The Hufflepuff Table 2021-2022

Mentions: @Orla @Violet

One of the younger girls (by a year anyway) admitted that she hadn't known what to expect when arriving at Hogwarts. Grant smiled. "Grant Dale", he gave his name, before continuing with answering.

"And none of us did, I don't think", he admitted. "My uncle even kept it a little bit hush hush, as far as he could, and from me especially I think, still...just...not sure about all the magic stuff".

It was a bit hard to explain his uncle's over-caution, especially concerning him, and when Grant's mother specifically had been in danger because her older brother was needed in the larger defense of Hogwarts at the time.

Yet he hadn't been able to avoid it all for long and especially not last year when Grant turned Eleven, though he got some extra time due to age cut offs.

The girl pointed out her brother, Caspian, in Gryffindor. "Oh, he might know my cousin, Benjamin! Benjamin Bowson. He's Seventh Year and it's my mom's side of the family that's best known around here".

Or another way to say that he was a Half-Blood, and not that he was too hesitant or ashamed of that fact.

One of the other girls of Orla's year greeted her and Grant just listened but didn't pry, and knowing how important First Year friendships were.

Katelynn sat down at the yellow table amidst the cheers and hugs. She had never felt so welcomed in all of her life. There were so many other kids that kept asking her what her name was and where she was from. She told them that she was a Muggle-born, and they all told her that she could ask any question she wanted. Nothing was too stupid or crazy to ask. Katelynn ensured them that she would have many questions, as this was all new to her.

The food was another thing that was incredible. There were so many plates of pastas, meats, and anything else you could imagine. Plus there were so many desserts and snacks and drinks of all sorts. She was told that the food had been brought there by the house elves, who apparently helped run the castle. Katelynn made another mental note to add ‘house elves’ to the list of things she had to look up. That list was getting longer. So far it included ‘Hogwarts Express’, ‘Sorting Hat’, and now ‘House Elves’. Plus, she really wanted to learn about Hufflepuff as a house. What made it different from the others? What if you possessed characteristics from all four houses, like she did? How did the hat decide?

She would certainly have many questions, and just hoped that someone would be helpful enough to answer them. Otherwise, she would be hitting the library as soon as she could!

"Hufflepuff!"
Opal let out a breath they didn't know they were holding and shuffled to the table filled with yellow dressed Hufflepuffs. They all cheered and patted Opal's back. They sat near the middle of the table, squeezing between two older years. They smiled at both of them then went to pile some of the steaming food onto their plate, being careful to only select the vegetarian food.
"Hey there new blood."
One of the older years turned to Opal and held their hand out.
"Oh! Hello!" Opal shook the other's hand.
" I'm Mina Dawn, she/her, third year." Mina smiled at Opal.
"I'm Opal Braidson, they/them. You can guess that I'm a first year."
Mina laughed and grabbed some food.
"Hope you like hogwarts, you're kinda stuck with us till ya of age."
Opal giggled and gently scraped some more food onto their plate. It was currently filled with a large serving of peas, two Yorkshire puddings and some tasty looking vegetarian beef. Opal smiled and dug into the feast.
"It's very big here!!" Opal exclaimed, still chewing their food. Mina laughed.
"Wait till you're my year, seems kinda small then! Anyways, come find me if ya need anything, I know a lot about this place." She chugged down some butterbeer and smiled.
"Of course!" Opal smiled back. Hogwarts wasn't half bad.

Grace practically skipped to the Hufflepuff table after she was sorted. This was the house her mother had been in, the house she had always hoped would be her own, the house she had dreamed of since her aunt had explained the houses to her.
And Hogwarts! It was huge and beautiful, everything she'd imagined and yet so much more!
As she sat down and started to fill her plate with food, she looked down the table at her housemates, suddenly feeling shy. What if she couldn't find anyone she wanted to be friends with? What if she didn't fit in? And this was only a quarter of the school.
Then her stomach growled, and she dug in, momentarily distracted by all the delicious food on her golden plate. She didn't talk to anyone just yet, but secretly hoped someone would talk to her. She snuck a quick peek at the people around her, catching the eye of another first year a few seats to her left on the opposite side of the table. She smiled shyly and looked away quickly before she nervously tucking a loose lock of blonde hair behind her hair and throwing it over her shoulder.

Katelynn cheered as two more girls were welcomed to the table. One seemed awfully popular, meeting people already and starting conversations easily. There was another girl there though, one that seemed to be hungry because Katelynn could hear her stomach growling. She also seemed a bit anxious about the things, which maybe would help Katelynn to know that she wasn’t the only one…

“Hey there, are you alright?” she asked the girl hesitantly. “You look a little bit like I do… like all of this is a whole other world. I still can’t believe that I’m here, to be honest. I mean… Look at this room! Can you even believe we’re here? There’s so much food, so much noise… I’ve never ever been in a room with this many people.”

