Ch.10 She tried eating my space pen!
Authors note:Boles is a pun! Also, I described the dorm rooms that way because if it were me and I was in there, I'd go insane if I was surrounded by saturated yellow and black for so many years. The basements in castles i've seen photos of before have slanted or curved roofs and i'm assuming the hufflepuff dorm is near the sides instead of in the middle . Also wizards are weird and wizards who decide to go into architecture are weirder.
There was polite applause and a small 'Yeah!' from Hannah as she waved him over nearly smacking the older boy behind her, Arthur excitedly ran to join her.
He could hear the hat yelling names behind him as he sat down on the wooden bench, his legs not quite reaching the ground, getting a firm handshake from the older boy with floppy brown hair and a square face that almost shook him out of his seat.
Arthur craned his neck around to see the Gryffindor table welcoming a boy with sandy hair, Neville, and Hermione (who ran to take a spot next to the house prefect.) He caught their eye and gave a thumbs up as she smiled back proudly, with Neville waving back beaming.
As his eyes unfocused on the stray wooden splinter in front of him a name echoed through the hall, Harry Potter, there were whispers and shouts as he settled down onto the chair. He took a moment longer than usual on the hat with him looking like he was thinking a bit too hard before it shouted,'Gryffindor!'
Arthur was starting to think the hat kept taking so long with certain people because it liked to replay memories like a funny rewind you'd see on television.
Harry had received the warmest welcome of them all, with the table shouting and clambering to pat him on the back yelling his name congratulating him.
A couple of Hufflepuffs looked a bit sour that he hadn't gone to their house instead, particularly Hannah.
He leaned over clapping but bewildered ,"What's so special 'bout him?"
Hannah stared at Arthur opening and closing her mouth shocked,"What's so special? What's so special! He's the boy who lived!"
This made Arthur even more confused looking at the frilly ghost floating next to Harry,"Well…..yeah I can see that-"
"Not that- He survived...You-know-who when he was just a baby...Got attacked and lived."
"Who?"
Hannah grabbed his shoulder and went into a low whisper,"You haven't been raised around magic have you- You-know-who, Can't say his real name... he was a dark and powerful wizard….almost destroyed everything. But Harry….he destroyed him."
Arthur's eyes widened, "a baby killed him? That baby?" he said pointing shamelessly and adding on to the other fifty hands pointing to him anyway.
"Yeah! He's pretty impressive huh? Nobody knows how he did it….It's unbelievable...he's even got some pages to himself in some books too.. one on him too..."
He felt a pit deepen in his stomach, "He alright? that'd give me the creeps..."
Hannah looked glum , and began speaking in a whisper so only he could hear,"I don't really know but..my dad says You-Know-Who…..That he could come back…..So we better take defense against the dark arts seriously.."
She went back to speaking normal but still worried,"It's a load of dung though, he's dead- his job makes him paranoid about everything… Still…Not that it would but... you think he could do it again if it did happen?"
They looked over in sync at the Gryffindor table where Harry was currently sneaking leftover chocolate from his pocket with Ron, once more devouring it.
Arthur snickered,"Maybe if You-know-who came back waving a licorice wand…"
The older student with a firm handshake from before tapped on the wood making them look up, He pointed at the Professors table,"Oi! You two, there's time for gossip later, Dumbledore is about to speak."
A very old man, with a beard that swept the floor , wearing long robes that looked like a very fancy carpet and a matching cap stood up with his half moon spectacles shining as he looked down at them all, silently commanding their attention.
He spread his arms out in a welcoming manner, "Welcome, before we begin, I'd like to say a few words, and here they are, Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
The table began to fill with everything you could possibly want, crowded with Roasted chicken, Vegetables, gravys and sausage.
His new housemates looked at him strangely as he loaded his plate with vegetables and only a bit of gravy, he grabbed a handful of peppermint humbugs and shoved them in his pocket.
The older boy looked at him funny,"Cedric Diggory- you'll ruin your meal with that you know?"
Arthur loudly crunched on a humbug,"Arthur Dewey" he tried saying but it came out all sloshed, leaning over to grab Hannah the chicken.
"Nevermind." Cedric sighed looking disturbed, focusing on his own meal loaded with beef.
"How can you do that? All those…..leaves." asked Hannah in horror looking at his garden of a plate.
Arthur paused with his mouth full of sprouts and carrots, "Huh?" he asked thickly.
A boy with spiky hair nodded at him across the table,"She's right- you've got classes tomorrow, you'll need some meat on your plate tonight, you can't afford to eat like you've been locked in a greenhouse."
