It took Anton a little over half an hour to find them.
It wasn't as though it had been a particularly difficult task. Before hurriedly leaving the house in an attempt to escape Uncle Vernon's fury, Harry had mentioned that they would be at the park.
To both Helena and Harry's surprise, the man simply approached them in a formal manner and informed them that their uncle had agreed to let them spend the rest of the holidays with Lucian and Cassandra.
According to Anton, their family had been quite cooperative throughout the entire process. So much so that they had even handed over the trunks containing all of their belongings from Hogwarts.
In a way, it all felt completely unreal.
For a few seconds, Helena even felt the urge to return to the house and see for herself how things were going.
However, she quickly dismissed the idea.
It would be foolish.
After all, if Vernon had genuinely agreed to let them leave, there was no reason to willingly go back.
Even so, as she sat comfortably in the back seat of the car, her mind kept returning to the same question.
What sort of conversation had Anton had with Uncle Vernon?
Helena couldn't imagine that it had been a simple one.
She knew her uncle far too well to believe that he would simply accept the situation without putting up a fight. Perhaps she could understand it if all he wanted was to get rid of them, but considering that, according to Lucian, he had also been informed about the change in ownership of the factory, she simply couldn't believe her uncle's behaviour had been entirely reasonable.
Lost in thought, Helena rested her head against the seat and stared absently out of the window. Trees passed one after another as the car carried them farther and farther away from the small town of Little Whinging.
"What are you thinking about?" Harry asked from the other side of the seat when he noticed how distracted she was.
Helena took a few seconds to answer.
"This whole situation."
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"What about it?" he asked, clearly not understanding what the problem was.
"I mean… don't you think everything was resolved a little too easily?" Helena asked. "Do you really think Uncle Vernon simply agreed to let us leave?"
Harry remained silent for a few seconds, as though considering the question before answering.
"No."
The blunt refusal left his lips without the slightest hesitation.
Helena let out a small sigh.
At least she wasn't the only one who found the whole thing strange.
"But does it really matter?" Harry pointed out. "We're out of that house. Personally, I don't really care what they talked about, as long as it means I don't have to go back there. At least not until next summer."
Seeing his sister's expression, Harry quickly added:
"Besides, what could we do about it? We've already left. Whatever happened, we can't change it now."
Helena thought about it for a moment.
Perhaps Harry was right.
After all, she had spent far too much time worrying about things beyond her control. For the rest of the summer, at least, she would be spending her time with friends and people who cared about her rather than those who treated her with contempt.
With that thought, a small smile appeared on her face.
"I suppose you're right."
"Hey, you two whisperers—"
A voice interrupted their conversation.
Both siblings turned their heads towards Lucian at exactly the same time.
They stared at him with identical expressions of surprise, their mouths slightly open, almost as though they had been caught doing something embarrassing—or perhaps something they weren't supposed to be doing.
Lucian watched them for a moment before a faint hint of amusement appeared on his face.
He hadn't noticed that particular trait in the siblings before.
It was rather amusing how, despite their differences, they could sometimes react in exactly the same way without even realising it.
"I was just wondering if you'd like some ice cream or something to eat before we properly begin our journey."
Helena and Harry exchanged another glance.
Then, as though they had reached a silent agreement, they both turned their attention back to Lucian and shook their heads.
"No, thank you," Helena replied.
"I'm fine," Harry added.
"As you wish."
Lucian turned his attention back to the road.
For a few seconds, none of the three said anything.
"By the way, where are we going?" Helena asked, somewhat embarrassed, since she realised she had never actually asked about their destination.
"Is it far?" Harry added almost at the same time.
Lucian let out a quiet laugh at the two questions.
"We're on our way to Cassandra's summer home," he answered Helena first, before continuing. "I wouldn't say it's particularly far, but I wouldn't call it a short journey either."
Harry frowned slightly.
"Then why don't we use magic to get there faster?" he asked. "I mean, there is magic that lets you do that, right?" he added quickly.
Helena nodded slightly at her brother's words, making it clear that she agreed with him.
This time, Lucian simply smiled, as though he had been waiting for that question from the very beginning.
"Of course there is," he confirmed naturally. "But there is no better way to catch up than with a little road trip."
And so began a journey that, from a purely practical standpoint, could probably have been reduced to a matter of seconds.
Instead, they spent hours on the road.
There were small conversations about trivial matters, word games that quickly turned into little competitions between the three of them, which inevitably led to arguments over who had won. They also made unexpected stops in small towns, where they ended up buying sweets and trying dishes they had never seen before.
At first, Helena had thought the journey would be unnecessarily long thanks to Lucian's eccentricities.
