“It’s ridiculous,” Justin snorted, before giving his friends a contemplative look. “But maybe we could change it.”
-Excerpt from The Professors Game
Susan walked out of the Great Hall after saying goodbye to her friends, headed to Arithmancy. Her thoughts were whirling as she thought about the conversation she and her friends had just had, as well as what Justin had said.
Having been raised by her Aunt Amelia in Magical England, Susan hadn’t gotten that much exposure to the muggle world until she went to Hogwarts and met muggleborns and people who were muggle-raised. It really opened her eyes, in more ways than one.
Susan didn’t blame her aunt. Aunt Amelia was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, a job that kept her very busy, leaving little time to explain to Susan about how muggles actually lived.
Muggleborns simple presence was, unfortunately, the reason for most of the division at Hogwarts. A majority of Slytherins had been raised by people who constantly told them about how primitive, savage, and lesser muggles were, so they knew nothing different. To them, it was a simple fact of life. The sky was blue, a wand was made of wood, and muggles and muggleborns were lower creatures, undeserving of magic and incapable of doing anything particularly great.
Susan couldn’t blame them. After all, they were all just children. Their views of the world were limited to what their parents had taught them. But it was when those views started hurting others that she drew the line.
Susan considered herself a Hufflepuff through and through. Most people would think that meant she was a pushover, too kind for her own good and not particularly smart. Their loss. They were just underestimating her, which they would one day regret.
No, as all true Hufflepuff’s, and those lucky enough to get close to them, know, a real Hufflepuff is the most loyal friend you could ever have, with the willingness to do hard work, a strong sense of fairness, and a kind, friendly attitude.
Many people mistake these traits as things that show a Hufflepuff’s weakness, but that could not be further from the truth.
Loyalty means a true Hufflepuff is willing to die and kill for their friends and family. Hard working means they are willing to put in the effort for whatever they find necessary. Fair means their morals are indisputably subjective, giving each person a chance and being strictly impartial. Being kind and friendly meant they could make friends, opening them up to others in a way that showed them things they might not have known.
True Hufflepuffs were some of the best people to have on your side, but not many people knew that, which was how they liked it. Unbeknownst to most of the school, Hufflepuffs could actually be quite sneaky when they wanted to.
Which was why, as Susan began walking down the shortcut to the Arithmancy classroom on the 7th floor, she found herself plotting.
She almost laughed out loud. Imagine if the other houses found out that one of the ‘textbook Hufflepuffs’ was plotting something. The Slytherins would probably riot.
Her amusement faded as she thought about the animosity between the houses. It made her so sad to see how much everyone got caught in the biases and sometimes outright hated people just because of the differences between them.
In the end, that was her goal. To end the segregation between houses for things beyond their control. No one can change who their parents were. No one can change whether their parents have magic. No one can control what their parents taught them when they were growing up. No one can control their upbringing, but they can control who they decide to be.
Susan let out a sigh as she exited the shortcut on the 5th floor. She knew her rather…peculiar dream was, at least at the moment, unachievable. She had been reminded of that fact multiple times by defeated 6th and 7th years who had been in her place for far too long. Longing for a change, striving for it, but unable to make any progress.
But then her thoughts drifted back to the person who prompted the discussion in the first place. Mr. Harry James Potter.
He had been put in a position of power, in a position where he could demonstrate those biases in a clearer fashion, even if he didn’t know it. But that wasn’t what had happened. He had used his unintentionally gained power over others fairly, without prejudice or favoritism, being as subjective as a Hufflepuff.
It showed her exactly what things could be like if people got over themselves and started thinking clearly. Unfortunately, all those ideas had been ingrained in most of them since they were born, the muggleborn and muggle-raised being the exception. But even they were soon indoctrinated to the ideals of their house, becoming so engrossed with the idea of magic that they completely lose the ability to think critically.
Harry Potter was the exception.
He had been put in one of the most biased houses (bias against those who are ‘evil’ is still bias), and yet he didn’t exclude the other houses. Rather, he accepted them as they were and recognized their nature, both the good and the bad.
It was the kind of behavior she and many other Hufflepuffs had been praying for other people to adopt. But the idea of accepting other people's differences was foreign to the Magical world, as demonstrated by all the laws against werewolves and magical creatures.
Susan paused outside the doorway to the classroom, and remembered what Justin had said at the end of their conversation. One split second decision later, and she was sure. She resolved to talk to her three friends after class.
Until then, however, she had to focus. Professor Vector had no patience for unfocused students.
