"Hallowe'en!" Ron squealed, not bothering to cover his excitement. "It's gonna be wicked! Any monstrosity plans cooked up this year?" Ron asked Harry, nudging him with his elbow. Harry had decided to drop what Ron had said the other day. Obviously, he wasn't willing to talk about it. Harry thought he'd give him some time – then force and threaten it out of him.

"No, not year; but fear not, my friend, for the mind, it is at work." Harry grinned. He loved Hallowe'en, and their battles that occurred every year against their will (…or with some of their help) against the Slytherins were fun to think up. "But what we could do, is…" Harry faltered. All thoughts of pretend trolls and something to make pink hair look like an accident drained away from his mind. He frowned, still looking over at what had caught his eye.

Ron waved his hand in front of Harry's face. "Hello? Idea? What is it?" Harry pointed, and Ron followed his finger with his eyes. They frowned at each other. "New girl?" Ron suggested, shrugging.

Harry said nothing. Standing over by Dumbledore at the teacher's table was a young girl. A stranger to both Harry and Ron. She looked about their age, but what would be the point of moving to their school in the last year? Harry studied her carefully, although he couldn't see her face as she was turned towards Dumbledore. She had black hair, so long it reached her hips and stayed there in raggedy ends. It was straight, and silky. The girl looked as if she were roughly Harry's height, although he couldn't tell too well. Who was she?

At that moment the girl turned and caught Harry's eyes through the crowd. Harry almost gasped, but caught it just in time and shut his mouth before it had a chance to open. She was beautiful. Her face looked as though it had taken millions of years by very high Gods to form. Every inch of her face was perfectly formed, every bone perfectly in place. Harry wasn't too close to her, but he thought he'd seen a hint of brown in her eyes. A beautiful, glistening brown. The eyes that held that colour were deep, the eyelashes curving over them, shading them, protecting them.

Then she turned, moved away, and Harry blinked. He shook his head and laughed, turning back to Ron. He, Neville, Dean and Seamus were talking about her, wondering who she was. For a moment there Harry had thought… but no. Harry had never believed in love at first sight. No one was that perfect. Not even Hermione had been that perfect…that was the one thing that had made Harry love her even more…

"Yeah, but why would she move here now? If her parents had to move because of…whatever, then wouldn't they have at least waited 'till the end of her year?" Dean was saying.

"Yes, but we don't know why she came here. It could have been an emergency," Neville piped in.

Seamus glanced over at her then back to his friends. "I did hear that someone new was starting here, but I forgot about it until now. Apparently, her name's Cassandra, and she doesn't have parents. She has foster parents who work in a circus, that's why she had to move."

Parvati leaned in from across the table. "Yeah, well I heard she has to change foster parents every two years because she's so difficult to live with." From the seat next to her Lavender nodded knowingly. The two gossip queens.

Harry turned away from his friends. Were they all rumours, or was there some truth in all of that? He knew the circus thing was definitely a rumour. Cassandra… what a beautiful name.

Dumbledore stood up at the teacher's table, and almost immediately, the students noticed and shut up. They were hungry. "Before we eat, I have a few announcements to make. Hallowe'en is next week, and I have a reminder from Mr. Filch that this year, if any rabbits are found within the school again, their heads shall be removed as a reminder of their inconvenience of being here." Harry looked over at the Slytherin table to see Draco and a few others smirking. Harry grinned at Ron. Whatever they were going to do this year would be much worse than a plague of stupid rabbits. Dumbledore cleared his voice. "Also, we have a new student joining us!" Cassandra stood up next to him nervously. She looked a bit scared. Well, anyone would, joining a new and already-started school. "This is Miss Cassandra Leaks, she has moved here with her parents from Cornwall for personal reasons," Dumbledore glared at his students, as if to remind them that personal meant secret, "and will be sorted into a house by the hat."

Dumbledore held out the hat to Cassandra, but didn't offer her a stool. She took the hat from him and placed it onto her head. She'd barely put it on when the hat screamed out, "Slytherin!" Draco clapped hard, along with the rest of the Slytherins, and pushed Goyle, one of his followers, out of the way to make room for her. Harry looked over at Pansy Parkinsons; she didn't look very happy at this new arrangement.

