Lily ran back to her dorm, sobbing. Now, Lily Evans did not sob. She didn't even cry unless James and his bunch had pulled a particularly nasty prank on her. She pulled out her wand, traced a figure eight in gold on a pillar, and the huge pillar rotated, to show a large, yellow room, cheerfully decorated. She ran to her dormitory, and her friends, Harriet, Josephine, and Melisande, looked up from their books. The boys in the common room, also obviously concerned, looked to Lily's closest friends to see after her.
If the four houses of Hogwarts were represented by the characters in Little Women, then Hufflepuff would be Beth. Almost everybody in that house cared very deeply about each other, and they served as the glue that held Hogwarts together. Half of them always cheered for the other team in Quidditch when Hufflepuff wasn't playing, even if the other team was Slytherin, because it was only fair. Their own house, of course, they supported wholeheartedly, as they were all of a sensitive, hardworking nature. They were the unsung heroes of Hogwarts, but so it had been since the beginning. Helga Hufflepuff was responsible for the unity that allowed the four founders to create the school. She convinced Slytherin to work with Gryffindor, and made them a team for a long time. She endured, even when Ravenclaw took her beloved Godric away from her. She continued steadily to do her job, despite the love she never revealed.
So naturally, if one of them was in pain, they had to help, or the entire balance of the school was off. They also cared deeply for their housemates, as a result of the incredible loyalty they were all capable of. Those of them in the common room got together to try and figure out how to cheer Lily up.
Meanwhile, Lily was crying into her pillow, while Harriet rubbed her back, and Josie and Mel attempted to discern the problem.
"Are you sick?"
"No, it must be the House Cup! She must be feeling like she failed us, or something. But you didn't, dear!"
"Of, course! Well, we don't really care, anyway! What's the House Cup? Some stupid trophy with no real value, that's only seen once a year."
"Your happiness is far more important to all of us than some dumb hunk of metal!"
Lily's yell cut Mel's effusivity off, "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!"
The three friends looked at each other. "Should have known what, dear?" Mel asked gently.
"That STUPID boy! Who dies he think he is?"
"Oooooooooooh!" a knowing look was shared by Josie and Harriet.
"What?" Mel was a sweetheart but a little bit slower than the others.
"James Potter must have-" Josie began to explain.
"NO! Don't say his name! I don't want to hear it!" Lily moaned.
"Ok, umm... glasses-boy must have teased her about the House Cup. The egotistical git!"
Lily sat up, "Josie!"
"Well, it's true." Josie had the grace to look ashamed at this un-Hufflepuff-like behavior.
"I agree completely. He is a git!" said Harriet, speaking for the first time. "He is an arrogant bastard." Everyone looked amazed at the quietest member of the group. She defended herself, "If he can't see how much Lily loves him, well; he can just go bathe in bubotuber puss for all I care!"
Lily wiped her eyes, "This is really considerate of you guys, but calling him names doesn't change the facts." She sniffled, "He does not love me." This was said with great effort and reluctance. "He thinks I'm just some stuck-up bitch who cares only for who has the highest scores." The other girls hugged her. "I told him what I had done-" The girls made sympathetic noises. "-and that I wanted to be friends, but he was so mean! He said I had a stick up my ass, and that I was jealous of him, and kept on rubbing in the fact that we were third. I couldn't stand that look on his face anymore! I 't. So I ran away crying... completely lost my cool.
"I have challenged him to see who can win the House Cup next year, but I just don't care who wins anymore. I don't!"
"Oh, Lily." Three voices echoed her thoughts.
"I just wish I had never told him! Maybe he'll figure out that I love him now! You know he'll tease me."