AN: This is a short chapter, but it's necessary for filling in stuff and establishing friendships. Enjoy. :)
The Hufflepuff Common Room
After the feast was over, Emilia and the other fourth years made their way out of the Great Hall. Everyone was chatting loudly about all the revelations that had occurred after dessert. Megan and Zacharias Smith were ranting loudly about the cancellation of the Quidditch Cup, as they were both Chasers on the Hufflepuff team. Then there was the Triwizard Tournament, which Emilia vaguely remembered reading about. There was also the scary new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. D.A.D.A. was normally one of her favourite subjects, but she wasn't sure if she would like it this year. Susan was trying to convince them that her aunt who worked at the Ministry of Magic said Professor Moody wasn't so bad, when the group was stopped momentarily by a handsome older student. He asked Emily if she needed help finding the common room, but the other fourth years assured him she didn't.
"Who was that?" Emily whispered as he made his way back to the first years.
"That's Cedric Diggory," Susan replied with a sly smile. "He's the Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team. And Megan is totally in love with him."
Megan looked up quickly from her conversation with Zacharias. "Shut up, I am not!" she shouted, then returned to ranting about Quidditch.
"He's also a Prefect." Ernie McMillan added. "I hope to be one next year."
"Ooh, I read about those in Hogwarts: A History!" Emily said excitedly.
"Didn't they have Prefects at your old school?" Susan asked.
"No. No I think they had them back in the day, but they don't anymore. They do have a valedictorian though," Emily answered.
"What's that?" asked Hannah.
"I guess like a Head Boy and Girl, except…Hey wait a minute, what are those hourglasses for?" Emily paused suddenly, pointing at the four giant hourglasses near the entrance of the school. She'd noticed them when she was waiting to be sorted.
"They record the points for the House Cup. We almost won it last year!" Hannah replied. "Did Professor McGonagall explain the House Cup to you guys?" Emily nodded. "She was pretty distracted because Peeves was being a pain earlier, so I thought maybe she missed it. Anyway, it's a lot harder to earn points than to lose them."
"Oh don't worry, I don't plan on breaking any rules," Emily said. "And I get good grades so…Wait, who's Peeves?" The rest of their walk to the Hufflepuff common room was spent discussing Peeves and the ghosts, especially the house ghosts. She also learned about the different house colours and animals.
It turned out her new common room was pretty close to the Great Hall, which was good news because she couldn't wait to get out of her dirty clothes and wash her hair. The Hufflepuffs walked across the Entrance Hall, and through a door to the right of the big marble staircase. As they descended the stone steps, Emily was momentarily worried that she'd be living in a dank basement, but they emerged into a wide hallway with bright torches and colorful paintings, mainly of food.
They made their way past a painting of a giant silver fruit-bowl, which Susan explained led to the kitchens. They came to a halt in front of a stack of large barrels in a shadowy nook on the right side of the hallway. Ernie showed Emily which barrel to tap with her wand (two from the bottom, middle of the second row) and in what tune, and Zacharias explained that if she ever tapped the wrong barrel or the wrong tune, she'd be sprayed with vinegar. Emilia gulped nervously and vowed to write all this down once she got to her room. As they began to crawl through the tunnel that opened up in the barrel, her new friends hummed the tune helpfully a few more times.
Hel-ga Huff-le-puff.
Tap tap taptaptap.
Emily was starting to worry about getting doused with vinegar on her first day of classes, when the tunnel ended and she got her first glimpse of the Hufflepuff common room. Even at night, it was bright and yellowy-orange. The room was round, its walls made of honey coloured polished wood and soft looking bricks, with round windows. There were plants and flowers everywhere; on shelves, window ledges, and hanging from the ceiling, but no so many that it looked cluttered. A bright yellow-orange glow came from the large round fireplace, which was decorated with carved dancing badgers. The light reflected off all the copper accessories in the room.
