{Half A Hero} Hufflepuff!Reader

Chapter 7: Fight or Flight

The main hall seemed... lively.

You sat beside Jason, seeing as your table was too cheery. Loud, dare you say.

Jason's plate sat full. But his fork kept invading your plate.

"This is so romantic." He said.

You hummed, deciding to steal a crumbed something from his plate. He let you. You didnt know what you were expecting, but it definitely was not this.

Starfire stood on the Hufflepuff bench. You watched her eyes roam the room for something. Someone.

They settled on you.

She spluttered apologetically to Mcgonagall when the teacher scolded her. Starfire dissolved from sight. Then crawled out from under the main Hufflepuff table, closer to you.

"Mcgonagall scolded me."

"We saw."

"Dont laugh." She sniffed. "The queen herself proclaimed I was a troublemaker!"

"Well, who told you to stand on the bloody bench?" Jason said.

"Roy did. I was looking for her. For you, Y/N."

"Sorry."

"There's Quidditch training for the Hufflepuffs. Could you come and watch me, please?"

"Of course, Star."

She beamed at you. Until the Captain came to lug her off to the grounds. You abandoned your plate immediately, your only safe lead to the grounds about to disappear forever.

Over bags, around people; you manoeuvred through the crowds like a well oiled seal. You ran out of the hall. Nothing. They were nowhere to be found, despite you being almost behind them from the start.

The hall seemed less busy now. You slunk off to the Slytherin table. Sluggishly, you draped yourself beside Draco.

He gave you a quick glance.

You draped yourself over his shoulder.

"What?"

You whined feebly, slowly pushing more of your weight on him. It did not help that one of his bigger friends, you couldnt remember which one was which, had been sat on the other side of him.

"I cant breathe, slizard."

"He said very clearly."

"My father will hate you."

You sighed and pulled back. As much as the threat was fake, you decided that you had enough of his attention to make the request.

"Cant you just ask your boyfriend to take you?" He shot.

"My...? Jason? Is that why you're trying to be mean? Because I chose him to be my breakfast buddy?"

He shook his head. The liar.

"He left by the time I got back from hunting for Star. You and I only speak if it's the last resort, thanks to you." You added. "Plus, your girlfriend was here... In my place... Earlier..."

"Jealous?"

"You were?" You snidely whispered. "My breakfast had way more better conversation. Did you both talk about what shampoo you use?"

"You two," Blaise interrupted. "Would it hurt for either of you to be calm for once?"

"Do you also want to be jealous of something?"

"No thank you, Hufflepuff."

"You're not usually this distant in my dreams..."

He laughed, an embarrassed blush appeared quickly. You had to get the conversation back on track.

Draco reluctantly agreed. He fiddled with his textbook, staring at the cover. You could see he was gearing up to say something.

"You're asking me very loudly." He finally mumbled.

"What's the point of hiding that we know each other?" You dropped your voice to match his. "People seem to be afraid of us for different reasons. Why shouldn't we terrorize the school together?"

He snorted, holding the rest of his arguement for later.

---------

The walk to the grounds had been silent and awkward. You asked for Draco's help, not the other four slytherins that trailed along with you.

Pansy had wrapped her arms around Draco's arm.

You grabbed an arm from Crabbe and another from Goyle, walking between them. They were too startled to say anything.

A second later, you could feel them reading to pull their arms away.

"It's nice to have two strong boys escorting me." You commented breezily.

That seemed to have done the trick. They giggled, almost squishing you; while Pansy looked, thankfully, irritated.

Blaise evaded Pansy's attempt of reeling him in.

You felt sorry for Draco. He had the most pathetic look on his face. You observed the glazed over look in his eyes for a moment.

"You should have been a Slytherin."

"You really think so, Crabbe?"

"Yeah, you would have been a hot commodity. Fletcher would have asked you out."

"..." You grimaced up to him. "Girls with asses like mine dont talk to boys with faces like his."

"Girls swarm him."

You didnt see the need to respond. He continued on about the pure beauty and masculinity of the Slytherin teams captain. Goyle tried to help the case. You weren't impressed.

"Well if he's ugly, then what am I?"

"You're luckily not anything like him." You said. "Be happy that those genetics aren't in your bloodline."

The both of them scoffed.

"Look, if you're so in love with him, then marry him. You dont need my approval."

You sighed, signaling the end of the matter. You thought you did, or else no one else was raised the way you were; because once the group sat down,

"He got his teeth fixed."

You looked at the very-pleased-that-he-remembered-that-fact Goyle.

"His teeth were worse?"

It irritated you that the only laughter was accidentally made by Pansy.

Jason called for you a couple benches up. You led the group to him and his brother, Tim. Jason gave you an upset expression, he found pouting to you worked better than voicing his complaints.

"It was a buy one take all sale." You defended. "Trust me, if I could go to the manager and ask for a refund... I'm joking, Draco. Stop making that face."

The ball was up.

Star wove and weaved through the players. She was grace, a blazing flame of hair behind her.

She was speed.

"If this is the Hufflepuffs defense." Pansy started.

"If you arent going to respect the other players, then leave. Quidditch is a sport. Sports are meant to have this thing called 'sportsmanship'. Theres no purpose in watching or playing a sport if you have no respect for anyone but your own."

The giggling trio of idiot Slytherins shut up. Pansy flared her nostrils, her hair bristled.

You had to calm yourself. You could feel the energies rising. You've been so good for so long, something as little as this shouldn't set back all of your work.

But you could feel it getting worse. With each insult Pansy threw to your team, you were slowly losing grip.

"Silence." You hissed.

Her lips glued. She could move her jaw, but absolutely no sound would come out of her until your say so.

You looked back at the field.

Ignoring the flames on your shoulders.