U nderstated

Herbology was an understated discipline, like Hufflepuff was an understate house. Somehow it was more acceptable to specialize in, say, Charms than Herbology. It was a soft brand of magic – yes, tell that to any tentacula in the greenhouses. And who did all the other professors have to go to for ingredients? But Professor Sprout didn't mind, when people didn't give Neville Longbottom credit for his skill in Herbology the way they did Harry Potter his skill in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Or the way her students were undervalued as a whole, how her house had so little glory. Because glory wasn't the point at all. Not with Herbology and not with Hufflepuff. There were more practical concerns. What did a plant care anyway, how good you were? Each bulb extraction was a moment to moment battle – you couldn't build on your earlier successes. And other houses would do well to remember that, Slytherin in particular. Gryffindors certainly went tearing off that way, but Ravenclaws could not be convinced of that concept at all. Just because Gryffindor had the best side Hogwarts had seen for many a year didn't mean that if Cedric Diggory could just get that Snitch…

And because the victories never built on each other, they never built up into a thoroughly impressive finale, they never earned you the right to sit back and relax in the greenhouse, you could never be happy they were mastered and move on to the next challenge. But though each victory stood alone – friend defended, mandrake raised, Snitch captured – Sprout wondered that no one ever realized: Hufflepuffs and Herbologists had far and away the most victories.