The Power of Love

Making Friends

The group of first year students slowly walked into the Great Hall feeling the eyes of the school follow them as they approached the faculty table. Most of the first years bumped into each other while staring at the ceiling which was bewitched to reflect the sky outside. It truly was a beautiful sight with the moon and starts twinkling above them as they all stopped. In front of all of them sat a small wooden stool with an old patched wizard's hat sitting upon it. The first years gazed upon it with wonder as it began to sing a song about the Hogwarts founders and houses. When the hat was finished with it's song everyone in the hall clapped and cheered until Professor McGonagall cleared her throat to signal for silence.

"When I call your name please come up, take a seat, and place the Sorting Hat onto it's head. It will then tell you which house you belong in and then you may take a seat with your new housemates." Professor McGonagall then pulled out a long parchment scroll and proceeded to read off names. "Aberteen, Foster" A small boy with dirty blonde hair slowly walked up to the stool and sat, timidly putting the Sorting Hat on his head. The boy sat on the stool for only a moment or two before-

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat called. The hall cheered and Foster happily went over to his table.

"Abiberton, Angelica," Professor McGonagall called. A rather tall girl (for their age anyways) eagerly walked up to the stool and sat down pulling the hat on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hall erupted into cheers once more and Angelica almost ran over to the Gryffindor table. Several names later Cassandra and Lily noticed one of the boys sitting on the stool.

*Look who it is Cassandra,* Lily thought looking into her eyes.

"Avery, Mitchell." One of the boys who was in Severus' little gang of thugs.

*I hope we don't get put into which ever house he or any of his friends get in,* Lily thought. Cassandra just nodded as the hat proclaimed Avery to be a

"SLYTHERIN!" He smiled smugly and strutted over to where the Slytherin table was located. The list of names then went on for several minutes and until after Baclund, Alexandra became a Slytherin another person Cassandra noticed was called up by Professor McGonagall.

"Black, Sirius." It was the boy with the long black hair that had helped her and Lily before with Severus. He sat on the stool and put the hat on his head and waited for it to give him an answer.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat proudly proclaimed as Sirius got up and walked to the Gryffindor table sitting opposite Angelic Abiberton.

*I hope we're in the house with him and his friends,* Lily thought with a smile. She couldn't help but agree. They stood there in the line of first years for a few more minutes until it was Lily's turn.

"Evans, Lily," Professor McGonagall called.

*Hopefully we'll get the same house!* she thought to Cassandra as she nervously walked up to the stool. The hat sat on her head for only a moment before-

"GRYFFINDOR!" Lily beamed with happiness as she walked over to the Gryffindor table to sit next to Angelica smiling at Sirius. Cassandra then stood there in silence alone as she waited for her turn to be sorted.

"Engle...Egleson...Felines...Jerkis...Lestrange..." and then another boy Cassandra noticed, "Lupin, Remus." It was the brown-haired boy from earlier. He sat on the stool looking nervously around until finally-

"GRYFFINDOR!" He smiled and then went to join his friend Sirius. Then the next boy to be called Cassandra noticed.

"MacNair, Walden." This was the boy who had first called Lily 'Mudblood.' She glared as he put the hat on his head.

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat called out. He stood up and walked over to his table. She was still glaring at him when McDougle, Anna was made a Hufflepuff. A few minutes, two Ravenclaws, three Hufflepuffs, two Slytherins, and one Gryffindor later Cassandra saw another boy she knew. The little blonde boy from earlier.

"Pettigrew, Peter." The boy with the unruly black hair nudged him forward and he sat on the stool. After almost five minutes the hat called out that Peter belonged in-

"GRYFFINDOR!" He smiled and let out a deep breath as he walked over to join his friends already at the Gryffindor table. After Phellps, Maria was put in Ravenclaw; the boy with the unruly black hair was called up.

