Chapter Twenty Nine: The Daily Prophet

"James is moving in with Marie," Emma reported to Willow the following day. Fred had accidentally let it slip to her and she had, of course, told her good friend.

For a split second, Willow's eyes were aghast, her smile slipping, her pain evident. But she quickly regained her composure. "Okay," She tried her best to sound calm and cool. "A bit soon, but I suppose it was expected, right?"

"Willow," Emma began, but Willow refused to talk about it any further, instead insisting they go out that night. And the following night. And the following night of the following night and so on.

Even though they had known each other for over seven years, Willow had never opened up to Emma or Taylor or Roxanne about anything. They were her best friends so she would tell them little things, like about her crushes and who she had gone out with, she had told them about her mum and dad's relationship, but she never went too in depth. She talked on hours end with all of them in their fifth year when Willow's reputation plummeted for the worse. She told them about what she was feeling, but never to the root of why she was feeling that way.

It wasn't like she didn't trust them, she did. She was just, for some reason, terrified of opening up to anyone. She had with James, he was the first person she really opened up to— certainly, the first boy.

She didn't know why he had made her feel so safe to say whatever she wanted and why she wanted to. She thought he might have been her best friend. But she had screwed that relationship up, which only reinforced her fear to ever open up and she immediately went back to her private nature.

"Rough night?" Jamie asked as Willow stumbled into the Puddlemere locker rooms a few days later.

"More like rough few nights?" Rachel quipped. "The Daily Prophet is having a field day with you." Willow knew. Headlines and photos accompanying said headlines declared her to be Oliver Wood's Wild Child, a reckless party girl. She wasn't too upset, having gone through much worse at Hogwarts. She was relieved that they didn't call her a slag or anything like that.

"All those photos are only from one night," Willow grumbled, shaking out her mussed up hair. She didn't remember doing anything too much of importance, but then again, she didn't really remember that night at all. "I just don't understand why they stretched it out for three days."

"Because you're fresh meat," Jamie replied with a teasing smile, running a hand along her arm. Willow murmured something unintelligible and moved her arm away from him. Rachel let out a yawn at that moment and James came bounding into the locker room, as if it wasn't seven in the morning. His eyes were exhausted, but his smile shined brightly.

"Morning," He boomed. "Whose excited to start this day?" No one expressed their excitement. James waved them off and began opening his locker.

"Where's your girlfriend, Potter?" Chase, the seeker, asked. "She's making small-talk with Coach," James said. Their coach, Jack, was tough, but easy-going when he wanted to be. Willow found him neither special nor unremarkable. James began humming a Weird Sister song.

"Someone got laid this morning," Chase commented, making Rachel and Jamie snicker quite obnoxiously.

"Perhaps I did, Chase," James responded lightly. "You wouldn't know much of that, though." Willow couldn't help but let out a small giggle, something both Jamie and James did not let go unnoticed.

"Anyways, back to Wood being trashed by Rita Skeeter," Chase, embarrassed, quickly changed the subject. "What'd she say exactly?"

"No," Willow groaned. James stopped humming, curious about the article. "Wood's Wild-Child," Jamie declared, grabbing Willow by the shoulders as she squirmed uncomfortably. "Older men, all-night partying, shots, a tight dress, and lots of PDA— that's Willow Wood's typical night."

"Bloody hell, did you memorize it or something?" Willow exclaimed, turning to face him with disgust. "Just about," Jamie beamed a cocky smile at her. "Hey, I'm kidding, Wood, here." He thrusted the paper to her which she shoved away. "No thanks," she muttered.

"I don't blame you," Rachel, the only other girl besides Marie on the team, sympathized. "Can't say I would like it if they were calling me a slag or something." That was news to Willow, now incredulous as she snatched the paper from Jamie.

"They called me a slag?"

"You didn't read it?" Chase seemed surprised. She shook her head, frantically skimming the article. Rachel was now explaining that they only implied she was slag, they didn't actually use the word— but Willow was too focused on the article to listen. Wood spent the night with no big celebrity heartthrob, nor a mystery man as she did not stick to one man. Rumour has it, she gets around quite easily.

