And with that, the tense moment broke. There were loud cheers, and hoots and hollers - and if anyone was really upset, it was hard to pin them down in the crowd of Happy Hufflepuffs.
Draco was glad he wasn't a Gryffindor, or he'd be blushing about now.
Cedric clapped Draco on the back, and as Draco turned to him, he said, "You didn't really think we'd leave you hanging, man, did you?" The look was smug and open and forthright at once. "Never fear, we'll rub off on you in the end!" And there was more clapping of Draco's back. It was only as he got a brief glimpse of Curt that he realized that he hadn't been in on the whole thing.
"How'd you know?" Draco Malfoy asked, trying - hard - to relax some of his eternal, infernal diction lessons.
"Oh, it didn't take no Slytherin to see how serious you were taking it, and how upset you were." Cedric said, and Hannah was suddenly beside him, pulling Draco into a strong, plump hug.
"You'll fit in, I reckon." Sue Bones said, with a doughty smile, "Or else. We're pretty good at shaving off rough edges around here." Hannah snickered, and said, "speaking of rough edges" as her best friend elbowed her and said, "hannah be nice." Zach Smith was approaching, and Draco Malfoy wanted to do something other than let him.
"I knew you could do it," Zach Smith said, in that normal officious tone of his, - somehow it came across as genial. He was good, Draco Malfoy had to give him credit for that.
By the time the celebration was over, everyone was full of butterbeer and cookies. In all his time at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy had never seen the like. Hufflepuff parties were indeed something else.
[a/n: second post of the day. Reviews will keep me focused on this story!]