An Animal Mage at Hogwarts

by queenofhades

Cassie and Carla are twins who find out they have magical powers. Entering a witchcraft school, they quickly find their own talents. To add to the suspense, the Camber of Secrets has been opened and Cassie knows who opened it- a friend. Can she betray her

Hogwarts Spin-off: Cassie Harris, Animal Mage, Year One

Part 1

Cassie Harris was an ordinary girl living in New York City. She lived in a cramped apartment, and she went to a large public school where she learned nothing. She was a smart girl and spent all her time reading. She had a fascination with magic, and sometimes odd sorts of things happened to her. Like how she could understand what animals were saying to each other and sometimes they got her.

She had no friends because her twin hated her, and had everything she wanted. Her twin always tried to make Cassie miserable, but even Carla couldn't take away Cassie's animals.

One day, about three weeks before school was due to start, Cassie was eating lunch in a coffee shop when a large figure blocked the door. She looked up, but the sun was to his back and she couldn't make out his face. But when she stepped in, he looked like a very small version of all the giants she had ever read about. And when he looked around, he stopped when his eyes rested upon her. "You Cassandra Harris?" he asked gruffly. Cassie nodded but didn't say anything. This huge man, so big, so imposing, was looking for her. She shrunk back, almost trying to disappear. But somehow when he smiled at her it seemed a lot better than she had thought.

"What are ye readin'?" he asked when he saw her book. She held up her Tamora Pierce to him. It was her favorite for the heroine was learning how to become a wolf. This big man was surely an animal fan for he nodded. "Great many wolves near where I live," he added. "Not sure if they're people turned into animals, though. Might just be regular wolves."

"Where do you live?" she asked curiously. This man seemed harmless. But then, it's New York and you never know what kind of person anyone is.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he replied. Cassie stared at him for a second, and then giggled. "Is that near here?" she said. "Nope. Came a long way, all the way from England." Cassie could tell from his accent that his origins were somewhere in Britain but she didn't know what to make of him. A man who claimed he had come from a school that taught witchcraft! She wished it could be.

"What brings you to New York?" she said. "You and two other people do. You're to go to the school." She stared at him even more. "But- but- but," she said. "Oh, yer parents already know, because I told them. And they said it's fine when I brought all the letters of recommendation, and all the reports of how bad yer school is for you and yer sister."

"Wait. Carla's coming, too?" Cassie was crestfallen. Why her evil twin? "Why, o' course." The man said. "She's got magic smarts in her as well, it works that way because yer so closely related. But it's a different kind o' magic, I'll wager. I know yer into animals an' she's not, so you won't have the same kind o' magic."

Cassie could only hope that her evil twin would not be in attendance. It would really ruin everything.

"An' then there are the Houses. You'll prob'ly be in diff'rent Houses. I mean, sometimes brothers an' sisters are in th' same houses, but it's not likely when ye look a' the two o' ye. By the way, I'm Hagrid. Rubeus Hagrid."

Cassie liked Hagrid instantly. Maybe it was because as they kept talking, he revealed that he was the caretaker and had a love for animals like her own. "An' me dog Fang lives at the school as well," he added. Cassie had always wished for a pet but they weren't allowed in her apartment building.

"Am I allowed a pet at Hog- Hog" "Hogwarts," he pronounced for her. "Yes indeed. Most people have pets, in fact. An owl would be most useful, but others prefer cats or toads fer their familiars. A few kids even have rats; they're cheap. But an owl will carry yer letters and hunts fer herself."

The next morning, after brunch, Hagrid showed up at the apartment. He held letter addressed to Cassie and Carla Harris. Mr. and Mrs. Harris were delighted. "Imagine- a fine boarding school you will both enjoy!" "And we'll have two witches in the family! We'll never have to light a candle again. Can't witches and wizards produce light using their wands even during a blackout?" Hagrid smiled at the enthusiastic parents. "Anytime ye want, Mr. and Mrs. Harris.

"Now I'll be takin' the twins to London by Floo- it's the only way I can do it easily. A portkey would take too much time to set up an' I haven't got a license with this Ministry o' Magic."

Mrs. Harris merely looked puzzled, but Mr. Harris asked "Pardon? What is Floo? And what's a portkey?" Hagrid explained that Floo was a way to travel by fireplaces and portkeys were "like apparating but ye did none of the spells an' such an' ye'll need an object to be the portkey".

