Tragedy avoided

Astoria Greengrass offered to read next if only to get rid of the awful tension that settled in the room after the last chapter ended. Harri looked ready to go on a warpath. 

When Harri woke up on Sunday morning, it took her a moment to remember why she felt so miserable and worried. Then the memory of the previous night rolled over her. 

Harri threw another bean bag at Ron, the loud smacking sound that emitted when it made contact with his shoulder satisfying her. 

Harri dressed and went down the spiral staircase into the common room. The moment she appeared, the people who had already finished breakfast broke into applause again. The prospect of going down into the Great Hall and facing the rest of the Gryffindors, all treating her like some sort of hero, was not inviting; it was that, however, or stay here and allow herself to be cornered by the Creevey brothers, who were both beckoning frantically to her to join them.

“Because that sounds like someone that is just dying to be the center of attention,” The Voice snarked in the back of his mind.

Are you done? Severus thought back, referring to the non-stop echoing of Potter's thoughts, ignoring the jab at him.

“That depends on you,” The Voice replied nonchalantly. 

“What is it you want from me?”

The Voice was oddly silent in his head before its reply came, “I don’t want anything from you, you don’t already want.”

Severus sneered. What was that supposed to mean? He didn’t want anything from Potter, the reason they were tormenting him.

The Gryffindors all winced. They hadn’t meant to make Harri uncomfortable.

"Hello," she said, holding up a stack of toast, which she was carrying in a napkin. "I brought you this....Want to go for a walk?"

"Good idea," said Harri gratefully.

“At least I know I can count on Hermione,” Harri snarked, glaring daggers at Ron.

“Don’t use me to make passive aggressive comments at Ron,” Hermione snapped, not wanting to be in the middle of their fight.

“So you can do it to her but she can’t do it to you,” Fred cut in unimpressed with Hermione’s double standards.

“I…”

“How about none of you use any of the others to fight with each other,” Mrs. Granger suggested kindly.

"Well, of course I knew you hadn't entered yourself," she said when Harri finished telling her about the scene in the chamber off the Hall. "The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name! But the question is, who did put it in? Because Moody's right, Harri...I don't think any student could have done it...they'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's -"

Harri sent another dirty look at Ron. If Hermione could notice how much she didn’t want to be in the tournament he should have too.

“For the last time,I haven’t done it yet” Ron cried, getting more frustrated with the way Harri was acting. He didn’t know what his counterpart’s issue was. If he could he’d go punch himself but that wasn’t possible. He didn’t want to lose Harri because of a stupid book.

"Have you seen Ron?" Harri interrupted.

It hurt to hear Harri brush off her concerns in favor of Ron. Hermione had believed Harri, and stood by her side and all Harri seemed to care about was Ron. Hermione was trying to help and Harri had brushed her off.

"Well...no, I don't think so...not really," said Hermione awkwardly.

"What's that supposed to mean, 'not really'?"

“That’s what I would like to know,” Harri muttered bitterly.

"Oh Harri, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly. "He's jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harri said incredulously. "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

“Feel free,” Harri gestured towards the room. “Well, go for it.”

“Come on, mate,” Ron groaned. This wasn’t fair. Harri wasn’t listening. He hoped the book would at least give them a good reason why his counterpart had turned his back on Harri, though he doubted whatever it was would be good enough. He didn’t understand how he could ever abandon Harri like this.

"Look," said Hermione patiently, "it's always you who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault," she added quickly, seeing Harri open her mouth furiously. "I know you don't ask for it...but - well - you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous - he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many..."

“You want my life? You can fucking have it.” Harri snapped, her temper boiling over. “You can have someone constantly wanting you dead. You can have relatives that treat you like you're less than a house elf. You can not have a home of your own. You can have a room full of people listening to your every thought and judging you for them. I’ll have a loving family, and not have to worry about being worked to death or when the next time I’ll get to eat. I’ll live without worrying about the fact the darkest wizard ever known is out there waiting to kill me. I’d be glad to have all the attention off of me. So go ahead and take my life if you want it so bad.”

“That’s not fair,” Ron argued, his own temper rising. “I didn’t know a lot of that and that isn’t my fault is it? I get it. You're mad because I’m treating you like shit in this book, but some of what Hermione just said is true. You always get all the credit.”

