Welcome to The Edge of Fire 2.0, or 3.0 lol :) Thank you for coming. For those of you who are new, I am rewriting an old story that I have been working on for fun for many years. I will try to update as often as I can but I'm a teacher so that keeps me pretty busy. As always, reviews are appreciated!

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Gwendolyn had not been very young when the war against Voldemort was raging on. She remembered reading contradicting stories in the Daily Prophet and other papers. She heard whispers in the halls that made more sense than what was being reported, and even Professor Dumbledore himself would contradict the papers at mealtime announcements. Trying to understand what was true and what was not, she would ask everyone she knew what they had heard. It was thrilling, discovering the stories, deciphering the truth. She loved it.

Her first year, the war ended. Professor Dumbledore announced the morning after Halloween that while everyone had been in a food induced sleep after the feast, Lord Voldemort had fallen and Harry Potter defeated him. Except Harry Potter was a baby. Dumbledore explained briefly and vaguely, but it was not enough to satisfy her, so after breakfast, she scurried up to his office. He was welcoming and offered candy, but she wanted facts, not sweets. What had happened? How did a baby stop a war? Where was the baby? And while her Headmaster had not given away everything, for some information was "classified" (a word she would grow to despise), he gave her more insight into what occurred. As she was leaving his office, he had said, "Perhaps I'll see your name as a reporter one day, Miss O'Shea."

She fell in love with the idea.

Her fifth year, she went for career counseling with Professor Flitwick and told him of her interest to go into journalism. He pulled out one pamphlet. "The only newspaper that offers internships after Hogwarts is The Daily Prophet. You merely need to apply at the end of your seventh year and submit an essay on why you want to report. If you're accepted and do well, you're almost guaranteed a full time job after a year."

"What if I don't want to write for the Prophet, Professor?" Gwendolyn asked. The Prophet had been reporting lie after lie during the war, even at the mere age of eleven she had realized it. It was that thirst for truth that inspired her to be a reporter anyway. Why would she want to be part of something she did not believe in? But Flitwick frowned slightly.

"You can, of course, apply for positions at any newspaper or magazine you wish, Muggle or magical. However, most Muggle papers require a Muggle university degree which you would need to attain after Hogwarts, which would require an additional four years and quite a lot of money." Now Gwen was frowning. "Of course, magical papers do not require any additional degrees, however, they do not hire nearly as frequently as The Daily Prophet. You would have to write all of them and see, however. You'll never know until you ask." Gwendolyn smiled slightly at this. He was right, perhaps there was hope. Flitwick looked at her grades.

"If your OWLs go as expected, you are set to take Advanced Transfiguration, Potions, Defense, Astronomy, History of Magic and Charms. Professor Sprout does not believe you are apt for Herbology and your Care of Magical Creatures grade is not too fine. Nor is Ancient Runes, but who can blame you." Gwendolyn grinned. She hated the stupid stereotype that Ravenclaws always were fantastic at the subject. Flitwick scanned over the pamphlet. "Now, The Daily Prophet recommends NEWT level Charms, Defense, History of Magic, and Muggle Studies. They also are impressed with a NEWT in Ancient Runes." She groaned "I suggest you work hard to raise your Ancient Runes grade and study well for the exam. It is doable, if you really want it."

"It sounds quite excessive for wanting to be a writer," she muttered.

"Perhaps you're sent somewhere to do some investigating for a story and come across them! There is a reason for every area of study, despite how difficult or unnecessary we may find them." Gwen nodded and Flitwick handed her the pamphlet to look at herself. "We ought to arrange something to have you placed in NEWT Muggle Studies as well, seeing as that is quite important, according to the pamphlet. I would also advise you to take Transfiguration and Potions again. You are doing quite well in both and if you change your mind, NEWTs in those subjects could be of aid to you."

So off she went, excitedly grasping the pamphlet of her future. Hogwarts had a mystery guest speaker later that year and it was Rita Skeeter, a gorgeous and glamorous reporter from The Daily Prophet. More and about Rita's glamor, add about that to the internship paragraph

But Gwen's OWLs were fine, and she was able to continue with Ancient Runes and started her journey in Muggle Studies. She kept Transfiguration and Potions, as per Flitwick's recommendation, but by the end of her seventh year, she found them pointless and ignored them. She started writing to every wizarding publication she knew- The Quibbler, Witch Weekly, even Which Broomstick and Seeker Weekly. But none of them were hiring or foresaw the need to hire anyone in the near future. So she applied to the Prophet's internship slightly reluctantly and was accepted two weeks later.

