Tales of a Hufflepuff: Prank McKite and the Song of Meridian

Chapter 4: Loyalties Lie

'Dah, do ye really have to do this?' Prank McKite was standing at King's Cross Station, his large backpack jammed full of his books and clothes, ready to travel to Hogwarts for the first time. The barrier separating the Muggle part of the station from the wizarding part was generally unmarked. Except for today. Lyon Walker was sitting at the base of the pillar, in his worst clothes, holding a dirty sign that read 'My son was born 9 3/4 lbs., please help me feed him'. The numbers were very large, and the text very small, so Prank didn't feel embarrassed by the message.

Lyon looked up at Prank, a terrible amount of scruff about his face. 'Muggleborn witches and wizards never quite know where this barrier is. I remember one year when quite a few of them got themselves left behind. They've never bothered to mark this place with a magic-users only text, so until they do, I'm goin' to sit here.' Lyon made a face and his son looked away from him. 'Ye've never complained all the other years we've done this.'

'I know that,' Prank muttered. 'It was exciting, seeing all the students arrive. And mum never figured out that we came here, so it was like a vacation...but I never noticed...' he fell silent as a troop of boys accorded them irritated looks, as they walked through the barrier.

'Never noticed what?'

'Wait a moment, 9 and three-quarters? Sir?' A girl and her parents walked up. She looked up at Prank and her father spoke again, 'Sir, do you know of a platform '9 and three-quarters?''

'I do at that,' Lyon told them. 'Just walk straight at this pillar, and ye'll arrive at the Hogwarts Express.' He accorded the family a mischievous grin.

The woman looked a little stunned, then smiled broadly. 'Oh, thank you, sir!' she put her hands in her pockets to find him a little change. Lyon accepted with a nod. The little girl took a deep breath and pushed her cart at the wall. She disappeared.

'Don't worry. She'll be in the best of care, all year.' Lyon usually said things like this, considering that her parents wouldn't be able to cross the barrier themselves and see their children off. Lyon glanced at his watch as several other groups minced past him carefully and through the barrier. The parents of the little girl thanked him again, and headed away. Prank was growing tired of standing, and shifted from foot to foot. Lyon looked up to him and asked him, 'So, then, what's the problem?'

'Just the actual wizarding folk...they're...givin' ye funny looks.'

'Are they now?' Lyon squinted up at another boy who was walking past and through the barrier. 'Well then, they're just not thinking it through. If they report me to the Ministry, then they'll finally put that marker up that I've been asking for, and I'm not being too terribly conspicuous. Only a person with magic, or closely related to a person with magic can actually read this sign.' He grinned. 'I've enchanted it.' Lyon took another glance at his watch and nodded. 'Five minutes to. Let's get goin' then!' He stood up and put his sign into his jacket. He gave Prank an encouraging smile, then backed through the barrier himself. Prank was frozen for a moment, looking at that terrible brick wall, then convinced himself that he'd seen tons of wizards and witches walk through the same barrier, including his father, so it wasn't going to be hard at all. He closed his eyes and jumped at the barrier. There was a moment of darkness, then fresh air hit his face.

He heard his father laugh, and he opened his eyes to see the beautiful red steam engine, the gold letters emblazoned on the front. Prank grinned, and set his bag in the pile. He had his A History of Magic in hand, along with his ticket. He gave his father a long hug.

'I'll miss ye, dah.'

'I'll miss ye, too, son. Now, quickly, up on the train.' He gave Prank a pat on his back in the right direction. 'I'll owl ye about Christmas. I might even come up to visit ye.'

Prank grinned, and sniffled. He waved goodbye once more, then climbed up into the train. He jumped into the first passenger compartment he could find and bounded to the window. He waved as the train jerked and began to move. Lyon waved back, a huge grin on his unshaven face. Prank swallowed back his tears and smiled. He was finally going to Hogwarts! It was like all his life he'd been waiting and now it was finally going to happen! Prank turned joyfully, then his face fell as he saw two people he really had hoped to avoid.

He gaped for a moment, but found his voice soon enough. 'Hilda! Mandy! Great to see ye!'

Mandy stood up, her hands already in fists. 'You little rat!'

Prank looked at her with some foreboding. 'Ye can't still be upset about the pool thing. That was almost a month ago now!'

