A/N-sorry this is sooooo late, but my internet was down and I had performing arts stuff and crazy schoolwork…excuses, excuses, tsk tsk tsk. Well let's get back to the story. Ready to find out our dear characters' new houses? (:
Chapter 3-Rooming With Who?
~O~
Scraping of benches and shuffling of new school shoes were heard throughout the Great Hall. Draco sat still for a minute, not sure who he wanted to know who he would be living with for the rest of the year. The worst that could happen would be staying with two bloody reckless Gryffindors(obviously the Sorting Hat's song had little effect on him), but then again, imagine two Hufflepuffs! That maximum amount of clueless innocence would, more likely than not, kill him. And two Ravenclaws spewing out worthless knowledge in their know-it-all way wouldn't be pleasant either.
So basically, Draco's biggest hope was that he'd have another Slytherin to be with, even if it was Pansy.
The aristocratic blonde was literally shaken out of his thoughts-Blaise had nudged him in the side. The Zabini heir looked pointedly to the door, silently speaking with Draco, telling him to come- "Hey Draco, I know this situation sucks and all, but are you just going to sit there all night and never find out what your house number is?"
What was the use putting it off?, Draco thought begrudgingly as he got up to follow Blaise to the dungeons.
~O~
For Hannah, the hardest part of this was getting to the front of the crowd out side of the Hufflepuff common room-With her last name being Abbott, Hannah found her house's number quite easily:
Abbott, Hannah…House Number 27
Although she already knew what her new house would be, her eyes anxiously scanned the list for her friends' last names. Hannah hardly let herself get her hopes up, and for good reason. Bones, Susan, MacMillan, Ernie, and Finch-Fletchley, Justin all had house numbers that differed from Hannah's. Annoyance and dread filled her as she went away from the list and the crowd. As far as she knew, Hannah was all alone.
~O~
The new piece of parchment threatened to blow out of Hermione's hand and into the wind. Upon the parchment, in the bookworm's handwriting, as her new house's number. As Hermione quickly walked through the grounds to find her new house, she wondered if she would be housed with some of her friends. In a moment of non-Hermione-like thinking, she forgot to check the Gryffindor list for anyone with the same number as hers.
Sighing, she continued on her trek, the shining house numbers getting lower an lower as she made her way down to the lake.
~O~
"Hey Luna!" chorused Neville and Ginny as they made their way over to the peculiar blonde witch. Luna gave a small serene smile as she closed the distance between her and two of her only friends.
"Hello Ginny! H-hello Neville." Luna stuttered out, a faint tinge of pink appearing on her cheeks as he welcomed her in a friendly embrace.
Ginny shot Luna a knowing look as they traveled over the grounds. "So Luna, what's your house number?", the feisty re-head asked.
"Oh, I'm in 27" Luna replied, not failing to notice Neville's face slightly drop at this. Ginny didn't either and shot both of them pitying looks.
"I'm in 11. Neville's in 42." Ginny stated.
"Well, I suppose we'll all be able to visit each other, won't we?" Neville questioned as he put himself back together.
"Yes, I suppose" Luna said as she saw a gleaming 27 on an ornate door not six meters away. She immediately felt bad for having walked past Neville's house without realizing it. Her friends realized why she stopped, the formerly mentioned one also noticing what Luna did-his house was twenty-five houses back.
"I've got to go back to my house, see you later guys!" Neville exclaimed as he ran off in the other direction.
Ginny rolled her eyes and laughed at the retreating figure. Luna turned towards her and said "Well, I've got to go and check out my new dorm.. I promise to come over and see your's later"
Ginny agreed and went off in search of number 11. It wasn't until Luna could barely see Ginny that she turned towards the door and turned the brass handle…
~O~
George quietly slid in through the door of the place he would now be calling home. If anyone was already there, he didn't their attention drawn to him. Luckily, he was the first resident there, so he took some time to look around.
The room he just walked into, which George supposed would serve as the common room, was adorned with a banner from each house. The walls were a light brown, very neutral. There was a big, rustic brick fireplace along the back wall. There was a decent-sized chestnut coffee-table a few feet in front of it, and there were a few rather comfy looking dark brown couches and chairs. Overall, the place looked pretty inviting.
Taking a seat in a single-person chair facing the door, George drifted off into his thoughts. He desperately wished Fred was here to take part in this major change, to help him wreak havoc amongst confused ickle firsties…Bet you wish you were here too, Gred. George said in his mind, looking up as if he could see his twin, feel his presence. Of course, someone decided to interrupt him at that moment by opening the door.
