Chapter 5

"…this journey…"

A/N: Um...so ...if you have been following this story (which if you have I am so grateful that you have) I am so sorry that you waited so long. I must say that my negligence was based upon a lot of things. I just hope that you can forgive me and simply enjoy the chapter I am about to present.

Disclaimer: Standard from Chapter One.

I wasn't sure of what to do in this situation. The train had finally arrived at the station for Hogwarts. We were off in one of Scotland's rural parts; the only other thing besides the school was the small town Hogsmeade. The small town was designed to cater to the students of Hogwarts, all in all it was a secluded town. There were no muggles out here; this area was private land.

Unfortunately Hogwarts sits far from the train station, so we needed to be transported there. It seemed that the preferred method of transportation were these single horse-drawn carriages. The unfortunate part was I had to play the game of finding a seat amongst these carriages. I was really becoming down trodden when a touch to my shoulder saved me.

I turned and found myself looking towards Draco, he motioned briefly to one of the carriages. I could see that his companions were occupying one of the carriages and judging from their expressions, were not thrilled about sharing a carriage with me. Sadly, I could not spare them the pain, I needed a carriage after all.

I tried to spare them any pain or embarrassment as much as possible, I turned away from them and tried to make myself as small as possible. No physical contact, and especially no eye contact. That seemed to make them more comfortable and they relaxed into some light-hearted conversation. I paid no attention to them, my mind wandered off to the castle that lay in the distance.

I was the first out of the carriage and I moved as far from the group as I could. They deserved a break from me; I had imposed myself upon them too much.

Someone was approaching me; it appeared to be a school official. I kept moving towards the woman and let her make the first move. I immediately took stock of her prim attire, showing off her proud heritage.

"Good evening Mr. Potter, welcome to Hogwarts Boarding School. My name is Professor McGonagall; I am the head of your house, as a resident of Gryffindor you will reside with your fellow Gryffindors. If you have any questions about housing and such, you may bring up any concerns with Gryffindor's prefects and as a last resort, myself. I will be giving you your schedule tomorrow. For now, please follow me into the hall and I will seat you at our house's table." With a sharp turn Professor McGonagall turned to the school. I quickly moved to catch up.

The walk was brief to reach the Great Hall; the journey to my table was epic. The second we entered the hall every head turned towards us. Truthfully, every head turned to me. All the tables broke into whispers, but the Gryffindor table was the loudest. They knew who I was, and in united fashion turned away from me. The other houses were starting to catch on to this fact and rumors started to spread.

I quickly thanked my Head of House and quickly sat at the end of my table. I made no eye contact and I waited for the evening to be over.

"Good evening my dear students. Welcome to a brand new year! I hope your summer breaks were excellent; to the new students I wish you all a great year here at Hogwarts. As a precaution to parents rising concerns we will be restricting students curfews, and we will be sending more chaperones when students are going to Hogsmeade. I hope that you all have a pleasant evening. Enjoy!"

Suddenly the tables became laden with food. There was a little murmur at the sudden sight, but it seemed that this was a common occurrence. Quickly grabbing some meat and vegetables I tucked into the meal.

It became apparent that the Gryffindor prefects were not going to help me find the dorms. The table had only a handful of students remaining, and after a brief look at the faculty table, I knew McGonagal was not paying attention. I didn't want to cause a scene. Trying to be nonchalant I moved away from the table as gracefully as I could. My father always stressed the concept of, "Be seen, not heard."

I moved smoothly out of the hall and into the outside corridor. There were no students around so I decided to take a walk around the castle. With no directions, I simply wandered where I wanted to go. I found numerous classrooms, but no dorm halls. I was growing concerned. Through my meandering I had been keeping track of time, my last glance showed that I had fifteen minutes before curfew.

Fearing being caught out, I backtracked to a corridor that appeared less used. Checking the doors, I found one door that was unlocked. Moving quickly I stepped in and shut the door. Tonight, this would have to be my room.

The dust caked every surface in the room, I took this as a plus for my situation; it meant that no one was going to come and check the room. I perused the cupboards of the room and found some old cloth, it was yellowing but it would do for the night. I rearranged some of the furniture to make a bed for myself, it was going to be an uncomfortable bed, but I could deal with it. Others had worse conditions to deal with than a sore back in the morning. Once I was satisfied with my bedding, I moved to lock the door and tuck in. Good night to me.

I woke up with a start. Disoriented I moved to stretch; my back was definitely a mess. There was a bang on the door. I was scared, should I open the door? Before I could even make a decision the door opened of its own volition. I was beyond scared now. I was petrified. I was the deer caught in the headlights. In came a man with a scowl and dark hair. His beady black eyes immediately locked onto my form and his entire demeanor changed from stoic to furious.

Judging by looks alone, I was going to be punished to high heavens for this transgression.

"Mr. Potter, what are you doing in this room at two in the morning?" Spoke the man.

What was I to say to him in this situation. I settled for as close the truth as I could.

"I am sorry sir, I got lost trying to get back to the dorm. I was really tired and I guess I just passed out in this old classroom. I am so sorry for causing trouble."

I kept my eyes down, submission is the best policy in the face of authority.

"Well, I will be escorting you back to your dorm then, and you will be serving detention with me this Friday to make up for the trouble you caused."

I nodded my head in acceptance to this and slowly got up, I moved quickly to return the room to the way it was before I entered it. I could feel the eyes watching, judging every movement but I continued with my task. After quick work the room was in the manner I had found it.

