musical mood: are you satisfied? - marina and the diamonds

One other first year female was sorted into Ravenclaw - the foreigner from the boat named Anastasia Vasiliev, though she insisted on Ana. The five of them were escorted by the fifth year prefect, Penelope Clearwater, to the common room, and then their dorms.

While the Ravenclaw common room was regal, with high ceilings lined with books, beautiful stained glass windows, and an intricate chandelier in the centre, the dorms were more relaxed and cosy. There were five four-poster beds in a half circle shape, each of them with dark blue privacy curtains, and a spacious trunk at the foot.

While the other girls rushed to claim their beds, Cass walked over to the window, staring out into the forest beyond Hogwarts castle. They were on an island, but the land seemed to go on forever, trees upon trees that bled into mountains, miles and miles away. Cassiopeia, the constellation, was in full view in the night sky.

Connor would love it here.

Weeks after they first met, the two had learned morse code together, so they could use their flashlights to communicate from across the street, inside their bedroom windows. Sometimes, in the middle of the night when they couldn't sleep, they'd sneak out to the park to see each other. They'd lay in the grass and talk for hours, sometimes until the sun rose up the next day.

It was during one of those times when Connor taught Cass about the constellations. She had heard of them, but had never bothered to read further into what they were. But that night, she'd been upset over something with her father - she couldn't remember the details anymore, and he'd known just how to cheer her up.

"That one," Connor said, pointing up at a cluster of stars, "is Cassiopeia."

"Really?"

He nodded, giving her hand a small squeeze. "See, you're not just a star, you're a whole bunch of stars. If your dad can't see it, he's bloody stupid."

Cass gulped, forcing herself to look away from the window.

The other four girls had already picked their beds out, Padma being closest to the door, followed by an empty bed, Naia, Ana, and what was presumably Bethany, though she had her curtains drawn already. The three others were mid conversation as Cass sat down on her bed, and began changing into her pyjamas.

"So then I said, Angelina, if you talk about Fred Weasley one more time, the first spell I will learn will be one to glue your mouth shut." Naia finished her story, waving her hands around theatrically.

"Is there such a spell?" Ana asked between laughs, and Naia shrugged.

"Probably. There's a spell for everything. At least that's what Angie told me."

"Angelina is your sister, right?" Padma asked.

"Yeah, she's in Gryffindor. A third year."

"Maybe she and Parvati will become friends." Padma rested her chin in her hands, laying on her stomach. Her long black hair was pulled back into a braid, that she had running down her left shoulder. "I don't know how I knew, but the moment the sorting started, I just had this gut feeling that we wouldn't be in the same house. Am I crazy?"

"No." Cass answered before thinking it through. Everyone turned to look at her, and she even thought she heard a rustling in Bethany's bed.

"Lots of wizards have...gut instincts. Predictions, almost." Cass elaborated, going off of something she had read in a book several months ago. "It's normal. In a few years, you can sign up for a Divination elective, to learn more about it. Or check out books in the library, I'm sure they have something."

"Thank you." Padma's eyes were wide with genuine appreciation, and Cass couldn't help the small smile that formed on her lips.

"So, where are you lot from?" Naia leaned in, changing the subject onto something more chipper. Her curly black hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, with several small ringlets popping out. "I'm from Middlesbrough."

"York." Padma answered.

To Cass, this was obviously a ploy to get Ana to say where she was from, without putting her on the spot. Leave it to Ravenclaws to avoid confrontation. But Cass was also curious of Ana's nationality, so she went along with it.

"I'm from Stromness. It's an island town off the coast of Arisaig, if you know where that is." Cass was sure they didn't know, but the other three nodded along anyways.

Everyone turned their attention to Ana, who didn't seem to notice the anticipation around her, smiling lightly while laying on her stomach. "I am from Minsk." She said casually, as Cass' jaw dropped. Had she heard that right?

