A bit of a time skip here to the end of October. This is going to annoy some of you as we seem to have skipped a lot of stuff but don't worry as it will all be explained next time.

This is an almost totally Luna Lovegood POV chapter, which I know will delight some and appall others, but I don't care. I adore Luna and her ... um ... unique perspective and just couldn't resist doing this. It was a fantastically lovely way to relax after a truly horrible couple of weeks at my dull, soul destroying job and I would highly recommend it to everyone in a similar situation.

Big love to the mighty Tenzo51 without whom this story wouldn't have even happened, let alone be anywhere near as good as it is. Co-conspirator and Beta extroadinaire.

Also a major nod to the wonderful Hebisama who helped me get over my dis-like of writing flying scenes in general and quidditch scenes in particular. Anyone who hasn't read Uchiha of Ravenclaw yet really should go and do so. It's totally awesome.

Enjoying yourselves yet? I know we are.

I'm not JKR and I don't make any money from this. Which is a bit of a shame.

DtR xx.

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The Excellent Adventure of a Wolf, a Loony and a Very Bored Heroine.

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8. Lovegood Moves In.

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When the day was dawning on a Hogwarts Sunday morning in late October all that could be heard was the snip-snip and swish-swish of enchanted shears and brooms as they worked relentlessly to prepare the school quidditch stadium. Slowly, other noises emerged as the staff did their rounds, checking the pitch, hoops and stands and ensuring that everyone attending today would have a good and safe time. Hogwarts was renowned for looking after their visitors and there were sure to be many of those today.

Virtually everyone who was anyone would be here today, given the student letters flying home with more regularity than usual, informing their relatives of the amazing re-appearance into their world of the 'girl-who-lived'. Most particularly these tended to be about her peculiar brand of insane genius when it came to both magic and flying. They all wanted to see her first game and brag to their friends that they had done so.

For two hours they poured in from Hogsmeade and filled the visitors stands to the left of the pitch and opposite those where the students traditionally sat. Some had come hoping to see her succeed, some to see her fail, but most were here just to say that they had seen her and to dine out on it for a good few weeks.

Of course, some had other agendas entirely. Like the odd, blonde girl seated in the specially reserved 'press box' bouncing with excitement as she gazed around, trying to take in every sight, sound and smell of the wonderful place.

Hearing about Hogwarts and seeing it in pictures didn't do the place justice, even in her 'natural story-teller' father's reminiscences, it had to be experienced first hand to be believed. She would do literally anything to join her coven mates here and saw an opportunity to do just that without the un-necessary tedium of waiting around until next September.

Luna Lovegood had a plan.

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The green clad Slytherins slid as quietly and gracefully into their section on the far left as was possible for such a large gathering of teenagers and pre-teens even of their, mostly stuffy and reserved, upbringing. It was entirely in keeping with their perceived superior social status that they did this so as to avoid all of that unseemly jostling for seats that the other, less polite, Houses indulged in.

Next came the neutrals. Reds and blues all mixed in together, virtually everyone in the Houses of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw who while not directly involved were still turning up to watch anyway. There was always hope that the uppity Snakes would get a right, good thumping even though they were the strongest (and dirtiest) team in Hogwarts. That, combined with, the much whispered rumours about the skills of Hufflepuff's new trio of players this year had them turning out en-masse. Just in case they were true.

Of course, it certainly didn't hurt that one of these new players was the heroine of the Wizarding world, Shelley Potter.

That was also the reason that the usually empty press box was filled to bursting. Nobody involved with Europe's media outlets wanted to Miss the 'girl-who-lived's first quidditch game. Their respective readers/listeners would never forgive them if they didn't cover it in the very greatest of detail.

She and daddy were still rather comfortable, however, since, due to their well deserved reputation for oddity, nobody who knew about them wanted to sit anywhere near the Lovegoods. This was a rare positive outcome from her family's status as the 'oddest publishers in town' so the two of them made the most of it by stretching out a bit in order to watch those nearest to them trying to shift even further away. This fun new game for the blonde haired father and daughter continued until they were distracted by an enormous crash from the school's main entrance.

