My Life as a Background Hufflepuff

Seven

First days were always boring in Winteria's memory. Sitting all day at in front of a desk, pretending to be interested in whatever the teacher was ranting, no, the start of school each year had never been much fun.

But things worked differently at Hogwarts. In just a couple of moments, Winteria found herself waving her wand trying to make a feather float.

"Wingardium Leviosa! "

Next to her, Susan was basically jabbing at her feather, the spell almost indistinguishable in her whisper.

"Wingardum Leviosa! Wingarim Levosa--ahhhh!"

Sparks flew out of the tip of the feather, causing it to spin around and nearly hit Winteria in the eye. She ducked, and resurfaced only after Professor Flitwick came over and took care of it with a wave of his wand.

Winteria focused back on her feather. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

"You're doing it wrong," said a voice.

Winteria turned. A girl was sitting behind her, a slightly bored look on her face. 

"What am I doing wrong?" asked Winteria.

"It's Win-gaar-dium Levi-ooo-sa, make the 'gar' and 'o' long. Also, the wave isn't that slow. Geez, get some stuff right," replied the girl. She raised her wand and said clearly,"Wingardium Leviosa!"

At once, the feather rose about a foot above the desk. Wearing a smug look on her face, the girl looked back at Winteria, who felt somewhat stupid.

Susan, who was watching, asked, "How do you know all these things?"

The girl snorted. "My parents are magical, of course. Naturally, I'd know."

"What's your name?" asked Susan irritably.  

"Cecelia Alton," said the girl proudly.

Susan turned around, seriously annoyed. She hissed to Winteria, "Ignore her. My mum knew her family, and they're all pricks."

Winteria silently thought that the family personality of annoyingness surely carried on. She turned back to her feather, and tried once more to levitate it.

"Come on--Wingardium Leviosa!"

The feather quivered slightly. Winteria held her breath for a moment. Then, to her great surprise, it rised from the tabletop. Shaking, yes, and only a few inches,  but between the feather and the wood surface was only air.

"Well done, Miss Davies!" squeaked tiny Professor Flitwick. "Very good!"

"Thank you, sir!" said Winteria, a slight heat to her face. She had never been praised much by teachers back in her Muggle town.

Susan beamed next to her. "That was awesome!" she whispered. Then she looked back, and a smirk appeared on her face. "Looks like Cecelia isn't too happy."

Winteria turned slightly too. Sure enough, Cecelia had the most unpleasant expression on her face. Clearly, she was jealous that Winteria got a compliment for levitating a feather for just a couple of inches, while she got none even though her feather was a foot in the air. A savage pleasure filled Winteria--though she was not sure if this right for a Hufflepuff.

The bell rung, and all the students belted out of the room. Susan and Winteria set off for their next class. On the way, Winteria found herself pushed into a great crowd. 

"Whoops! Excuse me! Sorry--"

"Look!" said Susan suddenly.

Winteria looked up. There was great muttering around her, and many people, Susan included, were on their toes. What were they looking at?

"There!"

"Where?"

"Next to the boy with the red hair."

"Winteria, look!" said Susan again. "Harry Potter!"

"Wh--"

Winteria stood on her toes, half dragged by Susan. Over the heads of many whispering and pointing students, she barely got a glimpse of two boys scuffling along the corridor. One had neatly combed red hair, while the other had extremely messy black hair, the glint of eyeglasses shining from the side of his head. In a moment, they were gone.

Susan took a sharp breath. "Harry Potter. I don't believe it...I just saw Harry Potter..."

Winteria now remembered what Susan had told her on the train about Lord Voldemort, and The Boy Who Lived who survived Voldemort's attack when he was just a baby. No wonder why everyone was making a huge fuss about him in the hallways.

"Come on, let's go," said Winteria. Susan looked in the other direction one last time, then followed Winteria. 

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A/N: The main reason why I wrote this story is to imagine other characters' reaction to Harry Potter's life. I apologize if this story seems a bit boring and not planned well, I will work on that :)