The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 7

Finally the time came that everyone (well, mostly everyone, those that weren't stressing out about how dangerous it was like Anna) had been waiting for. It was the night that the three champions for the Triwizard Tournament would be chosen. Anna was feeling a mix of anticipation. Anticipation because, like everyone else, she was dying to know who had been chosen, and dread because of what dangers the Champions might face. She was scared that Cedric would be chosen. She knew how much he wanted this, wanted to bring fame and glory to his family and house. But she couldn't shake the feeling that something awful would come of it. She didn't understand why they had made the Tournament so dangerous anyways. Surely they could have a tournament of sorts with it being life-threatening. Anna watched as a piece of burnt paper flew from the Cup, and Dumbledore deftly caught it in his hand.
"The Champion from Durmstrang is...Viktor Krum!" Dumbledore announced, and Anna couldn't help but feel sorry for Viktor. As though he didn't have enough fangirls already. She honestly didn't know how he handled it. Or Cedric for that matter.
Yet another piece of paper shot out. Fleur Delacour was chosen from Beauxbaton, then...
"The champion from Hogwarts is..." Dumbledore looked at the paper. "Cedric Diggory!"

Anna felt her heart sink as she watched the Hufflepuffs clap and cheer and pat Cedric on the back. But then....as the Champions were being herded towards a room, another piece of paper came out of the Goblet. To everyone's shock and surprise, it had Harry's name. Anna looked at her brother, who appeared to be just as confused as everybody else. As Harry walked towards the back room, people whispered amongst themselves, a lot of them grumbling about how he had managed to fool the age limit line. It didn't make any sense to Anna. He had told her that he wouldn't put his name in, that he wanted a normal year. And Anna knew that he wouldn't go back on his word, so that meant that someone else must have put his name into the Goblet. But who could it have been?

Ever since Harry had been chosen as a Champion, Ron hadn't spoken a single word to him. He felt that Harry had betrayed him by putting his name into the Goblet, and not telling Ron how he had done it, so that he could do the same. No matter how much Anna and Harry tried to persuade Ron otherwise, he had dubbed Harry a traitor, and whenever he had a message for Harry, he would send it through Anna or Hermione. At this point Anna was starting to feel like some sort of carrier pigeon. She was complaining about it to Cedric one day as they were hanging out in his common room, playing a round of wizard's chess.
"It's starting to get insane." Anna said as she moved her knight, ignoring the shouts from the other pieces that she had just made a deadly mistake. "From how Ron is acting, you would think that Harry had pledged allegiance to Voldemort or something."
The others in the common room glanced nervously at Anna when she had said the Dark Lord's name, but it didn't seem to bother Cedric.
"He's just upset because Harry got chosen and no one knows how, not even Harry, it would seem."
"He's so confused about it. Granted, Harry is confused about most things, but even more so than usual about this."
Cedric sighed as he moved his bishops, his other players applauding his move as he captured Anna's rook. "And that Skeeter woman isn't making things any better."
"Don't even get me started on that woman." Anna snorted. "Twelve year old Harry Potter who is haunted by the ghosts of his past." She rolled her eyes. "It's utterly ridiculous. There's a reason why I went to The Quibbler instead of The Daily Prophet about the whole thing that happened with Adriana. At least Xenophilius printed the truth about it. Skeeter just made it seem like I was trying to outdo Harry in fame and popularity."
"She's a right horror." Cedric said as he grinned. "Checkmate, by the way."
Anna groaned as her chess pieces started yelling at her, some of them swearing. "Oh shut up!" She snapped, causing Cedric to laugh. "Someone's touchy."
"Don't make me hex you, Diggory."

That night, Anna had a visit from the ghosts that had died in the fire in Gryffindor Tower, and they were none too happy....

"Haven't you found out anything yet?" Zachary asked in exasperation. His arms were folded across his chest, and he glared at Anna.
"I haven't exactly had time!" Anna said defensively. "I was going to try and find out more about that Jason Dean guy, but it was kind of hard when I was in the hospital for half of the summer after being kidnapped and being forced to fight another wolf to the death!"
Zachary's face softened a bit after he heard this news. "I'm sorry, it's just...we're anxious."
"I know that, and I'm doing my best, between studies and worrying about my brother and my best friend. All I'm asking for is a little bit of patience. Now, did any of you ever talk to Jason Dean before the fire?"

One  of the girls nodded her head. "I did once or twice. He was really quiet, he didn't even really talk to any of his Slytherin housemates, at least not from what I saw."
"It probably didn't help that Zachary teased him a lot." One of the younger boys piped up.
"He deserved it!" Zachary objected. "Muttering under his breath about Mudbloods and blood traitors."

"You do realize that your taunting and bullying may be one of the reasons why he started the fire, if he actually is guilty?" Anna said as she raised an eyebrow. "From what I read, quite a few of the teachers speculated that he may have had some type of mental illness. If that's the case, then maybe one day the bullying had been taken too far, and he decided to make it end once and for all."
Anna wasn't trying to defend Jason Dean, she was merely trying to see things from his point of view, but Zachary definitely didn't see it that way.
"Are you honestly defending him?" He spat.
"Of course not! All I'm saying is-"
"Because it's starting to sound like you're taking his side."
"Well maybe this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't bullied him constantly!" Anna snapped. "Honestly, what is it with Gryffindors and Slytherins hating each other?! I have a friend from Slytherin, and she's one of the sweetest people alive! Not all Slytherins are brutes, there's brutes in other houses too, and it looks like you're one of them."

Zachary stared at her coldly. "I see. Glad to know your true thoughts about me. Forget about helping us, we'll find someone who doesn't think of us as brutes."

They started to disappear, and Anna woke up, sunlight streaming in through her dormitory window.