"Mr. Potter? Would you please follow me?"
As the elder professor and the little eleven year old walked at a rapid pace through the seventh floor's corridors. Minerva found it bizarre that the boy wasn't surprised at Hogwarts' magnificent architecture, having spent all his life on a little cupboard.
This trail of thinking made the Transfiguration teacher furious at her superior. He had never agreed to let the young Potter go live with his muggle relatives, and when the headmaster had informed the staff about the Boy Who Lived being neglected, she had loudly voiced her disapproval. After a hard staring match against the old wizard, during which she raised all her Occlumency shields, Dumbledore had broken the glaring with a sigh, and when he turned to the rest of the staff to inform them of how he wanted them to act, she hadn't been the only one to protest.
Surprisingly, Severus Snape had sneered and added his own grain of salt. But that simple sentence had shattered every grain of respect she held for the older wizard.
"Are you looking for another Tom Riddle, Headmaster?"
He was.
'What have I done now?'
'It isn't for what you've done, but for what they will!'
'But… I mean, Hagrid said that these people wanted to help me. And he isn't a good liar…'
'What if they convinced him otherwise?'
Finding the current conversation with the voice in his head pointless, he wiped him mind from all thoughts, focusing only in walking.
Even if he'd been worried when the voice had first emerged, he had grown used to it. He knew (from a book Dudley threw at him) that this was a symptom of a mental sickness, but he didn't care. He even welcomed it, because it kept him from the loneliness. And he knew that the loneliness would damage his mind much more than a mental "disease".
He also knew he was acting suspiciously, as he didn't go "Ooh!" over Hogwarts' magnificence. He had to accept that the castle was pretty damn impressing, but the feeling that something was wrong submerged hum with worry. The walls seemed to leak something, but he just couldn't figure it out.
He only knew that Hogwarts was warning him about something, and that something shouldn't be good…
He was woken up from his reverie by his new teacher whispering a password to a gargoyle, which jumped to the side, revealing a set of stairs. They rapidly climbed them, and Professor McGonagall knocked on the door, a sweet voice urging them to come in.
Harry knew that this voice wasn't so sweet…
"Great Gospel? Just what the heck are you talking about?"
Harry jumped on his bed, waking up startled. He wasn't much of a morning person, and the bags under his eyes, his slightly puffy eyes and chaotic hair proved it.
Unfortunately, Terry Boot didn't know that, and Harry was determined on teaching him. The hard way.
Terry saw his new friend turning his head towards him, pinning him with a killing stare and smirking deviously. He tried to bounce on his feet and run away from the evil Ravenclaw in front of him, but it was too late. Harry tackled him.
The Ravenclaw common room was submerged by its normal quiet chattering. Being bigger than the other common rooms, it was separated on two: the library and the actual common room. The library was full to the brink with books, though unlike the library they weren't only about school subjects. All the study tables were full with fascinated first years reading, even at this early time in the morning.
The other half of the common room was simply like any other common room: a cozy, warm place where students took their time off. All the older years were catching up with the events of the summer, talking about the on-going Quidditch World Cup, the newest interview of Rita Skeeter, the new teachers and, of course, heated discussions.
Bradley Chambers seemed rather busy. He was trying, unsuccessfully, to convince his best friend Roger Davies to tutor a first year.
"C'mon, man! Ya know, it could be fun! And you'd get girls, I'd get popularity…"
"How would tutoring a first year help me get girls?" Roger's stern tone did nothing to stop the other Ravenclaw.
"…fine. I'm sure Cho Chang will love to know you think she has a cute little butt…" This whispered threat made Roger's eyes go wide. His little infatuation with the girl 3 years his junior was something he hadn't told anyone, not even Bradley…
…though Bradley was an observant little bastard.
"…are you blackmailing me?" Rhetorical question.
"Depends on your answer!" The Ravenclaw chaser sighed heavily, knowing he was trapped. He had often been captured the same way by his manipulating friend, and though he could blackmail back (oh yes he could!), he could save the humiliating material for another situation. After all, tutoring a scared first year couldn't be that bad.
"But why do you wan—"
A scream interrupted him. A shrill, blood-curling, high-pitched scream. It was soon followed by to other equally terrifying screams. The Ravenclaw common room fell on complete silence, wondering were the screams come from.
The screams ceased, and the house started talking again. Some got up and started searching for the source of the screams. They could hear faint cries for mercy, coming possibly from a first year. However, they all were petrified by the evil laughter that rose.
Michael Corner and Blaise Zabini interrupted their conversation, thinking both about the same thing.
'Terry!'
They sprang to their feet and made a run for the first year dormitory. Climbing the stairs two per two, they whipped the door open…
…to find a sight that made them double over with laughter.
The entire Great Hall was surprised to see that, the first day, Saturday, of school, only a few Ravenclaws were present for breakfast. In fact, Dumbledore had sent Flitwick check on his house a few minutes ago, and he wasn't back yet. All the tables were full of people discussing about the other house's absence. Theories ranging from getting distracted by a brand new library (by the Slytherins) to getting killed on their sleep by Slytherins (of course, the Gryffindors) were vividly debated all around the Hall.
A loud chatter was heard from the outside of the Hall, filled with laughs and cheers. Through the doors flooded the members of the Raven house, quickly sitting themselves and resuming their talking.
Flitwick walked in some minutes later, blushing like a tomato. Behind him was an also-blushing Harry Potter, who was looking pointedly at his feet. He made his way to the Ravenclaw table and sat between Michael and Mandy. The other boy patted him in the back, telling him something and breaking into chuckles, making the Boy Who Lived light even more. The girl, on the other side, started lecturing him on something… something that seemed awfully like the "don't prank housemates" lecture Fred and George Weasley were used to get.
The two pranksters were surprisingly talking quietly between themselves, and throwing discreet looks at the Ravens. More particularly the Raven himself, who seemed to be getting a reputation among his housemates.
The two pranksters, though Gryffindors, were only so by name. In fact, their parents had made it very clear that they would be very pleased if they got in the Lion house, like all the Weasley family did before them. They had hesitated, torn between going were they belonged, and be shunned by their family, or else go where it was expected and not live like themselves. In the end, it was Fred who decided that he would go to Gryffindor. George had no choice but to follow him, as he was told countless times he should never part from his twin.
The pseudo-lions were actually hiding their most ambitious project from their housemates prying eyes, and preparing it for its first try. Actually, George was casting their last spell in the magical wonder.
"Occuli tei mei sunt"
His eyes went blank and his breathing slowed down considerably, but Fred wasn't worried at all. Nobody could see them, as they were just outside the Hall, having exited earlier when most of the Ravenclaws had entered.
"George, are you okay?"
His twin brother just smirked, and the small spider on his hands bounced off onto the floor. It quickly entered the Great Hall, making its way through the Slytherin side rather than the Gryffindor. Why? The Slytherin girls wore their skirts shorter, to go against their favorite Headmaster's rules. And because the twins didn't want their baby brother freaking out and destroying their precious work.
After gaping for a while at… well… you know, and almost getting stepped on by an irate Goyle, the little spider got to the Ravenclaw table. It quickly crawled up the table, and found himself just right next to Harry's bacon.
From the outside of the Hall, George nodded at his brother. The latter took out his wand and cast an unintelligible spell on his brother. A silver line shot out from the wand, connecting with his twin's forehead.
The twins' new spell consisted on one of the two guiding their spider to the objective, then the other one linking himself to the spider through the former, becoming the spider's ears.
The whole Gryffindor table turned around when they heard the twins fall from the chair and roll on the floor laughing.