Ginny followed Nichole and Lei into the locker room. Gwenog led the pack of them and they brought up the rear. Ginny hurried to her locker and picked out her emergency dress, in case they ever had unplanned press talks like today. She walked over to the mirror and opened her makeup bag. She picked out her mascara and red lipstick. She took one last look at herself. Confident in her appearance, she walked to the room where they would be holding the impromptu press meeting. The rest of the team had taken their usual seats. Her seat, in between Gwenog and Vasilina remained open. Myra was at Vasilina's other side. Ginny took her seat. Vasilina stared her down. Ginny gave her a quick glance but then turned to face the open space where the press would be stationed. Gwenog gave her a raised eyebrow. Ginny could read that look. She shook her head. She would not be moving seats.

"Press is coming in now" Lana said. There was a sudden change in the room. There was a tension to the harpies, one that Ginny knew would be reported on until the press got something new to cover. The various groups swarmed. Ginny sucked in a breath. This was going to be shit.

"One at a time, please, Witch Weekly first" Lana said

"Lei-Hua Tsui, can you tell us about Davies' affairs? How does it feel to have him cheat on you with two of your closest friends?" The reporter asked. She sighed and leaned closer to her microphone.

"Well, I'm going to state the obvious. Davies was an arse. He cheated on me."

"Do you feel betrayed by your friends?" The reporter asked. Lei paused. Ms. Stewart glared at her

"No, I don't. Davies lied to Clara and took advantage of her break up."

"Was that her break up from the chosen one?"

"Yes," Lei said. Ginny cringed, knowing that would remind that the press would most likely turn to her next, given the reference to Harry.

"What about your teammate, Vasilina Sofka?" Lei flagged down Lana.

"I'm not answering that" Lei whispered. Lana whispered something back, but Ginny couldn't hear it. Lei sighed and turned back to the reporter.

"I still feel a little hurt, but I'm ready to put him behind me" she said civilly. The reporter seemed unhappy with her answers and turned to Sonya

"Sonya Rameriz, could you speak on your mother's case? Were there any theories?" Sonya looked visibly relieved at the question.

"There were a few, my mother was a muggleborn so there was a theory that a pure blood extremist was the one to kill her. There was also the possibility that it was a muggle, given that the muggle serial killer, Robert Napper was living in the area at the time." Sonya said

"Is it true that your mother was looking for you the night she was killed?"

"Wait, she's not going to answer that" Gilat jumped in. Sonya nodded weakly

"She will," Ms. Stewart said coldly. Gilat turned a deep red and was visibly ready to argue. Ms. Stewart raised an eyebrow. Gilat leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest.

"It is," Sonya said. She was gritting her teeth. Lana's stopwatch went off

"Next, Cheat Magazine"

"No wait, Tsui stalled, I didn't get my full time!" The reporter said

"Sorry, but we have to move on," Lana said. The cheat magazine reporter stepped forward. She had platinum blonde hair, a leopard print dress and had to be at least her mum's age

"Miss West, Coco Cook from Cheat Magazine. Earlier this year, you tried to steal teammate Ginny Weasley's boyfriend from her. Does it bother you that you now have a second romantic rival on the team"

"Now wait a minute, I never tried to steal her boyfriend. He made a pass at me!" Myra said

"Of course he did." The reporter said. There was a fake sweetness to her voice that made Ginny cringe. "Does it bother you that your romantic rival has already slept with another teammate's boyfriend"

"She's not my romantic rival! I'm not interested in Harry Potter!" Myra said. The report was starting to look annoyed

"Do you remember your father?" The reporter asked. Mr. West was about to step forward. Ms. Stewart gestures for him to stop. He stopped in his tracks.

"No. I never met him. He was killed before I was born" Myra snapped

"Does it bother you that he was associated with the dark lord?" Myra huffed

"Of course it bloody does" she snapped.

"Stewart," Mr. West said. She ignored him and instead looked towards Myra

"It was reported that your father was killed in an auror mission including Mad-Eye Moody, Fabian Prewett and Gideon Prewett. Is that why you tried to steal Harry Potter away from Ginny Weasley? In order to get back at her family for your father's death"

"This is ridiculous. She doesn't have to answer that" Mr. West said

"She will. Please escort Cornelius out." She said to two burly security guards. One of them grabbed him. He pulled his arm away and stared at her. Ms. Stewart did not budge. Cornelius shook his head, muttering to himself. Two of the security guards led him out. Several of the reports snapped pictures of him. Lana's watch went off again

"Next up, Daily prophet," she said. Rita Skeeter stepped forward. Ginny's stomach dropped.

