Rules of The Game: Hogwarts Years

Chapter 5: A Hufflepuff at Heart

Margaret felt ill at ease her first night in the castle. She had imagined her first night much differently when she had been younger, dreaming of attending Hogwarts. No one really wanted to be near her during their short tour of the path to their house common rooms. The common room itself was cosy. The warm, yellow brick was inviting and there were plants draping from circular windows surrounding the room and hung from the ceiling. Of course, everything was a nauseating yellow shade. The couches, the chairs, the rugs were all different shades of yellow. The bedrooms were even worse with their gaudy yellow motif.

Oh Merlin, her Keeping of a Magical Home tutor was truly under Margaret's skin if she was already imagining how she would have absolutely none of these horrid yellow hues in her future home.

The rooms were set up with four of these ugly four poster, highly symbolic Hufflepuff pride beds. Margaret had simply picked a yet empty room and her suitcases appeared in a neat stack next to the bed for her to begin unpacking. At least she got a moment to sort through everything that had just happened away from all the excited chatter around her. It was exhausting, especially when she was in such a sour mood.

Every time she looked up to see others scoping out the rooms they quickly looked away, giggled and moved along to their next option.

Eventually, the rooms were all taken, and the three remaining beds were filled up. Two of the girls were whispering together while the other was unpacking her items from her trunk.

"You must be Margaret Ravens," said the girl as she finished unpacking. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Veronica Dendron, but I like to go by Roni." Margaret looked up at the girl who was standing in front of her, wondering if she would be scared away by looking too closely at her face. The girl didn't seem scared as she had a slight smile on her face. Perhaps she was ignorant. Roni had almost black, curly hair. Her skin was tanned, and she looked like she could have just come from a southern Italian beach, but her accent was local.

"Yes, pleasure," Margaret managed a response. She didn't recognize the Dendron surname. It was rather evident she didn't come from a prominent wizarding family. Margaret could see that just in her posture and the way she smiled. Even the way she wore her uniform and left her dark curly hair down were all signs that she wasn't a player of The Game. If anything, she was a half-blood or Muggle-born. The name 'Roni' sounded almost foreign to her so Margaret guessed Mudblood.

"I'm quite excited to start learning here, aren't you?" she asked. She was a sloppy conversationalist. She was attempting to make bids for Margaret to latch onto. Perhaps she had a different idea of her first time here at Hogwarts, too. Maybe she imagined that she and Margaret would be fast friends and they would stay up all night talking, sharing secrets, and giggling under the covers.

"I suppose I am," Margaret said distantly. Since Roni was a Mudblood, Margaret wasn't required to be too polite to her. In fact, if you were seen being polite with them, it would be frowned upon. Roni looked as though she was floundering for another bid to throw into the dying conversation. Something they could talk about, and both relate to.

"Do you have friends here already?" she asked, rocking back and forth on her feet, her smile slowly slipping from her face.

"Yes, I do," Margaret responded.

"Oh. Are they in Hufflepuff too?"

"No, they were sorted into a different house."

"Which house were they sorted into?" she asked. Roni was determined, no matter how much this conversation was like pulling teeth out of an unwilling child.

"Slytherin," Margaret said plainly, wanting to see if there was a reaction. Since Roni was not a player of The Game, she did not hide her emotions as effectively.