Harry Potter: Don't touch

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***

Harry took off the Distributing Hat and placed it on the Headmaster's desk.

- Excellent, Harry. Excellent choice! - Dumbledore's joyous voice rang out.

- It wasn't me, the hat decided to send me to Hufflepuff on its own.

- That's even better! - Dumbledore was literally glowing with happiness.

The headmaster was staring intently at Harry, it was as if he was waiting for some sort of response from him.

- Erm. Yeah. I suppose so. I don't know," Potter answered uncertainly.

He had no idea what to expect from Hufflepuff, how good the faculty was.

- Now, I'll walk you to your sitting room or ask the Head Girl of Hufflepuff to do so, but before I do, we need to discuss another, more unpleasant topic," Dumbledore gloomed and paused briefly. - What do you think about your relatives, your uncle and aunt?

Harry thought briefly before answering. He didn't want to tell the Headmaster how awful his life was with the Dursleys.

- Well I think they're... Not very nice....

- Not very nice? Do you hate them? - Dumbledore asked.

- No, I don't hate them," Harry replied uncertainly.

He hates Piers, Dudley, Dennis... Or rather, he hated Dennis in the past... And his uncle and aunt aren't so terrible compared to them - Vernon only hit him a couple of times, Petunia never once, they just scold and humiliate him. It's not as bad with them as it could be.

- Then it's all right if you live with them for another six years? - Dumbledore's face brightened.

Harry nodded his head automatically.

- It's fine... Wait, what? - The Headmaster's question only now reached him. - How come? I was told in court that I'd have other guardians!

- The only thing they could do in court was revoke custody, but they couldn't decide anything, you need a separate trial for that. And this case was all about using magic against Muggles. So, if you don't mind, I'll take you back to the Dursleys. - Dumbledore explained to him.

All the affection Harry had felt for the headmaster quickly evaporated as if it had never existed.

- No! No way! You have no right! I'm not going back to the Dursleys! - Potter shouted in such a way that the sleeping people in the portraits woke up and grumbled.

He was about to add something else, but turned round at the sound and stared in horror at the moving images on the paintings. He took a step back from them and asked in surprise:

- Are they moving? Why? Why, no, how are they moving?

Dumbledore watched dumbfounded at this sudden change in Harry Potter's mood.

- 'Listen, Harry,' Dumbledore distracted him from contemplating the paintings. - You'll be better off with the Dursleys, trust me, they're your only family, but if you don't want to go back, I won't force you to go to them.

- No, I don't want to, I'm willing to go anywhere as long as I don't go back to the Dursleys.

Dumbledore looked at him disappointedly.

- 'Are you sure? Believe me, I have a reason for sending you to live with them.

- Yeah, I'm sure. I don't care about the reasons. I don't think those reasons are that important," Potter replied firmly.

- Okay, Harry, I get it. See, I'm not forcing you to go back to them," Dumbledore showed him his hands palms forward. - 'Good, then you need new guardians, I can help you find them. Your trial has been watched very closely, so everyone knows that you might need guardians, so there are a lot of people: the Crotcotts, the Abbotts, the Bulstrode's, the Lovegoods, the Tonks, the Weasley's, the Dingles, you name it. Augusta Longbottom wrote to me the day before yesterday to say that she was okay with it, and even the Malfoys were willing.

Harry listened carefully to the names, but he only knew three of them, and all of them gave him bad impressions: Mary Crotcott and Daedalus Dingle had made him faint in The Leaky Cauldron, and Draco Malfoy had made him run away from the Great Hall.

- You can only have non-Malfoys, and you wouldn't want Dingles and Crotcott.

- Of course, Harry, I'll handle the case myself and find you the guardians you want. If you wish, I can even be your guardian. All right, you think about it. I'll do it on the first day of the winter holidays, try to decide by then, but if you haven't decided by then, I can move the process to the Easter holidays. Do you understand?

- Yes, I understand," Harry sighed with relief.

- Now come on, I'll introduce you to the Head of School, he's in his seventh year, he's also a Hufflepuff student and he'll explain everything to you," Dumbledore, remembering that Harry had entered the most peaceful faculty at Hogwarts, brightened up again. - And yes, all pictures and paintings move in the magical world.

