When Shadows turn to Darkness

Meeting new people

The next morning, Luscinia looked down in amazement at the tie in the house colours that had joined her school uniform without her doing anything. As she ran her fingers over the fabric, as if to check that her eyes weren't deceiving her, Nellie stepped up beside her.

'The House elves put them there overnight. They do that with every new arrival. Think of it as a welcome gift.'

'House elves?' Luscinia let the name roll off her tongue, wondering if she had heard it before.

'House elves, yes. Those little creatures with the big ears that are tied to a family or a place and help out around the house.'

'Wichtel?' Luscinia tilted her head, 'if you treat them nicely and give them porridge with honey or other sweets, they protect the house and do things you haven't managed to do during the day.'

The two young women looked at each other silently for a moment.

'No, I think that's something else.'

'I didn't know any House elves before I came here either,' Natty added, already fully dressed and waiting for her roommates, her legs dangling off the edge of her bed, 'apparently they only exist in Britain.'

On their way down to the Great Hall, they ran into Leander and Garreth, who were already discussing their timetables with the rest of the fifth years. The whole year had been divided into different groups so that there were no more than 20 students in a class and each of them had been given their timetable by the prefect of the house that morning. Now they were busy comparing who would be attending lessons with whom and communicating their hopes and wishes as to which students from the other houses would be welcome.

Overwhelmed by the food on the table, Luscinia only listened with half an ear, her fingers grasping uncertainly at a bowl of porridge that Leander was handing out.

'It seems to me that the students beeing responsible for the breakfast have plenty to do every morning.'

The fifth-years stare at her until Nellie takes the floor with a gentle smile: 'Oh dear, you'll have your fun here. The meals are also prepared by the house elves. And we don't have to clean either.'

'We are here solely to concentrate on acquiring knowledge and learning'; Garreth leaned back with a broad grin and stretched his limbs.

'That's the right man talking.'

Natty's objection only made Garreth's grin widen.

Luscinia couldn't think about what had been said for long, however, because Nellie and Natty were already planning how best to accompany their new classmate between classes and introduce her to Hogwarts and the surrounding area. They also instructed the other fifth years to join in with their thoughts.

'The first years are given a tour of the whole castle on the first day, I think that would be a good start.'

'Give her some time to breath,' Garreth interjected as he topped two more sandwiches with cheese, earning a grateful smile from Luscinia.

As decided by the two Gryffindor students, the other fifth years accompanied her to the various subjects over the next few days and made sure that she didn't get lost in the labyrinthine Hogwarts.

Natty was happy to talk about her old home and her experiences in the new one, Nellie explained how Quidditch was played at the school and revealed that she had finally been accepted into the Gryffindor team as a Seeker last year and hoped to keep this position for the new school year.

She chatted a lot with Garreth about his endeavours in brewing and baking, which prompted him to bring her biscuits to try on the second day, which he had refined with a special nettle brew to help with her early morning sluggishness. They didn't help much, but the common room smelled of fresh dough and nettle tea for days afterwards - things the other students were already used to.