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"The fireplace in our common room?" Wendis blinked, looking thoroughly confused by Richie's question. "There's really nothing special about it..."
Hermione couldn't help but interject. "Are there any statues, portraits, or anything else unusual around it?"
"Oh, if you put it that way, there is a portrait," Wendis nodded. "We have a painting of Madam Hufflepuff hanging right above the mantle."
Hearing that, Neville and Seamus exchanged a thrilled look. "That's perfect!" they cheered in unison.
"Huh?" Wendis looked at the two overly excited Gryffindors, her confusion only deepening. "Do you guys just... really like Madam Hufflepuff? Because there's another portrait of her out on the spiral staircase wall, you know..."
"Well, it's actually like this..."
Richie thought it over for a second and ultimately decided to just tell her the riddle.
Since students from other houses were strictly forbidden from entering the Hufflepuff common room, they absolutely needed a Hufflepuff to help them retrieve the next puzzle piece. Inevitably, that meant exposing the riddle's existence.
However, he intentionally left out the part about it being an "unsolved mystery" left by the Hogwarts Founders. It was definitely better to keep that kind of information tightly contained. If rumors started spreading that there were hidden Founder secrets scattered around the castle, the entire student body would lose their minds, and Hogwarts would descend into absolute chaos.
Because of that, Richie stuck to Neville's original excuse: they were just on a standard treasure hunt.
"Whoa..."
Wendis's reaction was practically identical to Neville and Seamus's initial excitement. Her eyes lit up as she looked at the group. "So you guys actually found a real treasure map? Can I get in on this?"
Richie and Hermione exchanged a glance and simultaneously nodded.
"Awesome. I'll go inside and check it out for you."
Having gotten the green light, Wendis was visibly hyped. She spun around, marched straight up to the stack of barrels that served as the Hufflepuff common room entrance, and tapped one of them in a very specific, strange rhythm. A moment later, a hidden passageway popped open, and she ducked inside.
With nothing else to do, the four of them waited in the corridor.
They didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, Wendis popped back out.
"Yeah, I didn't find anything." Wendis spread her hands apologetically, looking at Richie. "I checked behind the portrait, inside the actual fireplace... I looked everywhere. There's nothing weird hidden in there."
"Hey, do you think it might be hidden under the floorboards?" Neville guessed, drawing on his experience of finding the first parchment.
"Floorboards?" Wendis shook her head. "We don't actually have stone floorboards or loose bricks in our common room."
"If that's the case... maybe we're interpreting the clue completely wrong?" Richie rubbed his chin, his mind already spinning up new theories.
Right then, Wendis spoke up.
"Honestly, I don't think this riddle is pointing to the Hufflepuff common room at all. I think it's pointing to the Hogwarts Kitchens."
Richie and the others totally froze, completely caught off guard.
Wendis confidently started breaking down her logic.
"'Born of loyal hearths, dancing in a place of warmth; the silent guardians await the arrival of the seeker of secrets.'"
"The 'hearth' is probably referring to the massive cooking stoves in the kitchen. The kitchen is definitely a 'place of warmth,' so that fits perfectly."
"As for 'loyalty' and the 'silent guardians'? I'm almost positive that's talking about the Hogwarts house-elves."
"Madam Hufflepuff was the one who originally brought them to the castle. They've been working in the Hogwarts kitchens, maintaining a tradition of unpaid service, for at least a thousand years. So, technically speaking, they are the quiet, intensely loyal guardians of Hogwarts."
Listening to Wendis systematically dismantle the riddle, Richie found himself nodding in agreement. "When you put it like that... it actually fits the riddle way better."
As a Muggle-born wizard, Richie naturally didn't know much about house-elves. His only real interaction with them was briefly crossing paths with one when he came down to grab late-night snacks after his study sessions. Because they weren't on his radar, he hadn't even considered them—or the kitchens—as a possibility.
Beside him, however, Hermione's brow deeply furrowed.
"House-elves? They've been doing unpaid labor for the kitchens for over a thousand years? I didn't see a single mention of them in Hogwarts: A History."
Assuming Hermione was just naturally curious about the magical creatures, Wendis lifted her chin and explained. "Yeah, they don't really wander around the castle during the day. They stay down here prepping all our meals."
"And at night, they come out and deep-clean the entire castle. Though, apparently, they don't do a great job, because the caretaker is always complaining about it."
Hermione's eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
Wendis just kept talking. "Honestly, they're literally just one wall away from us right now. We can just go straight into the kitchen and ask them about the riddle."
She brushed past the group and stepped up to a massive painting of a fruit bowl. She reached out and tickled a specific pear. The pear let out a bizarre, giggling sound and seamlessly morphed into a brass doorknob.
Wendis casually grabbed it, pulled the door open, and revealed the sprawling Hogwarts kitchens to the group.
"Oh, Merlin, the kitchen is right here?!" Neville poked his head inside, completely mesmerized by the bustling, chaotic scene unfolding in front of him.
Seamus instinctively sniffed the air. "I smell pumpkin pie!"
Seeing how utterly shocked the two Gryffindors were, Wendis looked back at Richie. "Did you seriously never tell them the kitchens were right here?"
Richie shook his head. "It just never came up."
Meanwhile, Hermione stared into the dim, heavily crowded kitchen, her hands subconsciously gripping the edges of her robes.
"Little wizards are here! Little wizards are here!"
A voice that sounded exactly like a honking car horn echoed over the noise of the kitchen. A moment later, a small creature wearing a towering chef's hat rushed up to them.
Seeing a group of unfamiliar faces, the house-elf panicked slightly and immediately looked to Wendis for guidance.
"Hey guys, this is Chengya! She's my good friend!" Wendis stepped up, warmly throwing an arm around the elf's shoulders as she introduced her. "She makes this absolutely incredible brandy fruitcake! Though, just a heads-up, brandy is a type of alcohol..."
"Oh... Wendis said Chengya is her friend..."
Tears instantly welled up in Chengya's massive, tennis-ball-sized eyes. The pointy ears sticking out from beneath her chef's hat trembled violently with emotion.
"Chengya is so happy... but Chengya is just a lowly elf who only knows how to bake cakes and sweep floors..."
"Oh... boohoo..."
"But Wendis is always so gentle... she eats every single crumb of the snacks Chengya makes!"
"Chengya... Chengya is just so happy! Boohoo!"
Completely overwhelmed, Chengya buried her face in her hands and started aggressively sobbing.
Watching the breakdown, Hermione's frown deepened, a massive wave of sympathy welling up in her chest.
"Merlin's beer belly," Wendis muttered. She quickly clamped a hand over Chengya's mouth and offered the group an incredibly awkward smile. "Chengya—or I guess house-elves in general—can be a little emotionally unstable. Just ignore it."
"Hey, Chengya! Chengya!"
Wendis grabbed the sobbing elf by the shoulders and gave her a firm shake.
"Pull it together, Chengya! I need your help!"
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