Ravenclaw

The students at the Ravenclaw table politely clapped when the hat sorted me into their house — getting up from the stool; I made my way over to the end of the Ravenclaw table, where all the other first years were sitting.

With the sorting ceremony concluded, Dumbledore got up and went to the podium with a pleased look on his face. Looking out over the students, he beamed and said, "Now that the first years have been sorted, I could go into a long welcoming speech, but I am sure everyone else would much rather get to the feast. On that note, let the feast begin."

All the students cheered as he sat down, and massive amounts of food appeared on the table. Looking down the table, the older students immediately began tearing into the food; it seemed like every student was for themselves. The first years took their cues from the older students and started eating as well. After filling my plate and eating, I couldn't help but admire the ceiling that had been enchanted to show the outside sky. Even though it was dark out, and moon and stars were visible; the floating candles along with the torches on the walls made sure the hall was lit up.

Next, to me, a dark hair kid introduced himself, "Roger Davies."

"Alexander Fawley," I responded.

Seeing how we were introducing ourselves to one another, most of the first years at our table did the same. By the time the feast was over, I had eaten so much food, that I was sure if I took another bite, my stomach would burst. When everyone was finished with the feast, Dumbledore stood back up, and the talking in the hall died away.

After clearing his throat, he said, "Now that our bellies are full, it's time to speak on a few matters. First of all, Mr. Flitch has asked me to remind you again that magic in the halls is not allowed." His voice trailed off, with his eyes twinkling mischievously.

He went on, "Also, in the 2nd week of term, your house quidditch teams will have a tryout. There will be a sign-up form in your common rooms, alas they are restricted to second years and above. Next, it seems like I have to remind the students every year that the forbidden forest is off-limits to students, as there are creatures that dwell deep within some of which are dangerous. Now, I am sure you have heard me ramble on long enough, Time to tuck in, goodnight."

When he finished, there was a flurry of movement throughout the hall, as all the students made a mad dash off to their dorms, hoping to avoid the stampede of other students. I heard a feminine voice call out, "Ravenclaw first years, this way."

Turning toward the voice, I saw a raven-haired witch with a Ravenclaw Prefect badge on her robes, next to her was a thin brown-haired wizard with thick glasses that looked like they were about to fall off his face.

As we all shuffled towards them, they turned and began leading us away. As we began to make our way through Hogwarts, the girl spoke up again, "My name is Lisa Bailey, and this is Scott Miller, we are Ravenclaw's 5th-year Prefects. Each house has a total of six prefects, and if you have any questions, you can seek us out for help, be aware, every prefect can give punishments out for misbehavior so watch yourself throughout the year."

Eventually, we came to an open area that was full of moving staircases, Scott chimed in, "This is the grand staircase, as you can see, the stairs move and constantly change. It may take some time for everyone to get used to how they randomly move around. Sometimes you will be headed to a particular floor, and then the staircase will shift and end up leading you to another floor."

"Oh, and just so you know, some of the steps on the stairs are traps," Lisa said as she grinned and hopped over a particular stair.

Lisa and Scott lead us to the fifth floor, where we came to a large door with a bronze eagle knocker attached to the middle. Turning to look at us, Lisa said, "Other houses have passwords to get into their rooms, but we do things a little different in our house. Our intellect is what most commonly defines Ravenclaw witches and wizards, and this knocker was designed to test our worthiness. Give the right answer, and you will be let in, fail, and you will be denied entrance until one of your classmates takes pity on you. "She fell silent with a sneer on her face, letting us know that she did not think highly of those who failed the challenge and needed assistance getting into the tower.

When she finished, Scott reached out and knocked. A soft musical voice questioned, "What requires food to live, yet will die when given water?"

Scott turned and challenged with a slight mocking look on his face, "Anyone feels brave enough to give it a go?"

Seeing the worried expression on everyone's faces, as nobody wanted to fail and be embarrassed in front of everyone. I boldly spoke up, "I'll give it a shot."

Scott stepped aside and motioned me forward with a flourish. Furiously thinking about the riddle for a moment, the answer came to me. A smug grin tugged its way out, and I called out, "Fire."

"Well done," the voice chimed, and I shot a triumphant look towards Roger Davies. The door swung open, letting us into the Ravenclaw tower. As soon as we went inside, we came to a large circular room with several archways that led to other open places.

