The next morning dawned early and bright. It was 7:00 so I had to wake Draco up in order to make sure he was ready for the train on time. I stood up and walked over to Draco. I shook him awake.

“Huh? What’s going on?” He asked groggily. I smirked.

“Darling, it’s time to get up and get dressed. Today is the day. The day we ride to Hogwarts.” I sang. He got out of bed and went to the restroom and I laid out clothes for him. He came back and began to get dressed in the nice shirt I put out. After he was dressed, I sent him down to the kitchen where Dobby, our house elf, was making him breakfast. I stayed up in his room and put all of his school supplies in his trunk and shrunk it down so it was easier to carry. After triple checking to make sure that everything was in his trunk, I walked downstairs to grab a little extra of what Dobby made. It was delicious and I thanked Dobby. By now it was 10:00 so I walked over to the master's chambers and knocked on the door. Narcissa answered it.

“Yes?” She asked.

“It’s September 1st and your son is dressed, fed and ready to depart for Hogwarts.” I said. She nodded. Then she turned and walked away. I went back to the kitchen to find Draco sitting at the counter with nothing in front of him. He was scared of going.

"What's up little dragon?" I asked him.

"Will I be in Slytherin house?" He asked.

"I don't know for sure but I can say the probability is high." I told him.

" You think so?" He asked. I nodded. Lucius and Narcissa came out wearing emerald green robes. Draco was wearing the required black robes and I was wearing my pierce the veil shirt and a pair of muggle jeans. I had a backpack filled with my clothes, makeup, a quill and parchment.

"Fetch Draco's things from upstairs please." Narcissa said. I went upstairs. Locomotor I thought. The trunk lifted into the air and I walked downstairs in time to see to see Lucius raise his cane to hit Draco. I dropped the trunk, ran and pushed Draco out of the way before the cane came down on me. It struck the back of my head. It stung but I didn't pay attention to it. My first thought was to protect my charge. I stood in front of Draco and began growling at Lucius. He raised his cane again but Narcissa stopped him from striking.

"Lucius enough. Cassandra stand up and stop growling." Narcissa said. Lucius lowered his cane.

“It is unwise to hit him before he boards the train to school. If that were to happen, then the teachers would surely notice and take action. Cassandra now has a cane-shaped mark across the back of her neck. I wonder if they’ll notice the mark. No matter. Cassandra I told you to stop growling. It’s unladylike.” She finished speaking. I stood up and stopped growling. I pulled Draco up and kept him behind me without letting my eyes leave Lucius. I snapped my fingers and the fallen trunk lifted into the air.

“After you sir, and Draco stays with me.” I told him not breaking eye contact. He looked as if he was going to argue but Narcissa shot him a look and he just turned around and fixed his robes. Narcissa fixed Draco’s and then her own. Eventually everybody was ready to walk out the door and look as if nothing had just happened. Narcissa took Lucius’ arm and walked out with him. I walked out with Draco sitting atop the trunk that was floating. I had put up a charm to make sure he didn’t fall. I walked over to the apparating spot and let Narcissa and Lucius go first. The disapparated. I walked over to the spot.

“Cassie? I’m scared. What if nobody likes me?” Draco asked. I pulled him off of the trunk and set him down. I knelt to eye level.

“Love, as long as you are yourself then people have a choice to be your friend or not. And as long as you’re you then there’s no reason they shouldn’t befriend you. Now let’s go before your father has the urge to hit me again.” I said. He took my hand in his and I disapparated from the Manor which had held most of my memories up until that moment. We arrived at Platform 9 ¾. Lucius and Narcissa were waiting for us.

“Cassandra, go set Draco’s trunk in the train. I would like to have a word with my son.” Lucius said. I almost objected but Narcissa was there and Lucius wouldn’t do anything in public. I took the trunk to the side of the train. The station was full of people. Short kids and then kids taller than I was. And parents of all kinds, too pushy, too clingy, too annoying, all kinds. I set Draco’s trunk inside the train and I saw six familiar heads coming my way.

“Hey chica, what’s up?” Chrystal said. I said nothing.

“Nervous, huh? Me too I guess. I haven’t seen Harry yet. Oh I hope he’s not lost.” She said. Devon rubbed his hands up and down her arms.

“He’ll be fine. In the meantime, I have to go find Seamus and you should probably go find Dean, eh Justin?” Devon said. Justin nodded. They went their separate ways.

“I should go walk the station again just to make sure he’s here.” Chrystal said. She walked away and left me with the other three boys I didn’t know that well.

