Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Beware of Angelina

The next morning, I figured out why Flint Sr. accompanied me back to Hogwarts and what business he had with Dumbledore. The answers came in the form of two articles in the daily prophet. One was front cover material and the other was on the last pages. The front-line title read:

Headmaster Dumbledore Under Investigation for Malpractice

"I thought you said Mum and Dad weren't going to sue Dumbledore", George asked from where he was reading over my shoulder; mouth full of porridge.

"They're not", I quickly answered. But reading that title gave me doubts. Did Lord Flint go back to the burrow to convince Mum and Dad to change their minds once I was no longer there to argue with them? But as I skimmed the article, I figured out the truth. It wasn't Mum and Dad that were raising red flags, but the board of governors. And it wasn't just the stuff that happened between me and Lockhart that was fueling the investigation. But also, the rumors about the chamber of secrets opening and everything that happened with Quirrell last year. Lord Flint's name was mentioned a couple of times, which led me to filling in some blanks. "That must be the business he was talking about when he came with me to Hogwarts". I said more to myself than anyone else. But since George was still looking over my shoulder, he heard every word. He didn't need to ask who I was referring to. "He must have been hired to represent the board of governors".

Scratching the bottom of his chin, George took his time as he thought. The next thing he said was tentatively asked. "You said the school gets investigated, right?" George spoke lowly, so not even the students around us on their way in and out of the great hall could overhear. "From what Jessie remembers".

I shook my head at him, before matching his tone. "Yeah, but that's not supposed to happen until our last year". Oh Merlin, did this nonsense with possessed Lockhart somehow speed up that specific timeline. I had seen Umbridge at the trial. With dread dropping to the pit of my stomach, I tried to think of every reason the ongoing investigation mentioned in the Daily Prophet wasn't the equivalent to the ministry inquiry Jessie remembered from the books. If there was any mercy in this world, Umbridge wouldn't be making an appearance at Hogwarts anytime soon.

The main reason the ministry had gotten involved in Hogwarts was because both Dumbledore and Harry were claiming that You-Know-Who was back, right? Because they wanted to deny that even being possible. So… not the same situation then. Minister Fudge should still be in favor of Dumbledore if nothing else has changed. Next, I thought over everything Jessie remembered about the chamber of secrets. Of course, her chamber of secrets and my chamber of secrets were completely different at this point, but… maybe there was something I could still use. Dumbledore had been removed from the school right before Harry and Ron had gone into the forbidden forest. Was what was happening now similar to that? Lucius Malfoy had been behind that, and he is on the board of governors. Is that all this investigation is? In that case, there's nothing to worry about. Dumbledore will be cleared. Especially when it gets out that Malfoy Sr. was threatening the other board members to gain their support.

"I think we're okay", I told George as I folded up the paper and placed it by my empty plate. "I wouldn't worry". Except, I was worrying. But I turned my attention to what I should have for breakfast. The normal fanfare was spread out on the table; porridge, eggs, toast… Toast sounded good.

But before I could help myself, Angelina and Alicia claimed the open seat across from George and me. "Morning", they greeted.

George and I moved at the same time to return the greeting. Something friends of ours had gotten used to back in our first year. As a multiple, I had a hard time understanding how people acting in sync could be seen as jolting. But I also remembered things from Jessie's point of view. As a triplet, I didn't think much of it, since Fred and George were everyday fixtures in my life. But to others, triplets weren't common. "Oh", Alicia started to say as I made a second attempt to grab some toast. Her exclamation was enough that I withdrew my hand and turned my attention to her. "Did you read the societal section?" She asked, nodding to the paper beside my plate.

I quirked an eyebrow at her. "Why would I?" Was my question. Alicia wasn't a gossip in the sense that she didn't spread it. But she loved listening to it. As such, the societal section in the Daily Prophet was right up her alley. I, on the other hand, couldn't care less about who was dating who, or which rich pureblood donated a bunch of money and got a new building named after him.

Giving me a little smirk, Alicia answered easily, "Because you're in them".

"What!" I exclaimed loud enough that heads turned in our direction. From his spot next to me, George jumped a couple of inches out of his seat.

"Merlin, Jolly Holly", he complained as I picked up the Daily Prophet for a second time. Moving in a rush, I was almost clumsy as I flicked through the paper to get to the right section. Ugh! Why was the sports section always so long? Why did people have so much to say about quidditch?

Giggling alongside Alicia at my reaction, Angelina leaned over the table. "You've come a long way, Holly. I don't see what you do when you look at Pucey, but he's a step up from the crush you had on Snape".

"You need to let that joke die", I retorted as I finally landed on the right section.

"Never", Angelina replied as she watched me skim for the article Alicia had mentioned. "I think it's on the next page", she offered when I wasn't making much progress.

