Dedicated to Winona Laura Horowitz
Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz
LYDIA DEETZ AND THE MYSTERY OF AZKABAN
Chapter 2: The quidditch cup
The dark arts defense classes were very helpful for Hufflepuff, as Lydia and Percy knew perfectly well the multitude of dark creatures, so in each Lupin class he gave them plenty of points.
The same was true of Hagrid's classes, which, although he kept insisting on bringing dangerous creatures every time, did not bother the two newbies at all who asked him if he could bring in darker and more malevolent creatures, it goes without saying that alongside the golden trio (Harry, Hermione and Ron), they were his favorite students and he always awarded them plenty of points. In fact, there were so many points earned in those subjects that for the first time in decades, the Hufflepuff house was leading.
Hermione was not envious of Lydia at all, but was happy that someone else could have not only a superior intellect, but always demonstrated a thirst for learning. Besides being humble, she was also dedicated to helping her classmates in class and beyond, and the best part was that she also had Muggle parents.
Hermione struggled to put Griffindor at the top of the school, but her two friends and twins managed to lose the same number of points.
No, I'm sorry Hermione, my stepmother is Muggle, my mother, however, who died already had magical powers," Lydia said to her one day as they were talking.
“Oh, I'm sorry, Lydia.”
“You don't have to, it happened a long time ago.”
The girls talked lively and had become friends, for Hermione not only was having someone to represent a challenge, but also liked the company of Lydia and although her friend was not a luminary in academics, knew enough strange magic and magical creatures to earn more points than Hermione, and unlike Harry and Ron, he paid attention in class and was not so rude to talk like the ginger.
Harry also befriended the duo, and confessed to Hermione that what he liked most about Lydia was her voice, it was so pure and crystalline that according to Harry, she could well be a dubbing actress, an opinion that was well shared by both boys and girls.
Ron talked to the duo only out of obligation, still considered Lydia's clothes ridiculous and saw Percy as some kind of circus freak, and for no reason would he allow his pet rat to approach that pair of freaky freaks, especially the cat boy.
The quidditch season came and Hufflepuff lost all his encounters pathetically. Lydia was not bothered by the fact that they lost, but what worried her most was the attitude of the members of her household in assuming each defeat with an attitude as if they didn't care.
“What's the point, everyone is better than us at quidditch.”
“Or in any other sport.”
Lydia stood on a table in the center of her common room. Percy looked at her slightly worried as her face acquired a harsh beauty and her eyes gleamed from an inner fire that caused the other members of her household to watch her attentively.
“Nowhere in the song... nowhere in the song of the selector hat," said Lydia, as she clenched both fists tightly at her sides. “NOWHERE IN THE SONG, NEITHER THIS YEAR NOR THE PREVIOUS ONES, FOR MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS IT SAYS THAT THEY ARE ALL BETTER THAN US!” she shouted furiously. Everyone was watching her and some of the shyest tried to lower their eyes, but Lydia's powerful gaze prevented them from doing so.
"Courage, courage not to blush every time you lose points for your home? Smart enough to step on anyone, just to achieve your goals? Intelligence, just for intelligence and nothing else, without worrying about helping your friends, colleagues and brothers or sisters?”
“So tell me, Are they worth less: friendship, loyalty, the effort to improve oneself every day not only for ourselves but also for the good of those we love and cherish?”
“Are our friends' smiles worth less, so we keep our heads down? We don't value their friendship and that's why we don't care if they feel marginalized and sad, always last, always crestfallen?”
“I tell you, there is no lion, eagle or serpent on our shield, but I assure you that a badger as well as a tiger ALSO HAS RAYS!”
Everyone's heart lit up and they raised resolutely, with a smile on their faces, faces that were furrowed by hot tears and clenched fists for the courage that arose.
“What about quidditch? It's all over now and even if we had a chance...” a boy started saying.
