The Hufflepuff Cup

Draco:

The most painful part of the night was when his father had put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Draco, I'm so proud of you."

For a moment, Draco had considered the amount of betrayal he'd agreed to and whether it was too late to bail out. But he pressed on.

And now, here they were.

"Mr. Malfoy, this portkey will take you to Gringotts bank," Dumbledore said, handing him a pocket watch that told moon phases instead of time. "Best not to trust him to apparate you and he so soon after waking up. Tell him Lord Voldemort made it."

"Right," Draco agreed and slipped the watch into his robes pocket.

"And, Draco, Nymphadora and-"

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" A woman said from down the hall. She was short and had vibrant pink hair.

"Kingsley will wait for you outside the bank. When you reappear, they will arrest your uncle and stun you." Dumbledore's expression was grave and poised. Draco wished he wouldn't look like that.

"Be careful not to let your uncle become suspicious before you're back on the surface," Mr. Weasley said. "The goblins will not allow you to leave if he suddenly claims you have tricked him."

Draco nodded and turned the corner to pace in front of the Room of Requirements. "I need a room that looks like the guest room at Malfoy Manor. I need green wallpaper. I need a chandelier. I need a room that looks like…" He heard the door change form and glanced over. There was a door that looked exactly like the doors in Malfoy Manor. So far, so good.

Draco twisted the knob and peered inside. There was an elegant green wallpaper with intricate twists in it. There was a hardwood floor with black rugs. No windows, but very nice furniture. A bed with many pillows. A low-to-the-ground chair with a long back. An ottoman. All these were in green. There was also a place for a bath and a very lovely dressing desk with a large mirror and several types of toiletries laid out.

"Alright," he announced to the Order. "This will do. Bring him in here."

Arthur Weasley and Remus Lupin heaved Rudolphus Lestrange in between them. Sirius Black hurried to help, along with Draco's cousin Tonks. Together, they hauled him to the Room of Requirements.

Sirius whistled when he saw it. "What's this?" he asked. "Did Hermione make this?"

"I did not," Hermione said, blushing a little as she turned from opening a short passage into the Founder's Rooms for Rosalie to run through. "Me messing with the castle is a new thing. As far as I know, the Room of Requirements has been here for ages."

"We never knew this existed in Hogwarts. And we knew every inch of the school!"

"Evidently not," Tonks laughed.

"It's a good thing you didn't know about this room," Professor McGonagall, who had joined the fight from down the hall and had nothing but a scrape on her hand, said.

They laid Uncle Rudolphus on the bed. Rosalie rushed in with the little beetle-like listening device she'd used the last time he went to Gringotts. Just like before, she fixed it underneath his tie and gave him a quick kiss. "We'll watch where you are and listen in," she said.

"Now, what's that?" Arthur Weasley asked.

"A tracking device," Rosalie explained. "And a listening bug. It's a Muggle invention."

"Really?" Draco had never seen Arthur Weasley excited. The man was like a kid in a candy store. "Fantastic!"

Rosalie smiled. "I'll show you a smartphone," she said. "You're going to love the internet." She smoothed down Draco's collar. "And you? You come back safe."

"Yes, ma'am," Draco chuckled.

The Order cleared out, wishing him luck as they departed. Then the door was closed behind them. Draco was left alone for a few seconds, taking deep breaths. He pulled the pocket watch out of his pocket and held it in his left hand. Then, wand in his other hand, he walked over and poked Uncle Rudolphus in the side.

"Ennervate," he whispered.

Uncle Rudolphus took a breath and then opened his eyes. "Draco?" He asked and sat up. "Where am I?"

Up until this point, Draco had never lied to family. Played it cool, keep the truth… sure. But there was a lump in his throat when he looked at his uncle and said, "Malfoy Manor. We failed. I was followed." He took a deep, ragged breath.

"Draco… does the Dark Lord know?"

"What do you think?" Draco gestured to the bruise on his head. He'd been knocked into the door of the Room of Requirements by a wayward spell, but was glad for it now. It helped his story. He gave a weary sigh. "The Dark Lord had given you and I a new mission. He's asked us to fetch that item Aunt Bellatrix is keeping for him. He wants it in the next hour, which is why I'm waking you up."

