Chapter 4
"What has an eye but cannot see?" The bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle asked them.
"Does anyone from our newbies want to try?" The prefect asked in the round, but no one took a step forward.
"A needle.", came the answer from behind the group and everyone turned around to look for the owner of the voice.
A group of girls stepped passed the first years and gave them friendly smiles, the one having given the answer in the lead. It was a pretty looking girl, with golden blond hair und warm grey eyes and Adam was sure that she couldn't be older then 14, so not one of the older students.
"Thank you, Penelope." The male prefect, who had introduced himself as Ethan, thanked the now named Penelope and led the group of first years to follow the girls inside into the common room. Or, to be more specific, they had to climb another set of stairs, these ones spiraling, before they got their first look at their common room. And Adam loved it.
The whole room, which had to halves to it, gave a scholastic and elite vibe, reminiscent of the study rooms you would see in Noble families. Just bigger and better.
Adam had to confess to himself, that it looked even better than the studies in Dryads Rest. Which meant a lot, since he loved Dryads Rest.
"As you can see, Ravenclaw is the house of the studious.", said Alexandra, the female prefect. "We have the second biggest library in the castle, which doesn't mean much unless you consider that it's bigger than Dumbledores personal library. We have star charts, arithmetic charts, rune charts, any and all charts that your heart could desire and more!" Some snickered at her words while others stared at her in awe with stars in their eyes. The older years all rolled their eyes at her words.
"It's forbidden to take books from the common room outside, so if you wish to read one and study it, you will have to do it here.", Ethan took up again and leveled them with a stern gaze. "We generally don't care if you want to read books that are too advanced for you, since failure is a constant companion on our path to learn more. It will show us, that we are lacking and should learn more and try harder. But we won't accept any combat magic or similar disruptive magic in the common room. It's also forbidden in the hallways, so if you want to practice magic, search for empty classrooms. I would recommend always having a student by your side who already knows the spell and, if necessary, the counter spell." He paused his little speech and turned a questioning gaze towards Alexandra. "Did I forget something?"
"Nope! And even if, you can always seek us out if you have questions. But please don't bother other fifth- and seventh-year students too much, since their whole year will be important for them and filled with studies." Alexandra gave them a kind reminder and then split them into groups of boys and girls. "The only other important thing is, that we will pick you up tomorrow morning and show you around the castle. You guys are lucky, since the next two days are the weekend, so you will have time to explore."
After that she took the girls down a set of stairs while Ethan led the boys down in the of stairs directly opposite the girls one.
It seemed like the younger years got the longest way, since their room was the furthest down and the one for the seventh years was at the top.
Adam didn't really care about that and just curiously inspected his new room. It would be the first time that he would share a room with others and he wasn't sure if he liked it.
"Who gets the single bed and who will share the bunk?" One of the boys, Roger Davies he recalled, asked into the room and Adam and Steven, the other first year shrugged unsure.
"Should we make it fair and draw lots?" Adam asked and both agreed to his idea. It didn't take long and to make it even more fair, they played rock-paper-scissors on who would pick the lots.
Shortly after Steven pulled one of the crumpled papers out of the hat they had used and read Rogers name, making the boy jump in jubilation.
Adam and Steven just laughed about it, since it was a fair game, and soon everyone sorted their stuff on their respective beds. Steven would take the top bunk while Adam the bottom one.
The dorm room wasn't really big, evident from the bunk beds, but it was enough for 3 boys their age. Adam was sure, that the room would get bigger or smaller according to how many students there were in the year, since there were only 7 dorm rooms for all the boys in total.
The bathroom was opposite their room and Ethan had told them, that it would be shared with the 2nd and 3rd years. But it was big enough to fit the whole house inside, so they didn't have to worry and rush in the mornings.
After everyone got ready for bed and they chatted for a while, Adam learned that Davies was a pureblood too and even knew of him, but they had never met. He just mentioned, that he heard of the running gag that there was always a bet going on if Adam would join or not. Which was true, since Cole and Rosalie always started those.
Steven, in contrast, was a half-blood. His father was a polish wizard who had studied at Durmstrang and his mother was a Muggle from Manchester. His father seemed to have settled for the mundane life and Steven only learned of the magical side after his first bout of accidental magic.
They also talked a bit about Dryads Haven, since Roger mentioned it and Steven didn't know anything about it, but the excitement of the day slowly faded away and one by one they fell asleep.
The next morning was more relaxed than Adam had anticipated. The first years, after everyone got ready, were led back down to the Great Hall for breakfast while the two Prefects told them about some shortcuts or interesting facts along the way.
After breakfast, they got together with the group of Hufflepuff first years, who had two more members than the Ravenclaws, who had the smallest group of new first years.
Adam learned that the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff prefects got together every year to show the new students around and teach them some important rules or unspoken things they should know about. And, since the Hufflepuffs knew the lower floors and the Ravenclaws the upper floors better, it became quite the informative exploration throughout the Castle.
Adam also inquired why there were no Gryffindors or Slytherins with them, which led to an explanation about the current school climate and school politics.
Slytherins seemed to only stick with each other, although they were still on friendly or neutral terms with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, though according to the Hufflepuff Prefects, newer students always looked down on the Badgers.
