Tabitha sucked in a breath, held it, then slowly let it out. Here we go, she thought, as she brought up her hand and gently knocked on the glass.
The voices on the other side stopped when she slid the door to the side, and Tabitha found herself met by two pairs of eyes. On her right was a boy, about her age, attractive but unfamiliar. She watched his eyebrows raise expectantly, and a small, unassuming smile tug his mouth upward at the corners. She liked the smile, she decided after half a second. The smile, and the eyes: brown and simple, expressive and also inquisitive. They asked who she was, what she was doing, what did she want. Tabitha wanted to look at those eyes some more, but the moment was abruptly, and loudly, broken.
"Tabitha!" Not quite a shriek, not quite a yell, but certainly louder than was necessary and comfortable for the confined space. Before she could react, Tabitha was nearly plowed over by an explosion of blonde hair, then wrapped in a bear hug.
"Hey, Maisie," Tabitha said, her own greeting much calmer than the one she'd received. This was the voice she had recognized: Maisie Trundle. They had known each other since their first year at Hogwarts, had in fact been best friends for a little while. Between then and now, though, they'd gone down different paths, orbited in separate circles, and found that their interests had diverged too far to really maintain a close friendship. At least, that was how Tabitha saw it. Maisie… not so much.
"It's so great to see you!" Maisie continued gushing. She at least had the good sense to let go of her victim after an almost-appropriate amount of time, though her hand still rested on Tabitha's arm. She turned to the boy in the cabin with them. "Edwin, this is my best friend, Tabitha Ashwood. Tab, this is Edwin Stormspire," she said, gesturing to each in turn.
"Hey," the boy, Edwin, said, and even in that single word, Tab could hear something of an accent. "But um… just call me Ed, alright?" There it was. The flat, slightly nasal American accent. If that hadn't proved his origin, Maisie confirmed it herself.
"Edwin is from the U.S.," she explained. "His parents moved to Nottingham over the summer. He transferred from a school over in America. Luckily their years line up with ours more or less so he was able to fit in really easily and…" Maisie stopped, suddenly realizing something. "Oh, I'm sorry. Edwin, you should probably be telling all of this." She grinned a little sheepishly. "Here, Tab, have a seat with me and we'll all catch up." Maisie sat on the bench seat opposite Edwin, scooted over to make room, then patted the cushion next to her.
"I… uh…" Tabitha hesitated. Maisie was a nice enough girl, if a bit easily excitable. She could be a lot to handle, especially when just getting back into the headspace of going back to school. Tabitha almost turned down the offer – almost – but those eyes. She looked back to Edwin and those damn eyes. "Um… alright," she finally agreed, and sat.
"So you're from the States?" Tabitha asked, trying to open the conversation. "Mmhmm," Edwin confirmed with a nod. "Nebraska, actually. Lots of cows and farms. Not really a large magic community though."
"So how did you end up in England?" Tabitha nudged.
"Oh, well I had been going to school in America, to the Ilvermorny School, actually. That's in Massachusetts. But you know, my dad's job needed him in England, so we moved." He said this with a shrug, as if adding "what are you gonna do?"
"Oh, I see," Tabitha said, before Maisie interrupted.
"Tabitha is from Ireland," she blurted out.
Edwin nodded. "I uh… gathered from the accent," he said sheepishly.
"Oh," Maisie said, her face scrunching into a confused pucker. "I didn't know Americans could tell the difference."
The train ride lasted most of the rest of the day, and by the time they arrived in Hogsmeade it was already dark. Leaving the train, the girls made their separate ways to groups of other students from their respective houses: Tabitha to Slytherin, Maisie to Hufflepuff. Edwin wasn't sorted into a house yet, so even though he was a sixth-year like them, he was still shuffled in with the first-years. He towered over them, looking more than a little ridiculous.
"Ladies! With me please!" A voice called over the muted conversations, and Tabitha wondered if it had been amplified slightly. "Slytherin upper-class ladies!" the voice called again, "follow me please!" Despite the polite "please", this was decidedly a command. The group of girls, a few dozen sixth- and seventh-year Slytherins, all began to follow, separating from the larger crowd. Ahead, Tabitha could see the black carriages, though not the Thestrals she knew were tied to them. Some could, she knew, but so far, she had the good fortune to still not be able to see or hear the beasts. Still, she felt a chill run down her spine as she passed where they must have been standing.
A few minutes later, Tabitha and the other girls stood inside the main entrance of the castle itself. All eyes and ears were on one girl, stood a few paces outside of the group, standing on a box she had conjured and holding the tip of a wand to her throat. She had introduced herself as Selene Blackspire, a seventh-year student and the House Steward. She was responsible, she said, for getting them acclimated. She had just gone through a very generic, very rehearsed speech welcoming them all back and reminding them of just how privileged they were to be attending the greatest wizarding school in the world, and to be members of the greatest house at that school. It was the same speech, more or less, that Tabitha had heard for the previous five years, and hardly worth her attention. The words seemed to flow in and back out of her head in a sonorous drone.
"Now," Selene said, a little sharply and with meaning. Tabitha's head snapped up. "As you all know, the upper class students, that is, the sixth- and seventh-years, have their own dormitory separate from the others. We are going to head there now, and quickly, because we need to prepare for the sorting ceremony. This way please." Selene stepped down from the box, which disappeared with a quick flick of her wand, then began what could only be called a march, leading the group deeper into the castle. Every girl in the group knew where the entrance to the common room was, though they dutifully followed Selene down into the dungeons and to the unassuming wall. Selene stopped, and Tabitha saw her lean close to the wall and whisper something she couldn't make out. "The password will be given out once we are all inside," Selene explained, as the passage began to open.
