"The Slytherin dormitories are down here in the dungeons" the male prefect was saying. "My name is Rabastan Lestrange by the way" he said "please come to myself or Matilda Dunstone, the fifth year Slytherin Prefects, any of the other prefects who we'll introduce to you in due course or our Head of House, Professor Slughorn if you have any problems. Obviously your first point of call would be the prefects from Slytherin, but if necessary any of the prefects from any house will help you." They had made their way down several corridors in the torch lit dungeons as the prefect had been speaking, but now they stopped. Bella did not understand why. There was no door here, no painting or tapestry that might hide a secret passageway. "Salazar" Rabastan said. Bella, along with most of the group of first year students gasped as a section of the wall disappeared, leaving an entrance into what must be the Slytherin Common Room. They all made their way inside. The room was long and low, and was clearly underground. It looked as though the room was under the lake, and there was a glass wall at the far end of the room. There was also an extremely elaborate mantelpiece with a warm fire crackling. Some of the other Slytherin students were sat in carved chairs around the fire. Rabastan was talking again. "During the day, some of the creatures in the lake come up to the window to see what we're up to. The mermaids find it especially interesting, and most of us can sign with them and have conversations. We'll teach you if you want to talk to the mermaids. Right, now the boys dormitories are over to your left, through the door. There will be a sign on one of the doors saying 'first years'. The girls dormitories are through the door on your right. Again there will be a sign on the door." The first year students split and made their way to their dormitories. There were about 15 girls and 20 boys that Bella could see. The girls went through the door and along another corridor, past several doors before they came to the one which had 'first years' written on it. They walked through it. There was what looked like a smaller common room with three doors leading off of it.
"There are three bedrooms each with five beds in them. This area is your communal area where you can get to know each other. Now I suggest that you get off to bed, as it's been a long day. Breakfast tomorrow morning is served from seven until ten as it is Sunday. During the week breakfast is served from six thirty until eight thirty, to enable you to get ready for your first class which starts at nine." It was Matilda, their prefect, who was telling them this. The girls made their way over to the doors. There was a list of names on the doors, showing which of them were in each room. Bella was in the second room with four girls called Glenda, Doris, Rosalind and Melinda. They stayed up late that night talking and getting to know each other; the other girls all came from pureblood families, so Bella knew that her parents would be happy, but she still felt slightly unnerved by how she had been feeling all day.
They all eventually fell asleep, and it felt like no time had passed when Bella awoke. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was nine o'clock. She didn't remember ever waking up so late at home, but equally she had never gone to bed as late as she did last night. None of the other girls were awake yet. Bella wasn't sure whether to wake them up so that they could all go to breakfast together, or just leave them to sleep. She decided to get ready to leave and then see if the others were awake when she was dressed. She picked up some robes and walked into the bathroom that led off of their room. She guessed that the other two bedrooms also had an attached bathroom. She turned on the shower and stood there for a couple of minutes, trying to wake herself up a bit, before washing and getting out of the shower. She got dried and dressed, and was brushing her hair when there was a knock on the door.
"Can I come in Bella?" It was Melinda who was asking.
"Yeah sure. I'm just brushing my hair" Bella replied. The door opened and Melinda walked in. She had tousled bed hair and looked as if she had just woken up. "How did you sleep?" Bella asked politely.
"Really well thank you. The beds are so comfortable aren't they?" She replied.
"Yeah they're amazing!" Said Bella "I'll leave you to it then" and she walked out of the bathroom to find that the other girls were all awake and getting ready. "Good morning" she said to the room.
