The Ravenclaw Dormitories
At the end of the feast, all first years were to follow the prefects to the dormitories. Draco stood up with everyone else as they all gathered around a witch with a prefect badge.
"I am Meredith Stewart, and will be your prefect this year. You will follow me up to the Ravenclaw tower where your luggage will be. You will be separated into girls and boys, and will get to pick out your dorms if you are friends with anyone. And let this be a warning, if you can't sort this out between yourselves I will get you a dormitory plan and no one will get to be in a dorm with their new friends! Got it?" She gave them all look. It was a rather frightening look. At the students' collective nods, she smiled brightly again. "Great! Now let this be known that we are all a family in Ravenclaw, and we treat each other with respect. I don't care if she pulled your pigtails or he threw your book, save the animosity for being better than the other houses, and getting the house cup!" Some of the first years smiled at this. "Now follow me, and watch your steps on the staircases!" She turned around and all 15 students followed in her trail.
Draco was still feeling morose, and walked a couple of steps behind the others in a sulk. Meredith noticed this, and watched as she beckoned Terry towards her. She whispered something in his ear, causing him to smile widely and nod. He then waited a couple seconds for Draco to catch up to him.
He looked at Draco strangely, as if trying to work him out. He then grabbed Draco's hand left hand with his right hand, surprising the blonde, and held it tightly. He grinned toothily at Draco. Draco smiled back nervously, and carried on walking with the group. Terry carried on holding his hand.
They went up staircase after staircase, passed classroom and student before Draco decided to say something.
"Um, my name's Draco."
"I know." Terry responded promptly. Draco was thrown off for a second.
"Well...what's your name?" He already knew, but he just wanted to carry on the conversation.
"Terry." Another prompt response. Terry began to shift a bit, his free hand tapping at his leg a lot before he blurted out "I like Quidditch."
Draco was thrown off again, and quickly searched for a response. "I like Quidditch as well, but I'm terrible at playing it. I wanted to be a Seeker, but I never caught the snitch fast enough." Draco thought about his timed Quidditch practices with Lucius, the panic and stress that came with it. He just wanted to fly.
"What's your position?"
"I'm a Chaser. I'm pretty fast on a broom and always manage to get the Quaffle through the hoop. I did it one time when I was upside down, and the trajectory was perfect enough to throw the Keeper off and get into the hoop. I always practice Quidditch with my brothers and sister. My sister Diana is a Seeker, and she's the best at it. Her trophy is probably in Hogwarts. She plays professionally now, for the Holyhead Harpies. She plays with us less, so now my younger brother Albert is our Seeker, and he's pretty good at it. My brother's prefer to be Beaters so there's usually an uneven number of Chasers, but it doesn't matter, because I'm still good enough." He said this all in a matter of fact voice. He carried on
"I've liked Quidditch since I was a baby, because of Diana always needing someone to play with. She's the oldest so we all do what she says. I have 4 brothers, 4 sisters, and 6 cousins who stay with us, so now that Diana's gone there should be the perfect about of people for a game of Quidditch, but my brothers are always ruining it. They do every penalty they can, Blatching, Blurting, Haversacking, and Quaffle-pocking. The only reason we haven't done any Stooging is because I balance it out. I'm fairly certain my cousin Barnie invented a type of cheat where you hit the Bludger into the Snitch before the Seeker catches it, breaking the Snitch and their arm," he rambled on in an odd monotone. Draco listened with fascination. He'd never known somebody could have so many siblings! And cousins too!
"What are there names?" Draco tentatively interrupted. "Your brothers and sisters and cousins?" Terry looked at him for a second before facing forward again.
"My brothers are Nelson, Christopher, Clement and Albert, my sisters are Bella, Cory, Mauve and Diana, and my cousins are Barnie, Cecile, Laura, and the triplets Harry, Larry and Barry," he looked back to Draco, "I assume they were going with a theme."
"That's amazing! I wish I had siblings!" Draco said quite loudly. Terry flinched at the sudden volume and the tapping to his leg carried on. Draco smiled awkwardly as an apology. He didn't think Terry got the message he was trying to convey.
"Okay first years, listen up!" Meredith called out. They faced the front where the could see a tall door with bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. It was at the top of a spiral staircase and was presumably very high up, Draco thought back to the twists and turns they'd made and deduced that they were on the west side of Hogwarts. His time navigating the manor had payed off. The thought of the manor made him feel a bit queasy, so he focused instead on the bronze knocker.
