Daphne put down the letter as she looked at it angrily. She should've guessed it right away when Astoria had come to her this morning with a new request. Daphne had one weakness that her parents knew of and she knew they knew how to use that weakness to make her listen to them. It wasn't anything bad but sometimes she just wondered whether they gave any thoughts about it.

In the great hall she looked at the Gryffindor table and saw Harry having his breakfast unbothered by anything happening around him. Students were still looking at him but that wasn't something new. Draco had been especially pissed off since Harry had proved his innocence regarding the goblet issue as soon as his name came out of it. It was evident that the Malfoy heir was planning ways to embarrass Harry the moment Dumbledore had called his name holding that burning paper and Daphne couldn't help but break a small smile when she saw the look on Draco's face as Harry took the oath in front of everyone in the great hall.

But now she was stuck with this and even though she could straight away ignore her parents' wish she couldn't do so with Astoria's, especially when her little sister gave her the look of disappointment. She was twelve and yet she was able to handle the Ice Princess of Slytherin so effectively and while a part of Daphne somewhat hated it the other half was proud that her little sister was learning a few things that would help her survive in the outside world.

Her hand went to her pocket where she had the two pieces of communication mirrors – one for her and the other for Harry. As she saw him finish his food and stand up to leave the hall she followed him out a minute later so that it wasn't suspicious, not that anyone would notice but still she couldn't take that risk.

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"Ah, Mr Potter! We were waiting for you!" Bagman said as soon as Harry entered the empty classroom. Fleur, Viktor and Cedric were there too. He'd been informed by McGonagall today morning that the champions were to be interviewed by a reporter from the Prophet and while she could see the look of genuine discomfort and hate on Harry's face when she said the newspaper's name she told him that it was just a formality along with advising him not to get emotional or angry while answering the reporter's questions and keep it short because reporters tend to dig deeper and deeper to get spicy stories for their readers.

As Harry joined his 'competitors' someone else entered the room and he saw it was a woman. She had glasses on and was wearing a vibrant green blouse and knee-length skirt. She walked with confidence as Bagman looked a little nervous seeing her. Harry wondered who this woman was when Bagman introduced her to them.

"Everyone, as you all know, this is Ms Rita Skeeter, the best reporter of the Daily Prophet," Bagman said as Harry's eyes widened a little looking at the woman. So she was Skeeter, he thought completely shocked. He knew who she was because he couldn't forget about her articles on him for the last three years. It seemed she had some sort of vendetta against him, always blaming him for things he never was like him being a secret supporter of Voldemort when in his second year rumor spread that he was the Slytherin heir. Then again last year she wrote an article on him saying he could know where Sirius Black was because Sirius was his godfather. And then there was always something about him in her articles in a negative way and she was the one who coined the term 'attention whore' for him and back at that time he didn't really knew much about it but with time he did.

Also, it didn't help his anger towards her when she looked at him and winked with a grin and her tongue out a little as if she saw him like some sort of food to devour on. Harry wondered how he could get out of this situation as he saw even other champions seemed to be a little nervous. He had heard about her, how she was such a big shot among all the reporters and how it was her who controlled what was to be printed in the Prophet indirectly because the people sitting at the top of the Prophet didn't want to lose their star reporter. She was also known to report on findings and news no one else could gather.

"Today, she will be interviewing each of you champions so please cooperate," Bagman said as his voice cracked at the end when Viktor and Cedric glared at him. Clearly no one was happy that Skeeter was here. Bagman cleared his throat as he looked at Skeeter. "Al…All yours, Ms Skeeter."

"Then what are you still doing here?" she said as Bagman looked at her confused until he realized what she meant.

"Oh, right," he said as he left the classroom.

Skeeter looked at the four before stopping her eyes at Cedric. "You," she said pointing at him, "the handsome guy, follow me." Cedric stood there for a few seconds before following her when he stopped.

"Why are we going there?" he asked looking at the broom closet where Skeeter was heading.

"Well, I need privacy for my interviews," she said.

"You probably do but not like that," Cedric said as Harry looked at him with admiration. "There's no one here but us champions and you." He'd never seen a Hufflepuff sound so resolute and confidant, especially Cedric who always appeared to him as a shy person. He then looked at Fleur and Viktor and saw they were angry at Skeeter, too. "There is something we want you to know, Ms Skeeter and it is that you cannot tell us what to do because all of us here are of age and not children. If you are to take our interview, you will do so here and not in some broom closet. You will ask your questions that you have for us here, in front of all of us. If you cannot agree to that then don't bother with the interview. We all know how you get your reputation as the 'best' reporter."

It looked like someone had punched Rita in her face as she looked agape at Cedric before looking towards the other three behind him when her eyes fell on Harry and she smiled. "Fine," she said still looking at Harry, "I will take your interviews here but not him," she said pointing towards him. "Mr Potter is still an under aged wizard so he will be giving me a private interview."

