Although Zacharias is a distant descendant of Hepzibah Smith and (therefore) Helga Hufflepuff; a lot of his Hogwarts peers thought him to be a poor example of what Hufflepuff valued in her students. Most Hufflepuff students are considered to be (on the whole) kind, loyal and hard working; whereas Zacharias is often thought of as unkind and selfish. But Hufflepuff was the only house speculated by the sorting hat those six years ago, and it can make sense on something other than ancestry.

Hufflepuffs are also thought to have a good sense of justice - or injustice - and are very group-orientated, sociable people who prefer the company of others (mainly those of their own house) to being on their own. This can definitely be said of Zacharias. In fact - his sense of justice is so switched on, that he's willing to question others' motives and weigh up all the facts being presented before him. He is convinced only by concrete evidence, rather than putting all his faith in another; particularly if he doesn't know them.

This is why Zach is very sceptical and wary of others. He can be thought of as cynical, even pessimistic; because he likes to spot loopholes in things that others may not have thought of. If he were a muggle, he might make quite a good lawyer (except the fact that he's not a particularly good liar!)

It would be difficult to describe Zacharias as loyal, perhaps like some of his classmates; because he believes in the idea of every man for himself. But it wouldn't be fair to say he was disloyal. He's very in-group orientated: only loyal to those he feels are close friends, and that he owes a great deal. He does like showing off in front of them though, which is probably one of his greatest flaws; because it usually involves him being condescending and obnoxious in front of 'outsiders' for their entertainment.

But he's not all bad. He may have plenty of opinions, but that's also what can make him so interesting. He's good at weighing out the pros and cons of things, and knowing what the best course of action is to take. There's no hiding behind the bushes and seeing what he can sniff out from rumours: Zacharias is more in-your-face, asking you up-front, wanting to know exactly what your version of the story is. He's not all that stubborn, either. Once proven wrong he'll shut up, really.

Earlier Years

The Smith family were ostentatious and hedonistic people. Horatio always tried to worm his way through life by bringing up his famous ancestry, but the replies he got were more or less always: 'I don't care if you're related to Merlin himself, you're not getting any special treatment from me'. The fact is, although Horatio and Marnissa both grew up in fairly wealthy families, they had both suffered times of great financial strain. They were not prudent with their money or spending habits, and even though they walked around in the finest clothes they would not give up a fraction of their luxurious lifestyle.

They just fell into more debt, and more; until a goblin who claimed to be working for Gringotts bank tricked them out of their entire savings. This was when Zacharias was seven, so he remembers it all very vividly. All of his precious, expensive toys were packed into trunks that he never saw again. Their large, Victorian house was stripped bare and became a mere skeleton of its former glory; and his Mother wailed at the prospect of giving up her beloved jewels and family heirlooms.

They now had not a shred of proof that they were connected to Helga Hufflepuff, only by name (and 'Smith' was quite a common name anyway); and if anyone had any respect for them whatsoever it was taken away. Zacharias remembers his Mother and Father working around the clock at the Ministry, and that all they could afford was a muggle-owned flat in St Albans. It was a lifestyle that none of them wanted, and Zacharias's only play mate was the son of a squib called Vincent. Vincent probably wouldn't inherit any magical ability, but he knew of the magical world from his Father.

It was difficult at the time for Zacharias to predict Vincent's behaviour. For the first year of their friendship, he was everything you could ask for in a friend. Then, when Zacharias complained that Vincent could not play quidditch with him and started showing signs of magic, Vincent turned a little cold. His Father, the squib, always complained about the injustices he endured by wizardkind. Zacharias did not like him. Vincent never really listened to him, until then. It was like a switch had been clicked and his true colours manifested: to a point where he lured Zack into a woodland at the age of nine.

Vincent had told his muggle school friends that Zacharias believed in werewolves. Of course, Vincent knew they did exist. So, adamant on taunting him in a jealous spite; Vincent lured Zach into the woodland, abandoned him; then had all his friends creating the atmospheric sounds of spookiness and wailing wolves...

What with all his parents endured at the hands of a goblin trickster, and now this; Zacharias didn't really trust as well as he used to.

By the time he was eleven, prospects were looking up. The goblin who had stolen their savings had been caught and tried, and the Smith family (although not receiving all their galleons back) received compensation. This allowed them to move back to Oxfordshire, get a slightly bigger house, and afford a lot of Zacharias's Hogwarts things. They probably would never learn from their mistakes: the Smiths squandered money as though it grew on trees, and it would always be that way.