Great, thought Harry. He and his friends exchanged glances. "Another Slytherin to deal with," muttered Seamus.

"And a new Malfoy crony." Ron scowled.

"She won't fall for Malfoy. She could do so much better than that." A few eyebrows were raised and everyone stared at Harry.

Ron grinned. "Why do you care who she falls for? She's a Slytherin, right? You know all Slytherins are bad news."

"Well, of course. I only meant..."

"It looks like Harry fancies the new girl!" Parvati nosed.

Harry sighed. Once his fellow Griffindors had an idea in their heads there was nothing he could do about it. "No I don't," he said, wondering why he was bothering. He really didn't like her. He hadn't even met her yet, and anyway, he was still getting over Hermione.

She was pretty, but beauty is just an illusion.

          Ron and the others (mainly Ron) didn't stop going on about how Harry fancied Cassandra. "Cassandra Potter does sound pretty stupid, though," Parvati was saying to Ron.

          "Well, what about Harry Leaks?"

          "That's even worse!" Everyone burst out laughing, but Harry just ignored it. He knew they were only doing it to get his mind off Hermione, and although it was becoming annoying, Harry thanked them mentally for trying. The only person who didn't seem to be joining in with the jokes was Lavender. Harry spotted her across the common room sitting on her own, looking bored. He stood up and wandered over there. "You alright?" he asked, making her look up.

          She smiled. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine, thanks."

          "You look a bit down."

          Lavender smiled again. "I'm just tired. Thanks, though."

          Harry nodded but couldn't help thinking there was more to Lavender's isolation that met the eye. He decided maybe he should mention Cassandra. "Thanks for not joining in the jokes," he said grinning.

          Lavender nodded but didn't say anything. Silence. "Do you like her though? Just wondering, you know…"

          Harry smiled. "Lavender, I've never even spoken to her before. She is pretty, yes, but no. I don't. I mean, she's a Slytherin! I would rather go out with Snape!" Harry laughed and Lavender broke her tension and joined in.

          Next up was Potions – with the Slytherins. Everyone, for once, arrived there early; they were curious about seeing Cassandra. Not many had seen her up close yet. Harry had, but the picture had swayed in his mind quite a bit. It had been a whole day since he'd seen the mysterious new girl, whose beauty had seemed suffocating; but now Harry was wondering whether his mind had made that up or not. He couldn't remember.

          "Looking forward to see Cassandra?" Ron asked grinning.

          "Yeah, I am actually. I'm wondering if seeing her again will make you lot shut up… I don't fancy her, ok?!"

          Seamus and Ron gave each other looks and just grinned some more. Harry sighed. "Right, that's it, I give up. Think whatever you want."

          "Well, if you don't fancy her, why did you drag us up here so early for potions," Parvati pointed out.

          "Actually, that was them," Harry corrected, pointing at Ron and Seamus. "They wanted to see her up close. See what 'all my fuss was about' blah blah blah."

          Everyone laughed and sat down, waiting for the professor to arrive, along with the rest of the Slytherins, most of whom had also arrived early to get the seats at the front. Everyone was already there when Cassandra arrived. Harry assumed she'd wanted to make a late entrance, not knowing anyone or where she was supposed to sit or anything. She walked in, head down slightly, books clutched to her chest. Harry tried hard not to stare at her. His heart had skipped a beat when she'd walked in. His mind hadn't been playing tricks on him. She was as beautiful as he'd thought.

          Cassandra put a hand up to her hair and tucked in behind her left ear, slowly, eyes darting around the classroom, wondering where to sit. At that point Draco waved, and she walked over to him smiling at someone to sit with.

          Ron sat back in annoyance. "Boring…" he muttered.

          Harry turned his head round to him. "What?" he asked.

          "Cassandra."

          Harry frowned confused. Seamus leaned over. "Yeah; I thought she was going to be really pretty!"

          Harry's mouth almost dropped open. "But she is really pretty–" He said this without realising it and shut his mouth together quickly.

          "Aha!" Ron smiled triumphantly. "So you do fancy her!"

          "No I don't!" Harry frowned. "I just thought she was pretty. You know, like I think Parvati's pretty, or like I think Lavender's pretty," he explained.

