Here is the next chapter. For this chapter I wanted to show how blunt Hufflepuff's can be. She is direct with Harry only because she is always direct and this is nothing new for her. Please read and review it and we'll see where it goes. Love Moon xxx
Pomona turned around and was stunned to see Harry there looking like he was waiting for her. "Mr Potter can I help you? Are you ok?" she asked him approaching him carefully.
"Yes Professor I'm fine however I wanted to ask you something important if I might. What were my parents like in school?" he asked as she smiled at him.
"Yes of course I'd be delighted to tell you anything you need to know but not here. Come with me to my office. We can have some tea and a nice chat or even some hot chocolate if you would prefer. Yes I think a nice warm hot chocolate is in order don't you?" she asked as he said it was and followed her back into the school once more. They entered the main door and turned left stopping outside a round door shaped like a barrel. It was situated down a little way from a stack of barrels which he eyed in curiosity pointing at it.
"Professor that looks so cool is it the entrance to the kitchens?" he asked as she laughed.
"No definitely not. It is the entrance to Hufflepuff house. I can give you a tour of our common room. Sometimes on occasion we do let Ravenclaws have access to our common room and vice versa. Of course our students may only enter Ravenclaw if a true Ravenclaw is with them otherwise it doesn't work. Come on!" she said opening her office as he joined her there. The room itself was very open and round in shape. It was covered in hanging plants which came down from the ceiling and sometimes tickled the top of your head if you were tall enough. She called her house elf Impy and some hot chocolate was presented to them momentarily.
"Now Harry you will find that many people who are not in Hufflepuff do not like us and are vocal about it however there is a serious misconception as to why they dislike us. They dislike us because we are blunt to a fault and do not have a filter. I warn you I don't have one either so I will be saying it like it is and if you can't handle that than tough!" she said with a smile on her face.
Harry was stunned truly. She was so welcoming even when behaving in a way which could be considered harsh by some.
"To be honest ma'am I really appreciate that. Sometimes it's nice to hear the whole truth without some idiotic adult trying to lie to your face and thinking that you will not see it. I always see it you see!" he explained as she nodded.
"Firstly we'll talk about your mother. She was an amazing little girl who always put her heart and soul into anything she did. She was very fiery too just as her red hair may have suggested. She often used her wand to dole out punishments to those who deserved them. I must point out that those she did this to did deserve it. She would never have done so either. What I mean to say is that anyone who tried it on with her or tried to force her into dating them usually ended up with painful boils on the groin and things like that!" she said as Harry laughed.
It did sound funny after all and it was indeed deserved. He'd have done it too.
"You see many Slytherin students were intimidated that a muggleborn who was a Gryffindor no less was higher than they were in every subject. It must have been tough indeed for them. They often tried to court her and became very angry when she turned them down. No matter how many times they would try and pressure her she would always say no and then curse those who didn't get the message that no meant no. I was always so proud of her for that even if she wasn't in my house. It was a good example to the younger ones that you should never feel pressured to do anything you don't like!" she said as he smiled at the intelligence.
He gasped then tears coming to his eyes instantly as she handed him a few photos of Lily working in the greenhouse and teaching younger students how to repot plants and things. He laughed as she was laughing in one of them when a student accidentally dumped a load of earth all over her. It had looked very funny. These pictures meant more to him then she would ever know or he had ever thought they would.
"Professor thank you so much for these. I am beyond happy right now. You have quite literally made my year. Could you please make some copies of these photos? I'd like to send some on to my aunt. I think she might appreciate them. I want to know if mum ever dated someone whilst at school who wasn't my father" he queried as she beamed at him.
She took the photos and one by one taught him carefully how to duplicate them. He was fascinated and watched her do each one carefully before he wandlessly and with his wand copied two of each of the photos. He earned ten points to Ravenclaw for his good skills of which she was extremely complimentary.
"Yes your mother dated Peter Jones a Ravenclaw in her year for a long while and let's just say she put James Potter in the hospital wing for two weeks after he attacked Jones in a blind and jealous rage. She was furious with him for doing it and even more furious that Jones who was terrified of James left her and broke her heart. You know she never truly got over that. James was so happy when he left her that he didn't think to stop and see the heartbreak he'd caused her. He constantly asked her out all the time and every time she would refuse him. He didn't understand why he should be refused because he was a pureblood. Unfortunately James thought the same way as young Mr Malfoy in your year except he wasn't quite so vile!" she said as Harry slapped his forehead with his hand in rage.
This was just ridiculous. I mean how many hearts and things was James going to continue to break. Why was nothing he ever heard about the man at all ever good in any way shape or form? It truly was infuriating.
