September 1st, 1893 — Just Outside the Hufflepuff Den

It wasn't as if Parthenope didn't know that she and her sister were the shame and laughingstock of the Valenduris family after the Sorting Ceremony. It wasn't something that could be helped, either, and Parthenope knew it. It was just part of how her twin was. These things couldn't be avoided sometimes. This was the worst spell Parthenope had ever witnessed — even worse than Pen's first act of magic, because it was public. That incident had been in the privacy of the home. This one, though. This was public beyond all belief, and they'd have to deal with these people every day for the next seven years, and some of them even after that!

Parthenope sighed, staring at the barrels she'd been directed to, by the specter of a monk. The Hufflepuff common room was one of the most well-kept secrets of the castle. Nothing about any of the common room entrances was recorded in any of the books she'd read, but nothing, absolutely nothing, was recorded about Hufflepuff's common room. It was likely she'd be sitting out here all night, stuck sleeping under the painted bowl of fruit.

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sweetness by Athena

What a day!

Ella was still getting used to finding her way around, but after someone in her house had given her a refresher on the Hufflepuff common room, at least she could get back there. It wasn't so hard, following the wafting scent of the kitchens that wasn't too far away. She had Tucker under one arm, though she was less worried about the cat getting lost than she was. He always seemed to find his way home around their house, so she didn't think Hogwarts would be any different. She did think it would be better to have him in the common room, at least for tonight.

She turned the last corner to find someone, one of her new roommates, sitting beneath a painting of some fruit. It was an odd place to be sitting, considering their coommon room wasn't too far away, but who knew! "You alright?" Ella asked as she walked up, adjusting Tucker in her grip.

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There was nothing to distract Parthenope from wallowing, at least until one of her new roommates rounded the corner, with a cat. There was nothing so certain to distract Parthenope as an animal of some sort, and a cat was even better. Parthenope cracked a watery smile. "No," she said honestly. "Your cat is cute."

Finding her way to this little corner where the Hufflepuff dorms were tucked away had been almost easy — like she'd already done it, she knew where to turn. She just didn't know how to actually get in. "Do you know how to get into the common room?"

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Ella Grimm

  

"Thanks!" Ella beamed. "His name is Tucker and he's really friendly if you want to pet him." She shifted the cat in her arms so he was more curled up in front of her, rather than being hefted around under her arm. He was pretty big and she wasn't, so sometimes she had to move him around. He did particularly enjoy being carried around though, the great lump.

Oh, the common room! Yes she knew that. Calla had made sure she knew that one as soon as she'd been sorted into Hufflepuff. She didn't know the older girl too well, but had seen her around town enough growing up to at least be some sort of friendly. "Yeah, we have to hit the barrels in the right pattern. Ella had remembered that much. Something about the founder's name. They could figure it out.

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"Tucker," Parthenope repeated with a less watery smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Tucker," she greeted the cat, as she slowly stood, one hand wiping at her eyes. She was grateful Miss Grimm had come along. "I was afraid I was going to have to sleep out here all night," she said with a quiet laugh. She knew Miss Grimm would remember Parthenope, her twin, and Isobel being ushered out of the Great Hall by house elves. And she would know why.

The subsequent conversation had left her shaken — which was how she'd ended up crying under the painted fruit. It wasn't every day your twin told you you were destined to end up dead. But Parthenope was going to keep that to herself. She didn't even have the right words to explain it.

"Do you know the pattern?" she asked after a minute, walking over to the barrels.

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sweetness by Athena

"I think so, one of the older students told me." She was pretty sure it was to the syllables of the founder's name. "I'm Ella by the way." Tried as she might to pay attention to everyone's names during the Sorting, she'd been a little preoccupied by her own turn to remember many of them. She thought this might have been one of the twins near the end who had a hard time, but wasn't super sure. She'd felt bad, but had been chatting with an older student, asking questions, when it had started.

"Will you hold him and I can try?" She offered to the other girl, thinking it might be easier, plus if she messed up, she could just try again.

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Parthenope almost didn't want to give the other girl her name, but it wouldn't do to start a relationship with a roommate on bad footing like that. So instead, she wiped the rest of her face and smiled. "Parthenope," she admitted. "Of course I'll take Tucker." She held her arms out for the cat — she was a bit smaller and slighter than Ella, but of course, she took any opportunity to hold a cat. "I love cats." She offered Tucker a soft scritch under the chin.

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sweetness by Athena

"Parthenope," Ella tried it out, making sure she said it right. "I like it, it's pretty, unique." Hers was sort of boring, but she did like the story behind it. That was pretty funny. She could picture it too, her father and her Uncle James sitting at the table with her in a bassinet between them, trying to figure out what to name her, the surprise that had just shown up on their doorstep and were now supposed to raise.

She passed Tucker over easily, looking at the barrels. "I think it's suppose to be Hel-ga Huf-fle-puff." The beat on the top of the barrels couldn't be too difficult right? The problem was, there were a lot of barrels here. "Do you know which one?" She eyed her roommate curiously, wondering if they were going to have to find help after all.

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Biting at her lip, Parthenope studied the barrels as she pet Tucker gingerly. "Sorry, I wasn't here when they showed it," she admitted. "I was with my sister and my Papa — Professor Valenduris." It took a beat for her to remember that she shouldn't call him Papa around other students. She gave Tucker a slight scritching between the ears. "It might be multiple, but...I don't know.."

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sweetness by Athena

"That's okay," Ella wasn't super fussed. They would figure it out. "It was somewhere in the middle." She stood back a bit and eyed the pile suspiciously, trying to remember what exactly she'd been told. She was down to two possibilities in the middle and made a little noise of thought, tilting her head to see if she could remember exactly.

Well, what was the worst that could happen?

Ella tried for the one she thought it was, tapping in the rhythm she at least knew was correct.

Only thirty seconds went by before she heard it, narrowly dodging the vinegar that came pouring out, splashing all over the bottom of her robes. Well, at least it wasn't her fact. "So not that one," the laughter that followed was loud and shook her whole body, unphased by the mistake. At least her quidditch reflexes were still working!

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