The Headmaster winked at him slyly.

* * *

The Headmaster of Hufflepuff turned out to be a young black haired guy with a shiny Headmaster badge on his chest. He smiled when he saw Harry, and as soon as Dumbledore left, he said:

- You're lucky the Headmaster sent you to me. If I'd been a little worse at school, and the badge had gone to Berta from my course instead of me, she would have taken two hours to fill you in on faculty matters, and for the first hour and a half of that she would have scolded you about last night's performance. On the contrary, I liked it. I've seen so many distributions at school - all the same. And now, finally, at least something interesting.

Smiling, he looked at Harry.

- 'My name is Samuel Park, I'm Head of School and a student at Hufflepuff. It is my pleasure to welcome you to us. Hufflepuff is the smallest of all the other faculties at the moment, people don't want to come here because they think that only stupid people come here, but that's not the case, Hufflepuff is the second best in terms of overall academic performance, that's because we don't break the rules and we listen diligently in class, we can't compare to Ravenclaw, but second place is not bad either. Our crest is the badger, an animal that is often underestimated due to the fact that it lives peacefully as long as it is not touched. However, it can fight back against animals much larger than itself. Hufflepuff students are reliable and loyal. We don't talk over nothing, but support our own in a difficult situation. We will defend ourselves, our friends and families from anyone. We are not intimidated by anyone. Our faculty produces the least amount of dark wizards.

Samuel was silent for a while and then continued speaking.

- The entrance to the Hufflepuff Drawing Room is hidden in a pile of large barrels in a secluded corner on the right side of the corridor leading to the kitchen. Knock on the second barrel from the bottom in the middle of the second row in the rhythm of 'Penelope Hufflepuff' and the lid will swing open. Only our faculty has a means of preventing potential intruders from entering the drawing room. If you knock on the wrong lid, or the wrong rhythm, the intruder will get a decent shot of vinegar in the face. Once you open the barrel, you can crawl inside and further down the passage. You'll eventually end up in the cosiest sitting room in Hogwarts. It's a round, simple room with a low ceiling. There's always sunlight in it, and the round windows look out onto the swaying grass and dandelions," the Head of School closed his eyes; he seemed to be lying on that grass in his thoughts. - Puffenduys don't have any trouble sleeping. Our dormitories protect us from storms and we can rest in peace. We never disturb the peace of the night as students in some... Or rather, all other faculties do sometimes," Samuel finished his speech and took a breath. - Any questions?

- No, I understand, thank you," Harry thanked him.

- I'll leave you to it then, I have some business with a lady. And yes, don't get caught by Berta, she has red curly hair and a perpetually disgruntled face, and Percy too, by the way, he's the head boy from Gryffindor, also red hair, only with a perpetually smug face," Samuel turned and walked down the corridor.

Potter watched in silence as the head boy disappeared around the nearest corner. As he disappeared, Harry remembered that he didn't know where the kitchen was. It was too late to ask. He was considering whether to catch up with Samuel when Justin came round the same corner. He saw him at once and shouted:

- Oh, hello, Harry!

Even though they hadn't known each other long, Potter was happy to see him.

- Hi Justin," he said as he approached.

- You did a great job on the placement yesterday, we had almost everyone in class today talking about it! - Finch-Fletchley began excitedly. - Were you in class today? Have you been to the placement ceremony yet?

- No, I wasn't in class, I went to bed in some room. And yes, I've already been allocated to Hufflepuff. You're in Gryffindor?

- No, I'm in Hufflepuff too! - Justin exclaimed.

- Oh! It's good that we're in the same department, I need some help. I know it's next to the kitchen, but I don't know where the kitchen is.

- Sure, let's go," Finch-Fletchley led the way.

Harry followed Justin, and the two of them reached the right place and came to a huge pile of barrels in the right-hand corner of the corridor.

- Watch carefully what I'm doing," Justin said.

He walked over to a bulging barrel and tapped on it, pausing briefly before each tap. After Justin finished tapping, the lid of the barrel popped open and revealed a passage leading somewhere in the darkness.

