Chapter 36
Patronus.
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"Expecto Patronum!" Dave calls out. Practically yelling it in their favorite training grounds, the 'Room of Requirement.'
It's Friday, six-thirty in the evening of the same week, and so far things have been going... Not terribly. The practice with Luna in the Charms classroom has been settled into a Monday through Thursday schedule from four to six, but because it is a 'club' and due to Flitwick's interest, it is slowly gaining a bit of a following in Claws and Puffs. It isn't a huge number yet, but the six other kids that show up have pretty much stomped on Dave and Mindy's chances to go anywhere near the edge of their personal skill levels. So mostly they are just coaching, a lot like they did in at Beacon on Remnant, and then spending the time between dinner and bedtime here to work on the stuff they are actually trying to learn for themselves.
Though, it has to be said. Watching Luna practically tie third and fourth-year boys into knots on the newly introduced mats that Flitwick had brought in from somewhere is absolutely hilarious. She hasn't bulked up much, her build is coming in a lot like Mindy's has. But she is easily as strong as an adult in very good shape at this point and has spent a bit over two weeks in the party getting one-on-one training with the two most accomplished fighters in England, possibly on the planet. Knowing this doesn't make it any less entertaining to see her flip the Diggory boy over her hip into a face plant though.
Really, this shanghaiing of their would-be training time is only a small portion of their current irritation. The other two come in opposite extremes. The first is that now that they have somehow become heroes to three of the school houses, they are actually missed when they skip meals and sequester themselves away to train and such. Particularly, some of their housemates have started getting more and more aggressive in their attempts to see to it they are included and cared for.
It's beyond annoying.
The other problem can be summed up in two words. Draco Malfoy. He hasn't approached them yet directly, but with the looks of pure loathing he sends them at mealtimes and what they know of the boy's temperament it doesn't take any stretch of the imagination to see that he is taking the fact that Snape is no longer in a position to cover his ass extremely hard.
So they have whatever he will inevitably attempt as a petty vengeance to look forward to. Hooray?
Their Transfiguration classes with McGonagall and Charms classes with Flitwick were true examples of how this kind of thing should be taught, but unfortunately like institutional teaching staff everywhere they are limited to the lowest common denominator in what they are able to actually teach. Which isn't helped by some of their students being stone stupid, and made worse by the fact that all three of the party members can do the vast majority of the first year charms wandless at this point, never mind that they are encroaching on the end of third year with wands.
All three are beside themselves with glee at the Gamer abilities once again proving just how broken they really are.
Looking into the tabs on their skill trees, they found that 'wandless casting' is actually a separate skill that was kinda hidden in the background along with 'silent casting.' The problem, and the reason they are still practicing with wands? It turns out that using either of these skills increases the skill requirement by doubling it. Tripling it for both, which complicates things. First, chances are pretty good that they won't ever be able to use either on higher-end spells without a real risk of a miscast causing unpredictable or quantifiable problems. And two, it has its own skill meter that has to equal the adjusted skill of the spell you are attempting before you can even try in the first place.
After he calls out the spell the slightest bit of mist escapes the end of his wand. Looking like nothing so much as the tip was smoldering for a moment. He groans in irritation.
"Damn. This Patronus is tough, are you two sure we should be trying this so soon? It seems like it might be easier to work on stuff closer to our level first."
Mindy shakes her head. "Nope, getting this done is kind of a priority for a few reasons. First, if we're still here next year there's a good chance this place will be surrounded by dementors. Second, I want to get this one sorted before we leave and let's be real. There's got to be at least a fifty-fifty shot that what we are planning to try on Halloween gets us kicked from the server." She smirks a bit as Dave smiles, appreciating her phrasing. Luna looks terribly confused but doesn't interrupt.
"Finally, according to the books, there is at least some kinda chance that your Patronus and your Animagus form are the same. McGonagall's is anyway. So I figure if we can get this done first and it turns out they are the same it might help us with the other. Since we'll be getting serious about that one in about three and a half weeks when our month is up and the full moon hits it makes sense to go into it with every advantage we can. Then we just need a lightning storm in Scotland. In October. I'm thinking our odds are good we could have this done by Halloween." Then she grumbles. "With our luck, it'll start at level one and require a freaking hour to make the change for a while, but even still. It's the right time of year to do it."
