I think it's cause you came into the castle first and so you were like inside the magic and so . . . . Well, I don't really understand it myself. I guess we could ask Professor Dumbledore. Or maybe Hermione knows more about it than I do. If you really want to know. . . ." Cassie shook her head.

"I would say that what you are describing is impossible, but I don't think I know the meaning of that word anymore, so I won't say it. I'll just take your word for it. I'm not really sure I believe you, though." Harry shrugged in response.

"That's fine. It doesn't matter anyway. Come on, your surprise starts over here and I want to have a few minutes before my friend comes out."

"Okay. Are you sure I'm going to like this?"

"Positive. Well, pretty sure." Now that he thought about it, maybe . . . but then they were there and it was time to get started. He turned and looked up at the tower where his dorm was located, and called loudly. "Accio Firebolt!" Cassie gasped in surprise as his broom suddenly flew out of his window and dropped steadily until it stopped right by Harry's hand.

"That's incredible! That spell seems to be pretty handy."

"Yeah. It's a good one. I learned it in fourth year." Harry let go of the broom and it hovered in mid-air. "Ta-Da! This is your surprise!"

"Oh. Well, I've already seen you ride the broom. It is incredible but . . . ."

"No. You're not going to watch me ride it. You're going to ride it!"

"What? No. No. I couldn't, I mean . . . no."

"Come on. You can hang on to me."

"You mean I'd be riding with you?"

"Yeah. What do you think?" Maybe this hadn't been a great idea after all. Harry remembered how Cassie had said that she wanted to go sky diving and how she would love to be able to fly. He thought that she would think riding a broomstick was fantastic but maybe he was wrong. "If you don't want to . . . we don't have to. I mean, we could . . ."

"Do you really think I could?"

"Yeah. Climb on. We'll stay close to the ground until you feel comfortable, okay?" She nodded enthusiastically but she definitely looked a little nervous as she put her hand on the broom. Harry considered for a moment how to do this. He didn't know whether to have her get on first or whether he should to hold the broom steady for her. She hesitantly put her leg up to hook it over the broomstick and the broom moved. Harry caught her, laughing. "I guess I better get on first."

He climbed on quickly and planted his feet firmly on the ground. She hesitantly gathered up her robes and swung her right leg over the broom, sitting down hard and quickly grabbing onto Harry. Her legs were shorter than Harry's so her feet didn't touch the ground. She wobbled for a few moments, then grabbed Harry harder around the waist. "I don't know if this is a good idea, Harry. You make it look easy but I can't even get on the stupid thing."

"That's natural. Just relax. You won't fall off."

"Aaah, are you sure about that?"

"Yeah." Harry tried to sound more confident than he really felt. He wasn't sure Muggles could really ride brooms but thought that as long as he stayed close to the ground, she couldn't get hurt too badly.

"Hey. This isn't as hard to sit on as I thought. It's kind of, um, comfortable really."

"They're charmed to be more comfortable, but don't fool yourself. They can still hurt bad if you move wrong."

"Great. Thanks for telling me. Um, you're not going to fall off, are you?"

"No." Harry grimaced. He guessed he could understand her worry if Ginny and Hermione had mentioned the few times that he had fallen off. But those had been special circumstances, none of which were likely to happen today. He pushed gently off the ground, rising to about five feet. Cassie tightened her arms around him almost to the point of pain but he just steeled himself against it. She'd relax in a moment. He hoped, sincerely hoped. "There. That's not so bad, is it?" They had flown about 100 feet or so and then turned around and come back to where they started. Cassie hadn't said a word and she still retained a near-death grip on him. He rose a little higher and heard a small squeak behind him.

"Oooh! This is great!" So she liked it. That was a relief although she might have just been saying that as she still had her fists clenched in his robes. He flew the same easy circle that he had before, nice and slow, keeping the broom steady as he returned again to where they started although they were now several feet higher than they had been. A door opened and Colin Creevey came out of it. He looked up at Harry and waved.

"All right. We're going down to meet Colin. You'll like him. Hey, Colin."

"Harry. Hi." He looked curiously at Cassie and Harry introduced her.

"This is Cassie. She's a Muggle-born friend of Ginny's. She's never ridden a Firebolt before and I thought I'd take her out on a spin." Colin nodded without comment. Harry continued. "This is Colin. He's Muggle-born, too. He's a great photographer."

"A photographer?" Cassie was really confused, Harry could tell but he didn't try to enlighten her. It might make Colin more suspicious. Not that Harry didn't trust Colin, because he did. He just didn't want to take unnecessary chances.

"Yeah. He's going to take your picture on the broom, all right? That way you'll remember it." Harry sincerely hoped this was the case, anyway. "How high up can we be and still let you get a good picture?"

"Well, I could get my broom and then you could be as high as you want. If you want me on the ground, though, I'd say maybe 30 or 40 feet."

"Oh, we won't go that high up. Hang on, Cassie." Harry rose to about 20 feet and then felt Cassie's arms relax around him.

"Oh, Harry! This is so fantastic! I've never felt anything like this in my entire life!" Harry stayed close to Colin for a few minutes. After a few minutes, Colin started walking toward the Forbidden Forest and Harry smiled to himself. He got a little more adventurous and flew a little faster, angling up until he guessed they were about 50 feet up and the air was blowing fast through his robes and hair. Cassie was laughing, holding onto him tightly but looking all around her. "This is so incredible! I can't believe you do this all the time!" Harry started flying toward the Forbidden Forest also, sighting Hagrid's hut below and bringing the broom in for a gentle landing nearby. Cassie laughed as she got off the broom. "That was great! Thank you so much!" She hugged him tightly and Harry hugged her back.

"That's not the whole surprise, though. The best part is still to come."

"There's more?"

"Yeah. At least, I hope so." Harry spotted Colin and Hagrid ahead and he led Cassie over to where they were standing. Hagrid had done what Harry had asked. That was fortunate. It had probably been kind of tricky on such short notice.

"'Arry, um, Cassie, isn't it? I found 'em. Lucky, really." Harry stepped aside and let Cassie look for the first time into the paddock. He watched her face carefully and was very pleased with her reaction.

First, her eyes widened and then she rubbed them, shaking her head. "It . . . it's impossible. I can't believe it. Oh, Harry! Oh, thank you! Thank you!" She approached the fence, staring in absolute transfixed wonder at the unicorns inside.

"It was Hagrid that found them. They live in the forest, but they're hard to find sometimes." However, Harry knew Cassie wasn't listening. Hagrid stepped up to the fence and hopped over it, surprisingly spry for a man as big as he was. Harry also stepped over into the paddock. Cassie stood on the fence, not paying much attention to them.

After a minute or so, Hagrid finally spoke up. "Come'n in. You can pet 'em, if you're gentle."

"What?" Her voice was hoarse with shock. Harry smiled at her.

"Come on in. They won't hurt you." Cassie climbed hesitantly over the fence, stepping close to Harry but he pushed her gently toward Hagrid. "Go up there with him. They like girls better than boys. They will let Hagrid near them, though." Colin stayed outside the fence, aiming his camera carefully at the mother and foal. The gleaming white coat of the mother was almost painful to the eyes in the sunlight and the golden coat of the foal contrasted beautifully with the green of the forest behind them. The mother pawed the ground with her golden front hoof and snorted nervously.

Hagrid approached carefully and petted her carefully with his huge hand. The mother unicorn gentled immediately and a moment later, Cassie approached the giant and placed her hand tentatively next to his. Hagrid stepped back and Cassie petted both the mother and the foal for several long minutes, the look of utter delight on her face something that Harry thought almost rivaled the unicorns in beauty. Colin had been snapping pictures for several minutes before he finally called Harry over.

"I've got some really great ones - both on the broom and here. She's a pretty girl, photographs well."

"Yeah, great. Thanks, Colin. How long does it take to develop them?"

"Um, about 30 minutes or so."

"So they'll move?"

"Oh, yeah. They'll move. Otherwise, it takes longer. The potion that . . . Oh, never mind. You don't care. When do you want the pictures?"

"Do you know where Dumbledore's office is?"

"No. Never been there." Harry couldn't believe that. Obviously, Colin didn't get into the sorts of trouble that Harry and his friends did.

"Well, then, can you meet me in the entrance hall at about 10:45?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Just bring the best shots. You can destroy the rest." Colin nodded and headed back to the castle. Harry leaned against the fence, watching Cassie. Hagrid was talking to her now and she was nodding. Harry couldn't hear them but could imagine that the half giant was waxing poetic about the wonder and magical properties of unicorns. Hagrid, of course, thought all creatures were amazing and he did truly love the unicorns although if you asked his Care of Magical Creatures students, they would probably think he favored things like blast-ended skrewts more. Finally, the mother unicorn seemed to have had enough and started pulling away from Cassie. Hagrid ushered Cassie back over to Harry.

"'Ere she is, 'Arry. You were right. She was good with 'em. I've got to run. Got a million things to do today. The giants are heading back and need directions." Harry didn't pursue that. He would prefer to remain ignorant. Hagrid stepped back over the fence and headed into the forest. Cassie's eyes were shining, huge in her face and when they were also standing on the other side of the fence, she looked up at Harry.

"That was the most amazing thing ever! I can't believe it. I just can't believe it! The baby was so beautiful! I've never seen anything . . . ." She kept rattling on and Harry just smiled. Girls loved unicorns. Every girl. Even Hermione, normally very pragmatic and practical would go into rapturous ramblings if she saw a unicorn. Harry imagined it had something to do with the magic in them. He thought they were pretty, certainly, but it just wasn't the same. They walked over to his broom, Cassie continuing to discuss each detail of her experience, and Harry smiling patiently, not really registering what she was saying.

He interrupted her as he picked up his broom. "Shall we walk back or do you want to fly again?"

"Oh! Fly! Definitely fly!" Harry thought from her tone of voice that she would feel confident she could fly the broom herself now, if it were possible. He climbed on and she slipped on behind him, grabbing him tight around the waist. He kicked off from the ground, rising high. She stopped rattling on about the unicorns and just stared around. He flew over a new area, the forest, the lake, and then over the castle. She held him tighter as they flew over the water.

"Do you want to try a little trick flying?" They were back over solid ground again although they were still high.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like this - hold on tight." He did a quick loop, hanging upside down for a brief second.

"Aaaah! Yes! That was incredible!" At the excitement in her voice, Harry did another quick maneuver and she gasped. He spent about 20 minutes doing some rather tricky moves, nothing super scary, but interesting enough that she kept exclaiming in pleasure as he put the Firebolt through its paces. Finally, he decided their time was up. He landed gently on the lawn in front of the castle and they both climbed off. Her hair was disheveled and her cheeks were pink from the wind. "Harry! I just can't thank you enough! I don't even know where to begin!"

"You don't need to thank me. It was fun for me, too. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think we should probably head up to meet the others." As they entered the entrance hall, Colin came in and saw them.

"They turned out as well as I thought they would. Here. I kept these six and destroyed the rest." Cassie looked with complete amazement at the pictures of herself up on the broom and in with the unicorns, moving and waving. Harry handed them to her and she looked them over again.

"These are beautiful. You really are a good photographer!"

"Thanks. You're easy to . . . ."

"That's enough, Colin. She's leaving in just a few minutes." He took the pictures from Cassie and put them in his own pocket. If he could, he would give them to her. If not, he would keep them himself.

Colin raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't mean that we can't owl each other."

"Give it up, Colin. She's not available." Harry thought he was probably being a little rude, but he didn't care. All Cassie needed was to get involved with another wizard. He took Cassie firmly by the arm. "Thanks, Colin. I really appreciate it. What do I owe you?"

"Nothing, Harry. It was fun." But he looked fairly disgruntled as Harry and Cassie ascended the stairs that would take them back to the gargoyle that protected the entrance to Dumbledore's office.