Chapter 1 - A Long Way From Home
Everyone knows the story of Harry James Potter and all of his craziness, but no-one ever stops to think about the other people who went to the great wizarding school. I've spoken with the writers of the Quibbler and they've allowed me to tell my side of the story.
My mates and I were at the school long before Potter and his gang popped up. Our first year was awkward. As far as I knew, I was the only Metamorphmagus at the school. My best mate is an Animagus, but it's not quite the same, is it? Anyway, I thought it was going to be hard being different. Luckily, Avri was there for me the whole way, even the first time we got on the Hogwarts Express.
"Could you stop clawing my shoulder?" I swatted at her paw. She tilted her nose up after withdrawing her nails from my collarbone. "I have half a mind to put you in a kennel," I joked, fighting through the crowd to get to one of the open doors of the train. "Or make you walk," I added. That got her attention. She cuddled around my neck and rubbed her little cat face against my cheek. "Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes and shoved passed a few other students to get through the doorway. We didn't have anyone to send us off. My father was a muggle and my mother worked with Avri's mum at a medical ward for both magic and non-magic patients. Her father was involved with the ministry and, while he wanted to be here crying over his little bird, he had work to attend to. So, the two of us ventured here alone. Us against the world.
"Excuse you," a blonde girl snapped at me as I pushed past her in the hall. Avri hissed at her as I kept walking. I wasn't much for people. I'd rather talk to the cat on my shoulder than say one thing to another person.
"You," I addressed a small shy looking kid in one of the compartments, "scat." I threw Avri's luggage onto the rail above his head, making him bolt out of the cabin with his stuff. I tossed my backpack next to her trunk and flopped down into the seat. "Can you tell I'm nervous?" I laughed, half expecting her to yell at me about being mean to the poor kid. She jumped off of my shoulder and onto the bench across from mine.
"Your hair is green," she said after morphing back to her usual self, which was up for debate since she spent most of her time as a small greyish cat after learning the skill the previous year.
I glanced at my reflection in the window. Sure enough, my shaggy, chin length hair had changed from brown to green. It was hard to hide emotions when they were worn on my sleeve, or head rather. I looked back across at her. "How are you holding up?"
She shrugged, her messy blonde hair falling in front of her face. "It's just school, right? How bad can it be?"
I leaned forward quickly. "Don't say that!" I looked around for something wooden. "Never say that!" I knocked on the wooden door to the compartment, making some of the passers-by stare at me. I'm sure I looked a spectacle with my panicked face and solid lime hair. I sat back up and tried to straighten my clothes then cleared my throat and stared out the window with my fist under my chin. "I don't need you jinxing me, Avri."
"Oh, if I jinx you, you'll know," she smirked, propping her feet up on my knees.
All of the first years were wearing their robes already. Avri and I had packed ours but had no intention of wearing them until we were about to arrive. I was wearing a blue plaid button up shirt with a Smiths shirt under it and a pair of old faded black jeans. I was sure I looked out of place in my muggle street clothes, but I didn't care. Avri was wearing a FIFA hoodie I'd bought her when I took her to her first football game. Her family didn't know much about muggle sports, being pure blood and all, but she took to it like an owl to the air. She even got her dad to join us a few times and he loved it, too.
The cabins filled up quickly as the station's hustle and bustle began to die down. Two ginger kids passed by the window, looking like they were about to join us, but Avri gave them her death glare and they kept walking. I really didn't understand how a couple of eleven-year-olds could be intimidating, but maybe it was me. My emotions were all over the place and my hair was probably an aurora of anxiety. Avri had gotten used to it, but other kids wouldn't understand. I wasn't sure if it was my intelligence or my abilities that kept me from liking other people, but either way, Avri was the one person who understood. She'd spent a whole year trying to become an Animagus. A whole year of what I would call random tasks to become an animal. It almost sounded weird, but I understood weird. She was ten when she completed the transformation. Her parents were so proud.
"You think they'll let me have a pet snake?" I asked as the train whistle began to blow before departure. "I really want a snake."
"They said on the list only cat, toad, or owl. None of those are a snake," she said factually. "Besides, there's no way I'm riding on your shoulder with a snake," she shivered at the thought of, what she called, slimy-slithery things. Avri hated reptiles of all shapes and sizes. She put up with my love of creatures because she loved me, but I was never allowed to have one. My mum was just as against it as she was.