“I never asked for it,” Harri yelled back. “I never once asked for any of the attention or the credit. You can fucking have it all. I never wanted any of it. I don’t deserve your treatment of me because you can’t see that. You're blaming me for something I have no control over! If you want to be mad at someone it should be everyone who doesn't acknowledge all the things you accomplish! Because anytime I’m asked about any of it inside the books or outside of them I tell people I only accomplished anything because you and Hermione. I never once stole credit from you!”

"I'm not telling him anything," Hermione said shortly. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out."

“I shouldn’t have to go to him. I haven’t done anything wrong,” Harri sniffed, shooting Hermione a betrayed look. Why should she be the one to break the silence Ron started.

"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harri said, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or -"

“Don’t joke about that,” hollered Hermione. “It’s not funny.”

“I might be being stupid in these books right now but I’d never want that,” Ron added, hoping Harri would believe at least that. No matter how upset he got at either of his friends, he’d never wish for their death.

"Yeah, give Ron a good kick up the -"

“Now that’s an idea,” Harri snickered, giving Ron the side eye.

"Write to Sirius. You've got to tell him what's happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts....It's almost as if he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill out with me -"

“I’m definitely not doing that. I won’t be the reason he’s in more danger.” Harri said harshly. Why would Hermione want her to write to Sirius knowing how she felt about Sirius getting caught.

“He’s the only adult you’ve got in your life. Sue me for thinking he should know you're in danger,” Hermione mumbled, not wanting to get into it with Harri.

Josephine Granger was forced to remember her conversation with Cassandra Diggory. Hermione could suggest that Harri go to an adult, but couldn’t come to them when she was in danger. Their daughter trusted a stranger more than she did them.

"Come off it," said Harri, looking around to check that they couldn't be overheard, but the grounds were quite deserted. "He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting right into the castle if I tell him someone's entered me in the Triwizard Tournament -"

“I am capable of making well thought out decisions,” Sirius informed her dryly as he bumped her shoulder. “I’m not going to needlessly put myself in danger. I’m smart enough to know I’ll have to help you from the shadows. If I got caught you’d be all alone and I wouldn’t want that.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” Harri promised as she leaned into him. She would try to have more faith in her godfather.

"Harri, this isn't going to be kept quiet," said Hermione, very seriously. "This tournament's famous, and you're famous. I'll be really surprised if there isn't anything in the Daily Prophet about you competing....You're already in half the books about You-Know-Who, you know...and Sirius would rather hear it from you, I know he would."

“I really would,” Sirius agreed, throwing an arm around Harri’s shoulder and pulling her into his side before adding, “I would have preferred if you wanted to write to me about it. I don’t want you to feel forced to share things with me.”

Harri appreciated that Sirius would respect her privacy and wasn’t going to expect her to spill all her secrets to him, not that she would have many after these books were done.

"Whose owl am I going to use?" Harri said as they climbed the stairs. "He told me not to use Hedwig again."

"Ask Ron if you can borrow -"

“Nice try but you aren’t tricking me into talking to him,” Harri snorted, shaking her head. Hermione should know her better than that. She wasn’t stupid.

Hermione sent a guilty smile at Harri. She was sure she was just trying to help.

Dear Sirius,

You told me to keep you posted on what's happening at Hogwarts, so here goes - I don't know if you've heard, but the Triwizard Tournament's happening this year and on Saturday night I got picked as a fourth champion. I don't who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, because I didn't. The other Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory, from Hufflepuff.

“Nice try but saying it like it’s no big deal isn’t going to stop me from worrying about you.” Sirius told her as he gave her a gentle shake. “It’s my job to worry about you and I’m going to.” 

She paused at this point, thinking. She had an urge to say something about the large weight of anxiety that seemed to have settled inside her chest since last night, but she couldn't think how to translate this into words, so she simply dipped her quill back into the ink bottle and wrote,

“Do you feel that anxiety now?” Sirius asked softly, not wanting to have everyone’s attention brought to Harri. He doubted she would share anything with him if that happened.

“No,” Harri shook her head. “All I feel right now is anger.”

“Alrighty, anger I can work with,” Sirius smirked down at her. “I’ll have you know I have a masters in anger.”

"I can't use you," Harri told her, looking around for the school owls. "I've got to use one of these."

“She isn’t going to like that,” Harri groaned. 

Hedwig gave a very loud hoot and took off so suddenly that her talons cut into her shoulder. She kept her back to Harri all the time she was tying her letter to the leg of a large barn owl. When the barn owl had flown off, Harri reached out to stroke Hedwig, but she clicked her beak furiously and soared up into the rafters out of reach.

“First my best mate and now my owl. What next?” Harri growled glaring at the books. 

