Author's Note: Ah Hufflepuff. I'm not sure why this one took so long for me to finish. I'm taking a bit of a different view of Hufflepuff than I normally do here, and setting up some future story lines for the series. In particular there is a story outside of Hogwarts that has been set up herein. Next up for this story is the House Elf point of view.

Hufflepuff

Susan Bones knew that her year was the center of Hufflepuff. Sixth year had the really strong personalities and the well connected Hufflepuffs. Seventh had been overshadowed since the arrived by the years above them, and quite frankly never really made an impression in their quest to be worthy of the late Cedric Diggory, who would have completed Hogwarts the year before, if he hadn't died two years ago as the result of the Triwizard Tournament.

Susan's year, being what was called Potter's year, had ended up somewhat unique. It had been thought that the Boy-Who-Lived would rule the school. How Malfoy had thought he had a chance was laughable. It had turned out that Harry Potter was something entirely different than what everyone had expected, Susan included. Hufflepuff had long figured out why, due to a series of unfortunate events that had revealed Potter's home situation. Not that any of them had been able to do anything about it.

Susan had tried, but her Aunt's hands were tied, unless Harry came to her. Susan hadn't been able to get him to do so, mainly because of the protective nature of his friends. There was some irony in that. Ernie and Zacharias had both tried last year. Ernie had even gotten detention with Umbridge ... which had resulted in a rather interesting meeting this past fall when Umbridge had returned to the Ministry following her visit to Saint Mungo's. Last Susan had heard Umbridge was having a hard time avoiding Ernie's grandfather and his intent to duel the toad.

Then there was Justin Finch-Fletchly, who had rather creatively used the muggle Lord Lieutenant of Surrey to out the behavior of Dudley Dursley, unfortunately not to the serious effect that Justin had intended, but every little bit counted. Then there was Wayne Hopkins who was currently working with his father to enact a hostile takeover of Grunnings Drills. It was a rather long range plan, but Hufflepuffs were good at long range planning.

Last year, Hufflepuffs had finally got to really get to know Harry Potter, when they'd bonded with Gryffindor and Ravenclaw to learn Defense Against The Dark Arts from him. This year, it would be him as a Professor teaching not just a small group, but all of Hogwarts. Personally Susan believed he could do it, but as the lead of the projects to improve Harry Potter's life in Hufflepuff, she intended to make sure of it. So, the moment the first years were off to their first night in their dorms in the settee, she'd called the key Hufflepuffs together.

As she sat down with her best friend Hannah, Ernie, Zachariah, Justin, and Wayne, she opened with, "How in the world did we not know this was happening?"

"I sort of knew something was up when the Headmaster didn't put the usual wanted ad for a Defense Professor," Wayne said. "My father asked why and the Headmaster replied that it wasn't necessary. He took it to mean that the Headmaster had used the time that the toad had kicked him out to find one for his return."

Ernie then spoke up. "I'd heard about Umbridge's firing as professor. According to Marchbanks, she didn't meet the minimum successful OWL and NEWT scores, because everyone in Dumbledore's Army wrote that Harry Potter was their Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor on them. Her average score of the remainder was a Troll."

"Oh that had to hurt," Hannah said.

"Caused her to get splinched inside of Saint Mungos," Ernie said.

"Is she still hiding from your grandfather?" Justin asked.

"Yes, and might end up fired from the Ministry because of it," Ernie said. "Grandfather is spending a lot of time at the Ministry trying to call her out for a duel."

"Well, I'd heard from my Aunt Matilda, the one who took a job in Little Whinging's parish church, Saint Philip's, as parish secretary, that Harry's Aunt Petunia has apparently turned her opinions of Harry and her son Dudley around," Justin said. "She had Dudley and his gang repainting the playground in early August, and she was spotted helping Harry purchase several suit coats, mostly in what Aunt Matilida called professional style. I'm afraid that I didn't put that together with Harry becoming the new Defense Professor. By the way, it seems that his Aunt Petunia now has a job teaching literature as Saint Trinians."

"I'd pray for her, but we know how she used to treat Harry, so I won't be," Hannah remarked. "Though I did discover something interesting. It seemed that the year after Harry's mother entered Hogwarts, his Aunt tried to gain admittance, and was denied."

"That is strange," Susan remarked.

"It is, and it isn't," Hannah said. "The thing is, her name was actually down for Hogwarts, and should have gotten a letter two years before Lily Evans, but didn't. I'm trying to find out why. I've got Rachael Goldstein, the prefect who finished the year before last, looking into it. I should be getting a letter anytime now."

"What year would Petunia Evans have started?" Wayne said suddenly.

"1968, I think," Hannah said.

"1968, that's the year before McGonagall took over as Deputy Headmistress," Wayne said. "I'd have Rachael look into Professor Walpole's records, if she can."

"There was something else about 1968 that is just escaping me," Susan said. "Anyway, how are we looking at in house expectations of Professor Potter?"

"Well, general expectations of the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts is very low," Ernie said. "There were a lot of Hufflepuffs looking for Professor Potter to see if he'd do more Defense tutoring. on the Hogwarts Express, and disappointed that they couldn't find him. A rumor had started before we reached Hogsmeade that he'd fled the country, which is pretty much over with now. I think a lot of us will be going in with high expectations."

"The book snobs are certainly appreciative of his choices of his text book choices," Zachariah said. "A lot of our parents, including mine, saw those book choices as well and have great hopes of the new Defense Professor."

"So we might want to tap down on expectations, then," Susan noted, the feather of her quill tickling her nose. "Much better situation to be in, though, than I thought we would be in. All right, Justin, you tend to be up first. Find out who is going to be in Defense first. I'd love it to be sixth year, but we can't be that lucky. Hope it's not third, with the Slytherins. Zachariah, get with our fifth year prefects. I want to know anyone who plans to cause trouble in Hufflepuff before they do. Wayne, please find some way to prevent Megan from embarrassing all of Hufflepuff tomorrow morning. I know she's got something planned, and you're the only one who has ever been successful at stopping her. Ernie, I know you've got duty in the common room until midnight, so you get lucky."

"If only," Ernie said, as the rest of the sixth years left. "Oh, Susan, how is your aunt? I heard the Death Eaters went after her."

"Injured, but alive," Susan said, standing up and intending to head to her dorm room for the night "She's gone into hiding, until she's recovered, and has started a rumor that she's dead. It might be a while until she's able to fully return, possibly six months to a year. The Cruciatus isn't something you recover from easily."

"Is she as bad as the Longbottoms?" Ernie asked, not letting Susan leave.

"No, but if it wasn't for Professor Snape, she'd probably be dead," Susan said. "She says he slipped her something so she appeared to die." She paused briefly, before going on to admit. "He suffered because of it. If he hadn't been on his way back from visiting someone, driving his father's little Austin, and ran out of petrol, whatever that is ... the House of Bones owes him."

"Do you know where he is, and do we need to prepare for the new Potions Professor as well as Professor Potter?" Ernie asked.

"We've got books on Professor Slughorn, he's a returning professor," Susan replied. "Shelf six, third one in. As for where Professor Snape is, and what he's doing, that is ... a secret that I don't know yet." She yawned. "I think I need some rest. I'll see you at breakfast."