"I guess you count as my cat," I joked. She stuck her tongue out at me. "An owl sounds practical. I'm not sure how a toad would work out. Can a toad even deliver mail? Wouldn't they just get lost all the time?" I thought out loud. I watched the scenery change as we pulled out of the station, my chin still resting on my fist.
"Yuck, don't get a toad either. Owls are the only ones that make sense," she paused for a moment, "because if you got a cat, we'd just fight all the time." I watched her eyes squint as she imagined the scenario in her mind.
I looked at my hair in the window. It started fading back to brown. I'm not sure what my natural hair colour was or would be, but it was brown when I wasn't freaking out about anything. I slid her feet off of me and stood up to pull the blind over the window in the door. Before I sat back down, I pulled my bag off of the rack and started digging through it.
"What are you doing?" Avri asked from behind me. I didn't say anything. "Hey," she tapped her foot against my leg.
"Just grabbing…," I pulled a jar out of the second pocket of my bag, "this." I shoved it under my arm before she could see it and flopped back down on the bench next to my bag. I set the jar on my lap and pulled up my sleeves before opening it.
"Is that," she started, sitting up cautiously. I nodded. "Oh, don't," she frowned, feeling bad for me.
"I don't want to deal with it today. I've already turned heads on the train and I probably should have done it sooner. There's no way I'm getting sorted like this," I gestured to my hair as two of the strands that fell in front of my face turned black. The jar had a gel that my mum had made for me to hide my hair in the muggle world. She told me not to use it at school, since it was Hogwarts, and everyone was accepted regardless of their differences. I thought otherwise. Maybe it was because I just hadn't been there yet, but my anxiety was going to give me away and I was scared. It was easier to blend in than it was to own your differences.
"Morris," she put her hand over the jar before I could get any of the gel on my fingers, "do you really hate it that much?" She looked at me with sad eyes. Her cat form wasn't the only way she could look pitiful. Her blue-green eyes pierced my soul.
"Just for today?" I asked like I needed her permission to feel comfortable with myself. "Depending on how tonight goes, I'll stop after today, but I really don't want to make a scene during our first day." She frowned, but nodded. She understood my differences, but she also empathised with my desire to avoid attention. I put my glasses off to the side and scooped up some of the gel, proceeding to lather my hair back with it. My mum was fairly good at potions and brilliant at spells, so she mixed some things to make my hair stay a deep brown.
Avri sat back and crossed her arms, looking out the window. "I just don't like your hair slicked back like that," she huffed. "Makes you look snobbish," she added.
"Feel free to fix it," I jokingly leaned my head forward. She sat up quickly and started messing with my hair. I laughed as she parted it on the side, letting a few strands fall in front of my face and keeping the short side slicked backward. She sat back and smiled, completely satisfied. I put on my glasses and looked at my reflection in the window. I saw one strand starting to curl on my cheek, but she slapped my hand when I went to fix it.
As the gel began to dry, a lady came down the corridor with a cart full of sweets. "Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked after sliding the door open.
My eyes lit up and I looked over at my best mate. She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Absolutely," I pulled a few coins out of my pocket and tried to pick between Bertie Bott's and the liquorice wands. "I'll take…," I struggled, holding one in either hand, "these," I held up the jelly beans and put the wand down reluctantly. She took my coins and I sat back on my bench, still eyeballing her cart.
"Oh, bloody hell, I'll take a liquorice wand," Avri shovelled a handful of coins out of her front pocket and handed them to the lady. "Throw in some jelly slugs, too. And some of these," she picked out two chocolate frogs. The lady smiled and took the coins.
"Is that all for you two?" she asked sweetly, adding our coins to her purse.
We both nodded. "Thank you very much, ma'am," I smiled politely. She nodded with a big smile before closing the door and continuing on. We heard her ask the same question to the next cabin. I looked at Avri as she held up the slugs in disgust. "You don't even like those. Why'd you get them?"
She threw both packages at me. "For you, doofus," was all she said before transforming back into a cat while yawning. She jumped over to my bench and curled up by my hip.
"You didn't have to, but thank you," I pet her head and scratched under her chin. She purred a little before falling asleep.
We played a few games of what I called "bean dare", where we take turns guessing Bertie Bott flavours, which she did not enjoy as much as I did. She opened her frogs. The first one got away, but she caught it on the floor after its one good hop. It gave her Dumbledore and she groaned. The second she ate quickly, and it gave her Morgana, which exited her. Then we watched the clouds and tried to make shapes with them. I saw a mushroom with boxing gloves riding a rocket. We both napped for most of the trip. I woke up a few times, once to a few of the first and second years running down the hall and casting basic spells at each other, but fell back to sleep quickly to the gentle rocking of the train.