The Hufflepuffs, who were usually on excellent terms with the Gryffindors, had turned remarkably cold toward the whole lot of them. One Herbology lesson was enough to demonstrate this.

“Wouldn’t be the first time Hufflepuffs hated me for something I didn’t do,” Harri shrugged but threw bean bags at all the Hufflepuffs out of principle. 

Sprout looked over at her ‘Puffs in disappointment. She knew they were angry on behalf of one of their own, but that didn’t excuse their behavior.

The Hufflepuffs rubbed their shoulders where Harri had hit them but didn’t protest. They deserved it. She was right, it wouldn't be the first time.

 It was plain that the Hufflepuffs felt that Harri had stolen their champion's glory; a feeling exacerbated, perhaps, by the fact that Hufflepuff House very rarely got any glory, and that Cedric was one of the few who had ever given them any, having beaten Gryffindor once at Quidditch. Ernie Macmillan and Justin FinchFletchley, with whom Harri normally got on very well, did not talk to her even though they were repotting Bouncing Bulbs at the same tray - though they did laugh rather unpleasantly when one of the Bouncing Bulbs wriggled free from Harri’s grip and smacked her hard in the face. 

“So glad I can count on you two to blame me without knowing the truth, at least that's reliable,” Harri sneered, turning her nose up at them, something she had learned from Narcissa.

Sprout sighed and looked at the girl sadly. Her House had not been kind to her.

“Would it help if we said we haven’t done it yet?” Justin asked hopefully.

“No.”

Ron wasn't talking to Harri either. Hermione sat between them, making very forced conversation, but though both answered her normally, they avoided making eye contact with each other. 

“I’m sure that really helped make people believe I didn’t do it,” Harri hissed. If her best mate didn’t believe her no one else was going to.

Harri thought even Professor Sprout seemed distant with her - but then, she was Head of Hufflepuff House.

Guilt over took Professor Sprout. She was sure she was above such pettiness. Was it her fault her Puffs had reacted so badly to Harri? Had she failed to teach them to be the bigger person?

She would have been looking forward to seeing Hagrid under normal circumstances, but Care of Magical Creatures meant seeing the Slytherins too - the first time she would come face-to-face with them since becoming champion.

 “Can’t wait, at least I know they’ll be awful,” Harri commented as her mood continued to decline.

“Are we counted in those you’re furious with right now? Because we haven’t been mentioned in these books and never interacted with you and I don’t think we should be blamed for not believing a complete stranger if we happen to be mentioned,” Daphne inquired hoping the answer would be no. This would be the perfect chance for them to get closer to Harri.

“I haven’t decided yet but I’ll take that into consideration,” Harri shrugged. It would depend on how bad they were.

"Ah, look, boys, it's the champion," he said to Crabbe and Goyle the moment he got within earshot of Harri. "Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt she’s going to be around much longer....Half the Triwizard champions have died...how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet."

“We do not wish death upon others,” Molly scolded, sending a stern look towards Draco before demanding, “Apologize.”

Draco glared back but gritted out, “I’m sor..” Nope he couldn’t do it. Wouldn’t do it.

“Progress I suppose,” Molly sighed, “but I expect you to work on it young man. I’m proud of you for trying.”

Draco sneered at her. He didn’t need her pride.

"Take this thing for a walk?" he repeated in disgust, staring into one of the boxes. "And where exactly are we supposed to fix the leash? Around the sting, the blasting end, or the sucker?"

Harri hated to agree with Draco but she didn’t want to walk the Skrewts either. She would out of her love for Hagrid, but she was going to hate every second of it.

Hagrid's real intention, however, was to talk to Harri away from the rest of the class. He waited until everyone else had set off with their skrewts, then turned to Harri and said, very seriously, "So - yer competin', Harri. In the tournament. School champion."

"One of the champions," Harri corrected him.

“A student shouldn’t have to remind you one of my ‘Puffs was a champion,” Sprout sniffed, her heart going out to Cedric in the book. She was sure many would overlook him for Potter.

Cedric felt even more guilty that his counterpart hadn’t believed Harri now. She was sticking up for him in the book even after how terrible he had been to her. He could also admit it stung that Hagrid had either forgotten or ignored the fact he was a champion too. If others were like Hagrid he doubted his counterpart would like it one bit. It might even fuel him thinking Harri had lied.

"You believe I didn't do it, then?" said Harri, concealing with difficulty the rush of gratitude she felt at Hagrid's words.

