Chapter 79: Badger

Dudley Black liked being a Hufflepuff. He liked that his house stood for togetherness, hard work, and loyalty. He thought those were very admirable traits and he hoped that he would do himself and his school House proud by taking these traits and making them an intrinsic part of his person. He liked their common room. Instead of a code word, there was a series of special knocks that one must do against a barrel and then the door opened, and one had to walk through and into a tunnel until they came out into a beautiful three-tiered common room. There was a sunken area where a large fire pit resided. It was cozy and it reminded Dudley of the fire pit that his father had set up on the property for him and Harry when they had gotten old enough to be responsible around a fire. Various tables and comfortable chairs and couches resided on the upper-tier level. It was an area for study, he had been informed by Amanda Jennings the Fifth-Year female Prefect. Seven tunnels spiraled off from the common room with Golden and Sable Banners above each proclaiming a year group. The first year's tunnel was hidden out of immediate sight, just beneath the stairs that led to the upper tier of the common room.

Dudley had asked his head of House, Pomona Sprout, as to why the First Year's dorms were located there. She had told him that it had always been that way. That Helga Hufflepuff had taken the fears of her friend, Salazar Slytherin, to heart and had chosen to subtly hide the first year's dorms to better protect them in case Muggles who were hunting Wizards ever managed to breach Hogwart's. Dudley liked that Helga Hufflepuff had thought so well of her friend to share his concern for her students. Though clearly, she didn't let her fears lead to paranoia and hatred, as Salazar seemed to have done. He liked that about Helga Hufflepuff. It made him proud to be in her House.

He also liked having Pomona Sprout as his Head of House. She was truly kind, and she made it a point to spend an hour, sometimes two, in the common room with her House. She answered queries, assisted with homework, told stories and comforted homesick children. She was a kind lady and Dudley had already grown exceedingly fond of her.

His only regret about being sorted into Hufflepuff was that he was now separated from Harry and Hermione. It had been the three of them since they were children. First he and Harry and then Hermione. He saw them in classes and after class, but it wasn't the same. He would have liked to have been in the same house with them so he could keep a better eye on them. Harry was a magnet for trouble now that they were at school. Already whispers of "the Boy Who Lived" and "He who defeated He Who Must Not Be Named" and other such rubbish was flying around the school. Harry had always hated the fame associated with the miracle of his having survived the killing curse. It was only a matter of time before someone angered him about it. Hermione was a logical voice of reason, but she would be little help in reigning Harry in. Understandable. It was hard for Hermione to reign Harry in about something that she got angry about herself. And that was another thing, Hermione was brilliant and prone to deal with envious children. Others being envious of her talents was not new to Dudley. He and Harry had been protecting her from mean spirited children who were just envious of her various talents for years. Now though, there would be those who were also jealous of her position as the best friend of 'the Boy Who Lived.'

He wished for Harry and Hermione's sake that the Sorting Hat had placed him in Gryffindor House as well. It hadn't though. Instead, he was the first child of the House of Black to be placed in Hufflepuff ever. Well, cousin Narcissa did always say it was better to be the trendsetter than the one following the trends.

"What's it like living with 'The Boy Who Lived'?" the grating voice of fellow Hufflepuff, Owen Cauldwell, asked him as they moved toward the Great Hall for luncheon.

Dudley fought the urge to expel a sigh. His mother had attempted to make him stop that. It wasn't appropriate, she would say. Furthermore, it would allow those around him to gauge his emotions when he might not want them to. Sometimes Dudley was grateful for his upbringing as a child from a Pureblood House. The etiquette that had been drilled into him since infancy was annoying at times and might have seemed stupid when he was younger but now that he was at Hogwarts and interacting with his peers he could see the usefulness of what he had learned.

Still, Owen Cauldwell was a reason to hate being a Hufflepuff. Thankfully, the proud scion of House Bell was not his roommate. The Hufflepuff First Year dormitories held room for six beds. Dudley shared a dorm with Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernest Macmillan, Oliver Rivers, Zacharias Smith, and Dane Spungen. Owen was in the other boys' dormitory with Rohit Das, Eustace Fawley, Wayne Hopkins, Roger Malone, and Ivan Renshaw.

"Harry's just a person, you know," Ernie spoke up from the other side of him and Dudley smiled in gratitude at his friend, dormmate, and fellow housemate.

"He's not just a person," Owen protested. "He's the defeater of He Who Must Not Be Named!"

Dudley again fought back the urge to sigh. "He's Harry," Dudley said simply. "He's just Harry," he said with a smile as he caught sight of his cousin along with Hermione, Neville Longbottom, and Lavender Brown seated at the Hufflepuff table. "Now if you'll excuse me," he murmured as he moved past Owen and made his way to his cousin.

