On to Chapter Two! Which I think is better than Chapter One. (Chapter one was a bit poorly connected, imho).
Disclaimer- All of the characters and plots invented by J.K. Rowlings belong to her, not me.
Chapter Two
It was dark and pouring rain by the time they reached Hogwarts. Cassi followed Ginny and Hannah down to a line of carriages drawn by invisible horses. By now, accepting something such as an invisible or non-existant animal was perfectly reasonable in Cassi's mind.
But she still wasn't prepared for the annoyingly wet welcome that the castle poltergeist had prepared for them. There were several shouts of "PEEVES!" from the furious students who found themselves pelted with water balloons by the mischievous sprite.
Ginny groaned as she wrung out her hair. "Someday I'm going to join Fred and George in one of their pranks, just to revenge myself against Peeves!"
"Count me in on that one," Hannah agreed.
With a smile, Cassi nodded her head as well. "That actually sounds like fun…"
Hannah winked at her. "Let me guess, at home, you're the 'responsible' one?"
"Well, yes. I'm the oldest daughter, you see, and all of my siblings are rather crazy."
"All? How many do you have?"
"Eight."
"Eight!" Hannah let out a squeal. "Merlin's pants! How do you keep sane? Even Ginny doesn't have that many!"
"Six brothers," said Ginny in response to Cassi's questioning look. "And I'm the youngest."
Cassi laughed. "You do have it easy, then!"
"Come on, older brothers are terrible!"
A disgusted look crossed Cassi's face. "At least you don't have to feed them!"
"Thank goodness for that!"
Giggling, the girls entered the hall. Immediately Cassi let out a gasp, as she viewed the enchanted ceiling. Over the scores of candles floating about and illuminating the room was a perfect moving replica of the stormy night above. Lighting streaked across the sky and raindrops seemed to pour down- though they vanished somewhere in the space between the sky and the candles.
"Come on, Cassi," said Hannah. "You can sit with me until you go to the sorting hat. You're bound to be in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, you're too nice to be in Slytherin."
But Cassi remembered her unfinished book of stories and wondered if that might merit her entrance into Ravenclaw…still, she didn't protest and followed Hannah to a vacant spot on the bench. There was no food yet, although all the students were seated.
Then a hush fell on the hall. Following the others' heads, Cassi turned to see a tall, ancient wizard standing up near the end of the hall. On either side of his table were adults of various dispositions- the teachers, she assumed. Which meant that the oldest wizard must be Dumbledore, the headmaster.
He introduced the slightly younger woman on his right as Minerva McGonagall, and then a ragged old wizard's hat appeared on a stool in front of them. McGonagall pulled out a scroll, and read off the first name. A younger looking child from further up stumbled nervously towards the stool. The hat alighted on his head, proclaimed him fit for one of the houses, and he stumbled off, looking incredibly relieved.
Cassi found herself growing more and more nervous as McGonagall went down the list. It was obvious that the only students being sorted were the first years. Everyone else had been at Hogwarts since they were eleven and would know instantly that she was a newcomer- an outsider. All hopes of blending in (with Hannah and Ginny's help) vanished.
"Young, Cassiopeia," read McGonagall.
Shaking, Cassi rose from her chair and made her way towards the head table. It also dawned on her, as she moved forwards, that she was the only person in the hall not wearing wizard's robes. Why hadn't she asked to borrow something from Hannah or Ginny when they changed in the train? Wouldn't' it be painfully obvious that she was a muggleborn? From something Ginny had said, it seemed that muggleborns were not always accepted by everyone.
She felt (and smelled) the ancient hat settling around her ears. Unlike the previous wearers, her head was actually big enough to support it properly. There were no laughs for her. Only a rather curious silence.
Then she heard a quiet, rather amused, voice in her ear.
"Hmmm. You're an older one, aren't you? Haven't seen one of you for a long time…"
Please be quick.