Dave looks at her with an eyebrow raised. "Isn't this supposed to take years?"
Mindy just shrugs. "We're Gamers, and Luna's in the party with us. Do you really think we can't do it? The only thing I can think of that might screw us over is if the full moon isn't visible. We bought everything else we were going to need at the apothecary before we even came here. Even at that, though. We have top-of-the-line brooms and we're working on the bubblehead for breathable air. If it turns out it's overcast we might be able to just get above the cloud cover long enough to make it happen. I'm sure as hell not interested in risking the next place not having a moon, or finding out that the moon here is the only one that works. This has to be a priority if we're going to get it done."
Then she steps up and makes her own attempt at a Patronus. It goes about as well as Dave's did, and Luna set the bar they both met when she had gone first.
Shaking her head, Mindy looks around at them. "Let's take a break. Any more ideas about this trap you want to put together?"
Dave doesn't look thrilled.
"Kinda? I mean, I have a thought but I'm not sure if it'd fly. It kinda depends on how much the wards on the school keep track of the structure." At their look, he continues. "Well, we know that the basilisk is supposed to have crazy amounts of magic resistance, so I don't want to use anything conjured directly on the contact points of the blade we use. I want that to be a real thing. So I've been looking around for something that might work or could be modified to work for the actual 'stick it with the sharp end' portion of this thing, and I've only really come up with one thing that might fly and that we could theoretically get into a storage trunk. Well, that's available here anyway. Even then I am betting we'd need to mangle it a bit or learn the shrinking charm to make it fit. One of the gates off the school. I'm pretty sure I could bend up the downward-facing prongs that are supposed to keep people from climbing it, and with enough weight on it and some effort to sharpen the top bars? Drop it pointy side down and I'd guess it could turn anything into a puddle of pain. But if we get caught removing the gate, then we're kinda screwed on the whole deal so I've been trying to come up with something else."
Luna looks at both of them curiously. "If I understand correctly, you are limited to twenty-six cubic feet and two hundred and sixty pounds, correct?" At their nod, she continues. "Is there any reason that the cubic footage has to be in full foot increments? If we made a structure that was only a few inches tall and had a bottom and a lid but was still twenty-six cubic feet in volume, then expanded the inside to something huge? Could you fit that in your inventory? That would allow you to transport quite large things I would think. Even other trunks, theoretically."
The two look at each other and then at Luna. Dave is the one to respond.
"I... Yeah, I think that might work. We kinda got trapped in conventional thinking a little, but I think that might actually work. Not sure how we'd get something like that made in time though."
Luna shakes her head. "Oh, we wouldn't. But if we sent him the money, My Daddy could handle it easily enough. Then all he'd need to do is bring it to Hogsmeade and meet us there. With the number of ways we know of to sneak out, it shouldn't be a problem to collect. If it wouldn't react badly, he could possibly even just use a shrinking charm and owl mail it to us." Then she stops for a moment. "Before we spend the galleons though, it might be worth it to construct something for testing purposes?"
Dave and Mindy can't think of anything to do aside from nod. Luna might be a tad crazy, but sometimes crazy can get the job done.
Another hour trying to get the Patronus charm to work, and then two runs against the creeps takes them to eight in the evening. Which means it is time to head back to their common room.
It's obvious that something is wrong when they walk in the door and see that Sprout is there along with the majority of the house. Even Dave at this point tends to move fairly quietly as a standard, so it takes a few seconds for anybody to notice they are back. But when Hannah Abbot sees them, there is a cry out from the second year girl.
"There they are!"
A tension that they didn't even know was in the room seems to drain to about half of what it was, and Professor Sprout looks at them as though simply thankful for small mercies.
"I don't suppose you would care to tell us where you have been? Most of the house was scouring the castle for two hours trying to find you after dinner when you didn't show up. There was concern that you had met to foul play by some students that were... Vexed at what happened to Severus Snape."
Dave raises his eyebrows at that, and Mindy waves it off. "We were around. Sorry you wasted your evening, but we enjoy spending our downtime working on a few things. So whenever we can, we wander off to do that."
