A Real Accomplishment

[Amber Chou Wilson]

It was still hard to believe that out of all Hufflepuffs, Amber had earned the most house points during her first year. When she had first heard it at the end of year feast, she had been sure there had been a mistake. She didn't think she had really done anything special at all, but she had still managed to do this. It had felt so good, like her hard work had been noticed and appreciated.

A few weeks had passed now in her second year, and she had decided to go look at the trophy room. Someone had said that the people with the most points got their name on a plaque in here, and she wanted to see it for herself. She walked past the trophies from the past years, from the entire history of the school. It was amazing, it was terrifying. She wanted so badly to leave her own mark on here, to show the world that she could do something good. But there was so much here already, how would she ever stand out?

She walked to the newest trophies, the ones from last year. She had some fun looking at the ones for Halloween, remembering the fun she'd had at the feast last year. Then she saw the House Cup, it had gone to Gryffindor but she didn't mind. They had worked hard for it and had earned it. She just hoped she could be part of winning this cup for her own house someday, but she still had six years to go. Above the house cup, she finally saw her own name, hanging there for everyone to see. She stared at it, smiling a little bit. That was her name, there forever. Future generations would walk past it, though she doubted many would look at it. But it was still there, and she had done it. After a moment of hesitation, she reached up to touch it.

 

[Elt]

There were no cups or plaques in the trophy room with Elt's name on them, but that didn't mean she wasn't a frequent visitor. The shiny gold and silver plated awards twinkled attractively in the light from the windows, making the room a perfect place to sit and reflect on her day. She didn't fantasise over winning a trophy herself, per se, though she was confident that some day she would. How couldn't she? Her ideas were always so unique and exciting! She and Oona would do brilliant things, she was sure of it.

Finding the door to the room ajar, Elt slipped quietly inside, treading softly on the flagstone floor. She wasn't alone - a girl from her year was looking up at some plaques on the wall. The part-goblin watched curiously from a distance, trying and failing to discern the name etched into the award Amber was admiring. Then, much to Elt's horror, the Hufflepuff reached up to touch it! "AAAAAAAHHH!" she shrieked, dashing toward her and kicking her on the leg. "THIEF! NO STEAL! I GET PROFESSOR!"

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Before she even made contact with the award with her name of it, she realized it was a silly thing to do. What if touching it made it fall off the wall? What if she broke it?

But before she could do as much as pull her arm back, she heard a sudden loud shriek near her and jumped in alarm. Before she even saw what was making that sound, she was being kicked in the leg and shouted at by something small and apparently very angry. Amber screamed, scared by whatever it was, and stumbled back, barely managing not to fall and knock over a few other trophies. "I'm not a thief!" She yelled at the small person that had attacked her. For a wild moment, she was sure it was a house elf or something similar with the task of protecting the trophies. But no, she recognized the girl from her class. She stared at her with wide eyes, breathing fast. "Why would you KICK me!?" She shouted at her, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

 

[Elt]

Elt stood back, scowling, and folded her arms across her chest. Wasn't the answer obvious? "You was stealing the shiny," she replied, indignant. She didn't believe for a second this girl hadn't been intending to steal that plaque. Humans were greedy, awful, untrustworthy creatures - that was what the goblins always said, anyway. Amber was just as bad as a niffler! "I would have kicked your arm, but I can't reach!"

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber put her hands on her hips. "I was not." She said, frowning at the small girl."And even if I was, you don't kick people. That's bad. What if I had fallen on top of the other trophies and broken them? Then we both would have been in a lot of trouble." She scolded. "And it would have been a shame of all the accomplishments of all the people that worked hard to earn these trophies." She sighed and rubbed her face, finally calming down a bit. "I really wasn't stealing it, I just wanted to touch it. Which was silly but not a crime." She folded her arms. "It's my name on it, so why would I steal it? I would want everyone to see it here, wouldn't I?" Amber hoped this logic would be enough to convince this girl that she was telling the truth, if she was blamed for something she didn't do and lost points she would be very upset.