It wasn't the worst thing that could be said about her, but she didn't like thinking about it. She figured the world was mature enough not to care, but she was wrong. Willow could feel the onset of tears building up, trying to suppress the urge to cry.

James stared rather hard at Willow, studying her worried expression as she frantically scanned over the Daily Prophet column. "Rita Skeeter is a nasty person," He said casually. "I wouldn't take anything she says to heart." Willow looked up at him with widened eyes. The two shared an intense look before she moved her gaze downwards.

"Yeah," Chase agreed. "She's a disgrace of a reporter."

"Thanks," She practically whispered, more to James than Chase. "I've heard worse, anyways."

"Is Hogwarts that cruel of a place nowadays?" Jeffrey, who never joined in on the conversations, asked. He had gone to Hogwarts ages ago.

"Yes," Willow and James replied at the same time, both flushing. Before the team could make the connection that the two were in the same year at Hogwarts and probably knew each other before Puddlemere, Marie came in, followed by John and Puddlemere's perky publicist Serafina Browne.

"Listen up here, team," John called out as Marie took a seat next to James. "I've got big news, er, Serafina does." The short, squatty dirty blonde was dressed in a sleek tangerine coloured dress with matching heels. She looked completely out of place, but she had grown on the team.

"Puddlemere," Serafina paused for dramatics, "is getting a coveted spot in the Quidditch media coverage. Witch Weekly, every year, features one Quidditch team for their fall issue. And guess which team they choose?"

"The Cannons?" Willow muttered under her breath sarcastically. "Puddlemere! Us!" She jumped up and down before regaining her composure. "So, a reporter will be coming here probably for a week, along with a photographer. She'll be taking short interviews during practice, nothing too disruptive, and the photographer will snap a few photos throughout the week. And then of course, we'll have a short photoshoot where she'll follow up with more questions. Now, what is most important about this is that we show team unity. There must be a general consensus we all agree upon which is a team first mentality and mutual respect."

"So what do you want us to say?" James asked bluntly, causing Marie to hit his arm lightly. Willow herself had been thinking that as well. She wasn't sure if she could handle another article.

"I'm not going to feed you lines," The peppy blonde responded. "But, something along the lines of 'We all respect each other as people and players, the team is strongest when we are together.' Sounds good? And for the couples," Serafina pointedly looked at James. "I need you two to not be boring, be cute. We'll get the most attention if we have a cute couple. People will want to keep an eye Puddlemere."

"Are you asking for us to fake drama?" James retorted again. He was never a fan of publicists, he found their job weird. Serafina shook her head profusely.

"No, on the contrary," She said. "We don't want drama, it'll lead to a distasteful article. We don't want any rumours of drama within the team or with other people. We want to portray Puddlemere as one and united. So, if there is anything from your past or now that you suspect might lead to such an article, I need you to disclose them to me by today so we can prepare a plan of action."

Willow wondered if she and James should bring up their history— the team didn't know about her and James really, hadn't even make the connection they were in the same year at Hogwarts, no conception of their history or past, excluding Marie and Jamie. She glanced over at James who was hand in hand with Marie and decided she wouldn't say anything.

James was wondering the same exact thing. But he didn't really think it would be that big of a deal. No one even knew the extent of their relationship since most of it had been in secret anyways. Besides, Serafina would just give them a generic response to say and James personally didn't want their history to be watered down.

The Witch Weekly interview had, much to their great annoyance, thrown off practice despite what Serafina promised. While the photographer distractedly snapped pictures of the team practicing, the interviewer asked to interview each member one by one— meaning that they were down one player when practicing.

The interviewer, Sylvia Abbasi, had gone to Hogwarts. She was played on the Ravenclaw Quidditch teams a few grades above Willow and James. They both recognized her immediately. "Seeker," James heard himself blurt. Willow instinctively rushed in with more details, "Ravenclaw." They had shared a glance— maybe it was happy, maybe it was nostalgic— but the feeling afterwards was just uncomfortable. The team took notice of this rare interaction between the two Chasers, but no one made a comment.