"Quick? Quick? You're not an easy one to place. Cassiopeia is a Black name, you could be in Slytherin. But then, you don't have the ruthlessness for that. True-hearted, yes, but not bold enough for Gryffindor."
Oh please. Don't keep listing my faults.
"You're clever. I can see that. A good mind. Would you like to go in Ravenclaw?"
She glanced down at Ravenclaw, the only familiar face being that of the pretty Cho. No, she wasn't likely to find a friend there. But Hufflepuff…Hannah was sitting there, smiling at her…and Cedric. What was Cedric thinking?
"I think…HUFFLEPUFF!" proclaimed the hat, not in her ear, but to the crowd. She blinked. Was it really as easy as that?
Still perplexed, she made her way back to Hannah amidst the cheers of the delighted Hufflepuffs. She saw Cedric smiling at her and felt both relieved and shy at the same time.
"Hurrah! I knew you'd be in Hufflepuff!" said Hannah, hugging her as she sat down. "And since you're in my year, you'll be in my room! We have the loveliest common room!"
The rest of the meal was surprisingly enjoyable. Although there were a few questions about how she came to be such a late entrant at Hogwarts, Hannah passed most of these off with- "ministry confusion. The point is, she's here now! And I think she's rather brilliant, if you ask me. We're lucky she didn't get passed off to Ravenclaw."
Cassi grinned gratefully at Hannah. There was nothing like having a friend to vouch for you from the get-go.
And after that Dumbledore announced something about a tournament that was going to be held later that year, and everyone's conversations were focused on that. At least, everyone but Cassi's. She couldn't help noticing Professor Moody's wandering eye staring down at her from time to time. It sent uneasy shivers up her spine.
After dinner, the girls followed the stream of Hufflepuffs down to their common room. As Hannah explained, all the common rooms were secrets, so the only way you could find one was to belong to it. Because their room was near the kitchen, and was accessed through a picture of food, they were usually required to name some obscure ingredient-
"Of something like triple baked black walnut puffs," said Hannah. "But don't worry, you'll catch on soon enough. When you smell the kitchen aromas all the time, you can't help but start picking out the different smells. That makes most of us pretty good at potions too."
The common room itself was round and cheerful- the walls were yellow and covered with lots of crochet and brocade curtains. The couches were all low, poofy, and very soft. At various intervals along the wall were round doorways, which led down equally round tunnels. Hannah gestured towards one of them and led the way down the winding passage to a decently-sized room (round, of course) with a pretty round window looking out onto a garden.
"It's lovely!" exclaimed Cassi, sinking down onto the quilted white coverlet. "So…peaceful!" She reached out her hand and stroked the yellow and black velvet hangings that hung around the bed. "Can we draw these shut at night?"
"Oh yes," said Hannah. "It's really the only way to get any privacy around here."
"Who else rooms with us?"
"Tilly Botherick, Ellen Hampstead, and Olivia Mathews. But they're late getting in at night and always sleep in far too late in the morning. You won't see much of them. I'm actually glad you're here, because now I'll have someone to talk to."
Cassi didn't bother to tell Hannah that, until today, she had been a late riser herself. New school, new schedule, she told herself sternly.
"Is that your trunk?" Hannah asked, gesturing towards the foot of Cassi's bed.
She quickly leaned over and recognized her initials on the handle. "Oh- yes. Mum packed it, but I think she sent it off with Moody. I wonder…" She unclasped the lid and looked inside. To her amazement, in addition to her regular clothes, there were three sets of beautiful satin school robes, cardigans, skirts, blouses and ties. A package at one end read "Florish and Blotts" and when open revealed a set of school books. On top of that parcel was a long narrow tube.
Cassi stared at the tube. Could it be…? She reached over to pick it up and felt a slight tingle go through her fingers. Something rattled inside. She ripped off the end, dumped it over, and watched as a beautiful, black wand fell out onto her bed.
"My own wand…" she whispered.
