Poor Harry, I always feel so sorry for him when I read that moment in the books. Like 'nooo, not me again!' hehe
I had had two opinions for option 1. So that's what I'm going to do.
Chapter 8 Two Champions
Rose sat there, with widened eyes and turned back to Harry. Every head in the Great Hall had turned to Harry. And Harry, Harry was stunned, totally numb. Rose shook her head, pretending it had been a dream. But it was reality.
There was no applause. A buzzing, as though of angry bees, was starting to fill the Hall; some students were standing up to get a better look at Harry as he sat, frozen, in his seat.
Up at the top table, Professor McGonagall had got to her feet and swept past Ludo Bagman and Professor Karkaroff to whisper urgently to Professor Dumbledore, who bent his ear toward her, frowning slightly.
"I didn't put my name in," Harry said blankly to the first person next to him, which happened to be Rose. "You know I didn't."
Rose opened her mouth planning to say that she knew that, off course, but she couldn't get a sound out of her throat.
At the top table, Professor Dumbledore had straightened up, nodding to Professor McGonagall.
"Harry Potter!" he called again. "Harry! Up here, if you please!"
"Go on," Hermione whispered, giving Harry a slight push.
Harry got to his feet, stepped on the hem of his robes, and stumbled slightly. He set off up the gap between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. Rose felt like everything went into slow motion.
"Well.. . through the door, Harry," said Dumbledore. He wasn't smiling.
Harry went through the door out of the Great Hall and disappeared. It was silent for several minutes. Nobody knew what to say.
But then the whispers came, and with that the talking, and after that the yelling. The Hufflepuff's were mad, furious actually. The Gryffindors were all numb but began to be more excited. And Rose felt a little torn. What the hell had happened.
She was still wondering about this when they stood up and were guided by the crowd to the common room.
"We should have a party!" George said.
"Yes great idea, after all we have a Gryffindor champion!" Fred agreed.
"And a Hufflepuff champion, let's not forget that," Rose said.
"We don't even know if he gets accepted as one, you know," Hermoine said. "He is to young to compete."
"Yes," Fred said. "But the contract is binding."
"How did he do it?" Katie wondered.
"He didn't do it!" Rose said quickly.
"How do you know?" Ron asked seemingly irritated.
"Because he said so, right after grandfather read his name out to us. You heard him didn't you?" Rose asked a bit surprised. Ron would be one of the people who would believe Harry instantly, right? They were best mates.
"How d' you reckon he got his name in there then?" Ron asked simply.
Rose didn't know the answer to that one. "Well it's bloody Harry Potter were talking about! Who knows how his name got in the Goblet," Fabian helped Rose out. But nobody wanted to listen to reason. As they entered the common room, the Gryffindors prepared for a magnificent common room party.
When Harry entered the Gryffindor tower he was the blast of noise that met Harry almost knocked him backward. He was being wrenched inside the common room by about a dozen pairs of hands, and was facing the whole of Gryffindor House, all of whom were screaming, applauding, and whistling.
"You should've told us you'd entered!" bellowed Fred; he looked half annoyed, half deeply impressed. Rose rolled her eyes.
"You do believe him don't you?" Rose asked Neville who was standing next to her.
"I don't know what happened, but I somehow find it hard to believe that he did it himself," Neville said thoughtfully.
"How did you do it without getting a beard? Brilliant!" roared George.
"I didn't," Harry said. "I don't know how -"
But Angelina had now swooped down upon him; "Oh if it couldn't be me, at least it's a Gryffindor -"
"You'll be able to pay back Diggory for that last Quidditch match, Harry!" shrieked Katie.
"We've got food, Harry, come and have some -"
"I'm not hungry, I had enough at the feast -"
But nobody wanted to hear, he wasn't hungry, nobody wanted to hear that he didn't do it. "C'mon," Rose told Neville. "Let's help him get out of here." But they couldn't get through the crowd of people surrounding Harry, congratulating him, wanting to be in his presence.
"I'm tired!" he bellowed finally, after nearly half an hour. "No, seriously, George -I'm going to bed -" And luckily he escaped everyone and ran upstairs.