The Hufflepuffs had arrived at last.

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They poured out from the castle in a swarm of yellow and black, led by the excitable first and second year girls who were almost all rocking the full St. Trinians look with straw boaters and hockey sticks. These girls along with about half of the others from the upper years had taken to Shelley's call to arms with a will to roughly equal amounts of fear, confusion and delight for the males of the House. They were more than a touch wary of the hockey and lacrosse sticks being waved around with abandon but very happy with the short skirts and stockings that had become rather popular among the older girls.

This being a House quidditch match of course, even the boys were caught up in the madness of it all and a few brave souls among them had got up in school girl drag to add their own support. They were incredibly loud. They were incredibly proud. They were incredibly shocking. They were incredibly scary.

The battle cry that they belted out as they poured into their seats (which none of them intended to use) in an unruly mass and hung their flags and banners probably didn't help this impression much.

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"We are the best, so screw the rest

We do as we damn well please

We are the toughs

The Hufflepuffs

Defenders of anarchy.

HUFFLEPUFFS!"

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"My goodness, Moonbeam I don't remember Hufflepuff House being quite so enthusiastic when I attended Hogwarts." Xenophilius tilted his head in obvious confusion. "And certainly not about quidditch."

Apparently, the other members of the small press corps dedicated to reporting the ins and outs of schools quidditch were of a similar opinion as confusion reigned in the box when the Badgers took their seats and the singing and chanting only increased in volume. For those who were aware of, or had been raised in, the muggle world it was reminiscent of a very well supported football match between two fierce, rival teams. Although the songs were rather less sweary than those that prevailed upon the terraces of Britain. Well, most of them were anyway.

Luna correctly suspected the influence of her wild, little coven mates here. A sense which was confirmed beyond doubt seconds later when the 'Flying Badgers' took to the field to entrance music from Star Wars and a positive roar of anticipation. Only Shelley Potter would think that Darth Vader's theme (a dark lord if she had ever seen one) would be appropriate for a school sports match.

There was definitely no way she could miss the two witches she had come here to see either. They did make quite the spectacle as they powered across the front of the stands in their bright yellow quidditch jerseys, one with her snowy white hair streaming out behind her and the other in quite the most awesome hat that she had ever seen.

Their warm up antics were hilarious too, since the two smallest chasers appeared to just adore living up to the name that their position gave them. And they even managed to drag the rest of their team into what amounted to an extended play fight on brooms. They were swooping, diving and cutting in and out of their team-mates with near reckless abandon, demonstrating their skill to all of those who cared to focus on them. If this was the way they warmed up, thought Luna, it promised a great deal of fun in the actual game.

Not so much for their opponents perhaps but definitely for her and a decent majority of the other people here watching today. As was evidenced by the stands shuddering to the synchronised jumping of more than a quarter of the school's population as they sang along to the dark, ominous melody thrumming insistently across the field.

Luna gave a shark-like grin and thought, 'Oh yeah, this is going to be good'.

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The game itself, started in a frenzy of activity.

The instant that Madame Hooch blew her whistle that skill was suddenly evident to everyone as Artemis shot straight forward intercepting the newly released and rapidly rising quaffle. She didn't hold onto it for too long though, almost immediately flipping it straight back out of her hand and into the path of her fellow chaser who then set off in a diagonal and seemingly random trajectory. It was anything but.

Her swift, darting run to the goal zone caught everyone by surprise. Well everyone but her fellow Hufflepuff quidditch players, that is. Demetia and Artemis streaked after the 'girl-who-lived' getting in position to take up the quaffle should she be blocked while their beaters, Paul Haddock and Trevor Chippenham, affectionately referred to as 'Fish and Chips', launched a terrifying bludger assault.

This was more or less un-necessary as Shelley exploiting the shocked in-action of her competition, carved through the Snakes static defensive line. She jinked to left of the open mouthed keeper and tossed the quaffle into the air before executing a sharp turn to send the large, red ball sailing through the centre hoop with the tail of her broom. A giggling Artemis and only slightly more serious Demetia flew past her, each slapping one of her upheld palms for a celebratory 'high five'.

