DADA was a joke.

Cassiopeia knew this the moment the blonde haired ponce announced his acceptance to becoming part of the Hogwarts Staff in Diagon Alley. However, she had held some hope that the peacock was at least an arrogant ponce that knew his subject.

She was mistaken.

Gildorey Lockhart was an annoying, idiotic, ponce with one functioning brain cell.

Upon arriving at class, Adelaide and Jasper walking them, Lockhart had bemoaned their unfortunate accident and proceeded to tell the class of his own time facing a bully. Except his bully, in his words, had been a werewolf he had turned back into a man.

Right.

Cassiopeia had scoffed. She may be a novice in the Wizarding World, but she had read enough to know that it was impossible to reverse the effects of lycanism. People actually believe this idiot.

It made Cassiopeia thankful to have commandeered Gemma's old notes. At least using her notes, there would be sufficient information that she could share with her study group so they could pass their exams.

Cassiopeia was quite looking forward to the study session in the library. She had had a good number of first years from all the Houses express their interest and she thinks they've gotten a good rhythm on what subjects everyone excelled at most.

In Gryffindor, Ginny and Colin were particularly good at defense. Joining the defense group was Cayden.

Justin, Corvus, and Connor were brilliant at Potions and Luna, Astoria, and Lacy loved Herbology.

For transfiguration, Matthew, Caelum, Lysandra, and Emily shined, while Nicholas, Elizabeth, and herself took the lead in Charms.

It was a well rounded group and Cassiopeia was proud of herself. For the most part, everyone got along brilliantly.

They met for two hours, twice a week in the library. Madam Pince had allowed them access to one of the study rooms on the second floor, allowing them to speak without fear of being kicked out.

For the most part, they all worked on homework together, pausing to help each other when they ran into a roadblock or didn't completely understand a concept.

Many of the older students always paused at seeing the group, something Cassiopeia took a little satisfaction in every time it was noted. They simply couldn't understand how all four houses could co-exist peacefully. It's as if they don't realize the Hogwarts Houses and house prejudices only last in Hogwarts. They'll have to interact in the real world.

"How do you get it up so smoothly?" Matthew, a brown haired Ravenclaw, asked exasperatedly.

Cassiopeia and Elizabeth giggled, drawing a groan out of the aforementioned boy.

"You have to be confident Matt," Elizabeth told her housemate, delicately floating her feather down to land on the desk.

"Easy for you to say," Justin rolled his eyes. "You got the spell right on the third try."

"Yours blew up on the third try," Colin laughed unhelpfully, teasing his dorm mate.

Shoving the energetic blonde, Justin tried to hide the growing blush as the others gaped at him.

"It was only the tip that caught fire!" He quickly tried to defend.

"Ok, ok, pull your wands out," Cassiopeia laughed, smoothly unsheathing her own wand. "Now, first, visualize what you want to do. Picture the feather floating up, smoothly and slowly."

"Why so detailed?" Emily asked.

"The more exact you picture the spell to be, the better it is at actually performing as you wish. If you just want it up, the feather may shoot up." Corvus adopted a teaching tone. "It's fine now, but if you're trying to levitate something heavier, even a person, the sudden lift could be a problem."

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested the information and then attempted to visualize the white feathers Hedwig had helpfully donated floating smoothly into the air.

"Now, practice the wand motion. Make it fluid." Cassiopeia continued. "Be confident in the strokes, not jagged and pointed."

As one, the group practiced the swish and flick motion.

"The incantation is Wingardium Leviosa," Nicholas took over. "Emphasis on "-gar-" and "-osa". Allow the words to lead the wand motion."

They each took a moment to practice the words, mouthing it to themselves.

By the end of their study session they had all been able to float the feather at least once.

"Are you okay, Gin?" Cassiopeia asked the girl as they were packing up their bags.

"Hmm, oh, yea," Ginny smiled.

Cassiopeia didn't believe it. Over the last few weeks Ginny wasn't the same. She wasn't as outgoing, and at first, Cassiopeia chalked it up to the girl being homesick. But now, there were large purple bruises beneath her eyes and the older girl even looked skinnier than how she appeared during the summer.

Cassiopeia was no stranger to eating disorders. There had been an older girl, Ava, at the orphanage that constantly refused to eat, sometimes throwing up what little the matrons could convince her to consume. "I want to be skinny," she always told Cassiopeia when she caught her looking.