"The next hour?" Rudolphus took a deep breath. "Did he tell you what Bellatrix is keeping for him? I don't know… feels like a new thing every week." He shook his head.

"A cup," Draco said. "The Dark Lord wants a cup he entrusted Aunt Bellatrix with. She's fine, but she attempted a rescue mission at Hogwarts when the mission went south and is in no condition to travel."

"They get Bella?" His uncle was surprised. "Well… I see. We better go. Although, I'm not sure I can apparate…"

"The Dark Lord provided a portkey," Draco explained, holding up the pocket watch. "All you need is your key. Do you need me to fetch it for you?"

"No, no. Let me see… the portkey… my, very kind of the Dark Lord. Very kind." Draco put the portkey in his uncle's hand and watched him admire the worksmanship. Then he slowly got to his feet. "Right, an hour? Let's go, then."

They held the portkey between them. Rudolphus still seemed dazed, but determined. His uncle was out of the loop, it seemed.

Uncle Rudolphus activated the portkey with his wand and they were pulled through time and space. After the pulling in his gut had ceased, he felt the marble steps under his feet. Gringotts again.

"Hurry, now, Draco," Uncle Rudolphus said, already marching up the stairs ahead of him. "It's not good to be out in the open… someone could call the aurors."

This was working pretty well so far, Draco thought. His uncle was hauling him through. Very nice. Soon they'd have the cup.

His uncle approached the lone goblin teller at the end of the room and pulled his key out of his robes, as planned. "I'd like to go down to my vault," he said, slapping the key on the table.

The goblin was the same one that had seen Draco when Aunt Bellatrix had brought him down. Hopefully he said nothing. Draco suddenly wondered if it would be suspicious if he knew where the cup was once they got down there. If his uncle would realise Draco was trying to rob him.

The goblin didn't say anything. He only walked over to the cart. The giant stone lock began rumbling behind them. Draco found that his chest felt very constricted.

He was robbing family. Close family. And what for? Destiny? A prophecy? A future with a girl he'd only known for six months?

But something in his gut told him that this was what he needed to do. To keep his parents safe. To keep his friends safe. If he'd been a Slytherin, the calls of wealth and power might have swayed him. But that wasn't his priority. He wanted to live through this war and he wanted those around him to live as well.

And so Draco straightened his spine. He was a double agent until he couldn't be any more.

They climbed into the mine cart and the goblin got in ahead of them. Draco barely noticed the breakneck speed and the nauseating curves.

Hufflepuffs could probably make the scariest double agents of all. Loyalty… loyalty to whom? Draco's loyalties had switched. What about those who were strictly loyal to themselves? More than Slytherins, Hufflepuffs were the people who drew you in. They convinced you to trust them.

Hufflepuffs were loyal friends and unyielding enemies. As the Dark Lord was probably going to discover, when their true loyalty was threatened, then you'd never know they'd switched sides until the last second.

But Draco suddenly snorted. Helga would be angry with him for the way he was disfiguring her house. Perfect Hufflepuff… right…

"You okay?" Uncle Rudolphus called over the wind.

"Yup!" Draco yelled back.

The cart ride seemed longer this time around. Draco kept waiting for more questions to be asked. But a few things began to seem familiar. They whooshed down a cliff and past some stalactites that Draco thought he recognised. And then he was thrown into Uncle Rudolfus's shoulder as the car screeched to a halt before heading off the cliff.

"Ah," Uncle Rudolphus said, glancing down at the ground through the railroad tracks. "This is always my… least favourite part." He shuddered and turned. "Ah, Draco, do you know what this cup looks like?"

Draco's heart sped up. "I think so," he said. "Want me to go grab it?"

"Yes, please," Rudolphus said, sounding just as relieved as Draco felt. "Um, here's the key. Hurry you on."

Draco hopped out of the cart and followed the goblin to the door. Maybe he wasn't curious. Maybe he saw weird stuff all the time. Either way, he barely blinked at Draco as Draco turned the key in the door and the vault opened.

For a moment, he imagined the vault empty when it opened. That Aunt Bellatrix and Lord Voldemort had planned ahead. He held his breath. But when the door opened, the gold was still there. Everything was alright.

