Chapter 21

"Children, how about a quick song before your prefects lead you to your common room? Okay, choose your favourite tune and begin playing when I count to three." When Dumbledore waved his wand, and in front of everyone, a parchment materialised.

The prefect, the short professor, and the brother of the twins all stood up and moved toward the front of the Great Hall. They found a toad somewhere that only Merlin knows about. The toads and people began blending together. With his wand raised, Dumbledore began to count down from three. While the majority of listeners sang along to their own tunes, those who didn't want to, like Albert, lip-synced the lyrics.

[Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald,

Or young, with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling,

With some interesting stuff,

For now, they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot]

Albert looked around and only saw chaos. Most of the seventh years were talking amongst them self, the staff were frozen stiff but reluctantly sang along, evidenced by their delayed verse. The lyrics were nonsensical, and the melody was grating and off-key. The beat was all over the place and the choir was poor. Albert couldn't believe how bad it was, and he quickly covered his ears, trying to forget the cacophony of sounds he just heard.

After the song finished, Dumbledore spoke. "Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! Alright, off to bed you pop."

The Gryffindor prefect came up to the Gryffindor first years like the other house prefects did and told them to wait for a few minutes. It was pandemonium at the door. Everyone rushed to leave the great Hall and go back to the common room to catch up with their friends they didn't see on the train.

"First year Gryffindor, follow me." the prefect said. He led us through a long stone corridor with knight's armour on both sides of the corridor until we reached the stairs. "Here is the moving staircase. Watch your step otherwise you'll have a great. big fall. I bet Madam Pomfrey couldn't put up back again." He watched as the first years gasped in horror. "I'm just joking. Madam Pomfrey, with enough time, could fix any malformation you have."

The prefect lead the first years up the staircase. They filled the walls of the staircase with moving portraits who tried to get the attention of the little children. One of the portraits did, and a child mistimed his step and fell. Albert was pretty sure the child would have broken more than a few bones if it weren't for the timely intervention of the moving staircase.

The prefect lead the first years through more corridors and some students left off Hogwarts' defence mechanism by touching thing they're not supposed to. If it weren't for the prefect, thing could have gone south really fast.

"These are the defence mechanism left behind since the time of the founders. These were, in case muggles somehow broke through the ward and came up the stairs. Most of the more deadly ones have been decommissioned, but the less harmful one remains. There mostly here to keep students on their feet." The prefect explained.

"Wow. Cool. But couldn't they turn it off just on our first day?" Lee Jorden said.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" The prefect responded.

"Yeah. Where's the fun in that?" The twins repeated in unison. Albert just shook his head at the twins shenanigans.

Albert did not know how long he was walking, but his legs ached. The other first year's breathing became laboured. They were almost burnt out and almost wanted to collapse on the spot. The prefect must have taken the long route. Albert was sure of this. "Come on. Don't give up on me now. We're on the Eighth floor. We're almost near the common room entrance." The prefect said can continued walking for about two minutes. "Here we are."

There was a huge oak door in front of them that make them gasp in awe. There also was a painting of a fat lady right next to the door. She turned to face the prefect. "Password." Came out a rough voice.

"Moor's land," After the prefect said the password, the oak doors opened and the first years followed the prefect inside. Once everybody was quiet, he said, "I want everybody to remember the password. Without it, you'll be locked out until someone who knows the password lets you in. You mustn't tell the password to anyone who isn't in Gryffindor. The password will change every fortnight and will be posted on the notice board in the common room." He then went and sat on the chair closest to the fireplace..

It filled the common room with the soft glow of firelight, casting a warm, welcoming glow over the space. The walls were painted in shades of red and gold, the colours of Gryffindor, and were adorned with a painting of former students and the House symbol.

They arranged comfortable sofas and armchairs around the room, inviting students to relax and unwind after a long day of classes. In the corner stood a large wooden table, surrounded by chairs, where students often gathered to study, socialise and play games. There was also a small library within the common room, stocked with books and resources for students to use. There was a full shelf dedicated to the sport, quidditch.

"You guys can consider yourself lucky. Tomorrow is a Saturday and you don't have any lessons. As this is a rare opportunity, I suggest you familiarise yourself with Hogwarts layout. Hogwarts is massive and I promise you will get lost. The professor doesn't take too well for students being late for lessons."

Albert then saw a female walk into the room and stand next to the prefect. "Boy's dorms are to the left and girls are to my right. Boys may not enter female dormitories and you will share your rooms with up to four more people. Boys, follow the lovely wizard standing next to me. Girls, follow me." The female prefect said.

The girls followed the female prefect up the stairs while the boys followed the other. He led Albert and the boys to another corridor with a door on either side of them. Above each door, there was a name plaque of who they stayed with. Albert walked along until he found his name. He looked at who he was staying with and was left a bit surprised. He had three roommates and you'll never guess who they were. Well, I'll tell you, anyway. It was George Weasley, Lee Jorden and Fred Weasley. Who would have guessed?

The prefect left them to explore their dorm, and the prefect explained curfew began at eleven o'clock. Albert went into the dorm and instantly went to check to shower room. Thank Merlin. They have individual showers but a shared toilet and basin. Guess you win some and you lose some. The beds were laid out in the four corners of the room. When Albert came out of the shower room, someone had already claimed three beds. Look's like his bed will be the closest one to the door.

He turned to the others in the room. "I hope we have a pleasant seven years together."

"Me too." Lee Jorden said.

"We'll have a lot of fun. Don't you worry." The twins said together.

Albert then said to the other, "Tomorrow I'm going to explore the castle. Are anyone of you willing to tag along?"

"Yeah, why not."

"Got nothing better to do."

"Remember to wake me up."

Albert then got out his pyjamas and bathroom essentials and his camera from his bag that was delivered by the house-elves. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and put on her pyjamas. Next, he gathered his worn clothes and put it inside the laundry basket beside his bed. He put his suitcase under his bed. He then took a picture of his living space to show to his family the next time he saw them. Albert climbed into bed and fluffed his pillow. He placed his camera on his bedside table. He spent a few minutes laying still before he turned his bedside lamp off and snuggled under the cover. As he lay in bed, he took a few deep breaths and tried to clear his mind.

Albert couldn't fall asleep quickly in a new environment. He then opened his system panel. He opened the mission tab and clicked on the {I'm Dora the Explorer}. To his surprise, the mission progress increase by two percentiles. Afterwards, he clicked on the skills tab to see most of his spell are level zero and approaching level one. He suddenly had the urge to upgrade all of his spells to level one, but resisted the urge. Finally, Albert closed his eyes, and let sleep take over, drifting off into a peaceful slumber.