by Sophia Wolfe
The rumor is that Hufflepuff Quidditch Team asked for and got a special permission from the Headmaster which allows them to use Thestrals instead of broomsticks in their next match. Intrigued by this information I started reading up on Quidditch rules and regulations, and to my great surprise rules regarding use of brooms are very scarce to say the least, and nowhere to my best knowledge does it say that you cannot use any other flying object in a Quidditch match. With that knowledge I tried to get the information first hand from the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captains.
I managed to catch up with Professor Cosmo B. Mott and Askeron Kyle after last week's practice. When I told them why I wanted to speak to them they seemed concerned to say the least. After some faint whispering and conferring they unanimously decided they didn't want to comment, and just like that they walked away towards the castle leaving me to ponder in the rain. I had even worse luck with remaining Hufflepuff players, none of which were available to comment. For a second I thought my luck changed when a charming Marcie Hobber decided to talk to me. Unfortunately, when I asked whether Hufflepuff indeed plans on cheating she gave me a brief, "Hey! If it is not listed as a foul it is not cheating!" and with that she was gone.
So is using Thestrals considered cheating? If so would Hufflepuff of all houses really cheat? That remains to be seen, and even if Quidditch is not your thing, surely you'll be there this Saturday to count the number of wings in the air.