Infinity Times Infinity

After the feast had finished, a tall auburn-haired student stood up at the end of the Slytherin table and directed the first years to follow him and another student. A girl, who you assumed to be his partner, had long blonde hair that cascaded down in waves. She held her hand up high to catch everyone’s attention and then began to march out of the Great Hall and into a corridor.

Everyone from the Slytherin table followed her lead and soft chatter erupted from students around you. It seemed as if the Gryffindors were the ones who made most of the commotion back inside the hall.

 It was mindless walking for you seeing as your feet had already memorized the path to the dungeons from times prior. A voice drew you out of your empty thoughts. You recognized the voice of the girl who had sat next to you the entire feast. She walked steadily alongside you and tried to engage in small talk with you. She had long, dark hair that reached just below her shoulder blades and had a beautiful caramel complexion. Nothing too rich, but nothing too earthy. 

“How do you reckon the dorms will be like?” She asked. Her eyes met yours and you could see them sparkle in wonder. They were not nearly as dark as her hair, but with the light from a torch hanging on the wall, you saw a wet and beautiful earthy swirl of brown that were her eyes. You studied her face a while longer before shrugging your shoulders.

“I heard that the dorm is underwater, under the black lake I think,” a voice said from your left. It was a bit lower than both your voice and that of the girl next to you. You turned your attention over to a boy with short brown hair and eyes that looked like a mix of murky seawater with soft green flecks littered alongside brown. 

“Underwater?” The girl’s voice wavered a second before she cleared her throat. “Is that safe? I mean —”

“I’m sure it is,” you reassured her. “There must be charms and whatnot that would prevent the dorms from flooding. Don’t worry.”

Soon the group of green and black-cloaked Slytherins stopped at the stone wall of a sequestered corridor. It was quite a distance from the dungeons to the Great Hall, compared to the other dorms, but it must’ve been because of all the stairs it took to get underground. The Heads explained the password system as well as some other precautions before letting everyone enter. 

It was nothing like the dungeons everyone had previously walked through. Upon the portrait’s entrance, the first thing to have caught everyone’s eyes were the tall windows exposing the lake’s inhabitants and environment. Inside the luminous green-tinted water were fish, squids, and other mystical sea creatures that swam and floated around carelessly. A light green hue cast over nearly every inch of the common area and gave a rather homey ambiance regardless of its tone.

The walls surrounding the windows were intricately carved and detailed. Columns supported a partial second floor, which from down where you all stood, looked like a miniature library, an expansion apart from the floor the students resided on. Details, ornate like snakes, had a heavy influence, which didn’t surprise you. Your house mascot was a snake, and after reading Hogwarts: A History , it made sense; the house founder was fond of snakes and wouldn’t have been less of him to leave them out. The floor no longer consisted of stone like that from outside. Instead, it was a rich, dark oak wooden flooring. 

Audible gasps of amazement sounded from the group of first years. The two students standing next to you and yourself were no exception to this and joined them as well. 

The blonde girl who had led everyone to the dorms lifted her wand and gave a quick flick up to the empty orbs hanging from the ceiling. Soft, yellow light collected itself inside them, and soon the common room filled with more light. The green hue had not completely disappeared, but the room was now much clearer than before. 

“Alright!” Shouted the boy to garner every first years’ attention. “It’s been a long day and we need to make sure everyone has been assigned an appropriate room. We also need to make sure that personal belongings have been delivered correctly.” He signalled to the blonde. “Girls will follow Blake over to the dorms. Boys will follow me and from there we can take time to get familiar with the common room. Congratulations on being sorted into Slytherin!”

Turns out you and the girl with dark hair had a room all to yourselves. Numbers had been even in your year leaving the two of you without any other roommates. 

“I don’t think I’ve introduced myself,” said the girl as she turned away from her trunk. She wiped her hand on her robe before extending it out to you. “I’m Solaris Greer. I’ll apologize in advance for my snoring. My dad says I can outsnore a giant any time of night.” She chuckled.

You took hold of her hand and shook it. “Don’t apologize.” When you let go, you decided to joke a bit. “If it does become a problem, I’ll just hex my ears off. Hopefully, you'll know a countercurse.” 

And the two of you shared a laugh. In a half hour’s time, the two of you managed to organize everything into your designated drawers, closets, and desks. Once everything was accounted for, the two of you scurried off to find a nice place somewhere in the common room to relax. 

The boy, who you recognized as the one who had walked with you and Solaris, was seated on the window seat facing the lake. You tugged at Solaris’ robes and she followed you.

His hazel-green eyes flickered up to meet yours, then quickly flickered back down to the book he was reading. They scoured the page as he read, then stopped the moment he realized that the two of you were approaching him. Perhaps he was wondering if you two were going to ask something of him. 

“Hey, you’re a first-year like us, right?” You asked casually. 

He looked up to meet your eyes for a second, nodded, then gave you a soft smile. He didn’t go back to his book.

“Mind if we sit here?” He shook his head. 

“Cool!” Solaris said as she sprawled over the expansive, empty space the boy had left on the window seat. From where she laid, she looked up to observe the quiet boy. “The name’s Solaris Greer. What’s yours?”

