Esse Quam Videri

Welcome to Hogwarts

Work made the time fly by for Cassy, especially since the work Rosmerta had her do had her on her feet at all times.

In the weeks that followed Rosmerta taking her in, Cassy had made a wardrobe, decorated her room, and had her eleventh birthday. She and Rosmerta came up with a last name for herself: Sterle, meaning star, because her first name was the name of a star. Cassy had been unsure at first, but Rosmerta had assured her that it fit her perfectly.

Minutes after they had decided on her last name, an owl with a letter addressed to "Cassiopeia Sterle" arrived. Rosmerta had been thrilled, and told all that would listen that "her little Cassy" was going to Hogwarts.

Gradually Cassy became more and more excited to go to Hogwarts, but when the day before school arrived, she was more nervous and scared than she remembered ever being before. Her nerves only increased when Rosemerta told her that she was not simply going to the castle, but would be going to Kings Cross Station to "get the full Hogwarts experience".

She had begged and pleaded with Rosmerta to just let her walk up to the castle when it was time and be done with it, but the woman was hearing none of it. "How else are you to make friends?" She had questioned. Cassiopeia had snarked back that she would make friends once she was sorted ("When else?"), but Rosmerta had made it clear that the idea of only making friends within your house could lead to trouble. She had had to sit Cassy down and explain that there were certain prejudices amongst the houses, and that they were bigoted and dumb. 

Cassiopeia agreed ("Why should I care about what blood someone has? Isn't it all the same?"), but still felt nervous about leaving the only place she could remember being in. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't tell Rosmerta that. So on the first of September, Rosmerta dropped her off at Kings Cross station with the promise to see her during Christmas.

Rosmerta gave her one last hug before waving as she disapperated away. Turning to the train before her, Cassy sighed. Rosmerta had advised her to find a compartment with a few other first years in it to help her make friends, but she wasn't in a sociable mood. How was she supposed to make friends with witches and wizards who knew infinitely more about the wizarding world than she did? She had asked questions and read as many books as she could get her hands on to try to grasp some sort of understanding about the world around her, but she still felt wildly unprepared.

Dragging her luggage onto the train, Cassy scoured her brain for the spell that she had remembered reading about that could levitate objects around her. What was it? Levicorpus? No that wasn't it... "Oh! That's right, Wingardium Leviosa!" Her luggage hovered behind her as she made her way through the mostly empty train, the other students outside on the platform still saying goodbye to their loved ones. 

Cassy felt a pang as she caught a glimpse of all the students saying tearful fair-wells to their parents, wondering yet again at the absence of her own. Before long, she found a booth that felt right and levitated her luggage into the overhang before stepping inside and closing the door.

As the train began to fill, she took a look around her compartment. She felt as if she was looking for something and her eyes caught something carved over the doorway. She stood to read it when suddenly the door opened. She jumped in surprise, stumbling back and crashing into the window with a bang. 

"Oh, I'm sorry! So sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." 

Cassy looked up with a slight wince, a boy with green eyes and startlingly messy black hair was standing before her with his hand stretched out. "Are you alright?" He asked, helping her stand straight before running a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean to knock you over, I-"

"I'm alright," Cassy said with a chuckle, "No harm done."

A faint blush rose on the boys cheeks and he nodded awkwardly. "Right um, well, is this compartment taken? Do you mind if I sit with you? I understand if you don't, especially after I knocked you over-"