"Well, I'll talk to him tomorrow then," Rose sighed and she wished Neville a good night before going up to her dormitory.
When she laid down in bed she couldn't help but think about Fabian's words. Well it's bloody Harry Potter were talking about! Who knows how his name got in the Goblet…
The next morning Rose was up extra early than usual. Everyone on the table was talking excitingly about the Tournament and Harry and Cedric, although she heard a couple of conversations that weren't so positive about her friend.
Ernie Macmillan for example was appalled that her grandfather would let Harry into the Tournament while he obviously cheated and was too young. But the first task should show that very quickly. Rose turned around to him and hissed to him like poison. "What do you mean Ernie, 'should show that very quickly'?"
Ernie swallowed. In first year whenever anyone would tease Neville she would spit venom like that. After a while not many people dared to say anything bad to Neville anymore. Not when Rose was around anyway. Rose didn't use that tone for a while now. But Ernie was just being a jerk, a big one. "I-I am just saying that he wouldn't do as good as Cedric and the other champions because he hasn't learned as much."
Rose shot him her fury look. "You meant something else, and you should be ashamed." She turned around again. Did everybody think like that, that Harry was some fame seeking child and would get hurt in the first task already. She sighed and was glad Hermoine came in and sat down next to her. Somebody with an actual brain!
"Goodmorning," Hermoine said.
"Morning," Rose replied. "Seen Harry yet?"
Hermoine bit her lip. "No but I saw Ron."
Rose got uncomfortable. "And?"
"He says he doesn't believe Harry that he didn't do it, but honestly, I think he is jealous."
"Jealous?" Rose said a little surprised. "I thought they were best mates, he needs to support him, surely now, you know what Ernie said! He said that Harry will get what he deserves with the first task. And not that I don't believe in Harry but these tasks are brutal Hermoine. I think he could be right!"
"Look," said Hermione. "It's always Harry who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know he doesn't ask for it.. . but - well - you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and Harry is his best friend, and he's really famous – And Ron is always shunted to one side whenever people see Harry, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many. . ."
Rose sighed deeply. "I suppose you're right, you usually are."
Hermoine smiled.
"I was actually going to try to catch up with Harry. I can imagine he doesn't want to be anywhere near the Great Hall now."
"Yes," Rose said. "Say hi for me."
"I will," Hermoine said while taking toast and running off.
Rose waved her off and went back to eat her toast in peace.
The next few days Rose was wondering how so many people could be so cruel at the same time. Rose had already made Harry know that she believed him, as did Fabian and Neville. But the rest of the school seemed to think something different.
Ron and Harry stopped talking all together. Poor Hermoine was stuck between the two of them constantly and desperately trying to get them to talk, with no luck. Nevertheless, it was lonely with dislike pouring in on Harry from all sides.
But somehow she could understand the Hufflepuffs' attitude, even if she didn't like it; they had their own champion to support. She expected nothing less than vicious insults from the Slytherins - Harry was highly unpopular there and always had been, because he had helped Gryffindor beat them so often, both at Quidditch and in the Inter-House Championship.
She had hoped the Ravenclaws might have found it in their hearts to support him as much as Cedric. She was wrong, however. Most Ravenclaws seemed to think that he had been desperate to earn himself a bit more fame by tricking the goblet into accepting his name.
Rose saw that Harry struggled losing his friend and getting so much bad things thrown over him. He did so badly at Summoning Charms in Professor Flitwick's class that he was given extra homework - the only person to get any, apart from Neville.
"It's really not that difficult, Harry," Hermione tried to reassure him as they left Flitwick's class - she had been making objects zoom across the room to her all lesson, as though she were some sort of weird magnet for board dusters, wastepaper baskets, and lunascopes. "You just weren't concentrating properly -"
"Wonder why that was," said Harry darkly as Cedric Diggory walked past, surrounded by a large group of simpering girls, all of whom looked at Harry as though he were a particularly large Blast-Ended Skrewt. "Still - never mind, eh? Double Potions to look forward to this afternoon. . ."