"Good morning" the other girls all said back. Bella sat down on her bed as she was already ready, and waited for the other girls so that they could all walk to breakfast together. She glanced at the clock again, and she saw that it was twenty past nine. They had plenty of time to get to the Great Hall before breakfast ended at ten. Five minutes later they were making their way along the corridors to get to the Great Hall. Some of the older Slytherins were making their way back down towards the common room, having already eaten their breakfasts. Bella remembered that she needed to send an owl to her parents to tell them about the Sorting. She would write the letter after breakfast, and send it with Cliodna. They sat down at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, and Bella helped herself to some toast. They carried on their conversation from the previous night, and Bella was enjoying having some actual friends. They all finished their breakfasts and made their way back to the common room. They all wanted to write letters to their families, so went back to their dorm room to get quills and parchment. It was a nice day outside, Bella had noticed the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall, so she suggested that they wrote their letters out in the grounds. The others agreed, so they grabbed their things and headed outside. They found a beech tree at the edge of the lake, sat down and began to write.
'Dear father and mother,
I will keep this brief, as I know how busy you both are. We arrived at Hogwarts safely yesterday evening and before the welcome feast, I was sorted into Slytherin House. The Sorting Hat did not hesitate to sort me. There are four other girls in my dormitory, all of whom are from Pureblood families.
I hope that you, Andromeda and Narcissa are well,
With love, from Bellatrix.'
She looked at the short letter that she had written to her parents and said to herself that she would write a longer letter to her sisters later that day. She looked around at the other girls, and saw that they had all stopped writing too. This pleased her as she figured that they all had similar relationships to their families as she had to hers. They all realised that they had finished their letters, and all stood up together to walk to the Owlery. They walked together up the many sets of stairs that led to the Owlery, without speaking much. They got lost, as none of them knew their way around the castle yet. They managed to find a Ravenclaw student who was also on their way up to the Owlery, so they all walked together. The Ravenclaw student was called Alex, and was in their third year. After a couple more minutes, they had reached the Owlery, and all left to attach their letters to different owls. Melinda and Doris each had their own Owls, but Glenda, Rosalind and Alex used school owls to send their letters home. After a few minutes, they'd all sent off their letters and were making their way back down to their common rooms. Alex left to go to Ravenclaw Tower, and the girls made their way down to the dungeons, to their common room. They had all decided that they liked Alex, who had been extremely friendly and helpful, despite their being in Slytherin. They spent the rest of their Sunday getting to know the rest of the girls who were in first year, and Bella found herself really enjoying herself and being truly happy for the first time in what felt like forever. Night-time came around far too quickly, and Bella was soon getting ready for bed with the other girls in her dorm.
Bella woke up the next morning full of anticipation for the day ahead. Again, she was the first person to wake up, and she realised that someone was knocking on the dormitory door. She got up and opened it. It was Matilda, their prefect. "It's time for you all to get up – it's your first day of lessons and you don't want to miss breakfast!"
"Thank you, Matilda" Bella said "I'll wake the others up!"
"Thank you, Bella. I'll see you all in the Great Hall!"
Bella closed the door again, and turned to face her dorm-mates. Doris had woken up to the sound of her brief conversation with Matilda, and was rubbing her eyes. "Is it time to get up?" she asked.
"Yes. Will you help me wake the others up?"
"Of course I will" she replied.
Bella went to wake Melinda while Doris woke Rosalind. Rosalind woke quickly, so Doris moved to Glenda's bed. Soon all of the girls were awake, and were excitedly chatting about their first day. Bella went into the bathroom to get ready, while the other girls chatted. She came out of the bathroom a few minutes later and found the other girls ready to go too. As they all walked to the Great Hall, Bella thought about her sisters, and wondered how they would be finding life at home without her. She realised that they had reached the Great Hall, and Bella sat down on the bench, and helped herself to some porridge. After a few minutes, Professor Slughorn came down the table, handing out their timetables. Bella saw that her day started with double Potions, followed by Charms. After lunch, she had double History of Magic and the day ended with Transfiguration. She saw Matilda sitting a little bit further down the table, examining her own timetable. She looked up and caught Bella's eye. They both smiled at each other before going back to eating their breakfasts. It was soon nearly nine, so Bella and the rest of the girls from the dorm got up from the table and began to make their way down to the dungeon for Potions.