[ Chapter IV (4): "THE LONGBOTTOM DILEMMA OUTSIDE SLYTHERIN'S ENTRANCE ]
[ "Password? I've no idea what the password is." ] Torrin dreaded the fact that he only now remembered the fact that the entrance for Slytherin's Common Room— and the other Houses, needs a password to enter, well, except for Ravenclaw, they have an eagle shaped knocker that asks riddles before letting the student in. No matter what House they belong to.
The Gryffindor entrance on the other hand has the Fat Lady, not derogatory, that's actually what the Magical Portrait is called. She guards that entrance, and would only open if given the right password. In the story, Neville Longbottom with his poor memory, oftentimes wasn't let in— not having remembered the password for the entrance.
The Hufflepuff entrance on the other hand, is the most friendly. Or, well, location-wise. It's near the kitchen, wherein House Elves cooks food. A stack of barrels, wherein needed to be tapped in a specific manner to open— if not... then vinegar would be poured down on the poor tapper, either a Hufflepuff with poor memory, or an intruder who doesn't know the perfect rhythm. Either way, vinegar it is.
And lastly, perhaps the most cold, or perhaps the most simplest of them all. The Slytherin's entrance, which doesn't have anything flashy, except for a few decorations on the wall on the sides: armours, candles, vases, and paintings both magical and not. And at the moment, Torrin feels small, as he stares at that wall; nonethewiser about what magical word/s he should say to make the wall open up for him. Most likely relating to bigotry.
[ "I'm doomed, crap." ] He knows the location of the Slytherin Common Room— in the dungeons, thanks to Professor Quirrel barging into the Great Hall in the first movie. He used that knowledge, and easily got there; along the way, he kept eyeing the magical portraits which have a world of their own. The influx of messages from the System was great, it gave the names of the paintings.
And funnily enough, the System helped him in navigating the ever-moving Grand Staircase, in the movies it was both helpful and not. Helpful because it led Harry into the Room of Requirements in the fifth movie, not in that, it also led Harry and Ron into getting lost— late for Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration Class in the first movie.
So Torrin was thankful because the System could tell which floor the stairs lead, or when the stairs would be changing directions. He easily reached the dungeons- [ "And now what?" ] And now he doesn't know how to progress his story.
As a Slytherin Student, or, well, spawned as one without anything on his person; no wand, no notes in his pockets, no schedule, no bag, no nothing. So he could only progress by going into the Common Room, into his room— the original body's room, and find out about this man's name, age, social security number. (Do Brits even have them? And what are social security numbers in the first place?)
Anyhow, he needs to find anything that may or may not relate to him, about his identity. And also the class schedule, he dearly needs and wants to learn magic, mostly because he is a fraud at the moment— a senior at Hogwarts, yet no knowledge of magic, what a luck. So he dearly needs to start studying, to not arouse suspicion.
He stares at the wall, which leads to the Common Room, and he brainstorms ways to get inside. Aside from a Bombarda Charm, he knows no way inside aside for chanting the designated password. Which he'll be guessing. [ "Erm, Pureblood?" ] The password of the entrance in the first movie.
To Harry and Ron disguised as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, it worked perfectly. So he thought it might work, primarily because he thought that there might be a slim chance that he's the same year with the infamous H.P, and the other is that, perhaps passwords are reused after some time.
And in seeing that the entrance didn't move an inch, which wasn't supposed to happen when properly having invoked the password— there he knew, that he didn't crack the code. [ "Ambition." ] So he tried another, this one from hundreds of years back; a password from Hogwarts Legacy.
There, it didn't move also, which wiped the smug look from Torrin's face, replaced instead with an annoyed look. [ "And here I thought this was easy. FFs made it look easy." ] Sighing, he then continued trying to get in.
[ "Shrewdness!" ] Third try, failed.
[ "Money?" ] Fourth try, failed.
[ "Snakes...!" ] Fifth try, no reaction.
[ "Ambiti- no, wait, that's Gryffindor. Reset." ]
For a moment he paused, tapping his feet on the floor below. He knows this is the right door, the System is telling him it is; [ SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM ENTRANCE (CLOSE) ]; that's what the System is saying, big bold letters. [ "I can't believe this." ]
And also previously, he was able to witness a Slytherin Student entering the Common Room— a giant sized snake tail appeared out of nowhere, then the door appeared. Sadly he was very far away when it happened, thus, not having been able to enter alongside the student. Pity.
