Bab 17: Calamity is an other name for disaster
"There, look."
"Where?"
"Next to the tall girl with the red hair."
"The one with blond hair?"
"Yes him! Did you hear about it?"
"Pfff... Who in school didn't hear about him?"
"Hahaha! "
Another day, another morning at Hogwarts. It has been two weeks since the sorting ceremony and most of the first years already had their first classes.
The students were having their breakfast peacefully while gossiping about the last novelty, and most of them were about a certain someone, but not one with glasses this time.
Apart from the Hufflepuff table, all the students were having a good time. The Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were happily chatting among themselves while the Slytherins were laughing their heads off.
The Hufflepuffs, on the other hand, were mostly downcast and avoided the mocking looks of the other houses. Most of the yellow and black housemates had moved to the corners of the table, leaving just a part of the middle empty, or almost.
A gloomy ambiance mixed with awkwardness wandered among the students wearing the black and yellow. It was strange. As the younger students were either embarrassed or frustrated, the older ones, on the other hand, were slightly amused or a little disappointed.
Between the range of Hufflepuff, inside the empty space, only three students were sitting. Two of them, two girls, one with auburn hair and one red-haired much taller, were facing another student with shoulder-length blond hair. Both girls had distressed faces as they looked at the golden-haired student whose head rested heavily on the table.
"I must say... All of this was quite unexpected" said Terry, the auburn-haired girl.
"It's kind of amazing if you think about it. I doubt there was another student who had done something like this before," replied Jenna, the redhead.
" Well if you put it that way, Jenna… it's true this is exceptional but I don't think there wasn't another one who did worse… maybe… " continued Terry.
" Come on! What happened in the dungeon was incredible… sorry about that by the way… Did you see Snape's face? Until then, I thought the guy was a gargoyle! " replied Jenna amazed.
" Y-yes I saw that… but it was just an accident… like the rest… there is no need to gossip about" said Terry taking a glance at the rest of the students in the Great Hall.
"No need to gossip about?! All of this was spectacular. The Transfiguration class, the Charms class, the Herbology class,... Oh! The Defence Against the Dark Arts class was incredible too! I never could have imagined that garlics were able to form their own nation."
"That doesn't mean this was Dud's fault. I mean, seriously, living Garlics who builds a fortress made of desk supplies and old books…. How did we get here?" asked Terry incredulously.
"I know right? But Astronomy was quite boring compared to the others. We just got a thunderstorm." continued Jenna.
"Please you two… Can you stop?'" asked a tired and deep voice hidden beneath golden locks.
Dudley finally lifted his head from the table, which was beginning to fit the shape of his forehead, to stare indignantly with his two tired eyes at his two fellow misfits. Because yes, since Hogwarts classes had begun, Dudley had already had his share of misfortunes for the rest of the year.
On their first day of classes, their first lesson was with Professor Flitwick for Charms' lessons, a class generally appreciated by most students for its outward simplicity and its instructor as well. Professor Flitwick was a small man as tall as a goblin. He had greying brown hair but well-groomed and wore a magnificent moustache which Dudley had complimented him on in their first class. The little professor was often dressed in a green and black suit and also wore a black wizard's robe with green embroidery which he dragged behind him because of his small stature.
Everything was going well. Flitwick teaching his first lesson and the students listening eagerly, impatient to cast their first spell. It was during the practice session that everything went wrong. The first spell the small teacher gave them was the Levitation Charm, Wingardium Leviosa.
[ A/N: I let you this spot to comment at your convenience passionate readers... ]
The Levitation spell was quite easy to apprehend. A swift but delicate wand movement punctuated by an incantation clearly and distinctly voiced. The object to levitate was also a simple feather, nothing too heavy to float.
Everything was fine for the first few minutes, with Terry moving his feather slightly and Jenna, to everyone's surprise, making her feather fly around the classroom like a remote-controlled plane in the simplest of ways. But after this great performance, which earned Hufflepuff five points, there followed a sad incident of an explosive nature.
For when Dudley tried to cast his spell after seeing and hearing his two housemates, it didn't take long for things to get out of hand. Dudley didn't overdo it and performed the charm, focusing on getting his first spell right. But as soon as the spell was cast, an explosion of massive proportions ravaged the office in front of him, leaving a smoking crater on the classroom floor and sending his fellow students closest to him at the moment crashing into the walls of the room, except for Terry who was caught by Jenna in mid-air.
Once the smoke had settled and Flitwick had repaired the classroom supplies, after sending the students who had been knocked down by the blast to the infirmary first, of course, Dudley was dismissed from the class for the rest of the lesson. The explosive event sent three students to the infirmary and caused the House to lose the five points earned by Jenna.
