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SIYE Time:10:36 on 29th March 2024
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The Thorny Rose
By Brennus

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Category: Pre-OotP
Characters:Harry/Ginny
Genres: Action/Adventure, Romance
Warnings: Mild Language
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 185
Summary: Harry has been entered into the Triwizard Tournament against his will, and his friends don’t believe him when he insists he didn’t enter his name. Will Ginny Weasley sit by and watch him suffer alone, or will she risk exposing the dark secret she has been hiding. GoF re-write from Ginny’s POV. Smart & slightly manipulative Ginny! Extreme Ron-bashing!
Hitcount: Story Total: 69113; Chapter Total: 7695
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Chapter 2 is presented for your reading pleasure.

Luna enters the story here (yes, I know she wasn’t in GoF, but I’m writing her in, damn it!) and I have confess I’ve made her a bit more playful than in canon. We rarely get to see Luna and Ginny together in the books and I imagine they would make a great double-act.

Also, a word about Hagrid’s accent. My wonderful beta Arnel changed a lot of what I had written, mainly sticking the ‘h’s back were I’d left them out. While Arnel is completely correct in terms of how JKR wrote Hagrid speaking, I, as a born and bred West Country lad (Somerset born, Wiltshire bred, to be exact) reserve the right to write what is my own accent in a manner I feel correct. I know JKR’s a Gloucestershire girl, but she is a bit posh.




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Chapter 2 — Front Page News


The next couple of weeks passed rapidly. The two of them continued to train in the classroom provided by Professor McGonagall whenever they could and making good progress. After the end of the first week they started to do their homework together as well to try and save some time. The result was that Ginny spent nearly every evening with Harry, either in the library studying or in the classroom learning new spells. Add in the fact that he was continuing to eat his meals with Ginny and her friends and it was no wonder that rumours were starting to spread about the two of them.

Of course, things were obviously going too well to last. Walking into breakfast one morning they were accosted by a group of sniggering Slytherins. Naturally, at the centre of the group was Draco Malfoy, who stood with a smug grin on his face.

“Hey, Potter,” the boy called. “Do you like our badges?”

Ginny looked at the sizable badges that Draco and his cronies were all wearing. In large letters they displayed the message ‘Support Cedric Diggory: the REAL Hogwarts champion’. Ginny was confused by Draco’s apparent glee until the badges shimmered and the message changed to ‘Potter stinks!’ She suppressed the desire to roll her eyes at the childishness of Draco’s actions.

“Is that supposed to impress me?” Harry said, clearly of the same opinion as her.

“What’s the matter, Potter?” Draco taunted. “Does the truth hurt?”

Harry ignored him and pushed past the boy with Ginny hard on his heels. As soon as they entered the Great Hall she groaned. Practically everyone on the Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables was wearing the badges. To her fury, there were even a few Gryffindors wearing them, as well. She glanced up the table and noted that at least her brother Ron wasn’t one of them, although he was scowling in Harry’s direction. Perhaps Hermione had stopped him wearing one?

She could see Harry’s shoulders beginning to shake in anger and she pulled him close.

“Don’t give them the satisfaction of seeing you upset,” she whispered. “Nothing will annoy the gits more than seeing you just carrying on normally.”

Harry took a deep breath and resumed his way to the table and sat down at his now usual place among the third years. Demelza and Vicky both looked sympathetic, while Colin actually looked furious. Harry began to fill his plate without comment and at least gave the appearance of being relatively calm. Ginny slid into the seat next to him and greeted her classmates pleasantly.

Seeing that Potter wasn’t going to provide them with any immediate entertainment, most of the occupants of the other tables resumed eating their breakfast. There were occasional taunts coming from the Slytherin table, but they were easy to ignore. The only real distraction was when Angelina Johnson laid into one of her fellow sixth-years for wearing one of the badges. The boy rather quickly removed the offending item and Ginny noticed the few other badge wearers on the table also removed them. She managed to catch Angelina’s eye briefly and smiled warmly at her. The dark skinned girl just winked in reply.

Ginny turned back to find Harry attacking his sausages with a rather unnecessary vigour. Although he was doing quite a good job of appearing unconcerned, she could tell he was extremely upset. She immediately decided that the badges had to be dealt with and a plan began to form in her mind. It would require a bit of help, but she was confident she could arrange that.

