Ordiri

Author's note: Here you all go chapter 7. Thanks for all the great reviews. Especial you Gina. Keep the reviews coming, even if you've reviewed before I'd like to know your thoughts on the new chapters. OR you can email me. All the titles are in Latin. Double word scores for those who figure out how they tie into the chapters.

Thanks to my Beta-reader Gina, and to Mandragoran (go read her fics) who has to listen to me babble on about my story ideas. Thanks girls.

Jessie looked out the window at other students saying goodbye to their parents and sibling. At the hugs, kisses, and tears.

Not for the first time she wondered what it would be like to have a family. She WAS glad that Crampton hadn't hung around long enough to say anything more than 'don't cause any trouble, missy', in his pompous hoarse voice.

Looking away from the window, she stroked the fur of the large gray cat sleeping in her lap.

"Good ol' Salem. I'm awful glad you stowed away, no matter how much trouble you might get me in."

Salem wasn't her familiar or even hers, despite what most people thought. Salem was her mother's familiar. Well at least she THOUGHT Salem was her mother's familiar. Crampton told her she was stupid for thinking that when she'd told him once. But from some deep instinct or so forgotten memory she knew that Salem was her mother's. Or was her mother Salem's? She could never quite figure out which, and Salem was no help at all in the matter.

Her familiar was a brown barn owl, she'd named Mercade. She had read the name in some muggle play by Shakespeare, who she privately though was bloody brilliant--if not a little morbid. A strange gift, the owl not the playwright, it had appeared soon after she'd gotten her Hogwarts letter. The gift had made Crampton very nervous and very angry, more so than normal.

The bruises on her arms were just now starting to disappear. He never grabbed or hit her anywhere that would be visible to others. When she'd been younger he'd never raised a hand to her. But then she'd never lived with him for more than a few months, that had changed a few years ago.

The owl incident was the last time he'd raised a hand to her. He had received a owl soon after from someone, and it seemed to have scared him half to death.

He was almost….nice to her after that. She personal would have preferred him to go back to ignoring her most of the time.

"Is someone in here with you?" A voice from the door, asked. "Everywhere else is full or crowed with boys. And I don't want to sit with bunch of boys."

Jessie looked up to see a girl with blonde pig-tails and brown eyes. "No...no one is in here with me."

The girl came in and sat across from Jessie. "My names Hannah Abbot...what's yours?"

"Jessie Olson."

The two girls sat in a uneasy silence for several moments. "What house do you think your going to be in?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know…anything but Slytherin would be fine. Probably be a Hufflepuff." Jessie told her, still stroking Salem. "What about you?"

"My mum and the rest of her family were Ravenclaws, but my uncle Luke was a Hufflepuff. I'd like to be Ravenclaw but..." She shrugged. "What about you…what houses were your parents in?"

"I don't know…my parents died when I was little." Jessie said looking at her hands, hoping the other girl didn't pry further.

"My mum's gone too, since I was eight. And my da's a muggle. "Hannah told Jessie. "What's his name?" she asked, as Salem stretched out a paw and protested at being ignored.

"Salem…his name is Salem." She told Hannah. "He's not my familiar though...he just kinda won't leave me alone."

A boy stuck his head into the cabin then. "Have you two seen a toad? I've lost my toad, Trevor."

"No sorry." Jessie told him, before the boy ran off.

The two girls looked at each other and laughed.

"How do you lose a toad?"Jessie giggled.

"I don't know….very carefully and hope your parents don't just buy a new one?" Hannah suggested.

They both burst into a fit of giggles.

The two young girls became fast friends, and discovered the train ride wasn't nearly long enough to get to know the other as well as they'd like.

For Jessie things seemed to go by in a blur because before she knew it her and Hannah were standing in the great hall for the sorting hat ceremony.

Hannah was called first of course, and Jessie watched anxiously crossing her fingers that Hannah would get into the house she'd wanted. When the Sorting hat yelled out Hufflepuff, she grinned at her new friend. Hufflepuff was better than Slytherin. Now if only she could get into Hufflepuff too, things would be perfect.

It was as she stood there waiting for her name to be called that she noticed one of the teachers staring at her. The man was dressed all in black...and like her had black hair and eyes. She frowned slightly, she could have sworn she'd seen the man before. Like a dim hazy memory…..

"Olson, Jessie."

She forgot completely about the strange teacher.

Nervously, she sat on the stool as the hat was placed on her head.

"Ah… interesting. No Hufflepuff no…not for you…plenty of brains...no not Ravenclaw...." The hat said in her ear. "Where to put you…where to put you…can't have you going into that house so better be…."

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled.

She grinned almost running off with the sorting hat. Jessie couldn't believe it...she was a Gryffindor! Her! The girl everyone thought wouldn't get into Hogwarts to begin with!

Sitting down with her new house, she looked around at all the smiling faces. Still beaming over getting into Gryffindor, she didn't think to look up at that strange teacher again.

Then...then the name all the first years had been waiting to hear...waiting to see where he'd go…was called.

"Potter, Harry."

Jessie looked at the boy, and had to admit he wasn't what she expected Harry Potter to look like. Unruly black hair…glasses. No, definitely not what she expected…but she rather liked that he looked unassuming. He didn't at all look the part of a boy full of himself, and she'd met plenty of those to know.

If she hadn't been paying so much attention to Potter, she might have noticed that the dark haired man was almost glaring at her as she sat at the Gryffindor table. It was more of a scowl though…and a look of disbelief. Before the black eyes went back to glaring at Potter.

Jessie added her voice to the cheers of the Gryffindors' as Harry Potter was declared to be a Gryffindor. She couldn't believe it…she…she the daughter of death eaters. A girl no one had ever wanted. Was a Gryffindor...was a member of the same house as Harry Potter.

The feast came and went in a wonderfully blur, the most remarkable moment beging Nearly Headless Nick, showing them why he was called nearly headless. The trip to the Gryffindor tower was a long one. Peeves stood out in her mind…she had to stifle a giggle when the ghost had dropped walking sticks on Percy.

Then of course was the matter of the moving paintings. If she could have she would have stood there looking at them for hours, but she couldn't. And was probably to tired to stand for more than 20 minutes, for the moment they'd gotten to the dorms…

Well not the moment, but soon after, Jessie had curled up exhausted in her four poster bed. A bigger bed then she'd ever dreamed of sleeping in. Salem was asleep at her feet purring contentedly. If Jessie could have purred she would have too.

For the first time that she could remember in her life, she had a family. She was wanted. God she had friends already, that thought it was cool she could speak Latin!

And no one could take this away from her. Nobody.

Sleepily and happier than she'd ever been, Jessie feel fast asleep.