Disclaimer: We don't own Harry Potter or Maximum Ride, they belong to JK Rowling and James Patterson respectively.

Chapter Two: Cassidy

I watched in shock as the girl with wings fell from the sky. The class around me all stood, mouths open as she landed with a thud in the centre of the class. No one knew what to do, did we approach her? Did we check to make sure she was living?

After a while she had yet to move, her dark hair was fanning her face, her skin incredibly pale. Her eyes were closed, she looked like she had passed out. Mind you having fallen from a great height like that I would have been surprised if she was still living. The first person to move was Potter, closely followed by his sidekicks, Weasley and Granger. We all let them make the first move, if the bird girl was wild then they could all die first, I'd happily stand in the back and watch. Turned out, she was still unconscious from her plummet to the earth.

After a while the rest of us worked up the courage to venture forward as well, we all crowded around her, looking for signs of life.

"Is it dead?" Lavender Brown said, she was one of my rather annoying dorm mates, who would often speak her mind.

"Lavender, she is not an it!" Granger snapped at her. Potter looked rather sheepish and Sidekick-Weasley just looked confused, but that wasn't out of the ordinary. The girl had now started to move, she let out a groan that sounded like she was in a lot of pain. She opened her eyes for a split second before squeezing them shut again. It was clear to us that the girl was in a lot of pain, and we all cast worried looks to one another. That was when the girl let out a blood curdling scream, jumped up and made a run for it. We all jumped back in shock, personally I worked my way behind a group of Slytherins. The girl made it as far as Hagrid's hut, but she wasn't looking where she was running and ran face first into Hagrid.

"Who are you people?!" The girl yelled, traveling backwards. Now, you might be thinking the most shocking thing about this girl were her black wings, but to top it off, she was American. What was an American doing in Hogwarts?

I didn't really pay much attention to the chaos that was Hagrid corralling the girl into the castle. But he shouted at the rest of the class to stay put, that he was going to get Dumbledore. After he left, there was a long pause, like a universal confusion running through the class.

"Well…that was certainly interesting," Came Pansy Parkinson's voice, turned out even the Slytherins were so shocked that they didn't have any snide remarks on the matter. We thought that the day couldn't get any more confusing, until we heard a roar. I turned, a girl with curly black hair with a white streak through it and mocha coloured skin was running toward us. She looked the definition of furious.

"Wolfie!" She yelled, running in the direction of where Hagrid had dragged the other bird girl. I say other because this one also had wings and was also American. It seemed like American bird kids were a thing, because another girl, this one older, was running after her. This girl had short dirty blonde hair, and grabbed the mocha skinned girl by the arms.

"Nudge! Stop! We need to head back before…." I was going to take a wild guess that the older girl was going to say, 'before we get spotted' but the two other kids must have realised there was a whole class of kids watching them. A whole class of kids who had now drawn their wands.

Mayhem ensured after that, before any of us could shoot a spell, four birds kids shot from the forest. I noted that they all ranged in age now, they no longer looked like the first girl, whom I had assumed was the same age as the rest of us.

"Scram!" A Slytherin shouted, clearly deciding he didn't want to take on a flock of bird kids, not that I blamed him. But we couldn't just run away. I began with a simple spell, stupefy, to at least stun one of the rabid bird kids that was making his way toward me. He didn't take well to be shot at because the strawberry blonde kid had now started to dive toward me. I jumped out the way as he growled,

"Where is Wolfie?!" He yelled, I don't know if it was to me, or if it was a question to the surrounding population.

"I'm sorry, who?" I asked, backing away. They seemed rather confused on how our wands were shooting spells at them and my reply to the kid in front of me seemed to enrage him even more. It was Witch vs Bird kid.

Luckily, someone in the class had run inside and alerted a Professor who had cast a spell and the fighting halted. We all turned, even the bird kids, and looked to Dumbledore. He didn't seem shocked, he didn't even seem angry, he just appeared to be amused by the whole situation and that irritated me to no end.