Harry devoured his breakfast in record time, and made ready to leave. Ginny instantly abandoned the remains of her own meal, and stood, ready to follow him out of the hall. As they picked up their bags, Ginny noticed many people on the Hufflepuff table turn so their badges were prominently displayed. Harry fortunately just looked straight ahead and ignored them, while she sent a withering glance towards several people she knew within the House. Ginny was pleased to see a couple of the Hufflepuffs at least had the decency to look a little sheepish.

Once outside Ginny placed a reassuring hand on Harry’s arm.

“Don’t worry about those idiots, Harry. They’re just a bunch of sheep,” she said fiercely.

“And that’s exactly the problem,” he replied bitterly. “It’s the Heir of Slytherin thing all over again. One moment they’re all prepared to believe I’m pure evil; the next I’m a hero! It’s like they all have the memory of a goldfish. And the worst thing about this is that Draco bloody Malfoy has managed to get nearly the whole school to do what he wants! I think the idea that everyone would believe him over me is what hurts the most.”

“They just like to build people up so they can knock them down,” Ginny agreed. “Screw the lot of them, Harry. If there’s one good thing to come out of this, it’s that you’ll know who your true friends are.”

“Yeah, trouble is that I don’t think I’ll have many friends left by the end,” he said glumly.

“You’ll have more than you think,” she assured him. “And even if no one else stands by you, I promise I will.”

Harry looked at her sharply. For a moment, he seemed unsure what to say and his confusion was written all over his face. Then, his expression softened and he smiled at her.

“Thanks, Gin,” he said simply.

“No worries,” she replied shyly. “So, what do you have next?”

“Potions,” Harry spat. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Snape is wearing one of those stupid badges.”

“Probably,” she laughed. “Anyway, I have an idea about those things. We’ll talk about it later, okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Assuming I make it through this class alive, that is. I’ll see you later, Gin,” he said before turning and heading off towards the dungeons.

Ginny watched him go with a feeling of fury building in her. Harry was the bravest, kindest, most selfless person she knew and the majority of Hogwarts seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable to taunt and humiliate him. She was sick of it. The fact that most of them were children didn’t excuse their behaviour. Hell, most of the adults would dumbly believe whatever was written about Harry in the Daily Prophet, as well. Well, things were going to change, starting with those stupid bloody badges.

With her face twisted into a scowl, she turned and headed towards her next class.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

That evening, Ginny had just taken her seat at the Gryffindor table when Harry stomped in and threw himself down next to her. His expression alone was enough to scare most people around them into silence. She was just about to ask what had happened when Colin, who was seated opposite them, nervously spoke.

“How did the Weighing of the Wands ceremony go, Harry?” the small boy asked.

“Not well,” he answered with a scowl. “Not only was the whole thing a stupid waste of time, but that bloody Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet was there, too. She managed to twist every single thing I said. That’s when she wasn’t just making stuff up, of course. For instance, did you know me and Hermione were engaged in a passionate love affair? Someone might have pointed it out to me; I didn’t even notice!”

Ginny sniggered. She had to admit she liked it when Harry allowed his sarcastic side to come out. It was so much more fun than his sullen moodiness.

“And that was on top of a pretty crappy day already,” Harry continued. “Malfoy was being even more of an arse than usual this morning. I honestly thought he was going to try and hex me right there in the corridor, but then Snape turned up and he was his normal ray of sunshine. I would have welcomed getting pulled out of the class to go to that stupid ceremony if it hadn’t been such a pain in the bum. Naturally, all the other Champions think I’m a cheat, although I guess Cedric Diggory wasn’t that bad. But I tell you; if that stuck-up French tart calls me a ‘leetle boy’ once more I’m going to deck her!”

“So, while every boy in the castle is drooling over Miss Delacour, you want to punch her?” Ginny teased. “Not too good with girls, are you? It’s probably the reason your affair with Hermione petered out.”

“Right; I’ll have to remember this for the future. Either punching or completely ignoring pretty girls is a bad thing,” Harry deadpanned. “It’s just as well I have you to point these things out to me, Gin.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” she giggled. “Anyway, eat up. We’ve got to go and have a chat with the twins after dinner.”

“The twins?” Harry asked. “What do we need to speak to them for?”

“The badges,” Ginny said with a shrug.

Harry looked confused for a second before understanding came to his face.

“Do you think they’ll help?” he asked eagerly.