The matrons eventually stopped bothering her to eat. Cassiopeia hadn't known of the harm, she was perhaps five or six at the time. After what may have been weeks, Cassiopeia woke to a scream through the orphanage.

Ava had died in her sleep - having starved herself to death.

Ginny scared Cassiopeia. She didn't want her new friend to be struggling, not when Cassiopeia was familiar with the outcome. If she could help she'd do so. Maybe she could ask Percy if Ginny was sleeping well in the tower?

"Do you want to join us for dinner?" Cassiopeia pushed further, gaining the attention of her housemates.

Ginny blinked. "Am I allowed to?"

Cassiopeia shrugged, "there isn't a rule against it."

"Can we come too?" Colin asked, hooking an arm through Cassiopeia and Astoria's.

"Group dinner!" Caelum cheered with Connor and Cayden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After an amusing dinner, in which Cassiopeia had used puppy-dog eyes to convince Snape to allow the study group to eat together.

-

"There's no rules against students sitting at another house table, Professor," Cassiopeia beamed at the surly man looking down at her.

Snape pursed his lips, though Cassiopeia saw the quirk of his lips as he tried to fight back a smile. "All students are required to sit at their own tables, Miss. Doe," he drawled out.

"Only for feasts," Cassiopeia rocked on the balls of her feet, ignoring the aghast and horrified looks of her fellow yearmates and the students surrounding her.

"Brat," Snape rolled his eyes, nodding once in the direction of Terence, and then began making his way to the staff table.

Cassiopeia grinned, hands out at her sides, "Welcome to the Snake table!"

Corvus, Cayden and Caelum snorted in unison, Nicholas and Astoria face planted, while Lysandra sighed.

The rest of their first year friends stared at Cassiopeia petrified. How is she still alive?!

"What?" Cassiopeia tilted her head.

Theo, who had watched the scene play out, groaned while Blaise and Draco made no attempt to hide their amusement. He just had to pick Cassiopeia to take under his wing. Brilliant, the second year sarcastically despaired.

-

Cassiopeia found herself curled in the fluffy armchair near the fireplace. The fire was dim, slowly burning in the lowlight of the nearly deserted common room.

After dinner, Cassiopeia had joined her friends in a few rounds of exploding snap, before they had all decided to go to bed as their curfew neared. Cassiopeia had initially gone up to her dorm as well, but couldn't sleep.

Her mind was running, constantly jumping from one theory to the next. She was worried about Ginny and her behavior. She had eaten her dinner no problem, hadn't made a fuss at Cassiopeia sneaking food from her own plate to place on the ginger-haired girls' - though Cassiopeia did pretend to not notice Theo sending her a look for her actions.

What could be bothering her?

Was she being bullied? No. Cassiopeia couldn't imagine that happening and the Weasley boys not getting involved.

Was she that homesick? Cassiopeia wasn't sure if that was normal behavior. She had never had a home, let alone a home to miss.

Cassiopeia was also scared, not that she'd admit it to anyone. Ever since the incident in the halls Cassiopeia kept having nightmares of being attacked. Only, in her dreams, she and her friends had been by the staircase instead of the solid flooring.

Cassiopeia kept picturing herself, Lysandra, and even Astoria being stunned on the stairs and then pushed back by the surprise and gravity. The staircases had only been a few feet away from where those Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaw had ambushed them after all.

Cassiopeia already hated heights, but now? Now, she shuddered internally each time they took to the staircases for classes.

The constant tossing and turning had led Cassiopeia to creeping back into the common room so as to not disturb or wake the other two girls.

"Peia?," a voice startled her from her thoughts.

"What're you doing down here still?"

It was Adrian.

The fifth year made his way to an adjacent arm chair, leaning forward to catch the tiny girl's eyes.

"Hi Adrian," Cassiopeia greeted, waving as much as she could from her fetal ball on the chair.

He huffed a laugh, ruffling his hair. "Hi Peia," he waved back. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"Can't sleep," Cassiopeia murmured.

"And you didn't want to stay in bed?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, glancing around the nearly vacant common room.

Cassiopeia shook her head, folding her arms more tightly around her legs.

Adrian bit his lip, before looking down at his watch. "Want to go on a walk?"

Cassiopeia perked up, nearly toppling out of the chair as she swiveled around to stare at him. Adrian laughed, getting to his feet as he ignored Cassiopeia's glower. She really does look like a wounded bunny.