Draco made a big show of looking from side to side and leaning down to examine a few things in Uncle Rudolphus's line of vision. Then he rounded a pile of gold and was no longer visible. He walked slowly, carefully, and then beelined for the cup.

Please still be there… please still be there…

He came into view of the wardrobe and saw the cup sitting on top, just like before. He withdrew his wand and said, "Accio cup!". But the cup didn't budge. "Accio cup!"

When nothing happened a second time, he exhaled and began to climb up the large pile of gold.

One could expect a big pile of money to be cold to the touch, but wizarding gold was warm to the touch. Draco could almost imagine he was crawling on a beach – maybe in Brazil. Did they have beaches in Brazil? It was hot… but then again, the only beach he'd ever been to had been cold and on a horcrux hunt.

If he got out of this mess alive, he and Rosalie were going to Brazil. And if his parents could leave the country, then they'd come too.

It was slow going because the coins rustled and ran down the slope. The pile was not all gold coins. Something was buried underneath the treasure, though Draco was not too worried about what it was. Who knew how many dark and cursed items were in this room?

Draco reached the top of the pile of gold, seized the cup, and turned and sledded back down the mountain of gold. Victory was imminent. He rolled when he got to the bottom and looked at the cup.

It was hot to the touch and had a gold H emblazoned on the front. And it was bigger than he'd expected. Just a little bigger and a little rounder than the cups at Hogwarts. It looked like real gold – not a hint of tarnish. And it seemed to have the general foreboding feeling of a horcrux.

He almost laughed. He'd gotten it. He had Helga Hufflepuff's cup.

"What do you think you're laughing about?" a voice boomed behind him. Draco jumped and landed on his backside and crab crawled away. However, his arm caught underneath him, and he fell, arms and legs splayed, on the floor. A ghost, not unlike Rowena Ravenclaw when he'd seen her, stood behind him on the pile of gold.

She had gold hair in the thickest bun Draco had ever seen. She was the heaviest lady he'd ever laid eyes on but didn't seem overweight so much as wielding a strength so strong that she could have crushed his head between any two muscles she chose. Her body seemed almost disproportionate, she was so ripped. She stood a little taller than Harry had as Godric Gryffindor and with such a passion in her hazel eyes that Draco thought her pupils were on fire for a moment.

Her clothes were durable. She wore very nice yellow and orange clothes and had black leather patches on her elbows, knees, and hips. And she had some black armour on over her chest and big, huge, black boots. They were so big and menacing that Draco almost forgot the word for them. "Stompers," he thought, then mentally kicked himself. No, no, patterns, they were called. Patterns with massive soles to keep one from sinking too deep into mud.

"Hi," Draco gasped. "A little warning, next time, perhaps?"

The woman shushed him very firmly. "Sh-sh-sh-shhhh!" she hissed. "They'll think you're mad, talking to yourself in here! Get up! Now!"

"Excuse you," Draco's temper was flaring now. "Do you know who I am?"

"Of course I do," the woman said, very dismissively. "I know everything about you. I know you're a right pain in the bohemies and you've got the personality of last night's beans out the back end and you're as observant as a flobberworm. Didn't I tell you to get up?"

Draco did get up. And as he did, he noticed she had badger skins tucked around the tops of her boots. And this detail gave away whom he was dealing with. "I suppose you're Helga Hufflepuff?" he asked.

"Right, what a question! Haven't you been expecting me? You've already met Salazar, Godric, and Rowena. Now Rowena… she's never been one for conversation. Both her girls take after her there."

"I guess…" Draco was shying away from being in the presence of such an impressive woman. Especially one so much taller… and wider… and bolder. Everything about this woman said, "I can crush you." He hesitated. "I guess I wasn't expecting… you."

She was the kind of woman who could say "I brought you into this world and I can take you out" to her children and have them believe every word. Draco had always envisioned Hufflepuff as quiet, peaceful, and plain. That vision was long gone, now.

"Right," Helga said, distastefully. "You were expecting a carpet to walk on, were you?"

"I suppose so, yeah," Draco admitted.

