Luke dropped his luggage onto the black-canopied bed, then sat down. He stared at the walls, which for some reason were covered in black paint and My Chemical Romance, HIM, Good Charlotte, and Fall Out Boy posters. The carpet was blood-red.
Luke groaned. "It's all so cheesy!" he complained. Of course, he was also the type of guy one might call a "goth", if they were too stupid to realize he wasn't. Heck, he even liked the so-called "poser goth" bands that everyone suddenly liked! He wore a lot of black too, but he certainly did not fit the stereotypes.
And he was very upset by all of this. It was as if he was stuck in some wacko cliquish high schooler's invention.
Oh yeah, I forgot, he thought. It probably was.
He rubbed his temples. "Ugh, I am getting SUCH a headache," he moaned. "AND I don't even know the first thing about how to go about stopping all this!"
"Talking to yourself, poser boy?" Luke looked up to see Draco Malfoy, or at least the pseudogoth version of Malfoy. He had black-dyed hair with red bits in it, and wore a black My Chemical Romance hoodie, ripped black jeans, and black-and-red Converse All-Stars.
"Oh gods, not you," Luke groaned. "Please dude. Just go away. Turn around and walk away. I don't need this right now.
Malfoy flipped the bird at Luke. "You're such a poser. A Muggle-loving poser. Get out of here, you stupid prep.
"Thought you'd never ask. But hey, MCR? Who's the Muggle-lover here?" Luke quipped, returning the gesture. "They're Muggles, bub." He turned and left, racing down the stairs into the Slytherin common room, which was decorated about the same as the room he had just left.
Gloomily-clad students moped around doing nothing. Someone had conjured up some fancy wizard radio that was blaring My Chemical Romance's "Helena". Normally Luke would have enjoyed hearing the song, but today was different. Today was SO different.
Luckily everyone was ignoring Luke, which was a little surprising because at the feast he was the only person shoveling food into his mouth. Everyone else was only picking at theirs. Although, truth be told, he wasn't as hungry as he seemed; the appearance of the professors had freaked him out so much he tried to eat and forget it. Didn't work.
The Sorting was especially disturbing. The Hat even had been ruined; instead of singing one of its songs it had started singing a Fall Out Boy song. And when all the kids moped up to the Hat to get Sorted, it made a big scene of sighing out their House.
Luke had left his trench coat up on his bed, exposing his pale arms covered in black and silver bracelets, an X tattooed on his left hand. Oh yeah, he was hardcore.
"Hello," a girl he had never noticed before said. Her straight black hair was tied into two spikey pigtails. "You must be Luke. They tell me you're a poser," she whispered, black-colored lips parted in a depressed (?) smile. "I think you're much too cute to be a poser."
"Uh... uh... what? Thanks? Hey... what?" Luke sputtered. "Wait... huh?"
"My name's Raven," the girl whispered. "Come see me sometime. You're hot... Like, Gerard Way hot, or maybe even hotter."
"Uh... yeah... well... sure..." Luke stammered. "Oh... hey, you get away! I don't like any of you!" He tried to leave, but the girl grabbed his arm. She quickly kissed him and whispered in his ear, "Watch yourself, poser boy." Then she stalked away.
Luke stood there and blinked. "Curiouser and curiouser," he said, quoting one of his favorite books. He left the common room, making sure to get the password in case he wanted to return. It was "The Black Parade". Of course. Luke could have guessed that no problem.
He suddenly realized that the girl had seemed incredibly suspicious. She seemed too old to be a first year, but Luke could not remember ever seeing her before. There was something fishy about her. He mentally wrote her down on a "To Investigate" list in his head.
Maybe the ghostly bear was right. He was the only one who could handle defeating the evil presence. Whatever it was.