"C'mon, I've got Patrol tonight." Adrian extended a hand.

Cassiopeia stared at him, but Adrian wasn't unnerved. He patiently waited, not once withdrawing the extended hand.

"Won't you get in trouble?"

Adrian grinned, "only if we get caught," he winked.

Giggling, Cassiopeia held onto his hand, allowing him to steer her out of the portrait. Thankfully, a crafty spell after the first night placed by Snape allowed the passage to create a few stepping stones on both sides, so Cassiopeia was able to get in and out with little to no assistance.

"Ah, Rodger, this is Peia. She'll be joining us on our rounds tonight," Adrian introduced, "Peia, this is Rodger Davis, fifth year Claw."

Rodger Davis, heir to the Noble House of Davis. Cassiopeia gave a slight curtsy, gaining a bow back in return.

"Patrol isn't the most entertaining thing," Rodger warned as they began to make their way down the hall.

"Ah! But it's a great adventure," Adrian exaggeratedly tossed his arms out, earning laughs from his two companions.

"How're you liking Hogwarts Peia?" Rodger asked the younger girl that walked between them.

And so, the conversation continued. Thankfully, Rodger and Adrian found no students out of bounds through their patrol, so they were able to keep a flow of conversation going. They spoke of classes, quidditch, and even gossiped about their classmates, much to Cassiopeia's amusement.

"What do you mean you don't like Quidditch?!"

Rodger yelped indignantly, making Cassiopeia giggle again. Her side was beginning to hurt from how much she had laughed tonight.

"What's the fun of watching something playing hundreds of yards in the air?" Cassiopeia defended.

"You could at least support your House," Adrian clutched at his heart pitifully.

"Or, I could convince you all that dying via broom is a sad statistic!"

"No chance, Peia, Quidditch is life," Adrian ruffled her hair making her scowl.

"It's alright Peia, you can join me as we cheer on Gryffindor in the match Saturday!" Rodger piped in cheerfully.

"Hey! No stealing my firstie!" Adrian squawked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is she alright?" Rodger asked nearly an hour or so later.

Cassiopeia had begun to drift off, causing Adrian to offer the girl a piggyback ride. The lost expression on her face made Adrian want to simultaneously wrap the girl in a hundred blankets and hide her from the world and search down the muggles she lives with and kil- erm - inform them of the proper way to treat children.

Cassiopeia had made a startled yelp - cross - scream, as Adrian and Rodger helped her onto the Slytherin chaser's back. It was only after Cassiopeia settled and got comfortable, hands hung loosely around Adrian's shoulders, that she began to drift off.

Hiking her further up his back, Adrian nodded, before sighing. "Not really sure, but thanks, for letting me bring her on the patrol."

"Hey, it wasn't a problem. She's cute," Rodger reassured, smiling at the other boy as they made their way back down the dungeons.

"That she is," Adrian agreed. "I'm pretty sure I'm wrapped around her finger."

They stopped in front of the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room.

"Guess I'll be joining soon then, huh?" Rodger laughed slightly, stepping closer to the slightly younger boy.

"Goodnight Rodger," Adrian stepped forward, careful to not jostle the sleeping girl on his back.

"Night," Rodger leaned in, pressing a soft, chaste kiss to the Slytherin's lips. "Good luck on the match tomorrow."

"Thanks," Adrian breathed, watching the Ravenclaw make his way out the dungeons.

Entering the Common room, Adrian faced a new dilemma. How was he going to get Cassiopeia up to her dorm?

"So that's your boyfriend?" Cassiopeia's sleepy murmur, almost incoherent in her slurred words, scared Adrian.

"Fuck! Peia!" Adrian tripped over his feet. "I almost dropped you!" He gently placed her on her feet, hands on her shoulder to steady her.

"He's nice, I like him," Cassiopeia continued, her head pillowed in Adrian's stomach making him snort.

"Glad you approve, short-stuff," Adrian laughed slightly, hugging the girl to him.

"If he hurts you, I'll make him disappear," Cassiopeia, sleepy as she was, threatened, making Adrian hide a smile in her hair.

"Noted," he chuckled, turning to usher the girl up the stairs. "Now, bed!"

"Night!" Cassiopeia waved down the stairs, sleepily making her way to her bed and collapsing face-first on it.

