Incendio

Chapter 4: Smart Girl

Samantha, like everyone, had been thrilled when Cedric's name emerged from the Goblet of Fire. She was disappointed it wasn't a Gryffindor, but she adored Cedric.

 In her opinion, if anyone deserved this honor, it was him. He'd pulled Samantha over before the tournament to say he doubted he'd be chosen, but he wanted her to know he wouldn't be writing for the Gazette anymore if he was. She agreed it was best and it caused her to become bittersweet about everything.

When it happened, Samantha had looked out of the corner of her eye to the Ravenclaw table and noticed Genevieve sulking. She had been convinced she'd be chosen, so much so, that when Samantha had offered she could write the article about the Hallowe'en Feast and the Champion Selection, she'd turned it down. 

Samantha gave the article to Ernie instead. Samantha was sure she'd be too busy with the interviews with the Champions on Tuesday, but she worried about Ernie's writing. He was known to have many grammatical errors and run on sentences.

The other champions turned out to be Victor Krum, the Bulgarian Quidditch Star, for Durmstrang and a beautiful young woman named Fleur Delacour, for Beauxbatons.

Samantha was absolutely Gobsmacked when the Goblet chose another Champion for Hogwarts. She wasn't sure if she should be excited or annoyed that it was her classmate, Harry Potter. 

She wondered, how'd he do it? The Weasley twins, and a few others, earlier that very day couldn't confuse Dumbledore's age line, with an aging potion. So how in the world could Harry Potter who was in her year confound such powerful magic? 

Samantha decided to be excited for him considering he was a Gryffindor and it would be nice to have their house represented. She also knew Ginny would never forgive her if she wasn't excited for her literal lifelong crush. 

Samantha joined the rest of her house in the common room in throwing quite the party. She and Ginny probably yelled the loudest when Harry entered the common room.

Harry himself, seemed the least excited, literally running to his dormitory as quickly as he could.

The following Monday at Herbology, Ernie was acting incredibly distant towards her, as were all the Hufflepuffs to the Gryffindors.

"I'm sure we all know who you are rooting for." Ernie snidely commented to her as they left Herbology together. "Bet he'll be all over the Gazette's front page, Gryffindor's great triumph." 

She wasn't sure if he was messing with her, but she did not tolerate anyone speaking ill of her journalism.

Samantha side eyed Ernie as she turned around and responded, "Excuse me, I support Hogwarts."

Ernie's eyes were wide as she continued.

"And for the record, Cedric is my friend, just as much as yours." Samantha insisted, feeling her throat clamp up. "Yes, I am a proud Gryffindor, but I choose to write with no bias, Ernie. And I'd like to know the last time I favored a specific house in the Gazette?" She asked.

Ernie stood there quietly. His eyes showed he was thinking and trying to wrack his brain.

"Have I ever?" Samantha asked.

He shook his head.

"That's better." Samantha nodded. "I'm going to be late for class, so if you don't mind." Samantha strode off to her Ancient Runes class, shaking her head at the whole exchange. She wondered if maybe she'd been too harsh. She also wondered why he'd be mad at her in the first place.

Her thoughts and trail to class became blocked by another Gazette member. Daphne nervously pulled her over.

"Sam, what do I do about this?" Daphne asked handing her a paper. "I was given this by a few students with requests to publish it, I'm not sure I feel ok with it. I'm not saying I disagree, but I think slander towards fellow students could be a bad look for the paper."