So the next day, Cassie and Carla went to their fireplace. Hagrid came in through the front door, and instructed them in using Floo powder. They tossed it in the fire, and the flames turned green…

…Cassie went first, and stepped out in a nice, cozy little kitchen. Carla followed her, and Hagrid came next. "Mrs. Weasley?" He called. A jolly, plump, red-haired woman came into the room, followed by a few red haired boys. "Hagrid! You've brought the children, I see. Cassie, Carla, welcome to the Burrow!"

Part 2

Mrs. Weasley had a daughter, Ginny, who was in Cassie and Carla's year. Ron was a year older, and then a couple years older than him were twins Fred and George. Percy was the oldest one that still attended Hogwarts, but Bill and Charlie worked abroad. Mr. Weasley was as nice as jolly as Mrs. Weasley, but had a fascination with Muggles (as non-wizards are called). Ron had a guest at the house at that time, Harry Potter. Ron, Fred, and George were in trouble with Mrs. Weasley because they had flown Mr. Weasley's car to pick Harry up from his aunt and uncle's house (but that's a different story in another book).

One day, not long before school was to begin, the Weasleys, Harry, Cassie, and Carla went to buy school supplies. Ginny too was to start Hogwarts that year and needed all her supplies.

Cassie looked at her supply list. She had never had a uniform before, but even to a girl from public school this uniform seemed strange. Black robes, a pointed hat, dragon hide protective gloves, and a winter cloak were required. Books were to be bought, and they had titles like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (one Cassie thought was to be her favorite book- and she would be right). The rest were by a man named Gilderoy Lockhart, a young and handsome man who starred in each volume (Mrs. Weasley had a complete set of his books- which were more like novels than reference books in Cassie's opinion). She also needed a wand, a cauldron, a telescope, and brass scales. She was allowed an owl, a cat, or a toad. "We're allowed only one of them? Not all?" she asked. Harry had a beautiful white owl, and Ron had a rat. "Don't get a rat," said Ron. "They don't do anything."

They used Floo powder to get to Diagon Alley, the place where they would buy their school supplies. Cassie and Carla were familiar with it by now, but poor Harry (who was actually kind of famous in the wizarding world, but this is Cassie's story) had never heard of it. He went after Cassie and Carla, but somehow he didn't end up at the same place as everyone else. After a mad search through Diagon Alley, where Ginny and the twins were planted at Gringott's Bank and told NOT TO MOVE, Hagrid showed up with Harry. "Knockturn Alley," he said gruffly to the Weasleys. The twins and Ron looked excited, but Mrs. Weasley clucked her tongue. Cassie asked Ginny what Knockturn Alley was.

"Dark magic," Ginny shuddered. Cassie was scared too, for Ginny was her friend and she trusted her. However, Carla looked intrigued. "What kind of dark magic?" she asked Ginny, but she wouldn't answer except to say: "The kind You-Know-Who uses."

The Weasleys and Harry were talking about a man named Malfoy who was apparently not a friend of theirs. "I'd love to get him for something," said Mr. Weasley. But of course Mrs. Weasley warned him to be careful, as she always did. But something about the name Malfoy made Carla perk up a little. "Are they Slytherin?" Everyone nodded. "Every last one of them… dark mages to the core." Said George (or maybe it was Fred- Cassie couldn't quite tell as she couldn't see their faces).

A new person had met with Ron and Harry, and her name was Hermione Granger. Her parents were waiting at the bank for her, changing Muggle money to wizarding money. Cassie and Carla had to do the same. Their parents had given them lots of American money (they were not poor, but had quite a bit stored away for the education of the twins) for school supplies.

While the Weasleys and Harry got money from their vaults, the Grangers chatted with the girls. Hermione took quite a liking to Cassie.

"Where are you from? Not Britain, I'm sure. You look very American and your accents are foreign." The girls said they were from the city, but the Grangers thought they meant London. There was some confusion until the Harris girls realized that "the city" only referred to New York near New York.

The Weasleys and Harry came out from their vaults and agreed to meet in an hour. The older children went off by themselves and Mrs. Weasley took the first years. But before they left, Hermione pulled Cassie aside and gave her a warning…

… "Be careful," she said to Cassie. "Why? Be careful of whom?"