I was a little surprised about how large the common room area was; the books always implied that the common area was small and cozy. But, this area looked like Ravenclaw's entire house could be in the common area and not be packed in like a can of sardines. On the far side of the room, was a set of twin staircases, in between them was a statue of a witch with a wise look upon her face.

Lisa saw my gaze and spoke up, "The stairs lead to the girls and boy dorms, girls on the left, boys on the right."

We all made our way into the common area and began to look around; I saw that one of the archways led to a room with several large shelves full of books on the walls. Along one of the walls etched into the stone were Ravenclaw student names separated by year. I noticed the column representing 5th-year students had Lisa in first place with Scott in second, next to their name was a P, mostly likely representing Prefect. I even found my name up there in the 7th column, but unlike the other columns, there were no numbers next to anyone's name in our year.

Speaking up, I asked, "Why are all of the names of Ravenclaw students up there?"

Scott came over and said, "First years listen up, this wall of the name represents your standing in the house. While other houses don't pay attention to your grades too much, your grades determine how you are ranked in our house. The best students get more perks in our house, such as nicer dorm rooms, while those at the bottom, will be housed in shabbier dorms. Your first year is somewhat of a pass, your grades will constantly change throughout the year, but the only thing that matters is your overall grades at the end of the year. What you achieve this year will determine your standing and benefits in Ravenclaw the following year."

Scott's words made some first-years appear worried, but others grinned at the thought of competing for better benefits. Lisa came over and interrupted, "All right, it's past nine and curfew is at ten, and no one is allowed to leave until six in the morning if you're caught out, you will be punished, so let's get everyone to their dorms. By the way, before leaving for breakfast in the morning, your class schedule will be down here in the morning."

At her words, I headed to the right staircase, Scott called out, "There are seven floors in the dormitories, First years are at the top, with the seventh years at the bottom." A few boys groaned at hearing they would be climbing to the top of Ravenclaw tower every day. Hearing the grumbling, Scott laughed.

Making it to the top of the dorms, I found a large circular room with eight doors. Seeing my name along with three others, I headed towards the door, I found a large room, with four beds inside. Athena was sitting on one of the beds.

As soon I came in, she launched herself at me. After I caught her, she climbed her way up to perch on my shoulder. Seeing my trunk on the bed that she was on, I decided to unpack my things. Each bed had a large dresser next to it, along with matching end tables to hold belongings.

Before I could start, three other boys walked in, wanting to introduce myself, I called out, "I'm Alex Fawley,"

The kid with dark brown hair on the right called out in a thick Scottish accent, "William Moore, nice to meet everyone."

I had already met the dark-haired kid in the middle, but he still greeted, "Roger Davies."

On the other of Davis was a slightly wide-eyed red-head who called out in an Irish accent, "Ryan O'Connor."

After we had all introduced ourselves to one another, I returned to unpack, when Ryan asked, "Is it always like this?"

"What?" I questioned.

Waving his arms around to indicate everything, he said, "You know, everything is so nuts. I mean, the paintings can talk, the staircases move, there are even ghosts running around. It's like all the rules I've learned about the world are wrong. Like for instance, the tower from the outside shouldn't have this much space on the inside. It's like magic constantly breaks the laws of physics."

Hearing his rant, it clicked, "Ah, you must be muggle-born."

I saw him nod his head, affirming that he grew up in the non-magical world. So I informed him, "You'll need to put aside everything you have learned about the world. There is so much more to the world than meets the eye. Magic allows us to bend and break the fundamental rules of physics. However, magic does have rules of its own that it follows."

Seeing that all the magic didn't fluster me, he asked, "Are your parents magical?"

Nodding, I said, "Yes, my whole family is magical. My mom is a master potioneer, and my dad runs an enchantment shop in Diagon Alley."

Roger snapped his finger and said, "I knew your last name sounded familiar; your dad must run Fawley's Wondrous Enchantments, right?"

A proud look emerged on my face, and I confirmed, "Yup, that's dad's shop."

Roger replied, "That's awesome. I got my trunk from there. There were a ton of interesting items in the shop, does he do all the enchantments himself?"

"The charm-work yes, but I know he has a few employees to help run the store, so he can spend most of his time enchanting and coming up with new ideas."

"What about your guy's parents?" I asked curiously.

Roger replied, "My dad works for the ministry of magic as a full-time Obliviator, my mum is a muggle who used to work as a nurse, but she quit a few years ago, the hours were terrible."