When Rose and Neville planned on sitting relaxed at the lake, practicing summoning spells, Harry came outside without Hermoine at the moment and Rose waved at him to come and sit with them.
The Slytherins were blocking his way, each and every one of them wearing a large badge on the front of his or her robes. For one wild moment Rose thought they were S.P.E.W. badges - then she saw that they all bore the same message, in luminous red letters that burnt brightly in the dimly lit underground passage:
SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY- THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!
"Like them, Potter?" said Malfoy loudly as Harry approached too. "And this isn't all they do - look!"
He pressed his badge into his chest, and the message upon it vanished, to be replaced by another one, which glowed green:
POTTER STINKS!
The Slytherins howled with laughter. Each of them pressed their badges too, until the message POTTER STINKS was shining brightly.
"Oh very funny," Rose said sarcastically to Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls, who were laughing harder than anyone, as Rose walked up to them. "Really witty."
Ron was standing against the wall with Dean and Seamus. He wasn't laughing, but he wasn't sticking up for Harry either. Rose clenched her fists.
"Thought about that by yourself?" Rose said sarcastically again with venom and grabbing Harry by the arm before he could get into a fight with about 6 Slytherins. "I bet you had to ask Hermoine for help to do that don't you?! C'mon Harry."
She sat him down next to Neville with his back against the people so he faced the lake.
"Merlin," Rose said. "You would think they got over themselves by now!"
"Probably not," Neville said while trying to summon the Galleon Rose had put down for him.
"Cedric and his fanclub are wearing them to," Harry said sadly trying to summon a quill Rose had laid down for him to practice on.
"He Potter!"
They looked up to see a couple of Cedric's friends beaming at them, flashing their badges. The guy that called out to them was quite cute, he was one of Cedric's best friends, Rose believed. With brown hair and brown eyes. But what a jerk.
"Surprised you know how to work it! Isn't it to difficult for your baby face!?" Rose shouted to him.
The guy's smile faded while his friends grinned. But the guy started smiling confidently again. "Don't you want one too? Would look nice on your pretty chest!"
Rose flushed a little. But Harry turned around. "Bugger off!" he yelled to him.
"Why? You don't want her to walk around with a badge, Harry? Would look splendid on her," he winked at her and Rose rolled her eyes.
"Not interested!" Rose replied.
"You will!" The guy grinned and walked off.
Rose rolled her eyes. "Hogwarts seems to overflow with jerks."
Kruml walked by with a fanclub of his own. Giggling and pointing. "And hysteric girls," Neville stated.
Harry looked at a couple of Ravenclaw girls. "Not all of them."
Rose followed his gaze. "You like someone?" Harry blushed a little. "You do, tell me."
Harry leaned in closer to her and Neville. "See that girl there? The one with the long black hair?"
Rose nonchalantly threw her curls over her shoulder and sneaked a peek. "You mean Cho? The Ravenclaw seeker?"
Harry nodded. Rose chuckled. "Well maybe your new status as champion will impress her?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't think so.."
"Look at the bright side Harry," Neville added. "She isn't wearing a badge."
At that Harry looked a little happier after that.
In the meantime, Rita Skeeter of the Daily Prophet had come by to make an article about the Tournament and all the champions. But it had turned out to be not so much a report on the tournament as a highly colored life story of Harry.
Much of the front page had been given over to a picture of Harry; the article (continuing on pages two, six, and seven) had been all about Harry, the names of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions (misspelled) had been squashed into the last line of the article, and Cedric hadn't been mentioned at all.
Rose read one sentence out loud to Harry with a raised eyebrow while they walked to Charms class: "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. . ." Rose looked at Harry skeptical and read further. "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." Rose folded the paper and set it on fire earning a sneer from Filch. "Well at least we know not to say 'uh' to the woman," Rose shrugged.
"Yeah," Harry said. "Great that we know."
"Want a hanky, Potter, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?" A Slytherin came by.
Rose held his shoulder and chanted the 'ignore them, ignore them, for the 100rd time already.
