"Congratulations, Mr. Diggory." Helga handed the golden cup to Cedric.
"Just lucky, really. For some reason, those little balls were just easy to control—I couldn't quite explain why."
Helga smiled so widely that her eyes turned into crescents: Easy to control? Exactly what I hoped to hear! That meant he had a natural affinity for magic control.
Judging by the time he took to complete the challenge, his talent was probably at the very top tier. She wondered how he compared to the Greengrass sisters from Slytherin or Granger from Ravenclaw.
Thinking of that, these three students practically formed a solid quartet. It was just a pity that Godric was likely to miss next year's grand event.
That old snake, on the other hand, had two apprentices. She wondered if he'd be willing to lend one to Godric. That Daphne girl had a bit of Godric's boldness—she'd suit his style. But of course, Helga would only dare to think that to herself; if she ever said it out loud, it would definitely sting that old snake's overly sensitive nerves.
After Cedric cleared the game and won the golden cup, the crowd gathered in the common room gradually dispersed. Some of his Quidditch teammates wanted to play with the cup, and without hesitation, Cedric handed it over.
In his view, the cup would come back to him eventually. If his friends wanted to play with it, so be it—just don't break it or lose it.
Helga stood quietly off to the side, watching everything unfold before her eyes. Just as she was thinking it was time to approach Cedric and discuss taking him in as a pupil, the round-faced boy from earlier suddenly appeared before her.
"Is something the matter, child?" Helga asked kindly. She knew the boy in front of her was introverted, but she didn't mind at all. On the contrary, she felt he had truly found the right place in Hufflepuff—an environment like a big, welcoming family that could fully embrace someone like him.
"Professor, can I try that box game again?" the round-faced boy asked, nervously swallowing. He felt like his request might be a bit much, but he was also unwilling to give up so easily. He had actually started to get the hang of it earlier—he was just too nervous under everyone's gaze and ended up performing poorly.
Helga, of course, didn't turn him down.
"No problem. You can keep it for now. If there's anyone in the house who hasn't had a chance to try the game, feel free to let them have a go. If anyone completes it, just have them come see me in my office. The golden cup may already be gone, but I've got plenty of sweets." Helga simply entrusted the boy with the box, not wanting to miss out on discovering another gifted young wizard.
"Okay!" The boy immediately agreed, carefully taking the wooden box from Professor White and running off to a corner of the common room with it in his arms.
"Diggory," Helga called out, noticing that Cedric was about to leave, "do you have a moment to talk?"
Cedric naturally wouldn't refuse a professor's invitation, though he was a little surprised when Professor White didn't lead him to her office but instead guided him in the direction of the dormitories.
Hufflepuff's common room, like Slytherin's, was located underground. But unlike Slytherin's, which lay beneath the Black Lake, Hufflepuff's was simply built below the earth, situated in the opposite direction of the dungeons and far less ominous in atmosphere.
The entire common room resembled the den of a burrowing creature. It was shaped like an inverted funnel: the uppermost level housed the communal lounge, and descending layer by layer were the dormitories for each year, spiraling down via a stone staircase. At the very bottom lay the seventh-year dormitories.
Helga led Cedric all the way to the deepest level of the common room.
By the time they reached the end of the staircase and saw the stone wall ahead, Cedric felt like he was going to explode from sheer confusion.
This area was almost never visited. No student with a normal sense of fun would come all the way down here just to stare at a wall.
He couldn't for the life of him figure out why Professor White had brought him here. Did she have some secret to share?
"Be patient," Helga said, easily reading the confusion in Cedric's heart, though she didn't care to explain any further.
She reached out and pressed her palm against the wall before them, and in the next second, what had appeared to be an impenetrable stone wall vanished completely.
Cedric: ?!
After five years of living in Hufflepuff, this was the first time he realized that there was more hidden beyond the end of the staircase!
"Welcome to Helga's Dungeon. Come with me," Helga turned back to glance at the dumbfounded Cedric, motioning for him to follow.
"O-okay." Professor White's voice snapped Cedric out of his daze, and he quickly caught up to her, stepping into the space beyond the wall.
Once Cedric had stepped past where the stone wall had previously stood, it reappeared behind him, restoring the illusion of a dead end.
The return of the stone wall plunged the space into darkness, but with a single snap of her fingers, Helga conjured a bright flame that illuminated the area.
Behind the stone wall, the space was similar to what lay outside—another spiraling stone staircase winding downward. Cedric followed Professor White down the steps.
"Professor, what do you mean by 'Helga's Dungeon'?" Cedric couldn't suppress his curiosity any longer and asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like. This is the underground city left behind by one of Hogwarts' founders—Helga Hufflepuff," Helga replied patiently.
The moment Cedric had completed the challenge, he had earned her full approval. She now regarded him as her student, which meant it was time for him to learn some of Hogwarts' deeper secrets.
As she walked, Helga pondered: if Cedric hadn't shown such a high level of magical control, would she still have chosen him as her successor?
After thinking it over, Helga concluded that she probably would have. Cedric's excellence was plain to see.
The moment Cedric heard the name "Helga Hufflepuff," goosebumps rose all over his arms.
This was a relic left behind by Hufflepuff herself?! This was Helga Hufflepuff's secret, after all!
Cedric felt as though even the air around him had turned sacred. But along with that awe came a pressing question: how did Professor White know there was an underground city here?
Helga continued speaking at her own pace, "When Hogwarts was founded, the four founders each reserved a classroom within the castle, a place solely their own, used to train the students they had personally chosen."
She turned back and glanced at Cedric. "Among them, the most well-known is likely Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets."
"The legendary Chamber of Secrets is real?!" Cedric blurted out in shock, only to immediately realize—wasn't he currently standing in what could be considered Hufflepuff's own "Chamber of Secrets"?
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