"Morris," I opened my eyes to find Avri standing over me. "We're almost there. We need to get changed into our robes," she said. I rubbed my eyes groggily. "Come on, come on, we haven't got all day," she poked my chest with her index finger.
"Alright, alright. I'm up," I said before letting out a loud yawn that made my eyes water. I lifted my glasses with my knuckle and rubbed under my eye with my thumb. I stood and hovered over my bag, which I had left on the bench next to me. My new uniform was in the first pocket. I took my muggle shirts off and changed into my new white button up and grey sweater-vest. I loved sweater-vests and knew we'd get some once we got sorted, but couldn't wait so I bought a plain one, too. I dawned my nice black tie and then my robe before I changed my shoes and trousers.
Avri and I finished at about the same time and sat down with our luggage near the door. We didn't want to be caught in the middle of the crowd nor be the last ones, since we had no idea where we were going. Being some of the first to step off seemed the appropriate thing to do. When the train stopped, Avri transformed and hopped on my shoulder. I grabbed our bags, throwing mine on my other shoulder and carrying hers in my hand, and left for the platform. A large man with a long beard walked along with a large lantern. I mean… this guy was huge. Brilliantly tall.
"First years, come this way!" he shouted in a deep voice. "Come on, first years, don't be shy! Follow me!" he walked passed the carriages designated to the new students and stood in the middle of the platform.
I jumped off the last stair of the train, jostling Avri a bit. She stabbed me in the shoulder again. "Sorry, love," I chuckled. We made our way over to the giant man and waited until a few more first years joined us, some of them giving Avri a sideways glance. Everyone had to stow away their pets, yet here I was with a cat freely around my neck. I could feel her glare at every one of them and it made me smirk.
"Put your bags over here," the large man gestured to the side of the platform near the wall. All the first years did as they were told. Avri had to rebalance herself as I slid my bag off of my arm. "Right then. This way to the boats. Come on," his voice boomed over our heads to the back of the crowd. "Follow me!" he turned and took a large stride forward.
It was a struggle to keep up with him, but I managed to stay on his heels by a strange mix of speed walking and jogging. He led us to a small dock where about eight rowboats sat waiting for us. The giant man told us to fit four to a boat. I took the closest one to the left and was followed by the rude blonde girl from earlier, a pale girl with dark hair, and a tan kid that I swear only came to my shoulder. It was dark, so I couldn't see their features, not that I was paying any attention anyway. "Who's going to row?" I asked. Avri, being a cat, didn't respond, but I felt her tail hit the back of my head softly as a sort of stupid slap. Once everyone was seated, the boats began to move on their own. "Oh, magic… of course," I whispered. Avri's paw tapped my face, telling me that I'd catch on eventually.
We drifted across a huge lake to an enormous cliff with stone walls winding down to the water's surface. At the top of the stone paths stood the largest castle I had ever seen, lit all the way to the top by candlelight. That was it. That was Hogwarts. I could feel excitement bubbling up. Then my nerves kicked in. What if people could see my hair? What if my eyebrows change colour? What if I morph and I don't realise it? Avri stood and walked around to my other shoulder, rubbing under my chin. She was right. I'd be fine. I had my best mate with me. I could face anything.
"Blimy, that's beautiful," I whispered. "Look at that," I pointed to the tallest towers. "I wonder how many candles it takes to light up this big of a building." We stared in awe as the boats floated towards our future home.
"Heads down!" the big man shouted out to us. We all crouched down as we passed under a curtain of ivy and into a small cave system. I looked around with my jaw hanging open. The entrance to the cave was framed by a decadent stone archway.
After drifting a bit further into the cliffside, we docked at a narrow slab of rock and began our assent to the glorious palace above us. "Jynx, I can't believe this is a school," I put my hand on Avri's paw. She put her other paw on my hand to sandwich it between them. We were both super excited… until I saw the stairs… all the stairs… there were at least 10 stories until we got to the top. I hated stairs… "You're telling me that magic makes boats row themselves, but we can't use it to get to the top floor? Have they even heard of elevators?"
