The Sorting Helmet was removed from his head, and Henry Fergus walked over to sit at an empty table in the Hufflepuff section. The sorting seemed to go on for ages. Finally, the sorting was over, and to his displeasure, Henry found himself sitting at a full table. The elderly headmaster Mr. Rooney stood up.
"Welcome to Hogwarts!" He said in a scratchy voice, beaming at the student body, his eyes twinkling. "Time to eat!"
Suddenly, ornate claws descended from the ceiling to the tables, removing the camouflage cloaks and retracting into the ceiling, revealing a spectacular dinner.
There was steak, applesauce, mac and cheese and salad (croutons and dressings on the side) at their table. But that was only their table. All the tables had different foods on it, and there were so many of them. Just about any popular dinner food one could think of and it was on one of the tables (except for sandwiches, those things had to be made yourself with the slices of bread found on some tables). Students (particularly the older years) started getting up and switching tables, or going to fetch foods from other tables.
No one at Henry's table got up though. They were all apparently satisfied with what they had, and began to dish out helpings. Henry avoided the applesauce.
"So what are your names?"
"Regulus Brown," said a voice next to him.
Henry kept eating, not paying attention to the conversation, somewhat dwelling on the Sorting, but mainly focusing on eating and little else. Then he noticed that the table seemed to be really quiet. He looked up from his food.
For some reason, everyone at the table (who were all older students, save Regulus) looked annoyed at him, and Henry realized they were talking to him. He swallowed and said, "Henry Fergus."
Henry went back to eating, this time making sure to try keeping his ears open in case he was spoken to.
Soon conversation turned to their families.
"All my family's been in Slytherin for ages," said Regulus. "If I had been put in Ravenclaw, then there might not have been a problem. I'm just glad I'm not in Gryffindor…" he shuddered. "My uncle Alex was in Gryffindor. He got disowned."
"Isn't there a second year Slytherin named Sandra Brown?"
"Yeah. That's my older sister. She's…not really nice to me."
"And what about you?"
Henry didn't really want to talk about it, but he saw no way out. He decided that he'd just say as little as possible.
"I'm muggleborn," he said. There was a short pause in which the other people sitting at the table looked like they expected him to say more, but then one of the older students said, in an accusatory voice, "What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing's wrong with it! I didn't say that!" Henry said, defensively.
Sensing that this was a sensitive topic, they looked away and changed the subject.
His housemates attempted to include him for the rest of the meal. He participated a few times, but mostly he was silent. It wasn't that he was antisocial or anything, it was just that they didn't talk about things he was necessarily interested in or could relate to. (He didn't know what to say, and he didn't know how he could change the topi this late in the conversation.) It didn't stop both them and him from trying though, and giving annoyed looks when he couldn't give lengthier responses. At one point in the conversation both Henry and the rest of the people sitting with him gave up, and the conversation continued entirely without him for the rest of the meal.
Eventually, dinner was over. Dessert passed in much the same manner. Finally, once everyone was done eating (hopefully), Mr. Rooney stood up again.
"I have a few announcements to make. First of all, we have a new and an old teacher this year. Please give a warm welcome to our new Metaphysiological and Martial arts instructor, Instructor Hayne!" A bald man with wide eyes and a serious but nervous face, and wearing a black and white tuxedo-esque martial arts uniform stood up. The school applauded politely. Instructor Hayne sat back down.
"And a wonderful welcome back to our old life science teacher, representative of Eelops Ecological Society, Dr. Ann Cook!" A frizzy greying red head with a thin face with glasses and freckles stood up and the school applauded again. She sat down, and Mr. Rooney continued. "The forest outside the grounds is a wildlife preserve owned by her organization, and therefore is strictly forbidden to all students, unless a member of staff or Eelops representative says otherwise. Also, quidditch captains must speak with their head of house to schedule tryouts before the Quidditch season starts in October, which I know won't be a problem.
