A/N: This was my very first fanfiction. I have tried to tweak it, so maybe it wouldn't be so lame, but I just want to see what everyone else thinks. Please R/R!!! Thanks so much!

Also, as sad as it is, I don't own anything Harry Potter. Not the charaters, not the places, not the spells...nothing.

I'm Here When You Need Me- Chapter 1

The Hogwarts Express was moving slowly away from the station. Panicking that she wouldn't have a seat, Sarah Casing started to look frantically through all of the compartments. In every single one, all the seats were taken. She prayed that in this one, the last on the train, there would be somewhere for her to rest. Sarah looked in and saw three people. They were all laughing and talking loudly. Sarah knew who they were, though they had never formally met. To the left of the compartment sat Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. To the right sat Harry Potter.

Mustering up all her courage, Sarah knocked on the compartment door. All three of the occupants, still smiling, looked at her. Hermione was the first to speak.

"Hi, come in," she said politely.

"Thank you. Everywhere else is full," Sarah replied sheepishly.

"No problem," Ron said slightly awe struck.

It was easy to see why both boys were taken aback. Sarah had to be the most beautiful girl either of them had ever seen. She had smooth, tan skin, long, silky dark brown hair, and a smile that could light up the darkest of rooms. Sarah, seeing that the boys were staring at her, thought it would be best if she broke the silence.

"I don't think we have met before. I'm Sarah Casing," she said to the room at large.

"I'm Hermione Granger."

"Ron Weasley."

"Harry. Harry Potter."

Sarah blushed slightly when Harry spoke to her. She had had a slight crush on him since their first year, though didn't figure it out until much later.

"I must confess, I actually know who all of you are. You see, I'm in fourth year as well, but I used to be in Ravenclaw. This past summer, Dumbledore moved me to Gryffindor," Sarah said.

"I didn't know you could do that!" Ron burst.

"Neither did I until Dumbledore called me to his office after the End-of-Term feast. Apparently, the Sorting Hat has been harassing him for three years to have me resorted. Dumbledore didn't think that it was appropriate, but eventually the Hat was bothering him enough that he gave up."

"I have never heard of such a thing. You must be the only one that it has ever happened to," Hermione said knowingly.

"It happened to both my parent when they went here. My mum started off in Hufflepuff, then moved to Gryffindor, while my dad was a Slytherin and moved to Gryffindor as well. It seemed he wasn't 'pure-blooded enough to stay there," Sarah corrected.

"Wow," said Ron.

"That's cool. Now you can hang out with us," Harry said smiling.

"Yes. Now I can," Sarah said smiling back.

After the lunch trolley had come, the group got an unexpected visit. Draco Malfoy showed up, with his usual cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, flanking him on either side. Malfoy had only expected Harry, Ron, and Hermione to be in the compartment, but when his eyes fell upon Sarah, his expression softened considerably.

"The name is Draco Malfoy. Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?" Malfoy said as he shook Sarah's hand.

"Leave her alone!" Harry said drawing is wand.

Both Crabbe and Goyle took their wands out too. They looked ready to fight.

"It's alright, Harry. Its fine," Sarah said, trying to calm the boys down.

"That's right Potter. It's okay," Malfoy said.

Seeing that the situation was starting to get out of hand, Sarah tried to smooth things over by answering Malfoy's question.

"My name is Sarah Casing."

"It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance," Malfoy said with a smirk.

Sarah let go of Malfoy's hand. She always hated it when people smirked; she couldn't explain it, but it just felt rude. She had to admit though, that Draco was really handsome.

"I hope to see you soon, Sarah," Malfoy said.

With a tip of his blond head, he led the other two out of the compartment.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Harry said, angrily.

"I know. That was only slightly creepy," Ron said.

"I think he likes you, Sarah," said a disbelieving Hermione.

"How do you figure that one?" Ron asked.

"I have never heard him be so polite, or to look that kindly upon anyone before."

Everyone looked at Sarah. She was just as disbelieving as Hermione. She had heard about how mean and cruel Malfoy was, but he seemed nice, at least toward her. Not to mention the fact that he was pretty cute.

"Why were you so nice to him?" Ron asked.

"Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed.

"It's okay Hermione. It is just that I was raised to be nice to everyone, even if I don't like them that much. I try to live up to that," Sarah explained.

"That is very admirable," Hermione said.

"Yeah. It's a good quality," Harry said looking at Sarah.

"Thanks, Harry," she said, blushing slightly.

The rest of the train ride to Hogwarts went by very quickly. They played Exploding Snap, and Sarah even beat Ron at Wizard's Chess. When the lamps came on in the train, Hermione suggested that they change into their robes, because they were almost to the school.

As they pulled into Hogsmeade Station, Sarah thanked the trio again for letting her sit with them on the train.

