Huffily Puffily || Golden Trio

Secrets of the Gamekeeper || viii

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The weeks seemed to fly by for Lucy; never would she have dreamed of the day she was always excited to attend class. Compared to Wool's built-in classrooms, this was heaven. Their uniforms were colorful and always something to take pride in, and nobody pulled her hair while she tried to pay attention, nor did they throw paper at the back of her head.

She, Harry, and Ron were becoming closer every day. Lucy's place in Hufflepuff didn't deter their friendship in the slightest. She thought that she and the Gryffindors would be the ones to get into mischief, but she underestimated her fellow badgers. 

Susan was more cautious when it came to bending the rules, often acting as the conscience of the group, but if Hannah was up to the task, she would most likely follow along. 

They were not world-renowned troublemakers or anything. Mostly, Lucy and the girls would do whatever Anthony Rickett or the Weasley twins put them up to. Megan and Hannah helped the Weasleys more than Lucy did, and according to them, the twins sent them down to the kitchens for a 'secret project'. For being in on it, they didn't know anything about what the Weasleys had planned.

Even though they worked with the Gryffindors, Lucy couldn't deny that the young badgers' commanding officer was Anthony Rickett. That boy was a subtle kind of trouble — his colors were black and yellow, but he had a tongue of silver and knew just which buttons to press without meriting a detention or a punch in the face. His most common target was Daisy Locke, the Hufflepuff prefect whom was oblivious to the fact that Anthony was head over heels for. Lucy thought it was sort of sad, but most of his unrequited love probably came from the fact that Anthony could find a way to annoy her without even trying. Four weeks into school and Lucy had witnessed the prefect yell at Anthony with her face bright red and her auburn hair flaming.

Most of the young badgers knew not to mess with Daisy Locke.

"No, Anthony, I'm not doing that to Daisy," Megan said, staring at the boy in front of her in disbelief. He was trying to convince her and Lucy to sneak into the fifth year dormitory to steal Daisy's prefect badge so he could... modify it, whatever that meant.

"Why?" Anthony whined, pouting. 

Lucy retreated up into the dorms, shaking her head as Megan and Anthony both argued their points. The two bickered like siblings, and they looked so much a like that Lucy had a hard time telling if they were separated at birth or something. 

Megan's glare didn't let up. "Well, for one, Daisy's nice and you shouldn't make her so angry all the time. And also, she's a prefect! It's like walking into a dragon's den, Rickett!"

Anthony rolled his eyes. "And you call yourself a Gryffindor? Where's your sense of adventure?"

"I must've lost it around the same time I was sorted into Hufflepuff," Megan deadpanned, and she turned back to the charms homework that was sprawled out across the coffee table. Here she had been doing her homework like a good little badger, and then Anthony showed up trying to persuade her into doing his dirty work. If he wanted the badge so badly, then he could find his own way up into that dorm.

"I don't recall naming you the sassy one," Anthony muttered. "What happened to my innocent ducklings? When did society corrupt you?!" his eyes narrowed dangerously, and he fumbled for his wand. "It's those Weasley twins, isn't it? They're poisoning your mind! They're telling you to disobey me! ME! Your leader!"