In Between Two Worlds (HP/PJO Crossover)

Chapter 136: Hagrid's Surprise.

The prospect of talking face-to-face with Sirius was all that sustained me over the next fortnight, the only bright spot on a horizon that had never looked darker. That was painfully dramatic, I know. But it's true.

The shock of finding myself school champion had worn off slightly now and the fear of what was facing me had started to sink in. The first task was drawing steadily nearer; I felt as though it were crouching ahead of me like some horrific monster, barring my path.

Admittedly, I didn't see how Sirius was going to make us 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. We wrote back to Sirius saying that we would be beside the common room fire at the time Sirius had suggested, and me, Harry, Bailey 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, we were going to drop a bag of Dungbombs, but we hoped we wouldn't have to resort to that--Filch would skin us alive.

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In the meantime, life became even worse for me and Harry within the confines of the castle. 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 and me. Much of the front page had been given over to pictures of Harry and me; the article (continuing on pages two, six, and seven) had been all about us, Krum and Fleur's names (which were misspelled) had been squashed into the last line of the article, and Cedric hadn't been mentioned at all.

The article had appeared ten days ago, and I still got a sick, burning feeling of shame in my stomach every time I thought about it. Skeeter had reported us saying an awful lot of things that neither of us could remember ever saying in our lives, 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 Skeeter had gone even further than transforming our "er's" into long, sickly sentences: She had interviewed other people about him too.

Harry and Karlee have at last found love at Hogwarts. Their close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl who, like Harry and Karlee, is one of the top students in the school. He also said that Karlee is absolutely head over heels for George Weasley, a rebel who is two years older than her.

But from the moment the article had appeared, Harry and I had had to endure people--Slytherins, mainly--quoting it at us as we 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?" They couldn't really make fun of me though too much. Because I was one of the top students in my year(weird right?).

George didn't care much. One because the whole school knew I was dating Fred and because George had loved being called a rebel. Hermione had come in for her fair share of unpleasantness too. I was full of admiration for the way she was handling the situation.

"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Parkinson had shrieked the first time she had come face-to-face with Hermione after Rita's article had appeared. "What was she judging against--a chipmunk?"