Sprout looks at her sadly. "You were practicing your martial arts, weren't you? I've spoken at length with Professor Flitwick about this, and he assures me that you know what you are doing. But I have to say, I am extremely uncomfortable with you three running off to beat on each other without a teacher around."
Luna beams a smile at their head of house. "It is fortunate that isn't what we were doing then."
Sprout looks at her critically. "Then what were you doing? Your free time is yours, but given some of your hobbies I am, I think, justifiably concerned that one of you could get hurt when you run off on your own."
The three look at each other, and Dave shrugs. "We're working on a few things, Professor. But today was largely trying to get down the rest of the first-year curriculum and a few utility spells we thought might be useful for dueling later on, only wandless. And silent when we could manage it."
As an example, Mindy points to Hannah and narrows her eyes. After a second and a half, where Mindy is obviously mumbling something under her breath, the poor second year's legs begin to wobble around under her and she throws an arm around the shoulders of a third-year boy to steady herself.
"Given some of the things Flitwick's said, a wandless and silent jelly-legs could be pretty useful, don't ya think? Haven't quite got silent down yet, but wandless is a cinch these days for the little stuff."
She then cancels the spell on the stunned girl as the entire house stares at them in disbelief and Sprout is shaking her head as if hoping that she didn't actually see what has obviously taken place. Finally, she turns to leave the room.
"Very well. I suppose no one can complain if you are merely practicing simple spells. But please, do be careful." She offers the slightest smirk anyone had ever seen on the normally happy woman. "I'll extend bedtimes to midnight so you may enjoy your party now that the guests of honor have arrived. Please do not make me regret it, and additionally, I am making this party a Hufflepuff house secret. Am I understood?" She leaves at the smiles and nods of her house, not wanting to be in the way of the children having a good time. Also, needing to let Flitwick know that they had been found. He'd been quite concerned that with Snape still in the castle he might have tried something. Now that he is no longer forced to be polite to a colleague, the amount he despises the man has been quite something to behold.
At the three's confused expressions, a couple of seventh-years smile wickedly at them and step away from and end table. Where there sits a massive cake with the words 'Snape Slayers' printed on it in what looks to be some kind of chocolate bits. Under that is a reasonable recreation of their faces in various colors of sprinkles.
The next two and a half hours are less a party than they are an impromptu lesson in wandless magic, however. Not many manage to make any real progress. But the fact that a few managed a weak, but easily detectable color-change charm and one of the seventh years even a jelly-legs of his own, means that the entire house dives into the possibilities with a will. The hardworking will of a Hufflepuff.
As things are winding down and the mess is being cleaned up, Mindy finds herself whispering to Dave while they are bagging trash and stacking plates. The effort being made to be kind to the house-elves that will be by later to finish the job with a good scouring.
"House of the Duffers my ass. Give them a goal and these kids are unstoppable. How in the hell did 'hardworking' become a bad thing in magical Britain? I just don't get it."
Dave glances around to make sure they are on their own a bit before he answers.
"I think it breaks down to magicals in general not having to work hard, so they assume that when someone is they either aren't very smart or their magic is weak and they have to."
Mindy rolls her eyes. "So they're as twisted and stupid as a bestiality attempt on a pissed-off skunk is what you're saying."
Snickering at the mental image, Dave nods. "That's my guess, anyway. Let's get this done, we are probably going to have to disappear early tomorrow if we don't want an escort all day. Sleeping in probably isn't going to be a thing."
At her nod, they make their way to the trash bins that were brought in and after letting Luna know the plans they make their way to bed. Behind them, they can hear the seventh-year prefects discussing the goings-on of the last week, and Mindy has to agree. Slipping away is likely to get harder as things go on.
Damn Puffs.
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Mindy stirs the next morning quite early before anybody else in the room is up aside from Luna. Whom it looks like has already escaped. She discards the standard pop-ups instinctively these days but is then a bit startled by what shows up behind them.
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NEW MENTAL ABILITY ACQUIRED!
Zone of Learning: 1 (2%)
HAVING SPENT A LARGE AMOUNT OF TIME TEACHING OTHERS, YOU HAVE DEVELOPED A KNACK FOR TEACHING THAT GOES BEYOND THE NORM. THE TIME REQUIRED TO TEACH YOUR STUDENTS A SKILL IS LOWERED BY A PERCENTAGE THAT IS DOUBLE YOUR SCORE IN THIS ABILITY. ADVISORY: REQUIRES ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF THE STUDENT. ADDITIONAL ADVISORY: IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO TEACH ANOTHER TO MORE THAN HALF YOUR OWN SKILL LEVEL OR TO AN EFFECTIVE SCORE OF MORE THAN TEN, WHICHEVER IS LOWER, USING THIS ABILITY.