“Oh, there’s nothing those two won’t do for their sweet baby sister,” she grinned. “Especially if I threaten to Bat-Bogey them!”

An hour later the pair of them had returned to the Gryffindor common room in search of Fred and George. They found them huddled in a corner, locked in intense, but quiet, conversation. They didn’t look too pleased at being interrupted.

“What do you two want?” Fred said gruffly, with little sign of his normal good humour.

“What’s got your knickers in a twist?” Ginny demanded.

“Nothing that concerns you,” George replied sourly. “We’re busy; what do you want?”

Ginny put her hand on her hips and glared at her brothers. She’d never taken any crap from the pair of them and she wasn’t going to start now.

“If you’ve finished being grumpy, we need your help,” Ginny growled. “It’s these stupid badges that Malfoy has been handing out. We’ve got to do something about them.”

“They are a bit amateurish,” George conceded.

“Yeah, and honestly: ‘Potter Stinks’! Is that the best Malfoy can come up with?” Fred demanded.

“It’s not even true,” George agreed. “Harry here is only moderately whiffy. Ron smells much worse.”

“Oi!” Harry objected.

“Never mind that,” Ginny interrupted. “We can’t allow Malfoy to get away with this. Not only is he insulting a Gryffindor, he’s trying to usurp your pranking crown. You’re not going to let him get away with that, are you?”

“She has a point, brother mine. A slight has been cast on one of our own, and we cannot let it go unanswered,” George acknowledged.

“Very true, my striking twin. I take it as a personal insult when Malfoy gets away with anything,” Fred agreed. “What did you have in mind, Gin-Gin?”

“Well, I was thinking that the charm work on those badges can’t be very complicated, can it? I’m sure an intelligent pair of pranksters could arrange for a different message to be displayed,” she reasoned.

The twins grinned evilly.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Next morning Draco Malfoy made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast accompanied by his usual lumbering bodyguards. On entering the hall he was surprised to see that virtually all of Gryffindor House were already seated at their table, despite the early hour. Feeling curious, he decided to kill two birds with one stone by wandering over and baiting Potter, while finding out why the Gryffindors were all so prompt to the breakfast table that morning.

As he approached, he noted everyone on the table had turned to face him. It was then he noticed that all the Gryffindors were wearing his ‘Support Cedric Diggory’ badges. Draco felt a stab of excitement when he saw this. Had the Lions all finally realised what a fraud Potter was and turned against him? He looked up the table and spotted Potter, seated with his back turned to Draco a few yards away. With a swagger in his step, Draco approached him.

“Morning, Potty,” he called loudly. “Seems like your Housemates have finally got the right idea about you.”

Potter turned and faced him with a small grin on his face. It was then that Draco noticed the boy was wearing one of the badges, as well. His smile faltered as he began to sense a trap.

“Oh, morning, Draco,” Potter replied in a friendly tone. “How are you today?”

“A lot worse for seeing your ugly face,” Draco sneered, ignoring the fact he was the one who had approached Potter. “Why are you wearing one of those badges?”

“This?” Harry queried, tapping the badge with his finger. “Why, I happen to agree with its message. Cedric is the true Hogwarts champion. My name was put in the Goblet against my wishes and that of the school’s. I’m more than happy to confirm that Cedric is the one who should be representing Hogwarts.”

By this point, Draco realised that the badges should have changed to the ‘Potter Stinks’ message, but they had all remained the same. Obviously, the Gryffindors had managed to alter the charm on the badges to keep them displaying only the one message.

“Oh, managed to alter the badges, did you? Very clever,” he said sarcastically. “It makes no difference; I’ve got loads of the original badges. I think it’s very important for BOTH statements to be made, don’t you think?”

“What? You mean this other statement?” Potter said innocently.

As soon as the words left the boy’s mouth, his badge, and that of everyone on the table changed. Draco leaned in to read what the badge now said. As soon as he saw the new writing he howled in protest.

“HOW BLOODY DARE YOU!” he bellowed. “I’ll make sure the lot of you are expelled!”

“Oh, sorry. Was it a secret?” Potter asked smugly.

Draco was on the verge of pulling his wand out and hexing Potter, but at the last moment realised where he was. He looked round and saw everyone on the table laughing at him. It there was one thing he hated, it was being laughed at. Caution be damned, he was going to hex Potter anyway! Just as he reached for his wand, a familiar voice stopped him in tracks.

“What is going on here?” Professor Snape demanded.

