"The way we see a Cerberus, and the view from a soul in the beyond are different. We do see a vicious creature, but they say if you were to somehow take a peak behind the veil, you'd have the eye. And then you'd see just how awesomely ferocious they really are. What's the eye? Well, I'm not exactly sure…"

-Nymphadora Tonks

Chapter 10: The English Are Blonde

We stumbled along behind a boy who's name I didn't catch. I remember him saying he was a Perfect? Apparently, Perfects were two…perfect…older kids they put in charge of everyone else in our club.

I almost got left behind on the moving staircase because I wasn't paying attention. My eyes followed after Seamus and Dean as they and the rest of Gryffindor headed up a different set of stairs. We headed down. "Careful," Perfect boy warned grabbing my sleeve to steady me after my last-minute hop onto the moving staircase. "Don't die on me already." He laughed a little like it was a joke but then I took my first real look down. There was nothing. Nothing down there but blackness. "C'mon. Hurry it up."

I resigned myself to follow after him, suddenly more alert to the potential for death surrounding me. "Yes, sir." He seemed to smile even wider as we continued. Down, down, down, we went, until we reached the school kitchens. Inside, several little creatures with large pointed ears carried used plates and trash bags this way and that. I wasn't sure what they were but I'd seen them before at the magic government building. They spared us a look and brief greeting before resuming their work. So they're like the school janitors? "Hi," I waved, not sure if they even heard me.

We stopped at a pile of barrels, and Mr. Perfect gave us a speech. Which barrel opened up to the common room. Which barrels were booby trapped. How to open the door and to never ever EVER share any of this information with ANYONE that wasn't a Hufflepuff. This I could keep focused on. There was something starting to feel kind of cool about being in a club. A girl next to me, blonde- are they ALL blonde?- Blonde hair plaited down her back. She gave me a nervous look and smiled, and I smiled back. "Understood?" Mr. Perfect finished. We all nodded and proceeded to crawl in through the barrel door.

The Living-…The Common room looked really neat. There were all sorts of black and yellow chairs and sofas and so many plants! There were plants hanging from the low ceiling and plants resting on tables. You could even see tall grass and flowers outside the round cloud shaped windows. I don't know what the other clubs looked like, but I think ours was the coolest. "Whoa."

"No time for resting yet. This way." There was a small door further hidden by very tall plants that pealed back on their own to reveal it. Vines stuck to the door looked alive. Like they pulsed. We were crawling inside this set of doors now into the dark. Candles lit the walls and we continued forward. My eyes adjusted quickly. I could almost make out several other doors in the dark corners as we kept walking. One girl sneezed, and it set off a chain reaction of gasps and then following giggles. Finally, another door opened, a little brighter this time but still very dark. Candles were everywhere. A bunch of what I think were students stood candles in hand, cloaked in golden robes and black masks. Slanted eye holes and carved snouts looked like our badger mascot. Oh! Club uniforms!

"Go on," he ushered us into the middle of the large circle before they closed us in. You almost couldn't see where we'd entered. "Welcome," They all greeted at once. Another girl with- oh geez- blonde pigtails gripped my sleeve on reflex. I'm glad I wasn't the only one becoming freaked out. I mean, even for witches this must be weird right? Were we here to have a seance? Were we going to be communicating with the devil? Is this how we got our magic?

I found myself remembering things I shouldn't. Something uncomfortable. "The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning!" My fingertips vibrated. "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires!" NO! I shook my head until the memories of that night left me. Until I was almost dizzy. I couldn't turn my new school upside down. They'd kick me out for sure then it was a one-way ticket back to Mississippi. Slowly the humming pain faded away. It was my first time I had been able to do that. Just will it away once things got started.

A heavier woman, clearly an adult, stepped into the circle with us. "Hello children, she smiled, removing her mask. My name is Professor Pamona Sprout and I am your Head of House as well as your Herbology professor." I pretended to know what all of that meant. The candle light cast her face in dark shadows. If I could picture what the witch from Hansel and Gretel looked like, she would be it. "I would like to welcome you all to your Induction Ceremony." The candles seemed to flicker for dramatic affect.

"I've never heard of anything like this," one boy piped up- BLONDE BOY. With the exception of myself and one other girl, they were all blonde. Were most English people blonde?

"And if you weren't sorted into Hufflepuff, you never would have. Nothing that happens in Hufflepuff House, leaves Hufflepuff House." I was suddenly excited again. Our club was special? A secret club? "None of you are here by accident, by mistake, because you're 'the rest'. Every child that walks through those barrel doors make it here by design." Ms. Sprout almost floated toward us, incredibly light on her feet. She tapped her wand down in the center of the circle. The ground beneath cracked and reformed, spiraling upward into a statue of roots and soil until it formed what looked like a birdbath almost. Water- no it was yellow- something yellow bled from the soil into the bath, My face scrunched up in disgust when I saw a small cup bob to the surface.

It looked like pee. To be in the club we had to drink pee. My eyes looked around at all the hooded students in masks. Yeah, if I drank pee I would keep it a secret too.

Ms. Sprout was still talking. "The Slytherin is cunning, sly, ambitious. But their fatal flaw…"

"Prejudice. Disloyalty," came a chorus from the rest of the room.

"The Gryffindor is brave, courageous, and bold. But their fatal flaw?" She was louder now, as if speaking to the room.

"Arrogant. Foolish." I hoped we weren't supposed to know the answers to these questions. I moved my lips and pretended to speak just incase we were being graded on participation.

"The Ravenclaw is sharp, intelligent, and quick witted."

"And anti-social. And apathetic."

"But Hufflepuff! A Hufflepuff is the most diverse wizard of them all. Where a Slytherin is cunning, a Hufflepuff is discerning. Where a Gryffindor is brave, a Hufflepuff is dedicated. Where a Ravenclaw is sharp, a Hufflepuff is hardworking. We are patient, kind, loyal, fair, accepting and unafraid of toil. Our founder Helga Hufflepuff sought to create a House that not only excelled in its studies, but went on to serve the betterment of the wizarding world. Not for self-recognition but to maintain the balance of magic. Joining the House of Hufflepuff means leaving your personal interests behind and joining the collective of badgers to serve a higher purpose."

"God?" I blurted out by mistake.

Ms. Sprout chuckled at me and lightly patted my head. "Not God. Magic. You are here to serve magic itself." She reached her hand into the bath, grasping the cup and holding it to my lips. "Drink." I knew an order when I heard one. I hesitated a moment, before pinching my nose and drinking the pee down. I tried swallowing too fast and it made my throat hurt but not from the taste. My gulp was too large and so I gagged. Now I had managed to frighten everyone else down the line who were next.

"It's not bad guys," I assured them. "It doesn't taste like pee at all. It tastes like water and like, the skins on fruit? But just the skins, you know?" The girl that had grabbed my sleeve before, willingly took her cup and drank it down. Her face almost looked relieved as she smiled and nodded to everyone else.

"Every Hufflepuff drinks from the Earth on their first day. This is what will make you strong. You see, a Hufflepuff's fatal flaw is naivety. To overcome this, we will build you all up over the years. But first we must break you down."

(Lidia: I changed the direction I planned to take with Salazaar, Godric, and Rowena. The only founder I plan to introduce frequently is Helga and so I have updated the character list on . won't notice.

Ted: Thank you! I wanted to make sure I gave decent enough background for Mary before I introduced her to Hogwarts. As of right now it's whenever I get a chance with a hard limit on not going over two weeks. I keep the chapters fairly short to make sure I can steadily produce content.)