“Yellow and black, the color of a badger, yellow and black, the color of a tiger... and that's also the color of Hufflepuff's sports honor fund," said Percy, who looked at his housemates with a haughty forehead. “Everyone knows that the hat wanted to send me to Slyterin, even if he wanted to send me to another one of the houses, even if he wanted to send me to another magic school... now more than ever I feel proud to be a Hufflepuff.”
“HUFFLEPUFF!” Lydia shouted, raising her fist high.
“HUFFLEPUFF!” Percy shouted, throwing his fist up high.
“HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF!” they all shouted, raising their fists and embracing one another in a brotherly embrace with warmth that would melt the same sun.
In Dumbledore’s office, the phoenix fawkes beat his wings happily and chanted a loud but beautiful song. The director looked at Helga Hufflepuff's painting, and smiled at her.
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When the day came for the visit to Hogsmeade, Harry thought he would be the only one to stay at the castle, but to his surprise all of Hufflepuff's students also decided to stay.
The badgers en masse drove to the quidditch field either to train or to support the players and there were others led by Lydia and Percy, who were apparently organizing a bar for their team.
Harry, with nothing better to do, go after the badgers, the Hufflepuffs looked at him with a hard look, but when Lydia and Percy greeted him cheerfully, everyone else took care to do their own thing.
“Wow, they suck!," Harry thought as he watched Hufflepuff's training session, but he had to admit that each player shone with his own light, each face emanating a heat and a decision that wasn't Wood's decision when he was training, but rather something less fanatical and more humane, warmer.
The boy also noticed how the other Hufflepuffs cheered up their team and watched as his two badger friends were involved with other boys in a planning to create a bar for the next game.
Harry, who was sitting alone in a grandstand, did not see Professor Lupin approach him. Both student and teacher spoke frankly and Lupin agreed that Harry would receive anti-dementors classes after the winter was over.
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In the common room of Hufflepuff everyone was chatting happily and planning the next game, when Professor Sprout ran in and ordered them to go to the dining room, apparently Sirius Black had managed to penetrate the castle.
All the students of the castle had to sleep in the dining room in sleeping bags, and although several students could not fall asleep because of nervousness, all the Hufflepuffs, exhausted for the afternoon of quidditch, surrendered to sleep and had sweet dreams bathed in gold and ebony.
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The next morning, all the students went to their respective common rooms, the only change was at the entrance of the Griffindor common room, apparently they had changed the picture that guarded the entrance.
Both Lydia and Percy knew that Black's goal was his friend Harry and every time they tried to cheer him up, but this was difficult because apparently all the teachers and prefects decided to follow Harry wherever he went to keep him safe, which made the boy was in a dire humor all the time.
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After another day of quidditch (where all the Hufflepuffs were involved), badgers lent themselves to resting peacefully in their common room when Professor Sprout came in, the poor woman was breathless.
“What's going on, teacher, Sirius Black returned to the castle?” asked a nervous boy.
“No, it's not black, its amazing guys, but Slyterin's guys won't play the last game, just like Ravenclaw...! We have a chance to win the quidditch cup against Griffindor!”
Everyone had their brains disconnected and then someone shouted out loud and everyone joined in. They no longer had time to plan any strategy against the lions, but they would show them that these badgers had the claws and fangs of a tiger.
When Harry found out he went to talk to Captain Wood because he had seen how hard the Hufflepuffs were trying.
“Don't make me laugh, Harry, how much damage those chubby ones can do," Wood laughed.
“They're not even half as handsome as us, Harry," continued Fred.
“We'll wipe our asses with them, don't worry," George said maliciously.
Harry could only deny with his head, as he remembered the fable of the hare and the turtle.
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The weather was torrid when the game began, which cooled the bustle of the crowd, except for Hufflepuff.
The hard and constant work paid off, all the members proudly wore the colors of their house and badgers and tigers hats on their heads as they cheered loudly but cluttered.
The official bar directed by Lydia and Percy, was more uniform and disciplined in extreme, they wore various musical instruments and were dressed in the style of the classic Japanese sports bars of the seventies. Although the black suits had transversal stripes as if they were tigers, those in charge of playing the huge drums wore stripes along and wore huge badger hats.
