A tall, slim girl with long dark hair and wary eyes looking large in her pale face was running down the corridor lit by torches. As she bolted past a group of Slytherins, they stared at her and shook their heads disdainfully. She bowled right into a group of Gryffindors, who swore and called her a disgusting Slytherin. On she ran, not seeming to notice any of it. Finally, she reached the tower room full of owls, and rushed to write a letter:

31st October 1844

Father, I hope you are well. I sincerely apologize for any embarrassment you feel I have been causing here. I am not well liked in these days after the Tournament, but I assure you the two events are not connected. There are those claiming that I am grieving for the mudblood lost in the Game, but I assure you, I am not in the least. These rumours have been started simply to tarnish my reputation and yours, and I plan to correct them in any way possible.

Your Loving Daughter,

Jessa Alexandra Hearst

The girl shivered as she put down the quill, as if writing these words disgusted her, but with a resigned look on her face, she owled the letter.

Catherine woke to her loud alarm early on the morning of September first. She had been paying more attention to her strange dreams since she had learned that Hogwarts and magic were real. She didn't mean the normal dreams, like she had every night…but certain dreams she had just felt so real…like she was witnessing something that had actually happened, at one point.

It must have actually happened, because she had been dreaming about Hogwarts since before she knew it was real, and she knew things about the castle before she learned them. Like about the four houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. After Dumbledore had taken her shopping in Diagon Alley, she had returned with all her supplies and brought them quickly to her room so as not to anger her father further.

Later, she had looked through it all, and started to read some of her books. She found Hogwarts, A History particularly interesting when she found that she already knew some of the information. It had confirmed to her that the place from her dreams really was Hogwarts. She had to wonder why she was dreaming about things that had happened long ago. She found the parts about the Triwizard Tournament particularly interesting, and yet lacking. It read that the Tournament was banned after too many people had died, but it didn't say how, or who. Catherine knew.

But today, she would finally be going there, to Hogwarts, the scene of so much excitement, herself! Her father had grudgingly agreed to drive her to Kings Cross Station in London. It was only about a half hour drive for them, but he still extremely disapproved of magic and was resentful of the way Catherine had gone behind his back to Dumbledore. He had been ordering her around more than usual this summer, and it grated on Catherine's nerves. She was still unbelievably angry that he hadn't told her about Hogwarts, or her mother's family, the fact that her mother had died, or that he knew where her brother had been all these years. He had kept so much from her because he didn't want her to have the chance to leave him and study magic as well.

Still, she smothered her anger and took his orders sitting down. For the first time, she could see a way out. She knew she wouldn't always have to be here, stuck in this sad house, with him taking his anger out on her. The whole idea of magic was still surreal to her, however, and she was afraid it would all somehow slip away, and then she'd have no escape. Determined not to do anything to jeopardize it, she kept her emotions in check and kept silent around her father, doing as he told and avoiding him as much as possible, as always.

Now, she hurriedly packed her things in the trunk she had purchased in Diagon Alley and dragged it down the stairs. Her wand she kept carefully in the pocket of her robe, even though she had yet to use it since the first wave in Ollivander's when she had felt it come alive in her hand, pulsing with her magic, and she had known it was the wand for her.

Her father didn't speak on the long drive to London, and she didn't break the silence. She stared resolutely out the window, thinking how this was the last time she'd see him for so long. She wasn't the least bit sorry, and she wondered if she should feel guilty for this…but she didn't, and that's all there was to it. When they got to the station, he pulled up to the curb, and she dragged her heavy trunk out. He didn't offer help to her when she almost dropped it, and she didn't expect him to. She finally heaved it out of the smelly old car and turned away. He drove off quickly. Not looking back, Catherine found a trolley and somehow got her trunk onto it. People were rushing past her, all looking certain about their destinations and bored with them at the same time.

Following the flow into the station, she was jostled and she struggled to keep control of the trolley. Finally, she made it to platform 9…and then she saw platform 10. The prescient knowledge from her dreams couldn't help her here, as she had yet to see anyone modern enough to go to Hogwarts through the train station. She pulled her trolley off to the side to let people pass as she checked the ticket number. "Platform 9 and ¾…between 9 and 10…" She thought of the way she and Dumbledore had gone through the wall in Diagon Alley. She discretely approached the wall, but she knew it wouldn't make sense to draw her wand here. If people were doing that, everyone would know there were witches and wizards in the world. She tentatively pushed her hand against the wall, and it went through! With a gasp, she realized she had figured it out and slowly pushed her trolley through and stepped onto Platform 9 and ¾, staring in awe at the magnificent scarlet steam engine.