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She rolls her eyes as she exits the bed. Given that he was teaching engineering while she was training Butterfly, it's a no-brainer that Dave has to be close if he didn't get it today. It just isn't likely that he is more than a couple of dozen hours behind her. That said, this is definitely a skill she won't be telling anybody about aside from Dave and maybe Luna. Ever. It's nice that it's there, but if word got out it would be an unbelievable amount of bother, she's guessing.
Damn people that had the nerve to come to school to learn would no doubt be unbearably annoying.
She uses the quick change ability to quickly get ready for the day, deciding that it would be less likely to wake anybody up if she showered in the room of requirement rather than here. Then she heads down slowly and silently to the common room.
Where she finds that Dave and Luna sitting on a couch and quietly reading. Slipping out of the common room and making their way is fairly simple, and she can't help but smirk.
Yeah, it might be a little bit of a jerk move, but really. These are good kids, but they are not her keepers for fuck's sake. They are just going to have to deal.
It turns out Dave agrees wholeheartedly with her assessment, though it has to be said that when Luna hears about it she is a touch disappointed that they aren't rushing back down to continue teaching the 'good' Hogwarts house more stuff.
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They decide to make it to dinner after spending the entire day in the room. They made some progress on their individual Patronus, but nobody got more than a formless blob. Certainly not enough to have any idea what it might be. They are continuing to make reasonable progress on their third year wanded studies and a few random spells that Mindy has decreed are just too useful not to learn as soon as possible though, which is nice.
Stepping into the Great Hall for dinner though causes a bit of a ruckus as a call goes out from the Hufflepuff table. The seventh-year male prefect, Arnold Whimsbey, actually gets up and meets them halfway.
"Where the heck have you three been?! We spent half the day looking for you three when you didn't show up for breakfast!"
Mindy outright glares at the man and his sad attempt at a mustache. "We. Were. Busy. And why the hell do we need to answer to you unless we are doing something wrong, anyway? It's Saturday, it's our break time. What the fuck is it with you idiots, that you can't just leave us the hell alone!?"
Dave gently places a hand on her shoulder while the prefect is looking downright shocked that a firstie would talk to him like this. To be truthful, as Mindy was not particularly concerned with her volume, the entire Great Hall is now looking at the confrontation with expressions that range from concern on the part of Sprout to glee on the part of a few Slytherin.
"I... But..."
Mindy rolls her eyes as she pushes past the guy.
"Yes, you are being a butt. Thanks for recognizing that, now mind your own business."
The great hall, on the whole, stays rather quiet as they take their seats. It isn't until they have begun eating as though nothing happened that the normal background noise once again commences.
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At the head table, professor Sprout has her eyes shut and her fingers massaging her temples. Flitwick looks at her and grins from his seat while most of the rest of the staff are looking at the head of Hufflepuff in shock.
"Look at it this way, Pomona. Their ambition is great, so imagine how much more willing they must be to work towards it for the hat to put them with your house?"
She shakes her head, her voice almost inaudible. "You don't know the half of it, Filius. I watched Mindy perform a wandless and nearly silent jelly-legs last night. Just to prove what they are actually doing all the time when they disappear. Then this morning, I had no less than fourteen students come to my office after breakfast explaining that their little party yesterday evening instead became an impromptu lesson in wandless casting, and what's more? They are actually making the training stick. I have three students that are making real progress and that after only two hours. The entire house wants them to continue the coaching, and they are getting downright obnoxious about it. Being Hufflepuffs, they know they would be happy to do so, and they just don't understand why these three are not."
Filius shakes his head. "Poppycock. Complete bollix, that is. They've already committed to giving up eight hours a week in martial training and are turning in exemplary classwork besides. I understand that things in Hufflepuff are different, but you can't seriously expect a trio of first-years to be willing to give more than that, can you? You need to explain to your students that if they keep this up, they'll alienate the three of them to the point they'll be left with nothing. I'd have already left them hanging at that age. Trying to make demands on my day off?" He shakes his head. "If you don't get ahead of this it is going to be problematic I think. They are far too driven and dare I say it, mature, to be browbeaten into this."
