Real Life Sucks

By The Way, Here's Your Life!

 Chapter 5.

“If I could have your attention?” McGonagall called, refocusing the room. She waited as the students re-claimed their seats. “As you can see, many of you have lives you would not have expected. These were drawn up prior to the selection of numbers. As it is, for all intents and purposes these are your lives. Inside your dossiers there is a map. Your place of residence will be marked clearly upon the map. You should also have a key. This is for your residence, and nobody apart from teachers will be able to enter if you keep your houses locked. The teachers involved in this project will have access to all houses. Further personal effects will be located inside your residence.

“If you would follow me? I suggest you pay attention, as you will be staying at this location for the next six months.” McGonagall led them out of the Hall and up to the seventh floor. She stopped in front of a wide door and waited for them to reassemble before continuing her speech. “Some of you may recall this room from previous years. It is widely known as the Room of Requirement. For the duration of this project, however, it will remain fixed in this state. Once you enter, you are expected to make your way sensibly to your place of residence. Those students in younger years will not be able to enter without specific permission from one or more of you.” McGonagall stepped aside. “Your project begins now. Good luck.”

—Real Life Sucks—

Neville stepped to the side of the corridor and sorted through his dossier until he found his house. Well, the house he would be sharing with Padma. It didn’t look too far away from the dot marked ‘Entrance,’ so he fixed its location in his mind and re-joined the crush of students. He couldn’t see Padma. He hoped she’d find it all right.

—Real Life Sucks—

Ginny glared at the map. Every way she held it seemed to be the wrong way. Finally, she held her wand flat on the palm of her hand and whispered “Point me.” It spun, then pointed to her right. She looked around for a street sign. Only two blocks away. She hurried off.

—Real Life Sucks—

Luna wandered happily through the streets. She knew exactly where her house was, but she wanted to have a look through the town before she saw it. There were a few apartment buildings, but mostly there were houses, in varying sizes. She saw Harry waving at her from the porch of his large house, and waved back. She almost ran into Neville as he peered at his map. The sky was progressively getting darker.

“Hello Neville,” she smiled airily. It was a great smile. It gave off the impression that she wasn’t paying much attention.

“Hey Luna,” he said back distractedly. “Have you seen-”

“Your house is over there,” she replied, pointing. He stared at her in astonishment. “Padma’s waving at you.”

He turned. “Thanks Luna!” He started to hurry off, then turned back. “You know where your house is, right? Do you need any help finding it?”

“No, I’ll be all right,” she replied, smiling again. “I love dusk, don’t you?”

Neville smiled in response, and ran off to his house.

Luna marked Neville’s house on her map, then tucked it into her pocket and set off again.

—Real Life Sucks—

Hermione walked briskly along the path towards where her house was meant to be. Her fingers were tightly crossed. Please don’t make me live with Malfoy. We’re split, right? So we must have different houses. I’ll go mad if I have to live with him. Somebody’s going to be dead by the time the week’s over. I wonder what I should do with the body… She glanced at the map again, and ran into someone.