"Now," Dumledore said calmly, "I would like to invite our guests to the hospital wing, where their friend has been taken," He continued, "As for my students, class has been dismissed, please go to your common rooms."

-oOo-

The bird kids were the talk of the school, even after we attended classes after Care of Magical Creatures. Every corner I passed, some group was huddled up discussing where they had come from and what they were. Felicity told me that the rumours ranged from somewhat believable to insane, one Ravenclaw girl had started a rumour that they had been raised in the Forbidden Forest by the Centaurs and it shocked me that people actually believed it.

"I mean, they were like wild animals," Lavender Brown said in the dorm that night as we were all going to bed.

"They were scared," Hermione snapped to Lavender, "One girl fell from the sky! Those Dementors must have terrified them." Hermione shook her head, clearly distained at Lavender. I had to agree with Granger, Dementors would freak out any sane person.

"How do we know they aren't helping Sirius Black, and this is all a big show to sneak him into the castle?" She continued, ignoring Granger, looking to Parvati Patil for support.

"That seems pretty far-fetched," Patil argued, "I mean, all that to get into the castle?"

"Why not?" Brown argued, "Black would do anything, wouldn't he? And don't forget about Alohomora, she's probably helping him!" I thought she had officially lost it.

"Alohomora and Sirius Black? Using bird kids to get into the castle? Well I've heard it all now," I said, shaking my head. "Don't be so stupid." Apparently, that wasn't the right thing to say.

"I can't believe you of all people are defending Alohomora," Brown said. I stood up, glaring at her.

"I'm not defending anyone!" I snapped, "I'm saying your idea that these kids are helping them is idiotic!" Before I could advance however, Granger stepped in.

"Let's calm down." She stated, looking between me and Brown, "Bringing up the Blacks in front of Cassidy was very insensitive, Lavender," She said, "And I do agree with Cassidy that it is a wild notion, now please, let's all just go to sleep." Granger pleaded. Brown and I glared at one another for a little longer before I climbed into bed. I did not want to talk about the Blacks, I wanted to forget they even existed. I made a big show of turning away from them and closed my eyes tightly.

"You can all think what you want, but I think those kids are animals and are going to be nothing but trouble. They are connected to the Blacks, you'll see." Brown said, none of us commented. But I turned to look at the spare bed next to me that had been there since we had gotten the dorm, but we had all noted it had new sheets on it. Brown could say she distrusted the bird kids all she wanted, but it looked like we were going to get a new roommate.

-oOo-

I was woken up by someone knocking into my bed, I sat up quickly disorientated in the dark. I looked around to see dark grey eyes staring back up at me.

"Sorry," came the American accent of the girl who had fallen from the sky.

"It's…It's alright," I said. I wasn't used to people addressing me directly and something about her eyes seemed haunting. I shook my head. For the first time I noted how short she was and she looked just like a normal girl with her wings not showing. I followed her as she sat on the bed next to me, she looked battered and bruised, but her fall from grace might have caused that. "I'm Cassidy Grayson," I said, I had no idea how to interact with her and I thought introducing myself would be a start.

"I'm Wolfie," the girl introduced herself. I nodded, well at least I knew who the boy was about to punch me over.

"Well…nice to meet you and all," I said shifting awkwardly. How do you even interact with people? Especially at this time of night and considering I was tired. I needed to get some sleep so I could do well in classes tomorrow. Wolfie didn't seem to mind that I was awake and talking to her and started to rummage in her bag for something. "What are you…?" I didn't even get much time to finish as she pulled out clean clothes and just started stripping. I didn't know where to look, but seeing wings attached to a human being was an odd experience. "Goodnight then." I turned away from her and stared at the wall across from me. Wolfie didn't reply for a while, I guessed she was getting ready for bed.

"Night, Cass." That just made me feel weirder, no one called me Cass.

"Uh, night." I turned back to look at Wolfie and saw she had already fallen asleep. She was laying on her stomach and her wings were showing. It looked strangely like the angel of death had decided to take a nap. I looked over at Brown, she thought that these bird kids would bring nothing but trouble. I hoped that she was wrong.