"Not gonna happen," Viktor said shocking Harry as he looked at the Bulgarian seeker. Did Viktor just stood for him? "Either you interview all of us here or no one. It is a decision that we four have taken together."

The look on Skeeter's face was something to watch as she gripped her pad and quill tighter than ever before closing her eyes taking a few long breaths. "Give me a minute," she said as she walked out of the room.

"What are you guys doing?" Harry asked as soon as Rita left.

"Standing up for someone who was unnecessarily…or rather forcibly put in a very dangerous game," Cedric said.

"When you proved that you didn't put your name in the goblet we decided amongst ourselves to help you," Fleur said in her broken accent. "It is the least we can do to show our sportsmanship."

"Th…Thank you," Harry said completely taken aback by what he was seeing right now.

Viktor smiled. "But don't assume that we will let you win," he said causing Harry to smile as others laughed. "We are still competing against each other."

Harry didn't know what to say. He felt overwhelmed as he looked at them with teary eyes. "I…I don't know what to say," he said in a broken tone.

"You don't have to say anything," Cedric said. "If we don't stand up to ourselves then what good are we? We might be competing against each other in the tournament but that doesn't mean we're all enemies of each other. Even though it is life threatening but it's still just a game and we don't have to see it as anything beyond that." He stopped and everyone looked towards the entrance of the room as Skeeter entered with Bagman in tow.

"Are you all really not going to give the interview?" Bagman asked in an authoritative voice.

"Mr Bagman," Viktor said taking a step forward as he stood easily a foot and a half taller than Bagman, "we've been made aware of the tournament's rules and there's nowhere where it says that it is compulsory for us to give interviews to some reporter for some newspaper. It also doesn't mean that we are not willing to let Ms Skeeter here take our interviews but it will have to be on our terms. If she cannot accept that then there is no interview for her."

Seeing that the seeker wasn't budging and the look on others' faces were also resolute Bagman had to let go of his pride and step back, nodding in acceptance to their demands as he looked at Skeeter. "It is their choice," he said slowly. "They cannot be enforced with something."

Skeeter's rage filled eyes looked at Bagman as her nostrils flared before she let out an annoying and dramatic sigh. It was clear that she wasn't used to things not getting done her way as she stood straighter and turned around. "If you're all so arrogant then so be it," she said. "I will write my own thoughts about you all in tomorrow's article."

"You will do no such thing, Ms Skeeter," Fleur said stepping forward as her fiery eyes looked at the blond reporter. "All four of us and Mr Bagman here are witness to prove that you never took our interview so if you write anything about us in tomorrow's paper without our consent then let me tell you it won't end well for you and this is not a threat. It's a warning. By writing an article on us without our consent you won't just be making us your enemies. Knowing your reporting skills I know you know who my father is and how close of friends he and the French minister of magic are. Do you really want to make the entire Magical France your enemy?"

Skeeter couldn't find words to respond to that when Viktor spoke next. "And as a Bulgarian Quidditch star with millions of fans I know who they will believe more between me and you. Not to mention the Bulgarian Magical Government already hates your Prophet after what you wrote about them five years ago so one word from their international sports star and you will have it coming from them, Ms Skeeter."

"And you don't even have to think about what we will do," Cedric said next. "My father doesn't have a high profile position in the magical Britain's government but he is a respected man within the ministry because of his honesty and work ethics and so I have no doubts that people will believe him when he tells them about your unethical way of reporting things just to make your articles a little bit spicy."

She couldn't believe that this was happening. Never once had she been put down like this and told to her face what she could and couldn't do as she looked at these low lives' faces when she looked at Harry. That's right, she could still use him.

"And what about Mr Potter?" she asked. "Being an under aged wizard he cannot decide whether he can or can't give an interview," she said.

"Yes, he cannot," Cedric said as he looked at Harry who looked at him, "so that means you'll have to take permission from his magical guardian first and I am sure you're capable enough to find out who that person or people are, am I right?"

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Harry couldn't believe how his day had gone as he entered his dorm after dinner for some sleep. It was still unbelievable how Fleur, Viktor and Cedric had stood up to his support and at the end Skeeter could not take their interview. The word did reach the respective headmasters and headmistress along with Barty Crouch who all came and talked to them but none of the three budged from their decision. Harry noticed Dumbledore didn't even looked at him all that time.

He still wondered whether Skeeter will risk everything to write an article about them in tomorrow's paper when he saw a letter on his bed. He picked it up and saw it was sent by someone anonymous as there was no name of the sender. Wondering what it was he opened the envelope as a small mirror fell from it. He picked it up looking at it for a second before taking out the letter from the envelope. It only had a few words as he read it.

'We need to talk. I'll let you know when. You know who this is.'

That was what the entire letter said but Harry knew it was from Daphne. He recognized her handwriting as he'd spent some days in the Greengrass manor before coming to Hogwarts at the start of this year and had seen some of Daphne's notes all thanks to Astoria.

