Chapter 15
Hogwarts Great Hall
Opening Feast
The food was great and the company not too bad. Everybody ate their fill, except for Mr Weasley. He tried to inhale the whole table's food. He ate like a pig and soon had a barrier formed around him to protect his fellow students from flying food.
Mr Weasley was going to have a very lonely year if this was his personality to begin with.
Another student who also had a fast barrier building around her was Ms Granger. She insisted on telling everybody in hearing distance everything she has read and how she saw everything to be.
Dumbledore got to his feet and called for silence.
Dumbledore: Welcome back old students and welcome to our new students.
I would like to make a few announcements before we all move on to our rest after such a wonderful day.
First, our janitor Mr Filtch has a new list of banned items, please see him for it.
Second, there is to be no magic in the passages between classes.
Third, the third floor corridor on the left is off limits.
That is all.
Dumbledore clapped his hands and everybody got up to follow their prefects to the House common rooms.
Harry heard some of the students speculate about the third announcement and what it could possibly mean, but he paid it no mind for now.
I would like to welcome you all to a new year at Hogwarts and to your new House. I am your 5th year prefect, Mike and it is my duty to make sure you receive your welcome brochure and that you understand where you are at all times. We are Ravenclaws and we do not get lost or come late for classes. Unless you are ill or in the Hospital Ward, you will be on time for every class. It is your duty to ask for help when you need it. We all have our roles to play and it is up to you to make yours count. Our Head of House is Professor Filius Flitwick. He also leads the classes of Charms and Duel instructions.
You will be sorted into a room with one other person and it is up to you to keep it tidy.
Points will be given for your rooms if you decide to decorate them and taken away for being untidy.
Your built up points can earn you extra furniture or books to add to your room.
Your room mate will also share in your efforts.
For now I think that is all you need to know.
Off to bed for the 1st years and 2nd years, boys to the left hand side and down and girls to the right hand side and up.
Tomorrow is a long day for you as you need to learn where you are and familiarize yourselves with the castle.
Mike ended his introduction speech and watched as the boys and girls left to find their rooms and get settled.
Third to 5th years I have an announcement for you from Professor Flitwick. We have the option to cash in our points for a FIELD TRIP of our choice.
1st is to Gringots, to meet with one of their day to day tellers and a personal account manager.
2nd is to one of the recently discovered tombs and a chance to join in one of their translation campaigns. Everything you add to their discovery will be added to your student profile.
3rd is to a reserve off the coast of Australia. There we will have the honour of meeting one of the dragon sanctuaries where they have trainers who can speak to the dragons and teach us some of their history.
But like always there is a clause to all this.
You need to have more than 500 points saved up to qualify for EACH trip. That is a total of 1 500 points to qualify for them all.
All 3 options are open to be taken IF there are at least 4 students to every trip.
You are NOT obligated to go on every trip nor are you obligated to go on ANY of them.
The CHOICE is yours to make.
This will no effect on your normal school times as it will happen during weekends or holidays, BUT it will have an effect on your end year points as your reward system will be counted into it.
I wish you all good luck and a blessed new year.
With that Mike stepped back and walked to his own rooms. Being a 5th year OWL student and a prefect had its perks. He had his own rooms and extra space for study circles if he wished it.
Walking down the passage to get to his rooms, Mike was called to the door of one of the new 1st years rooms.
It belonged to Mr Potter and Mr Boot.
Mr Potter called for his attention and Mike walked over to see what the situation was.
Mike: Yes Mr Potter, how can I help you?
Harry: Please call me Harry and would it be possible to change our rooms as we see fit for our own needs?
Mike: I see no problem with that Harry. You see the rooms are designed to change according to your Magic levels and what you learn on your own. For example, if you were to learn the COLOUR spell or charm, then you would be able to change the colour of your bedding and walls.
Same with the furniture in here.
If you have learned to transfigure materials, then you can add furniture to your rooms or you can purchase items and add it to your personal space.
