Located at the top of a spiral staircase and just to the right are the Gryffindor girls' dormitories. Rooms are assigned according to year, and each door is marked with a wooden plaque. Taking the stairs up will lead you to the appropriate room automatically.

Each room is home to several cozy four poster beds with gold sheets and pillows and a bright red velvet covering. There are matching red silk curtains that can be drawn to give the occupants a bit of privacy. Each bed has its own nightstand, and, in keeping with the Gryffindor element of fire, the rooms are lit with magical flames in fireproof, shatterproof jars. A shelf and closet are also aligned for housing clothes and any monuments to remind you of home.

Please remember that this is the girls dorm, in other words NO BOYS ALLOWED! But just in case, the staircase is bewitched to turn into a slide should anyone get any ideas.

Mona H A T E D being in the same house as her older brother Paul. HATED it with CAPITAL LETTERS!

He was everywhere! He always tried to "help" her by correcting her wand work the moment she failed a spell! He offered her help with her homework. He was acting the saint. At times, Mona wondered if he even had anything else to do. He was a sixth year, and he was supposed to be studying for something. But no, he was helping his little sister and revising that way. She wanted to puke. She wanted to hex him. She wanted them to graduate him early.

After another flustering moment on her part (he was just very happy being the 'helpful big brother'!), she ran up the stairs to her safe haven and screamed into the pillows. And there was no way out for her, because what was she going to complain about to her mom? That he was "helping her" with her homework!? And their dad was a joke. The man was a muggle to begin with, and she knew he would take HIS side. Maybe she could talk to the Headmaster. Show them just how successful her big brother was, and ask for an early graduation. What made it all worse was that Joel, her younger big brother did not suffer her fate! Paul left him completely alone. Maybe she needed to look like Joel too!

She sighed one of the most dramatic sighs in human history, and flipped to lay down face up on her bed. Why wasn't she born like 2 years later? What made it worse, Logan Paton was always there whenever Paul corrected her, and she was convinced that Logan Paton thought she was an idiot.

She wanted to disappear.

While Vera quite liked the way she'd been spending her days lately, out on the grounds or in the commons still getting into shenanigans with her favorite blue-eyed blond, it quickly occurred to her that she was not spending enough time with the little sister. Which was a travesty that of course had to be corrected immediately, as she went in search for Vesper. She didn't know where the youngest Thanatos preferred to spend her time, but she figured checking Gryffindor tower was the quickest and easiest way to go. A quick sweep of the common room showed nothing, so instead she headed towards the dormitory and made her way to the first years dorm - where she gave a quick rap at the door before opening it to poke her head through.

... Which she would hopefully remember quickly was a fruitless place to check, considering Scoot was now a third year which she somehow still conveniently forgot. Perhaps it was denial - how could her little sister already be growing up so fast?

As her head poked into the door, a familiar head was not immediately spotted, but she did hear the rather hefty sigh from one of the beds - with one of the first years spread out and looking skyward. Ve glanced up at the ceiling to see if there was anything she could spot of interest, before poking her body into the door a bit more and leaning against the frame. "... You alright in here?"

Mona heard someone entering, and was almost relieved. That must be one of her friends, and she could rant and maybe come up with a plan to stop her big brother. So she shuffled in her bed, but before she could say anything, she heard the voice. Her voice. Logan Paton's girlfriend. Mona knew, and not through stalking them, thank you very much. It was through... very clever observation and ... a couple of very fortunate coincidences. She didn't know her name - Sera or Pera or something stupid. Mona didn't waste her time with such small details.

She groaned and mumbled "Leave me alone." The girl probably thought Mona was stupid too, which made it even worse! And as much as Mona hated to admit, the girl was pretty. She was prettier than Mona, who was sporting a few acne on her face. No wonder Logan Paton chose her. Mona wanted to cry. This was the WORST DAY of her life, and that included the time she flew into their shed and had to be taken to the hospital at the age of 9 while flying on her big sister's broomstick.

She dramatically rolled over face down, and lay there motionless. Maybe she could suffocate herself, and all would end. But she bet her stupid brother would find a way to climb the stairs to save her. Being an 11 year old was very difficult!

The first year was not immediately recognizable to her, which was not a surprise given remembering names and faces remained one of Vera’s biggest flaws. Since being called ‘Vanessa’ and ‘Valerie’ the term prior, she was much better about not assigning nicknames to remember people - but that also meant she just instead ended up floating through the halls and greeting people with non-personal things like ’Hey’ or ’hey you’. No one said she was perfect.

Hearing the request to leave, Ve did not comply - which was probably of no surprise to anyone that knew her. Instead, she walked further into the room uninvited so she could continue her check up on the younger student. She did not think the young girl was stupid, nor did it cross her mind at all that the request for her to leave could be something personal. No, she was far more focused on the fact that she was now an older student and should be being an example and caring for the youngers. And if it were her little sister, she’d want someone else to make sure she was okay if they happened upon her in a state.

Especially as the girl rolled again and was now laying with her face in the pillow. Wasn’t that difficult to breathe? She imagined it would be. The action also looked very much indicative of the fact this little one was not okay. “Do you need to see Professor Feirgrund? I can help you to the Hospital Wing or probably call for him?” Her patronus was weak, but lately with her practice she’d been able to conjure one. She could maybe easily send for their Head of House. It was then that she realized she’d also seen the girl with one of Logan’s dorm mates. “Or would you prefer your brother?” When she didn’t feel good, her brother was certainly one of her go tos.