"In your opinion Professor why did she choose James?" he asked curious as to what the blunt professor would say next.
"Personally I think she was worn down and worn out by him. He was utterly relentless. He attacked everyone she ever dated so much so that they all ended up leaving her. He was exceptionally controlling and would not ever be told no. He wouldn't leave her alone until I think she eventually snapped and said yes to get him off her back. I really felt that at that point she was so worn out by him she simply couldn't see how bad for her he was. I know Professor McGonagall said to her in seventh year she'd not have chosen him but Lily was too far gone to listen and to be honest it was a little too late for her own head of house to be saying that. If it were me I'd have said so sooner and been sure he was punished so much he never again defected. I am not sorry about saying that either. You asked a question and you're getting an answer suck it up!" she said firmly as he smiled at her determination to be as plain as possible.
"Thank you for being so straight with me. I truly appreciate it more than I can say. What can you tell me about my father that you did not already tell me?" he asked as she frowned.
"That bastard! I am sorry and I usually don't like to speak ill of the dead but he warrants it. He was an ungrateful pig all throughout his schooling. He was such an idiot he couldn't even pick a trustworthy secret keeper and got himself and Lily blown up for his stupidity. No matter what anyone anywhere says you should know that had Lily been in charge of choosing their secret I have no doubt they'd still be alive today. He was a bastard! He always targeted and hurt everyone however because his family were not dark and he was a pureblood nothing was ever done to him. He was never made to say sorry a huge grievance in my opinion. He should have been forced to apologise every time. Had he been in my house he would have been make no mistake of that!" she snapped banging her fist on to the table and making him jump as her magically amplified emotions surged outwards shattering a potted plant on one of the shelves in the corner.
She looked at the plant and then back to Harry with fury on her face. "You will desist in asking me anything more about that scumbag! He has made me so mad I even smashed my own damn plant. Fuck! Sorry for my language but everyone always protected or cossetted him so much that he was left to traumatise everyone. Take Professor Snape as an example. He targeted him the most because he knew that Severus loved Lily. Severus was indeed a very dark man but he grew up or shall we say was forced to grow up after their deaths. He had put his own faith in the wrong man and boy did it show. He's one of my best friends these days. We can tell each other anything and to be honest we do find it amusing that Slytherin and Hufflepuff generally hate each other so much as we don't!" she said with a slight chuckle as he gasped in shock.
He couldn't believe that James had put anyone that Lilt dated into the hospital wing and although he ended up there himself he never seemed to learn anything from it. He was the most stupid person Harry had ever heard of. Even Dudley who was a fool was better than him and that didn't say much because Dudley had awful grades. The only consolation he had was that Dudley would grow up and could indeed grow out of his immaturity James had never grown up. On thinking of the fact that he was related to someone so vile he nearly threw up again but didn't.
"Can I ask what happened to Peter Jones that he ended up in the infirmary?" he asked as she looked shocked at the question.
"Well I didn't expect that question. Yes James threw an open briefcase at him which contained a boggart inside it. The boggart took the shape of a dementor and started to suck poor Peters' soul out. No one knew the spell to stop the boggart and they were all lucky that a Professor happened to walk by at the time. Had he not Peter may well have died. I don't think Severus or the other staff knew much of the details just that he'd landed someone in the hospital wing!" she responded as he looked highly repulsed in his seat opposite her. That was the lowest of the low.
"Where is Peter now?" he asked as she grimaced and he dreaded the answer.
"Unfortunately Peter is a terrified extreme recluse. He did marry and have children but he never or rarely leaves his house as he has been irreparably damaged by his frightening exposure to the boggart. There is a reason they are listed as one of our most dangerous creatures! The Boggart is a creature which can shapeshift into whatever it is that we fear the most in the whole world. They can only be combatted using a higher level spell you will learn later on" she said now in full on teacher lecture mode.
Harry was convinced that if he ever saw a boggart it would show him penniless with nowhere to go and no one to love. That would be terrifying. I mean how would he ever survive without his education and somewhere to live? He shuddered very deeply at this thought.
"What spell is used to combat them? I would like to read about it. I am fascinated to know why it works as oppose to other spells. I am excited to learn it in the future when I'm old enough!" he said bouncing up and down on his feet in excitement. She looked at him and chuckled.
"You truly are a Ravenclaw. I am sure your aunt and uncle are very proud of you. The spell is called Ridikulus. Would you like your tour of Hufflepuff common room now?" she asked as he nodded yes. This would be interesting.