Disclaimer: Do not own Harry Potter, don't own the wonderful Monty Python, but I do own Cassidy and original supporting characters.
Chapter One
Centurion: You know the penalty laid down by Roman law for harboring a known criminal?
Matthias: No.
Centurion: Crucifixion!
Matthias: Oh.
Centurion: Nasty, eh?
Matthias: Could be worse.
Centurion: What you mean "Could be worse"?
Matthias: Well, you could be stabbed.
Centurion: Stabbed? Takes a second. Crucifixion lasts hours. It's a slow, horrible death.
Matthias: Well, at least it gets you out in the open air.
Centurion: You're weird!
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Cassidy stared around her. This was King's Cross Station, and she was going to the Wizarding School, Hogwarts.
Meekly, she wove her way through the clumps of people, making her way into the train, and searching for a compartment.
She had stringy black hair that had slight waves in it and wend half way down her neck. Her bangs fell into her hazel eyes, framed by thick lashes that gave her a look of child-like innocence. Her lips were full and pale, only a few shades pinker than her deathly pale skin.
Shuffling into an empty compartment, she dragged out a book just as three boys shoved their ways into the little room.
Two of them were obviously twins, the other a black boy. All of them looked healthy and active, laughter spilling from them as they cackled over something to do with dungbombs.
Cassidy felt sick with anxiety, shrinking into herself as they spotted her.
"Ah, hello. Mind if we sit here?" one of the red-headed twins asked her.
She blinked, staring at them for a bit, and then when finally able to find her voice, responded with a stuttering "go ahead."
The other twin stuck out his hand, and she gripped his hand firmly, trying to find an ounce of courage… They seemed like nice guys.
"I'm George Weasley; this is my less intelligent brother, Fred."
"Oy! You shut it!" Somehow, a shouting match turned into a brawl, and Cassidy watched amused, though slightly freaked out.
The other boy shook her hand. "I'm Lee, Lee Jordan. I'm the brains of the operation, no matter what these two oafs tell you."
She grinned at him. "Cassidy Williams…"
"What year are you gonna be in, Cass?" George (at least she thought it was him) asked her. Apparently they had stopped punching each other long enough to hear her name.
"Fifth." She spoke in her thick Czech accent.
"Oh, us too! That's great."
"What House are you in; I've never seen you around before?"
She looked at her hands. "I uh… Don't go to Hogwarts. I mean, I didn't. I went to Beauxbatons."
"But… you're accent isn't French." Lee stated, curious.
"No, I was born and raised in the Czech Republic… But my parents were British."
"Oh, that's cool. So why are you going to school at Hogwarts then?"
"Ah… family difficulties. Yes." She smiled softly at them, and the three adolescents knew well enough to leave it at that.
They talked for awhile, and then the lights went out.
"Um… You guys, what's going on? Why are the lights out? Are we there?"
Fred looked over to his twin, whose worried creases were sure to match his own.
"No, love. We shouldn't be there yet."
"Oh no… What's happening?" Cassidy bit back a sob. She just felt so absolutely alone, like there was nothing good in the world left… Images from her past flicked through her mind, and she whimpered.
"Cass, are you alright?" George asked his new friend.
"Mm mm." She shook her head furiously, and he leaned over from his seat across from her and took her hand. Fred took her other.
"I'm going to go have a look around." Lee said, leaning out the door. "You two keep an eye on her, okay?" They were obviously all freaked out, but Cassidy was having an especially hard time.
'Scoot over, love.' Cassidy moved away from the train's wall, and George took her seat. Both boys had taking on soft tones, trying to calm her down. She was sweating, and her hands were shaking.
She really was a meek little girl sometimes.
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"What in the world are those?" Cassidy stared, fascinated, and the horse-like beasts. They had wings, and to her horror (and fascinations) she could see their ribs. Their blank white eyes contrasted eerily with their long black manes, and the morbid part of Cassidy (a surprisingly large part) found them strangely cute.
The Dementors (she had discovered that they were the cause for her breakdown) had left a while ago, and chocolate had been administered.
Her three male companions stared at her.
"What are what?" George asked her.
"You can't see them?" Cassidy was more than a little nervous… Was she going insane…again?
"They're thestrals… You can't see them unless you've seen someone die." A dreamy voice said from behind Cassidy, and she whirled around to meet wide eyes.
"You've seen someone die?" Fred, Lee and George practically shouted at the same time, drawing the attention of the students around them.
Cassidy ignored them, and addressed the little blonde girl. She had dreamy eyes and a blank smile, her skin was as pale as Cassidy's own, and the older girl realised she liked the look of this girl...They met eyes, even as a little ways over, a large hairy man was yelling something about 'Fir Trees.'
"Who're you?" she asked, softly.
