Chapter Fifty-Six: Rising Tempers

It was quite interesting to hear the rumors going around the school in the days following Harry's nomination as champion. The most widely-believed one was simply that Harry had entered himself somehow, but in many versions of the story he'd gotten help from other students or even teachers.

Daphne herself had also been accused of entering Harry's name into the goblet, completely ignoring the fact that she was only a few months older than he was, and thus just as incapable of crossing the Age Line as Harry himself had been. The most ridiculous rumor she'd heard was that Filch had entered Harry's name, solely to spite him.

In general, though, the Hogwarts students weren't particularly happy with Harry, and Daphne could see that it was taking all of Harry's self-control not to explode at people. While Hagrid — who'd mercifully taken the class off the skrewts, and had now been teaching them about Nogtails instead — was fully on Harry's side, Snape reveled in his misery and made snide remarks at every opportunity, to Malfoy's great amusement.

In the second week, however, things came to a head. Malfoy had been acting mysterious in the common room all week, hanging out with many of the other Slytherins, and on that particular Friday he'd unveiled the reason: magical badges that read 'SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY — THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!' and could be toggled to show another message, 'POTTER STINKS'.

Of course, Malfoy and his goons wore them, as did most other Slytherins, and even many students from other Houses. In their year, only Daphne and Tracey didn't, though Pansy had told Daphne that her wearing it was more out of Noble House politics than anything else.

Beyond that, though, the S.I.N. members were the only Slytherins not wearing the badges, earning them quite a bit of ridicule from their Housemates, though none of them cared very much; they hadn't been popular anyway due to their attempts to lessen all the bullying. The problem was that Daphne had only seen the badges for the first time before Potions that day, and hadn't been able to warn Harry of them in advance.

"Oh, very funny," Hermione said sarcastically.

"Want one, Granger?" Malfoy asked, holding out a badge to Hermione. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

Daphne wanted to reach for her wand, but Harry had already drawn his. People all around him and Malfoy scrambled to get out of the way.

"Harry!" Hermione said warningly.

"Go on then, Potter," Malfoy said quietly, drawing out his own wand. "Moody's not here to look after you now…do it, if you've got the guts…"

Harry and Malfoy glared at each other for a split second, then attacked at exactly the same time.

"Furnunculus!" Harry yelled, while Malfoy shouted, "Densaugeo!"

Jets of light shot from the wands, collided in midair, and ricocheted off at angles. Harry's curse hit Goyle in the face, and Malfoy's hit Hermione.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted, leaping forward to see what was wrong with her.

Goyle's face was erupting into terrible boils, and Hermione's front teeth seemed to be growing at an alarming rate.

"And what is all this noise about?" Snape's soft, deadly voice asked. He pointed at Malfoy, over the din of both the Gryffindors and Slytherins shouting their explanations. "Explain," he commanded.

"Potter attacked me, sir–"

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.

"–and he hit Goyle, look…"

Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi.

"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.

"Malfoy got Hermione! Look!" Ron said.

Hermione didn't want to show Snape her teeth, but they'd grown past her collar by now. Malfoy's goons were sniggering, pointing at her from behind Snape's back. Daphne glared at Snape, who only briefly caught her eye.

"Sir–" she began, but Snape cut her off.

"Get to the hospital wing as well, Granger."

Hermione quickly took off and Snape turned to Harry. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention for attacking Malfoy. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

Harry looked like he was about to blow up at Snape, but if he did, he'd only get in worse trouble.

"Not even a single point off for Malfoy, sir? Really?" Daphne said, before Harry could land himself another detention.

Snape glared at her, and Daphne fully understood what he meant.

"I don't care, sir. There's favoritism and then there's this. If you're not going to take points from Malfoy, take them from me. I'm talking back to a teacher, aren't I?"

"Miss Greengrass, another word and I'll subtract more points from Gryffindor, since you seem to be considering yourself one of them."

