So they did get one in each house.

Yay.

(Thea claps, frowning just a little.)

"Something up?" a cheerful third-year sitting with her asks, but before she can answer the Headmistress starts speaking.

"These past few years have been fraught with death and terror," she says. "And even before them, there were things going on behind the scenes that you were not told—because everyone was happy, because there was no way to prove them and no one could—would believe them.

"But though I see fewer people, new and old, here with us this year than any year before, I can say it's all over. The Dark Lord has been vanquished for good, and as the Hat wisely said, you will build us a new future. So be welcome to a new year in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Let's start it as we always have before: with cheer in our hearts and a delicious meal in our stomachs!"

She clinks a glass with a fork and the tables are suddenly filled with food of the most varied types, a feast worthy of kings and queens.

"… Dark Lord?"

"Oh, you're a muggleborn?" the third-year asks. "There was a war, the Dark Lord was an evil guy who thought muggles and muggleborns were terrible and should all be eliminated. Harry Potter killed him last year and won the war."

"– And nobody thought to tell me this until now?"

He shrugs. "I guess? Did you talk to a lot of wizards?"

"A few? … It's just, if it happened last year."

Shrug. "It's over, anyway."

She blinks at him. "… Yes," she agrees after a moment, "but this sounds like more than a small thing that has now stopped totally."

"Well yeah."

"… So it is probably going to matter."

"Just don't mess with Slytherins and you'll be fine," the boy advises, popping a meatball into his mouth.

Uh-huh.

Thea grabs some food herself.

Meanwhile, Anthony is quite happily chatting to people on his table!

He pauses to try to catch Sadde's attention, then waves and grins.

He waves and grins, too!

There seems to be an older boy ignoring him, but another firsty—Jacob Norton, he was Sorted earlier—is talking to Sadde.

Aww, that's nice.

Anthony looks around for Willow too – Ravenclaw table…

Here she is, talking a lot about something to an interested-looking second-year. And stuffing her face.

Well, he waves if it looks like he can catch her attention, and then resumes chatting.

And soon enough everyone has eaten, and the prefects start lining the new students up to show them to their dorms.

Anthony tries to look excited! (… In a positive way, not a perky annoying way.)

"Okay, so, the location of the kitchens is not a secret, but it's not, like, public knowledge, either," the prefect explains. "The location of each House's Common Rooms is, though. A secret. So don't go around telling people where ours is."

They reach a painting of a bowl of fruit, and the prefect tickles a pear. It giggles, and the painting opens to show a tunnel.

Anthony raises an eyebrow but makes no comment.

The tunnel leads into the kitchens, which has an extra room shaped just like the Great Hall, with identical tables where the food is presumably set up before being sent there. There are several House Elves busying themselves with cleaning everything up, and they barely look up from their tasks to greet the new Hufflepuffs.

The prefect walks to a pile of wine barrels. "Now, to enter our dorms you need to knock on the barrel in the right way." He sings the words "Helga Hufflepuff" and knocks on the wood while he does it, and one of the barrels opens up. "If you get it wrong, it'll spray you with vinegar." Then he unceremoniously drops to all fours and crawls into the barrel.

Anthony tilts his head. "Interesting lock?"

The other firsties hesitate but eventually follow along.