A/N: Okay, so... I'm sorry I have to say this, but, updates are going to be few during the next week. My grades are sort of horrendous, and well, I've got to get them up! I'll be writing in my story notebook, just not posting, so, when I get back there will be plenty of updates!
I'm truly sorry for the delay on this chapter. I had a little trouble with this one, but I really like the end result. I hope you enjoy. I'd like to thank my beta (and awesome sister) Prongs-James Potter for her help, and recommend her story: Gambling With Fate, to you. It's about the last weeks of James and Lily Potter's lives, and it's really amazing so far.
One more thing, before you read. I'd love to hear from each of you, what you think, anything you'd like to see later on, ANYTHING! Just leave me a review, or send me a PM!
Happy Reading!
Chapter 3- Hufflepuff
I looked over at Charlie as he ran to the Gryffindor Table (which was very conveniently placed exactly next to the Hufflepuff Table). It was at that point I decided to turn around and try to get at least a few acquaintances from my own house if friends weren't possible. Before I could say anything, though, another voice rang through the room. Powerful, but calm and not too loud, and it was successful in drawing the attention of every student to the front of the long room, myself included. Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster was standing as if ready to make a speech. I knew him from the many times he had come to visit my parents in the past few years since the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, my best guess as to why was that he was trying to comfort Mum about her sister having a life sentence in Azkaban.
"Welcome students, to another fine year at Hogwarts! There will be time for speeches later, however," he spoke slowly, looking over the top edge of his half-moon spectacles, his piercing blue eyes sweeping the room. "Now, it is time to eat," Dumbledore announced merrily, and with a joyous clap of his hands the tables were piled with platters of more food than I'd ever seen in my life. Even more than at Christmas dinner with Dad, Mum, Grandmum and Grandad Tonks and all my aunts, uncles and cousins. As I looked at the other first years it was obvious I wasn't the only one with these feelings.
"It's great, isn't it?" a blonde girl, who looked to be a bit shorter than I was, also first year, smiled at me. "And, I'm sorry for laughing at you back there, y'know. When you tripped?" she added. "The name's Amelia. Amelia Brisbane."
"Hello, Amelia," I smiled back, starting to scan the silver platters to see what looked particularly good. I then decided to just get a small amount of everything, and began filling my plate with samples of the different food items. Without hesitation after I'd finished, I grabbed one of the many large pitchers of pumpkin juice that were scattered along the length of the table and filled my goblet as full as it would allow. "It was pretty funny though, I'll admit. There are sure to be many more similar incidents throughout the next seven years, too." I shrugged. "I'm Nymphadora Tonks, though you probably noticed that during the sorting, the name is a little hard to miss. Call me Tonks, though. I really don't like the name Nymphadora," I explained, reaching to grab a roll from the large bowl right in front of me, and the goblet (which was obviously a little too full) toppled over when I retracted my arm.
"Oh no!" Amelia gasped, and a helpful older student vanished the liquid before it could wreak havoc by spreading further down the table. I shrugged and Amelia decided to change the subject. "I love your hair, I've never seen anyone bold enough to go out in public with a literal rainbow on their head," she noted with a small smile.
I frowned and grabbed a strand of my hair for examination. Amelia was right. There was a rainbow on my head! Immediately I began running though new colors in my head. Blue was no longer acceptable, I was in Hufflepuff, after all, blue was for Ravenclaws. Yellow for Hufflepuff wouldn't very well work, either and neither would black, they were overused and boring, not to mention natural colors... well, natural for normal people. Why did there have to be such a limited number of interesting hair colors that weren't so bizarre that someone flat out laughed because the color was so absurd, why? I shook my head in slight disgust and decided that light pink would work for the time being. Maybe even longer if I ended up liking it.
"I think that tones it down," Amelia nodded as I changed the color. "And it's still really nice, too!"
"Thanks," I smiled a little, wondering how people could change from laughing at you, to looking at you like you were some amazingly talented, popular person within minutes. This was a little uncomfortable. I decided to focus on finishing my meal, which really was a legitimate reason. I hadn't eaten since breakfast... It wasn't long, though, before everyone was finished eating, and dessert had appeared in the place of the main meal. I couldn't help the smile that crept across my face at the sight of the savory sea of sugary deliciousness I was now facing. I came to the conclusion that Professor Dumbledore didn't really want any treats, because he stood up again and began to speak.
"Now, I think, would be a more appropriate time for Start of Term announcements," he said, sounding really cheerful. There was an obvious smile in his voice, and eyes, even though his face was completely and totally serious. "Welcome to all first years, and to all returning students, we hope you are all as excited to be here as we are to have you," he continued, his eyes sweeping the room as they had been earlier.