"Potter, James." He walked up to the stool and put the hat on and within seconds was placed in-

"GRYFFINDOR!" He smiled and quickly walked over to the table to be with his friends. Now she really hoped she would be in Gryffindor, so far that house seemed to have the nicest people in it. She stood there and waited for her name to be called. "Pyron...Quatran...Rosier...Saffron" and then finally...

"Salem, Cassandra." She took a deep breath and walked up to the stool. She put the hat on her head and then heard a voice.

"My, aren't we a powerful one..." the hat said. "I don't think I've ever quiet seen a mind like this. But that doesn't tell me where I should put you."

"Well you could not put me in Slytherin for one," she said to the hat.

"So you don't want to be in Slytherin," the hat paused, "then perhaps you belong in GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted the last word and she jumped up from the stool and put the hat back down.

"Thank you," she whispered to the hat as she practically ran over to the table next to Lily.

"I'm so happy we got put in the same house!" Lily cheered as Cassandra sat down next to her.

"Me too!" She let out a sigh of relief.

"And there's the slimy git," Sirius said, motioning to the front where the sorting was still taking place. Severus Snape had just been placed in Slytherin.

"Figures he would get placed in Slytherin," James added.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced, what with the circumstances of our last meeting and all," Remus joked. He extended his hand to Cassandra. "I'm Remus Lupin."

"I'm Peter Pettigrew."

"I'm Sirius Black."

"I'm James Potter."

"I'm Cassandra Salem, and I guess I should thank all of you for helping out with that jerk Severus earlier." She shook all of their hands and smiled as Professor Dumbledore stood from his seat.

"And here we are at the dawn of another year here at Hogwarts and as with every year, I have a few announcements to make before we begin our feast. First, I must remind everyone that the forest on the grounds is off limits to everyone, there is a reason it's called the Forbidden Forest. Second, there is a new Whomping Willow on the grounds that all of you should steer clear of as it does not like to have it's personal space invaded. Third, Quidditch try-outs will be held in two weeks, everyone is encouraged to go out for their house team, please see Professor Noble about the particulars of this. And finally, there is to be absolutely no magic in the corridors. With all that being said everyone tuck in!" Albus clapped his hands at the last words and the tables in the Great Hall were filled with food.

"I have never been more starved in my life," said Peter picking up a turkey leg shoving it into his mouth.

"I don't think I've ever had food this good in my entire life," Sirius said while shoveling food into his mouth.

"Well at least chew when you eat." Lily joked while putting more mashed potatoes onto her plate.

"Ooh, you've got to try the roast," Cassandra said with a full mouth.

"Here, try the vegetables, they're great." Remus passed the bowl of vegetables Cassandra's way as she passed him the large platter with the roast. After that everyone was relatively quiet until they had all finished eating their dinner.

"I don't think I could eat another bite!" James groaned while leaning back. Just as he spoke, dessert appeared on the table in front of them all. "On second thought, there's always room for dessert!"

"Never say no to chocolate," cheered Lily as she went for the pudding. She put some on her plate and took a bite and smiled. "Cassandra, you have to try this, here." She passed the bowl over to Cassandra when suddenly a ruffled and translucent head popped right through the bowl and Cassandra screamed pushing herself away from the bowl and into Sirius.

"Hello, sorry for the fright my dear, I'm Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the Gryffindor ghost." The ghost extended a translucent hand to Cassandra and she shrieked once again. This shriek had surprised Sir Nicholas and he had jumped back slightly and his head fell to the side, hanging on to his neck by a thin piece of flesh. This caused Cassandra to scream again and the boys to all 'ooh' and 'ahh.'

"What's wrong my dear," Sir Nicholas started as he pulled his head back up, "never see a ghost before?" Cassandra didn't say anything trembled against Sirius as she tried to get farther away from the ghost. Sir Nicholas merely shrugged and floated away towards the other end of the table leaving Cassandra behind, horror stricken.

"Are you okay?" Sirius whispered. It was then that she realized exactly how close she was to Sirius and quickly scooted back over.

"Sorry," she blushed, "I'm fine."

