Chapter 2
Gryffindor wasn't the Hat's first choice for Bill. It was the second, sure, but he still had trouble calling himself a true Gryffindor because of that. He would catch himself looking at the Ravenclaws and thinking that maybe he would look better in blue. He would always remind himself that Gryffindor was his house and would turn back to whatever he was doing.
But then one of his year mates said she was also supposed to be a raven, and someone from a year above said he was originally going to be a badger. And in the dead of night one night one of his roommates whispered to him about how they narrowly avoided becoming a snake. So Bill started to think, he was supposed to be a Ravenclaw right? Why would so many people want to be in a house that didn't fit them? Bill had chosen Gryffindor over Ravenclaw because his parents had also been lions, but that couldn't be the reason for everyone. The answer had hit him in the face a week or so later when he heard two 7th years talking about how they preferred school after the war. It was the war, people had chosen to go into Gryffindor because it was the most publicly accepted during the war. Slytherin had, for obvious reasons, become a dangerous place to be, Ravenclaw had also produced quite a few Death Eaters, and while Hufflepuff hadn't been slandered much, between bravery and loyalty, in war, people were told to be brave.
For some reason the concept of his housemates forcing themselves to be someone they weren't bothered him. So he planned, and a week after he turned 14 he stood in front of his house and said something that would change Gryffindor forever.
…….
Charlie was a first year when his older brother gathered all of their housemates and said one of the most surprising things he had ever said. “I was supposed to be in Ravenclaw.” Charlie felt as if he'd been dunked in the Black Lake. His older brother, the one he had watched their parents celebrate getting into Gryffindor, wasn't a Gryffindor? (Just like Charlie.) There were. sounds of confusion and a few people shifted in their seats. Bill continued, “And I know there are people who originally were going to the other houses.” The shifting had taken a nervous tone. “I don't want to force anyone into doing anything, but I've thought long and hard about it. I don't think it's right to have to hide parts of ourselves because of the expectations of others. So, I wanted to give people an opportunity to be their full self, and if anyone else has a problem with that I will deal with them personally.”
There was a tense silence over the common room for a few moments, as Charlie watched his brother slowly grow dejected. He made up his mind and took a breath, “I was meant to be a Hufflepuff.” The look of relief and gratitude that crossed Bill's face only solidified Charlie's choice. Soon all the other Gryffindors who were in the same situation were opening up. Charlie stood making his way to his brother where he was pulled into a hug.
…….
It was later that night, shortly before the first years were to head to bed, when the future of the Gryffindor house started to become a reality. The groups of students based on what house the Hat wanted them to go into had crowded together, talking about their experiences with doubting their place in Gryffindor. Bill had noticed this and for a moment had feared he had caused the fracturing of Gryffindor, but he wasn't the only one who noticed. The Gryffindors that didn't have to fight the Hat had grouped up as well and had been watching and the 7th years had realized what was happening and it wasn't long until one of them spoke over the rest of the room. “Hey everyone,” all eyes were on her in a moment, “I just want to say, as much as I agree with Bill that you guys shouldn't have to hide your true selves, we are all still Gryffindors and we should do our best not to let our change of perspectives distance us from each other. And that I, along with all the other griffins, will do our best to make sure you all still feel comfortable in the tower.” The rest of the newly nicknamed griffins nodded in agreement and Bill relaxed in relief as the rest of the Gryffindors clapped.