"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?"
"Ignore them, ignore them."
"Hey - Harry!"
"Yeah, that's right!" Rose found Harry shouting as he wheeled around in the corridor, having had just about enough. "I've just been crying my eyes out over my dead mum, and I'm just off to do a bit more. . .
"No - it was just - you dropped your quill."
It was Cho. Harry blushed all the way to his neck.
"Oh - right - sorry," he muttered, taking the quill back.
"Er. . . good luck on Tuesday," she said. "I really hope you do well."
Which left Harry feeling extremely stupid. "Thanks Cho we appreciate it!" Rose called after her.
Hermione had come in for her fair share of unpleasantness too, but she hadn't yet started yelling at innocent bystanders; in fact, Rose was full of admiration for the way she was handling the situation.
"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Pansy 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?"
"Ignore it," Hermione said in a dignified voice, holding her head in the air and stalking past the sniggering Slytherin girls as though she couldn't hear them. "Just ignore it, Harry."
Harry hang with them the whole time now since he didn't have Ron. But Rose knew that he was disappointed and bored to death sometimes. It was off course a lot more hanging in the Library if you were Hermoine's best friend.
Viktor Krum was in the library an awful lot too, and they wondered what he was up to. Was he studying, or was he looking for things to help him through the first task?
Hermione often complained about Krum being there - not that he ever bothered them - but because groups of giggling girls often turned up to spy on him from behind bookshelves, and Hermione found the noise distracting.
"He's not even good-looking!" she muttered angrily, glaring at Krum's sharp profile.
"They only like him because he's famous! They wouldn't look twice at him if he couldn't do that WonkyFaint thing -"
"Wronski Feint, Hermoine" said Rose before Harry could react and Harry stared at her dumbfounded. "What I spend the whole summer listening to you and Sirius talking about it. Don't you think I would have picked something up?!"
Harry smiled. "I suppose so."
"Just wait for that essay Neville, I need to look a book on all the antidotes. Maybe we can do something extra on that."
She walked back to the bookshelves and started searching through them.
"He," she heard behind her. Rose turned around a little cautious. Before her was that guy, one of Cedric's friends. Good looking friend. No, wait, jerk.
"Good afternoon," Rose said a little snobby.
He grinned to her surprise. "You don't have to act like that."
"Why not you acted like a arrogant jerk," Rose said taking a book out of the shelf called Morgana's poisons and then putting it back.
"Sorry 'bout that, I'm not wearing it now, you see?" he pointed at his chest.
"I see," Rose admitted turning back to the bookshelf. "Glad to see that, it isn't very nice you know. Although I do understand that your all mad at Harry for so called 'taking the glory from Cedric', but Harry couldn't help it."
"I'm sure he couldn't ," he said. Obviously not believing that. But he leaned into the bookshelves and looked at her confidently. "So," he said while looking at her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable while she scanned the bookshelves.
"So, what?" she replied looking at him. He was really good looking, but way to arrogant.
"You, me, tomorrow at Hogsmeade." He smirked. "On a date."
Rose was dumbfounded and that's how she must have looked. Because he started chuckling.
"You don't need to look so surprised, Rose," he added. "You're beautiful and I know lots of guys want to go with you, but they don't ask you."
Rose blushed a deep red, and her face felt hot. "I-I don't even know your name?"
"Kendall Reeds," he said holding out his hand. She took it a bit doubtfully. "So how about that date?"
Rose blushed again. "N-no, I-I already have plans." Rose blurted out. That wasn't completely untrue. She had planned to go with Harry, Hermoine and Neville.
He smirked further. "Then sit with me during the first task, c'mon you know you want too."
"No I don't," Rose said confidently. Why didn't he just leave and get the picture.
"She's not interested." Rose looked around. Professor Moody came walking in their row. "Beat it Casanova!" he growled. Kendall didn't know how fast he could get away from there. He didn't even dared to say goodbye.
"Thanks Professor," she said relieved. He smiled an ugly smile to her.
