Chapter 10 – Our Tower
The Ravenclaw first-years were led out of the Great Hall by one of their prefects. She introduced herself as Briony Perks. She was a fifth-year, medium height, with short brown hair and broad square shoulders. She led them up the marble staircase from the entrance hall, explaining as they went about the vagaries of the stairs at Hogwarts. Lydia already knew they included hidden traps, staircases which were only available at certain times, and shortcuts behind particular wall hangings. Lydia jumped over one step she already knew to be a trap but Shona, who was walking beside her, found her foot sinking into the step as if it were marshmallow.
"Oh, yeah. Mind that step," said Briony.
By this time the soft step had set hard and Shona's foot was stuck.
Briony sighed and walked back down a few steps. She pointed her wand at the step. A fine spray of apple-green mist shot out of the tip and settled on the step. The step sparkled for a second and Shona withdrew her foot unharmed.
"I'll teach you the spell for that after you've had a few weeks of lessons," Briony announced to the group. "If you get stuck before that then call out for a prefect. Once everyone's had a good laugh, they'll probably let you out. Best just to remember to avoid that step."
Their journey continued up several flights of stairs and along a few corridors. Finally, they came to a spiral staircase. At the top was a door with no handle or keyhole, just a bronze eagle for a knocker in the centre. It was shutting behind a group which had been ahead of them.
"Right," Briony addressed them. "To get in you have to knock on the door, with the knocker, and answer a question. As you're all brainy Ravenclaws you should have no problem answering."
She reached for the knocker and swung it once. It boomed against the door and the beak of the eagle opened to speak.
"What is so fragile that merely saying its name breaks it?" came a mellifluous voice.
"What happens if we get it wrong?" asked one of the boys in a whisper.
"You'll be cast down from the tower into a pit of flesh-eating slugs," Briony whispered back. Then she smiled. "Not really, you just have to wait until someone comes along who gets it right."
The group sighed in relief.
"So, who's got it?" Briony prompted.
A couple of hands were raised. One was Lydia's. Briony pointed to her.
"Silence?" she offered.
"Is that an answer or are you asking me a question?" the knocker retorted. "Because I assure you, I am not accustomed to giving answers."
"The answer is 'Silence'," Lydia corrected herself.
"That's better," the knocker congratulated her. "It is also the correct answer and you may all enter."
They began to file inside.
"And hurry up about it, before I change my mind and make each of you answer a question," the eagle scolded.
The Ravenclaw common room beyond the door was a broad, circular room. The domed ceiling was painted white and inlaid with silver stars. Under-foot was a deep blue carpet which also had a pattern of silver stars. There were slender arched windows spaced evenly around the white walls, interspersed with hangings of blue-and-bronze silks. There were tables, chairs, sofas and bookcases, and a wide fireplace to their left. In a niche across the room from the door stood a tall statue of white marble. It depicted a beautiful lady wearing a crown. On either side of this was a door, which Lydia correctly assumed would lead to the dormitories. The general layout was not unlike that of the Gryffindor common room but this had an airy feel – and books! Lydia heard Oddy make a strange squeak and guessed he must have noticed them.
"This is the common room where everybody hangs out," Briony reeled off. "It's where you'll do your homework and your reading, if you're not in the library. At the far side, past the statue of, who?"
"Rowena Ravenclaw," said Oddy and a girl with glasses at the same time.
Briony flashed a smile. "Good. Past the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw are the doors to the dormitories. Boys to the left and girls to the right. Why is that?"
Lydia raised a hand. "Girls are always right."
Briony beamed a proper smile at her. "And none of you forget that. The years are marked on the dorm doors. I presume as Ravenclaws you can all read? Good. Your luggage is already up there. It's not super-late but I suggest you get up there and get settled in. Any laundry just leave at the foot of your bed in the morning and you'll get it back by the end of lessons at the latest and usually by lunch, most days. That is, assuming you have put your names on your garments. There are washstands by your beds and drinking water on your bedside cabinet at the other side. Don't get them mixed up. Everything else should be self-evident. If not, ask someone who isn't stupid."
Briony looked at them all. One of the boys looked as if he were about to ask a question.