“Um, hey, what’s up? I don’t know if you remember us but I’m Alix, this is Dillan and this is Rian.” Alix said. He seemed a little younger than the other two.

“Are you guys brothers? And who are your charges?” I asked.

“We’re triplets. Alix is the youngest, Dillan is the middle and I’m the oldest. We don’t have charges. Our generation got screwed up so our charges are all grown up with no children.” Rian said.

“Oh, I’m sorry I guess.” I said. I really needed to get back to Draco. “I gotta go back to my charge. I’ll talk to you guys later.” I said. I walked away from them back towards the Malfoys. I got there just as Lucius was done talking to Draco.

“Now, do as I say and you should be fine.” Lucius said. Draco nodded. He then lifted his chin as if asserting dominance. I sighed. Lucius gave him another ‘You’re a pureblood’ speech. I don’t know how I’m going to break him of that.

“You ready Draco? The train’s going to leave soon.” I mentioned. Draco nodded. He turned and held his hand out to his father. His father took it smirking. He then turned to his mother who gave him a bear hug. Draco wormed his way out of it huffing.

“Draco, she is your mother and you treat her with the respect she deserves or so help me.” I said. He looked down for a moment then turned to his mother and gave her a hug. Lucius pursed his lips and glared at me. Tough luck I thought. Narcissa gave me a small smile of gratitude. Draco grabbed my hand and led me into the train to the compartment with his friends from his childhood, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Theodore Nott. Draco sat down with his friends.

“Draco, I have to go to the front of the train for a protector’s meeting.” I said. Draco nodded. I walked out of the compartment and promptly ran into Justin. I looked at him and smiled. He was cute. He had soft brown hair and bright blue eyes. He smiled back and I felt butterflies.

“Heading to the meeting?” He asked. I put my bangs behind my left ear and nodded.

“C’mon then.” He said smiling. We walked to the front of the train talking. We were the last of the protectors to arrive. Chrystal was sitting on Devon’s lap and I noticed that Dumbledore was standing in the middle of everybody.

“Gather around children. I have a few announcements.” He said. Justin pulled me into the circle made up of Dylin, Rian, Alix, Chrystal and Devon. Justin was standing behind me. He was so close I could smell his scent. He smelled of pine and cologne.

“First announcement is that the third floor corridor is off limits. My second announcement is an offer. Professor Flitwick has been in search of a chorus. Are you children interested in participating in such a thing? Would your charges be?” He asked. I looked around and everybody was nodding.

“Okay then. You have until we arrive to prepare at least one song.” He said. There was sudden uproar. Everybody was shocked that they had only that long to prepare the song.

“Is that all?” I yelled over the roar of the others talking. They quieted down.

“Yes, that is all.” He said then disapparated. Chrystal turned to me.

“Do you wanna sing a duet with me?” She asked.

“Sure, why not?” I said.

“Hey, what if we all did one song collaboratively then divide into two duos and a trio to sing the other songs.” Dylin put in. That was actually a good idea. Everyone was looking at each other waiting for the other to speak up.

“That sounds like a plan.” I said. “Chrystal and I will be one duo, Justin and Devon will be the other duo and then the triplets will be the trio. What is the song we are all doing?” I said.

“What kind of music do we all listen to?” Dylin asked. I personally liked post-hardcore or hard rock.

“What about doing a pop song? That way everybody knows the lyrics.” Chrystal said.

“I don’t listen to the radio.” Said Rian.

“I listen to post-hardcore and hard rock. People like Pierce the Veil, Three Days Grace, Linkin Park.” I said. Everyone looked at eachother.

“BOTDF works for me.” Justin said. He looked over at me and gave me a smile that melted my heart.

“Same for me.” Dylin said. I looked over at him and he winked at me. I rolled my eyes and looked at the rest of them.

“So Blood on the Dance Floor?” I asked. Everyone nodded.

“What song? I know Sexting, Bewitched, and Rise and Shine.” I offered.

“Rise and Shine would be a good one. Or Sexting. Either one is fine with me.” Rian said.
“Let’s do Sexting. That one is loud and will begin the opening feast with a bang.” Alix said.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Devon stated.

“Okay, then it’s decided, we’ll sing Sexting.” I said. Riot was a good song I agree that it would be a good opening song. “Does everybody know the song well enough to sing it?” Everyone nodded.

“Okay, then if we know it, let’s split into our duos/trio and decide on the songs there then we will split the song up and rehearse the whole show.” I said.

“Wow, you’re really good at directing and leading.” Chrystal said. I began to blush a little.

“Thanks. So what bands do you listen to that we could sing?” I asked.

“What about Pierce the Veil?” She offered looking at my shirt. I laughed.

