Chapter 7
After the sorting ceremony, the students began chatting around the room. Professor Hardin had taken her seat next to professor McGonagall, she tapped her glass with a spoon alerting everyone's attention.
Professor McGonagall stood up from her chair and spoke.
"Now," she announced. "Let the feast begin."
Julia was confused as the tables were empty, when suddenly all kinds of food appeared on the table.
Julia looked around in amazement. There were beef pies, mashed potatoes, salads, fries, fish, preserved plums, smoked hams, and pitchers of lemonade.
Julia and the all the other students started piling up their plates and digging into the delicious food.
"Hey Jackson," said Julia. "Can you tell me who the teachers are?"
"That's professor Sprout," said Jackson pointing to an old fat witch wearing yellow robes that looked dirty. "She's the herbology teacher and the head of Hufflepuff. That means she's in charge of Hufflepuff. And that's her assistant professor Longbottom," he added to the man sitting next to her. "She can be firm at times, but she's really kind."
On professor Sprout's other side was a man with dark hair that had grayed a bit and wore robes in various shades of brown.
"That's professor Slughorn, he's the potions teacher. He's very nice, but he can play favourites."
"He can?" asked Julia.
"He isn't mean to the students who aren't his favourite," assured Jackson. "He just forgets they exist."
"Who's that teacher sitting next to professor Hardin?" asked Julia noticing a man with short blond hair and wore a suit. He looked in his early forties.
"That's professor Kyne," replied Jackson. "He's the defence against the dark arts teacher."
"Defence against the dark arts?" asked Julia.
"It teaches us how to defend ourselves against dark magic and monsters" Mia jumped in.
"He's a former auror," added Jackson. "Professor Kyne's been an auror for 16 years. But he became the defence against the dark arts teacher six years ago after the battle against Voldemort."
"Whose Voldemort?" asked Julia.
"He was one of the worse wizards ever," explained Mia grabbing a few fries out of the basket. "He wanted to destroy the muggle world so magic could rule, but Harry Potter was able to defeat him."
Julia looked down gravely and continued to eat her food.
Just then she looked up to see figures floating around the room. They were dressed like they were from other times and they were white and transparent. One was facing her; he had short hair and wore robes like a priest in church would wear. It didn't take Julia long to realize that they were ghosts, she nearly fell off the bench.
"Who are you?" she exclaimed.
"I'm the fat friar," said the ghost. "Welcome to Hufflepuff."
"Hello friar," said Jackson cheerfully. The other ghosts in the hall started talking amongst themselves and the students.
"The fat friar was executed many years ago because he was suspected of witchcraft," explained Jackson. "He had healing powers and was burnt at the stake."
"How awful" said Julia sympathetically.
"It's all in the past," said the fat friar.
When the welcoming feast was over, professor McGonagall announced that everyone was excused for bed.
"Your prefects will escort you to your rooms" she called.
Two older students at the Hufflepuff table, stood up. The boy had short light brown hair and the girl had curly dark brown hair that was almost black.
"Now for those first years who don't know us," said the boy kindly. "I'm Hamish Knichel and this is Carol Moon, we're you're prefects."
"I'm sure we're all going to have a great year," added Carol with a cheerful smile. "Now heartbreaking announcement," she added looking down. "This is my last semester as prefect before I graduate. But it's been a great three years."
Hamish and Carol led the Hufflepuffs out of the dining hall and through the halls. As they walked Julia noticed paintings hanging on the walls. To her surprise, the people in the paintings were walking and talking.
Julia stared in surprise as she walked.
"Amazing, isn't it?" asked Carol.
"Yeah," replied Julia putting on an excited smile as she and Mia walked near her. "I'm Julia Castros, and this is Mia."
"So nice to meet you," said Carol.
Hamish and Carol led them into the staircases. Julia and Mia looked around to see staircases going up and down in all directions, Julia noticed a couple of them moving to another position.
"Now to let you know," said Carol. "The staircases move from time to time, but there's nothing to worry about."
They walked down the staircases to what Julia felt like was the basement of the school.
In front of them was a door that had a painting of three girls in colorful dresses standing in a beautiful garden.
"Password please" said the girl on the left.
"Knotgrass" said Hamish.
The door swung open, Julia and the other Hufflepuff's walked inside a room. The furniture was yellow and there were plants around and the sweet smells of herbs filled the room.
"This is the Hufflepuff common room," said Carol. "The two halls are where the dormitories are. The boys are on the left, girls on the right. Your luggage has already been brought up."
Annie and Mia went to their room, Annie looked and saw five four poster beds. The curtains and blankets were yellow. Annie wasn't too big on the color yellow, but she gave no complaints and went over to the bed that had her luggage next to it. She saw Brambles's box next to bed and went over.
She took Brambles out and filled a box of kitty litter and scattered some cat toys near her bed.
Mindy Sylvester and two other girls joined Julia and Mia in the room. Julia noticed how beautiful Mindy looked, she had curly white blond hair and violet eyes. As they unpacked Mindy started talking.
"I'm a half-blood," she said. "My dad's a witch, my mom's a veela."
"What's a veela?" asked Julia.
"Veelas are like fairies," explained Mia. "They're known for being very beautiful."
"I'm Sadie," said the girl on the bed next to Julia's.
Julia smiled and shook hands.
"Well," said Mia. "We should all get some sleep, tomorrow's going to be a big day."
Julia changed into her night clothes and climbed into her bed. Brambles jumped up and curled up into a ball on the foot of the bed and went to sleep.
