Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.

Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers. Please exercise understanding of personal boundaries before and during reading.

Author's Note (Generic Note for the Houses Competition): All my works should be considered to be Not Epilogue Compliant and I treat everything that is not the HP books and the Hogwarts Library Collection as apocrypha (supplementary to canon but still outside of it) and treat it as such (including ignoring it unless it suits me). I also make a policy of not ignoring abusive and distasteful actions/decisions of characters and not handwaving the effects of trauma experienced by characters. If you feel that a character isn't acting like their "canon self" chances are good that it's because of one of these two things and they are merely displaying a more realistic response than they did in canon.

Author's Note: It should become clear fairly quickly, but this takes place in a universe where Harry Potter was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Challenge/Competition Block:
Stacked with: Houses Competition (Term 3); MC4A
House: Hufflepuff
Category: Standard (750-1500 words)
Theme: Includes a letter or note
Prompt: Albus Dumbledore & Pomona Sprout (Negative Pairing)
IntraHouse Challenge: Raven
Representations: Lingering Worry; Hogwarts; Pomona Sprout; Lesbian Ship; Teachers/Healers; House as Family; Rolanda Hooch
Bonus Challenges: Creature Feature; Casper's House; Second Verse (Not a Lamp; Ladylike -Athletic; Clio's Conclusion); Second Verse (Nontraditional; Found Family); Second Verse (Nightingale; Tomorrow's Shade; Unwanted Advice); Second Verse (Rock of Ages; Hot Apple; Sitting Hummingbird; Uncivil Obedience)
Secondary Challenges: Schooner (Sprout/Hooch)
Word Count: 1408

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A Different House, A Different Home
Determination without End
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"You've the Devil's own tongue, and all his arts, I'm sure. You're like the bad angel, whispering in my ear — and I always listen." – Loretta Chase
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Pomona Sprout considered herself a calm person. She had been teaching at Hogwarts for more than fifty years. One simply could not survive teaching children for that long without becoming completely unflappable. With Hogwarts being a school for magical children, this was even more true, because the normal drama of teenagers trapped in the same space for ten months was compounded by magical outbursts, both deliberate and accidental. Some years were wilder than others, but Pomona went through it all with a genial smile and calm demeanor.

Admittedly, working with her bondmate helped with that. Rolanda Hooch was the sunny skies to Pomona's soft earth. They had been together for almost as long as they had been teaching their respective subjects. They had never had any children of their own nor had they really felt the need for any. They had the many children who came through the school over the years. Pomona was especially close to the members of her House, stepping up to be their parent while they were under her protection.

She took that job very seriously, guarding her cubs as viciously as any sow would. Most of the time, this did not bring her into conflict with anyone. No one wanted to tangle with an angry badger, metaphorical or otherwise.

Then Harry Potter came to Hogwarts and shocked everyone by being sorted into Hufflepuff.

Albus and Minerva had been certain the boy would be a Gryffindor like his parents. Rolanda had collected a tidy sum betting against them. Her glee had only faded when Pomona had returned from her traditional beginning of term meeting. Rolanda had understood the tears that had filled Pomona's eyes as she had described the hunger she had seen in the boy's dark green eyes and noted the way he flinched at sudden noises and movements. Rolanda had known that there was no way that Pomona would be able to stomach letting the boy go back to the home that had created those reactions.

Over those first few weeks, Pomona had watched as the boy had met every challenge put before him with a determination worthy of Helga Hufflepuff herself. He was so small that Rolanda had mentioned worrying about him being able to actually control a broom, something that seemed to be unfounded as Harry took to flying like he had been born with wings. In Pomona's frequent trips to the Hufflepuff common room to answer questions for her students, Harry was always present, even if he didn't ask any questions. The Hufflepuff prefects were full of information about how quick he was to help others and how the other first year Hufflepuffs were rallying around him. By all accounts, Harry was the perfect student, unless one believed Severus and Minerva who both described him as easily distracted and disappointingly average.

Pomona could not help but wonder if their assessment would have been the same if the boy had been sorted into Gryffindor like expected.

