Four years later and I anxiously hop onto the stool when the Deputy Headmaster calls out, 'Hadley, Josephina'.

Ravenclaw was the house for me, I knew. The moment the hat was placed on my head, it began whispering....

Avid reader ... not a bad mind ... willingness to work hard .... interesting...
What was interesting?!?

Ignoring her, the hat shouted out, "Hufflepuff!"

I blinked a moment searching for my sister, hoping to see that she wasn't shamed by me. Nothing. She didn't care that I did.

Feeling sick, I slowly meandered toward my first unknown path - to the sea of gold and black.

I didn't talk to anyone really at the feast, except the occasional 'pass the potatoes, please'. No one seemed to bother me as they sensed my discomfort, which I found both comforting and appalling. Others chatted amiably around and when the time came for us to be shown to our common room, I recall the Prefect laying down a few ground rules.

No outsider has EVER visited the Hufflepuff Common Room and if they tried, they'd be doused in vinegar.... we're not duffers.... we're a family....

Somewhere on the short walk from the Great Hall down to where the kitchens were, I found myself deciding that I should be more positive about my sorting. That my house's founder was actually wildly creative.

It had been ten long years since Josephina Hadley felt the magic within the Hogwarts Castle walls. The secret corridors to Hogsmeade. The thrill of watching Quidditch as she studied for her NEWT exams in the Library. The smell of the age-old textbooks.

The last thing on Josephina's mind on that sunny day in June 2062 was that she would return to Hogwarts to teach.

But after less than a decade of learning, numbers and consistency, she found herself back in the castle. Only this time, she was the one behind the large dias at front of the Great Hall.

"...Your assignment this weekend is to star gaze this weekend and catch a falling star..." Professor Belle drawled.

Josephina stared at her notes from the year and then back up to her Astronomy Professor. She liked Professor Belle, but this assignment was just vague. How in the name of Merlin and Isaac Newton was catching a falling star supposed to help her prepare for her Astronomy OWL?

Her amazingly nerdy and talented fourth year sister would know. But for some reason, her pride didn't want to ask her. Perhaps, after all, catching a star was just a metaphor. Wasn't it?

It was half past eleven and though Josephina knew she ought to have been sleeping to prepare for her first day of classes - she was restless.

Beneath the soft glow of her night lamp, the small hufflepuff reached into her bag, removing the first book her small hands found and pulling it onto her lap. Hogwarts, A History.

As she cracked open the spine of the book, she realized the irony of this being the first time she opened the book; for it was also her first night at Hogwarts. Her journey of superfluous words and numbers had begun.

Though Leanne had always been nice to her at home - reasonably as a big sister was - there was some mischievous gleam in her eyes that made Fina nervous.

"So I heard Hufflepuff may finally have found themselves a new Seeker," Leanne teased, approaching her sister.

"I'm not trying out." Fina said bluntly.

"Scared of the Ravenclaw team? Pity, but Quidditch is too dangerous for you anyway."

"No. I just don't want to play."

"Chicken!"

"Am not"

"Are too!"

"Am not!" Without even waiting for her sister to argue back again, Fina stubbornly made a run for the castle.

"Today we're going to separate the class based on heritage. We will work in three groups." The Professor instructed her class of First years. "For starters, raise your hand if you're a muggleborn. If you are, then please go sit over ...there...." She pointed toward back of the room.

"Halfbloods find a seat in the middle. And Purebloods .... take the front .... Yes, Miss Hadley?" She said, impatiently addressing Josephina's raised hand.

"Well, I was just wondering .... How pure one's blood must be to be considered pure? Like is there a specific percent?" Fina's cheeks flushed, hoping the question wasn't dumb.

Skipping outside down to the courtyard, Josephina took hold of Alex's hand. "So tell me, sis, how do you like Hogwarts so far?"

"It's great."

"Really? Two weeks of Magical Education and all you can tell me is that 'it's great'?" Fina raised an eyebrow in confusion. Sitting down on the bench and drawing her younger sister next to her, she proceeded to braid her hair. "I doubt Mom and Dad would think highly of such mediocre words."

"You're a hoot." Alex beamed, sticking out her tongue, and then pulled off and ran toward the pathways. "Come and find me!"

Hesitantly, Josephina crossed over the threshold into Honeyduke's. Leanne had been telling her all about it for three years and now as a third year, she was finally going to be able to investigate on her own.

Her hazel eyes bulged slightly at the grotesque names of some of the candies. "Acid pops? Blood lollipop?" Fina made a face. "Ice mice? Ew. Who would eat Cockroaches?"

"Don't knock it till you try it," the bubbly shopkeeper said, bouncing from behind the counter and over toward Fina.

"I think I'll just stick with a couple Liquorice wands and Peppermint Humbugs please."

Chewing on a liquorice, as Fina exited the shop she looked around the streets a moment and spotted a familiar blond housemate, Morgan. "Oh. My. Merlin. Did you see the shopkeeper in there?"

The blond shook her head at Fina. "No, what's wrong?" she raised an eyebrow peculiarly.

"She's so critically insanely cheerful and bubbly. It was like she overdosed on sugar quills and chocoballs." She bit off a piece of liquorice and then reached into her bag. "Want one?"

Shaking her head again, "Nah. I'm off sweets for the upcoming Quidditch Match. You should really consider trying out, Fi."

Heeding Morgan's advice, Josephina added her name to the list for tryouts in her fourth year. Still reluctant over playing the sport, she wasn't to ignore the fact that the Hufflepuff Captain, Nikolai Vannacutt was quite the looker. Looker or not, as she headed down for breakfast the first morning of tryouts she found herself unable to stomach anything on the table.

As Josephina headed down to the pitch with school broom in hand, her colouring turned a shade of green.

So it was no surprise when Nikolai didn't allow her to tryout. Quidditch was just not meant for Josephina,