Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I claim to own Harry Potter. All characters/settings are copyright to J.K. Rowling. Except for Ruth and Hazel. Those two belong to me.

Also, this is my first fanfiction, so any tips/crits you have to give me would be much appreciated. If you see any errors I might have made, or you think that any of characters are beginning to act like Mary Sues, please tell me. I won't bite! Also, any title suggestions would also be welcome. Hufflepuff Mystery Brigade is only a working title.

It was the first of September, 1942, and Platform 9 3/4 was very crowded. In the sea of witches and wizards eagerly awaiting the trip to Hogwarts, it might be hard to locate a person, but Olive Hornby was not discouraged. As a Hufflepuff, she was generally considered good at finding things. Sure enough, she soon found her target: a stick thin girl with frizzy, mousey hair and a large amount of freckles.

"Ruth!" She exclaimed, throwing her arm around the girl's shoulder. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Ruth jumped a little. "Oh! Hi Olive!" She brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Sorry, it's just, the platform's crowded, and you know how my parents can get-"

"Ah, of course; they're still worried about the muggle war, aren't they?" Olive asked. "But they don't need to worry here. It's perfectly safe at Hogwarts. Always has been."

Ruth nodded. "Yes, but they still don't like to leave me, and this year Hazel's been accepted as well." She looked around the station. "Where is she? I was supposed to look after her."

"Don't worry; if she's anything like you, she'll go back to your mum and dad till you find her. Anyway, I've got good news. This is finally the year we do it! Prove ourselves to the rest of the school!"

It was something the two girls had discussed ever since the moment they'd first met each other in the Hufflepuff common room. Olive Hornby and Ruth Connolly were going to be the two that finally made Hufflepuff the desirable house. Every year they had made plans to perform miraculous feats of magic and have daring adventures, but so far had achieved nothing more than being known as Olive Hornby and Ruth Connolly: the slightly delusional Hufflepuffs.

"So how do we start this year?" asked Ruth. "Sneak into the Forbidden Forest? Battle a mountain troll? Kill a werewolf?"

Olive laughed. "Of course not! I thought you said you didn't want to do anything that could get you killed! Besides, I've heard some daft Gryffindor's already tried those. Haggers, or Haggis, or something like that. What I have in mind is much safer. One of us is going to date Tom Riddle."

There was a long pause before Ruth spoke. "You're pulling my leg, aren't you? Tom Riddle's one of the most popular boys in the school!"

"Exactly. If someone sees us with Tom, they'll think we're special, because he chose one of us out of all the girls in the entire. Besides, admit it, you've had a crush on him since first year."

Ruth turned red. "That's beside the point. It'll never work."

"What'll never work?" Came a voice from beside them.

Olive glanced at the speaker, a small girl she decided must be Ruth's sister Hazel. They shared the same muddy brown eyes and freckles. "It's none of your business. It's very important fourth year stuff."

"Now run along and find some other first years," Ruth said. "There's bound to be some somewhere around here."

"I can't," Hazel said. "Mum said I had to stick with you."

"She didn't mean literally!" Ruth said. "Oh, forget it; let's just find a compartment to ourselves."

This proved to be easier said than done. In the brief time Olive and Ruth had been planning, much of the platform had cleared, leaving little space left on the train. Finally they found a compartment in the back with only one other occupant. Unfortunately, that one occupant was Myrtle Irving.

Olive had never met Myrtle before, but she'd heard stories about her, none of them good. She made the decision to leave almost immediately, but no sooner had she turned around than Myrtle said. "Oh, are you going to leave too? All the others have. None of them think I'm good enough." She seemed to be on the verge of tears.

Olive sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Erm, no, we were just- we were going to-"

"We thought we saw a friend in the next carriage, but it was someone else," Ruth said abruptly.

Olive smiled. Ruth, although often meek and cowardly, had always managed to get them out of a pinch. Even under pressure she could come up with story that was just convincing enough to get by. It was something Olive had come to admire the past three years.

"Yes," She agreed, taking the seat across form Myrtle. "Besides, it's a lot nicer in here. Much less crowded."

"You're just saying that," Myrtle said, hiding her face behind the book she'd been reading.

Olive chose to ignore her and turned to Ruth. "So, continuing from earlier, why won't my plan work?"

"Lots of reasons," Ruth said. "First off, I've never seen Riddle date anyone. Second, he's a Slytherin. Slytherins don't date Hufflepuffs, let alone half-bloods or muggleborns. Third off, neither of us are particularly attractive. Even if a Slytherin would date a Hufflepuff, they wouldn't date us."

"We're not that bad looking!" Olive protested.

"But we're not that good looking either," Ruth said. "We're average. We've got just about as much appeal as a fence post."

"Why don't you just set somebody else?" asked Hazel. "There has to be some Hufflepuff who has more appeal than a fence post. That is why you're doing this right? To make Hufflepuff cool?"

Myrtle lowered her book again. "Oh, are you those two? Everybody in Ravenclaw thinks you're daft, you know."

"Well nobody asked your opinion," Olive said. She disliked Myrtle more and more with every word that came out of her mouth.

"Nobody ever does," said Myrtle. "If they do they just make fun of me later. Stupid, fat Myrtle they call me."

"Anyways," Olive said loudly, turning back to Ruth. "I think it could work if we..."

Her voice trailed off as she thought back to what Hazel had said. Olive had always thought that in her planning she only needed two things: her endless creativity and Ruth's ability to get out of tricky situation, but maybe a third person was needed, one to sort through the bad ideas, to improve them.

"Hey Hazel," She said. "How'd you like to help us out this year?"

"But I'm not sorted yet. I could be in Slytherin for all you know."

"You won't be put in Slytherin. Muggleborns are never put in Slytherin."

"Why?"

Olive shrugged. "They just don't. Apparently Salazar Slytherin had something against muggles. That's not the point though. Do you want to help out or not?"

Hazel thought it over for several minutes before answering. "I suppose so. I don't want people knowing I'm a part of this though, if people think you're crazy."

"Okay, we've got a deal then."

"I could help you too, you know," came Myrtle's voice from behind the book. "Even if you'll only fail anyways. You two always do."

"Do you ever say anything positive?" Olive asked.

"You can help," Ruth said before Olive could get another word in. "I reckon you need just about as much help as the rest of us. We'll tell you if we need you."

And so the group grew from two to four in a single train ride.