Hogwarts staff life together to help build Hogwarts", and being "loved for her charming ways". According to an interview between Rowling and staff from The Leaky Cauldron, Hufflepuff introduced house-elves to Hogwarts, where she offered them refuge. Both the famous wizard card and the illustration on Rowling's website depict her as a plump woman with red hair. One relic of Hufflepuff, a small golden cup emblazoned with her symbol of a badger, is passed down to her distant descendant, Hepzibah Smith. This cup is stolen by Riddle (later Voldemort) and made into a Horcrux. The Hufflepuff Cup was destroyed by Hermione who
Hogwarts staff disobey her. After the raid of Hogwarts in "Half-Blood Prince", Sprout is a staunch advocate of keeping Hogwarts open. She also supports the suggestion that Dumbledore should be laid to rest at Hogwarts. Sprout attends Dumbledore's funeral, where she appears cleaner than she has ever been seen before. In "Deathly Hallows", she chases Snape away from Hogwarts with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. Informed that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are coming to besiege Hogwarts, she uses her knowledge of magical plants by improvising offensive botany, and, with the help of several students, throws Mandrakes, Snargaluff pods, and Venomous Tentaculas off