Two Souls

Chapter Twenty Three

"Good luck," Blair whispers to me as she exits along with the rest of the Slytherins and Gryffindors. I approach Snape, who is still sat at his desk.

"Er — you wanted to speak with me?" I ask him.

"Take a seat, Miss Grey," He says, gesturing for me to sit at the chair in front of his desk. I oblige, but keep my guard up. Snape can be a cold hearted Professor at times and I don't want to be his next victim.

"Sometimes in life, you have to choose between what is good and what is right. And sometimes, what is good may not always be right," He tells me. He sounds somewhat like a philosopher. I wrinkle my nose at the nonsense he is spitting.

"Professor, excuse me?" I ask.

He clears his throat. "I understand you may want to befriend Potter, Weasley, and Granger, for whatever reasons. But I must warn you — they attract trouble in school and out for a plethora of reasons. Ask yourself, is that what you want to be known as?"

"Professor, in the kindest way possible, this has nothing to do with my Potions curriculum," I tell him defiantly. He furrows his eyebrows at me.

"As your Head of House, I am obliged to guide you in not only academic matters," He insists. "Trust me, and do me a favor by staying with the right crowd."

I resist the urge to roll my eyes right then and there. "Thank you, Professor Snape, for your urgent advice. I think I can determine the right crowd for myself. Now if that is everything you needed, I will be leaving," I say, standing up and exiting the classroom before he can utter another word.

The nerve of him — it's ridiculous!

******

"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Pansy shrieks in the Slytherin Common Room later that day, clutching the Daily Prophet in her hands. "What was she judging against — a chipmunk?" She adds, cackling at her own joke. Daphne and Millicent sit beside her, doing their History of Magic essay. I thank Fred Weasley in my head for volunteering to do my History of Magic homework for the rest of term.

"Rita Skeeter is obviously a lunatic, I thought you'd know that," Blair says from across the common room, reading Prophecies of the World by Gilderoy Lockhart. The copy she has in her hands looks exactly like the one Francesca and Grayson had gotten me for my fourteenth birthday.

"Blair — is that my book?" I ask her incredulously. She shrugs and continues to read the book, which she seems to have just started.

"Why are you three talking about Rita Skeeter anyway? What's that you have there?" I ask Pansy, who hands me the newspaper without objection.

"I was getting bored of reading it anyway, you can keep it," She says, turning to Daphne and Millicent and striking up a conversation with the two of them.

"... 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 Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school."

"You seriously believe this crap?" I ask Pansy, Daphne, and Millicent. "This article is rubbish - she doesn't even mention Cedric Diggory in it! Obviously it's biased!" I shriek, crumpling up the article in my hands so that it is in the shape of a small ball.

I can't even imagine how Harry must feel. Rita wrote absolutely awful things about him.

Angry, I storm out of the Slytherin Common Room just as fast as I had entered it and head to the Great Hall for an early dinner. Before I can even round the corner, I bump into a muscular figure right outside of the library which causes me to nearly lose my balance.

"Oh! Are you okay?" A masculine voice asks urgently, wrapping his arm around my waist to prevent me from tumbling to the ground.

I look up to see the one and only Viktor Krum. He quickly releases me once we make eye contact.

"Fine, sorry about that," I mutter, attempting to walk past him but he takes a step to his left, blocking me once again.

"Amelia Grey, right? You're in Slytherin?" He asks me in his heavy Russian accent. I'm surprised he knows my name — we haven't spoken to each other since the first day he arrived here.

"Er — yeah, that's me. How did you remember my name?" I ask him in a surprised voice.

Krum laughs. "You are ze only girl who doesn't act weird around me. Well, except vor you and that Granger girl," He says, sheepishly smiling and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Oh, well I suppose you're right," I tell him. Girls are swooning over Krum even more than they are to Cedric. It's ridiculous. I wonder if Fleur receives this much attention as well, she probably does, she is a veela after all.

"So... where are you going?" He asks me. I can tell he is trying hard to create conversation with me.

"Just the Great Hall," I tell him. "The Slytherins were bothering me so I needed an escape."

Krum nods understandingly. "People can ve so bothersome sometimes. Especially now vith everything going on," He confesses to me.

Right. The first task of the Triwizard Tournament is this upcoming Tuesday. I truly have no idea what it will be, but I'm nervous for all the competitors.

"Are you nervous?" I ask Krum.

Krum laughs heartily. "Of course not."

I shake my head. He's Viktor Krum. Of course he isn't nervous because he's done practically everything. He's a living legend.

"Er— well I ought to be going to dinner now," I tell Krum, who nods understanding. We say goodbye and head off in opposite directions. Going to the Great Hall seems less and less appealing as I get closer, as my appetite slowly fades.

I'm nervous for Harry, Cedric, Krum and Fleur. I hope they'll be alright.

—

I think I can write two more chapters before I have to go to sleep :) I'm off from school this entire week except Tuesday so I'll try to write as much as I can.

QOTC: Who's your favorite character right now?