Huffily Puffily || Golden Trio

The Forbidden Forest || xxi

The difference between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had never been clearer to Lucy before this moment.

Harry's house had turned their back on him— apart from the token Weasleys and Wood— and they acted like Harry had spat on each and every one of their mother's graves.

Hufflepuff's reaction was lackluster in comparison. "You could have lost more," Cedric told her when he saw the loss in points that morning. Hufflepuff didn't have many points in the first place, thanks to Cedric's absence as seeker and Rickett's absence as beater.

Lucy shrugged. She didn't feel bad about losing the points, she felt bad that she'd disappointed Professor McGonagall, the woman who had taken her shopping and paid for her extra items. Ugh, those extra items— her stomach curled in guilt just thinking about how kind she had been.

Anthony took note of her distraught look and lay a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, there's still time to lose more," he said encouragingly. "I reckon Hufflepuff has never been in the negatives before. Shall we make a day of it?"

"No," she said, unwillingly. Even though that sounded like the funniest thing ever.

Megan's head snapped around to look at Lucy in absolute shock. "No?! Is Lucy Rochester turning down an opportunity to get in trouble?"

"Do my ears deceive me?" Wayne agreed. He made a show of tugging on his ear which Lucy rolled her eyes at.

"No, they don't. Believe me, that offer is perfectly tempting. But I feel like I'm walking on rather thin ice at the moment." She pointedly glanced at the professor's table where Quirrell, Snape, and McGonagall were all giving her varying looks of displeasure.

Well, Quirrell always looked displeased, so there was really no change there. She thinks the man was at least a little fond of her considering he now never gave her anything less than an O, even on assignments she knew she didn't even try on. She once handed in an 'essay' that just featured a crude cartoon of herself and him with the caption 'Evil Friends Forever' and she never got it back from him. She wondered if he had it pinned to his wizard fridge or something.

"Ah, fair point, little duck," Anthony conceded. He ruffled her hair and she whacked at his arm, scowling. "Look at you, growing up! Well, if one of my ducklings are all matured, I guess I'll have to take Megan on this conquest to the negatives."

There was a mad gleam in Megan's eyes that Lucy didn't like one bit.

"Oh dear God," she muttered. Why did she feel like she was going to take the blame for anything they did?

"Try saying Merlin," Daisy suggested. "It makes you sound more Witch-like."

"Oh dear... Merlin? I dunno, feels unnatural."

"Took me awhile to get the hang of it, too," Daisy smiled. "Trust me, it will make your life easier in the long run."

Lucy would have to keep that in mind. She had to take anything that would make her life easier. For it only being her first year at Hogwarts, she certainly made a mess of things.

She frowned at her breakfast, not feeling very hungry anymore. "I'll be right back," she said and heaved herself from the Hufflepuff table. "I imagine I have some sullen lions to look after."

Not only was all of Gryffindor house mad, but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were sore about Gryffindor's loss of points too. They all wanted Slytherin to lose the House Cup and with the lions' high Quidditch scores, Gryffindor was the only one suited to do it. Most of their anger was directed at the supposed ringmaster of the operation, Harry Potter.