Edward waited in the dark under the hat.
He really did not care where he sat.
He just wanted to eat.
Very well, the hat said in his ear.
If you are sure, then it better be…
“HUFFLEPUFF!” the hat shouted to the entire hall.
The table on the far right erupted in cheers.
Students in robes with yellow and black trim stood up and clapped their hands.
Edward calmly took off the hat.
He placed it back on the wooden stool.
He walked down the steps toward his new house.
He glanced over at the Gryffindor table.
Harry and Ron sat there.
They both looked a little sad.
Harry gave him a small wave.
Ron gave a little sigh.
Edward just gave them a casual nod and kept walking.
He sat down at an empty spot near the middle of the Hufflepuff table.
The older students patted him on the back.
They smiled and shook his hand.
The sorting continued for a few more minutes.
A boy named Blaise Zabini went to Slytherin.
Then, Professor McGonagall rolled up her parchment and took the stool away.
At the front of the hall, the headmaster stood up.
Albus Dumbledore was a very old man.
He had long silver hair and a beard that tucked into his belt.
He wore robes of deep purple.
He looked around the hall with a wide, welcoming smile.
His blue eyes sparkled behind half-moon glasses.
He opened his arms wide.
“Welcome,” Dumbledore said.
His voice carried across the quiet room.
“Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts.
Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words.
“Nitwit!
Blubber!
Oddment!
Tweak!”, thank you.” He sat back down.
The students clapped and cheered.
Edward blinked.
He looked at the empty golden plate in front of him.
“Well, that was certainly different.” An older boy sitting across from him laughed.
“He is a genius, but he is definitely a bit mad.
I’m Gabriel, by the way.
A prefect.” “Edward,” he replied.
Suddenly, the empty plates filled with food.
Edward had never seen so much food on one table.
There was roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon, steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, and ketchup.
Edward did not waste any time.
He grabbed a serving spoon and loaded his plate.
The food tasted amazing.
It was a massive upgrade from the orphanage porridge.
The other first-year students sitting around him started talking.
A boy with curly hair leaned over.
“I am Justin,” the boy said.
“Justin Finch-Fletchley.
Are you muggle-born too?” “I grew up in an orphanage in London,” Edward said before taking a bite of chicken.
“So, yes.
All of this is new to me.” A girl with blonde pigtails sat next to Justin.
She was the first girl sorted tonight.
“I am Hannah Abbott.
And this is Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones.” They all said hello.
They ate and talked about their train rides.
“Hey, Edward,” Ernie said, pointing a fork toward the other side of the room.
“We saw you talking to Harry Potter before you came up to the stool.
Are you two friends?” A few of the older students leaned in to listen.
Harry Potter was famous, and everyone wanted to know about him.
“We shared a compartment on the train,” Edward said simply.
He swallowed his food and took a sip of pumpkin juice.
“We talked for a bit.
So, you could say we are friends, sort of.” “What is he like?” Hannah asked.
“He is just a normal guy,” Edward said.
The others looked a bit disappointed by the normal answer, but they quickly went back to eating.
Edward enjoyed the meal.
He ate two full plates of food.
When everyone finished, the leftover food faded away.
The plates became perfectly clean again.
A moment later, desserts appeared.
There were blocks of ice cream, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs, and jam doughnuts.
Edward took a slice of apple pie.
Finally, the desserts disappeared.
The hall grew quiet again.
Dumbledore stood up once more.
The room gave him their full attention.
“Just a few more words now that we are all fed,” Dumbledore said.
“First-year students must remember that the forest on the grounds is strictly out of bounds.
Some of our older students would do well to remember that too.” Dumbledore’s eyes flashed toward the Gryffindor table.
Edward guessed he was looking at the red-haired twins.
“I must also tell you that no magic is allowed in the corridors between classes,” Dumbledore continued.
“And finally, this year, the third-floor corridor on the right side is completely out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to suffer a very painful death.” A few people laughed, thinking it was a joke.
Edward did not laugh.
He knew it was a real warning.
“And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!” Dumbledore cried out.
He gave his wand a little flick.
A long golden ribbon flew out of the tip.
It formed words in the air above the tables.
Dumbledore told everyone to pick their favorite tune and start singing.
The hall erupted in noise.
Everyone sang the words at different speeds and in different voices.
The red-haired twins finished last, singing to a very slow funeral march.
Dumbledore conducted their final lines with his wand.
When the song ended, Dumbledore clapped the loudest.
He wiped a tear from his eye.
“Ah, music…
A magic beyond all we do here!
And now, bedtime.
Off you trot!” Dumbledore said.
The students stood up.
The noise of benches scraping against the stone floor echoed in the hall.
Gabriel, the Hufflepuff prefect, called out to the new students.
“First years!
First years, follow me.
Stick together.” Edward joined Hannah, Susan, Justin, Ernie, and a few others.
They followed Gabriel out of the Great Hall.
They walked through the noisy crowds.
“We are heading down,” Gabriel said.
He led them away from the marble staircase.
“Keep an eye on the steps.” They walked down a stone staircase into the basement level of the castle.
They walked down a wide corridor lined with warm torches and paintings of food.
They passed a painting of a large bowl of fruit.
Gabriel stopped a bit further down the hall, in front of a large stack of wooden barrels in a dark recess.
“Here we are,” Gabriel said.
He turned to the first years.
“Our common room is hidden.
To get in, you have to tap the barrels in a very specific way.
If you tap the wrong barrel, or get the rhythm wrong, the lid bursts off and covers you in vinegar.
So, watch closely.” Gabriel took out his wand.
He aimed for a barrel in the middle of the second row from the bottom.
He tapped the wood to a specific rhythm.
Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap.
The bottom of the barrel swung open like a round door, showing a dirt tunnel.
