Paragraph 6 - 34 : Land Of Halls And Glory

The Great Hall was crammed with students and staff, and the copper-coloured banners that flew above the wizards' and witches' hats showed that Hufflepuff had indeed clinched a long awaited victory in the House Cup. Since the only occasion on which the four friends had lost points had seen them wasting an equal amount of points for every House - Snape had been fair this time - their behaviour hadn't had any influence on the final rankings. Judith and Eleanor had scored a few points thanks to their dedication to learning. Ann felt that Sigismond would have deserved a hefty amount of points for inventing a new spell within a few days of hearing how this could be done. Yet it was important for the four of them to keep this breakthrough secret, since this level of secrecy allowed them to hog the communication system Sigismond had devised. First, it was time to award the Quidditch Cup. Gryffindor had won all three of their games, hence they emerged victorious of the overall competition. Slytherin were second, having won two games out of three. Hufflepuff ended third, thanks to its memorable win against Ravenclaw. And the latter ended last and least with zero game points. Judith had always found it weird that the Quidditch players of the winning team were receiving the associated Cup in their classes uniform, and not in their sports outfit. She saw seven Gryffindors whose name she didn't know and the look of whom didn't ring a bell leaving the Gryffindor benches, standing up and walking proudly towards Mrs. Hooch, under a lot of clamouring from their House, and a fair amount of clapping from the members of the three other Houses. Mrs. Hooch was standing, in front of the teachers' table, next to a desk where lied the Quidditch Cup : a massively enlarged wingless Golden Snitch that obviously kept balanced on the desk without any visible support, and therefore through magic. Mrs. Hooch said a few words :

Congratulations to the 1983-1984 Gryffindor Quidditch team, who proved they were equally gifted at all positions !

She then used 'Wingardium Leviosa' to make the huge Snitch levitate, made it travel towards a girl who apparently was the team captain. The Gryffindor girl clasped the trophy in her hands, then hoisted it over her head, at the same level as her hat, and the Gryffindor table went crazy : some Gryffindors had stood up, some were stomping, others were screaming. Judith thought it was the same standard stuff she had seen at the Hufflepuff - Ravenclaw game, and she wondered whether the House Cup delivery would produce the same effects in her own House. She couldn't prevent herself from beaming, understanding that the most conspicuous merriness of the Gryffindors would be hers very soon, though maybe at a lesser level. In the meanwhile, the students of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin had resumed their clapping, but it was somewhat lower than before. The teachers were clapping moderately, without letting their emotions display themselves on their face, except Professor McGonagall, who was quite visibly smiling wide. When the racket started decreasing markedly, the Gryffindor Quidditch team returned to their seats, and the noise this time subsided completely. Professor Dumbledore, who was wearing lilac robes, then stood up. The House Cup, which was to Judith a very basic silver cup with golden engraving, was lying in front and on the right of Professor Dumbledore. He delivered the following speech :

Congratulations to Hufflepuff for winning this year's House Cup. As often, Quidditch played a part in the race, and Hufflepuff discovered among his unpretentious members a most valuable young wizard. I nevertheless want to stress how important learning has been this year for the House Cup. Ravenclaw, in particular, almost succeeded through trusting their strong point. I hope this will not be lost on students who will be back next year, nor on students who are now graduating. Have a great feast

Ann was stunned. Professor Dumbledore had alluded to the Hufflepuff Seeker and to Ravenclaw's success at a potion they had been apparently concocting for months. This was very much like what Mark Amader had told her. In other words, it was quite a coincidence. Maybe, actually, somebody else had drunk the Intuition Potion this year. But Ann was stuck at the Slytherin table. She was supposed to attend politely the whole event, despite the fact she was so eager to talk to her three friends. She was now becoming more and more frustrated by the obligation to stay seated for a frivolous nicety. She was constantly imagining variations of what she would tell Judith, Eleanor and Sigismond, refining in a loop her future presentation at every new version of her planned explanation, and anticipating different reactions from the three others. Therefore, there were only two things on her mind : when would the compulsory part of the end of year event finish at last, and what would she tell the others. She was thinking so hard about what she expected would come when she would meet her friends, that her brains hardly registered what was happening, except when frustration at the overly long display of socialisation popped up in her head. Judith, for whom being in a group mattered more than almost anything, was on the opposite enjoying the noisy celebration of her House's classmates work. Dumbledore made the House Cup fly to the Hufflepuff table, and the Cup made slowly its way along the full length of the table, allowing every Hufflepuff to touch it before resuming on its wooden path. During this progress, the Hufflepuffs who had not yet had the Cup in front of them were silently waiting for the Cup to arrive, while those who had already enjoyed its presence had started talking merrily. The students of the three other Houses were also chatting, maybe less cheerfully than the Hufflepuffs. Judith saw the Cup moving towards her. She thought it was a rare feat for Hufflepuff to win the Cup, and that she was thus supposed to appreciate the performance. However, she was more satisfied with the feeling that this Cup represented a lot of hard work by a group she liked, than with the pride-inducing pure achievement it could be to some. She lay the tip of one hand on the base of the Cup, then let it go away. Then, she engaged in the happy conversation with her classmates. However, Judith felt within a few minutes that a big part of the discussion was empty : it was mostly about the instances when this boy or that girl had made the House win or lose points. She thus let her thoughts wander. What were the three others doing ? Given the noise, they were probably also involved in some heartwarming chat about the rest and happiness that the holidays were going to bring, and possibly also about the defining moments of this year for their Houses. She knew that Sigismond liked the Quidditch but was not either a devout fan, so he was most likely indifferent to the points-winning Gryffindor Quidditch games. Eleanor had been one of the numerous Ravenclaw students contributing to the points harvest day in and day out in classes, but she wasn't the kind of person who would resent in the least losing the right to an honorary title, and winning three points in some Herbology class could obviously not be categorised as a 'defining moment'. Deborah Scart's win in her duel against Matthew Fourbanks had probably been the biggest highlight for Ravenclaw this year, but it hadn't yielded any points. As for Slytherin, she had no idea about what their defining moments could have been for that school-year. The school, though, had lived some of those moments. First, of course, there had been the search for the 'How To Become a Dark Wizard' book. Then, the party in the so-called 'Grit Hall'. And the Hufflepuff - Ravenclaw Quidditch game to make the list complete, as far as Judith could see. She noted that the four friends had lived more big things in the three past months than the entire school in nine. But that was probably also the case for any group of friends at Hogwarts. Judith was at this point in her thinking process when the dishes showed up on the table and the feast began. Apparently, every Hufflepuff student had been able to make a fond memory of the House Cup stopping in from of them. Now, the Cup was at the end of the table. Since it was the first time Hufflepuff had won the Cup in Judith's four years at Hogwarts, she didn't know where the Cup would be during the next school-year, while it would be awaiting its next worthy winner. Presumably, it would be kept in the Hufflepuff Common Room. That was her best guess. The time of idle thinking was anyway over. She helped herself to some appetising-looking dishes, wondering what the four friends would talk about just before boarding the Hogwarts Express. But of course, she couldn't have anticipated it. For at the time, only Ann knew.