of magical eyes and dungeons
The big appetite ailing him before the sorting was entirely gone. He hadn't eaten much all day, only a small breakfast and some snacks on the train, being plagued by nerves. Upon seeing all the food layed out as he entered the great hall and feeling the warm optimism of finally being at Hogwarst and the assumption he would soon sit at the table with his brother, hunger hit him full force.
Now he looked mirthlessly upon the huge selection of british delicaties in front of him. The food was placed in bigger and smaller bowls spread over the entire table.
Next to him Yunho had an impressive assortment of different kind of sausages stacked on his plate, gleefully he reached for some bread rolls nearby, placing them at the very edge of his plate. He seemed content and Sam wondered for the first time wether he was just making himself misserable here. He could have his new friend by his side all the time now and if the other Slytherins where just half as nice as Yunho, there really shouldn't be any trouble. He could just ignore prigs like Malfoy and his associates.
'You should eat, it's awfully good!' Yunho had nudged him slightly with his ellbow after he finished his first small sausage. 'I know you're sad with your sorting, but going to bed hungry won't make anything better.' Of course he was right. Sam let his gaze sweep over the presented food once more and registered the dire lack of any greens on the table. Sam was not awfully picky about food, but upon growing up on the road with a father he had never even seen in a kitchen and a junk food obsessed older brother, he had rather seldomly eaten what would have been his choice of a meal. He had hoped his meal selection would improve after entering Hogwarts and leaving behind shady diners and diverse fast food restaurants. Hopefully the less festive everyday meals would contain more variaty for less meat- affin folk.
He reached for the nearest pot with slightly less greasy looking sausages, took two and dumped a heap of mashed potatoes next to them. While he munched on his food he looked around some more. He and the other first years who were sorted today, sat at the very front of the table, closest to the teachers. Straight across from Yunho sat a boy probably posessing a similar height as his friend, though it was hard to tell since he had his shoulders hunched forwards seemingly trying to disappear in his cup, which he held with a firm grip. His blonde locks covered half his face and Sam made brief eye contact with bright blue eyes before the boy quickly averted his gaze.
A few seats further to him Sam spotted the girl called Lana, talking animatedly to a seemingly older girl across the table.
He bent forward a bit, trying to catch a look at the older students sitting further back. And almost right away he spotted the bright blond head of who must be Draco Malfoy. The nemesis of everyone in his brothers house. He had an assortment of other students seemingly hanging at his lips, though Sam couldn't make out what he was saying from this distance. He sat straight, confident, obviously enjoying the attention he got. Sam would just avoid him. He wasn't sure about his brothers general opinion about the house of the Serpant, but he trusted his judgement in people. Especially in people he labeled as troublesome. He was usually right in that aspect and just the constant insults, which undeniably were truely happening, thrown around by the Malfoy boy were a clear indicator for Sam to stay as far away as possible. That probably won't be much of a challenge anyways, considering the age difference.
Sam tried to catch a glimpse of his brother across the Hall, but he had no chance of seeing over all the heads seperating their tables.
The remaining dinner went by awfully slow, even though Sam had to admit- he was not very fond of having to leave the Great Hall in the near future anymore. Now that he knew his new home would be the dungeons rather than the warm Gryffindor Tower. Sure any tales Dean had told him had a credibilty of zero, considering he had never once in his time in Hogwarts actually seen the Slytherins home. They surely weren't cold, damp dungeons filled with mold like you'd imagine them to be in a castle this old. There were still children living down there, but maybe... don't call it dungeon then.
At some point, after the desserts magically appeared and disappeared again into the students stomachs and the constant noise of conversation started to rise in volume again Dumbledore rised and stepped behind his podium. Sam noticed the golden owl to suddenly look less tacky, now that Dumbledore stood behind it with his colourful, flashy robes. He gripped the sides of its wings, showcasing his impressive sortiment of rings. Behind him Professor Mcgonagall raised a glas and loudly clinked on it with a spoon multible times, succesfully catching the attention of the last ones who had yet to notice their headmaster at the podium.
'So!' Dumbledore began, smiling around at them all. 'Now that we are fed and watered, I must ask for your attention once more while I give out a few notices. Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of forbidden objects inside the castle this year has been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees and Ever-bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty seven items , I believe and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office if anybody would like to check it.'
Next to him Yunho chuckled, 'I'll make sure to memorize it.' Sam grinned in his direction.
'As ever, I would like to remind you that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds for students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year', Dumbledore continued. 'It is also my duty to inform you that the Quidditch Cup will not take place this year.' This stirred the dozing sea of students up again. Loud protests started to arise from all directions. Dumbledore raised his voice significantly, 'This is due to an event that will be starting in October continuing through the whole school year, taking up much time and energy of our teacher but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensly. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-', he was interrupted.