The platform was crawling with students all running and greeting each other, hugging parents goodbye, and lifting their things onto the train. She walked along the train to find a less crowded entrance and slowly the crowd thinned as she pushed the heavy trolley as close as she could get it to the door. After attempting to lift it onto the train and failing miserably once, she refused to accept that she needed help. There was no one around to help her anyway. She didn't have nice, loving parents, like the ones the girl with auburn hair at the next doorway over had. As Catherine watched, the girl's father lifted her things onto the train while her mother fussed over her, telling her to keep safe and clean and behave. A girl Catherine assumed was the red-haired girl's sister stood aloofly nearby, her arms crossed.

"Hey, you're blocking the door." Catherine jumped and accidently pushed her trolley, causing her trunk to fall off and bash into her shin. She winced in pain and stood up dizzily, grabbing onto the trolley for support. "Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you," said the boy who had spoken initially. He had dark brown hair the swept mischievously over his grey eyes, and he was broad shouldered, yet as young as she was. "You, uh, need some help?" he asked, and Catherine realized she was still standing there, clutching the trolley and looking at him.

"Oh, er, yeah…could you help me lift my trunk?" He stepped up beside her and they lifted the monstrous thing and slid it into the doorway, though Catherine's shin twinged with the pressure she put on her leg and she winced.

"You all right?" The boy asked, looking at her concernedly.

"Oh, yes, I'm—"

"Sirius!" another boy was calling and plowing a way through the people still on the platform. He had messy brown hair and glasses.

"James!" the boy next to her responded, and went over to say hello.

Oh well, so much for that, thought Catherine, and she climbed onto the train and dragged her trunk into the nearest compartment. She left it on the floor, not even wanting to try to lift it onto the luggage rack. She rolled up her pant leg to look at her nice new bruise from the thing…it wasn't that bad, compared to the others that were still healing from when her dad had gotten mad at her for breaking a plate last week.

"Mind if I sit here?" It was the girl with the red hair and the nice parents, standing in the doorway to the compartment. Catherine quickly hid her bruises and stood up, not showing any pain.

"Sure! I'm Catherine Hearst."

"Lily Evans. Are you a first year too?"

"Yeah!" The girls smiled at each other and sat down, Lily leaving her trunk on the floor as well.

Glancing out the window, then back at Catherine, Lily spoke, "Everything is so interesting here! My parents think it's so wonderful that I'm a witch. They're muggles, you see."

"Yeah, I saw you with them on the platform. They looked like they didn't want to let you go, though," said Catherine humorously, yet meaning it.

"Yes, I'm going to miss them too…but they've got Petunia. My sister," she answered to Catherine's questioning look.

"She didn't look too happy," asked Catherine, wondering if she was being nosy.

"She doesn't really like the idea of my being a witch…" Lily said quietly.

"I bet she just doesn't want to be left behind," said Catherine, remembering when her brother had left all those years ago. With a start, she realized Gregory was somewhere on the train right that moment! She sat up and looked out the window. She saw the boys from before, Sirius and James, shoving each other and joking with two other boys, a pale, thin kid and a rather short, stumpy one.

Catherine quickly looked away as the boys headed toward the train. They ended up choosing the compartment across from Catherine and Lily. They could see them partially through the glass doors. There was one other isolated boy sitting in the corner, pointedly ignoring them and staring out the window. "Oh, excuse me, that's my friend Severus! He's my neighbor," Lily explained as she hurried through the doors.

Catherine sighed and glanced out the window. Even Lily had friends already even though she was muggle born…but soon enough another girl, and then two more, made their way into the compartment.

"Why are these trunks on the ground?" One girl asked snootily. "I would have thought to put them up top to make room for everyone else's." She flipped her shoulder-length blonde hair over her shoulder and sneered as she noticed Catherine sitting there. "Hello, I'm Vera Cuzier," said the girl, watching Catherine for a response to the name.

"Catherine," she responded, not standing or offering her hand to this girl. As the girls seated themselves and began a conversation about people Catherine had never heard of, she tuned them out and stared listlessly out the window. Her thoughts again wandered to her dreams…Jessa Alexandra Crabbe…Catherine knew the girl from her dreams must be somehow related to her on her mother's side.

Just then, Lily came bursting back into the compartment, looking upset. She sat across from Catherine, who was likewise ignoring the other girls in the compartment. "Lily, what's wrong?"

"Those boys in that compartment are horrible jerks, and Sev said I shouldn't care about my sister because she's "only a muggle!" Lily was holding back tears.

Catherine was abruptly angry and she glared across the hall to the boys' compartment, watching as the four boys laughed and pushed each other around. Lily's sullen looking friend was gone.

