A/N I don't own Harry Potter
Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) Ancient Runes (Assignment 5)
Prompt : write about an organisation
On the fifth floor of Hogwarts, behind a faded tapestry is a door. Behind this door is a large storage cupboard. The cupboard is filthy, covered in cobwebs and moth eaten rugs, but underneath one of these rugs is a trapdoor. Unlock that trapdoor and you'll find a vertical tunnel, well lit with a string of brightly coloured fairy lights. If you climb down the ladder fixed to the side of the tunnel you'll reach another room. This room is clean, but usually quite empty, occasionally it has umbrellas or does propped up against the walls, but if you go through one more door you reach our home, the home of muggleborns at Hogwarts.
There's no fireplace, so it's usually too cold, but there are plenty of blankets draped over the sofas. Most of the books on the shelves are a little old and dusty but we have some newer titles as well. We can't use CDs or DVDs here but there's an old record player. During the holidays some of us try to find some decent records in charity shops. There's a whole section of the wall covered in charts, displaying the stats of various sports teams and events and posters are around the room show bands and sports teams.
We spend a lot of time trading various muggle items. People especially love sweets and stationary from home. After months of writing with a quill on parchment, writing with a normal pen is a relief.
There's always a collection of newspapers stacked on the table. The older students try and keep up with muggle politics and current affairs. The wizarding newspapers are so one sided. If parents didn't send us muggle newspapers we would have no idea what was going on at home.
Most people don't know we've clubbed together like this. We have to face a lot of prejudice and sometimes we all just need somewhere to hang out. The headmaster is the only person properly aware of our little organisation as every so often we go to him with petitions or suggestions. At the moment we're campaigning for better allowances for various religious rituals and holidays.
Not all muggleborns come here. In first year all the new muggleborn students are invited, and though most come, some are so in love with the wizarding world that they can't imagine wanting to cling onto the muggle world. I love magic but I hate the attitude towards muggles that most wizards have. Magic doesn't make anyone better than anyone else and sometimes muggles have a better way of doing things.
Today the room is fairly empty as most people are busy studying for exams. Zach and Josh, third years, are sprawled on one of the sofa plaguing scrabble and Linda Horley from fifth year is reading the Daily Telegraph. Here, your House doesn't matter. Most of us think the house system is cool when we first get here, but after a while people tend to realise how competitive and divided it makes the school and ignore the social divide.
Just before every trip out or holiday we do a clothes swap. I don't know how wizards cope with such ugly, unflattering robes all the time. Muggle clothes are much prettier. And there are charms that let you apply perfect make-up but it's not the same as doing it by hand.
We're a funny little group of people, but we've all been through the same thing. All of our lives have been completely overturned and no-one ever really helped us to understand the ins and outs of the wizarding world properly. The purebloods might laugh at us, and we might be treated like second class citizens, but at least we have somewhere we can go and be among friends.