Chapter 10: Tour of Hogwarts
That night everyone met back up in front of the Great Hall ready to get the tour of the castle. They couldn't believe how big Hogwarts was, and how beautiful it was at night. Just then it dawned on Fred that with the size of this castle it would be impossible for them to see the whole thing.
"Not to worry miss Burkle. We'll see everything there is to see and then some." Dumbledore looked over at her. He loved playing the 'am I reading your mind' game on people. He never could read anyone's mind, it was the look on their faces that gave them off.
"If we could please get started as you have already seen the Great Hall, and the main corridors, I thought I would start off with the rest of the down stairs and end at the top. Please follow me." Dumbledore lead everyone down stairs to the dungeons.
"If everyone would please light their torch at this time we will be able to see everything with out waking up the students. However one or two could pop out at you at anytime. This is the dungeons, it's the location of Professor Snape's Potion class and the Slytherin Dormitory. Though many people are accustomed to the Slytherin students I feel I must warn you that they are definitely the most rebellious group of students and to stay fully alarmed when we visit their dormitory, for who knows what might happen." Dumbledore turned a corner and entered a classroom.
"This must be the Potions classroom. This is nothing like the classrooms we had back in the day." Gunn commented on the classroom it had a creepy look to it and even though it was located in the dungeons of the school, it still had windows that looked out on what looked like the grounds of Hogwarts.
"This is neat, look at all these potions, and bottles of stuff on the shelves. Wolfram and Hart has stuff like this, but not just laying around all willy nilly. I would be afraid the students might hurt themselves with it." Fred gave a look of concern, the place interested her a lot. She loves science and figured that potion making must be a lot like it.
"Not to worry Miss Burkle, the bottles and potions laying out aren't harmful. Snape knows better and keeps the dangerous stuff locked up under the most unbreakable charms." Dumbledore escorted everyone out the door and down the hall.
"How is it that students don't get lost on their way to the classrooms?" Dawn Summers asked. She was starting to get the feeling that she needed one of those mall directories with the' you are here' stickers on it.
"Students do tend to get lost, but eventually find there way around. That reminds me Connor Angel, be careful of the stair cases they like to change. This is also where you will be staying." Dumbledore looked over at Connor whose eyes just went wide.
" Wolfsbane. Connor it would be smart of you to remember this password." Dumbledore said in a loud whisper as to not wake up the students who were sleeping. " All dormitories are guarded by a picture and to gain entrance you need a certain password. Passwords change from time to time, so students are always protected."
Inside the Slytherin common room many of the Scoobie and Fang gang members were getting a little freaked out. What person would like to stay in a place like this. It was dark, dank and depressing. The furniture was all silver, gold and black. If it wasn't for the fire place still going, the room would be pitch black. On the side wall there were two sets of stairs leading two different ways.
"As I did warn you please stay on your top guard. This is the Slytherin common room. Each common room is decorated in their school colors, the two stairs there lead to the girl's and boy's dormitories. Girl's on the left, guy's on the right." Dumbledore let them walk around the common room and check things out.
"This doesn't seem like such a great place for a student or students to live, its very dark and gloomy." Lorne looked around even more. Being in this room was making him a little sad.
"Well, if you don't like it leave! No one said you had to be here now did they? Plus its home to us. I don't come into your home and cut it up." Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy and friends came down the stairs.
" Mr. Zabini, I am going to have to ask you to be nice to our guest and one of your peers while they're here." Dumbledore looked at him straight in the eye, turned towards the portrait door and swung it open. " I think it's time to move on."
Once outside the door way and down the hall Dumbledore addressed Lorne. "Most of the Slytherin students come from homes similar to how the dungeons have been made up. Their parents were once Slytherins and decorated their house like the dungeons."
They walked up the stairs and were in front of the great hall once more. They toured the classrooms there, and on the second floor when they came to another dormitory.
