Broken People--A Hufflepuff Story

Chapter VI

                      So Anna gets on the train to Hogwarts feeling like she can face the world. Carrie could make anyone feel confident like that, as I have found out for myself. But her built up assurance fades when she gets there. A few other girls tried to talk to her, but her stutter doesn't help anything, and soon they turn away to meet the other first years. This hurt Anna greatly, but she pushed it deep, deep down into the confines of her soul. 

          In the Great Hall, Anna must once more go through the Sorting Ceremony...perhaps you can make a guess as to what house she was sorted into. 

                 Anna's neck itched. Why'd they have to wear these neckties anyway? She scratched her neck, then fiddled with the bottom of her gray knit vest. She had never been much of a yellow person, and wore yellow and black even less. But it seemed to be the protocol, so she followed along with it as desired. She felt that she would do about anything to make Carrie happy--who had asked her to be on her best behavior. 

         It was along the third week of school. She still hadn't made any good friends. None worth the effort, anyway. But it wasn't as if she didn't try, more that people just didn't notice her. And she could hardly pluck up her courage to talk to someone who was a stranger. 

                           "Miss Penworthy! Who wrote Magical Draughts and Potions? Do you know?"

                  Anna looked up from her parchment, where she had been taking notes, and smiled at the Potions Mistress's enthusiasm. She obviously loved her position very much, but the question was an easy one, just to see if Anna was listening. Anna glanced at her textbook.

        "Ar...Ar-Arseni...senius J-Jigger?"

           Professor Aria Camsbee nodded her head jubilantly, and moved along with the questions and answers part of the lecture before any of the students had time to snicker at Anna's stutter. She was Anna's favorite teacher, along with Jermain Anther, her Herbology teacher. 

     Professor Anther was a tall man with a small, lopsided smile that appeared when met "kindred spirits". He was a poetic soul that Anna quite liked, and he had become a good friend of hers, since he was also the Head of the House of Hufflepuff---her house. 

               "Now, as I have no doubt mentioned before, it is crucial that the recipes for potions be followed to an exact. One misstep can be the very cause of a disaster, it may be even be deadly. This is important to remember, not only because it is common sense, but because there may be a time when you need to create an antidote for poison, an someone's life depends on every step of the recipe..."

      Anna smiled contentedly. She would do okay here, she figured. It might not be so bad after all. 

                   ______________________________________________________

        I take it back, Anna cried in her mind. It is as bad as I thought it would be. 

      A group of students, mostly from the house of  Slytherin (but some had been Ravenclaws) had followed her out of  History of Magic. 

         "Hey...Penworthy!" 

   She turned. She had been trying to ignore them so far, but now she realized that it'd be impossible to act like they weren't there. The leader of the group, a girl named Elyssa Crumsby, a "pureblood" who thought she was the queen of the world, was grinning widely.