"Alright, so Macmillian and Abbott are on evening duty for the next two weeks, Cadwallader and Summers are on first years' protection, Clowsmith and Cheemond are monitoring bullying this year and the rest of you are on Quidditch duty." Cedric Diggory's commanding voice sounded around the room. The Hufflepuffs present were alert and on edge. The bi-weekly Hufflepuff Police force meetings were always a serious issue for all the Puffs present. "And finally, this month's party planning goes to Hopkins, Jones and Spooburn. Dismissed!"
"Evening duty! Again!" Ernie complained to Hannah as they walked out the circular door and into the Hufflepuff common room. The common room was a large circular room decorated with yellow and black hangings. Around the room armchairs were placed at intervals, many around the fireplace, which was in the middle of the room, open on two sides. In one end of the room was the exit through the painting and at the other end was an entrance to another, smaller circular room, through a circular door. In that room there were fourteen additional circular doors all around. Each door led to the dormitory of each year.
"Look at the bright side, Ernie! Evening duties can be fun, exploring the castle at night and so on!" Hannah said cheerfully, throwing an arm around his neck as they walked. At more or less the exactly same height and hair roughly the same shade of blond, they nearly looked like twins as they walked together. The only differences between them were Hannah's clear blue eyes and Ernie's hazels. "Besides, Cedric knows what he's doing. He obviously trusts us and thinks we did a good job last year!
"Yeah, but if we get caught we'll lose some more points. Again!" he said annoyed, throwing his arms up in the air. They found some available armchairs and sat down. "This is why the other houses think we're just a bunch of no-good losers."
"Ernie! We go over this at the start of every school year!" Hannah said, more amusedly than exasperatedly. "We're the reason Hogwarts has survived all this time! If it wasn't for Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors and Slytherins would have killed each other long ago! And Ravenclaw would probably have been absorbed in there somewhere as well. Helga founded the Hufflepuff Police Force for a reason, Ernie. We've got the hard, but rewarding job of keeping Hogwarts at peace. Well, as peaceful as a place where 300 hormonal teenagers are stuck together in the middle of nowhere can be," she added as an afterthought.
"I s'pose you're right, as always, Hannah." Ernie said finally. "I just wish we'd get some credit, you know..." he said wistfully.
"But we knew this was what lay before us when we joined the HPPF."
"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" a short girl came bounding towards them. She had black hair to her shoulders and short bangs framing her pale face and accentuating the shocking blue colour of her eyes. Following her was a surly looking boy with thick black square rimmed glasses, dark blond curly hair sticking out at odd angles, and dark eyes.
"Oh, hey Megan, Wayne," Hannah said with a smile, gesturing towards armchairs opposite to the ones she and Ernie were sitting in. "I was just giving Ernie the usual start-of-year pep talk.
"Oh, he still needs that?"
"Megan, how did the two of you land party duty, anyways?" Ernie asked, changing the subject abruptly.
"And what are you planning?" Hannah added excitedly.
"Oh, you know, we just pulled some strings," Wayne said sarcastically.
"So you have no idea?"
"Nope. None at all."
"We're going to plan the most epic start of year party ever!" Megan said enthusiastically. "We really need it, after last years' 'Sirius Black fiasco!'"
"And the year before that with the Chamber of Secrets!" Hannah chimed in.
"It never seems to be a quiet year around here, does it?" Ernie said darkly.
"Hey, hey, hey! We were planning an awesome party over here, not visiting uncle Pessy and aunt Mism!" Megan leaned forward, elbows on the table between the chairs, and smiled in a way that was almost scary. Ernie just blinked back, nonplussed, used to the intimidating smile after three years' friendship.
"We also need to think about security, how strict should we be about bringing in people from other houses?" Wayne interrupted the silent communication.
"We'll just leave it to Spooburn, won't we, Wayne," Megan pinched Wayne's cheek affectionately. He turned red, and not just around the pinched are, but the scarlet colour spread over his entire face.
"But isn't Spooburn really strict?" Wayne said, trying to hold on to his posture. Dwight Spooburn was a sixth year who was notorious for his rigidity regarding rules and regulations.
"We'll just have to see, it probably won't be a big deal. Spooey's cool, he's cool..." Megan said knowingly and they all laughed.
"I for one wouldn't mind trading with someone. I really do not want to plan some stupid party." Wayne leaned back in his armchair with a sigh. "Ernie, Hannah? Want to trade?" Ernie and Hannah looked at each other and then shook their heads.
