Anchor~ Harry James Potter

4.15- Meeting Dad's and Hogsmeade

The prospect of talking face-to-face with Sirius was all that bothered Celeste over the next fortnight. The shock of finding Harry as school champion had worn off slightly now, and the fear of what was facing her friend had started to sink in. The first task was drawing steadily nearer. She was worried for both Harry and Cedric.

She had never been so nervous for two people. The first task was still uncertain for everybody, except the judges of course. She was constantly thinking about what was ahead for the two champions, the worry keeping her up most nights.

Admittedly,s he didn't see how Sirius was going to make Harry feel any better about having to perform an unknown piece of difficult and dangerous magic in front of hundreds of people, but the mere sight of a friendly face would be something at the moment for the boy, she guessed.

Harry had wrote back to Sirius saying that she and he would be beside the common room fire at the time Sirius had suggested; and he and Hermione spent a long time going over plans for forcing any stragglers out of the common room on the night in question.

If the worst came to the worst, they were going to drop a bag of Dungbombs, but they hoped they wouldn't have to resort to that - Filch would skin them alive, not that Celeste minded. 

In the meantime, life became even worse for Harry within the confines of the castle, for Rita Skeeter had published her piece about the Triwizard Tournament, and it had turned out to be not so much a report on the tournament as a highly colored life story of Harry.

Much of the front page had been given over to a picture of Harry; the article (continuing on pages two, six, and seven) had been all about Harry, the names of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions (misspelled) had been squashed into the last line of the article, and Cedric hadn't been mentioned at all. Which hadn't bothered the boy much to Celeste's knowledge, more to the Hufflepuff house.

The article had appeared ten days ago, and Harry still got a sick, burning feeling of shame in his stomach every time he thought about it. Celeste had tried to reassure him that it wasn't as bad as he thinks, but it was. Rita Skeeter had reported him saying an awful lot of things that he couldn't remember ever saying in his life, let alone in that broom cupboard.

"I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now. . . . Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it. . . . I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me. . ."

But Rita Skeeter had gone even further than transforming his "er's" into long, sickly sentences: She had interviewed other people about him too.

"Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Celeste Solatto, a stunningly pretty pure blood girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school.

Celeste had laughed at the article, "oh lover boy, do you think you can stand the thought of me cheating on you with the other champion."

Harry had dramatically replied, "oh how my heart aches every time I think of the two of you behind my back scandalously, my darling." The two had burst into giggles at the dramatics.

From the moment the article had appeared, Harry had had to endure people -- Slytherins, mainly -- quoting it at him as he passed and making sneering comments.

"Want a hanky, Potter, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?"

"Since when have you been one of the top students in the school, Potter? Or is this a school you and Longbottom have set up together?"

"Hey - Harry!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Harry found himself shouting as he wheeled around in the corridor, having had just about enough. "I've just been crying my eyes out over my dead mum, and I'm just off to do a bit more. . .