"Course I do," Hagrid grunted. "Yeh say it wasn' you, an' I believe yeh - an' Dumbledore believes yer, an' all."

“Thanks,” Harri beamed over at her friend. At least she knew she could count on Hagrid.

"Look like they're havin' fun, don' they?" Hagrid said happily. Harri assumed he was talking about the skrewts, because her classmates certainly weren't; every now and then, with an alarming bang, one of the skrewts' ends would explode, causing it to shoot forward several yards, and more than one person was being dragged along on their stomach, trying desperately to get back on their feet.

“Doesn’t that just sound pleasant,” Draco sneered, ignoring the warning look Molly shot him. He wasn’t insulting Hagrid. Just stating an honest opinion. He wasn’t going to pretend to enjoy working with dangerous beasts to spare the man’s feelings.

"Ah, I don' know, Harri" Hagrid sighed suddenly, looking back down at her with a worried expression on his face. "School champion...everythin' seems ter happen ter you, doesn' it?"

“You can say that again,” Harri said sourly. Her life was never going to be normal at this rate.

“Can’t say your life isn’t exciting though,” Fred chimed in trying to cheer her up.

“You take it then.”

“Nah, it suits you better,” he grinned at her. “Makes you uniquely you.”

The next few days were some of Harri’s worst at Hogwarts. The closest she had ever come to feeling like this had been during those months, in her second year, when a large part of the school had suspected her of attacking her fellow students. But Ron had been on her side then. She thought she could have coped with the rest of the school's behavior if she could just have had Ron back as a friend, but she wasn't going to try and persuade Ron to talk to her if Ron didn't want to. Nevertheless, it was lonely with dislike pouring in on her from all sides.

Ron looked down in shame. He didn’t know Harri felt that way. He didn’t know his friendship meant that much to her. He wouldn’t even protest if she threw another bean bag at him. If he could he really would kick his counterparts ass. While he understood why his counterpart was being a jerk after Hermione had told Harri why, it didn’t excuse his behavior. He shouldn’t have let his jealousy affect his friendship with Harri. He should have believed her.

Hermione couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. She was by Harri’s side. Did that count for nothing? Did their friendship mean that little to her?

Cedric wondered if he was at least trying to stop his House mates or if his head was so far up his ass over the tournament he let it go. He could only hope he was at least attempting to soothe some of the animosity, but his gut told him that wasn’t the case. 

She could understand the Hufflepuffs' attitude, even if she didn't like it; they had their own champion to support. 

“Their attitude is unacceptable,” Sprout corrected harshly. “Along with my own. Even if you had put your name in the Goblet, we should have all been bigger people about it. We should have dealt with it better.”

But she had hoped the Ravenclaws might have found it in their hearts to support her as much as Cedric. She was wrong, however. Most Ravenclaws seemed to think that she had been desperate to earn herself a bit more fame by tricking the goblet into accepting her name.

“Shocker, I wonder how much worse my life can get,” Harri said sarcastically as she took aim at her first Ravenclaw victim and tossed a bag at them. The only one spared was Luna because she couldn’t see the girl caring about the tournament when there were magical creatures out there to find.

Then there was the fact that Cedric looked the part of a champion so much more than she did. Exceptionally handsome, with his straight nose, dark hair, and gray eyes, it was hard to say who was receiving more admiration these days, Cedric or Viktor Krum. Harri actually saw the same sixth-year girls who had been so keen to get Krum's autograph begging Cedric to sign their school bags one lunchtime.

Cedric grinned as Harri mentioned what she thought about his appearance yet again. Fred Weasley was never described as such. He knew it was shallow but part of him felt as if he had won in the looks department as far as Harri was concerned because of it.

Amos sat up straighter. That’s right. That’s what his boy deserved. He should be admired. He did look much more like a champion then Potter ever could. The girl was all skin and bones. And her hair was always a mess. She hardly ever looked put together.

A vivid scene played in Amos’ mind. Potter looked to be six at the time, her brute of an Uncle dragging her through what Amos could only assume was their home.

“Please no,” Potter begged as she fruitlessly tugged at her Uncle's hold. “I’m sorry! I don’t know what happened I swear! I’ll be good, please don’t lock me in there. Please!”

Amos watched as Vernon Dursley ignored the heart wrenching cries of a child and physically picked the girl up by her collar and tossed her, none too gently, into a cupboard, slamming the door and sliding a lock in place.

“You can stay there girl,” her uncle hissed as he stored away. “Maybe a week in there with no food will teach you, freaks aren’t meant to be seen or heard.”