He tries to remember what the student said, but he couldn't hear her. Or formulate what her mouth might be saying, still, he couldn't, as her back was turned from him. And even when he yelled out for her to stop, she didn't hear it. So no choice, he has to guess the password... That, or wait.
Sometimes even Torrin wonders why he loves wasting his time, and not using his brain properly. [ "That... could actually work." ] Sighing to himself, he then went to a corner, crouching down, not sitting as he doesn't want dust to gather on the newly acquired pants of his. It's after all, fancy.
[ ... ]
For what felt like eternity, Torrin Thorpe waited on the side, not knowing the password for the Common Room— of the House that he supposedly belongs to. Like a child. A thug-like child. Or the closest thing he could compare to, Neville Longbottom, the future Herbology Professor of Hogwarts and forgetful lion of Gryffindor.
That Neville Longbottom, which to be honest, is that boy studying at Hogwarts at the moment? Torrin was curious, he doesn't remember the year which the gang started, so he couldn't confirm if the year he's in is the same with anyone. Only that he could confirm that this isn't the Marauders era. He heard some students along the way talking about Snape and all, badmouthing him.
And also the timeline he is in couldn't be in or after the year 4-5ish of Harry Potter. The school is too cheery for that, no such depressing tone underneath and on the face of students. And also not... overly cheery, meaning, there might be no HP as of yet; meaning no Neville. [ "What a pity." ]
Absentmindedly thinking about the secret of the universe (uhh, the answer is 42), Torrin wasn't able to notice the fact that a giant green snake tail formed out of nowhere on his right, which then slithered and pushed him forward. Pulling him out of his stupor, and annoying him. [ "Hey, who-!" ]
[ SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM ENTRANCE (OPEN) ]
[ "Nevermind." ] The big bold letters hang in the air, the word that only changed was "close" turning to "open". But it was enough to make him excited, and for his annoyance to disappear. [ "Hah. Impeccable timing as always, universe." ]
He stood up, knees feeling weak due to extensively sitting in a poor position, his buttocks not having touched the cold floor. As he then glanced up at the arc which the snake door made, already having forgiven such thing for pushing him.
[ "-ah, no. Tom, it was not your fault, it's that kid Flint's fault— the second-year, remember him?" ]
[ "Yeah, that kid who recently joined. One with that weird teet-" ] The second student, the one with blonde hair paused mid sentence as he then noticed a random underclassmen of his looking at them in awe. [ "Hey, what are you lookin' at?" ]
[ "Uhh, nothing." ]
What caught him off guard was not the door opening, which gave him a brief glimpse of the Slytherin Common Room. Which seems to resemble the one he had briefly seen from that soon-to-be released game— Hogwarts Legacy.
[ THOMAS EDISON G. BOYLE LVL. 32 ]
[ SOLOMON III LEWITT LVL. 33 ]
No, instead what caught his attention and made his mouth open wide was the levels above the other Slytherin students' heads. Which was eye catching, it's the highest level he had seen aside for the Lvl. 23 he briefly seen earlier on the Grand Staircase.
[ "Nothing at all, really." ] It was hard not to stutter, or say something weird. But Torrin passed that hurdle, as he didn't do so, instead briefly glancing down at the floor as he entered the Common Room, to not make eye contact; ignoring the two exchanging brief weird looks.
[ "What a weird guy, you think that maybe there's something wrong with his stomach?" ] Thomas, the taller, short, dark haired of the two then asked. Cackling at his own joke before then looking at his best friend, waiting for a response.
[ "Piss off Tom." ]
[ "..." ]
[ "..." ]
His shit-eating grin was immediately wiped off of hi face as he could only nod in response, [ "Alrighty then." ] Before then switching topics on much more important matters— like that essay in Muggle Studies about the function of a rubber duck.
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[ FUN FACT: A Common Room was a shared lounge area in Hogwarts School of Withcraft and Wizardry. There was one for each House— Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. The Common Rooms features a fireplace and siting area and were decorated in house colors. They were often used to do homework and to socialize with housemates. The boys' and girls' dormitories were also attached to the Common Rooms, with protective spells to prevent male students from entering the girls' dorms, but weirdly enough, not vice versa, which Ronald Weasley felt was unfair. ]
[ 10/25/2025 ]
[ 10/26/2025 ]