- Note that you have to knock with a certain rhythm, and if you get one knock wrong, you'll get some nasty slime on you, so be careful. Ernie, for instance, got it today. I've learnt to knock properly, and I'll teach you later, but now let's go into the passage, or it'll close soon.

Justin got on all fours and crawled into the barrel. After waiting a minute, Harry crawled after him. It was a short crawl, one metre and you were in the passage to the living room. There was a door at the end of the passage, Harry opened it and found himself in the Hufflepuff living room. Waiting for him at the entrance was Justin.

- What took you so long? - He asked unhappily.

- I've been waiting for you to get through," Harry said as he looked around the living room.

He was in a huge spacious room. It was decorated in black and yellow colours, there were deep armchairs around the perimeter of the living room, each with a picture of a badger on it. Across from Harry was a tunnel that probably led to the Hufflepuff dormitories.

- So, what do you think of our living room? - Following the direction of Harry's gaze, Justin asked.

- Well, it's big, but I take it it's going to be crowded all the time? - Harry was really worried about that question. He didn't want to be where it would be crowded.

- Yeah. And everybody's gonna fit. I think it's pretty cool! - Justin said. - Come on, I'll show you the bedroom.

Justin went into the tunnel, and Harry followed him. The tunnel was full of fancy round doors that resembled the top of a barrel. Justin reached the '1st year' sign and opened the first door on the left. He made an inviting gesture with his hand and Harry stepped into the dormitory. There were four large four-post canopy beds in this room, covered by black and yellow velvet curtains. The two outermost beds were neatly made, the third was hastily made, and the rightmost bed was not made at all. Justin walked over to the neatly made bed.

- This is where I sleep. Ernie McMillan and Zachariah Smith are in the room with me; they seem like nice guys, but I haven't talked to them much, so I can't say for sure. There's one more empty bed here, maybe they'll put you in it, but you have to wait for the housekeepers, they have your stuff, where they put it, that's where you'll be," Justin said. - And yes, you don't have to worry about missing any lessons, it wasn't really important, it was just the curriculum and the subjects, but it's simple: defence against the dark arts teaches you how to defend yourself against the dark arts; herbology studies plants; and history of magic studies the history of magic... I guess... I just fell asleep at the moment when the curriculum was explained, and I can only guess. Tomorrow's more important lessons will be taught by the deans of Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw, so I don't think they'll be wasted. Did the head teacher give you a timetable?

- No, should he have? - Harry asked.

- I don't know, they'll probably give it to me at breakfast. Tomorrow is transfiguration with Ravenclaw first, then double potions with Ravenclaw and spells with Slytherin. I'll help you find the rooms, and you can ask me for help if you need it," Justin held out his hand for a handshake.

- Thanks, Justin, I appreciate it, I really do, but the thing is, I'm a little intolerant of other people's touch, so let's not shake hands, okay?

- Oh! Sure! - Justin looked embarrassed.

* * *

Harry sat in his bedroom reading a transfiguration book, the letters were blurry, but he tried to stay awake. A lot had happened that day. While Harry hadn't been assigned to any dormitories yet, he decided to read the transfiguration book in the living room. It was a terrible idea. The Hufflepuff students were coming back from lessons and felt it their duty to come up to him and be sure to express their opinions on his escape from the Great Hall; some praised, some scolded, but it was all the same to Harry, he didn't want to talk to anyone.

He had escaped from there as soon as Justin told him that he had been roped into their bedroom. It was just in time, as Samuel showed up at the door, looking at Harry with a fearful face and poking at the back of a girl with red curly hair, who gave Harry a disgruntled look and walked determinedly in his direction. Potter immediately realised that this was the very Bertha he needed to shun, so he quickly stood up, picked up his transfiguration textbook and walked into his new bedroom after overtaking Justin. In the bedroom was a boy who Harry later found out was Ernie Macmillan, he had struck up a conversation with Potter as well as the rest of the Puffenduys and gave his opinion on his escape from the Great Hall.

Seeing the reaction of the Hufflepuff students, Harry decided that the Hat had tricked him when it said he wouldn't be harassed in that department. But there were some positives: he was pleased that his sleeping place was in the furthest corner, the only bed that was even partially next to him was Justin's.