But as the hours passed, she eventually forgot all about it.
She became caught up in the warm, carefree atmosphere that had settled over the journey.
Perhaps that was the true essence of summer.
…
As enjoyable as the journey had been, the truth was that people always tended to grow tired during long road trips.
At some point, their lively conversations gradually dwindled into little more than murmurs.
Eventually, exhaustion won.
Without even realising it, Helena rested her head against the window as her eyes slowly drifted shut. Harry, meanwhile, succumbed to sleep as well.
It wasn't until rays of sunlight began falling across her face that Helena woke.
The first thing she noticed was that the car was no longer travelling at the same speed as before.
They were definitely moving more slowly.
She then looked towards her brother, who was still fast asleep, and gently nudged him.
"Are we there yet?" she asked sleepily.
Before Helena could even answer herself, Lucian's voice came from the front.
"Good morning, sleepyheads," he said with mild amusement. "To answer your question, we're almost there."
Helena rubbed her eyes before turning her attention towards the car window.
They were travelling down a rather narrow road lined with old stone-and-timber houses. Some had small front gardens, while others had little porches. Nevertheless, every single one of them looked as though it had been built centuries ago.
At first glance, the place seemed like an ordinary village.
"Where exactly are we?" she asked calmly, looking around with curiosity.
"We're in Godric's Hollow," Lucian replied. "For a time, it was one of the most important magical settlements in all of Britain."
"A magical settlement?" Helena asked, intrigued.
"That's right," Lucian explained. "Long ago, wizards were far more distrustful of Muggles, so they sought out places that could be used exclusively by the magical community. This was one of them."
He paused briefly before adding, noticing that Helena did not seem entirely satisfied with his explanation.
"Nowadays, however, it's become a shared community. Both wizards and Muggles live here."
Helena nodded slowly.
There was something curious about the idea.
At first glance, the village seemed completely ordinary. If Lucian hadn't told her that it had once been a magical settlement, she probably would never have guessed.
Perhaps that very ability to blend into the Muggle world was what allowed witches and wizards to live alongside them without attracting attention.
"You mentioned it's called Godric's Hollow, right?"
Harry, who until then had remained in a half-asleep state, suddenly spoke up.
"Yes," Lucian replied.
"Godric?" Harry said, raising his head slightly as his interest in the subject awakened. "As in Godric Gryffindor?"
He paused.
"That Godric?"
Lucian turned his gaze towards him.
"The very same," he answered simply.
This time, both Harry and Helena seemed to need a moment to process Lucian's words.
He simply continued.
"Godric's Hollow is known, among other things, for being the place where Gryffindor was born," he explained. "In fact, several important British wizarding families have some sort of historical connection to this place."
At those words, the twins turned their attention back towards the windows, this time looking at the little village with considerably more interest.
"They really ought to study a little more magical history," Lucian muttered to himself.
"So Cassandra's house is here?" Helena asked this time.
"Almost, but not quite," Lucian replied. "It's a little farther ahead."
He said this after noticing how both siblings seemed to deflate at the news.
And, sure enough, the car continued through the village until it eventually left the last houses behind.
After a while, the road began to narrow. Shops and houses became increasingly scarce, gradually disappearing altogether.
In their place, enormous trees began to appear.
At first there were only a few.
Then dozens.
Until finally, Helena's entire view was filled with a vast, lush forest.
"It's an unusual place to live," Harry remarked honestly.
His sister gave a small nod in agreement.
"Well, most magical families who have the means tend to live on private estates, usually away from Muggles—or even from other wizards," Lucian explained casually.
Harry nodded at the new information, while Helena leaned slightly against the window.
"I don't see any house," she said, more to herself than anyone else.
Nevertheless, Lucian answered.
"That's because you can't see it yet."
"What do you mean, I can't see it?" she asked quickly.
This time, however, Lucian didn't answer.
Instead, he simply turned his attention back towards the road.
"We've arrived," he said with a small smile.
Yet there was no house in sight.
As far as Helena and Harry could see, there was nothing but an enormous forest.
Before either of them could say anything, however, something happened that could only be described as magic.
Almost impossibly, the forest seemed to open before them.
It was as though the trees themselves were moving aside to make way for the car.
Then, before their eyes, an enormous expanse of land appeared, surrounded almost completely by towering trees.
And right at the centre stood a house.
Although calling it simply a house seemed like an understatement.
The first thing Helena noticed was its sheer size.
The building stretched across such a vast area that she found it difficult to take in its full scale. Put simply, it was enormous.
More than a house, it looked like a castle.
Its walls were completely white, almost glowing beneath the sunlight. Helena had no idea what material had been used to build it, but she was fairly certain it must have been expensive.