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Hogwarts Years

Zacharias arrived at Platform Nine and Three Quarters on September 1st, 1991 with quite a lot of time to spare. His Father helped him carry his luggage into a vacant compartment and place it on the racks above. Later he was joined by Justin Finch-Fletchley, who he found out was muggleborn. Their conversation was very easy and very back-and-forth, as Zach was quite pleased to be explaining things about the wizard world and learning just how little muggles knew. When they arrived into Hogsmeade station, they climbed into a boat together.

Amidst rumours of Harry Potter starting this year with them, Zacharias told others not to expect that much from him. As far as he was concerned, Potter was just lucky. Just very, very lucky.

He was sorted into Hufflepuff without much more deliberation from the sorting hat, and found himself telling others that he was a distant relation to Helga herself. Some were impressed, but he tried not to boast too much about it.

And all that talk about Harry Potter being no better than they were? Zacharias was forced to eat his words. Not only did he and his friends fend off a mountain troll, but they had also overcame many trials and dangers surrounding something called The Philosopher's Stone. Zach was certainly impressed, as were most others.

But it was second year that Zacharias's opinion changed again. When it appeared that Potter set a snake on his friend Justin and revealed himself as a parselmouth; Zach never quite forgave him. As far as he was concerned, it didn't matter that he'd gone basilisk slaying in Salazar Slytherin's secret vault: parselmouth was a sign of a dark wizard. How else could he have survived You-Know-Who as a baby, if he wasn't a dark wizard himself?

So that was why, in third year, he actually joined in with the Slytherin's taunts of Potter collapsing on the train with the Dementors. He regrets it now, but he did.

But that cold: that sheer, spiking cold beating against his lungs; as he was forced to re-live leaving his old house, and his toys being taken away, and the bleak little flat with smirking Vincent. Zach actually wrote to his parents asking if they could pull him out for the year. Sirius Black and dementors were enough reason to have a lot of parents worried...

At least Black didn't remain a threat for the following year. Zach wore a Potter Stinks badge for the first half of the year, alongside others, as it appeared he wanted to swipe glory away from Cedric Diggory. It would have been a good year - he and his date enjoyed the yule ball, and the triwizard tournament was better than watching quidditch.

What came next was completely unexpected, but Zach joined his parents' opinions that Potter was lying. You-Know-Who could not be back. Potter just never seemed satisfied with the level of attention he was getting, and was always finding new ways of turning heads. That's why, the following year, Zach joined the rest of his friends saying he wanted to confront Potter's claims directly. So he came across the DA.

As it happened, Zach learnt more that year about defensive spells than he had done in his entire school life. He was sceptical at first, and was always hard on Potter; but seemed to feel as though he was a minority in the end. Most of his friends seemed to trust Potter, so eventually his opinion changed. Umbridge got worse and worse as the year wore on, until all he wanted was her to disappear.

It was his fifth year that he also became Hufflepuff's chaser, something he had wanted to be since third year. As it happened, being on the team was exactly what he needed. It was his secret little way of getting back at Potter and his friends without actually being his enemy.

He did a similar thing last year, where he annoyed the Gryffindor team with his commentary. Everyone knew Potter had chosen his friends over more able candidates for the Keeper position, Zach just chose not to bottle up his opinion. Perhaps, however, he was just a little annoyed that Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley had all been offered places in the Slug Club and he, a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, was apparently not worthy of a seat.

How petty he had been.

He'd even tried to prevent his friends from helping Harry in the final battle, when all above fifth year were allowed to remain at Hogwarts. Zach urged his friends, quite fearfully, that 'it wasn't worth it' and they would be 'bloody stupid and running to their deaths'. In fact, he got quite hysterical at some points. But a lot of his hufflepuff friends were more loyal than Zach ever was; they thought it some kind of honour to be fighting alongside Dumbledore and the rest.

But he was too cowardly to do anything himself. He returned home to his parents while the battle of Hogwarts went on, and only returned after halloween.

It was difficult walking back into a post-war school: not just because of the grief over lives lost, but because Zacharias knew he'd been too cowardly to remain there himself. He supposed all other members of the DA had chosen to remain. It seemed he was the only one. His friends had certainly lost respect for him - that was for certain.

When the war was concluded and life (more or less) returned to what it was, Zach made a private agreement with himself. He wanted to be a better person, for starters. He didn't want to end up like his parents. He wanted to have a good final year with his friends, and try hard not to critique everything and everyone surrounding him. Because, well, life was too short. He had to take responsibility for his actions, and stop living in a pool of regret over his cowardice.