𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞┃𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙒𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙮

Chapter 47: Harry Potter Ends Up In Trouble... Again

Hermione had come bounding up the stairs with breakfast in hand for Harry, knowing he didn't want to go into the Great Hall where people would be staring at him. As he munched on his toast, he agreed to go on a walk in the grounds with his aunt Fiona, Hermione and Rubi tagging along.

When it was nearing nine, Fiona bid them goodbye and told them to be careful and told Harry to stay safe. Hugging them all, with placing kisses on the heads of Harry and Rubi, Fiona Black headed towards the gates of the grounds, so she could apparate outside of the wards set in place.

After Fiona left, when Harry questioned Hermione as to where Ron was she revealed he was jealous that Harry had managed to enter the tournament, and once again stole all the spotlight. This made the young Potter mad, he would switch any day with the redhead. Rubi was also upset but a bit disappointed as well in Ron, as he was having issues trusting his best friend.

Hermione suggested writing to Sirius so the trio dashed back to the castle to quickly scribble a message and send it off with Rubi's owl, Nightwing.

The day went fairly normal but Harry was not that loved by the students anymore. The following day proved to show what people really thought of the young Potter.

The Hufflepuffs, who were usually on excellent terms with the Gryffindors, had turned remarkably cold toward the whole lot of them. One Herbology lesson was enough to demonstrate this. It was plain that the Hufflepuffs felt that Harry had stolen their champion's glory; a feeling exacerbated, perhaps, by the fact that Hufflepuff House very rarely got any glory, and that Cedric was one of the few who had ever given them any, having beaten Gryffindor once at Quidditch.

Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley, with whom Harry normally got on very well, did not talk to him even though they were repotting Bouncing Bulbs at the same tray- though they did laugh rather unpleasantly when one of the Bouncing Bulbs wriggled free from Harry's grip and smacked him hard in the face.

This earned a Bouncing Bulb being released on the pair of Hufflepuffs, who covered their faces as they got attacked rapidly on their faces. Rubi was looking very smug by the end of it. If anyone was going to mess with Harry, they were going to pay for it.

Ron wasn't talking to Harry unfortunately. Hermione sat between them, making very forced conversation, but though both answered her normally, they avoided making eye contact with each other. Rubi watched the interaction with a defeated expression, before a certain sense of frustration rose within her. The young Black had to resist the urge to slap some sense into Ron.

Even Professor Sprout seemed distant with Harry- but then again, she was Head of Hufflepuff House. Soon they were headed to Hagrid's class, which Rubi hoped would not involve the Blast-Ended Skrewts for just this one class. This was a class they shared with the Slytherins and the trio of friends already knew how the house of the snakes would be with Harry.

Predictably, Malfoy arrived at Hagrid's cabin with his familiar sneer firmly in place,

"Ah, look, boys, it's the champion," he said to Crabbe and Goyle the moment he got within earshot of the trio. "Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer... Half the Triwizard champions have died... how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet." Crabbe and Goyle guffawed sycophantically, but Malfoy had to stop there, because Hagrid emerged from the back of his cabin balancing a teetering tower of crates, each containing a very large Blast-Ended Skrewt.

To the class's horror, Hagrid proceeded to explain that the reason the skrewts had been killing one another was an excess of pent-up energy, and that the solution would be for each student to fix a leash on a skrewt and take it for a short walk. The only good thing about this plan was that it distracted Malfoy completely.