At the top of the dreaded staircases, an older woman greeted us. She was clad in green velvet robes and a tall witches hat. She had just enough grey in her hair to call her an elder, but not enough to mean it. She wore a small pair of rounded golden glasses that seemed to balance perfectly at the end of her long nose. When she addressed us, she spoke with regal grace. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she said with a smile. She clapped her hands together. "Now, in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seat, you must be sorted into your houses," she lit up at the excitement of the sorting ceremony. I'd never seen anyone so friendly looking, especially around a bunch of kids. "These houses are Gyffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin," she explained. "Now, while you're here, your house will be like your family." Avri and I glanced at each other. We hadn't thought we'd be split up, but standing there on those steps finally made us realise that it was a possibility. I put my hand on her shoulder and she cozied into the crook of my neck. "Your triumphs will earn you points, and your rule breaking will lose you points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup. The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily," she bowed her head to us and turned, but before walking away, she turned back and waved her wand briefly but elegantly.
"Ow," I groaned as Avri suddenly got heavier. I looked over my shoulder to see her, human, standing behind me with her arm still leaning heavily on me. We both stared at each other, wide-eyed. The other students started whispering. We hung our heads silently. After the graceful woman walked away, we giggled. "That's awesome. She totally knew," I chuckled under my breath. She must be some witch to know just by looking that Avri was an animagus.
"I figured I'd get caught," she laughed. "Just wanted to see how long it would take."
"That was amazing," a hand fell on my other shoulder.
"Yeah, bloody brilliant, I'd say," the same voice was on the other side of Avri. We turned to see the two ginger boys from earlier behind us. They were twins. We saw that now.
She and I shared looks. "Thanks, I guess," we said simultaneously. They laughed at us and we both half-smiled awkwardly. Luckily, the nice older lady came back just in time to free us from social interaction.
"We're ready for you now," she said softly. "Come with me." We followed directly behind her, two at a time, through a wide open courtyard and into a wide hallway. Directly before us were the doors she'd mentioned earlier, the giant ones with the golden accents and beautiful sculpting. They opened by themselves as we passed through into a huge room filled with four incredibly long tables and enough students to fill up the benches on either side of each, all of them staring as we walked through. I blushed at all of the attention, fiddling with my sleeve. Avri jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow, forcing me to look up. The entire ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky and candles floated above everyone's heads. It seemed like the longest walk of my life, but at least the view was breath-taking. We got to the end of the long stretch and arrived at a small set of stairs, where the older lady halted us and stepped behind an old wooden stool with an even older witch's hat resting on it.
"That's the sorting hat!" I whispered, tapping Avri excitedly on the arm as our fingers interlocked.
"I know, I know, calm down!" she whispered, just as excited as I was.
"Now, before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words," the woman stated, stepping off to the side.
Atop the stairs sat a long golden table with decorations befitting royalty. Candles were lit along the length of the table, floating above silver plates and goblets. An old man, who looked well beyond his years, with the longest beard I'd ever seen stood in the middle of the table. He had half-moon glasses and long white hair that fell behind his back and tangled in the dark, yet decorative robes he wore.
"I have a few start-of-term notices I wish to tell you of," his voice was soft and raspy, but I felt suddenly soothed the moment he began. "The first is for the first years. Please note that the Dark Forest is strictly off-limits to all students. The second is that our caretaker, Mr. Filch," he gestured to a grumpy man in the corner, a cat just as grumpy sitting impatiently at his feet, "has reminded me that certain areas of the castle are still under reconstruction for the next few weeks and are restricted until repairs are completed." There was a silence over the room. "Thank you," he bowed his head before sitting back down in his large gold and maroon chair.
Attentions refocused on the regal woman as she stepped back toward the stool and presented a scroll from her sleeve. "Now, when I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat upon your head, and you will be sorted into your houses." As she spoke, banners fell from the starry ceiling, each endorsing the tables beneath them. Slytherin was to the far right, represented by a silver snake. Then Ravenclaw, above whom hung a blue flag sporting a golden eagle. Hufflepuff was yellow and presented a badger, and Gryffindor sat to the far left with a red and gold lion proudly flying over their heads. "Let's begin," she started. "Raymond Abington," she called alphabetically by last name. He was sorted into Hufflepuff. Caroline Allister was a Ravenclaw. "Rachel Andrulli," she called and a small girl with dark hair apologised to everyone as she nudged her way through the crowd. She sat on the stool, the hat was placed on her head, and it took longer than the other two had.
"I see, another one, hmm?" said the hat. "That's very interesting. I could put you… but no, it's not right. No, not that one either…" She nervously chewed on her lip as the had contemplated her fate. "Perhaps… Yes… Gryffindor!" he shouted. It echoed through the room and the Gryffindor table cheered. The lady took the hat off of her head and the girl bounced away to her table with a large grin. I squeezed Avri's hand, nervous that we wouldn't both be Ravenclaw.
