Early that Sunday morning I dressed in a comfortable pair of sweatpants and crept my way through the Slytherin common room. Opening the door to Severus' office slowly so it didn't creak as loud as usual, I snuck my way into his office. Predictably, Severus was already awake shuffling paper work around on his desk. He didn't look up from the desk even when he heard a gentle click as the door shut behind me.

"Albus for the hundredth time, I told you, I think she…Oh, it you." Severus stopped as he finally looked up.

"Can we talk?" Severus had moved on from shuffling paperwork to reorganizing several potions on his shelf.

"Allison as you can see, I'm rather busy at the moment, now is not really the best time to talk."

"Oh well…when would be a good time to…Emily and I got all of our homework done yesterday so I can come back at any time." Severus' hunched shoulders dropped as he heaved a great sigh.

"Allison, I've got a lot to do today. In fact I've got a lot of things to do all week." He turned back to his shelves of many colorful bottles.

"Is there anything I can help with? You know I learned a lot this summer, I'm sure I could…"

"Alice, I think it would be best if you tried to stay out of my office this year, voluntary or otherwise. Without Remus here at school, it will be harder for you to explain your absences to your friends, and people will be watching you much more closely now that you've found another outlet to fame."

"I don't believe it!" I said throwing my hands up in the air. "You think I did it! You think I put my name in the Goblet of Fire! I can't believe you of all people would think that I…That's not fair, you haven't even asked me! You haven't heard my side!"

"Don't act like this is a childish fight and there are sides to be heard." He growled through clenched teeth. "The fact of the matter is…"

"That fact of the matter is you don't care what I have to say. You never have, you never listen to me until it's too late! All you think about is you…"

"Don't you dare!" He warned his eyes flaring.

"Dare what? Say the truth? You're a bitter man who hates children but most of all hates me! You're mean and selfish and it's no wonder no one ever has anything nice to sa…"

"Get out, now." He spat pointing to the door of his office.

"No." I stated plainly not moving from the spot.

"GET OUT OF MY OFFICE BEFORE I HAVE YOU EXPELLED!" He bellowed till pointing at the door.

"No." I insisted stomping my foot on the stone floor. "You can yell at me all you want, you don't scare me, Professor."

"Miss Potter, it is not my deepest desire to fuel your egocentric views on life, and I will not be told what to do in my own office. How perfect that your newest claim to fame has made it nearly impossible for you to be expelled. I can promise you that I am not amused by your latest attention-seeking scheme and I will not endure your insults any longer get out of my office, now." I didn't see any good coming out of me staying in his office, so as much as I wanted to continue defending myself I had no choice but to storm out of the office and slam the door closed. Granted I probably didn't need to make such a dramatic exit, but he needed to know exactly how annoying it was to always have him swooping in and out of classroom doors letting them clamber behind him. Also I really wanted to slam the heavy wooden door. I grumpily made my way back to the Slytherin common room knowing everyone else would still be in bed, I opened the door to the dormitory that Emily and I shared and flopped down on my bed falling back asleep within minutes.

I woke again hours later surprised to see Emily still curled up in bed sleeping. I decided to wake her thinking we could catch an early enough breakfast that I'd be able to avoid Severus' watchful eye at the staff table. If he was as busy as he said he was, he would take a late breakfast trying to get as much work done as possible before being forced to resurface from the dungeons. Once Emily was awake she was her usual bouncing ball of energy.

"Alice!" she smiled as she pulled a slytherin sweater over her springy blonde curls. "I had the strangest dream last night! I know you think that the whole Triwizard Tournament is stupid, but in my dream you were actually selected at tonight's Halloween feast!" I wasn't sure if Emily was joking or sincerely trying to convince herself that the last night's events were just a dream. I decided to go with a natural answer as we made our way into the common room.

"Imagine that."

"Imagine what Miss Hogwarts Champion?" Draco called from the fireplace.

"Draco did you have a dream about Alice becoming the Hogwarts champion too?" Emily asked biting her lip.

"That wasn't a dream Emily. Alice actually was selected as a Hogwarts champion." Draco told her as he face looked from disappointed to worried, and then confused.

"But Alice how? I mean I saw what happened to George and Fred Weasley…you're not of age! How did you…it's really dangerous! You don't even like the…what if something happens to you?"

"Emily, Em, look at me…breath." I tried to calm her down as we left the common room and entered the Hogwarts dungeons. "I didn't put myself in the Goblet of Fire and I don't know how my name got in. Trust me I wish I did, but there's nothing I can do. You heard Dumbledore the other day, once your name comes out you're stuck, you have to compete whether you want to or not. So I'm stuck and the only benefit seems to be that I can't get expelled, and I don't have to take end of the year exams."

"I think the risk of death, greatly outweighs the benefits." Draco mumbled as the three of us entered the Entrance Hall. I kicked him in the shin as we crossed to the Great Hall. When we reached the doorway hundreds of heads turned in our direction.