At that exact moment the doors to the Great Hall were forcefully thrown open. A man entered, dressed in a heavy long, black coat almost dragging on the floor, he heavily leaned upon a long staff. Every single head turned towards the strangers as he started to make his way towards Dumbledore. On his every other step a dull clunk echoed through the Hall, he limped heavily and Sam wondered if the man was fit to walk at all.
As he finally reached Dumbledore Sam was able to see his face more clearly and promptly wished he coulnd't. It was less of a face but more the idea of a face, of someone who had never actually seen how a face should look like and just jumbled everything together. Every centimeter was covered in scars and an entire piece of his nose seemed to be missing.
Sam tried not to think it but he couldn't help to realize that he had seen monsters looking less cruesome than this man.
His eyes were the least agreeable part for Sam though. One of them was just a small black pearl, glinting in the candle light. The other one was big and round of a steelern gray colour, it turned continuously and completely independent from the other eye in every direction. Even into the back of his head, leaving the white backside to be seen by everyone. It was extremely macabre. Dumbledore spoke up again, 'May I introduce our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody.' Nobody clapped, everyone seemed too busy taking in the repulsing appearance of the stranger. Staring at this face for the duration of his lessons is gonna be quite a challenge, hopefully one would get used to it. Sam highly doubted it though.
'As I was saying', Dumbledore resumed, 'we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event which has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Twizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year.'
'You're joking!', it came loudly from the opposite side of the Hall. A ginger boy had quikly risen with his shout, he looked oddly like Ron and Sam asumed it was one of his older Brothers. He had multiple siblings Dean had told him, his older twin Brothers and his younger sister were the ones still attending Hogwarts alongside him, the others finished school years ago.
His outburst eased the tension Moody caused with his arrival and seemingly satisfied the boy sat down again.
'No I am not joking Mr. Weasley', so Sam assumed right, 'though I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag and a leprechaun who all go into a bar-' Professor Mcgonagall cleared her throat loudly. Sam found it more and more challenging everytime this man opened his mouth to remind himself that this was the great wizard who defeated Grindelwald. Maybe Dean hadn't exaggerated about his quirkiness after all.
'- but maybe this is not the time...Where was I? Ah yes, the Tournament... well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely.' Sam did indeed know. His love for research didn't end with the hunting business. While he was born in England they pretty much left right after his mother had died, meaning Sam being not even one year old at that time, was raised all over the world.
Their father until the tragic incident, used to be an average american wizard, who married their mum at some point and moved to England for her. She was, as they later got to know from her father, a Hunter. Her whole family was. Human hunters, who went for the evil monsters the average humans weren't aware of, protecting them from evil all over England. The wizards were less involved in this business, wanting to stay unknown by the general public. There had always been an odd disconnection between full blooded wizards and Muggles as they called them in England. And so there were many wizards who were simply not bothered by these monsters, since they rarely beacame their target and even if, they were very well armed with their magic.
Their father didn't know about Marys family background as they married, they were simply in love and wanted to start a family and for that their mother was willing to leave the hunting business behind.
For the first few years of his brothers life all was perfect but then she was murdered in Sams nursery and with that the Hunt began. Jon was and still is obsessed with finding out the truth, the whys and whos. His abilities enabled him take on hunts in much larger scale, apparating or using the floo network and portkeys all over the world. It started with the hunt for whatever had killed their mum but soon extended over to a crippling hatred for any monster. After a couple years he met Marys family again, the Campbells. He learned about her true background and from that moment the Winchester family business was born.
So Sam grew up constantly on the road. They either roadtripped around England with their old family car, the Impala or magically travelled around Europe or America.
The reason for the muggle way of travelling every so often was purely a sentimental one Sam suspected. John had bought that car years before Sams birth for the family and Mary loved it. After her passing the car was something like their deepest remaining connection to her. They never returned to their house after the fire and so the Impala became the closest thing they had to a home.
They also spend a lot of time in the USA, firstly because of their fathers background and secondly for the simple reason that there seemed to be a lot of monsters to hunt over there. The hunting community was much bigger than in Europe and great to build up a network for intel and back up.
Point is, Sam grew up everywhere and nowhere.
They rarely stayed somewhere longer than a month, no school was permanent and even when he was enrolled, he rarely went anyways. He was in charge of research in their little team. Because he was the best at it, but also because of his age and lack of skill ont the field.