"Avri Austin," she called. I let go of her hand, but only after she started walking.
She sat on the stool. The hat was placed on her head. It took only a second for the hat to scream, "Ravenclaw!" across the room. The hat was taken off and she grinned eagerly at me before moving off towards the table, where I watched her get greeted by Caroline and the second years. I bit my cheek. My heart was hammering in my chest.
"I have to be Ravenclaw," I repeated to myself. I didn't even notice everyone else had gone before me. The only ones left were left were me, the two ginger boys, a small dark-skinned boy, and a shy blonde in the back who was hiding behind a peppy looking girl with a really long braid.
"James Morris," she called. I snapped myself out of my thoughts and stumbled my way up to the stool. I sat down, fidgeting with my sleeves. I chewed my cheek intensely.
"Interesting, I know just what to do with you," the hat said. "Slytherin!"
That was it. In less than ten seconds, my fate was decided. My heart stopped. I stumbled off the stool and over to my new house table, sharing a sad stare with my best mate. The table cheered as they accepted their new addition. Unlike the Gryffindor cheers, which were mostly claps and whistles, the Slytherin cheer involved a lot of chanting, fist pumping, and banging on the table. Really, it was my kind of attitude, but…
I was pat on the back by two of the other Slytherins. One was a first year, a tall tan kid with long black hair, and the other a second year who was short and sported a sheep's worth of dark curly hair. I didn't care. I just wanted to be with Avri. We'd never really been separated before. I mean, sure, family vacations and travels, but this was going to be for seven years. Could we eat together? Were we even allowed to see each other? Would we have classes together?
The ceremony carried on like that for me until the ringing of a glass pierced my ears. "Attention, please," the kind lady in green spoke loudly, but still softly.
The older man, Professor Dumbledore, stood once again. He extended his arms with a smile. "Let the feast begin," as he spoke the tables suddenly became full of food. There were silver platters and plates, glasses and utensils. Everything from roasted turkeys to fruit platters. The table was full.
My eyes lit up and it was the first time since we got off the train that I hadn't been nervous. If there was one thing I was good at, it was putting away food. I filled the plate in front of me with a variety of meats and cheeses, bread rolls, and veggies. I filled my glass with punch and dug in. The woolly guy next to me leaned over and made a comment about how much I was eating. I glared at him. No-one was going to bother me and my food. He made a face down at me and backed off. I learned later that my eyes had changed from brown to orange and that's what freaked him out, but at the time I thought it was my sheer force of will that scared him off.
I glanced up to see Avri staring at me, clearly not having a good time. She picked at her food, sliding it around her plate and taking very few bites. I furrowed my eyebrows at her frown. We both wanted her to sneak over to my table, but whatever spell the Professor lady had put on her kept her from transforming. We had no idea how long it would last.
Just then she screamed and latched onto the person next to her. I stood up to see over the table. A ghost head had come up through the platter in front of her. I was staring so hard at what was going on that I didn't notice the eyes on me from my own table. She looked at me, distressed for a moment, then calmed down. She was terrible with jump scares, but a ghost was a whole new problem. Ghosts began flooding in through the windows. The senior students laughed as the first years completely freaked out. A pirate looking guy flew over the Slytherin table, slashing at our food with his sword. I sat down and leaned back. This school was crazy.
After dinner, the first years were divided by house to follow the Prefects, or the teacher's pets as I understood it. They were the senior advisors for the first years. We walked through the halls and over to what would turn out to be my absolute least favourite room. The stairwell from hell. Every common room was accessible through this chamber. The stairs towered above me, the grandest staircase I'd ever seen. I hated it already. One of our Prefects advised us that the higher you go, the more often the stairs change direction, pretend not to be there, and add false steps. "Are you kidding me?" I thought. "Why? Why is that a thing? Who thought of making the stairs with a cruddy personality?!"
Before the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws went up towards the top, our groups mixed for a short while and I took the opportunity to grab Avri's hand. We didn't say anything. Our groups split up as the Ravenclaws turned to begin their ascent along the tower of steps towards their common room and the Slytherins continued downward… and down we went. I lost count of how many levels we dropped. We passed in front of a plain wall and stopped. I looked around, wondering where we were going.
"Nos Magnam," the Prefect spoke to, seemingly, no-one. Suddenly, a handwritten, green text appeared on the wall. The Prefect moved over to that section of wall and pushed it in, creating a doorway.