"Luna Lovegood… And you're… Cassidy Williams. Please don't do that with your eyes, Fred, George, Lee. It attracts Silijiuhns." The three boys were bug-eyed, and Luna found this slightly amusing.
"How'd you know my name?" Cassidy was nervous again, even when speaking to someone about three years younger than her.
"Your wristband, of course." Cassidy had recieved this from her late Aunt, on her fifth birthday, and hadn't taken it off since the woman had died. She was slightly surprised by the girl having spot such a slight detail, especially since the bracelet was surrounded by many others, all with meaning behind them.
Cassidy nodded, and they exchanged smiles.
"Excuse me, you're Cassidy Williams?" A male voice asked from behind her. 'Why does everyone sneak up on me?' the paranoid part of Cassidy's brain asked.
She backed up, rotating. She really wished she was back home, safe in her bedroom surrounded by her books… It really was her home now, in her legal possession. How terrible.
She swallowed her treacherous tears down, and inclined her head and the ragged man who had addressed her.
"Uh… yes..? What do you want?" Cassidy found herself wishing that George and Fred were next to her, giving her silent support, and to her surprise, they moved up next to her. Luna was still watching them, but grinned and climbed into a carriage with a red-headed girl.
"I'm Remus Lupin. Professor Dumbledore had me check for you, so that I could help you up to the castle." She met his amber eyes nervously, and relaxed a little at their familiarity.
Familiar. Why were they familiar?
"Alright…"
They loaded up in one of the last carriages with Lee, Fred and George. The twins flanked her, and Remus set about explaining himself.
"Since I was coming by way of train anyway, Professor Dumbledore hoped that I would be able to take you up to the castle and pass you over to Professor McGonagall with no trouble. You are technically a fifth year, so you can't ride in the boats with the first years."
She nodded; her spine straight with anxiety.
"Also, you're too come to his office tomorrow before breakfast. I'm sure these nice boys can show you how to get there." He cast his amused gaze on the three protective boys.
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Cassidy glanced around her, paranoid. She was in line with the first years, and she knew that she stood out. People were staring.
It was surprising how fast she became friends with the three boys from the compartment. They were warm and friendly and made her feel welcome. She hoped that she would be in their House.
Quietly humming 'Hall of the Mountain King,' she watched as the little blonde boy in front of her sat on a stool and a to-big hat was placed on his head. She had been awed by the Great Hall as soon as she entered it (which may or may not be the cause for her song choice) looking up at the ceiling and seeing stars instead of stone. If she squinted enough, she
"Ravenclaw!"
Three out of the four houses clapped, and Cassidy tensed. She wasn't sure she could do this, she wanted to go home... She wanted to go back to France, back to the comfortable blue silk and accents that purred sex.
"Williams, Cassidy."
The attention of all of the Great Hall was on her now, and her hands gripped each other anxiously as the hat was placed on her head.
'Well… this is very interesting. A Black, this might be more of a challenge. What fun.
Cassidy blinked, 'You're talking to me?...' She was curious what he mean't by "Black." Though many people might think otherwise, she was not a stupid girl- she figured this had something to do with her father, considering her own last name was her mother's maiden name. It did not matter that she knew her father was British (one of the very few things she actually did know) because being raised in a Czech household, and then a French school, she didn't know much about British hierarchy.
'How else am I going to sort you? Now let's see… You're kind and you like to please people… You could be a Hufflepuff, except for your affinity with trouble…
'And the fact that I'm a procrastinator.' Cassidy figured she might as well be honest with herself and the hat- he probably would have brought it up anyway.
'Yes, yes, that's an issue. Hmm.. you have a fierce love of learning- that would do well in Ravenclaw. But there is also an ambition there… You come from a long line of Slytherins; you would be accepted into that house."
'The one with the growly kids? I think I'll skip it... er. If I can?' Cassidy didn't know how this was supposed to work, she figured she should just let the hat do its job, but she feared that if she was sorted into Slytherin, its occupants would eat her alive.
Hmmm… Very well. You are... noble, very brave, you'd do the right thing even if it meant losing something... A bit of a troublemaker... OH, I always liked a challenge.
The students were getting antsy, breaking out in whispers about this mysterious older first year who took so long to be sorted.
'You would do great things in both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.'
Cassidy sat nervously on her stool….
'I think it'll be GRYFFINDOR!' Cassidy blanched at the loud noise, almost toppling off the stool. The last word had been said aloud, and she found herself heading towards the house that was cheering the loudest.
"Cassie," Fred shouted (she knew it was Fred because of how he said her name). "Come sit over here!"
Fred and George scooted apart to allow her to sit down, and she got three big smiles.
"You're in Gryffindor! That's great; you're in the best house!" She smiled at Lee as he spoke, her heart calming down.
"So what do you think of Hoggy Hogwarts?" George asked her before shoving mashed potatoes in his mouth.