He ignored them and wolfed- or rather, venus flytrapped, the rest down while glaring at the peasoup down the row.
The Professors table was interesting enough to watch, Dumbledore seemed to be enjoying a peppermint humbug as well(Or he might've. He held it out in front of him and when you blinked it would disappear with only a few peppermint crumbs on his beard.), Professor McGonagall was eating a slice of beef and toasted bread almost like a normal person if she didn't start twitching her mouth like she had whiskers that were getting dirty.
And the man with a long nose and dark hair was for some odd reason eating his peas by stabbing one on each prong of his fork and kept swirling his goblet with his spoon like it was some kind of potion.
The man in the turban seemed to stare at every single forkful for around five minutes a piece as if he was making sure it was good enough. While a cheerful looking lady with a smudge of dirt on her face was busying herself with a plate that looked similar to Arthurs, periodically shielding her eyes from the tiny man next to her who had decided to choose the most overly colourful foods he could find.
Hagrid was the most interesting, using a fork and knife that looked tiny in his hands daintily cutting up the largest slab of meat Arthur had ever seen.
Pudding came and he grabbed the most savory spicy custard he could as Hannah made a face at him, the food was so good he wondered if he could send some back to his dad.
"I'm muggleborn- Mum didn't want me going of course, I managed to turn her around when I showed her we can learn how to enlarge things, She wants to surprise her pottery class!"
Everyone around the curly haired boy laughed and Hannah spoke up beside him," Half Blood, my dad tried using that spell for breakfast this morning so he wouldn't have to make more eggs, a piece of it squashed our garden…"
Arthur snorted into his custard before accidentally breathing it in his nose and choking, Cedric pounded his back and he thanked him between coughs.
A girl down the table laughed openly at him,"Hey- Bluey butterfly, what's your story?"
Arthur stuck his tongue out at her and the alliteration, "Same as her I think, except, I didn't know what magic was! Went to a laundrette to wash the robes and the owner found my wand, He used it to prop open the dryer lid!"
The muggleborn kids around him laughed but the older years seemed to wince at the thought, he was grinning but was with the older years internally as well. The wand had not liked being mistaken for a propper and turned all his white shirts pink.
The topic turned to wizard music as Dumbledore rose cheerfully once more, Arthur slowly slid his soggy sandwich from the lunch he was supposed to eat out of his pocket opening it as he began conducting a song.
All of his housemates and every other student stood up and began singing along with their own tunes, even if they didn't know the words.
He didn't really know what he was doing, but with burning ears began singing loudly along with them recreating the tune of the All-Troll band they discussed earlier, providing low grunts and accidental squeaks that set a beat with two other red-headed boys funeral march, Hannah looking at him funny.
As they sat down , Arthur offered her the dry side of his sandwich causing her to decline and look at him even more funny.
He stared at her silverware, "You gonna eat that?"
"Huh?"
"Other houses have passwords, we technically have one that's a bit more hands on."
The Hufflepuff house prefect had led them to three large rustic barrels, with the one on the right only being slightly bigger.
Everyone was exhausted and holding each other up, the curly haired kid from earlier even had fallen on the floor snoring.
The Prefect stepped over his unconscious body and hovered his hands over the first barrel, "Do be careful not to absentmindedly tap on these if you come across them without thinking! If you get it wrong you'll have glitter in your robes until laundry day….Or...If it's feeling vinegar that day…...Don't open your mouth."
He tapped lightly to a rhythm that made even more kids fall asleep, Arthur and Hannah had to catch themselves from tripping. It helped that everytime they slid their pockets jingled and made them shoot upright.
"Are you sure about this?" Hannah whispered looking nervous , "I know it's just a copy...but...we could still get caught..."
Arthur furrowed his wide red brows, he was a little worried too but it was really just a copy. He'd asked a boy if it was easy to replace stuff like that and the second year was completely willing to show off his advanced skills and multiplied a few of the spoons. (Although, one of them had fused with the table and took a while to get out)
"Ill do it, You'll get in trouble-" he held out his hand.
Hannah looked at him firmly, "No. You didn't ask me to, I know- I chose to help, I'll stick through it…..I really want to see Sally too! I mean….It's a metal eating newt."
Arthur grinned feeling touched and mentally wished deep down inside that they had stolen the real ones so they'd stop serving the grotesque pea soup.
oval doors swung open leading to stairs, the Prefect lowered into them as they all scrambled to see, they were hit with a fresh wave of air that felt like morning dew.
It had a faint scent of honeysuckle, the walls were covered in dark green shrubbery and Lattice grills covering them. The rest of the walls being stone, with wooden beams lined with golden wood connector plates crawling all around the room.