Harry did not receive much mail or really, any since the letter he had received from Hagrid at the end of the first week of school. Unfortunately, this lack of mail did not carry over to Pomona, whose mail seemed to consist of nothing but letters concerning her famous Hufflepuff. Pomona had so many demands for information, in fact, that Rolanda had been forced to cast a mail sorting ward around their chambers and on their bonding rings to keep them from being overwhelmed with them. Rolanda had always been talented with her wand, something that Pomona had grown thankful for over their long years together.

The ward seemed to screen out the headmaster's inquiries as well. Pomona only discovered this when the man had actually showed up at a staff meeting to ask his questions in person. Albus was rarely at any of the monthly staff meetings, too busy with his duties to the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards. That he had shown up to the October one had surprised everyone, no matter how thankful they were mere hours later when a troll was discovered in the castle.

Pomona held mixed feelings on the matter. She had to countermand his order for the students to return to their common rooms, at least for her Hufflepuffs and Severus' Slytherins. It was a foolish risk to send them into the dungeons where the troll had been spotted, especially with only prefects to defend them. On the other hand, Albus' intervention was the only reason that a Gryffindor first year was recovering in the Hospital Wing instead of being prepared for burial. Pomona did not envy Minerva having to contact the girl's parents.

As winter began to blanket the grounds, Pomona found that she couldn't shake the feeling that Albus had a reason other than concern for wanting to know about Harry's friendships. Famous or not, it was unorthodox for Albus to be interested in a single student the way he was in the Potter heir. When her first years had come to her with their plan to invite Harry to the Abbotts' over the winter break, Pomona had been more than willing to sanction the visit. If nothing else, Zillah Abbott would be able to access Harry's health off the record and put Pomona's fears of abuse to rest. That would also ease her mind a bit about Albus' strange interest in the boy.

Probably.

Maybe.

It would be worth a shot at the very least.

It was with a growing sense of unease that Pomona watched the Abbotts' trained raven approach the Head Table the first morning of winter break. The white spots which speckled his black feathers looked iridescent in the weak light of a Scottish dawn in December. He carefully landed on the table near Pomona's plate. As brazen as could be, he spread his wings, flashing their creamy undersides, as he let out a sharp and defiant call. Only after he had issued his challenge did he settle enough to offer Pomona the message he carried clenched in his inky talons.

With trepidation, the Head of Hufflepuff unrolled the scroll and began to read the delicate calligraphy that the Healer favored even during her Hogwarts years.

'Dear Pomona,
I write this missive to inform of you, as Harry Potter's Head of House, that I have performed an examination of his health, same as I do for my daughter Hannah. What I found greatly troubles me, and such I find myself forced to file a report with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as the results in combination with observations and anecdotes leads me to suspect a most criminal case of abuse by his Muggle guardians. I have seen less grievous results from the same examination performed on the few survivors of Death Eater captivity.
I ask that you use your in loco parentis right to grant me permission to begin addressing his most immediate health issues, most concerning of which is malnutrition. I also wish to arrange for an appointment with a vision specialist given that Harry has never been to one, magical or Muggle.
I await your answer.
- Zillah Abbott
cognatio non finis in genus

Pomona traced the very formal words that Zillah had chosen to end her letter. They were words that every Hufflepuff learned on their first night as Hufflepuffs. Pomona had been taught them as she now teaches her charges. They were the words that were meant to echo the intent of Helga Hufflepuff for how her House would interact with each other forevermore.

Family does not end in blood.

As she scribbled the requested permission on a small sheet of paper that Rolanda had handed her along with her favorite pen, Pomona knew that Harry was finally on his way to a safe sett of his own. She could think of no better sow for her little cub than Zillah Abbott. Pomona gave the note to the raven who took to the air with a call that echoed the triumph beating in her chest.

If her smile in answer to Albus' inquiry about the exchange had more teeth than normally polite, she was hardly the one to blame.

After all, only a fool messed with a badger's cubs and still expected her not to bite.

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An Ending
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