V2

Know-It-All

Swimming was one of exercises I could do that didn't bother my hip. It actually helped strengthen the muscles in my legs without overexerting them. It was the last time I would be able to swim before the weather turned for the worst so I was giving my exercise my all. I'd had to set wards to alert me of any movement in the water besides myself as the lake was apparently full of merpeople, grindylows, and the giant octopus. None of them had come to investigate me as of my hour swimming laps.

I was lying on my back, trying to rest my arms before going back to shore when I smelled it. It was a smell of soot, sweat, and blood. It was heady, it drifted on the air. It almost made me choke. Normally I would have reported it to someone, especially since it was in the forbidden forest, but something in my gut told me to check it out.

I backstroked to shore and towelled off before changing into a t-shirt and shorts and tennis shoes. My feet were taking me further along than I realized before I heard them. Roaring. I saw fire being sprayed into the air like it was a flamethrower. My heart was lodged somewhere in my throat. Dragons…really? Do they want someone to get killed? So much for the, "It'll be safer, no one will be killed this time," speech.

What were you expecting? Fairies and Pixies? This is the Triwizard Tournament, Leigh Ann, and you can't be chickening out now!

I practically ran back to Hogwarts, needing to be surrounded by people to know that I was safe. I knew how dangerous dragons could be. All I would have would be my wand and my mind. And the people around me. None of the rules ever said that I couldn't ask for help. And apparently I knew someone whose brother was a dragonologist in Romania. Or two someones, as it turned out.

"We coulda told you it was dragons," George said as he chewed on the end of his chicken leg to get the last of the meat off. "Our brother visited us in Hogsmeade a few weeks ago and told us all about the first task."

I stared at him, open mouthed. Mary, the girl the bunk over from mine, was the one who spoke up with exactly what I was thinking as we all sat at tables at lunch. "And you didn't think that Leigh Ann would like to know about that?"

Fred elbowed his brother in the stomach. "We're friends with Harry, too. We didn't think it'd be fair to tell either of you. It's a competition after all. That'd be cheating."

I finally spoke up and threw my hands in the air in frustration. "You two are the biggest cheaters I know!"

"But you aren't," they said with shrugs. They'd been looking out for me in a completely roundabout way, but it meant that they cared...even if I could have gotten burned to a crisp by a dragon.

That was when Second Lieutenant Justin Lucas of the Air Force (the equivalent to me, but over in the airheads) walked by. He always had a smile on his face but at that moment he looked serious. "Leigh Ann. I think you need to read this."

"Everything okay?" I asked, losing my irritation and feeling a little bit of worry creep back in.

He handed me a rather thick newspaper opened to an article with Viktor and I right at the top in a heart, talking seriously. It looked like we were staring deeply into each others' eyes but I knew it had been from our heart-to-heart after that awful photo session. "Read this."

Spotlight: Leigh Ann Nelson, Shadow

Leigh Ann was one of the most unremarkable girls that this reporter has ever met. She is a shadow of her mother's bright spirit and shows her contempt of her shadowed life by making disgusting comments towards those older, more mature and revered than a mere teenager. Daughter of world-renowned Chaser for England and American National Quidditch Teams, Rene Nelson nee Reynolds, she is ashamed of her mother's fame and wants to hide behind her strict uniforms and rebel demeanor. Against her dress code, Leigh Ann took down her hair and tried to outshine rival Champion Fleur Delacour. According to an anonymous source, Mademoiselle Delacour and Sergeant Nelson have been sharpening their claws since the beginning and are ready to battle it out to the finish! Is it because of the so-called relationship between the hunky Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum and the American, who were seen on a romantic moonlit walk together? Or simply because only one woman truly belongs in this tournament? Against her opponents, Leigh Ann is ruthless, fighting dirty to get where she needs to be. One Erik Gogil states that she used cheap, dirty tricks to beat him in a fair duel, goading him into battle. Who can stop this rebellion before it spreads even further? How does one get rid of a shadow? Rita Skeeter will keep you in touch!

Angrily, with a growl, I crumpled the paper and threw it in the air, taking out my wand and instantly lighting it on fire while imagining that it was her horrible hair. I'd never been so mad in my life! "Did you see what the woman wrote about me?" I shouted, making the soldiers and Hogwarts students around me stare with wide eyes. "She wrote my rank wrong when I told her specifically!"

Everyone looked at me, like, "That's what you're the most worried about?"

"Well, you did say that you 'had to respect your elders' to her," Fred said, a look of laughter in his eyes.

George nodded and gave a snort of laughter. "I think that you started a fire with that one, mate."

"If she wants to play with fire, then I'll fight it back with fire," I growled, wondering how in the world I could combat her slander of my good name. "And what the hell, when did I get involved in a romantic relationship with Krum?"

Mary looked uncomfortable. She'd been the one to help me after the running fiasco with Viktor a few weeks back. "I mean, you do have to admit that some of us are wondering after the whole cloak fiasco." She didn't say anything about the run which made me feel both relieved and bereft.

I felt a blush other than anger appear on my cheeks. "I've already told you, that was nothing."

"Yeah, nothing," Fred and George said at the same time. I glared at them. One of them spoke up with, "But really, Leigh, would it be such a bad thing? He's Viktor Krum!"

I forgot how much that they didn't know about me. I didn't feel like I could explain. Mary knew bits and pieces but not all of the puzzle. I just shook my head and got up. My time with people was done—they hadn't helped much other than to calm my panic from discovering the dragons. It was time to buckle down and forget about crazy reporters and bon-bon seekers.

I was in the library for the next two days, studying up on every spell I had ever learned. All of them, their sayings and their wand movements, were written down in a little book that Grandmother had given me before she had disappeared again. The pure blood grandmother never had taken an interest in me other than to give me my wand and glare a little at my dad.

Harry Potter and a bushy-haired girl were sitting a few tables away from me. I glanced at them every so often but tried to keep my focus. Angelina joined me at one point. We weren't "helping" each other, but merely making suggestions. I had come up with a few distractions for my dragon as well as a few things that would stop any fire coming my way or any foot that was about to crash down on me.

About four hours into my last study session I heard the sound of giggling girls. I looked over curiously even though I knew who it was. "Merlin, can't he study on his ship?" I asked irritably, slamming my book shut. "Come on, Angelina, it's gonna be pretty noisy in here soon."

Just as I predicted, the second we left a group of girls, one with a Bulgaria scarf around her waist, walked in, giggling.

"Merlin, I hate that."

"Hate what?" Angelina asked, pulling his bag over her shoulder. Her hair was done up in some cool cornrows that day.

"I think he does it on purpose," I sighed, clutching my books tighter to my chest. "Really! He goes out in public, like he owns the place, and I think he expects them to follow!"

"Leigh, I don't mean to sound like a fan, but I don't think he likes it," Angelina said, looking a little nervous. "I mean, I thought he went in there to get rid of them. See?"

I turned around to see that the librarian had kicked all of the girls out of the library. I felt kind of ashamed. Only a little, though. "Yeah, maybe, but I've never met a guy more full of himself, or his fame!"

"What do you have against him?"

"The fame, obviously." And the smell...and the eyes...and the warmth... Oh, he's just in it for the money and the girls! At least that was what I kept trying to tell myself. And if I let him get close to me, he'll hurt me. Just like the others.