"That's strange," said Hannah, looking curiously at the black stick. "Usually you have to pick out your wand yourself. Or rather, it picks you. Maybe it belonged to your mother?"
Cassi rolled her eyes at Hannah. "My mum never went to Hogwarts, remember?"
"Well, you never know. Seems like your parents were trying to hide something. Maybe you've got a wizard somewhere in your family tree."
"Maybe," said Cassi, still staring at the wand.
"And anyhow, why are your robes all in Slytherin colors?"
"WHAT?" Cassi took another look at her trunk. Sure enough, her school ties and robe edges were trimmed in silver and green. "Slytherin?"
"Hmm. Seems like more than one person thinks your name is Slytherin."
"I don't get it. What is so special about my name?"
"Well, it's tradition in the Black family. Andromeda, Narcissa, Draco, Sirius, Bellatrix- they're all constellation or star names. And…of course…so is Cassiopeia."
"But that's silly! Anyone can name their family after a star or constellation."
Hannah shrugged. "The only wizards that ever gave their children stellar names were those in the Black family. Even among the muggleborn wizards. Some people say that there's an ancient family curse- or protection- that only a Black can be given a name belonging to a star or a constellation. I don't know if it's true, but people certainly believe it."
"And the Blacks are…Slytherins?"
"Well, everyone except Sirius Black has been in Slytherin- except maybe Andromeda. She married a muggleborn, so she might have been in Gryffindor. Her family disowned her for that. And most of them were Death-Eaters. Well, the Malfoys were never proved, but Bellatrix was one of the worst. You-know-who's staunchest supporter and all that. One of the only ones to admit her connection to him. She's in Azkaban now."
Cassi shivered. She had never in her wildest dreams imagined that her parents might be related to Death-Eaters. Not her kind, caring mother, or her devoted, hard-working father. There was nothing evil- or even power-seeking about them. And surely no Black, even if they married a muggle, would actually live as one.
"That's crazy," she said at last. "I don't care if there is a curse- or whatever. I'm not related to them. And my mum and dad certainly aren't wizards."
Hannah looked at her rather thoughtfully. "You're not…adopted or anything…are you?"
"Of course not!" said Cassi, shocked. "Don't even-"
"All right! All right! It was just a thought."
"Well unthink it. I love my parents dearly- even if they're not wizards. I'd much rather be related to them than to- Bellatrix Black."
"Actually it's Bellatrix Lestrange-"
"Lestrange, whatever. Can we go to sleep now?"
Hannah shrugged. "Sure. Unless…" She pulled out a pillow and whacked it down on Cassi's face. "Unless you'd rather have a pillow fight first!"
As Cassi began her classes at Hogwarts, she became increasingly grateful for Hannah's unfailing cheerfulness and friendship. When simple spells like lumos or wingardium leviosa proved too difficult to master, Hannah enlisted the services of the talented Hermione Granger to tutor her.
"Hermione is the brightest student in our year," said Hannah. "She'll have you caught up in no time."
And sure enough, though rather nitpicky, Hermione did live up to Hannah's promise. Before long Cassi was an expert in spellwork. She suspected that her long-lasting love for words was probably at the root of it. Potions, despite her status as a Hufflepuff, remained more difficult.
And herbology…well, she had to face it. Herbology was not her strong point.
"Umpgh!" she groaned, as she tried to uproot a particularly persistant Riffleroot. They were supposed to crossbreed Riffleroots and Mandrakes and Cassi, as usual, was at least half a step behind the rest of the class.
"Having trouble?" Neville was looking down at her rather worriedly.
"No," said Cassi in annoyance.
"Are you sure? It's going to bite you-"
"Ouch!" she yelped. The Riffleroot went back into its pot of rocks and sulked as Cassi sucked her finger.
Neville winced. "They do tend to do that. Here, let me help you. Plants seem to like me."
"Well, all right then," Cassi agreed, stepping back.
