Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Hufflepuff common room is located in the basement of Hogwarts Castle. The entrance is located in a pile of large barrels in the corner to the right of the kitchen corridor.
Entering is simple. Simply follow Helga Hufflepuff's rhythm and knock on the bottom of the second barrel in the second row of the pile. The lid will swing open, revealing a passage that allows people to crawl through and enter the common room.
Unlike the frequently changing passwords and the updated riddles,
Hufflepuff is the only house at Hogwarts that uses a fixed door code. Memorize it once and you can use it for seven years, which is quite worry-free.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Remember, it's Helga Hufflepuff. The order must be correct."
Hufflepuff's prefect, Karen Harris, stood in front of the first-years and demonstrated the correct knocking sequence at a speed three times slower.
"Well... what if I knock wrong?" a little boy in the crowd said timidly. "I... my memory has never been very good. If I knock wrong, I won't be able to enter the dormitory."
"It's worse than that!"
Harris walked over to the barrel and knocked on it twice, then quickly retreated.
Almost immediately, a stream of vinegar with a strong sour smell poured down, pouring directly onto the place where he had been.
"As you can see," Harris said after waving his wand, clearing the vinegar from the ground. "If you knock in the wrong order, the other barrel lid will burst open, covering the intruder with vinegar.
"If you don't want to smell like vinegar all day, you must remember the correct order. It's not difficult."
Harris then demonstrated the correct order twice more before leading them into the corridor.
At the end of the corridor was a large, plain, round room: the Hufflepuff common room.
Compared to the Great Hall, the ceiling here was significantly lower, perhaps less than three meters. Black and yellow soft-seat sofas lined the area, and the walls were adorned with a variety of interesting plant decorations.
Kyle surveyed the area with great interest.
Besides the common ornamental plants, there were surprisingly a number of valuable and rare plants. He recognized rue, dahlia, golden hydrangea, wind whisper, and wind chime sunflowers.
The wind chime sunflower in the center of the lounge was particularly noteworthy. If Kyle remembered correctly, it would have a market value of around three hundred Galleons, and there was no demand for it.
The golden hydrangea next to it was slightly cheaper, and could be found in Diagon Alley for only two hundred and seventy-nine Galleons.
Professor Sprout, worthy of being a renowned Herbologist, used rare plants worth two or three hundred Galleons as decorations. This was the true embodiment of understated luxury.
Kyle resisted the urge to move them all away, and with steely determination, he turned his head to look to the side.
Against the wall stood a large, honey-yellow wooden mantelpiece with a badger carving, upon which were placed a number of jars and other items.
According to Prefect Harris, the jars contained candies and other snacks, which the young wizards could freely take.
Above the fireplace hung a portrait of Helga Hufflepuff, a witch with a bright smile, holding a golden cup.
Meanwhile, students from other Hufflepuff grades began to arrive. They greeted the new students enthusiastically and presented them with a variety of snacks as gifts. Kyle received quite a few, too, filling his robe pockets with a dazzling array of candies and preserves, enough to last him over a month.
"How's it going? The Hufflepuff common room is nice, isn't it?"
Cedric came up to Kyle, patted his shoulder and said, "Other colleges don't have such a comfortable environment."
"It's Mr. Diggory." Kyle slapped the hand on his shoulder with a look of disgust and said indifferently, "Why, aren't you afraid of being misunderstood by Professor Snape at this time?"
"Don't be like that, Kyle, that's all for show." Cedric said with a wry smile, "Our friendship is unbreakable, I swear."
Kyle's disgust deepened after hearing this explanation, and he quickly distanced himself from Cedric.
However, he knew Cedric was joking, so he wasn't truly angry.
Even so, his words were truly provocative.
And what about doing it for show? Cedric didn't really think he was Harry Potter, commanding Snape's constant attention, did he?
What was he thinking...
Kyle curled his lips in disdain. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but Cedric's behavior seemed familiar, especially his shameless, opportunistic, and frantic attempt to shift the blame. It felt like he'd seen someone before.
Who could it be?
Kyle racked his brains, but couldn't come up with a clue, so he gave up.
Maybe, possibly, perhaps... it was the Weasley twins.
As the common room filled up, Harris invited the new students to sit on the sofas, explaining that it was the professor's request to brief them on Hogwarts rules and regulations, and to allow them to get acquainted.
He then went to the adjacent kitchen with another female prefect and brought back some cookies and several large glasses of fresh juice.
This is why the Hufflepuff common room is close to the kitchens; the other three houses don't have this privilege.
Soon, the tables in the common room were piled high with snacks.
Harris said enthusiastically, "Welcome to Hufflepuff. Hogwarts doesn't have many rules. Just remember the following:
First..."
While Harris was talking, Kyle looked around and quickly found Kanna at the outermost edge of the crowd. He quietly moved over.
"I went too far before," Kyle whispered. "I apologize."
Kanna was visibly startled. She looked up and realized it was Kyle. Then she murmured, "No, no, it's my fault too. I'm so stupid. I should have guessed you were joking. How could Hogwarts use... use... that spell to sort the houses?"
Kyle shook his head and said seriously, "That's different. A joke has to be funny for both parties. If I had scared you, it would have been my fault. So I must apologize."
Seeing Kyle's serious expression, Kanna bit her lip, raised her head, and said seriously, "Then I accept your apology."
Then she reached out and punched Kyle.
"Now we're even."
The force of that punch was so powerful it could barely flick away dust.
"Almost, wait a moment."
Kyle smiled, then picked out all the most beautifully wrapped brown candies in his pocket and handed them over: "This is an apology. If you accept it, we will be even."
"Well, okay..."
Kanna took the candy, stuffed one into her mouth in front of Kyle, then stretched out her little hand holding the candy to Kyle and said with a smile: "I'll treat you to candy."
"No, no." Kyle shook his head repeatedly and muttered softly: "Who in their family eats licorice candy? Even a crup wouldn't eat this stuff."
"Crack!"
[End of the chapter]