Chapter 23 :
A week later, in an abandoned classroom magically refurbished into an amphitheater, the Potterhearts secretly gathered for an emergency meeting. The night was cold and moonless, and yet the atmosphere in the room was heavy and burning with the heat of discontentment. Many an angry mutter hung over everyone, deafening the silence and burdening their souls with shame.
On the stage in the front, the Chairwoman Ginny Weasley aptly hit herself with a Sonorus, solemnly greeting her fellow fangirls :
"Women, the Times are dire ! Our Harry, our Idol, needs us now more than ever ! And yet..."
She clenched her fist and grinded her teeth, using this small suspense as a mean to keep her calm. Behind her, the Advisor Hermione Granger looked equally somber, her famous eldritch-ish hair pulsing and rumbling in barely restrained anger. Even the Vice-president Luna Lovegood didn't have her usual cheerfulness.
"And yet-" continued Ginny in a roar, "YOU LOT BETRAYED HIM !"
A gasp was heard throughout the crowd, her words shooting straight through their guilty hearts.
"You," she insisted in a venomous hiss "perjurous lowlifes, perfidious traitors- ! HOW DARE YOU !? HOW DARE YOU DISCARD YOUR OATH AND DITCH OUR IDOL AT THE FIRST TROUBLE !? HOW DARE YOU VIOLATE OUR CODE AND CHEAT OUR GOOD NAME !?"
"But he cheated !" Retorted a small voice. "He bypassed the Age Line and entered the Tournament !"
Sounds of agreement echoed through the room but they were hesitant, like trying to convince themselves.
"Is that what you think ? What you all think ?"
No one answered, everyone ashamedly turning away.
"Fools..." Sighed Ginny with no more strengh in her voice. "Look into your hearts, do you truly believe that Harry, our Harry, would cheat his way into anything ? Much less an event of this proportion ?"
"No" Amended a little first year that was close to tears. "H-Harry would- He would never do that !"
Suddenly the dam was broken and the whole gaggle of women erupted into disgraceful weeping.
"We had no choice !" Pitifully wailed some of them, trying to justify their treason. "We had no choice !"
Somehow, these words displeased their Chairwoman. But as she was about to unleash her infamous Weasley Temper, the ever compassionate Vice-president Lovegood stopped her with a hand.
"What made you do such a horrendous thing ?" She gently asked to the crowd. "Was it the Wrackspurts ?"
"Peer pressure." Cursed out a seventh year Hufflepuff. "I don't know how it is for the other Houses, but with the Hogwart Champion being from Hufflepuff, if we're not seen blaming Harry I'm sure bad stuff would happen to us."
"Yeah." Softly testified a fith year Slytherin. "It's the same for us. It's easier to treat Harry like a pariah than to be treated like one ourselves..."
The still conveniently unnamed teacher reluctantly added :
"There is also the First Rule of the Fanclub. Being unable to explain its existence, it would be hard for us to justify taking Harry's side"
Hermione pinched her nose in frustration, the ambient sorrow somehow taming her hair's growl into an imperceptible whine.
"Doing the right thing is hard." She said. "I understand that but, did it ever come to you to not do unto Harry what you don't want to be done to you ? Harry is an angel, he won't retaliate against utter stupidity. Hell, he'll even forgive you if you appologize ! But we were not asking for that much, silent support would have been enough. Just making sure of not taking part in the baiting and calling him names would have been enough ! But what you did- ! What you all did..." She shook her head in disappointment. "It was disgusting... You disgust me."
A heavy silence lingered over her words, no one daring to look above their shoes, too abashed to have made the easy choice instead of the right one.
Ginny clapped her hands once, breaking the shame fest : it was now time to go forward.
"Okay ! We all make mistakes, but luckily it's not too late to correct this one !" She started. "We know peer pressure is hard to deal with but, you're not facing this alone ! You have your fellow fangirls with you ! We're not asking you to suddenly be all praises about Harry, nor to actively support him but, if you could- I don't know... emit doubts about his willingness to participate ? Or just do the grown up thing and not stoop as low as wearing those « Potter Stinks » enchanted badges ? Don't add to his torment ! Even if you don't voice your true belief, you don't have to agree with what everyone else says ! And there is no need to talk about your motives, so the secret of the Fanclub is safe !"
"It would be a good start." Approved Hermione. "We know the Gryffindors will keep their mouth shut, since I already scolded them into submission and hired the Weasley Twins as a premptive strike force. We can probably appeal to the Hufflepuff with the fact that Harry is the sole underage participant, and that this is likely a plot to kill him -which it is, by the way-. And it'll be easy to distract the Ravenclaw with cold hard facts and sober them up with the death toll of past events. The hardest will be the Slytherin but, for some unknown motive, Malfoy seems to be handling that side. It's supicious but we'll make do with it for now..."
"In other words," Concluded Luna with a bright smile. "Listen to the voice of reason and stick with your friends !"
AN: A wild chapter out of nowhere... Harry had a rough week after the selection. Luckily, some people won't let it last!