Sadie wasn’t sure she really understood what House Elves were, or what “live to work” meant, but it seemed a little troubling. She bit her tongue, because she got the sense she wouldn’t quite like the answer and she didn’t want to stir up trouble. She’d just gotten here and made friends. She didn’t want to ruin everything on her first night in the castle.   

Sadie busied herself with her dinner, listening as George enthused about Seine’s dad. Famous then, she deduced, looking over at him. Seine grinned a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. Wow, she’d never met anyone famous in her [I]life[/I]. Sadie drained her pumpkin juice, listening intently. She was going to learn everything-- she detested this feeling of being lost, of others having to fill in the blanks for her. Brennan had told her the library here was a monstrosity, and she was eager to find it.  

“Yeah, that’s my old man. He just took a contract for the World Cup next summer, so that’ll be fun,” he sounded proud and excited, and Sadie bit back the bitter taste of envy for a smile. It was silly—she couldn’t change her humble beginnings, so there was no point in being jealous. Sadie almost believed herself.

Sadie listened as George explained his mum’s theory behind ghosts, watching a stream of pearlescent figures streaming in. A beautiful woman floated to the table of blue and bronze, and man with trailing chains to the far end of the room. Sadie rather liked the jolly friar moving along his table. He reminded her a bit of Father Elliot from church, who had always been kind and welcoming.   

As brilliant as this was, Sadie found herself missing St. Catherine’s. This was amazing and shining and the food was wonderful and [i]magic[/I]... but it felt so frighteningly large, and Sadie felt so very small here. St. Catherine’s had been strict, but it had been calm and kind.

  

Dinner concluded well over an hour later, and Sadie had never eaten so much before in her life. Her stomach hurt, but she firmly regretted nothing. The pretty prefect and the grumpy one were calling for first years, and Sadie fell in obediently behind them. Xia He was explaining the path to the common room, the importance of passwords and various other things. Sadie was busy studying the moving portraits and gasping as the stairs moved beneath her—not like an escalator, the whole bloody staircase was [i]moving[/I]!

They had stopped at a portrait of an exceptionally fat, but elegant, lady garbed in luxurious pink robes.
“Password?” she intoned, touching the crown of flowers in her hair and smiling coquettishly. 
“ _Acta non verba_,” Xia He spoke clearly, and the portrait swung open wide to reveal a beautiful circular room. Sadie smiled at the crushed crimson velvet and gold and overstuffed arm chairs. She waved to George and Seine as she followed the girls to a staircase on the right. She smiled at a girl with a beautiful red hijab and a blonde who was nearly half a foot taller than the rest of them.

Their dorm was gorgeous. Handsome four poster beds with crimson and gold draping stood around the room, with their names stitched in elegant golden cursive. Sadie beamed, testing her bed with a bounce. Ooh, nice! 

“Wow,” a curly haired girl commented, running a hand over the mahogany of her bed. “This is nice.”

“It’s brilliant,” Sadie agreed, sliding off her bed. She extended her hand, the shorter girl shaking it with a polite smile. “I’m Sadie.”

“Tasia,” she looked around the room questioningly. The lanky blonde blushed, stammering.

“G-Gail Mascolo. Nice to meet you.”

“Maryam,” chirped the girl with the pretty headscarf, looking up at the ceiling, where a beautiful carving of fire connected all the decorative silk from the walls. It looked as if it were actually burning, and Sadie decided she quite liked these accommodations. 

“Rosamund,” a curly redhead nodded, digging in her trunk for something or other. A brunette lingering near her arched a brow, arms folded.

“Holly,” she remarked cautiously, almost suspiciously, and Sadie turned to smile at a quiet girl with coppery braids assigned to the bed next to hers.

“Asenath,” she murmured, looking almost alarmed as Sadie bounced for joy.
  

  

Sadie had not had many girlfriends before in her life, but here, sitting on the floor of the common room with the other girls and laughing over stories, she finally felt properly at ease in the castle.