Almost simultaneously, every head in the Great Hall turned to the Gryffindor table to focus on Harry Potter- the boy who lived, and now, it seemed, the second Hogwarts champion. Avery could only see the back of his head and his hair was as untidy as always. He seemed to be frozen to his seat, and people from all around the Great Hall were actually standing in their seats to get a look at him. There was no buzz, no chatter. In fact, when Dumbledore called Harry's name a second time, it shattered the silence so forcefully that Avery jumped. Harry finally stood and set off up the gap between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff table, down the teachers table, and into the antechamber with the other champions. Once the door closed behind him, there was a sort of scuffle at the head table as Ludo Bagman took off after Harry. After a moment's pause, Dumbledore addressed the eager and confused sea of faces that was the rest of the student body.
"Well, off to bed," he said, unsmiling. Avery did not move or speak. No one around her moved or spoke, either. The entire hall might've been petrified. But Dumbledore silently communicated to them, glaring down at them over his half-moon spectacles, that no questions would be answered for them that night. So, without another word, he turned and made for the door that Harry and Bagman had passed through, and most all of the other teachers followed him.
The moment Dumbledore's cloak had swished through the door, the whispering began, like the electric buzz of a machine that had been switched directly from off to overdrive.
"How the hell did he get his name in-?"
"It's not fair!-"
"'Ogwarts cannot 'ave two champions!-"
"Odds on Potter to die during the first task!" came a jeer from the direction of the Slytherin table. Avery turned just in time to see Malfoy with his lips curved into a smirk and Pansy Parkinson laughing alongside him.
Students were being ushered out of the Hall by what faculty had not gone into the champions chamber. Avery dutifully began to make her way numbly towards the exit, as the speculation continued around her and her own mind was overloaded with thoughts and questions.
"Bet he got Hagrid to put his name in for him-"
"Or that Granger girl. I reckon she's smart enough to fool the age line."
Avery half listened to the theories flying around her. She was curious herself as to how Harry had gotten his name in, if he had been the one under the invisibility cloak the night before, but more than anything she couldn't help but feel a sense of bitterness. It didn't really matter how he had gotten his name in. What mattered here was that Hufflepuff had finally had a chance at some glory with Cedric as a champion, and Harry Potter had interfered. Surely they wouldn't allow two Hogwarts champions. That would mean that one of them would be forced out of the tournament, and odds were that Cedric would get the short end of the stick. Harry Potter was a celebrity- Avery was sure that they would allow him special treatment over Cedric.
But then a wave of relief hit her. Harry Potter was underage, and there was no way that Dumbledore would let him compete. If it came down to choosing between the two, Cedric would surely be the one picked due to his age alone. She found this thought comforting. Her anxiety ebbing somewhat, a voice broke into her reverie.
"Avery- Avery! Was it you?"
Avery stopped dead and turned in the direction of the voice. It was Zacharias Smith, and he looked furious.
"What?" Avery gaped. "Was what me?"
"Was it you that got his name into the Goblet of Fire?" Zacharias asked, not bothering to keep his voice low. They were both frozen a few feet from one another in the entrance hall just outside the doors to the Great Hall. Luckily for Avery, however, most of the other students were too engrossed in their own conversations and conspiracy theories to be bothered with what the two Hufflepuffs were discussing. They instinctively weaved their way around Avery and Zacharias on their way to their common rooms as Avery gave him the fiercest glare she could muster.
"Of course not! What an idiotic question!"
"You said that you'd had loads of people ask you to do it. How am I to know that Potter didn't ask you? That you didn't decide to help him get his name in-"
"I also said that it was impossible! That I couldn't age myself! Remember?" Avery replied hotly while trying to keep her voice down. A few people had slowed around them now, throwing them curious looks. Avery cast them nervous glances in return and began to feel the heat rising in her cheeks. What she did was a secret, and if she wasn't careful, the secret would soon be out. If Zacharias didn't shut up quickly, everything would be ruined.
"What a load of dung! You did help him, didn't you? Just told me it couldn't be done so that I wouldn't suspect!" Zacharias exclaimed, a triumphant look on his face, one hand pointing at her wildly, as though he had caught her red-handed in a lie. People were definitely pausing to watch their conversation now. Avery began to stammer, her ears growing hot as she felt multiple pairs of eyes rolling over her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone was pushing their way through those who had stopped to look at her and Zach. It was George, followed closely by Fred.
