For The Love Of A Snake

Chapter 2: The Common Room

After everyone had finished dinner Ominous left for Astronomy class. His wand seemed to be sentient and guided him directly where he needed to go. I wondered to myself how he would even see the stars in class since he was blind. That was one of the few messed up thoughts I would keep to myself . Sebastian and I were one of the few students left in Great Hall by the time Ominous had left. Magic cleaned up our plates which was the cue for us to head to the common room. Sebastian stood up, straightened his robe and waved at me to follow him. I quickly got up and noticed that somehow during dinner my plain robes had changed to the same green robes everyone else in Slytherin wore. Magic was indeed fascinating.

Sebastian led me out of the great hall and around a corridor. Most students were either in night classes at this point or in their common rooms. "So newbie... have you gotten a tour of the castle yet?" Sebastian had stopped and turned to me with that mischievous grin of his. I had already learned that this grin was commonly found upon Sebastian's face. His devilish smile made my heart pound.

"Actually I haven't yet Sebastian, would you mind showing me around?" I grinned back at him. It must have come at him unexpectedly because for a moment he looked taken aback by my response. His eyes flashed excitedly at me and next thing I knew he had entwined his fingers with mine and was pulling me after him. I laughed at this and followed him willingly. "Sebastian!....hahaha... Seb...." I began to try to get his attention as I wanted to know where we were going. After so many turns and stair cases I definitely didn't know where we were. I was quickly interrupted as Sebastian suddenly stopped and another student blocked his path. Sebastian guided my hand to stand behind him and I obliged while peaking out to the side of him to see who was now blocking our path.

"Sallow" a deep voice stood in front of us. I couldn't get a good look at the student as Sebastian was taller than me by quite a bit and protected me from the other students view. I stood at about 5'3 while Sebastian was about 5'11.

"What do you want Jaxton?" Sebastian spat out at him clearly annoyed.

"So hostile as always Sallow, but tonight even more so? What are you hiding behind you? A new friend? Are you going to get them in trouble too?" The man cracked back.

"Leave her out of this Biggs. Whatever problem you have stays between us." Sebastian now had tightened his fingers within mine. He clearly did not get along with this guy. I was curious as to why but figured in due time if Sebastian wanted to tell me he would. Jaxton began to peer around Sebastian to look at me. He was a muscular guy, pale skin, short black hair and blue eyes. He wore Gryffindor robes.

"Sallow how long did you think you could keep her a secret? Don't you know anything of yours is mine if I want it?" He was talking about me. What he didn't know is that I didn't stand for that kind of crap but apparently Sebastian didn't either. Sebastian had already landed a punch right into Jaxons nose. Jaxon fell back and landed on the ground gripping onto his nose in pain.

"Quickly now!" Sebastian ran past Jaxon on the ground pulling me alongside him. We ran down a spiral staircase and into the main court area. He turned to look at me as we approached the library doors. He put one finger against his lips to signal that we must be quiet as we enter. After all it was after hours and students were prohibited from being in the library. Sharp has made sure I knew that rule. We snuck down it's stairs and creeped towards the restricted section. A noise behind us caused us to stop and turn. We crouched behind a bookcase and peered towards the door. Jaxon stood at its entrance looking around. His nose had blood trickling down from his left nostril as he peered into the dark room filled with books in search for us.

"I'll get you back for this Sallow. I know your in here! Just you wait!" He snuffed and then quickly left the library. We both let out a sigh of relief and released each others hand.

"That was a close one!" Sebastian whispered with a smirk. "That guy is such a jerk. Sorry your first night here turned out like that. I wasn't planning on getting you in trouble that fast" he chuckled and scratched the back of his head while peering up at me.

"So you were planning on getting me in trouble eventually?" I laughed back at him.

"Well, if you want the most out of your time at Hogwarts you're going to need to break the rules now and then" Once again his face was lit with that devilish smile.

"As long as I have you to break them with me, I'm all for breaking rules" I grinned back at him. Again I must have caught him off guard as he seemed a bit shocked.

"Ryzmec, you are dangerous to tempt me with breaking more rules" he replied. Part of me wanted to tempt him though. I wanted him begging for my mere presence.

"Is that a challenge Sallow?" I snickered at him and was met with another grin that made my heart beat heavily against my chest. This boy was trouble... but I loved it. He shook his head at me in disbelief, still grinning while he stood up and held out his hand for me. I took it and he helped me up from the ground. We then quietly left the library as quickly as we could.

"I think it's about time we got some rest. Let's head to the common room" he whispered as he lead me down towards what I assumed were the dungeons. We eventually came across a stone wall with two lit torches next to it. He stepped up to the wall confidently and a silver snake appeared, revealing a door underneath it. I followed Sebastian in and was awestruck by the room before me. The feeling of the room was as if we were underwater. It was mysterious and dark. It was comforting to me as it reminded me of my room at Professor Sharps house. It had rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps hung by chain. A fire crackled under a carved mantelpiece surrounded by similarly carved chairs. As I walked further in I was met with huge windows that looked out into turquoise water. The common room was literally underwater.

I hadn't realized that Sebastian was waiting for me until I turned around to see him staring at me. "Sorry Sebastian, it's just so incredible. I've never seen anything like it" I ran over to him where he then pointed up a stairwell.

"The girl dorms are up that way. The first door on your right should be empty. The girls made sure the clean it for your arrival this morning" he smiled and turned the opposite way from me. I watched as he walked down the opposite stairs and into the first door on the left of that corridor. Once he was out of sight I immediately felt a sense of loneliness over come me. It was an odd feeling, especially since I found pride in my self perseverance.

I followed Sebastian's instructions and walked into the dungeon-like hallway turning into the first door to my right. I entered the room and noticed that only my bed appeared in this room. My belongings rested next to the black posted bed on a chair. The sheets upon the bed looked to die for, as they were a deep emerald green and clearly made of the finest material. The ambiance of the room was the same as the common room, mysterious. Black,greens and silver were the most apparent colors throughout the room. I was able to quickly find my pajamas within my belongings and changed out of my robes. My pajamas were simple, a black silky top and a pair of comfy black hipsters. I brushed my mousey brown curls in the mirror inside the attached bathroom and gazed upon myself. My olive skin and green eyes really looked interesting in the greenish lighting of the room. I then quickly washed my face and dove into the bed. The silky sheets and fluffy pillows instantly had me dozing off. Before I knew it I was waking up to sunbeams gleaming through the small underwater window above my bed.