Chapter 37
Tuesday, September 1, 1992-The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland
In the pandemonium that followed a Weasley being sorted into a House other than Gryffindor, Ginny ran for the Ravenclaw table and sat down next to Luna. Luna smiled at her.
"I'm glad we're in the same House," Luna said. "There are sure to be fewer Nargles bothering us now."
Ginny was quite speechless and was only able to smile back. She made it through the feast and Dumbledore's announcements in something of a daze that was only broken by Luna's remarks and the several dozen times she was asked by her new housemates how a Weasley got sorted into Ravenclaw. After the third or fourth time she started answering with her best mysterious smile and the older Ravenclaws would smile back and return to their conversations.
How did she get into Ravenclaw? She'd had quite an argument with the Sorting Hat. It was determined to put her in Gryffindor, even after she'd told it that she didn't want to be in the same House as her brothers, except she wanted to be in Gryffindor like her parents, except she didn't want to be under Percy's thumb. See the problem? It wasn't until the random thought that she wanted to be like her sister flitted through her mind that she Hat finally decided to put her in Ravenclaw, though it also added that she had to be clever to sneak her brothers' brooms out like she did. Never mind that she didn't have a sister, Ginny Weasley was now the first Weasley to be placed in Ravenclaw in thirteen generations (when the twin pranksters Gareth and Daniel Weasley were both sorted into Ravenclaw, to the chagrin of then Head of House, Philomena Dent).
A pretty blonde prefect named Penelope, the Head Boy whose first or last name was Camron, and a boy prefect whose name Ginny didn't catch gathered up the thirteen Ravenclaw first years and lead them through the labyrinth of hallways and secret passages to the Ravenclaw common room.
"You'll learn to get around on your own eventually," Penelope told them, "but if you need help just ask Camron or any of the prefects."
"The other older students would be able to help you too, but most of them won't have the incentive to get their nose out of their books," Camron added. "Don't take it too personally."
The large group stopped in front of a door of dark wood without a lock or doorknob that was just closing. Ginny spotted a flash of red hair and caught Patricia's wink before the door shut completely.
"This is the main entrance to Ravenclaw Tower," the boy prefect said. "We also have three other exits that appear during emergencies. In those cases there will be lights directing you to the closest exit based on where in the tower you are. This entrance only opens when you answer the doorknocker's riddle."
Camron, who was closest to the door, lifted the doorknocker and let it fall. The bronze eagle head on the doorknocker opened its beak and asked, "What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?"
Camron looked at the first years. "Anyone want to try to answer?"
The first years looked at each other. Ginny grimaced. She'd expected the Ravenclaw common room to have a password like her brothers said Gryffindor's did.
"Er," one of the girls said. "Er..."
"Short!" a boy shouted. "You add 'er' and it's 'shorter'!"
"Don't expect all the riddles to be this easy," the eagle said as the door swung open.
Ginny gasped. She wasn't the only one. The high, domed ceiling was covered in stars like the ceiling of the Great Hall, only these stars were painted in glittering bronze, silver, and gold and spiraled into constellations that none of the first years had seen before. The floor was carpeted with a plush midnight blue that was also used in the upholstered furniture. A small collection of comfy-looking armchairs was gathered around a fireplace on one side of the room, but most of the furniture in the common room consisted of round tables surrounded by as many chairs as would fit around them. The curved wall was covered with bookcases interspersed with arched windows hung with bronze and blue silk draperies. There was an arched doorway opposite the fire that led to a smaller room totally filled with bookcases. As expected for Ravenclaw, every bookcase was filled. Directly across from the door, a tall white marble statue of a woman in simple robes with a delicate tiara on her head smiled down at the large group as they entered the room.
"Rowena Ravenclaw," Penelope said, gesturing towards the statue. "'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.' She's wearing her lost diadem, which was believed to grant wisdom to the wearer. Unfortunately it's, well, lost."
"Very eloquent, Penny," Camron said with a smirk. The boy prefect chuckled and Penelope elbowed him with a good-natured grin.
There was a door next to the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw that Camron told them led to the dormitory.
"Your dorms will be on the third floor," the boy prefect said. "Boys take the stairs to the left and girls take the stairs on the right. Since there are so many of you there'll be multiple rooms. Check the doors for your names and wait until next week to submit requests to change rooms."
"Some of you will have balconies," Camron added. "Please don't go over the railing as that will cause extra paperwork for me."
The first years looked at each other, not sure if the Head Boy was joking or not.
The boy prefect rolled his eyes. "It's not even their first day yet, Cam. Prefect inside jokes aren't going to work."
"But they're Ravenclaws," Camron said.
Penelope sighed. "Boys. Head up to bed, all of you. Professor Flitwick will be in the common room at seven with your timetables and directions to your first class. Sleep well!"
The first years trooped upstairs. Most of them were yawning. The good food and the warmth of the common room were causing many cases of drowsiness in the eleven-year-olds.
Ginny and Luna were in the same room, sharing with two other girls whose names Ginny skipped over on the list pinned to the door as soon as she saw that she was rooming with her friend. Luna half walked, half floated into the room and sat down on one of the two four-poster beds nearest to the floor-to-ceiling window. Each of the beds had blue velvet curtains around them and luggage placed at their foot.
"Oh cool, we have a balcony," one of the other girls said.
The last girl giggled. "Paperwork."
Ginny's bed was next to Luna's. She collapsed on the soft, blue comforter and barely managed to kick off her shoes before she started dozing off. She forced herself to change out of her robes and the clothes she was wearing underneath into her nightgown before climbing under the covers. She drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.