And while the Gryffindors were friendly with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, they seemed to have an unnatural rivalry with the Slytherins, that often escalated in spells being throw in the hallways.
It was why the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff often stuck together, since they didn't want to get in-between that and they didn't really clash in personalities either. The hardworking nature of the Badgers fit quite well with the studious Eagles.
After lunch they decided to visit the most common and important places in the castle they could and would have to visit during their school years.
After telling them about their Classrooms, which could change so they had to keep an eye out on their timetables, and being led to those on the way up, they were shown to the library, which Adam instantly marked as his favorite place in the Castle.
It was an impressive sight, all those shelfs full of books, but it the more impressive thing was the magic. Adam could literally feel how all these books and their magic harmonized in one giant symphony with the magic of the room and the Castle itself. It was perfect.
They left the library way to fast, at least according to Adam, but he didn't complain much, since the other stuff they were shown was equally as interesting.
From hallways that seemed more like lounging areas, portrait rooms that had the funniest and most impressive stories to tell and even study rooms, that the students had refurbished over the years. All in all, the Castle was just one impressive piece of art and magic and definitely too big to explore in one day.
Ethan, noticing the fading energy of the first years, led them back to the Great Hall for an early lunch and, while everyone was eating, recommended stopping for the day and showing them the Grounds tomorrow. To which no one had any disagreements.
For the rest of the day, Adam, Roger and Steven explored some of the lower floors and staircases they hadn't visited earlier and discovered the group of Gryffindors, who seemed to be on a tour of their own. The Gryffindor first years were definitely the biggest group of new students in a House, since they had 10 new students. And, looking and the tired faces of their prefects, Adam could only imagine how hard it must be to manage so many children, let alone Cole and Rosalie.
Greeting his two friends, Adam was quickly bombarded with questions from the ever-excited Rosalie. He tried to answer most of them, but he quickly realized that she wasn't really searching for answer, which was why he introduced his two new housemates to his friends.
After a round of greetings, they split up again and the boys kept on with their explorations until dinner, where they agreed to the girls' invitation of playing a bit of chess in the common room for the rest of the day.
The next day started on a similar note, but there was definitely more excitement in the air. They would get to see the Quidditch field after all, which Roger Davies and Cedric Diggory were especially excited about.
The others were just as excited to explore the grounds or to visit the lake, since they had already heard some interesting stories from older students about Merpeople and a giant squid.
Breakfast was a quick affair and after being shown a last few important places inside, they finally found themselves outside the castle.
First, they were led to the Greenhouses, since they were equally important as the other classrooms, and learned about some clubs or open-door greenhouses that everyone could visit after classes.
"Clubs?", a girl, Flora Belford, asked curiously.
"Yes, clubs!" Alexandra gave them an impressively wide grin. "And you all better join the study club, since it exists mainly for you first years and some upper years to study with each other!"
"But don't worry, Hogwarts has more than study clubs.", Ethan continued. "We have the choir, gobstones and chess clubs, chocolate cards trading club and even a Quidditch club for those, who didn't get into their house team but still want to play or train. You will find a proper list with all the clubs in your common rooms on the notice board, so don't worry too much about it now. There are no deadlines for entry in most clubs."
Adam, now interested himself, joined the excited conversations about which clubs they would join while they were walking down towards the great Lake.
There they learned that there really were Merpeople and a giant squid in the lake, though the Merpeople were too far and too deep to ever encounter. They were also warned to never swim too deep inside, since there were many dangerous magical creatures that loved to attack students who went too far.
"If you ever go too deep and find yourself attacked, don't panic too much, since the giant squid is a sort of protector." The Hufflepuff Prefect, Lily, explained with a comforting smile causing a few students to relax. "There is also surveillance magic at work, so teachers would learn if a student falls into danger." This relaxed the last few students and excited chatter broke out again.
After that they visited the Quidditch field shortly, but since they weren't allowed to fly yet, the excitement died down quickly and they finished their tour up at that point. The prefects allowed them to explore the grounds a bit on their own, which the Hufflepuffs promptly did, but the Ravenclaws decided to head back inside and finish the chess tournament that had started last evening.
"Are you ready to lose, Cromwell?", came the haughty voice of Amelia Rosengarten, one of the new Ravenclaw girls.
"As ready as you are, Rosengarten.", answered Adam with an easy smile, though he wasn't quite sure if he would manage to win against her, since he never really played much chess and Amelia seemed like a sort of prodigy against the others. Though they were all mostly beginners, so it didn't count for much.
"It's okay, Adam. We won't tease you for losing after you boasted so much about playing and winning against a vampire lord.", teased Cecilia Kraftwork, the last of the new Ravenclaws.
Her words earned chuckling all around and Adam just rolled his eyes, since he did really boast around a bit. Though he also mentioned that the Vampire Lord had never played chess before either.
The little group quickly found themselves back in the common room, settled into comfortable armchairs around each other and with some sweets to snack on.
It quickly became clear that while Adam was good, Amelia was better. He lost against her, but that didn't take the joy out of it and they started a new round of games against each other.
That night in bed, Adam couldn't help but feel happy and the last anxiousness, that he wouldn't find friends, settled down. Now the only anxiety remaining concert the next day, since it would be the start of their lessons.
So, with a heavy yet light heart, he fell asleep, excitement and nervousness bubbling in his chest.