“But which song?” I asked.

“What about A Match Into Water.” She said.

“No, too fast. What about Bulls in the Bronx?” I offered.

“That works for me.” She said.

“You know it by heart?” She asked. I nodded.

“Okay, how do we want to split it up? By verse? You take the first and I’ll take the second?” I said. She nodded. “Then we can both do the chorus and for the bridge we’ll switch lines” I finished.

“Sounds good.” She said. We set to work. It wasn’t long until we arrived at Hogsmeade. The trains stopped with a final chug and the doors opened. I jumped off the train and ran to find Draco. I saw him, a little platinum blond head bobbing in the sea of brown and black. I walked towards him.

“Hey little dragon, how was your train ride?” I asked. He looked up at me and with a straight face said

“It was the utmost adventureless in my entire life.” He said. I gave him a disapproving look. He looked down and then back up but now he had a big grin on his face.

“It was really fun, I’ve never been on a train and I really enjoyed the ride.” He said. Crabbe and Goyle were walking with him, along with Pansy. We were heading towards the dock where the first years would ride boats over the lake up to Hogwarts.

“Protec’ors! Come over ‘ere please!” A voice boomed.

“Duty calls!” I said giving Draco a wink. I walked over to where the large voice was coming from. There was a very big man. At least one and a half humans tall and two humans wide.

“Yes sir?” I asked. Everyone had run up breathlessly.

“Yer all ‘ere yes?” The man said. We all looked around.

“That’s everyone.” I said. The man looked down at me and shuddered.

“Whose yer ma?” He asked.

“I find that question highly inappropriate considering we just met.” I remarked.

“We haven’t just met. Do yer not remember me?” He asked. I looked at Chrystal. “I was the one drivin’ the big motorcycle the night we rescued yeh! You was a weak little thing.” He finished.

“You were driving the motorcycle? I don’t remember much from that night to be honest. And I would prefer if you didn’t bring it up in front of other company. Now, what is it you would like us to do?” I asked getting direct.

“Well, we nee’ to have two protectors in th’ front guiding all th’ boats an’ then two in th’ back to make sure there aren’ stragglers and then one boat on each side so none go off course.” He said. By this time all first years arrived at the dock and was waiting.

“Chrys and I will take the front, Devon and Justin take the back, Rian and Dylin take the left flank, and Alix, take the right flank.” I said. Everyone got into their specific boats. Ours were not charmed so we had control over them. Chrystal and I began to lead the caravan of boats that were following us. Not too long after leaving the dock, the castle began to appear. It was lit up on the outside and a sense of warmth radiated from this big castle. One by one the boats began to dock and there was somebody who came out of the castle. It was the lady that came with Dumbledore when I was offered the position as a school protector. Minerva Mcgonagall was an older looking woman who was currently wearing dark green robes. She approached all of the fearful and awe-filled children.

“Follow me.” Was all she said. Each little child began following the woman. The protectors stayed behind to flip the boats over with Hagrid. I walked over to him.

“So, you were there the night the Potter’s died? Did you see anything else?” I asked fearful of his response.

“Well, yeah, I saw yeh laying in the snow, bloodied up and unconscious. I told Chrystal o’er there to check to see if yeh was alive. She said yes an’ I picked yeh up and set yeh in the motorcycle. Chrystal picked up little Harry an’ we left. That was all. Still not sure how yeh got there but yeh did.” He said.

“Thank you.” I told him. “For everything.” After all the boats were flipped over, my fellow protectors and I walked inside the castle following Hagrid.

“This is the main hall, this is the biggest entrance to Hogwarts an’ over to yer left is the dining hall. The beginning feast is taking place righ’ now. And I was told by McGonagall that you all have a performance tonight at the feast. Go along inside now so yeh can get some food.” And with that, he walked us into the Great Hall. It was a large room with floating candles. The sky was bewitched to look like the outside weather. There were four very long tables with a lot of students at each one of them. Each table was decorated with the specific house colors. On the very right was the Gryffindor table covered in red and gold. On the left of the Gryffindor table was the Hufflepuff table covered in yellow. After that was the Ravenclaw table covered in Blue and Bronze. Finally on the far left was the Slytherin table decked out in silver and green. I scanned the Great Hall in search of Draco. He was in the gaggle of students up at the front of the grand room.

“Silence please, silence please.” Mcgonagall said. The din of talking students died down and was replaced with an excited atmosphere.

“Each of you will come up when your name is called and I will place the Sorting Hat on your head. The Sorting Hat will decide what house you will be in.” She said. “But first, let’s hear it’s song.” The seam of the old hat opened and it began singing:

Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

One by one, the students went up for sorting.