"Wow," I whispered under my breath. We followed him into a large room. The first thing I noticed was the fireplace directly across from us. It was huge, made of stones and outlined in dark wood. The whole room was bathed in green. The black couches sat on green rugs with green accent pillows, the banners on the stone walls were green, and the floor to ceiling windows in their stone arches were green… but not from the glass. I looked closer and saw a few fish swim passed. We were underwater. The whole common room was underwater. "Wow," I said a bit louder, getting excited. There were candles everywhere along the walls and a large, yet not flashy, chandelier hung over the centre of the room. By the walls, there were a few dark wooden desks, chess tables, and bookcases that towered over the room. "I would need a ladder just to get to the middle of those shelves," I thought. Around the couches were small, round tables and chairs that looked hand carved with rustic designs, almost like café seating. The room was almost nautical.
"Welcome to the Slytherin Dungeon," the Prefect said, arms wide and proud. "As you can see, this is the main room. Yes, we are underwater, so don't ask. Sometimes we see the Giant Squid pass by and that's a sight," he smirked, his long face almost contorting under his pointy Prefect hat. "The boy's rooms are that way," he swung his arm enthusiastically to the far-right corner where an archway lead to a short hallway, "and the girl's rooms are that way," his other arm swung to point towards the closer right hand corner. "Any questions?" he straightened up and crossed his arms." I raised my hand. "Yes, generic first year number 3?"
I caught myself about to laugh, but reined myself in at the last minute. "How are rooms assigned? Do we just pick or are we paired up?"
He looked over our heads to count how many of us there were. There were 9 of us, three girls and six boys. "The girls will be in one room, and three and three for you lot. Your choice," he shrugged. "Any more questions?" he looked at us again. A skinny kid behind me raised his hand. "No? Great!" the Prefect clapped his hands together before dismissing us to find our rooms. "Oh, and your luggage is already here," he added. The small boy let out a sigh of relief, his question answered.
The bags had been spread out across the rooms. The girls were excited to room together, not that they had a choice, and the boys put three to a room. The tan boy and I decided to room together, leaving the skinny brunette kid, the large scary guy, an average joe looking guy that seemed bored by the whole affair, and the tall one that kept rolling his eyes at everything to still be sorted.
"Hi, I'm Gabe," my new roommate extended his hand to me with a goofy smile. I forced a smile of my own and took his hand.
"James. Pleasure," I shook his hand and pulled mine back quickly before finding where my luggage was. It was the second room down the hall. I had the bed in the back-left corner already and decided to keep it that way. There was a square stone fire pit with a rail around it in the middle of the room that stood about shoulder height to me and chest height to Gabe. The window in the room was framed by black curtains that stood out from the limestone wall. The beds were dark-wood twins, dressed in black sheets and a green, crested comforter that matched the mossy green curtains hanging from the canopy. Next to the beds stood small matching desks with green shaded table lamps. "This place is strangely comfortable for being so damp looking," I stated as I inspected my corner of the room. Gabe took the bed in the front righthand corner near the door. All four beds looked exactly the same. I found my bag under the bed and pulled it out to begin unloading the list of things I was supposed to bring. At the top of my backpack, I found that they'd added a few new uniform items: a necktie, a sweater, sweater-vest, and a robe with a snake crest. I unpacked my clothes and put them in the bottom drawer of the desk, less-likely to be used at the bottom, then began unpacking the homey things: a picture of my parents and brothers, one of whom would be starting the next year; a rubric's cube; a bear Avri had given me a few years prior; a notepad and pencil; and a quill set my mother had bought me. I did like using quills, but pencils worked just as well and were erasable. I set the bear on the bed side of the lamp and adjusted the cube, notepad, and quill set so they each had approximately one inch of room on either side. The photo was put in my top drawer. It was the only thing in there for now, centred and facing the handle. I watched as my mum and dad laughed at my brothers as they wrestled each other for a piece of chicken. It was a silly photo, but it meant a lot to me.
"I'm bunkin' with you lot," the average Joe kid threw his trunk on the floor and flopped onto the other bed in the front corner. He rolled over and seemed to fall asleep immediately…
"Long day ahead of us tomorrow, Jimmy," Gabe smiled as he sat on his bed. "We'd better turn in for the night." I scoffed at him calling me Jimmy as he nudged the door closed with his foot. I would have taken Jay or something, but not Jimmy.
"Night, then, Gabby," I closed the drawer, put my glasses on the desk, and pulled my sheets back. He cocked his head with a frustrated face then shrugged and did the same. I curled up and awaited the next day.