Remember Me

The headlines of the Daily Prophet brought bad news.

Malik Grimstone confirmed as Headmaster of Hogwarts

Cornelius Fudge Resigns

Thorfin Rowle New Minister For Magic

“Blood-Purity is Essential” Says Minister For Magic

Harry put down the newspaper slowly, and chucked it on the end of his bed. It only reinforced his desire to be doing something.

He slipped out of bed, his feet prickling as the cold air hit them. Shivering slightly, he pulled on a thick jumper and jeans and picked up his rucksack.

Ron was sleeping silently in the bed next to his, Seamus Dean and Neville snoring. His trunk was to be left here, with many of his books and possessions. Harry could not take them all with him. He wouldn’t need them.

He crossed the room and opened the door silently. He didn’t want to look back at the dormitory longer than he had to. And he didn’t want to look at Ron, who would wake up in the morning and find Harry’s bed empty and Harry himself nowhere to be found. What would he do then? Would he and Hermione alert the Order, send out a search-party to find Harry Potter?

Harry wanted to go back, to wake Ron and tell him that he was leaving. Selfishly, he wanted him to come with him, Ron and Hermione, so he would feel safer.

But he was leaving to keep them safe.

Harry tiptoed down the stairs and out of the Portrait Hole. The Fat Lady woke when he clambered through and her cries followed him as he ran away before anyone could come running. Down the moving staircases…out into the Entrance Hall…the door was unlocked, he was thankful for that and he slipped out quickly, closing the doors behind him with a groan.

So this was it. He was leaving Hogwarts.

It had always been a place of safety for him, but now with Dumbledore gone and Death Eaters roaming the place it was one of the most dangerous places for him to be. Harry had to leave before Voldemort could find him, and work out a way of defeating him on his own.

He had never had a chance to ask Dumbledore about that. Dumbledore had shown him the prophecy, told him what he must do…and that was it. But how he was meant to destroy Lord Voldemort, the most evil wizard there had ever been, the heir of Slytherin…Dumbledore had never said. Maybe he had overestimated Harry, thought Harry had a plan, knew what to do.
And he shall have power the Dark Lord knows not…well what was that power? Was that why Dumbledore had never told Harry how to kill Voldemort? Because of that power?

But he didn’t have any special power.

Harry walked quickly through the grounds, determined not to look at them. He just wanted to leave Hogwarts now, quickly, before he had a chance to think what it would mean to him, to leave the school which had become his home.

He was in the Forbidden Forest now. He did not light his wand, though he needed the light in the darkness, for he couldn’t tell where the Hogwarts part of the Forest ended, and being underage he couldn’t use magic, otherwise the Ministry would find him and therefore Voldemort. He would have to survive as a Muggle, he supposed.

Strange noises were hidden in the trees. Harry thought of Grawp, and Cassandra saving them from the centaurs, and saving them from Grawp.

It was dark now, as dark as the blackness when Voldemort was in his mind. He could hardly see a thing.

Slapping noises were coming from behind him. Harry immediately thought of centaurs and began to move faster. But it did not sound like hooves, and a yellow beam of light was shining around the trees.

“What you doing?”

Harry spun round, shocked. Ron and Hermione were walking towards him. Hermione was holding a torch in her hand.

“Nothing.”

“Oh right,” snorted Ron. “So you’re just taking a stroll in the Forbidden Forest with a rucksack in the middle of the night, are you?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Harry could not believe they were coming after him, found himself more angry than pleased. They, too, had rucksacks slung over their shoulders.

“You’re going away, aren’t you?” asked Hermione softly.

“Maybe I am,” Harry snapped. “What’s it to you?”

Hermione bit her lip and stepped closer towards him. “This is about Cass, isn’t it?”

“No!”

The word ripped out of him forcefully, but it was Hermione’s fault. He did not want to be reminded of Cassandra.

“It’s nothing to do with her, okay?”

“Come off it, mate,” said Ron. “You’ve been acting really weird for the past week. Since she…y’know…lost her memory.”

“But if you just went and saw her, I’m sure-“

“Look, Hermione, I don’t want to see her!”

Hermione and Ron glanced at each other. Apparently they thought he would behave like this, and that infuriated Harry more than anything.

“She’s not Cass anymore.”

“But she is, she just doesn’t remember things.”

Harry turned his back on his friends and stumped through the Forest. He could hear them walking after him.

“Just leave me alone, okay?” he said without turning round. “It’s too dangerous where I am. You’re not safe here.”

“We’re coming with you,” said Ron.

Harry froze and turned round slowly. They were looking at him with determination and defiance on their faces.

“No.”

“Harry, don’t be stupid,” said Hermione. “We’re coming with you whether you like it or not. You won’t be able to cope on your own-“

“Thanks.”

“-and besides, I bet you’re not even sure what you’re going to do.”

Harry looked wildly at the pair of them. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Yeah, I’ve been friends with you for six years, I know that,” said Ron.

Hermione walked forwards. “When are you going to get it into your head? You don’t have to do everything alone.”

Harry thought of the last time she had said that to him. And the enormity of their decision to come with him swept over him. They had both really decided that long ago, really. When he and Ron first sat together on the Hogwarts Express. When they had saved Hermione from the troll. They had made their decisions back then, to stick with him.

Harry hoisted his rucksack higher onto his shoulder. “Fine,” he said. “Fine.”

He walked on, and Ron and Hermione settled into positions on either side of him.

“We could go and visit Cass if you want-“

“No, alright?”

The three of them walked out of Hogwarts, leaving their school behind.

Cassandra flipped through the Daily Prophet without any real interest. People stared up at her in the printed paper. This picture was of two boys and a girl. One had red hair and a big nose, one was small with glasses and the girl had bushy hair and a know-it-all expression.
Cassandra threw the paper to one side. The room she was in seemed to be all she had ever known. The whitewashed walls, the neatly starched bedcovers, the curtains drawn around the other occupied beds. She could not remember anything else.

This was all there had ever been.