Safe As Houses
The Hufflepuff Common Room Series
Title: Safe As Houses
Author: Bizarity
Rating: G
Prompt: Accusation
Word Count: 630
Summary: All is not well at Hogwarts and Eloise's father comes to sort things out.
Warnings: None. This fic is perfectly safe.
Notes: I wrote this for the 100quills challenge.
I don't see parents very often. Occasionally a very protective mother might come and see where her "darling boy" will be living but even that's rare and I tend to forget the details. If it weren't for the fact that sometimes there can be 100 years between visits I'd say they were all the same woman.
There is one parent I do remember. It was early one year; the year Professor Slughorn returned to teach.
*****
"Where is she?" A tall, dark haired man had stormed through the door, having somehow managed to get passed the statue of Bridget Wenlock. That statue's always been too easy to persuade.
"Where is she?" The students were all staring at him and Ernie Macmillan stood up.
"Can I help you? Are you looking for someone?" I thought I saw Hannah Abbott roll her eyes; if I'd had any I probably would have done the same.
"My daughter! Eloise! Where is she?" Apparently, the third time was the charm as Ernie started nodding.
"You must be Mr Midgen." He smiled, but Mr Midgen was still scowling. Ernie turned around. "Hannah, could you go down to the dormitories and see if Eloise is there, please?" Hannah nodded and left the room. I could feel her walking down the stairs until she reached the dormitory. While she was gone, Ernie turned back to Mr Midgen. "I've sent someone down to the girls' dormitory to see if she's there. Would you like to see Professor Sprout as well, while you're here? I really think you ought to." Before Mr Midgen had a chance to reply, Ernie had turned again and sent one of the second years to go and get Pomona.
There was some tension in the room, I think, as everyone waited for Eloise or Pomona to arrive. Eventually, I could feel Hannah walking back up the stairs towards us, and she had someone else with her.
"Dad?" Eloise ran across the common room towards her father who returned her hug enthusiastically. They whispered together until Pomona stepped through the door.
"What's going on here?" Her eyes took in the scene, before finally focusing on Mr Midgen and his daughter. "Mr Midgen, to what do we owe this pleasure?"
"I'm taking her home." Everyone looked stunned, except for the Midgens.
"I see. I take it there is some kind of family emergency. That's understandable. When can we expect her back?" Pomona looked rational, the students still looked worried but Mr Midgen looked furious.
"There is nothing wrong at home! My home is perfectly safe which is considerably more than I can say for this establishment!" Pomona was looking shocked, the students looked horrified and I was starting to feel worried. "At home I can keep my children safe. Which you obviously can't here." I could tell he was working himself up. "If you don't have any decent sort of protection then you shouldn't pretend to be able to look after the students. If there's no one to keep them safe…"
******
I stopped listening after that. I couldn't take any more of it in. He was right, of course. I'd failed. The students didn't feel safe anymore because there was nothing I could do to keep the danger away. Every morning owls brought the papers in telling of death and destruction and the students worried about their families and themselves. If I had been Helga, a real, walking, living, person, I'd have been able to do something. Been able to fight to protect them, or even just hold them and make the feel safe. What can I do? I'm a room, made of walls and stone with carpet. I can't do anything to help them. Mr Midgen was right to take her away to somewhere she'd feel safe.
See my table for this series here
Title: Safe As Houses
Author: Bizarity
Rating: G
Prompt: Accusation
Word Count: 630
Summary: All is not well at Hogwarts and Eloise's father comes to sort things out.
Warnings: None. This fic is perfectly safe.
Notes: I wrote this for the 100quills challenge.
I don't see parents very often. Occasionally a very protective mother might come and see where her "darling boy" will be living but even that's rare and I tend to forget the details. If it weren't for the fact that sometimes there can be 100 years between visits I'd say they were all the same woman.
There is one parent I do remember. It was early one year; the year Professor Slughorn returned to teach.
*****
"Where is she?" A tall, dark haired man had stormed through the door, having somehow managed to get passed the statue of Bridget Wenlock. That statue's always been too easy to persuade.
"Where is she?" The students were all staring at him and Ernie Macmillan stood up.
"Can I help you? Are you looking for someone?" I thought I saw Hannah Abbott roll her eyes; if I'd had any I probably would have done the same.
"My daughter! Eloise! Where is she?" Apparently, the third time was the charm as Ernie started nodding.
"You must be Mr Midgen." He smiled, but Mr Midgen was still scowling. Ernie turned around. "Hannah, could you go down to the dormitories and see if Eloise is there, please?" Hannah nodded and left the room. I could feel her walking down the stairs until she reached the dormitory. While she was gone, Ernie turned back to Mr Midgen. "I've sent someone down to the girls' dormitory to see if she's there. Would you like to see Professor Sprout as well, while you're here? I really think you ought to." Before Mr Midgen had a chance to reply, Ernie had turned again and sent one of the second years to go and get Pomona.
There was some tension in the room, I think, as everyone waited for Eloise or Pomona to arrive. Eventually, I could feel Hannah walking back up the stairs towards us, and she had someone else with her.
"Dad?" Eloise ran across the common room towards her father who returned her hug enthusiastically. They whispered together until Pomona stepped through the door.
"What's going on here?" Her eyes took in the scene, before finally focusing on Mr Midgen and his daughter. "Mr Midgen, to what do we owe this pleasure?"
"I'm taking her home." Everyone looked stunned, except for the Midgens.
"I see. I take it there is some kind of family emergency. That's understandable. When can we expect her back?" Pomona looked rational, the students still looked worried but Mr Midgen looked furious.
"There is nothing wrong at home! My home is perfectly safe which is considerably more than I can say for this establishment!" Pomona was looking shocked, the students looked horrified and I was starting to feel worried. "At home I can keep my children safe. Which you obviously can't here." I could tell he was working himself up. "If you don't have any decent sort of protection then you shouldn't pretend to be able to look after the students. If there's no one to keep them safe…"
******
I stopped listening after that. I couldn't take any more of it in. He was right, of course. I'd failed. The students didn't feel safe anymore because there was nothing I could do to keep the danger away. Every morning owls brought the papers in telling of death and destruction and the students worried about their families and themselves. If I had been Helga, a real, walking, living, person, I'd have been able to do something. Been able to fight to protect them, or even just hold them and make the feel safe. What can I do? I'm a room, made of walls and stone with carpet. I can't do anything to help them. Mr Midgen was right to take her away to somewhere she'd feel safe.
See my table for this series here