Everywhere, Everything

vi. Potter To The Rescue

    The next morning, Tigerlily woke up to find Hermione already dressed in her school robes, sitting on her bed while reading a book. Looking around, she took notice of the rest of the girls in their dormitory, some of them already up while some were still in bed like her.

    Her roommates were Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, Fay Dunbar, Gracie David, and, of course, Hermione Granger. They were the only Gryffindor girls in her year, and she concluded they all looked nice enough.

    "Good morning," Tigerlily said, hopping off her bed and rubbing her eyes, to which a little chorus of morning greetings replied. They were very nice.

    Parvati Patil was a pretty girl, slender and brown skinned, with long black hair that reached the middle of her back. She was combing it in front of the mirror, which she shared with Lavender Brown, who she was having a conversation about textbooks with. Lavender was short and pale, and she had curly blonde hair that she kept out of her face with a ribbon, tied at the top of her head with a small bow. She wore a lot of bracelets on her wrists, which tangled together in a colorful bundle of thread.

    Fay Dunbar and Gracie David seemed to know each other from out of Hogwarts, because they were huddled in their little corner, keeping to themselves. They looked alike, Tigerlily realized. With the same shoulder-length haircut, it was hard to tell them apart unless you heard them talk, because Fay was very enthusiastic and loud, while Gracie was quiet and only spoke when spoken to.

    Tigerlily quickly made for the bathroom, her folded uniform in her hands. After a quick shower, she was ready to go. Joining her roommates again, she hastily put her hair up in a ponytail before following them down for breakfast, not without double-checking she had all her supplies in her bag.

    They almost got lost on the way down to the Great Hall.

    There had to be over a hundred staircases at Hogwarts, they deducted after a couple of days of getting familiar the castle. Some of them were wide, some narrow, some with vanishing steps, some that moved and changed their direction when you were on them. The doors weren't any better. Some would open only after being asked politely, or if they were tickled in just the right spot. Some others were not doors at all, but just walls pretending.

    Tigerlily was glad Hermione sort-of knew where they were going most of the time, because she often found herself lost, staring at the paintings and their inhabitants, which seemed to go back and forth between picture frames as they pleased. The whole castle appeared to have a mind of its own.

    And then there were the ghosts. Though Sir Nicholas made an excellent first impression on Tigerlily, as well as pointing them in the right direction when he could, she was still terrified when they encountered one. The Bloody Baron glided through a wall and got in their way once, making Tigerlily's blood pressure drop and remain low for a couple of hours. Peeves was impossible to get through, specially when running late for class. If they were lucky, he'd find a new victim just as he raised his arm to throw bits of chalk at them.

    Once they'd made it to their classes, unharmed and with little interruptions from ghosts and a mischievous poltergeist (on a good day), Tigerlily knew all that hassle was worth it.

    Every Wednesday at midnight, they got to climb the Astronomy Tower and study the night skies through their telescopes, learning the names of stars and analyzing the movement of the planets. Tigerlily liked this class, though she struggled with staying awake for too long. They also had Herbology three times a week down at the greenhouses (which were a pain to get to) with Professor Sprout, a kind and caring little witch who taught them all about caring for magical plants and fungi, as well as their many uses. Neville absolutely loved every second of it.