Entering the Hufflepuff common room after taking the staircase down from the mainhall and speaking the password to the guardian before entering, the students enter a low and slightly darker room, a large fireplace dominates the opposite wall a fire is kept alive throughout the year. The Hufflepuff Shield of a black badger on a golden field hangs over the fire place, the boys dorms are up back and to the left, the girls are down out and to the right. The furniture is comfortable but worn; there are portraits of previous famous Hufflepuff alumni around the walls notably the Fat Friar (who spoils the illusion by floating through the common room as a ghost several times a day).