A/N: Initially written for the Crack Ship Big Bang on LJ. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated~!
One
Being a Hufflepuff was the worst kind of isolation. Nobody remembered your face, let alone which house you even belonged to. As a result, making friends outside of Hufflepuff house was quite a difficult process. After all, how could Leanne make friends when people thought she simply didn't exist? This was the push that caused her to befriend Hufflepuffs of all ages. Leanne wasn't the extraverted type but her social life depended on being forward and friendly. She did what she had to do: befriend everyone who was wiling.
Attractive, popular Cedric would remain a big brother figure to her, even though they shared no common relatives as far as they were concerned.
"If you ever need anything, I'm there for you. Advice, a shoulder to cry on, even homework help! Don't hesitate to ask!" This statement was Cedric's trademark. His compulsive need to help in any form was endearing. Leanne smiled whenever he offered his help, because it was such a genuine statement and she usually did take him up on his offer.
Regal, sophisticated Susan (a younger student) subtly made her way into Leanne's life without even realizing how easy it would be to break down Leanne's shell. Leanne knew the other Hufflepuffs just by staying in the common room for at least a few minutes a day. Leanne cherished their presence in her peripheral vision.
"Have you read this book?" This was the first question out of Susan's mouth directed toward Leanne, one of many more to come. Leanne wasn't much of a reader, because she found books dry and too time consuming. But Susan, the Hufflepuff with a voracious love of learning rivaled to Hermione Granger or the most studious Ravenclaw, seemed so earnest in her question that Leanne couldn't bring herself to reveal her true feelings of books.
She liked overhearing how Hannah Abbot's day went, even though Leanne could have easily done something else much more interesting. Hannah was what Leanne called a compulsive talker, the kind who talked not out of some arrogant love of her own voice but because she simply found talking beyond exciting.
Leanne liked playing endless games of Exploding Snap with the overly talkative Justin Finch-Fletchley. She always wondered what would happen if she ever put Justin and Hannah in a room together. Would the room collapse from too much excitement in one place? Would they ever give each other a word in edgewise? Or was it too much talking to handle? Leanne shook herself out of her reverie. She'd answer these questions herself another time, when she wasn't in such a dramatic mood.
Despite friendships within her own house, Leanne hated feeling as if she were some kind of nobody for committing a sin she couldn't even control. Being a Hufflepuff wasn't that bad, really! (She wished she could stop exaggerating about the woes in her life; it felt too easy to say how horrible things were. Adding emphasis via truthful embellishment was just too simple of a feat.)
Thank Merlin for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They were lifesavers, to put it simply.
Leanne chuckled to herself at that statement. Her typical exaggeration aside, it seemed so strange to admit that her best friends were the sportiest of Gryffindors. The Quidditch team were the people who could have been total strangers had they not reached out to her. Katie was the first to have a lengthy conversation with Leanne, and both wouldn't ever forget it. Leanne'd never forget it simply because it was about the incredible importance of matching socks.
"You see, Leanne, when your socks match, everything else in your life falls into place." There was some truth to the absurdity of the statement, but Leanne would probably never say so. It would probably be somewhat hypocritical of her to agree with Katie on matching socks, because her own socks never matched. Having two socks that didn't match made her life more interesting, if anything.
Katie was the type whose extraverted, spunky attitude and boundless, puppy-like energy breathed life into the dullest of moments. Leanne, a cripplingly shy girl she was when she first met Katie, meshed surprisingly well with Katie. Leanne's tendency to keep her feet firmly down on earth brought the overly idealistic Katie's head out of the clouds.
Leanne and Alicia were kindred spirits. The two girls were thoughtful introverts floating in a world of extraverts who didn't seem to stop very often. Both seemed to enjoy the fast pace of being tangled in the webs of energy provided by Katie. It wasn't like they'd complain about the pace.
"Who needs words when you've got actions?" Alicia muttered one time too many, in regards to her lack of talking to others. It wasn't like she hated socializing; it was that she preferred being in the company of Quidditch.
Unlike Leanne, Alicia used her thoughtful nature to observe the world with a keen eye nobody in all of Hogwarts (or at least Leanne could tell) possessed. Alicia told the world what she thought as it entered her brain. Some would call Alicia blunt or tactless or even brutal in how she spun her words. Others would simply label her as "honest" and "refreshingly observant". Her sharp tongue kept people guessing and on their toes, something Leanne endlessly liked in a person.
Angelina was like the in-between girl of the quartet of girls. She had the energy and enthusiasm to keep up with Katie, yet she had the same silent thoughtfulness Leanne possessed while also delicately balancing Alicia's knife sharp wit. When the going got tough, Leanne went to Angelina to settle the score. She was usually helpful and gave sound, thoroughly helpful advice that Leanne couldn't have ever thought up.
Leanne didn't feel the need to describe the ever (in)famous Weasley twins Fred and George, as their reputations preceded their freckled, perpetually smiling faces. Although their bright red hair distracted from the mischievous twinkle in their eyes and the gleam in their grinning teeth, she found them amusing, even if they were melodramatic with their pranks.
Oliver forever remained a fascinating mystery, a puzzle that called to be solved yet couldn't be solved. He played Quidditch like a maniac with a purpose. Like he had a need to be validated by the glory of winning. Leanne wanted to admire the sheer insane amount of determination and willpower he had constantly running (more aptly, flying, as he spent more time in the air than on the ground) through his very blood stream. She was content to keep him at an arm's distance yet close in her heart. The dichotomy of closeness versus distance made their relationship (or lack thereof) unexpectedly interesting.
Leanne's best friends may have been Gryffindors but that didn't change the fact that her loyalties remained with the house of Hufflepuff. She would always have one foot in two different parts of that theoretical world: that of the isolated but tight knit community of Hufflepuffs and the fast paced world of spectating a sport she'd never have the coordination to play for a team that wasn't even hers.
She wouldn't have it any other way.