As the song gradually faded away...
Albus Dumbledore stood up and said the closing words of this banquet: "It is more charming than anything we have done here! Now it is time to go to bed, everyone go back to the dormitory."
"First-year students, follow me!" Gabriel Truman, the Hufflepuff prefect, raised his hand high, motioning the first-year Hufflepuff students to come closer to him.
From Gryffindor to Slytherin, students from one house after another filed out...
Looking at the crowd and the length of the table, Jon found that the number of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin students was almost the same, but the number of Hufflepuff students was almost twice as many.
They followed Gabrielle through the noisy crowd, out of the restaurant cum dining hall and up the marble stairs.
"Congratulations! And warmly welcome to Hufflepuff House." Gabrielle introduced the new students to Hufflepuff as they walked. "Our house emblem is the badger, an animal that is often underestimated because it is always calm until attacked. But once it is enraged, it can fight against animals much larger than itself, including wolves."
"The Hufflepuff common room is on the first basement level, down the same corridor as the kitchens." Gabrielle led the way, through a corridor, ignoring the people in the portraits pointing as they passed.
Jon felt that they had arrived in the basement of Hogwarts Castle.
...
...
"In front is your Potions classroom. Go right from there and pass through a stone wall and you'll find the Slytherin common room... I swear I've never sneaked into the Slytherin common room!" Gabrielle blinked as she spoke.
"Perhaps you need to move aside, Hufflepuff first-years!" a cold voice came from behind them.
"Good evening, Miss Farley!" Gabrielle motioned for the Hufflepuff freshmen to move aside, and she herself fell to the end of the team: "And... Slytherin freshmen!"
Slytherin's prefect Gemma Farley was leading Slytherin's first-year students and met them head-on.
"Let's just move aside!" Gabrielle suggested.
"I agree!" Farley nodded.
The two teams went one to the left and one to the right... The Slytherin team turned right, while the Hufflepuff team continued forward.
Astoria Greengrass was just behind Farley, and she almost brushed past Jon, but neither of them looked up.
"Don't be afraid of Slytherin, badgers will never be afraid of snakes!" Gabrielle smiled: "Where was I just talking about!"
"Oh, by the way, the kitchen is just ahead!" Gabrielle led them through another corridor: "The entrance to the lounge is hidden in a pile of barrels in the right corner of the kitchen corridor... right here!"
"Just like me, knock on the bottom covers of the two middle barrels in the second row in the rhythm of 'Helga-Hufflepuff', and the covers will automatically rotate open... We are the only school in Hogwarts that has magic to repel intruders. If you knock on the wrong lid or knock in the wrong rhythm, the illegal intruder will be covered in vinegar."
As she spoke, Gabrielle got into one of the large barrels.
Jon and the other Hufflepuff freshmen looked at each other and then went in.
They moved slowly along the passage, through an underground tunnel as round as an oak barrel, and finally arrived at a round, low-ceilinged room with a faint earthy fragrance, filled with many cushioned sofas and chairs.
They arrived at the Hufflepuff common room.
"If it's daytime, it will be sunny here, and you can even see swaying grass and dandelions through the round windows." Gabrielle opened an archway in the room: "Now, I'll take you to your dormitory!"
The other Hufflepuff first years followed Gabrielle's lead.
But Jon stopped and stopped by the burning fireplace... There was a portrait of a witch on the fireplace.
There is a line of small words under the portrait:
"Helga Hufflepuff (964-1032) is widely regarded as one of the greatest witches in British magical history.
She was born in 964 AD in the Welsh valley
In 993, he participated in the founding of Hogwarts and advocated that all children with wizarding potential should attend Hogwarts.
Served as the second headmaster of Hogwarts from 998 to 1032.
Hufflepuff's greatest achievement was discovering the specific uses of more than 200 herbs.
In addition, she has made outstanding contributions in food magic and the protection of house elves."
The Helga Hufflepuff in the portrait looked to be only in her twenties or thirties. She was very beautiful and gave people a gentle and kind feeling. She stood gracefully in front of the newly built Hogwarts Castle, her eyes gazing into the distance.
Jon bent down solemnly and bowed deeply to the portrait of the founder of Hufflepuff House and Hogwarts.
Hogwarts has so many new students every year. Gryffindor picks the brave and fearless students, Slytherin picks the students with pure blood and ambition, and Ravenclaw picks the wise and shrewd students...
What about Hufflepuff, did she only pick the honest and hard-working students?
No, she didn't...she took all the remaining students who weren't chosen by other houses into her own house, regardless of whether they met Hufflepuff's admission criteria or not!
Imagine that a young wizard received a letter from Hogwarts and happily rowed here... Then the Sorting Hat told him that he was neither brave nor ambitious, nor wise nor shrewd, nor honest and hardworking; he was not selected by any college, and the only thing waiting for him was to be cast the Forgetfulness Charm and row home again.
What a cruel thing that would be!
Helga Hufflepuff stopped him and told him that he could come to her house; even if there was nothing good about him... as long as he was a wizard, even the worst and stupidest wizard, as long as he was a wizard, it was enough, and he was qualified to receive an education at Hogwarts.
Jon thought of the Hufflepuff students in the cafeteria, who were almost twice as many as those from other houses... If it weren't for Helga, half of them would have been cruelly eliminated on the first day of school...
After bowing, Jon looked up... and saw Helga Hufflepuff in the portrait, blinking at him.
He smiled back at the portrait and walked towards the arched door which Gabrielle had opened.