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"You're shit. Eurgh!"

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The Hufflepuff spectators roared their derision at the Slytherin team and supporters alike, causing their own beaters, who were always appreciative of a good prank, to nearly fall off their brooms laughing. A barked command from their captain, however, got them back into a more appropriate frame of mind for the game. Nobody who didn't have a death wish was anything but serious around Demetia Gently when the business of her beloved sport was involved.

They shut up and buckled down to their task, bats swinging furiously, as Artemis stole the quaffle once more and settled herself into the tip of their well honed 'spear' chaser formation.

It took a good ten minutes for the Snakes to get over their shock at the speed and ferocity of the Badgers chasers and their wild but brilliant flying, meaning that they were now trailing the yellow garbed team by ninety points. They had only scored one measly goal to their opponents ten. It riled them up and it forced a change in tactics.

Witches were not permitted in the ranks of the Slytherin quidditch squad for the precise reason that they were traditionally a 'power' team, preferring brute force over skill. And to be fair to them, it usually worked.

Usually, but not today.

Today their opposition were fully prepared for it and were only surprised that it had taken as long as it had for them to react so predictably. So when the bludgers began to fly in earnest and large bodies of the Snakes began to close in, the Flying Badgers shifted their formation with practised ease to face the new threat. Which the idiots in green failed to notice. Just as they failed to notice the feral grins that suddenly appeared on the faces of the, supposedly weak, Hufflepuff team.

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Luna stilled her mind, took a deep breath and concentrated on the figure in the yellow and black top hat. And suddenly she was 'on board' with the 'girl-who-lived', although she seemed to have missed the target a bit as she was viewing things from a few inches above Shelley. And bouncing around quite a lot too. Oh Merlin's pants, she was in the sunflower. Which was very pretty and all, but did not exactly make for a stable viewing platform.

She didn't know how she was able to do this only that she could. She didn't know whether it was an inherited skill or something that was a by-product of her empathy with the colourful, magical flow that filled her world and surrounded her. But Luna was a practical girl (in some ways at least) and recognised it as a useful tool so she didn't ask too many questions.

She was sure that the insanely smart and ultra inquisitive Shelley Potter would do that part of it ad nauseam when they discussed it in the future. As she knew that they would be doing just that.

The images in her mind wavered slightly and Luna was forced to renew and re-double her concentration levels to sharpen up and get back from her own thoughts to her 'ride'. She did so just in time to see her mad coven mate holding out the quaffle to a confused looking boy wearing Slytherin green. Luna ginned in her head. She could tell that this was going to be awesome.

"No, really, come on and take it."

Marcus Flint was very large and very stupid and thought that witches were too frail and silly to play 'the beautiful game' and had no place on the quidditch field so was not at all suspicious of her. Given what the grinning, smirking lunatic in the insane hat had done to some of his peers over the last month or two, he really should have been.

"Actually, I've changed my mind ... you can't touch this."

She pulled it away from the large boy at the last second as Flint's clumsy attempt at a grab unbalanced him and made him drop his upper body to regain control of his broom. Luckily for him too, since Artemis whizzed past an inch from his head, the bristles of her own broom brushing the back of his neck. Then he sat up again, scowled and began to advance on the giggling Shelley.

"Stop."

Shelley held out her palm in front of her once she deemed the Slytherin to be back in the correct position for her next trick. Surprisingly for both of them, he actually did so, although seemingly more out of a well trained response to obey any and all orders than of his own accord.

"Hammer time!"

The bludger that had been trailing Artemis slammed into Flint's unprotected left side like a freight train, sending the unfortunate boy tumbling from his broom, screaming in fear and agony. He hit the very solid ground forty feet below with an equally solid thump. Marcus hadn't exactly made a lot of friends in his time at Hogwarts and even his own House mates or the professors hadn't bothered to cast a cushioning charm.

Shelley wasn't around to see that as she had taken advantage of everyone else watching the unfortunate Flint's unintentional swan-dive to thread her way through the bodies, round the keeper and score again. Since she was still riding shotgun neither did Luna, not that she would given up her ride to so. With all the ducking, rolling, sharp turns and dives it was very exciting. If a little ... umm... nauseating. Oh dear.