"Cassie you're not afraid of ghosts," Remus offered, "are you?" Cassandra nodded taking no note of the nickname Remus had given her and Peter snickered.

"You know they can't hurt you or even touch you for that matter," said the blonde boy.

"I wouldn't say that," Cassandra started looking rather embarrassed, "has a ghost ever touched you? They're freezing! My parents use to lock me in the haunted closet in our house. There wasn't much room in it and there were two ghosts haunting it. No matter where you stood in there you were standing in the ghost. The cold hurts after a while. And whoever said that words cannot hurt was lying!" She shuddered at the memories of the closet which her parents had banished the spirits of her great-great-grandparents to.

"That sounds bloody horrible," said James with a look of disgust. Cassandra just nodded and went back to eating her chocolate hoping it would make her feel better.

"Here, have some treacle tart, it'll make you feel better," Lily said handing her a plate.

"Thank you Lily." She took some of the treacle tart and slowly began to eat again.

"So what do you two think of Hogwarts so far?" Remus asked trying to end the awkward silence.

"I think it's amazing," Lily said. "I just can't wait for the classes to start. I'm really eager to learn more about magic."

"And this place is just so big, and beautiful, it will probably take all seven years to explore all of it," Cassandra said looking around the Great Hall.

"I was just thinking of that," Sirius said with a mischievous grin, "this place is so old, it probably has all sorts of hidden passageways and secret rooms. Imagine the possibilities..." His voice trailed off as everyone laughed. Just then, Professor Dumbledore stood up.

"Well, I hope everyone has enjoyed our feast, and now I must send you all off to bed so you can be well rested for your first day of classes tomorrow. Goodnight everyone, and have a pleasant sleep." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling as he surveyed the Great Hall and then he sat back down as all of the students stood up to go to their dormitories.

"First years over here please," a pretty blonde girl with a silver badge on her robes called. All of the first years walked over to the girl and waited for instructions. "I'm Christine, one of the Gryffindor Prefects. Follow me up to Gryffindor tower, and please, don't wander off from the group." The group of first years followed behind the girl slowly taking in every part of castle on their way up the stairs.

"You will all need to remember several things on your way up to the tower," Christine the Prefect started, "first of all; the staircases like to move around. Please watch which staircase you are on carefully. Also, there are trick stairs in some of the staircases, please try and remember which ones these are and be careful around them, it's not that easy to get out without some assistance. And here is the entrance to Gryffindor Tower," they were standing in front of a portrait of a rather fat lady in a ruffly pink dress, "you will need to remember this password to get in, the password is Fizzing Whizbees." As soon as she had spoke the last two words, the portrait swung open and everyone slowly filed through the entrance.

"This is the Gryffindor common room. Feel free to spend any free time you have in here." She paused for a moment allowing everyone to take in the common room before beginning again. "And up those stairs you will find the boys and girls dormitories. Boys on the left, girls on the right, you will see your year posted on the door of the room and all of your things have already been brought up. Now I suggest everyone say goodnight and go up to bed because you all have a very long day ahead of you tomorrow. Goodnight." And with that Christine the Prefect left the first years and went to her own room. Then all of the first years went up to their rooms.

Cassandra and Lily got to their room and looked for their trunks. They found them lying at the base of two beds that were right next to each other. They smiled at the coincidence and changed for bed. As they turned off the light Lily turned to Cassandra.

"Goodnight Cassie. I'm glad we got put in the same house."

"Me too Lily. It's good to have a friend. Goodnight." She reached up and turned out the light and after only a few minutes, she fell asleep.

~*~

The next day Cassandra and Lily went down to breakfast eager to see what they would be learning first. They entered the great hall to hear a riot of laughter. They looked around to see what was so funny and then they saw it...a pair of flannel pajamas with feet decorated with baby bunnies and ducks hung proudly above the Slytherin banner near their table. Someone had enchanted a sign above them to say 'Big Bad Slytherin.' Cassandra and Lily couldn't help but laugh as they walked over to the four boys they had met last night and noticed that they were probably the only people in all of the Great Hall who were not laughing, merely smiling with an almost proud look.

