Another week of classes. Harry hadn't thought before just how far behind he generally got, what with Quiddich and the general horsing around that happened in House Gryffindor. Hufflepuff House was all different, though - they could be just as fun, and occasionally rambunctious, but they generally had their homework done first - in no small part because Cedric or one of the other older students supervised the younger ones.
And so Harry Potter actually had a bit of time for recreational reading. Not that he was a person particularly fond of reading, but... reading meant the library, and that meant that he didn't have to spend all his time with the Hufflepuffs. Not that they weren't nice - in fact, that was the problem. Half the time Harry couldn't tell who he was, or whose feet he was stepping on, everyone was going so far out of their way to be nice to each other!
As a firstie, Harry'd been sure that the worst house had to be Slytherin. But, after you got used to it, Hufflepuff was in its own way constraining and confining. Gryffindor raised brave kids, sure, and they got into punch-it-out fights a lot. But at least you knew where you stood. Harry figured Ravenclaw was the same way - loners and introverts tended to simply say what they thought, consequences be damned.
"Draco!" Harry called out, seeing his ... friend... walking the aisles of the library. "Finished that apology yet?" Harry didn't want to ask why Malfoy's face had darkened at the question. But, slowly turning it over in his head, Harry began to get the picture. Malfoy, for whatever reason, didn't want to apologize. Maybe wouldn't apologize, and that would be bad, Harry thought. Maybe... Harry crossed his legs setting his thoughts aside for the moment, as he rejoined Malfoy's riposte about the Hufflepuff chaser with a moderate insult of his own towards Slytherins' beaters (Malfoy's friends, but he took the insult in good stride - making fun of the Goons intelligence was simply "what's done").
[a/n: sorry this has been so slow. Draco's kind of procrastinating, kind of trying not to think about what's coming up next. So we get Harry, who is rapidly discovering that Hufflepuff wears thin in about a week and a half.
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