Padma and Naia looked at each other with wide eyes, confirming that she had, in fact, heard her correctly.

"As in...the Soviet Union?" Cass asked tentatively, which Ana nodded in response, her bright smile somehow not dimming from the newfound tension.

The nuclear standoff between communist and capitalist countries wasn't unknown to the wizarding world. Every muggle and wizard alike was aware of the cold war that had been brewing for decades, with the Soviet Union at the centre of it all. While it seemed like the USSR was at the brink of collapse, the idea of a Soviet at Hogwarts was dumbfounding. What had Dumbledore been thinking?

"Is she a spy?" Padma whispered not-so-quietly, to which Naia shushed her.

"Don't be rude! She's right here!"

Padma either didn't hear Naia, or chose to ignore her. "If she's a spy, shouldn't we tell someone? I don't want to give the Russians knowledge of what goes on here!"

"If she was a spy, she wouldn't tell us, you idiots." Bethany yelled from behind her curtains, causing Cass to jump. She had almost forgotten Bethany was in the dorm with them. "The Soviets are bloody smart."

"Maybe they made a mistake and she's a dumb one!" Padma yelled back.

"If anyone here is dumb, it's you, you pompous propaganda machine."

Cass bit on her lip to stop herself from laughing. Maybe Bethany wasn't that bad.

Ana chuckled gently, not phased by the bantering and accusations. "I am not a spy, and technically we are now called Belarus. If I were a spy, why would I be in an English school in the middle of nowhere? There is nothing to spy on other than what teenagers get up to."

"Technically we're in Scotland." Naia pointed out. "But...you have a fair point."

"Why are you here then?" Cass questioned, hoping she didn't come off as too accusatory. Making a Soviet enemy was not a good idea, especially if she had to share the same room with them for the next seven years. "Shouldn't you be in Durmstrang?"

"Durmstrang does not allow, er, how do you say...muddleborns?"

"Muggleborns." Padma corrected.

"Yes, muggleborns. But Headmaster Karkaroff and Headmaster Dumbledore came to an agreement about me. I do not quite understand, but I will not complain." Ana shrugged, before looking at the grandfather clock across the room. "It is getting late, we should sleep."

"Yeah." Naia agreed. "I don't want to be too tired to focus on my first day, Angelina told me some of the Professors are super strict."

The lights were turned off, and after many moments of silence, Naia's gentle snores echoed through the dorm. It took Cass the longest to fall asleep, and when she did, she dreamt of Connor joining Leon Trotsky's Red Army, and then him being stabbed to death by the sorting hat.

*

Hogwarts Castle was beautiful, there was no denying that. Between the intricate archways, the spiralling staircases, and the luscious gardens, the castle was truly an architectural masterpiece. Whoever came up with the design clearly had a knack for design.

But what Hogwarts had in outward appearance, it lacked in practicality.

Penelope Clearwater was supposed to show the first years to their classes, but in a last minute panic, she screamed about having last minute revisions to do, and told the Ravenclaws to figure it out on their own. They were smart enough, after all, and how hard could it be?

But the stupid castle was like a maze. How was it that a staircase that was supposed to go up, landed you in the dungeons? Or if you went into the girl's lavatory on the 7th floor, you'd walk out into the Greenhouse?

Had Cass had the time, she would march up to the first Professor she saw and demand answers for why Hogwarts was built so damn absurdly. But she didn't have the time, because she was too busy being completely and utterly lost.

Somehow, she had ended up in a massive, yet empty corridor, with unhelpful portraits that hung on the wall shouting at her. Every second that went by, she felt herself grow more and more panicked. Her first impression to her Professor - a lad called Quirrell - would be that she was late on the first bloody day.

"Go to class, child!" A particularly unhelpful portrait of an 18th century woman that resembled Marie Antionette called, her voice high pitched and her nose turned up.

"I will literally set you on fire!" Cass shouted back, her hand clutching her wand so hard that her knuckles were white.

