Willy and Amadé followed the crowd of Slytherin downstairs to where Malfoy showed them a blank stretch of wall.
"Serpentarde," he announced.
"Gesuntheit," Amadé whispered to Willy, and both laughed.
The blank wall slid open slowly to reveal a large, dim room, mostly green and black in color with lots of marble and snake motifs and decorations everywhere.
"Looks rather like my Great-Auntie Anna's house, but in the wrong colors," Willy whispered to Amadé. "She favors lime green and raspberry pink. I made her bonbons in that color once."
Amadé giggled softly. Malfoy heard him.
"What's that noise?" he demanded sharply. "When I am speaking, I demand silence. Clear?"
"As the day you were born," Willy called out, falsetto.
"Not terribly clear, then," Amadé added loudly, also falsetto. "Overcast, cloudy skies, with a good chance of rain and a thick fog smelling violently of rotten eggs."
Malfoy pulled out his wand like a fencer unsheathing a rapier. His grey eyes raked the assembled group.
"I hope the speakers will not choose to exercise their wits again," he said softly. "A prefect should refrain from disemboweling his fellow house-mates. Anyone want to try me?"
Willy shoved a fist into his mouth to stifle a giggle as Amadé mouthed the words with his nose high in the air, twirling his finger to his temple.
There was silence for a few seconds.
"Right then," Malfoy continued. "This is the dormitory. Girls' dormitory to the right, boys to the left. Find your rooms and unpack. And just let me catch one hint of silliness or foolishness from any of you and you'll be in detention for a month. Be very grateful I don't take points from my own house."
Willy and Amadé joined the boys as they trooped up the staircase.
"We're going to have to cook something up for our dear prefect," Amadé muttered as the two boys entered the dorm marked 'First Years'. "Any ideas?"
Willy's eyes sparkled. "Not just one idea, Amadé. I never have only one. We've a host to choose from. Let's unpack, and I'll tell you some ideas. Ooh- I want that bed over there. Here, you take the one beside it."
Amadé hefted his trunk onto his bed. "I think we're going to have a fun year, Willy."
Willy pulled a small bag of brightly colored candies from his trunk. "Have a sweet. I invented them myself. They tickle when you swallow them."