She tasted bile. It was alright when Shelley was sat still but since the girl was a chaser that didn't exactly happen very often. Regretfully Luna left her mental perch atop the beautiful witch's beautiful hat and retreated back to her own mind.

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"We're Hufflepuff,

We're. Gonna. Score. One. More. Than. You.

BADGERS!"

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Oh what a good time to come back. She loved the way that her future House mates had not stopped singing for the entire game and was highly amused by their lyrics that were clearly 'adapted' to suit. The one that had just started was particularly good, although she was a little confused as to what a 'vindaloo' was and why she should love it. Rightly assuming that it was a muggle thing, Luna decided to ask Shelley about it later that evening. Assuming that everything went to plan, of course.

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Far above the fray, Cedric Diggory watched the mayhem below with a shudder, very glad that he was up here and out of harm's way. The war going on down there was positively vicious. And the most vicious of all weren't the great, hulking Slytherin players, or even his own, overly enthusiastic captain, but the two smallest players on the pitch.

There was biting, butting, blocking and elbowing going on down there and Cedric swore blind that he even saw the flash of a blade in young Shelley Potter's hand at one point. Most of what was going on wasn't against the rather loose rules and those that would have resulted in a foul were carefully shielded from the hawk-eyed Madame Hooch by their partners in crime.

They were a pair of absolute hellions. Demons from beyond the veil.

Of course, them being such meant that he wasn't about to question their behaviour, which went against his very strong sense of fair play and thus which he found more than a touch abhorrent, quite honestly. While he was not exactly a Mensa candidate, Shelley Potter probably was and he wasn't stupid enough to voice his concerns for fear of swift and terrible reprisals from her brilliant, eccentric and devious mind.

He had heard the rumours and was now seeing for himself how poorly getting on her bad side ended for people. The once feared Slytherin quidditch team, famed for their brutal thuggery, were now a tattered, battered, shadow of their former selves. Because of her. Because of them.

The psychotic witch and her white wolf. And, of course, their gang of hard eyed, little, skirt wearing, monsters who were baying from the stands and egging them on to ever greater acts of ruthlessness.

The Badger's Sett had become an even more fun place to be than usual since the arrival of their new batch of first years and Shelley Potter in particular. Her genius seemed to know no bounds and the rumours of the wonderful goings on in the girls dormitories were fully vindicated when all sorts of strange, but fantastic, muggle technology began to appear in the common room. Of course, those other rumours still persisted, the less fun ones, which caused him some moral difficulties.

However, the entire House had benefitted from Shelley's generosity of her time, knowledge and money, prompted no doubt by her friends, and he wasn't about to rock the boat and spoil it for everyone. He was a Hufflepuff and loyal to all the members of his House, no matter how scary and psychotic they were. Also he really didn't want to get his Buffy the Vampire Slayer priviledges revoked.

The mere thought of the beautiful and talented Alyson Hannigan caused a weird, dreamy smile to form on his face which was only lost when he spotted a flash of gold near the stands fifteen minutes later. Cedric was all business now as he glanced over at his clueless, Slytherin adversary and made a fast plan for his dive to victory and status as a Hufflepuff hero.

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Aurora Sinistra was having fun. Watching quidditch. Something that she never thought would happen in a million years.

A lot of it had to do with her two Sunday breakfast companions and proteges who were currently whizzing about on the matched pair of Comet Two Sixty brooms that she had acquired for their use. Although she still technically owned them, neatly circumventing the school's rules about first years not having broomsticks.

It had taken quite some time and effort to persuade the two girls to accept her gift but she thought that every second of that time and every knut that she had spent had been richly rewarded. The smile on her face was huge as she watched them spin their own form of chaotic magic, causing total and utter mayhem on the field of play.

Feeling encouraged by their brilliant display and her small part in it, Aurora lifted her voice and began another round of the 'Hufflepuff Chant' which was quickly taken up by her neighbours. They considered her an honorary Badger by now, knowing what she had done for their team, and they followed her lead with a great deal of fervour and enthusiasm.

