The Grey Man

Alex and Hermione were engage in a great discussion about their potential classes when everyone was excused from the great hall to prepare for bed. They would have all of tomorrow to themselves to explore and find their classes before the semester started the following day. Ravenclaw’s two prefects, Ronnie Hilliard and Penelope Clearwater, directed all the first years to follow out of the Great Hall. Ronnie instructed all the Ravenclaw boys to line up behind him, while all the Ravenclaw girls were to line up behind Penelope. The prefects allowed the returning students to pass before ushering the first years into the hallway. They were led through numerous corridors until they reached a tight spiral staircase. The railings were decorated with carvings of eagles. Most of the eagles were depicted in flight or perched nobly, however Alex noticed one carrying a dead badger in its talons, another carry a snake, and a final of an eagle flying over a dead lion. The staircase was barely wide enough for two people to stand should to shoulder, so Ronnie allowed Penelope to lead the girls up first. After the boys had reached the top, they found that the staircase led to an open hallway. The hallway was lined with portraits of famous scholars throughout history. Alex recognized some of them as Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Nikola Tesla.

            They were led down the hallway to a grand oak door. The door itself was fairly plain, however a marvelous knocker in the shape of an eagle graced the middle of the door. Ronnie asked the boy in front to open the door. The boy turned the black handle, but frowned as if confused.

            “It’s locked,” said the boy.

This time Penelope turned to one of her girls, “Why don’t you try knocking”?

The girl approached the door rather tentative. She grasped the knocker and rapped it twice. The girl retracted sharply as the eagle’s mouth started to move. The voice that came out of it was sweet and angelic.

            “What kind of coat can only be put on when wet?” The eagle asked.

Ronnie and Penelope laughed at the confused faces of the first years.

            “Rowena Ravenclaw valued intelligence and wit above all other things.” Penelope explained. “Other houses use passwords to get into the common room, however, we hold ourselves to a higher standard. In order to access our house, you need to answer the riddle that the eagle presents. So can anybody venture a guess at the answer?”

            Alex racked his brain, trying to thing logically. It’s a riddle, so obviously it wasn’t referring to the kind of coat that shields you from the rain. He raked his brain trying to think of other kinds of coats.

            Animals have coats; you certainly wouldn’t want to wear one when it’s wet. There are coats of arms, but that didn’t have anything to do with wetness either.

            He remembered when his father had created a coat of arms for the Snape family. He had to send it back because the paint wasn’t the right shade of green….Wait that’s it! It was so simple. Alex was about to raise his hand when Hermione’s shot up a split second before. Ronnie called on her.

            “It’s a coat of paint. A coat of paint needs to be wet in order to be put on a wall.” She said.

            “Well said”, said the eagle and the door swung open.

Hermione was positively beaming at getting the correct answer first. Ronnie and Penelope explained that the riddle would change every week so that the house remained secure.

            “What if you can’t figure out the riddle?” Asked Edward.

            “Well you’ll have to wait outside until someone else comes by that can figure it out.” Replied Ronnie.

Alex noticed that Edward looked rather nervous at the prospect of that. The first years piled into the Ravenclaw common room which was filled with older students talking and carrying on.

            “The boys dormitory is to the right, next to the fireplace and the girls is to the left next to the portrait of the Grey Lady. Your room assignments are posted up there on the bulletin board. You’re possessions have already been brought up so let me know if you’re missing anything. Also if you need any help, feel free to ask either Penelope or myself.” Ronnie told them.

Alex watched as the some of the new students rushed towards the bulletin board, others got into groups and were exploring the common room, he, Hermione, and Edward hung back.

            “This is all so exciting”! Said Hermione, clearly still thrilled about answering the riddle. “What do you want to do Alex?”

            Truthfully, Alex felt the same way as Hermione, but his eyelids seemed to disagree. Reluctantly he told Hermione that he was just going to find his room.

            “We have all day tomorrow to explore anyway”. Alex said.

Hermione seemed a little disappointed, but agreed to meet in the common room the following morning.

            Alex walked over to the bulletin board, which was now free of first years, and found out that he was going to be in the Helena dorm, room 3. Feeling the lengthy day weighing on him, he waived goodnight to Hermione and made his way into the boy’s dormitory wing. Alex walked past several doors, each containing the name of a famous witch or wizard from Ravenclaw. There was Uric, Ollivander, Bagnold, Rowena, Wildsmith, Fronsac, and then finally at the end of the hallway, he found Helena. He opened the door, which led to a small hallway with five doors, each labeled with a number. Numbers one and two were to his left, four and five to his right, and number three was directly across from him. Inside room number three, there were five four-poster beds spaced out equally across the wide room. Beside each bed was a sink, desk, and a dresser for extra clothes. There was also a large chest at the foot of each bed to hold personal belongings. Alex glanced around the room and noticed that he was the only one in the room at the moment. He spotted the bed that carried his things in the far corner of the room, next to the bathroom.