Gabriel went inside.
The students followed him one by one.
The tunnel sloped upwards.
They stepped out into the Hufflepuff common room.
It was warm and cozy.
It felt like a badger’s den.
The room was round, with a low ceiling.
Round windows sat high up on the walls, showing the grass outside.
The walls were decorated in cheerful yellow and black colors.
Large, comfortable armchairs sat around a crackling fireplace.
Plants hung from the ceiling and sat on the windowsills.
Gabriel stood in the center of the room.
He smiled at them.
“Welcome to Hufflepuff,” Gabriel said warmly.
“You will hear a lot of things from the other houses.
They might say we are just a bunch of leftovers.
They are wrong.
Hufflepuff has produced some of the finest witches and wizards in history.
We just don’t brag about it.” Edward looked around the room.
He liked it.
It felt safe.
“We value hard work, loyalty, and fair play,” Gabriel continued.
“We look out for each other.
If you have a problem, you come to me or the other prefects.
Now, the girls’ dormitories are down the hall to the left.
The boys are down the hall to the right.
Your trunks are already there.
Get some sleep.
Classes start tomorrow.” The students split up.
Edward walked down the right hallway.
He found a round wooden door with a brass plate that said ‘First Years’.
He opened the door.
The room was perfectly round.
Five four-poster beds stood against the walls.
The beds had patchwork quilts and warm yellow curtains.
Edward’s trunk sat at the foot of a bed near the window.
Justin, Ernie, a boy named Wayne Hopkins, and a boy named Zacharias Smith walked in behind him.
They were all exhausted.
The train ride, the boats, and the feast took a lot out of them.
Nobody talked much.
They just put on their pajamas.
“Night, everyone,” Justin yawned.
He climbed into bed and pulled the curtains shut.
“Good night,” Ernie said, doing the same.
Within ten minutes, the room was completely quiet.
The only sound was the soft breathing of four sleeping boys.
Edward lay in his bed.
He wore dark clothes.
He kept his eyes open.
He listened carefully.
He waited another twenty minutes just to be sure they were deeply asleep.
He sat up.
He pushed his blankets aside.
He walked to the window.
The Hufflepuff dorms were in the basement.
He looked up at the round glass.
It sat right at ground level.
He saw the dark grass of the lawns outside.
The moon sat high in the sky, providing a bit of silver light.
This was exactly what he wanted.
Edward reached up and unlocked the window.
He pushed it open.
The cool night air blew into the room.
He grabbed the stone ledge and pulled himself up.
He slid his body through the narrow opening and crawled out onto the grass.
He reached back down and pulled the window shut, making sure it clicked.
He stood up.
He brushed a blade of grass off his knee.
He smiled.
The Zoldyck silent step worked perfectly.
He made no sound.
He turned and jogged away from the castle.
He stayed in the shadows of the walls.
He ran across the wet grass.
He felt the cold wind in his hair.
It felt great to move after sitting on a train and a stool all day.
He aimed for the dark edge of the grounds.
The Forbidden Forest.
The trees grew tall and thick.
The shadows under the branches looked pitch black.
Most students would run the other way.
Edward walked right in.
He stepped over giant tree roots.
He walked deeper into the woods.
The air felt heavy.
He heard the crunch of dry leaves and the snap of twigs.
He used his Observation Haki.
He closed his eyes for a second and pushed his senses out.
He felt the faint pulses of life around him.
Birds slept in the branches.
Small rodents dug in the dirt.
Then, he felt something larger.
It moved quickly.
It felt wild.
It was coming toward him.
Edward stopped in a small clearing.
The moonlight poked through the leaves.
He put his hands in his pockets and waited.
A low growl came from the bushes.
A creature stepped into the moonlight.
It looked like a very large, very ugly wild boar.
It had thick, bristly hair and sharp tusks.
It scratched the dirt with its hooves.
It lowered its head, staring right at Edward.
Edward did not pull out his wand.
He just smiled.
The boar charged.
It ran fast, kicking up mud behind it.
Edward waited until the very last second.
He shifted his weight to his left foot.
He spun to the side.
The boar rushed past him, missing him entirely.
The beast skidded to a stop, confused.
“Too slow,” Edward teased.
The boar grunted in anger.
It turned around and charged again.
Edward hopped backward.
He let the boar get close, then he jumped into the air.
He flipped over the boar’s back and landed lightly on his feet behind it.
The boar spun around.
It charged a third time.
Edward turned the forest into a playground.
He dodged left.
He ducked right.
He sidestepped.
He used the trees to push off and change direction in mid-air.
He did not hit the animal.
He just let his instincts guide his feet.
His reflexes were far too fast for the wild beast.
They played this game of tag for twenty minutes.
Edward easily dodged every single attempt.
He felt his blood pumping.
The workout felt fantastic.
Eventually, the boar grew tired.
It stopped charging.
It stood in the dirt, panting heavily.
It looked at Edward.
It seemed to realize it could not touch him.
The boar gave a loud snort, turned around, and trotted back into the dark bushes.
“Good game,” Edward said to the empty trees.
He checked the time on his pocket watch.
It was past midnight.
He had morning classes to attend.
He turned and jogged back through the forest.
He stepped out of the tree line and ran across the open grounds.
The castle looked massive against the night sky.
He reached the wall under his window.
He knelt down in the grass.
He opened his round window.
He slid his legs inside and dropped quietly back into his room.
He closed the window and locked it.
The other boys still slept soundly.
Ernie snored a little bit.
Edward took off his clothes and put his pajamas back on.
He climbed into his bed and pulled the yellow curtains shut.
He felt relaxed and happy.
His first night at Hogwarts was a complete success.
He closed his eyes and went to sleep.