The Slytherin first years were ushered down to the dungeons by a particularly bad-tempered prefect. He stood in front of a stretch of empty wall and said "Emerald" and the wall separated to reveal a large, magnificently decorated room. They walked inside and looked around. The floors were marble with green rugs near couches and tables. There were two large fireplaces on either side of the room. Lit torches lined the walls. In front of each fireplace there were black bean bag chairs and a long mahogany table. In the middle of the room there were three black leather couches around another mahogany table. There were green plush pillows. On the wall opposite to the entrance there were two large mahogany desks with black leather chairs and two bookcases each on either side. Albus turned to look beside him and saw that this was mirrored on the side of the room that he was on. There were a few third years playing chess on the right side of the room near the fire. Albus saw there were stone staircases with dark green carpet going up on the side of the room with desks. The ceiling was high, stone, and with four marble snakes with their tails tied in the middle of the ceiling and reaching out to the corners of the room. Albus looked to the corner nearest to him to see where one of the snakes ended. He saw the snake came down from the ceiling to touch the ground, it's head curving up, yellow eyes wide and bright, it's mouth open to show off sparkling white fangs. Albus saw there were green cushions of the curved part of the snake, making a comfy looking reading chair.
"Slughorn probably expects me to tell you this. Dormitories are up those stairs. Girls to the left, boys to the right. Any boy who tries to go up the stairs to the girls dormitory will have something bad happen to them. Don't ask what, I don't know. Just don't do it. Slughorn'll be out here any minute, so you midgets stay put." the prefect said walking away. He was right. Not even a few minutes later, Professor Slughorn arrived in the Common Room.
"Ah, hello! You must be the first years! I'm Professor Slughorn, your Head of House and I would like to welcome you to Slytherin. The group you are with now will be like your family. You will eat, sleep, live, and take classes with them. I suggest you try your hardest to get along, as you will be together for the next seven years. Unless of course one of you dies. Which most likely will not happen, unless you go into the Forbidden Forrest or something goes terribly, terribly wrong with one of your classes, in which case you may meet a sudden, or not sudden, but painful death. Therefore I advise you to follow the rules and instruction given to you by your teachers as carefully as possible. My other request is that you will keep your quarrels with another housemate inside the house. Please do not bring it outside, it could make Slytherin look even worse than we already appear. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns you may come to me anytime my office is just around the corner! I hope you enjoy this year, and many of those to come! Now, run along to your rooms, a nice warm bed is waiting!" Professor Slughorn said, a rather cheerful man even when speaking about sudden death.
The boys went up the stone staircase on the right side of the room, the girls on the left. The hallway to their rooms was light brown stone with more torches lining the walls. White stone snakes were everywhere. Beside every door there two snakes. The banisters on the stairs ended to be snake heads. There were snakes carved into the walls, ceiling, and floors. The first two wooden doors they saw were labelled 'BATHROOM' in gold, the next doors had roman numerals. The door on the right said 'I' the one on the left 'II' the first year boys figured the one with 'I' was the first year dorm room. The six of them walked in. The room had stone walls and ceiling, and dark green carpet. There were three four poster beds on one side of the room and three on the other. The curtains were green and silver. The pillows on the beds were silver, the blankets green. Beside each bed were two small tables with three drawers. On the wall opposite to the door were two large dressers. The drawer handles were snakes. Every snake looked impossibly realistic.
"Wow, the snakes are pretty cool." Jesse said with a half smile. Malfoy and two other boys were on the left side of the room, Albus, George, and Jesse on the other. Albus noticed their trunks were at the foot of their beds. George started unpacking his truck while the other boys lay down. George's bed was near the door, Albus' was in between George and Jesse's bed. "How do you turn off the torches?" Jesse whispered to Albus.
"Wave your hand in front of one." Albus responded just as quietly.
"Thanks. This is so odd. I mean, a few weeks ago I was getting ready to go to junior high, and now I'm here." Jesse whispered back with a wide smile on his face. Albus smiled back and wondered what his cousin was doing.
The Ravenclaw's followed Professor Patil up some stairs, the Head of House explaining about the moving staircases all the way. Finally they reached the library. Rose's face lit up. There were so many books in this library, she couldn't wait to get started. She looked around and saw faces that mirrored her own.
"I didn't know there was a secret entrance to the Common Room in the library, and my whole family's been in Ravenclaw!" Jeffrey exclaimed. Professor Patil turned back and smiled at the excited faces. She led the first years to a closed off section of the library. Underneath a bookcase near that was on the wall was a circular blue and bronze rug. Professor Patil instructed the children to stretch around in a semi circle and observe.
"This book on the middle shelf here is a trick lever." Professor Patil explained, showing the students a very thick blue book.
"It can be identified by it's shade of blue, the eagle, and the bronze letters underneath the eagle." Professor Patil explained. The Ravenclaw's looked closer and saw that many of the letters were faded on the book, but two still stood out. They were 'R'.
"If you could all step on the carpet please, we will be off." Professor Patil said with a smile. The first years scrambled onto the blue and bronze rug and Professor Patil pulled the book downwards. The bookshelf and rug they were on rotated, and all of a sudden they were in a tunnel that was lit with torches.
"Come along now. I must tell you there is no way I know of for you to get back into the library from the Common Room." Professor Patil said, crushed the hopes of pretty much all the first years. They followed the professor along the tunnel for what seemed like and endless amount of time. It winded and sloped upward and downward until finally they reached a large, old looking wooden door with an eagle knocker on it.
