Ballet Shoes

Chapter 6

It was a delicious feast; the Hall echoed with talk, laughter and the clatter of knives and forks. Lilleth, however, was actually eager for it to be over, as all she wanted was to have a shower and go to bed. Or just go to bed. She was so exhausted that the rest of the evening all blurred into one, and before she knew it, the food had disappeared and the prefects were calling all the first years over to them.

"Is this all of you?" asked the girl, smiling cheerfully at them. "Good feast?"

"It was awesome." said one of the boys.

"It always is." said the boy prefect. He wasn't the same one that had come around to Lilleth's compartment on the train after the dementor had attacked, but he looked nice enough. "Anyway, my name is Otto Haywood, and this is my prefect partner, Pat Stimpson. You can come to us with any problems you have, as well as the other prefects in the other two years. But now, I'm sure you're all very tired, so we'd better get down to the common room."

Many of the first years nodded, and they followed the two prefects out of the Great Hall and to the right, where there was a set of stairs going down to the depths of the castle. They didn't go down too far before they turned off into a simple corridor with a very low ceiling, quite different to the other places of the castle that they had seen so far. There was a small nook in the right hand side wall, with many barrels hiding it from view. Before they went into the smaller area, Pat stopped and pointed at a painting of a bowl of fruit not too far from them.

"That's the entrance to the kitchens." she said. "Tickle the pear in the bowl of fruit and you'll be taken down there. The house elves are all very friendly, especially with us Hufflepuffs. We're all down there quite a lot."

"Midnight feast, anyone?" said one of the other girls jokingly, prompting a small laugh out of everyone standing there.

"Now, the way to get into the common room is very different to any of the others." said Otto, indicating the barrels. "There's no password and it doesn't change. Instead, you must tap this barrel, two from the bottom and in the middle of the second row, in the rhythm of 'Hel-ga Huff-le-puff', which will make the lid swing open, exposing a passageway that will lead to the basement when crawled through."

"But make sure you do it right." said Pat with a warning tone. "If the wrong lid is tapped or it's tapped in the wrong pattern, you'll be doused in vinegar and barred access."

"Really?" asked one of the boys, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Would you like a demonstration?" Otto offered with a teasing glint in his eye.

"No thanks." said the boy hurriedly.

Otto and Pat laughed, and Otto quickly tapped out the rhythm so they could all see, and just as he said, the lid of the barrel swung open and the sides fell apart, exposing a small, narrow tunnel through which they could see light at the end. Well, it wasn't that small. Perhaps for a seventh year, it might be a bit of a tight squeeze, but for them, it was rather large.

"Off you go then." said Pat, looking at Piper and Lilleth, who were at the front of the crowd, although they weren't entirely sure why.

Suddenly feeling slightly nervous, Lilleth took a step forward and bent down on all fours, crawling into the tunnel. She was closely followed by Piper and the other first years, through the tunnel that must have been at least three or four metres, until they finally reached the common room.

It was enormous. Round and earthy and low-ceilinged, with round windows at the top looking out at the ground and green grass and dandelions. There was lots of burnished copper about the place, and many plants, which either hung from the ceiling or sat on the windowsills. There were overstuffed sofas and chairs that looked like pillows scattered around the room, upholstered in yellow and black. On the far wall, there was a large, honey coloured, wooden mantelpiece with carvings of badgers on it, which was located underneath a portrait of the house's founder, Helga Hufflepuff. A fireplace was underneath the mantelpiece, crackling busily and dancing excitedly at the sight of the new visitors. Two round, wooden doors that looked much like the tops of barrels sat on either side of the room, which Lilleth supposed led to the dormitories.