Hi! Thank you for your comments, it's always great to hear from you :)
I don't really know what I can do when the chapter doesn't work properly. I checked in the app and on my PC, and on PC it looks good, while in the app it's sometimes off. Usually refreshing works. If there's more I can do, let me know and I'll do it :)

In which we get to see how Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville fare with their new roommates. Ron gets noticed.

Enjoy!
A_A

Harry exited the Great Hall quite quickly, going ahead of the others. When Helga gave him a questioning look, he said only, "I need to speak with Ron. I'll meet you outside," and darted out. He stood next to the Hour Glasses, the colourful gems still hanging up, still waiting for the first points to be given. He must have been seen on his way out because Hermione joined him first and immediately wrapped his hands around his neck, hugging him tightly. Her smile was brighter than ever.

"Oh Harry, I'm so happy!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, "I dreamt about this! I'm sure It'll be much better for me now, and I've already spoken with Daphne, she'll be my roommate, and she can be quite nice, it appears. And," she lowered her voice, "she's certainly an improvement on Lavender."

"I have no doubts," Harry chuckled. "I'm happy for you, 'Mione. But have you seen Ron's face? Neville!"

"I thought I would faint when the Hat sorted me," Neville said, relief evident in his voice. "You have no idea..."

"A little," Hermione winked at him, as happy as she rarely was. She wanted to add something, but among some other students, Ron emerged from the Great Hall, still pale.

"Mum is gonna freak out," he said weakly, coming closer. "Slytherin? Seriously? This Hat must be rigged! And there's no way Harry's Hufflepuff!"

Harry didn't find any words to answer. He actually had no doubts about his sorting, and he felt good about it. Out of all houses, he clearly didn't fit in with Ravenclaw, and Slytherin would be a public nightmare. Considering Hufflepuff and Gryffindor - it didn't make much difference. Not when all his friends were spread to all four houses.

"I think you should go, Ron," Hermione broke the silence, "It looks like you're going downstairs."

"I know where the Slytherin common room is!" Ron snapped.

"You still need the password," she noted, and Ron rolled his eyes but wished them goodnight and followed other Slytherins to the grand staircase and then down to the dungeons. A moment later, Hermione joined Rowena on her way up, along with all the other Ravenclaws. Harry noticed Malfoy and lifted the hand to bid him goodnight. Both of their fears came true. Malfoy was out of Slytherin. Harry was without his friends. At least Neville and Hermione were happy. When finally the Gryffindors left the Great Hall, and Neville joined them, Harry waited alone for what seemed like an eternity.

Thanks to the Marauder's Map, Harry knew exactly where all of the common rooms were. Now, they went down the spiral staircase surrounded only by the quiet, sleepy chatter of a few people. Many students were deep in their thoughts, some looked like they would be ready to doze off while walking.

They passed the entrance to the kitchens, and Helga told them how to get into the common room. Harry couldn't stop the thought that Neville would enjoy a simple knocking pattern instead of the password.

To his surprise, Hufflepuff's common room was much warmer than Gryffindor's, and it didn't swim in the house's colours. It was a nice round and domed place, finished with a lot of honey-coloured wood and bricks, and despite the room being underground, there were windows high up in some sort of tower crowning the dome. Warm colours and plenty of various plants made the room cosy despite its significant size.

Behind the stairs leading to (as Helga told them) girls' bedrooms, there was a second sitting area, smaller and surrounded by round doors with numbers assigning certain doors to certain years. The second row of doors was visible higher, on the balcony. Harry thought that it was a nice change not to have to go through so many stairs to get to his bedroom. When he was tired in the evenings, he always wished not to have to climb, and climb, and climb endlessly before reaching his bed. It would be simpler now.

Helga only instructed them to the appropriate bedrooms and promised to visit them before breakfast. Behind the doors leading to his new bedroom, Harry found a funny slalom corridor, entrance to the bathroom and two toilets, and finally - doors to two rooms. That was surprising. He looked inside one and another, and quickly spotted his trunk by one of the beds in the left-side bedroom.

