The Devil You Know - Draco Malfoy

Chapter 3

Walking farther into what felt like the catacombs of Hogwarts, two Slytherin prefects led the new snakes to their home for the next seven years. For the most part, the three little snakes were quiet. They whispered their awes to one another as they saw a ghost past, or a painting move to a different portrait. She wouldn't say it out loud, but Toni quite enjoyed getting to be one of the students who took care of the first years. She felt a little bit of pride, when she pulled out her green Slytherin prefect badge out of her Hogwarts letter. It felt like she was honoring her mother, who had been a prefect her fifth year, and Headgirl during her seventh year. Toni wanted to keep the joy on their face for as long as possible. Both prefects knew the inevitable would happen eventually, and the three eleven year olds would find out that more than half the school hated them, just for the color of their ties. Hopefully, with Pucey as their Headboy, they could prevent the bullying that happened to their house.

The first years were led to a long wall. There were two sconces, already lit, with a gap in-between them. There were only a few portraits in the corridor, sleeping peacefully. The three of them were not sure why they stopped, but they were more focused on trying not to let the chill of the dungeons effect them. Even though all three of them had grown up with magic around them, Hogwarts was completely different in a good way.

"This will be the entrance into our common room." Draco announced for the first time since they left the Great Hall. "Don't give the password out to anyone, it's our space. Snakebite."

Like magic, a large snake seemed to come up from the ground, and slithered into a large arc. In the arc, was a large cherry wood door. Draco opened it up, letting everyone enter first. There were already a few people in the common room, quietly relaxing by the fire. Theo was sitting next to Blaise Zabini, a tall black boy who had high cheekbones, and was known as a heartthrob amongst the students. The boy kept mostly to himself, but would sometimes sit with Draco and his group of friends. He was pretty sure his mother was on her sixth husband at the moment, and Blaise wasn't sure how long this marriage would last. Sephora Zabini was known as the Black Widow in the wizarding community. His mother and Narcissa were quite close friends, both meeting up weekly over tea. The two boys had given Draco and Toni enthusiastic thumbs ups, smiles on their faces. 

It was a beautiful large common room, decorated in forest green colors and black. A few leather couches sat in an arc shape around a calming fire, with a coffee table in the middle. Large windows, that seemed to reach the sky, showed below the surface level of the Black Lake. It was known among the older students, to tell first years they would see a mermaid if they sat still long enough. The first years loved it, and would watch in excitement for hours. Seeing a mermaid for the first time, was a lifelong memory. What wasn't common knowledge to the other houses, was all Slytherin's learned sign language to be able to communicate with the lake creatures. It also benefited their house to use sign language when they wanted to talk about others in front of them. 

Around the common room, there were a few other places to relax and study. Between the windows were huge bookshelves, overflowed to the brim with old weathered books that were passed down from previous students. In the Pure-blood community, a lot of adults didn't like what was kept from students about magic. Dumbledore held so much information about different types of magic, and other things like soulmates. There was much that Hogwarts did not cover, all because he wanted people to avoid archaic subjects. Mother Magic was no longer celebrated with holidays in England, unless you were a traditionalist pure-blood. You could see the way their community was slowly falling apart at the seams. If something wasn't done soon, their community could cease to exist. 

"Welcome to one of the best places in Hogwarts. This is where you will spend most of your free time. Like Draco said, do not give out our password to anyone. Even if you make friends from other houses. Which we encourage you to do so. This is our space, and we only allow snakes in when theres not a party." Toni reminded. "It will change every few weeks. You will see a post for it on the notice board, that is over in that corner. Now, before we send you off to bed, we have a few rules for you."