"You do not have to worry about this common room it belongs to Gryffindor. You will find that many people in this house are extremely loyal, and friendly. However Connor I will have to ask you not to remember the password to this or any other common room at this time seeming you are not a part of their teams. Wizarding Whizbees." The portrait door opened.
Everyone walked into the common room. It was nothing like the last one, this one was bright. It was decorated in gold, red, and black. There were students sitting around the fire talking, studying and laughing.
"Please take your time to look around and mingle with the students." Dumbledore took a seat by the fire to watch two students playing wizarding chess.
"Hello Lorne! It's great to see you again. Are you having fun? Will you be able to stay?" Hermione was delighted to see Lorne and the others.
"Hey doll cakes, it's great to see you again too. I'm having a blast, and I'm going to stay. I get to help out in the library and the infirmary. Which ever one needs me the most. Say how was Connor doing with his work?" Lorne was wondering if Connor had enough in him to get caught up.
"He did great. He caught on pretty fast. Don't worry he'll be caught up in no time. I'll help him also, all he has to do is ask." Hermione smiled and went back to her work.
Zoe came down from the girl's dormitories just in time to see everyone. She grabbed Xander and pulled him into a hug. Then got Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione. This is my best friend Xander. Xander these are those friends I was talking about earlier." Zoe was all smiles. She couldn't help it she always adored Xander plus she had made friends within her first couple of minutes at Hogwarts.
Sitting with Harry, Ron and Hermione on the couch she started pointing out everyone she knew. " That over there is Connor, he was born about 3 years ago. Oh, and that over there that's Anya she's hilarious! Sometimes though she gets to goofy and Buffy or Xander has to tell her to calm down. " Zoe went on until the group left.
Dumbledore lead them up another set of stairs that lead to a third floor. The floor held the dormitory that belonged to the Ravenclaws. Along with the Transfiguration, and Charms classroom. They had searched the classrooms in minutes, but the dormitory took longer, the students of Ravenclaw kept asking everyone questions.
The only room they had left to search on that floor was the library. " I must warn you some of the students have nick named Madam Pince a book Naz,i and I must agree. She is very dedicated to her books. So please when you are in there be careful." Lorne had to laugh, Dumbledore was right Madam Pince was definitley dedicated to her books and the students didn't take any chances with them when she was around.
Madam Pince didn't look to happy to see so many people wondering around the library picking up books, opening then and putting them back. She kept glaring at Dumbledore.
" I think it would be best to leave the library. You can all visit here when you come back." Dumbledore lead the group out of the library and up the stairs.
The last floor held a bunch of classrooms along with the Hufflepuff dormitory. Which to everyone's suprise was just as deserted as the Slytherin common room was. The group had free reign to look at whatever they wanted on this floor, but to be extremely careful of Peeves the poltergist whom no one saw until he started to throw ink bottles at the group, one hit Spike right in the head. Dumbledore cleaned him up and they went on their way.
" I'm sorry I had no clue that Peeves would be on this floor. I must say that Peeves is worse than most students. However two students are very close in tying Peeves in practical jokes.The Weasley twins, Fred and George whom I'm postive you will meet during your journeys to this school."
Dumbledore started to walk up a winding stair case and into what he swore was the last classroom in this building. Once they reached the top they found themselves in the Divinations classroom. The classroom was filled with a mixture of different inscents, and the lamps were draped with different colored fabrics to make the room look more mysterious.
The group was offered the chance to look around and read the books that were lying around on the tables and in the book shelves.
A couple minutes later they found themselves outside on the grounds and looking into the schools greenhouses. Walking back to the castle Buffy noticed a huge tree on the grounds.
"What type of tree is that? I've never seen one like it before." Buffy pointed to the tree and everyone owwed and awed.
"That miss Summers is the school's Whomping Willow. I wouldn't get to close to it. It's a very aggressive tree and will hit when it feels threatened. Students know to be careful around it when they are out on the grounds." Dumbledore lead the group back to the castle and off to their separate rooms.