"Your sister," said the second-year. "Carla is going to be dangerous when she's armed with a wand, and you'll want to watch out. You might get in her way."

Cassie shuddered, because Carla got everything she wanted. And if she got in Carla's way, well, it wouldn't be pretty. Carla had never had any mercy for her twin, ever.

Part 3

Getting robes were easy- as the school year was about to begin, Madame Wilkins had plenty of Hogwarts uniforms. Cassie bought an extra set of robes, these ones turquoise. Carla's extra robes were scarlet with black trim. She had bought darker things than Cassie all day. In the pet shop, she had gotten a black cat while Cassie got a small brown and gray owl. "It will send my letters, and its cage won't be too big," she reasoned. She named it Magpie.

The last thing they bought before they went to the bookshop was wands. Mr. Ollivander had the wand shop, and Cassie and Carla needed new wands. Ginny had one passed down from a brother.

Carla looked first. She waved wand after wand after wand, but she got an effect from only one, an oak wand, twelve inches, with a mermaid hair in the center. Cassie's was willow with a griffon feather in the center.

"Very strange," said Mr. Ollivander. "I have never sold a griffon feather wand before. Most people have more common feathers or hairs. You must be very special, for the griffon is a very special mix of two powerful animals. You will have a very powerful wand, and you will be a very powerful mage."

Carla giggled, but Ginny shot her a look. Cassie wondered what ever Mr. Ollivander could have meant. She, a powerful mage? It didn't seem likely. Mr. Ollivander must be getting old, she thought. Carla is always better than me.

The actual author of the required books was signing books at Flourish and Botts. Gilderoy Lockhart was proud and full of himself, and made Harry be in pictures with him. Then he announced that he would be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

A blonde haired boy Harry and Ron's age teased Harry about being famous, but Ginny stood up for him. "Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" said the boy. Ginny blushed and Cassie did too, both Harry and Ginny were her friends. Carla, however, snorted (and tried to cover it up when everyone except Malfoy glared at her). Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley then had an argument which led to Mrs. Weasley dragging her family out of the shop.

Back at the Burrow, Ginny was looking over her new books. "Hermione told me that it is smart to know some things before you start Hogwarts." Cassie looked over her new books as well, but the Gilderoy Lockhart books were a lot like the novels she had enjoyed reading before she was accepted into Hogwarts- but not as well written.

Ginny was staring at a book that had its cover open, but nothing else. Cassie saw something brown and square sitting there. "What's that?" she asked innocently. Ginny flipped through it, it was a book, with blank pages. "I don't know. It looks like a diary." "I have never kept a diary. Do you?"

"Well, maybe I'll start. It's a cute little book; I wouldn't want to use it for school."

And thus, Ginny Weasley started keeping a diary.

Meanwhile, Cassie and Carla were having problems of their own. Harry had started it without knowing. Carla thought it was "only right" that Voldemort go after Harry. Who wouldn't want revenge? But Cassie thought that Harry should be left alone.

This was the first of the conflicts between the twins. Many more were to come as Carla turned gradually to the dark side. Carla, unknown to Cassie, had bought some extra books that taught dark magic. She practiced them in secret, when the others were playing Quidditch or doing chores.

Cassie knew nothing until one day, the day they went to the train station to go to Hogwarts for the first time…

…Cassie and Carla got one compartment to themselves, and Carla whipped out her book as soon as the train started moving. Cassie was reading as well, and didn't notice the cover of the book. A witch came with a cart of sweets, and both the girls put down their books on the seats beside them to look at the selections. The witch looked at Cassie's book, The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 and smiled, but then she saw Carla's reading. It was The Unforgettable Book of Unforgivable Curses. A dark cloud passed over her face. "Is that on the reading list?" she asked of Carla. Carla shook her head. "I am just doing some casual reading; it's very interesting, as a matter of fact." The witch shuddered and gave them their Chocolate Frogs very quickly.

"Just a tip," the witch whispered, leaning toward Cassie. "Stay away from her!"