And like everyone else, her Hogwarts journey came to an end and she graduated and she started the next chapter of her life at The Prophet, trying to be positive. But it was dreary and boring and nothing like the career she wanted. She was given piles and piles of proofreading to do for Rita and the other head writers and followed them around giving them coffees and teas for a whole year. She watched them exaggerate facts or change them entirely. She saw Ministry officials come in and out of the offices and would then see articles being written about them on the front page after. Money seemed to be more of a factor in what was published than she realized before. By the end of her internship, she was offered a job as a junior writer and accepted, hoping it would improve her situation. And the coffee and tea runs were swapped with miniscule article assignments to go along with the piles and piles of proofreading she still had to do. Her only reprieve was at least she didn't have to lie about anything yet. Nobody from the Ministry cared about the articles she wrote. For the past few years she had sat in her cubicle at the Prophet's Hogsmeade office, keeping her head down, not expecting much. Rita and the other senior writers had a tight grip on the best stories and journaling opportunities the Prophet had to offer.

But the grip slowly started to loosen as Rita's antics began to cause issues. As the TriWizard Tournament went on, Rita started writing about Harry Potter and his friends and their romantic going ons. Rita did anything to get copies of the Prophet to sell, but Dumbledore had enough and banned her from the castle.

"Gwendolyn, I have an assignment for you," Mr. Cuffe, editor of the Prophet said as he approached her cubicle. She looked up and was met with his intense gaze, looking her over as if inspecting her worth in that moment. "I'm not sure if you've heard, but Headmaster Dumbledore banned Rita from the castle."

"I hadn't, no." She had.

"I told her writing about underage romance was taking it a bit too far," Cuffe hissed, running his hands through his slicked back hair. "She told me she knew what the people wanted to read."

"She did," Gwen said pointedly. Those papers had sold out everywhere rather quickly.

"Well, now she is no longer allowed on school grounds. I need you to cover her for the Yule Ball story." He looked her up and down again. "You'll need dress robes- have you got any?"

"Of course," she said hurriedly, not wanting him to walk away and give the assignment to somebody else.

"The Ball starts at 6 on Christmas night. You ought to go early to get footage of everyone walking in and perhaps some quotes from students and faculty beforehand. Two photographers will go with you- Bozo and Andy-" She nearly groaned aloud. "-and for the love of Merlin don't get banned from the castle yourself."

She wanted to ask him why he asked her- she was still merely a proofreader and junior writer. So many people had been skipped over for her to receive this assignment and she found it odd. But she took to heart her boss's words- he was counting on her and she knew this could lead to greater opportunities. She also knew that once Mr. Cuffe was displeased with you, it was hard for him to come round. Perhaps Rita was an exception because she sold so many copies of the Prophet.

So she went off to Hogsmeade and bought new dress robes in a beautiful soft green shade for the holiday. She knew Rita would've been absolutely glamorous for the ball and she wanted to be too, in her own way. Not over the top like Rita, but still beautiful for the public eye. It was exciting, her first true front page story. She would have to mail a copy of the paper to her Da.

She met with Bozo and Andy Smudgely in Hogsmeade around 5 on Christmas Day and after greeting one another for the holiday, they trudged through the snow across the grounds to the Entrance Hall, where Professor McGonagall greeted them and lead them inside. The photographers took pictures and she spoke to a few students and even Professor Flitwick, whom she was delighted to see. She told him she would be sure to quote him directly and he was quite pleased. The champions paraded into the Hall lastly as the clock struck 6 and Gwendolyn saw Harry Potter in person for the first time. She nearly laughed at herself, getting excited to see a teenager. But he was a famous teenager! It was quite fun.

And the dancing started and she edited her notes and prepared them for her writing on Monday. The photographers finished their film rolls. Mr. Cuffe had told them they had to stay till midnight, in case anything happened. But as the hours ticked on by, nothing did and she grew bored. Bozo had gone off somewhere and Andy kept trying to talk to her, so she excused herself to go to the loo, where she took out two small vials of firewhiskey shots and downed them. Happy Christmas! She hurried out of the loo and back into the Hall, where nothing of interest occurred, and sat at an empty table to the side.

And when she would reflect in later years, it was here the story began.