Bound by Soul

Snakes and Ladders

After the welcoming feast, Harry and the other first years were lead out of the hall by the Slytherin Prefects.

The other houses were heading towards the grand staircase, the Hufflepuffs heading down a corridor on the ground floor, while the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws climbed the stairs.

The Slytherins headed down an equally large, but much more simply made stair, that lead into the dungeons. They went through several twisting corridors that had doors every so often along the walls.

After awhile, they stopped in front of a blank stretch of wall. The only things that stood out, were the black iron brackets which each held a dark wood torch, attached to the wall on either side of where the Perfects stood.

The older boy turned to the first years.

"This is the entrance to our common room. The teachers are the only ones outside of Slytherin house allowed to have the password. Without the password, you can't get in. So don't forget it."

The girl Perfect beside him turned to the wall, and said, very clearly, 

"Lingua Serpentis."

The wall slid aside, and the Prefects lead the way inside.

Harry was quite taken aback. He didn't know what he had expected, but the common room nearly took his breath from surprise.

It was a larger, rectangular room, with the lefthand wall dominated by a simple but elegant fireplace. In front of the crackling flames were comfortable looking leather couches, and black leather chairs. The right wall had two large arches, that lead to circular reading/study rooms, that even had bookshelves.

The Prefects lead them across the entire room, to the opposite wall, which had two spiral staircases leading down, twisting in different directions. The boy stood in front of the left stair, and the girl was in front of the right one, both were facing the new students.

"These are the dorms." The boy - Harry really needed to learn their names - gestured to the stairs behind him,

"The boys' are down this left stair, first years are at the end of the hall."

"The girls are the same on the right." The other Perfect said, before she gave them all a hard stare. "There's a curse on the staircases. You don't want to find out what happens if you try to take the wrong one."

Harry nodded along with the rest of his year mates, silently affirming that they would remember. 

"I'll take it from here, Dolcite, Faulkins."

Harry turned around. Standing behind the first years, was the hook-nosed teacher, with an impassive expression on his face. The Prefects nodded and headed down the stairs behind them, presumably heading to their respective dorms.

The teacher surveyed the students in front of him with an almost blank look.

"I suppose I should first welcome you to Slytherin."

He surveyed the group of children, his eyes lingering on a few of them.

"I am the head of Slytherin house, Professor Snape. The other houses, for their own reasons, take exception to us serpents, each to different degrees. Which is why, outside of this common room, Slytherin house must remain united. Any problems held with a fellow Slytherin are to be dealt with in the common room. And if I ever hear of any Slytherin instigating a fight with another student, from any house, I will personally deal with those responsible."

Harry couldn't help the nervous twist in his gut at those words.

Snape laid out a few more rules, before sending them all to bed.

Harry and the other boys headed down the spiral staircase, which lead to a long hall. In the room at the far end, they found their trunks at the end of each four poster bed. There was one for each of them. Harry's was farthest from the door, on the left. The entire wall between his and Nott's bed appeared to be made of glass, as it gave them a clear view into the black lake. The moonlight streaming through the water cast a dancing, eerie green-ish light around the circular room.

Harry walked over to his trunk, taking his time to dig through it. There was little talking, the other boys finding their pajamas rather quickly, and had already changed by the time Harry had pulled out his own. They each took turns in the bathroom by the door to the hall. When they were done, they climbed into their beds, bid each other good night, and pulled the hangings closed.

Harry waited until the last one had gone to bed, before he went in the bathroom to change and brush his teeth. He also unwrapped the pseudo-bandages from around his arms, and checked the cuts he had made just that morning. After washing the bandages, Harry loosely wrapped them around his arms once more, in case they started bleeding again in the night. Once he was sure they were covered by his sleeves, he brushed his teeth, and went to bed. He put his glasses on his bedside cabinet, pulled the hangings closed, and laid down, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Harry had a strange dream.

He was standing in the Slytherin dormitory, an almost blinding green light filling the room, while a high, cold voice congratulated him on his sorting, insisting that it would lead him to great things. He spotted Dumbledore standing in front of the window into the lake, demanding to know why he didn't choose Gryffindor, while the cold voice laughed from behind Harry. Dumbledore suddenly turned into Uncle Vernon, yelling at Harry for being at Hogwarts at all. The light vanished, and the walls were closing in on Harry, pressing in on all sides, trying to compress him into a human snuff box. There was another flash of green light, and Harry awoke, shaking.

There was a slit in his curtains, letting in the eerie light from the lake. Harry rolled over, curling up under the blankets, and falling back to sleep almost at once, his strange dream forgotten by morning.

Since the first password for Gryffindor tower was Dragon's head, or whatever the literal translation is, I decide the rest of the houses probably did something similar. So Slytherin's password right now is Serpent's tongue. It makes sense. Don't question so much.

Peace

Bakeku67

I was going to wait until tomorrow, since it will have been an exact week from last update, and you guys have been amazing about this so far.

Since we've reached a hundred already, let's head for one thirty next!