Chapter 45

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From what I remembered about the Hufflepuff common room, it was near the kitchens, and its entrance was in a set of barrels, so it wouldn't be too hard to find.

And just as I thought, after walking a bit, I came across a pile of barrels. In those barrels, supposedly was the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room, and if it wasn't obvious before, seeing one of the big barrels roll to the side and open a passage for a bunch of Puffs kind of took away any doubts I might have had.

The Puffs who just left looked at me curiously, but they didn't speak or do anything, probably because I was just looking and I was a first year, so they must have been thinking I was just a lost student.

As with the entrance to the Slytherin common room, I didn't try to enter the Hufflepuff common room, and it was mainly because I knew this was the most protected common room of all, as it only allowed badgers to enter. And the most impressive thing was that, if the person trying to get in was not a Puff, or if they got the password wrong - which happened to be hitting the beat of 'Helga Hufflepuff' in a specific barrel - the person would be dipped in vinegar and would have access barred.

'I'm almost afraid of Helga Hufflepuff. If she even has punishment for someone who tries to break into her common room, I don't even want to imagine what she would do to an enemy or someone more hated,' I thought, a little shiver running through my body.

I then started looking at the passage, trying to absorb every detail.

'Hmm... Now that I stopped to think... Helga Hufflepuff had a cup as her greatest treasure, and her common room is surrounded by barrels... Was she an alcoholic?' I questioned myself, and if any Puffs could hear my thoughts right now, I was sure they would want to bewitch me to the ends of the world.

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After leaving the basement, I went to the next floor, which was the ground floor.

The ground floor didn't have many places I didn't already know, as this was the floor of the Great Hall and I passed it every day. So I decided to just check it out with my Magic Vision to see if I hadn't missed anything.

After looking around the ground floor for a while, I found some passages that were behind some paintings and armor, and these passages led to other corridors on the ground floor and the other floors.

The only place worth noting was the Great Hall, which because there were a lot of wizards walking around in it every day, had an immense amount of magic, and it was very fascinating to see all those magical signatures with different colors and densities passing through the air.

After looking at the Great Hall, and seeing that there was nowhere else to look, I decided to go to the first floor, where I would see if there were any passages or more interesting places.

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Before reaching the first floor, I had to go through the Grand Staircase, the most famous stairs in the cinema. These stairs led to every floor of Hogwarts, and in their path were many paintings with many other secret passages.

Hogwarts had a total of 142 stairs. These stairs ranged from wide and sweeping to narrow and fragile. Those same stairs moved according to the castle, so the same stairs that led to the fourth-floor hallway on Monday could end up leading to an entirely different hallway on Fridays.

Also, some stairs would stop moving just to irritate students. There were even some steps that were fake or disappeared when you stepped on them, so you always had to remember to jump over them.

These stairs are treacherous and evil, and believe me when I say these stairs are the most dangerous thing in the castle. And guess who came up with the brilliant idea to create moving stairs? It was from our dear and intelligent founder of the ravens' house, Rowena Ravenclaw!

I'm seriously starting to doubt her intelligence, and also whether she was really sane.

From what I've seen so far, for someone known for her brilliant mind and intelligence, her actions aren't all that rational.

But that aside, I continued up the stairs until I reached the first floor.

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The first floor had lots of interesting places. Places like the Library, the Gryffindor Head's Office, the Tapestry Corridor, the Potions Pantry, the Hospital Wing, and the Girl's Lavatory.

I'm not going to talk much about the Library as I've been there since the beginning of classes, and it doesn't take much explanation to know what's in a library.

Well... what there is usually in a library since I doubt all libraries have flying books.

But apart from books and a few passages, the library is nothing so different.

The Gryffindor Head's Office already had a self-explanatory name, so I didn't have much to say about it, but it's always good to remember where it was... You never know when I might need to talk to Professor McGonagall.

I just hope I'm not ignored how was the golden trio...

The Tapestry Corridor was a hallway filled with… tapestries. I think the name is also self-explanatory. But in the corridor, there were also many paintings of famous wizards, and in those same paintings and tapestries there were also many secret passages, and they led to many different places in the castle.

The most interesting thing about tapestries was the remnants of magic that were in them.

The Pantry was where Professor Snape kept his private stash of potions and their ingredients. As I recalled, the items in Professor Snape's inventory included the ingredients for Polyjuice Potion and Veritaserum, something I'd left noted in my mind in things I should 'borrow'.

The Hospital Wing was where the students went when they were sick or injured, and it was also basically Harry's second home, as every single year he ended up there... And each year it was for a stranger reason than the other.

I haven't entered the Hospital Wing yet, as from what I can remember from the story, and from what I've heard from the students, the matron there, Madame Poppy Pomfrey, could be a bit of a dragon mother, and I didn't want to get in the way from her or being searched from top to bottom looking for any injury or illness by her.

But I intended to go there at some point, and no, it won't be because I got hurt in some way, I hope, but because I'd like to learn healing magic, something only a trained and certified medi-witch could teach me.

The last interesting place on the first floor was the Girl's Lavatory, and it's not for some perverted reason, but because it was so symbolic of the franchise.

The first floor Girl's Lavatory was where Hermione was attacked by a troll mountain, and later saved by Harry and Ron. And this development was what gave, or more precisely, will start their friendships, thus creating the so famous golden trio.

And as I passed the bathroom, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not I should interfere with this happening. It's not like it brings me anything good, but it doesn't bring anything bad either, and before I even came to Hogwarts, I had already made up my mind that I was going to live my years at this school without thinking too much about the canon since only my existence totally changed the future.

'Hmm... I won't worry about it now, I still have some time to think' I thought to myself.

End.

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(End AN: I've always wondered why the castle hasn't been explored further in the books, as it's over a thousand years old, and obviously contains many mysteries.

I think people in the wizarding world forgot that that was the home of great wizards, like founders and merlins, someone they treat like God.

If it were in the normal world, that place would have become a historical heritage, hehe.)