Our head janitor, Mr. Richards, has reminded me to remind you that there is to be no use of metaphysiological powers without authorization from the staff. For a list of rules showing who is authorized and in what situations, check your student handbooks. But still, it's common sense so use your judgement; be safe, don't use your powers to hurt others, or bite off more than you can chew, etc etc.
"And finally, and most importantly, the third floor corridor on the right hand side is completely forbidden, unless you have a death wish. But seriously, not even then, if a student dies here it could have serious repercussions for all of us. Don't go there. I mean it! If anyone's caught even trying to get in, then they will face serious consequences. And now I'm sure you're all tired. You will need to be well rested for your classes in the morning. Off to bed!"
Students began scooting back their chairs and standing up.
"First years follow me!" commanded the voice of one of the older students who had sat at the same table. It was a tall wavy blonde haired boy who looked like he was in his late teens. He had a badge on his school uniform (black shirt and jeans) with a letter P on it. According to the student handbook Henry had received in the mail (and misplaced several times) the P stood for "Prefect". In other words, he was a disciplinarian with less power than a member of staff, and also helped the Head Prefects in their work as go betweens for the staff and student government.
The prefect (who introduced himself as Seth Davis) led them into the entrance hall and down a staircase to the east wing of the basement, down a few hallways, going past empty classrooms, artwork and photographs on the walls on the way, before finally reaching a photo collage on a wall at the end of the hallway.
Some of the first years started muttering anxiously, believing that they were lost.
They stood there for a while, waiting, and the first years started getting restless.
Just as irked as all the first year Hufflepuffs were at him for apparently getting them lost, Seth turned around to address them.
"Don't worry, we're not lost. We just need to wait for someone to open the door for us. Unfortunately, despite the fact that many of the other upper years aside from myself should have gotten here before us, no one has answered the door." The last few words were said with great frustration. Seth sighed. "They're probably distracted or expecting someone else to do it. So, I suppose that now is as good a moment as any to teach you an old Hufflepuff trick. He turned back to face the collage on the wall, and said very loudly and clearly, "Badger!"
A few seconds later, the collage disappeared, and the door opened. Many of the first years oohed, and ahhed. Henry looked up at the ceiling just in time to notice a ceiling tile close shut, presumably covering a projector, before he hurried after the other first years, and found himself in a cozy mostly carpeted room, with sections that had wooden paneling with tables and chairs around them, and a larger section of wooden paneling by a fire place on the far left corner, with a bunch of squishy armchairs and a couch. On the right hand wall was a carpeted sunken floor with carpeted steps that went all the way around it in a half-circle. There was a foosball table and an air hockey table, and there was a television in the wall.
"Welcome to the Hufflepuff common room! This is basically what it looks like. Many people do their homework here, and it's a good place to hang out and relax. It's also a gathering place. Also, directly ahead of us is the entrance to the dormitories. The lift to the boys' dormitories is on the left; for the girls'—the same on your right. All of your belongings have already been brought down, so you don't need to worry about that. I'll dismiss you with your dorm mates, that way there's no crowding.
Looking at a list that Henry hadn't realized he'd been holding, Seth began to call out names.
He sent both the boys and girls in groups of three to five. Finally, there were only two students left, Henry and another student, with messy light-brown hair and blue eyes. He was nearly a head shorter than Henry.
"Turning to him, the boy said, "Well, looks like you're rooming with me."
Henry nodded, because he couldn't think of a better response. Then Seth sent them down to their dormitory.
On the way down the elevator, Regulus said, "I know you're not very social, and that's okay. But since we're rooming together, hopefully we can get along, and maybe be friends?"
Henry shrugged. "I'm Regulus Brown, by the way, in case you've forgotten." He held out his hand.
"Henry Fergus."
They shook hands.
Once they got to their dorm, they both had brushed their teeth and changed into PJs, then got into their respective bunks (Regulus had the top and Henry got the bottom). Each of them had a large thick wooden shelf attached to their bunks and the wall.
Right before Henry drifted off, he noticed that there was a third bed in the room...
