Disclaimer: Yeah, if you actually belive I'm JKR, I have some cheap swampland off the coast of Florida to sell you. I'll even throw in some ocean-front property in Arizona and the Golden Gate Bridge for free. :P
A/N: Very short character study from the POV of a Hufflepuff
Ok, I have no idea where this came from. I never do character studies. Stupid ebil random plot bunnies. :P
I know what they say about us. I hear it every day. We're the slackers, the duffers. We're 'just Hufflepuffs'. What I don't understand is why everyone thinks of Hufflepuff in a bad light.
Most of us have heard these things our whole lives. We come from many different backgrounds. Some of us are Muggleborns, who had never even heard of Hogwarts before we got our letters. Some of us are half-bloods, who were unsure of our abilities before we arrived. Some of us are even purebloods who had shown very little magical ability before arriving. And yet, we're a very close-knit House, not in spite of our different backgrounds, but because of them.
So we're not overly ambitious like the Slytherins. That doesn't mean we don't have dreams and plans. We do. We're just not willing to run over our friends to get there. Is that such a bad thing? I don't think so. There's so much more satisfaction in getting something if you actually earn it.
And who really cares if we're not as brave and reckless as the Gryffindors? Does that mean that we can't help in the fight against evil? Of course not. We just prefer to do our fighting in a different way. We don't need the glory of publicity. Many of us are rather shy and private people. We'd rather work behind the scenes than have our names and faces splashed on the front of every paper in the wizarding world.
We're not exceptionally gifted intellectually, like the Ravenclaws. But that's okay. That just means we have to apply ourselves a bit more than others. We don't mind that. Research can be tedious, but in the end, patience and hard work pays off.
Patient and kind. Words everyone associates with us. 'If you're having a bad day, take it out on a Hufflepuff. They won't mind. They're so patient and nice.' Give me a break. We're human, too. We do have our limits, you know. We have bad days, too, just like everyone else. One day, I'm just going to explode on someone, and then won't everyone be shocked?
Yes, we do have thoughts and feelings just like everybody else. Does that surprise you? We want a world free of evil, the same as the next person. Our dreams range from simply finding our true loves and leading a happy family life to working at the Ministry. And we realize that these things take time and a certain amount of work to obtain.
So, go ahead, make fun of us, if you must. Just remember when you do that we're always there when you need us the most. The desk jobs, filling out massive amounts of paperwork at the Ministry? More than likely, those are Hufflepuffs. The guy that makes sure your packages from the Owl Office reach their destination? Probably Hufflepuff, too.
Who am I, you say? I'm Hannah Abbott, and I'm proud to be a Hufflepuff.