Chosen & Hated (HP) {Book 2 of the Wild & Free Series}

17. Sirius' letter

When I woke up on Sunday morning, it took me a moment to remember why I felt so miserable and worried. Then the memory of the previous day rolled over me.

I dressed and went down the spiral staircase into the common room. The moment I appeared, the people who had already finished breakfast broke into applause again. The prospect of going down into the Great Hall and facing the rest of the Gryffindors, all treating me like some sort of hero, was not inviting; it was that, however, or stay here and allow myself to be cornered by the Creevey brothers, who were both beckoning frantically to me to join them. I walked resolutely over to the portrait hole, pushed it open, climbed out of it, and found myself face-to-face with Lucy.

"How long have you been waiting there?" I said dryly.

"Long enough," she told me. "It was about time for you to come."

"What, you're not mad at me? You're not going to ask me how I put my name in the goblet?" I asked grumpily.

"Of course not!" Lucy said, her hands at her hips. She almost sounded offended. "I know you didn't do it and neither did Harry. I know you both better than this and I know, for a fact, that you really had no desire to compete in this stupid tournament!" She sounded almost upset.

"Thanks," I muttered. "You, Harry and Hermione are the only ones to believe me."

"Have you talked to Rowan yet?"

I shook my head.

"Well, I'm sure he'll believe you, too."

I shrugged.

"Come on, Liana. Don't let this get to you! You are strong. You can handle the hate," Lucy told me firmly. "Thanks, by the way, for asking Cedric to check up on me. He went by this morning to ask me if I was all right."

"No problem," I told her, waving her kind words off. "No problem, at all."

If I had thought that matters would improve once everyone got used to the idea of Harry and me being champion, the following day showed me how mistaken I was. I could no longer avoid the rest of the school once I was back at lessons — and it was clear that the rest of the school, just like the Gryffindors, thought Harry and I had entered ourselves for the tournament. Unlike the Gryffindors, however, they did not seem impressed.

The Hufflepuffs, who were usually on excellent terms with the Gryffindors, had turned remarkably cold toward the whole lot of us. One Herbology lesson was enough to demonstrate this. It was plain that the Hufflepuffs felt that Harry and I had stolen their champion's glory; a feeling exacerbated, perhaps, by the fact that Hufflepuff House very rarely got any glory, and that Cedric was one of the few who had ever given them any, having beaten Gryffindor once at Quidditch. Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley, with whom Harry and I normally got on very well, did not talk to us even though we were repotting Bouncing Bulbs at the same tray — though they did laugh rather unpleasantly when one of the Bouncing Bulbs wriggled free from Harry's grip and smacked him hard in the face. Ron wasn't talking to Harry and me either. Hermione sat between Harry and Ron, making very forced conversation, but though both answered her normally, they avoided making eye contact with each other. I thought even Professor Sprout seemed distant with us — but then, she was Head of Hufflepuff House.

I would have been looking forward to seeing Hagrid under normal circumstances, but Care of Magical Creatures meant seeing the Slytherins too — the first time I would come face-to-face with them since becoming champion.