However, Magically added items score you points so keep that in mind. And if you work together to add to your rooms, then you earn bonus points.
It is just an incentive we use in Ravenclaw to add to our student's time here. The more you give, the more you get.
Harry nodded his understanding and thanked Mike for his time.
Mike: It is my duty to answer reasonable questions Harry. It is your duty to make the question worth my time.
And with that Mike walked away and closed the door to his room.
Harry: This is going to be so much fun. First off, how powerful are you Mr Boot?
Terry: My name is Terry, and I come from a Pureblood family, so I am adequate with my magic Mr Potter.
Harry: Well met Terry, please call me Harry. Would you mind if I get started and you follow where you see fit in changing OUR room into something a little more… CLASSY?
Terry: By all means Harry, please lead the way.
Harry nodded his head and lifted his wand to begin the transformation.
Their beds were changed into Queen Size instead of King Size and moved to the corners of the rooms closest to the windows.
Harry nodded to Terry for his turn and stood back to see what he came up with.
Terry nodded his head in acceptance for the change and focused his magic to change the hanging book shelves into roof to floor fixed shelves in a rich Mahogany wood.
Harry liked the change and followed by changing the lights. Each bed got a study desk with a student lamp on it for private study or letter writing and the room lights were changed into four corned fitted lamps which could be moved to shine in a certain direction.
Terry: That is actually a good idea Harry. Now we can study alone or together if we wanted.
Harry: That was the general idea, glad you like it. Your turn.
Terry nodded and focused on the floor. He transfigured the current rug into a full floor carpet with the same design.
Harry looked over to the fire place and conjured up two comfortable high back leather sofas in a rich rust brown colour and moved them to stand on each side of the hearth. The normal coffee table he simply expanded to fit more between the new sofas and enforced it to hold more weight.
Terry was really impressed by the show of magic from Harry so he upped his game.
Terry: Which fabrics and colour would you prefer OUR room curtains to be in Harry?
Harry: Depends on which colour you are going to make your personal space Terry. Personally my drapes will be of a deep Red wine colour and my bedding will change from season to season. I enjoy earth tones as they offer a variety of colour to play with.
Terry: I see what you mean. I think I will follow your example for a while and see if I like it. But for now I think our room curtains should be of a deep Red Velvet with Gold trimmings and tie-backs.
The curtains changed and the room instantly felt warmer and more… CLASSY.
Harry looked at the windows and realised that they were facing to the forest with a nice view over the lake.
Focusing on calling for his magic and connection to the castle, Harry asked to change the windows into roof to floor bay windows to allow the maximum of light to flow in during the day.
There was a ripple of magic in the room before the windows changed.
Terry: Bloody hell Harry! I didn't know we could change the bloody room in that way!
Harry went and tiredly sat on one of the sofas and turned to face Terry.
Harry: Anything can be done with the right amount of magic Terry. It is all about intent and focus. The more you have the more you can do with it.
Terry nodded his understanding and took the other sofa to sit on.
Terry: These are quite comfortable and made from a beautiful colour. It makes me want to grab a book and settle in until it is finished!
Terry joked as he made himself more comfortable on the sofa.
Harry nodded his agreement and called for his trunk.
Terry just shook his head. He had a feeling that Harry had more power that what he was showing, but decided to keep THAT little bit of knowledge to himself.
Harry opened his trunk and called forth his collection of public books.
A neat pile of books formed and he began sorting them onto the shelves in his corner.
Harry: Feel free to read or borrow any of these books but please do not remove them from our room. They are from my personal stock and library.
Terry gave thanks for the offer and got up to do the same to his side of the room.
Terry: Same goes for my collection.
Harry nodded and continued to finish his decoration.
About an hour later the two boys finished with their tasks and stood back to admire their handy work.
Harry had decided to go with a chocolate brown bead spread and cream fudge pillows.
