Mystique creature come to me
Tell me what you know
Whisper scream I'm listening
There's nowhere I won't go
Look out to the horizon
To infinity

There is nothing to be done
So do not try to speak
Honesty can only be
If there is a lie
Tell me what you believe
Don't try to hide

Are you ready
To let me in
Feel it growin
Under your skin
Tattooed like in flesh
I don't mind the pain it's in
I've been trying to believe
What I said is what I need
- Pirate song by Mehro

I walked slowly over the wet grass. The early September sun was still bright enough in the evening to warm my face.

Before I sat down, my gaze wandered to the Whomping Willow that was planted five years ago when I came to Hogwarts. I often wondered why this tree was planted on the school grounds, because Professor Dumbledore warned us not to get too close to it. In the last school year, the tree had almost cost a classmate an eye, because some also used the danger as a test of courage, which was especially popular in Gryffindor.

I sighed softly and my gaze wandered back to Blake Lake. The water murmured gently and there were only small waves on the surface, only the last rays of sunshine of the day bathed it in a soft, glittering blue.

I was alone because most of the students were at dinner or in their common rooms. Hardly anyone appreciated the beauty of nature at Hogwarts and so I had space for my thoughts and my books, especially in the twilight of the evening.

I loved it here at Hogwarts and yet I felt a little lonely at times. Just yesterday I witnessed this year's house sorting ceremony. Many students were separated and assigned based on their strongest personality. I remembered my own sorting well.

The Sorting Hat took me to the brave Gryffindor house, but sometimes I found myself questioning that decision. For a few moments, he wavered between Slytherin and Gryffindor, because in addition to the courage the hat saw in me, he also found ambition. But I was satisfied with the final decision at that moment.

The fact that the table in the House of the Serpent was filled with its grumpy-looking students was very off-putting to me as an 11-year-old first-grader. And I come from a Muggle family, so how was I ever going to settle into a house like Slytherin?

I had read the book 'A History of Hogwarts' with curiosity before I arrived, so I knew what to expect in the houses. Unfortunately, I couldn't share my knowledge with anyone, because there was no one close enough to me, not even my parents.

But I didn't want to think about them at that moment when I felt the wetness of the grass begin to cover my calves. Because of their constant fighting, I was so glad to finally get away from them. Even if it took me longer to settle into this new world full of things I didn't know. It was difficult for me and so I went to an intimidated and reserved girl with worn clothes and second-hand books. But I still made friends with two girls from my house in the first years of school. Mary Macdonald and Alice Fortescue were very friendly and also good for having fun.

However, we spent most of our time in the large library in search of knowledge. I wanted to experience everything, to be able to do everything that I could, because unlike the school of the Muggles, where not only useful things were taught, here at this school there were endless possibilities for the practical application of knowledge. Even a seemingly boring subject like the History of Magic contained background knowledge about magic, its weaknesses, and its uses.

And yet, in all that was experienced here, there was also a certain strangeness, which often made me feel out of place and lately also lonely. Just at the end of the last school year, my two companions withdrew.

Suddenly, they were often concerned about how they looked, and instead of doing homework or studying in the library, their topics of conversation now often revolved around the boys from Hogwarts. Alice has always had a soft spot for Frank Longbottom. When at last he could no longer resist her beautiful eyes, Alice had hardly any time left for me.

And Mary seemed very distant, as she was attacked by Mulciber with black magic before the Easter holidays. This was a tremendous shock to me; it was the first time that the teasing at Hogwarts had reached such tragic proportions. I hated to remember how her eyes widened in shock and horror, and the sneering laughter of Mulciber and Avery as I stood idly by and watched what they did to her. And I was helpless to stay in place with a curse. It was my worst memory of my school days so far and I sincerely hoped that I would never have to experience anything like it again.

We were all used to hexes in the corridors, but no one had ever been so badly injured that they had spent several weeks in St. Mungo's. Just the thought of not being safe at Hogwarts made me uncomfortable. Why did the students have to be so mean to each other? Why couldn't they dissect each other and help each other, or at least leave them alone?

But suddenly, I was snapped out of my gloomy thoughts when I saw something fidgeting in the air. I walked slowly towards it with my heart pounding, the wet grass beneath me making my steps slide every now and then.

Then I realized what, or rather, who it was. A boy with dark hair hung in the air. His dark wood wand lay on the floor a little apart and his slender white legs stretched in the air, his pants hanging between his ankles so I could see his greying underpants. I couldn't help but grin a little at the sight, even though I didn't find his situation amusing in the slightest.

