With the announcement of Hufflepuff, the table colored in yellow and black, cheered aloud, welcoming their new brethren. Robert had not in the slightest considered becoming one part of the clan of badgers. Well, it was not like it mattered in the long run. The school foisted the houses, in this day and age, to promote a feeling of unity and cohesion. It might have had a different cause in the past, but that was in the past and did not factor into what Robert was thinking.
Having taken off the hat and handing it back to Professor McGonagall, Robert traversed the way to the house that he had been assigned to. Looking at his new house mates, none of the children really stood out from the crowd. To be truthful, there were a few that had some peculiarities, that stood out, but they all seemed to be made from the same production line.
'Alright, that's not fair.' Robert thought to himself. 'I don't know any of them. I can't be a complete ass hat right off the bat.'
Sitting down at the first empty spot open at the table, Robert introduced himself to his neighboring companions. The one directly across from him, was called Cedric, one year above him. And beside him, Beatrice, a flaxen haired girl, two years above him. After a simple greeting from his two new seniors, they, along with himself, returned to watching the sorting ceremony.
Of those that he new from during his elementary school years, only John remained who ended up being sent to Slytherin, it fit him. It seemed that the remaining few magicals in his school year had gone to one of the other magical schools. It was nothing to be shocked about, every family had their own heritage that they would want to share with their progeny.
Including himself, and the three other children that he had spent time with on the train, each one of them went a different house.
After nearly forty-five minutes of the sorting ceremony, it finally ended. Again the headmaster, Professor Dumbledor stood up, saying a couple of inane words, that had no apparent meaning. Maybe they had some profound meaning if thought about, or they could have been a simple prank played the old man. And then, Dumbledor in a grand display of personal magic, summoned food to all the tables, at the same time. Like with all the other people that Robert had sensed, Dumbledor's magic was seeped in that filthy, tainted magic.
What could be described as a grand banquet by the majority of the children, the food was not to the liking of Robert. It was that Robert disdained British cuisine, in fact, he enjoyed a good majority of the foods. Instead, it was that the food was like an American food holiday, roast meats, random bulky starches, heavily sauced vegetables, and other such things. Yes, to children this would be a feast, even he would enjoy a meal like this every once in a while. But, the lack of relatively healthy foods were acutely lacking.
'Would it be so wrong of them to have a salad available?' Robert thought to himself. And then speaking aloud, but mainly to himself, "When in Rome…"
Seeing what Robert was mumbling about, the short haired girl commented, "It's not always like this. Most of the time, it is lighter fare."
"Thank Merlin. I don't think I could handle this everyday."
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After having the school song sang out loud, by the mandatory request of Professor Dumbledor, the children were sent away from the Great Hall, with the new students to be guided to the dormitories by the fifth year prefects of their house. If Robert had paid attention, he would have learned that their names were Gabriel and Marilyn. He had been lost in thought on what a prefect was.
Yes, by clues he was able to suss out that they had limited amount of powers, but that did not explain what they were. He was not sure if they were supposed to be looked up to in respect, or if they were to be 'feared' from fear of being reprimanded. Oh well, he would figure it out later.
The three new boys and five new girls were lead downstairs towards the basement of the castle. Eventually they were lead to a part of the castle that had a set of five barrels blocking a corridor.
"Welcome to Hufflepuff. These barrels block your way into the dormitories. The get in, you will to be a little musically inclined. Each barrel has a different tone, which will shift from day to day. You will need to strike the correct barrels according to the tune that is selected each week." A long and boring explanation was given by the male prefect, Gabriel.
"What if you're tone deaf?" Asked on of the other two new boys of Robert's house.
"Good question. When you tap a barrel, it will give off a flash of light. The higher the pitch, the brighter the light. The lower the pitch, the lighter the brilliance of the light." Answered the male prefect.
The same boy that asked the question, responded with a one word statement, "Good."
To demonstrate, the female prefect, Marilyn tapped on each barrel, and described her process of setting the pitches. Starting with the first barrel she tapped, gave off a tone and a flash of light. The next one, a brighter tone, and a brighter light. "The first one is a lower note, so I'll call it 2 for now, and the second, being a higher pitch, will be 4. It might change later, but I'll get to that when it comes."
After having tapped each barrel, and determining the order of pitch, from lowest to highest, she allowed one of the new students, that volunteered to test themselves, if they could open the door. Marilyn handed the girl a scrap of paper, with a simple musical score on it. There were only fifteen notes on it. Easy enough to remember. After a couple tries by the girl, whose name was Angela Westrup, was able to get the correct sequence to open the door.
