Ickle Firsties
Chapter Four – First Night
AN: Okay, thank you all for waiting for me!! I am soooooooooooooo sorry!! I tried to write this at school, but one of my teacher says that fanfiction is not "suitable writing"… . FIRE HER! Okay, anyway, on to chapter four!
The Gryffindor prefect led the first years up several flights of stairs until they finally came to a halt in front of a painting of a very large pink-clad woman.
"Password?" asked the Fat Lady.
"Metamorphmagus," said the prefect, and, to the first years' astonishment, the portrait swung open on its top hinges to reveal a large hole in the wall, leading to a sizeable circular room.
"Well, don't just stand there! Go in!" said the prefect rather loudly.
"We- we can't," stammered a girl with light brown hair that fell to the middle of her back.
"Move aside," muttered the prefect, pushing his way to the front of the group. "Stupid first years."
"What d'you reckon's going on?" Sirius asked. James, jumping up and down, desperately trying to see over the heads of his peers.
"No- clue," said James, coming back down to earth with a thud.
"Here, move," said Sirius, pushing in front of James, and jumping. James started to say something, like 'If I can't see it, then neither can you', but stopped, noting that Sirius was at least three inches taller than he; he had always been rather sensitive about his height.
"Damn prefect," muttered Sirius. "Can't see a bloody thing."
"Vadavi!" yelled the prefect (AN: I know, I'm the cheapest of cheap, that means "go away" in Italian lol), and his cry echoed around the corridor.
"What was that?" asked the same girl with the light brown hair that was towards the front of the group.
"That was Peeves," said the prefect heavily. "He is a poltergeist, and, unfortunately, inhabits this castle. That was a simple vanishing spell, which effectively-"
But it was apparent that the first years didn't care about a vanishing spell, and they practically bowled the prefect over as they clambered for the hole behind the portrait.
"Cool!" said James, after emerging from the hole, noting the merry fire on one side of the room and the various couches, chairs and tables. "Is this the common room?"
"Must be," Sirius replied absently. "Hey, wouldn't it be awesome if we could catch that poltergeist? And then we could lock it in an empty classroom with that crybaby Slytherin from the boat…."
"Yeah, but I expect it'd be fairly hard to catch," James add. "And we'd probably get covered in something unfavorable first."
"First years," came the now disgruntled voice of the prefect. "It is now time to retire to your dormitories. Girls, go up the stairs to the left. Boys, go up the stairs to the right."
"But it's not even that late!" a few people protested, but the prefect, who gave off the distinct aura of someone who had just been trampled and was determined not for it to happen again, looked so menacing that the poor kid just squeaked, "Sorry, sir!" and scuttled up the stairs to her dormitory like a frightened house-elf.
James and Sirius ambled up the slightly spiraling stairs and found themselves faced with a plaque on a door reading "First-Years". James pushed the door open so hard it almost sprang off its hinges, and was met with an oval-shaped room containing five four-poster beds, with all of their trunks in a pile in the center of the room.
"I call this one!" cried Sirius, grabbing his trunk and dragging it to the foot of a bed on the left side of the room. "Mine!"
"This one's mine, then!" called James, placing his own trunk at the foot of the bed to the right of Sirius's. The chubby boy called Peter Pettigrew, who didn't exactly look like a Gryffindor, got the bed on the other side of Sirius, closest to the door; Remus Lupin got the bed on the other side of James, and immediately collapsed onto it; and Davy Gudgeon, who seemed to twitch every time he was spoken to, was next to Remus.
Next to each four-poster was a chest of drawers, and everyone began to unpack, except for Remus, who said he'd do it in the morning. James was just about to complain about how boring unpacking was, when he found something in his trunk that he was sure he had not put there. It seemed to be made of air itself, silvery, shiny air. It was feather light as he held it in his hands, and the smooth fabric flowed like a river as it rippled to the ground.
"Hey James-" Sirius began, but stopped when he saw what James was holding. "What is that?"
"I dunno…" whispered James, the glow of the cloth mesmerizing him. "I just found it in my trunk… must be a mistake…."
"No, it's not," said Sirius, taking it from James. "It's some type of a cloak- look- it's got a hood! Try it on!"
James obediently slid it on, putting up the hood so that it covered him completely. Then he looked down, and pulled the cloak off as though it were made from the leaves of a poisonous plant. "What the heck?!"
"Whoa," said Peter Pettigrew. "That must be an invisibility cloak!"
"Yeah," said Davy Gudgeon, twitching as he spoke.
"But how… how did I get it? I didn't know we owned one of these!" said James, utterly bemused.
"I dunno, mate," replied Sirius. "But think of all the possibilities! We can go anywhere with this! We can even check out that hitting tree out by the forest!"
"That tree doesn't hit," said Remus Lupin sleepily but firmly nonetheless. "Where did you get that idea? It's just a- just a regular tree."
James and Sirius exchanged glances. "I was almost sure-"
"No. It's a regular tree. Forget about it." James and Sirius exchanged another suspicious glance, but decided not to pursue the subject any further.
Soon after, they all went to bed. James, despite his excitement, fell asleep almost instantly. He couldn't wait for his first day of classes.
____________________________________
AN: It's done! ::sings:: DONEDONEDONE! Please review!! I'm sorry that it was so short, but I think next chapter's going to be longer. Just a note, updates will usually be on weekends only.
--Juli