There weren't four poster beds, like in Gryffindor. Just regular single beds with decorative foot- and headboards. Harry approached his own and sat down, tempted to just fall over and sleep. But the other boys came in, saw him in one of the rooms and entered. All of them, not only those who should be in this particular bedroom. There were six of them, three for each room, apparently. Except for Dean Thomas, there were Crabbe and Goyle, Ernie Macmillan, and Michael Corner. He couldn't say that he knew or especially liked any of them. Dean a little more than the others. And he already knew his daily habits.

"We don't have to stay where the elves placed our trunks," finally said Ernie Macmillan, the only one of them who wasn't resorted to the different house.

"I don't mind," Harry shrugged. "Right now, I could sleep on the floor, to be honest."

"Yeah," Crabbe nodded heavily and pointed on the bed next to Harry's and the trunk beside it. "This one's mine."

"The third is mine," Ernie said, "But I wanted to be with Michael. We know each other quite well."

Ach, so that was the whole issue. Harry wasn't exactly sure whether he wanted to be in the same room as Dean. He was bloody messy. And Harry kinda held a small grudge against Ernie for the whole heir of Slytherin business during the second year. And the rest? He barely knew Michael, Crabbe, and Goyle. Well, he knew for certain that neither Crabbe nor Goyle were the talkative types. In the silence, a similar process apparently ran in the heads of five other boys. It was Goyle who spoke first.

"I wanna be with Vince."

"Problem solved. Switch with Ernie, and we can all go to sleep. I take the bathroom first," Harry declared, using the opportunity, and stood up to look for his pyjamas and the bathroom stuff.

"Second!"

"Third!"

"After you!"

Harry didn't have to look to know that before Crabbe and Goyle even realised that there was a race to the bathroom, it was already done. But they weren't in a hurry. Goyle went to drag his trunk from the other room while Crabbe started sluggishly unpacking. And he did it quite neatly. Harry thought that even Aunt Petunia would be happy with his orderliness and left for the bathroom.

Was he happy with his new roommates? Not really. He'd prefer Ron and Neville. But he wasn't unhappy either, especially since Ernie and Dean were loudly debating ownership of the bed in the second bedroom. Ernie apparently 'always slept next to the doors', so 'it was always his bed.' Crabbe and Goyle seemed like decent alternatives. They turned out to be even better when Harry left the bathroom with Pretzel hanging loosely from his arm, and passed Michael in the corridor.

"Is that a snake?!" The boy exclaimed.

"Relax, he's not poisonous. He doesn't even have teeth."

"Yuck!" Michael shuddered with disgust.

"Sure," Harry rolled his eyes.

"Shouldn't you be in Slytherin with that?"

"Talk about it with Ernie, will you?" Harry replied, already entering the bedroom. "Do you have any problem with snakes?" he asked, looking at Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe shook his head, still taking rolled socks out of the trunk one after the other and placing them in the drawer in the even row. It was such an engaging activity that he didn't even look up. Goyle was more interested. With quite a foolish smile, he came closer and extended one finger to the snake. He suddenly was a little too close, and Harry felt like stepping back. He didn't.

"What's his name?" Goyle asked, stroking the tiny snake's head with his stubby finger, almost twice as thick as the snake's body.

"Erm... Pretzel," Harry said, uncertain.

Goyle chuckled.

"Yeah, he's brown like a pretzel," he said, "Cool."

Harry stood patiently when Goyle petted the snake with a broad smile.

"Do you have any pets?" Harry asked finally, not really knowing what to do.

"Strudel," Goyle replied, "I like strudels. He likes them too."

"It's a dog," Crabbe explained, "A basset. But we can't take dogs to Hogwarts. And I have a bull terrier. I call him Jinx. And a barn owl, Hex."

That was the longest stream of words Harry ever heard Crabbe say. And quite informative, for that.

"My owl's called Hedwig," he moved away from Goyle, who seemed to be stuck in front of the snake, unable to stop the started activity. "Are you going to unpack today, too?" Harry asked the boy as he still stood in the middle of the room.

Goyle nodded and moved to his trunk. Contrary to Crabbe, he did it quite quickly and much less carefully. Harry didn't intend to unpack today. He was much too tired for this. He crawled under covers, felt Pretzel wrapping around his neck, as he used to, and managed to only mutter 'goodnight', before dozing off.