"Miss Gordan," Ginny turned her head to Nichole. She was not expecting that. She was sure that Skeeter would go after her, not Nichole. "you were aware of your longtime partner's affair, but you waited weeks to end things with him. Why?"

"I had to admit to myself that he really cheated on me first" she said

"And that took you nearly three months?"

"Yes" Nichole said

"Even though you knew that he was seeing a much younger girl who was hardly of age?" Skeeter asked.

"Yes" Nichole said

"So you chose to stay with him and then not mention it to anyone even after you broke up?" Skeeter asked

"Wait, why are you asking me why I didn't say anything when you should be asking him why he keeps dating girls fresh out of school or still in school. Did no one realize that he started dating me when I was 18 and he was already 23?" Nichole said hotly

"So you see yourself as the victim in this situation." Skeeter asked. Nichole crossed her arms over her chest

"Yeah, I see myself and that other girl as being manipulated by a predictor if that's what you are asking." Skeeter smiled sweetly. Ginny knew that Skeeter would turn Nichole into the villain with just those few words. Skeeter turned to her. Ginny gritted her teeth. She had known this was coming, but she still hated it.

"Miss Weasley,"

"Here we go," Ginny muttered

"Can you tell us how you feel about now having two romantic rivals on your team?" Skeeter asked

"Really, I do?" Ginny said. Gwenog covered her mouth to hide a laugh. Gilat was chuckling as well. A small smile appeared on Lei's face. The rest of the Harpies remained still. She glanced at Ms. Stewart. She nodded. Her answer was acceptable

"It's already been proven that Miss West made a pass at your boyfriend"

"Really? I didn't notice" Ginny said. If Skeeter was going after her, might as well have some fun with it. Skeeter rolled her eyes

"And your other teammate was reported to have revealed information about you to the public-"

"Information you actually published" Ginny said

"-in order to cause you to break up with the boy who lived"

"Again, you were the one to put all that information out in the world. It wouldn't have mattered what Vasilina said if you didn't report on it" Ginny said. Skeeter mumbled something under her breath.

"Do you feel any challenge?"

"Nope," Ginny said. Skeeter huffed. A small smile tugged at Ginny's lip. She wondered how Skeeter would try and get her to say more than a few words. Skeeter paused and then smirked at her.

"Can you describe to us how you were possessed by you know who? How did it feel?" Skeeter said. Ginny's slight smirk fell off her face. She shuddered as a cold emptiness in the corner of her mind expanded. She swallowed hard, trying to make it go away. She gripped the table. Gwenog noticed her now white knuckles and shook her slightly.

"Ginny," she whispered

"She will not be answering that" Ms. Stewart said. That seemed that Ms. Stewart's words snapped Ginny back to reality

"Really? You said that every Harpy would answer our questions we asked" Skeeter said

"I changed my mind" Ms. Stewart said coldly. The others glared at Ginny. She sank into her seat slightly. "Press conference is over. Lana get them out of here" Lana nodded. The press were let out of the room. The Harpies were directed back to the locker room. Ginny dropped down on one of the benches and took off her heels. The other harpies were around, but Ginny didn't want to talk to them. Especially after the way Ms. Stewart just reacted.

"Looks like you were the lucky one," Gilat said. Ginny looked up at her. She rolled her eyes

"Come on Gil, knock it off" Nichole said

"No, it's true. What they asked Ginny was no worse than what they asked any of us" Vasilina said

"I'm sorry, did you get asked about your severe childhood trauma?" Ginny snapped

"I did" Sonya said. Lei quietly put a hand on Sonya's shoulder.

"Ah, so did I" Myra said

"And yet you're not the one going off at me" Ginny said to Sonya

"Look, it's not fair that Stewart just changed her rules for only you" Gilat said

"I'm not saying it was bloody fair. It wasn't. But I couldn't answer that question. And I don't know how it was any different from Sonya's question or Nichole's or Lei's but Ms. Stewart decided to shut it down, not me." Ginny said

"Well it's kind of obvious why" Vasilina said

"And what is that?" Ginny said

"You're her golden girl, her war veteran and eternally famous chaser dating the hero. Of course she would treat you better than the rest of us" Vasilina said

"This again?" Ginny said "look, if you want to deal with all of the trauma I got during the war for me, then please do."

"Well it seems the perks out weigh it, don't they?" Vasilina said

"Both of you, knock it off." Gwenog said

"Looks like someone else is coming to your defense" Vasilina whispered

"Look, I'm not going to lie. This was a bloody disaster. The press are going to keep coming after us. The management should have planned better after the Weasley article earlier this year, but we didn't. We are essentially in the hot seat now. The press are circling us right now. We aren't getting much help from above. What we need is to wait out this storm together. And that means no picking fights. We are a team and it's about time we started acting like one."