"This is the official door for the Common Room. Only those who have been sorted into Ravenclaw can pull the book I showed you. This door is at the end of a spiral staircase located on the west side of the fifth floor. You'll see it when you leave the Common Room, don't worry. Anyone can get it Ravenclaw Tower so be sure that you tell as few people where it is as possible. The reason anyone can get it is that instead of a password, you must answer a riddle. If you get the riddle correct, you may enter the Tower. If you get it incorrect, you must wait for another person to let you in. That is why I advise you to only use this entrance if you are confident in your riddle solving skills. There is no other way to leave this tunnel other than answering the riddle. You cannot go back." Professor Patil explained to the first years. With that she reached out and knocked on the eagle knocker. The bird opened its beak.
"Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?" the bird asked in a slightly musical voice.
"Hmm…that's a good one. Does anyone have an idea? Miss Weasley?" Professor Patil asked, surprising Rose. Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?…phoenix…flame…well, to have the flame, you must have the phoenix…but a phoenix was born out of the flame…Ugh! It's as confusing as asking where the start of a circle is…THAT'S IT!
"I think that the answer is that a circle has no beginning." Rose answered, her heart pounding all the way.
"Well reasoned" the knocker said and the door swung open. Rose looked at Professor Patil and saw she was smiling at Rose. Professor Patil led the Ravenclaw's into their Common Room.
Rose looked around and realized she had accidentally lied to her cousin. Slytherin Common Room is not the biggest Common Room at Hogwarts. Ravenclaw's was. They had an entire tower as their Common Room she realized. She looked up and saw at least three floors in the circular tower. The floors jutted out into the center of the tower. Each had wooden banisters. Each floor was slightly different. One floor she saw had barely anything but a few tables and chairs for playing chess and other games. The one thing that was similar with all the floors was the bookcases. Every bookcase had shelves jam packed with books. There were bookcases in between windows on the main floor. There was one large fireplace close to the door. There were many desks all around the Common Room. The floor was carpeted with midnight blue carpets, the windows reached up and up and when she looked up she saw them finally come to an end at the top of the tower. She saw the ceiling and gasped. It looked open to the sky. Rose realized it must be enchanted, just like the Great Hall. Between windows and bookcases she saw a few doorways. From the looks of it they went to balconies.
"There are some things you need to know. One is do not touch anything that may be laying around on the ground. By order of the Ministry, we must tell you this. Many of the Ravenclaw's invent things, and prototypes often get lost. When I was in school one first year found a prototype of a parchment recycler and well…he was in St Mungo's for the remainder of the year. He came back the next year with half a hand. The Healers couldn't grow it back. That's when it became mandatory for all first years to be informed, so please, don't touch anything laying around. Another thing you need to know is the monthly pillow fights. On the last weekend of each month it's a tradition to though pillows, pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, and bags of blended radishes. Everything is pillow shaped and supplied for you. The bookshelves are moved, so don't worry." Professor Patil chuckled. Rose went back to looking around the room. In the center of the room she saw there was a large circle of grey stone steps she looked closer she saw there were three. She looked in the large sunken circle in the middle of the room and saw a statue of a medieval looking female. What surprised her was what was underneath the statue. At the base she saw something large, round, and red
"Is that a giant radish in the middle of the Common Room?" Rose asked. Professor Patil nodded.
"Why?" Rose asked. A few of the other first years were staring in awe at the giant vegetable.
"It was put there after the war ended as a tribute to Luna Lovegood and her contribution." Professor Patil explained. Rose laughed while the other Ravenclaw's looked puzzled. Obviously they had never met Luna.
"Oh, one more thing I forgot! My twin sister Pavarti is teaching Transfiguration here and as neither of us has married, instead of calling us both Professor Patil, please call me Professor Padma, or simply Padma, and her Professor Pavarti. I will be wearing a bronze tie and a blue hair ribbon, and she will be wearing a red tie and a gold hair ribbon so you can tell us apart if you need to. The girls dorm rooms are out that door and up the right staircase, the boys around the left corner and up the staircase. Have fun!" Professor Padma told them. Rose, Jamie, and Kathryn walked out the door together with the other first years. Rose looked around and realized they were out on a walkway that was covered be a wooden ceiling. The wood had squares in it where you could see the sky. There was a white stone banister around the walkway, and as they walked she saw a gate that led to a beautiful balcony. There were flowers hanging over the top of the wood, and many flower pots lining the banister. They were so high up that they were actually above the clouds. After much slow walking and observing, they came to a stone opening that held black iron stairs. They climbed up. It was a slow slope upward that turned slightly, and they didn't have far to go before they saw a door with names on it. The bronze nameplate on the wooden door said:
ROSE WEASLEY
JESSICA ALBERT
JAMIE MCGEE
KATHRYN HAYS
KIRSTEN HALL
They pushed the door open, went in and gasped.
The room was a large circle. There were bookshelves, windows, two dressers on the right side of the room. On the same side there was another wooden door that said 'BATHROOM'. There were five beds that had two bedside tables each. Rose looked up and realized the ceiling was just like the Common Room's. She saw their trunks were on the ground near their beds. She went over to her bed and she heard one girl gasp.
"Inside the tables there's parchment, quills, ink, candles and matches!" Jamie exclaimed. Kathryn was in the middle of the room where there was a large, wooden, circular desk. Around the desk were several comfy looking chairs. On the desk there was something, Rose couldn't tell what.
"It's the parchment recycler Professor Padma was talking about!" Kathryn gasped. Jamie had closed her curtains on her bed and then she opened them.
"Did you say something?" she asked. Kathryn nodded.
"I couldn't hear you! The curtains must have a silencing charm on them" Jamie said in awe. Wow. Rose thought. This is going to be the best seven years of my life.