Ron walked sullenly, keeping close to Percy and Ginny. They went down, to the dungeons and the blank wall creating the doors to the Slytherin common room. The password was pompous like the Slytherins tended to be: Acta non verba. As Percy explained with his whole importance, it was a Latin phrase meaning "action, not words." Ron didn't care. He was in a slimy dungeon with slimy snakes, walking into their slimy common room, and - worse - he had to sleep with them in one room.

Sulking, he walked downstairs with the others. The room was as dark, gloomy, and slimy as he remembered, whole green and grey and stony and pompous. Ron pushed his hands to his pockets and waited. They all waited as Slytherin talked quietly with Snape. The Dungeons Bat looked as always, with his hideous greasy hair and too-large, crooked nose. Ron hoped that it got broken more than once.

Finally, it was Snape who spoke up.

"Welcome to Slytherin," he said slowly, "All of you, no matter the house you came from. Some of you know that besides Hogwarts rules, we also have house rules that you will need to learn and obey. The most important I will spell for you now, the rest you will find on the board. First and foremost, every conflict between the Slytherins is to be sorted in Slytherin. We do not engage other houses in inside quarrels. Second, you follow the chain of command. That is, you choose one boy or girl from your year to be your representative. They stand above you and you ask them for help or advice if you need any. If they are not available or unable to help, you move to your perfect, later to the Head Boy or Head Girl, and lastly to me or Salazar Slytherin. Your prefects this year will be announced soon. For now, you may refer to the Head Boy, Percy Weasley."

"Third, you will all report for your individual consultation, during which we will discuss your current situation, areas that need improvement, and other pertinent issues. At the end of each semester, we will repeat such conversations. You will find the dates assigned to you on the board by Monday morning. Fourth, I expect you to represent your house with pride and defend it, even if you had opposite customs up to this moment. Lastly, you may invite guests from other houses, but they have to leave in time to reach their own common rooms before the curfew. Any transgression of this and all other rules will be severely punished. Find your dormitories. Boys, on the right. Girls, on the left. And I don't want to see anyone on the wrong side of the common room. Dismissed."

Ron growled and didn't even answer Ginny's 'goodnight', daggering Snape and Slytherin with his gaze.

"You need to work on your attitude," Percy reprimanded him, before going away. Ron grimaced at his back and moved to the dormitories. The steel path echoed under his shoes, as he looked at the doors on left and right to find the ones labelled with number four. They were already open.

Slytherin's dormitory was equally stony and green as the common room. The walls were decorated with wooden panels and tapestries depicting forest and forest animals. The ceiling had a large glass panel, probably allowing natural light during the day, and on the sides were two sets of doors which must have led to the bathrooms. There was a stove in the middle of the room, warming it pleasantly, and large carpets covered the floors between the beds. Four four-poster beds with green curtains. Besides, the room had some desks, chairs, bookshelves, closets, and dressers, none of which seemed to be assigned to any particular bed. The dormitory was bigger than in Gryffindor.

Ron first located his trunk at the feet of the closest bed to his right, and then Zacharias Smith from Hufflepuff sitting in the armchair and Anthony Goldstein from Ravenclaw leaning on the wall. Before them stood Blaise Zabini. The only Slytherin from Slytherin in their dormitory.

"Finally, Weasley," he said. "You know Anthony Goldstein and Zacharias Smith, correct?"

"As well as I know you, I gather," Ron shrugged.

"So not at all. We were talking about the bathroom schedule. I need about half an hour in the evening and in the morning. I go to bed late. If you don't mind, I'd prefer to have the bathroom between ten-thirty and eleven in the evening and seven-thirty to eight in the morning."

Ron looked at him without understanding, while Zacharias Smith responded.

"Perfect, I will go much earlier. Since around eight-thirty in the evening and six in the morning. I'd appreciate silence after ten. But real silence, not the 'but we're quiet' bullshit."

"I second that," Anthony nodded. "I can take bathroom time half an hour before Zabini. And I call dibs on the desk next to my bed and three shelves for my books."

"When we're at it, anybody touches my potions or bathroom supplies, and I will make your lives a living hell," announced Blaise. "I take the top shelf on this bookshelf, and this closet is mine. Touch it, and guess what happens."

Ron looked at them with wide eyes. Was it how it was in other houses? In Gryffindor, they just used the bathroom when they wanted, went to sleep when they wanted, and no one cared if Ron borrowed this or that. Lost in thoughts, Ron missed a part of the conversation.

