After the Willow Tree | Theo Nott

CHAPTER EIGHT

(the new dorm)

"This is so weird."

Pansy nodded, agreeing with Daphne.

Being back at Hogwarts after the war was weird...and horrible...and amazing—somehow all at the same time. They walked through corridors where students and professors fought for their lives only four months prior, but nothing gave any sign of the horror that had occurred there. Why did it feel so strange to Pansy that it looked like it did before Voldemort came back? Why did it almost feel wrong that everything was the idyllic and strange school that she'd always known?

"All of us are so different now," she murmured under her breath to Pansy. "It's unnerving to see this place look so much like it did before."

"It will be nice to have some normalcy and innocence again though."

"We can't bring the innocence back to ourselves."

"But maybe that's okay," she said, bumping her shoulder against Pansy's. "Maybe it's good to grow, even if we're darker now. Maybe it means we can be stronger too."

Pansy didn't know what to say. They were almost to the new dorms anyway. The new wings for the repeating seventh years, hidden behind portraits of their own.

Hidden behind a small staircase was an elaborate painting of a blonde-haired woman in a crown of daisies. This was the portrait that would lead Pansy and their friends into their mini wing of dorm rooms.

"Password?" the painting giggled sweetly as she spun around, the wind blowing through the skirts of her white dress.

"Lilac and lavender."

Daphne stepped back after whispering this, smiling when the delighted woman cheered at her correct answer and swung the door open for them to step inside.

"Whoa," Daphne said, stepping inside and looking around.

The walls were lined with flickering lamps, and the walls were painted a deep maroon, pulling out the shades of maroon from the dark, patterned carpet lining the hallway floor. Down at the end of the rather short hallway were two deep wooden doors, one on either side. Golden letters were magically etched into each door, highlighting the names of those who would occupy each room.

On the right: Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, Lorelei Jones, and Luna Lovegood.

On the left: Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Neville Longbottom, and Dean Thomas.

"Who is Dean Thomas?" Pansy hissed to Daphne, leaning in close as she pointed at the golden letters.

Just then, the boy's dorm room door swung open, and there stood Neville Longbottom in his Gryffindor robes with a shy smile and his wand in hand. Hovering just behind him was a wide-eyed Gryffindor boy that Pansy had seen around before but never officially met. He must have been Dean.

"Hi, Pansy. Hi, Daphne," Neville said, nodding at each of them.

"Good evening, Neville." Daphne smiled. "And you must be Dean Thomas, I presume?"

Dean stepped around Neville to awkwardly join the girls in the small hallway. He offered them a hand to shake, although Pansy swore she saw some fear (or maybe even disgust?) in the downward turn of his lips as he did so.

"I'm Dean Thomas," he said, nonetheless. "I hope you don't mind having a couple of Gryffindors in your little Slytherin hallway here."

"It's not a Slytherin hallway," Pansy chuckled. "We have a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw in our room with us."