Helga leaned down with her hands on her knees and bent all the way forward to get into Draco's face. She was still three inches over him, though. Her mouth was level with his eyes and he felt a heavy breath hit his cornea. "Right, Draco, I know you don't like my house. And I know my house doesn't like you right now. But I'll tell you something you will like about me. When someone threatens my friends and family, I go after them. And they run from me. When the government came knocking at the Hogwarts doors in 995, I gave them the option between the experience of hell and the experience of Helga and Draco, they took the first."

The candlelight dancing on Helga's face made her seem more bold, more powerful, and more fierce than any of the other founders he'd seen so far. Though, maybe he was just biased.

Helga gave a long pause and then said, "I am willing to put my life on the line when my friends are in danger. I'm willing to sacrifice my money, my comfort, and my time. People made fools of me for that and I simply turned my back on them until I found people who made friends of me for it. When I got married - hoo-boy! He knew that no matter where he went and what he did, he was doing it with me. That's what loyalty is, Draco. It's a fighter. It's stubborn. You've seen from some of the death eaters in my house – sometimes loyalty is bootlicking. Sometimes loyalty is blind following. But in its truest form? Loyalty is aim twice, fire once, and get 'em between the eyes."

She paused, and Draco felt like she was staring into his soul. "Now that you've heard that, who's the one person in Hogwarts most like me?"

Draco felt like he'd swallowed a whole bottle of butterbeer. He was warming up from the inside out. "Me?" He asked.

"Ya darn tootin!" Helga said, shaking her head at him. "Now, I want you to say what you said before. Why did I surprise you?"

"Well… because…"

"Come on, lad. Spit er out."

"Because you snuck up on me…"

"And?"

Draco exhaled. "Because I wasn't expecting you."

Helga straightened up and put her hands on her hips. Two-hundred and forty pounds of a woman taller than Godric Gryffindor. "Well, Draco Malfoy," she said. "You are exactly what I was expecting."

Draco thought about that, and he teared up. That warm feeling in his blood was suddenly hitting his eyes. It was just… no one had expected him. No one in his house knew why he was there. No one understood why he'd been moved from Slytherin. Everyone asked. Snape was embarrassed for him. Even Godric Gryffindor had said he hadn't expected Draco just a few weeks ago.

It kinda felt like "being expected" and "being wanted" were being used interchangeably. No one had expected him and no one had wanted him. The only person outside of his parents, and now Helga, who had wanted Draco right off the bat his whole life was Rosalie.

Helga waved him forward as if to give him a hug and he held his hands up. Nope, no, not for a second. But she waved him forward more insistently and then pulled a gold coin that had gotten stuck in his collar out of it.

Fair enough.

"Now," Helga said. "You get that there cup up to the castle and get rid of that horcrux. And then keep the cup – it's good for battle. See what you make of it and I'll help you if you need it. And when you get back to Hogwarts, I want you to really take control, okay? This is my prophecy. I am the great defender of Hogwarts. And I do not take the castoffs of the castle. If anything, that's Godric's job. Did you ever meet Peter Pettigrew?"

Draco laughed, and Helga shushed him again with an urgent glance towards the vault entrance.

"You, Draco, are the person who pulled the prophecy together. You engaged Godric and Salazar's personalities and it was because of you that Rowena's girl found the group. And you pulled everyone together because you, Draco, are mine. You are a Hufflepuff. You were a Hufflepuff when you were uniting the Slytherin house and you were a Hufflepuff when you were using that study group and you will always be the perfect example of a true Hufflepuff. And I want you to go back to Hogwarts and smack my house across the face and tell them that they are not the fat, dumpy, yellow-bellied, no-personality people they are made out to be! I want you, Draco, to tell them that they are my champions and my warriors." She put a hand on his shoulder. "You got all that?"

Draco nodded. "Yes, Helga, I've got it all."

"Good." Helga straightened up again. She cast no shadow, but Draco felt it anyway. "We'll talk soon."

She faded until she blended right in with the gold and then disappeared entirely. Draco looked at his feet and found the Hufflepuff cup standing in between them. He picked it up and wandered back towards the doors.

