In the beginning, it was his mum who wanted him to be in Hufflepuff. She spoke fondly of her Hogwarts' friendships, telling him stories about all the trouble they got into (it sounded like rather boring trouble to an 8-year old Cedric - detention for sleeping in class because they were up all night gossiping, or almost stumbling into the Forbidden Forest once, on accident - but he could tell the storytelling made her happy, so he listened).
She told him how kids were always mean to or ignored the Hufflepuffs. But really, she assured him, it was the best house to be in. Everyone stuck together and they were kind to one another - they had to be to face the other houses.
So when he marched up to the Sorting Hat, his mind was ringing with, "Hufflepuff." The train had been filled with excited young witches and wizards talking about the bravery of Gryffindor, the intelligence of Ravenclaw, and the nobility of Slytherin. He only heard his mother's house mentioned in resigned tones - "I'll probably end up in Hufflepuff."
But when Cedric put the Hat on, he thought, "Please put me in Hufflepuff, please put me in Hufflepuff."
The voice that sounded in his ears was quite shocked, "I don't think I've heard anyone think that for half a century! Why do you want to be in Hufflepuff? Oh, it's your mother is it? Don't want to let her down, I see. What a sweet picture of her face when she opens your letter! Are those tears of joy I see?"
"Please put me in Hufflepuff."
"Let's see, you're persistent. You're not without brains, either, why not Ravenclaw?"
"Hufflepuff."
"Well, you definitely lack the ambition to be in Slytherin, not a trace of that."
"Hufflepuff."
"There's a lot of courage here, are you sure you don't want Gryffindor?"
"Hufflepuff."
"That kind of loyalty definitely belongs to a HUFFLEPUFF!"
And things had turned out. His mother's remembrances had definitely been tainted by time, or maybe things were different now; Hufflepuff kids could be rude and divisive, though they seldom were to him. And he occasionally envied the Gryffindors their adventures, and the respect the Ravenclaws instinctively received. But on the whole he saw smallmindedness and cruelty in the other houses, and he was happy where he was.
In the beginning, it was his father who wanted him to play Quidditch. Cedric received a broom for every other birthday and his dad took him to Appleby Arrows games when he could, and they listened to the rest on the wireless. Some days Cedric would have rather been reading a book or exploring the world on foot instead of on broomstick, but he knew it made his dad happy, so he stayed with him.
Amos spoke about the sport with all the respect, joy, and envy of someone who has always had to watch from the ground. When Cedric told his dad he was a Hufflepuff, he was ecstatic.
"That's great, Ced! Their team isn't very competitive, as a rule. You'll really shine there!"
And it turned out. The years of practice and study had paid off and he was good. Just as his father wanted, he became Seeker, then captain. There was nothing that quite compared to the way everything that wasn't himself, his broom and the Snitch faded away when he was in a dive, followed by the sound of the crowd erupting in his ears when he swooped up, golden wings in hand (although this didn't happen as often as he would have liked).
In the beginning, it was the underclassmen who wanted him to enter the Tournament. The younger Hufflepuffs all looked up to him with awe. Walking through the hallway, he had once heard Ernie Macmillan bragging to a Gryffindor about Cedric's grades and Quidditch prowess as though they were his own.
Cedric was uncomfortable, but he knew his housemates needed someone to look up to, to show others the successes of Hufflepuff. So he stayed in the spotlight for them.
When Dumbledore announced the Triwizard Tournament, the kids all insisted he should be Hogwarts champion. He didn't feel much like a champion. Still, he walked into the Great Hall the night the cup was put out, after everyone but the ghosts was in bed. He held his breath, stepped over the Age Line, and held out the piece of paper with his name and school carefully penned on it. As it dissolved in a puff of green smoke, he exhaled in a burst of laughter at his nerves. It would all turn out.