"Piss off, Smith," George growled as he finally broke through the last of the students surrounding her.
"Oh, you would defend her! Of course! Defend the girl who got the Gryffindor hero into the Triwizard Tournament!" Zacharias snapped in the direction of the twins. His voice had only grown in volume, and whispers from the surrounding students followed. Even more students had stopped to gawk at Avery, Zach, and now the Weasley twins, to the point that they were causing a sort of traffic jam for students trying to get from the Great Hall to the grand staircase.
"You don't know what you're talking about," replied Fred hotly, grabbing Avery's shoulder and forcing her to turn away from Zacharias. The twins began marching her up the stairs, despite the fact that she was meant to be headed towards the basement level of the castle to get to her own common room. Avery thought Zacharias yelled one last retort, but she could not hear it over the buzz of the students around her as they climbed up the steps.
"That dolt! That absolute idiot! What if people heard? What if someone finds out what I've been doing and I get into trouble? What if people really start to think that I entered Harry-"
"Don't even say it," George muttered under his breath from Avery's left side. Fred was on her right, his hand still clenched on her shoulder and steering Avery along. He continued to guide her up the stairs, and Avery, too flustered and anxious about the scene in the entrance hall, didn't bother to ask where they were going. But, when they reached the seventh floor, Avery realized they were taking her to the room of requirement.
Fred released Avery when they reached that familiar stretch of wall and set about walking back and forth, silently asking for what room, Avery did not know. On the third pass, a door suddenly appeared, and George did not hesitate to wrench it open and walk inside. Fred made to grab Avery's shoulder again and guide her in, but she followed George before he could reach her.
Inside was a small, but cozy room. There were three armchairs, a crackling fire, and scant else but two doors on opposite sides of the room and a row of cupboards lining the back wall. George and Fred threw themselves into chairs opposite each other. Avery briefly considered sitting, before she began pacing the short length of the room instead.
"Honestly! What am I going to do? People were stopping and actually listening to that blithering idiot. What if I'm found out? What if I get- I dunno, retroactive detention or something? Or I'm suddenly under constant scrutiny from the teachers? Or-"
"Just breathe for a second, Avery," George said evenly, gesturing for her to sit. She did not, but continued to pace, picking at her fingernails. "No one is going to believe Smith. And even if they did, no one can prove anything. You aren't going to get retroactive detention-"
"Imagine if that was a thing," Fred chimed in, "we would never have any free time-"
"And nothing is going to happen. The minute Cedric gets back to that common room, they are going to be so busy celebrating the Hufflepuff champion, no one is going to even have time to think about or comment on Smith's theory of events. You have to calm down," George finished.
"But how can you be sure?" Avery asked, admonishing herself quietly for the whiny tone that colored her words.
"Cause we'll be doing the same thing in our common," the twins told her in unison.
"As a matter of fact, we ought to be getting back up to the tower to lead the charge, George," Fred continued on, matter-of-factly, pushing himself into a standing position and heading for the cupboards along the back wall. Avery watched Fred open one and begin loading his arms with food and bottles of butterbeer that had been neatly stocked inside.
"Right," said George, also standing. "You stay here for an hour or two, so as not to draw attention to yourself. Let the party die down and sneak into your room after everyone has gone to sleep. If the attention stays on Cedric, you won't have to deal with Smith and his allegations."
"I don't know," Avery mumbled, casting a glance around the room. She was still filled with anxious energy, and the idea of being alone in this room with just her thoughts for the next few hours seemed very daunting indeed. "I mean, what do I do if Zach doesn't drop it?"
"He will. And if he doesn't, you jinx him until he does… Trust us," Fred said, locking eyes with her and nodding reassuringly. "Just give it some time and it'll blow over."
George had made his way to the cupboard as well and taken armfuls with sweets and bottles of butterbeer. "I do wonder how Harry got his name in, though. D'you reckon he was the one under the invisbility cloak?" he asked, "Aren't they quite rare? It seems like Ron's said something about him having one before..."
