Dear Arthur,
I know about the cauldron.
We’ll talk when you get home.
Yours lovingly,
Helen Smith.
…
“You should count yourself lucky that she doesn’t know about the howlers.” said Cedric reading the letter.
“What’s a howler?” Arthur asked .
“It’s a magical letter in a red envelope. It’s enchanted to announce the written message in the writer’s voice at a very high volume. I even saw one explode in The Diagon Alley once.”
Ah!
Manmade horrors for everyday life.
“Yes, I am very lucky.” Arthur said agreeing with Cedric.
He would make sure to avoid buying any and all red envelopes in the future.
Knowing his mother she would be probably too embarrassed to write one herself, but not embarrassed enough to make his dad write it for her.
“Do you think the professors will tell your mom about the howlers?”
“You’re real talkative today, aren’t you?”
Honestly, with his luck, it was a strong possibility.
Sigh, he still didn’t know how he got into this predicament.
…
With more than a week at the school it had become apparent to Arthur that he wasn’t good at transfiguration or potions.
He was among the last in the class to just get the matchstick pointy.
Transfiguration was just not interesting enough for him.
All he could imagine doing with it was to change the terrain around his enemies.
But why would he do that when he could just run?
And with hopefully enough money, fly away on a broom.
Potions on the other hand was easier and harder at the same time.
He found that if he relaxed enough and followed the steps thinking it was just like cooking, he could make a decent potion.
He had tried it in a empty classroom with Cedric and managed to make a decent cure for boils.
The hard part was the potions classroom.
Snape always stayed near his desk and made humming noises watching his work.
It made him think he had done something wrong and mess up even more.
That was the reason he left the majority of the work to Cedric, who turns out also had the same problem.
Sometimes he forgot that Cedric was just a kid too.
They figured that Snape thought them to be the textbook definition of dunderheads.
With how their first class went they couldn’t exactly blame the guy.
It was not all bad though.
He did find charms to be the most agreeable.
Something about having a wand made him want to shoot cool laser beams and charms was the closest thing he had to the goal.
Arthur had already learned the summoning charm- Accio and the repairing charm- Reparo.
And no the repairing charm did not work on his cauldron, in account of it being liquified.
The chunks he had were just not enough material.
If Arthur were to name another thing that had been going right in his life it would be flying.
He loved every aspect it.
It didn’t matter that the brooms were old and damaged, he loved doing it anyway.
The only aspect of flying classes he had any complaint about was the fact that they were not given any protective equipment, especially for the face.
If you ever have a chance to fly on a broom, you would do well remembering to close your mouth.
Do not open it even if it’s for laughing, maybe smile instead.
Arthur was giving that advice based on experience.
He was learning it the hard way, as he tried to wash the bug taste out of his mouth while everyone was having fun outside.
The experience was only made more challenging by the sickeningly sweet taste that remained in his mouth even after many rinses.
…
Arthur joined the class outside to the sight of someone falling off a broom.
He wasn’t worried though.
The splash of green he had seen reassured him about his friends safety.
That was all that mattered anyway.
Everyone gathered around the boy who had fallen down, Henry Macmillan the really mean Slytherin boy paired with Lucian in potions class.
Madam Hooch checked up on him and quickly took him to the infirmary with the help of another Slytherin, Alanza Snyde.
Arthur was about to ask Cedric what had happened when he heard a loud voice.
“You did this?” said Adrian Pucey while shoving Lucian.
While both of them were of similar height Pucey had the weight advantage causing Lucian to fall down.
Arthur and Cedric hurried over while Teddy picked Lucian up.
Lucian stayed silent probably due to being outnumbered by the Slytherins.
There were still nine Slytherins boys on the ground compared to the seven Hufflepuffs.
Maybe they were aggressive because there were no girls in their group.
The group being the entire first year Slytherin batch.
“What’s the problem here?” Cedric asked stepping in front of Lucian and the others.
Anna also tried to go forward but Flora and Patricia had physically restrained the girl.
“Get out of here.” said Cassius Warrington, the tallest of the bunch, “This guy got jealous of Henry and pushed him.”
“I didn’t push him.” Lucian said as Arthur finished checking up on him.
He continued, “He was laughing at my broom and a bug flew into his eye.” Arthur could testify to that if only there was any proper authority around.
It was never a good thing to get into a fight.
The only ones getting hurt would be the ones involved.
Arthur knew that it was up to him to deescalate the situation given that he was mentally, the oldest of them all.
“You’re mad about potions class.” Corey Tuttle said, “I know it. Just jealous that Henry is so much better than you.”
“What can you expect out of mudbloods?” Adrian Pucey said causing a hush to fall over the ground.
Even his fellow Slytherins had not expected him to say that.
They didn’t back away though, if anything they all appeared even straighter.
He had to make the hard decisions and choose whether to escalate things here out in the open or find someplace in the castle to ambush them.
The hat had seen something in him, put him where it thought he belonged.
Maybe it was right because he sure as hell wasn’t about to let a vile insult like that go.
If their parents couldn’t be bothered to teach them any manners then it was up to him to teach them what proper consequences were.
The decision was taken out of his hands entirely when Anna ran out from behind him and tackled Cassius Warrington to the ground.
The brief pause that followed as everyone tried to process how a thing so small to take a thing so big was all Arthur needed to find his target.
Apparently that was all that Cedric needed too, because they both took off running.
A lesson in magical school fighting – Never let your enemy draw their wand if you could help it.
These BASEMENT DWELLING SNAKES would learn why you never pissed off a badger.
…
“Blinky look at it it’s clean.” Arthur pointed at the plate, “I even cleaned the water marks.”
“Professor said twice clean.” The elf argued weakly.
“Did she say twice as clean or clean twi..”
“Let it go Arthur.” Cedric said taking the plate from the elf, “You can’t make the plate twice as clean than any house elf could.”
“Sorry Blinky.” Arthur said sheepishly acknowledging the point, “We’ll clean it again.”
“Look at the bright side.” Anna said, still with tissues stuffed in her nose, “At least we’re not cleaning the toilets using a toothbrush.”
Arthur smiled at the thought.
While Snape was somewhat biased, he undoubtably came through with his strict punishments.
Just imagining the thought of toothbrushes being used to clean anything was enough to bring him enough peace.
It would have brought him even more satisfaction if he didn’t have to clean hundreds of dishes for the fourth time.
How does anyone live up to elf cleaning standards?
…
The fact that the Hogwarts kitchen was so close to the common room was what probably made it Professor Sprouts choice for a punishment.
There were no excuses to wander around and the trip was safer.
Arthur led the way in tapping the barrel to the correct tune and walked…
He stopped, causing everyone to bump into him.
The common room was filled with Hufflepuff students.
He nervously looked around, loosing a hundred house points should not be this serious of a matter right?
The silence was broken by someone from the back shouting, “Huf-uhl-Puff”…”Huf-uhl-Puff”
The lone chant slowly started to spread around the room with everyone shouting “Huf-uhl-Puff”…
“Huf-uhl-Puff”…
“Huf-uhl-Puff”…
“Hufflepuff” “Hufflepuff” “Hufflepuff”
Arthur turned to look at his friends and saw the excitement in everyone’s faces.
They too soon joined the chant “Hufflepuff” “Hufflepuff” “Hufflepuff”
The party lasted till late that night.
Cedric was the happiest of them all, he could finally sleep till the sun rose.
If only he knew about Arthur’s tendency to be awake before his alarm clock went off.