The sky roared loudly, but even this one was silenced by the thunderous clamor of the Hufflepuffs.
The lions were markedly superior, but the badgers risked their personal health and fearlessly defied the bludgers or attempted kamikaze tactics against the lions.
Wood was frustrated; the opponent's hoops were kept by the goalkeeper and other players while they had a chance, and then fired into the opposing hoops. Fred and George were also frustrated, and began to send the bludgers against the rival players but they didn't panic and more than once when the twins tried to harm the opponent, the badgers were suicidal directed against the body of the twins.
Griffindor, as incredible as it may seem, was taking a beating on the scoreboard, when suddenly Harry spotted the snitch and fired at the target.
Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff finder flew after Harry, but he wasn't as good as his rival, but then all the Hufflepuff players also rushed into the snitch.
In pursuit of the golden sphere, several crashed into the floor, others into the walls and some others into the stands, but then rose up groaning in pain and bleeding, thus engaging in the insane persecution. Harry couldn't believe it and in his distraction Diggory took the snitch.
Like a hundred fireworks rumbled from the stands of Hufflepuff, and they tried to compete in a roar against thunder that pierced the eardrums, but in the end the wild cries of the Hufflepuffs overcame everything else.
Diggory landed in the muddy mud and falling to his knees he leaned his torso backward while with his fists held high (one bleeding and holding the snitch) he threw a roar more like an animal than a human.
Diggory got up and flying to his companions began what would be a flight in formation around the stadium stands, it was not yet time for hugging, first came the Hufflepuffs' familiar friendship.
The badger team, while flying in formation shouted a sort of song, as did all the Hufflepuffs in their stands:
HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF, GRIFFINDOR
HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF, GRIFFINDOR
HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF, GRIFFINDOR
HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF, HUFFLEPUFF, GRIFFINDOR
The song continued and fireworks sprang from the badgers' stands, a lion and a badger formed after the explosion and looked as if they were about to clash, but in the end they only crossed their paws.
Then, a giant poster unfolded under the stands of Hufflepuff and depicted the figures of a lion and a badger with a legend below that read: "Griffindor and Hufflepuff, Glorious Champions of Hogwarts".
The Hufflepuffs now did burst into a sea of reciprocal hugs as did the players, all bleeding.
All the preparation, the posters, the singing, the discipline practiced either for victory or defeat paid off, it took a lot of work, but the badgers were not afraid of hard work, why? Because they were simply HUFFLEPUFF!
It was discovered that Malfoy faked his wound and as the whole team sabotaged his participation in the championship. Dumbledore and the other teachers, including Snape, decided to end the tournament despite the fact that the badgers still had a game pending with the snakes and awarded the quidditch cup to Hufflepuff two hours after the game ended.
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Late into the night the badgers were celebrating as authentic hooligans, even Professor Sprout tried to put order but was carried on Percy's shoulders and the girls convinced her to celebrate with them, in the end the poor teacher ended up sleeping in an armchair because of so much alcohol consumed. [author's note: excessive alcohol consumption is bad, regardless of the victory obtained - this is not a joke within the fanfic, I'm serious]
Percy gently grasped Lydia's face with both hands and gave her a kiss, which was responded to by her friend with a broad smile and a big hug, Percy returned Lydia's hug and surrounded her with her arms, while the tail of the Cat Boy wrapped the two bodies.
In the other common rooms the atmosphere was very different, in Ravenclaw, the brains ruminated their cowardice for excusing themselves from the tournament.
In Slyterin everyone's ears were ringing after Snape scolded them for sabotaging the tournament.
At Griffindor, the lions were crestfallen and worst of all; they couldn't hate badgers because they proved to be better people than them, not only in sports but in everything else. Fred and George were very upset, but their grief was nothing compared to Wood's, who walked into the showers and cried all night.
TO BE CONTINUE...
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