It was two weeks later when the next piece fell into place. The students who were going to be Slytherins had been quick to put their talents to use (and to name themselves dragons). They discreetly inserted themselves into gossip rings, taught each other how to read people, located important locations within the castle (kitchen, other dorms, unused rooms, a wine cellar/brewery that despite being forgotten was in great shape), and gathered information on everyone they could. With their combined efforts they had come up with a game plan and had approached Bill to ask him to set up a house meeting. Bill didn't know when he had become the person in charge of those things but did so gladly. The Gryffindor common room had been rearranged so everyone could sit more comfortably, people had made pillow piles and most people were curled into someone else when the dragons had finished setting up their presentation. Bill's roommate spoke first, “We dragons chose to take it upon ourselves to strengthen Gryffindor as a whole by making it so there is very little that will be able to surprise us. And in doing so we realized something very important.” A 6th year took over, “We are better off not letting anyone know that we aren't all griffins.” Another 6th year stepped into the last one's place, “It'll make them underestimate us and that will allow us to get away with so much more than we would be able to otherwise.” By now there were grins plastered on every dragon's face and ones growing on many of the audience's. A more serious 5th walked forward, the mood sinking a bit as her grin dropped, “Unfortunately this also includes Professor McGonagall,” she paused at the confusion and distress that caused before continuing, “we'll let you form your own opinion, but over the last two weeks we have repeatedly tested her and what we have found is not exactly what we considered to be helpful for the plan we are hoping to implement and build.” At that the two dragon 1st years started passing out a packet or two for each group, Bill started flipping through his as Charlie read over his shoulder. After the 1st years rejoined the group in front a 4th year started to explain, “The first few pages of the packet explain in detail why we have formed our opinion on our head of house but I'll do my best to summarize, when we went to her with anything not related to class she was rather dismissive of it, we made up a variety of problems and each time she gave us a quick solution and rarely checked back up with us. If we gave her concerns she would do the bare minimum to fix it, and none of us can remember a time when she actually entered the common room, despite that seeming like something a head of house should do. Us dragons have come to the conclusion that she has spread herself far too thin with her classes, being the head of house, and being the deputy headmistress, and that she has put being head of house as the least important of the three.” They let the listening group go over the evidence for a bit longer before going on, “The next pages are about our plan. The main part is simply making sure we can build an environment where every Gryffindor can flourish that hopefully will be able to last for generations to come.” The eldest dragon finally started to speak, “This is a plan that is as flexible as possible so we can all take part in it and so it can withstand the passing of time. The only solidified part of the plan is the dragons’ part in it at the moment, we will teach all future dragons how to properly use their skills and continue to gather information on what's going on around Hogwarts to better arm all Gryffindors. We hope that the griffins will be able to help us keep the facade that we are all griffins going in any way they can, and that our fellow non-griffins will provide the same type of guidance to their future members that we will offer to ours.” The 7th year looked at Bill as he finished and Bill had the feeling that this would become a common occurrence. He stood, “Well then,” he said with a breath, “let's get to fleshing out the rest of this plan.”
The possible Ravenclaws had nicknamed themselves phoenixes to keep with the magical theme and had started finding uses for the unused rooms. The ones that had typical classroom-like setups were cleaned and the old furniture was both cleaned and transfigured. The desks were turned into short tables of various sizes and shapes and the chairs were changed into more comfortable bean bags and couches, the rest of the furniture was turned into bookshelves, boards, and storage. They were quickly turned into tutoring rooms and study spaces. When they turned their attention to the other, less familiar, classrooms there were feelings of awe and anger. Dueling rooms, large rooms for charm and transfiguration practice, rooms built to hold creatures for either Care or DADA, extra potion rooms, and a room full of books on subjects the school doesn't teach. “Why are we all using the same classrooms for classes when there are multiple options like this?” exclaimed one of the griffins that had come with them to explore the dueling rooms. Bill had to agree it was odd that they would go through the struggle of rearranging classrooms or clearing out different parts of the castle when there were already rooms for it. “They probably just forgot about it,” explained a 7th year phoenix. Bill threw a smile at the griffin, “But now it's ours.” They had gotten to work, refurbishing the rooms and then going through all the classrooms, adding protections and notice-me-not charms on the doors so only Gryffindor students would be able to find them.
While the phoenixes went through the academic based rooms the nifflers (Gryffindor-Hufflepuffs) started going through the rest of the rooms. The older nifflers and a few dragons were trying to come to an agreement on the use of the wine cellar and brewery with the house elves. Most of the rooms were storage rooms but there were a couple of social areas with games that had been paused for decades, if not centuries, still strewn about. They had split up to take care of them, redecorating and cleaning, the old games had been moved to a storage room. The closest storage room to the tower had been taken over by the dragons in order for them to store all of their physical blackmail and information so the other Gryffindors could access it. They had charmed the room so well that sometimes even other Gryffindors would miss it. The final touches to the social rooms were put in just before people left for winter break and when they got back they got to work on the cellar.
The elfs were apparently fine with them hanging out down there as long as the elves were the only ones who made the alcohol and anyone who drank it was over 15 (the official rules for who could drink in the school hadn't been changed in a while and the Gryffindors were going to take advantage of that). The cellar was rather large and because it was connected to the castle it had a habit of changing its layout so as more and more people spent longer spends of time down there it started changing to fit them. (What they wouldn't know for a few years is that Hogwarts was rather proud of her alcohol cellar as that was one of her most popular places before the concept of students drinking became less than popular, so she was more than willing to rearrange her cellar to become a place they could hang out.) Soon they started to bring chairs and tables of all types down and someone had even figured out how to transfigure a pool table out of an old desk. Even though the younger years couldn't drink, almost all of the Gryffindors found themselves in the cellar on Friday nights, simply interacting with each other.
…….
It was the final Friday of the school year, in two days they would be on the Hogwarts Express on their way home. Most of the students were in their dorms, sharing their summer plans and choosing who to sit next to on the train. And the Gryffondors were too. In the Cellar. They had given the 7th years a proper toast and first choice of the alcohol. There were plenty of games of all kinds and five separate bets on who would get the most drunk. Bill simply smiled and turned back to his game of pool.