Part 4

Cassie gave the old witch's words a few minutes of thought. Stay away from her own twin? It would be unlikely. They had grown up together. Still, said a tiny voice in her head. Still, she has never been your friend. Cassie dismissed the thoughts. They were madness, really. Madness inspired by a witch who sold sweets on a train… who knows why she doesn't have a "normal" job? She might be insane.

Cassie turned back to her book, and forgot about the exchange for the rest of the ride. It wasn't hard. Another distraction came up.

A girl with long blonde hair knocked on their compartment door. "Hi. I heard the old witch say there was a dark witch in this compartment." Carla looked her up and down and dismissed her with a laugh. She seemed to not know that this girl was talking about her. The blonde girl turned to Cassie. "I'm Luna. I think that it would be neat to play Gobstones on broomsticks, kind of fun. You know. Bewitch them to fly around. It would make it hard." Cassie didn't know what Gobstones were and she didn't know one could bewitch them. "Can you really make things fly around?" she inquired timidly. Luna looked at her a minute. "Well, I can't, but there are spells. Even wizard-born people must learn these spells. I don't know a single thing, except a few experiments… in Potions, maybe…" her voice trailed off and Cassie saw a glimmer of a tear in her eye. A minute later it was gone, though. "Would you like to play chess? That's the real reason I came. No one else will play with my set." She was holding a box, and set it out. It levitated and folded out in air, to make a chess table. Wooden pieces walked to their places- walked?! Cassie stared. "Um, is that more, enchantments we learn?" Luna laughed. "You don't know anything about the wizarding world, do you? Just tell the pieces where you want them to go."

Easier said than done, Cassie found out. She also found out why nobody would play with Luna's chess set.

"It's not so bad, once you get used to it. I mean, it's a bit tedious telling the pieces how they move, but I think it is sweet how they forget," said Luna. Carla raised her eyebrows. She had finished her chapter, and was watching the game.

"So, which house have your parents been in?" Carla asked. "Oh, I think everyone was in Ravenclaw. Except my mum, you see. She… she was in Hufflepuff." Cassie noticed that Luna could not talk about her mum without getting a little shaky. But she recovered fairly quickly, as if nursing old wounds.

Soon the game was over and Luna left with a vague wave, which gave the twins an opportunity to change into their robes. "Such a dull color, black," said Cassie. "Oh, hmm, well, I rather like it," said Carla, gazing out the window. "Look!" She had spotted the castle. It stood at the top of a hill like a fortress, and a black lake lay between the train and the castle. Disembarking, the Harris twins followed the sound of a familiar voice "Firs' years this way! Firs' years here, please!" It was Hagrid! He smiled at the twins as he led them to boats. Cassie and Carla got in a boat with Luna and someone they didn't know, who looked just as scared as Cassie felt. Her stomach was doing flip-flops and even Carla looked intimidated as the boats pulled up to the looming castle. Once the first years were assembled in the entrance hall, no one having fallen in the lake, an old woman took them into the Great Hall. It was huge, even to a New Yorker. Cassie was awestruck.

She saw an old, old hat placed on a stool, and to her surprise it started to sing.

"When I was just an ordinary hat

And spent my days sitting on a head

My owner came and told me that

'You'll choose who goes where,' he said

They put some brains in me

And told me what to do

'Sort the students into Houses, see'

And now I must sort you.

You might be in Slytherin, the house

Of the cunning girls and boys

Or perhaps you'll be in Gryffindor, the house

Of the brave, where nobody lies

Or maybe Hufflepuff is where you're meant to be

The good and kind

And the smart ones go to Ravenclaw, you see

I'll just have to read your mind

To see where you ought to be."

Names were read out. Carla went before Cassie. The hat didn't take long to send her to the Slytherin table. Cassie was next. She placed the hat on her head…

… "Hmm, very interesting," the hat said. What? What? She thought. "You are a… well, you'll find out in good time. Let's see. Maybe you should be in Gryffindor? A good place for noble people… certainly not Slytherin like your sister. No, you need a house where your talents can be brought out. Very rare talents, they are. The closest I've sorted is a Parseltongue last year… most interesting… but not just snakes… Well, Gryffindor would do you justice, but you prefer not to go for glory. You go for what's right and don't care about the fame. Is Hufflepuff the place for you? No, no, no. Your mind is very strong, too strong for that house. This leaves Ravenclaw- I like that one. A place that will challenge your mind, Ravenclaw is. And it will bring your talents out as no other house can- RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat. Cassie walked toward the table with a blue banner hanging over it- her new house. Her fellow Ravenclaw students cheered loudly, and cheered again when Luna Lovegood joined them. Ginny Weasley went to Gryffindor.

