Remember Me

Harry closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself down.

“If there is anyone who doesn’t belong to Gryffindor,” he yelled, looking down at the curly-haired Hufflepuff. “Go away!”

As if he hadn’t said it enough times before.

It turned out that the Hufflepuff was the only one still left and Harry, with a sigh of relief, started to search for the Chasers. He had never realised how tiring it was, being Quidditch Captain, and trials had never been this popular. People began to soar round the pitch, tossing the Quaffle to one another and Harry kept a close eye on them, trying to focus his mind on Quidditch. But it was hard. Voldemort had come to him in his dream again, his soft, hissing voice whispering in Harry’s ear. Ron had said he could be possessed by Voldemort. Harry was starting to agree with him, though it filled him with dread to do so.

Harry mentally shook himself. The applicants for the team had to be thinned out again until only a few were left. He made a mental note to definitely put Katie Bell in the team – there was no way she would fail. Ginny Weasley was there too, and Dean and Seamus and, strangely, Cassandra, her eyes glowing, her cheeks pink from the excitement of flying.

“Okay,” Harry said. “Just…try shooting some goals, all of you. Pass to each other and I’ll be Keeper.” Maybe it would have been a good idea to find a Keeper first. “So, right…” He quickly zoomed up to the goalposts and hovered there, waiting.

A few moments later he knew that he would never be able to be a Keeper, and his respect for Ron rose dramatically. Millions of goals had been scored, and Harry had made up his mind who his Chasers were.

People in the stands were laughing and cheering as they pointed in the air. Harry looked absent-mindedly to see what they were grinning at, expecting it to be a sudden reappearance of Fred and George or something, and saw Cassandra, her hair flying around her face as she yelled, “Look! No hands!” and proceeded to loop-the-loop so fast and so many times it made him dizzy.

His first instinct was to shout out, make her stop or at least hold onto the broomstick, but he found himself speechless as the display.

He had no idea Cassandra could fly like that.

She flew so fast she was just a blur, pelting down to the ground like a rocket and pulling up at the crucial second so her feet just brushed the grass. She did endless loops and spins, whirling round the pitch; one moment near Harry, the next on the opposite side. People were transfixed by her skill. However, Cassandra seemed totally unaware of the attention, revelling in her flight.

Harry watched with wide eyes. He had never attempted the tricks she was doing. Wood had said they were too dangerous, and he could see what he meant. But Cassandra performed them easily, as if she was enjoying the danger.

Fearless.

“Okay!” Harry finally yelled. People stopped and turned back to look at him. “Right, the Chaser trials are ended!” For God’s sake, Cassandra, stop flying. You’re better than me. “Anyone who wants to be Beaters, can you come onto the pitch, everyone else, OFF!”

It felt like a week later when Harry had his team, and his throat was aching. His new Keeper, however, wouldn’t let Harry be quiet. On the contrary, he wanted to relive every single part of the trials.

“Did you see the fourth penalty?” Ron asked, a wide grin on his face. “Thought I was gonna miss it, it was so fast, but I just threw out my arms and the Quaffle just thudded into them! Couldn’t believe it myself at the time. Who threw it again, was it Ginny?”

“Cassandra,” croaked Harry.

Ron snorted. “Yeah, well…” he tailed off, remembering. “Did you see her fly?”

Harry nodded.

Ron blew out his cheeks. “Talk about showing-off!” He was silent, looking out to the Forbidden Forest. “She was…quite good. Y’know…not bad.” He shrugged. “Probably just trying to get noticed. Haven’t you noticed that about her? She always wants to be in the centre of attention. Never happy otherwise.” He paused again. “That’s why no one likes her, I suppose.”

Harry was about to open his mouth and say that people did like Cassandra, Dean and Hermione for instance, before he heard a sharp snapping of a twig. Behind them stood Cassandra.

Her eyes were bright with anger and narrowed as she stared unflinchingly at Ron. Harry was strongly reminded of Ginny and her blazing look as she stood there as if frozen.

Harry wondered what Ron had said that was so bad. He was always arguing with her, and she insulted him back, but now Cassandra was silent. Suddenly she ran, pushing past them, her head down right into the Forbidden Forest.

“Mental,” said Ron, shaking his head. “C’mon, Hagrid’ll be waiting for us.”

But Harry didn’t move, still looking into the dense trees.

“Harry,” said Ron, also looking. “Just…she’s…it’s nothing.” His eyes were slightly uncomfortable as he made to go to Hagrid’s wooden cabin. “Ignore it.”

Harry turned to face his best friend. “Ron, the forest’s dangerous. And she’s no idea…I’m going after her.”

Ron rolled his eyes. “We don’t even like her!”

“Yeah? Well that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help her.”

“It’s just the forest…”

“Oh yeah, only acromentula and centaurs and Grawp and…”

“Okay, okay.”

Harry shot a grin at Ron. “Déjà vu?”

Ron groaned. “At least it’s not a troll this time.”

Together they set off into the forest.