I eyed the boy with the black, somewhat unkempt hair in front of me. I knew him from class and from the library, but we had barely spoken to each other until that day, although we were both among the few who stayed at the castle over Christmas while others visited their families.

He wore a very worn-out cloak, like myself. It seemed like we had something in common that we didn't come from one of the wealthy families that strutted around this school as if it belonged to them.

"Can I help you, Severus?" I asked earnestly. I had learned to ask the students here before I helped. Some were strange souls, especially when they were Syltherins like Severus Snape.

He growled and I drew my beloved hornbeam wand, dragon heart fiber, 13.5 inches, slightly springy. I still remembered exactly how the two of us found each other in the Ollivander store in Diagon Alley. This hornbeam wand chose me the moment I touched it. Ollivander opined that the wood of the wand favored wizards and witches with a single, pure passion, which the wandmaker kindly described as a vision that would almost always come true. But sometimes I even questioned my own wand's decision when I thought of the old wizard's words.

I tensed up inside and felt my insecurity find a place in me again. But I exhaled loudly and tried to shake it off.

"Liberacorpus," I shouted loudly, but my voice sounded more confident than I was, so Severus Snape crashed to the ground, even though I tried to let him glide gently.

He quickly straightened up, pulled up his pants, grabbed his wand, and looked at me challengingly. All of this happened with impressive speed. He was used to having to react quickly. It had probably happened to him many times before, I thought sadly.

"Are you going to thank me by putting a curse on me?" I asked, seemingly unconcerned. Why was he so suspicious? Was it because I was a Gryffindor?

"I don't need any help from someone like you!" he replied excitedly. Severus clenched his mouth and pushed his jaw forward slightly. His eyes sparkled with hostility, but I didn't avert my gaze and stood up to it, feeling the anger of insecurity wash away inside me.

"What do you mean by that exactly?" I asked hostilely, even though I knew exactly what he meant. My Muggle ancestry wasn't something to be proud of, but I didn't want to be ashamed of it either, and I certainly didn't want to justify it.

"Just leave me alone!" he hissed through his teeth. Irritated, I frowned, because I hadn't expected that after my help.

"With the greatest pleasure. But maybe you should ask yourself how long you would have lasted here without me. Where are your purebloods when you're hung here? None of them seem to care, do they?" I replied with clenched fists.

The boy growled and curled his thin lips, my words had seemed to hit him. I was proud to face him because it was something I wouldn't have done before. Out of fear, of shame. But I wanted to change this school year and be more like my inner self, because I knew that there was more to me than it seemed on the outside.

I saw anger in his gaze, but also something else. Was it resignation? However, in my own anger at his insult, I didn't care, and I walked past him before he could say anything else to me and pushed him against his shoulder with force, so that it hurt even me.

I would no longer put up with these impertinences. Especially not from such a conceited Slytherin. I noticed his piercing gaze between my back as I continued along the lake to reach my bush, behind which I usually hid to read a book. With a wave of my wand, I dried the damp grass and sat down on the cool ground.

I had to take a few deep breaths before my anger subsided. Why was the boy so hostile? On the other hand, how long has he been in this compromising situation? Then I laughed at him a bit. How would I have reacted? Probably not very approachable either, but such a gross insult? No, definitely not. But my anger at Severus Snape fizzled out over my thoughts and I was able to devote myself to my reading. Completely undisturbed and in peace, just as I had wished.

Two days later, as the golden dusk fell over the horizon, I set out on my familiar path to the lake. My path led me past the Whomping Willow, which I always circled with a wide arc. Nature seemed to shroud itself in a silent foreboding, as if witnessing secrets that would only be revealed in the dark.

At that moment, someone caught up with me unexpectedly.

"Catherine, wait, please!" called the kind, bright voice of Lily Evans. She tossed back her shoulder-length, dark red hair, which framed her face like flaming silk. "What are you doing down here at this hour?"

Her stunningly bright green eyes pierced the twilight, searching mine as she spoke to me with a questioning intensity. A gentle clearing of my throat accompanied my quick reaction as I hurriedly showed her the book on medicinal herbs, which I really wanted to read undisturbed.

"Oh, I just want some peace and quiet from the noise in the common room. I think Sirius and James are up to something again and are now bragging about it," I replied quickly.

"Yes, I'm annoyed about that too, and I've been thinking about ending my essay on History of Magic here. I don't have much left until Friday. Are you done yet?" she asked.