"This is the entrance the Ravenclaw common rooms. Right here," she gestured to the knocker, "is your way in. The eagle will ask you a riddle, and if you answer correctly, it will let you in. If not, you have to wait for another person to come along." There was a look of panic that spread across the first year's faces. Meredith smiled at them cheekily. "You want to know a secret about the real way to get in?" The all nodded eagerly, especially Draco, who was ready for any Hogwarts secrets he could get. "You don't actually need to know about the answer that was intended for the riddle. As long as it fits the criteria, and you can defend your answer, the eagle will let you through. We Ravenclaws don't have time to be stuck outside our common room for five minutes trying to find out the meaning of life. 'If the answer is technically true, the eagle will always let you through.' Like this." She gave the knocker three sharp knocks.
"I have two eyes but cannot see; what am I?" The eagle asked in a deep voice. Meredith turned back to the first years.
"Now this is a classic single word riddle, where you have to think of how it's spelled and take it apart. But an answer just as fitting would be..." She faced the eagle, "a person wearing a blindfold." You could nearly hear the eagle grumbling about 'Ravenclaws these days', before the door opened out. "Thank you Bernie!" Meredith called to the knocker before walking into the common room. The first years followed after her, all in awe.
At the end of the group was Draco and Terry. Terry dropped Draco's hand for a moment to pet the eagle thoughtfully. "Thank you Bernie," he thanked the knocker just as Meredith did. They followed after the group.
They stepped into a wide circular room filled with blue. It has graceful arched windows which were hung with blue and bronze silks. There was a midnight blue carpet, which Draco particularly liked, covered in stars. It reflected onto the domed ceiling, giving the incredible illusion of a night sky, reminiscent of the Great Hall. The room was furnished with blue tables, chairs, and a divan. There were many oohs and aahs coming from the new Ravenclaws as they admired the room. The walls had paintings of famous Ravenclaws, and Draco could make out Laverne de Montmorency, inventor of love potions, lying back on a divan herself within her portrait. The room was lit by lanterns that hung between the many windows, each one a different shade of blue with a flame inside. Draco saw some of the older years gathered around one, messing about by casting colour charms on the glass and changing it from blue to red to green yellow to blue again.
Looking at all of the decorations, Draco tried his best not to think about how purely Ravenclaw this was. He was meant to be in the dungeons right now, being led by Professor Snape into the green and silver themed dormitories.
Next to the door leading up to the dormitories stands a tall statue of Rowena Ravenclaw, made completely of white marble. She stood regally in front of a large niche full of books, a door in the center, most likely leading to yet more books. In front of the statue was where Meredith stopped.
"To the left is the girls' dormitories, and to the right is the boys'. I wouldn't mix them up if I were you." She said, gesturing to either side. "There is a spiral staircase going up to the first years dorms. The older you get, the closer to the ground you get. You are all at the very top, so you get all of those wonderful stairs." She clasped her hands together while grinning as everyone groaned in pain. "There are three different rooms between you all, each with 4 beds. You can sort all of that out between yourselves, as long as you're sleeping a bed, I don't care where. Okay, you eight girls, come with me, I'll lead you up. Boys, just carry on going upwards, and at the top there'll be four doors and all of your luggage. Please don't fall down the stairs. Come on then, girls!" She led them up the left staircase. The remaining 7 boys went up the right one.
After ten minutes of experiencing the agony of climbing the spiral staircase late at night, the boys came up to the top of the tower. Here there were three blue doorways with miniture eagles on the doorknobs, as well as all their luggage. Draco grabbed his suitcases and turned to Terry.
"Would you like to be in a dorm with me?" Draco asked. Terry made eye contact for a second before looking away.
"Yes."
Draco smiled.
He was then tapped on the shoulder.
"Hey, uh, I'm Michael, and this is Anthony," a tall boy gestured behind him to where another boy stood. "These three are having a bit of a tiff over dorms so can we share with you guys?" He asked Draco and Terry. Draco peaked behind the other boy to the argument going on. Looked really annoying to get in the middle of. He gave a questioning glance to Terry and watched as he gave a thumbs up in response.
"Y-yeah, no problem." Draco answered and opened up one of the doors. As he let go of the doorknob the miniature eagle spoke.
"Have a good night!"
The boys all flinched at the oddly deep voice speaking.
"It's a weird aesthetic, I have to admit. Who was the one who told Rowena Ravenclaw to add that feature?" The tall boy, Michael, asked.
"I know right," replied Anthony.