"Dunno," Fred replied, "I don't remember that. But however he did it, I wish he would've let us in on his secret."
Together, the two began making their way towards the door on the left side of the room. Gingerly, trying not to drop any of the items in his grasp, Fred opened the door to reveal a long staircase going upwards. Avery could only assume it would let them out in their common room, or at least near their common room.
"The other door will put you out next to the kitchens," George explained, nodding towards the door on the opposite side of the room.
"Right," Avery said, now standing still, but still picking at her nail beds.
Each of them flashed her a sympathetic smile before turning and making their way up the staircase, the door swinging closed behind them. For what felt like a long time, Avery stood rooted to the spot, staring at the door. She wasn't convinced that Zacharias would forget his accusation anytime soon, and she wasn't any more convinced that her absence or her ability to jinx him would help matters. But, she waited in the room as the twins suggested. She tried sitting, then walking about aimlessly, and then snacking on items from the cupboard to pass the time, checking her watch every few minutes. After an hour and a quarter, she decided she couldn't stand it any longer. She wrenched open the door on the right side of the room to find a staircase leading downwards and made her way down them.
At the end of the long, dark passageway, Avery reached what looked like a solid wall in the low light from the torches that dotted the passage walls sporadically. But, when she pushed lightly against it, it swung open easily, and Avery realized it was a portrait that hung on the wall in the hall that also housed her common room entrance. Careful to swing the portrait back into its position, Avery hurried down the hall towards the barrels. She tapped the necessary ones to open the door, and to her relief the common room was quiet and looked quite dark.
Everyone must've gone to bed, she thought gratefully. She made her way through the opening and directly towards the stairs to the girls dormitory. But upon hearing Cedric's voice, she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Avery," he said. She turned around to see he was sitting in an armchair by the fire. He stood, looking at her with a wary expression.
"Ced! I didn't think you'd be up," Avery replied breathlessly. She smiled and moved toward him, ready to congratulate him for being chosen champion, but his expression remained dubious and his body visibly tensed. She stopped a few steps shorter than she had originally intended in response.
"Where have you been?" he asked surveying her. It was well past curfew, and it suddenly clicked for Avery- he must've been upset that she was out past curfew again. She hadn't considered this scenario when she agreed to wait in the room or requirement and immediately felt stupid for not thinking of it and disappointing Cedric yet again.
"Oh!" she stammered, "I'm so sorry. It's kind of a long story. Zacharias Smith was sort of- well, he wasn't being very nice, and so Fred and George stepped in and pulled me away."
"Pulled you away where? For this long? What was Smith saying to you?" Cedric's questions sounded very calm, but Avery couldn't help but feel like she was being interrogated. She felt her body beginning to tense, much like she had noticed Cedric's was.
"They took me to this room… Uh, that part is a bit complicated, too," Avery mumbled, not sure how to describe the room of requirement, how they knew about it, and why she had needed to get away from Zach's accusations. "It sort of morphs into whatever you need it to. It's on the seventh floor. When we went in it was a sort of waiting room and it had a set of stairs leading me back down here. Fred and George suggested I wait there to avoid Zach until I was sure he would be asleep."
"And you thought that was best?" Cedric asked. His face was impassive. His body had not slackened, and Avery could feel her anxiety mounting.
"Well- no. I mean, I didn't know what to do exactly. I just- I didn't want to deal with Zach. He… He- Well, I told you people had been asking me all week to submit their names into the cup, didn't I?" Avery stammered out, deciding it would be best to be honest. Or, at least as honest as she could without revealing how she regularly assumed other people's identity. "Well, Zach was one of them. I was a bit… A bit rude I suppose when I told him I couldn't do it, and he was accusing me of being the one to submit Harry Potter's name! And people were stopping and staring and I- I didn't-"
"Smith told me his theory," Cedric said, "did you submit his name?"
Avery froze, gaping at Cedric, a sour feeling churning in her stomach. "Of course not! You don't… You don't actually think that I would do that, do you?" There was a moment of silence between them, Avery searching Cedric for a chink in his frosty exterior, and Cedric seeming to search her for something as well.
