"No," Herman said firmly, "I cleaned it with magic, there's no smell at all!"
Draco glanced at him, clearly not quite believing him, but the Prefect was already urging her on from ahead, so she didn't have time to ask any further questions. She could only wave her hand to signal Crabbe and Goyle to catch up with the group, while she herself lifted the hem of her school robe and walked quickly toward the exit of the long table.
Crabbe followed behind, covering his mouth and staggering, with Goyle supporting his arm. The two looked like comrades who had just gone through some terrible trial.
Herman lagged behind in the group, with Harry walking at a short distance beside him. She glanced at him sideways, a tiny smile curving her lips, then said nothing and continued walking forward with the group.
The Slytherin Common Room is located in the castle's basement. After descending a spiral staircase and passing through a corridor draped with huge tapestries, the Prefect stops before a bare stone wall.
"Password." The Prefect turned to look at the group of freshmen behind him. "This year's password is ' Pure-blood Glory'."
The stone wall slid open, revealing a wide doorway behind it. Herman followed the crowd in, and the sight before him momentarily stunned him as he stepped into the common room.
The Slytherin Common Room was far from the dark, damp basement he had imagined.
The room was long and narrow, with a ceiling much higher than expected. Strings of green magic lamps hung down, emitting a calm and cool, ethereal green light that wasn't glaring. Outside the window—no, it wasn't a window—was an entire wall of Black Lake. Ripples flowed slowly through the magic barrier, and occasionally a huge shadow would sweep across the surface, probably Giant Squid from the lake.
The chair was made of dark green velvet, with silver serpentine carvings inlaid on the armrests. A fire burned in the fireplace, the flames an odd silver-blue, without any smoke rising.
Herman was about to take a good look around when the Prefect was already standing in the center of the room, assigning dorm rooms. "First-year students, collect your dorm keys according to the list. All rooms are single rooms, arranged in order along the end of the corridor."
With a single room, Herman's dissatisfaction with being assigned to Slytherin lessened by half. At least he wouldn't have to share a room with others, which was probably one of the few Fawley of being Slytherin student.
He waited patiently in line, listening to the Prefect call out names one by one. Harry was assigned to room number three, Draco was number nine. There were several room numbers between them, and they were both in the left row of the corridor.
When it was Herman's turn, the Prefect glanced at the list and handed him a brass key. " Herman Horace, room seventeen. Turn left down the corridor and go to the very end."
Herman took the key and silently calculated in his mind—there were fourteen rooms between number seventeen and number three, which was quite a distance. At least he was a bit further away from Harry, and the chances of them bumping into each other in the common room would probably be limited in the future.
Just as he was about to head down the corridor to find his room, another Prefect suddenly strode over from the other end of the common room, clutching a new list in his hand. He leaned close to the Prefect who had previously been in charge of assigning the rooms and whispered a few words in his ear.
"Wait a minute." The Prefect in charge of assignments frowned and flipped through the record board again. "The dormitory assignments have been adjusted. All girls' dormitories have been moved to the right side of the corridor, and all boys' dormitories remain on the left side for easier management. All the keys that were just distributed have been collected and will be redistributed."
Herman reluctantly handed back the keys, which he hadn't even had a chance to warm up yet, while glancing at the new list in the Prefect's hand.
Then his gaze froze. On the room assignment map, Harry's name appeared at the far right of the corridor, right next to Draco. Herman's name, however, was reassigned to the far left of the corridor, separated from Harry's new room by another corridor, door to door.
"Why is it allocated this way?" Herman asked instinctively.
"The dean arranged it." The Prefect replied without looking up, deftly shoving the new key into his hand.
Herman gripped the key, a strange premonition rising within him.
Was this arranged by Snape? When did he ever care about the freshmen's dorm assignments? Besides, the dorm assignments have been fixed for so many years, why is it suddenly about "ease of management" this year?
You, as the dean, are usually too busy with Potions Class to even have time to worry about the dormitory assignments for first-year wizards?
After Herman finished complaining, he looked up and glanced at the group of freshmen who were looking for their rooms. Suddenly, he caught sight of Snape by the fireplace in the distance.
The figure in black robes stood beside the silvery-blue firelight, his eyelids lowered as he flipped through a thick book in his hands. His posture was as calm as a statue, as if such a trivial matter as assigning rooms was not worth his attention at all.
But just as Herman was about to look away, Snape tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping precisely over the edge of the booklet and landing on the other side of the crowd.
Following the gaze, Herman saw Harry. She was holding a key, walking slowly down the right side of the corridor in front of a row of newly assigned rooms, as if checking which was her room, completely unaware that she was being watched.
Herman withdrew his gaze, already understanding seven or eight parts of the situation.
The girls' dormitory has been relocated to the right side for easier management.
There's only one real reason behind all these claims, and that's Harry Potter.
Snape personally intervened in the dormitory assignments, moving Harry from her original room to the right side of the corridor.
As for why he was casually transferred to room seventeen, which was right across the hall, Herman sighed. It was probably just because he and Harry had been on the same train. Snape took the opportunity to gather all the relevant people together for easier observation and supervision. In any case, it wasn't for the sake of convenient management.
As Herman was thinking, a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder, followed by a smug voice. "See?"
Draco's voice came from beside her, her chin slightly raised, "I told you Head of House Snape would protect me. He's an old friend of my father's, so he must have spoken to him beforehand. Look, even the girls have been given better rooms, isn't that a lot of face?"
Herman looked at the confident expression on her face that said, " Head of House Snape really loves me the most," and for a moment he didn't know how to respond.
He really wanted to say that Snape probably didn't even know about " Draco Malfoy and Lucius's daughter," and that the dormitory assignment was just something he changed casually to settle Harry in, but seeing how confident Draco was in her own influence, he couldn't bring himself to expose her.
"That's certainly a lot of face," Herman said dryly, then asked curiously, "But what's so great about the room on the right?"
Draco shook her head, indicating she hadn't been inside either. She simply grabbed Herman's arm and, without a word, dragged him to the right side of the corridor. "Why don't we go and see for ourselves!"