They all piled into the room. It was a strange shape, and circular round the edge. There was a slight tilt at the ceiling, from the shape of the turret. It was larger than expected, but space must have been saved by having two bunkbeds. The room looked to be a square with a curve on the outer side, but if you were to add the shape of the en suite you would realise it resembled more a quarter circle. To the left of the door, both bunkbeds were against the wall. Next to them were four sets of silver drawers, one for each of them, each with a small ceramic bowl full of mint imperials on top of it. Draco couldn't tell if they were fake on not. Straight ahead there was a window that showed the night sky, with thick black curtains beside it. The bunkbeds were wooden and painted white, and the sheets were navy and grey. The walls were painted a soft sky blue, with little white clouds littering them. Lastly, the carpet was a circular striped pattern, going between bronze and royal blue.
Terry shot right to the first bunkbed, putting his suitcases underneath the bottom one and jumping onto the top bed. Anthony copied Terry's movements and sat underneath Terry, taking in the room. Michael went to the other bottom bunk and began taking his shoes off, leaving Draco with the last top bunk. Draco slid one of his suitcases underneath the bed, hesitantly taking the other one onto the top bunk. Walking up the steps right into the bed was a foreign concept, as he'd never been on a bunkbed beforehand, never having anyone to share with.
Once he sat, he bounced experimentally. This was...fun? He bounced again. Quite a bouyant mattress. He bounced again.
"Can you quit it, I feel like the bed's about to come down on top of me!" Michael's voice broke through the newfound enjoyment. Before Draco could apologise, Anthony interrupted.
"Don't be such an old man Michael, I've heard they're charmed to be safe," he looked up at Draco, "don't worry about Michael, he's just grumpy because he's tired."
"Meh meh meh meh meh," Michael imitated Anthony. Anthony just laughed. Draco felt out of the loop. "Hey, uh, blondie?" Draco peeked his head over the bunk in response. "What's your name again?"
"Draco. Draco Malfoy. And he's Terry." Draco pointed to the boy on the opposite bunk.
"Oh yeah, you're that Pureblood kid who was meant to be in Slytherin. My dad says that every single Malfoy has been a Slytherin since the beginning. He also said that they've all been ponces. That's pretty rough buddy." Michael didn't seem to be saying any of this with malice, just a bit of pity.
"Yeah, I'm a pretty big disappointment to the family." Draco accepted it.
"What do you mean? You're the first in a long line of Slytherin ponces to be a Ravenclaw. That's a pretty big deal, but it doesn't mean it's a bad deal!" Anthony butted in.
"It definitely d-does. W-When my F-F-Father f-finds out h-he's going to b-b-be m-mad." Draco was once again filled with dread. He breathed in and folded it all away, and put it in a mental drawer.
"Well that's pretty dumb. Everyone knows that Ravenclaw is the best!" Michael says proudly. Draco cracked a smile and hugged his knees. Terry stayed silent throughout this exchange, taking it in. When the boys all turned to him at once he bristled and tapped one of his legs.
"Uh. I like Quidditch." He cringed at his own sentence. The boys were quiet for a moment before Anthony stepped in.
"Cool, I do too! I can't wait until our first flying lesson. What's your position?"
"I-I'm a Chaser, and I'm pretty good at it. I'm quite fast on a broom and always manage to get the Quaffle through the hoop. I did it one time when I was upside down, and -" He carried on rambling to Anthony in a similar fashion to when he did to Draco. Getting to talk about this seemed to make him so happy, and Anthony gave him his full attention.
As Terry spoke, the boys all got changed into their pajamas and took turns brushing their teeth.
"Goodnight ladies!" Michael called out jokingly as he turned off the light. Draco wondered idly what was funny about calling them 'ladies'.
"Don't worry about him guys, he knows this is the closest to sleeping in a room with a girl he's gonna get," Anthony added again. Michael and Anthony shared a laugh, and Terry and Draco followed it awkwardly.
Turning over in his bunk, Draco faced the wall. If he squinted, he could make out a cloud in the expanse of blue. The blue all around him was a stark reminder of how truly Ravenclaw this was. How Ravenclaw HE was.
He was confused. Lucius had told him time and time again that he'd be in Slytherin. It was in his blood. All his ancestors had been, so why hadn't he? He considered whether his mother could've had an affair, but knew it wasn't true. He shared an awful resemblance with his father.
He racked his tired mind whether a re-sorting could be arranged, but the hat had been said to never make a mistake. Besides, he'd never heard of any kind of ceremony to re-sort a student, and didn't want to cause that big of a fuss.
He'd just need to study. Get the best grades in the class. Be perfect in academics. Deep down he knew it wouldn't be enough to abide by his father, but mentally stuck to that plan.
He would work. He would study. He would keep his head down.
He would be the best Ravenclaw a Malfoy could be!
He hoped.