She immediately succumbed to a night of dreamless sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning found the Great Hall in a hyped mood. Everyone was looking forward to and getting ready for the first Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match of the season.

"Can you help me tie these?" Cassiopeia held two ribbons out to Astoria. One ribbon was green and silver, while the other was red and gold.

"Sure, so you'll be sitting with us today?" Astoria began tying the ribbons in each of Cassiopeia's pigtail braids.

"Or maybe she'll sit with Ginny and the others?" Lysandra offered, tying her own Slytherin ribbon in her ponytail.

"Or," Cassiopeia grinned. "I'll sit in the middle with all of my friends."

"You are pretty split," Astoria pulled one of Cassiopeia's braids playfully, giggling at her friend's attire.

Cassiopeia had asked Gemma for help with some makeup. Currently, Cassiopeia sported red and gold glitter eyeshadow on her left cheek and green and silver on her right. She had also opted to wear a green and red plaid flannel over a white camisole, tucked into a black skirt that was paired with leggings. In all, Cassiopeia was a healthy blend of Slytherin and Gryffindor.

Ambling down to the Great Hall, Cassiopeia immediately B-lined for the Gryffindor table.

"Rian! Rian! Rian!" Cassiopeia cheered, throwing her arms around Harry's slightly turned body. "Good luck today!"

"Thanks' Peia," Harry beamed, a little bit of his nervousness disappearing. Harry guided her into a seat beside him, plating some food while Cassiopeia greeted the others.

"Aye, nice to finally meet ya," Seamus held a hand out.

Cassiopeia squealed.

Her eyes widened, face breaking into a wide grin as she scampered from her seat to crawl under the table. She popped up on the other side, making Ron bemusedly scoot down a little so Cassiopeia could have a seat.

"You're Seamus! You have the accent and you look exactly like Rian described!"

Seamus wasn't sure how to react. His hand was still held out, a bemused and confused expression warring on his face.

Around them, Ron, Neville and Dean were exchanging amused looks while Harry groaned and tried to squash the pit of jealousy rising at seeing Cassiopeia so excited to meet the Irishman.

"Ah," Seamus's eyes darted across his dorm mates, "that's me."

"Why was only Seamus mentioned?" Neville teased, an amused grin aimed at Harry.

Since finding out he had a godbrother, and why hadn't he known that before?, Harry and Neville had spent lots of time getting to know each other more and strengthening their friendship.

"Shuttup," Harry murmured, cheeks a hint of red.

"Is it true you're a pyro?!" Cassiopeia was bouncing in her seat, pigtails swaying back and forth. "Rian said you blew up nearly everything!"

Harry coughed, hiding a snicker as the other guys laughed. Seamus, on the other hand, was torn between glaring at his dorm mate and indulging the little poppet that was seated near him.

"Not everything!" Seamus quickly clarified.

"Not the second time," Dean laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As eleven o'clock approached, the whole school started to make its way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a muggy sort of day with a hint of thunder in the air.

"Peia! Peia!" Theo called the girl over the crowd of students.

"Hi Theo! Blaise, Daphne," Cassiopeia enthusiastically waved. She decided to ignore Draco who groaned at not being acknowledged.

Cassiopeia hadn't taken kindly to his words when Mrs. Norris was petrified, especially with the language he had used.

Terence had given the blonde a dressing down once everyone had gotten back to the common room, coldly reminding Draco that he had several housemates that were "mudbloods", as he had so eloquently stated before.

"Here," Theo wrapped a fluffy green scarf around Cassiopeia's neck, folding the sides to rest smoothly against the squirming girl's throat. "You'll catch a cold!"

"Corvus isn't wearing a scarf!" Cassiopeia had no regrets at throwing her friend under the bus, shrugging her shoulders at his betrayed look when Draco immediately began tugging off his scarf to wrap around his cousin.

"Dray - no,"

"Shut up."

"But I - it's not col-"

"You'll freeze."

"I'm not -"

"There!"

"C'mon, before all the good seats are taken!" Caelum snickered, leading the group of first years into the stands.

"Lys!"

"Nic!"

"Over here!"

Justin, Colin, and Ginny waved at the Slytherin's as they joined their platform.

"Hi guys!"

"Got enough to support both teams, Peia?" Ginny grinned, waving at Cassiopeia's attire.

"Definitely," Cassiopeia nodded, giggling.