Thanks for waiting so long for this! Enjoy ;)

Cassandra's POV

It had been two whole days since I'd encountered that strange delivery man. Two hellish days.
Since school was going to officially begin tomorrow, the usually silent halls of Hogwarts were starting to fill with some incredibly loud wizards, and I'd already had enough. And today was going to be even worse because I had to move into a common dorm. With other girls. Kill me now.
I'd never really had friends, since I'd lived at Hogwarts my whole life. Everyone was older than me, and the only people that talked to me were Millie, Peeves, and the professors. I didn't mind, really. As I've said, I'm not too interested in making friends. Sure, there has been the occasional student who's tried to talk to me, but the only people whom I even considered staying friends with were Fred and George. The prankster twins are always fun to be around, and they're the only ones who didn't treat me like I was a baby.
As I round up the corner to make my way to my soon to be empty room, I bump into a blond boy whose small frame manages to overpower my even smaller one. "Watch where you're going, idiot," he says with a sneer. "I'm sorry, and you are?" He stares at me with a confused look on his face. '"Draco Malfoy," he replies warily. "See, I knew you weren't the king of England! Well then, pray tell, why do you think you have the right to talk to me this way Draco Malfoy? And please choose your answer, for I've already an idea in my mind of what kind of person you are, and I'm sure you'd hate to prove me right on your first day here."
By now smoke is coming out of his ears.
"You little prat-""Now Mr. Malfoy, is that really the way to talk to a fellow student? I'm sure your father taught you some manners in that big mansion of yours." And out of the shadows appears my hero, Minerva "Minnie" McGonagall.
Draco Malfoy stares at her in awe and shock. "Professor! You can't be serious! She can't be a first year, look at how small she is-""Well, Mr. Malfoy, it really says a lot about you if you judge an opponent by their size. I'll let you know that our little Cassandra has brought her fair share of pompous wizards to their knees because they underestimated her, just like you were doing a moment ago. Size means little in a world of magic, Mr. Malfoy. It would do well for you to remember that."
She turned to leave, but not before winking at me with those cat-like, mischievous eyes.
After Minnie left, I realized a crowd had gathered, and under the not so intimidating glare my blonde nemesis had fixed on me, I made my escape. Great, I'd made my first enemy on my first day.
And I say first because I just know there will be more to be come.

I don't remember dozing off, but when I see the red and yellow flashes again, I know I'm definitely dreaming. I smell the smoke suffocating me, I hear the heart-wrenching scream, and them I'm turning and tossing, covered in sweat, as I always do when this nightmare surfaces. I don't remember that day where I almost burned to death, but somehow I remember the flames and the screams. I don't know how I could ever forget them.
I also remember the snarls, and those huge paws with those sharp and glinting nails. I see them swiping, ripping through a woman and then she's falling, until there's nothing but the floor under her. Then all I see is red. The blood, the flames, the scream. The man whose scream is etched into my brain forever. Cassandra, he shouts.
My little ray of sunshine.

I wake up with a start, but I don't stop screaming until I am assured that it was just a dream.
Well, nightmare is more like it.
This is not the first time I've had it though, and I know that's not all it is. Mom told me that I had almost died in a fire when I was little, when my aunt's house had just burst up in flames. She says they don't know exactly how I made it out of that house, but apparently I used some form of Apparition and landed in my mom's classroom, where she'd been teaching a group of 3rd years.
There was still something off about her explanation. Whenever I asked her about the monster, she told me I must have hallucinated, and I may have believed her if she hadn't seemed so nervous. Because even if I couldn't tell a lie, I always knew when others were.
After a while I dropped it, but I was sure that I hadn't been imagining that. I shook off the shudders that started taking control of my body, because now was not the time for a breakdown.
I glanced at the clock and realized I'd been asleep for longer than I had expected. Oh crap. The welcoming feast started in fifteen minutes, and I could not miss it this year, because there was a hat downstairs that was waiting to tell me where I would be staying for the next seven years.
And I just hate tardiness.

I know this wasn't the most interesting chapter, but in the next one we find out which house she's in! I haven't completely made my mind, so if you have a suggestion, leave a comment or send me a DM! Thanks to all of you for making me write this story instead of just giving up.
~Vision155