When the other students walked out of the classroom, most of them avoided Dudley, leaving him with only Terry and Jenna, who comforted him as much as they could, telling him that such things happen every year. Jenna even brought up the fact that Dudley had successfully managed to levitate his feather, which was now encased in the ceiling of the classroom. Although initially disappointed, Dudley didn't lose his composure and simply told himself that he would do better next time. Well, the young man was right, he did do better but catastrophically so.
In their second class, Transfiguration, Dudley, who simply had to change a match into a needle, turned his office bench, the girl's chair in front of him and half of the poor girl's hair into a pile of needles covering the floor with pointed pieces of metal. After that, another student was sent to the infirmary and another 5 points were lost to Hufflepuff.
And unfortunately, the troubles were just getting started.
During Professor Sprout's herbology class, the bouncing bulb that Dudley had been given to tend to, flew out of its pot the instant the young man touched the plant's pot. As bad things never happen alone, the bulb hit the other plants in the students' care, creating a chain reaction that devastated the greenhouse where the class was held. Mrs. Sprout quickly evacuated the students and reluctantly took two points off Dudley for lack of attention, in her own words.
During Mrs. Hooch's flying lesson, Dudley propelled his broom into space when he ordered the stick to rise as explained by the teacher. Two points down and a broom forever lost in deep space later, the first years of Hufflepuff had their first Astronomy lesson in the highest tower of the castle. While the weather had been beautiful all day, no sooner had the students arrived in the astronomy tower in the evening than a violent storm shook the building to its very foundations. Although no one said anything and no points were lost, all the students, including Jenna and Terry, could not help but glance at Dudley, whose dark circles were beginning to form around his eyes.
But the worst was the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes and the Potion classes. During Professor Quirrel's class, the students were taught the Knockback Jinx after the teacher told them stories about vampires and his turban given to him by an Albanian Prince for supposedly doing him a favor. During practice, all the students in the class moved to a corner of the room leaving Dudley, Terry, and Jenna on their own, much to the surprise of the teacher. This enraged Dudley, who decided to show everyone what he was capable of by waving his wand at the training dummy and casting the spell masterfully. The poor mannequin was decimated in a firework display as the students gasped in amazement while Quirrel's eyes quivered with excitement at the performance. But before he could give the young man any points, the sparks of magic from Dudley's spell hit the garlic cloves hanging from the ceiling, supposedly to ward off any vampires, which began to grow limbs. The newborn vegetables quickly sprang to their feet to form a nation of garlic on legs and settled in one corner of the classroom, taking most of the teacher's and students' supplies and erecting a fortress as tall as a full-grown adult. The event stunned everyone and the rest of the lesson was spent negotiating with the garlic ruler for the return of the students' possessions.
After some difficult talks, Quirrel finished the lesson early and the students left, half their stuff gone, leaving a mentally tired Dudley.
The next class was the one that most students dread the most, Potions. And the reason was simple to understand. Severus Snape is an uncompromising, strict, and a biased Professor towards House Slytherin. Most of the students of the other houses feared him more than anything else in the school.
As soon as the class started, the other students shunned Dudley like a disease and this time the tall blond didn't hold it against them. When he arrived in class, Snape got the silence and attention of all the students by his mere presence. As the names of the students were listed, Dudley swore that Snape lingered on his name while giving him a sideways glance, but the young man was too tired to be sure. At first, the lesson proceeded normally. The students were paired up and Dudley found himself with Terry. Most of the time he left his friend in charge of the potion to be concocted, taking on the role of assistant most of the time, cutting, crushing, and peeling most of the ingredients to give to Terry. Everything was going well and Terry was happy with the result so far. The lesson was going so well that surprisingly, the students began to relax and enjoy Snape's class. Snape himself seemed to be in a happier mood, although it was difficult to detect any joy behind his frozen face.
And that's when everything went wrong.
Suddenly, without Terry or Dudley realizing what was happening, their potion turned lava red and made a thunderous noise that gave all the students goosebumps as they began to sweat profusely while turning their attention towards Dudley. Snape didn't wait for the situation to go any further as he rushed the students out before sealing the door to his classroom. No sooner had he closed the door with a spell than an explosion sounded and the door's bolts nearly burst through the wall, which itself cracked. Gradually, black smoke began to rise from the cracks in the door and the wall. Opening the classroom door, Snape and the students were confronted with an apocalyptic scene. The entire class was decimated. Even the walls seemed to be barely standing, with pieces of rock crumbling to the floor or burning walls shining through the smoke. Snape stood in the middle of the carnage and the students for the first time in their lives witnessed what an angry Snape really looked like.
