Remember Me

Cassandra stirred and opened her silver eyes, blinking in the bright light. The room she was in was white, airy, with a slightly eerie atmosphere of cleanliness. She recognised it straight away as the hospital wing, but she had never seen it this crowded before. Almost every bed was occupied.

Cassandra sat up, looking around. People bore signs of the battle, though most of their injuries were healing. She felt her own face and realised all her cuts were gone.

Madam Pomfrey came bustling in, holding a goblet full of thick golden potion.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” she said, coming over and trying to push Cassandra down on the bed. “What are you doing, child! You need rest, I don’t know what Dumbledore was thinking, letting you all go off to Hogsmede when You-Know-Who is around, honestly…lie back down!”

But Cassandra was peering round at the beds. One opposite her had curtains drawn round it.

“Where’s Hermione? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. Had her well enough in no time, but she’ll need to spend a few days in here.”

Cassandra caught sight of Hermione. She was sitting up in bed, chatting to Luna Lovegood.

Cassandra ducked down behind Madam Pomfrey before she recognised her; she didn’t want Hermione leaping out of bed and wasn’t that keen to recount what had happened again.

“And Harry?”

The matron pursed her lips and glanced towards the bed with curtains round it.

“Well…what are you doing, Cassandra, you need rest!”

But Cassandra had swung her legs out of bed and crossed the room to Harry’s bed. As she had expected, there was a cry of, “Cass!” as she was hugged tightly by a mane of bushy brown hair.

“Are you alright? I was so worried when I saw you two had gone, I just knew they had captured you, and we didn’t know what to do…”

“I’m fine.” Cassandra grabbed hold of Hermione’s sleeve and pulled her behind the curtains as she caught sight of Madam Pomfrey arriving.

Behind the curtains, which had seemed silent before, Harry had still not woken up. He wasn’t thrashing around, like he was when Cassandra had last seen him, but he was still turning his head slowly, or curling his hands up into fists softly, his eyelids fluttering. His hospital pyjamas were stuck to his skin with sweat.

“What…?”

Cassandra heard Hermione ask that beside her, but took no notice. Madam Pomfrey came in, holding her goblet of golden potion.

“He still hasn’t woken up then?”

“No,” Madam Pomfrey replied, tipping the potion down Harry’s throat.

“Maybe…maybe he needs Snape or someone, y’know, maybe he needs Occulmency or something!”

“I know that,” she snapped, glaring at Cassandra frostily. “Professor Dumbledore was in here earlier.”

She put down the half-full goblet on the table and walked away.

Cassandra and Hermione slowly sank into seats either side of Harry.

“You think he’s being possessed by Voldemort?” asked Hermione.

Cassandra took a small flannel on the table and started wiping Harry’s face. “Hermione, we saw him.”

She nodded, not seeming at all surprised by this. “So Voldemort wants the prophecy…”

“And that’s why he keeps possessing Harry? Because he wants to find it out?” Cassandra asked. Hermione nodded. “But why does he want it?”

Hermione watched Harry mutter incomprehensibly. “Because with the prophecy, he can find out the way to kill him.”

A long silence followed this. Neither of them knew what to say.

“Have you seen Ron?”

Hermione shook her head, frowning. “No, I expected him to be with you when they brought you two in, but he wasn’t.”

Cassandra paused at stared, frowning, at Hermione. “But I saw him when I came back! In Grimstone’s office!”

A flicker of worry came up in Hermione’s eyes. “He’s probably gone up to the common room or something. Maybe he doesn’t need to come in the hospital wing.”

Cassandra sighed and turned back to face Harry. She was filled with a kind of hopeless desperation, annoyed at what she had done, wishing she could go back and change it.

“Miss Granger?” said Madam Pomfrey.

Hermione said goodbye and left.

Cassandra screwed up her eyes, wanting to somehow change what had happened with Voldemort. Harry turned over, muttering.

“Hey,” she said softly. “Come on now…”

She wiped his face again, smoothing his jet black hair away from his lightening scar.