The brick was offset by the large honey coloured table and ledges with carved edges, old battered soft yellow rugs lining the floor topped by sunken oversized couches and seats, with circular windows that would cover everything in a soft blanket of sunlight come morning.
The wood on the floor was visible in its planks and nails, with stairs being a main design in the sides of the rooms, most likely for the many potted plants sitting around and wrapped around the ceiling and walls, complimented by log stools.
Another Hufflepuff Value, was apparently, being hypoallergenic.
Everyone stood around looking and breathing in the overly fresh air, the entire room was similar to those jagged rough carved bears that people thought were cute and hung on the back of toilets.
The Prefect was looking very proud at their amazed faces but almost fell on his face from diving across the room, he popped back up looking relieved, "Sorry- almost touched that plank!" he pointed at the plank in question, of which was jiggling slightly.
"If you can- don't touch any planks that jiggle! We've got Boles…..You may have heard of moles! Well these ones, they're made of wood, can't get rid of them. If you step on their plank it won't be awful, but be prepared to hide any books or boxes you may have! They only have one goal…..to tunnel!"
Everyone checked under their feet, scattering around.
The Prefect clapped in the same rhythm he did for the barrels getting their attention,"You guys will have your timetables tomorrow! Be sure to come to breakfast, the dorm on the right is for girls and the dorm on the left for boys. Do not go in each others! It's horrid trust me- the punishment you get changes everyday, sort of like the barrels, so you don't know what you'll get!"
He looked around scanning their faces, Arthur hopped trying to loosen the tight robes around his legs, making a very loud jingling sound.
Arthur and Hannah froze.
They slowly looked at each other and then back, the Prefect having appeared in front of their faces.
They both screamed, grabbing for one another and jingled some more, sounding like a terrifying christmas carol.
The Prefect put his hands on his hips looking at them sternly,"What might that be in your pockets?"
Hannah gaped,"uh…...they're uh….."
"Clock hands" Hannah blurted.
"Clock hands?" Repeated the Prefect and Arthur incredulously
Hannah swallowed nervously and nodded.
The Prefect seemed even more suspicious,"Why would you have clock hands!"
Arthur started to sweat and bounced his leg around unsure of what to say.
The prefects eyes widened and looked at them sternly,"Don't tell me you're doing that stupid parlor trick already- Going around waving your wand making the clock hands disappear off watches and asking people for the time, it's not even funny just troublesome."
They both stared at each other, what kind of a trick was that?
"Uh-yeah...only to each other though, He falls for it every time!" Hannah lied with Arthur giving the thumbs up glaring at her.
The Prefect rolled his eyes mumbling,"First years...always so easily entertained..." he pointed to the dorm doors, "Off you pop- You should be ready to conk out right about now!"
They ran to the intersection of the doors and flipped up their robes slightly to hide the exchange of spoons not believing their luck, "Can you believe that?" Arthur whispered elated.
Hannah gave a shocked,"No!" and ran up with her housemates , Arthur in suit with his own,slamming the doors shut at the same time.
Arthur had to come back out and open it for the Prefect again.
His roommates stared in fascination as he walked up with his pockets clanking.
The curly haired boy from earlier pointed at them,"Have you got loads of sickles in there or something? Or is it just a bunch of lame paperclips?"
"Yeah- You made a big show trying to hide it out there,come on then, can we have a look?" asked a boy with blonde hair and fat nose getting closer.
Arthur went to show them but he was interrupted by Sally on his four poster bed (she'd claimed it apparently.) Making the weirdest croaking noises he'd ever heard, it was like a bullfrog but everytime it puffed up its throat bubble it got smacked right in the throat.
He and his roommates slowly walked over to where she was running circles, "What is that? it kept trying to shoot its tongue at me!" exclaimed the curly haired boy next to him who was already in his nightshirt.
Blonde haired boy shoved him lightly,"It's because he kept trying to put it on his quill!"
Justin shoved him back.
The boy with an upturned nose, sitting next to a boy with a square face and shaggy hair were staring annoyed at all of them and went back to playing cards completely uninterested in the situation.
Arthur's eyes went to the badger embroidered on the bed they sat on, which was staring down Sally, he glared at the badger knowing snakes were its favourite and Justin probably caught its attention.
Arthur pointed at it and scowled,"Oi! Keep your eyes on your honey jar!"
It went back to looking like an innocent pillow that anyone could lay their head down on and not worry about the current whereabouts of their neck.