After talking to Ernie, Harry lay down on his bed, pulled up the canopy, and thought about tackling the transfiguration book so that he wouldn't fail his class tomorrow, but after the first five minutes of reading, he got lazy with all the terms and decided to repeat Potions, and when he finished, Justin came in and they started chatting about life in the Muggle world, interests and hobbies.

As a result of this conversation, Harry learned a lot about Justin: in the Muggle world he was into football and fencing, fencing had been forced on him by his parents, as the Finch-Fletchley family name was quite famous in the Muggle world, and Justin was the heir to some ancient aristocratic family and had to have hobbies to match his position. His parents had plenty of money, they even wanted to send him to Eton, with tuition fees exceeding three hundred thousand pounds sterling for eleven years.

When it was Harry's turn to talk about his hobbies, he pretended that he was into a lot of things too. He couldn't say, "I just like to be left alone."

As Harry sorted through his things, he found ten Knuts that had been left over from the change after buying a wand. He had forgotten about the money, but now it came in handy, he took three Knuts and returned his debt to Justin. After that he breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed to him that paying back his debt had justified Finch-Fletchley's trust. Harry also learnt that the owls were not to live in their bedroom, but in a special room called the owlery. All the owls had been sent there immediately after arriving at Hogwarts, but the Elemental had ended up with his things for some reason. So Harry would have to deal with that problem soon.Harry Potter was glad for the opportunity to talk to the person he wanted to call his friend more and more as time went on, so the time flew by for him.

Harry hadn't eaten in two days, so when dinner came, he overcame his reluctance to get too much attention from others and walked across the hall to the Hufflepuff table. It wasn't a very thoughtful move, a small number of students from each faculty gave Potter signs of attention, at the Slytherin table a dozen students of various ages stood up and clapped, the Gryffindors didn't stand up, they mostly looked at him distastefully, someone even shouted a question softly, "How is Hufflepuff better than Gryffindor?", but at the scarlet and gold table not everyone was against Harry, some shouted words of encouragement, and one of the red-haired twins bowed playfully to him. The exception was the Ravenclaw faculty, their students only glanced at him interestedly, that was all.

Harry sat down in a chair near the edge of the table, where only two upperclassmen and a female upperclassman sat, who didn't pay much attention to the fact that Harry Potter was sitting next to him. He had been catching a lot of stares of various kinds throughout the meal, so he decided not to wait for dessert and was one of the first to leave dinner. Harry didn't go through all the tables of the other faculties again, but just went through the other exit of the Great Hall, which was two metres away from the Hufflepuff table. He remembered the location of the sitting room and reached it quickly, but there was another problem: Harry couldn't remember the exact rhythm of the tapping, and just as he was about to try and replicate Justin's tapping, a grey-eyed young man with brown hair and a Headmaster's badge on his chest came to his rescue. He opened the passage leading to the living room and exchanged a few phrases with Potter.

Once inside his bedroom, Harry opened the window and let the Elemental out to hunt. Before doing so, he had explained to her long and hard to get her to come back to the owlery instead of here. Although he thought that the owl understood all his words, but he decided, just in case, to repeat the same thing three times, so that it would understand, but after the second time the Element indignantly hooted and pecked his finger, as if to say: "Do not take me for a fool, I, by the way, perfectly understand human speech.

After the Elementals had flown off to hunt, Harry sat on his bed, switched on the lamp and began to read a beginner's guide to transfiguration, he was distracted from time to time, first by Zachariah Smith coming over to say hello and then by Justin asking why he had left dinner so early. But the time passed, and everyone said good night and went to bed, and Harry tried to read the textbook, but the late hour and recent events were not conducive to a favourable absorption of information, so when he caught himself thinking that it was the fifth time he had reread the paragraph about the spell that made soap bubbles, he closed the book, turned off the lamp, and went to bed.

Sleep didn't come to him for a while, Harry was very nervous about his first magic lessons, he wanted to learn the spells he needed as soon as possible, or better still, all the magic, so that Piers wouldn't be able to hurt him, or even touch him. Harry turned on his other side, and sleep came over him.