Chapter Three

I keep true to my word and find Cedric at dinner. I sit down just as the owls start flying in.

"Post." Cedric explains. "Happens every night. Hey, buddy!" He says the last bit to a beautiful brown owl that flies up and lands gently on his shoulder, dropping off a letter before flying off again.

Two letters are dropped in front of me. I shove them away after seeing the senders. "They're from your parents, aren't they?" Cedric says.

I nod. "I don't want to open them."

"Mind if I open them for you, then?" Cedric asks. I shrug, and hand him the letters. Cedric opens them, and graces over the letters before letting out a very angry noise.

"How could anyone say this?" He says furiously. "How could anyone think that's OK to say?"

"Cedric, please, it's alright. Whatever it was they said, it's not worth getting angry over. I know how they'd react." I say.

Cedric turns to the kids next to him. "Gather all of Hufflepuff in the common room in 10 minutes." He says. "We're going to do something about this.

"Cedric, as much as I don't want to do this, let me see the letter before you do anything drastic." I sigh. Cedric hands the letter over and give it a glance before handing it back.

"It's no worse than I expected." I say.

"That doesn't make it right." Cedric replies. "C'mon, we're going to do something about this."

I sigh and follow him out of the Great Hall, the rest of Hufflepuff following. All the other houses give us odd looks, but Hufflepuff is too confused to notice.

Ten minutes later, the entire house is gathered in the common room. "What's this about, Cedric?" someone asks.

"This is about an extremely cruel letter to one of us that we must deal with." Cedric says.

"To who?" Someone else asks. "And what's the letter say?"

I quickly give Cedric the letter, which he opens again and begins to read to all of Hufflepuff.

Charissa, the letter begins. How dare you break the most ancient traditions of our family? The Malfoy family shall never have a traitor like you in the family. It is a disgrace to the name to be in Hufflepuff! And on top of that, a blood traitor! It is a disgrace to the family name! You are no longer any daughter of mine.

I hear angry gasps from around the common room as Cedric finishes the letter. The gasps quickly turn into angry conversations.

"How are we going to deal with that?" Hailey asks, politely shushing everyone.

"I had an idea." Cedric says. "We could write back. A letter to the Malfoys, from Hufflepuff."

The common room cheers. Someone runs to their dorm and brings back a giant piece of parchment. "Got it in Hogsmeade." They explain.

"Alright, how should we start this?" Cedric asks, scribbling Dear Malfoys on top of the parchment.

"How about this?" People start to give ideas at lightning speed. After much debate, Cedric finally manages to get the whole letter written.

Dear Malfoys,

How dare you break the most ancient ideals of our family? The Hufflepuff house would never have such intolerant and cruel people such as yourselves in our family! It is an unfortunate disgrace to all be in Slytherin. And on top of that, Pureblood ideals are so outdated! It is a disgrace to the Wizarding Community.

Since when is it a crime to be a Hufflepuff? We see nothing wrong with kindness, tolerance, loyalty and hard work. We're very sorry you think work is a problem. At least you're loyal.

Anyway, we'd like you to know that it is not ok to write cruel things to our sister from Hufflepuff. If you hurt our sister, we will defend her.

Love ya,

The Most Ancient and Noble House of Hufflepuff

We all sign our names below that, and enclose a picture quickly taken and developed of all of us. I'm in the center, with Isabel and Lauren on either side of me. Cedric is behind me, with Amber and Taylor next to him. The rest of Hufflepuff squished in behind us. The caption on the pic reads Muggleborns, Halfblood, Pureblood besties!

All of Hufflepuff walks together up to the Owlery, laughing and joking the whole way. A crowd of Slytherins comes up behind us, throwing insults. McGonagall comes up in front of us, and looks overwhelmed by the crowd for a moment before taking points from Slytherin. She then turns to us. "What in the world requires all of Hufflepuff to do?" She asks.

"Oh you know, just sending a letter." Hailey says, smiling.

"May I see said letter?" McGonagall says.

"Uh, you know what Hailey, I think we'd better get up to the Owlery. Nice talking to you, Professor!" Cedric says, quickly getting the group out of what could have become a bad situation.

I hear McGonagall sigh behind us. "I really need a vacation." She says to herself, causing all of Hufflepuff to stop and laugh for a second before hurrying on to send the letter.