Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. But my friends and I have a super evil plan to steal the rights. Just kidding. Maybe.
&R&
By the time dinner was done, hunger was satisfied, and thirst was quenched, the main hall was definitely looking worse for the wear. The tapestries on the wall sagged pitifully, smudged with soot, while the air smelled strongly of smoke. Most of the Slytherins had been carted off to the infirmary, but here and there a broken wand or a spot of blood remained. The Slytherins' table was charred beyond repair and the Gryffindors' table was surrounded by culinary wreckage.
It was really no wonder Dumbledore took one look around the room and called an early bedtime. "You'll probably want to get settled in," he chuckled nervously, which was really just a flimsy excuse for "Oh God, this is going to be a hell of a year." Pidge couldn't say she blamed him.
"Now first years, over here! First years!" the prefects were shouting, nudging confused students into orderly lines. Briana happily stood by herself, a bewildered Slytherin prefect with a burn on his arm trying to lead her out of the hall.
He must have been one of the lucky ones, Pidge thought with a mental smirk.
She elbowed Retta, who was wandering around with a lost expression. "Tell Briana and Rae to meet us back in the hallway around midnight. I'll get Katie and Mary."
"Okay. But…"
"What is it?"
"I don't know how to get in the Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms!"
Pidge shrugged the question away. "Just use some of those Ravenclaw brains."
"But-!"
"Sorry, can't hear you!" Pidge sing-songed as she waltzed away towards her own line. Jostling for room, she informed Katie and Mary of the rendezvous outside the main hall.
Percy the prefect was in charge, being his usual bossy self. "If you will please get in line—a nice orderly line, if you will, Fred and George—then the sooner we can get to our common room," Percy snapped, his robes swishing around his ankles as he sharply turned towards the doors, which were hanging off their hinges from various explosions.
Pidge, Mary, and Katie were hustled along, out of the Great Hall and into a cavernous hall with torches and doors lining the walls and rain slashing the window panes outside. The lightning flickered on the amazed faces of the first years and Pidge. She barely got to pause in wonder before someone shoved her further along, sending her almost tripping.
Then—they entered the tower of stairways.
The ceiling was even higher than Pidge had imagined. All she could hear was the rumbling of the moving staircases and the loud whispering of the portraits.
"Yes, those are the new students—"
"—they're certainly scrawny, aren't they?"
"There go the new Gryffindors! That's my House, you know!"
"Oh, shut up, here come the Slytherin…s?"
"Funny, I don't see any."
"Well, I'm sure they've already gotten to bed. They're smarter than your stupid Gryffindors!"
Pidge could hear the start of a hostile argument between the House alumni. Before she could eavesdrop any longer, Pidge was roughly pushed to a stop, nearly tripping Mary, who was in back of her. On her tiptoes, she could see why they had stopped.
Percy stood in front of a wide portrait, about the size of a door. On it, a rather portly lady with pink ruffles and dark curls framing a frumpy face stood regally.
"Password?" she asked simply, folding her hands over her satin-covered tummy.
Percy stood straighter and preened, smoothing back his hair. "Fortuna major."
The Fat Lady, as Pidge had recognized, disappeared as her door swung inward. Students poured into the room.
Pidge and her friends found themselves in the famed Gryffindor common room. It was exactly as J. K. Rowling had described, all red and gold and friendship around a fireplace, beckoning with its warmth. I could get to like this.
&R&
The poor prefect was hurrying along the corridors, fruitlessly trying to drag Briana in the right direction as quickly as possible. He scuttled down the stairs, avoiding Briana's rapid-fire questions. They were clearly descending, branching off from the main stream of students to the lower floors of the castle. Briana stopped to look at everything, from the ghosts to Filch's cat. She was as distracted and hyper as a five-year-old with ADD and a sugar rush. In a detached corner of her mind, Briana almost felt sorry for the poor sap assigned to their common room.
There was no one with them by the time they reached the entrance. It was guarded by nothing more than a blank stone wall, and Briana was trying to see where they were going to enter when the prefect said shakily, "House elves should be seen, not heard."
With a grinding noise, part of the wall slid aside to reveal a tunnel. Running through to the other side, Briana stood inside proudly, beaming to an empty room. "Hello, my new Housemates!" She failed to realize that no one but the prefect behind her was with her.
The ceilings were low and the walls were draped with green. Silver light glowed from lanterns floating above her head.
Briana bounded over to an overstuffed armchair and threw herself into it upside down. Grinning at the terrified prefect, she asked, "So, what say we get this party started?"
&R&
Rae was feeling much better with new clothes and a fresh glass of pumpkin juice. However, before she got to take a sip, the dirty dishes on every table disappeared and so did her glass. Feeling a little disgruntled, she stood up with the rest of her house and prepared to leave for her common room.
It was really crowded in the hallway, and Rae grunted as she was shoved along to her House's common room. She couldn't see much of anything except for the black of robes in front of her, but she could still see enough to be completely in awe. This was Hogwarts? How much more incredible could this night get?
Suddenly, something tugged at her elbow. "Hey! Rae! It's me, Retta. Meet me outside the main hall at eleven o'clock tonight, 'kay?"
Before Rae could turn around to inquire exactly what Retta meant by that, she was swept past her.
Before she knew it, the tide of people diminished somewhat and she was standing awkwardly among other Hufflepuffs, shifting for better space. Someone muttered something and Rae heard tapping before a tunnel in the wall opened. Rae shuffled in with her Housemates.
It was set low in the ground, but unlike Snape's dungeon, it had a cheery, sun-warmed atmosphere, like a greenhouse. Above her head, round windows let bright sunshine filter through, though Rae knew it was raining outside. It was decorated with warm, buttery yellow and coal black, and sunflowers were all over the place. Other magical plants came alive, turning their stalks to face the new arrivals. The air smelled of summer, like fresh-cut grass and berries.
Being an outside sort of girl, Rae was rather pleased with the arrangement.
&R&
Retta was somewhat relieved when she'd managed to catch Rae at the end of the main hall. Now she wouldn't be alone in her quest to sneak Briana out of her House common room. Sighing with relief, she faded back into just another face in the Ravenclaw crowd.
She, like everyone else before her, couldn't help but be astonished by the breath-taking magnificence of Hogwarts. It was brilliant, more than everything she had imagined. For the first time, she felt real here, real and alive and so, so happy. This was gonna be great!
Retta sailed up the stairs with her Housemates, smiling every time she saw something that she recognized from her reading.
The Ravenclaw common room was in a tower, and the stairs leading up to the tower started on the fifth floor. Retta ran up the steps with a sense of irrational urgency. At the end of the stairs was a door with a prominent feature; a bronze eagle sternly staring down in the shape of a knocker. Retta fell back as a prefect stepped forward. She knocked it once, and the thud echoed all the way down the stairs. All was quiet as breaths were held.
A deep voice said, "As soon as it is spoken, it is broken."
The prefect cleared her throat. "Silence," she answered back confidently. The door opened. Retta slipped in as fast as she could.
It was the best place ever.
The ceiling was a canopy of stars, so life-like that Retta was sure they were real. She even thought she saw a comet, flashing dark gold as it fell. Blue bunting hung down the wall in waves, like an ocean, circling the room. The windows were large and clear, and Retta was sure they would showcase an astounding view when the sun rose. And in the back of the room…
"That's the most beautiful library I've ever seen!" Retta exclaimed to no one. She was the only one still standing in the doorway. I'm going to have so much fun with this, she thought. After all, it was still three hours until eleven o'clock.
&R&