The house had several floors, though determining the exact number from the outside was almost impossible. Windows covered much of the façade, and it seemed as though every room had one of its own.
Above it all rose a roof as dark as night. Several chimneys and small towers protruded between the tiles, breaking the otherwise uniform silhouette and giving the mansion the appearance of something straight out of a fairy tale.
Helena remained silent for several seconds, simply staring at the enormous building.
On the rare occasions when Aunt Petunia had taken her shopping in London, she had seen large houses before.
But this was on an entirely different level.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Lucian remarked.
"Is that a house?" Helena finally asked.
The disbelief in her voice was unmistakable.
Lucian looked towards the mansion and, after a brief pause, answered with complete naturalness.
"Yes."
Helena looked back at the enormous building.
"It doesn't look like a house," Harry added, voicing his own thoughts.
"Technically, it is," Lucian said, as though he understood perfectly well why the twins were struggling to accept that fact.
"It looks more like a castle," Harry remarked again.
Lucian let out a quiet laugh.
"Perhaps you're right. At the end of the day, Cassandra's father calls it La Casa Grande."
Helena frowned slightly.
"La Casa Grande?"
"In English, the name is rather straightforward, it is basically The Big House" Lucian explained. "That why he uses Spanish, according to him, it sounds much more mystical in that way"
He paused before continuing.
"Cassandra's family does tend to be rather eccentric."
Helena could only nod at the comment, unsure of how else to react.
It wasn't the first time Lucian had described Cassandra's family that way. Even Cassandra herself had mentioned on more than one occasion that her family was hardly what anyone would call conventional.
The car left the main road and continued along what appeared to be a stone path leading directly towards the mansion.
Helena simply stared out of the window.
Only now did she notice something she had overlooked before.
A vast garden stretched out in front of the house.
A wide variety of flowers had been carefully arranged throughout the grounds, alongside perfectly manicured trees and several stone statues.
Finally, her gaze rose towards the entrance.
The enormous front door stood at the top of a wide staircase that connected to the driveway. It was then that Helena noticed someone waiting for them in front of the door.
It was a young girl with blonde hair, dressed elegantly. Her posture was perfectly straight, and that same indifferent expression remained fixed upon her face.
A few moments later, the car finally came to a stop in front of the entrance.
"At long last, we've reached our destination," Lucian remarked with a hint of satisfaction.
He quickly stepped out of the car and walked around to the other side, stopping beside Helena's door. He opened it and offered her a hand to help her out.
Helena took it and stepped down from the car.
"You've finally decided to honour us with your presence."
Cassandra's voice reached her before she had even straightened up completely. The girl had already begun making her way down the stairs.
Helena immediately recognised that biting tone.
To most people, a remark like that would probably have sounded cold, or even openly hostile. But after spending so much time together, Helena had learned to recognise the faint warmth hidden beneath Cassandra's words.
"Well," she began with a smile, "you came all the way to my house to get me, so I thought it would be rather rude to refuse your invitation."
She continued speaking as she straightened her slightly rumpled clothes.
For a few moments, the two simply looked at each other.
Neither said a word.
Then Cassandra's expression seemed to soften.
"It's good to see you, Helena."
Before Helena could even respond, Cassandra stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her in a brief but comforting embrace.
Helena stood completely still for a moment, caught off guard by the gesture.
She hadn't expected something like that from Cassandra.
But after her initial surprise, she eventually returned the hug.
"It's good to see you too, Cassandra," she replied sincerely.
Cassandra pulled away a moment later, once again adopting the calm expression that seemed almost permanent on her face.
"Harry, I'm glad to see you're all right," Cassandra said as soon as she saw him getting out of the car with Lucian's help.
Harry merely nodded.
"We'd better go inside. Mother is probably just about finished preparing the meal," she said calmly, taking a few steps backwards. "As soon as she found out we were having guests, she decided she had to prepare the food herself."
"Personally?" Helena asked.
"Do you have servants?" Harry asked this time, staring at the enormous mansion before them.
"Of course. Besides a few house-elves, that is. Otherwise, even with magic, maintaining a house this size would be a nightmare," Cassandra replied naturally.
Lucian, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke.
"We'd better go inside before your mother comes looking for us herself."
Cassandra let out a small sigh.
"She might already be doing that," she remarked simply.
With that, the four of them began climbing the stairs.
Cassandra and Lucian led the way, while Helena and Harry followed behind.
The twins exchanged a brief glance, each able to see the nervousness in the other's eyes.
Without a word, they reached for each other's hands, trying to calm themselves.
Then, taking small, hesitant steps, they continued towards the entrance.