The goblin was waiting for him with a sneer. Draco held the cup up as offhandedly as he could once he was in sight of his uncle, who had leaned forward in the cart with his hands over his eyes. "I'm sure I've found it!" he said. "It's quite a mess in there… you really ought to organise it."

"Are you volunteering?" Uncle Rudolpus asked. He squinted at the cup. "I've never seen it before. Your aunt… the Dark Lord trusts her with all sorts of stuff." He waved his hand carelessly and almost smacked the cup out of Draco's hands. Draco tightened his grip and stowed the cup in his pocket.

"No matter," he said, climbing in and keeping his cool. "Let's just get it back to the Dark Lord now. Hopefully he'll forgive me for the mess at Hogwarts, then."

The goblin got into the front of the cart and the cart took off at top speed. Draco kept his grip tight on the cup all the way to the top and almost made the mistake of sighing in relief when he saw the marbled entrance to Gringotts in sight.

Uncle Rudolphus seemed to be suffering from a headache as the cart came to a stop. Draco had to help him up. The goblin ignored them and returned to his post at a desk three times his height. Draco looked to the entrance, anticipating the worst… perhaps Aunt Bellatrix would show up for a surprise visit? Or Voldemort himself would have grown suspicious for some reason and come at this precise moment?

But the aurors were outside. Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Aunt Bellatrix couldn't be here without a fight going on outside. And all was quiet.

Draco led his uncle out of the bank. No sooner had they stepped foot on the steps than a stunning spell came out of nowhere and took Rudolphus in the gut. A second spell took Draco in the face, but it was only a full-body-bind. And before he hit the ground, the caster even had the kindness to slow his fall until his cheek rested nicely against the step. Two people in Auror's robes appeared. One had bright pink hair.

"Way to go, cousin," Tonks whispered to Draco as she hoisted him up. "I mean, assuming you got it. You'll have to tell us all about it at the castle. Sorry for the spell. Just incase anyone's watching, y'know?"

They disapparated and Draco briefly saw the dark outline of the castle against the midnight sky before Tonks set him on the ground and performed the counter curse. He took a deep breath of the cold, night air and then rolled onto his back and began to laugh at the night sky.

Tonks let him lay for a moment to catch his breath and then offered her hand. He took it and got to his feet. "What's funny?" she asked.

"The look on the Dark Lord's face I'm imagining," Draco said. "When he realises I betrayed him twice in one night."

Rosalie, having been listening in, was waiting for Draco at the front doors. As were many of the Order who had also been listening in. When he was near, Draco dug in his pockets for the cup. A scary voice in his head asked, "What if it's gone? What if you lost it?" But his fingers wrapped around metal and he held it up, triumphantly. The entire Order and present faculty burst into cheers and claps.

Rosalie could finally take the distance no longer and she ran out of the castle to meet him halfway and kiss him. Her lips were soft and tasted like fruit chapstick. He made for a second taste before she pulled away. "For the record," she said, "I always expected you."

Draco suddenly felt shy, but happy still. "Did you?" he asked. "And all this?"

"I mean…" Rosalie tilted her head from side to side. "The pureblooded double agent and one of the smartest, bravest people in his year? No. But the noble and loyal and the fighter you are? Oh yeah, I expected you."

Ah, no. He was blushing!

He presented the cup. "Ready to check your theories?"

"Yes!" she said. "And Hermione and I talked – we're investing in two mice. Male and female. And we are going to put the horcrux into mice and we are going to practice taking it out of them and putting it into another until we've got a solution."

"You mean, what we should have done in the first place?"

Rosalie sighed. "Well, Hermione and I can't think of everything all the time, Draco. The human brain isn't that expansive."

Dumbledore met them at the entrance. He shook Draco's hand with a smile. "May I see the cup?" he asked.

Draco's mind was still running haywire on all the things that could go wrong. What if this wasn't the real Dumbledore? And this was a clever double agent working for Voldemort? But he handed over the cup and Dumbledore examined it. "Amazing," he said. "Helga would be very proud to see this returned to Hogwarts."

"I met her," Draco said. "And she was absolutely incredible."

Dumbledore smiled. "I bet she was. And I bet she had the best treacle tart recipe."

"I didn't ask," Draco said. "But I can tell you that she had the best armour ever. She was two-hundred pounds of stubborn fight."