I made my way, through the room, back to the man's side. There was a pause, as if he was tempted to just leave me there, but he quickly turned and exited the room. I felt like a wayward pup as I trotted after him. I followed at a respectable pace behind him as we weaved through the halls of the school. Soon there were less classrooms and more of just long corridors. It was like we were passing through a phase of the school. Still there was no conversation, we continued along the moonlight paths like wraiths in the night. I felt like we were prowling the halls. Especially the man before me, there was almost this...cat like gait to him. He moved with so much purpose, like every step had been measured so that it was the most efficient step taken.

We finally took a last turn and arrived, rather abruptly, to a door with a key card lock on it. I stared at it, expecting the man to pull out the card necessary to unlock it.. The moments kept passing and he did not move.

"Well, are you going to produce the card necessary to get into your own dorm room?" The man turned to look at me and his face was so impatient that I wished that I could produce said card, but that was a wish I could not grant.

"Im sorry sir, it seems that I have displaced the card." I tried to make my tone as apologetic as I could. He regarded me cooly but unsympathetically.

"Do you have the key to open the door to your room?" The tone he used revealed nothing of his thought process. But I felt like this was a test.

"Um...I left it with my card." I knew that I had just failed some test this man had placed before me.

"Did you ever receive either the key card or the key?" This tone was clear, it was 'Don't even try to lie to me, I have basically figured you out.'

I caved.

"I did not receive either of them."

His gaze was hard, but beyond that unreadable. Finally he moved to grab something from his own pocket. It was a card which he then passed over the card reader. The door quickly unlocked and he ushered me in.

The common room was huge. There was a fireplace that was placed along the left hand wall, upon entering. Above it was a huge flat screen TV with a large sectional sofa before it. On the right was a sitting area with tables and chairs for students to study and chat. It was warm, cozy, very inviting. But I was quickly ushered to a stair case situated at the back of the common room.

Suddenly we came upon a hall of doors up and down it. All the doors had names displayed upon them of the occupants within the rooms. Some of the signs were highly decorated, others just the bare minimum, a name. We went down the hall until we came upon the last door, a door without a name on it.

Silently the man drew out a key and opened the door.

"Your lucky that I happen to have a copy of your house's master key on me. Otherwise we would have had to contact your head of house and that would have been a long, arduous process. If you do not have your key and card by tomorrow...we will be having a much longer conversation."

He turned away from me, sweeping along like a strong wild cat, however he quickly turned back to regard me.

"And Mr. Potter, 50 points from Gryffindor."

Before I could even question what that could possibly mean he was gone.

What does it mean to "lose points"?

I turned back to the door in front of me, pushing it lightly for it to swing open. The room was nothing extravagant. It was plain, with neutral warm walls, a twin bed to one side with a dresser next to it, a dest on the other with a comfy looking office chair. My belongings sat just within the doorway. Sighing I entered my new room.

I decided I would only unpack the most necessary items. It was late, around 3 am at this point, and I had classes the following morning. I settled on unpacking my clothes and my toiletries. The wardrobe sat next to the desk with a set of drawers. I quickly worked to hang all of my clothes (it would do to avoid wrinkles) and folded all the other items. I made quick work of it. I could feel my eye lids getting heavier and heavier. By the time I was done I couldn't bring myself to try and even brush my teeth. I didn't even change out of my clothes! I collapsed upon my bed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Potter! Get up!"

I bolted out of bed. I was dazed but I moved quickly to the door.

Beyond the door stood three irate beings. I regarded them, well as much as I could. The one in the middle took up their cause.

"We found out that 50 points were taken from us this morning. 50! What did you do?"

Before I could even respond I was grabbed and dragged down the stairs to the common room. I was then forced to face the fireplace and gaze up at the tv screen. On it was the four houses with a list of points. The other houses were at zero, ours however was at -50. The worst thing was next to that loss was my name, clear as day telling everyone that it was me who lost my house the points. I had a feeling it was meant as a deterrent for wrong doing, but it was really hurting my case right now.

My stomach dropped. What was I supposed to do! I was already disliked and now I lost the house points! I was literally screwed at this point.

"I am so sorry. I had a misunderstanding last night. It won't happen again." It was the best I could do given the situation.

"I am truly sorry. If you will excuse me." I gave a slight bow to them and started back up the stairs. I could hear them all whispering furiously behind me. Some openly saying I was going to "Fuck up their chances to win the cup this year!" others saying "That I would be punished if I did not gain back those points." either way, I shivered as I made my way to the bathroom.

Thankfully the boys communal bath was empty. I moved quickly through my routine, the quicker the better (less chance of a confrontation). I finished before others entered and made my way back to my room.

When I got there I set my stuff down haphazardly and just sat on my bed. I wanted to break down so bad right then. I felt like I was being persecuted! People screaming that I was a witch and needed to be burned at the stake! It was a feeling that, though not foreign, was still not something I was used to. Especially from people who should understand me.

Before those thoughts could progress further there was a sharp knock on my door. Once again I moved to open my door.

A key and card were thrust into my face.

"These are yours Potter. Hold on to them, if you lose either one of them, or God forbid, both, you will be on your own. Do you understand?"

The tone that the Prefect (I think his name was Percy) used brooked no argument. His posture was stiff and, from what I could see, his face was pinched in a tight expression.

"I suggest you get down to the hall for breakfast. If you lose us another point, for anything, you will be facing more than just harsh comments from this house. Do you understand me Mr. Potter?"

"Yes sir."

With that he turned sharply and descended down the stairs. Clutching my only means to entering and exiting my new sanctuary/hell I grabbed my bag and exited my room.

The day had barely started and I had lost my house points. How many more would I lose that day?

Thanks again for reading. I am sorry for any errors in the story, if you spot them please tell me or talk to me about your concerns with the story.

Sincerely,

WMBE