"Hey," Dudley greeted with a smile as he took the seat beside Harry.

"You look annoyed," Hermione pointed out, observant as always and not afraid to be blunt if she felt it needed. Clearly, she thought Dudley needed it. He probably did at that.

"It's a minor annoyance," he said waving a hand toward Owen Cauldwell who was still standing in the doorway arguing with Ernie.

"What's Ernie doing?" Neville asked him.

"Throwing effort after foolishness," Dudley said pragmatically even as he began to serve himself lunch. "He's arguing with Owen about Harry just being a nice young man," he glanced up at his cousin who was dear as his brother. "Apparently you have a fan," he teased.

"Great," Harry grumbled. "Let's just add another one to the list, shall we?"

Dudley took in Harry's scowl and chose not to ask him. He glanced at Hermione who was offering Harry a consoling look and he decided that she was not the person to ask right now. He looked to Neville then and the boy shook his head. Lavender however was an easier mark. She caved almost immediately beneath his penetrating blue-eyed gaze.

"A few of the boys and girls in Gryffindor have alternated between hero-worship of Harry and challenge due to him being, well," Lavender paused caring enough about Harry to not want to call him by a moniker that he hated. "There have also been a few Slytherin's who have been pretty awful. Corvus Lestrange has been particularly vile."

Dudley fought the urge to glance at the Slytherin table where he was sure he'd see the raven-haired Slytherin boy that was a relative of some sort to their cousin Scorpius. "Well, just remember to ignore them until you can't," Dudley advised Harry.

His cousin smiled at him. "Thanks, Dudley," he said.

Ernie joined them a moment later, being dragged over by Eleanor. Eleanor smiled as she sat beside him and then forced Ernie to sit on her other side. "Enough idiotic behavior," Eleanor insisted to Ernie. "I honestly thought better of you," she added making Ernie chuckle slightly.

"What did he do that was so idiotic?" Hermione asked Eleanor.

Eleanor rolled her eyes, a habit that Dudley rather thought Andromeda would be appalled to see in practice. Eleanor had picked it up over the summer hols from spending too much time with the Weasley children. "He was practically arguing with a wall. Cauldwell was just repeating the same things over and over."

"He's just infuriating," Ernie protested. "His insistence on Harry being some kind of Wizarding Messiah, it was disturbing."

Harry glared at his plate at that. Dudley hated to see him looking like that, but he knew that there was little they could say or do to make people stop looking at Harry like he was some sort of oddity.

"They'll get over it or they won't," Lavender spoke up from beside Neville, and her kind violet eyes rested on Harry. "It'll be fine Harry, and you know when it isn't, you'll still have all of your family and friends," she said encouragingly.

"Spoken like a good Hufflepuff," Dudley chose to tease Lavender. "You sure you were supposed to go to the House of Lions?"

The pretty girl blushed. "It did debate putting me in Hufflepuff," she admitted shyly as though she were afraid of their reactions.

"Me too," Neville said as he looked at Lavender. The girl brightened immediately and gave Neville a beautiful smile.

"It debated putting me in Gryffindor," Dudley admitted to them. "But it said that I would do better in Hufflepuff."

"It almost put me in Ravenclaw," Hermione admitted to them which earned her a few laughs.

"Pretty sure we all saw that coming," Eleanor teased her pseudo-sibling. "The hat debated putting me in Ravenclaw as well but thought Hufflepuff best."

"The hat debated putting me in Slytherin," Harry admitted quietly. "I wanted Gryffindor though."

"It debated Slytherin for me as well," Ernie told them, and he smiled at Harry. "Probably because of my Mum," he said with a smile. Everyone at their end of the table knew that Olivia Macmillan née Greengrass had been a Slytherin.

"Why do you think it decided the houses it did for each of us?" Hermione asked. "In 'Hogwarts A History' it says that the Sorting Hat sorts you into a House based on the traits you already have. Do you think that is true or does it sort you based on traits that you need?"

"I think it would be simpler to sort us based on traits we already have," Eleanor said.

Dudley nodded. "Yeah, easier, but how does that help?" he asked thinking that he might understand what Hermione was getting at.

Harry smirked. "Does someone who is already brave need to learn more bravery?" he mused aloud.

"My point exactly," Hermione said. "Wouldn't it be better to determine the traits that a child possesses in, shall we say, weak supply, and direct the child to the House where they might learn it?"

"It's still up to the child to learn though, isn't it?" Lavender asked.

Hermione nodded. "Well, yes of course, but that isn't the Sorting Hat's responsibility. His is the task of sorting the kids to where they'll have the best chance to achieve greatness."