The common room, was the room that they entered. While it was not that large, but for the less than one hundred students that were part of Hufflepuff, it had enough space as to not be cramped. Several sofas circled a magical fire pit, a place that was in the center off the room. Longer tables, with bench type seats were regularly interspersed throughout the room. A couple of chairs meant for lounging in, grouped together in pairs or trios, were scattered throughout the room, when there was room for them, when there was not some other type of seating arrangement in occurrence. In opposite sides of the room, the dorm rooms of the house. Finally, opposite of the entrance, the new students were told was the entertainment area, which housed places for Wizards Chess, Gobstone, and if truth was to believed, mixed gender hot tubs, magical of course.
The children wandered around for a while, exploring their new domicile. Without having been dismissed, instead of wandering around, Robert seated himself one of the chairs, to wait for whatever was to be the next part of their introduction into Hufflepuff. And as he assumed, after about ten minutes an older woman walked into the Hufflepuff common room.
"As either Gabriel or Marilyn have already said, welcome to Hufflepuff. I'm Pomona Sprout, head of house for Hufflepuff, and professor of Herbology. First off, the rules. Curfew is at 22:00. While not strictly enforced, I can't have you children spending all night in the common room. If you are not in your rooms by 22:30, you can expect detention. Second rule, you must year a bathing suit when in the hot tub. If you do not, any and all perks that you have will be rescinded immediately. Third rule, if you have any problem with any of your house mates, keep it in house. We will keep all house drama in house.
"Fourth, do not purposely stand out in your classes. The rest of the schools assume that we are sheep. Let them think that. We are badgers. We know how to lure and trap our prey. And we know when we need to attack. But still, let others think we are weak."
With a pause in her lecture, and with all the children seeming lost, Robert interjected towards Professor Sprout, "Aren't we supposed to be the house of the loyal and hardworking?" And to himself, he thought 'And take all the rest?'
In an answer to Robert's question, Professor Sprout responded without hidden meaning. "Loyal? Hardworking? Blind loyalty is not true loyalty. Hard work, anyone can be hardworking, when they want. And to the unasked part of your question, about 'taking the rest?' That is utter hogwash.
"Let others think what they will of us. You have been selected as part of this house, showing that you hold the qualities that Helga Hufflepuff deemed most important to her. Don't demean what she stood for, and you will be welcome with open arms here. If you reject her philosophy, you receive a cold shoulder from every one of your house mates. Is that understood?"
The stern words from the older witch, made the children be subdued. Including Robert, and the two prefects, the only thing that they could do was nodded in affirmation of the witch's words. At first glance, Professor Sprout appeared to be a genial person, but appearances could be deceiving.
"The right hallway the boys' rooms, and towards the left, the girls'. I don't care if boys are in a girl's room, or vice versa, but that is only when curfew is not in effect. There are intent based wards on each room, that will prevent someone entering a room, not of their own, from any type of mischievous or sexual intention.
"You will be given the option of rooming with others, or having your own room. While we are known for being loyal, there is still need for time to yourselves. The option is wholly up to each and everyone. Once you have come to your decision, it will be final until the next school year. Tonight, you will be sleeping in a shared room, and you will inform one of prefects tomorrow of your decision. Any questions?"
While not wanting to stand out from the crowd, after the lecture from the lecturing witch, silence pervaded the room. Reluctantly Robert decided to ask a question, "Is there any place that we are able to utilize as private work rooms?"
"And your name is…?"
"Robert Dresden."
"Is there any particular thing you want to use such a room for? Or is it for future relevance?"
"No ma'am. My family, we are craftsmen, and want to maintain practicing my skills."
"I need a little more information before I can answer your question. What crafts does your family practice?"
"Wood, mainly. Alongside with a limited amount of decorative metal work." There was not a hint of trying to hide information when it came to his skills, though Robert did not elaborate on the totality of what he would wish to truly acquire.
"I can let you have a workshop. And I can donate some materials. That is, if you would utilize some of the materials for some items that I would requisition."
In the request by Professor Sprout, Robert replied to her, "I can do that, depending on what you want or need. I'm still learning, and not the most talented at it yet."
"We can talk about that later. Come to my office after breakfast tomorrow, and we can continue this discussion," replied Sprout. "It's been a long day for you all. And it is getting late. I will leave you to your prefects to lead to your room for the night. Have a pleasant sleep to you all."