Exploring the Prison

I pushed past James without acknowledging him. I decided that just because I promised Remus that I would yell at James didn't mean I had to talk to him at all. When I made it inside I found myself in a grand foyer, nowhere near as large as the one at Hogwarts, but still as impressive.

I was started suddenly, by the low voice of the Headmaster. When I glanced I finally located him, as he made his way from a door on the right.

"I'm so glad you all made it here safely, I see my measures of precaution have worked out very nicely." Dumbledore said gazing at us, the rest having entered the foyer behind me.

"What measures of precaution?" Abigail asked, voicing the question, which seemed to be puzzling all of us, at least judging by the look on everyone's faces.

"Well each of you only knew one detail on how to get here. Miss Evans knew which gate to enter. Mr. Lupin entered two minutes after she did and went straight to the correct compartment; everyone else followed seven minutes apart. Mr. Pettigrew knew what the Portkey looked like, and Mr. Black was given the address of this lovely hideaway. Miss Crawford is along with Mr. Black."

My mouth dropped, I hadn't realized that so much thought had gone into the planning of how to get us here. I wasn't the only one. Peter's eyes were wide as saucers, Abigail's, mouth was also hanging up, and Sirius looked deep in thought. It was only Remus who looked unfazed by all this information.

"Now I hope you find all your rooms to be quite satisfactory," Dumbledore continued, as he made his way to the door. "Everything you need I think you shall find easily enough. You will find all your lessons in the classroom, and may work on them as you please. But I must remind you, they will be handed in on the day that is listed, whether you have completed them or not." He looked around at all of us fairly strictly, than smiled. "Enjoy your time here, and make the most of it, but I must remind you do NOT leave the security of the charms placed on here. Good Evening."

With his final words, he made his way out the door, and into the darkness.

There was silence for a few moments, and everyone just gazed around. The foyer was fairly dark, with two large doors on either side. The focal point of the room was the large staircase headed up to the second floor. It was made of dark wood, and you could see the candles, that lined the walls on either side.

Everyone slowly began making their way upstairs, until I was the only one left standing in the foyer. I glanced around and realized that our trunks were missing and that they must have been magically transported up to our individual rooms.

I wasn't tired, even though I had put in a full day and it was well past one in the morning. So I slowly walked over the door that Professor Dumbledore had come from, and found myself in a room, with a glowing fire at the far end of it. In the middle was the largest dining room table I had ever seen. The walls were covered in the same dark wood that the staircase was made from.

I left and continued to the door directly across from the dining room. I stopped short as soon as I had the door open. This was the Library, the room I had been the most quizzical about. It reached far beyond my wildest imaginings with tall shelves that had magical moving ladders, cozy chairs sat around a fireplace that was larger than the biggest fireplace at Hogwarts. I ran my fingers along the closest row of spines, no dust rose at all.

This would definitely be my favorite place in this prison by a long shot. I could already imagine spending my days curled up by that fire working on the many assignments, or reading any number of the many volumes that covered the shelves.

I continued my self given tour, and made my way up the large staircase. I turned left and went in the first door. This room was fairly plain, with rows of desks and piles of books lined along the front of the room. I figured this was the classroom the Dumbledore had mentioned. I looked down the rest of the hallway and all that remained was a circular staircase going up to the third floor.

I backtracked and entered the other room on the second floor and found what must have been the common room, for it did look identical to Gryffindor common room. Though this room was by far a lot less worn than the one at Hogwarts, all the chairs at Hogwarts had look that they had been well used. These chairs were new. The walls were painted the customary Gryffindor colours of red and gold. It felt like home.

Back out in the hall, not much further on was another circular staircase. This time I continued and climbed. Once I arrived on the third floor I immediately came to the conclusion that this was where all the individual rooms were. There was a second hallway that branched out from the main hall, and I turned here until I came to the room with my name on it.

My room was at the very end of the hall at the front of the house. There was one door across from it, but I didn't bother reading who that room belonged to.

Once I was in my room I was pleasantly surprised at what I found. My room was a mixture of what my home room looked like and that of the Gryffindor dormitory. The walls were in light shades of purples and lavenders. A giant four poster bed was positioned on the far wall. Two doors on the one wall led to a bathroom and walk in closet, which already had all of my possessions put away. I glanced out one of the three front windows, to find that my view overlooked the front yard.

Everything about this new place to live was nice, but that didn't take away the fact that I was still imprisoned here with a few people who were far from my best friends. I wouldn't let myself be all negative though, since I'm going to be here for who knows how long. I will just have to ignore James Potter as best as I can. Or else I'm going to have a miserable time in my new prison.