"Really, it's no problem. We liked having a new person with us on the ride," Hermione said kindly.

"Even if you did beat me at chess!" said Ron with a grin.

"Yeah. It was really fun," said Harry right before he looked at the floor.

Sarah smiled. She finally had a group of friends. When she was in Ravenclaw, the only friends she had were Cho Chang and Cho's friend, Marietta Edgecomb. Sarah didn't really like them. She thought they were superficial. All they would talk about was clothes, boys, and gossip about other girls. But now, Sarah finally felt like she belonged. She felt like she was meant to be with this group of people.

The horseless carriages took them to the castle, where they piled out and onto the stone steps of Hogwarts. Everyone walked into the Great Hall and sat at their respective House tables.

"Sarah, why don't you sit with us?" Harry said hopefully.

"Alright, that sounds good," replied Sarah.

Once they reached the Gryffindor table, Sarah sat on the side facing all the other House tables. Hermione and Ron sat opposite of her, and Harry, after seeing that Sarah was sitting by herself, sat next to her. There was a lot of loud talking and greeting of old friends. Cho and Marietta looked around, and upon seeing that Sarah was sitting with Harry Potter and his friends at the Gryffindor table, they immediately lowered their heads in deep conversation. Both had mingled looks of surprise, jealousy, and disgust. Sarah saw this and smirked. Then, out of curiosity, Sarah looked over at the Slytherin table. Draco Malfoy was staring at her. Taken slightly aback, she grinned and gave him a small wave. He smiled back and then turned his head to talk to Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain.

"Who are you waving at?" Hermione asked.

"Umm… Draco," Sarah said innocently.

"WHAT?" Harry burst.

"Why the bloody hell would you do that?" Ron roared.

Sarah was wondering that herself. She decided to be honest with them.

"Well, he seems nice…enough," Sarah said in a very small voice.

"Wait 'til you have a few classes with him, or see him in the halls. Your opinion will change," Hermione sniffed.

Just then, Dumbledore stood. Everyone instantly grew silent. He had always had that power, to silence a room without uttering a word.

He said simply, "The Sorting." Then he sat down.

Professor McGonagall walked to the front of the room carrying the Sorting Hat and a stool, closely followed by terrified looking first years. In the back of the crowd, there was a particularly scrawny-looking boy who was soaked from head to toe, wrapped in a shabby mole-skin coat that was ten times bigger than he was. The boy looked over at the Gryffindor table and, upon seeing someone he recognized, mouthed the words 'I fell in to the Black Lake'. He then saw Harry and his mouth gaped open. The boy poked the person who was walking in front of him and said quite loudly, "Oi, Joe! It's Harry Potter!" Both boys and a few others swung their heads in the direction that the wet boy was pointing. Sarah could feel heat radiating off Harry's body. He put his hand in front of his face.

"I hate it when this happens," he said totally embarrassed.

Sarah, trying to shift the focus off Harry, decided to say something.

"Look! It's a kid who actually fell into the Black Lake! How could you possibly fall in if you're sitting?"

This got everyone to look where she had pointed, and all the older students started to laugh. The boy who was all wet turned a violent shade of red, and then he hung his head.

"That wasn't very nice, Sarah," Hermione said, though she was grinning.

"I know, but I hate it when people do that kind of thing to others. It is so rude. And as if Harry wants the whole student body looking at him like he is some exhibit in a freak show. It is totally uncalled for," Sarah said with a defensive tone.

Harry and Ron, along with everyone else around them, had found the room's reaction very amusing, and they smiled at Sarah.

"I thought it was brilliant. And it made me feel a little better anyway," Harry said.

"Sarah, you have to meet my brothers. I think you will like them," said Ron with a grin.

The Sorting went without any other disruptions. Once everyone was seated, Dumbledore stood again.

"After the feast, I have very important announcements. But for now, tuck in!"

A magnificent feast appeared out of nowhere. Ron licked his lips while rubbing his hands together.

"I have been waiting for this all summer!" he said with longing.

"Honestly Ron, you would think you mother never feeds you the way you pack it in!" Hermione said with slight distaste in her voice. Ron smiled.

They all began to eat. The quartet talked about their holidays, the Quidditch World Cup that had been played that past summer along with the attack that had happened there, and what they thought of various students and faculty. Suddenly, the feast was replaced with desserts. Ron patted his stomach and looked as if he was determining how much pie he could possibly fit into his body before getting sick. Apparently, it wasn't much.

"Ron, why did you eat so much when you know you always feel gross afterwards?" Hermione said with pity in her voice.

"Uuhhh… I don't know. It all looked so good!" Ron said weakly.