"No thanks, Wayne. Hannah and I work really well as a team, and we've gotten used to doing evening duty. We did it together practically all last year!"
"I bet you did..." a snide voice came from behind his armchair. They all looked up to see the face of Zacharias Smith. Tall and skinny, he stood staring down his upturned nose at them all.
Hannah fixed her gaze downwards as she blushed, letting her blond hair fall down and hide her reddening face. Ernie however stood up, facing him boldly.
"Zacharias! What in the blazers do you think you are doing?" After he said it, he realized that he was being a bit overdramatic, but that Zacharias really pushed his buttons.
"Well, Ernie, I'm trying to point out the obvious, that you and Hannah here were going at it like bunnies all over school, while you were on 'evening duties,'" he said, cocking an eyebrow, and leaning onto the armchair Ernie had been sitting in. Ernie couldn't help it that he was slowly turning red, both from anger and embarrassment.
He and Hannah had never gone there, into that territory. They had been best friends since their first year, at first bonding over the mutual fondness for collecting chocolate frog cards, but last year they had been dangerously close to... something, one evening while they were on evening duty. But no one had seen that! Zacharias was just being an idiot like usual, Ernie reasoned.
"Zachy, please go run over to your Slytherin friends, and leave us alone." Megan said pleasantly, but her eyes flashed angrily.
"Oh, but, Megan, I am having so much fun here with you guys!" Zacharias smiled down at her. Wayne suddenly stood up as well, red-faced with clenched fists, his body rigid.
"Smith!" Cedric Diggory was standing behind him putting one arm on his shoulder. Cedric was even taller than he was, and by far broader and more strongly built, so Zacharias almost looked small beside him.
"Yes, Diggory?" Zacharias said in a sarcastically obedient voice.
"I really don't want to give you another warning. The year has only just started," Cedric said exasperated. "Try behaving this year, won't you!" he sighed as he pulled him along, walking away.
"Cedric is so great," Megan said, staring after him as he was still pushing Zacharias along and Ernie noticed her gaze lingering far too long around Cedric's behind. Hannah giggled in agreement, though she was still scarlet-faced. Wayne said nothing, letting himself fall back into the chair, the redness in his face slightly receding.
"I heard he is going to try for the triwizard tournament!" Megan said excitedly to Hannah as they started giggling again. Ernie and Wayne just looked at each other tiredly. The topic of Cedric's awesomeness had been brought up too often for it to be something they were interested in.
Then the discussion went back to the party plans, until it was time for bed. Ernie and Wayne joined Justin Finch-Fletchley, who had been deep in discussion with Susan Bones and Leanne Haway, walking into the 4th year boys' dormitory, while Susan, Megan, Leanne and Hannah went into the 4th year girls' dormitory together.
The following Friday of the first school week, the event that Megan and Wayne, along with Spooburn, had been planning the whole week, was finally to be held in the evening. They were all over the place, sending first and second years to the kitchens to get more food or put up more decorations, making sure that security was in place and so on. As it turned out, though, Spooburn was quite the party animal himself, and thus the security was not too strict, or as he said "the more the merrier!"
Ernie and Justin were watching from afar, as Megan went around the room like a whirlwind.
"Well, it's almost nine, shouldn't they be done by now?" Justin said excitedly to Ernie and gestured towards the general hubbub and disarray.
"Justin, it's half past eight," Ernie said calmly, keeping his eyes on Hannah, who he had just spotted in a corner helping Megan with the drinks.
"Yeah, but what people start arriving and nothing's finished yet?" Justin twiddled his fingers nervously.
"Justin, most people are still at dinner, and they know nothing's ready yet!" Ernie said, still watching the distant corner. "Just relax, save your energy for the party!"
Justin sighed, grabbed a butterbeer and took a large sip. "You're right, Ernie, I'm just so excited! This the first year we get to stay longer than until 11!"
Soon though, the common room was full of people conversing loudly, drinks and refreshments in hand. To outsiders this might be just another common room evening, but the atmosphere was very different from a regular Hufflepuff evening. Usually the Hufflepuffs were calm, collected and proper. But not tonight.
At 11 o'clock the first to third years were sent up to their dormitories, Spooburn standing over them with a iron fist. The atmosphere of the party changed noticeably at their departure. Some sort of restraint seemed to have lifted. The music was louder and the lights dimmed. Girls were sitting on boy's laps in the armchairs, and some people were three or four crowded in one chair, sitting on the armrests and so on. People were dancing around, some quite provocatively, especially those who had brought dates, either from their own house, or the others.
There were quite a few people from other houses. Many of those who had friends or partners in other houses had brought them along to the party. It was always something to see someone at a 'Puff party for the first time. The shocked awe and the disbelief evident on each face, when they saw that the Hufflepuffs were actually cool, that they knew how to have fun, and illegal fun at that.
The majority of the 'Puff fourth years were grouped together, sitting in a few armchairs, chatting loudly and animatedly. Everyone was far more relaxed than usual and nearly everyone was able to let go of most day to day restraints, laughing loudly at each other's jokes. Ernie and Hannah were sitting close together in one armchair, while Megan was sitting on the armrest of Wayne's chair, and Justin and Susan were leaning close together, letting out loud giggles every now and then.
As Ernie watched those two he supposed that he'd always known it would happen, between Justin and Susan. They had always been close, but never as close as he and Hannah. And that was good. Because being as close as he and Hannah were was a bad thing, if you wanted anything else to happen. He turned to look at her silently, as she chatted with Megan about the newcomers to the 'Puff house this year. Megan absent-mindedly leaned onto Wayne, arm resting on his shoulder, who immediately became scarlet faced, but said nothing.
There's too much inbreeding going on in the Hufflepuff house, Ernie reflected to himself, while trying not to let his thoughts wander to a certain blonde sitting next to him. He instead let his gaze roam around the crowded circular room. He saw a few people he recognized, from his own year. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown had come and were chatting with Kirby Slaitgood and Sebastian Yang, both of whom only seemed vaguely interested in the girls who were both trying very hard to get their attention, casually touching their arms, so much that it became not so casual. How they had found out about the party, he didn't know.
Cedric Diggory was of course the centre of attention, but his attention seemed focused on a pretty Asian girl, who Ernie didn't know. She looked pretty interested in him as well, and they were showing all the signs of getting along, to the great disappointment of the many admiring girls around them. A bit further on was Leanne Haway, with her friend Katie Bell and a few other Gryffindor girls who Ernie recognized from their Quidditch team. Ian Cadwallader, Louis Summers, and Griffin Summerby seemed to be quite interested in them, nudging each other in encouragement and gesturing towards the girls, each trying to pep the other up.
As the party went on, Ernie's group of friends each went their own way into the crowd. Ernie was just walking around, when he noticed Hannah standing nearby, and he was shocked to see her looking sadder than he had ever seen her. He walked over to her, at a loss for what to say. He didn't like seeing her this sad, it made him want to do whatever he could to make her smile again.
"Hannah..." he said softly. She made no response, just stared intently ahead. He turned around to see what she was looking at so fixedly.
His stomach dropped to the floor and his heart flew up into his neck and beat there frantically. Cedric Diggory was sitting cosily with the pretty Asian girl on his lap, and they were kissing intensely. The sight itself didn't shock him so much, those two had been cozy together the whole party, but the fact that this could make Hannah so sad was a revelation to him.
And suddenly all these little things started to make sense. How she always looked forward to meetings, how she always did whatever Cedric said, without any questions, how she was constantly talking about him, admiring his skills at managing the force. The bloody giggling! It hit him like a punch to the stomach.
She liked Cedric.
Of course she liked Cedric. All the girls liked Cedric, heck, even some of the boys fancied him. But she liked him. Maybe even loved him. Why had he never noticed before?
He didn't know what to say to her, how to comfort her, even though he desperately wanted to. They were both experiencing the same feelings of heartbreak and it didn't serve to bring them closer, only pushed them further apart.
"Hannah," he said again, not sure what he wanted to say. She seemed to come back from her thoughts as his voice breached the abyss that had formed between them. She looked at him, horror evident in her face as she realised he had been standing there for a while. She shook her blond pigtails, as if desperately trying to clear her head. Then she ran, brushing past him, heading for the entrance hall to the dormitories.
"Hannah, wait!"
She paid no attention to him and as the door slowly closed shut behind her, he could see her feet climbing through the door into the 4th year girls' dormitories.
He was left standing there, a numb feeling slowly creeping over his body as the music still blared and the sounds of jolly fun rang from everywhere else in the room.