chapter 24 The Unused Classroom
The following morning before breakfast Neville Longbottom could be found waiting in front of the great hall early in the morning. He bounced on his feet as he waited for his friends to arrive. He had asked Mcgonagall the day before on if they could use an empty classroom for a spot they could all hangout and could not wait to tell everyone what answer he had gotten. It seemed like hours for him but had really only been about 10 minutes when everyone arrived.
"Hey Neville, what has you so excited?" Dudley asked as he walked with Dean up to him. He just smiled a little. "Wait until the rest of our group gets here and I will tell you." Next Harry walked up along with Hermione. Followed by Ron, who had Blaise and Daphne with him as well as Tracey. He looked around at everyone and smiled. "Ok so I asked Professor Mcgonagall yesterday on an empty classroom that we could all hangout in and she already made the room for us. It has furniture and everything!" He said in excitment, he was so glad to have friends that accepted him and could only hope that it would continue this way.
Harry who had been silent smiled at that. "That is great Neville! why don't we grab Terry and Susuan and see if they want to come along?" It only took a moment for them to grab those two and head to the room to see what everything looked like. As they approached the door and opened it everyone gasped. It had banners of all houses hanging down as well as a hogwarts banner above the fireplace. It also had couches and chairs designed around the fire for relaxing. In one corner there were an assortment of board games. Most of them muggle which could prove interesting for the ones that had never played them.
"This is amazing!" Dudley said after a moment. "We will have to tell the professor thank you for sure for this!" He walked over to the table that had chairs around it and looked at all of them. "Is there anyway we can get something for breakfast though? I mean we all sort of ran down here without eating."
Neville nodded at that and walked over to the bell. "when you ring this bell it contacts the kitchens and will have a house elf which is pretty much the servants of the school pop up. When they do you just tell them what you need and they can get it for you. Watch" He pulled the bell and a house elf pops up right after.
"What can Twinkle be doing for you sir?" The elf asked as he bowed lightly.
"Hello Twinkle, I am Neville and these are my friends. We were wondering if you could bring us some breakfast from the kitchens if it is not to much trouble?" He said in a polite tone to him. He had been taught to show respect to all creatures no matter the status.
Surprised at the polite tone She nooded. "Yes sir, Twinkle can be bringing you breakfast. It is no trouble at all." He popped away, a few moments later food and drinks could be seen filling the table.
"Woah, that is pretty cool." Harry said after a moment of watching the food fill the table. He loved how things could be achieved with magic.
"Uh Neville" Hermione said softly. "Why do the house elves act as servants"
He looked to her and thought on how to explain this but was not really sure. He looked to the other purebloods for help. "Could you guys help me explain this?" He wanted it to be said in a way that hermione would understand.
Daphne took over the question. "Well, they each serve a family or in the case here the elves serve Hogwarts. The elves get their power from the family they serve as well and without a bond to a witch or Wizard they would die. They also are not paid for their services to serve. However, they like to take care of their family. Also if the elf is treated well they are more powerful and are very Loyal to those in their family. So if you treat your elf well they may one day end up saving your life."
Everyone was silent as she spoke. "Wow, that sounds like it could become a pretty close bond." she had been upset at first when Daphne had said that they were not paid. Though listening she could see just how the magic weakening could be a bad thing.
A growl could be heard and they all laughed as Harry Blushed. "Sorry, I think we should all eat now." He said with a smile and they all sat down and began to eat breakfast. They had not realized just how hungry they had all become. Before long they were all full and talking to eachother.
"Do you think we can all meet up here after classes and work on our homework?" Susan Bones asked after a moment. "I am sure it would ne quiet here and we might get more done if we are not disturbed.
Ron who would usually protest at the thought of more work could see the benifit in it. He nodded at that. "We would need to bring any books for reference here with us. That way we would not have to go to the library once we are here."
"That's a good idea Ron!" Hermione said to him and smiled. she had not spoke to him much since the train but she was glad that he seemed to accept her either way.
"So it's settled then. we meet here after classes and start on homework. That way have plenty of time for games or to just hangout after." Harry said with a smile as they all nodded and headed to their classes. It would be a very interesting year for all of them. They would be challenged many times throughout the year as they remained friends. However all of them were determined that no matter what they would not stop being friends. They wanted more than anything to get to know eacother without the boundaries the sorting creates. So to have a room they can go to would help and make a major difference.