Daniel tossed and turned in his sleep as he had a recurring dream of him being chased. He was no older than about three years old and was standing outside of an unfamiliar house. He could hear the voices of people talking before he heard a loud howl. He turned to run into the house when he fell and a black dog came chasing after him. The dog pounced towards him and he woke up to a sharp pain in his back.
He groaned in pain, slightly sitting up and looking around at his surroundings. He could see the other boys soundly asleep in their bed and ran his hands down his face. He wiped his sweaty forehead on the back of his hand and got up from the floor. He walked over to the door of the dormitory and slowly opened it, trying not to wake anyone up. He went down to the common room and over to the book shelves.
Grabbing a random book off the shelf, he sat down on the soft carpet and leaned against the sofa. He brought his knees to his chest and began to read Watership Down, as it rested on top of his upper thighs. He tapped his feet against the leg of the table as he scanned over the same page for the third time. It was like his mind was in a completely different place, his mind kept wondering what they were doing back at the institute or if Bean was okay, being with Magnus.
"Are you alright?"
Daniel turned to see a ghost hovering a little ways away from him, near the statue that lead to his dormitory. He closed the book, setting it down on the table and got up off the floor.
"Woah," he mouthed as he walked towards the woman.
He blinked a couple of times before speaking once more, "I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep."
The ghost of Rowena Ravenclaw came towards him and he took a step back, feeling a little frightened. This was the first time he had ever seen a ghost, let alone talked to one and he didn't know exactly how to handle it.
"There's no need to be afraid, I will not harm you."
"I'm not s-scared." He said but he couldn't convince himself that he was telling the truth.
"What is your name?"
"Daniel." He said sitting down on the floor.
"You the one, the other students were talking about."
He shrugged, "I guess so."
Daniel sat there in silence, not knowing what to say next and listened to the calming winds that blew throughout the common room. He yawned rubbing his eyes and laid down in front of the statue. Resting his head on his hands, and quickly fell asleep.
------
"Awe look." Daniel heard someone say as he slowly began to wake up.
He pushed himself up so that he was sitting on the floor and noticed everyone staring at him. He ran his hands down his face as he was yawning. He was about to go back up to his dormitory when he was approached by a blonde haired girl.
"Did you sleep down here?" She asked him.
He rubbed his eyes with palm and slowly nodded before walking behind the statue. He opened the wooden door and went up to his dormitory to get ready for the day. He went over to his bed and began to make it like he did back at the institute. When the Lightwood adults were around the institute had to be in tip top shape and in it's rightful place. Once he was down, he grabbed his clothing and went into the bathroom.
He lathered himself with his orange blossom body wash and shampoo. He heard the other students in his dormitory moving about and he rinsed himself off. Wrapping his towel around his waist, he went over to the sink to brush his teeth. After he was finished, he dried himself off and got dressed in his school robes. He pushed his wet brown hair out of his face and tried to figure out how it was going to fix that sloppy mess.
Deciding on just to dry it, he left the bathroom and proceeded back to his dormitory. He sat down on his made bed and collected his books for the day in case he got locked out of the common room.
"Where were you this morning?" Roger asked when he noticed Daniel was in the room.
"I was in the common room."
He shook his head laughing, "So you're the one who feel asleep near the statue."
Daniel nodded before walking out of his dormitory and down to the common room, with his books in his hand. He looked around hoping the book he was reading last night was still on the table.
"Excuse me." He said, trying to get though the older students.
He grabbed the paperback book off the table and made his way through the crowded area, out of the common room. With his books in the two strap leather backpack that Magnus had given him, he walked down the spiral staircase. He followed the opposite way he had gone in order to get to his common room, trying to find the Great Hall. He figured he'd find it eventually, all he had to do was listen for the sounds of students talking. Once he got to the Great Hall, he sat down at the Ravenclaw table and piled his plate with food.
He opened the book and began reading it, starting where he had left off as he slowly ate his food. He was so engulfed in the book, that he hadn't noticed that someone had sat across from him.
“You should eat before your food gets cold.”
“I'm sure I can manage.” He replied, his eyes not leaving the page.
He could feel the person staring at him, it made him feel uneasy and a bit uncomfortable. He finished the chapter he was on and closed the book, setting it down next to him on the table. He took a sip of his orange juice and glanced over at the boy, that sat down in front of him.
“May I help you...?” He questioned, taking a bite of toast.
The black haired boy smiled, “Kenneth and I'm just sitting here, eating breakfast.”
“Well Kenny could you do that, without staring?”
“It's Kenneth and I wasn't staring.” He said as his face became red with embarrassment.
Daniel laughed and rolled his eyes, “Sure you weren't and I'm not from the states.”
“I wasn't, honestly.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Kenny.” Daniel said as he finished his meal.
Kenneth huffed and walked away from Daniel, going back to the Gryffindor table. He shook his head laughing and pushed his empty plate away from him, opening the book and began reading again. He would have left and went to read outside, but he had to wait for Professor Flitwick to give him his timetable. He began softly humming a tune as he read further along in his book. Not wanting to finish the book to soon, he closed it and just in time too. He looked over to see Keith and Angelina coming towards him, with their timetables in hand.
“Did you get your timetable yet?” Angelina asked as they set down next to him.
“Nope, but he's coming this way though.” He said pointing towards the end of the table.
“Are you really going to wear your tie like that, all day?” Angelina asked pointing at his poor excuse for a tied tie.
“I was planning on it.”
Angelina sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and grabbed her friends tie. Everyone seemed to be stressed about the first day of class, but Daniel didn't feel stressed, he felt excited. He was always excited to learn something new and being able to learn magic only made it more intriguing. Daniel began to make gagging noises as she fixed his tie and made it to tight around his neck.
He loosened his tie a bit, “Try not to choke me next time.”
She laughed and slightly pushed her friend, “Oh, shut up!”
Once he had gotten his timetable, he left the Great Hall with his friends by his side. He looked down at the map he was given and tried to figure out where his first class was.
“What class do you have first?”
“Defense Against the Dark Arts.” Keith and Daniel said at the same time.
The two boys high fives each other and continue to walk down the semi-crowded corridor.
“I have Potions and I think it's with Slytherin.” She said in a disgusting way.
“Hey! Not all Slytherins are bad.” Keith said, glaring at her.
“I'll believe it when I see it. I'll see you guys later.” She waved as she walked in the opposite direction.
He turned and stopped in front of Keith, “Then that's what we'll do.”
“What do you mean?” Keith questioned.
He smiled as they walked into their classroom, “We're going to prove that not all Slytherins are bad. Like you said, your father was in Slytherin and he's a pretty nice guy.”
“Well yeah, but how are we going to do that? Neither one of us are in Slytherin.” Keith said, sitting down in between his best friend and Cedric.
He pulled out his text book and a roll of parchment, “I don't know...yet. But I'll think of something.”
He bounced his leg underneath the table as he tried to figure out how they were going to accomplish this task. This was going to be hard but he was up to the challenge, so far he's only encountered a couple bad people who were sorted into Slytherin. Though just because they were obnoxious and self centered, doesn't mean that all Slytherins were like that. Daniel sat there wishing he had been sorted into Slytherin to prove them wrong, but he wasn't. So the next best thing was to try and befriend some in the Slytherin house.