The Search For A Hufflepuff
THE SEARCH FOR A HUFFLEPUFF
Three weeks had gone by and I’d only seen fleeting glances of Pia.
I couldn’t always hang around her classes – I had my own classes to attend. And I knew if I missed too many classes – Professor McGonagall, along with my father would both check to see what was going on.
One evening while inside the dining hall I was eating my dinner at the Slytherin table. I thought I saw a glimpse of Pia…with her righteous blonde hair.
By the time I got up and strode over to the Hufflepuff table she was gone. Unfortunately, the big Hufflepuff guy who worked in the Library was eating nearby.
“Get away from our table and go back to your own,” the guy growled.
I started towards him when I felt a hand hold me back. It was Beulin.
“Just leave that guy alone,” Beulin whispered. “He’s really not all that bad.”
“Do you know the name of that guy,” I asked.
“His name is Oliver Wood II,” Beulin replied.
"You mean he's the son of Oliver Wood? One of the best Quidditch players in Hogwarts history?“ I asked stunned.
"I've been assuming that.. so I'd say yes. Why do you want to know?”
I shook off Beulin’s hand and told him, “Because he’s an ass – and one day he’ll pay for his demeaning behaviour.”
Beulin really looked sad and said, “All this is my fault, Albus. You were right the entire time – there wasn’t a spell on you. Madam Pomfrey affirmed it to Scabs, Boris, and me. We shouldn’t have interfered. We know that now.”
I was surprised. Beulin never spoke like this. In fact… most Slytherins never spoke like this.
“Well… thanks,” I managed to mumble back.
“What we did was wrong… you should blame us… not Oliver,” Beulin whispered.
“I don’t like him,” I seethed as we walked away from the Hufflepuff table.
“Maybe he’s one of Pia’ friends,” Beulin offered. “Maybe what he’s doing is just trying to help a friend… and that’s it.”
“No,” I replied. “I definitely don’t think that’s the answer.”
o0o
I left the dining hall and started on my way to my dormitory. But before I went downstairs I saw Mr. McFlurry posting some leaflets on the walls.
The leaflets had a shabbily drawn picture of a ghost who was male. It was a drawing of Dangerous Digs. The leaflets were a warning for first years to stay away from the unused sports-room on the second floor.
I grabbed one of the leaflets and went downstairs to the dungeons.
Once inside the Slytherin dorms I headed back to my room to think.
I really didn’t have time to go from Wizard Law Practice classes to the Wizard Study of Music classes. My classes and Pia's classes were just too far apart.
Her housemates were shielding her from me in public.
The times that I tried finding him at the Hufflepuff library – she would go to the restricted section of the library, which was a place that I couldn’t follow her.
I’d tried going again to the Hufflepuff dorm, but I could never get inside. No Hufflepuff would share the password or knock, and the damned ghost wouldn’t let me in either.
But where was Pia at lunch-time? We never had lunch together when we were together. And she never did tell me where it was that she had gone.
I looked at the leaflet. There was something dodgy about the way Dangerous Digs was acting… raising hell whenever somebody dared to enter his sanctuary – also known as the second floor sports-room.
Digs had started throwing tantrums not long before I had met Pia. Was this fact just a coincidence… or serendipity?
Maybe that was the answer: lunch-time at mid-day. I would go to the portrait of Regulas Black tomorrow and perhaps he would know something more… perhaps I’d have an answer.
I prepared myself for the night and went to bed.