A Bright Star

Quidditch

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."