The biggest painting in the room was of a happy plump witch, who toasted the students with a small golden cup. Emilia knew it was Helga Hufflepuff without having to ask. The chairs and couches were puffy, and upholstered mostly in yellow and black patterns. The room had a fairly low ceiling, but that only made it cosier. It fact, this was the cosiest room Emily had ever seen, and the round doors on either side of the fireplace suddenly reminded her of the Hobbit hole from her favourite book. She realized she would love nothing more than to spend the next four years here.
The fourth year girls said goodnight to the fourth year boys, and they all departed to their separate dorms. Emily followed the girls down the hallway, and through the door marked "Fourth Years" in a loopy hand. She was pleased to find this room was just as cheerful as the last. There were four old fashioned wooden beds with posts, draped with thick yellow hangings for privacy. The hangings were all pushed aside to reveal colourful quilts and far too many pillows. A copper lamp hung over each bed, casting a warm light. Perfect for reading, Emily thought sleepily.
She didn't have to guess which bed was hers, as somebody else had already found it. She went to greet her kitten, who was perched on the edge of a bed to her right, farthest from the door.
"Hi, baby," she said soothingly and scratched the top of the kitten's head. The kitten made an angry noise, but then started to purr.
"Aw, you have a kitten?" Megan said excitedly and ran to pet the cat, who bounded away to the head of the bed.
"Yeah, but she's half Kneazle, so she doesn't like strangers," Emily replied apologetically.
"Oh, cool!" Megan exclaimed and moved to the bed beside Emily to get changed. "Yeah she looks like a Kneazle, doesn't she?"
Emily nodded. The kitten's ears were much larger than a cat's, with little tufts on the ends, and she was cream coloured, with some light brown spots across her back. But her tail wasn't plumed like a pure-bred Kneazle's would be, it was banded like a tabby's, with alternating cream coloured and light brown stripes.
"Don't worry, she'll grow to love me," Megan said confidently and flashed a bright smile, then closed her yellow hangings around her. "What's her name?" she asked, slightly muffled.
"Praline," Emily replied. She closed her own hangings as well, and started to take off her now dry, but utterly filthy clothes. "Like the candy."
"Aww," the other girls said in unison.
"That's cute," Susan added. "I'd love to bring my cat to Hogwarts, but we all have owls because they're more 'practical.' Ugh."
Emily laughed lightly. "Well, the only reason I finally got a cat was because my parents felt bad for moving to another country."
"Why did you move here anyway?" Megan asked.
"Oh, well, my step-dad's company just opened up a location in London, so they wanted him to help run it," Emily answered.
"Ooooh, cool, so are you like rich?" Megan asked excitedly.
"Not that we care," Hannah added quickly.
"Umm, no, not really," Emily replied. She slipping on her new matching bathrobe and slippers (they were white with cupcakes on them), and gathered together her bathroom items. She hoped she only had to share a bathroom with the three girls. "I mean, we have a nice house I guess. Well it's not a house, it's like...attached. Like a townhouse. A terrace house, I think the real-estate lady called it. And it's in a nice neighbourhood. There's a park down the street...and some shops. But, my parents don't really buy me stuff unless I need it. My mom loves sales. We didn't really have much money until she met my step-dad." Emily opened her curtain.
"Where's your dad dad?" Megan asked. Hannah shot her a look but Megan didn't notice.
"Oh, he's still in Canada. Actually," Emily laughed lightly, "he doesn't even know I'm witch. My mom and I thought it would freak him out too much."
"Aw, well don't worry, we're all freaks here," Megan smiled and winked. The other girls laughed and Emily joined in.
"I think you're going to fit in great with us," Susan added.
"Thanks, I think so too," Emily smiled happily. "So, where's the bathroom? I really need a bath after that boat ride."
After a long hot bath, Emily changed into her new cupcake pajamas (her mom had gone a little back-to-school crazy). She settled into her new warm bed with her new warm kitten. Hannah showed her how to use the old-fashioned copper bed warmers that hung on the wall, and she quickly fell asleep, exhausted after her first day at Hogwarts.