"Weasley?" Zabini urged him. "Are you fine with the bathroom between Smith and Goldstein, the bottom shelf, and the dresser next to you?"

Ron quickly calculated everything, realising that he was quickly falling at the very bottom of the hierarchy of their dormitory, so he shrugged.

"I'm good with that, but I want the leather armchair for myself, next to my bed." He had no idea what he would use the armchair for, but he had to say something. "And I won't tip-toe around with lights off for you, Smith. I can try not to wake you up, but that's it. You have curtains and silencing spells if you want perfect silence."

Zabini nodded.

"I agree with Weasley. So, the bathroom for tonight is Smith, Weasley, Goldstein, and I. The bathroom is on the right, and the toilet is on the left. Don't get lost."

With that, he turned to his trunk and started unpacking. Ron didn't exactly know what to do with himself, so he started by levitating the leather armchair and situating it right next to his bed. In the meantime, Smith disappeared into the bathroom, Zabini was using his wand to order his things, and Goldstein arranged books.

It was different than with Gryffindors. They would just sit and joke together in Gryffindor... it was probably what was happening there now. Musing about it, Ron started digging in his trunk in search of bathroom things, and a couple of minutes later, he could use the bathroom. It was larger than in Gryffindor and had a bathtub beside the shower. Ron treated it as a personal offence.

Still sulky, he came back to the bedroom and was just about to enter the bed when Goldstein walked back out of the bathroom.

"Weasley, would you dry the floor after yourself? It's a pool out there!"

"You know the spell, Goldstein," Ron barked.

"Yes, and I use it before I leave the bathroom, not when I enter and my slippers are all wet!"

"Dry your slippers then! I'm not standing up. Deal with it yourself."

"Great," Goldstein snapped. "But I'll remember you this."

And he shut the bathroom doors. Ron rolled his eyes and shut the curtains. Gryffindors were much more fun than this bunch of stuck-up assholes! He had no idea how he'll survive this year, and three after that!

Hermione noticed it in the evening and then again in the morning: the girls in her dormitory, in some ways, acted very similarly to her previous roommates. They spent a lot of time in the bathroom, in front of the mirror, and picking out the accessories. Only the topics were different. And the dormitories, of course.

Hermione was charmed with the gentle style of the Ravenclaw space. Whites and blues were composed perfectly with brown additions, and the rooms were full of light and airy. Surprisingly, they had the bunk beds built into the alcoves of the large windows. When in bed, Hermione could pull curtains on both sides, darkening the bed, but she could also leave it open from the side of the window if she wanted to read privately in bed. Now, she sat on her bed, vigorously brushing her hair and listened to the conversation in the room.

"What I mean, is that the handbook describes Gamp laws in an overly complicated manner. If I'd still be in Slytherin, I'd have to explain it to every other girl except for Tracey, aren't I right, Tracey?" Daphne asked. She stood before the mirror arranging her long, golden hair with the use of complicated wand movements.

"Oh yes, especially Pansy. She likes to brag that she understands everything, but she'll be lost without Daphne..." She went silent for a moment to change the colour of the tiny tear-shaped earrings from green to blue. "I read an interesting book during the summer about the alteration charms. Did you know that it is possible to permanently alter the colour of gems without changing their value? It's an awfully complicated spell, its project took over one hundred scrolls, but it doesn't alter the structure of the stone, only the way it reflects the light. I was amazed! Although my father was devastated when I ruined the diamond necklace while learning. Now it's a sapphire necklace," she laughed lightly. "But I can do it right now."

"Is it Precious Transformation of Precious Stones by Roger Rimsky?" asked Lisa Turpin, the only original Ravenclaw in the dormitory. Tracey looked at her with interest, for a moment putting her wand aside.

"Yes, yes it is. Have you read it?"

"I wish!" Lisa laughed. "Could I borrow it?

Hermione observed a plethora of the beauty charms in use, tying ribbons, choosing the jewellery, and listened to the conversation, trying to find some peace of mind between the - as she thought - two contrasting things: looks and brain. After the morning shower, she just put on the clean clothes, brushed her hair, packed her bag and was ready to go. And that is what she did today, but they agreed to go downstairs together, and the other girls weren't ready, so she waited by the doors.

