ADVENTUS | Wizarding World

Chapter 10 : The Common Room

After the students finished the dinner and desserts, Professor Dumbledore stood up once more from his chair, "Now as you all might be aware, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart is going to occupy the post of teaching defence against the dark arts and I welcome him on behalf of all of us" said Dumbledore. Gilderoy Lockhart enthusiastically got up from his seat and started waving around as though he was surrounded by reporters taking pictures of him, Professor Snape who had returned to his seat by now seemed like he wanted to shoot both himself and Lockhart. Once Gilderoy Lockhart sat back into his chair, Professor Dumbledore resumed his speech "And now it is time for us to sing our school anthem, I request everyone to sing along in their favourite tunes," he took out his wand, from which golden ribbons came out, forming letters, and soon enough everyone started singing,

"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."

Hayley noticed that the Slytherins didn't sing the song loudly, while Hufflepuffs were quite energetic, she saw Xanthus barely mumbling the words with his fists tightly curled, even the teachers didn't seem very happy. Ginny's brothers, Fred and George were the ones who finished the song lastly, singing it like an Opera.
Professor Dumbledore smiled at them and said "Now off you go to your beds!"

The Prefects of the Slytherin house led the first years to their common room in the dungeons. They had to take the stone steps going down from the side of the entrance hall. After going down the stairs for quite a distance, they reached the dungeons, Hayley could feel the significant temperature drop there.

The prefects led them to a stonewall and one of them spoke, 

"This is the entrance to our common room, under no circumstance should any of you let students from other houses enter, the password changes every fortnight which you will be informed. You need to say the password to the stone wall, which would move and give way for you to enter the common room, the current password is Serpent. Now watch me," said the perfect as he turned to the stone wall and spoke "Serpent", true to his words the wall moved to the side leading them into a large room lit with green lights. 

The room had a dark and mysterious touch to it. It seemed highly sophisticated and endearing. It was decorated with shelves and cupboards made of dark wood, further reinforcing the room's gothic nature. There was a mantlepiece in the centre above which a large Serpent was engraved in stone, the fire tackled in the fireplace below.

When Hayley turned to look at the windows, she was surprised to find that they were in fact underwater. A perfect who noticed Hayley's surprised expression spoke with a smirk on her face "That's right, we have an underwater view of the Black lake, don't be too surprised if you see the Giant squid or some other creatures pop by the window to say Hi,". 

The boy prefect, now had a serious expression on his face as he spoke, "For years, Slytherin had been winning the house cup. But last year, we lost our streak to Gryffindors. We should get back our title this year so I suggest you all work hard towards it. The briefing ends here, you all can go find your dormitories."

Hayley and the other first years found their way to their dormitories. The door to their room had 'FIRST YEARS' marked on it. The room was circular with five poster beds. Hayley saw that their trunks were already there standing next to their beds. The girls went to bed after a brief and awkward conversation. The bed felt so warm and comfortable that Hayley fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.