People, Places, and Things

Jacob enjoyed the grand feast that was laid down before him. Whenever he thought a certain food was all gone, another bowl would appear in its place. He ate so much that when desserts started appearing on the table he thought he wouldn't be able to eat any of it, but he somehow managed to fit a single tart in his mouth.

The head mistress made announcements about the new term. She introduced a new defense against the dark arts teacher and talked about visits to the nearby village of Hogsmeade. Jacob had gotten his papers signed for this and couldn't wait to go. The head mistress finally ended her introduction to the new term by adding, as she's said every term, that no one is allowed to go into the dark forest. She watched apprehensively as the students poured out of the Great Hall.

Jacob followed a group of Slytherin boys as the made twists and turns through the many corridors of the castle. Finally they reached the dungeons and one boy stepped to a portrait of a gloomy looking man at the end of the corridor. "Password?" the portrait asked dismally.

"Bat wings," the boy said confidently. The portrait scanned the boys, his eyes resting on Jacob. The portrait swung out of the way to reveal a hole in the stone wall. Each boy stepped through one after another. When Jacob stepped through, the portrait was still eyeing him. He made sure not to look back at the portrait as it swung back in place.

Jacob was truly taken aback by the Slytherin common room. Large puffy sofas and chairs surrounded a warm fire. Portraits of former heads of the house circled the dark room. All the portraits seemed gloomy and disheartened. Torches gave little light to the windowless room, but it was enough light to create a comfortable dimness. Stone stairs spiraled upward toward the dormitories.

Jacob wandered up the stairway that led to the boy's dormitories and found the one designated for fifth years. He pushed open the dark wooden door and was rather annoyed to hear it squeak on its hinges. He cursed quietly at the door and continued to take in all the aspects of this new room, just as he had done with the common room.

Like the common room, the dormitory also seemed to have very poor lighting. A single window, directly across the room from the door, was hidden behind black curtains. Several four-poster beds with green and silver curtains circled the room.

On one of these beds sat a couple kissing. They stopped immediately as Jacob entered the room. Ariel Malfoy was almost in the boy's lap. She stood up and brushed her skirt off as she walked quickly out of the room. The boy just sat on his bed and watched her leave. Then, after staring at the door for a while, he looked expectantly up at Jacob.

"I am so sorry," Jacob burst out, still stunned that the girl he had a crush on was snogging this boy only seconds before.

"It's okay," the boy said. He had curly, dark brown hair that kept falling in his face. He was taller than Jacob and also a bit more athletic looking. He gave Jacob a friendly smile and held his hand out. "Don't worry about it. I'll get some later. My name's Andrew."

"Jacob," Jacob said with a fake smile as he shook Andrew's hand. His stomach stirred with jealousy.

"Cool," Andrew said, sensing the awkwardness of the situation. "I guess I'll see you later then." Andrew turned and breezed out of the room. Jacob listened to his footsteps until they were too far. He stood in the center of the room for a moment taking in what had just happened. Filled with anger and embarrassment, he furiously unpacked his trunk, and by the time he was done he felt much better.

Not knowing what to do with himself, he dejectedly made his way down to the common room. Many of the Slytherins were celebrating the new school year. Seventh years sat on the comfiest sofas and chairs by the fire. Several young Slytherins had set up and were playing wizard's chess. Jacob also noticed some of the players were betting. Andrew seemed to be having a heated argument with another boy his age, and even shoved the boy against a wall. Although Jacob didn't want to get on Andrew's bad side, he quickly scanned the room for his new acquaintance's girlfriend.

Ariel sat in a rather secluded corner quickly writing on a sheet of parchment. She concentrated as the quill flicked and jumped back and forth across the page. She hardly noticed as Jacob sidled up to the chair next to her. She glanced up for a moment and jumped in her seat.

"Oh, hi," she said distractedly as she packed away her writing utensils. "Don't tell anybody about what you saw with Andrew and me, okay." She picked up her bag and started walking away.

"Wait," Jacob said as he stood up. "You're leaving?"

"Why would I stay?" she responded questioningly.

Jacob looked around to find something they could do together. "We could play chess," he said smiling hopefully. Ariel smiled back sweetly and turned away. "Good night, Jacob," she said and strode toward the girls dormitory.

Jacob sat in the chair that Ariel had been sitting in. He smiled to himself as he relived his new encounter with Ariel Malfoy. He relived it several times in fact until something caught his eye. It must have been left there by Ariel because it looked as if it had fallen off the table where her things were. He picked it up and realized it was just a stack of parchment. He stuffed it in his pocket and agreed with himself that he would try to return it to her later. After all, there didn't seem to be anything important about it.