Albus woke up early, his throat so dry he couldn't even swallow. He pushed back the covers and pulled open the bed's hangings, a chilled draught swallowing the sleepy warmth that had formed over his bed in the night.
He slung his feet out of bed, wincing as the cold stone floor bit into them. Not wanting to wake the others, he decided against rummaging about his trunk for his slippers, and instead braved the icy floor bare-foot. He reached the night-stand and poured out a glass of water before quickly settling back onto his bed, sitting on his feet to try and warm them up again. He glanced at the green light pouring in from the window before taking a sip from his cup, choking slightly on the water as he swung his head up again to stare at the glass. On the other side, a horned creature glared back at him, its long, brittle fingers pressed against the panes. It rapped on the window, causing Albus to spill the chilled water all down himself in alarm. It knocked again, its mouth opening to reveal two horrid rows of pointy green teeth.
Albus barely had time to contemplate how the little monster was swimming as he shoved the cup back on the night stand before backing away to stand by his trunk, watching the demon from what he hoped was a safe distance. The creature continued to flex and tap on the glass, looking more gruesome the more Albus looked at it. He took another step back, and his heal collided painfully with the corner of his trunk. The thing in the window began to emit bubbles in its mirth, its croaky, gnarly guffaws not entirely muffled by the glass barrier. Suddenly the curtains on the bed on the other side of the window were wrenched open, causing the demon to retreat in surprise. When it saw the look on Femi's face it scarpered entirely, the window now only showing the green, shimmering light of the lake.
Femi turned to face Albus, the grouchy, sullen expression on his face not lessening in the slightest. "You'd better have a pretty good reason for messing about with a Grindylow at half six in the morning."
"I wasn't- I- Was- I" Albus continued to splutter as Femi took a step toward him.
"What, did you miss out on some of your beauty sleep?" They both turned round to see a sleepy-looking boy with great tufts of brown hair sticking up around him like a lion's mane poking out of another bed's hangings.
Femi glowered at him, but turned away to pour himself a cup of water and went back to lie back on his bed, still looking grumpy. Albus gingerly sat down on his bed, worried that any sudden action would set Femi off again. He looked briefly up at the window, he could just about make out the glimmering surface of the lake. He settled more comfortably on his bed, his feet still very cold.
"What's your name?" The boy asked him, smiling encouragingly, his head still floating amid the green cloths surrounding his bed.
"Albus,"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Cuinn, Cuinn Lathspiel. And you, the grumpy one, you're Femi Zabini?"
"How did you know?" Said Femi, his voice still tinged with irritability.
"My powers of deduction." Quinn replied, before disappearing behind the curtains, therefore missing the look Femi gave him.
Albus crawled to the end of his bed and began to fish out clothing from the trunk. Femi sighed and pulled his covers over his head, curling up under the green sheets.
Albus was pulling on his sweater as Cuinn emerged, neatly dressed in a shirt, jumper and trousers. He pulled back his hangings, making an elaborate knot with a silver rope tie back to keep them in place. His hair was still tufty at the back like a chocolate cloud yet he seemed not to care as he began to tidy up his covers.
"Why don't you let the house-elves do that?" asked Femi, his eyes peeking out from his duvet.
"Oh… Well I've kind of got into the habit of doing it myself ever since our house-elf died." Cuinn replied, a sad expression seeping into his face.
"You could get a new one."
"There's not really any point, we can use spells to do most of the chores the house-elves would do." Cuinn turned away to search his trunk for some socks.
Albus' family didn't have a house-elf, they did all their house-work themselves. He began to worry that he was the only boy in the dormitory who didn't come from such a rich background.
"Is it time to get up?" A pale boy dressed in a long snowy white shirt had opened his hangings, "Wait, why are you two wearing that?"
Albus was confused, he looked down quickly and didn't see anything wrong with his clothes, "What do you mean?" He asked the boy.
"You're wearing muggle clothes. Is this some sort of joke?"
"No," Cuinn said, straightening up from pulling on his shoes.
"Maybe you took the wrong train; this is a school of magic, it's for wizards, not farm animals."
Albus blinked at the harsh tone of the boy. He'd been warned by his parents that there would be nasty people like this, but this rudeness still came as a shock.
"I'd rather to be a farm-animal than to be someone like you." He found himself saying
"Excuse me?" The boy stared at him, looking scandalised.
Before Albus could say anything, someone coughed. Everyone, even the dozing Femi, turned to see who it was. Scorpius Malfoy was nervously looking round at them all.
"Umm I was just wondering if anyone knew where the bathroom was."
"I'll show you where it is, I'd rather not spend any more time with these apes," The boy walked imperiously across the room, oblivious to how ludicrous he looked in his flowing white night-clothes. Scorpius followed sheepishly.
When the door had closed, Cuinn began miming strangling an imaginary version of the boy, making Albus laugh.
"Come on, it's still an hour 'til breakfast but we might as well leave before that nasty prat returns."
They left Femi and another boy who hadn't yet woken up and they headed up to the common room. It was empty, the dark ashes in the fireplace still hadn't been swept away from the night before, and they glittered in the murky morning light coming from the lake. They sat down on a couple of dark leather armchairs by the grate while they waited for someone to come who could show them the way to the Great Hall.
"So, have you got any brothers or sisters already here?" Cuinn asked him.
"Just one, he's a third-year, in Gryffindor."
Cuinn looked at him sharply, but turned away to watch the doors leading to the dormitories when Albus glanced up to meet his gaze.
"What about you?" Asked Albus, finding himself feel a bit anxious.
"Only child." Replied Cuinn shortly.
They waited another few minutes in silence until Vuelonta emerged with a few of the girls in first year trailing behind her. She wore a long velvety robe that trailed behind her, the other girls keeping well away in order not to trample on the ends.
"Right, do you two need to be guided to the Great hall as well?" Cuinn and Albus nodded and stood up. "Well come along then."
She sped off towards the passage-way's opening, leading them swiftly along the corridors, so fast that they had to break into a jog a couple of times just to keep up with her long strides.
They finally reached the Great hall, Albus panting slightly due to a stitch in his side.
"Table on the end, the food will arrive momentarily."
There were only a few students dotted about the tables, so there was enough space for all the first years that Vuelonta had led there to sit together.
Albus ended up sitting opposite Cuinn as the girls chatted away, ignoring the boys entirely excepting a shooting few subtle glances their way.
"Do you know what's for breakfast?" Albus asked Cuinn, trying to appear friendly.
"Probably anything and everything, porridge, toast, bacon, eggs – you name it." Cuinn looked up at Albus, who smiled. The corners of Cuinn's mouth twitched, seemingly against his will, and he looked away again.
"What do you think we'll be doing after the timetables are given out?"
"I don't know."
Albus stopped questioning Cuinn after that, he didn't want to pester him when he clearly wasn't in the mood for conversation. Cuinn had seemed perfectly fine before Albus had started talking about his brother. Perhaps it was because his brother was in Gryffindor, and Cuinn was now going to treat Albus as if he, too, was in Gryffindor, an enemy by definition. And to make matters worse, James was probably going to be treating like he was some sort of nemesis, just because they were in different houses.
Albus was beginning to feel generally disheartened about Hogwarts; it seemed to him like it was going to be a lot harder and more miserable than he had thought.
Author's note-
Sorry about not updating for two weeks! I've just started my A-levels and I've had a hard typing coping with the sudden loads of work, but today I had an inset day so I thought I could make an entry
I'm so sorry guys :(