He loved books and could read himself through whole libraries if he would have the time for that. Their family was a mixture of Muggle and Wizarding culture, their parents had been proud of that and especially Mary was fond of her magical boys and so John always kept that sentiment. He tought them how to fight like a Muggle, since they weren't allowed and trained enough to use magic yet but he always granted them access to the magical world. Because of this Sam read Muggle and Wizards books alike, gaining knowledge in every way he could.
And in one of these books he had read about the Twizard Tournament before. He also read about it being discontinued because too many people had died. A valid reason in Sams humble opinion, he won't dwell deeper on what could possibly be their reason to bring it back. Dumbledore at least named none, he just went on about raised safety measures and age restrictions. Sam was immediately reliefed upon hearing this last point made. Dean was too young to join. This would have been just stupid enough for him to think it a good idea to cast his name in the goblet if fire to participate. This way he couldn't, even if he wanted to.
'The delegations of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be staying with us for the greater part of the year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests and will give our Hogwarts champion your whole hearted support once the person is selected. And now, it is late. Bedtime! Chop Chop!'
The tense silence which dominated the Hall the last few minutes immediately vanished and excited conversations started all around as the sea of students started to get up.
'Wow that's really something isn't it?' Yunho and him got up together making their way over to the exit, slowly, since everyone else did so as well. 'I'm actually excited to meet people from other schools, I was never really outside of England.' 'It's really not that exciting..' Sam murmured.
Just before they were about to reach the door they heard a loud voice calling for the Slytherin first years to 'come over here!' And so they joined the others around a fifth year Slytherin boy and girl who announced that they were going to show them the way to the Dungeons and sort them into their dorms.
They left the Great Hall quite fast paced and reached the Entrance Hall. Sam looked around himself constantly, searching for Dean as he hoped to talk to his brothers once more this evening. He wanted to hear his reassuring voice, he wanted to be told that it doesn't matter which house he got sorted into. But just as he found his Brother in the sea of students one of the Prefects announced 'this way!' and opened a door, behind it a set of stone steps which seemed to descend deeply into the dungeons.
He only managed to give Dean a small smile of which he hoped it got his message across: 'I will be fine, don't worry.' He was anything but, but his brother really shouldn't have to worry as well. Deans frown immediately told him that he had failed his attempt though.
He turned around and took a few hurried steps, catching up with Yunho. Was he a bit clingy? Maybe. But he had just spend his whole summer not once parting from Deans side and had to adjust to the new circumstances first he told himself.
The stairway led indeed deep down and as they finally finished their descent, they entered a net of hallways. They only turned two corners though before they apruptly stopped. The Prefects turned towards a plain stone wall. 'The current password is 'Ambition', speak it clearly and the door will open. The password is changed every fortnight and the new ones will be posted on the noticeboard.' And as the Prefect spoke the word, a shimmer seemed to appear on the wall and he simply stepped through it, disappearing. The remaining Prefect girl motioned them to do the same and with slight hesitation the first one went ahead and soon they all found themselves inside the Slytherin common room.
The whole room was rather dark. It was grand though, a long room with rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on decorative chains. A fire crackled further back in an beautifully carved fireplace.
Comfortable looking, big chairs and sofas were spread in small groups all over the room, some of them occupied by chattering students.
Along the walls stood several dark wood cupboards, covered with books and...was that a skull? Yes, it was. Well, better not think about that one too much. On the unoccupied parts of the wall hung stylish tapestries which seemed to feature famous medieval Slytherins, Sam thought he could recognize the adventures of Merlin on one of them.
But the most eye catching part were undoubtably the three large windows, providing an underwater view of what could only be the Great Lake and giving the light in the room a soft green tinge. The dungeon had to extend partly under the lake for such a view to be possible. The water wasn't the clearest but for one second Sam was sure he saw something swimming by.
The windows were slightly curved outwards, providing a little alcove you could sit in on green cushions.
Sam looked around and could picture himself sitting by the windows, gazing into the deep green water or reading a book in the calming, shimmering light. He could sit by the fire with Yunho and other future friends, warming themselves up on a cold winter day. He could closely inspect all the books lying around, diving deep into the magical sources spreading his notes and papers on one of the small tables by the sofas. He suddenly saw a lot of potential in this Dungeon and really the name was fitting, since it clearly was the Hogwarts Dungeon looking at the texture of the stone and the slightly low ceiling, it was just high enough for a grown man to not knock his heads on the lamps hanging from it. It was a Dungeon, but a cozy one with lots of warm energy and a homely feeling to it.
And for the first time Sam genuinely thought that maybe being sorted into Slytherin wasn't so bad after all.