The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 3

"I can't believe you!" Cedric shouted at Anna. "You're leaving me for what? Bloody Nott?"

"Oh get over yourself." Anna retorted as she rolled her eyes, people milling about them, watching the 'fight'. If Anna wanted people to believe that she hadn't changed, she would have to pretend to break things off with Cedric. Hopefully they would all fall for it. "You aren't the special, perfect boy that you think you are! It's over Diggory." Anna turned on her heel and walked away, Pansy scurrying after her.

"It's about time you broke things off with him." Pansy said, and Anna nodded. "He's bloody infuriating, I don't know what it was that I saw in him in the first place."

"Baby." Theo walked up to them, and Pansy giggled. "I'll catch you later." She winked at Anna before walking away.

Anna put a fake smile on her face as she looked at Theo. "Hey love."

"Heard that you made things official with Diggory." His arms wrapped around her waist, preventing her from going anywhere. "Which means that you're all mine."

"All yours." Anna said, fighting back the urge to puke in his face. Theo pulled her into a kiss, and she had no choice but to kiss him back. The thing about Theo was, when he kissed, he liked to use tongue. A lot of tongue. Anna was just thankful that they had never taken it any further than that. He had tried many times, but even her brainwashed self knew better than to give in so early.

When Theo finally pulled away, Anna made an excuse about having to study for Potions and scurried away. She could only make so many excuses to Theo, so hopefully Dumbledore wouldn't need her services for very long.

If Anna had thought that pretending to want to be around Theo was hard, Umbridge was ten times worse. Anna despised the woman; she couldn't believe that the two of them had ever actually gotten along. To make matters worse, Anna still had to spy on the Gryffindors for Umbridge to keep up the facade. Usually she lied about what they were doing, but a few times she had to give someone up so that Umbridge wouldn't get suspicious. Usually it was only people that Anna knew would be able to handle the quill. She never told her about anything concerning Neville anymore, the poor boy had already been through enough. Although she never really minded turning in Fred. He had become such an ass. He thought that he was better than everyone. Anna didn't know what had come over him, he had changed just as much as she had. Ron told her that it was just Fred's way of trying to get over her. That eventually he would move on and would be back to his normal  self. Anna hoped that he was right about the matter.

The only other person that knew the truth about everything besides Cedric, the trio, and Dumbledore was Nancy. Nancy was one of Anna's closest friends, there was no way that she would be able to keep something like this away from her.

"I knew that something was up!" Nancy exclaimed. They were sitting in the Astronomy Tower, where Anna knew that they would be able to talk without being interrupted by anyone.

"I'm so sorry Nancy." Anna said apologetically. "I know that I've been a downright bitch recently."

"That's an understatement." Nancy said dryly. "I wanted to slap you everytime you called someone a Mudblood."

Anna winced. "This hasn't been my finest year, I have to admit."

"You've definitely had better ones, we all know that." Nancy said as she hugged her. "But the real you is back now, and that's all that matters."

"But you can't tell a single soul." Anna warned her. "If they know that I'm being a spy for Dumbledore, I'm as good as dead."

"So I'm kind of like your Secret Keeper then." Nancy whispered in delight. "Oh gosh this is so exciting!"

Anna rolled her eyes as she laughed. "You're such a dork."

"I know. It's one of the reasons that you like being around me so much."

"Well I wouldn't go that far." Anna squealed as Nancy lightly smacked her. "Hey!"

"You take that back!" Nancy demanded as she pushed Anna to the ground, mercilessly tickling her. "Take it back right now!"

"Okay, okay fine!" Anna squealed, still laughing. Nancy giggled as she ceased her deathly tickles, and allowed Anna to sit up. Anna playfully glared at her, trying to catch her breath. "You're trying to kill me, aren't you?"

"Oh shoot." Nancy said as she pouted. "You discovered my plan. I'm such a bad assassin."

"Remind me why I'm friends with you."

"Because you would be stuck in a deep and dark rut if I wasn't here."

"I wish that I could deny it, but I can't." Anna dramatically sighed. "I guess that I'm stuck with you then."

"You're stuck with me until we die." Nancy cackled, and Anna's eyes widened. "Okay, I am seriously scared by you now."

"As you should be. If you aren't careful then you could join the bodies that I keep in the dungeons."

"So I'm friends with a serial killer." Anna teased. "You know what? I'm gonna just..." She stood up and took off running, Nancy right on her tail.

One day when Hermione was passing Anna, she told her to meet her in Hogsmeade that weekend. "Meet me in the Shrieking Shack, there's something I have to ask you." She muttered before scurrying away, lest the Slytherins catch Anna talking to her. Anna frowned slightly, wondering what Hermione was going to ask her. Maybe it was something considering the mission that Dumbledore had given her. Regardless, she would find out in a few days. Almost immeidately afterwards, Snape came up to her.

"Come to my office Tuesday night. We have a...meeting." Snape said. Anna knew what that meant. It meant that she would be meeting with Kate and other Death Eaters. The day before was a full moon, and Anna was tempted to tell him no, but she also knew that you didn't miss a Death Eater meeting. She sighed quietly. She couldn't wait for all of this to be over with.