Hannah Abbott-Hufflepuff

Susan Bones-Hufflepuff

Terry Boot-Ravenclaw

Lavendar Brown-Gryffindor

Milicent Bulstrode-Slytherin

Michael Corner-Ravenclaw

Vincent Crabbe-Slytherin

Justin Finch-Flethley-Hufflepuff

Seamus Finnegin-Gryffindor

When Seamus was called up, Devon whooped and he whistled when he was sorted. Apparently, Seamus was Devon’s charge.

Anthony Goldstein-Ravenclaw

Gregory Goyle-Slytherin

Hermione Granger-Gryffindor

Neville Longbottom- Gryffindor

Luna Lovegood-Ravenclaw

Finally, Draco was called up. I watched with anticipation but I didn’t need to worry. The hat decided before it touched his head.

“SLYTHERIN!” It shouted. I was so proud of Draco and so relieved that he ended up with his friends, I cheered as he went to sit down.

“I didn’t know Malfoy was your charge.” Justin said. I nodded.

“Yeah, been for 11 years.” I challenged.

Ernie Macmillan- Hufflepuff

Theodore Nott- Slytherin

Pansy Parkinson-Slytherin

Padma Patil-Ravenclaw

Parvati Patil-Gryffindor

“Harry Potter.” Mcgonagall’s voice rang out clearly. The whole Great Hall was shaking with anticipation as Harry Potter walked up to the stool holding the Sorting Hat. All eyes were on him as he sat on the stool. The Sorting Hat began to talk incoherent words from where I was sitting but it eventually shouted “GRYFFINDOR!”. Chrystal cheered and looked so proud.

“Dean Thomas.” Professor Mcgonagall said. A little boy with tan skin walked up to the hat. Justin was sitting next to me vibrating with anticipation. The hat yelled his decision.

“GRYFFINDOR!”. Justin jumped up whooping and hollering. I kept waiting for the triplet’s charges but they never came.

Ron Weasley-Gryffindor

Blaise Zabini-Slytherin

After all the first years were sorted then the feast began. Food appeared on all tables. There was enough food to fill two mountain trolls. Dumbledore motioned for us to come up to the front. All of us walked up through the tables.

“Are you prepared?” He asked us as soon as we arrived in front of the largest table in the room. All of the professors were sitting at this table.

“Are we ready you guys?” I asked. Everyone looked determined and ready. They nodded at me.

“I guess we are headmaster. Here is the song.” I said giving him my mp3 player.

“You will begin after the food is gone. Meanwhile, you have seats on the end of this table. Please, join us in eating this amazing meal.” He said. We walked down to the end of the table and sat down. Everyone began to dig into the food. I didn’t pick anything up and Chrystal was giving me a questioning look.

“What’s the matter?” She asked. I shrugged. I began to scoop little portions onto my plate.

“You were not allowed to eat properly were you?” She asked. My eyes teared up and I nodded.

“Here, let’s get some more food onto your plate.” She said as she began scooping more food. There were chicken legs and pudding and mashed potatoes and more things I didn’t know the name of.

“It’s okay, you can eat.” Justin said. He put his hand on my back and smiled at me. I picked up one of the chicken legs and took a small bite. It tasted like heaven. After tasting that, I didn’t hold back from scarfing down the rest of my food. After everybody had stopped eating, Dumbledore stood.

“I would like to welcome the professor for Defense against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirell. Also, the third floor corridor is off limits. The Forbidden Forest is off limits to first years.” He said. “I would also like to announce that the school has their first set of Protectors in 20 years. They will act as guidance counsellors to you all. Should you need something and you are not able to approach a teach, they are there for you. Hufflepuff counsellor is Devon Grey. Ravenclaw counsellor is Justin Dectrink, Gryffindor counsellor is Chrystal Lucatero and Slytherin counsellor is Cassandra Greyback-”

“Black, Cassandra Black.” I corrected him. I hated the attention my real last name brings me. All heads turned to me and many faces had fear with a mixture of awe.

“I apologize, Cassandra Black. The Blackcourne triplets, Alix, Rian and Dylin are floating counsellors open to anybody who needs help. This goes for the teachers as well. If you find that you are having a rough day then please visit one of their offices. Now, these seven people have rehearsed a performance for you all as a welcome treat to the school. Without further ado, here is Riot by the protectors of Hogwarts.” He finished talking and we walked to take out places. My heart was pounding so loud I almost couldn’t hear the applause from the students. After taking our places, the headmaster began the music and we started.