Kit: The Girl Marauder

Hello Hufflepuff

Scarlet followed the tall boy down the hall to the Hufflepuff commons, bearly containing her excitement as she half walked half skipped down corridor after corridor before stopped in front of a stack of wooden barrels on the right side of a stone wall. There were five stacks of barrels each three barrels high and what smelled to be vinegar sulking within, as if waiting for something.

The tall boy turned and looked at all the first years with a smile and said, "This is the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room where you will be staying for the next year until summer break starts. I am one of the prefects of Hufflepuff house, Ryan Lian. The other prefect is Sarah Themann, who's still in the great hall talking with Dumbledore. The password to get into the common room, as I'm sure you all are curious, is some what easier to remember than most students first believe. You find the middle barrel of the second row and tap 'Helga Hufflepuff' on it. I feel it is fit to warn you, should you tap too many times, not enough times, or tap the wrong rhythm, you will be doused with the vinegar that resides in these barrels. For those of you who don't know what 'Helga Hufflepuff' is I'll demonstrate." He turned on his heel, found the middle barrel of the second row and tapped a rhythm very familiar to Scarlet. When he was done the barrels shook and moved aside to reveal an earthy tunnel doorway that seemed to go up at a slight incline.

Ryan looked through the cloud of first years around him and pointed to a girl who Scarlet recognized as the girl who had told Professor McGonagall her name was Camilla not Camillithora. She noticed when the boy pointed Camilla trembled ever so slightly, almost unnoticeable had she not been looking right. The girl was average height for an eleven year old, her dark hair hiding one of her silvery gray eyes and once again Scarlet was reminded of Sirius, with his mop of dark hair and steely eyes. Ryan asked in the kindest voice, "Would you like to go first?" Camilla wide eyed, shook her head slightly and stepped back.

"N-no," she stammered, "I'd rather not." all eyes had turned to Camilla which seemed to make her even more nervous. Suddenly, Scarlet stepped forward drawing everyone's eyes from Camilla as she said, "I'll go first." With a glance toward the trembling girl who now looked ever so relieved and smiled at Scarlet in thanks, Scarlet returned the smile and went through the earthy entrance, hardly noticing the incline in the dirt, until she came to a small wooden latch door which swung open at her touch. She stepped onto a tile floor at last to be greeted by a large, cozy looking, yellow and black room with light grey stone walls, which seemed to have sunlight shinning on them even though it was close to 10 at night. There was a big, plush, black couch sitting next to two yellow arm chairs on either side of it, all of which seemed to bulge from the amount of stuffing put into them. A rug laid beneath the chairs embroidered with honey badgers along the edges and tassel coming from the corners. Below the badgers, read the Hufflepuff motto, 'You might belong in Hufflepuff, where they are just and loyal. Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil.' In the middle of the rug was the black and yellow Hufflepuff crest. On top of the rug sat a hand-made coffee table. In front of the couch and armchairs, sat a fire place above which was a picture of Helga Hufflepuff, one of the first founders of Hogwarts. When Scarlet looked at the ceiling, many plants, hanging in pots above her head, some waved some smiled at her and they made the room smell of outside and fresh air. More plants lined the fire place and on the sill of two windows on the far right wall out of which she could see grass and colorful flowers. A ways away she could also make out the lake that they had crossed on the boats to get to the school, which gleamed under the soft radiance of the full moon. On the left side of the room stood two stone stair cases.

As Scarlet took in the great sight of the room she was barley aware of the other students filing in after her. Camilla had found her way behind Scarlet while Ryan, once again, came and stood in front of the group. "The last things you need to know about the common room is that you must be back here everyday by 10:00 p.m. You're not allowed to leave the common room until 6:00 a.m. Boys are not to go in the girls dorms and for those of you who will try, there are protective spells put in place. That should be everything you need to know, now you're all probably very tired after the feast so, I'll leave you to your dorms. Your things should be in front of your beds. Girls dorms are on the right and boys on the left." He indicated the stairs and headed towards the left stair case and up to bed, the boys following in step chatting away about who knows what. The girls headed to the right stair case which led to seven doors, one for each of the years, and Scarlet made her way to the first door opening it, she looked for her things, changed, opened Snitch's cage and plopped onto her bed with the puppy. Each of the beds had a plush warm quilt and drapes around the bed post. Curling into a ball under the cover of the welcoming quilt with Snitch laying beside her, she fell asleep instantaneously, dreaming of the day to come.