The Unknown: A Harry Potter Story

Chapter 6: Beginning of the Term

 Percy led the Gryffindor first-years to the Gryffindor common room. The path to the common room was complicated, with many twists and turns, as well as doorways hidden behind panels and tapestries. Eventually, their trip was halted when a floating bundle of walking sticks started to throw themselves at Percy.

"Peeves," Percy explained to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself."

A loud rush of wind, like air being let out of a balloon, answered.

"Must I go fetch the Bloody Baron?"

A little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.

Peeves swooped suddenly at them, before floating away, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head as he went.

"You want to watch out for Peeves," Percy told them as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him. He won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

At the end of the corridor hung a portrait of a fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy, causing the portrait to swing forward, revealing a large round hole in the wall. They all clambered through the hole and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of comfortable looking armchairs and couches.

Percy directed the girls through a door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the end of a spiral staircase were their beds: seven four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. All of their trunks were at the foot of their beds. Finding his trunk by a bed between Harry's and Neville's, Jason, along with the others, started to change into their pajamas and fell into bed. For the first time in a long time, sleep came quickly to Jason.

Getting around Hogwarts could be tricky. There were plenty of tricky staircases and doors that would only open if you treated them the right way. The stairs would also move, and the people in the paintings would visit different frames, making it difficult to find a landmark for navigation. Jason found out on his first morning that the most helpful way to get around for a young Gryffindor was to ask Nearly Headless Nick. Peeves, on the other hand, had a habit of making people's lives miserable and would do anything he could to make students late to class.

According to Harry and Ron, the caretaker Argus Filch is even worse than Peeves. Harry and Ron had earned the wrath of Mr. Filch when they got lost and tried to open the door to the forbidden third-floor corridor. Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a skinny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp-like eyes that matched Filch's. Mrs. Norris patrolled the corridors alone and would report any misbehavior to Filch. Filch could get anywhere in the castle in a heartbeat, he knew the school's secret passageways better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins) and could appear as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated Mr. Filch, and Ron constantly complained about how he would appear around Harry and Ron all the time.

The classes themselves were exciting. They studied the night sky on Wednesdays at midnight during Astronomy, and they worked in the Greenhouses behind the castle during Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout. The most boring class was History of Magic, taught by the ghost Professor Binns. The elderly Professor Binns had apparently fallen asleep one day in the staffroom and when he got up to teach again, he left his body behind. Binns' class consisted of him droning on while all the students attempted to keep up taking notes.

One of Jason's favorite professors was Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher. Flitwick, a very kind and funny teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. Jason's other favorite professor was Professor McGonagall. She taught Transfigurations, and although she was a severe teacher, she was also very fair. During their very first class, she gave them all a talking to.