The Empty Chamber (Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfiction)

Chapter Five: Ella

The Sorting Hat Ceremony was wonderful. Ella had been excited for months to find out which house she might be in, and now she knew. Hufflepuff was a great house - the people were kind to her, and the common room smelled like whatever food was being prepared in the kitchens.

At the feast, she'd sat with Louis and Kadence. Both were less outgoing than Ella, but she was used to that. Ella knew of Louis; as Bill and Fleur's son, he had a very charming appearance and smooth strawberry blonde hair that he had gelled to stick up at the front, above his forehead. He was reserved, not saying much himself, but he was also polite, and he laughed at the right times and knew the right comment to make when Ella reached the end of a story.

Kadence was a muggle-born, so neither Ella nor Louis had met her before. She was quiet at first, but as the feast carried on, she became more and more comfortable. Her hair a light, red tinted-brown, and her combat boots sticking out from under her robes, Kadence felt very much like the type of girl who would purposefully avoid anything stereotypically classified as "girly."

At first it seemed to Ella that Kadence was acting mysterious in an attempt to look independent, like she didn't need someone to walk her through the wizarding world step by step, but Kadence gave up on this as dessert came around and began asking all her questions about owl post and other magical things. Kadence grew increasingly excited every time she got an answer, and by the end of the night, she didn't seem tough and evasive anymore. In fact, she started to remind Ella greatly of a large puppy.

The Hufflepuff common room was next to the kitchens, and to enter, students had to knock a special combination onto a few barrels, which were set against the wall. As a Prefect demonstrated (rather unwillingly), when someone knocked the wrong combination, vinegar shot out of the barrels at them. The first years watched the barrels warily as they walked into their common room.

Hufflepuff's common room was perhaps the coziest place Ella had ever seen. The ceiling was low, but there were several windows, which would fill the room with light during the day. Quilts were draped on the walls and furniture, and most everything in the room was a pleasant honey color. Several highly polished wooden tables and chairs were strewn around the space for studying at, and house plants lined the walls, all looking quite happy with their placement. Coupled with the ever present scent of warm bread that hung in the air, Ella was sure she had found a place she never wanted to leave.

Ella and Kadence made their way to the girls' dormitory, where five fluffy four-poster beds, each with light pink curtains hanging down around them, were arranged against the walls. Each of the Hufflepuff girls chose a bed, and without hardly a word to each other, flopped on it and pulled the curtains closed. The Sorting Hat Ceremony was wonderful, but Ella was very glad to be going to bed.

Ella pulled back her covers, and to her great surprise, found a long silver sword laying beneath them. Rubies were encrusted in the handle. Ella gasped. She knew this sword. Throughout her childhood, it had been described to her countless times: every time she heard the story of Harry Potter.

Had the Sorting Hat made a mistake? If not, why was the Sword of Gryffindor lying in Ella's bed?

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Ella didn't ask anyone about the Sword that first night. She didn't think the Prefects would know what to do, and she didn't know where Professors slept. Tucking it under her bed, she decided that the next day she would tell the first Professor she saw at breakfast about it. Regardless of whether or not she was a true Gryffindor, the Sword was not hers to keep.

That morning, however, Ella didn't run into any teachers on the way to the Great Hall (Ella could find her way easily; the Hufflepuff common was right down the corridor from it). Instead, as she walked into the Hall with Kadence and Louis, a familiar voice called out from behind her. "Ella!"