"It must be made clear, for the sake of the First Years, and some returning students as well, that the Forbidden Forest, is, as very clearly stated in the name, Forbidden, which means that it is off-limits, and no student is to enter without the express permission of a teacher as well as the accompaniment of that teacher. Mr Filch, the caretaker, would like me to remind you that any students found with items that have been explicitly banned from Hogwarts will be punished depending on the severity of the infraction, and the same is said of all school rules. A full list of all banned items can be found on the door to Mr Filch's office.
One more reminder before we all head to bed: it has become a problem, increasingly so within the past few years, that the rule that states that no magic shall be used in the corridors between classes, has been ignored. I feel the need to let you all know, the punishments for breaking this rule have been increased in severity due to this fact. Now! Fifth Year Prefects, I believe it is the time for you all to take the first years to your common rooms, all other students will follow." the old man finished with a smile, and sat back down.
As soon as he had finished speaking, there were two students standing at every table. There was an immediate (strangely in unison) call of 'First years! This way!' I stood up, not wanting to seem an idiot by being the last to stand. I looked at Charlie, who was sitting almost directly next to me, just on the Gryffindor table, and smiled. He smiled back.
"I'll try and find you at breakfast," he told me, giving me a small hug before turning and following the other Gryffindor students. I nodded, even though he'd left and turned to follow the other Hufflepuffs.
"Where do you think the Common Room is?" Amelia asked, as she came to walk alongside me.
"Well, I dunno," I shrugged, struggling to keep up with the prefects as the hurried across the Entrance Hall at a pace that was much too fast for my eleven-year-old length legs to keep up with. "My Dad was in Hufflepuff, but he said he didn't want me sneaking around other common rooms in case I wasn't sorted into Hufflepuff, and Mum said the same thing. She was a Slytherin. She'll be happy I'm not in Slytherin, though. She said something about the other Slytherins not being too enthusiastic about me, because she's a blood traitor, she married a muggle-born. Apparently that's a big deal amongst Slytherins. But, what I don't understand is how in the world my parents would come to the conclusion that I would go snooping around other house's common rooms," I sighed totally seriously, before erupting in laughter "Actually, I can see exactly why, because I would do that, and I would end up in detention or something for the rest of my time at Hogwarts or something," I told Amelia as the prefects headed through a small door I might have missed if I hadn't been following others into it, because it was almost fully obscured by a statue of a woman, I glanced at the name at the base, and saw the name 'Helga Hufflepuff' followed by 'Founder of Hufflepuff House'. It made sense that this particular statue lead to the Hufflepuff Common Room, didn't it?
"Wow, this is cool," a boy behind Amelia and I whispered, I nodded.
"I guess it is a school of magic... so there is going to be some cool stuff," Amelia whispered back, with a smile on her face.
"You have a point," he nodded, and we continued in silence. It was at that moment I realized we were going down, not stairs, but it was a slope. I was glad I caught that, because seconds later we were on stairs. I was almost positive that if I hadn't noticed, the results would have been disastrous to say the least. As we walked, I noticed a passage off to the right that had a painting of a fruit bowl at the end of it, I made a mental note to go and investigate later.
"We're almost there," one of the prefects, a boy who was tall, skinny and had a hair of dark curly hair, called back.
It was true, it didn't take long until we were all stopped at the bottom of the long staircase. There was a problem, though. A wall was kind of in the way. It was like the stairs didn't even go anywhere! It was apparent almost immediately, that I wasn't the only one who thought it was strange that we were standing at the bottom of a blocked staircase, because all the other students started muttering, looking around at all the other students around them, trying to find someone to talk about this strange occurrence.
"Don't worry," the boy prefect laughed. "It's more than it seems,"
"You, come here," the other prefect, a girl, called, pointing to the boy who was standing behind Ameila and I, the one we'd been talking to a moment ago. I turned to look at the boy, who was short and skinny. His face had paled immediately as he started to walk forward, he probably thought he was in trouble or something.
"Don't be afraid," the older boy told him, smiling reassuringly. "Now, what's your name?"
"I'm... I'm... I'm Se-seth," he gulped.
"We just want you to tell us what you see on the wall, Seth," the girl laughed.
'Oh..." Seth nodded, looking at the wall closely. "Erm... there's a... a yellow badger carved on there, isn't there?" he asked, looking at the prefects.
"Very good, thank you Seth, now. This badger is how you get into the Common Room. Simply place your hand on the badger, and recite the password," the boy prefect explained, placing his hand on the wall, where the badger was carved. "Taxo Fideles," he said clearly, and the wall disappeared, it didn't crumble, or move aside like the one in Diagon Alley had, it just... disappeared. Both of the prefects laughed a little at the collective awe that swept through the first years. Seconds later we were inside the Common Room, after we had all pushed forward.
"Now, Welcome to Hufflepuff!" the boy prefect grinned, turning to look at us. "My name is Ryan Fortescue,"
"And I'm Amber Wilkinson," the girl added.