The headmaster, Dumbledore, informed them that he would make a speech after the feast, and the food appeared. The lady who had shown them in (Professor McGonagall) and Dumbledore left for a while, and came back. "Harry and Ron again," said one girl. She held up a paper. "They've been flying a car instead of taking the train."

Part 5

After the feast, a prefect (who introduced herself as Penelope Clearwater) took the new Ravenclaw students to their dormitory. It was hidden behind a statue of a young witch, who was made of marble and made conversation with anyone who had forgotten the password and was waiting for a friend.

The room the Luna, Cassie, and four other girls shared was of medium size and had six four-poster beds with blue hangings. The whole room was various shades of blue. "I suppose they are the House colors," said one girl, whose name was Mildred.

Cassie chose the bed nearest the window. Luna chose the one next to her. As Cassie opened Magpie's cage and the small owl flew out for a night fly, she looked down at the Forbidden Forest. A dark figure was moving around down there. The others were asleep, so she put on her cloak and climbed down the wall, which was only three stories high and had convenient rocks jutting out like a staircase. She moved toward the black shapes…

… The forest was dark and was a very scary place for a girl of only eleven. But she still crept toward the dark shapes and wished she knew some spells. Somewhere above, there was a rustle and the sound of an animals breathing. I like animals, Cassie thought. Then why am I so scared? She heard something in the bushes closest to her, and she turned around and ran back to the tower. She climbed up the footholds and slipped into her bed, stopping only to take off her cloak and leave it draping across her chair.

Part 6

The next morning, she told Mildred and Luna what had happened. Mildred shook her head and reprimanded her for sneaking out, but Luna looked intrigued. "What could they have been?" she asked, really to herself. "Could you see them?" she directed at Cassie. "I saw shapes or something from the window. But after that I saw nothing," she replied, wondering why Luna was asking. She always had to remind herself to remember that Luna knew more about magical creatures.

Their first class was Charms. Tiny Professor Flitwick taught it.

The rest of the week whizzed by, with Cassie trying to remember where all her classes were. Potions, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Herbology, and Defense against the Dark Arts were her classes. Some of them she decided were useless, like the last one. Gilderoy Lockhart was teaching it and really didn't know anything.

Then, on Friday night when everyone else was resting, she decided to go visit Hagrid. But he wasn't there. Instead, she headed off toward the forest to look around for animals. She held her wand, even though she didn't see how Wingardium Leviosa would protect her. She heard something flying, swooping, and coming closer…

…but it was only Magpie with a letter. Cassie let Magpie rest on her shoulder while she held the letter and walked back to the castle. She stopped at the lake to read the letter. It said:

Dear Cassie,

Hello from Mom! An owl showed up today, and I thought it might be yours. If this isn't Cassie, please forward to Cassandra Harris at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I want you to tell me all about that's going on. Have you been sorted yet? Are you with Carla? Carla wrote a note to me telling me you had arrived at the Weasley's safely, but I haven't heard from either one of you.

You might want to know that someone has been sending me letters from a magic school here, it's somewhere in America, I suppose, but they haven't asked about you. It's called The American Witchcraft and Wizardry Academy. They have written letters about Carla, but I sent their owls back telling them she is at school in England. It's very odd.

Anyway, write back and tell me all about your life there. I want to hear about your dormitory. Do you keep it neat? And don't forget to floss your teeth.

Love and kisses,

Mom

"The American School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is asking for Carla and not me? There must be something about her that is wrong for Hogwarts. I haven't heard of that school. I'll ask Luna." With that secured, Cassie went off to scribble a reply to her mum's letter.

Part 7

She asked Luna in the Ravenclaw common room later about the American school. Luna didn't know much, but Mildred had an answer. "ASWW is a school for magic, but a lot of them turn to the Dark Side. And the teachers are often people who were on the Dark Side and turned good to get a job. It's a school with a very bad reputation. It's like Slytherin throughout the whole school. It's all Dark Arts and many people are purebloods. Your sister must have great potential for the Dark Side if she's getting letters for it- you're of Muggle parentage, aren't you?" Cassie nodded. She thought Mildred was being a bit dramatic. But a little nagging voice told her that Carla could be a Dark Witch, given the opportunity.

