Lost and Found || Oliver Wood [2]

Chapter 4: Dragons and Dances

A large portion of one's last year at Hogwarts was spent preparing for their future career. For Jessica, she didn't know whether to be grateful that she had more time to focus on that since Quidditch had been cancelled that year, or to be even more upset because her source of stress-relief and enjoyment had been taken away.

It was a cool afternoon in November when Jessica found herself seated in the chair opposite Professor McGonagall. She had been called in for another one of their Career Advice meetings. Fortunately, they weren't starting from nothing like they had when Jessica first came in for her first session back in her fifth year. This time, she had narrowed down her options to a Legislator at the Ministry or a Curse-Breaker. She was aware of how different the two were, but as they discussed her strengths and potential, they seemed to fit her in their own ways. McGonagall personally felt that working at the Ministry would be better due to the girl's background as prefect, current status as Head Girl, and her aptitude in academics. However, Jessica was admittedly leaning towards the other choice — it just seemed more exciting, despite it being much more out of her comfort zone.

Part of her wished she could go back to the innocent and oblivious eleven-year-old first year who was just eager to do magic and explore the castle. She also wished she could be more like Oliver in the sense that he had always been sure of himself and what he wanted.

Jessica stepped out of Professor McGonagall's office with a soft sigh. She had just walked half the length of the corridor when she spotted a group of Hufflepuffs seated by the ledges, some of them sporting badges that read Potter Stinks in a luminous, ugly green text.

Of course, there was more going on at Hogwarts, much bigger than Jessica's personal dilemmas — the Triwizard Tournament, which now had four champions. How could she forget? A couple of weeks had passed since then, but she could still remember how it began clearly. The night the champions were selected on Halloween would probably be ingrained in everyone's heads for a long time. Nobody expected a fourth piece of paper to come flying out, or for the name written there to be Harry Potter.

The school was divided on the matter. Most of them shunned Harry and supported Cedric, who they claimed was the true champion of Hogwarts. To an extent, Jessica understood their side — after all, Cedric had been picked first, and there were only supposed to be three champions. But after her initial shock faded, Jessica found herself sympathizing more with Harry along with the minority of the population. She was almost fully convinced that he had not entered his own name in. There had to be an explanation for it — perhaps a rival had pranked him, or an older person submitted it, or worse, someone was legitimately trying to sabotage him. She was hoping that it would be investigated further, but the teachers, staff, and Ministry officials barely did anything. In the end, Harry had no choice but to accept his position as the fourth champion.

And so, Jessica stalked towards the group of Hufflepuffs wearing the Potter Stinks badges. Her irritation spiked when she realized that some of them were prefects.

"Macmillan, Abott," she said loudly, catching their attention. The pair straightened up and tried to look professional when they recognized their Head Girl's voice.

"Hawthorne," they greeted in acknowledgment. Jessica's eyes merely trailed down to the badges on their robes, but it was enough for them to get flustered.

"Really? Potter Stinks badges?"

"Oh, well, you see..." Hannah began.

"We'll change it back to the Cedric one," Ernie offered. He and Hannah hurriedly pressed their badges, and the green words warped into bold, red ones that read Support Cedric Diggory — The Real Hogwarts Champion. This only caused Jessica to purse her lips in disappointment.