The memory faded as the Voice spoke, “Why would a child who was taught she meant less than nothing care about her appearance? Do you think anyone ever taught her any better?”

Meanwhile there was no reply from Sirius, Hedwig was refusing to come anywhere near her, Professor Trelawney was predicting her death with even more certainty than usual, and she did so badly at Summoning Charms in Professor Flitwick's class that she was given extra homework - the only person to get any, apart from Neville.

“There it is. I knew it could get worse,” Harri nodded knowing it would happen.

"Wonder why that was," said Harri darkly as Cedric Diggory walked past, surrounded by a large group of simpering girls, all of whom looked at Harri as though she were a particularly large Blast-Ended Skrewt. "Still - never mind, eh? Double Potions to look forward to this afternoon..."

Cedric’s lips twitched as he tried to fight off a grin. It sounded as if her counterpart was a little jealous of the female attention he was gaining. 

Double Potions was always a horrible experience, but these days it was nothing short of torture. Being shut in a dungeon for an hour and a half with Snape and the Slytherins, all of whom seemed determined to punish Harri as much as possible for daring to become school champion, was about the most unpleasant thing Harri could imagine. She had already struggled through one Friday's worth, with Hermione sitting next to her intoning "ignore them, ignore them, ignore them" under her breath, and she couldn't see why today should be any better.

“Like to see you try to ignore them,” Harri grumbled. It wasn’t that easy. When everyone had been awful to Hermione during their first year Hermione had sunk into herself. Harri had seen how it affected her.

SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY-

THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!

"Like them, Potter?" said Malfoy loudly as Harri approached. "And this isn't all they do - look!"

He pressed his badge into his chest, and the message upon it vanished, to be replaced by another one, which glowed green:

POTTER STINKS!

“If you put that much effort into Quidditch you might actually be decent,” Fred chortled, wondering how to get around his mother to mess with Malfoy.

“Fred,” Molly warned, wanting to keep the peace. She would be talking to Draco about those badges. 

Harri took the opportunity to chuck a beanbag at Draco because she could. 

The Slytherins howled with laughter. Each of them pressed their badges too, until the message POTTER STINKS was shining brightly all around Harri. She felt the heat rise in her face and neck.

“Definitely being added on the shit list,” Harri informed the Slytherin’s stiffly as she threw bags at them too.

“I wasn’t even in this class. I'm younger than Daphne,” Astoria argued, holding the book out in front of her protectively.

“Fine, you can be exempt,” Harri amended, thinking Astoria's argument was sound.

Ron was standing against the wall with Dean and Seamus. He wasn't laughing, but he wasn't sticking up for Harry either.

“Gee thanks,” Harri sneered, “what a great friend.”

“Do you want me to hit them because I will if it’d make you forgive me for something I. Haven’t. Done.”

“There will be no hitting anyone Ronald,” Molly cut in firmly.

Some of the anger Harri had been feeling for days and days seemed to burst through a dam in her chest. She had reached for her wand before she’d thought what she was doing. People all around them scrambled out of the way, backing down the corridor.

“Nice to see you finally standing up for yourself,” Fred grinned, liking where this was going.

“Get him, Harri,” Charlie and Bill cheered her on and were more than happy to hear how Harri would put Malfoy in his place.

“Stop encouraging her,” Molly snapped. “Violence isn’t the answer to schoolyard bullies.”

"Go on, then, Potter," Malfoy said quietly, drawing out his own wand. "Moody's not here to look after you now - do it, if you've got the guts -"

“It doesn’t sound like you should be taunting me right now,” Harri said darkly, sure her mood couldn't get any worse.

“What are you going to do about it?” Draco scoffed as he rolled his eyes. “I’m not scared of you or your little bean bags.”

“Keep talking and I'll show you,” Harri spat as she drew her wand. 

“Enough you two,” Molly demanded, making a barrier between them. “I won’t stand for you two cussing each other.”

Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in midair, and ricocheted off at angles - Harri’s hit Goyle in the face, and Malfoy's hit Hermione. Goyle bellowed and put his hands to his nose, where great ugly boils were springing up - Hermione, whimpering in panic, was clutching her mouth.

The Granger gasped in horror as worry filled them for their daughter. What had happened to her?

Ron and Harri sent Draco twin murderous looks. 

