The next few hours became a blur to Merope. She had sat down at the Ravenclaw with her new class mates and earned a few pats on the back while the rest of the names were called. After, dinner appeared and everyone ate until they were stuffed. She remembers seeing Seamus and Carla over at the Gryffindor table laughing and talking, making her feel a twinge of sadness at not having friends in her own house. They were then directed upstairs by their prefects to their dormitories. A pretty girl named Penelope directed her and the rest of the first years to the 5th floor on the west side where they would be spending the rest of their Hogwarts years. Strangely, there seemed to be no way into the room. Just a door-knocker in the shape of an eagle was centered on the wall. As Merope was discovering, the door-knocker also came to life.
"What travels around the world but only stays in a corner?" it asked, alarming a few of the first years.
"Unlike the other common rooms, Ravenclaw's can only be opened by answering a riddle. We like to think it's more solid than just a password. It changes often so it always keeps you on your toes, see if any of you can get this one," The crowd was silent for a few moments before a timid voice emerged.
"A postage stamp?" The door swung open and everyone gasped in awe.
"Wonderful!" Penelope exclaimed, "I can tell you were meant to be here, now come along, girls continue to follow me while boys wait for Robert and he'll show you to your beds,"
The small group of girls followed Penelope up the stairs to a hallway that contained a door labeled "1". She opened the door to show them their room. It was circular in shape, with a small stove in the center. 5 beds were arranged in a circle, each with a small desk at their side and their trunks at the end. The bedding was blue and looked rather comfy for school linens. Timtam was already curled up at the end of what Merope presumed was her bed and the other girls she was with slowly found their own. Penelope told them where they could find her if needed, and left them to settle in.
"Well that was an eventful first day!" One of the girls said in a thick Scottish accent, "That feast was the best, I'm as stuffed as that chicken they served us" the girls chuckled a little, "I'm Isobel by the way. MacDougal,".
"Merope Prewett," she stuck her hand out to shake her new roommates hand. She liked her, she seemed to be friendly.
"Padma Patil," The girl on the other side of Meope's bed said, setting out her new Ravenclaw robes.
"I thought you were in Gryffindor!" Isobel said, clearly confused. Padma just laughed.
"You're thinking of my sister, I'm a twin. Parvati is in Gryffindor,"
"That must be hard, being away from your sister like that," Isobel said. "It hasn't even been a day and I miss my brothers something fierce,"
"It's not too bad, I'll see her in classes and around school, it'll be nice to have a little time to myself for once,"
"And who are you?" Isobel asked a mousey-looking girl who was unpacking a load of books from her trunk. She appeared to be shocked that someone noticed her.
"Lisa Turpin," she said quickly, setting down her books on her table.
"Well Lisa, we can all see YOU were meant to be here. What books are those? Spells? Potions?" Isobel stared to venture over to the clearly meek Lisa, making her a little nervous.
"Um, no. They're just regular book. Fiction. About people," Lisa showed her one of the books, which was a paperback of a popular muggle teen romance.
"I've never seen these before? Are the muggle books?" Padma asked.
"Er, yeah. I'm a muggleborn," a scoff came from the bed next to her. The girls turned to see a haughty-looking girl hanging up a poster of the handsome chaser for Puddlemere United.
"Excuse me? D'y have something stuck in your throat there?" Isobel said, clearly taking a dislike to the girl on the spot.
"Oh, no, sorry. I've just. . . . . never met a muggleborn before," the girl said, in a poor effort to be polite.
"Well, here I am, " Lisa said timidly. Isobel wrapped her arm around her shoulder and gave the girl a look.
"And who might YOU be?"
"Felicity Eastchurch," she said proudly. "You might know my last name, my mum writes for Witch Weekly. Erm, well most of you would know." Merope rolled her eyes, this girl was going to be a problem.
"Dandy, now Lisa, tell me more about these books-" Isobel and Padma returned their attention to Lisa, making Felicity a little irked.
Merope went over to her bed and changed out of her robes and into her pyjamas. She noticed that they still smelled like home and remembered that Leora had wanted her to write as soon as she was sorted. Quickly, she wrote a letter and got it ready to be sent off in the morning. The girls began settling down into their bed time routines. Padma had asked Lisa if she could borrow one of her books to read, which Lisa happily agreed and Isobel made a point to loudly hang up the poster for HER favorite quid ditch team: the Montrose Magpies. Felicity was taken back by this but just tried to ignore this gesture of war and enchanted her hairbrush to comb her hair 100 times before bed.
Eventually, they all snuggled in to their beds and turned off the lights. Merope peered around in the dark to get a good look at the room she was going to be in for the rest of the year. The girls were sound asleep, ready to wake up the next day and begin their new lives at school. She was too, but was a little apprehensive about being away from Leora and her comfy bed at home. She would adjust though, she would adapt just like her mom did.
'My mom probably slept in this room at some point' Merope thought, drifting off to sleep. 'I wonder if she would be proud that I'm in her house,' she hoped she would be, and that she would follow in her footsteps to be the great witch she knew she could be. She was going to make her parents and Leora proud. And with that thought, she slept.