“I did the wrong thing, Harry,” she said. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…I shouldn’t have left, I should have stayed and tried to follow Dumbledore’s orders…And then you wouldn’t be like this, and everything would be fine, and…It’s all my fault, and I’m sorry…”

Did Dumbledore know? Did he know what had happened; know that they had seen Voldemort?

Cassandra made her decision.

“See you, Harry,” she said, ducking down and kissing him on the forehead. She then ran out of the hospital wing, making her way to Dumbledore’s office.

“Okay…” she said to the gargoyle that guarded the entrance. “Can I see Dumbledore?”

“Password?”

Cassandra blinked in surprise. She wasn’t aware there was one.

“Okay…what would Dumbledore have as a password? Um…Albus?” The gargoyle didn’t move. “No, no, too obvious. Aberforth? Er…Hog’s Head? Butterbeer? No, no, Firewhisky? Mulled Mead? Redcurrant Rum?”

The gargoyle still didn’t move aside.

“No, you’re right, Dumbledore’s probably not an alcoholic.” She bounced up and down in frustration. “Oh, I don’t know! What would he think? Dumbledore Rules! Dumbledore is the best!”
“I am glad that you think so,” came a voice from behind her. She turned round to see Professor Dumbledore walking up, his blue eyes twinkling.

“Oh, well, you know, been a fan for years,” she muttered quietly. “Sir, I was trying to find you.”

“I gathered that much. Please, let us go up.” He turned to the gargoyle and said, “Cockroach Cluster!” It jumped aside at once, and the two of them climbed the spiral staircase and sat down at opposite sides across his desk.

“Cockroach Cluster?” asked Cassandra curiously. “I’ve never tried them.”

“Their flavour is unappetizing to many people, but fortunately I am one of the lucky ones who enjoy the taste,” Dumbledore smiled. “I could offer you some now, but I think you had more pressing concerns on your mind rather than Honeydukes sweets.”

Cassandra smiled. “It was…you do know what happened when everyone else was in the Three Broomsticks, right?”

Dumbledore inclined his head.

“Well, I…I…” she glanced around his office, looking for words. “I just feel…I shouldn’t have run away, I didn’t do anything, I didn’t try hard enough to heal the rift, and it didn’t work and…I’ve failed.”

She stared determinedly at her knees for a while and Dumbledore did not speak. When the silence had gone on too long, she said. “Well, that’s it.”

“Cassandra,” said Dumbledore, in such a warm and comforting voice she looked up. “You have not failed in any way at all.”

“But I ran away, I should have stayed, I didn’t heal the rift!”

“You did not run away. You ran to save your friend Mr Potter. And as for staying, I believe Lord Voldemort was firing Killing Curses everywhere, was he not?”

“But I didn’t do what you asked me to!”

Dumbledore surveyed Cassandra over his half-moon glasses. “The rift between Slytherin and Gryffindor is something that as gone on for centuries. It is not something that can be healed in one afternoon.”

“But-“

“I am afraid I made you think it was something you had to complete as quickly as possible. I did not mean it like that. You did not fail in any way tonight; instead you were brave and loyal. I am very proud of you.”

When she did not answer, he spoke again.

“Cassandra, forget about the rift. It must be healed, yes, but do not waste your life trying to heal it and feeling like this when you haven’t.”

Cassandra bit her lip. “I wasn’t brave,” she said. “I ran away.”

“Do you think being the last living descendant of Gryffindor allows you to have powers beyond the norm? Exceptional braveness, perhaps? You are brave, very brave, but because your descendant was exceptionally so, does that mean you are? No, Cassandra.”

“So I’m not…I’m just ordinary?”

“The four founders of Hogwarts were the most talented witches and wizards ever to have lived, except for myself, perhaps. You carry Godric Gryffindor’s spirit with you.”

And Cassandra understood, and nodded and smiled.

“Now, what about Cockroach Cluster?” said Dumbledore cheerfully. “I believe I have a few somewhere…”