After the cacophonous school song ended, the opening feast finally came to a close. The students formed into groups and left the Great Hall. A tall girl with pink hair led the Hufflepuffs down through the hall to a secluded corner, where a row of large wooden barrels sat on a shadowy stone shelf.
"Hm?"
Avada was surprised to see that the red glow around the girl—the structure of her life force—was far more complex than that of the others, and more closely connected to her mental energy. Based on Avada's many years of studying magic and observing magical structures, the extra patterns in the girl's life force seemed to be for... transformation?
"First-years, pay attention." The girl reminded them in a clear voice, "This is the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room. To get inside, you have to tap the bottom of the second barrel from the middle in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff.' Like this..."
As she spoke, she reached out and rapped on the barrel seven times. Its lid immediately spun open, revealing a passage leading down to the basement.
"If someone trying to get in doesn't tap out the right rhythm, taps the wrong barrel, or gets the number of taps wrong, another barrel's lid will open and drench them in vinegar," the tall girl warned.
Avada's eyes lit up at that. "So if we ever want to cook for ourselves and are short on ingredients, can we use this trick to collect the vinegar?"
He was great at making dumplings!
"Genius!"
The tall girl smiled cheerfully. "Congratulations, you've discovered the main source of vinegar for Hufflepuff picnics and tea parties!"
"The type of vinegar you get this way is random, though," Cedric added. "Sometimes it's apple cider vinegar, sometimes black grape vinegar, coconut vinegar, or white vinegar..."
"Two years ago, someone even got a whole barrel of balsamic vinegar. The entire Hufflepuff house went wild. We had three lavish Italian picnics in a row, and even the Slytherins came over to mooch food!"
Avada: ...
"But that also means you won't always like the vinegar you get, so if you end up with a kind you don't want, you can give it to the house-elves in the kitchen or save it for later."
As Gabriel Truman spoke, he led the way into the passage. "Come on, everyone, let's get back to the common room. Don't forget, there's another feast tonight!"
"Another feast?"
Avada and the other first-years asked in surprise, but all they got in response was a mysterious smile. With no other choice, they followed everyone to the Hufflepuff Common Room.
It was a modest, circular room with a low ceiling. Through the round windows, they could see the grass and dandelions swaying outside. The room must have gotten plenty of sunlight during the day. It was decorated with gleaming copper ornaments and lush plants, either hanging from the ceiling or arranged on the windowsills.
In the middle of one wall stood a large, honey-yellow wooden mantel carved with the image of a badger. A portrait of the house's founder, Helga Hufflepuff, hung above the fireplace. Soft sofas and armchairs were scattered nearby, upholstered in yellow and black.
Before Avada could take a closer look around the common room, an excited voice interrupted her thoughts:
"Hufflepuffs, rejoice!"
A freckled boy with brownish-blond curls leaped in front of the fireplace, startling Avada with his booming voice. He raised an arm with a graceful flourish and declared in the lilting cadence of a sonnet:
"A new Auror has finally been appointed after a vacancy of four long years! She's Hufflepuff's big sister, not a Prefect but better than one, a Metamorphmagus who's always changing her appearance, and who doesn't like people saying her full name..."
"Ni... Tonks!"
At the tall girl's—Tonks's—warning glare, he shuddered and clamped down on the words that had nearly escaped him. Then he carried on as if nothing had happened:
"Over the summer, she finally passed the Auror Office's evaluation and became a trainee Auror—the first Hufflepuff Auror in twenty years. As long as she gets five NEWT certificates this year, nothing will stand in the way of her Auror career!"
"Ha, 'NEWT' certificates!"
Someone in the crowd laughed. "Maybe you can get your grandpa to hand her the certificates himself, Rolf!"
"This is Rolf Scamander, a fourth-year," Cedric explained quietly to Avada, trying not to laugh. "He's the grandson of Newt Scamander, the famous Magizoologist. His grandpa's name happens to be the same as the abbreviation for the wizarding exam, so everyone likes to tease him about it."
"Maybe you can even give him a fire salamander. He's been researching them lately." (Note)
Amid the laughter, Rolf Scamander waved it off with a practiced air and stepped aside, giving the floor to the real star of the show, Tonks.
"Let me fill you all in."
She spoke brightly, and her hair turned bright red. "For the first half of this school year, I'll be doing six months of training at the Auror Office, so I won't be able to see you. I'll probably have to stop tutoring you in Defence Against the Dark Arts, too. I hope the new professor this year teaches you well!"
"After Christmas, I'll come back for the second half of the year and prepare for my NEWT exams. But that's really just a formality..."
She gave an embarrassed little chuckle, then paused before continuing. "The Auror Office hired me for my Metamorphmagus ability, after all. My exam results don't matter much."
The common room filled with warm laughter.
"But don't worry, I'm no incompetent fool. You all know how good I am at defensive magic." She continued, her expression gradually turning dreamy.
"And with You-Know-Who dead for ten years and more and more Death Eater holdouts being caught, the wizarding world in the United Kingdom is getting safer. There'll be less and less need for Aurors. Maybe in a few years, every Auror will have nothing to do, because all the dark wizards will have been caught and the wizarding world will finally be at peace!"
"Yeah, I hope that day comes," Rolf said with a sigh. He waved his wand, and a large mug of Butterbeer appeared in front of everyone. "Keep it quiet. I secretly arranged for the house-elves to prepare this. If Professor Sprout found out, she'd definitely put me in detention."
"Well, here's to peace!" Tonks raised her mug.
"To peace!"
The Hufflepuffs drained their Butterbeer, and the first-years followed suit, not entirely sure what was going on. It tasted pretty good.
"Let me share one more little secret."
Tonks turned her hair the same golden brown as the Butterbeer and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "According to people at the Auror Office, Harry Potter, the Chosen One who defeated You-Know-Who when he was just a baby, is coming to Hogwarts next year."
"I'm a bit sad I won't get to see him for myself, so you'll have to admire him on my behalf."
She tossed her hair and raised the mug, which had somehow been refilled. "To Harry Potter!"
"To Harry Potter!"
The Hufflepuffs happily downed another big mug of Butterbeer.
"All right, that's enough for tonight. The first-years haven't even seen their dormitories yet." Tonks wiped her mouth and grinned cheerfully. "Tomorrow I'm off to the Ministry of Magic to begin my training as a trainee Auror. I hope the new school year goes smoothly and safely for all of you. And I hope the first-years settle into Hufflepuff and experience all the joy and warmth our house has to offer."
"And I hope you pass your tests and stay safe once you start the job!"
Rolf raised his mug with a laugh and shouted, "To Tonks!"
The Hufflepuffs raised their mugs in unison. "To Tonks!"
After their third mug of Butterbeer, the little gathering in the common room came to an end. The older students said their fond farewells to Tonks and headed back to their dormitories. Cedric, Truman, and the others showed the first-years around the facilities, handed out their timetables for the first term, and led them to their dormitories.
After two feasts in a row, they were exhausted and didn't feel like talking any more. One by one, they changed into their pajamas and fell asleep.
Note: Hogwarts has two exams: OWLs means "owls," and NEWTs means "salamander."
Before you continue