"We could always come back and eat later." Emily whispered to me.

"What's the point?" I asked "There will just be more of them later. Come on, I see some seats near the staff table." The Great Hall erupted into everything from pointing to whispered questions and laughter. I wanted nothing more than to melt into the floor and disappear, but fate wouldn't be that kind to me. To make matters worse Severus had shown up early to Breakfast, most likely in an attempt to avoid me.

"Have you ever noticed how much you and Professor Snape are alike?" Emily caught my attention by asking. I snuck a panicked sideways glance as Draco before looking up at Emily.

"No way!" I told her doubtfully. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, when you're upset, you both sort of get dark and moody. Like now for example, you're not really talking, you're kinda just staring off trapped in your head. I've seen Professor Snape do that a lot too. And for the past ten minutes you've both been poking angrily at a plate of pancakes, but not taking a single bite. And you're really good at potions too, like better than anyone else I know, even Hermione! And…well you're both in Slytherin and…"

"What are you getting at Em?" I asked taking a defiant bite of pancake as if that would prove that I was nothing like Severus.

"Well, I know it's not the same thing, but since Professor...Mister…Mister Lupin, isn't at Hogwarts this year, you're not going to have someone to talk to…"

"That's not true, I've got you, and Harry and…" she interrupted me shaking her head.

"It's not the same, you don't talk to Harry and I about the same things you talk to Mister Lupin about. Especially now that you're one of the Hogwarts Champions, you might want an adult to talk to, and I don't want you to think that I'm telling you what to do, and it wouldn't replace him, but maybe if you need someone to talk to you could try and talk to Professor Snape. I mean he's our head of house, and you have so much in common maybe he'd be willing to talk to you…if you gave him the chance." When she finished her shoulders tensed up as if expecting me to explode on her. And then I remembered why I had picked Emily Smith to be my best friend from our first day at Hogwarts. From the first moment we met Emily always tried to see past what everyone else thought about me, she saw who I was on the inside, and she always knew exactly when something was wrong. I large smile came across my face as I thought about it, a smile that didn't fade away when I started to talk to her.

"Emily Smith you have to be the least selfish person I've ever met. Only you would think of something like that, and I love you for it!" If only you knew the truth. I thought sadly to myself. "I'll think about it, but you see the champions aren't allowed to accept help from teachers during the tournament, and I'd hate for Professor Snape to get in trouble because of me. I'd have to be really careful and make sure I only ask him for help if it's an emergency. In the meantime I was hoping I'd be able to talk to you about things that bother me?" I asked knowing she'd say yes, Emily loved to help people.

"Oh Alice, you know your my best friend, you can come to me about anything!"

"Good! Same to you, and I can't tell you how glad I am that we are best friends." I told her taking another huge bit of pancake. Halfway through chewing I had another thought. "Oh and Em?"

"Yes?" She asked giving me time to swallow my pancakes.

"You don't have to call Remus 'Mr. Lupin' I'm sure he'd be just fine with you calling him Remus. Trust me I do it all the time." At this Emily relaxed the tension she'd been holding in her shoulders.

"I'm really glad you didn't get mad at me for telling you what to do." She added as we stood to exit the Great Hall.

"How can I be mad at someone for caring about me?" I asked her holding the door open to let some sixth years pass us. "As long as you're not supporting Cedric in the tournament." I winked at Draco.

"I'd never!" she squeaked. "But he is really handsome…would you hate me forever if…"

"Emily relax I was joking you can support whoever you want…as long as it's me." A worried look crossed her face.

"Are you joking again or are you serious?"

"No, no Emily I'm Alice, Sirius is Harry's godfather." I told her shaking my head and crossing the Entrance Hall to the Dungeons.

"Alice please stop." She called racing after me.

"Stop walking or stop being Alice?" I asked amusing myself with my own jokes.

"Please!" She squeaked again but I could tell that time she was trying to suppress a laugh herself.

"Alright I suppose I've tortured you enough today. So do you two have any plans?" I asked now speaking to both Draco and Emily.

"I could use some help with my Care of Magical Creatures homework." Draco suggested as we walked the dingy Hogwarts dungeons.

"Well if you paid more attention to Hagrid and less attention to Crabbe and Goyle you would actually know what's going on in class." I scolded.

"I could help you Draco." Emily offered as we entered the common room.

"Thanks Emily let me get my book." Draco told her slipping off to his dormitory. The rest of Slytherin House was slowly waking and making their way down to breakfast. In the few minutes it took for Draco to get his book I had seen every expression Draco had described the night before, and then some. I decided to sit with Emily and Draco while they worked together on his homework. It could have been longer than an hour or two before I couldn't handle the suspicious whispering and accusatory whispers from my fellow Slytherins. I left them without another word and didn't resurface for the rest of the day. Not even for lunch, or dinner. Not even when Emily tried to bribe me out of bed with an assortment of sugar quills and acid pops. She was right about one thing though, the resemblance between Severus and I was beginning to become clearer and clearer.