Apples and Snakes

The Devil Within

The sight of Wesley Diggory made my stomach churn over the next few days. Where were those dreams coming from? I wasn't a Seer, I knew that much from hearing about Sybil Trelawney, the Divination teacher. I wasn't like that, shy and afraid of everything, playing up my abilities to something they weren't. I wouldn't have put it past Wesley, though I didn't know him all that well.

Meanwhile, people kept giving me dirty glares, and whispering about how something was gonna kill me and it would serve me right for entering when I was only fourteen. I wasn't going to report it, but I'll admit that it still stung. My friends, Draco, Pansy, and the rest... Well, they kinda distanced themselves from me. But that was fine. I didn't need anybody. I stopped the Godmother services for the time being, since in those days, all that anyone seemed to want was more stuff about my brother.

"Sir, I need Harry and Alice Potter." Colin Creevy had said to Severus.

"The Potters are in the middle of their Potions lesson." Severus replied coldly.

"Sir, the headmasters want them up now," Creevy insisted.

"Leave your bags down here for when you return."

"Sir, they've been asked to take their bags-"

"Then get out of my sight, Potter! And good luck, Miss Potter." Severus said more calmly. I smiled, nodded, and followed Brother Dearest's fanboy up to some chamber, next to a broom closet.

A woman with bleached curls, wearing flamboyant robes and matching nails with bejeweled glasses came up to me and Harry. "Can I have a word with the two youngest champions?"

"Um, sure." Harry said. I glared at him. This lady was obviously going to put some bad stuff in the press about us! Mum and Dad had warned me about those types of people for as long as I could remember. Harry didn't have to worry about it quite as much, since everybody loved him, and Mum and Dad were always around. But I was fair game.

"Wonderful." The woman pulled us into a broom closet, and pulled a bunch of candles into the air. "That's comfortable, isn't it?"

We were sharing a broom crate.

"Testing, testing..." She took out a Quick-Quotes Quill, and it hovered over the page:

Rita Skeeter, aged thirty-four, although you might not know it due to her youthful appearance..

"Excellent!" Skeeter cried, and she started a fresh piece of parchment. "Tell me, why did you both enter your names in the Goblet of Fire?"

"We DIDN'T!" We chorused.

"Oh don't be shy, our readers love a rebel," Skeeter encouraged.

I resisted the urge to break something. "Why does everyone assume that I entered my name? I didn't. Is it because I'm Slytherin? Or is it because I'm a Parselmouth? Better yet, is it because I'm the twin that didn't bring down a Dark Lord? If those are your stupid reasons, then you don't know me at all!"

"You're a Parselmouth?" Skeeter now looked interested.

Crap. "Yes," I said.

"Is Harry?"

"No," he lied quickly.

"Interesting." Skeeter said, as the quill skidded over the paper. "Tell me, how are your parents about it?"

"They're concerned for Harry, but are ticked at me, because they think I entered my name. They think someone's out to get Harry, but it seems that it hasn't occurred to anybody that they might want to get rid of his twin as well." I said, folding my arms over my chest. Brother Dearest looked at me concernedly, but I paid him no mind.