"How rude!" The portrait scoffed.

Cass continued her speed walk down the halls, turning a corner when-

SPLASH

She stopped dead in her tracks, shoes screeching on the marble floors, as her entire body was suddenly soaking wet. Her wand slipped from her grip and clanged on the floor, as she stood, frozen in shock as the icy water dripped down her robes, caught in her hair and stung her eyes.

What. The. Hell.

Pushing her now drenched brown hair out of her face and blinking rapidly, her distorted vision settled on two figures atop a mezzanine above her. They were twins - a pair of redhead boys that appeared to be a few years older than her, with hands over their mouths as they attempted to contain their laughter. Directly above her, a bucket was levitated, upside down, all the contents having been emptied. Apparently, they had enchanted a bloody canister to dump ice cold water on any unsuspecting students running late, and Cass was the unlucky victim.

"What is wrong with you?!" She screeched, water dripping into her mouth as she spoke.

"Sorry." One of them said snickers, not sounding one bit apologetic.

Through her distorted vision, Cass reached down and grabbed her wand, searching her brain for any spell she could use, either to fix her appearance or hex them, but before she could come up with anything, another voice entered the conversation.

"Bloody hell, not again. Fred, George, get down here!"

Another boy came up from behind her, looking up onto the platform where Fred and George were, and they took off in a mad dash away, disappearing into a hallway.

"Sorry about them." The boy said to Cass. He appeared to be the same age as the bucket twins - Fred and George, apparently, but wore a Hufflepuff robe and had a kind smile. "They've got two other kids already. McGonagall said I'm supposed to keep my eye on them - apparently I'm the only responsible third year."

As Cass' vision cleared, and the boy's face unblurred, she couldn't help but frown, now even more frazzled than before. It was Cedric Diggory.

Before Cass could say anything, Cedric whipped his wand out from the pocket of his robe, and pointed it at her. "Scourgify!"

In an instant, she was completely dry. Warm, even, like her clothes had just left a campfire. She ran her fingers through her hair, confirming all the water was gone.

"Thanks."

"No problem, Cass. Are you lost?"

"A bit." Cass admitted. "I'm due to Defence Against the Dark Arts in five minutes, and have no bloody idea where the classroom is."

"Oh Merlin...it's on the other side of the castle. I can show you, if you'd like. My class doesn't start until half nine."

"That would be nice."

Usually, Cass would've refused the help, and depending on who she was talking to, maybe even throw out an insult, but she was desperate. And if someone had to be a knight in shining armour, Cedric wasn't the worst option.

The pair swiftly made their way through the castle, Cedric making conversation as they did. "So, how have you been liking Hogwarts so far?"

"Well, other than it being a maze, it's been alright. Nothing has really happened yet, so..."

Cedric laughed. "Fair enough. It'd be nice to have a familiar face in Hufflepuff, but I always figured you'd be in Ravenclaw."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Well, I remember this one time at the Ministry, in that library we'd always hang out in, I was eleven, so you must've been nine, and that Malfoy kid was there. He said something that really set you off, and you started yelling at him in French. I was just sitting there thinking, what kind of nine year old is so fluent in French that they slip into it when they get too angry?"

Cass couldn't help the snort that followed. She didn't remember the incident Cedric spoke of, but it didn't surprise her that it had happened.

"Well, here you are." Cedric gestured towards a door, after what felt like ages of walking. "Don't worry too much about being late. Quirrell's a bit odd, but he's not strict. He won't be upset, especially because it's your first day."

"Thanks. For getting me here and for, you know..."

"Saving you from falling water buckets?"

"Yeah, that."

"No problem." Cedric ran a hand through his chestnut brown hair, and began to walk away. "See you around, Cass."

