The Domino Effect (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

CHAPTER 24: No Turning Back

Gregory "Greg" Goyle and Vincent "Vince" Crabbe both looked very down and quiet the whole time they were in their new house. Their new roommates are wary of them except for the mud – wait they can't say that word anymore unless they get the ire of their entire house. They are not the smartest of the bunch but even they know self-preservation out of anything else. Hufflepuff they may be but Slytherin they were raised for. So, they have to get used to using the word "muggle-born" now. The muggle-born, Justin Finch-Fletchley does not seem to bear the same biases their house has with them but that will change if he knew. The Hufflepuffs were not hostile to them but they were still looking at them either with curiosity or suspicion.

For Greg, the hat had insisted that his strong loyalty to his family and his Slytherin peers should be considered a strong trait towards Hufflepuff. He tried to argue against it but the hat still sorted him here. Vince was more terrified than Greg. The boy confided in him that the hat thinks he does not have enough of the traits of Slytherin to be sorted there nor is he smart enough to be Ravenclaw but the hat did consider him Gryffindor as well but went to Hufflepuff because of his strong loyalty mostly to his friends (that includes Draco Malfoy even though they are not sure if they'll remain friends anymore). Greg knows that compared to his father, Vincent Crabbe, Sr. is the scariest man he has ever met. While he has respectful fear towards the Malfoys and his own family, the Crabbe lord scares the soul out of him.

He worried about what would happen to his friend after all this. It is not openly discussed but there have been cases of what they call "mercy killings" of their children if they get sorted into houses that their families do not approve of. It was more common in the darker past than today as it is severely frowned upon as this could result in an investigation from the ministry yet still many of the old families had gone away with it. While their parents hated the Gryffindors the most, they also do not have the most positive opinion of Hufflepuff. They think they are weak people, people they get to step on and not worry if they fight back. Greg does not believe his family would kill him. Unlike Vincent who is the second son, Greg is the only son. He used to have two older brothers but they died during the war. Unless his father is having an affair and have some illegitimate sons of his own or his mother is pregnant with another son (as the Goyle family is a patriarchal one and he highly doubt is possible with their age), then if his father were to disown him, the Goyle family will be no more.

That is not the case with Vincent who is the second son and has another sister as well. He has heard stories even from his father about how the Crabbes were more likely psychopaths as they enjoy the torture during the first wizarding war. His family believed in blood purity but his mother has always insisted that the approach they did was not something she liked very much.

The two boys sat with their housemates in today's rather gloomy – at least to them – morning. The rest of their housemates are cheery waiting for their mail or already receiving them.

"Is something wrong?" Iris Potter asked them. She noticed that every time an owl would pass by the two boys would get tensed.

"We're waiting for our howler," Vincent mumbled.

"What's a howler?" Justin asked. The two sat in front of Vincent and Greg. Despite the negative stigma they faced mostly from the boys of their year in their house, Justin and the girls were not wary of them. Susan, Hannah, Megan, and Sally all sat next to them without even looking at them any differently.

"It's a very very angry letter," Sally explained. "I can't seem to describe it, except that it is a very awful letter. It literally shouts at you." Justin looked at Sally like she was joking.

"Do muggles get angry letters?" Hannah asked curiously.

"Yeah, but we can tell the person is angry because the letter is in capital letters but it doesn't shout at us unless someone does through a phone call," Justin answered. This also earned confused looks from most except Iris and Megan.