Chapter 2

Sirifoy: Thanks to those who follow and read my story!

The morning sun woke Lily and Cassandra up. Cassandra knew that Lily had a point last night, but couldn't deny James's intentions. She didn't say a thing about it to Lily, fearing her wrath. Lily was known for her fiery temper. They collected their books for their classes and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Lily and Cassandra had the same classes, but Alec had different classes except for Potions, which they had together. Unfortunately, the Marauders would be in every lesson they have. During Transfiguration, Cassandra received a note. She was surprised since she thought no one took notice of her. She folded it and placed it in her pocket. After the lesson ended, the students rushed out of the classroom to their next lesson.

"Young, wait a minute." Cassandra turned around to face Sirius. She held her books close to her chest. Lily was waiting for her.

"I wrote that note to you. You didn't open it." Sirius stated.

"I couldn't. I was afraid that McGonagall would see it." Cassandra admitted.

"I just want to talk to you. How did you sleep?" Sirius placed his hands in his pockets.

"Well, thank you. I'm going to be late for class." She said worriedly. 'Why does he want to talk to me?', she pondered.

"Don't worry, it's only old Sluggie. We'll tell him we got lost." Sirius grinned. Cassandra melted inside; she secretly adored his smile, like most of the female population in school.

"It's not a good idea." Cassandra dismissed gently and pushed back a strand of hair.

"Okay well, we'll walk with you to class." Sirius addressed his friends as she turned her back to him and hurried to Lily.

"If Potter speaks to me, I'll kill him." Lily whispered harshly. To her surprise, he didn't even approach her. While walking, Lily turned around and saw James smile softly at her.

"Why do you keep turning around?" Cassandra asked her.

"No reason." Lily quickly replied. Cassandra didn't quite believe her, but left it at that. Sirius and Cassandra spoke a bit until they reached the classroom. They had double Potions and Lily was assigned to sit with Alec, as Cassandra and Sirius were assigned to sit together. James watched Lily and Alec intently.

As Slughorn began the lesson, Cassandra pulled out her notebook, feather and ink. Sirius noticed her playing with her braid as the lesson progressed. He didn't understand why he never paid attention to her.

'Do you have other hairstyles?' – He wrote on a blank page in her notebook. She read the question and wrote a simple 'No'.

As Slughorn assigned a potion to work on, they had to grab a book from the cupboard and start working. As she grabbed a book, one of the students sneered at her and said "That's my book."

He was considered a bully among the seventh years and for some reason, he disliked Cassandra with a passion. Neal was his name. It was either this book or a tattered one. She was about to hand it to him when Sirius interfered.

"It doesn't say your name on it, so technically it belongs to the school. So, Neal, leave Cassandra alone and take the other book." Sirius said in an authoritative tone. Neal grunted and left them alone. Sirius led her back to their table.

"Thanks for that." She shyly said.

"Anytime. Look Cassandra, I don't want to upset you, but you have to learn to stand up for yourself. You can't let people treat you like that." He said honestly. It slightly annoyed him that she was so timid. It seemed like forever before she uttered a word.

"Why are you so nice to me?" She asked. 'Since when does he pay attention to me?'

Her question caught him off guard. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you had six years to talk to me and all of a sudden you're being nice to me. Did you lose a bet or something?"

"Young, it's not like that." He profusely denied it.

"Oh, really? Enlighten me." She crossed her arms on her chest defensively.

"I wanted to meet someone interesting for a change and I think there's more to you than being Evans's quiet friend. Besides, it bothers me that you're so shy." He said gently. Another pause. She was thinking about what he said.

"You're right. I just don't think that I'm special." Cassandra quietly expressed herself. She felt tears threatening to fall, so she asked permission from Slughorn to go to the bathroom.

Sirius stood near their table, shocked. He practically knew every seventh year Gryffindor and never thought of getting to know her. He never considered the fact that some people are deeper.

Lily was worried. She saw her best friend and Black in a heated discussion. That was fifteen minutes ago. Slughorn asked Lily to check on Cassandra. Lily ran to the nearest bathroom and saw her crying near one of the basins.

"Cass! What happened?" She sat next to her.

Cassandra took off her glasses to wipe the tears. She remained without them and told Lily what happened with Sirius.

"You're very special, Cass. Some people are too stupid to see that. I guess Black isn't so stupid after all. But I have to ask, why do you feel this way? Did something happen during the summer?" Lily asked. They visited each other frequently over the summer, but Lily thought Cassandra was hiding something important.

Cassandra shook her head and put her glasses back on. "Let's just go back to class. I'll be fine."

"You always say that. It's time you've told me what's wrong." Lily urged her.

"I don't feel beautiful. I feel hideous." Cassandra cried harder after she said this.

"What -?"

Cassandra stood up quickly and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. "Lily, look! Spots, glasses, frizzy hair! I'm not supposed to look like this. I've felt this way about myself for years."

Lily got up from the floor to look at Cassandra's reflection.

"I never knew you felt that way about yourself. It hurts me that you hate the way you look." Lily said before she hugged her. In her mind, she was concocting a plan to help Cassandra feel better about herself.

"Look, we'll talk about it after dinner, I promise. We have to get back to class." Lily assured her.

Cassandra washed her face and said "Thank you, Lily, for being the best friend a girl can have." They hugged again and went back to class.

II

At lunch, Lily confronted Sirius at the table.

