Chapter 3
Fighting, Feasting and First Years
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The students entered the Great Hall with as much wonder and admiration as always. The ceiling showed a beautiful night sky, with a few dark clouds floating past the sparking stars.
Rachel's favorite teacher, Professor Sinistra, seemed to be happily gazing at the ceiling also. The queue split up as they walked through the great doors; Angelina, Jackie and Sirius to Gryfinndor, Cathleen to Hufflepuff, Paul and Rachel to Ravenclaw.
Rachel looked right and left along the table, but there were no seats to be seen. She flopped down next to a fourth year girl she vaguely knew as something Lovegood, and looked toward the teacher's table.
"Can I sit here?" a familiar voice asked over the noise of the Great Hall. Rachel was still looking around and lazily waved her hand in acceptance. Moments later she regretted it.
"You?! Why can't you ever just leave me alone!" she growled.
"Don't think I'm peachy with the seats either, missy," Paul snapped back, "There's no others." Rachel rolled her eyes but knew it was the truth.
She scooted as far away from him as she could without touching the bizarre Lovegood girl, and crossed her arms. After a brief silence, She realized Paul had been talking.
"What is it now?" she inquired.
"Er…well…I was just saying that you look great with that tan." She heard Lupin say.
"Oh puhlease Paul! When are you going to give it up?" He said nothing, but she could swear he had just smiled. She cast him a dark look and grabbed the book he had been reading out of his hands before he knew what hit him.
"Hey! That's mine!" he squealed, and reached over for it. They wrestled over it for a bit, much as they had back in their first year. Childlike as it was, Rachel couldn't help but whack him over the head before giving it back.
The rest of the feast passed in quite the same way, with each of them making remarks about each other and hissing insults while the teachers were talking. By the end of Dumbledore's speech, Rachel was feeling very eager to slip into her four-poster at the top of the West Tower.
She said goodnight to her friends and sleepily marched off, only just remembering that she had to guide a small group of first years to the Common Room.
She wrestled some up and led them away from the great hall. "Where had Paul gone off to?" She thought to herself. He was supposed to help her. Shrugging her shoulders, she led them off to the West Tower.
"Ok now, watch 'cause I'm only going to do this for you once!" She cast a glance at the small group, and noticed a small boy with mousy brown hair who looked like he was about to wet his pants. Smiling slightly, she took out her wand.
"1…2….3 ….Ravenclaw we be!" she recited, tapping her wand in rapid succession on the head of a gigantic eagle statue they had just come upon. It winked its glassy eye and with a slight "pop!" lifted its wing, exposing a door.
"Alright, follow me!" She led them into a spacious square room with many large tables and straight-backed chairs placed throughout.
"Girls to the left, Boys to the right," she commanded. "Showers are at the end of each hall, and there is a secret passage to the library through the portrait of our founder in this very room." The students turned as one to the grand fireplace, near which was a life size painting of a stern looking witch in a brilliant blue and silver cloak.
"Welcome to Hogwarts." replied the soft, but powerful voice. The first years were hypnotized, eyes bulging almost out of their oddshaped heads.
"If you ever have a question, or need some assistance, she is always glad to help." Rachel paused for a moment. "…unless she's reading." With a wink and a smile, Rachel ascended the staircase, very happy to reach the 6th story and her waiting bed.
She noticed her other roommates were already sleeping, and within minutes she had joined them. Just as she was drifting off, however, a face flitted across her mind. A face she had forgotten for a glorious 20 minutes….