Come morning I was up in the owlery sending out my letters. One to dad, one to my parents, and one to Lupin, telling them all the news, though I only mentioned Harry to dad and Lupin so that they were aware of what was going on. I doubted Harry would tell my dad about him being in the tournament in a bid to keep him from worrying and coming here, but I wasn't going to let him get away with that. Orion nibbled my fingers before accepting the letter to home, flying off to join the other two owls I'd already borrowed from the school.
I watched all three owls as they split off in different directions before they were gone from sight, and with a soft sigh I went down to breakfast. Gryffindor were buzzing with chatter, going over what had happened at the champion selection. Before I entered, however, I met none other than Cedric Diggory at the doors. "Oh, hello Diggory." I noticed him after I happened to look up in time, coming face to face with him as he also hadn't been looking where he was going.
"Hello Mia. Congratulations on being selected. You'll do great."
"Thanks, I know that you entered. Disappointed, or relieved?" He smiled at me, several girls who were standing nearby now whispering as they refused to enter the Hall for breakfast, preferring to stand there nosing at us instead. I should hex them.
"A bit of both, if I'm honest. My dad let slip what was going on before school started…wouldn't stop going on about it actually. Told me I should enter." I felt a little sorry for Cedric then, wondering if his father often told him to do things in a bid to push himself.
"Well, you can tell your dad that you can't help not being picked by an impartial judge which turned out to be a big cup of fire." I said to him with a light smile. "I'm sure you would have done great, I'll do my best not to let you down." Handsome with a dazzling smile, I could see the attractiveness that other girls saw there. It didn't have such an effect on me, but I did appreciate the fact that his face was open and expressive, so as he smiled at me I could tell he genuinely meant it. Moving past him, I said goodbye before entering the Hall where I was immediately met with cheers and applauding, but the novelty of it had rather worn off by this point. "What's up with you?" Sitting down with Fred, George, Ginny, Ron and Hermione, I saw that Ron had an expression that looked like he'd just drank sour milk.
"Ronald is sulking." Ginny said to me flatly, clearly irritated with her brother's childish behaviour. "He's upset that Harry didn't let him in on the secret to getting his name into the Goblet of Fire."
"Well, that's because Harry didn't put his name in." Ron snorted, poking at his bacon with a fierce scowl which might have made it die all over again. "You know, green doesn't suit you Ron." I said to him, my offhand comment making him look up at me in confusion. "You're clearly green with envy. Get over it, Harry's involvement in this is a serious matter. He could die."
"Didn't stop him though, did it?" Scowling at him, I decided to throw scrambled eggs at him as Hermione glanced between us worriedly. "Hey!"
"Harry's your best friend! The least you could do is believe him when he tells you something!"
"We all know you'll believe whatever Harry says. Ever since last year, you've been practically fawning over his every word. Just because he's…" Hermione must have kicked Ron under the table, because he quickly went silent before he could reveal crucial and very secret information as I glowered at him. I then looked at Fred and George, both of whom had apparently developed a keen fascination for cornflakes.
"Are you telling me none of you believe Harry?" They glanced at each other before then turning to me.
"Come on Mia, you can't be that hoodwinked, right?"
"How else did his name get in the Goblet?" They both said to me as I sat there, completely stunned. I looked at Ginny, who looked a little nervous and unsure.
"I believe Harry, but I don't understand how his name got there. It's all a bit strange, isn't it?" Well, at least someone on this table has got a decent brain in their head. Of course, Ginny has always had a soft spot for Harry, had the sweetest crush on him ever since she first saw him his first year when she was ten. Still, it seemed like other than me, only she and Hermione agreed that Harry was telling the truth, which made me rather angry.
"I can't believe it!" Slamming my hands down on the table, I launched myself to my feet with a clatter that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the Hall. "Of course only the girls have the brains to not be so stupid. Honestly, I thought you were all better than this!" Swinging my leg over the bench, I started to storm away as Fred called after me, telling me I hadn't even eaten anything. "I'm not hungry!" Which wasn't true, I was rather peckish but I was too angry to be around people right now. I needed to blow off some steam otherwise I will probably end up doing something that will no doubt end with me getting in trouble.
Thinking that fresh air was probably my best option, seeing as it came equipped with wide open spaces and very few other people, I decided to go outside. Kicking at some innocent, dewy grass, I spent a good hour or so trying to walk and calm down but it did very little to help vent off the steam, so when I spotted Hagrid's hut I decided to go pay a visit. He'd believe Harry was telling the truth, and I needed to rant about all of this to someone otherwise I think I might go mad. Also, the pegasi were paddocked nearby so maybe he'd let me get a closer look at them. Going down I knocked on his door and after a clattering of movement, it opened to reveal our resident gamekeeper. "Mia, I weren' expectin' yer, everythin' alrigh'?"
"Do you mind if I come in for some tea, Hagrid? I could do with a chat. It's about Harry." His rosy cheeks paled slightly from under the bushy mound of his beard and hair but he quickly ushered me inside and had me take a seat. With the tea he also offered me a tray of scones which were as hard as rock, but I was now hungry enough to tempt breaking my teeth on them so after soaking them a good long while in milk, I chewed on them contentedly as Hagrid and I talked.
