Chapter 3 - Slytherin House
“First years, follow me please!” came a call from the far end of the table. Hermione and Harry looked up seeing a dark haired boy with a matching gleaming badge to the prefect across from them.
The girl motioned for them to rise and follow her over to him.
“I’m Greyson, and this is Gemma,” indicating his counterpart. “We’re the fifth year prefects this year. We’ll take you down to the common room if you’ll just follow me,” as he turned to leave the hall.
Hermione quickened her pace to make it to the front of the group. She and the rest of the first years, loosely followed by the rest of their house, made their way through a maze of corridors in the dungeons of the castle until they stopped as a group in front of a bare stretch of stone wall.
“Now the password is Merlin,” Gemma spoke in a voice meant to carry through the group. And as she spoke, the wall melted back to reveal a handsome black door. Greyson pushed the brass handle giving them the first look at their home for the next seven years.
Hermione’s jaw dropped for the second time in as many hours.
Their common room was a place someone like Malfoy would fit in nicely, and as she turned to him and Theo, she saw both give an appreciative glance around the large space. Harry however, looked equally gobsmacked as he took it all in. The room had dark paneled wood, aside from the back wall which was floor to ceiling paned glass looking into the lake they had sailed across, causing an odd green glow throughout. Several black leather sofas filled the space surrounding dark tables with old fashioned gas lamps atop them. An enormous fireplace popped happily in the center of one wall, a large oil painting of Merlin surveyed them from above it. The floor appeared to be a black marble, but had cozy rugs adorning it tastefully. The slytherin green several of the students were sporting was also clearly a theme as every pillow, blanket, and accessory was either green or neutral.
As the students made their way into the room, many of the older students gravitated toward favorite chairs and couches, settling down to catch up with friends and swap gossip. Gemma directed the first years toward the back wall, indicating two doors on either side of the glass.
“Girls on the right, boys to the left, you’ll find your dormitories through there. On the other side of the common room,” she pointed indicating a door opposite the fireplace,” is the House study room. You’ll find old exams and notes by subject. It’s to be a quiet space at all times, and none of the materials can leave the room. But you’re all free to use it throughout your time here.”
Hermione smiled to herself thinking of all the extra notes she could use to study in the coming year.
As she followed Gemma to the girls dormitories her nerves returned. She knew it was one thing to have made some friends on the train, although whether they would still want to be her friend after the sorting she wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t sure if the other Slytherin girls in her year would be as accepting as Gemma about her blood status.
“Greyson and I will be meeting in the common room at half seven to walk down to breakfast tomorrow if you wish to join us. If not remember that Snape will be handing out timetables and you won’t want to be late to class on your first day,” and with that she disappeared through a door down the hallway.
She found her dormitory and entered to find her trunk at the foot of a large four poster bed in the same dark wood as the common room, with velvet green hangings and what looked like silk sheets. Looking around the room, she saw XX other beds all similar to hers, at one end stood a slightly smaller fireplace crackling merrily, but with no portrait above it, and at the other end a door, leading to a large washroom made completely out of black marble complete with lit vanity mirrors for each girl.
She stooped to begin unpacking her trunk when the rest of the girls walked in.
“Aren’t we a little young to be thinking about that Pans?” laughed the pretty blonde from dinner.
The shorter girl scowled. She had a slightly squashed nose that Hermione hoped for her sake she would grow into, and short black hair cut bluntly ending above her shoulders.
“Mother says it’s never too early, and besides there aren’t many prospects in our year,” she snapped back.
“Daphne, just let Pansy have her fun. It won't matter for a few years yet anyway,” scolded the third girl, “it won’t make a difference anyway, you know she’s been after Draco since we were in diapers.”
Daphne rolled her eyes and flopped on the bed next to Hermione’s. As Hermione stood up, Daphne looked over and started.
“Oh hello, Hermione right?” she asked, sitting up and watching Hermione put her clothes into her wardrobe.
“Yes,” she smiled at Daphne, and then the other girls in turn.
“I’m Daphne Greengrass, this is Pansy Parkingson, Tracey Davis, and Millicent Bulstrode,” as she indicated each girl, all of them offering her a smile and Tracey actually bounding over to hug Hermione.
“It’s so good to meet you! We heard there was a new girl in our year but none of us met you at dinner,” she exclaimed as she pulled away and made her way over to her bed across the room.
“That’s not all we heard,” muttered Pansy as she turned to her own wardrobe to unpack.
Daphne glared at her before turning to Hermione, “We know you’re muggleborn, but you’re still a Slytherin, which means we’ll help you settle into the wizarding world,” she explained grinning at her.
Hermione grinned back, hoping she had found her first real friend at Hogwarts.
-
“Is everything alright dear?” asked Narcissa Malfoy over her teacup the following morning.
Lucius looked up from the letter he had been scowling at. “It seems that not only was Harry Potter sorted into Slytherin, but a, and I quote, ‘a very pretty muggleborn girl was as well.’”
“Well that’s an interesting development,” she replied idly, choosing a pastry from the spread in front of them.
“What if he comes back, and disapproves?” he almost whispered.
Narcissa let out a short laugh and Lucius paled. “I won’t lose Draco the way I lost Andromeda, and if Tom has a problem he can answer to me, besides it sounds as though he’d be too preoccupied with the Potter boy to really notice the other children anyway.”
“Miffy!” The house elf in question popped into the room. “Can you please put together an assortment of treats for Lucius to send back to Hogwarts with his letter? And also bring out the Raspberry jam, I rather think it will go well with this croissant.”
Lucius shook his head, but began penning a response.