James got interviewed after Marie and before Willow. He greeted Sylvia with a kind smile as she expressed her surprise that Willow and James had remembered her.

"Yeah," James laughed nervously. "We've just got a good memory when it comes to Quidditch. Obsessed, some may call it."

"I remember. Cute that you and Willow are still playing on the same team," Sylvia added casually. James felt his heart pound. "I remember you two from when I attended."

"Yeah, we had a friendly competition going on," James said, referring to their relationship before Sylvia had graduated. He hoped she was unaware of what they progressed to in their later years in Hogwarts.

"Of course," She smiled. "What about now? You two just graduated. How have things changed since Hogwarts?"

"I think we've since learned that teamwork is more important than being the best as an individual," He said. "Being Chasers and all, you know?" He hoped he didn't sound like an idiot. Sylvia, satisfied with this answer, moved on from including Willow in her questions which put James at ease. He answered these questions with the confidence and frankness that he was known for.

"So, you're dating your teammate Marie. When I spoke to her, she mentioned that you two just moved in together. How do you find maintaining a professional relationship on the field?" James had prepared for this question.

"Oh," He said. "It's no problem for me. It's actually beneficial to both our relationship and the team— we continue to build our trust with each other through working together and our close relationship adds to the team's dynamics."

Sylvia hummed and James started to rise from his seat. "You're both Chasers, too. I can imagine how vital teamwork is to that. I also understand that Willow is also a chaser and that you and Willow had a romantic relationship in your final years at Hogwarts."

"Yeah, we— " James started to say something, but his voice cut off once he actually processed what she had said. "Shit. Wait, sorry, I— can you like, not add this in?" Sylvia smiled apologetically. There was a beat of silence. James gulped air. "What was the question again?

"How do you find maintaining a professional relationship with your ex-girlfriend?"

He blinked a few times, not having expected her to ask this, not knowing why he didn't expect this question. He felt stupid for not considering it was something that clearly presented as drama. He felt even more stupid for not preparing an answer.

"Uh," James started, racking his brain for an acceptable answer. "I mean, I've known her since my first year, I've never played on an official Quidditch without her. So we play well together, we work well together because we have known each other for so long. Quidditch was a big part of our bond, we loved it to a point past most others. I think we really understood each other in that sense. Our shared passion established this respect between us. Besides, she's a brilliant Chaser, she's a bloody maniac about perfecting her technique. Really, that girl is a perfectionist when it comes to Quidditch." He laughed, then paused to take a breath.

"I do care for her and hold much love for her still...I never had any doubt, regardless of our relationship status, that we would be able to work together effectively."

"And is it hard to work so closely with both your current girlfriend and past?" James inwardly groaned.

"Of course," He blurted, quickly adding, "At first. But I think— we've moved on. My respect for her, our love for Quidditch, I think it lets us find ways to work smoothly."

"Nice," Sylvia nodded. "Sorry if those questions were kind of rough. Witch Weekley's readers are curious about that sort of thing." He numbly nodded. The rest of the interview went by and soon, it was Willow's turn.

"She wants to speak with you next," James told Willow as he returned to the pitch where she was currently running a lap around. "Right now?" She panted, stopping to catch her breath. "Coach is making us run laps, by the way."

"Brilliant," James said. "I'm all sweaty, too," She added, making a face. James smiled slightly, but pulled her close, speaking in a low tone, as if he wanted no one to hear this.

"She asked about us." Willow drew herself away from him quickly.

"So about..." Her voice trailed off.

"You know what."

Willow almost sunk into the pitch.

"I was caught off-guard, I kept fucking stammering." James chuckled awkwardly. "I thought telling you in advance would give you a little time to think of a good answer. Maybe if you give a good answer, they won't use mine and Serafina won't be as mad that we didn't disclose our past relationship to her."

