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After a long day of classes you cannot wait to get some time to yourself. You like studying, that is not it, but being around people all the time can be so very tedious and there is nothing quite like coming back to the Slytherin Dungeons and having a nice cup of tea in front of the fireplace. People always assume that the common room is cold and clammy because it is in the Dungeons and under the lake, but it actually is quite comfortable. You suppose that people usually do not give it much thought anyway, otherwise, they would know that all those rich pureblood parents would not accept their kids having anything but the very best.
You walk towards the entrance of the Dungeons.
“Nitidus,” you whisper and the door opens with a soft crack. As you walk in you spot some students hanging out in the common room. On one side of the large wooden table sit two students who are doing their homework. They seem to be working separately but they clearly split the assignments and copy each other’s work, a strategy that you and your friends also use a lot. On the other side sit four students who are playing a game of cards. The room is pretty quiet apart from the soft voices of the players, the scratching sound of quills on parchment and the crackling of the fire.
You walk towards one of the antique sofas that are standing close to the fireplace. It feels nice to finally take off your shoes and loosen your tie a little, not too much of course, just enough to look effortlessly elegant but not slobby. From your place, you can also see through one of the windows and spot a group of merpeople swimming by. You like watching them pass every once in a while; the lake seems so fascinating and it really is a shame that the other houses seem to think of it as a scary, dangerous place. Watching the soft movement of the water and the way the light breaks at the surface has always made you so calm.
Then you notice a cat stroll towards the fireplace, stretch its limbs and then proceeds to curl up in front of the fire. Cats seem to be the most popular pet in Slytherin house. It makes sense, they are simply more elegant than most other pets, they have character. When they like you it makes you feel special. You hope that it comes to you, so you can pet it, but you know better as to disturb the cat and pick it up; nobody would like to be picked up during a nap.
You stretch your arms and legs and just now realize how draining the day has been. The classes are mostly interesting and you are doing well but it is the people who stress you out. Although it has gotten a bit better lately, the stigma against Slytherins is still strong and every time the war or Voldemort or any bad thing any Slytherin has ever done comes up there is this uneasy feeling as if everyone blames you for it. You know that they most likely do not, but you do hear the jokes some of the Gryffindors make when they think that you do not hear them or the slight change in their voice when someone mentions that almost all of the Death Eaters were Slytherins. It is alright, you think. You would rather have them make jokes than actually assault Slytherin kids as they would in the first years after the war. You remember just in first year, after you were sorted, the kid you stood next to before the ceremony told you that 'they don’t think they should be friends with a traitor anyway' and it affected you more than you thought it could. But as soon as you first entered the Slytherin dungeons and met everyone you felt better like you belonged. You may be outcasts in Hogwarts but you are all in it together and if anyone really insults or hurts you, you can count on the whole group to plot an act of ingenious revenge.
After sitting by the fireplace for a bit your hands feel nice and warm, especially in the winter months you often get cold and the castle isn’t very well heated in general so the spot by the fireplace really is one of the best places to warm up. You decide to walk to the bookcase and see if you can find something to read. The Ravenclaws are very proud of their impressive collection of books but even they would be jealous of the Slytherin collection that includes generous donations from old wizarding families and some very rare books. There are first edition Shakespeare plays, and even some of Merlin’s handwritten manuscripts, but today you are looking for some lighter literature. You find a ragged looking penny dreadful that some student must have brought centuries ago and simply left here after graduation. Every time you look through the books you find something new. Someone once mentioned that the bookcases were enchanted to always offer the reader something they would want to read, and you aren’t someone to read the same book twice.