"Don't listen to him! What a prat," said Catherine.

"So," said one of the other girls to Lily, "You're muggleborn?" Catherine glared at her. She knew what this girl was implying. It seemed as if time hadn't changed the attitudes of some people.

"So what if she is?" said Catherine defiantly. Lily just looked confused.

"And you're one of those," said the girl disdainfully. "Well girls, I don't know about you, but I think it smells dirty in here, and I'd rather sit somewhere else." She dragged her down and left, and two of the girls followed suit. The third sat there awkwardly.

"Don't mind Cora, she's horrible to everyone," she said quietly. She had a somewhat round face and short, dark hair. "I'm Alice," she added.

"I'm Lily, and this is Catherine," said Lily. Catherine thought she was pretty quick to forgive.

"How do you know..Cora …and them?" she said suspiciously.

"Our families know each other, and we grew up seeing each other at parties and such. Our parents saw us all on the train, so I got on with her, but I'm glad to get away from her. I hope to God we're not in the same house."

"House?" said Lily, still looking confused.

"It's like where we'll live in the castle, with our House, but it's more than that," said Catherine. She couldn't think of a way to possibly explain the inexplicable hatred between Slytherins and Gryffindors, the centuries long grudge…besides, she didn't even know if things had changed since then. Maybe there were no Slytherins now, she thought hopefully.

"Cora will be in Slytherin, no doubt," said Alice. No such luck, thought Catherine. As Alice explained about the houses to Lily, she dozed off, and slipped into yet another dream about Hogwarts…

"Jessa Alexandra Crabbe," spoke the headmaster, reading from a bit of parchment, while a hall full of students listened. There was a second of dead silence. And then, "WHAT?" from a Slytherin boy with dark hair like Jessa's…her brother. As Jessa stood up, whispers broke out all over the hall. She walked composedly past the flaming goblet, the eyes of the whole hall boring holes in her back.

The scene changed to show a boy with light brown hair and blue eyes waiting in the corridor. Suddenly, Jessa come out of the door and saw him. "Well," she said. "I'm doing something."

"This!" he said angrily. "This isn't what I meant! Getting yourself killed isn't going to make anything better!"

"Ah, but that's not what I'm doing. You, like everyone else, just assume that I am going to lose."

He looked at her warily.

"What if don't?" she said cheerfully. "What if I win? Me, a girl that everyone hates. I can prove that it doesn't take money or power or even favor to win this game. You simply have to be the best."

"And what if you do?" he cut in sharply. "What if you DO lose and you die?" Edward cut in.

"Well, then I prove my father right. Girls really cannot win at anything, they are far too stupid" said Jessa, stepping closer to Edward and looking him in the eye. "Just. Like. Mudbloods." She spat the word at him and turned and walked briskly away.

Lily and Alice woke Catherine and they all changed into their robes excitedly as the train approached the town of Hogsmeade. They made their way to the boats where the first years were being shepherded and got one together. Lily and Alice ooed and ahhed at their first sight of the castle, but Catherine just smiled.

All the first years were speculating about how they would be sorted as they climbed up to the castle. "I wonder what sort of test it is," said Alice.

"Don't you know?" said Catherine. "It's a Sorting Hat, which the founders of Hogwarts made. You put it on your head and it tells you which house you belong in."

"It tells you?" It was the rude girl from the train. "A talking hat, hmm? And how would you know that?"

Catherine panicked. "I, er, don't remember. I just heard that it used to be that way, it might not be any more…"

Just then a professor opened the door and the conversation stopped. She was a young woman, but her face had a pinched, stern look that demanded respect. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall and welcomed them. She then led them into the Great Hall, where four long tables full of older students stood waiting.

They lined up on the side and Lily and Alice glanced at Catherine and smiled when Professor McGonagall took out the Sorting Hat and placed it on the stool. Catherine seemed to be the only first year who was unsurprised when it burst into song. She wondered why none of the other students had heard of this before, when most of them had been raised in magical families, and she had not.

She listened carefully to the Hat's song, knowing from her dreams of history how wise it could be. It sang about how Hogwarts needed to learn from the past, and that events were beginning to unfold that had brought tragedy in the past, and something needed to be done. It was an ominous sign, she thought. Of course, most of the students failed to notice this and only remembered the parts about their houses afterword, but Catherine saw Dumbledore gazing concernedly at the hat, taking in every word.

Lily, Catherine, and then Alice were all sorted into Gryffindor. Catherine was unsurprised to see that the Cora girl became a Slytherin. As Catherine watched the Sorting, she suddenly heard the name "Mary MacDonald!" be called, and she looked up at the stool in surprise to see Mary walking toward it.