"Don't make too much noise or I'll kill you," Briony continued. "Don't stay up too late or I'll kill you. Don't start any arguments or I'll kill you. Don't have any accidents and die or I'll resurrect you and then kill you. If you're all very well behaved you might live to see another day. Good luck."
Nobody moved.
"Just go," Briony groaned in exasperation. "I'll knock on your door when it's time to get up in the morning. And you'll get your timetables at breakfast. Now, go!"
And they went.
The first-years split: boys to the left, girls to the right. Through the door, Lydia found a spiral staircase. It was wider than the one to the Headteacher's Office and was not moving. The party of girls climbed a couple of flights until they came to a door marked 'First-Year Dormitory"
"You'd have thought our dorm would be either the first one or the last one," Shona mused, coming to stand next to Lydia.
"Maybe they just put the new students in where the last lot of seventh-years were," Lydia suggested.
Shona frowned. "But you'd only need a few beds for a seventh-year class and a lot for a first-year one. Some people leave after the O.W.L.s, don't they?"
"The rooms change size, depending on how many people are in," Lydia informed them all. "I stayed in Gryffindor Tower in May this year. The dorm added an extra bed, just for me."
Lydia opened the door and they all crowded into the dormitory.
"How come you were here before?" asked a bespectacled girl Lydia had not spoken to at the feast.
Lydia smiled at her. "Oh, I was here with Harry Potter and my uncle and the teachers let me look around and go into some classes."
They noticed the dormitory. To Lydia, it looked more cheerful than the Gryffindor dormitory she had seen. The walls were whitewashed, rather than bare, grey stone. The bedcovers and hangings on the four-posters were in pastel shades and patterned with flowers. The floor was covered with a pale pink carpet, with fluffy white mats by each bed.
The girls all made a comment which was some variation of, "Ooh! This is lovely."
On one of the beds sat a large and imperious pale ginger cat.
Lydia ran up to him.
"Hello, Xander darling." she cooed. "How did you get in here?"
Xander gave her a condescending look.
"Look," Shona called out. "Our luggage is already by our beds."
Lydia looked. Sure enough, her Travelighter trunk was at the foot of the bed Xander was currently settling himself down on.
"That's a beautiful cat, Lydia," said a girl Lydia knew was called Maisie Hopkirk.
"Oh, no!" came a horrified squeal from the girl with the glasses.
"What's wrong?" one of the others asked.
"I've got the bed nearest the door," she wailed. "That means I'll be the first to die!"
"You can have mine," Lydia called across to her. "I'm not superstitious. We'll swap."
"I think it only applies to hospitals, anyway," Shona added.
Lydia and the girl swapped beds. The girl's name was Tina Burbage. She was clearly embarrassed but still keen to exchange beds. Shona was still in the bed next to Lydia, so she did not mind. Xander was learning to accept the vagaries of young ladies and allowed Lydia to carry him across to the bed nearest the door. Lydia helped Tina carry her trunk over to the far bed. Then, to the surprise of the others, Lydia picked up her own trunk by herself and fairly skipped back to her new bed.
"Didn't you pack anything in that trunk?" asked the girl who had introduced herself as 'Mel'.
"It's a special one that makes everything light," Lydia explained. "It was a present from… some friends."
She realised at the last moment that it might not be wise to tell her classmates she had received a present from a group including a teacher. She was supposed to be trying not to stand out too much. It occurred to her that she should probably stop mentioning Harry Potter so often.
At that moment Briony put her head around the door. "Right, I'm sure you all want to tell each other your life stories but leave it until tomorrow. Ah, you got your cat. Anyone else bring a familiar?"
"I wanted to bring my dog, but..." Maisie began.
"Yeah, right," Briony cut her off. "Get to bed, turn the lights off and shut up, all of you. Don't make me come back and have to start slaughtering you all – I hate the mess. Sleep tight, or else."
She shut the door. The girls looked at each other and made a valiant attempt to stifle their laughter. They were soon in bed, in their pyjamas with the lights off, whispering, "Night, night," to each other.
Lydia lifted her bedclothes with one hand. Xander slipped under the covers and curled up with his warm, furry back to Lydia, purring. She stroked him for a few minutes before falling into a comfortable sleep.
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