"Uh… It's amazing. The hat's a little spacey though." They chuckled at this, and Cassidy smiled to herself. It was nice to feel welcome.
A girl across from George gave him a look. It kind of freaked Cassidy out, but the girl was younger than her- it really shouldn't bother her.
"Oh, oh yeah. Those three lovely dorks across from us are Hermione Granger," he pointed at the stern girl, who smiled warmly at Cassidy, "My ickle brother Ronniekinns," this boy turned red and smiled at Cassidy before shooting a glare at George, "And Harry Potter."
There was a sort of drama to the way he said Harry Potter's name, as if almost expecting some sort of scene from her, but Cassidy just smiled softly at them, and stuck her hand out to each of them.
The Potter boy relaxed a bit, and everyone started chatting away. George threw a roll of bread at a red-headed boy down the table, and Fred laughed, telling Cassidy, "That's Percy, he's one of our older brothers. He's Head Boooy." As he said the last two words, he did some sort of mocking hand motions that involved flapping his fingers around.
She laughed. "One of your brothers?"
"Yeah, along with Ronniekins and Perce, there's Charlie; he works with dragons in Romania, Bill; who's a curse-breaker for Gringotts, and our littlest, Ginny, who is the only girl." He spoke, throwing something at that sibling, grinning as she gave him a glare.
"Oh wow, poor girl. She must be going crackers having to deal with you two."
Ron started laughing across from her, his face turning purple, and Harry muttered "It's kind of a rule that all Weasley's are insane…"
The twins ignored this and turned to Cassidy, and she had to lean back a bit as they did so, she was in such an uncomfortable position between them. Vulnerable to attack.
"Oh," George started
"You're cruel." Fred spoke.
"We thought" Tears filled George's eyes.
"That you actually" Fred followed suit, so that she was staring at two boys with glassy eyes.
"Liked us!" they finished together.
Cassidy gaped for a moment. They did that too well. Then, she broke out in a grin, and rapped her arms around their necks. "Awww, you're so cute!"
"Agh.. you're"
"Choking us!"
She grinned widely and let them go.
Suddenly, someone clapped their hands and the whole hall fell silent, except for Lee who whispered over to Cassidy that that was Professor Dumbledore.
He proceeded to speak about how the Forbidden Forest was indeed forbidden (Cassidy swore he looked over at the twins when he said this) and talked about the horrid Dementors. Then he introduced a Rubeus Hagrid as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher (Cassidy found she liked the extremely large man as he stumbled to stand up- remembering him from outside the carriages) and the Remus Lupin from the train as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
To Cassidy's surprise and horror, he spoke her name, "Also, we're accepting a new exchange student from Beauxbatons, Cassidy Williams." Fred and George basically forced her to stand up, and as soon as she could, she shot back into her seat.
"Meep." Cassidy slammed her head onto the table.
She knew the trio across from her was looking at her strangely, and she also knew that Lee and the horrible twins were grinning at her.
Not paying attention as Professor Dumbledore finished the speech, she only took her head off the table when Fred started dragging her by her hand.
They led her up to the Gryffindor tower, all the while introducing her to people she "should know."
"This is Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, they're in your year." George started. Cassidy glanced over the two girls, nervous about meeting new people and being judged. She decided that her fears were unfounded as soon as they smiled at her- bright, big and happy.
"You'll be sharing a dorm with them." Fred finished. Lee had run off to go find something in the there dorm. She was a little worried about that.
"Uh… Hi, nice to meet you."
"Hey!" spoke the girl who George had named as Angelina. "I trust these two have been torturing you as much as possible?"
"Uh… well…" All Cassidy could do was smile. She instantly liked the look of these girls though.
Alicia exchanged grins with Angelina. "No matter, we'll show you how to torture them best." She winked at Cassidy, and the twins voiced their protests.
"Oh no you don't, you can't corrupt her!" Fred looked horrified, and pulled Cassidy behind him, trying to hide her from their eyes, jokingly.
"Evil succubus!" As George shouted this, another girl came up next to him and punched him in the arm. "Owwww!"
"What's this about succubus?" Lee had now joined the conversation, and Angelina quickly introduced the new girl as Katie Bell, who was a fourth year.
"They're trying to steal Cass from us!"
"Oh no, run away, run away!"
Lee threw Cassidy over his shoulder and started running towards the chairs on the other side of the common room, with the girl shrieking.
"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!" Lee yelled, stopping behind a loveseat, with Cassidy still beating his back with her hands.
They had drawn quite a crowd; the first years freaked out, having never seen the Trio's strange antics.
Fred flapped his hands at the three girls, and shouted, "I fart in your general direction!" He skipped quickly towards Lee with George.
Angelina blinked. "They know what Monty Python is?"
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"I told my psychiatrist everyone hates me. He told me I was crazy; everyone hasn't met me yet."
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