The Blessed One

Chapter Six~The Gryffindor Common Room

The dishes in front of us, were suddenly filled to the brim with food! The house elves had made a big effort tonight. James and I turned to look at each other and shouted, "Wicked!"

There was roast chicken, roast beef, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, wedged potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, peas, carrots, sweet corn, gravy, ketchup and, for some reason sherbert lemons. I piled my plate high with everything exept the Pork chops and Lamb chops, because I don't like them. #rebel.
"Oh, that does look good!" Moaned Nick, as I dug into my chicken.
"Sorry Nick!" I apologised. "I forgot you can't eat!"
"That's alright, Rose." He began forlornly, "I haven't eaten in over 500 years, I don't need to of course, although one does miss it."
"Um, excuse me Sir?" Asked Lily, "But, who are you?"
"Oh, I do apologise for not introducing myself sooner, my name is, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington, resident ghost of Gryffindor tower, my lady." He said, with a slight bow. Lily flushed in embarrassment at being addressed 'my lady'.
"Oh, Nick!" I scolded, "you know that no one remembers that awfully long name! Give them your proper title." I said smirking.
"But Dumbledore has an even longer name!" He complained indignantly.
"That's because he's Dumbledore." James pointed out.
"Very well," he sighed, "It is Nearly Headless Nick."
"But," Lily began, confusion written all over her face, "how can you be Nearly Headless? It's simply not possible! Is it?"
"Like this." Said Nick stiffly. He pulled down hard on his left ear, and his whole head severed, and swung off at a 180° angle, and landed with a 'thump' onto his shoulder, as if on a hinge.
Looking pleased with the shocked faces of his onlookers, he flipped his head back in the correct place on his neck, coughed and said, "Well, it was lovely to see you two again, but I really must be going." And with that, he turned around, and drifted off in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower.
"Well, that was..." Began a stunned Lily.
"WICKED!" Exclaimed me, James and Sirius simultainiously. I then caught Dumbledore's eye, only to see him chuckling to himself at our outburst. I smiled at him and rejoined the conversation.

Once we had all finished eating our feast, the remaining food on the plates faded away, and was then replaced by a horde of puddings. I'm pretty sure there was every dessert under the sun! There was; Ice cream, in every colour of the rainbow, treacle tarts, jam doughnuts, pies, fruit bowls, whipped cream, chocolate éclairs, trifle, rice pudding, Sticky Toffee Pudding, and my personal favourite... CHOCOLATE CAKE!
I immediately began shovelling it onto my plate, and into my mouth.
"Ro, are you eating or inhaling!" Laughed James. I simply ignored him.
"Is she always like this?" Lily asked James, a look of pure distaste on her face, at my terrible table manners.
"Yup!" Laughed James, "This is chocolate we're talking about here! It's literally her holy food! If she could survive on just chocolate, she would!"
"Damn right I would!" I mumbled into my food, causing everyone to laugh.
"Say it, don't spray it!" Said Lily, indignantly. As I scoffed my food, the conversation turned to families, and blood status.
"Me and Ro are both Purebloods," James boasted, I could tell Lily looked a bit offended.
"Don't be rude James!" I scolded, casting an apologetic look at Lily.
'Thank you' she mouthed at me. I nodded back with a smile.
"Well, you probably guessed that I'm from one of those weirdo pureblood families!" Laughed Sirius, "I mean, you saw my dearest cousin Bellatrix back there when I got sorted into Gryffindor! Her face was practically purple!" We all laughed at that.
"I'm a halfblood." Stated Remus.
"Same!" Squeaked Peter, smiling at Remus.
"I'm a muggleborn." Lily said quietly, with a slightly embarrassed look on her face.
"Don't be embarrassed, Lily," said smiling, "I would personally love to be a muggleborn! If you think about it, if you're a pureblood, then there is a high chance that you would be a Witch or Wizard, but if you are a muggle born, you were chosen! Think of how special you are! Out of all the muggles who could of been a Witch, you were chosen! I would love to have the honour of being a muggleborn." She beamed at me with such joy, and I could see tears forming in her eyes.
"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!" She sniffled.
"It's true!" I grinned.
"PREACH!" Yelled Sirius, causing us all to collapse in fits of laughter.

