House Colding

I follow along with Draco as we follow the Prefect to our house dormitory.

At the bottom of the castle.

Beneath the lake.

In the Dungeons.

…

Why does a school even have dungeons anyways!? Did the school founders just come across the castle one day and be like; "This looks like a good place to start a school. Just have to get rid of the corpses in the dungeon and clean up the blood,"!? I wonder where the other houses are…housed.

As we walk, the Prefect continues to tell us about our house and dormitory. "Our emblem is the serpent, the wisest of creatures.Our house colors are emerald green and silver, you're on the right track to showing your support." He gives a nod towards the green ribbon I always wear on my head.

We descend a set of stairs and walk down a steadily darkening hallway. The Prefect continues talking, ignoring the wary looks the other first years are showing."The entrance to our common room lies behind a concealed entrance down in the dungeons." He stops in the middle of the hall, giving the crowd a smirk. "Can anyone tell where the entrance is?"

A few students start muttering to each other, a few looking around for anything that stands out. One points to an unlit sconce, another to a banner bearing the house crest. As more students guess, getting a growing smirk and head shakes in response, they start to grow frustrated.

Rolling my eyes at them, I lean against the wall. Seeing my action, Draco shrugs and joins me, watching as a few students demand that the Prefect simply tell them. One girl demands to speak with his manager, to which he tells her that he is the manager.

Seeming to get tired of the game, the Prefect's eyes fall on me and Draco. "Well now, you two haven't guessed yet. So what do you think? Where's the secret entrance?"

Draco shrugs. "I don't know, and I'd find it rather suspect if any of us would be able to find it given that this is our first time in the castle."

I give him a weird look. "What are you talking about? You're leaning on it."

Getting a confused look in reply, everyone hears the Prefect's low chuckle. "Basilisk." With a yelp of surprise Draco falls inside the now revealed doorway. I snicker, walking inside and helping a red-faced Draco to his feet.

As the other students enter with wide eyes and shocked expressions, he glares at the Prefect. "How dare you, don't you know who my family is!?"

Both me and the Prefect snort, though for different reasons. "It doesn't matter who your family is, my family is one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight! And we're one of the wealthiest."

Draco smirks. "What a coincidence, my family is also in the Sacred Twenty-Eight. And we are the wealthiest. Draco Malfoy, a pleasure, I'm sure." I watch with interest as the Prefect's face pales at his introduction.

"A-apologies, Mr. Malfoy. I had no idea." He stammers out an apology, and Draco gives him an imperious nod before turning away.

Just in time for me to smack the back of his head. As he turns back and glares at me, I roll my eyes. "Didn't we already talk about how you should focus on your own reputation, rather than your family's." At my own glare, he looks away, sulking.

He mutters quietly, "I don't have my own reputation yet, so of course I'll use my father's until then."

I nod. "That's fair. Just make sure you don't sound like a privileged young master."

He tilts his head. "What's a young master?"

"You'll find out if you become one. Anyways, this place is pretty cool." I look around the room, taking in the fancy fireplace, the leather couch, and the windows that look out to the depths of the lake. And the green and silver. Lots of green and silver accents on everything.

Seeing the interest of a girl who's able to treat the Malfoy heir with impudence, the Prefect immediately starts talking. "As you can see, the windows look out into the Great Lake. Oftentimes we'll see the giant squid swooshing by, and sometimes even more interesting creatures. We feel that it gives the common room the aura of a mysterious, underwater shipwreck."

I nod. "It really does. But have the windows ever broken before?"

He gives me a blank look. "Huh?"

"Have they broken before? I feel like the glass breaking and water flooding the dormitory would be a common fear. But you know, magic. Mainly I'm just curious if the enchantment on the glass has been broken before."

As I talk, the other students start giving the glass wary looks, slowly edging away from them.

The Prefect speaks slowly. "No. They have never broken before. And I don't believe that anyone has been worried about them breaking. Until now that is. Now that it's been brought up now it's stuck in my mind." He looks a bit gloomy at that, but he manages to shake it off.

"Anyways, this is the common room. The boy's dorm is down that hall, and the girl's dorm is down that way. You'll be sharing a room with each other for the rest of your time at Hogwarts unless something happens, so make sure you are at least civil towards each other. Your possessions should have already been delivered, so make sure nothing is missing. If there's no questions, I'll be taking my leave."

Pretending not to see the raised hands, he walks down the hall to the boy's dorm. Left behind, everyone shares glances.

Draco's two lackeys jump when the Prefect pokes his head back in. "Almost forgot, the password to unlock the secret passageway is posted on the board over there. It changes every fortnight." After pointing to a board with the word 'Basilisk' written on it, he withdraws once again, leaving silence behind.

Seeing how quiet it is, I decide to say something. "Dibs on the bottom bunk!" Then I rush to the girl's dorm. There's a moment of shock left behind, then everyone bursts into motion to try and get their preferred sleeping spot.

Reaching the room first, you see a circular room with a dark green carpet holding the house crest covering the center. Spread an equal distance around the large room are five large four poster beds with -surprise, surprise- emerald green curtains that we can draw shut.

Seeing Arianna already sleeping on the bed to the right of the door, I make my way there and sit, shifting so that one leg rests on the other as I wait for the others to get here.

It doesn't take long, the first girl to rush in having a hard face similar to a pug. Her brown hair fans out just behind her neck while her bangs reach down to just above her eyes. It looks stylish though. As she sees the room's layout, she scowls at me before choosing the bed farthest away from mine.

The second to enter at a far more sedate, but no less quick, pace is a girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She doesn't scowl at me when she sees the room, instead just raising an eyebrow and going to the bed to my right.

The next two girls fight to be the first through the door, too busy shoving each other to even look inside. The first girl has curly shoulder length brown hair and a cocky look.

The other girl is a bit chubby and has longer straight brown hair. And she's the first through the door, shoving the other girl with a grunt of effort.

Walking through the door with a proud expression, she sits on the bed next to the pug girl before looking around with furrowed eyebrows. The last girl enters while brushing dust off her robes. Seeing the beds, she rolls her eyes and sits on the other side of the pug.

Seeing how everyone is here now, I clear my throat. Seeing everyone focus on me, I speak. "So, how about we introduce ourselves?"