"Mary's a witch too!" she said, and Lily and Alice looked at her curiously. "Oh, please be a Gryffindor…" she pleaded quietly.

"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the hat, and Catherine cheered with the rest of the Gryffindors, then jumped up and waved Mary over to sit next to her.

"Mary!"

"Catherine?"

"I didn't know you were a witch!" said Catherine, hugging her tightly.

"Neither did I, until McGonagall came along with my Hogwarts letter! It was quite a surprise for my parents, let me tell you." The girls smiled at each other and Catherine introduced Mary to Lily and Alice. Although they had never been that close, Mary was the one person at school who had ever treated Catherine nicely, and now they found themselves together in an unfamiliar place.

The girls all laughed and talked and ate themselves silly when the food finally appeared on the table. The other first years had another surprise when the ghosts came soaring through the walls. For Catherine, it was comforting to see that things really hadn't changed all that much since the time of Jessa Alexandra Crabbe. However, she wasn't quite ready to let anyone else know about her dreams just yet, so she kept her knowledge to herself and acted just as surprised as anyone else.

After the sorting, all the first years started to follow the Gryffindor Prefects to Gryffindor tower, but a sharp hand pulled Catherine aside into a corridor hidden behind a tapestry.

"Hello again, Catherine," he said coldly.

"Gregory!" She couldn't believe it was her brother. She took a step back and looked at him. He seemed so much older… he looked much like their father.

"You've made a bad start here, Catherine," he said, backing her into the cramped corner as he spoke, shaking his finger in her face.

"What do you mean?" she said nervously. He looked angry.

"Gryffindor," he spat. "How could you? Of all the houses! And then you go hugging that mudblood!" He was pacing back and forth in the small space now.

"So…I take it you're in Slytherin, then?" seethed Catherine. She was getting angrier by the second.

"As our mother was," he affirmed, "and as you should be," he glared at her.

"Go to hell," said Catherine fiercely. Gregory stared at her in surprise."Five years," she went on, "Five years of not knowing where you were or if you were even alive, five years, you just left me, with him, knowing what he was like! You left me there!" She was yelling now. "And now I've finally found you and I know about mum and you come and tell me that the only person who was ever nice to me in that hellhole is someone I shouldn't hang around with!"

He raised his hand as if to slap her, just the way her father always did, and she cringed, but his blow never fell. Sirius Black was standing there holding back Gregory's arm with a murderous look on his face.

"You little prat!" screamed Gregory as he shook his arm loose and drew his wand. Catherine was suddenly afraid for Sirius. Then James and two other boys ran into the corridor and saw Gregory with his wand raised. Gregory turned on Catherine, grabbing her and holding his wand to her neck; he whispered in her ear, "I'm warning you Catherine, you'd better watch who you spend your time with," and he abruptly released her and disappeared through the tapestry. Catherine sat down heavily, shaking, right there on the floor.

Everyone was silent as the portrait slammed behind him. Then, Sirius said, "We're ok, guys," and James and the two boys left, staring at Catherine.

Sirius just helped Catherine up, said, "You ok?" and waited for her nod, then followed right after the other boys.

Shaking her head, Catherine waited a moment, processing what had just happened. Gregory, a Slytherin, looking so cruel and acting like her father….she would never have thought it of him. She remembered what Dumbledore had said to her father, about her brother having chosen to surround himself with a "rather vicious" circle of people. She shivered and left the corridor, finding herself in an unfamiliar hallway. She looked more closely at the walls, trying to imagine them as they were a hundred years ago, and picked a direction to walk in. Soon, she found the familiar corridors leading to the Gryffindor Tower, and where she knew the door to be, saw a portrait of a fat lady in an opera gown.

"Um…hello?" said Catherine stupidly. "Is this where to get into Gryffindor Tower?"

"If you know the password," said the fat lady in the portrait.

Luckily, at that moment an older Gryffindor girl and boy came down the corridor and saw her predicament. They gave her the password, "Wicker wand" and they all climbed in.

"Catherine?" said Lily, approaching from a corner of the vast common room. "Where were you?"

"Oh…just exploring," said Catherine nervously. She was not quite ready to explain the situation with her brother yet any more than she was to tell everyone about her dreams.

"Well come on, let's go and see the dorm!" said Lily excitedly. Catherine smiled serenely as Lily led her up the stairs into the room that was both familiar and yet different to Catherine, where Alice and Mary waited.

As she lay down on her bed, Catherine thought, "I'm really here..." She knew it was an amazing thing to be here at Hogwarts, but she also knew that what she had faced with her brother today was only the start of a long battle in the years to come.