Chương 2: Chapter 2: Settling in
I was walking slowly through the dark halls of this familiar yet unfamiliar place. My clothing has been dirtied by sweat and barf, and I smell horribly right now, I walked not knowing what my destination would be. I assumed that I am going to the Ravenclaw Common Room, but technically, I have never seen the place, Whitlock had seen it, not me.
On the way, I was deep in thought, completely ignoring my surroundings at all as my body turned on the autopilot function. I had thought about what just happened this day, I woke up in an unfamiliar body, in an unfamiliar environment, yet I knew it all, I remember it all.
Not to mention, the way that Fleur Delacour acted around Whitlock, around me. Even Whitlock didn't know anything about why Fleur acted that way, let alone me. She said it was a secret, well… I guess I should wait two days for that…. Oh fuck… I just realized that I need to study pureblood etiquette for that… shit.
Damn you Whitlock, why have you never studied that sort of thing… oh well… to the library tomorrow I guess… I need to find the Room of Requirements as well… How did they do it again? Run around three times?
Then it hit me. About Fleur… She's part Veela, right? I read something about that… Veela's allure is a dangerous thing, that's why those boys at the table looked at me enviously… because I was near Fleur.
But why didn't I get affected?
I stopped as I massaged my head a little bit, only to realize that I was already in front of the Ravenclaw Common room, with the Eagle knocker guarding it. I saw some first years trapped in front of the door, looking nervously at me.
"First time?" I stated tiredly to the First-Years.
"C-Can you help us please?" a shy first year asked me. "W-We can't seem to solve it…"
"No problem…" I sighed. I walked towards the Eagle, and it stared at me.
"Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?" the Eagle asked me.
"That's a tricky question indeed…" I murmured. "Phoenix's life is like a circle… and a circle has no beginning and has no end, but if you want another answer, I guess flame first, because fire was created before all living things."
The eagle kept staring at me. "Both are well-reasoned answers."
The entrance then slammed open, I could just smell the scent of books from inside the common room. The first-years scoured along while thanking me, and I just absentmindedly walked through the round and blue common room, and towards the spiral staircase. I climbed the stairs and entered my supposed room, only to be greeted by the stares of my roommates. They were looking at me rather absentmindedly. Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, and Michael Corner.
"Mate, what happened to you?" Anthony asked curiously.
"Long story…" I sighed. "I'm tired… and in need of a shower…"
I quickly walked towards my side of the room, took some clothing, and walked straight into the shower. As the warm water was washing all the filth from my body, I sat on the wet floor and in deep thought once again.
I lived inside a room with people that I don't even know… I felt like I have known them for four years, yet not know them at the same time… I need to get over this feeling quickly…
I kept staring at my hand, playing it as the water dripped down from my fingers. Magic huh… I can do magic now apparently…
I stood up from the shower, turned it off, and walked outside to the sink. I wiped the haze on the mirror and stared at myself once again.
Whitlock is me. And I am Whitlock. There's no point in denying it again. I need to survive this, to live a peaceful life in that empty castle… alone… in the middle of nowhere…
Okay that sounds quite bad… but better than dying in the hands of a maniac I guess…
I quickly wiped myself clean, and wore my new clothing. I got out of the bathroom and walked towards my bed.
I sat on it, and I could see that the others were curiously staring at me.
I sighed tiredly at the stares. "Ask away."
"How do you know that girl?" Michael asked. "The seniors are quite jealous of you Archie."
"And how can you be able to fight off her allure?" Asked Terry. "She's supposed to be a Veela, you know?"
"I saw her running to you when you went to the toilet." Anthony asked. "What did she say to you? Some seniors said that she was crying when she came back…"
God that's a lot of questions… I massaged my head, my head hurts like hell. "Firstly… No, I didn't know that girl before she introduced herself to me… but her parents seemed to know me for some reason because I'll be talking to her father in two days time… Secondly, I don't know… Thirdly, She just came to check up on me, but when I asked her if we had ever met before, she suddenly acted all calm and reserved, before leaving me alone…"
"You're meeting her father?" Terry stated in surprise. "Wow, is it serious?"
"Pureblood business I reckon." Michael stated.
I just shrugged at Michael's guess. "I don't know, we'll see."
I quickly shuffled to my blanket, and turned my body away from the boys. "Now, leave me alone would you? My head is pounding right now…"
The three other boys just looked at each other before shrugging, leaving me alone to fall asleep.
—
As morning came, I could feel that my muscles were sore all over. Part of me hopes that this'll be just a dream and when I wake up I am back to normal, but obviously it didn't happen, but no crying over spilt milk.
