Starry Nights

The Warmth of Friendship

"Thanks you guys, that really helps."

They all nod and Cleo says, "And anytime you need to talk about that or anything else, we're all here for you."

The other girls all smile in agreement.
~~~~
When their free period is over they all head to defense together. They get there early so they'll have a few minutes to talk to Oliver and Nora, who were just finishing up their own defense class. There's a very awkward atmosphere between the boys through their entire conversation.

"Welcome students, I'm Professor Rakepick and I'll be your defense against the dark arts professor this year. If you would please partner up with someone from the other house, so they can help you catch up on what we discussed Friday."

Erin and Izzy sit together, Joseph comes to sit with Cathleen, and Cleo pairs up with a Gryffindor girl named Danielle Turner. Everyone else shuffles around switching seats and finding a partner in the other house. There ends up being two extra Gryffindors, Kayla Parker and Theo Montague. Kayla is added into a group with Roman Tugwood and Elijah Andrews. Theo is added to a group with Gemma Moore and Milo Roberts.

"For the next few weeks we will be learning about spirits. Spirit is one of the three classifications of magical creatures, along with Beast and Being. The most obvious type of spirit is the ghost. And your first assignment will be a research paper done in the pairs you're in now, about ghosts.

Ravenclaws you'll need to take really good notes during Wednesday's lecture because I'll be relying on you to relay everything you learn to your partners and include the appropriate amount of information learned in your essay. Then Thursday if you have any questions, you'll have defense together, entailing not only the opportunity to ask me any questions but I'll offer you class time to work on the paper. And then Friday it'll be the young Gryffindors who have the responsibility of taking adequate notes and relaying the information to their group members. You'll then have the entire weekend to finish it before turning it in Monday."
~~~~
During their last free period of the day they search all around for Nora and Oliver before finding them in the library with Andrea Philips, a Slytherin girl in their year.

"Hey guys," Nora waves when she spots them. "This is Andrea, Andrea, this is Cathleen, Cleo, Erin, Izzy, and Joseph."

"Nice to meet you guys," Andrea says smiling shyly.

"Nice to meet you," they chorus sweetly, all taking seats around the table.

"What're you guys working on?" Joseph asks nudging Oliver who blushes.

Cathleen almost giggles at the obvious sparks between the two.

"We're working on our defense essay, or doing research for the essay really." Nora answers for him.

"If we're all doing the same project maybe we could do research all together," Izzy suggests

"I don't want to intrude," Andrea says furrowing her eyebrows.

"Nonsense, you're not intruding, I think it sounds like a great idea," Cathleen says, smiling kindly at the girl.

Everyone else murmurs in agreement, the Cleo adds, "Sounds good, but that does mean I'll have to track down Danielle, we agreed to meet at three tomorrow, since we're both free, I should tell her that it'll be all of us."

"Okay, that sounds good, we're free at three," Nora says gesturing in Oliver's direction.

"Me too," Andrea adds.
~~~~
They talk for a little bit longer but then they all split to go to their common rooms before dinner. Dinner passes by in a blur and then it's time for bed. Cathleen fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow and it felt like virtually no time had passed between then and her getting up the next morning. She didn't even get up until 7:30, by which time everyone but Erin was up and getting ready.

She got ready quickly while Cleo worked on waking Erin. And eventually they made it out the door and to breakfast.

An owl flys in dropping a letter and parcel on Cathleen's lap. She opens the letter with a huge smile recognizing her Aunt Andromeda's handwriting.

Dear Cathleen,
Ariella and I bought you a couple things while we were out on our shopping trip, hope you like them. I'll be expecting a letter back from you soon, don't leave me hanging, tell me how Hogwarts is treating you.

Love, Aunt Andromeda
P.S. when they say muggle technology doesn't work at Hogwarts they lie, you just have to know the right enchantments.

Cathleen rolls her eyes fondly and begins to tear off the parcel, which reveals a bronze skirt and blue blazer, matching her house colors. Then a walkman cassette player along with cassettes of her favorite muggle artist, Madonna, David Bowie, AC/DC, Billy Joel, Metallica.

Her dads had a record player at home, and while they'd gotten her a several records of her own over the years, she had never thought to ask for a record player of her own, she just borrowed theirs. And that meant she couldn't just bring the record player to Hogwarts, it wasn't hers. So having these cassettes made her beyond happy.

"Woah, who sent you all that?" Erin asks analysing the gifts.

"My aunt Andromeda, she's kind of amazing. Well my little sister helped her pick the stuff out." She answers, a huge smile adorning her face.
~~~~
They have a free period before their first class so they meet the Hufflepuffs in their spot after breakfast. The Gryffindors are stuck in Double Potions with Slytherins. Cathleen takes her cassette player with her and just plays music. The hour passes by a lot faster that way. Then they head to their first flying class.

Madame Hooch begins the class by giving the students a lecture on broom safety before they're finally able to use the brooms. The school brooms that is, meaning they weren't very nice, but still Cathleen was excited to be able to fly, or more accurately, hover.

The broom came to her the first time she said the word, "up," which was simply a formality at this point she could summon a broom without the need to say anything.

Garnet, Isaac, Eleanor, Roman, Wesley, and Erin all get theirs pretty quickly as well. And the Hufflepuffs, Enzo Hawksworth, Finley Hitchen, Kahlil Elharar, they all summon theirs easily.

Cathleen assumes they've all flown before, then it's a struggle for some others, but talent keys in and some of the more inexperienced fliers summon theirs, even Oliver and Nora, who she knew were both muggleborn.

Eventually everyone was able to summon their brooms though, the Madame Hooch demonstrates how to get on the broom. Everyone follows her lead, some nervously. She teaches them how to steer and then it's time for them to leave.

They have to split up then, Oliver and Nora have Defense Class while Cathleen, Erin and Cleo have Charms with Slytherins again. Unlike yesterday though, she gets an uneasy feeling in her stomach and she can feel the eyes on her. Somehow she just knows then, her feud with Ivy is far from over.
~~~~
After lunch they have to rush off towards Herbology class, where they have a double with the Gryffindors. They turn in their finished essays to Professor Sprout. They spend the rest of the class going over the essays, anonymously of course.

After Herbology, it's time to meet up with everyone else in the library to work on their defense projects. Oliver and Nora are already there when they arrive, but Andrea is nowhere in sight.