Chapter 14

Professor McGonagall escorted Eliza to the headmaster's office in silence, Eliza was staring at the floor trying to calm herself down, she did not want to appear rude to Professor Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall gave the password, they climbed the steps and the she knocked loudly on the office door.

"Come in… Ahh Miss Potter, take a seat, would you like a cup of tea?" Eliza nodded as she sat down; Professor McGonagall sat next to her looking stoic.

As he poured the tea Eliza looked across at Fawkes, he made a soft sound and flew over to her coming to rest on her knee, she stroked him patiently.

"We have been unable to locate your blanket Eliza, we will not give up of course but the magical properties of the blanket are such that one cannot simply summon it. Madam Pomfrey has spoken to a Healer at St Mungo's and they believe that they can try some new potions, it may take a few weeks for them to brew so, in the meantime the freezing potion is the best alternative we have."

Eliza nodded feeling sad, the loss of her blanket felt almost like a betrayal of a friend.

"Madam Pomfrey has instructed the house-elves to provide extra heating to your bed; you will not notice them at work so that should help keep you warm."

The conversation in the room continued in a mundane manner, Eliza had the feeling that Dumbledore was building up to something, she sipped her tea waiting patiently.

"I have been instructed by Mr Crouch that I will be unable to continue to tutor you for Charms, it is against the competition rules to accept help from teachers."

Eliza looked up at him sharply, how was she supposed to teach herself Charms?

"I will, of course, ignore him but we will have to be subtle, changing the time and location of the lessons, perhaps having longer lessons to make up for lost time. If you could keep this information to yourself I would be grateful?" Eliza nodded, feeling relieved.

"I am very concerned about you, Eliza" Dumbledore said simply, he stood up and walked towards her slowly.

"This competition will involve a great deal of attention, both good and bad, being directed to you, I have no doubt that you will equip yourself magically but I am concerned about how you will deal with the extra attention. For example, tomorrow a reporter from the Daily Prophet will be coming to interview the champions, this particular reporter has a reputation for exaggeration so I would advise you to try to avoid being alone with her."

Eliza nodded feeling the horror of an impending journalist washing over her.

"Eliza …is there anything that we, any of the staff, could do, to help you start talking? We understand that you are shy but this …it is more than simple shyness now, Eliza." Dumbledore indicated to a parchment and quill on his desk but she did not move towards it. She felt her insides contract, they were going to force her, they were going to force her to talk. She knew they would force her eventually.

"We want to help you, Miss Potter. But we will still not force you to talk." Said Professor McGonagall from next to her, Eliza let out a long breath, almost dizzy with relief.

"Please try and think of ways that we can help you." Eliza nodded at Dumbledore's request,

When she was dismissed she walked quickly back to the common room, looking straight at the floor trying to ignore the taunts and whispers that followed her.

When the Fat lady opened the portrait hole she climbed in praying for the room to be empty, of course it wasn't.

"Eliza!"

"Well done, Eliza!"

"….amazing that you tricked the age line!"

Eliza felt herself being patted on the back and seemingly being passed from one set of supporters to the next, it was only when Hermione dragged her up to the dormitory that she allowed herself to relax.

She scooped Biscuit up into her arms and climbed onto her bed drawing the curtains around her, trying to shut out the world.

Dear Remus,

I hope you are well and that…

Dear Remus,

Thank you for the letter…

Dear Remus,

Sorry it has taken me a few days to reply but things have gotten very strange here. I hope you are well and that the job at the bookstore isn't too boring.

I'm having a terrible day. My blanket is missing so I'm back on the freezing sleep potion, Harry isn't talking to me, and Ron isn't talking to Harry. Everything is so messed up it doesn't even feel like I'm at Hogwarts at all, it's like I'm having a horrible dream.

Harry and I are now taking part in the Triwizard tournament. I don't know how it happened but our names came out of the Goblet of Fire, it was bad enough when mine came out but when Harry walked in as well I knew something really bad was happening. Apparently we can't back out because of a magical contract, so we have to compete.

Harry isn't talking to me because I hit him because he thinks I put our names in the Goblet of Fire in my sleep but I know I didn't. I would never want to be in something like this even if I was of age. Harry thinks I entered us in my sleep but I can't prove him wrong because Hermione said that I did sleepwalk that night.

Ron's annoyed with Harry which is horrible and Hermione is bouncing between the three of us. I feel angry at Professor Dumbledore for letting this happen but I don't want to be angry with anyone except the person who put our names in the Goblet but what if that was me?

Lessons start again tomorrow which I'm dreading and a reporter from the Daily Prophet is coming in to interview us. I'm hoping that she will be more interested in Harry than me, that sounds horrible doesn't it?

I'm sorry that this letter is so badly written, my head feels messed up.

Hope you're well, I'm sure Harry sends his best

Eliza

P.S. Fred showed me a secret passage that isn't on the Marauders map! It leads from the Gryffindor corridor to the foot of the Ravenclaw lake staircase.

Eliza furrowed her brow as she re-read the letter, the structure was terrible. She contemplated rewriting it but looking at the time she decided against it. She would only just have time to make it to the owlery and back before curfew.

Swinging her legs round the bed she searched for a pair of shoes, finding some she pulled on her coat and made her way towards the door. A tapping noise from the window made her turn around; Hedwig was sitting on the window ledge striking her beak against the glass. Eliza smiled and made her way towards the bird.

When Eliza opened the window Hedwig flew in and landed on Eliza's shoulder. Seeing a letter attached Eliza assumed it was for her, she went to retrieve it but Hedwig squawked, Biscuit hissed in response. Looking closer at the letter she realised it was addressed to Sirius, smiling to herself she attached Remus's letter next to Sirius's and Hedwig nipped her ear affectionately before soaring out of the open window.