Then he looks at them speculatively and inconspicuously draws his wand, flipping it a few times in their direction. At Sprout's look, he shrugs and answers the unspoken question in his slightly squeaky voice.
"Tracking charm. I won't get in their way, but I'll admit to some curiosity about where exactly they are disappearing to that they are able to sidestep your entire house for hours at a time."
Sprout looks interested herself, and the two finish their meal while she tries to compose in her mind the speech she is going to have to give. Everything Filius has said is absolutely true, and she knew it herself before he said it. But having it laid out like that certainly brings it home, and it is time, past time really, that she reminds her house that for all the skill these three have? They are still first years and trying to pile responsibility on them that they aren't agreeing to can only end in tears.
The very next morning she sets an alert charm to let her know when the three have skulked out of the common room to wherever they are going. Then she simply waits in the common room until enough people are up and milling around wondering why she asked them not to leave that she can justify sending them up to awaken the rest of the house.
It's not easy to explain to the house of Hufflepuff that there is nothing wrong with hard work done in a small group. That there is nothing wrong with not being willing to dedicate more than eight hours a week of unpaid time to assist your housemates. It is really her look of disappointment though that causes the house to reevaluate the situation, and when they do there is a fair amount of shame, and promises that they wouldn't be so greedy with the time of others is soon forthcoming.
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It's been now another twenty-five days. It's only a couple more until the full moon they are hoping to use, and Dave expresses his irritation after yet another failure at the Patronus charm.
Everything else is coming along great. The house has settled down, and now they alternate between Martial skills and silent/wandless casting on the four days a week that they meet in Flitwick's classroom. The Tuesdays and Thursdays when they are working on the casting have become an open secret at this point between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, meaning that anybody that isn't already occupied with backed-up schoolwork or Quidditch practice tends to make it. To the point that both Flitwick and Sprout have started working directly with the students.
Both are astonished at the progress being made.
The three are rapidly cruising through the fifth-year texts, and have much of the second-year curriculum mastered to the level that silent or wandless is manageable. Not both, but that was kind of expected, unfortunately. Additionally, Xenopilius had come through with their bilk storage option, and indeed it did work just fine. It's an eight by twelve foot structure and on the outside only three inches deep. It has a permanent featherweight charm and had been shrunk for delivery to Luna. When opened, it is thirty feet deep and is designed to be set against a wall rather than on the floor, so a person can just walk into it.
As a specialty, one-of-a-kind item, it was also nearly thirty thousand galleons. Worth it, and they are tossing around getting just one more so they each have one. But that would have to be where it ends until they have the skill to make their own.
Amazingly, Snape left without a word to any of them. Plus, it turns out his interim head of house has caused Draco to fear for his spot on the Slytherin Quidditch team. The one that his father basically purchased for him by buying the whole team professional-grade brooms. So while he still glares and mutters, he hasn't followed up on anything as yet. It's likely only a matter of time, but until then they have managed a very uneventful first month, past the opening week anyway. In truth? The only things that have been particularly interesting coming from the school itself and not their own machinations were Mindy's continued attempts to cause Lockhart to lose his mind, and the fact that they had been forced to abort their attempts to go into the RoR a few times and instead make for the room that once housed a Cerberus. Professor Flitwick has made attempts to follow them. They assume he is just curious what they are up to, but they aren't excited about teachers learning about the RoR and potentially losing it as a training resource.
After his latest attempt at the Patronus, Dave stares at his wand as if it has betrayed him. He can manage a blob now that looks as though it is going to be a quadruped, but that is as far as he can get. He's the last one to have a real problem with things, too. Luna was actually the first to master it, apparently having been around magic her whole life gave her a bit of an edge and her rabbit made an appearance ten days ago. The little pale and semi-ethereal creature representation hopping freely and gleefully through the air, seemingly directed by the will of a madwoman.
Mindy made it three days ago, and her little sparrowhawk is more than happy to appear for her now and wing its way around looking for something that needs to be flung from the sky with extreme prejudice.
