Dungeons! Dungeons! Dungeons!
“I knew you’d be sorted into Slytherin!” Whispered Tracey, excitedly, when Holly took her seat at the green and silver table.
` An older boy scoffed, “not with a hat-stall like that, you didn’t.” he hissed,but he smiled at Holly and held out his hand. “Simon Lofthouse, second year. Welcome To Slytherin.”
Holly took his hand across the table and shook. “Thanks,” she whispered. She caught sight of a ginger mop of hair heading for the dais then and craned her neck to see where Ron would end up. It was no surprise when the hat called out “Gryffindor!” almost as soon as it touched his head.
Finally, Professor McGonagall called the last name. “Zabini, Blaise.” and he was just as quickly sent to the Slytherin table. The table erupted in cheers, just as it had for her, and all the other first year Slytherins, but this time, she got to join in with them.
Blaise sat down across from her and Tracey, introduced himself politely, and then turned his attention to the dais, where Headmaster Dumbledore now stood. “Welcome,” he said. “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
“Thank you.” Dumbledor sat back down. The Hall erupted in cheers.
Holly blinked a few times, trying to figure if she’d missed something important or something… “He’s just as daft as my father said!” Draco cried, at the same time as a distinctly unpleasant-looking girl that McGonagall had called, Millicent Bullstrode, wondered, “was that meant to mean something?”
“Probably not,” said an especially large and mean looking older boy with a perfect badge on his chest. “Dig in,” he added, when mountains and mountains of food suddenly appeared on the table.
Holly had never seen so much food in her life! Petunia always made enough for around three (unless they had guests) and beyond that, Duddly always stole at least some of what she and Harry did have to eat. But, here there was everything she could even think to eat! Roast beef, pulled pork, chicken, peas, carrots, potatoes, roasted zucchini, grilled mushrooms… even, for some reason, peppermint humbugs.
Holly had never really had enough to eat to even know what she liked. She just ate what little she was given and kept on living until the next day. That was just how her and Harry had lived their life. Until today, she supposed.
She served up a small portion of everything, but went ahead and added extra peppermints to her plate. She knew she liked those from the train. They reminded her of the soft mint chews Mrs. Figg always gave them when the Dursleys didn’t want to be seen in public with them and so pawned them off onto their senile neighbor.
She ate a peppermint or two before even touching her food, but, when her stomach rumbled, she abandoned the candy for dinner.
The table was alight with chatter. Holly learned that Blaise lived with his mother, and Tracey’s father was a muggle, and that all the others already knew each other. That was a bit daunting. She already didn’t like them, but for them all to know one another? Mostly though, She just chatted with Tracey.
All too soon, their feast had ended and Marcus Flint, the big mean looking older boy with the badge on his chest, was leading them from the Great Hall, down Several flights of wide stone steps, winding further and further down, until at last, they came upon a wide open space with several beautiful, shimmering serpents twined around each other etched into the floor. They moved slightly, as though they were slithering, but never did they unravel from their place as a giant Slytherin house crest.
Flint stopped in front of the far wall, gathered all the first years to him, and said to the empty wall, “Legacy, Forged.” The snake floor nearest the wall lifted, becoming thick and multidimensional, as it arcked high along the wall, framing the ornate ebony door that had appeared there.
The first years all gasped at the sight. “That was so cool,” Tracey said, as Draco said, “my father never told me it would do that!” and Pansy added, “I’ll bet the other houses don’t even have locks on their doors…” and the tall boy called Nott, agreed that, “this is an entrance fit only for the best. Which we are.”
Flint pushed the door open, leading them into a tall entryway decorated by a glass ceiling that glowed blueish-green from the lake above, and an old, beautiful statue of two mermaids looking up at the water. He let them ‘ooh’ and ‘awe’ for a moment, before herding them to the right where another stairwell spiraled even deeper into the depths. Along the walls there hung five great, green tapestries, each of great legendary water monsters.
The stone stairs ended, in a large middle-space with a small statue and a large bulletin board framed in mahogany, the both of which came out to around the same size. That space opened into a far larger, more fanciful sort of room. The stone floors became green and silver serpent mosaics, covered, in some areas with the fanciest rugs Holly had ever seen in her life! There were sofas and sitting chairs with fine china tea cups and older students littered around the main space, as well as a few secondary spaces framed by massive green marble columns, some of which boasted magnificent floor-to-ceiling windows looking out into the lake. Holly thought she glimpsed a mermaid swimming past, but it came and went too quickly to know for sure.
“Oy, over here, firsties,” called Flint, pulling the group over to a wide set of stairs that split into two halfway up, one going right, and the other left, but in the center of the landing there stood a statue of a man in robes, surrounded by candles, almost like a shrine. The statue seemed to watch them with cautious intrigue. “Welcome to the house of greatness! Above me is Salazar Slytherin himself! Boys dorms this way,” he pointed with his right hand towards the right-sided stairwell. “Girls dorms that way,” he lifted his left hand now, pointing to the other set of stairs. “Meal times, passwords, and quidditch game schedules are posted on the bulletin board. Professor Snape will bring your class schedules to you tomorrow morning at breakfast - so don’t oversleep. Alright, everyone got that? Good, now scram!”
“What about our things?” asked Pansy.
“I said SCRAM!”
The first years all jumped a little at that, and hurriedly made their way upstairs. The top of the stairs saw the hall split in two, again, with the first year dorm being the only one on its side, though, there was another watery window with two armchairs and a small coffee table below it just passed the door to the dorm.
