Tell me a lie

The life of things

Azeria dwelled on this conversation all the way to the cramped and faintly lit bedroom she was assigned to. The furniture were so dusty that it looked as though it had snowed. Mister
Filtch, the Hogwarts sulry janitor, led Azeria to what ought to be her new "home" and left her there without a word. Thought he did let out a low growl as if annoyed to walk a few more steps than necessary.

Azeria sat down on the small bunk placed just below a arched window. It was adorned with glass panes depicting Hogwarts under a moonlit night. After closer inspection, she noticed that the clouds near the moon were moving, and they soon disappeared behind the school. She started to think her sense of logic had completly failed her. Regardless, she was way too tired to bother finding a plausible explanation. She took in a deep breath and shifted her focus to the rest of the room.

She quickly setted her eyes on the only thing that was not covered in a blurry grey blanket. She rose to her feet and advanced to the pile of folded fabric resting on a slanted shelf. As she grabbed the pieces of cloth, it shed its squarish form and rolled to the ground , sending up a mist of dust around Azeria.

She layed the ensemble of clothing flat on the tiny bed, and looked at it intensively. The ensemble consisted of a long-sleeved white blouse, over which was layered a black suit vest with dark grey folded edges at the neckline. Between the cleavage of the vest and the white blouse was a grey tie, the end of which was decorated with a silver brooch.

The brooch represented four animals whose heads were facing a letter that stood in the middle. Under it, small scriptures were sewed to the tie in dark golden stitches which read "Draco Dormers Nunquam Titillandus". Though she could see the weirdly assemble of letters, she could not decipher a single word. The bottum of the vest covered the begining of a high waisted skirt that seemed as if it could easily brush again the top of her knee. The skirt looked heavy and large and consisted of a dark grey pleated under layer over which rested a shorter black layer that splitted from the waist down. All of which was laid out on a long black cape.

The first few weeks of her new life consisted of going back and forth between her bedroom and the castle large dining room. As time went by, she was no longer confined to the same corridors, which she now knew the precise number of steps needed to navigate them. As the days started to sink deeper and deeper into the sweltering warmth of summer Azeria stopped visiting the surrounding grounds. Staying in, within the thick walls of the castle where the air remained cool in all seasons, was much more comfortable to her.

She spent most of her summer in Hogwarts library going trough ramdom books reading random things. She enjoyed strolling in the gardens, exploring the corridors, looking at the tapestries, the paintings and chatting to the ghosts of the castle. She particularly enjoyed the company of Cuthbert Binns, the Hogwarts history of magic ghost teacher.  She could live the rest of her life that way.

She never ceased to marvel at the myriad of wonders this castle housed. Behind every door, every hallway, every painting lurked a story or sometimes even a mystery. No children were running down the corridors or giggling behing the doors, the bathrooms were empty and always clean, sweeped by whistling brooms, all the classrooms were locked even with no appearing lockets. For this castle to be called a school, at this very moment Azeria could not possibly fathom it.

But as empty of beating hearts as can be, the unliving things made this gigantic place feel crowded and sprightly. As Azeria strolled the treacherous maze of Hogwarts she was witness to countless dramas between its diverse residents. Once, she saw two beast skeletons, that seemed to belong in fantasy tales, competing for the spot on the pedestal of the main hall. They lunched at each other jousting style. When one tried to bite the other beast head's off, the rival tried to prick it with its curbed bony tail that dripped with a dark liquid. The fight resumed when what remained of the beasts came down crashing on the stone ground, splaterring in a tidal wave of bones.

But summer holiday soon came to an end. Hagrid woke her up one morning and told her she had to go purchase her first year furniture. He gave her a pouch full of galleons and sickles, a list of stuff to buy with instructions and told her that when she was done she had to go to the 9 and 3/4 platform at the London trainstation to catch the train back to Hogwarts.

"I'm so'ry can't come with you I've important matters to deal with, Dumbledore request" whispering the last bit as always. He led Azeria to a big chimney, darkened by centuries of use, in the teachers quarters and gave her a handful of green powder "y'just have t'say Diagon Alley loud an' clear and throw the powder at your feet". Azeria obeyed.