They all looked at him like he was a bit off kilter but Justin waved it off and pointed at the boy with the upturned nose,"The one being a wet blanket is Zacharias Smith,"
Zacharias pointed to the boy with shaggy hair next to him, "And the one who wets the blankets is Wayne Hopkins."
Wayne turned a dark red and shot out of the bed ready to fight, "I do not!"
Zacharias snickered, then turned to Arthur pompously,"Aren't you going to feed that thing ? I expect it's making that annoying noise because of it, it tried eating my space pen! hissed at me too!"
Wayne held up a presumably winning card,"Yeah! How's he supposed to write a letter back when I launch him there!"
They bickered some more as Justin and Ernie shrugged at Arthur, Arthur apologized about Sally and ran to make sure she couldn't do any damage.
Arthur was beginning to think that if Zacharias was ever launched into space he'd rearrange the stars to spell out that, 'Wayne sucks royal hippogriff' out of spite.
"Is it hungry? What does it even eat?" Asked Ernie curiously looking at the now calmed down newt.
Arthur shrugged back to him,"I dunno- I was planning on spoon feeding her."
Justin snorted condescendingly,"You still baby that thin-"
He was cut off by Arthur grinning at him and throwing a spoon from his pocket while Sally swallowed it whole.
The room fell quiet as his Roommates gaped. Even Arthur was surprised, she'd never eat infront of him before and she had just gulped down something the size of her own body with it disappearing easily.
"Wicked." Wayne whispered, breaking the silence.
Sally still looked hungry and Arthur wanted to ration the spoons, so they went around the room looking for things to give her. They had ended up with trouser buttons, two binder buckles, and a gasket for some reason.
After Sally refused any more,they smiled at each other tiredly and headed off to bed, Arthur shuffling slowly so that his trousers didn't fall down, and took time to look around.
Their dorm was a little similar to the common room, everything wooden had a roughness to it. The edges were never perfect or smoothed down, like the one who made it only ever bothered to use sandpaper to just get rid of the splinters.
It was very warm and comfortable, everything was close together, the walls and ceiling in a slightly bent fashion openly showcasing its wooden support beams and covering. This was probably because being surrounded on all four sides by stone in a slanted basement would turn them into a frost salamanders wonderland.
The only thing separating them were a few feet and a couple of nightstands with melted candles about to be blown out, the wax spilling on the wood. There were colorful mismatched hand sewn curtains with a prominent yellow that glittered hanging on each side of the four poster beds
Moonlight trickled in through the circular windows(It was actually very low to the ground, being able to see the tops of grass) on their blankets, which didn't look perfect either. It looked like they had purposefully left the stitching visible to give it a sense of handy work and home, complimenting the overly bright mustard rugs on the floor. Topped off with quilts with random colours, candy wrappers and boringly normal cards laying all over Zacharias and Wayne.
(Arthur had an old pack of a 'magic' card game that he was determined to get Wayne and Zacaharias to play instead.)
The walls were covered in posters hung up by the new inhabitants, mostly quidditch,football, and one about astronomy. The plants hanging on the window trying to reach and cover them.(It apparently was not a fan of the Wimbourne Wasps) It was very much like living above an old wintery bar that some nutcase gardener and beekeeper couple had made in a dirt tunnel.
They had all pointed out that Arthurs side looked empty and bleak so he indulged them, and since he knew virtually nothing about the teams, Ernie gladly told him all about each one. He showed a heavy bias towards the Wimborne Wasps and was visibly disappointed when he chose the Caerphilly Catapults.
He told them they were eccentric and reckless, worse than the Chudley Cannons and apparently only managed to catch the snitch in the early years because when the snitch was an actual bird the caretaker fed it too much and slowed it down. And not to mention favoured the Cleansweep broomsticks which were noted to be not as fast as the newer models.
The poster was in crayon borrowed from Zacharias who glared at Arthur when he asked if they were from space too, and demanded he sit on his side of the room to keep away from Sally incase she tried anything.
In response to Ernies comments he drew both the Catapults and the Cannons, His poster depicted a green and red catapult swinging a quaffle into an orange cannon working together as it shot it upward into the odd hoop goal.
Arthur felt odd, a good odd. Like you were floating in a cold room but surrounded by warm friends. The bed was a weird odd, it was soft and sucked you down with it, so he had decided to do the most obvious thing.
He stared at Sally on the bed who was...sleeping? he was pretty sure she was snoring, which was very weird for a salamander but then again she did very weird things since the very beginning.
He didn't know if it was right keeping her around, but he didn't know if he wanted to just get rid of her like that either.
Arthur shook his head and slipped underneath the bed.