She looked around the room and leaned back. “I can’t wait to get to the common room. I read about it on the way to London, to see what the place would be like where I’ll be living… It sounds amazing, doesn’t it?” She hoped that she wasn’t talking too much to scare the girl away, but now that Katelynn was eating and distracting herself from being anxious, she could relax and start to focus on making friends!

Mentioned: @Katelyn McMann

Grace looked slightly surprised that someone was talking to her. She had thought she was blending into the background. Not that she minded, she wanted to make friends, especially in her house, after all these were the people she would live with for the school year.
But then she smiled, all shyness vanishing now that someone to talk to in this strange world. "I don't know much about the Hufflepuff common room, but my aunt told me about the Ravenclaw common room. If Hufflepuff's anything like it, it'll be fantastic, I'm sure! I didn't read anything about Hogwarts because I wanted to learn it all for myself, you know, in person. But now I kind of wish I did, I don't think I could possibly learn everything about the castle in 7 years!"
After a little food, and with a little conversation, Grace's excitement had overtaken her worries. Grace felt like she was on a sugar high. Joy began to flow out of her in smiles and chatter, but hopefully not too much. Everything was absolutely perfect. She was here, at Hogwarts, just like in her aunt Alaina's stories, and she was going to be a witch, the best witch she could be.

Katelynn exhaled as Grace started to relax a little. As the girl talked about her aunt and Ravenclaw, Kate asked, “Did you think you would be in Ravenclaw like her? Or, will she be disappointed that you’re not? I don’t know what that would be like… My Uncle Alex told me about the houses when I got my letter… He was in Slytherin House. But he really made sure that I knew that it was more than just… a house full of dark wizards like it is sometimes portrayed as. He told me that I should be proud of whatever house I get into,” Kate smiled. She looked around at the Hufflepuff Castle and said, “I think… From what I read about this in my houses research, it’s basically about friendship and loyalty and kindness… makes me wonder what the other house people will be like, you know?” She asked, looking nervously around the great hall.

She looked at her new friend and smiled. “We could maybe learn about the Hogwarts history together if you want… maybe even just like pick a new area of the castle that we discover and talk about it. Does that sound like fun? I wonder if we could get other people into it too. I don’t know anything about the school either, other than the houses. But I do know that there’s a LOT of history here!” She bit her lip and tried to calm down her excitement. "Sorry, I kind of get excited... My name's Katelynn though. What's yours?"

"I'm Grace," she said, her smile growing wider. Katelynn, her first friend already!
She started to gesture with her hands a little while she talked as she grew more comfortable. "I thought I might be a Ravenclaw, I mean, I like to read and I've always done well in school, but I really hoped for Hufflepuff. It seems perfect to me, friendship and loyalty and kindness and all, but it's also not in the spotlight. People don't expect you to be smart, or brave, or mean or ambitious, so you can just be yourself a whole lot more easily than in any of the other houses. And it was... It was my mom's house." Her smiled faded a bit, and she slumped almost imperceptibly. She quickly regained her smile, but she was still slumped forward just a little bit, easily ignorable. "And my aunt is just happy that I'm here," she paused for a moment, eating a little more and then continued.
"Anyway, exploring the castle together sounds like a great idea! And really fun, too! Where do you think we should go first?" Grace wanted to check out the library, but there were so many options, and every location she could think of sounded interesting.

Katelynn was excited about having her first friend too! She wasn't sure whether she should shake hands or what, but she just sat there and smiled at the girl. She continued to eat the meal and listened as she talked about her house preferences. Katelynn nodded in agreement to her and said, "Yeah, you're right I guess about that... though I really do love to read and learn history too... But apparently the hat thought I was more about loyalty and being friendly."

She thought about that, and about what thoughts she'd had while she'd been sorted. "Do you... do you think the hat ever makes a mistake? Honestly the first thing I'm really curious about is that hat... I mean... how does it work? How can a hat possibly sit on your head and see all that you are and all you're gonna be and just... put you somewhere? Like... is there a spell or something that was put on it to make it like... all-knowing?" She was extremely fascinated, and wanted to know how this thing worked. "Think there might be a book about it in the library?"

Katelynn hoped there would be something useful there that could help her with the history of the sorting hat!

Mentions: @Katelynn McMann

Grace rested her chin thoughtfully on one hand, elbow on the table. "Hmm... I don't know. It was enchanted by a person, right? And people mess up sometimes, so it would make sense that the hat would occasionally make a mistake. But there seems to be a spell for everything, so maybe it is perfect? It must be a really long and complicated spell to make a hat talk, read minds, and sort people, and make up songs like that. If it was a spell, whoever cast it must have been a really, really, really powerful witch or wizard,"
Grace straightened back up, the hand her chin had been resting on falling into her lap. Her plate was now empty, but she barely even noticed. Her curiosity was growing, and she knew she wasn't going to be able to stifle it. She was going to need answers, the sooner the better.
"Oh, I hope there is a book about it, now I'm curious, too! Want to check after classes tomorrow? I mean, if we don't get too much homework, or have anything else we need to do, of course... Do you think we'll get a lot of homework tomorrow, since it's the first day and all?"