Dumbledore led us down the stairs, and out to the hallway. We walked through a couple more corridors before ending up back in the Great Hall. We walked up a few staircases to a small landing with a painting of a lady hung on the wall. She was quite beautiful. Her dark hair was tied back elaborately, with flowers sprinkled in. She wore a pale pink dress. Overall, she looked quite Grecian. Reminding me of Hera, but with a better personality.
"This is the Fat Lady," Dumbledore said.
"Well that's not very nice," I looked at the painting.
Dumbledore chuckled, "She is the door to the Gryffindor house. Just say the password and she will open. This year the password is 'Fairy Lights'."
On cue, the painting opened like a door, revealing a large room with two staircases on either side. As Dumbledore had promised, there was a fireplace surrounded by a few chairs. Ron, Harry, and Hermione sat in them, talking. When they saw us, they waved and walked over.
"Hello Professor Dumbledore," Hermione greeted.
"Hello Hermione," Dumbledore smiled, "Now I trust you three will take care of our exchange students."
The three wizards nodded their heads.
"Great, now have a good evening you six. Make sure to get some rest, first day of the term tommorrow," Dumbledore turned and walked out of the Gryffindor common room, closing the painting behind him.
The trio led us to the arm chairs, where we sat down. I sunk into the fluffy cotton padding. It was a comfortable chair, a pattern similar to what a grandmother would have in her sitting room. I watched the fire crackle in the fireplace. The flames were weaving in and out of each other. Turning vivid shades of red, orange, and blue. The wood was becoming charred, and slowly disintegrating. I felt the heat against my cheeks, the beauty of it. It took me a while to realize Ron was talking to us.
"So what did Dumbledore want?"
"He wanted to introduce himself, and get to know us," Nico replied.
Ron nodded, "I see. Are you excited for your first day?"
"Yeah," I shrugged, Nico and Thalia muttered similar replies, "Anything we should watch out for?"
"Besides Draco Malfoy? Snape," Harry looked grim.
"He's out potions teacher, and despises us," Ron explained, "Other than that, nothing really."
Hermione turned to her friends, "What do you think about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher?"
Harry shrugged, "He seems okay, a little creepy looking though. Hopefully better than the first two. I still wish Lupin could have stayed."
"Professor Lockhart was not that bad," Hermione defended.
"That's only because you thought he was dreamy, the bloke was an idiot," Ron shot back.
I was confused about all these names they were throwing around, Lockhart, Lupin, Defense Against the Dark Arts. I looked to Nico and Thalia, who were not really paying attention.
I piped up, "What is Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
"Oh, sorry," Hermione apologized, "It's one of our classes. We learn how to fight the dark arts, defend spells and such."
"Every year we get a new teacher. They say the position is cursed as something bad always happens to the teachers," Ron said mysteriously.
"First was Professor Quirell, he was possessed by Voldemort and had his face on the back of his head. He tried to kill me, and got blown up. Then was Professor Lockhart. He was, sorry Hermione, a complete moron who took credit for things he did not do. He would erase peoples memories, and make it seem like he was the hero. He had his memory wiped while trying to wipe ours, and I don't really know what happened to him. Finally was Professor Lupin. He was the best one, but he was a Werewolf. When the parents found out there was a lot of backlash, and he had no choice but to quit," Harry explained.
"Wow, remind me never to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Thalia laughed.
Silence filled the room, an awkward silence, something I really hated. The fire was beginning to die, and my eyes felt heavy. I let out a big yawn, and soon everyone mimicked. I guess yawns really were contagious.
"I think it might be time for bed," Hermione said, "Thalia you are rooming with me. Percy and Nico, you are with Ron and Harry."
Thank the gods, I was ready for bed. It had been a long day, no a long week. No it had been a long month, that was it. I could finally relax, except now I was just playing body guard to Harry Potter.
We said goodnight to Thalia and Hermione, and headed up the opposite staircase from them. The boys led us to a room and opened the door. Inside was four beds. I saw my stuff at the base of one of the beds. At Harry's bed, Hedwig's cage was sitting.
"So this is our room," Harry gestured.
I walked over and sat on my bed, it was so comfortable. I sprawled out acrossed it and chuckled, "I could get used to this,".
We changed into our pajamas, and sat on our beds talking.
"So how old are you guys?" I asked.
"I'm 14," Ron said.
"Me too," Harry replied, "How about you?"
"I just turned sixteen, and Nico is 12," I replied, Nico nodded.
"So the three of you are cousins?" Ron looked at us.
"Yeah. Our dad's are brothers," Nico nodded, "We have a pretty big family."
"I understand that," Ron laughed.
"So how many siblings do you have Ron?" I asked.
"6," He replied, "Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Ginny."
The conversation died off, and we soon felt too tired to stay up. We turned off the lights and went to bed. Or, at least tried to go to bed. How was I going to keep Harry safe? I mean, when I was fourteen I was horrible. I mean I blew up a volcano and tried to kill a whole town and myself. Maybe I underestimated this quest, and this whole Tri Wizard Tournament seems sketchy. I just have a bad feeling.
I rolled over trying to get more comfortable, my head was racing through too many thoughts. Is this what Annabeth always felt like? I was terrified for the morning, what if I can't do magic? What if I embarrass myself? My eyes got heavier, and heavier, before I had no choice but to drift into sleep.