That definitely shut Daphne up, if only because it was a display of cunning she hadn't expected from Snape, but probably should have.

They filed into the classroom and Daphne exchanged a glance with Harry, who gave her a faint smile, but quickly resumed his angry glare at both Snape and Malfoy afterwards.

"He's finally found your weakness," Tracey said quietly once they'd taken their places. She didn't smile.

"He can't do that too much. McGonagall wouldn't let him take points from Gryffindor for something a Slytherin did," Daphne replied. "But he'll definitely do it now, if I give him a reason to."

She made a frustrated sound. "If Lucius Malfoy could just snuff it, or something, maybe he'd finally start taking points from Malfoy every once in a while."

"Uh huh, and Santa is real," Tracey said.

"I can't believe him," Daphne said with a shake of her head. "He knows what it's like to be bullied and he still does it to others. What could he possibly hope to gain from it? It's like he wants everyone to hate him, or something…"

"Well, if he does, he's doing a good job outside of Slytherin," Tracey said.

There was a knock on the door, and Colin Creevey came into the dungeon, asking to take Harry upstairs for pictures. Snape didn't care much for that, but he had no real choice but to allow him to leave. Daphne hoped that at least this wouldn't be terrible, but she had a very bad feeling about it, and sadly for her — and Harry, in this case — her bad feelings seemed to be the most accurate ones.

When Harry came to dinner that night, he looked even more miserable than he'd been all day.

"What happened?" Ron asked when he sat down.

"That Skeeter woman interviewed me, but she had this weird quill…it kept writing things I never even said," Harry said.

"A Quick-Quotes Quill?" Daphne asked apprehensively.

"Yeah, that's the one!"

Daphne groaned. "Your life's going to get worse. Much, much worse. One of the players on Mum's team was once interviewed by Skeeter and she used that quill there, too. According to Mum, the resulting piece contained exactly three words of truth, 'by Rita Skeeter'," she said.

Harry dropped his head onto his arms. "Anything I can do about it?" he asked, his voice muffled by his arms.

"I'm afraid not," Daphne said apologetically. "Rita Skeeter writes whatever she wants, about whomever she wants. All the wizarding world knows what kind of person she is…yet all of them devour her articles and consider them entirely true. You want her to write the truth? Better pay up, then, or be prepared to commit actual murder.

"She wouldn't dare touch Malfoy, for instance, because he'd make sure she'd either accept a minimal bribe, or have an 'accident' otherwise. But if Malfoy ever loses his money or influence…he's toast. She's been targeting Dumbledore for years as well because she knows he simply doesn't care enough about her idiocy to get her to stop."

"How on earth is she a well-respected journalist, then?" Harry asked.

"She does have actual stories from time to time, usually things she has no business knowing about. She's definitely using shady means to obtain that information, but no one has managed to discover her secret yet. I think most of them are afraid she might write a story about them otherwise, so no one's really trying, either," Daphne said darkly.

"Fantastic," Harry said flatly. "Any more bad news?"

"I'm sorry," Daphne said. "If I'd known she'd be there to interview you I'd have warned you…"

"This isn't your fault, Daphne," Harry said tiredly, leaving 'so please stop constantly blaming yourself' unsaid. "I'm glad you're warning me now." He sighed. "Malfoy's going to have the time of his life when that article comes out…"

Harry had been right. The article barely mentioned any of the champions, misspelled their names, and spent most of its length — nearly four pages — telling a detailed and entirely fake story about Harry, including such gems as him crying about his parents at night and being in love with Hermione.

Unlike Harry, however, whose mood was the worst Daphne had ever seen it being, and who seemed ready to curse out or hex everyone who even looked at him the wrong way, Hermione seemed indifferent to the snide comments she now had to endure.

Ron was angry all the time as well, and Daphne suspected in his case it was mostly because the article hadn't mentioned him at all, in combination with the fact that Harry and Hermione were supposedly dating.

