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-"
Cassy smiled gently, the boy was obviously nervous and it somehow helped her feel less nervous to know that she wasn't the only one feeling this way. She interrupted the boys rambling by sticking her hand out, "I'm Cassiopeia Sterle, but you can call me Cassy. And yeah, you can sit here."
The boy seemed to calm down with her introduction and gave a loose smile, "I'm Harry," he said, taking her hand. "Harry Potter."
~
A couple hours later Cassy, Harry, and Ron(a ginger boy who had joined their compartment along the way) walked out of the train.
"First years this way! Don't get lost now!"
"That's Hagrid!" Harry said, "He was the one who told me I was a witch!"
Harry had explained his situation to Cassy and Ron on the train after Ron called him the Chosen One. Cassy had been severely confused and the two boys had taken it upon themselves to explain things as best as they knew("Blimey Cassy, how do you not know who Harry Potter is?!").
"We better hurry up and get a boat! That way we can all sit together." Cassy said, grabbing Harry's hand, who in turn grabbed Ron, and dragged them to a boat. They were shortly joined by a girl named Hermione, who they had spoken to briefly on the train. The boys weren't her biggest fan(Ron said she was a know-it-all), but Cassy felt that she was only trying to prove herself, which she could relate to.
As the boat started to move forward on its own, Cassy couldn't help but look to around in wonder. The black lake was beautiful at night, and the lights shimmering ahead on the water made it all the more awe worthy. She heard Hagrid's shouted command to duck and did so as they went under a bridge. Soon after gasps were heard from ahead of her, and when she lifted her head she could see why. All breath escaped her as she took in the sight of the castle in front of her. She had never seen anything like it.
As the boats eventually pulled to an entrance, the vision of her first sight of the castle still burning behind her eyes. She was sure she would never forget it.
A hand appeared in front of her face, and she blushed and smiled greatfully as Harry helped her out of the boat. "Can't leave a damsel in distress now can I?" He teased, seeming to take great joy in her embarrassment. Cassy scoffed at the boy with a grin, "I didn't take you to be a flirt, Potter."
The sound of a woman clearing her throat made them all snap their gaze to the front. Cassy caught the woman's stern gaze, who looked slightly astonished at the pair before she addressed the crowd of eleven year olds with a neutral expression. She explained that they would be sorted into their houses("Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin!") and told them to get into an orderly line and follow her lead.
She whispered and snickered with Harry and Ron about what houses they thought they'd be in("With how peckish you said you always are Ron, shouldn't you be in Ravenclaw?"), until Harry's name was called.
"Harry Potter!"
The whispers began instantly and Cassy felt bad for the boy as he began to look nervous. Cassy put a hand on his shoulder while Ron patted his back, "Don't worry Harry, you've got this!"
"Yeah Harry, and besides, whatever houses we all get in we'll still all be friends." Cassy assured him. He gave them a weak smile before Mcgonagal called him again and he made his way to the front.
The Gryffindor table exploded into cheers when, after a minute or two, the hat declared him a Gryffindor.
Cassy was called shortly after him, and she made her way to the front with as much confidence as she could muster. Her legs shook slightly as she sat on the stool and the hat was placed upon her head.
"Well well well, who do we have here?"
"Cassiopeia Sterle, mister hat." Cassy felt the hat chuckle and shuddered at the weird feeling.
"Hmm, is that the name you've made for yourself? Or perhaps, hmm..."
Cassy got the weirdest feeling, as if feather light hands were sorting through her mind. "What are you doing?"
"Just taking a look young one. But my my, you've certainly been put through the wringer haven't you? No wonder you had to make a name for yourself, she didn't leave much of anything left, did she?"
Cassy wondered about what the hat was saying, but grew nervous as she heard whispers around her. "Just sort me please." She whispered.
"Yes yes, good that. You're kind, but I believe you have too much foolhardiness for Hufflepuff. Better cross off Ravenclaw too then, yes..."
Cassy huffed as the hat trailed on and on, "Just sort me, would you?"
"Ah impatience, a popular trait for both sides of your family. You have all the traits for Slytherin, but with the future ahead of you... hmm, yes, better be-"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Cheering sounded around her as the dreadful hat was finally taken off of her head. She rushed to the red and gold table, sitting in the spot that Harry had saved for her gratefully.
"Man, you took longer than I did!" Harry exclaimed.
"Was it really that bad?" Cassy winced, he nodded apologetically.
"A full five minutes."
"Bloody hell," she groaned.
Not long later, it was Ron's turn to be sorted. The hat had barely touched his head when it announced that he was a Gryffindor, and he rushed gratefully to their side. "I was starting to think that being a hat stall was a right of passage to enter Gryffindor." he teased.
"Shut up Ron." The two grumbled, small smiles on their faces as they realized they were all in the same house.
When the sorting finished, they all ate dinner and got to know some of their housemates. Cassy was happy to get to talk to Hermione again, who had also gotten sorted into the house of red and gold, and was pleased to find someone else who had read through this years textbooks before arriving.
When dinner was done the prefects, one of which Cassy found out was Rons brother Percy, lead them up to Gryffindor tower. Exhausted from the long day, Cassy and Hermione said goodnight to the boys and headed upstairs to find their room. They shared it with a few other girls, and were pleased to find their beds next to each other.
Not feeling up to staying up late talking, Cassy promised the other girls that they'd talk more tomorrow and promptly got into bed. As the lights dimmed and Cassy got comfortable a smile spread across her face. Rosmerta was right, she was going to love Hogwarts.
It was already starting to feel like home.