Vulnerability || George Weasley

The Mystery

November seemed to be passing very slowly and tauntingly. It was almost like time knew how agitated Phoenix was to finding out the truth and time was slowly down in spite of her. Throughout November it seemed as though the houses of Hogwarts were more divided than usual and this was all due to the fourth champion, Harry Potter. The Slytherins, which came as no surprise to anyone, were even more horrible and cruel to the Gryffindors than usual. Even the Ravenclaw (with the expectation of Luna) and Hufflepuffs were less friendly to the Gryffindors.

As houses should, the Gryffindors stood by Harry (well most of them). Phoenix had given him some of her old fifth year text books in hopes to help him with the first task which would take place after lunch on November 24th and Fred and George always made sure to bring Harry food from the kitchens when he was in a particularly cranky mood (which was most of the time). The only Gryffindor it seemed that was not supporting Harry was Ron, who had been sitting with Fred and George most of his time, much to their annoyance.

Badges had been seen on a large majority of the students in Hogwarts, when Phoenix had first seen these badges she thought for a wild moment that they were S.P.E.W. badges, but they were in fact Support CEDRIC DIGGORY - the REAL Hogwarts Champion! And that wasn't the last of it. Whenever somebody (which a large majority were Slytherins) supporting these badges saw a Gryffindor, particularly Harry, they pressed their badge into their chest and the message was replaced by POTTER STINKS.

"You know what Malfoy?" Phoenix said loudly as she passed a sniggering Draco Malfoy who had just jabbed his finger into his badge so that it read POTTER STINKS when Harry had walked by him. "It seems as though you have some kind of weird obsession with Harry seemingly as though you were the one to slave over making hundreds of these badges."

Fred, George, Angelina Harry, Hermione, and Lee all roared with laughter at this as Malfoy looked at Phoenix, his pale face set in anger.

"Shut your mouth you filthy little Mudblood!"

Fred and George both lunged for Malfoy but Lee and Harry both grabbed their arms and pulled them back. Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy's boyfriends as Phoenix liked to call them, cracked their knuckles menacingly.

"Shove off Malfoy," George spat.

"You know Malfoy your insults are getting old," Phoenix said coldly, her hair turning an icy blue as she grabbed George's arm. "And your badge isn't really witty. It's kind of pathetic actually."

"That's rich coming from a -"

"A Mudblood? Wow, I've never been called such a profanity before," she said in a patronizing sort of voice and Fred tried to contain his snort of laughter. "You really can't expect to win all your arguments with the same, tedious insults."

Malfoy scowled at her before he and his bodyguard boyfriends stalked off.

"Thanks," said Harry when they reached the Great Hall for lunch. "Those badges have been getting on my nerves."

"I could have turned him into a ferret if you asked," said Phoenix grinning and Harry laughed.

When the morning of the 21st approached, Phoenix could feel a mix of excitement and anxiety. Today, hopefully, was going to be the day that she found out the truth.

Her hair had turned a dark purple. Sometimes, she thought as she dressed in a blouse, jeans and jumper, she believed that her hair was almost like some strange and obscure mood ring. Phoenix knew it was because she hadn't really ever learnt how to balance her emotions and her Metamorphmagi ability. Not wanting to give her nervousness away, she squeezed her eyes shut and her hair turned her favourite shade of pastel lilac.