𝙰𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎: 𝙰𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 [𝙿𝙹𝙾 𝚡 𝙷𝙿] (𝟷)

13

The Dungeon Bat

"There, look."
"Where?"
"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."
"Wearing the glasses?"
"Did you see his face?"
"Did you see his scar?"
Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the next day.

"I hate it when they do that... can't they just mind their business?" Lily groaned under her breath, she hated that the fact that her son would become like an animal in the zoo, being stared at.

People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. Harry wished they wouldn't, because he was trying to concentrate on finding his way to class.

"Poor child..." Euphemia says sadly, wishing that her grandson would have an easy life instead of being famous.

There were 142 staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on Friday, some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you ask politely, or tickle them in the right place and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, Harry was sure the coats of armour could walk.

"Yes, they can!" Remus smirked at the narration.

The ghosts didn't help either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided over suddenly through a door you were don't trying to open. Nearly-Headless Nick was happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He'd drop waster paper baskets on your head, pulled rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"

"I taught him that!" James laughed but recoiled back behind Lily at the glare that was sent by McGonagall.

Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch.

"He's still around!?" Most students groaned at that thought.

Harry and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning, (Name) was not in sight as she had left to class early with the girls. Anyways, Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. He wouldn't believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing.