From friends to this -Year six (re-uploaded) Book 1/4

Chapter 22

Tara walked back to the common room, a little relieved she got that off her chest but feeling like absolute rubbish for making such a scene.

When she got inside, the common room was full and everyone was quiet. It was obvious they'd all been talking about her, as she felt everyone's gaze follow her as she made her way to the corner her team mates were sitting at.

Mitchell awkwardly made room for her beside him. She sat down, she sat in silence, everyone staying still and quiet.

She heaved a sigh, "Does anyone have anything they want to say to me?" She asked the common room at large, sick of all of this.

There was a moment of shuffling before Zacharias Smith spoke up, "Why would you even think of encouraging their victory against us?"

Tara took a deep breath and stood up again, "I didn't. I was holding out hope that they'd be just as confused as us."

"But why?" Mitchell asked, looking her up and down, "We all heard their excited chatter in the great hall."

"Because believe or not, they're my friends." Tara answered confidently. "I understand that we're all upset, but it isn't Harry Potters fault." There was an instant uproar of objections, "It's not!" She exclaimed firmly, "If any of you actually bothered to notice, he was just as shocked and upset as we were." The common room, sat back and seemed to sigh collectively.

Normally Tara wasn't a very loud person, but in here, she was seen as a leader, Cedric's equal. Sure, he was just the captain of the quidditch team but that yielded a certain power when you got the same privileges as the prefects and head boy and girl. She was expected to speak, and she wasn't afraid to. The whole house were friends, they always debunked every problem together like this.

"But Cedric is your best friend." Heather Long reasoned, "We thought at least you'd stand in solidarity with him."

Tara scoffed, "We don't even know Cedric's thoughts on this. And it's for him I did it." She told them, "Did any of you think about what your coldness might come across as, how it might affect Cedric's standing with the Gryffindors? I was thinking about him, about Fred, George and Lee. Because they're my friends, all four of them are my best friends and I happen to want to hear each and every one of them out and protect their status among others."

The common room let her words sit before Sarah spoke, "Tara's right. Look," she stood up too, "We can all be angry, we have a right to our emotions, we don't have to be best friends with the Gryffindors, we don't have to even talk to them if we don't want to..." she looked around before smiling at Tara, "but she's right, we can't go making our friends look bad, and pinning all of this on a boy who probably didn't even have a say in any of this."

There was a reluctant murmur of agreement throughout the room. One girl from first year, looked up at Tara, from beside the fire place. Bianca Harrigan, "Is it true? That Gryffindors are favorites around here?"

Tara took a moment to think about it, "Im not gonna make any daft remarks here." She told her gently, "But you will find that we are often overlooked, called 'a bunch o' ole duffers'-thanks for that one Hagrid."

The room at large laughed.

"But we aren't, we're not some house of left overs." She proclaimed, "We can be just as smart as any Ravenclaw, just as cunning and ambitious as any Slytherin and just as loyal and brave as any freaking Gryffindor." She looked around her eyes falling on her friends, "Didn't you guys know that Mad eye moody was a Hufflepuff-he's one of the most notorious aurors! That's bravery if I've ever seen it. And just yesterday I heard that Bianca over there got top of her class in both transfiguration and History of magic-and you're not in Ravenclaw are you?"