*

“Cassandra? Cassandra!” Ron and Harry called as they ploughed deeper into the forest, tripping over tree roots and twigs as they stumbled after Cassandra. Her cloud of bronze hair was growing fainter as she stomped away from them.

“Cassandra, come back!”

Harry could see her slender frame stop in the distance, the she turned around, half running up to them. Harry’s feeling of success lasted only a second as he saw the pure, unmistakable fury on her face.

“Why the hell are you two here?”

Harry was taken aback; beside him Ron looked affronted.

“Getting you out of here. Have you any idea how dangerous the forest is?”

Cassandra raised her eyebrows slowly, staring incredulously at him. “You. Are. Such. An. Idiot.”

Ron took a step back, a branch brushing his fire-coloured hair. “What-“

“You two have been running around in here since you were wearing nappies.” She growled, her grey eyes swinging to Harry, her frown deepening. “And you think I need protecting?”
Cassandra dripped sarcasm on the word. “I know why you’re here, Harry. You’re just here so you can show-off to everyone about how you saved another person.”

“I-“

“Don’t deny it. You just want to appear all great, the hero of everything. Famous Harry Potter, saving damsels in distress all over the country. Well, grow up!”

Her face was flushed red from anger and Harry involuntarily took a step back.

“Have you ever thought how annoying you are? I came in here to get away from you two idiots, so what do you do? Follow me and say you’re rescuing me from this deep dark forest. I’m not bloody Little Red Riding Hood!”

“Cassandra, I just-“

“Shut up! Just shut up, Harry!”

“We were doing you a favour!” He yelled before she could interrupt him. “We were helping you!”

“I don’t need your help!”

“You’ve no idea what’s in the forest!” said Ron, also glaring at Cassandra.

“And you’ll save me? Two stupid boys who can’t cast a spell to save their life!”

Harry pulled out his wand and Ron mirrored his action. “Say that again.”

“Scared by that? You must be…”

But the words died on her lips as Cassandra stared behind them, her eyes focused on something Harry couldn’t see. The anger on her face was replaced by shock.

“Put your wands away,” she hissed, tensing as if ready to run.

“What?”

“Put your damn wands away, idiots!”

And Harry could hear something else now, something that was beating on the mud-dried ground and swished through the trees.

“Please put your wands down!”

But Harry wasn’t going to obey her; if it was something dangerous he needed to be able to fight. Ron turned on his heel, his lit wand in front and Harry did the same. He had a confused impression of long, coarse black hair and a long tail before strong, muscled arms gripped him and held him tightly. He struggled, but he was held tighter still, his flailing legs lifted high off the ground. Beside him Ron was also caught, Harry could see him also struggling against his captor.

And then he realised that what Ron and he had come to save Cassandra from had come, and she would have to save them instead.

“Trespassers,” The centaur holding Harry said, and from its rough voice he recognised Bane. “Trespassers in our forest.”

Ronan sighed, his red-brown head facing Cassandra, who was staring at the ground, her hands held up in a submissive gesture. “They are still counted as young up at the school, Bane. They are not yet adults.”

“But they threatened us with weapons!” grunted Bane. “With wands! That is unforgivable, you know that. They insulted our kind!”

“No,” said Cassandra, her head still bent but her eyes looking into Bane’s angry face. “They were pointing them at me, not you.”

“Why did you not threaten us?” Ronan asked dreamily, his head thrown back to gaze at the sky. “Why did you not pull out your weapon?”

“What, my wand?"

Cassandra almost giggled at the pun that came into her head, but her laughter quickly died on her lips she as she the centuars furious face.

“It does not matter, Ronan!” Bane bellowed. “Let the female free if you wish, but we cannot let these go.” He shook Harry and pointed to Ron. “They must be destroyed.”

“No!”

Cassandra stared into Bane’s with every appearance of calmness. “Your leader – Eurytion. He’s in charge of all the centaurs, right? Well, he knows my da- John. John McGibbon. And I bet he wouldn’t be too happy if you killed his friends, would he?” She took a step closer. “You’d probably be banished from all the herds. They wouldn’t accept you as a centaur anymore.”

Bane frowned disbelievingly. “Centaurs do not associate with humans.”

Cassandra shrugged easily. “All the same…”

Harry noticed her hand creeping into the pocket of her robes and slowly pulling out a long thin wand.

“So let them go.”

For one wild moment, Harry thought Bane was going to obey - his arms certainly loosened slightly and Harry prepared to slide to the ground, but the moment didn’t last. Bane gripped Harry tightly again.

“Do not believe you,” he snarled, pawing the ground. “Humans are filthy liars.”

Cassandra’s wand hand twitched. “Too true,” she said, and with a lightning-quick movement shot a jet of red light at Bane, who froze and fell backwards, releasing Harry. Before Ronan had time to react, she shot another Stunning spell at him, grabbed Harry and Ron’s wrists and sprinted away from the centaurs.

They ran deeper into the forest, shooting quick looks behind them to see whether more centaurs were coming after them. They kept running, fearful of being found until they reached a small clearing, and leant against trees to catch their breath.

