The girl with golden hair (Harry Potter fanfic)

Chapter 1.4 (The seven lionesses)

"Oooooooh!" He said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!" He swooped suddenly at them and they all ducked. "Go away, Peeves, or the Baron will hear about this, I mean it!" Barked Percy.

Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armour as he passed.

"You want to watch out for Peeves." Said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't listen to us prefects." He sounded rather insulted by that. "Here we are."

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress. "Password?" She asked.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forwards to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it...Neville needed a leg up....and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another.

At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers -they found their beds at last. Seven four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. The beds were flanked by a set of windows and space storing personal belongings. On the window sill, a water jug was placed.

Their trunks had already been brought up. Artemis immediately walked over to Nox's cage and gently lifted the sleeping cat up in her arms and laid him down on a pillow at the foot of her bed. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pyjamas and fell into bed.

The Hogwarts castle
Scotland, Great Britain
September 2 1991

Artemis woke up the next morning to the sun brightly shining on her face. "Goodmorning." A girl with big, doe-like brown eyes and long, curly, dirty-blonde hair said. She was braiding it in a complicated pattern. "My name is Lavender." She smiled. "You are Artemis, aren't you?" Artemis nodded and stepped out of her bed. "Nice to meet you." She said, yawning.

There were seven Gryffindor girls this year, which was two more than average so they had to enlarge the room.

Artemis walked over to her trunk, which was placed on top of a wooden chest at the end of her bed. She gathered a clean uniform, a hairbrush, a toothbrush and some hairties.

She walked down the stairs and into the big bathroom right below the common room. There was a side for the girls and a side for the boys.

She jumped into the shower and washed her thick, wavy hair as she mentally prepared herself for her first day at Hogwarts. She could hardly believe she was here. For a child born into a wizarding family it's your ultimate goal to get your Hogwarts letter. Not only does that mean you're not a Squib, which would be terrible, but it also means that you're ready to begin your life, your wizarding life. You have finally reached the age where you're allowed to use your special talent.

She used a towel to dry her hair and let it hang loose. She only clipped the fronts to the back. Walking out of the shower, she saw some of her dormmates. Victoria Dunbar was dressing in her Hogwarts uniform. Elizabeth Bouchard was brushing her long raven hair and pulled it back in a ponytail. Hermione was brushing her teeth and Giselle was attempting to put her hair in a bun but the tie broke and she gave up.

"Here..." said Elizabeth. "My mum thought it was nice to give my new roommates one of her selfmade bracelets." She smiled. Artemis took it from her and gasped. The bracelet was easily one of the most delicate yet beautiful things she had ever seen.

It was a charm bracelet without any charms. It was made of shiny silver and seemed to have been made with magic because no Muggle could make something this complicated. The chackles where charms are supposed to be attached to were different from the rest, they spread out like tiny, silver leaves from the bracelet. As if it were a tree that could grow beautiful, colourful blossom at any moment.