"It's just strange," Cedric finally said quietly. "You were out late last night as well with the twins, and then again tonight. Smith suspected you submitted his name last night and left with the twins tonight to celebrate him being chosen." Avery remained frozen for a moment, gaping at him.
"You don't actually believe him, do you?" Avery asked breathlessly.
"It's just strange," Cedric repeated, his eyes still searching her.
"It's not strange- it's lunacy!" Avery snapped, "It's a completely idiotic theory! I told you I wanted you for champion, didn't I? So why on earth would I submit anyone's else's name?"
"So it's not true that you regularly assume other student's identity for money?" Cedric retorted coolly.
Avery's heart sank. He knew. Smith had told him, most likely, and it was clear that he was not happy about this information. Cedric had fixed her with a hard stare and she knew she could not lie this time, that she could not deny it. For the first time since she walked into the common room that evening, she tore her eyes away from him and looked ashamedly at the floor, biting her lip.
"Yes, it's true," she admitted, before raising her eyes back to his. He was still staring at her, his features like carved stone. "I have done that in the past. For pocket money. But this is not one of those times," she finished fiercely, a searing feeling in her chest, as though it may burst with the complex combination of emotions she was feeling. Anxious, sad, confused, frustrated, disbelieving, vaguely threatened- she had seen Cedric disappointed in her before, but he had never looked at her quite like he was now, and she didn't know how to react. It was as if something inside he could sense that this situation had already spun too out of control for her to correct. She was desperate.
Cedric still did not seem to be convinced. He raised his eyebrows minutely and turned his gaze back to the fire.
"What does it matter anyhow?" Avery breathed, taking a few hopeful steps towards him, trying to regain his attention, to soften him somehow, to tame the clash of feelings that threatened to rip her apart. "They can't let him compete! He's underage!"
"If the cup selects you it's a binding magical contract. The Headmaster explained that last night. Harry will be the second Hogwarts Champion," he replied, his eyes still on the flickering flames. She could see the frustration in his eyes, though on the surface he seemed quite unphased by this revelation. Avery's stomach lurched horribly at this news.
"What? That's ridiculous! Someone underage shouldn't even be allowed to engage in a binding contract! It- It should be null and void! I'm so sorry, Cedric!"
Cedric said nothing. He merely folded his arms and shifted his weight from one foot to another, his focus still on the hearth. The battle of emotions within her- the desperation- hurt her heart even moreso now. She couldn't even get him to look at her. It was clear he had made up his mind and there was nothing she could do to regain control of what was happening.
"You don't believe me, do you?" Avery breathed incredulously. "You really think I had something to do with this?"
"I'm sorry, Avery. I… I'm just not sure you're who I thought you were."
Avery felt his words hit her like a punch to the stomach. She gaped at him, breathing hard, not sure what to say. How could this happen so quickly? How could they go from breakfast by the lake to this? How could he believe what one person said about her despite the fact that there had clearly been something between them earlier that same day?
Because, a little voice in the back of her mind whispered, he knows now. He knows you're the child of a death eater. Why shouldn't you be disloyal? Why shouldn't you be a liar? Why should he trust you?
Suddenly furious at the thought, Avery lashed out. "Yes, clearly I'm not the person you've been shared a house with the past four years. Not the person you've been spending time with, getting to know in detail over the past few weeks. No. We're basing who we are off of the rumors and hearsay of absolute gits, so that would make me the disloyal, scheming, liar who will do anything for a galleon. And that would make you the idiot, pretty-boy who has no real talent or substance! So let's just forget the whole thing, shall we? The friendship- the relationship- whatever it was."
Cedric had turned to glare at her somewhere in the middle of her speech, but before he could retort, Avery turned on her heel and stomped off to the girls dormitory, hot tears streaming down her cheeks, chest still searing with emotion. The twins had been wrong. Cedric, probably the most important person she didn't want Zach to convince of his theory, had been convinced. As she crawled in bed, contemplating the aftermath of this day- this day which had started off so lovely and ended so horribly- she realized that if Cedric could be convinced, it was likely that many others had, too. That it was quite possible that she would wake up tomorrow with no one to talk to, with her entire house alienated from her. After what felt like hours of turning this realization and everything that had happened that night over in her head, she fell into an uneasy sleep, having never felt more sad or more lonely.