“You…idiots,” panted Cassandra. “Didn’t I…tell you…to put your wands away?”

Ron was breathing heavily, his eyes closed. “Next time,” he said, “remind me to listen to you.”

“Definitely.”

Harry was pacing around the clearing, his wand tip alight. “We ran the wrong way.”

“Oh, sorry, didn’t have time to check the map as we were running for our life,” said Ron, rolling his eyes. “Was that true about your dad?” he asked Cassandra.

She shook her head. “He’s not my dad. And it was all lies. John does something for International Magical Cooperation for the Order now.” She turned back to Harry. “What d’you mean we went the wrong way?”

“We ran deeper into the forest, we should have run out!”

“Who cares?” Cassandra fiddled with a strand of her hair. “D’you think we should stay here for a bit?”

Ron nodded in agreement, but Harry wasn’t so sure. He had a faint stirring of memory about this place, and was sure it was nothing good.

“I think…”

But for the second time that day a sound interrupted him. Crashing and groaning and the sound of leaves whispering as they rubbed against each other. Harry held his wand up high as he spun round, looking for the source of the sound.

A tree was falling, crushing other branches and twigs below the heavy trunk as it thudded to the ground. A family of bird flew high up into the air, twittering indignantly.

“What was that?” asked Cassandra uneasily.

“I think…it could be Grawp,” said Harry, starting to walk quickly away.

“Grawp? Who’s Grawp?” Cassandra demanded, following Ron and Harry as they started to move quickly away, sharing looks of panic.

“Hagrid’s tiny little brother,” said Ron. “C’mon, we’ve got to get out of here.”

“But the centaurs!”

Harry wheeled around, ready to drag her away, but instead found himself face-to-face with a huge foot, a yellow toenail pointed at him threateningly. He gazed upwards.

“HAGGER?”

Harry backed away quickly and tripped over Cassandra’s foot. Grawp advanced, waving his arms around, a tree trunk held in one like a club.

“GRAWP WANT HAGGER!”

“C’mon!” yelled Ron, helping Harry up and pulling Cassandra’s robe. “Move!”

“He’s a giant,” she whispered, staring at Grawp’s large, confused face.

“Run!”

Grawp was bending down, his face level with Cassandra’s. He was still swinging the tree trunk.

“Hagger?”

“Hagger?” she asked no fear visible on her face. “What’s Hagger?”

Grawp straightened up, roaring. “WANT HAGGER!” He yelled, reaching out a giant fist to the nearest tree and popping it out of the ground like a cork in a bottle.

Harry and Ron were both pulling Cassandra desperately now; she gave in and followed them, their feet slapping the floor as they dashed through the trees, which were quickly disappearing as Grawp ripped them up and flung them on the ground. The earth shook as Grawp thundered after them, raining oak trees down.

“Cassandra!”

The word burst from Harry’s lips as he turned round to see a tree falling as if in slow-motion down towards where she was. She stopped running, and turned to see the huge trunk falling down, down, right on top…

“Wingardium Leviosa!”

The tree hung suspended in mid air as Cassandra’s spell hit it. “Run!” she told Harry and Ron, who were frozen as they watched her.

“Cassandra…”

“Just run, you idiots!” They stumbled unwillingly away, turning back every few steps, afraid of the trunk falling.

“Now what?” yelled Ron as Cassandra was practically out of sight.

There was a long pause before her answer. “I don’t know!” she replied. “If I let go, it’ll fall!”

Ron’s face turned pale.”Bloody hell,” he whispered, turning his ashen face towards Harry. “She’ll never be able to run out of the way in time.”

Harry was thinking the same thing. C’mon, he told himself. There has to be way around it.
The nest few seconds seemed to be frozen in time as Harry racked his brain for something, anything that could save Cassandra. And then he knew.

“Cassandra, let go!” he yelled.

“What?”

“Let go of the trunk!”

“I can’t!”

“Trust me!” She couldn’t hold the spell forever.

“If I die, I’ll kill you Potter!” she yelled, and the trunk began to fall, rushing towards the ground unbelievably fast.

“Accio Cassandra!” Harry yelled as the trunk crashed through the trees, waiting, hoping…

And there she was flying towards him with a surprised expression as she zoomed into his chest, sending him toppling backwards onto the muddy ground. Cassandra bent over Harry, smiling slightly.

“That has to be the most embarrassing way,” she said, shaking her head.

He grinned as her hair tickled his cheeks. “It worked.”

The three of them got up, and left the Forbidden Forest with sighs of relief, falling into a sitting position against one of Hagrid’s giant pumpkins as they caught their breath.

“You okay?” asked Harry finally.

“Yeah,” said Cassandra. “You?”

“Fine.”

“Ron?”

“I’m good.”

There was silence again, filled only with their heavy breathing. Then, slowly, Cassandra began to laugh. She laughed so loudly she could hardly stop, bending over as she cracked up. Harry and Ron exchanged glances over her head, grinning slightly at the infectious sound.

“What?” asked Harry, his smile widening.

“You said Grawp was tiny!”