Hilda shouted and Mandy swung. Luckily, despite her size, she didn't know how to punch properly. Prank moved his head and her fist glanced to the side. He gave her a push, trying to scramble out of the car before they could recover. Hilda grabbed his arm, and pulled him back, and Mandy landed a painful kidney shot (that Prank was certain later was more luck than skill). Prank collapsed, half in, half out of the private compartment, and managed to get to his knees before they could start kicking him. Apparently, they *were* still upset about a month ago. Of course, they'd both been punished for more than half of that month, and Mandy hadn't been allowed her wand until she got to Hogwarts. But it was like they refused to admit it was their own fault. Of course, stumbling down the hall and opening a door into another car, holding his ribs and trying to regain either breath or balance, Prank was in no mood to try and explain that to them.

He moved further down the new car, hoping they weren't following, and he realized that he'd dropped his textbook back in the girls' compartment. He looked back, forlornly, and wondered what they might do to it. Magic History had been a terrible subject of his father's and Prank had never been able to get much of it out of him. He'd been studying his text since he'd gotten it. Certainly, he'd flipped through his other textbooks as well, but nothing was quite so amusing as finding out about magical discoveries (most innovations in magic had been accompanied by a natural disaster, or the wizard or witch in question blowing themselves sky high) or rhyming off goblin names (most of which were funny in themselves). He stretched, trying to ignore the pain in his side, and considered. He was faster than the girls were, and if he dodged really quickly into another compartment, they might just pass him by.

He considered this to be an excellent plan, but half a moment before he could act on it, a door to another compartment opened and Prank jolted, looking up to see a boy a year or so older then he. The boy smiled, as though seeing a first year, holding his side in pain, and breathing very hard were an everyday occurrence.

'Say, you're the boy from the wand shop!'

Prank goggled at him. 'Ye...saw the duel?'

The boy gave him a queer look. 'No. I was the one who told you to hang in there, remember? I broke my wand riding a bicycle?'

Oh. Prank grinned. 'Sorry...the light's different in here.' Good enough excuse. He held out his hand. 'Prank McKite.'

'Cedric Diggory,' the older boy told him after taking his hand. 'Something bothering you?'

Prank flashed him a wane smile. 'I got into a fight with a couple of girls...and I lost my history textbook.'

'Slytherins?'

'First years,' Prank sighed. 'I lived in their village for a while...and well, they got a little bit of trouble because of me.'

Cedric laughed. 'They call that flirting.'

'When they drop you in a pool with a riptide and a school of angry merpeople?'

'I think that's called foreplay.'

Prank was a little confused by this, but took it in stride, when the older boy crossed his arms and nodded. 'So you want that textbook back, huh?'

'If you could help.'

Cedric flashed him a smile. 'Well, why not? You're the first person all summer who didn't laugh at me for busting my wand while riding a bike.'

Prank nodded. 'Well, I'd be upset.'

'I was, trust me.' The older boy folded his fingers together. 'Too bad they haven't been sorted yet.'

'Why's that?'

'Well, I know how to deal with people in different houses. You flatter a Slytherin, you can ask a Ravenclaw politely, and you plead with the Gryffindors (they like to feel important).'

'What about Hufflepuff?'

'Well, you ask them right quick, or they'll just burn your book.' Cedric laughed, then waved a hand. 'I'm kidding. It takes a lot to anger a Hufflepuff, unless you figure out how to annoy one. But from the sounds and looks of things, you're dealing with a least one potential Slytherin. They often punch before thinking things through...if they're very stupid. So, how about I go in there, flatter 'em both, and tell them that I'll burn your book, since I know a good fire spell?'

'No...' Prank considered, then recognised the sarcasm. 'I mean, and then ye'll give the book to me.'

Cedric nodded. 'Right. Shouldn't take too long. C'mon then.' He strode to the door, Prank on his heels. He was very pleased about this, and added to himself that laughing at another's misfortune was very poor form, and that he would try not to...even if it was amusing. An alliance like this shouldn't be passed up.

They headed back into the car Prank had come from, and Prank heard the laughter of the girls. His face went hard, trying to ignore it. Cedric pressed his fingers to his lips, then whispered, 'Let's see if they're as stupid as they sound.'

Prank liked the sound of this, and pointed to the door, Cedric nodded, then knocked on it. He allowed himself in. The conversation that followed went something like this:

'Hey, girls.' At which the laughter stopped. 'Have you two seen a little boy with hair red as a cherry?'

