AN: Since pottermore sorted me into Slytherin, I suppose I should write a little about my classmates :) Anyway: on the harrypotterwikia, it says Blaise is arrogant and always alone. It has happend to me pretty often that people thought I was arrogant when I was really just shy and quiet. So I will make him more of a shy, studious boy who has no problem with being alone. I hope this is canon enough.

Challenge: This was written for Weasley Seekers "Seven Years at Hogwarts Competition". I got seven prompts (used them as chapter-titles) from the "The Ultimate Boredom Solver Challenge" by Lady Phoenix Fire Rose.

Beta: none

Spoiler: I did use some information from pottermore, but nothing really huge.

Disclaimer: Everything in this entire story that seems familiar is property of J.K. Rowling and/or Warner Brothers. I don't make any money with this story.


Blaise Zabini had heard a lot about the Slytherin common room from his mother, who found nothing but her own House acceptable for her only son. Therefore, and because he found it childish, he was one of the few first years that didn't "Oh" and "Ah" when entering the common room under the Great Lake for the first time.

Nobody really paid attention to the little speech their prefect gave – most were taken aback by the sublime green and black marbled room with natural, stone framed windows opening to the lake and bathed in greenish light coming from fancy silver lanterns and lamps. It was a cold atmosphere, no doubt, but it also screamed effort, hard work and resulting success and achievement. Blaise felt home instantly.

On the right hand of the room was a staircase leading up to a balcony which, to Blaise's delight, was stuffed with bookshelves. Left and right to the staircase, two hallways went further into the lake, four doors branching off on each side. The prefect explained that each of those was the dorm of one year, the last being the shared bathroom. The hallway left of the stairs was for the boys, the one on the right side for the girls.

Blaise was not so happy now. He had been raised in a mansion, as a single child. Shared bathroom? Dorms with four other people? No way.

Seeing he had no choice but to follow along, Blaise walked behind his class mates until they reached the door labeled with a silver tile stating "First Years". In front of another window, five poster beds stood, the head end facing the Great Lake. Green silk hangings ensured privacy for everybody; next to every bed was a small desk; on the other side, as well as under the bed, drawers could be found. At the foot end of the bed, facing the door Blaise had just stepped through, their trunks had been placed.

After they had made their introductions and held a bit of small talk about their families, the feast, their fellow students and other superficial stuff, they each went to their respective beds and soon fell asleep. Blaise, however, could not do so as fast as his class- and, as much as he hated it, room-mates did.

He had been pleased to see that his trunk was in front of the bed on the far right of the room. Blaise had never liked to be in the middle. However, the advantages he saw from sleeping on the end were outweighed by the other boys in the dorm.

Next to him slept Vincent Crabbe, who snored like a drunken sailor. In the middle of the room, in the bed opposite the door slept the heir of the Malfoy family. Blaise wondered how his pillows would look like in a month, since Draco went to bed without washing the gel out of his hair. Not only was it enough hair product to fill an entire bottle, it smelled quite a bit, too – like a mixture between rats, glue and vanilla.

Left of Malfoy laid Gregory Goyle, who was tossing and turning around in his bed. The posters squeaked, the mattress groaned and if he would roll an inch further to the left, he would fall out. On the far left side of the room slept Theodor Nott, who was currently (he had not closed the hangings) clutching a teddy bear like a life belt and quietly weeping. He was a single son, too, spoiled beyond imagination and probably never been away from home before.

Blaise snorted. He couldn't stand one more minute in this room. It was too loud, too smelly and too crowded. Not even trying to be quiet and not wake anybody, the boy made his way out of the room and into the dull light of the hallway. The fluffy green carpet under his naked feet quieted his footsteps.

The common room was bathed in dull light, as every second lantern was still shining. Blaise walked to the walls, which were indeed, just like his mother had told him, decorated with colorful tapestry. He slowly moved around the room, looking at images displaying the achievements of famous alumni Slytherins: Merlin was amongst them; many, yet not all, members of the famous Black family; Elizabeth Burke and the legendary potions master Horace Slughorn.

An hour passed before he had seen them all, reading every single one of the sewed silver captions stating the name, lifespan and achievement of the illustrated person. Since Blaise didn't think the situation in his dorm had improved at all after only an hour, he now needed a new way to keep himself busy.

Blaise decided to ascend to the balcony. Going up the marble staircase, he noticed the books being sorted by category, each displayed above the shelf, and by authors name within these categories. Every book was wrapped in a clear cover; the book spines seemed to proudly display a Slytherin crest, doubtlessly stating the ownership.

Since Blaise was not researching specific information, but was just looking for a bit of reading, he randomly grabbed books left and right as he walked around the balcony. At the end, below a window, was another group of comfortable black leather armchairs and sofas, matching the furniture downstairs. Lanterns glowed above the area and a low table in the middle was perfect for putting his trove on.

He looked at a shabby copy of "A Comparison of the Digestive System of the Goblin and the Hippogriff" and discharged it to a pile on the left side of the table. It was followed quickly by a tiny crimson book called "Current Studies of a Sea Serpent's Sexual Habits". "An Enchanter's Catalogue of Classic Wizardry" on the other hand, he put on the right side of the table, hoping to look at it later. A good-as-new copy of "The Military Application of Sorcery" went onto the "read"-pile, too, followed by "The Codex of Ancient Alchemy". The black and worn out "The Journal of Improved Dark Arts" was put away, too, but as Blaise reached "The Guide to Ancient Transfiguration", he forgot all about the other books and began to read this one instead.

At four in the morning, he was through the quite thick, yet very informative and easy to understand book, cuddled deeper into the armchair, completely forgetting about the boys in his dorm, and grabbed the next one.

He was still in the same position when his class mates found him in the morning: Sitting in the armchair in pajamas and barefooted, two piles of books before him on the table and one in his hands that he had fallen asleep over.

It was not the last time Blaise would spend his nights reading, studying or exploring the tapestry. Every time he did it, he would be tired and grumpy in the morning and his class mates would think worse of him. But that never stopped him and, looking back, he found it quite a good way to spend his first night at Hogwarts.