Her smooth, dark, good looks only added to the enthusiasm. Particularly from the pink haired witch who was edging ever closer to her in the hopes that her clumsiness and the raucous crowd's movements might result in her getting a bit of a feel up of the beautiful professor. Completely by accident, of course.

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"Oh look Daddy, he's seen the snitch."

Luna squealed in unrestrained excitement as Shelley and Artemis also appeared to notice their team-mate's sudden movement and peeled away from their current, very dazed and confused (and suddenly very grateful) opposite numbers. They looped around, pointed their brooms at the ground and formed up on either side of Cedric to join in his thrilling, near vertical dive.

The method in their madness then became apparent as the two small chasers blocked for him, heading off bludgers and other players as they raced to intercept Cedric and put him off of his stroke. And what had been a reasonably fair match, within the strange rules of the game, now became an all out bloody, brawl as the remaining Badgers set to holding back the pack of angry Slytherins heading for their seeker.

Both Shelley and Artemis took more than a few solid hits as they shadowed the totally focused Cedric but they were not about to abandon their charge. They gritted their teeth, took their lumps and kept their positions as the blonde boy followed the flight of the tiny, golden ball.

With this stalwart and self-sacrificing defence, only one of the large, green armoured Snakes got through the line and even he missed the bodycheck that he had been attempting due to a certain true wolf raking him across the face with her claws. The extremely scared (and indeed, scarred) Mister Montague would be spending the next few days in the infirmary trying to get a very confused Madame Pomfrey to give him wolfsbane.

His miss was close enough, however, to make Diggory shift ever so slightly to his right and the miss the golden snitch with his glove. He didn't miss it entirely though.

The worried Luna had her fist jammed in her mouth and was biting down hard enough to leave marks as the coughing Hufflepuff seeker was guided to the ground by his two, bruised, but still flying, protectresses. When they hit the grass, Shelley jumped from her bristly steed, moved behind the third year boy and delivered a stinging slap to his back that reverberated around the stadium.

Something shiny shot from the boy's mouth at great speed and smacked into his hand to create an answering echo. He gave one last wracking cough and then started to laugh like a madman as he saw the object weakly fluttering on it's crumpled wings, lying in his hand. Diggory had the battered and saliva covered snitch clasped in his glove and the choking and gagging and laughing morphed into a grinning yell of triumph as held the little golden ball above his head.

Hufflepuff had won!

And by a huge margin.

Everyone in the stands spent a few moments staring in shocked surprise at the landslide victory for the Badgers. Four hundred and eighty to thirty. It was unheard of. And then three quarters of them exploded into action.

Teachers and press members alike were jostled and pushed aside as the howling, cheering mass of students raced down the steep stairs to descend upon their new sporting heroes and heroines.

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By the time the Badgers score had hit three hundred to the Snakes meagre thirty Aurora Sinistra was almost totally hoarse and had been reduced to shouting rather than singing. Since everyone else in their rowdy section of the stands was in the same boat as her it didn't really matter. All that mattered was that they made a significant amount of noise to support and encourage their brave flyers. A lot of noise.

That noise only increased in it's volume and urgency when, a few minutes and three more Hufflepuff goals later, they saw their new seeker drop from the sky like a stone. And, following a brief chase and struggle when he emerged victorious with the snitch in his hand, utter mayhem reigned in the tightly packed stands.

The dark skinned Astronomy professor was subject to that mayhem when she felt herself being swept up into a fierce embrace by a pair of strong arms and thoroughly kissed. Which she was thoroughly enjoying and lost herself to entirely without a moment's thought as to who could have been doing the aforementioned kissing.

It took her and her passionate assailant quite some time to remember just how public their 'heat of the moment' snog was and pull back from each other's embrace. By which time, inevitably, they were being whistled at and cheered on by a good proportion of those around. A group which unfortunately included a tight gaggle of smirking, leering and grinning first years. Shelley and Artemis were going to ribbing her about this for the rest of the school year, she had no doubt.