"Hermione, are you ready?" Daphne asked with surprise.

"Well, yes. I've got my books." She answered a little defensively, expecting laughter and mockery because of her hair. But nothing similar came.

"Forgive us for keeping you waiting," Daphne said, "It's vanity, I know, but it's so pleasant to look nice. When my mother taught us the spells, Astoria and I made the funniest mistakes. The worst of it was when half of my hair fell out, then when my eyebrows were orange, and finally, when I tried to brighten the tip of my nose and grew it to the size of a banana!"

Hermione laughed, imagining the picture of perfectly beautiful Daphne with such a nose.

"Would you like to try?" asked Tracey, "I always thought you have beautiful hair. You'd need only three spells to make them into perfect, shiny curls."

"Oh, yes, I can see that. And your colour would pop up. Please allow me," Daphne asked. And Hermione imagined herself without hair. Because somehow she had sincere doubts about good intentions. She usually was an object of jokes. Yet, after a moment of hesitation, she agreed.

"You need deponunt, to hydrate them. Curly hair needs a lot of hydration. When you buy your products, they must be hydrating. The same goes for conditioners. It's because they have high porosity. So after hydration, you need to close the hair scales, and for that, you need expolitus. And after that, only the nitidus, that we all need to make them shine. Here, stand before the mirror," Daphne guided Hermione to the correct spot. "Observe my wand movements."

Hermione observed as Daphne cast three consecutive charms, and Hermione's eyes grew. Because suddenly, instead of a raging cloud of hair, Hermione's face was framed in beautiful, shining, springy locks.

"Just like that?" Hermione asked with astonishment.

"Just like that," Daphne smiled broadly. "You can take care of your looks when you're smart, you know? It's not a sin."

"Looks like we're all ready," declared Lisa.

"Looks like it." Hermione tore her eyes from herself with a bright smile. They climbed the stairs to the common room, and on the way, Daphne shared two or three more facts about hair structure without using terms like "ugly" or "bushy," but soon after, Lisa started the topic of their schedule.

"I have ancient runes and care for magical creatures," she said, "We had ancient runes together, is that right?"

"Yes, all of us," nodded Tracey. "But I took arithmancy as my second elective and the muggle studies as third. You're there as well, Hermione?"

"I have arithmancy, runes, and magical creatures. I decided to quit muggle studies and divination this year."

"You had all five electives?" Lisa was clearly impressed. "But how have you managed it with time?"

"Oh," Hermione blushed a little, "I, well, I guess it's no longer a secret since I don't have it anymore. I used a time turner to get to all classes."

All three girls stopped abruptly as if their feet had suddenly grown into the ground. The shocked expressions on their faces and the admiration in their eyes told Hermione that it had to be extremely impressive.

"You must tell us everything!" Lisa finally regained her voice, which was now higher with excitation. "I read about the time turners, how they work, and about the Hour-Reversal Charm, but I have never talked with someone who used one and wasn't an Unspeakable!"

"Were you able to always follow all the rules? You never saw yourself?" asked Daphne almost at the same time.

"How does it feel?" Tracey wanted to know.

Hermione failed to answer all the questions either before breakfast, during breakfast, or on the way to the first lesson. For the very first time in her life, she felt good. Very good. Fantastic! Because she finally had someone her age equally interested in science as she was.

Usually, Neville went for breakfast alone. Sometimes, he joined one group of friends or another, and often, he found someone to talk to at the table. Otherwise, he was alone. It happened every day of every year until the first breakfast of his fourth year. On this day, Neville went downstairs with all four of his roommates. But he couldn't spot what exactly was different.

There was Seamus, who stayed in Gryffindor just as Neville did. Because of Dean, they never spent a lot of time together, but it appeared that it'll be significantly different now. The other three fifth-year Gryffindor boys were Justin Finch-Fletchley and Archie Stump from Hufflepuff and Gordon Spavin from Ravenclaw.

They spent the last evening getting to know each other, talking about the Quidditch Finals and other things that happened during the summer. It was usually this way in the dormitory during the first evening of a new year. This time, however, Neville felt that people actually listened when he was talking, and there was generally more Neville in this conversation. And it wasn't only in the evening. The same happened in the morning! Today, they talked about the Triwizard Tournament and what the tasks could possibly be. Gordon, an enthusiast of magical creatures, knew quite a lot about the Tournament.