Ron had hurried forward to see what was wrong with her; Harri turned and saw Ron dragging Hermione's hand away from her face. It wasn't a pretty sight. Hermione's front teeth - already larger than average - were now growing at an alarming rate; she was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth elongated, past her bottom lip, toward her chin - panic-stricken, she felt them and let out a terrified cry.

Daphne pulled her wand ready to curse Draco before the boy could make the situation any worse. Harri was already mad at the Slytherins and one had just cursed her best friend.

“Expelliarmus,” Molly called out as she sent Daphne's wand sliding against the floor. “You’ll do well not to point your wand at those under my care.”

“Draco be a dear and apologize to Hermione,” Molly demanded next, her gaze still on Daphne and the rest of the Slytherins.

“Sorry,” Draco mumbled out half hearted his thoughts elsewhere. She had protected him again. Why? What did she gain from protecting him?

Snape had arrived. The Slytherins clamored to give their explanations; Snape pointed a long yellow finger at Malfoy and said, "Explain."

"Potter attacked me, sir -"

“Dirty rat faced liar,” Harri hissed at Draco, knowing Snape would believe the prat.

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harri shouted.

Harri didn’t know why she even tried. Snape was never going to take her words over Draco’s.

He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth - she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape's back.

Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, "I see no difference."

“What is wrong with you?” Josphine Granger seethed. “Are you such a miserable sod that you couldn’t  find it in your wretched little heart to be decent for three seconds? To attack a young girl's self-image is deplorable and you did it unprovoked to add insult to injury. You’re her teacher, she was in your care and instead of finding her medical attention you throw petty insults? You’re an adult, for fucks sake act like it. These children have nothing to do with your childish squabbles with a dead man.”  

Severus saw no need to defend himself, he was sure he believed Draco. He would have no reason not to. A Potter attacking someone for no reason was common.

“When has Harri ever attacked someone just for the hell of it the way James would have,” Lily’s voice whispered. “Maybe you and James are more alike than you think. Didn’t he attack your appearance with his friends because he could? And now you're abusing the power you hold over those children to attack theirs. It’s your turn to be a bully, right? It’s your turn to make others as miserable as you were and are.”

No, Severus thought desperately. He wasn’t anything like James Potter.

“Aren’t you?” the Voice mocked. “From where I’m sitting you're worse. At least you could fight back, those children have no choice but to take your abuse.”

It was lucky, perhaps, that both Harri and Ron started shouting at Snape at the same time; lucky their voices echoed so much in the stone corridor, for in the confused din, it was impossible for him to hear exactly what they were calling him. He got the gist, however.

“Let me fix that,” Harri glowered not seeing Sirius stick Molly’s tongue to the roof of her mouth. “You inconsiderate, selfish, greasy, oversize bat. Childish, self-serving manchild. Poorest excuse of a human I have ever laid eyes on.  I should cast it on you and then maybe you’d get the hint and clean your own rotting teeth. Have you ever heard of a shower? How about self-hygiene you crooked nose troll…” Harri unloaded every insult she could think of, glad to have a place to aim her rage. 

Fred swore he was going to marry Harri as he watched her sling insult after insult at Snape. Merlin, she was the most daring and dauntless woman he had ever met, and he loved every second of it. Seeing her stand up for someone she loved was breath-taking. He could literally see the fire burning in her eyes as she laid into Snape.

“Are you done?” Snape asked boredly when Harri had finally come to a stop. “Your childish outburst is holding up the readings. You’ve wasted our time.”

"Let's see," he said, in his silkiest voice. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention each for Potter and Weasley. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

“Git,” Charlie fumed on behalf of his younger siblings. He would have more to say, but Harri had used every insult in the book already. 

“Snape was such a git. He was never going to see her for her,” bellowed in the back of Severus' mind.

Harri sat there staring at Snape as the lesson began, picturing horrific things happening to him....If only she knew how to do the Cruciatus Curse...she’d have Snape flat on his back like that spider, jerking and twitching....

“Harriet Lily Potter,” Remus gasped in horror. 

“It’s not like I actually tried to do it…” Harri defended weakly… “I haven’t even thought about it yet?” she tried again when Remus didn’t look any more impressed with her. 

“And this is why the Ministry has a grade cap on those curses,” Madam Bones carped, shooting disapproving looks at Dumbledore and Moody.

Narcissa was surprised to hear Potter had such a mean streak in her. She wanted to sink her teeth into it and watch Potter become vicious under her guidance. She wondered how much of it she could convince Potter to bring to the surface. She couldn’t wait to find out.