The boy, half expecting the question, half not. Placed his thumbs in between the pages to safe keep his spot. “Adrian. Adrian Pucey.” He looked over from the raven-haired girl to you. “How about you?”

You plopped yourself onto the loveseat facing both of them and the window and let out a tired huff. “Y/N Lupin.” 

Solaris gave a quiet chuckle as she propped herself up. “I hope you’re not a thief or anything, or I’ll have to call you Snoopin’ Lupin.” 

Adrian snorted, causing you to hide your laugh behind your hand, which proved futile — you still laughed. Solaris joined in and the three of you continued with friendly banter for the rest of the evening before the heads warned about lights out and shooed everyone out. It would be the first day of classes tomorrow and they needed everyone to get enough sleep. Begrudgingly, the two of you parted from Adrian and something about the fact that he hadn’t cracked the book he was reading open again, made you think that you’d already gained his friendship for the remainder of your stay at Hogwarts. Same thing with Solaris, who kept giggling with you over small things even after the two of you had settled for bed. 

- - - - - 

“Minerva?”

“Yes, Severus?”

“Our jobs just got a lot more difficult.”

The Gryffindor Head of house took a sip from her teacup. “I have no idea what you are —”

But before she could say any more, a few popping sounds resounded at the same time. There were a few shrieks outside the corridor, mostly out of surprise. The black-clad professor simply pursed his lips and rose an eyebrow. 

“That’s why.”

A few seconds later, laughter echoed down the hall followed by the shouts of the castle’s caretaker, Filch, who was heard running down the corridor. “Get back here you three! Just you wait till I catch you!”

The older of the two professors set her cup down onto the table and prepared herself. It took shorter than normal, but it happened nonetheless. Minerva sighed and watched as three Gryffindors were dragged inside her office. It had only been a few months into the new term and she had already gotten herself acquainted with the troublemaking trio. 

“Mr. Weasleys, Mr. Jordan,” she greeted tiredly. “What brings the three of you to my office?”

The two redheads were trying their best not to break into another fit of laughter, the other merely stood unimpressed and disappointed at how quickly they had gotten caught. 

“Sorry, ma'am. Got lost is all,” said Fred (or was it George? She couldn’t quite tell them apart just yet). 

“Right — lost — the few of ye were scavenging through my cabinet!” The caretaker shouted, his face red with embarrassment. 

Severus twisted his lips in annoyance. “Did the three of you take anything?”

The three of them shook their heads and with a simple wand motion, the witch turned out the boys’ pockets and examined their belongings. All she managed to find were candy wrappers, lint, and a few pieces of paper with unintelligible handwriting. Nothing that seemed to belong to the caretaker. She returned their items and quirked an eyebrow. 

Minerva seemed to think something over, not quite yet satisfied with the boys’ stunt they had just pulled. “Are these all the troublemakers?” She asked Filch, who nodded albeit confused. 

“Caught these three sneaking into my office — was there supposed to be another one?”

“NO!” The three Gryffindors shouted. This caught the attention of the two heads of house. One of the twins, George, cleared his throat. “No, it was just us three.”

Minerva glanced at Severus, the latter hiding a smirk behind his own teacup. She sighed and dismissed the three students with detention for Saturday: Of course you wouldn’t get caught. Wherever trouble brewed, the only ones to get reprimanded were those three (two, if  Lee got himself lucky and escaped). She could never seem to catch you with the three troublemakers. It wasn’t that she did want to catch you, but she wanted to just rub it into Severus’ face about one of his little snakes being a troublemaker.

“Is that all, professors?” Asked George, wringing his hands anxiously.

“Yeah, we’ve got to find Y/N and finish writing our Charms essay,” explained Fred. “It’s due tomorrow and we don’t want to get into any more trouble, right, boys?”

Lee rolled his eyes but agreed nonetheless. 

Once they were dismissed, Minerva gave her younger colleague another glare. “That student of yours sure knows how to escape without a trace.”

He snorted. “If she had been one of your precious cubs, we wouldn’t be having this conversation in the first place. Good to know she’s one of my snakes after all.” 

The older witch huffed, fully knowing it was true and said nothing else on the matter. She drew a platter close to Severus and asked, quite annoyed, “Biscuit?” 

- - - - -

As the three Gryffindors ran from the office, they found themselves dragged into an alcove moments later. Without a beat, they turned to see you with a big smile on your face. 

“Did you get it?” They asked in unison. You nodded excitedly and patted one of the pockets to your robe. 

As they looked down to see the spare bit of worn parchment, they noticed the black and yellow robe of Hufflepuff house on your being. They didn’t question it, knowing damn well you had transfigured your robes as a means of escape. 

You pulled out the folded piece of innocent-looking parchment and handed it over. The four of you had similar mischievous grins on your faces as you examined it. Fred and George had noticed it the last time they served detention with Filch in the Confiscated and Highly Dangerous drawer and planned to break in a few days later. You had no clue what the four of you had just nicked, but you could tell it would be something game-changing.