The Common Room

"Speaking of which, Hogwarts actually recruited students directly in China this year. That was quite an innovation." Ernie Macmillan continued talking, feeling rather pleased with himself and completely unaware of Li Mu's perfunctory responses.

"Oh."

"Is Hogwarts well-known in China too? Since you were able to come all the way to England to study, you must be one of the best in China's magical world, right?"

"Uh..."

Fortunately, the school song was only a short one.

The singing suddenly stopped, leaving Ernie Macmillan no time to ask further questions. At the same time, the faculty members on the dais slowly breathed sighs of relief.

Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress, raised her hand and ordered loudly, almost impatiently, "It is time for bed. Please return to your dormitories in an orderly manner."

The Great Hall immediately became noisy again as the male and female prefects of each house began carrying out their duties. Cedric rose from his seat as well and called out, "First-years, follow me."

Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley... along with several other first-years whose names Li Mu did not know, obediently followed behind Cedric as they headed out of the dining hall.

Li Mu quickly discovered that even something as simple as leaving the Great Hall fully displayed the different styles of the houses—the Gryffindor cubs were the most impatient, surging toward the exit in a great crowd and quickly clogging the hall's doors. The Hufflepuffs did not complain, quietly stopping to wait. Then they ended up standing alongside the Ravenclaws.

The Slytherin students lagged behind, moving at an unhurried pace while maintaining an aristocratic elegance. But Li Mu had sharp ears and heard someone among the Slytherins curse shrilly, "Those brainless idiot lions..."

It seemed the conflict between Slytherin and Gryffindor truly had a long history and had little to do with Harry Potter's arrival.

At that same moment, he caught a few intriguing words of conversation drifting faintly into his ears.

"Are you Chinese too?" It was a gentle voice.

Li Mu immediately turned his head. The speaker was nearby, a Ravenclaw student not far from them. His ability to locate sounds was fairly well-trained, and he found the target almost at once.

A black-haired girl was speaking to the first-year Hinata with a soft smile. Her smile was pure and sweet, like the cute girl-next-door little sister from Li Mu's memories. Li Mu guessed that she was Ravenclaw's Cho Chang—or perhaps Chang Cho—the Chinese girl who had once captivated Harry Potter in "history."

Then he heard Hinata's reply.

"Oh... n-no... I'm from Yingzhou..." For some reason, Hinata looked up at Li Mu. She noticed his gaze, and her little face instantly turned crimson.

Then she quickly lowered her head, twirling her two index fingers together before her chest.

"From Yingzhou?" Cho Chang frowned slightly. "Are you an exchange student sent by the Yingzhou School of Magic?"

"No, no... I'm not... I signed up myself through the Yingzhou Ministry of Magic Foreign Affairs Department... I... I've always liked magic..." Hinata's voice gradually grew so soft that one had to concentrate to hear her. By then, her face was entirely flushed with shy red.

Li Mu stared blankly at Hinata. What a shy girl. But girls really were rather cute when they got embarrassed... A moment later, he realized that staring at two girls like this was extremely rude and quickly turned his head away.

The doors of the Great Hall finally became clear again, and the students slowly began moving forward.

Once outside, the students of each house went their separate ways. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw's Common Rooms were located in two towers of the castle, requiring them to climb the stairs. Slytherin's Common Room was hidden beneath the lake, and they had to pass through the dungeons to reach it.

Hufflepuff's route to bed was much simpler. Cedric led the new students out of the Great Hall, turned a corner, descended a staircase, and then said, "We're here."

All the Hufflepuff students crowded into a corridor. On the left side stood a heavy door, currently shut tight, with a wooden sign hanging above it that read: "Kitchen."

At the sight of those words, Li Mu understood. They should now be on the first underground level, with the Great Hall they had just been in directly above them. The House-elves must work in this kitchen.

So the Hufflepuff students lived beneath the Great Hall, right next to the kitchen. They really were foodies...

"Now then, first-years, watch my movements carefully." Cedric stood at the front of the crowd and carefully explained. Before him—diagonally above the kitchen door, on the right side of the corridor—was a pile of utterly ordinary wooden barrels.

Anyone passing through without knowing better would probably assume the barrels were used in the kitchen for brewing wine or storing wheat flour. But now, Cedric drew his wand before them.

"Watch carefully. If you choose the wrong barrel or say the wrong password, it may lead to some unfortunate consequences." He gave another solemn warning, then stepped forward and tapped the barrel in the center of the second row with his wand while rhythmically chanting, "Helga Hufflepuff."

Helga Hufflepuff was one of the greatest witches from more than a thousand years ago and one of Hogwarts' four founders. Hufflepuff House had been founded by her and named after her.

With every word Cedric spoke, his wand tapped the barrel once. When he finished the password, a clattering sound came from inside the barrel. Its lid rotated open, revealing the inside.

Almost every Hufflepuff first-year saw that there was no soil at the bottom of the barrel on the floor. Instead, a pitch-black passageway had been revealed.

Like many of the new students, Li Mu widened his eyes. Even though he had read Rowling's original work, he knew very little about Hufflepuff's Common Room. The sight before him was more than enough to fill him with curiosity.

"Now, maintain order and enter the Common Room one by one," Cedric said next, letting the first new student in line climb into the barrel. "Don't rush. Take it slowly. And don't be afraid—the way down is very stable."

The new students followed one after another. Li Mu also crawled in behind Ernie Macmillan. Some sort of corresponding magic had probably been added to the inner walls of the barrel, making them slicker than expected. He immediately slid down the passage toward the underground, feeling as though he were riding a playground slide as a child.

The passage was not very long. Before Li Mu had fully reacted, his feet had already touched the ground, stepping onto soft, fragrant earth. Before him were soft sofas, round-cornered wooden tables, numerous potted plants on the tables, and lush green vines climbing along the walls.

He had arrived at Hufflepuff's Common Room.

Did everyone have a good New Year? Work started again today, but my post-holiday syndrome is so bad that I don't even feel like writing novels... How about giving me a couple of votes for support?

(End of chapter)