We then heard Mini tapping her goblet with her spoon, gaining the attention of the hall, and causing everyone to become silent.
Dumbledore then stood up again.
"Now that you are all fed and watered," he began, "I have a few start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the Forbidden Forrest, is indeed Forbidden to all pupils. And a few older students would also do well to remember that," he eyes flashing in the direction of the Ginger twins, a few places down the table, "I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact their team captain, or Madame Hooch. And finally, before we all go to bed, let us sing the house song!" And with a flourish of his wand, a long, golden ribbon rose high above the tables, and twisted itself to form the words.
"Everyone pick their favourite tune!" He cried, and together, the whole school bellowed:
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach Us something please,
Weather we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."
It seemed that everyone finished the song at different times, and Dumbledore conducted those last few stragglers' final lines, and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped the loudest.
"Off to bed then!" He called to us. "Pip pip!"
All the Gryffindors stood up, and we began to follow the prefects towards the Gryffindor tower. Everyone was so tired and full of food from the feast, that no one was really paying attention to where they were going. That is, until Peeves decided to drop one of the suits of armours down the stairs, its racket startling everyone awake.
"Bloody Peeves!" I heard one of the prefects mutter.
"Now, now Arthur," scolded the other prefect, " Don't be a bad influence on the first years!"
"Yes, Molly." He mumbled quietly.
It was then that I decided to step forward and help them.
"I'll handle this." I assured them.
"PEEVES!" I hollared.
"ROSIE!" He called, zooming up the staircase towards us. "Do my eyes deceive me, or is my fellow prankster finally attending Hogwarts?" He exclaimed gleefully.
"Its me!" I said playfully, "The one and only!" I smirked bowing.
Then my face turned serious. "Now whats this I've been hearing about you terrorising the first years and pranking without me?" I questioned sternly.
Peeved whimpered under my glare, muttering incoherent apologies.
"It's fine Peeves," I said smiling once again, "Just don't do it again!"
"Of course, Rosie!" He replied, hugging me. Now I don't know if any of you have ever been hugged by a poltergeist, but let me tell you, its weird. You suddenly feel all cold inside, and it's like there is a sheet of ice covering you.
I then whispered in his ear, "Meet me in the Gryffindor common room at 6 am tomorrow, and we can prank James together!" He grinned, then nodded and floated away cackling.
"Wow!" Exclaimed one of the prefects, "That was amazing! I've never seen Peeve's act like that around anyone before! How did you do it?" He asked me.
"A prankster always respects their fellow pranksters." I said grinning at them.
"My names Arthur Weasley," he said, holding out his hand. I shook it smiling.
"And I'm Molly Prewett." Molly grinned, pulling me into a tight hug. "Welcome to Gryffindor!" She exclaimed.
"This way everyone!" Called Arthur, as he approached a large portrait at the end of the corridor.
The portrait was a picture of a very fat woman in a silk dress.
"Oh, hello, Rose dear!" She said, waving to me. I waved back smiling.
"Do you know everybody?" Questioned Sirius.
"No," I said, "Me and James have been to Hogwarts a lot before, as our parents know professor Dumbledore, and we often went exploring so we met alot of the ghosts and portraits. The fat lady here," I said indicating the woman in the portrait, "Was kind enough to give us the directions to the Great Hall when we got lost."
"Ohhhh!" He laughed, causing me to roll my eyes.
"Password?" The Fat lady asked the prefects.
"Pheonix." Arthur said clearly, so that all the students could here him.
The portrait then swung forward to reveal a round whole in the wall. We all scrambled through it, and we found ourselves in the Gryffindor common room. A cosy, round room filled with squashy armchairs.
Once I had given James a quick hug goodnight, Molly directed the girls through a door and up the spiral staircase leading to the dormitorys. The the top, we found ourselves in a cosy little room, with four four-poster beds, hung with deep red velvet curtains. Out trunks had already been brought up for us.
"Goodnight, girls!" Called Molly, as she made her way back down the spiral staircase and into her own dorm.
Too tired to talk much, we all quickly got changed into our jammies, mumbled our 'goodnights' and settled into bed. I quietly took off my glasses, identical to James', and I soon fell asleep, dreaming about tomorrow, and what the day might bring.