~~~~~
Susan entered the Hufflepuff common room and immediately began searching for her friends. She found them along the side of the round room sitting at a table, Justin teaching Ernie checkers and Hannah doing her Ancient Runes homework next to them.
“I have a plan,” Susan announced abruptly, dropping her books on the table before flopping into a chair.
“Really?” Hannah said distractedly, full focus still on her homework. She was used to Susan’s behavior by now, them having been friends since first year.
“Is it a well thought out plan?” Justin asked, moving a piece. “Or is it one of your ‘I thought of this a minute ago and want you to go along with it as I crash and burn’ plan?”
Susan frowned slightly. “That depends on your definition of well thought out.”
Ernie groaned. “Susan, the last time we went along with one of your plans, we nearly got banned from the Three Broomsticks.”
Susan huffed and leaned back in her chair. “It’s not my fault that goats can’t follow directions.”
“They’re goats, Suze,” Hannah said calmly, attention still on her homework. She wasn’t worried, given the fact that Ernie and Susan had had this same argument many times before. “They can’t follow directions because they don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Susan rolled her eyes. “That’s not the point. Anyways, don’t you want to hear about my amazing new plan?”
“No,” Justin answered.
“Well, you’re going to hear about it anyways!” Susan said brightly, undisturbed by her friends' dislike for her usual plans. “We’re going to trick the entire school!”
Ernie closed his eyes and sighed, leaning away from the checkerboard. “Alright, I’ll bite. Tell me, why are we going to trick the school, and what are we going to trick them into doing.”
Justin groaned. “Now you’ve done it. She won’t leave us alone until we agree to go along with it.”
“Like she was going to do that before,” Ernie said, rolling his eyes.
“We are going to trick the school, because this division has gone far enough,” Susan said firmly. Hannah closed her Runes book and looked at Susan.
“Suze,” she said kindly. “We’ve heard this speech before. If nothing worked before, what makes you think that anything will work now?”
“Because we have something we didn’t have then,” Susan told her. “We have Harry.”
“Harry Potter?” Justin asked, confused. “What does he have to do with it?”
“He has everything to do with it!” Susan exclaimed, throwing her hands above her head. “He’s the reason this plan is going to succeed when all the others have failed!”
“Because of the professor thing?” Ernie asked. “That’s the little detail your newest scheme hinges on?”
“Yes, it is,” Susan agreed. “And that so-called ‘little detail’ has already done half of our job for us.”
She sighed at Hannah’s quizzical look.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed,” Susan sighed. When she saw the blank, bewildered looks on her friends faces, she dragged her hand down her face and shook her head.
“The DA!” she exclaimed. She looked around the common room to see if anyone had noticed her unintentionally loud declaration, and continued in a hushed voice. “All four houses getting along well for hours on end? It’s unprecedented! This could be the foundations of a new area of cooperation and unity in Hogwarts and Magical England at large!”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Suze,” Hannah told her. “It’s just a club.”
“But it’s not just a club!” Susan refuted, raising her voice once more. “It’s the start of something different! Something which may have ramifications for years to come! Don’t you understand? Almost the entire population of Magical England graduated from Hogwarts. That’s part of why this country is so divided! Because the values and ideals people learn and are immersed with at Hogwarts are the ones they take with them out into the world. The people running this country are a product of a system that pits four groups of people against each other, essentially making it them versus us! This ‘club’ could be the start of a major reform that unifies us as a people, and changes Magical England as a whole forever!”
Susan was breathing heavily at the end of her impassioned speech, which had also accidentally attracted the attention of the entire common room, and several people studying in their dorm. Susan gave the onlookers an awkward smile and tapped the arms of her chair nervously.
“Sorry about that,” Hannah told them. “You all know how she gets sometimes.”
“She’s right,” Poppy Caxton, a seventh year, said, standing up from where she had been seated in front of the fire. “She’s right, you should all know it.”
The four of them gaped, including Susan.
“I mean, I know I’m right, but the faith you’re putting in my impassioned rant is a little disconcerting,” Susan said weakly. “A little more thought should be put into this before anything happens.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself, Susan,” Poppy said kindly. “If this club is everything I’ve heard about it, then you may very well be right. The division at the school has gotten out of hand in the past few years, and no matter how much myself and the other older students may brush off your ideas by saying we’ve already tried them, it does not mean that we should stop trying. We are Hufflepuff’s, Merlin dammit. We are fair, and the current system is anything but.”
“So what are we going to do about it?” another seventh year, Eugene Warmsley, challenged, addressing everyone present.
Susan grinned. Ernie, Justin, and Hannah exchanged nervous glances at the slightly maniacal look on Susan’s face.
“I have a plan…”