When I turned the page, I saw that she was right. The second article told of me being escorted by Flint Sr. back to school was more of a blurb than an article. But it was penned by everyone's favorite columnist, Rita Skeeter. It was simply titled;

Young Love

At what must have been the best-anguished expression I've ever made, Alicia piped in, "I especially enjoyed the part where she described your reunion with Pucey as 'foreshadowing years to come'".

Knowing defeat when I felt it, I turned and hid my face against George's shoulder. It was orchestrated. The entire thing. It was why Adrian had been at the platform but not my siblings. Adrian had said his presence that night had been requested. It was Lord Flint. It had to be. He must have suspected something stupid like this being published. He had even warned me that even though my part in Lockhart's trial was over, I'd still have to keep up appearances. I just… didn't know this is what he meant. But no one extra had been on the platform that night. It was just Flitwick, and Adrian waiting for us when we had disembarked from the train. Unless Skeeter hadn't been in human form…. Bloody hell. Did Flint Sr. know Skeeter was an animagus?

You know what, it doesn't matter. From now on, whenever I see a beetle, I'm going to squash it. But the really aggravating person out of all of this was Lord Flint. He played me like I was a hand in a game of poker and I hadn't even noticed. Was that contract he showed me to marry his son a part of this too? Just a ruse to make sure I performed when we made it to Hogsmeade?

George unsympathetically patted me on the back; unbothered that I was currently leaning against him. "We tried to tell you, Holls. But you just wouldn't listen. You have horrid taste in men".

In complaint, I let on one long continuous vowel sound that was muffled by his shoulder. I hate the media. Sure, it wasn't as bad as it was when I was Jessie. Her world had been filled with social media on top of newspapers and news TV shows. As Jessie, I lived in a world where people tended to overshare and offer their opinions on everything; acting as if their input actually held validation. Jessie had been one of those over-sharers. In the wizarding world, news sources were much more limited. Which in some aspects was a fault in itself. But by Merlin, just imagine the destruction if Skeeter had access to Twitter or any other of the platforms that would be invented in the muggle world in the years to come.

"Uh-oh", I didn't have to look up to know who had just joined us. I'd recognize Fred's voice from anywhere. "Has Holly broken again?" I felt someone slide into the seat on my other side but remained with my face pressed against George's shoulder. Can't I get a break? Just once. I don't feel like I'm asking for much.

Before anyone could answer Fred, I was pulled away from George by a pair of hands gripping my upper arms. Suspecting the culprit to be Fred, I allowed myself to be maneuvered until I was facing the other way only to be confronted by the always jovial Lee. "Don't be sad, Holly. I thought Skeeter described you wonderfully". I scowled at my fellow triplets' best friend. He read Skeeter's article!

"What are you talking about?" Fred asked. It was then I realized Fred had sat down on the opposite side of Lee. They must have come to breakfast together. That wasn't odd, but why wasn't George with them?

"Here", Alicia said as she took the paper from its place in front of me and handed it to the eldest of us triplets. "Holly's famous".

"Am not", I whined. But no one paid me any attention.

While Fred read through the short blurb that Skeeter had written everyone, mainly Alicia and Angelina turned to different topics. Talking amongst themselves about Wood's new haircut, of all things, they didn't seem to notice when Fred set down the paper a minute later.

"What can I say, Jolly Holly", Fred said. "You have horrible taste in men".

I was trying not to pout but was finding it difficult. They keep talking like all of this is my fault.

"Cheer up", Lee chimed. "Now that you're back and Lockhart's gone, we can get back to the Angelina competition".

"Oh yeah", Fred said what I was thinking. "I'd forgotten about that".

"What was the score again?" George asked.

"Umm", I vocalized to give myself some time to think, unaware that we had the attention of two others again. "George won the scavenger hunt, Lee won word bingo…. Who won magic word?"

Before any of the boys could answer me, a very displeased voice asked, "The Angelina what competition?" All four of us snapped our attention to the other side of the table where Alicia and Angelina had finished their conversation about Wood's hair. Had we all forgotten that Angelina was within hearing distance? She was staring all of us down; glaring with the promise of pain upon death…. Busted.

Being yelled at by Angelina turned out to be worse than receiving a howler. It felt like every head in the great hall turned to watch as Angelina ripped into all of us. It was so brutal that even Alicia started blushing as she experienced second-hand embarrassment. In between yelling, Angelina pulled every detail from us. How Fred and George learned they liked the same girl over the summer. How that led to them fighting. How George suggested the competition on the train back in September as a solution. A good solid minute was spent with just George taking the full weight of Angelina's ire. Because who in their right mind would ever think of suggesting such a medieval competition? Fred was next, because, and I quote, "I liked you, idiot and you just threw all that away to play some stupid games with your brother!" Lee got a tongue lashing for jumping into our 'very insulting' competition just because he thought it'd be a laugh. And I wasn't spared either. Because as one of Angelina's friends, why did I think refereeing such a thing would ever be something Angelina would be okay with. What's worse, I hadn't even had the decency to tell her what the boys were up to. At the end of what was probably Hogwarts' longest tirade in a century, Angelina addressed all four of us. "And not one of you ever stopped to ask me if there was someone I wanted to date. What is wrong with you?" Angelina roared as she stood up from the table and began to stomp out of the great hall. Students jumped out of her way to clear a path; no one was brave enough to get in the furious Gryffindor chaser's way. Except for Alicia, who paid us all a glare of her own before standing up and rushing after her best friend.

