Welcome to Hufflepuff!

Welcome!

AN: Obviously, I am not J.K. Rowling and do not own these characters or this setting. This is just a little plot bunny that's been in the back of my head for years.

WELCOME TO HUFFLEPUFF!

"Hello, firsties! I'm prefect Gabriel Truman, and I'm delighted to welcome you to HUFFLEPUFF HOUSE!"

The 7th year prefect was as likeable and gregarious as one would expect from a Hufflepuff, and as he smiled warmly to the new students, they all seemed to relax a bit. They were stuffed from the Welcoming Feast but also still a bit on edge. What had the Headmaster been thinking with that "die a terrible death" warning about the third floor corridor?!

Everyone else was already heading out of the dining hall, but Gabriel kept his young charges for a few minutes to learn each of their names along with their faces. Some he'd already learned about from discussions with Professor Sprout. Susan Bones, who was ward to the Director of the DMLE. Ernie McMillan, a pureblood from a prominent family. Justin Finch-Fletchley, a muggleborn from a wealthy aristocratic family. Zacharias Smith, who could trace his lineage back to the Founder. There were only eight Puff firsties, but they looked to be a solid group, compared to the Gryffs who had an even dozen. "Practically an army," Cedric had muttered at the end of the Sorting Ceremony.

"Now then, we'll be taking the long way to our common room, I think. I'll show you where your classes will be tomorrow, and it will give the other houses time to clear the halls. We don't want any of them trying to follow us to the Sett, after all." The children looked confused at that. "Ah, yes. A sett is what you call a badger's den, so that's what we call the Hufflepuff rooms. They're in the lower levels of Hogwarts on the opposite side of the castle from where the snakes live. You'll soon see."

With that, Gabriel led the children out into the halls of Hogwarts, pointing out various features of the castle. His patter covered up his internal nervousness. Below, the rest of the House was preparing for the traditional Hufflepuff welcoming ceremony. It had been six years since he'd gone through that welcome, six years since he'd learned The Secret. There had never been any problems with new Hufflepuffs passing through the initiation in that time, and, as far as he knew, there never had been any problems in all the untold generations before. The Secret had been kept all this time, and it was foolish to think this class might be the first to let it slip. The Hat had chosen them, after all. Still, nervousness was understandable, given the nature of The Secret. Gabriel himself had cried upon learning it, he remembered now to his shame.

About forty-five minutes after leaving the feast, Gabriel finally led the eight firsties down a flight of stairs, through a circuitous set of passages (pointing out the entrance to the kitchens along the way) and finally into a storeroom containing scores of enormous barrels mounted sideways against the walls and marked with labels like "pumpkin juice," "vinegar" and "red wine." He led the children to one that was larger than a man was tall with "Hogwarts" stenciled on the lid, and then he tapped his wand to it in a rhythmic pattern directly over the "H." The front of the barrel slid open, revealing a passageway. The children "oohed" in surprise, and Gabriel led them down the passage and into the Sett.

As they entered, Professor Sprout and the rest of Hufflepuff House was waiting in the common room to welcome them with polite applause. Gabriel directed the firsties to eight overstuffed chairs arranged in front of the fireplace facing the room before taking his own chair to the right of the Head of House. The other five prefects also flanked her, with the rest the house in chairs, sofas and benches arranged behind them so that the entire House was facing its newest members. The arrangement was somewhat daunting for the eight children.

In particular, Justin Finch-Fletchley had been set for Eton before getting his Hogwart's letter, and his father and grandfather had both told him tales of the hazing they'd had to endure in their own school years. "Fagging" it was called back in the day. They both laughed at their common reminiscences, but to Justin, it sounded dreadful. Consequently, he was a bit nervous at the thought of how wizards initiated their own new arrivals, even in the house known for loyalty and fair play. Still, it seemed unlikely that anything was going to happen now with the Head of House watching. Even if the other fifty or so Puffs were all on the opposite side of the room, staring at them with not-quite-sincere smiles as if the new Hufflepuffs were all new specimens ready for examination. Or perhaps dissection.