My Time to Shine (Dance Moms/Harry Potter Crossover - Part 1)

Chapter 11: Hufflepuff Haven

The girls returned to Hogwarts castle late on Saturday night. They were not needed on the Sunday as the competition was one day only. Mackenzie was exhausted. As she and Maddie trekked back up to the castle from the gates after hugging their mother and saying goodbye, Maddie gave Mackenzie the inside scoop of her big solo win, forgetting, it seemed, that Kenzie had actually been there to witness it firsthand. She often did this but Kenzie didn't feel like arguing with her so she let her talk. After all, this weekend had been mildly successful for her too, in that she hadn't been screamed at. You have to count the little things, she thought to herself as she parted ways with her sister. Maddie headed towards the stairs leading down to the dungeons - to the Slytherin common room, while Mackenzie veered off down towards the kitchens. She thought she would stop in and see if she could snag a snack.

As she pushed open the door after tickling the pear in the fruit bowl painting, she heard several tiny, high-pitched voices. "The Ziegler girl is here!" she heard scurrying "Yes, the small one!" they sounded excited. She peered around the corner and saw Steepy, the Hufflepuff's favourite house elf, running towards her, ears flapping as she did so.

"You has not come to visit Steepy since before Christmas, Ziegler girl! Steepy has missed preparing snacks for you and yous little friends!" the house elf squeaked as she embraced Kenzie around the waist.

"I know, I'm sorry! I've been away for dancing, you see. But I wanted to come by now," she smiled at the house elf. Steepy had always treated her so well, she started to feel bad that she hadn't been by in so long.

"Well, Steepy is glad you are here now, miss! We must get you some food for snacking miss!" she called out to her fellow house elves, "We must be getting snacking for the Ziegler girl! Tea and crumpets and her favourite, eclairs! And some for her Hufflepuff friends!"

No sooner had she called these words, than trays, and plates started weaving their way through the crowd, carried over the heads of several elves. In only a few short minutes, Mackenzie's arms were laden with platters of food and a tray with a teapot and some mugs. It was all she could do to keep them balanced.

"Thanks so much, Steepy! I'll, er..." she teetered and for a split second thought, she was going to lose one of the plates. She regained her balance promptly. "I promise I will be back again soon."

"Come to see us any time, Ziegler miss!" Steepy gave a final squeak and then paraded back through the sea of elves.

Mackenzie was surprised to find her fellow first years in the common room when she got there, along with a gaggle of fifth-year girls, who weren't paying much attention to anyone else. She set down all of the food on their table and greeted them.

"Sick!! Steepy's super outdone herself this time, eh?!" Abbie said in response to the pile of food being placed in front of her.

"Nice," Kevin added as he grabbed a tea biscuit and reached for the jam.

"How are you anyways, Kenzie?" Alison asked her. "I feel like we haven't seen much of you lately." It was true. She felt like she had been neglecting her friends ever since they had gotten back to school after Christmas. She had been up in the Room of Requirement practicing her dances every spare second she had and was constantly stressing over what Abby would say or think of her.

"I'm doing alright. I didn't get yelled at or anything so that's a plus!" she gave a weak laugh. "What have you guys been up to?"

"Well, we went to the Quidditch match this morning!" Scorpius informed her excitedly. He was a huge Quidditch fan and desperately wanted to play for the Hufflepuff team when he was old enough. "It was Slytherin versus Ravenclaw and Ravenclaw won one hundred and seventy to thirty." It was an unspoken rule that if their team wasn't playing, they would cheer for anyone but Slytherin.