The muttering started as soon as the two girls left the hall and I could feel many pairs of eyes boring into me. I can only imagine it's the same for the boys. "Blimey", Fred spoke up. "That was worse than getting detention".

Lee, George, and I nodded in agreement. Outside of a quidditch game, I had never heard Angelina yell like that before. She was worse than Filch and right on par with Mum. We're speaking drill sergeant level. After a couple of moments went by with us looking back and forth between each other, trying to decide what we should do, Lee suggested, "We should go to class".

Since Angelina left, we remained the main focal point of many stares and conversations; making breakfast a very uncomfortable affair. "Yeah, I think that might be best", George said as he climbed out of his seat.

"We have potions this morning, right?" I asked as I copied him. Lee and Fred weren't far behind us as we all hurried out of the hall. Halfway down to the dungeons I realized I never did get any toast.

The atmosphere in the defense classroom had done a complete 180 since Lockhart left and Sirius took his place. No one walked through the door with trepidation. No one nodded off in class as the teacher talked only about themselves. No one was afraid of being used for spell practice. I had suspected as much from all the things Adrian and my siblings said about Sirius' classes in their letters. But reading about it and seeing it were two different things.

As a substitute, Sirius did not have academic freedom. Meaning, he had lesson plans he was supposed to be following. But more often than not, those plans got tossed out the window. "Today, I'm supposed to talk to you guys about different types of spell damage", Sirius said once class had officially begun. I was in my usual seat next to Adrian. It had been an expectant but still pleasant fact that Adrian hadn't allowed anyone to take my place when I had been away. From the other side of the room Fred, George, and Lee were sitting as they normally do. Except they kept wincing. Aware that Angelina was burning holes in the back of their heads with her eyes.

Sirius had been reading off a sheet of parchment; probably his directions for what was supposed to be our lesson for the day. Carelessly, letting the paper drop down to his desktop, Sirius walked over to the blackboard. "But that's boring", he told the class; gaining eager expressions from everyone in the room. Well… everyone except Adrian. Adrian, as I learned over the last couple of days, had a more wary response to his brother's teaching methods. Spinning the blackboard so the other side was facing us, Sirius revealed a carefully drawn-out bracket. Like one would expect to see in a tournament. "So, we're going to duel instead".

Everyone on the Gryffindor side started clapping; encouraging Sirius to take a bow. Which he did, completely unashamed.

"Now", Sirius continued before everyone could get too excited. "We're going to have a lot of matches to get through. So, if we don't finish, don't worry. We have all week". Signal another round of applause from the Gryffindors. "Rules", Sirius started again, this time not sounding as eager as before. But he probably realized that as the only adult in the room, he would be held responsible if something went horribly wrong. He needed to set boundaries. "No one casts any spells if they're not currently dueling. And you can't use magic on anyone who isn't your opponent. You don't start until I tell you to, and you have to stop when I say. And you can't use any spells that will get me fired". Sirius finished; trying to make eye contact with as many of us as he could to make sure we were all on the same page. Judging by the Gryffindors vibrating in their seats and the slightly sadistic grins growing on many of the Slytherins' faces, I think everyone was game.

Clapping his hands together, Sirius gave us a grin of his own; showing off his excitement. "Alright. We're going to move the desks up against the walls and then the first match is going to be…." Sirius trailed off as he looked over his shoulder at the blackboard. "Angelina Johnson vs. George Weasley".

Everyone started moving once Sirius finished talking. Making quick work of rearranging the desks and chairs so the duelers would have enough room. But no one moved as fast as Angelina. Did Sirius know what happened in the great hall this morning? Because if he did, I think he would have rethought this match-up.

Adrian grabbed my hand and gripped my elbow to unnecessarily help me climb onto our desk before climbing up after me. We sat with our legs hanging off the desk with one of his arms stretched out behind my back; ready to watch the first duel. Adrian had been a lot more hands-on since my return. And a part of me was enjoying the attention, so I put up with it. Even when he didn't think I was capable of climbing furniture by myself. And even though I suspected some of this attention was partially due to his knowledge of the diary that we had yet to discuss.

With that chore done and our classmates quickly finding places to watch, Angelina positioned herself on one side in the cleared space, her wand already drawn. Clearing his throat, George raised his hand from where he was standing against one of the desks between Lee and Fred. He was looking a bit pale as he waited for Sirius to nod at him with permission to speak. Though I got the feeling Sirus wouldn't care if George hadn't raised his hand. With as much dignity as he could muster, George said, "I forfeit".