Then his eyes fell on something on his desk. Alex knew that it wasn’t anything that he packed. He figured that the people who brought up the luggage gave him somebody else’s thing. He walked over to it and noticed an envelope laying beside with his name on it. He opened it curiously and read the note.

 

Hope everything is going well on your first day sweetie! I know you’ll make us very proud. Don’t let your father get to you Alex, you know he doesn’t want to show you any favoritism, so he’ll probably be a little hard you. I got you Verena to make up for it. Hope you two get along! Don’t forget to write me sometime baby.

 

With love,

Mom

 

PS: Make sure to leave her in her cage for the first night so she learns you’re her owner!

 

            Alex smiled as he put the note back into the envelope. He opened the large package and was greeted by a loud hooting. He watched as the large owl woke up from a deep sleep. She was absolutely beautiful. She was mostly orangish-brown but had specks of black and white on her feathers that looked similar to a tiger’s coating. The large owl cocked its head slightly and stared at Alex with a quizzical look. She seemed to be appraising him to see judge whether he was worthy of her. Finally she ruffled her feathers and gave a soft hoot. Alex hoped that meant it was ok to touch her. He reached his hand in cautiously, making sure not to move too fast. The owl, Verena, didn’t seem to object so he gently stroked her ears. She nuzzled his hand and gave a happy hoot.

 

            “I think we’re going to get along just fine Verena,” said Alex.

She seemed to settle into her cage and closed her eyes. Alex figured it would be a good idea to let her rest. He was sure she had just as stressful day as he did. He slid the cage’s cover back on and then turned his attention towards his other things.

            Alex quickly unpacked, not worrying whether everything was neat and organized. He was more focused on finishing and getting to bed before anybody else came in. He had just finished and drawn the cover of his four-poster when he heard the door open a few other people walk into the room. Thankful that he didn’t have to make small talk, Alex drifted off to sleep quickly after the excitement of the day.

            Alex dreamed that he was back at the train station in London. His father was glaring at the muggle who had just spilled everything out of his suitcase. Only, Alex couldn’t see the muggle. Well he could see something, but his face and body were blurry as if out of focus. The muggle was much taller than Alex remembered. He also seemed to be in wizard robes. The robes were greyish blue in color and while not flamboyant, were certainly not plain either. Alex recognized this as the moment where the man begged his father for forgiveness. However, the blurred figure seemed to turn towards Alex. He got the feeling that if the figure had eyes, they would be boring through him.

            “Hello?” He heard coming from the man. “Hello? Can anybody hear me?” The voice sounded desperate and despondent as if he didn’t think anyone could hear his plea. Alex wanted to answer the man, but something deep inside him, told him not to. He knew that he needed to wake up because he could feel his willpower weakening. The man just kept repeating the same message over and over again. Alex closed his eyes and covered his ears, determined not to listen. Suddenly the voice stopped. Alex opened his eyes and found himself back in his bed at Hogwarts. He sighed a breath of relief, glad to out of the dream. There wasn’t anything threatening about the Grey Man, but Alex has had that reoccurring dream for as long as he could remember, and every time his gut told him not to answer.

            He pulled the curtain on his four-poster and glanced around the room. The other four beds were all closed and Alex could hear faint snoring coming from each of them. Alex was glad that he was the one up. After checking the clock on the wall, Alex realized that he still had twenty minutes before he was going to meet Hermione. He pulled of the sheet covering Verena’s cage and was greeted by a friendly hoot. Alex knew that he was supposed to leave Verena in her cage with him for a full day, but he decided to take a chance. He wrapped a towel around his arm, opened the cage and stepped back. Verena just stared at him for a couple seconds, not sure what to make of the gesture. She suddenly flew out of the cage and landed on Alex’s unwrapped arm. He grimaced in pain as her talons dug into his flesh.

            “Maybe next time we try landing on the right arm Verena. She cocked her head and gave a soft hoot. She then pecked him on the nose and took off, flying out the window. Alex had just enough time to get dressed and grab his things before heading down to the common room. He just hoped that he didn’t make a mistake by letting Verena out of her cage too early.

Reviews

[Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere]

I wondered if there will follow other chapters? :)
Rudi

[Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere]

I've read another chapter of your book. Hogwart is a wonderful place. You certainly write very good. It's entertaining an narrative en it holds the attention during the whole chapter. Loved reading this. :)

Rudi