13) The Name Problem

Keith kept an eye on all the first years who were sorted into Hufflepuff and tried his best to remember their names as remembering names wasn’t his strong point.

‘I probably shouldn’t have sold all my potions…’ he thought as he regretted his decisions.

A few minutes later, the sorting was done and Keith counted the numbers of his house from his year.

‘Five boys and five girls in total including me.’ he thought as he glanced at every single person and recalled their names.

‘Justin Fin something… Ernie McGonagall? Nah it’s Mc something else. Then there’s Zucchini Smith and Wayne Hoppers? Nah it’s something Zachy, no way someone’s gonna name their child over a courgette. Ugh, this is bad. I’ve already forgotten their names…’ he frowned as he looked a the boys.

He then shifted his attention to the girls, ‘At least I remember the names of these two… Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones… then the Jones girl uhhhh Megan Jones? She’s… something Moon. Lyra? Luna? Ugh. And the last one… uuuuh Emilia Turner? Nah, that’s not right either.’

He leaned towards Susan and whispered, “Hey Susan, can you help me remember everyone’s names?”

Just as she was about to speak, Keith saw Dumbledore stand up from his head and he immediately brought his finger to his mouth before pointing a the headmaster.

He could learn the names later, but Dumbledore was more important now.

“Welcome!” he said. “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

“Thank you!”

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Keith stared at the headmaster like he had seen something he didn’t like to see.

“Is he drunk?” he asked as he turned to look at Hannah but even her expression was similar to him, like she had seen something unexpected.

One of the seniors sitting nearby chuckled as she looked at Keith, “He might seem that way, but he’s a genius. One of the best wizards of the century, you see. My name is Leanne by the way.” she said and smiled at him.

Keith nodded, frowning slightly, “I know he’s a great wizard… I’ve read a lot about him. It was a little unexpected, that’s all. I did hear that extraordinary people are quirky sometimes.”

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“That they might be.” she said and nodded as she pointed an area in front of him, “Come on, it’s time to eat.”

Keith looked forward and saw the whole table filled with various foods. Instantly, his stomach grumbled as he hadn’t really eaten anything on the train.

He filled up his plate with fish and chips before drizzling the whole thing with some spicy tomato gravy, one of the few things he loved the most. Then, he began munching.

The entire plate was finished in just a few minutes but when he turned to look at the plate from which he had taken the fish from, he saw that it was filled back up to the top again. He hadn’t seen anyone do it but then, he remembered his sister’s words.

‘Ah… I forgot about the house elves. But it’s still so cool… sending so much food and refilling the plates whenever needed.’ he thought as he decided to try other stuff too.

Roast chicken, roast beef, pork and lamb chops, steaks, bacons, sausages, roast and boiled potatoes and so much more. He stabbed one steak with his fork and pulled it onto his plate before looking around.

He had never eaten a steak before, and didn’t want to embarrass himself by eating like a dog. Soon, he found someone on Slytherin table who had a steak on their plate and observed this person.

Knife and fork was used so elegantly that Keith lost interest extremely quick as he knew that he’d only make a joke of himself if he tried to imitate this girl but to his surprise, he saw a fellow Hufflepuff senior also eating a steak.

And the way of eating was just so different. He cut the piece of meat into uneven strips and just began to eat them like they were some fruit slices.

‘This one’s better.’ Keith thought and followed the same steps, cutting the steak in multiple slices before eating them one by one. It was too chewy, something he did not like much but he pushed himself to finish it before moving to the other stuff.

Minutes passed as he tried out every single dish before he began to go back to lamb chops and fish and chips. The meat just fell off the bones when it came to the lamb chops and as for the fish, they were just a classic; crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The chips were the same and Keith enjoyed every bit of it until he felt like he couldn’t eat anymore. He could feel the bulge in his tummy but it didn’t matter much as he was extremely satisfied with the food.

‘It would have been better if the gravy had more spice though.’ he thought, but didn’t dwell on it. He turned to look at Susan who was eating slowly and spoke to her, going back to the topic of names.

“Hey Susan about the names.”

She raised her hand to stop him and he waited until she swallowed the food in her mouth.

“That’s Justin something. His name is too long so it’s hard to remember. That’s Ernie Macmillan, that’s Zacharias Smith and Wayne Hopkins. That girl’s Emma Turner, Lyra Moon, Megan Jones, the one sitting on the other side is Hannah Abbot and I’m Susan Bones.”

“Uhhh yeah, it’s hard to remember.” he muttered and gave up, “There’s still a few days… so I should be able to get used to it.”

Susan nodded, “Yeah, you should. But you know, I’m honestly very surprised that we’re both in Hufflepuff. I thought I’d be in Gryffindor and totally didn’t expect you to be in Hufflepuff for sure.”