My Love For You

Chapter 6: Rita Skeeter's a Fucking Bitch

I walked down the corridors with Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the Great Hall. The girls spun around to look at me when we entered the hall, giggling wildly. Pansy strode over to us and held up a new addition to Witch Weekly. She shoved it in front of my face. "Here you are, you ugly boyfriend-stealer, you." She pranced off, leaving me standing with the copy. Harry nudged up to read it.

__________

Harry Potter's Secret Heartache

A boy like no other, perhaps -- yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend, Kiara Parks. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with a personal loss.

Miss Parks, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for her male classmates that Harry alone cannot satisfy. She was waltzing with Slytherin student Draco Malfoy, a child of the prosperous Malfoy family, at the Yule Ball this last December, and Miss Parks has been toying with both boys' affections. Malfoy, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Parks, has asked her out several times, insisting that he has "never felt this way about any other girl."

However, it might not be Miss Park's natural charm and beauty that have captured these unfortunate boys' interest.

"She's horrid," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vibrant fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion; she's friends with the brainy Hermione Granger. I think that's how she's doing it."

Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that next time, he bestows his heart on a worthier candidate.

__________

My fingers clenched the article as I shook in anger.

Ron spoke first. "I told you, girls, not to mess with Rita Skeeter! She's turned you into some kind of -- scarlet woman!!"

Hermione laughed at that name. "Scarlet woman?!?"

"That's what my Mum calls them," Ron mumbled, but Hermione was still giggling.

I sighed. "Pansy's only doing this because she thinks I stole her man. Truly brainless, isn't she?"

Harry wrapped his arm around me and chuckled. "Stupid, yes."

We sat down at the Gryffindor table as Draco wandered over to me.

"Hey, Kiara," He smiled at me.

"Oh, hey," I replied, still reading over the article.

"What's that you're reading?"

I blushed, "Witch Weekly. I'm sure you might've heard from your girlfriend over there." I pointed to Pansy, who stuck her tongue out at me and sneered.

Draco snatched the magazine from my hands, "No, I haven't." He scanned the article, "That bitch! She made you into some kind of- what's the word?"

Hermione snickered, nudging Ron, "Scarlet woman?"

"Shut up, 'Mione." Ron hid his head in his arms.

Draco sighed, "Exactly. My mom hates reading Rita's column. Most women would like it for the gossip, but it makes her sick to think about how the women she writes about feel."

I just sat there quietly. Why did I suddenly feel the urge to meet this mother of his? Harry wrapped his arm around me again and kissed my cheek. "The best thing we can do right now is to ignore Skeeter. She'll keep messing with us when she knows it bothers you."

I nodded and kissed him back, hoping that this would all blow over.

Draco sat down with us. "So, are you two a thing now?"

Harry and I both blushed beet red. I managed to stutter out, "W-Well, m-maybe?" Harry shrugged, agreeing that we might as well be.

~~~

Soon enough, the bell rang, and Harry, Ron, and I were off to Divination. Draco went to Charms and Hermione's in Muggle Studies.

The three of us walked into the tower room filled with the aromas of the fire.

Professor Trelawney appeared as soon as the bell rang. "Ahhh, hello, my dearies! I'm happy that you have come yet again alive and well. Today we shall work on crystal balls. Into your groups now, chop-chop!"

Harry peered into the crystal ball. "The normal vision. Voldemort."

Ron and I nodded in silent agreement, and Ron looked in next. "Hmm...I'm seeing my brothers; hmmff, yeah, I guess it's your turn, Kiara."

I peered into the ball just as Professor Trelawney was coming to us. "It's just too foggy for me to see anything...."

Trelawney looked in for me and jumped back in shock. "My dear...your dabbles in love are very dangerous, I must say...."

I stared at the crazy professor's large eyes under those glasses. "I don't believe I've done anything wrong. I made my choices with a clear head and understanding. People make their futures."

Trelawney patted me on the head and continued, keeping an eye on me for the rest of class time.

~~~

Afterward, since that was a double period and there was no school on Friday afternoons, I went with Harry to hang out at Hagrid's hut.

But first, we ran into Pansy and her gaggle of girls. "Well, well. Lookie what we have here." She cackled and pulled out her wand. "Kiara with her good-for-nothing Boy Who Lived boyfriend to protect her. Boohoo."

I tried to take out my wand, but Pansy cast a spell before I could. "Petrificus Totalus!" The group laughed as I froze up and fell to the ground. Harry caught me and panicked as he tried to remember the counter jinx to revive me. "Ha! That'll show you--"

She was interrupted by Draco running towards us. "Pansy! What is the meaning of this?! Respect Kiara and her friends or -- my parents will make you suffer."

Pansy jumped and went pale. "Eep! Well, I must go! Come on, girls."

Draco reminded Harry what the counter was, and he grabbed his want to lift my curse. "Finite Incantatem."

The Body-Bind curse lifted, and I jumped into his arms. " Oh, Harry! Why does she have to be so awful?" I turned to Draco, "I'm not even together with you!"

Draco hugged me. "She still feels threatened by you, though." He sighed, "It's annoying how much she hangs off me. I wish she would leave me alone."

"Wow," me and Harry replied in astoundment.

He chuckled, "Did you know she stopped by the manor this Christmas? She wanted to meet my parents and introduced herself as my girlfriend. She did not amuse them; I can tell you that." We all laughed and continued our way to Hagrid's together.

~~~