Cedric hadn't been wrong when he said Quirrell was odd. The Professor was young, and actually a tad handsome if you squinted. He wore an oversized purple turban, which, according to Henry Nott (who, despite being a year above Cass, had to repeat the class), he didn't have the year prior. Professor Quirrell had a stutter, and a nervous twitch, which contracted the dark subject matter he would be teaching.

He didn't seem to mind Cass being late though, which she appreciated. There was only one seat left for her though, next to the second year Henry. He had to be the only Ravenclaw in the history of Hogwarts to repeat a class, especially one as easy as first year Defence Against the Dark Arts.

After her class with Quirrell ended, she made her way to the dungeons for Potions with Professor Snape, which was much easier to find.

She found she liked Snape far less than Quirrell; he was rude, monotonous and looked as though he hadn't washed his hair in a month. But, as it turned out, Cass was quite good at potions, earning some, albeit reluctant, compliments from the grumpy professor.

"How are you doing that?" Naia whispered over to her as they brewed their first potions - a cure for boils.

"Just following the instructions, and adding a few extra things. See, if you crush the bean with the wooden side of the knife instead of the blade, more juice comes out."

"Bloody genius." Naia mumbled, copying what Cass was doing, though with less effect. Cass' hands were perfectly still, her hand-eye coordination that of an expert, while Naia's naturally excitable personality caused her fingers to tremble, thus making the task significantly harder.

There was a break after class for lunch, where most of the students gathered in the Great Hall for. Some of the older kids went to the library for studying, or to do last minute homework, and the Ravenclaw table had a few new faces when Cass arrived.

Next to Padma, was her Gryffindor twin Parvati, along with a blonde haired girl, also Gryffindor. When Cass sat down, Padma turned to her with a grin.

"Cass, hi! This is my sister Parvati, the one I was telling you lot about last night. And this is her friend Lavender."

"Hello." Cass greeted, grabbing a sandwich from the platter and setting it on her plate. "Where's Bethany?"

"At the Slytherin table with her sister." Naia motioned at the green table, where, sure enough, Bethany was, next to her sister Dahlia. Theodore Nott was at her left, trying to make conversation, which Bethany was downright ignoring. Malfoy was further down the table, sitting with Crabbe and Goyle.

"Apparently her sister is not happy about her being in Ravenclaw." Ana pursed her lips pitifully. "The Burke family has been in Slytherin for five hundred years, she said."

"It shouldn't matter too much though." Cass said. "She isn't heir, after all."

"Heir?" Naia frowned, chewing on her sandwich.

"You know, the oldest son. Or daughter, if they have no boys. Most purebloods' reputation relies on their heir, which isn't Bethany. It doesn't matter much if the second or third child gets sorted into Ravenclaw, or becomes a blood traitor or whatever, as long as the heir remains pristine."

"Odd." Naia responded, probably a bit confused as to why Cass knew so much about pureblood culture, given she was a halfblood. "Well...I hope Bethany is alright. She seemed pretty depressed last night."

"Me too." Ana nodded. "So, how did you like your first classes?"

"They were alright." Cass shrugged.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, why were you late to Professor Quirrell's class?" Ana asked, completely butchering the pronunciation of Quirrell.

"I got lost." Cass said, not caring to elaborate, or relive the moment where a bloody bucket of water was dumped on her head by some twins. It was truly a miracle Cedric helped her out.

"I don't like Quirrell." Padma said suddenly, causing heads to raise.

"Why?" Lavender asked. "He seemed nice enough."

She scratched the back of her head, ducking uncomfortably. "I dunno. There's just something...off about him. Just a gut feeling."

As lunch continued, the topic changed to more trivial things - mostly them interrogating Ana about her life back in Belarus. The Soviet Union was such a foreign concept to the first years, it was as if she were from the moon, and not another European country.

But Cass didn't join in on the conversation - what Padma said had stuck in her mind for some reason. She had been right during the sorting, about her sister not being in Ravenclaw with them. Could she be right about this too? Was there something amiss about the stuttering professor, or was she just being as cynical as always?