The Primrose Tree: A Harry Potter Story {COMPLETE}

Chapter 8: Rooftop Rumble

HARRY'S P.O.V.

I continued up the ever-shifting staircase until I came to a door I'd never seen before. I opened it and stepped inside a dark, dusty room filled with cobwebs and spiders.

The room appeared to have been abandoned for several years. Judging by the Beginners Spell books on the shelves, the room used to be a First Year classroom. Cobwebs lined the wooden ceiling beams and spiders scuttled and scurried along the desks, which appeared to have at least twelve different layers of dust.

Off to the side of the room was a wooden ladder that led up to a small door in the ceiling. I climbed slowly up the ladder and then shivered. A cool breeze brushed across my face. That's when I knew the door led to the castle's roof. I reached for the door's rusty latch, twisted it tight and the door flew open.

I stepped out onto the roof of the castle. The sky was a pale gray, projecting a depressing atmosphere.

The wind shifted in my direction again and I shivered. Even with my jacket over my long sleeved shirt, I felt as cold as an icicle.

Wrapping my arms around my body, I turned my attention to the figure of a girl with her arms wrapped around her knees, gazing blankly at the mountains that lay beyond the grounds, her dark blond hair blowing in synch with the wintry air. She was trembling madly with cold.

"You okay?" I asked as I slowly made my way across the surface. She looked up at me. Her eyes grew in surprise.

"Harry?!" she cried excitedly. "She let you out?!"

"Long story, I'll explain later," I said. "Are you okay?"

Her face suddenly lost all the happiness and turned gloomy and depressed looking.

"I'm fine," she replied sadly. She sniffed. Her tears were still trailing down her face, but it looked like they were frozen to her cheeks. I tried to brush one away with my thumb. It felt cold and slick like an ice cube.

"I can't understand why this is happening to you, Cassidy," I said. "I've never seen you so upset. Ever since we got together, things have been worse than before with you and Snape and I can't help thinking...that it's my fault."

"Don't say that!" she said hotly, elbowing me in the ribs. I grunted. "It's not your fault. It's mainly mine. I deliberately went behind his back to be with you. If I hadn't done that, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"I know he's supposed to protect you and everything," I said, "but do his methods ever seem a bit...extreme?"

She flashed her eyes in my direction with a look that signified I might have said something bad.

"I don't blame him for his overprotectiveness, Harry," said Cassidy grimly. "I should expect it from him. After all, I was a walking target for a while. I probably still am. He's my protector. It's his job to watch out for me."

She looked away from me and her eyes turned soft. "He's never had a daughter before."

I sighed. "I know."

We sat in silence for what felt like hours. Cassidy would reach up to wipe away a few more stray tears every few minutes. Her intense focus on the grounds ahead of her made me realize how hard she was trying to forget the incident and move on. But, obviously for her, it wasn't that simple.

I slipped my hand into my pocket and curled my fingers around the golden locket. I pulled it out and undid the clasp. Carefully, I reached across Cassidy's front and snapped the locket back into place. She gasped softly as the golden heart fell against her chest.

"My locket!" she exclaimed. "You fixed it for me!"

"I kinda saw when you broke it," I said bashfully. "I knew you didn't mean to break it, so I had to fix it."