Daphne opened the door, holding it open while the rest of them stepped inside. Holly half expected her to slam it in her and Tracey’s faces once Pansy and Millicent were inside, but she didn’t. She actually offered them a small smile as they entered, closing the door gently behind them. Holly and Tracey exchanged confused glances as the tall blonde girl floated off to the bed in the center of the room, where her luggage already sat.
The room was big and octagular, with five beds all pushed against its own wall, feet pointing in towards the center where a small sitting area and fireplace with another beautiful rug layed out over the floor to keep their feet warm, sat invitingly. Each bed was a four-poster canopy bed with dark green crushed velvet curtains and matching bedspreads. The sheets were silvery silk, and the vanities beside each bed were green marble top, with ornate silver legs and mirrors. There were no windows in this room, but the massive alcove framing each bed was lined with perfectly fitted tapestries, depicting woodsy escapes and meadow daydreams and great green hilly fields. Holly wondered if those were all places she could find on the grounds.
There was a soft mewl that drew her attention to the bed on the far rightmost bed, where the milky longhaired, very Ornery cat she’d met on the train, stretched itself out and batted its silly eyelashes at Tracey. Holly’s new friend ran over to the cat, flinging herself down onto the bed and gathering him up with all the gentleness of a tornado. Lu didn;t seem to mind, though, because he quickly started purring and chatting as though telling her how he had spent the last few hours. Tracey, for her part, nodded along, scritching his ears and saying, “I know, I know, you're very angry.”
Holly glanced around, finding Milcent rummaging through her chest on Daphne’s left, and Pansy primly unpacking her accessories and skincare onto the vanity beside the far leftmost bed. That left just one bed, and Holly felt herself sag in relife at where it was. Between Tracey and Daphne’s beds, she found the one with her chest at the foot and PuffPotter sleeping in her cage on top of the luggage.
Holly had never had a bed really. In the cupboard she and Harry slept on a soft(ish) mat thing on the ground, and when they moved to Duddley’s second bedroom, they’d agreed to take turns and Harry took the first one, so she slept on the floor for the one week and then they fled the letters and she didn’t really sleep at all for two days… When they got back, Holly and Harry dragged the old mat up from the cupboard and put it in the corner of the room for Holly to sleep on. She didn’t mind. It at least was familiar, and she liked familiarity.
Now, she had a big wonderful bed all to herself, and she decided that it would be kept clean and safe from the outside world. So, she carefully removed PuffPotter from her cage, setting her on one of the big fluffy pillows. She set the cage on the floor under her bed so that she could grab some clean clothes from her chest and take a shower before bed.
“Is that your pajamas?” Daphne asked, when Holly pulled one of Duddly’s massive old shirts and a pair of his old gym shorts from her chest.
Holly felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment. “I…” she began, but she didn’t know what to say that would make the way Daphne was looking at her clothes any less humiliating.
Everyone was looking now, even Tracey was scowling. “"Wow, you must be really close with your brother to share clothes… Most twins I know have a bit more individuality than that, though- oh my gosh, guys, look how old they are!” Pansy said, with a laugh. Millicent laughed along, but Daphne just stared.
“Wow,” Tracey drawled. “I thought Slytherins were supposed to be smart! Obviously their trunks just got mixed up. C’mon, Holly, I don’t want to waist another minute with these useless idiots.” Tracy said, taking the bundle of clothes and tossing them back on top of the chest before dragging Holly into the Hall by the wrist.
It wasn’t until they had reached the girls showers that either of them spoke. “But, Tracey, those were my pajamas!” Holly whisper-shouted, just outside the door to the locker room, in a relatively empty in between sort of space.
Tracey stopped and stared at her, surprised at first, and then understanding settled into her hazel eyes. “On the train you were… I just thought those were like old travel clothes or something!”
Holly shuffled her feet. “No, I just have my school robes and our cousins' old hand-me-downs. I mean… is that bad?”
Tracey frowned. She opened her mouth, then closed it again when an older student walked by. When the alcove emptied out again, Tracey spoke. “There’s nothing wrong with hand-me-downs, Holly, but the ones you have are tattered! They aren't even girls' clothes!”
Holly shrugged. “Sure, but they're just pajamas. I’ll wear my school clothes the rest of the time! What does it matter?” she was getting tired now and really just wanted to take her shower and go to bed.
Just then, a soft thing hit Holly in the face. She pulled it down from on top of her head to find it was a raspberry colored nightdress that was just about her size, and Daphne was standing rather primly by them now, holding a tray of toiletries and a set of blue nightclothes of her own. “Our house elf must have packed my little sister’s nightgown along with mine by mistake, she’s about your size. Anyway, just say you got it sorted out with a teacher if Pansy asks.”
“I… thank you.” Holly said, surprised.
Daphne shrugged. “I still think you’re foolish for turning down Draco. His father owns most of the school board. And Pansy always gets what she wants.” She turned and sauntered into the girls bathroom, leaving Holly and Tracy with nothing left to do but follow her.
Pansy never asked about the nightgown. She just sneered at Holly when she returned out of sheer dislike, and spent the rest of the evening pretending Holly and Tracey were invisible. That suited them just fine, though. And, when Holly finally did drift off to sleep, her dreams were as wonderful and as enchanting as the school itself.