"Normally at this time, we'd be sending you all to bed. It has been a long day, and we realize that. We also realize how hard it is to make friends sometimes," Ryan continued. "So, with permission from Professor Sprout, who is the Head of Hufflepuff, we can keep you all up a little longer to well, get to know each other. You'll want to rely on the friendships you make in this house for the rest of your time at Hogwarts, especially since a lot of the other students tend not to take us Badgers too seriously,"
"What we're going to do, is sit in a circle and introduce ourselves, saying our names, something interesting about yourself, and well, let's go with favorite color as well, shall we?" Amber smiled, leading us all to a large circle of plump yellow cushions, and we all sat down.
"Amber, will you start us off?" Ryan asked, smiling at her.
"I'd be glad to, Ryan," she nodded. "My name, as I said, is Amber Wilkinson. I'm on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, Seeker, and my favorite color is orange, now... you go next," she stated, pointing at me. I sighed.
"My name is Nymphadora Tonks. Though, if you decide to call me Nymphadora or any variation of it, well, we'll leave that to the imagination, shall we? Just call me Tonks," I grinned. "Something interesting about me? Well, I'm a metamorphmagus, basically meaning I can change my appearance at will, and as of the feast my favorite color is pink," I finished.
"A metamorph, eh? Very cool, and very rare too," Ryan smiled. "I'm Ryan Fortescue. Well, the only really interesting thing about myself I can think of, is that my uncle, Florean, owns one of the most popular ice cream parlors in Britain, which does, along with the fact that we're not far from the kitchens, and the House Elves tend to be so kind as to contribute drinks and other food items, cause for some very nice parties," he grinned. "And my favorite color... I'll have to say yellow, not only is it our house color, but it's also very cheery," he finished, and pointed at Amelia to go.
"Hello everyone. My name is Amelia Brisbane, I... I'm a twin and my favorite color is red," she said quickly, and pointed to Seth.
"My name is Seth Hancock, I am the only wizard in my family, and I have ten siblings, and my favorite color is blue," he pointed to another boy, across the room.
"I'm Kenyon Brisbane, I'm Mel's twin brother, and my favorite color is orange," he stated proudly, and so it continued for a while, until everyone had introduced themselves. It didn't take long, apart from some students who broke out in tears when it was their turn.
"Well, once again, Welcome to Hufflepuff, Tonks, Amelia, Seth, Kenyon, Albert, Brittany, Jason, Andrew, Melissa, Gerald, Trevor, Lillian, Helen and Valerie," Ryan smiled, standing up. "I think now would be a good time to send you all off to bed, Girl's Dormitories, are down the left tunnel, Boys to the right. We'll see you all in the morning!" he told us all, heading down the boys tunnel.
I stood up and hurried down the tunnel to the girls dormitories, and smiled when I saw a door with two plaques on it. One reading 'First Years' the second 'N. Tonks, Amelia Brisbane, Brittany Sheffield, Melissa Karume, Lillian Jade, Helen Stretton and Valerie Blackburn' all in order. I opened the door, and looked around. In the room were seven 4-poster beds, with trunks at the end of each, I quickly found my trunk (which now had yellow and black scarves, ties, robes, sweaters, etc. inside), and immediately beginning to dig through it for my pajamas, parchment and a quill.
"What're you doing?" Lillian asked, sitting on the bed to the right of mine. I looked up at her.
"Well, I'm going to change, then I'm going to write my parents, I promised them I would," I explained, pulling out the items I'd been searching for. I then hopped onto the bed, and pulled the curtains shut so I could change, then I opened them again and looked around for something to write on. I shrugged and grabbed one of my new books.
'Mum and Dad,
Hogwarts is great so far! I've made at least two new friends, Charlie Weasley and Amelia Brisbane. Charlie isn't in the same house as I am, but we'll make it work. Amelia, however is. The Sorting Hat got a little bit sentimental on me, and decided to tell me that I'm the second of Black descent to not be sorted into Slytherin. I am very aware I am leaving cryptic hints as to what house I am in, but I feel I should leave that for last. Anyway, the prefects in my house are very nice, and want to be involved with us First Years, which I like very much. We were told that the members of our house are seen as strange, though, I don't mind that I've always known I'm strange. Anyway, I suppose I'll tell you now. I'm in Hufflepuff, just like Dad! I miss you both very much, and can't wait to hear from you.
Much Love,
Dora'
I smiled as I looked at the letter. It was short, true, but it was to the point, and I was very tired at that point. I let my owl out of her cage and tied the letter to her leg.
"Take this to my parents," I told her, before climbing back into bed, and almost immediately falling asleep.
A/N 2: One more thing before you click the little review button down there, I took creative freedom with the fact that there are 7 girls and 7 boys in each dormitory, and with the fact that there's not a painting leading to the Common Room, but a wall with a Badger carving on it... :)
