#4 Re-starting
If at first you don't succeed, try again! That's the message that runs across the mantel of the fireplace in the Hufflepuff common room. It has inspired many students and given them the motivation to strive for success.
But for Cynthia Gavron it brought only aggravation. She had a hard enough time dealing with being muggleborn add entering a whole new world onto that and she was mad enough to kill!
"I can't do this!" Cynthia read over the last question that Professor Snape had assigned for homework and threw her quill down. I hate quills. And ink and Potions! She read over the book again, trying to make sense of the assignment. It just didn't make sense!
The other Hufflepuffs gave her sympathetic looks, but none of them intervened. They'd all been in that place and it wasn't fun. But unless the first year could learn to work on her own, there wasn't much hope for her. And Hufflepuffs like hope and other happy things.
Cynthia gave the questions she had answered a last look to make sure the ink was dry before shoving the paper roughly in her book and slamming it shut. The physical expression of her frustration made her feel much better. And it made her want to punch someone.
The questions could have gone undone for that night, if the assignment hadn't been procrastinated. Cynthia had to hand the questions in the next day and Snape was not an understanding teacher, especially if you weren't a Slytherin.
As soon as the last question was finished, Cynthia would be released from the Hufflepuff rule bond and she could do as she liked. Until then there was simply time to waste. And a question to do within the next hour since curfew was fast approaching.
As the clock ticked, Hufflepuffs watched Cynthia. They watched her do her reading and glare at her Potions work. They watched her study for Transfiguration and glare at her Potions textbook. And there was more glaring going on then working.
In one of the corners, the daily prefects meeting was going on. The six prefects met and discussed issues that were affecting their house and upcoming events. And what to do about muggleborns and the best ways to help house elf equality bills to pass.
The meeting adjourned and Suzanne Zou caught her friend's arm before she could leave the common room. Like Cynthia, Suzanne was muggleborn and she related to the difficulties Cynthia was experiencing. But unlike her best friend Clarissa Norton, she had failed Potions in second year and every year after that. She was not the one you wanted to offer to assist you with Potions homework.
"You should give her a hand." Suzanne said, nodding towards the fireplace where Cynthia was procrastinating. "That firstie could use some help with Potions."
Clarissa nodded and smiled her thanks to Suzanne. She hurried up to her dormitory to drop off her prefect notes and grab her Potions ones. Clarissa loved Potions, she wanted to be a Potions Master and there was a good chance of her getting into the field since so few people applied. She was the only Hufflepuff in Snape's NEWT level class.
"Hello, you look like you could use a hand." Clarissa said with a smile, plunking her books down next to Cynthia's. "What's troubling you?"
Cynthia pulled her Potions book over and opened it in front of her. "I don't understand these questions and they're due tomorrow!" She complained dramatically. "Snape assigned them just to be mean!"
Clarissa smiled. "He just wants you to learn. Remember, a potion isn't something you can study and understand. You have to create it, make it. And the prep work outside of class lets you get more brewing done."
Cynthia nodded. "I guess. But I still don't get this!" She thumped the Potions book in front of her.
"I was getting to that." Clarissa said with a smile. "Let me explain."
And with a new perspective and a bit of help the Potions homework was finished and a new relationship formed between Clarissa Norton and the first year Hufflepuff students. They all knew who to go to for help with Potions.