Confused about what an Obliviator was, Ryan asked, "What in the bloody hell is an Obliviator? It sounds like he blows stuff up for a living."

Roger barked out a laugh and said, "Nothing so exciting, whenever a muggle sees something magical and needs to have their memory modified, Obliviators show up to modify their memory."

A stunned look appeared on Ryan's face, and he stammered out, "Magic can mess with people's memories?"

Roger nodded gravely, replied, "Yes, but it's necessary. A lot of muggles don't react well when they discover that magic exists. Sometimes they end up believing that magic is evil. Muggles are funny like that; I think it has to do with some deity they worship. Also, many don't react well to having their view of the world turned upside down; sometimes, they end up getting locked up in a muggle loony bin when they start ranting and raving about magic. Obliviators make sure that they forget so muggles can go on with their lives peacefully."

"Hmm, my parents are fascinated by the concept of magic." Ryan defended. "But then again, they aren't religious, and they have always maintained that there is always sometime more to learn about the universe."

Curious, I asked, "What do your parents do for a living?"

"Mum runs one of the biggest libraries in Ireland, and dad is a history professor at a college," Ryan replied.

Seeing how everyone had introduced their parents except for Willam, we all looked at him to say something. With a sigh, he responded, "I live with my mom; she runs an enormous greenhouse and sells potion materials that she harvests from the plants."

Hearing what his mum did for a living gave me the goosebumps. Speaking up, I said, "My mum has a small greenhouse that is terrifying to go into."

Ryan asked, confused, "What's so scary about plants?"

Willam and I looked at each other and started laughing. Explaining, I said, "Do you remember when I said you're going to have to forget muggle rules? Well, rule one, magic makes everything more dangerous. In our world, plants are very much alive and dangerous, and the plants must be handled very carefully. Otherwise, you could end up hurt or even killed."

A sobering look appeared on Ryan's face as he digested the fact that magic plants could eat, or even kill him.

"What about your dad?" Roger asked.

A sad look appeared on Willams's face, "He was a hit wizard who died in the war against he-who-must-not-be-named."

Not knowing what to say, I said, "I'm sorry, my grandfather was killed during the war as well."

Willam met my eyes for a moment, nodded, then turned and left, claiming he needed to get some fresh air.

As soon as he left, Ryan started firing off questions, "What's a hit wizard? What war? Who can't be named?"

Roger looked at me helplessly. He didn't know how to begin to explain everything. So I explained, "Well, a hit wizard is a wizard who serves the Ministry of Magic as part of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. They normally work in small cells, and sometimes they are used as backups for Aurors if they need assistance."

Before Ryan could ask what Aurors were, I continued, "Aurors are dark wizards catchers. You can think of hit wizards almost like normal police officers that handle day to day enforcement of the law. Whereas Aurors are more like military special forces, they don't bother with petty crap. They handle more serious threats. Often they work alone, tracking and hunting down dark wizards. They are highly trained and efficient and not to be taken lightly."

I went on, "Make sure you're sensitive when asking about the war. I'd wager well over half of the kids at Hogwarts has either had a family member killed or knows someone who was. It was dreadful, an extremely powerful wizard gathered a large number of followers he called death eaters. Their goal was to seize power in the wizarding world and conquer the muggle population and rule in the open, and the reason why most won't say his name is that it has become a rather taboo word in our culture."

Pausing for dramatic effect, I whispered: "His name was Lord Voldemort."

Roger slightly flinched when I said his name, Ryan looked puzzled, and asked: "Why is everyone afraid of saying his name?"

Ignoring Roger's expression, I clarified, "I asked my uncle that once. He told me that in the war since no one knew the identities of the death eaters nor who they had magically enslaved. People didn't know who they could trust; if someone would speak negatively about Lord Voldemort, it seemed like it wouldn't be long before a death eater attacked their home. Eventually, people began to realize that anyone openly discussing Lord Voldemort was attacked, so many stopped saying his name, hoping that they wouldn't draw his or his followers attention. Eventually, it became a taboo word in our society."

While Ryan was digesting everything I said, Roger hissed, "Stop saying the name."

Before I could respond, William walked back into the room, and the conversation seemed to fade away. I spent the next hour unpacking, and when I was finished, I decided that I was done for the night and went to sleep, eagerly wondering what my first class was going to be.