They all followed into the common room, now so familiar and, in its way, so welcoming. Many considered the space to be cold and even sinister. Tabitha, however, found a certain beauty in the intricate scrollwork of the columns and needlework of the carpets. Yes, it was cold and slightly damp, but there was always a large fire to keep those at bay. As she stepped inside, she breathed in the scent of firewood and of wet stone and of old leather. This was home to her, at times more so than the house in which she had been raised.
Selene, and the group of girls, crossed the spacious common room, turned a corner, and then stopped before a nondescript alcove. In fact, it stood out so little that it might as well have been invisible. Tabitha couldn't be certain she'd ever seen it before.
"Quickly, before the others come," Selene said, conspiratorially. "Watch," she instructed, then without another word, stepped into the alcove, and to her left, apparently directly through the stonework. Several of the girls gasped in surprise, but then giggled and laughed as Selene poked her head back out. "This way," she beckoned.
One by one, each girl stepped into the alcove, then took one more step to the left, disappearing just as Selene had. Only a few had trouble the first time, one banging her shoulder against the stone rather hard, and Tabitha was sure she would have a bruise there the next morning. She herself, at least, managed on the first try, stepping through the stone wall into a small space at the bottom of spiral stone steps. The girl before her was already a few steps up, and Tabitha followed.
She couldn't tell for sure, but the upper-class dorm had to be several stories above the common room, based on the number of stairs it took to get there. Then again, in a castle partially constructed out of pure magic, it was hard to say with any certainty.
Eventually, the stairs gave way to a small landing beyond which was a thick, wooden door. Carved into the wood was an intricate snake, curling over and around itself. It stood open for now, letting the girls into the room beyond.
The upper-class dorm was everything the common room was not: the colors were richer, deeper. The air was warm and comfortably dry. The lighting, while subdued, still added a further warmth to the atmosphere. This was the privilege afforded to the older girls; to the ones who had earned their place, and Tabitha loved it.
"Alright, there are no assigned beds, so choose whichever you want," Selene was saying, "and seventh-year girls get priority selection of their bed from last year if they wish. But don't take too long choosing. The sorting ceremony is in less than half an hour."
Tabitha's green eyes danced over the room as other girls moved to beds and claimed them. Realizing that she would miss out on her chance to choose herself, she made a quick inventory of the ones still left, picked one near a window, and went for it, sitting on the duvet to claim her territory. Less than a minute later, all of the girls had claimed a bed.
Selene stood in the middle of the room, surveying. When she saw that everyone had a place and was in it, she gave a quick nod. "Alright. We need to get going if we're to have any chance of making it to the ceremony on time." She made a sweeping gesture with her wand then, seemingly encompassing the entire room. As the tip passed her bed, Tabitha noticed a pile of clothes pop into existence next to her. "Alright, quickly, girls. Let's get dressed." Selene moved from the middle of the room, to the bed that had been saved specifically for her. Tabitha watched her go, and then watched her begin to undress.
Tabitha spent a few moments watching Selene remove her clothing before very suddenly realizing just what she was looking at. Tearing her eyes away, wanting to look anywhere else, her attention landed on another seventh-year girl, this one already topless, her breasts on display for anyone who would look. In fact, more and more girls, all seventh-years, were undressing, most to undergarments, some even farther. Tabitha looked to the sixth-years, who all shared looks of astonishment, confusion, a couple of amusement.
"Come on, girls, we don't have all night. We don't have changing rooms in the upper-class dorm." Selene, too, had removed her own bra and was facing the sixth-year girls, breasts proudly standing out on her chest. "They're just tits," she scolded mildly. "We all have them, get over it." One of the sixth-year girls giggled, then pulled her t-shirt up and off, displaying a confidence that Tabitha couldn't determine whether it was real, or induced by nerves. After a moment, a few of the others joined in on the communal undressing.
Tabitha looked at the bed, at the pile of clothes waiting for her: pleated beige skirt, white button-down blouse, green and silver tie with matching socks, and a black wizard robe with the Slytherin shield emblazoned on the chest. It was the same uniform she had worn all of her years at Hogwarts. She looked up then, to see Selene completely nude, wrapping the robe around herself and beginning to fasten it shut. "I can't stand muggle clothes," Selene explained, though Tabitha couldn't determine to whom.
By this time, all of the other girls were dressing, or at least in the last stages of undressing. Some had slipped into the skirts and blouses, one or two were following Selene's example and going commando beneath their robes. Tabitha knew that if she delayed the girls she could lose points for Slytherin even on that very first night. That, she couldn't allow.
Should Tabitha:
A: Slip the robe on over her everyday muggle clothes? Time is of the essence, and undressing in front of strangers is still outside of her comfort zone.
B: Change into the uniform skirt, blouse, tie, and the rest, then put on the robe? It is the uniform, after all, and she wouldn't have to take off her bra and underwear. They were clean… right?
C: Get out of her clothes but keep her bra and underwear on. Selene was on to something with her distaste for muggle clothes, but getting fully nude was a bridge too far, at least for now.
D: Strip nude then put the robe on. Fuck it. When in Rome…
I am sorry AGAIN! I'm still trying to figure out the best polling option. Now it looks like Google Forms is going to be it. Please find the poll below:
Poll 2
forms.gle
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