"What were you thinking, upsetting Cassandra?!" Lily fumed.

"What happened?" Remus asked, curious.

"You were implying she was insecure. You don't know that! Just because she's quiet, doesn't mean she can't speak her mind." Lily continued. James looked up from his plate to watch them closely.

"I didn't mean to upset her. I'm sorry." Sirius apologized to Cassandra.

"Don't. It's alright, Lily. Sirius, like I said before, you were right." She said.

"Oh well, if it isn't the little freak who stole my book." Neal was nearby with his girlfriend, Marissa, who cackled in laughter. Cassandra didn't say anything.

"Watch it." Sirius growled. Lily stood up as if she was about to attack Neal.

"What are you going to do, Evans? Save your little follower as usual?" Neal smirked in amusement. Cassandra sneered at him.

This time, James stood up too and warned him "Be careful. Any friend of Lily's is our friend too. I suggest you leave them alone and bugger off."

Neal took this seriously and left with Marissa. James and Lily sat down calmly.

"Thanks." Cassandra and Lily said in unison. Lily gazed softly at James. Cassandra was shocked; Lily hated him this morning and now she was grateful towards him. On a different matter, Cassandra had enough. She was tired of all the looks and whispers behind her back. She didn't want to be remembered as Gryffindor's loser. She learned not to cry in front of people but when Sirius spoke to her, she broke down. It was the first time in many years that she showed any emotion about her insecurities.

"What's his problem with you?" James inquired before taking a bite from his lunch.

"Let's just say that they share a history." Lily replied subtly.

"Meaning?" Sirius wanted to know more.

"Back in our third year, Neal fancied me and I wasn't interested. He took it pretty bad and ever since, likes to provoke me." Cassandra explained.

"What a tosser. It's stupid, really. Just suck it up and move on." Sirius said about Neal. He shrugged and finished his lunch.

"I'm sure most of your 'ladies' have a hard time moving on." Remus smirked cheekily at Sirius. Cassandra and James laughed as Sirius rolled his eyes. Suddenly, the bell stroke. It was time to head back to class.

III

After a long first day, Lily and Cassandra ate dinner with their housemates. Lily noticed that Cassandra was playing with her food. She was clearly distracted.

"You know, I'm still thinking about our talk." Lily reminded her. Cassandra sighed. She knew her best friend and was well aware of her persistence.

"And…?"

"You may not know this, but Alice is brilliant when it comes to beauty products."

"What are you saying, Lils?"

Lily suspected that some of the girls were eavesdropping, for some reason.

"Not now." Lily shushed her. Unfortunately, Lily had to go to a meeting regarding her duties as Head Girl. Remus kindly offered to accompany her in the library. They sat down together and extracted their quills, parchment and ink.

"Sirius told me what happened during Potions. Are you alright?" Remus asked her as he opened one of his books.

"Yes, thank you. Are you alright? You're very pale." Cassandra inspected his face. His face was white and had a red blotch near his chin.

"Yes, I'll be alright." He slightly moved away from her.

"Would you like to study together at another time?" She suggested. He complied since his well-being deteriorated. As they gathered their things and walked back, they spotted Sirius running to their direction.

"Moony, here, let's head back." Sirius led Remus gently back to the common room and Cassandra helped. How did Sirius know Remus was with her? How did he know where to find him? He wasn't around when Remus offered to go to the library.

"You should know that James and Lily are back from the meeting. They came up with a fantastic idea: once a month, on Saturdays, seventh years will be able to visit Hogsmeade. The dates will be posted in advance. Dumbledore approved it! We have a trip next Saturday!" Sirius shared happily. That was eight days from today. Cassandra smiled; she loved Hogsmeade.

They arrived at the door and Cassandra said the password to the portrait door. It swung own to reveal their common room.

"Lily, Sirius told us about Hogsmeade! How wonderful!" Cassandra grinned at her best friend.

"Isn't she great?" Alec kissed her cheek. He and Lily decided to take things slow.

"You have no idea." James interjected, a bit angry. This was their second day back at school and he didn't like it that Alec was all over Lily. He knew she fancied Alec, and promised her that he would stay out of their way.

"Cass, let's go upstairs. We need to continue what we discussed." Lily grabbed her by the arm and went upstairs. Alice was waiting for them in their room. Alice, Cassandra, Lily and Marlene shared a room. Alice, Lily and Cassandra sat on Lily's bed.

"Back at the dining hall, I implied that you should get a makeover." Lily opened the discussion.

"Lily told me everything. I hope you're not angry. I only want to help." Alice began softly.

Cassandra nodded. "Don't worry, I'm not angry. Lily said you could help."

"It's going to take some time, but the results are worth it. The first thing I'm going to do this is…" Alice said and let Cassandra's hair flow on her shoulders.

"Enough with the braids." Alice said triumphantly. Lily and Alice felt her frizzy hair and grimaced.

"I know a spell which can straighten your hair for a week, and then it returns to its original form. Since we're going to Hogsmeade next week, you have to buy products which help it stay straight for a longer period. We'll go together to the shop, don't worry." Alice explained serenely. Alice pulled out her wand, pointed to Cassandra's hair and mumbled the spell. After a minute, her frizzy hair didn't exist anymore. Instead, straight and steady hair appeared. Cassandra reached to touch it and gasped.

"Thank you, Alice." Cassandra flashed her smile at Alice, who smiled back at her.

"We've only just begun." Alice said happily.