Daphne wished she could help her friends out…but she had no idea how. Even if she could force Skeeter to print a retraction of the entire article, the damage had already been done. She probably ought to feel lucky she wasn't mentioned herself, though it could be that Skeeter knew that her parents were wealthy purebloods and had simply assumed they, like the Malfoys, would go after her directly.

She wondered if they even could, despite their money. She was sure Mum, at least, would gladly have torn Skeeter to shreds to help her Quidditch protégé protect his image. But perhaps they were tied by other political factors and couldn't help without getting in trouble themselves. She'd at least write to ask them about it.

Daphne almost couldn't believe her ears when Harry actually got some good news for a change. Sirius had written back, asking them to meet him in Hogsmeade on their first weekend, which was due on the Saturday before the first task.

While that was still more than a week away, it'd at least give Harry something to look forward to, and he became a bit more like himself again, at least around Daphne, Hermione, and Ron. With Harry in somewhat better spirits again, Daphne felt better too, and even Ron became less sullen than he had been.

Harry even managed to get his Summoning Charms practice down as a direct result of his renewed optimism, and had used his newfound skill to tear Skeeter's article straight from Malfoy's grasp when he'd brandished it at Harry once again, to the great enjoyment of the other Gryffindors, Daphne, and Tracey. Even Pansy turned away to hide her grin at Malfoy's blank look at the small corner of paper he still held in his hand.

It was finally time for the Hogsmeade visit, and together they made their way down to the entrance hall.

"So how does it feel, not having to sneak into the village under the Invisibility Cloak like last year?" Daphne asked.

"It makes things much easier," Harry said with a grin.

At that moment, however, a group of Ravenclaws wearing SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY badges walked by, shooting dirty glares in their direction.

"Though being invisible right about now wouldn't be bad either," Harry added sourly.

"They'll stop eventually," Hermione said.

"I don't get how you can be so calm about all of this," Ron said, shaking his head in amazement. "They're after you as well, aren't they?"

Hermione shrugged. "Who cares? We all know the truth. It's not my problem if they believe obvious lies. Though Ravenclaws are supposed to be intelligent. I'm a bit disappointed, really," she said.

As it was late November, it was windy, gray, and cold as they headed over to the Three Broomsticks, and Daphne was very glad to get inside even though it would likely be very crowded in there. Sirius was already waiting for them inside, sitting at a table near the back of the pub. He'd even bought them all butterbeer, which they gratefully accepted.

"First things first," Sirius said once they'd all gotten settled in. "How are you, Harry?"

"I've been better," Harry said, before explaining everything that had happened since his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire.

"Yes, I saw that article," Sirius said when Harry mentioned it. "Charming woman, that Rita Skeeter. Tried to interview me after my name got cleared but I told her where to stick it…I should've known they'd get her involved with the Tournament as well. But never mind her for now; you've got worse problems, like Karkaroff. He was a Death Eater, Harry, and he used to be in Azkaban with me. Moody was the one who put him there, so maybe that's why Dumbledore wanted him at the school."

"Why was he released?" Hermione asked. "Assuming he didn't escape as well?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, he was released. He had the usual story about seeing the error of his ways and bought his freedom by selling out his former comrades. You can imagine he wasn't very popular in Azkaban, and from what I've heard, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through his school. I know Krum's a bit of a hero to a lot of people, but watch out for him all the same."

"Okay," Harry said slowly. "But…are you saying Karkaroff put my name in the goblet? Because if he did, he's a really good actor. He seemed furious about it. He wanted to stop me from competing."

"We know he's a good actor because he convinced the Ministry to set him free, didn't he? Reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman's article last month, Moody was attacked the night before he started at Hogwarts.

"Yes, I know she says it was another false alarm, but I don't think so, somehow. I think someone tried to stop him from getting to Hogwarts. I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around. And no one's going to look into it too closely; Mad-Eye's heard intruders a bit too often. But that doesn't mean he can't still spot the real thing. Moody was the best Auror the Ministry ever had."

"So do you think Karkaroff is the one trying to kill Harry?" Daphne asked.

"He's my lead suspect," Sirius confirmed.

"What do they think at the Ministry?" Ron asked.

"They're acting as if this is business as usual," Sirius said with a roll of his eyes. "A lot of people realize there's foul play, of course, but no one's really sure what they can do, and so they're just trying to ignore it.

"Amelia Bones, my boss, wants to have things investigated more thoroughly, but she's being stonewalled, likely by people bribed by Lucius Malfoy. The reasonings are flimsy, but boil down to the fact there isn't any proof Harry didn't enter himself, and it will therefore be assumed that he did, despite the glaring problems with that theory, like the sheer amount of magical skill needed to Confund that goblet. I'm not even sure I could have done it, and I'm pretty skilled myself."

Sirius looked at Harry again. "Do you have any idea what your first task might be?"

Harry shook his head. "No. No one's supposed to say anything and I'm not allowed to ask for help, either. If you happen to have heard something, though…"

Sirius grinned briefly. "Nothing much, though I've been trying to keep my eyes and ears open. I think there was something about clearing the import of several dragons, though, but I don't know if–"

"That's the task," Daphne interrupted flatly. "It has to be. I saw it in the crystal ball. I've been wondering if some of those visions were of the Tournament…"

"Dragons?" Harry asked incredulously. "How am I going to get past a dragon?! Or am I supposed to fight it, somehow?"

Daphne shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I just saw the dragon. Big, vicious, black thing," she said.

"Well, if there are dragons at Hogwarts, Hagrid will know about it, won't he?" Ron asked. "Maybe he can show them to you."

"But Harry isn't supposed to be asking for help," Hermione said.

"Hermione, if it's going to keep me alive, I'm more than willing to break a few rules," Harry said. He looked at Sirius. "Unless that would violate the magical contract and kill me outright?" he added.

Sirius shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure on how that contract works, but I do know that cheating has always been a part of the tournament, so I doubt trying to find out what your task is would count as breaking the contract. If I were to guess, the terms of the contract would be that you must compete to the best of your ability and that you're not allowed to forfeit. In that case, cheating would even be welcomed by it."

"Is that really a risk you want to take?" Hermione asked.

"If I need to fight a dragon without any preparation I'm dead anyway," Harry said grimly. "I'll go and talk to Hagrid tonight, I suppose…"

"Well, if you do end up needing to fight a dragon, you could try using a Conjunctivitis Curse on it. Their eyes are usually their weak spot," Sirius said.

"I think I know that one from dueling practice…" Harry muttered.

"You do," Daphne said sourly. "I was walking into doorposts half the day."

"Doesn't the Oculus Potion clear that up in a few minutes?" Hermione asked.

"It does, but Dad brewed it, and he was never that good at Potions," Daphne said.

Everyone laughed and Harry grinned guiltily at Daphne. They discussed the first task for a bit longer, until at one point Daphne checked her watch and got up.

"I have to get going," she said. "I'm meeting Ginny in a bit."

"Ginny?" Ron repeated.

"Yes. Your sister, y'know?" Daphne said.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Obviously, just…why?"

She grinned at him. "You'll see…"

Before Ron could ask anything else, Daphne left the Three Broomsticks and headed over to Honeydukes to meet up with Ginny, who was interestedly looking at all the sweets on sale.

"See anything good?" Daphne asked from behind her, causing Ginny to almost throw the bag of Fizzing Whizzbees across the store.

"Bloody hell, you could've warned me you were there," she said.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," Daphne said with a grin. "Do you talk like that at home as well?"

"When Mum isn't around, yes," Ginny said. "Having six brothers will do that to a girl. Speaking of which, ready to go?"

Daphne nodded. "Yep. I hope your taste in clothes is better than your Mum's. I get that she had to buy the dress robes secondhand, but the sweaters she knits for Ron at Christmas are also always maroon."

Ginny nodded. "I know, and for the life of me I've never managed to figure out why. She only does it to Ron, too. I guess she's hoping that one day it won't look horrible somehow."

"Maybe she lost a bet once?" Daphne suggested.

"Must've been some bet, if she's been sticking to it this long. I don't think I can remember a single Christmas where Ron wasn't wearing a maroon sweater."

"Well, this time will be the first, then. It's one thing wearing a lurid sweater when you're relaxing in the common room, but I'm not letting Ron go to the Yule Ball dressed in a moldy, lacey, maroon robe. How's the year going, by the way? Is Hagrid forcing you to work with the skrewts now?"

Ginny shook her head. "No, and I'm glad he's not. I saw the burns the fourth-years came back with. He's been showing us hippogriffs, pixies, flobberworms…that kind of stuff. I think he gave us the pixie Ron got last year, because it wanted to know if our gnomes had learned any new swearwords. I told it it should just go to Fred and George for those and it seemed to like that."

Daphne chuckled. The pixie lesson had easily been one of her favorite ones of the year before.

"So how were things with Sirius? You went to meet with him earlier, right?" Ginny asked.

Daphne nodded and quickly explained what they'd discussed while they made their way over to Gladrags Wizard Wear.

"Dragons? How do they expect the champions to fight dragons?" Ginny asked.

"Search me. Though I'm not sure they're supposed to fight them. Maybe they just need to get past them," Daphne said.

"Oh, wow, that makes things so much better," Ginny said sarcastically. "Too bad he doesn't get to use his Firebolt. If they really do just need to get past the dragon, I'm sure that would help," she said.

Daphne considered that for a moment. "Well…he does know the Summoning Charm now…" she mused. "He might be able to Summon it to himself. I don't recall him saying there were limits on what he was allowed to cast, anyway…"

"Well, as long as he gets through it one piece I don't care how he does it," Ginny said. "Anyway, how about this one?" she asked with a grin, holding up a set of horrific orange robes.

"Who in their right mind would ever wear that?" Daphne wondered. "You'd look like a Muggle traffic cone in that."

"Oh, then Dad would love them, probably," Ginny said.

"Want to buy them for him?" Daphne suggested.

"Better not. I don't think Mum would be too happy with it. She won't be happy now, either."

"Why not, anyway? I know she doesn't like 'charity' and the like, but come on. She was fourteen too at one point; she wouldn't want to embarrass herself like that."

"Pride," Ginny said simply. "She managed to buy robes despite not really being able to afford it. It's a victory. And I think she sees it as a victory for Dad as well. He could have gotten promoted a couple of times, I think, but he just…doesn't want to. She just wants to support him and his decisions, even if she complains about them every now and then."

"I appreciate that sentiment, if nothing else," Daphne admitted. "But hey, I'm used to taking blame for things, I'll face your Mum's wrath once she finds out we got Ron better robes."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You really need to stop that, though. Just in case you hadn't figured it out yet, we'd like you even if you didn't constantly get yourself in trouble to help us. How many times have we told you by now?"

"Relax, I was just kidding this time," Daphne said, holding up her hands.

"Yeah, but I'm not. Everything's worked out for you until now but there will be a moment where it won't. Making fun of yourself every now and then is one thing, but you seem to have raised it into an art form. I'll be honest: it's a bit draining when someone inevitably blames themselves for something that's in no way their fault, or suggests doing something dangerous because 'it doesn't matter what happens to me anyway'. I've heard the stories from Ron and I've seen you do this as far back as my first year. I think everyone who knows you knows about your tendencies. Someone is going to use it against you at some point."

Daphne stared at Ginny, who gave her a piercing look in return. She managed to look simultaneously harsh and sympathetic, and Daphne found it hard to keep answering her gaze.

"I'll…try," she said after a moment.

Ginny sighed. "I guess that's the best I can hope for…"