Blaise and Daphne shared a look. Potter wasn’t as innocent as she seemed. She had used a man as a human shield when she was twelve, but the Cruciatus Curse? They had to wonder how she would have turned out if she had been placed in Slytherin. 

Dumbledore looked solemnly at both Harri and Severus. If he allowed Severus to push the girl too far would he have another Tom Riddle on his hands?

“Look how far you’ve pushed my child,” Lily’s voice whispered in disappointment. “You’ve tormented her to the point she wishes to torture you Sev… You’re breaking her the way you once were broken… How can you sit there and say you love me and then do this to my child?”

Snape's eyes met Harri’s, and Harri knew what was coming. Snape was going to poison her. Harri imagined picking up her cauldron, and sprinting to the front of the class, and bringing it down on Snape's greasy head 

“He won't poison anyone nor will there be a cauldron dumping,” McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose as she said this. She wondered if Potter could just self study potions. If Dumbledore wouldn’t remove Severus as a teacher altogether, she would not force her lion to subject herself to the man.

"Please, sir, I'm supposed to take Harri Potter upstairs." Snape stared down his hooked nose at Colin, whose smile faded from his eager face.

“Thank Merlin,” Harri sighed, she would get away from Snape before things got worse.

"Sir - sir, Mr. Bagman wants her," he said nervously. "All the champions have got to go, I think they want to take photographs..."

“I take it back- Snape can poison me,” Harri moaned, anything but that.

"Yeah, really amazing," said Harri heavily as they set off toward the steps into the entrance hall. "What do they want photos for, Colin?"

"The Daily Prophet, I think!"

"Great," said Harri dully. "Exactly what I need. More publicity."

“Sure does sound like she’s jumping for joy to be the center of attention doesn’t it,” the Voice sneered in Severus' head. “Such an attention seeker that one is.”

“I get it,” He admitted begrudgingly. Lily’s words from earlier still stinging.

“Do you?”

Viktor Krum was standing moodily in a corner as usual and not talking to anybody. Cedric and Fleur were in conversation. Fleur looked a good deal happier than Harri had seen her so far; she kept throwing back her head so that her long silvery hair caught the light. 

Harri scowled at the book in order to keep her gaze off Fleur. It hadn’t happened yet, and Fleur seemed to be taken with Bill for it to happen now. Harri froze as the thoughts crossed her mind. What was she even thinking. It didn’t matter. Cedric didn’t belong to her. They were just friends, she had been the one who refused to give him an answer. 

Fleur watched Harri’s expression darken as this was read. She wondered if she was going to have to convince the other girl she had no interest in Cedric Diggory. She knew for a fact the boy only had eyes for Harri anyway. It was clear with the way he looked at her. She only had to glance over at Diggory to see the way his mouth stretched into a grin at the sight of Harri’s jealousy.

"We have to check that your wands are fully functional, no problems, you know, as they're your most important tools in the tasks ahead," said Bagman. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter," he added, gesturing toward the witch in magenta robes. "She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet...."

“Run Harri,” Sirius cried, wishing her counterpart could hear him. He wanted to grab Harri and hide her far away from that woman.

"Maybe not that small, Ludo," said Rita Skeeter, her eyes on Harri.

“Of course,” Harri moaned into her hands. Rita Skeeter probably saw a gold mine when she spotted her.

"I wonder if I could have a little word with Harri before we start?" she said to Bagman, but still gazing fixedly at Harri. "The youngest champion, you know...to add a bit of color?"

“Please say no,” Harri begged desperately.

“You’re a minor, you can’t talk to her without an adult,” Madam Bones pointed out, hoping to ease the girl's worry.

“I don’t think she cares.”

Rita Skeeter's smile widened. Harri counted three gold teeth.

“One word from you and I will hex you,” Harri warned Fred as she pointed her wand at him threateningly.

Fred held his hands up in surrender. Harri was already in a terrible mood, there was no need to antagonize her more.

Harri hooked down quickly at the quill. The moment Rita Skeeter had spoken, the green quill had started to scribble, skidding across the parchment:

Attractive blonde Rita Skeeter, forty-three, who's savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations -

Hermione didn’t like the sound of that Quill. She didn’t know why but it didn’t sit right with her.

"Er -" said Harri again, but she was distracted by the quill. Even though she wasn't speaking, it was dashing across the parchment, and in its wake she could make out a fresh sentence:

An ugly scar, souvenier of a tragic past, disfigures the otherwise charming face of Harriet Potter, whose eyes -

“I’ll snap that Quill and shove it up her…” Sirius trailed off when Remus reached over Harri to smack him upside the head. 

