Harry Potter and the Gift of Memories [Harry Potter Fan Fiction]

Chapter XIV: A Charming Breakfast

Despite having seen the moving images on the Chocolate Frog he had eaten on the Hogwarts Express, Harry had been quite shocked to see that the portraits lining the walls were all alive. The people within them moved and talked and acted just like real people. It was an amazing piece of magic—like all the magic he had seen performed—and the ever inquisitive part of his mind couldn't help but wonder how this feat was accomplished.

“Caput Draconis,” Harry spoke softly so as not to wake the Fat Lady. The door swung open as the Fat Lady continued to snore, and Harry walked into the Gryffindor Common Room.

The Gryffindor Common Room was a large, circular room where Gryffindor students could relax and study in relative peace. It was full of squashy armchairs, tables, and a bulletin boardwhere school notices, ads, lost posters, etc. could be posted. A window looked out onto the grounds of the school and a large fireplace dominated one wall. The walls were decorated with scarlet tapestries that depicted not only witches and wizards, but also various animals.

Harry recognized many of them, some were magical such as the Griffin, others were not, as was the case with the lion. The room itself wasn't bad looking; it actually was kind of cozy, though Harry was not very fond of the color. He had nothing against red and gold, but those two colors combine were just too bright and loud to have a whole room decked out in them. Still, it was his common room now, and he would be living there for the next seven years. Might as well get used to it.

Without sparing the room a backward glance, Harry headed toward one of the two doors on the opposite side of the common room. Each door led to a spiral stair case which led to a set of dormitories. One for boys, one for girls.

Harry took the one leading to the boy's dormitory.

The boy's dormitory was a circular room, much like the common room, only instead of armchairs and tables it held beds. There were four four-poster beds in total, with deep red, velvet curtains. Once more, the color scheme was gold and red.

Harry noticed that everyone else was still asleep. Dean Thomas, a dark-haired, dark-skinned boy almost as tall as Harry slept like a rock, occasionally mumbling something incoherent under his breath. Harry thought the boy was talking about football, but couldn't be sure. Seamus Finnigan, a boy of Irish descent with pale skin and sandy-colored hair lay on his back, his arms spread out and his mouth hanging wide open. And Neville Longbottom, the round faced boy, was curled up in a ball laying on his side.

Since no one was awake to see him, Harry waved his hand towards the trunk sitting in front of his bed. He smiled when the small charm he had placed upon his trunk spoke the password in a hushed tone. It was a very basic charm, one he had discovered during the summer when he looked up basic household charms. He had set up the speaking charm specifically for this instance, since he suspected—quite correctly—that he would be up long before any of his roommates were.

The trunk unlocked with a soft 'click' and another wave of his hand caused the small, rotating circular lock with the numbers one through four to move until it reached number two.

The trunk opened up as Harry directed more magic at it. One of his three sets of school robes and a large towel flew out to land in his outstretched hands.

After closing and locking the trunk, Harry made his way to the communal showers where he enjoyed a nice long soak under hot sprays of water. He came out nearly half an hour later dressed in his clothes with the towel laying over his still wet hair.

Not long after arriving back in his bedroom, Harry found himself sitting down on the couch in the common room reading Hogwarts, A History. It was a very interesting book, and he was nearly half-way finished with it, having read quite a bit of the book over the summer. Harry hoped to finish it before the end of the week.