The next day she woke up early. She heard a voice, a small one, coming from the window. "Help me!" it said. "Oh, please help!"…

…She went to the windowsill, to find only and ordinary sparrow there. It had an injured wing, and it was talking to her. How could she understand it? Nothing was sure in the magical world to Cassie, but she knew that this bird was talking to her. "I've been hurt! Can you help me?" said the bird to Cassie, and she picked it up carefully. "Is there a reason I can hear you?" she asked it. "Well, you're the only one we can talk to. All the other humans hear no words. And you're the only one we can understand." It said. Cassie Harris understood suddenly. She was an animal mage, just like in all her Tamora Pierce books. She could speak to animals, and they talked to her.

Part 8

She took the bird to Hagrid, who was in his cabin and always knew how to help cure an animal. She decided to ask Hagrid about her talent, for he also understood animals.

"Hagrid, have you ever had a conversation with an animal? And both of you understood?" she asked. "Well, I have never been able to talk to them, but I have always had a connection or somethin' with 'em. Why, Cassie?"

She shook her head. She wanted to keep it a secret until she could predict the full outcome of this on others.

She wandered off towards the forest, but a voice called out to her. "Cassie! Don't go there! You never know what's in there!" It was Flitwick, the head of the Ravenclaw house. The small man ran up to her. "Now, don't go into the forest! All sorts of odd creatures live there. Anyway, I just wanted to find you. You have several owls." She walked to the dormitory, and stopped. There were ten or eleven owls on her windowsill, each holding a letter. She opened the first.

Dear Cassie,

I have heard you are at a new school. Tell me about it! Your mother told me how to send mail by owl, and I found a post office in this place called Horizont Ally. It's this neat place where they sell magic supplies! Your mother tipped me off on this one, too. But owl post seems like such an unsure way of mailing things, I figured I better make copies on my ditto machine to send by different owls. I mean, it's simply silly to depend on an animal for important mail. I hope they find a better way soon.

So write back, but if you have a better way to send the letter, use that because I'm so nervous about losing mail.

Love,

Grandma

Every single letter turned out to be identical. Smiling, Cassie wrote that it is a reliable system and told Grandma all about her classes.

Magpie was still flying Mom's letter, so she went to the Owlery. A large grey owl came at her command, and she let it out the window after tying the letter to its leg. She turned back to find all the owls flying toward her…

…they were asking her questions. A flurry of questions, mostly about who she was, came at her. She smiled at them and spent the afternoon talking to the owls.

Part 9

Weeks went by without event, until Halloween. Cassie had started to hear voices in the walls, voices that were not human and were certainly not ordinary animal. This animal was an immortal, one that could not die unless slain. And this one was evil. Rip, tear, kill, it said. It was almost a snakelike, slithery voice but Cassie could talk to ordinary snakes and they were different. No animal she had ever come across was this morbid.

During the Halloween feast, she heard the voice a little more. She excused herself and started to follow it. It led her to a bit of hallway near a bathroom, the one that a ghost named Moaning Myrtle haunted. But she wasn't prepared for the site that greeted her…

…She was shocked. Never had she seen such a thing, and now she didn't know what to do. What does one do when they see Ginny Weasley painting on a wall, an absent look in her eyes and a stiff, cold cat next to her?

Part 10

Cassie didn't know what to do. She decided to creep away quietly. She went back to her dormitory. She found Magpie there, after a night fly. Magpie flew to Cassie's shoulder and hooted gently. She wasn't saying any words, just greeting Cassie. Cassie was now talking to most of the pets in the school. She would come to her room to find three owls on the windowsill and five cats snoozing on her bed, waiting for her to come.

She crawled into bed, letting Magpie fly up to the frame that held the curtains. She reached behind her and pulled the curtains closed, leaving open only the ones facing the window. The window was open, and a chilly breeze swept into the room. She looked out at the forest, beyond Hagrid's cabin and toward the forest. She sensed the presence of many small animals, maybe spiders, scurrying toward the forest.

