Chapter 11 - Roommates

The prefect of Hufflepuff was a bright young man with hazel, short hair clumsily hangs over a fresh, radiant face. The name of the young man was Brodie Locks. The proud and happy look on his face betrayed his efforts to mask those feelings. Alder was relieved to see a prefect fundamentally different from Percy in the original novels. Alder felt no smugness from him.

Following Brodie, they went downstairs from the great hall. While passing through a corridor, Alder took a glance at the other corridor which had a fruit painting hanging on its walls. It was not only him who had done so. Everyone looked curiously at every detail of the castle, eager to explore it thoroughly. This also caught attention of Brodie.

"Oh that's where the kitchens at. It's an open secret among us Hufflepuffs. You need to tickle the pear on the portrait to enter it." Brodie laughed patting his tummy.

They went on until they have reached before a stack of barrels.

"Be sure to remember this. You need to tap the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff', like I will show you in a second, on the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row. Be careful since in other dormitories you will be left outside if you fail to open the room. However you will be drenched in vinegar if you make a mistake in our entry."

Brodie demonstrated them the rhythm and barrels moved by themselves slowly, which revealed the tunnel behind them.

They followed Brodie in pairs till they have reached the common room. Unlike the depressing tunnel, the common room was full of warmth. Although darkness of the night could be seen outside the windows around the room, the room was lighted by shining plants, copper lamps and floating dots of lights around the room. Alder looked closer to the lights and thought maybe they were the applications of a high level Lumos.

Brodie let them explore the room for a little bit with a smile on his face. From time to time he would give some explanations about the plants to the students who were checking them out.

Alder didn't ask anything but lend his ear to those explanations. He has seen most of these plants in the 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi' but seeing them in real life was quite magical. He found the flower named Moly particularly beautiful with its white flowers, black stems and leaves. There were cages with flowerpots to contain Leaping Toadstool in them. Wiggentrees were planted around the room in their giant pots, looking quite plain. But Brodie explained to them, these trees protect the students against the dark creatures as long as they touch them. Moly was also a plant able to counter some enchantments just by being eaten by the students.

Although there were some decorative plants such as shining Puffapods, Alder could feel the goodwill Madam Sprout had towards them. She both wanted to pique their curiosity and help them by bringing these plants. But after learning the care of these plants was also under the responsibilities of the Prefect, Alder felt a little bit sorry for Brodie. He looked around for the female prefect and saw a young woman standing before some circular doors.

Seeing her, Brodie also wrapped up his tour in the common room and continued showing their dormitories. He divided them by their genders and let the males to their dormitories.

Alder also followed him after wishing good night to Tonks. He looked at the circular doors with their wooden frames and felt like a hobbit.

The doors led them to various underground tunnels containing their rooms. Brodie showed them their rooms and students started to leave the group slowly. When it was Alder's group's turn, he entered the room with his fellow three students.

The room had four-poster beds covered in patchwork quilts. Copper lamps were illuminating the room with a warm light and copper bed-warmers were hanging on the wall in case they need it. A couple of windows shaped like half-moon were letting the moonlight enter the room.

They saw their luggage on the trunks beside the beds and as such they found their beds quite easily. After settling down, they started to introduce themselves to others.

"Hello, my name is Casper Owen. Nice to meet you guys." said an energetic boy with short brown hair with similar brown eyes.

"Likewise, I'm Stephen Fawley. I wish a pleasant year together." said another boy elegantly. He had straight black hair with bright black eyes.

"Thomas Turner, nice to meet you." said a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked towards Fawley about to ask a question but refrained to let the last one introduce himself.

"Alder Gray, pleasant to meet you too. Let's have a good year together." said Alder with a smile. The name Fawley also sounded familiar to him so he returned to Thomas to see what's wrong with it.

"You're from the Fawley family? Like Hector Fawley?" asked Thomas seeing the introductions finished.

Stephen had a pained smile on his face. He said reluctantly "Yeah, he's my great-grandfather.".

Thomas waved his hand and said without suspense "Don't worry, I didn't ask to question you about him, I was just curious.".

"It's alright…"

"Who's Hector Fawley?" said Casper with curiosity, clearly not reading the air.

Thomas glanced at Stephen, seeing him nod reluctantly; he decided to explain in his place.

"Your family is not from our world, I presume?" said Thomas.

Casper nodded "Right. They're not magical people if you mean that way.".

"Then it's normal you don't know about this. Because this part of the history includes one of the most powerful and notorious dark wizard of all time. Maybe only second to You-Know-Who." said Thomas, looking at Stephen to take over.

Stephen continued with a pained look "Yeah. My great-grandfather was a minister of magic in the second quarter of the twentieth century. It was also the time of Gellert Grindelwald to his misfortune. My great-grandfather, although smart enough to be a minister for almost 15 years, failed to see the threat Grindelwald could cause to both wizarding world and muggle world. So he's not the most loved one among his fellow ministers in history.".

Casper knew nothing about Grindelwald but he could understand the general idea since muggle world has its own share of people who affected the whole world. Thus he comforted Stephen "I see, but you're you, it's not your part to carry the burden.".

Alder also nodded to this. He also wondered how history really repeats itself. He found Hector Fawley oddly similar to Cornelius Fudge.

"Thank you, guys. So Casper, tell us about your life before Hogwarts." Stephen looked relieved and was eager to divert the conversation by asking a question he had wondered before coming here. His family was open-minded unlike other pure-blood families, they would discuss some things about muggles in the family dinners, and thus he was naturally full of questions.

Casper had also been feeling there was a great chance being ostracized by his roommates, since he came from a different world from others. Seeing they only looked at him with eager eyes, not even a glimpse of dislike; he also sit more comfortably and told all kinds of stories about his childhood.

And thus the rest of the night passed in tranquility till they fell asleep eventually.