Common room @willowwhisps on Wattpad

Thunderbird: After entering the Common Room, a staircase leads you to the central room. Here the middle consists of couches and low coffee tables, in the center a giant globe. Around the edges of the room, tables and desks are shoved against the wall. Two staircases, leaning against the wall, lead you upstairs to the next floors. On these floors the dorms are situated. As years passed, more and more rooms, more and more floors were added. The balconies overlook the central space at the bottom. The wall opposite to the entrance, has large, decorated windows. Every floor has a special, broader, terrace with comfortable couches, with a nice view over the school grounds on one side, and on the central room on the other side. The floors aren't divided by year. As the student population increased, people were filling in the empty spots where students graduated. In the center a large globe takes up some space. It shows locations both known and unknown to the No-Maj. Often students put post-its with notes about the place as such or just notes towards other students on the globe. Often students play around with magic and objects fly across the room, such as magical paper planes which make loops into the air, or spell cuss words. In the 1920's, they decided they needed elevators to reach the upper floors, as taking the staircases had become rather frustrating. There are two elevators on each side, decorated in art-déco style. There's a special board covered in postcards from around the world send by classmates, graduates, teachers and even the headmaster or visitors. They're all neatly placed next to each other so that not a single one is hidden from sight. 

Detail: the roof is a reflection of the actual sky. It changes to resemble the outside situation. Often when a storm is coming, students come together and watch it from the central room, waiting for thunder and lightning to show on the ceiling.

Pukwudgie: When you first enter the Pukwudgie common room, chaos is the perfect word to describe it. Furniture from different styles, however really precise and skilled made, are spread across the ground floor in a seemingly random structure. Three large fire pits are always burning. The one in front of the entrance, is meant for lounging and relaxing. The most comfortable chairs and couches are often found there. The ones on the left and right are meant for potions and homework and are accompanied by the good tables, the ones who don't have a shorter leg and wobble the entire time. Each fireplace can hold at least six kettles. The middle is often spacious and empty as students randomly take furniture and shove it to the desired place. There are two straight staircases, on each side of the central fireplace. One leads to the girl dormitories, the other to the boys'. Against the walls cabinets, shelves and such are placed containing various objects: books (recipes, fiction (No-Maj and Magical), course books, comic books, self-help guides, potion books, puzzle books, a First Aid Manual,...), ingredients, and other random objects. There's no system in organization, except for one. Everything is ordered by color. Many students have tried to create a different, much more efficient way to order, but the shelves always return to their normal, random structure. Every morning all furniture is placed the same way, no matter how you left it in the evening. How, nobody knows. Students who pulled all-nighters in the common room all have different explanations. Some say they all seemingly together blinked, and everything was back where it should be, students remained seated in the same chair. Others insist the furniture started shoving itself back into place. Others again, say the furniture started floating to its place, without taking notice of the students seated in them. It's a tradition that the Pukwudgie Prefect has the right to choose his chair in his final year. When the Prefect is near, nobody is allowed to sit in his chair. 

Detail: on each fire place there's a tin can and a glass can. When shaking the tin can, it will magically fill with hot chocolate milk, when shaking the glass can, it will fill with fresh, cranberry lemonade.

Wampus: As you enter the common room, you are immediately confronted with the loud ambiance from the first room. The Wampus common room makes a distinction between two rooms. The first one is the training/entertainment room. Often music is blasting or people are shouting and laughing. The second room is entered through a small bow, and leads to the study. 
The training/entertainment room has few couches. Mostly it has training equipment where students can train both their physique and their magic. Key is to always leave room for people to cross the room towards the study, and when you cross to look out for blocked spells, or even weapons. After ten p.m. the lights will dim in the training areas and only the self made crossing will be enlightened. Regularly, Wampus students will shove their training material to the side and hold great parties in the spacious training area. 
Once you come in the study area, the silence overthrows you. The contrast is very clear. Where the training room only has small windows at the tops of the walls, the study has big long windows. Here desks are organized in long rows, and students can study or calmly talk without the chaos of the training room. Around the room, one bench filled with cushions offers the students a comfortable resting place, with a great view on the forest surrounding the school. It is also possible to do yoga in the study. 


Detail: Wampus students are very competitive. Next to the door there's a big board that lists the scores of the students. These scores are a combination of school grades, personal victories, teamwork,etc. Nobody knows exactly how the scores are calculated. When it changes the students can hear the screeching, as if a claw is scratching on the blackboard. The scores are annual, so every year everyone starts from zero. The only score to always remain on the board is the high score, written in the right corner. It's important to earn those scores honestly. If you try to change it, it will be magically deducted from your original score. The student with the highest score at the end of the year will get a party thrown in their honor.

Horned Serpent: The Common Room of Horned Serpent is unique in its simplicity. The light colors and use of neutral colored material create a bright surrounding. The floor is covered in white marble, with golden details. At the end of the room a fountain, with a small cascade, shows the miraculous Horned Serpent. Around the fountain, various plants are crawling in and around the water. Study areas are followed by seating areas, to ensure a nice change in surroundings. To say it simple: table, couch, table, couch, and so on. There's no music playing, but when the students haven't arrived yet or open the large windows, you can hear the birds singing. The use of rich materials, such as marble and exotic woods, is common for the room. Leather couches and chairs accompany the tables. The tables consist of a glass surface, placed on a wooden frame. On both sides of the door, gigantic book cases are placed, accompanied by ladders to get to the desired section. All the books are alphabetically ordered, but for the first book. This book contains another organization and tells you if you can find the desired book in the Horned Serpent library and where, or if you need to take a look in the Ilvermorny Library. On the marble floor, the Gordian Knot is traced with gold lines, in honor of Isolt, founder of Ilvermorny and Horned Serpent. It's the only common room with a portrait of the founder as well. It is painted by Isolt's daughter, who later on has left Ilvermorny. Simple chandeliers, decorated with crystals, are the source of light. 

Detail: hidden behind the plants around the fountain is a small bar cart. Only seniors know about it. Every once in a while, they hang out in the common room by themselves and enjoy a nice drink from the collection of special and rare alcoholic drinks. There's only one condition: no one of the younger students is allowed to know. If you do tell them, you're banned from the Senior Nights. It's a secret only the Horned Serpent Seniors know and aren't allowed to tell anyone until they're Horned Serpent Seniors themselves. The head of Horned Serpent allows the use of alcoholic beverages (after all, he/she was a Horned Serpent Senior himself/herself) and considers it a sign of responsibility.