Harry absorbed the sights and sounds of the castle silently as he followed the older Slytherins down to their common room. When they arrived, he took a seat under a window and wished he'd brought one of his textbooks to read. Before he could finish that thought, the man he'd been watching at dinner swept in and all conversation ceased. Professor Snape, he reminded himself.
Once he had everyone's attention, Professor Snape spoke in a firm voice that was soft like velvet, "Welcome to Slytherin House. The rules of Slytherin House can be found on the silver plaque by the door, stuck to the wall with a permanent sticking charm. They are: Your house is your family. Family stands together.
"The common room does not belong to YOU. It belongs to everyone. Keep it neat.
"Arguments with another Slytherin are only permitted within Slytherin House. Refer to the FIRST RULE.
"Study time is QUIET and is mandatory. You will receive schedules on a weekly basis.
"NO ONE is allowed to skip House Meetings. House Meetings are almost always scheduled.
"The Hogwarts House Elves are not your servants. Keeping your dorm rooms and the common room clean is your responsibility.
"Dorm inspections once a month. These are NOT scheduled. Consider yourself forewarned.
"All meals are mandatory. No sweets in the dorms. No sweets after 8 P.M. Those taking a nutrition potion will see me or Madame Pomfrey once a week.
"Bedtimes are as follows: first years at 9 P.M. second through fourth years at 10 P.M. fifth through sixth years at 11 P.M. seventh years at midnight.
"Your House is your family. Family stands together.
"These are the rules I expect everyone in Slytherin to follow; to the letter. They are, however, not the only rules. You will discover in your seven years here that I will give you further guidelines and rules that you can take past the walls of Hogwarts.
"Finally, never forget the Secret of Slytherin:
"Plan in ways a Ravenclaw finds sound
"Blend like a Hufflepuff into the background
"As for the Gryffindor, learn from their mistakes
"And be ready to react, Slytherin, swift as a snake.
"Our motto is Serpens tacitus perspicasis et celeris est
"Which translates to "The serpent is silent, observant and swift".
"The prefects will have your schedules at breakfast tomorrow. I expect you all to be there. If any of you come to my office asking for your schedule I will not hesitate to take points. You will sleep four to a room, your name is on the door. The prefects will help you. Goodnight," So saying, he swept from the room.
As it turned out, Harry's roommates were Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott, none of whom he had chanced to meet before. Their trunks were already in the room, and he cringed seeing how his trunk looked compared to the others'. Atop each trunk was a slip of parchment that at first glance appeared to be blank, but when turned over revealed a single word in spiky cramped handwriting: "celeris". After a quick comparison, the four of them surmised that all four pieces of parchment were the same, and after some discussion, they had come to the conclusion that it must be the password to the dormitory.
Wanting to be sure they were not wrong, they decided that they must test it. It was decided that Draco and Harry were to be sent to the common room to test the password. On their way out, they met with two other first-years, both girls, who were presumably from the one other room of first-years which contained more than one or two students. The common room was empty except for the four of them as they crept silently to the door.
"I'll go out and use the password to get back in," Harry said, "and if it doesn't work in a few minutes, open the door from this side and let me back in."
They all agreed, and Harry slipped out the hidden doorway and let it shut silently behind him. The hallway was dark, but although he had learned the wand-lighting charm from his textbook earlier, he dared not use it. He breathed for a few seconds to steady his heartbeat, then turned back to the hidden doorway.
"Celeris," he whispered against the stone, breathing a sigh of relief as it slid aside to allow him entrance.
He did not see the tall, slender man who stepped out of the deepest part of the shadows as the door slid silently shut behind him.
Word count: 766
Hello, Strangers! This chapter ended up being shorter than usual. I guess I just felt that there should be a chapter split here and I usually have good instincts for those things.
Credit goes to this AO3 page: /works/426484
All the love ,
Emmi
11/17/2020