She wondered vaguely about what to do with Ginny. From what she had seen when Carla left her Dark Magic books open, many people who were able to petrify or kill an animal but really loved animals weren't aware of what was happening. She decided not to say anything.

A little bit later, Luna and Mildred and all the others came in. "Should we tell Cassie?" Luna asked. "No, I think she's asleep," replied Mildred. Cassie rolled over and tried to go to sleep.

But it was impossible with the whispers of the others. From what she could hear, the cat wasn't dead but no one knew that Ginny had anything to do with it. In fact, her name came up not once. Instead, Harry Potter's name was mentioned.

"But Harry didn't have anything to do with this," she thought. "It was his friend's little sister Ginny." But no matter what had happened or what people thought, she wouldn't rat on Ginny. Whatever she did she did for a reason.

Eventually everyone went to sleep, including Cassie. But then her dreams started…

…She was by the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and walked into it. She walked until she found a clearing, and sat down. A stag came up to her and birds flew overhead. Every animal she sensed, heard, was saying the same thing. "The girls Carla and Ginny," was said over and over again. But no matter how hard Cassie tried, she couldn't find out anything about her twin and her Gryffindor friend.

A dark form approached; it was a form without any shape. It seemed to change shapes as it moved. Cassie stared at it, wondering if it was perhaps the thing she had seen in the forest. But then something interrupted her sleep. It was the sound of someone crying.

It was Luna, crying into her pillow. Cassie was almost irked, for she had almost solved her mystery. But on second thought, she got up and went over to Luna. "Are you ok?" she asked. "It's my mother… it's the second anniversary of her death tonight," said Luna. Cassie saw it was November 1. Luna's mother had died on All Saint's Day, one day short of All Soul's Day. She couldn't think of anything to say, so she just said "Sorry." Then she went back to her bed, to wonder if her problems and dreams were petty compared to Luna, who had no one to turn to.

Part 11

While the school was almost in an uproar over the Chamber of Secrets, Carla was having her own issues. She wasn't having problems with her social life. She had no friends her own year; she considered her year inferior. She knew she must be great, to have gone to Slytherin. The Sorting Hat had said that she would be powerful in that house, but she was also smart. She had gone for the power. Who wouldn't? Her fool of a sister had gone to Ravenclaw with that loony girl from the train, but she knew that she had made the right choice. Plus, she had a couple of friend in second year. Rather, she had one friend. His name was Draco. He had been at the bookstore when they were buying school supplies, and his family was chock full of dark wizards.

Carla's problems lay with her sister. Cassie was simply an embarrassment to Carla. She insisted on saying hello in the halls, and she was always getting owls. Sometimes the owls didn't even have letters, they just came to her.

"Is something up with your sister? I mean, I know she was sorted into Ravenclaw, and that's bad enough, but she's really odd. Plus, she always asks you why you are at certain places, and she wants to know what you're doing," Draco said one day at breakfast. He glanced around, and then leaned toward her. "You haven't told her, have you?"

Carla shook her head. Draco needn't worry. She hadn't told her sister what she and Draco were planning. It had all been her idea, really, but Draco knew more about the whole dark magic thing…

…Later that day, she was sitting in potions. It was a good subject for her. Professor Snape favored her and the other Slytherins over the Hufflepuffs who were in that class with them. Hufflepuff was a weak house, Carla decided, watching a brunette Hufflepuff girl wreck her potion. The potions were supposed to be a dark purplish-blue, and this particular girl had a cauldron full of a rusty orange stew. It was supposed to be much more watery than that, thought Carla.

When the class dismissed, she headed to the library for the break between classes. She never had any fun there for the books with the dark magic, the useful magic, were restricted. However, Draco had lent her a book that he had found in the bottom of his trunk. It was all about how to follow in the footsteps of Slytherin himself, who was rumored to have left a cursed chamber in this school. She flipped open the book, and saw a picture of a snake. The scales of the snake in the book were made of real scales of some sort. There was a caption underneath the picture, which said one thing: Basilisk. She flipped to the glossary in the back, and found that a basilisk was a large snake-type animal that could kill with just a look. She smiled. If she could find this animal supposedly hiding somewhere in a secret chamber, there wouldn't be a single mudblood left in the school. She knew that she was an exception among the other muggle-borns. Even Cassie would go, if only Carla could find this snake…