Wizards of the Elements (ON HOLD)

The Hufflepuff Common Room

Cole watched as the table in front of him was decorated with the most delicious foods imaginable, and in front of him was a beautiful chocolate cake with ganache frosting. Cole squealed in happiness and dug in. After the meal he was stuffed to the brim and turned to the redhead girl next to him. Now that he didn't have food to distract him, he noticed some of her other features that he didn't before. Her hair was long and ginger and was tied up in a dainty braid down her back. Her eyes were sky blue, a bit lighter than Jay's, but they had the same bright cheerfulness. Her face was round, and she was smiling at a blonde boy across from her. Cole tapped her on her shoulder and she turned to look at him. 

"Hi," he said sweetly, trying to seem friendly. "I'm Cole. What's your name?" She looked him up and down, staring in awe at his chiseled figure. Cole was used to this back home. His musculature drew a lot of attention. In the end she smiled at him. 

"Hello, Cole. It'th nice to meet you. I'm Thuthan Boneth," she said. Cole noticed she had a rather prominent lisp, but he didn't mind. 

"Nice to meet you, Susan. What year are you in?" he asked.

"I'm in fifth year," she said. "But motht people think I'm much younger becauthe of my lithp." Cole smiled. 

"I think it sounds nice," he said. Susan smiled at him, well, more than she already was. "I'm in sixth, but I'm new year, so I was wondering if you could show me the way to the common room."

"Abtholutely," she said. "You'll love it there, it'th very cothy."

"Hey Susan!" said a voice from behind him. Cole turned around and saw a boy with curly black hair. "Who's your friend?" 

"Oh, hey Juthtin!" said Susan. "Cole, thith ith my friend, Juthtin Finch Fletchly. Juthtin, thith ith Cole, he'th a thixth year." 

"Nice to meet you, Cole," he said holding out his hand. Cole shook it and looked into the boy's brown eyes. Cole could tell he had an underbite, however hard he tried to conceal it. 

"Nice to meet you, Justin," he said. "Also, you don't have to hide your underbite. I think it looks fine, it actually accentuates your cheekbones." Justin flushed. 

"Come on guys," said Justin. "Let's go show Cole the common room." 

"Wait," said Susan. "There'th thomeone he hathn't met yet." She nodded across the table towards the blonde boy, who was licking chocolate from his fingers. He noticed them looking at him and wiped his hand on a napkin. 

"Hello," he said softly, waving at him. "I'm Ernie, Ernie Macmillan." 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ernie." said Cole. He noticed that Ernie's hair was less blonde, and more dirty blonde. He was also a bit pudgy, but overall looked very sweet. He also saw a bit of chocolate smeared on his face. "You've got a bit of chocolate on your face just so you know, right there, on your chin." Ernie smiled and wiped it off. 

"Thanks," he mumbled. 

"Well," said Susan, standing up. "Now that you've met everyone, let'th show you the common room." The other two nodded in agreement and led him out of the hall. As they walked, Cole couldn't help but look around at all the decorations on the walls. There were paintings everywhere- moving around, talking to students. The group arrived in a small room with wooden floors. There were large barrels covering every inch of wall space. As they stood there, Cole realised that he was the tallest out of all of them, Susan was the closest in height, and she was still about half a head shorter than him. Ernie walked over to one of the walls and tapped rhythmically on a barrel five times with his wand. Cole watched in awe as the barrels moved aside to reveal a secret passage. His new friends led him through the wooden tunnel and into another room. Cole gasped. "Cole," said Susan. "Welcome to the Hufflepuff common room." 

"Woah," breathed Cole. The walls were ruff and wooden and covered with various maps and globes, and there was a roaring fire in a stone fireplace. In front of the fire was an overstuffed yellow couch with multi-coloured fluffy pillows, where dozons of people were cuddled under an enormous hand-knitted blanket, eating pizza rolls from a large rectangular platter. The floors were covered in a soft and fuzzy carpet where people sat, braiding flowers into each other's hair. There were chocolate frog wrappers on every desk and table and the whole room smelled of cinnamon. People were laughing and talking in happy voices all around the area. A yellow tea set floated through the air, pouring tea for anyone who held out a cup. Several large bubbles floated around, and inside each one were plants and flowers. Cole looked up into the low hanging rafters and saw people sitting up there and talking cheerfully to each other. The last thing he noticed was a large portrait of a teenage boy. The boy was talking to a group of younger students, who were smiling and laughing. He was tall and handsome, with chiseled features, dark hair, and bright gray eyes. "Who's that?" he asked. Susan's smile faded. 

"That'th Thedric Diggory," she said. "He died latht year, during the triwithard tournament. No one knowth how it got here, but we like to talk to him and athk him for advithe thometimeth. He'th become the houthe therapitht." 

"Wow," said Cole. "That's terrible, and incredible." 

"Yeah," said Justin. "The door on the right is the boy's dormitories, the door on the right is the girl's dormitories." 

"I think I'm gonna get a pizza roll, or two, or three," he said as he started towards the couch. Suddenly there was a shriek from above. A student had slipped from one of the rafters and was falling. Cole instinctively leapt over the couch and all the students on it and grabbed the student from midair and set them safely down on the ground. He stood up and looked around. The whole room had gone silent and was staring at him. His face reddened. "Oh, I, uh, sorry..." he said, helping the boy off the ground. He was small, with short brown hair, big blue eyes and freckles. 

"Sorry?" said the boy incredulously. "You just jumped over a whole-ass couch and grabbed me out of mid-air, and you're saying sorry?" Within seconds, he was swamped with hugs and compliments. Cole was shocked. Usually, he didn't get much attention. It was usually Lloyd or Kai or Nya who got the die-hard fans. He smiled. By the end of the day he was happier than ever. He was glad he was in Hufflepuff. Yet he couldn't help but wonder how his friends were doing.