Hufflepuff Confrontations: the After School Special (before school)
Hannah placed her hands on her hips in the main conference room off of the dining hall, at seven o'clock the next morning. Ernie sat at the head of a long table, looking murderous in his pristine uniform. His Head Boy badge glinted off of the harsh sunlight streaming from the window.
"Well, what did you expect? Seven o'clock? Ernie, honestly," Hannah scolded, her brows knit together in a mix of exasperation and anger, somehow looking fierce in her Spiderman pajamas and eyemask holding her unruly blond hair back. Susan made a small sound of protest from behind Hannah. She had followed him as he stalked from the Hufflepuff common room, telling him the whole way that no one would show up to the meeting.
"I expected at least Hermione and Ron to show up," Ernie exclaimed, slamming an open palm onto the maple table top.
"They're probably still asleep, like all of the other sane students." The pom-poms on the tops of Hannah's slippers bobbed threateningly. Susan sighed. Ernie and Hannah were good friends, but constantly butting heads- Ernie's over-inflated head verses Hannah's level one.
"I made it quite clear, last night at the Prefect meeting, that Prefects and Student Parliament members were to be here at seven- on the dot- to discuss the new school rules that Dumbledore has put in place. We need to strategize!"
"Strategize?" Susan snorted.
"Strategize?" Hannah snorted. "Strategize about what? How to keep the first years out of the forest? Ron Weasley was doing quite a good job of it last night. I don't see what you're so excited about. I think you're letting the power go to your head- it's almost sadistic, requiring the students who are supposed to be priveleged to be up an hour earlier than the rest of them."
"With great power comes great responsibility," Ernie reminded her in a low voice, eyeing her pajama bottoms.
Hannah stared, not quite sure what to say to that.
"Anyway," she recovered, "what I'm saying is that this is all unnecessary- we had a normal first-day-of-school meeting planned for after classes today. All the 'strategy' can wait for this afternoon-"
"That's why you aren't Head Girl!" Ernie exclaimed, standing up. Susan gasped. "You don't care enough. I know you need your beauty rest- but maybe you should think about the school before you think about your hair-"
The soft sound of a throat being cleared caused them both to turn towards the door. Dumbledore smiled at them from behind Susan Bones. "Has she been here the whole time?" Hannah mouthed to Ernie.
"She came in with you," he nodded, and then, to Dumbledore: "Yes, Headmaster?"
"Growing minds need their rest, Mr. Macmillan. Please keep that in mind as you reprimand your sleepy Prefects in this afternoon's meeting. Ms. Abbot, I understand why you are here, but I also understand that as a Prefect, you have an image to uphold and adhering to the dress code would assist in that. You may return to your dorms, both of you."
"Thank you, Headmaster," Hannah sighed, looking even more exasperated than when she arrived. She slipped out the door, closing it behind her. Susan, right behind her, laughed a bit at the door shut in her face, opened it, and skipped to catch up with Hannah as Ernie organized his papers and Dumbledore walked calmly in the other direction.
"I can't believe him, the nerve of Ernie- your hair, how dare he-" Susan glanced at Hannah's big blond mass of hair, almost wincing. "Anyway, you showed him. You do a good job of keeping him in line, Hannah."
Hannah stopped in front of the Hufflepuff cellar common rooms, stooping to pick up what appeared to be a small, pink notebook. Susan sighed again, in an almost growl, and continued into the common rooms, grumbling about something. Hannah leaned against the door, examining the book and trying to calm her nerves before facing a room full of waking Hufflepuffs.
She could spot Draco Malfoy on his way up from the dungeons for breakfast, and she started to pat her hair before realizing it was useless- not that Malfoy would even look at her, anyway. She feigned interest in the pink notebook, turning it over to look for a name.
Draco stopped, across the hallway from Hannah. "Looking good, Abbot," he sneered, taking in her pajamas. "Isn't there a meeting you should be at?"
"You were supposed to be there, too, as far as I know," Hannah pursed her lips. Sure, he was pale and aristocratic and everything she liked in a bloke- but he didn't make her nervous, not at all. Especially not his mean sneer or immaculately tailored uniform.
"As far as I know, Macmillan's off his rocker. And aren't you supposed to be a loyal Hufflepuff? He's sort of like your leader, isn't he?" Draco took a step forward. There was still a good ten feet between them, but Hannah began to feel crowded.
"He may very well be off of his rocker, Malfoy. And loyalty isn't always blindly following your leaders, especially when they're wrong."
She glanced pointedly at Crabbe and Goyle, who were starting down the hallway, huffing and puffing, apparently from the long staircase. She slipped the book into the band of her pajama bottoms and covered it with her t-shirt.
"If you know so much about it, Abbot, what is loyalty?"
"It's something you have to work at, Malfoy- people have to learn. Especially people like you." She thought about the School Board Issue that was still being sorted out at the end of last term, and Malfoy's uncaring attitude about the whole thing. He claimed to rule the school, but really knew nothing about how to care for it and work for it.
It made her blood boil- his cocky attitude without the actions to follow up on it. Ernie may have been off of his rocker, but at least he had fought tooth and nail to keep Dumbledore and the rest of the staff in charge last year. The way Ernie had rallied the students in the petition against the school board- if he hadn't taken charge, the whole school would be different today. Whereas Malfoy simply sat on his arse and examined his manicured fingernails, claiming he could run the school better than Dumbledore himself.
Malfoy smirked. "Who would teach me, then? You?"
Knowing she looked completely flustered and undignified, and wishing she had hid inside the common room the second she saw him coming, Hannah raised her chin. "It'd take quite a bit of work, but I am a Hufflepuff, no?" She wondered how cheesy she sounded, but she was tired of Draco and other students deciding that Hufflepuffs were pansies, and thinking they knew all about the house because it seemed to be the most simple.
Crabbe and Goyle had finally reached them. Malfoy traded his smirk for a sneer and stalked off silently, henchmen in tow. Hannah watched them go, narrowing her eyes. She slipped back into the common room to put her uniform on.