When you get back to your spot by the fireplace you see that the cat has moved to the sofa and is sleeping there, curled up in a ball so you’d rather not disturb it. You decide to sit down on a lush leather armchair on the other side of the fireplace. From there you have a better view on the portraits. In the first few years older students would sometimes sit around the fire and tell the younger ones stories about the great Slytherins who earned their place on the wall, and now you pass them on to the younger students. Your favourite story is about a portrait that was just recently added, the one of Regulus Black. Every Slytherin has at one point or another heard a bad comment about the noble and most ancient house of Black, how they were all vicious psychos and how we should be glad that they died out but you always thought that that was just the kind of talk that caused the hostility against Slytherins because a whole group of people is never just one thing. Regulus made mistakes and bad decisions but ultimately, he learned to think for himself. You like to tell that one to the first years because their eyes always light up. Especially the ones who don’t come from old Slytherin families, that probably had their siblings make fun of them or had to hear that slightly too compassionate 'oh' one too many times when they told their family which house they are in.
The students who were finishing their homework earlier seem to have finished as they gather all their stuff and start talking to each other. They speak softly as not to disturb the peaceful silence but you still understand parts of their conversation. Apparently, they are debating about whether they should retreat to their dorm or have some tea. The Hufflepuffs always brag about their convenient location near to the kitchen, but it’s really more a question of whether or not you are content to bend a few school rules and have the house elves get you what you like or if you are too polite and would rather just do it yourself. Personally, you think that having the house elves make you a proper meal in the evenings instead of sneaking into the kitchen to grab a quick snack is more respectful because after all, house elves enjoy serving and most of them get offended by wizards who want to do their work for them. Then again, like most Slytherins, you grew up in a big house with many house elves and are more used to them.
It is not like there are still no muggle-born Slytherins though. There didn’t use to be, since Salazar Slytherin had, well, strong feelings about them, but after the war, there were some changes. There still aren’t many muggle-born students in your house, but those that are have never had trouble with it. First and foremost you are Slytherins and Slytherins stick together. We should know that you are not your parents. You also like to tell the younger students about Draco Malfoy because of this. He didn’t get a portrait of course, but to many Slytherins, he is still an inspiration. Like Regulus Black, he was raised and taught to be someone he could not stand to be later in life. Personally, you think that those who fought and made mistakes but ultimately made the right decisions are much more admirable than the much sung Gryffindor style golden heroes. Those infallible, perfect people who seem to always make the right decisions just made you nervous. How could anyone ever live up to the standards of Harry Potter? In this house, people will forgive you for most any mistake unless it means losing the House Cup to Gryffindor.
The students seem to have decided against the tea and walk out of the common room so you get back to the book. It is a nice muggle story about their idea of vicious witches and monsters that, like usually with muggle stories, is surprisingly close to the truth in some parts but hilariously wrong in others. You wonder who it may have belonged to, most former Slytherins were not particularly interested in muggle books, but then again they may have just read it for their amusement as well, to have a laugh at the ridiculous things muggles think about witchcraft. You don’t notice how the time passes while you read and when you finally put the book down it is already dark outside. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s late this time of year but it still surprises you a little. Through the window, you can see a Selkie swim by but they don’t seem to care much about the Dungeons. You have wondered before if the merpeople are even able to see you as well or if there is some kind of shield but on some days they do seem to notice what is going on inside so you figured they may simply not care.
Then you notice that you have indeed become a bit tired from the long day and that it may be better to go to bed at a reasonable time. To be fair you hardly ever end up actually getting to bed as early as you probably should but every time you want to go to bed you seem to remember something you really had to do or found out about something that you just had to learn more about. On many such nights, you had the house elves get you some tea and sat by yourself in silence for a little bit. It may have even happened a few times that you fell asleep in the common room while staring out into the lake from one of the comfortable sofas or the alcove of the bay windows. Today, however, you feel like you might actually fall asleep right away, so you put the book back in its place and walk towards the dorm room. Someone must have just won the card game since you hear excited chatter from the table just as you walk out. You smile because at the end of the day you are proud of your house and all the good people that are in it. School can be difficult but having a place like this to come back to in the evening and where you feel so at ease makes it all a bit more bearable. Tomorrow you will show them all that you are a force to be reckoned with but tonight you let yourself sink into the soft silken bedsheets and get a good night’s sleep.