He tore the letter before disintegrating with a simple spell to make sure no one else could know about it as he took the mirror and grabbed the marauder's map from his trunk and left the dorm. Coming out in the corridor it was empty as the students were all in their respective house towers. He was lucky as curfew hours wouldn't start for half an hour more so he located Daphne's location and found her in her dorm completely alone so he took out the mirror from his pocket and slid his finger on it as the mirror went completely white before a surprised face of Daphne appeared on it as she looked at Harry with both shock and anger.

"What are you doing?" she whispered as her face in the mirror shook when Harry realized hearing her low voice that she was applying some privacy charms around herself. "What is this, Potter?" she asked, still very angry.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't have called if there was someone with you," he said. "As you can tell I got your letter and the mirror so I just wanted to know the reason behind it all. From what I've known after staying with your family for a few days you wouldn't have given me a communication mirror on your own because you hate me. So, what is going on?"

Daphne looked both confused and aghast when she heard Harry say that he knew that she was alone. She wondered if he was being a creep but then shoved that thought to the side as she looked around to make sure no one was coming. "It's about the tournament," she whispered. "We need to meet as there's something I have to tell you so do you know of any place where we won't be caught together because the only place I know is in Hogsmead and the next weekend isn't until eight days later. If you find such a place then let me know…but make sure no one else knows about it or you have no idea what I'll do to you."

Before he could say anything she cut the call and the mirror went opaque white and then back to being a mirror. He put the mirror and the map in his pocket before walking back inside the common room and to his dorm, all this time thinking about what she'd said. He wondered what she wanted to talk to him regarding the tournament. There had already been so many thinks happening regarding it. Today's events were the most shocking…in a positive way.

As he thought about it all his tiredness and sleep overtook him into slumber.

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As Anna sat in front of her husband at the dining table she looked at his thoughtful expression. "You've been awfully quiet the whole day," she said as their house elf served them the food. "What are you thinking?"

"You got the news about Harry, right? About the tournament and everything?" he asked.

"I read the letter with you," she said with a smile. "He did warn us about his…luck, how danger always seems to find him and everything."

"And that's what I've been thinking," Matt said. "Right now we are the only ones who are looking after Harry. Even though he's an emancipated minor and can legally made any decision Harry, like us, understands that revealing his emancipation right now could lead to trouble, especially with Dumbledore because none of us know that man's true motives. Then there's the case with us taking care of Harry. We're taking a huge risk as it is so if something happens we cannot legally take Harry's side without the dark families knowing about it and then it's dangerous for us more than ever, especially for our daughters who are in the same house as the children of the death eaters. I gave it some thought today and I've realized that we cannot do this alone. We need the help of someone else…someone who can publicly help and take Harry's side while we assist him in secret…someone with influence or with a strong political seat in the Wizengamot if nothing else."

"What do you have in mind?" Anna asked.

'I had a look at everything and I know what I need to do…if you also think that that's the best idea…for now," Matt said. "You're the smart one."

"Are you trying to butter me up because you know I won't like it?" she said with a raised brow and a smile.

"I have an assumption about it," Matt said breaking his own smile before going completely serious. "I want to push for Sirius' trial in the Wizengamot."

Anna looked at her husband. "The Black family is seen as a dark family but only because of Walburga's alliance to you-know-who's cause and the pureblood ideology. With her gone and Sirius in Azkaban the family seat is most likely to end up with the Malfoys because Narcissa is also a black and that makes Draco the closest heir of that house. And it is foolish of us to think that Lucius doesn't know about it. If word got out that there was a push for holding Sirius' trial then Lucius will do everything in his power to stop it from happening because once Sirius is proved innocent then Draco will no longer have claim on the house's seat unless Sirius doesn't produce an heir himself or adopts one."

"And I've thought about it all," Matt said. "Do you really think I wouldn't have learned a thing or two after living with you all these years?" Anna smiled. "We have secret allies on the light side and on the dark side. Obviously we won't be involving our dark allies into this so to make sure that Sirius get's his due trial the best bet is to make on Amelia Bones."

"Will she really fight in support of Sirius?" Anna asked. "She, like everyone else thinks that Sirius betrayed Lily and James and she was a very close friend of theirs."

"With all that said Amelia is above all a just and fair lady," Matt said. "Everyone fears her, even her allies because they know that if they did something bad and if she got to know about it then she'll drag them to the Wizengamot floor to prove their crime or their innocence. I also know that Amelia would've done something already if she knew that Sirius never got a trial."

"You think she doesn't know?" Anna asked.

"I know that she doesn't," he said. "There are no records of Sirius getting trial in the public records which straight-up means that he never got a trial. If it's not in public records then it doesn't matter whether that thing happened or not, it will legally be taken as something that didn't happen so in this case Sirius' trial never happened and he was sentenced without proving his crime or innocence. All we need to do is let Amelia know about it and with her position as the DMLE head she'll take care of the rest."

"And what about Sirius?" Anna asked. "He doesn't know about our connection to Harry."

"I've wrote to Harry tonight regarding that."Matt said.

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Thanks for reading…