'Prank McKite,' one of the girls murmured to the other.

'Yeah, maybe.'

'Yeah, he's blubbing in my car, right now. Saying he can't find his textbook, and how he's too poor to get a new one...' The boy was saying this in a very harsh, mocking tone.

The girls laughed, and Prank felt his heart sink. Perhaps this boy wasn't the friend Prank had thought him to be. He'd always been far too trusting.

'I've been asking around, trying to find it, so I can torture him with it.'

One of the girls burst into laughter. Mandy, Prank thought. But he was growing all the more concerned that Cedric was telling them the truth and him a lie.

'It's right here.'

'You're not going to give it back, are you?'

'I'm thinking about lighting it on fire and holding it over his head.'

'Ooo! Here!'

'We're not going to get in trouble for this, are we?'

'Of course not,' Cedric's voice waxed cruel. 'Why should you? A pair of cute little first years? I'll vouch for you, if he tries to point fingers.'

'Don't light it on fire.' This was Hilda, and Prank was a little stunned to hear her say this.

'Whyever not?' was Mandy's irritated response.

'Prank can't blame us if there's no damage.'

'Very well,' Cedric's voice said, as though a little disappointed. 'Thank you two for your time. I do hope you end up in my house.'

'And what's that?'

'Hufflepuff.' At their silence, he added, 'we're not all thick.'

With that, he emerged from the compartment, and closed the door, as he handed the book to Prank, who almost dropped it in his shock. He followed Cedric back to another car, this one open without any private compartments. The boy nodded to his fellow riders, who accepted Prank's presence with waves and greetings. At mention of his being a first year, they all began to laugh and relate tales about their own. Prank was delighted, though they all tended to speak at exactly the same time, and rather than waiting for a person to finish, they would interrupt and correct each other and add dirty comments throughout each other's speeches. And this seemed perfectly acceptable to all, considering that none of them ever seemed to have a lack of things to talk about. He'd never heard anything like it. They were introduced, and apologised because they all promised to forget his name until they knew him better. Prank found himself laughing and nodded and finding a strange harmony about the group that he'd never felt before.

It didn't come as a shock to find out what house they were from. They were a tightly knit pack of Hufflepuffs who knew each other well, and though people from other houses occasionally came to watch the conversation take place, they would not stop for even a moment. There was a Slytherin who remained a while in the corner, who seemed very amused by them, and a Ravenclaw who sat for about an hour there who was most often chided for being too serious, at which she would quip, 'Am not!' A group of Gryffindors came in, and while they attempted to join in the conversation, the multi-speech aspect to Hufflepuff conversation had most of them boggled within a few moments, and when the rest couldn't get a complete audience, they left in disgust. The sun was already setting when this happened and Cedric nudged Prank, whose head was almost nodding. There was something very exhausting about all of today, and the pain in his back, while mostly gone was still a warm bruise to remind him about what had happened earlier...and that he was going to have to deal with them again. He changed into his robes with the others, and wondered how terrible it really was going to be, starting school with two people who hated him.

But as the train began to slow, Prank heaved a sigh, and wondered just how one got into the proper house. Or even, what house would be most proper for him. He realized that with all the conversation he'd listened to he hadn't even opened his history book. Well, that didn't bother him too much. He doubted there was another first year who would have really wasted part of their summer vacation reading. He knew he was particular in that manner, but most people wouldn't have been educated on the road, either. Books were a commodity in his world. Cedric grinned, and nodded Prank to the door.

'I'll see you in there.'

'Yeah.' Of course, as he got off the train, the last thing he expected was a huge giant wrapped in a thick furry cloak to be standing there, and in a dark voice call out, 'First years, yeh'll be comin' with me!'

Prank's heart dropped. What on earth had happened? He turned to find that Cedric and the pack of Hufflepuffs were gone. The beetle-eyed man reached out a huge gloved hand to him. Prank shook his head no, and would have run, if he'd not seen the back of Mandy's ugly head as she stood almost three inches over the other first years. He then caught the smile on the large man's face.

'Yeh'd better get used to thinks seemin' strange,' The man said in a soft, conspiritive tone. 'There's a lot of queer things about Hogwarts.'

Prank allowed himself to be shuttled off, along with the rest of his fellow first years. There was anticipation in the air. This was it. He had arrived.