The Common Room
By the time the golden plates had been cleared away and they had been sent off to bed by an enthusiastic Professor Heimerdinger, Vi was stuffed and feeling pleasantly drowsy.
The Gryffindor first years followed closely behind a stern looking prefect by the name of Archie as he ascended up winding staircases, with chipper yet stern reminders of “Come on, you lot! Stick close!” and “Stop dawdling!”
The quad couldn’t hide their amazement as they watched staircases shift, paintings move, and ghosts pass through walls. Eventually, Archie stopped in front of a painting of a fat lady in a pink dress.
“Password?” The fat lady drawled.
“Draco arcanus,” Archie answered confidently. To Vi’s shock, the portrait swung open to reveal a crawl space, which everyone began to filter through. At the end of the crawl space was the coziest room Vi had ever seen.
“Woah,” she breathed. Caitlyn, Mylo, and Claggor came up beside her with big grins. She had many thoughts, but the only one she could verbalize was, “This is wicked.”
Archie’s voice rang out again. “Girls dormitories are up the stairs to the right, and the boys are the same on the left. You’ll find that your trunks and other belongings have already been brought up there for you. Classes start tomorrow, and your schedules will be distributed at breakfast. Now, off to bed with you all!”
Vi and Caitlyn bid Mylo and Claggor farewell, and made her way up the stairs to her right. As Archie had said, she found her trunk waiting for her by a four-poster bed. As she collapsed onto it, letting her muscles sink into the mattress, she thought about how overwhelming the day had been.
Caitlyn, ever precise, was neatly folding her uniform for the next morning while Vi lay sprawled on her bed, arms and legs stretched out like a starfish. The other three first year Gryffindor girls, Evelyn Lewis, Dianna Talbot, and Vivienne Moreau, were chattering excitedly together.
“This place is unreal,” Vi mumbled into her pillow.
Caitlyn chuckled softly. “A bit overwhelming?”
Vi turned her head to look at her. “Yeah, but in a good way. I mean, moving staircases? Magic ceilings? A whole room that just—what, lets you in if you know the password? That’s wild.”
Caitlyn smirked. “You’ll get used to it.”
Vi huffed, flipping onto her back to stare at the deep red canopy above her bed. “And the food. Cait, the food.”
Caitlyn rolled her eyes but smiled. “You talked about it all the way up here.”
Vi propped herself up on her elbows, watching Caitlyn tuck her wand neatly beside her pillow. “And these guys—Mylo and Claggor—think I’m gonna fit right in with them.” She hesitated for a moment before adding, “Think I will?”
Caitlyn glanced at her, then gave a small, thoughtful nod. “Yeah. I think you already do.”
Vi let that sit for a second before grinning. “You too, you know.”
Caitlyn arched an eyebrow. “What, with Mylo and Claggor?”
Vi snorted. “No, dummy. With me. Well, and them too.”
Caitlyn stared at her for a moment, something unreadable in her expression. Then she shook her head fondly. “You should really get some sleep.”
Vi flopped back onto her pillow, still smiling. “Yeah, yeah.”
As Caitlyn reached over to pull the hangings closed around her bed, Vi let out a yawn, her voice coming out softer than before.
“Night, Cait.”
Caitlyn paused just a moment before responding. “Goodnight, Vi.”