As she sighed and stepped back (somewhat reluctantly), Aurora tried to ignore the little monsters and took her first look at the person whose tonsils she had been so recently inspecting with her tongue. Her eyes travelled up from shiny, ox-blood Doctor Marten boots over shapely legs encased in opaque, black stockings and the very short skirt to the tight, light jumper. Where she stopped to appreciate the straining fabric stretched tightly across a magnificent pair of enticing breasts.

It took a vast amount of willpower for her to move her head and continue the upward journey of her gaze but eventually Aurora was staring into the face of her recent unknown and unintentional paramour. The very young face and the very pink, very recognisable and very tousled hair of one Nymphadora Tonks. Her student Nymphadora Tonks. She watched dumbstruck, partly in horror, partly in wholly inappropriate lust, as a shit-eating grin spread across the rather bruised lips of her seventeen year old (and thank-you Merlin for that small mercy) student.

Oh bugger. What had she gone and done now?

"Wotcher prof. Having fun?"

Aurora Sinistra's head dropped into her hands and she tried desperately to block out the laughter that started out as a whisper but quickly rose to a veritable cacophony of howling cat-calls. She didn't even notice when those same, strong arms wrapped her up in a hug and half led, half carried her unresisting form to the planned party in the Badgers basement lair.

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On the other side of the pitch from this little drama, Luna Lovegood was forcing her way through the thinning crowd with stern determination to intercept her target. She found him still seated with his senior staff and after some judicious and well hidden curses performed on her fellow 'gentlemen' of the press, ensured that she was the first to reach him to ask for an interview.

He very stupidly gave his trademarked, twinkly eyed smile and agreed.

The dicta-quill quivered, poised in anticipation.

"I'm here with Hogwarts headmaster, Albus Dumbledore and House Heads for Slytherin and Hufflepuff, Professors Severus Snape and Pomona Sprout."

She paused and gave the amused adults a coy, little smile before starting her 'interview' properly.

"Headmaster, that was a very exciting match from the two teams today did you enjoy it as much as the many spectators seemed to?"

"Very much so, although I will admit that games involving my old Alma Mater, Gryffindor, have a special place in my heart. Quidditch at Hogwarts has always been well supported Miss Lovegood and I think that you can see for yourself why our staff and students are so enthusiastic about it when you see a game like the one we had today."

"Indeed I do sir, and so do many others I'm sure. In fact, I overheard a couple of the scouts for the National League remarking on the particularly impressive performances of both Miss Potter and Miss Amarok." Luna turned to Snape with a barely repressed grin. "Do you think that was the reason that your team was so thoroughly trounced today professor Snape?"

He glared at the beatifically smiling girl while grinding out a rather bad tempered 'No comment' which she dutifully checked had been properly recorded in her notes by her dicta-quill.

"Hmmm. Perhaps we should turn to Professor Sprout then. How do you think your two debutantes performed today, superbly or just moderately brilliant?"

"Well I have been attending some of the practices ... " More like standing guard with Aurora Sinistra to prevent any spying on her new secret weapons really. "... so I wasn't surprised having seen just how skilled my little Badgers are on brooms and how quickly they picked up the game. Amazing considering that neither of them had even heard of quidditch before they came here. I must also congratulate our team captain, Miss Gently, for bringing, not only Potter and Amarok, but also our new seeker, Cedric Diggory, so far in such a short time."

"Yes, your chasers did work rather well together didn't they, I heard the Harpies scout being most complimentary about their teamwork and their ... forceful tactics against larger and more experienced opponents."

Professor Sprout actually winked at the surprised blonde as she smirked and snorted in amusement.

"Not news to me dear, they do make a quite terrifying threesome don't they. And I must approve of your wording, they are indeed, forceful."

Luna's next question died on her lips and her face went bright red at the word 'threesome' and Albus took the opportunity to step in before the interview went in a direction that he didn't want it to.

"I was more surprised by the fervour of our young ... and not so young ... Hufflepuffs in support of their team. It was most entertaining."

The old man tipped a twinkly eyed wink to his Herbology Mistress which masked his true feelings. Actually he had been quite upset by their behaviour, especially the risque wording that some of the more clever but less mature minds of Hufflepuff House had come up with. He was, however, the consummate politician and as such knew how to behave in front of a member of the press (however odd that member may be) so kept his anger and disdain tightly bottled up, instead giving another carefully neutral answer to the quirky, blonde reporter.

