Eliza was curled up into my side on the train ride home, the sound of her breathing the only thing disrupting the silence of the empty compartment. Fields of green whizzed by, and I found myself picturing what I'd be doing if I was still friends with Lily and Severus, what we'd be doing.

Lily probably would've been ranting about Potter, Severus making some remark about how they were prats. I would've laughed and agreed, and then we all would've begun to make plans to see each other over the summer.

"Can I sit here? The people in my compartment are being bloody gits."

I looked up to see a sixth year Slytherin girl, and with a pang, I remembered that the words she'd just spoken were incredibly similar to the first words Lily had ever spoken to me.

"Erm, sure. I hope you're okay with cats..." I trailed off, remembering the exact words I'd said to Lily. A huge smile of relief spread across the girl's face, and she plopped down across from me, carefully levitating her trunk into storage.

"I'm Gabrielle, Gabrielle Flint." She introduced with a smile. "I've seen you hanging around with my cousin, Sirius. Are you friends with him?"

"Oh, no, not at all. He infuriates me, no offense to you. I'm Cascade Elise, you can call me Cas." I said with a short laugh.

"I'm not offended, don't worry. It's nice to meet you, Cas. What's your cat's name? She's beautiful." Gabrielle smiled. I looked down at Eliza's sleeping form and smiled myself.

"Eliza, and thank you." I informed her. We lapsed into a comfortable silence, Gabrielle taking out a muggle book (something I figured her family wouldn't be happy about, maybe she was like Sirius), I absentmindedly petting Eliza.

"What are you reading?" I asked suddenly, before blushing at my outburst as she looked up, startled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine, no worries. I'm reading Lord of the Flies, it's a rather interesting muggle book that shows the darker side of human nature." Gabrielle said. "Do you like reading?"

"Yes, I do enjoy reading. I'm just rather surprised that a Flint or rather someone related to a Black is reading a muggle book, I figured that all of the family except Bla-Sirius despised muggles. That's how he makes it sound, anyways." I explained. Gabrielle sighed.

"I have nothing against muggles, although yes, the rest of my family despises them and treats them like filth. I'm not really on good terms with anyone in my family, besides Sirius." Gabrielle admitted. "They don't really like the fact that I'm friends with Bradley Hudson, he's a muggleborn Ravenclaw boy. I do have my moments of rebellion though, reading muggle books, hanging out with muggleborns, dating a muggle born. I do wish I could've been like Sirius though, sorted into another house. The look on my parents' faces would've been priceless!"

I smiled, remembering my sorting, Sirius being sorted just before me. He'd been unsure what to do at first when he hadn't been sorted into Slytherin, but now, when he looked back on it, he probably thought of it as one of his greatest accomplishments.

"It was kind of the opposite for me, all of my family has been Gryffindor, and when I was sorted into Slytherin, they distanced themselves from me. I did make up with my parents though this year." I had no idea why we were sharing our life stories with each other, we'd just met, but something about Gabrielle made me trust her immediately. Perhaps it was the aura of warmth and kindness she gave off, or the fact that she wasn't like her family at all.

Gabrielle's face fell as I mentioned my rocky relationship with my parents, and she placed her book down, reaching over and patting me on the knee.

"I'm sorry about that." She said, and I laughed, causing a look of confusion to spring up on her face.

"Don't be, I've made up with them, as I said." I explained, and she nodded in understanding.

"Oh."

We spent the rest of the train ride joking around and playing a few games of wizarding chess, and when it was time to get our trunks, Gabrielle reached over and petted Eliza, smiling at me.

"Write me over the summer, you seem pretty wicked." I grinned at the prospect of having someone to talk to, and nodded quickly.

"Of course, I could really use a friend."

"Well, I'll be there for you." She said with a kind smile, before she grabbed her trunk and disappeared into the crowd.

---

"So how was the rest of your school year? You didn't really write that often." My mother asked as we sat down for dinner.

"Horrible." I confessed. "My friends and I got into a huge fight, and honestly none of us can even look at each other anymore. On top of that, Sirius Black, that annoying prat I told you about, has made it his life mission to try to cheer me up by annoying me. Sorry for not writing, I'm not used to it quite yet."

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear. Now what's this about a boy?" My father sympathized. I flushed at his next words, earning a few chuckles from my parents.

"It's not like that! I don't fancy him, he doesn't fancy me. We despise each other, he's just been acting worse lately and really getting on my nerves. Acting like he cares one second, and then proclaiming that his life goal is to annoy me. I can't stand him!" I exclaimed.

"I couldn't stand the mere sight of your father when we were younger, much like you and this Black boy. I haven't even met him yet, seems like a keeper." My mother grinned. My jaw dropped in exasperation.

"Why does everyone keep saying that we're made for each other?" I whined, pulling at the edges of my hair. "We aren't! You haven't even met him yet!"

"We'll see." My father said. "We'll see."