"I can't wait to meet her," Rosalie said. "She sounds like a force to be reckoned with." She lifted Draco's arm up over her shoulders and held his hand across her chest.

"There is no reckoning Helga Hufflepuff," Draco said. "Did you get to hear her talking?"

"No, we could only hear you," Hermione said, standing in a doorway. She jumped and hugged him. Draco cringed for a moment, then hugged her back. Fine, fine… whatever.

"Is Harry alright?" he asked, realising that he wouldn't be out yet.

Hermione nodded. "He texted and said she's finished treating him, but Madam Pomfrey won't let us in because it's after hours. He'll have to celebrate with us tomorrow." She seemed fine with this. Harry was bound to get an earful from her later.

"It is important that this is well guarded," Dumbledore said, returning the cup to Draco. "You saw an excellent opportunity and you used it very well. Let's get this hidden away, now."

Draco took the cup and paused. "Professor Dumbledore… my uncle and my father… where are they?"

The celebrations of the Order died down. Dumbledore straightened his glasses. "Your uncle has been taken to the ministry cells, along with all of the other Death Eaters captured here tonight. The story is that we noticed you making frequent trips between classes and anticipated an attack. You have not been identified to the Ministry by name, however."

"If the Dark Lord breaks my uncle out of jail, he'll know I've betrayed him," Draco said. "And I don't feel right to have him sitting in a cold cell… is there a place we can keep him? Just for a little while? And my Dad, too? I want to try and get both my parents away from the Dark Lord."

Dumbledore looked at him for a long moment, then glanced over Draco's shoulder. "Sirius?" he asked.

Sirius Black groaned and kicked the floor. "I thought you were going to ask," he muttered. "Yes, I believe there are still some prisons in my prison."

"Or, Professor," Hermione said. "I could make a room here?"

Sirius and Dumbledore exchanged looks. "I think," Dumbledore said, "I would prefer them away from the students. What do you think, Sirius?"

Sirius scuffed his foot on the ground. "I'd say keep 'em at Hogwarts for a night or two, so I can get my place ready to contain them," he said. "We'll reconvene then."

Dumbledore nodded, and then looked at Draco. Looked back at the cup, then at Draco again. "Right, yes, Professor Dumbledore," Draco said. "Goodnight. I'll get this right there."

"I can open a door!" Hermione said. "Come on, this wall. Right…" she put her hand on the bricks and a very narrow passage leading into the Founder's Rooms appeared. They gave a few last hugs – Draco noticed no Weasleys were present – and then travelled down a very thin corridor to the room with the four colourful doors. He walked down, feeling as if he'd won the Quidditch World Cup singlehandedly, and set the cup down on the table.

It sparkled and caught the light and Draco found himself smiling. He felt lighter than a feather. Brighter than a sunbeam.

Rosalie snuck an arm around his waist. "I'm glad you got to meet her."

"Me too," Draco said, honestly. "I hope I get to meet her again soon."

Rosalie kissed his cheek. "What now?" she asked.

Draco looked up at the door almost directly in front of him. "I've got a thought," he said, and walked up to it.

Maybe he'd regret this. Who knew? Right now, it felt right.

He took the handle of the Hufflepuff door and it grew hot in his hand. He couldn't pull his hand away. But then it twisted and he opened it.

Behind the door was a little study. The elves had tidied it up even though he hadn't been using it. A beautiful mahogany desk and a muggle computer chair with a fantastic back. A little honey-coloured chaise for sitting and possibly for making out with Rosalie on. A bookcase, and a very large corkboard which was hung on the wall.

He looked at his hand. Written on his thumb line, in ochre-yellow, was his house. Hufflepuff.

Draco walked to the other door and opened it up. As expected, the Hufflepuff common room was on the other side. Only about five students were milling about. Two were Crabbe and Goyle, playing Gobstones in the corner. They looked up in surprise when the door opened.

"Hi, guys," Draco said, staring at them. He looked over his shoulder at Hermione and Rosalie, and then walked fully into the common room. Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley were there. As was a single girl doing homework. "I've had the craziest night… you would not believe what Helga Hufflepuff was like!"

The next chapter will be called Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.