Chapter Seven

"Wake up!" Someone was yelling. Very loudly. Sirius opened his eyes and saw a face very close to his.

"AHHHH!" He yelled, jumping out of bed.

"AUGH!" It was Adrian, and he also jumped.

"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?" Sirius wanted to know.

"Sorry." Apologized Adrian. "Class starts in like, fifteen minutes. I didn't think you'd want to be late."

"Oh." Said Sirius. "Thanks.

Sirius rushed into his clothes, grabbed his books, and tore off down the hall. It was 9:05 when he reached the classroom and opened the door.

The Professor was a ghost, and was ignoring him. "Sorry I'm late." He said, but the ghost just kept talking. He looked around the room, and Alexandra was frantically gesturing for him to sit down. He sat beside her.

"He hasn't noticed you." She whispered.

"Why not?" He asked.

"I don't know. He hasn't noticed anything."

"Who is that?"

"Professor Binns. He's really boring so far."

And boring he certainly was. Sirius felt his eyes drooping and his head nodding as Professor Binns rambled about something or other. As he finally lost the battle to stay awake, class ended.

Next came Herbology with Professor Sprout. "Herbology is a study of plants." Professor Sprout said. "And that is what we will be doing in this class." She set them to work studying the plants set on the table before them. "What can you tell me about this plant?"

Alexandra raised her hand. "It's green."

Students began giggling. "Yes," said Professor Sprout, "it is green. Good observation."

"Aren't all plants green?" Asked Anna.

Sirius shrugged.

Adrian raised his hand. "It has leaves in sets of four."

"Good. Anything else?"

The girl with pink hair raised her hand. "It smells funny." She wrinkled her nose.

"It does have a unique odor, yes." Professor Sprout agreed.

Anna poked the plant. "It's soft."

"Good."

Class was soon over, and Sirius felt a little relieved. Herbology, he decided, wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't his favorite class.

"What do we have next?" Anna asked as they left the classroom.

"Potions." Answered Adrian glumly. "With Snape."

"Ugh." Said Alexandra.

"Not that old bat." Sirius complained.

"He does look like a bat, doesn't he?" Anna asked.

"Maybe he's a vampire." Alexandra suggested. "Maybe he wants to suck out our blood."

"Gross." Said Sirius as Anna and Adrian began laughing. He and Alexandra found themselves joining in.

"That isn't funny." A voice said behind them. Sirius turned. It was the red haired girl. Her hands were on her hips, and she looked angry. "In fact, it's very disrespectful to talk about a Professor that way."

"Even if it's true?" Asked Alexandra, and the others began laughing again.

"What do you know?" The girl asked coldly. "You have only had one class with him."

The smile left Alexandra's face. "I know that he hates children and hates his job."

"How would you know that?" The girl asked haughtily.

"My father knew him." Alexandra said triumphantly, "And he was as hateful then as he is now."

"My father knows him too." The girl said. "And far better that yours does if he says that. You shouldn't speak on matters you know nothing about."

"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Alexandra hissed.

"If it fits." Came the reply.

Alexandra drew her wand. The other girl just laughed at her. "What are planning to do with that?"

Alexandra frowned, put her wand away, and punched the girl in the face. The girl just stood there and let her. "Who do you think you are?" Alexandra asked. "What's your problem?"

"What is going on here?" A cold voice asked. It was Snape, and he looked, if possible, more unhappy than usual as he eyed Alexandra's raised fists, the girl's bloody lip, and the scowls on every face.

Sirius looked at Adrian and Anna, knowing the girl would probably get them all in trouble for their earlier comments. He looked at the girl, who was staring at the floor.

"I'm waiting." Snape directed his gaze on the girl.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, looked up, opened her eyes, and smiled. "Nothing's wrong, Professor, we were just playing around and got carried away."

Snape's eyes narrowed. He didn't believe her. "Are you sure? It looked to me as if a fight were ready to break out. Are you certain you are all right?"

The girl laughed. "I'm sure, Professor. I'm perfectly all right."

"If you say so." Snape muttered, then swept away.

The group was silent until Snape had left. "How come you didn't tell on us?" Adrian asked.

Sirius was confused too. It didn't make sense for the girl to first defend Snape and then lie to him. Especially since Alexandra had hit her.

The girl shrugged. "There wasn't any reason to. It's not like I was in any danger."

"What?" Alexandra asked.

"It wouldn't have done any good anyway. He would have just given us detention or taken away points if I had told him we were fighting and what you said. You would dislike him even more, you would be angry with me, and hostility between us would continue, which is unprofitable for those of us sharing a dorm."

"Oh." Said Sirius. That made sense, kind of.

"Of course, whether you are angry with me or not is unimportant. It would be nice, however, to be friends rather than enemies, even if we do disagree on something." The girl continued.

Alexandra rolled her eyes and left. Anna and Adrian exchanged uncertain looks and followed. Sirius was left alone with the girl.

"Doesn't it bother you that she hit you?" Sirius asked, not being able to think of anything else to say.

The girl shook her head. "No."

"Oh. So what's your name?"

"Cassiopia."

"Cool. I'm Sirius."

"I know." Said Cassiopia.

"How?"

"I was at the sorting, you know."

"You remember me from the sorting?" It had been a blur to Sirius. He had no idea who had been sorted into what house other than Anna, Adrian, Alexandra, Cassiopia, and himself.

"Yeah. I remember everyone in our year. It might come in handy."

"Wow."

"He's not all that bad you know, Professor Snape."

Sirius wasn't so sure about that. Snape certainly had a dislike for him.