The next morning Harry and Ginny were met by a wide range of mixed reactions from the student body. All of Gryffindor, save Ron, stood and cheered as they walked into the Great Hall. Half of Ravenclaw stood and cheered with the Gryffindors. Hufflepuff started chanting and cheering both of the Hogwarts teams. Harry and Ginny blushed at the attention. They did notice, however, that Slytherin was silent. Harry had the feeling Snape was largely to blame for that. Not for the first time since the beginning of the year, Harry wondered what happened to Malfoy after the World Cup. His continued absence made Harry wonder if he had joined his father on the run.
When classes began that day, Harry and Ginny had to contend with cheers and jeers from every corner of the corridors, though the jeers were few, the Slytherins did make their opinions known. They were sitting in Potions, listening to a sneering Snape, when Professor McGonagall appeared at the door. Harry smiled to himself as he noticed she had not bothered to knock.
"Professor Snape," McGonagall said, almost rudely.
"Yes," he sneered snidely at her.
"I require Mr. and Mrs. Potter," McGonagall told him curtly.
"And why is that? And why them?" Snape glared at her.
"Mind your tongue, Professor!" she said sternly. "As Deputy Headmistress, I am not required to answer either of those questions. Not to mention, I am their Head of House. And I may remind you, that you are on probation! You are bordering on insubordination."
"Yes, take them," Snape ground out. Harry and Ginny quickly gathered their things and followed McGonagall out of the classroom.
When they were out of the dungeon, McGonagall stopped and turned to them. "I apologize for the interruption to your class, but you have Champion duties to perform."
"It's alright, Professor. We don't mind leaving Potions," Ginny smiled.
"I understand," McGonagall nodded. "However, the Tournament is to be covered by the newspapers. I thought I should warn you, before we arrive at the Weighing of the Wands Ceremony. And inform you that Sirius is on his way. One of the reporters is, shall we say, known for stretching the truth."
"Let me guess," Ginny frowned. "Rita Skeeter."
"Precisely," confirmed McGonagall. "Now, that being said, Sirius wished me to inform you, not to talk to her or any of the other press. He will be your spokesman so that you can stay out of the limelight as much as possible."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry nodded.
They continued on to a classroom on the third floor. As they entered, Harry saw that the other Champions were already gathered. Cedric waved them over. Harry and Ginny joined the other six Champions in the little huddle they had created.
"Stay close to me and Roger, you two," Cedric said kindly. "I know you hate the attention, and we'll deflect as much as we can."
"Yeah," Roger Davies nodded. "After I talked with Cedric, I wanted to apologize for how I acted last night."
"Thanks, guys," Harry smiled.
"We appreciate it," Ginny nodded.
"Ve believe vous as vell," Fleur said, placing a hand on Ginny's shoulder.
"Da," Dimitri confirmed.
"Seedric tol' us about votre 'istroy 'ere ot 'Ogwarts," Marie said with a soft smile. "Non-one can 'ave years like zhat and not suspect foul-play."
"If you need help, just ask," Viktor offered.
"Thank you," Harry said. He looked over his shoulder as Dumbledore entered the room. He turned back, lowering his voice. "And don't trust anyone outside of us, except my godfather and Professor McGonagall."