"I should think it is about honing the strengths glimpsed by the hat," the voice of Draco Malfoy said as he, Leonis Black, Estelle Burke, Mafalda Prewett, and Ginevra Weasley joined them at the table. "I couldn't help overhearing a little bit of the conversation," Draco said politely as he inclined his head to Hermione.

"What were you talking about?" Estelle asked from the seat she chose to occupy to the immediate left of Dudley.

He turned toward her to answer. "The sorting hat and how it sorts us."

"And our own sporting's," Eleanor added from her position go his immediate right.

Estelle seemed interested in this so Dudley and Eleanor took a moment to bring her up to speed. When they were done she smiled at them. "How interesting," she mused. "I wonder if it was this way for every student or just a few of us?"

"Oh? So, I take it the Sorting Hat debated another house for your as well?" he asked the Burke Heir.

"Yes," she said. "It considered Ravenclaw for me."

Dudley chuckled with amusement while Eleanor laughed at this. Estelle frowned at them obviously wondering if she should be offended or not. "Sorry, it's just that the hat debated Ravenclaw for Hermione and Eleanor as well and you grew up with them and they're your best friends, so it was amusing."

Estelle took that in for a moment and then giggled in amusement.

"Why then did the Hat ultimately decided on different houses for us then?" Hermione mused. "If it debated Ravenclaw for Eleanor, Estelle, and me then why did it decide we were better suited to Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor?"

"I was almost sorted into Slytherin," Ginny admitted as she tucked a red hair behind her ear. "I cringe to think what Mum would have done if I had ended up a Slytherin," she cast an apologetic look at Draco as she whispered, "She hates Slytherin House."

"The Hat almost put me in Ravenclaw," Draco admitted to them, his eyes on Ginny as he spoke.

"The Hat almost put me in Ravenclaw too," Mafalda revealed.

In turn, they all turned their gazes to Leonis. He blinked at them a moment in amusement. "You are all assuming that I'll have a similar tale to tell," he said.

Dudley chuckled. "Well, we've noticed a pattern that the hat debated between two houses for each of us. Stands to reason that it would have for you as well."

"And it did take quite a while to sort you," Hermione pointed out.

Leonis smiled at that. "It briefly debated each house," he admitted. "The Hat told me that I was loyal, but only to those I love. True. That I was brave but not without purpose. True again. That was intelligent, but that I didn't have a thirst to learn. True yet again. Then it decided that it was best to place me in Slytherin."

Dudley smirked. "Well, that makes sense to me. You are already cunning so why not hone that and use the bravery you have, the loyalty you have, and the intelligence you have, and shall no doubt gain to advance our family?"

"I think what Draco said is correct," Harry said. "The reason for why the Sorting Hat sorts us by our traits," he reminded them when everyone gave him their attention. "When it comes down to it, all of us have traits of all of the houses. It picks out the ones that we have just a little bit more developed and then sorts us into the House that will helps us to truly hone those instincts."

Dudley found he couldn't argue with Harry's logic. He nodded his head in agreement. "That makes a lot of sense."

"Seems silly though," Hermione pointed out. "You would think we would need to develop our lesser instincts more."

"True," Mafalda agreed with Hermione, which was quite a feat since both of their resident bookworms rarely agreed on topics. "But then you're arguing what you think the Sorting Hat should do rather than what it actually does."

Hermione shot Mafalda a look of consternation. "Well, it would be more proficient," she sniffed.

"Perhaps, but that isn't what the hat does," the Prewett Heir declared.

Dudley caught Eleanor's eye and she rolled hers as she gave him a warm smile. Dudley chuckled as he continued to eat his lunch, enjoying the banter of his family and friends.


Now that I live near family again, I am finding that it is harder to keep myself to a writing and posting schedule. This chapter was not as long as I would have liked but I really enjoyed writing it. The conversation was fun and I enjoyed spending a little time with Dudley the Hufflepuff.

"Why is Dudley a Hufflepuff and not a Gryffindor?" This is a question that I have been asked and I want to take a moment to answer. It's because of Canon actually. The Dudley in the books was a lazy brat. He didn't know anything about Hard Work and Dedication. He also got scared and ran away. He would have left Harry alone to be harmed by the Dementors. Though Dudley would come to be grateful to Harry for having saved his life and show that he wasn't a completely reprehensible human being he was still at heart a lazy, cowardly, bully. I wanted to change that for Dudley in Renewal. I contemplated Gryffindor for him and I think this Dudley is brave and does have some of the traits valued by that House, but ultimately I thought he would grow as a better character if he was sorted into Hufflepuff. It is also the last House that anyone would have expected a member of House Black to sort into. ;)