Personally, he's convinced that the problem is that they both got tiny little animals, while whatever his must be is huge. A good eight feet tall or better, probably. At least given the dimensions of the still largely featureless blob he gets with four things trailing down under it.
Finally, Mindy walks up to him and shakes her head.
"What the fuck are you using for your memory, Dave? You have the same charm skill that I do, this shit isn't that hard."
He groans and slumps down into the chair next to him.
"I've tried everything. You, Luna, Butterfly, my parents, my last Christmas before my mom died, everything."
She thinks about that for a second and then shrugs. According to the movies, the spell is supposed to require a memory of happiness, of love specifically. Something you yearn for when it isn't with you and helps you in your darkest moments to continue on.
"You could always try what I did."
He looks up. "Really? And what's that?"
Her smile isn't snarky or vicious. It is almost, dare he say it? Loving?
"It gets a lot easier after the first time, but that first time I got it? I shut my eyes and used the ability we have where we can know where the other half of our soul is, and I concentrated on the feeling it gave me. Maybe give that a shot?"
He stands and gives her a hug while Luna looks on, her smile at seeing this moment of tenderness one of complete serenity.
"I'll try that, and thanks."
Letting her go and stepping away he draws his wand and focuses on that ability. The one that lets him know, without fail, exactly where she is. Basks in the feeling that he will never again be forced to exist without the love of his life, and that even death itself had failed to take her from him.
"Expecto Patronum!"
This time is significantly different. This time the blob appears, but it continues to become more and more refined over the course of a few seconds and then coalesce into a horse. A huge horse. Something that might be a touch too big to be in a Budweiser commercial, for crying out loud. A Clydesdale that is probably suffering from gigantism. Unlike the Kestrel that Mindy summons or the Hare that Luna gets, his doesn't hop about being crazy or fly a patrol as though looking for something to smite. It stands there, looking around. A bulwark of ethereal muscle and sharp hooves that seems at rest, yet ready to run down and trample into the dirt anything that has the nerve to get in their way.
Behind the three of them, they hear a low whistle. Startled, Dave lets the apparition fade as the trio turns around and sees the diminutive form of Professor Flitwick over by the door. Looking at them in a combination of pride in his students, and simply pleased to see something so awe-inspiring.
"So this is what you three have been up to. You know, I've worked here as a professor for decades and I attended as a student before that, yet I don't believe I have ever even seen this room." He strides forward, an infectious smile on his lips, though there is just a touch of worry in his eyes.
"I don't mean to pry, and legitimately I suppose it is none of my business. But I don't suppose you can explain to an old man what is going on with this soul connection you spoke of? Such things tend to be either exceptionally good or extremely bad. With very little in between. I'd hate to lose two of my favorite students in their first year should it be the second one."
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Author's note:
So, the Patronus are out.
Luna's is established by canon and I can't think of any reason to mess with it.
With as much as Mindy has wanted the ability to fly through this fan fiction, her Patronus had to have wings. Plus, with her fighting style being almost exclusively based on the concept of efficiently dealing crits at high speed, being able to thoroughly trounce things that by all rights really shouldn't be in her weight class even before the Gamer upgrade, and having zero tolerance for anything getting too close to what is hers? A Falcon was the thing that made sense to me. I just made it the smallest one because I've seen sparrowhawks in the wild before when I lived in upstate New York. They are precise, amazing fliers, and awe-inspiring when they decide for whatever reason that something twice their size needs to get the hell out of their sky.
Dave ended up with a ridiculously strong, team-capable animal with a raft of hit points and that is more than capable of simply steamrolling most things that might get in its way if it's in a mood, but is otherwise generally pretty easygoing. Do I really have to explain that one?
And yes, for the record I am well aware that you could find 'cooler' animals in various other parts of the world. I don't know if it is actually canon aside from coincidentally, but I believe that the idea that you are most likely to turn into something that is extant in the region you are from makes a lot of sense, and these two characters both hail from the northeast United States.
As for the spanking of Hufflepuff house? Based on the way they are described in the books and legitimately in a huge amount of fan fiction, I can see them being maybe a little more protective and expectant than Mindy would be willing to put up with. Just figured I'd get it out of the way rather than ignore it is all.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, always nice to hear from the readers. :)