Snape stopped the class, telling them to study the subject they had learned today for an upcoming test and giving them a giant pile of homework to do, all the while taking ten points off Hufflepuff.
That was all the other students needed to finally declare Dudley as a walking disaster. The young man himself could not retort to this prejudice, for it was impossible for him to understand how he could create such chaos.
The last two weeks went by like this, propelling Dudley's popularity above Harry Potter in no time. Disasters followed Dudley to every class, even History of Magic, so much so that the teachers had to ask him to refrain from any practical sessions and concentrate on the theory part of the lessons for the time being. Even though he listened to them and simply stopped practicing, the calamities continued to follow him, albeit on a smaller scale.
This situation embarrassed the young man to no end, especially after his speech at the Sorting Ceremony.
This story ended up making Dudley the laughing stock of Hufflepuff, and the joke of many students in other houses. The Slytherins in particular were delighted with the young blond man's misfortunes. Henceforth the other Hufflepuff students avoided hanging around Dudley as much as possible to keep them from being ridiculed by the others. Although they remained courteous to the young man, his housemates preferred to stay out of trouble and Dudley had an unfortunate tendency to attract them ever since he set foot in Hogwarts. Fortunately for the boy, Terry and Jenna stayed by his side, supporting him as much as they could and helping him as best they could with the lessons. Although they themselves didn't quite understand why the calamities stuck to the young man so much.
"It must be a curse" said Terry sitting at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, trying to understand Dudley last achievement.
"You thinks?" asked Jenna next to her.
"It must be! How could Dudley be this unfortunate? Someone must have put a curse on him" replied the auburn-haired girl.
"You really think someone has enough energy to spare me a curse and turn me into a walking/talking calamity?" quipped Dudley.
"But what else could it be?" saddened Terry.
"Bad Dudley! We don't make Terry sad." fumed Jenna as she hugged Terry.
"Yeah yeah...Sorry…" unresponsively said Dudley.
"I-it's okay Jenna, I'm not sad. I'm just trying to understand what's happening to him" quickly said Terry leaving Jenna embrace.
"Well, if the Professors don't know what is wrong with Dud, I don't think we will find out," said Jenna shrugging her shoulders.
"Do you have a suggestion then" asked Dudley raising an eyebrow.
"Deal with it" replied Jenna.
"Thank you for your wisdom!" groaned Dudley, before slapping the table with his forehead once more.
"Jenna! You can be nicer!" frowned Terry at the redhead.
"What? What else could he do? Like he said. Dud is a walking/talking disaster, and no one knows why. So until we find a better solution, he just has to deal with it. That's all." replied Jenna calmly.
Again Dudley raised his forehead from the table and looked at his redheaded friend with narrowed eyes. It was quite simple, the disasters were following him and there was nothing he could do to prevent them. So instead of continually racking his brains with these problems, he could at best accept them and live with them. And whatever some blabbering wizard brats might have to say.
"Once again, your logic is wise" sighed Dudley.
"Told you, I'm the brain of this team. Keep being a pretty face" smugged Jenna.
"Yes ma'am" winked Dudley.
"Seriously you two" sighed Terry smiling.
The trio dressed in black and yellow continued their morning in the Great Hall. Gradually Terry noticed that more and more Hufflepuff were leaving in groups, some carrying banners or flags. Intrigued by their behaviour, Terry questioned his two friends.
"Where are they going with that?" asked Terry.
"Who goes were?" replied Jenna.
"Quidditch enrollment" said Dudley lazily.
"WHAT?!" almost screamed Jenna and Terry together.
"What what?" frowned Dudley.
"The Quidditch enrollment is today?! How did you know that? And why you didn't tell us" asked Terry frantic.
"I heard my roommates talk about it this morning. What's the matter?" continued Dudley confused.
"What's the matter?! Dud! Quidditch is the greatest wizard sport! Of course we want to see the enrollment" said Jenna enthusiastic.
"Grab your stuff you two. We are going to see our team new players." said Terry rushing to get her bag.
"What! Right now?" replied Dudley more and more confused by the girls' behaviour.
'Yes, right now!" they said both while storming out the Great Hall.
"Okay, okay…. I just hope nothing will happen… Pffff! Who am I kidding." muttered Dudley slightly smiling.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Moustachio
Moustachio It's been a long time, I know... but life can come back has a little b**** sometimes.
I may reconsider my writing schedules during the next week, but no... the novel will not end.
Don't forget to post a comment, it gives me energy.
Seriously, it gives me a ton of energy, post a comment to your heart's content.
More info will come up soon.
Until then.... stay tuned.
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