On the Saturday before the first task, all students in the third year and above were permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade. Rose set off with Harry, Neville and Hermoine to the Three Broomsticks.
"What about Ron?" Neville asked.
"Oh. . . well.. ." Hermione went slightly pink. "I thought we might meet up with him in the Three Broomsticks. . . ."
"No," said Harry flatly.
"Oh Harry, this is so stupid -"
"I'll come, but I'm not meeting Ron, and I'm wearing my Invisibility Cloak."
"Oh all right then. . ." Hermione snapped. "But I hate talking to you in that cloak, I never know if I'm looking at you or not."
So Harry put on his Invisibility Cloak in the dormitory, went back downstairs, and all of them set off to Hogsmeade.
Fabian asked if she and Neville wanted to go and visit grandfather Aberforth but Hermoine looked at her pleadingly as if to say, 'don't leave me alone, I look like a lunatic talking to myself. So Rose excused herself and sat down at a table with the rest.
The Three Broomsticks was packed, mainly with Hogwarts students enjoying their free afternoon, but also with a variety of magical people Harry rarely saw anywhere else.
Harry supposed that as Hogsmeade was the only all-wizard village in Britain, it was a bit of a haven for creatures like hags, who were not as adept as wizards at disguising themselves.
"You know, maybe I should try and get some of the villagers involved in S.P.E.W.," Hermione said thoughtfully, looking around the pub.
"Yeah, right," said Harry from under his invisibility cloak. "Hermione, when are you going to give up on this spew stuff?"
"Harry leave it please," said Rose.
"When house-elves have decent wages and working conditions!" she hissed back. "You know, I'm starting to think it's time for more direct action. I wonder how you get into the school kitchens?"
"No idea, ask Fred and George," said Harry.
"How are you feeling about the first task,"Neville asked, trying to change the subject.
"Great," Harry said. Although Rose couldn't see his face she knew he wasn't.
"Look, it's Hagrid!" said Hermione.
The back of Hagrid's enormous shaggy head - he had mercifully abandoned his bunches -emerged over the crowd with Professor Moody at his side.
"All right, everyone?" said Hagrid loudly.
"Hello," said Hermione, smiling back.
"He Hagrid," Rose and Neville said.
Moody limped around the table and bent down; Rose thought he was reading the S.P.E.W. notebook, until he muttered, "Nice cloak, Potter."
"Can your eye - I mean, can you - ?" she heard Harry mutter.
"Yeah, it can see through Invisibility Cloaks," Moody said quietly. "And it's come in useful at times, I can tell you."
Hagrid was beaming down at Harry too. Rose knew Hagrid couldn't see him, but Moody had obviously told Hagrid he was there. Hagrid now bent down on the pretext of reading the S.P.E.W. notebook as well, and said in a whisper so low that only they could hear it, "Harry, meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin. Wear that cloak."
Straightening up, Hagrid said loudly, "Nice ter see yeh, Hermione, Neville, Rose," winked, and departed. Moody followed him.
"Why does Hagrid want me to meet him at midnight?" Harry said, very surprised.
"I don't know," Rose admitted. "Oh Merlin!" She ducked under the table because she had seen Kendall coming in.
After a couple of seconds Harry ducked down with her. "What are you doing?" he asked putting of his cloak so she only saw a floating head in front of her.
"Hiding..," Rose said simple but Harry frowned. "Okay from Kendall, you remember? One of Cedric's friends, that jerk that kept hitting on me by the lake."
"Yes," Harry said. "Why are you hiding from him?"
Rose blushed. "He asked me out yesterday."
"What?" Harry's eyes widened.
"And I said no off course, but he's so arrogant! I just… well reflex I think!"
Neville ducked under the table too. "What are you doing?"
"Hiding," Rose and Harry said at the same time.
"From who?"
"That Kendall guy there, you know Cedric's friend."
"Oh,"Neville grinned. "I understand."
"He asked me out yesterday, can you imagine, me and that arrogant dog?"
They all chuckled until Hermoine smacked the table. "Am I sitting here by myself, c'mon get up!"
