Taking Over Me

Chapter 3 - Year 1 - 1938

     We filed into the common room and my eyes widened. The room was decorated with blue, black and silver trim. The entire middle of the wall all the way around the tower was a window and we could see for miles. It was dark outside, but I imagined that when it was daytime, I would be able to see every inch of the castle grounds.

     The common room had several different studying areas, multiple reading nooks with small fireplaces, a larger gathering area with a massive fireplace, and an entire section of the tower was filled floor to ceiling with shelves of books. My hands itched to run my fingers over the books' spines, to browse and see how many I had read, and to start making my way through the ones I hadn't read yet.

     Lyall gathered us at the center of the large room. "Welcome to Ravenclaw. Our head of house is talking with Professor Dippet now, but you'll meet him later. His name is Professor Flitwick. He just started this past year and you will treat him with the authority he deserves. He is also the Charms professor, and he knows what he's doing, so risk his anger at your own cost."

     I wanted to know why Lyall was putting such an emphasis on us treating Professor Flitwick well. Could there be something wrong with him that could make him seem off-putting?

     "The girls dormitories are on the left and boys' are on the right. There is to be no boys in the girls' room nor girls in the boys' room. Curfew is at 10:00 sharp. That means you need to be in the dorm by 10:00 pm. The general guideline for the common room is that any time after midnight, if you don't make any noise, you're allowed to stay up. Now your trunks should be in your dormitories. You will be sharing rooms with your fellow students. Your names are written on the doors. No, you may not switch roommates and I don't want to hear anyone complaining. Understood? Good, then have a great night and welcome to Hogwarts."

     The other girls raced up the staircase hidden behind a row of bookshelves, giggling to each other. I hung back and tried to see through the darkness out the windows. I didn't have any luck, so I gave up a few minutes later. I wandered around the common room running my hands over the dark wood shelves and breathed in the crisp, paper scent of old books. I didn't want to race up to my dorm yet, not while there were thousands of books begging to be read down here. I didn't want to read one tonight, but I did want to know what they had.

     The lights in common room dimmed a while later and I decided I should meet my new roommates. I walked up the staircase and found my name on a hand held chalkboard nailed to the door. There were five other girls' names on the list and I braced myself for whatever I would find inside.

     Each girl had already claimed a bed when I walked in and I found my trunks leaning against the bed in the corner. The other girls had already started to unpack and I found a dresser next to my bed. I started to unpack my trunk, when I heard footsteps.

     "I bet you think you're so clever for figuring out the riddle don't you?"

     I turned around and saw the black haired girl who had guessed the riddle incorrectly. Back home it'd been easy for me to make friends. I'd been well liked and no one that I knew of disliked me. Here however, I'd already angered two people in less than five hours. Filch I'd be able to avoid, but this girl, I would be living with her for however long I survived at Hogwarts.

     She sneered at me. "Well don't you have something to say?"

     I frowned. "What do you want me to say? 'I'm sorry that I didn't leave us out in the entryway when I knew the answer'. Why does it matter who solved it? We're here now and I'm sure we'll all have plenty of opportunities to solve other riddles. After all we'll be here for seven years after all."

     The girl growled at me.

     I kept calm, but couldn't understand why this girl dislike me so much. I'd done the Ravenclaw first years a favor by guessing the correct answer. I didn't care about how it made me look. I only wanted to get into the common room.

    Another pair of footsteps moved closer. "Don't mind Lydia. She's been off her meds for a while now." A thin blonde haired girl looked at me and smiled. I think she was joking about the medication.

     Lydia, the black haired girl, glared at the new girl, who smiled back.

     The other girl turned back to look at me. "I thought it was impressive how you solved the riddle. You were the only one with any kind of idea other than the wrong one. I'm Rolanda Hooch, but everyone calls me Ronnie."

     "Hi Ronnie, I'm Mari. And I'm not that special. I'm sure someone else would have been able to figure out the answer eventually. It was just luck."
     Ronnie laughed. "You can say that but we'd probably still be standing in the stairwell if you weren't here. Take credit for it. There's no need to be modest. You're a Ravenclaw, we're supposed to be proud of our achievements."

     I smiled at her. I could tell we would be good friends.

     Several of the other girls tossed their names over their shoulders to me, but none were as friendly as Ronnie. One girl claimed to be descended from the prophetess Daphne from Ancient Greece, but she was the only other person I found interesting. I made a mental note to ask the girl, Iris, if she would read my future another time. If she really was a seer like she claimed, she might be able to see what the Sorting Hat had seen in my future, or lack thereof. If she wasn't a true seer, then I'd have to try other methods of divination. Either way, it couldn't hurt to try.

     The bed creaked as I crawled under the cotton sheets. The other girls had already bundled up in their own beds. The room's lights were dark; I could only see by the small candle on my nightstand. It died in a whoosh of my breath. I burrowed in the covers, trying to find a comfortable position to lie in. I managed to get comfortable and was asleep minutes later. My time at Hogwarts had finally begun.

Author's Note: I know this is a filler chapter, but I wanted to explore a bit of Mari's relationships to her fellow Ravenclaws. The next chapter will have more interaction with Riddle. Also I wanted to say thank you to all of my readers. I'm thrilled that people want to read what I writer. It makes a writer feel good, so thanks to everyone who has read my story so far.