Hogwarts (Challenges and Assignments).
Assignment 7 — Herbology: Puffapods — write about someone with an allergy and how they deal with it in day to day life
Going, Going, Gone! — (trope) Different House
Draco had never seen anything funnier than the faces of everyone in the hall as a Malfoy — the first in all time — had been Sorted into a House other than Slytherin. He'd wanted to burst into hysterical laughter at their gobsmacked expressions. Then the thought that his father would kill him when the news reached home sobered him back up.
Hufflepuff.
The House that everyone thought a Malfoy would be least likely to be in. Although no Malfoy had ever been anything but Slytherin, so really, any other House was one that they thought he would be in.
But he was.
He was, and that was a problem.
Draco knew he wasn't Slytherin material. He didn't hate Mudbloods, for one. At least, not for the reasons his father did. He disliked the Muggleborn swot Hermione Granger, sure, but only because she was better at everything than him — he whose father had payed for lessons from the highest ranking tutors in the world!
But hate her?
Nay. He didn't hate anyone.
Oh dear. His Housemates were rubbing off on him.
One day he sat down with a piece of parchment and scrawled at the top, Possible Reasons I Was Sorted Into Hufflepuff. He tapped his quill against his chin in thought.
Perhaps his allergies? He jotted this idea down. He was allergic to a lot of things: flowers, fruits of any kind, feathers, freshly mown grass, chocolate, coconut, any tea besides Earl Grey, cats, and dogs. Being allergic to all of these things made daily life very hard. He used to be able to eat chocolate, and found it difficult to abstain from eating. He had to have special pillows so he didn't wake up with a stuffy head; he couldn't have a pet (of the two kinds he wanted, anyway); his tongue swelled up if he came anywhere near fruit, making him have to be careful about everything about every little thing he put in his mouth or allowed people to eat beside him. And spring was horrible because everyone cut their grass or he would walk past a flower box and start sneezing uncontrollably.
So maybe it had something to do with those. It seemed unlikely, but it could happen. He'd never known anyone else with as many allergies as he had.
He sighed and wracked his brain for more reasons the Sorting Hat had decided he fit best in Hufflepuff.
He didn't like bullies. He didn't bully. He wasn't a Pureblood who thought he was better than everyone else. He tried to be nice — well, as nice as his upbringing would allow him to be.
But other than that, he really had no idea why he was a Hufflepuff. Not that he really minded; his Housemates were honestly really nice.
He received a Howler six days after his Sorting.
"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY, I AM ASHAMED OF YOU." His mother's voice echoed throughout the Great Hall, and everyone stopped eating their breakfast to collectively turn and stare at Draco. He wanted to shrink in his seat but forced himself to keep his back ramrod straight and fought down the overwhelming urge to blush. Let them stare. "AFTER EVERYTHING WE DRILLED INTO YOU, AFTER ALL THE PUREBLOOD LESSONS, YOU GOT SORTED INTO THE HOUSE WITH THE LEAST TALENTED PEOPLE? AND THE MUDBLOODS, DRACO, THE MUDBLOODS! JUST THINK OF THE DISEASES THEY COULD BE CARRYING!"
He narrowed his eyes at the piece of parchment. Then, with a flick of his wand, the Howler burst into flames and shriveled up into a burnt ball. He sighed and turned back to his breakfast.
One of the Mudbloods his parents so despised saved his life later that week.
He'd snuck out of the castle for a breath of fresh air and came across Granger's cat. Crooks, he always heard her call it. Monster. The beast came right up to him and rubbed orange cat hair all over his legs. He'd never been around this much cat hair before, and the effects were disastrous. He immediately began to sneeze, his nose grew stuffy and sore, and he found he couldn't breathe through his nose anymore after just a few seconds.
Granger had come looking for her cat, wearing a pink flannel nightgown that swamped her and reached nearly to the ground, and came across Draco gasping for air on the front steps of Hogwarts.
"Oh!" she gasped, then proceeded to wave her hands uselessly in the air and feel out. "Hospital Wing, Malfoy! Let's go!" She lifted his arm and dragged his dead weight up on her shoulder. They staggered back inside with the troublesome cat following at a sedate pace and licking his paw.
The incident didn't change his parents' minds about the result of his Sorting, but it did make them send Granger, albeit reluctantly, a bag of Galleons in return for saving his life.
She cornered Draco a week later.
"Are your parents paying me for getting you to the Hospital Wing, Malfoy?" she demanded.
He drawled, "They're repaying you for saving my life."
The brunette scowled. "I don't want your money." She tossed the bag to him and spun away.
He shrugged and pocketed the velvet bag full of coins. More spending money for him.
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