"Good morning, girls," Sirius said with an innocent grin.

"How might you be this beautiful morning?" James said moving over for Cassandra to sit down.

"We're doing just fine," she started when Lily cut in.

"What did you four do?" She looked at them accusingly as the boys looked up trying to look innocent.

"Why whatever do you mean Lily," Remus said trying to hide his smile.

"Y-y-yeah, we haven't d-d-done a thing," said Peter trying to contain his laughter but not doing a very good job of it. Just then Severus Snape and his little gang walked into the great hall. He looked up to the pajamas on the wall and his entire face turned red.

"WHO DID THIS??" he bellowed. He had his one of his goons lift him up so he could grab the pajamas off the wall with the sign. Everyone in the Great Hall was laughing uncontrollably at Severus as he quickly stuffed the garment under his robes and sat down for breakfast sneering in the direction of the Gryffindor table.

"You did that," Lily said through her laughter, "but how?"

"It seems we've been figured out James," Sirius said finally letting his laughter get the better of him.

"I guess so." James then begun to laugh with the rest of his friends.

"You four jokers? You did that," Cassandra said in astonishment, "I'm impressed. Now how did you manage to pull that off and on the first night!?"

"Well, we could tell right away that Snape over there is somebody that we don't like. So," started Remus.

"We decided that a little payback was in order after the way that he treated you two. So last night," Sirius continued.

"We bribed the other prefect, Frank Longbottom, into telling us where the entrance to the Slytherin house was. He doesn't like the Slytherins very much and decided to help us," James explained. Then Peter picked it up.

"W-w-we went down to their house late last night, a-a-and snuck in to the first y-y-year boy's bedroom. We f-f-found Snape's trunk a-a-and found those very i-i-interesting pajamas."

"So we took those and snuck back out of the Slytherin house and with the help of ol' Frank over there charmed them so they would stay up there," said Remus.

"Then we went back up to bed and came down here as early as possible just so we wouldn't miss Snape's face when he saw our little present," finished Sirius. "I don't think he liked it that much, do you?" Everyone then erupted into a fit of laughter once again as they looked over at Snape's still crimson face.

"Good morning boys," a voice from behind them said. They turned to see a male prefect who had to be Frank Longbottom.

"Good morning Frank, we would like you to meet our other two friends, Lily Evans and Cassie Salem," Sirius said. At the mention of her name Cassandra looked up at him. No one had ever called her anything other than her full first name and now, it was kind of odd hearing a shortened version of it.

"Well, here are your class schedules, looks like you have Herbology with Professor Fauna with the Ravenclaw," said Frank passing around the pieces of parchment to everyone then walked down the table to give everyone else their schedules.

"Well at least we don't have to put up with those Slytherins until tomorrow afternoon," said Lily casting a glare towards the Slytherin table smiling when she saw Snape's fuming face.

"And I was hoping to get to make a few jokes at Snape today, but I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow," Sirius said looking downtrodden.

"Hey Cassie," James said looking at her schedule, "what's that class? None of us have it and it says that you have it with Professor Dumbledore. What's that all about?" Everyone looked curiously over at Cassandra and she tried to think of a quick excuse.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore said that I could come here on a scholarship as long as I took this special course with him. I'm not sure what it's all about but I guess I'll find out tomorrow evening," she lied and then quickly tried to find a way to change the subject. "Oh look, we've got ten minutes to get out to the greenhouse, we better get going." Everyone just nodded and got up from the table to head out to the greenhouse.

"That was a close one," Lily said once she caught up with Cassie.

"I know, what am I going to tell them when I come back from his class tomorrow and they ask what I did?" She sounded frantic. Lily just smiled.

"I'm not sure, but I'll help you think of something," she said putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Come on, we're going to be late." The two smiled and then ran out to the greenhouses, eager to begin their classes.