Willow didn't really hear what he was saying amidst all her thoughts running around and yelling at her. All she could do was think about how badly this would go. She hadn't talked about James openly to anyone at all. Especially not someone she barely knew.

Her entire body shook from a mixture of muscle exhaustion and anxiety. James placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "You alright?"

"James, don't touch me." His face turned dark and red and he quickly drew back.

"I— " Willow put a hand over her mouth. "I don't know why I said that, I didn't even mean to say that. I'm sorry. I'm just kind of freaking out and you touching me is just more— I didn't mean it. Sorry."

"No," James shook his head. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"Neither was I." They burst into awkward silence. They didn't know what to say. "I should go get interviewed now."

"Yeah, yeah," James cleared his throat. "Try not to worry, it's just one interview."

"I'll try." Willow muttered. She took her time on the walk to Sylvia.

"So, it's just Witch Weekly," Sylvia explained. "Nothing too deep or serious. These questions are gonna be brief, but I might ask some follow up questions later during the shoot. So, I suppose my first question— you're a new face on the team, fresh off reserves. How does it feel to be a member of Puddlemere United?"

"It feels great," Willow said her rehearsed answer. "I've always wanted to play Quidditch professionally and obviously, I was raised a diehard Puddlemere United fan so playing for them is even better. The teamwork is strong and it's rewarding to work with people you hold in high regards."

"Yes, your dad was the Keeper of Puddlemere United, his first position as a professional Quidditch player like you. How do you feel your experience on Puddlemere differed from his?"

"Well, my dad was the one who introduced me to Quidditch, taught me and trained me as a kid. So, I think about Quidditch using his framework so I wouldn't say we're so different in how we play and think. I would say our experiences on Puddlemere are different though. We both got to experience the power of teamwork, but we're different positions obviously, so, as a Chaser, I am more involved with direct teamwork so I think my biggest lesson I learned was the importance of trust."

"I see." Sylvia flashed her teeth. "I can't imagine how Oliver Wood was as not only a father, but as a coach. How do you feel like having a professional Quidditch player as your dad influenced you growing up?"

"I'm grateful for it," Willow said. "I am. I would not be here if it was not for his guidance or training. The access I had to Quidditch and proper foundational skills was fundamental to my ability to succeed. But as for the rest of it, the celebrity of it all...I think growing up, having all your actions magnified for no reason was weird. Fame isn't something I want necessarily, but I suppose it comes with this career." Willow eased a bit as Sylvia asked more questions, but she remained alert for the James question.

"How are you dealing with the team dynamic?"

"It's good. Like I said, we all have deep respect for one another and prioritize the team. We know how to work with each other and communicate."

"What about James Sirius Potter?" Willow quickly twisted her wince into a smile. Even though James had warned her of this question and she felt it coming, Willow's stomach still jolted.

"What about him?" She hoped she sounded calmer than she felt. Sylvia laughed slightly. "Come on. Not to break my interviewer persona, but I went to Hogwarts. I played against you two. I wasn't blind to your relationship and energy. I heard from several resources that you and James dated. I heard the two of you were madly in love. What was it like?" Willow knew Sylvia was trying to sound like a casual girl friend to get her to open up, but Willow wasn't falling for it. Again, she didn't even open up to her best friends about this.

"We weren't." Willow said flatly, going into shutdown mode. "Madly in love, I mean."

"Well, you two were something." Sylvia looked at her dead in the eyes, forcing Willow to meet her eye line but she refused to say anything more. Sylvia moved onto the next question.

"So, with James and Marie dating, how does that affect the team? How does that affect the chasers?"

"It doesn't. We all work well, very smoothly together. The three of us love this team and Quidditch too much to let insignificant details from the past get in the way."

"So, your previous relationship doesn't affect the chasers' dynamic?" Willow shook her head. Sylvia made a face. Willow had a feeling that James and her were going to get quite the scolding tomorrow.

And she was right.