stardust ⋮ george weasley

thirty-one :

T H I R T Y - O N E

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As Adeline quickly learnt, Rita Skeeter was not an enjoyable woman.

Adeline knew what she was signing up for when she put her name in the Goblet of Fire. Not only would she be putting herself in danger with the three tasks, Adeline also knew she was going to be getting a lot of attention sent her way. Not just from her fellow students, but from the outside world as well. But when Professor Flitwick had told her as he pulled her out of Charms class that she'd likely be interviewed by someone from the Daily Prophet, Adeline had expected someone a little more, well, professional.

The flash and puff of smoke from the camera distracted Adeline and made her begin to cough, and Rita took the opportunity to rush forward and greet the tributes. "What a charismatic quartet!" She gushed. "I'm Rita Skeeter, writer for the Daily Prophet. But of course, you knew that. It's you we don't know about."

She began to make her way around the circle, greeting each of the champions individually. "I know what to know the juicy news...what quirks lie beneath those rosy cheeks...what mysteries do muscles mask...does courage lie beneath curls?"

Rita played with the end of one of Adeline's cream-colored ribbons and then one of her locks of curly hair, and Adeline had to fight back the urge to smack her hand away. When Rita's head was turned for a split second, her attention focused on Viktor Krum, Adeline exchanged a wary look with Harry, who looked just as annoyed with Rita as she did.

In the corner of the room sat all the headmasters and a weathered old man that Adeline recognized as Ollivander the wandmaker, all of them except for Professor McGonagall seemingly oblivious as to what Rita was doing.

"I'm here to see what makes each champion tick!" Rita said in an excited voice, squeezing the shoulders of both Harry and Viktor. "Me, myself, and I want to know...not to mention my rabid readers. So! Who's first!"

Adeline glanced around the circle at the four tributes, who all seemed just as unwilling to want to be interviewed by Rita as she did.

Then, before anyone could even have the chance to respond, Rita grabbed Harry and tugged him off, muttering something that sounded like, "Youngest first."

Sensing that she wouldn't be needed for a while, Adeline took a seat on one of the small couches pulled her knitting needles out of her messenger bag. Since Adeline was the best knitter out of all the S.P.E.W. – which wasn't saying a lot, considering the organization had very few members in the first place – Hermione had put Adeline on knitting duty. So, whenever Adeline had the chance, she was knitting up socks and hats for the Hogwarts house elves. She still wasn't entirely sure why she was knitting all these items, but since Hermione had told her to do it, Adeline didn't really want to question her and just decided to go all in.

"You are knitting 'zose so fast."

Adeline looked up in surprise to see Fleur Delacour staring curiously down at the growing pile of socks beside Adeline. "I just had a lot of free time to practice this summer holidays," Adeline replied with a small laugh. "Plus, this is just hats and mittens. Knitting a whole sweater for myself can take ages."

"I can't knit fast, even with magic," Fleur told her, moving her chair a little closer to Adeline's so she could take a closer look at Adeline's knitting skills. "How do you knit so fast without magic?"

Adeline shrugged. "I never even learnt to knit with magic in the first place."

The two sat quietly for a few moments, with Adeline knitting in silence and Fleur watching her. It wasn't awkward or strange, though. It just seemed as if Fleur was intrigued with her knitting, which Adeline didn't mind in the slightest. She hadn't spoken much to Fleur, who had seemed more stand-offish when it came to meeting the other champions. But Fleur had never been outright rude to Adeline, so she never had any real reason to dislike her.

"Ms. Reyes?"

Adeline looked up at the sound of her name being called. "You're needed for your wand examination," Professor McGonagall explained, gesturing over to the table over where Ollivander was sitting.

Adeline gave Fleur a small smile before taking her wand out and making her way over to Ollivander. He took Adeline's wand out of her hand and examined it curiously. "It's not very often I sell a wand with pear wood," He muttered, running his fingers along the vines and flowers engraved into the handle of her wand. "Unusual generosity and warm-heartedness...can be exceptionally powerful when with the right wizard."

He cast a spell with the wand and sent golden sparks shooting out of it before nodding approvingly and handing the wand back to Adeline.

As she stepped forward to grab her wand back, Adeline hadn't noticed how Harry was now back with the champions, and how Rita Skeeter was scouring the rooms in search of her next victim. Like a lion pouncing on its prey, Rita immediately grabbed onto Adeline's arm and pulled her off to the nearby brooms closet, proclaiming that she had many urgent questions she needed to ask the "other" Hogwarts champion. The way Rita sneered when she said "other" annoyed Adeline, but she tried to ignore it.

"So, Adeline" Rita winked, leaning in even closer to make sure that she didn't miss a single word to come out of Adeline's mouth. "My readers want to know as soon as possible. Any special boys in your life?"

Adeline's mind wandered for a second as she thought about a lanky red-head boy with a loud laugh that made her heart skip a beat in her chest, but there was no way she was going to admit any of that to the notorious gossip. So instead, Adeline shook her head and quickly lied, "No special boys. I just want to focus on my studies and the Triwizard Tournament right now."

Rita shook her head, her Quick Quotes quill still at the ready. "Pretty girl like you? I'm sure you have the Hogwarts boys falling at your feet. My readers just would love to hear about a good, juicy romance this Triwizard Tournament."

"I'm sorry, miss," Adeline apologized, although she really wasn't sure why she had to. "I really don't have any special boys in my life."

"Well, what's your opinions on Harry Potter being chosen as the second Triwizard champion?" Rita asked inquisitively, leaning in a little closer to Adeline as if to observe every small change in her facial expression. "Surely, you must be angry that a fourteen year old boy must be taking all this glory away from you. You're now having to share the honor of being the Hogwarts champion."

Adeline knew exactly what she was doing. It had been what she was doing this whole time, but now it was even more blatantly obvious than before – if that were even possible. Rita was trying to stir the pot, cause drama and gossip where there didn't need to be.

"Harry never put his name in the Goblet," Adeline answered, trying to keep her tone calm instead of getting angry with the prodding woman. "He doesn't want to be competing in this Tournament. And I don't care that I'm 'sharing the honor' with him. At the end of the day, I'm still a Triwizard Champion."

Rita frowned as she snapped her fingers, making her bright green Quick Quotes pen come to a screeching halt. "Well you're no fun," she muttered as she forcibly pushed Adeline out of her seat and towards the group of champions. "I'm sure Ms. Delacour will be a lot more interesting to interview than you."

Professor McGonagall clicked her tongue disapprovingly when she saw an incredibly flustered Adeline walking back into the main room and Fleur being pulled out just as forcibly. It was clear to Adeline that Professor McGonagall didn't want Rita Skeeter around, which managed to give her some bit of comfort.

Adeline sat down next to Harry, who she hadn't seen come out of his interview with Rita and seemed to almost look a little sick to his stomach. "Did she ask you horrible invasive questions too?" Adeline asked him.

Harry let out a weak chuckle, glad he hadn't been the only one to have a horrible experience with Rita. "Would it have been any other way?"

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a/n:

thank you so much for 10k reads!! i'm so happy you guys have been enjoying the book so far, and i can't wait for you to keep reading it!!

- g ♡