"They are often used in tasks. Some kinds of creatures, and usually those from the XXXX or XXXXX class. There was a task, for example, when they had to collect a magical ingredient from the XXXXX class creature. There was a lethifold, acromantula, and manticore. I remember that precisely, because it was the only time when the tournament ended after the first task."

"Why?" asked Seamus.

"Well, Durmstrang won. Champion didn't get the acromantula venom, but he survived. The other two died. Can you imagine getting eaten by the lethifold? That must be an awful death. I would much more prefer the manticore. I mean, the venom works so fast that before manticore eats you, you're already dead, but the lethifold envelops you whole and digests you. So you're basically being melted and absorbed at the same time..." he shuddered but didn't stop eating his scrambled eggs. "But this guy must have been stupid. Just as any other magical creature the lethifold needs some respect to become placid, so if you bow to it, it shouldn't attack you. Though I suppose it doesn't matter when it's hungry... But there's always a patronus charm."

"Not everybody can cast a patronus charm," noticed Archie, "Pass me the juice, Seamus? Although I think, thanks, that if you are applying for a champion, you should know it."

"Exactly my thought!" Gordon agreed.

"What else was in the tasks?" Neville asked curiously.

"Many things. Oh! I liked this one. It was in Durmstrang. They were in the dungeons, and they say that in Durmstrang it's a really scary place. Like our Forbidden Forest. They had to enter the corridor at one end and exit at the other, but on their way were things thriving in the darkness. It started with venomous tentaculas, and it only got worse from there. They say that nobody ever found even one bone from one of the champions. Beauxbatons guy, I think."

"Tentaculas are not that bad," Neville shook his head, "You should see what the Hell Bramble can do with a person. That's, well, hell. You get stuck in the thorns of the plant, and the maggots that live in it devour you. It's fast. Lasts a couple of minutes. But those are minutes during which you are eaten by hundreds of worms."

"That. Is. Disgusting." Lavender Brown stated, looking at them with revolution. "Could you change the subject or something? People are trying to eat!"

"Sorry," muttered Neville. For a moment they ate in silence, all five boys looking rather at their plates. But it didn't last long.

"Where do they grow?" asked Justin, leaning towards Neville.

"What?"

"This hell plant, where does it grow?"

"Oh, North America. But there are many more interesting plants in South America. In the North much was destroyed by humans, while in the South everything is thriving."

"Yeah, it's the same with creatures," Gordon agreed. "Have you heard about wendigos?"

"About what?"

"Exactly!"

It took a fraction of a second, and they erupted in laughter. Not only the five of them but also a few other people listening to the conversation. Neville had a really good morning!

Ron sat at the Slytherin table alone. He had no interest in talking with his slimy roommates, Percy was busy being pompous because of the Head Boy position, and Ginny seemed to enjoy her new company. So he sat alone. From his seat, he observed people around with a sullen expression.

Fred and George sat at the neighbouring tables, astride the benches, talking animatedly with both: Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. A little down the Hufflepuff table sat Harry with Dean, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry and Dean were holding four schedules and they tried hard to explain something to the slimy idiots. Once in a while Harry ruffled his hair in awkwardness, sometimes Dean face-palmed himself, and a couple of times, they all chuckled. Well. They clearly felt well in their company, even if two of them were morons. At least two of them.

Ron stabbed his toast.

At the Gryffindor table, Neville and his new roommates laughed and laughed, and Ron wondered why none of them had burst yet.

Hermione came to the breakfast later than she usually did, looking happier than ever and constantly talking with three other girls. Ron was sure there was something different about her, but he couldn't tell what exactly. And it made him even angrier.

What got Ron furious was that even Malfoy seemed to feel good in his new house, sitting in a group of boys that talked quietly over a scroll of parchment.

It was one night. One. And everything was already turned upside down.

Ron was fuming, his toast was a crumbled mess, and nothing was right. Even his appetite!

"Follow me, Mr Weasley," he heard the voice above his head. When he looked up, he saw the back of Salazar Slytherin, slowly heading towards the exit. Ron gulped, and stood up to follow the man.

It was just one night.

Just one.