Harry and Sarah just smiled. It was obvious to Sarah that this wasn't the first time Ron has done this. All of a sudden, all the food disappeared, leaving sparkling gold plates and silverware. Instinctively, the room at large turned their heads to Dumbledore.

"Well, well, well. To all of our new students, welcome! To our old students, welcome back! Another summer has passed, and here you all are! I am so very pleased." He paused. "Now, to my announcements. Firstly, I would like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor Moody, formally of the Ministry of Magic. He has kindly agreed to come and fill your minds with a wealth of knowledge about defending yourselves. Professor Moody." Dumbledore then motioned for the man he was talking about to stand. There was a buzz of chatter.

"I thought he was supposed to be mad as a hatter? Why would Dumbledore let him teach?" Ron said confused.

"Who is he?" asked Harry.

"He used to be an Auror for the Ministry. There are lots of Death Eaters in Azkaban because of him," Sarah said.

"Yes. That's why he became so paranoid. I have heard he only drinks from his own hipflask," Hermione whispered.

Professor Dumbledore, seeing that he had lost control of the situation, pointed his wand at his neck, and said "Sonorus," so his voice amplified.

"Silence!"

The whole room hushed immediately.

"Secondly, The Dark Forrest is forbidden. Some of our older students would do well to remember that. No magic in the corridors between classes, as some of the walls are still blackened from stray spells from last year. There is also a long list of items that are banned from the school. To see the list in its entirety, see Mr. Filch. Now, on to my last announcement of the evening. This year, Hogwarts will host a legendary event. This school will not only be your home, but the home of many others, as a select few from two wizarding schools will be staying here. This is because the Triwizard Tournament will be played here, at Hogwarts!"

"The Triwizard Tournament?" asked a puzzled looking Harry.

"It is a competition between three schools. There are three different challenges that each representative must complete in order to win. There is a huge prize for the student with the most points," Sarah said excitedly.

"Representatives?" Harry asked again.

"Only one person can compete from each school," Hermione interjected.

"The two other schools," Dumbledore continued, "will be arriving on Halloween. They are Beauxbatons Academy of Magic from France, and Durmstrang Institute from Northern Europe. I want each and every one of you to welcome them warmly and to show them all the kindness in the world. Just because we will be competing, doesn't mean we can't be hospitable."

"Tell that to Malfoy," Ron said with disgust in his voice.

Only because he was just mentioned, Sarah looked at Malfoy again. There he was staring at her yet again. She wasn't sure if she wanted him to stop or not, but she had to admit that it was nice. She had only dated jerks before, and from what she had seen of his behavior, he seemed pleasant enough. She smiled at him. He smiled wider than he had ever done before. He has a really cute smile. And just look at those eyes, thought Sarah. Harry followed her gaze. Seeing who Sarah was looking at, Harry's face tensed up. Malfoy saw Harry look at him, and gave him a teasing grin. Sarah looked at Harry.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you like Malfoy?"

"What?"

"I asked you if you like Malfoy," Harry said flatly.

"I just met him today. I mean, I don't know him," said Sarah.

"Oh. I just thought you might like him," Harry said with slight relief in his voice.

Hermione, who had actually been paying attention to Dumbledore during this last exchange, got up. Apparently, his Start-of-Term speech was over.

"Come on, guys," she said.

Glad of the excuse not to talk about her feelings toward Malfoy, Sarah got up. Harry and Ron quickly followed. Walking to the common room, Sarah felt awkward. She could admit, if only to herself, that she had a crush on Harry. She had figured it out last year when, at a Quidditch match, Harry was attacked by dementors. She felt her heart had stopped beating when it looked like he was going to fall to his death, being saved just in time by Dumbledore. Now, Sarah thought that she might have a small crush on Draco too. But from what everyone was telling her of him, she shouldn't be feeling this way.

Looking for a way to avoid her own thoughts, she decided to bring up the Triwizard Tournament.

"Didn't I read somewhere that Viktor Krum, the Seeker for Bulgaria, was still in school at Durmstrang?" she said.

"That's right! I wonder if he will be coming to Hogwarts," Ron said.

"That would be totally sweet. I love Quidditch!" Sarah exclaimed.

"No way! How come you weren't on the Ravenclaw team then?" asked Harry in surprise.

"Because Roger Davies didn't think that dating the new Chaser would improve his reputation," Sarah said simply.

"You were dating Davies?" Hermione burst with mingled shock and amusement.

"Yeah. He thought that if it weren't for him, I could never get on the team. So, I broke up with him."

"What a bloody prat!" shouted Ron.

"You know what is kind of funny though?" Sarah said.

"What?" Harry asked out of curiosity.

"After I broke up with him, he recruited another girl to be Chaser, and after tryouts, he started dating her," Sarah said with a little bitterness in her voice.

"What a git," Harry said.