I nodded, glad I was right in my guess about the noise level of the common room and the cause.

"Maybe you can help me with the end? I'm not sure exactly how to interpret the abrupt end of the Goblin Riots of 1612," she said, smiling slightly. Something in her eyes seemed to catch me.

I nodded again and we started a conversation on the subject. Although History of Magic wasn't my favorite subject, I was pretty good at it, as I was at all subjects. But Lily Evans was an excellent student herself and it filled me to discuss the subject with her. We went back to the common room together, engrossed in our deep conversation.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow moving. Immediately, my hand jerked to my wand. I wanted to be prepared in case Mulciber was after me now. But Lily quickly held me back by the arm.

"Don't worry, it's just Sev. He's my... a friend of mine."

Their connection had always made me a little curious. A Slytherin, friends with a Gryffindor who has the same ancestry of Muggles as I do. I'd never heard of it before, and it was something the others whispered about behind her back at the Gryffindor table.

"Sev, are you sneaking up on me?" Lily teased him with a grin that shone like a faint glow in the evening darkness. Sev swallowed, and in his eyes I could follow the dance of his thoughts, like stars dancing in the night sky.

""I merely desired to visit the library to return a book. Subsequently, I catch sight of you." His voice was low, but also piercing. Somehow, I liked it. But I saw his lie clearly, when his dark eyes betrayed him.

"What are you doing at the lake...with her?" he inquired, and his dislike of me was now evident. I wondered if it was just my ancestry that made him so hostile to me.

"Stop it, Sev! Catherine is in our schoolyear in Gryffindor, very smart and kind. Besides, when we talk, it's my business. Why do you ask so often who I'm with and when?" she said, her eyes glaring angrily at the boy, who seemed to shrink under her words.

I was pleased to hear her say I was smart and kind, because that's not how I was inclined to see myself. But I was too tired to witness a confrontation that was none of my business, so I interrupted their loud conversation to say a quick goodbye.

In the dormitory, Lily woke me up, even though she quietly lay down in her bed.

"Catherine? Are you still awake?" she whispered, noticing my restless movements.

"Sort of," I said, half asleep. I wondered why she wanted to talk to me. After all, we hadn't done much together yet. We shared a dormitory, but not the same friends or interests.

"I'm sorry Sev was so dismissive. He's funny that way sometimes. But actually, I get along very well with him. Except for the typical problem in the Slytherin house," she explained quietly, even though there was no one else in the dormitory yet.

"How come you're friends?" I asked, because I just couldn't hold back my curiosity any longer.

"We've known each other before live in one place. It was Sev who told me that I was a witch, who introduced me to this new world. He helped me a lot to find my way," she replied thoughtfully as I tried to imagine her situation.

As a child, I had few friends, and none were close enough to stay with me while I was growing up. I would have liked so much to have someone by my side who knew me before Hogwarts and went through this magical world with me.

"You can really use that as a muggle-born witch at first. But he's a bit... odd," I muttered tiredly.

"Yes, but I really like him. I just need to work on getting him to break away from his black magic friends and finally understand that all those thoughts of pure blood are pure crap." Her voice was no longer soft and loving, but agitated and streaked with sadness and anger in equal measure.

"Mh, I'll never understand how you can turn to black magic like that and have such views." After a short pause, I asked, "And are you actually a couple?"

"What makes you think that?" she wanted to know, uncertainly. I wondered if I had crossed a line with my question. But my curiosity was just too great. And at the same time, I also wondered why I was so interested in the relationship between her and the Slytherin.

"Well, he seems very fixated on you, and you've already said how much you like him several times now," I replied quietly, trying to hide my curiosity and sound casual.

But Lily fell silent and I realized that our conversation was over. Although I would have liked to know what exactly was going on between the two of them at that moment, I quickly fell asleep.

/Notes:

This is my first story I am publishing. I'm not a native speaker, so mistakes in the language will happen to me.
I am also very happy about exchange with you, no matter what kind. Please write in the comments Please excuse the formatting issues I'm having with this website. I still haven't solved it to my satisfaction.

The first two chapters are full of information to explain the situation and introduce the reader to one of the main characters, their thoughts, feelings and past experiences. I'll revise it again soon :)

I wish you a lot of fun with this long story about friendship, love, loneliness and loss.
We will accompany all characters for a long time, follow their development. This story is supposed to go up to the second war against Voldemort.
I'll be happy if you follow me through this entire story./