Terry went with a burgundy bed spread and black pillows.
Harry shrunk down his trunk and packed it away in his cupboard, leaving the space in front of his bed bare. He did however conjure a rug made from grey stones to sit at the foot of his bed.
Terry left his trunk at the foot of his bed, but polished it up to shine nicely as he used it to lay his next day's outfit on it.
They were both very impressed with their work and only had one thing left to change in the rooms.
The walls.
Terry: I am actually certain that you will like what I am about to propose for the walls.
Harry: I am listening.
Terry: Natural stone from the floor to about half way up the wall and then polished stone the rest of the way. I would guess something like GREY granite for the bottom and then polished RIVER marble for the top part. That way we keep up with the earth tones we already have.
Harry focused on the image in his mind and did a small piece of the wall to test the colour and texture.
Terry: That is exactly what I had in mind!
Harry: I also like it and it makes the room feel even warmer than before.
They shook hands on a job well done in the rooms and moved on into their shared bathroom.
The floors and walls were covered in white tiles and the taps looked like gold but it could have been bronze.
The basins were laid in a creamy marble setting and there was a white Ball and Claw bath with the same taps and a covered off shower. The shower was simply in one corner with a screen before it for privacy.
Same with the white porcelain toilet.
Harry: I am a shower person. I do not enjoy baths at all.
Terry: Other way around, I love a nice long bath with all the bells and whistles.
Harry nodded his head and gave a satisfied smile.
Harry: What say you we go half and half? We change the door to open to either side with the room split into two parts. If you open it to the left side, YOUR side, then it opens up ONLY to your bath, toilet and basin and whatever else you decide to add to it.
To the right will be into MY side, shower, basin and toilet and whatever else I decide to add to it.
Terry liked the idea and Harry again asked the castle to change the design accordingly.
Terry just accepted the change as something Harry CAN do and went with it.
Instead of giving one door to split between them, the castle gave two doors, one on each side of the room.
Harry: I am not completely sure about this but according to how this feels to my magic, this is a wish room. You simply WISH what you want to happen, focus it into your mind and then push the image with your magic.
Terry opened his door and found a plain white bathroom. He walked in and felt the room adjust to his magic.
He turned to the bath and willed it to be bigger and deeper with the taps and nozzle to the side of the bath.
The taps he decided to be silver with glass turners.
The floor and walls was covered in a natural sand stone and the basin turned into a see through design with a silver tap mixer. It also held a full length mirror to the side of it with a nice and bright light at head height.
The toilet got moved to behind a Chinese screen door with a bamboo floor.
Terry stood back and allowed Harry to see what he did. Harry was really impressed by the design and moved to his side of the room to design his bathroom.
Terry walked behind him to see what he did.
Opening the door to find the same image as with Terry's bathroom, Harry saw a simple shower nozzle with taps, a normal porcelain basin and toilet.
Nothing fancy but the bare basics.
Harry's smile grew to epic proportions and Terry got a shill down his back.
Terry: Harry I really don't like THAT smile on your face.
Harry: Relax Terry; it's not focused on you.
And with that said, Harry turned back to the bathroom and closed his eyes.
A few seconds later it seemed as if the room became a blur before it settled and Terry's breath caught in his throat.
Harry imagined the shower to flow into a Waterfall design, complete with the plant, rocks and pool.
The basin turned into a huge rock with a sprout for the water to the side of it.
The toilet moved to the back behind a Ivy rank plant.
The floor and walls were covered with moss and natural river sand.
The bathroom in essence turned into a forest and a waterfall WITH luxuries.
Terry just shook his head and accepted the changes.
Terry: Very nice Harry!
Harry: Thank you Terry.
Unbeknownst by the boys, there was a magic meter outside all the rooms that measured their occupant's changes and magic inside the room.
About a half hour ago they passed Professor Flitwick's personal record in style.
They would have a good year ahead of them for that.