He pulled on his glove expertly, dug around in the soil, and drew out the long, newt-like Riffleroot. It flung itself madly around in Neville's hand, but Neville stroked it with one finger and it went limp.
Cassi stared at it. "How did you do that?"
"Oh-" he shrugged modestly. "I like plants."
"But they're so…"
"Cool?"
"I was going to say threatening."
"Well, they can be dangerous, but most of them are pretty beneficial. Take the mandrakes. In our second year they saved three people, a cat, and a ghost from being petrified for life."
"Petrified? How did they get petrified here at Hogwarts?"
"Chamber of Secrets. Somebody let the basilisk out."
"Basilisk?" Cassi's eyes widened. Here, at last, was something she was familiar with. A mythical beast. "They exist?"
"They're rare, but yes, they do. Don't worry, though. Harry Potter killed it."
Cassi glanced over at Harry, who was working with Hermione and Ron Weasley at the far end of the Greenhouse. "How does he manage to do all these things?"
Neville shook his head. "No one knows. Personally, I think he should be the Triwizard contestant from Hogwarts. He'd be sure to win."
"But he's in our year, right? He's too young to enter."
"Yes. Probably a good thing. The tournament is pretty dangerous."
"But if he defeated a Basilisk- and you-know-who-"
"Well, maybe he'll find a way around it. I know Fred and George are planning to."
Cassi grinned. "Is it true that they faked their way out of sixteen classes last year?"
"Er, no. It was seventeen."
She laughed. "I thought they were going to be bullies at first…"
"Fred and George? No. They're a riot. I don't know how they manage it. I'd be much to scared to go roaming around the castle at night with Flitch and Snape on the prowl…"
Cassi shifted uneasily. It was well-known that the Gryffindors did not like Snape. The Hufflepuffs weren't fond of him, but he taught their favorite subject, so they were careful not to antagonize him. And Cassi, frankly, found him quite intriguing.
The teacher she did not like was Alastar Moody. He was…well…he lived up to his name. Moody. And odd. And just plain creepy. She hated his moving eye and even more hated the fact that he wouldn't meet her gaze during class. Not that she wanted him to- but still, he was the one responsible for bringing her here. As some point he was going to have to explain why. The longer it took, the more uneasy she felt.
And, unfortunately, Defense Against the Dark Arts was directly after herbology. By some interesting twist of scheduling, they had two classes with the Gryffindors in a row, so she walked with Neville to the classroom. She didn't say much. He was intent on discussing the reasons why it was such an important breakthrough to crossbreed Mandrakes and Riffleroots, and she was more interested in catching Hannah's eye.
But Hannah, for some reason, seemed rather put out that Cassi was with Neville. She steadily ignored the two of them and made a point of sitting next to Tilly. So there was little choice but to take the chair that Neville pulled out for her and stare warily at Professor Moody as he entered the room.
Moody was even darker than usual today. And with practically no word of warning, he brought up the subject of unforgivable curses. Without flinching, he used an imperius curse on a spider. Cassi stared at it, stunned by the fact that one wizard could control another. Had Moody used- no. It was an unforgivable curse. If he had used it on her mother he'd be in Azkaban and not in her classroom. But…still…
Then there was the cruciatus curse. And for some reason, it made her feel very queer. It was as though the spider's jerking legs was setting off screams in her mind-
And then Hermione really did scream, calling her attention to the fact that Neville was nearly fainting next to her. She stood up. "I'll take him to Madam Pomfrey," she said.
Moody stared at her, his magical eye meeting hers for the first time since their meeting on her front steps. He nodded once. "Be quick about it."
Intrigued yet? I hope so! I've written half of chapter three so far and I think it's even better than this one. Plus, there are more mentions of Cedric, Quidditch, and Spew, plus an interesting revealation from Alastor Moody... I'll be posting it when I finish it, but I'd appreciate getting some reviews first!