          "Oh." Ron looked disappointed, but there was a sparkle in his eye that said he wasn't dropping this one.

          "You don't think she's pretty?"

          Ron and Seamus looked over. "Not particularly," said Seamus shrugging. "She's alright I guess."

          Harry was confused. Alright? She was beautiful. Harry couldn't find words to describe her beauty.

          Snape came in and everything was hushed. "Good morning, class," he said, sounding unusually cheery. He looked around the classroom, smiling. But as soon as he spotted Cassandra, he stopped, his face turning cold. He didn't say anything, and neither did Cassandra or anyone else for that matter.

          "Professor, this is Cassandra, she's new, sir. In the house of Slytherin you'll be pleased to know," Draco said, smirking.

          "Yes." Snape reply was short and tensed. "Professor Dumbledore did tell me of a new student. What did you say her name was?"

          "Cassandra Leaks, sir," said Cassandra. Harry's heart was at melting point. Even her voice was beautiful, if there was such a thing. Harry looked to Snape in confusion. Snape seemed to be amused. "Leaks, did you say?" A wry smile almost creeped across his face, then stopped, shyly. "Well, Leaks, welcome to potions. I do not hope you find all this boring, but Potions is an art you must know, as well as wand-waving and such." Harry, Ron and Seamus all frowned at each other. What was going on? Why was Snape acting so strange?

          Class ended, and Harry collected up his things. Throughout the whole lesson, Snape had been strangely kind to Cassandra. Why? Harry knew she was a Slytherin, and new, so undoubtedly Snape would have been expected to treat her with more kindness than he would any other student, but it did seem as if he were almost fussing over her. Running over every five minutes to ask if she was ok and did she understand what to do and did she need anything.

          Everyone else had already left, and Harry realised he'd been daydreaming, and Snape was shouting at him. He muttered an apology and left the classroom quickly, bumping into someone round the corner. "Oh, sorry," Harry muttered, looking down at the books he'd dropped. He picked them up and stood up quickly. "Sor…" he started to apologise again, but then stopped, seeing the smiling face in front of him. It was Cassandra.

          Harry opened his mouth and closed it again. Should he be horrible to her because she was a Slytherin? He didn't know. "Sorry," he said again, quickly, and tried to hurry past her, but she shifted position very craftily so that he had no choice but to stay where he was.

          "No, no it's my fault, I'm sorry." She smiled again and stuck a hand out. "Hi, I'm Cassandra." Harry hesitated, then slipped his hand into hers and out of it again, quickly. "Hi, I'm…"

          "I know who you are." Cassandra grinned. "Doesn't everybody?"

          Harry nodded shyly, but didn't offer any words. What was she doing? Didn't she know he was a Griffindor? Hated by all Slytherins?

          When Cassandra didn't say anything else, Harry decided he'd either have to speak or else stand there idly looking stupid. "So, why did you move here?" he asked, then wished he hadn't, remembering the warning tone in Dumbledore's voice the previous day.

          Cassandra started walking and Harry with her, side by side. "Well, it's, it's kinda…personal."

          Harry blushed. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean…"

          "Don't worry about it, its ok."

          Nothing much more was said. They got to the entrance hall where they both split off to their dormitories. "Well, I just wanted to say hi," Cassandra said. Harry nodded. She tucked her hair behind her ear again nervously, clutching her books harder.

          "Right," said Harry, hoping that Cassandra couldn't hear the fast beat of his pounding heart. "Well, I'll see you around."

          "Yeah. Bye." Cassandra turned around and walked off. Harry stared after her for a moment, then turned and scuttled up the stairs.

a/n: any thoughts on this story, then REVIEW!!!!! Or email me, whatever. I love feedback. What's the point in putting this on here if I don't know if anyone's enjoying it or not?! By the way, I've decided to put this into two parts. This first part is called "Discovery", and the second part will be called "The Fight." I think I'm about half way through the first part, so it is going to be quite long, bear with me, and REVIEW! Let me know if there's anything you want to happen or think would be good and please, tell me what you think is probably going to happen, so that I can see if I've put too many hints or not enough or whatever, if you know what I mean. Thanks,

~rowan

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