"…Luna?"
~O~
How pleasant, Luna thought, I've always liked those Weasley twins and their pranks…of course there's only one now though…
"Well, hello, George, looks like we're roommates." she stated taking a seat on the couch across from him. "I suppose it won't be long 'till everyone else shows up. Let's wait for them, shall we?"
~O~
Hermione had expected for some of her roommates to already be in her new white house. What she hadn't expected was stepping over the threshold of house number 27 to find George Weasley and Luna Lovegood casually sprawled out on separate pieces of brown furniture looking at her as if they were awaiting her arrival.
"Umm, hi, you two." she finally managed to get out, her mind racing. Of all people, she had to be live with the older brother of her ex-boyfriend/best friend. But he isn't like R-ron that much. Surely he wouldn't bring that up, Hermione tried to reason with herself.
She then turned to Luna, taking in her appearance for the first time since the Battle of Hogwarts. Luna looked so much more grown up, like she had been through enough to last a lifetime. The blonde's eyes now held the darkness of horrible times, and she looked more determined and hardy…and you could see how much she's been through, though she hid it highly well.
George and Luna mumbled similar greetings. Hermione plopped down near Luna on the soft couch and joined in the wait, suddenly truly wondering who on earth the other two roommates would be…
~O~
Ah, number 27, Hannah thought, looks like there's already students in there. She added when she took note to the warm light streaming from the windows. Taking as much time as she pleased, Hannah walked up to the door. It seemed to be pretty quiet inside.
Perfect. As if I didn't already have so much pressure put on me from having to live up to the expectations of complete strangers…
And strangers they weren't. Hannah walked in to find Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood(Hannah mentally glared at the girl, hostile feelings stirring in the pit of her stomach as she remembered the way Neville had looked at her during the welcome feast…), and George Weasley. She knew them, but something didn't seem right…
Not bothering to say hello, just nodding her head in the general direction of the three, Hannah took her own seat, gazing into the fire. Was this how the whole year would be with these people? She had hoped not. Looking at them, Hannah only just realized what was out of place.
Finally deciding to pipe up, she said, "Well, Hermione and George, you two are from Gryffindor, that means only one of the rest of us. I'm in Hufflepuff and…Luna is in Ravenclaw. That means we are one short of our houses, we are missing our Slytherin."
As if on cue, the door swung open and the final member of the house sauntered in, keeping up an indifferent façade. Until the blonde Slytherin stopped and took notice as to who his roommates were.
~O~
Four astonished faces stared back at the even more floored Draco Malfoy. Surprise was etched out across his chiseled aristocratic features, but he hid it quickly. Once he was back under his emotional mask, he assessed the scene before him.
Loony-ahem-Luna Lovegood, was the least surprised face he saw. However, he could tell she hadn't expected this and was eyeing him a bit uneasily. But that was only natural since she was taken prisoner in his house… Hannah Abbott, the Hufflepuff girl, looked slightly confused, along with a hint of fear and a stand-off-ish attitude. There's something about her though…. Draco shook off the thought. The next face he turned to was the face of none other than the brains of the Golden Trio, Hermione Granger, the muggleborn(Draco had long since stopped calling her type-it there even was that much importance of the different types- Mudbloods). The outgoing Gryffindor's eyes were lit with anger and weak hatred(Draco smirked at this, he knew she didn't have it in her pure, un-tattered heart to hate) and her tiny fists were clenched as if she wanted to hold back before there was a repeat of what had happened in third year. Even though Granger looked fairly mad, the final person in the room, and the only male to keep Draco company looked absolutely furious.
George Weasley had his fists clenched like Gryffindor's Princess, but his were shaking from trying to restrain himself. Draco knew the only Weasley twin had good reason and tried not to care, but the horrid feeling of remorse was sneaking its way into the Malfoy heir's conscience. He tried his hardest to ignore it as he saw the tough glint in his darkening blue eyes, a glint that showed a hatred levels stronger than that of Granger's. The fact that someone from that side could openly show that much strong dislike had Draco momentarily taken aback.
McGonagall must've been drunk on fire whiskey when she made the choice to dump him into the same house as these people.
~O~
A/N-Sooooo, sooooo sorry I didn't get this up earlier! But I have excuses on my page…well anyway, please review! (: