Life became even worse for Harry after Rita Skeeter had published her piece about the Triwizard Tournament. Even though Bree had forced her to use a group picture of all the champions, much of the article (continuing on pages two, six, and seven) had been all about Harry. There had been a paragraph about Bree, and Fleur, Krum, and Cedric hadn't been mentioned until the very last lines. Worst of all, Rita Skeeter had reported Harry saying an awful lot of things that he couldn't remember ever saying in his life, let alone in that broom cupboard.

I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now…

Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it…

I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me…

"Such trash." Bree thought. "Such disgusting drivel. How can people believe this?" Rita had obliviously disregarded Bree's threat once she had left Hogwarts. Or had thought that it only applied to Bree. There were no made up quotes attributed to Bree.

But Rita Skeeter had gone even further than transforming Harry's "er's" into long, sickly sentences: She had interviewed other people about him too.

Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school.

From the moment the article had appeared, Harry had had to endure people — Slytherins, mainly — quoting it at him as he passed and making sneering comments.

"Want a hanky, Potter, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?"

"Since when have you been one of the top students in the school, Potter? Or is this a school you and Longbottom have set up together?"

Bree hadn't liked the article, so she contacted a lawyer. Well actual she contacted Sirius and he contacted a lawyer. It would take a couple of days to put together a case, but in the meantime Bree had the Slytherins to deal with.

She got them to back off a bit by saying things like "Lately the only thing keeping me from becoming a serial killer is my dislike for manual labor." Which threw them off. She had determined that Draco was the ring leader so she had told him "Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean I'm not out to get you." Then grinned at him. One day when he was particularly irritating she had snarled "I may or may not have put a bomb in your kidney while you were asleep. Do you really want to risk it?" The look on his face was priceless. At dinner she had said "If you're so jealous of Harry's scar, why don't you just get your own." Then offered to give him a scar while wielding a butter knife. That had gotten her detention.


568. Not allowed to tell the Slytherins that "Lately the only thing keeping me from becoming a serial killer is my dislike for manual labor."

574. Not allowed to tell Draco "Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean I'm not out to get you."

534. Not allowed to tell Draco "I may or may not have put a bomb in your kidney while you were asleep. Do you really want to risk it?"

633. Not allowed to tell Draco "If you're so jealous of Harry's scar, why don't you just get your own."

- not allowed to offer to give Draco a scar.


Ten days after Rita's article was released, she was forced to print a retraction. Bree felt quite pleased with herself.


Unfortunately Bree didn't have much time for pranks in the days leading up to the first task. She was otherwise occupied. She spent a lot of time looking at the crack in the wall, that may have actually been a crack in the universe. But if it was a crack in the universe then Doctor Who was real. If Doctor Who was real then every monster the Doctor had ever faced was real as well.

The rest of Bree's time, that wasn't spent in class, was spent researching any and all spells that may useful in the first task with help from the Weasley twins. There were spells that caused explosions, spells that created water, spells that created fire, spells that created ice, spells for obstructing vision, spells that made shields, spells for healing, and quite a few spells that would be useful in future pranks.

Bree practiced these spells in a secluded spot by the lake as to not hurt anyone incase something went wrong. One day the twins were late. Bree never started without them, first, because if a spell backfired she'd need them to take her to the hospital wing, and second, because they helped her learn the spells.

When the twins finally showed up, they each grabbed one of her arms and carried her away, saying only that there was something that she really needed to see.


Dragons. Five fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting -

torrents of fire were shooting into the sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks. There was a silvery-blue one with long, pointed horns, snapping and snarling at the wizards on the ground, a smooth-scaled green one, which was writhing and stamping with all its might, a red one with an odd fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, which was shooting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air, a smaller copper-colored with black ridge-markings and short horns on its head, and a gigantic black one, more lizard-like than the others.

Bree, Fred, and George were crouched in the brush, watching them.

At least thirty wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs.

"Better not get any closer." said Fred.

"Charlie told us that they can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet." said George.

"The big one is a Hungarian Horntail."

"There's a Common Welsh Green over there."

"That blue-gray one is a Swedish Short-Snout."

"Chinese Fireball, that's the red."

"Smallest one is a Peruvian Vipertooth."

"It's got venomous fangs."

"And we have to fight these?" Bree asked.

"No. Just get past them."

"They're all nesting mothers"

"Nesting mothers?" Bree said in shock.

The twins nodded.


"Oh god. Oh god. Gonna die. Gonna die. Gonna die. Oh god."

Bree could run surprisingly fast for someone wearing heeled boots. (1)

"Gonna die. Gonna die. Gonna die." She was approaching the hall with the crack.

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god." She stopped in front of the crack.

"Shut up! I don't have time for you today!" She started running again.

"Gonna die. Gonna die. Gonna die."

She ran all the way to the Gryffindor common room where she was stopped by Hermione.

"What's wrong?"

"Out of the way they want to kill me!" Bree ran up the stairs to the dorm were she hid under the bed after kicking Muffin out.


With the twins.

"I take it you showed her the dragons." said Lee.

"We didn't think she'd react like that!" George protested.

Lee looked at him oddly. "Since when can anyone predict what Bree'll do next?"

"True." agreed Fred.


1. She's still wearing the uniform that she came up with for her school and will continue to do so for the rest of her fourth year.

Short chapter, but I've been busy. Next one will be longer.

About the question I asked last chapter: Some people seem to like I intend to have Bree become an animagus right away. No. Just no. That's not realistic. I asked now because Bree needs to start looking into it now in order to master it later. Much, much, later.