I quickly shower and change into the school robes, it seems that the other boys were already up and about, which makes sense, as they're not really tired.
I quickly walked down to the common room, only to, again, be greeted by stares of my housemates. I eventually ignored all of them and proceeded to walk towards the entrance.
But then, someone tapped me from the back. I turned to see a blonde girl smiling at me.
Luna Lovegood. I gave her a warm smile as I searched the memories for her, only to see that Whitlock had helped her from bullying. Nice one Whitlock…
"Hello Luna." I greeted her.
"Hello Archie." she spoke in an ethereal like voice. "You look different today…"
I raised my brow at that comment. "Different how?"
Luna just gave me a wide smile and patted my shoulder. "Don't worry, you are still the same Archie to me."
My eyes went wide at her words. "I-I don't know what you're talking about…"
Luna just walked past me and got out of the common room. Fuck, she knows. I quickly followed her and continued to walk beside her.
"Hey Luna, don't tell anyone?" I pleaded. "I-I still don't know what I'm doing right now…"
"No worries." She spoke casually. "You're the same as always to me. I won't tell anyone. We are friends after all, right?"
"Y-Yes, friends." I nodded, wow, this girl is honestly strange and amazing at the same time. "Oh Luna, by the way, do you know about the Room of Requirements?"
"The one on the seventh floor, right?" she answered in her usual voice. "I entered it once… I was trying to hide from the nargles, once I was done with it, it didn't appear to me again…"
"Nargles?" I frowned. "Luna, are you being bullied again?"
"Oh no, the nargles haven't appeared in a long time." she sang. "Thanks to you."
"Well that's good then." I nodded in satisfaction. "Anyway, I'll see you around Luna, I've got to go to the library."
"Okay… I'll see you at dinner…"
I then ran off towards the direction of the library that I remember. For Whitlock, It was a safe place for him, to read and study quietly under the watchful eyes of Madam Pince, I guess it'll be the same still… well, until I got the Room of Requirements of course.
—
I was now reading about a book called 'A Guide to Proper Etiquettes' inside the library. I might as well learn this quickly before meeting Fleur's father. I was too focused on reading that I ignored the entirety of my surroundings, a habit me and Whitlock have in common. There are depictions on how to position the body so it was proper, according to the book anyway.
I kept reading, for horse probably, I even whispered to train the pronunciation of some words. It was then that someone, who I didn't even realize was there, spoke to me.
"What happened last night?" a feminime voice spoke, and it made me flinch.
I almost got thrown out of the chair because I was in a risky yet comfortable position. I dropped the book to the table and looked at who spoke.
"Bloody hell…" I breathe as I clenched my chest. "You scared me."
"Sorry…" the girl murmured apologetically. It was Hermione Granger.
Apparently, she and Whitlock had this relationship where they would talk at the library about lessons and mundane things, but would just ignore each other entirely outside of it. They honestly weren't really considered friends, just a study partner. She would often ask things that she didn't know to Whitlock and vice versa, they would occasionally joke, but that's it.
"So?" she asked again. "What happened? How do you know Delacour?"
"Delacour?" I repeated. "I don't know her… I just met her yesterday…"
"Then why was she acting all touchy with you?" She asked curiously, from the looks of it anyway.
"I don't know honestly…" I murmured. "I suppose it's Pureblood business… she said that her father would meet me tomorrow…"
"Meet her father?" Hermione frowned. "What for?"
"I don't know Granger." I sighed. "I'm honestly trying to figure it out myself."
Hermione just hummed suspiciously. "What are you reading?"
I didn't say anything, I just pointed at the cover of the book, pointing at the title. "I figured I'll need to at least present myself properly… whatever the business is…"
"Well okay…" she murmured, changing her focus towards her book. I looked at the time, it was almost lunch. I packed up the books, and stood up, which made Hermione's gaze turn towards me again.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Seventh floor." I said casually.
Hermione was confused. "Why do you want to go there? There's no class today."
I wriggled my eyebrows teasingly. "None of your business Granger."
I heard Hermione snort as I walked away from her, exiting the library. I kept walking through the packed hallway, and when I passed the great hall, I saw that a lot of people were watching the door, to see who'll be the champion. I could even see Harry Potter watching the goblet, unaware of his fate.
As I kept walking, I stumbled upon Fleur, who had just finished putting her name in the goblet. She stopped for a second as I saw her, and she threw me a half smile before walking past me.
Again, I don't feel anything from the allure. Why is that?
I threw away the thought and finally walked towards the stairs, towards the seventh floor, towards the Room of Requirements.
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