Harri was disappointed, she would have liked to hear the end of that conversation.

"Of course, you've looked death in the face before, haven't you?" said Rita Skeeter, watching her closely. "How would you say that's affected you?"

"Er," said Harri yet again.

“Don’t you seem to just be loving this interview,” Fred snickered wondering how many times Harri was going to say the word Er.

“I’d have been perfectly happy to pawn this interview off on an actual champion.”

"How do you think they'd feel if they knew you were competing in the Triwizard Tournament? Proud? Worried? Angry?"

Harri was feeling really annoyed now. How on earth was she to know how her parents would feel if they were alive? 

“Worried. They’d be worried,” Remus informed her. “They would have supported you through it all, but they would have worried terribly for you.”

She could feel Rita Skeeter watching her very intently. Frowning, she avoided her gaze and hooked down at words the quill had just written:

Tears fill those startlingly green eyes as our conversation turns to the parents she can barely remember.

Cedric was glad he had not been the one asked for an interview. He shuddered to think what the woman would write about him.

Before Rita Skeeter could say a word, the door of the broom cupboard was pulled open. Harri looked around, blinking in the bright light. Albus Dumbledore stood there, looking down at both of them, squashed into the cupboard.

“Took you long enough,” Harri complained as she made a face at Dumbledore.

“I shall proceed with haste if this should occur again,” Dumbledore said cheerfully as he floated a knut to the twins.

"Enchantingly nasty," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "I particularly enjoyed your description of me as an obsolete dingbat."

“I sure you did actually enjoy it,” Fred snorted, it sounded like something their Headmaster would find amusing.

"Yes," he said quietly, "nine and a half inches...inflexible...rosewood...and containing...dear me..."

"An 'air from ze 'ead of a veela," said Fleur. "One of my grandmuzzer's."

“Neat,” Bill commented, he didn’t think he had ever met someone who used veela hair in their wand.

"Polished it last night," said Cedric, grinning.

Even though it was childish, Harri giggled at how dirty that sounded. 

Harri hooked down at her own wand. She could see finger marks all over it. She gathered a fistful of robe from her knee and tried to rub it clean surreptitiously. Several gold sparks shot out of the end of it. Fleur Delacour gave her a very patronizing look, and she desisted.

“I’m going to get you a wand clean kit for christmas,” Hermione informed Harri with a roll of her eyes.

“Thanks?”

Harri had never shared this piece of information with anybody. She was very fond of her wand, and as far as she was concerned its relation to Voldemort's wand was something it couldn't help - rather as she couldn't help being related to Aunt Petunia.

Snickers filled the room at Harri’s backhanded comment about her aunt.

Petunia sucked her teeth but let the matter go. The freak would pay more than enough when she once more darkened their doorstep. 

"Er - yes, let's do those first," said Rita Skeeter, whose eyes were upon Harri again. "And then perhaps some individual shots."

“Merlin please no,” Harri begged desperately. 

The photographer seemed keenest to get Fleur at the front, but Rita Skeeter kept hurrying forward and dragging Harri into greater prominence. 

“You can most certainly be in front,” Harri offered Fleur earnestly. 

“Where I belong,” Fleur nodded, accepting the front position. People deserved to see her beauty.

He then walked straight out of the room, not looking at Harri. For a moment, Harri considered going after him - she wasn't sure whether she wanted to talk to him or hit him, both seemed quite appealing - 

“I should have hit you,” Harri grumbled, sending Ron the stink eye.

Ron hoped she did if it meant their fighting in the book would stop.

Harri -

I can't say everything I would like to in a letter, it's too risky in case the owl is intercepted - we need to talk face-to-face. Can you ensure that you are alone by the fire in Gryffindor Tower at one o'clock in the morning on the 22nd ofNovember?

I know better than anyone that you can look after yourself and while you're around Dumbledore and Moody I don't think anyone will be able to hurt you. However, someone seems to be having a good try. Entering you in that tournament would have been very risky, especially right under Dumbkdore's nose.

Be on the watch, Harri I still want to hear about anything unusual. Let me know about the 22nd of November as quickly as you can.

Sirius

Harri leaned further into her godfather, pleased to hear he thought she was capable of looking after herself but wanted to help her anyway. He was really trying in these books to be there for her the best way he could at the moment. He was trying to be there for her now too, she admitted. He was doing the best he knew how she supposed. They both had a lot to learn.