Welcome to Hufflepuff, Alice

After a lengthy night of laughing and sharing stories in the great hall, it was time to head back to the Hufflepuff common room. Cedric explained to me earlier that he was a prefect, so he would have to show the first years how to get to the common room.

As we neared the exit of the great hall, Cedric paused. I turned to him, confused as to why we had stopped right in front of the door.

"I should probably ask my friend if he can take the job of guiding the first years." he whispered into my ear. I nodded my head slowly in response as my stomach fluttered.

Honestly, Allison, you just met the guy. Control yourself.

Cedric carefully surveyed the room, his silver eyes filled with hope of finding his friend. He must have really not wanted to show the first years around. But, I couldn't blame him. Who would want to show a group of restless and inquisitive children this late at night?

"Be right back." he muttered as he walked away. His face lit up as he spoke to the boy, as they hadn't spoken to each other all summer.

I pieced together through the conversation that his name was Ernie, and from what I could tell he was very friendly. He had sunny-blonde curly hair and light freckles that were intricately splotched across his lightly tanned skin.

"Hey, Ernie, do you mind showing the first years around? I want to show my new friend around a bit." I heard Cedric ask. Ernie's eyes quickly glanced over to me.

"Sure, but you owe me man. Have fun." Ernie said, followed by a cheeky and suggestive wink.

My cheeks flushed at this and I turned the other way, pretending to admire something on the wall. I soon felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Cedric staring at his feet with a goofy smile on his face.

"Erm- want me to show you how to get to the common room?" he asked, hesitating slightly.

"Sure." I agreed, my cheeks still seared a dark shade of pink.

Me and Cedric walked out of the great hall, and strolled over to a painting of a bowl of fruit.

"This is it." he stated, walking towards it soon after. Confused, I stood next to him, my hands on my hips. He started tickling a bright green pear in the painting.

"W-what are you doing?" I laughed. "Just trust the process." he grinned. Soon enough, the painting opened slowly, and Cedric walked through.

"Alright, Allison, walk through." he said with a smile.

I stumbled through the painting, making sure not to hit the golden rim surrounding it. I looked around the room to see small house elves were scurrying across the room cleaning up the mess made after making dinner.

A petite elf with giant bright blue eyes ran up to us. "Hello Mr. Diggory! Can Minnie help you with anything?" she inquired.

"Oh no Minnie, I don't need anything right now. Thank you so much though, have a wonderful night." he replied with a large lopsided grin.

Cedric walked me out of the kitchens, and led me to a room which was dimly lit and filled with hundreds of barrels. He took my hand and guided me towards a wall of barrells. I found Cedrics move to be quite bold, as most people don't hold hands with someone they meet that day.

This boy was giving me many obvious signs.  I mean, within the first 10 minutes of meeting him he called me gorgeous. Nobody had ever done that before, and it seemed so strange that he was doing this. But it wasn't like I was complaining.

Cedric drew his wand out and began tapping a pattern onto the barrels. Confused yet intrigued, I concentrated hard, trying to memorize the movements his wand was making.

"Trust me, you won't get the pattern for a good week or two, it's quite complicated. I can help you get to the common room until you get it." Cedric said, interruping my train of thought

I nodded my head in agreement just as an opening appeared in the barrels. A large and winding staircase was right in front of us, leading down to the common room.

He led me down the yellow lit staircase, and I let my hands trace across the vines spread across the stone walls. As we got closer, I heard slight chattering and the sound of a fireplace lightly crackling. Cedric pushed open the door leading in, and I entered, suddenly mezmerized by the sight in front of me.

Twinkling lights and candles were everywhere, softly illuminating the room. Hundreds of plants were lined up high and low, and a deep yellow couch with matching chairs was placed in front of the fireplace. A fuzzy rug was placed under the seating area, and nearby there were several sets of tables and chairs.

Cedric shot me a grin as he noticed how impressed I was. On the wall beside the couch, there were two narrow hallways that lead to darkness.

"Hey, where do those go?" I queried.

"Those two little hallways lead you down to the dormitories, you'll want to go to the right one.That's the girls dorms. Your trunk is already on your bed in your room, which you share with three other girls. Two of the girls are from other houses, since there were no more dorms left for them we welcomed them here. Lots of first years this year." He explained.

"Alright Cedric, sleep well. Goodnight!" I yawned.

"Goodnight, Allison." he responded with hint of a smile on his tired face.

I headed toward the right hall, just as Cedric instructed, and after a minute or so of walking I saw a door with a piece of paper taped to the door. There were three names crossed off and my name wasn't. This had to be my room . I carefully opened the door, and as soon as I fully walked in I was greeted by loud voices.

"Allison?" a familiar voice squealed.

Oh my god. Cleo.

Ada's head whipped around at the mention of my name, and my old friends came to greet me. They each gave me a hug, and the young girl in the corner looked at us with a confused expression on her face.

"I thought I wouldn't see you for a long time, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"My father wanted me to fulfill my 'pure blood legacy', so he sent me away to the school he went to." Cleo explained, a slight scowl etched onto her fair face.

Cleo looked exactly as a Slytherin would, as she had blonde hair, baby blue eyes, and was about 5'10" with a slender build. She had a cold glare that could cut you, and she was certainly not light with her opinions.

She was definitely the meanest of the group, having made many peoples lives miserable in the past, but she also had a weak side. Though she seemed so rough around the edges, when hurt, she would often react emotional and childish.

Cleo was a pretty girl, and she knew it. She took much pride in her looks, and wouldn't think twice about destroying you if you said otherwise.

"Well, Alice, it's great to see you again." Ada grinned warmly.

On the other hand, Ada was the opposite, looking just as a Hufflepuff would. She had dark brown voluminous curly hair, and deep hazel eyes. She was about 5'6" with a curvy body, and had an inviting smile paired with a dimple on each of her rosy cheeks. She was somewhat outgoing, but welcoming and friendly as well. Though she had a less intimidating exterior, if you hurt anyone who she cared for, she would completely switch around.

Standing right behind Cleo and Ada was the young Gryffindor girl named Hermione. She looked very similar to Ada, having bushy brown hair and light brown eyes. She had a slender build, and was not all that tall, 5'4" at most. She had a book in her hand at her side, and it was obvious that before I came she'd been reading it. Her finger stayed in the place of the last page she was on, and she flashed me a slight smile before walking to her bed and sitting down, putting her nose back into her book.

After catching up for several minutes, we all began preparing for bed. I put my hair in a high ponytail, and pulled on a pair of fluffy pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt.

I crawled into bed, and listened to the conversation that the other girls were having.

"...I promise, I don't care as much about blood type as my dad, but he would kill me if he knew I hung out with you guys." Cleo explained.

"Well us so called 'Mud-bloods' find it to be quite uncomfortable when Malfoy and his stupid ittle clique tell us about their stupid, pointless blood status a million times a day." Hermione huffed.

"I don't know what you see in Malfoy, Cleo. You could do so much better than that idiot." Ada chimed in, soon going back to painting her nails.

"You guys don't see the side of him that I see since I'm his girlfriend." Cleo justified.

"You guys will never understand." Cleo stated dramatically as she fell back onto her pillow.

Ada and Hermione rolled their eyes, unamuzed at the blondes attempt for attention.

"We should probably get to bed, we have classes tomorrow." Hermione suggested.

"That seems like a good idea." I replied.

In response, Ada got up out of bed and turned the light off.

"Goodnight guys." She whispered.

As I slowly drifted off to sleep, I couldn't stop thinking about Cedric, and the day I had with him.

If you keep this up, you're gonna be so screwed.