The Lovegood girl was definitely a bit ... peculiar ... but she was also incredibly sweet and Albus Dumbledore was soon following her down the rabbit hole of her choosing, discussing all kinds of things entirely unrelated to quidditch. Things like charms and transfiguration techniques that would be taught in her first year of school next September. Things that she seemed to know about and understand perfectly well. He was rather impressed by her.

And so, just as Luna had planned, he let down his guard and turned on the charm, clearly hoping for an article which painted the school, but more importantly him, in the best possible light. He was sucked in, spun around and totally out manipulated by the little girl with the big silver eyes until he would have agreed to anything she said.

And then he discovered to his consternation that he had.

She had somehow, in the course of their conversation managed to get him to offer her early entry to Hogwarts. Today, in fact. How in Merlin's soiled underpants had she done that, he wondered while shaking his head. Ah well nothing to be done now except roll with the situation and lay down some conditions of his own.

"Very well, Miss Lovegood, I'm not averse to your request since you turned eleven at the end of September and we're not too far into the school year just yet but there will be standards that you will have to meet. Let's make a deal shall we."

She looked up at him all bright eyed and nodded earnestly and eagerly.

"If you can pass the end of term exams with no less than an 'Exceeds Expectations' in all subjects then you will be properly inducted for the coming term in the new year."

This was more than even Luna had hoped for and certainly more than she had expected. She was now bouncing around in sheer delight after having had her scheme work out so perfectly and pulled both the headmaster and professor Sprout over to her daddy to seal the deal. He took far less time to break and allow his beloved daughter to attend Hogwarts for the rest of the year on a trial basis. Although this may have been because she had already told him of her plans the day before and he was much more prepared for the conversation.

"Why didn't you stop me Pomona?"

"I tried to Albus." The portly witch watched the blonde, human dynamo hopping around like a lunatic and reminding her uncomfortably of certain of her 'Hufflepuff Hooligans'. "Trust me, I really tried."

Luckily for her continuing sanity, Pomona Sprout never heard Luna's final comment or saw her rubbing her hands together as she cackled evilly. No, instead she made the monumental mistake of offering up the Hufflepuff dorms for her stay to the girl who was now staring up at her with hands folded demurely and a wide, innocent smile on her sweet face.

"I love it when a plan comes together."

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The party in the Hufflepuff common room was epic. It was the most fun that most of them could remember having in a very long time. They were toasting their heroic team of 'Flying Badgers' for their brilliant and brutal destruction of the Slytherin thugs in gallons of butterbeer and pumpkin juice. The karaoke machine was fired up and the party had just really started to swing when they were brought up short by a familiar voice.

"Badgers, listen up!"

Pomona Sprout's voice cut across even the tumultuous noise of the raucous party that was in mid swing. The music was silenced (Much to Susan's disgust) and all faces turned to their Head of House and the odd looking girl with the dirty blonde hair that was stood next to her.

"This is Miss Lovegood. At her own request, she will be joining our first year classes until, at least, the Christmas break and hopefully beyond. I expect you all to assist her in her endeavours as well as making her welcome amongst us and treating her as one of our own for as long as she is here."

Pomona had never been more proud of her House. Their new first years out-studied the Ravenclaws, out-schemed the Slytherins and out-partied the Gryffindors, but it was here, in their treatment of a small, lonely new girl that they showed their true colours. If you cut any one of them in half (not that she ever would) they would be yellow and black through and through. Hufflepuffs at their very best.

Luna Lovegood was dragged off by the chattering, excited first years and inducted into the mysteries of muggle music, television and the internet, all the while stealing furtive glances at her happy and helpful coven mates. She was in Heaven.

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Reviews are our cookies and you wouldn't want us starve now would you. Seriously though the feedback would be very helpful on this one guys so do let us know how we're doing with it, and I promise that I will try and answer all of your questions. Of which I am sure there will be many.

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DtR xx.