Not only was the older girl prettier than Mona, she was also more responsible and friendlier. Which were traits Mona did not appreciate at that moment. She wanted to hate the girl and plan how to hold Logan Paton's hand. She also wanted to get rid of her brother and look cooler than she really was. However, here she was, stuck with Vera's (sure, that was her name) soft and slightly alarmed voice. She rolled over again and looked at the older girl.

"Please don't call my brother." The words left her lips before she could even control herself in an exasperated tone. She wondered if Vera meant Paul or Joel, but it didn't matter. Joel wouldn't be able to help her too, he preferred to stay in his own world. "I'm fine. I'm just..." she trailed off. She was normally pretty okay with lying, but her brain refused to work right now. Her face was still burning with slightly subdued rage and another thought struck her: people had already started associating her with her brother. They knew Paul, of course, since he was a sixth year and a somewhat popular guy. And she was just his lil sister. She needed to break that. She needed Logan Paton to know her by her name, not as "Paul's little sister". But how could she do that? She looked at the older, prettier girl hesitantly. After a second's thinking, she asked "How can a person graduate early from Hogwarts?"

If she was so perfect as to date Logan Paton, she must also be clever enough to know this, huh?

What Mona was sure to learn in time, and probably fairly quickly, was that while Vera could be described as friendly, responsible was… probably more of a farce than anything. She tried and she cared a good deal about younger students (the older sister mentality was strong in this one) but when it came to actually knowing what to DO she was pretty limited to get a Professor. And her desire to protect and help the younger years did nothing to stop her from pushing the boundaries of rules and landing herself with lost house points and detentions. In her defense though, that was so much more fun than the responsible alternative.

She smiled at the younger girl, sitting down on one of her dorm mates beds nearby. An eyebrow raised a bit at the quick response of no brother (which was good because then she'd have to hope she located the right person) but she nodded her head in understanding. ”Okay. No brother.” she reassured. She remained patient while the girl seemed to struggle with what else she wanted to say, and Ve took the moment to do a quick scan to ensure there was at least nothing physically wrong that she could see. She had just finished ascertaining as much when the question was posed, and Ve’s eyebrows just rose higher. ”You want to… graduate early? Why?” Wasn't this the first year dorms? Was she having a hard time making friends or just missing home too much?

Perfection was something Vera was not, and clever was a lacking quality as well. But she (and Logan for that matter) had always been able to scrap by without that attribute, considering they had Vasco - their resident Ravenclaw. But as for this question? Ve at least didn't have to out herself TOO early. ”I believe you have to have taken your OWLs and NEWTs. Though… I don't think they let you take them earlier than a year when it would be scheduled for…” she at least hadn't heard of anyone graduating earlier than sixth year. Though of course, there WAS always homeschooling.

Mona ignored the raised eyebrow. She didn't think she needed to explain herself, not to Vera. Besides, everyone disliked their brothers, right? She bet Vera would hate Paul too, if Paul tried to correct him every other second. Ugh, how Mona wished Paul wasn't at Hogwarts!

Mona opened her mouth to quickly say that she was asking for her brother, but then her inner voice chipped in with 'That actually makes you look cooler and cleverer than you are.' Mona liked that. She did want to look cooler and cleverer. She wanted to impress Logan Paton first and foremost, and imagine what he would think if his [s]current]/s] girlfriend talked to him about a very clever first year. She VERY MUCH liked the idea, and almost missed the most important part of what Vera was saying.

So... Paul could take the NEWTs this year if he wanted. Mona knew he did pretty well for the OWLs, because their parents were in tears of joy last summer. She was genuinely happy for him too at the time, because he had been studying for it very hard and he deserved it. Until she started the school and he was all over her.

"Uh huh, well, I..." Why did she want to graduate early again? "I'm just asking to have a proper career plan in action!" Yeah, something like that. She was VERY responsible, and knew what she wanted to do with her life. Tell that to Logan Paton. "How early do I need to, uh, apply for it? And who do I need to talk to?"

Now, how was she going to convince Paul to do that when it was already February and her brother hadn't studied for it at all?

Vera was a curious person by nature. And while it was very rare that she happened to get explanations for her unspoken questions, that didn’t mean her face couldn’t still ASK. As for brothers? While Ve did not know Paul, she DID have her own brother and while she gave him grief endlessly there was no one she’d rather have by her side if something was wrong. Vasco didn’t ask questions if she didn’t want to answer them and her barely older brother gave the best hugs.

But she would never openly admit any of that to him.

While her mentioning this moment to Logan was very much a possibility because of how BAFFLED she was by the request, Mona’s very sound plan would have been disrupted only by the fact Ve probably would have mentioned it more from a concerned angle. In fact, maybe she should really discuss with Vesper and see if the younger Thanatos could befriend this first year. Ve was almost TOO old now to be as comforting as she might have once been. Wasn’t that strange?

Oh… so she didn’t want to leave, but wanted to make sure her future was set? This exclamation made the sixth year feel a little bit small, if only for the fact how was it this young student was more put together than herself??? Yikes. “Oh. Well…. That is wise. Do you already know what you want to do then? And are you planning on just… starting it early?” She supposed if the ministry would let her take her OWLs a year early and THEN her NEWTs she could conceivably graduate by Fifth year…. What a wild notion. “Well… I’m not really certain about the specifics. It’s not something I’ve looking into.” She had zero necessity. She’d stay longer at Hogwarts if she could and if she could convince Logan, Sia and Vas to stay with her. “I think… maybe the Minister’s Office is who handles education? So maybe you should talk to someone there? The Minister himself is probably pretty busy but… some of his grandkids are here! You could maybe ask them too?” Mitsuki seemed a wealth of information, though Ve couldn’t vouch for certain she’d have THIS information and Yukie was super approachable.