"I couldn' believe it when I saw, Harry's name…I said ter Professor Dumbledore it were impossible, Harry couldn' possibly put 'is name in, but there's nothing Dumbledore can do."
"I know, we talked about it last night too when everyone came down to confront Harry about what happened. I lost my temper a bit, basically called Bagman and Crouch incompetent when I shouted at them." I sighed, sipping at my tea which admittedly, was rather good. Although his cooking was sketchy at the best of times, Hagrid did make an excellent cup of tea. Better yet owing to the fact that his cups were no smaller than a large saucepan.
"How's 'e doin'? Can' be doin' too good I'd wager. Must 'ave been a shock ter the system." So I told Hagrid the truth, that although Harry had been rattled at first, he seemed to be taking it in his stride and that he was staying calm at the very least.
"I mean, it's not like he'll be in real danger, right? The tasks are meant to be much safer than before and Dumbledore would never let him get hurt, plus I'll be there too. I'll throw the task if it means keeping Harry safe."
"Now, Dumbledore'll keep Harry safe, mark my words. Great man, Dumbledore is, great man." Hagrid said to me with a smile, his large hands wrapped around his exceptionally large teacup which was roughly the size of a bucket. "But what abou' you Mia? How are yer coping with all this? Eager, I'd bet. Always had an eye for a challenge. Wouldn' surprise me if yer came out on top." Smiling at him, I thanked Hagrid for the confidence and assured him that I was feeling fine and that I was fairly confident I could take whatever they threw at me. After all, I was pretty much the best student in the school, not to brag or anything. If I couldn't handle it, then who else could?
After finishing my tea and two of the scones, Hagrid took me around to the paddock in order to take a look at the winged horses where he told me all about them, but then got onto the subject of Madame Maxime where a rather dazed grin splayed across his face, then it was all he talked about. I listened with interest, stroking the face of one of the pegasi who had come over to investigate us. The winged horse stood just as tall as Hagrid, making me wonder how any normal sized person could ever possibly manage such powerful creatures. As much as I could deduce before Hagrid got off subject, they responded best to dominance, so as long as you were perceived to be the leader of the herd, they'd do whatever you wanted. They responded well to Hagrid since he could literally wrestle them into submission if they acted up, but I didn't fancy risking my face getting kicked by one of their massive hooves, so I settled with just stroking them when they'd let me.
When lessons started again come Monday, it seemed like Harry was still being boycotted by Ron, and to top it all off, a lot of the school still thought that he'd put his name in that Goblet. Badges started to surface, circulated by the Slytherins which read POTTER STINKS and other rude comments about him. I think Slytherin were actually supporting Krum rather than either one of us, their hatred of Gryffindor, Harry and even me running too deep to warrant their backing us. At least as a prefect I could confiscate the badges, and I deducted points from anyone who wore them.
"Confiscated!" I yelled at a couple of Slytherin students, all of them wearing badges as I pointed my wand and summoned them to me then set them on fire, letting them burn to ash. "And five points from Slytherin for every badge, that's twenty five points! Don't let me catch you wearing these against you slithering little tripes!" Fearsome as always, they scurried away and people started to have the good sense not to wear the badges around me. Of course, I was reprimanded a few times for my rather forceful and abrupt manner, but it didn't make me any less adamant to stomp these stupid things out.
Fred and George both tried to talk to me but I didn't joke around with them anymore, still upset that they didn't believe Harry and they noticed the difference. "Come on Mia, you can't still be on about that can you? It doesn't matter if Harry put his name in or not!" Fred said to me as the twins sat down either side me at dinner a couple days back into the school week.
"It matters to me. Ron's being an arse and you two aren't helping. We all know Harry, he isn't that kind of person."
"Who else would want to put his name in the cup though?"
"I don't know!" Frustrated that I didn't have any answers, I abandoned my dinner only having eaten a few mouthfuls and instead, left the Great Hall. I was anxious to hear from dad or Lupin, anyone really, to give me some advice on what I should do. Ever since the truth had come out last year, I'd felt like I owed Harry to look out for him. It made me sad to think that I missed out growing up with a little brother, I'd always wanted one, but I was also worried that he didn't care about it as much as I did. I wanted my dad to be proud, and he clearly loved Harry just as much as he did me, and it stressed me out to no end that no matter what, every year seemed to be a dangerous year for Harry, always facing mortal peril.
The twins and Ron weren't helping at all. I think I've been spending far too much time around those boys, I could feel my sanity starting to slip, so I'd actually started hanging out with Angelina and Katie as well as their friend Alicia, who had almost made the team before now. I'll admit, it was a nice change of pace to actually have feminine conversations, talking about normal things that I couldn't talk to Fred and George about, so it had taken my mind off of things for a while. But just like now, they would pop up again and I'd be back to where I started.
A vicious growl sounded from within my stomach and I winced, wishing I had shovelled more food into my mouth before leaving. I'll have to visit the kitchens later and ask if the elves wouldn't mind feeding me, I can never sleep if I go to bed hungry.