Draco couldn’t resist grinning in triumph. Once Snape saw the offensive message on the badges he would dock Gryffindor so many House Points that they would be in negative figures for the whole year. He turned to his Head of House.

“Professor, just look at the disgusting message the Gryffindors have put on their badges,” he wailed. “I’ve never been so offended in my life! You have to do something about this, sir!”

Snape glanced at the badges and frowned slightly.

“I see nothing wrong with them, Malfoy,” he drawled, before glaring in Potter’s direction. “A rather appropriate message, I would say.”

“WHAT!” Draco screamed. “How can you say that! Wait until father hears of this!”

“What, pray, is exactly wrong with these pupils expressing their support of Cedric Diggory?” Snape demanded, his expression frosty.

“I… what? No, not that message. The other one!” Draco snapped.

“Do NOT take that tone with me, Mr Malfoy,” Snape growled.

“Sorry, sir!” Draco apologised quickly. “I was just so upset; I forgot myself. But those badges have a second message. You wait, sir, they’ll change in just a second!”

Snape raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Instead, he turned and waited for the badges to change.

And waited.

And waited.

“Well, Malfoy? What exactly am I waiting for?” Snape demanded.

“There was another message!” Draco insisted. He could feel his face turning red under the mocking gaze of the Gryffindors.

“And what did this message say?” Snape asked sourly.

“Malfoy manically masturbates!” Draco exclaimed. The Gryffindors would be in so much trouble…

Draco jumped as the entire table burst out into howls of laughter. Turning, he saw many of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were also laughing at him. He’d obviously spoken a bit too loudly.

“Quiet!” Snape called.

Everyone ignored him as the Gryffindors literally rolled around. Draco could feel himself shaking with rage at his humiliation. He looked appealingly to his Head of House to do something.

“QUIET!” Snape bellowed, and this time he managed to silence the table. “Is this true, Potter? Have you been making slanderous and offensive comments about one of your fellow pupils?”

“No, Sir,” Potter said calmly. “I had no idea the badges did that. There was a pile of them in the common room and I just picked one up like everyone else.”

“Well, remove the badges immediately. Everyone! I will not tolerate a pupil being insulted in this manner!” Snape yelled.

“How about we change the badges to say ‘Malfoy Stinks’, sir?” Fred Weasley called out. “Would that be acceptable?”

“No, it most certainly would not!” Snape snapped. “I will not stand for any derogatory comments to be made about Mr Malfoy!”

“How come it’s not acceptable to say that about Malfoy, but it is about Harry?” Ginny Weasley demanded.

“An excellent point, Miss Weasley,” a female voice said sternly. Professor McGonagall stood just behind Snape with an angry expression on her face.

“I will not permit one of my House to be ridiculed in this manner,” Snape said, turning towards the Deputy Head. “I demand action is taken.”

“I quite agree,” she replied. “I had hoped that the pupils of this school would show a degree of adult behaviour, but it appears I’m to be disappointed. Therefore from this point onwards all badges, other than official Hogwarts issued ones, are banned! Everyone will remove them now!”

With some grumbling, everyone in the Great Hall who was wearing a badge removed it. Draco thought angrily of the amount of time he had spent charming all those badges. More to the point, he had been thwarted in his attempts to humiliate Potter. Scowling, he turned on his heels and stomped towards the Slytherin table.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Ginn y watched Draco run off with his tail between his legs. Beside her she could hear Harry laughing and congratulating the twins for their marvellous charm work. The clever twist that allowed them to control when the message on the badges changed was certainly a master stroke. Everyone was smiling and chatting happily about how the whole of Gryffindor had got one over on Malfoy.

So why did she feel so unsatisfied?

Somehow, just stopping Malfoy from continuing with his petty little ploy just wasn’t enough. The pathetic little bastard had once again tried to embarrass Harry and cast him in a bad light. Malfoy was so feeble she should just squash him like a bug and end his paltry existence for good. Perhaps if she could separate him from Crabbe and Goyle she could really make him suffer?

Ginny suddenly went cold. What the hell had she been thinking? Was she really making plans to ambush Draco Malfoy and torture him?

The thought had no sooner crossed her mind when she was assailed by images of Tom Riddle extracting exactly that sort of vengeance on people he had decided had crossed him. Often their crimes were so minor as to be laughable, but Tom had extracted his revenge, nevertheless. One image of a small blond haired girl lying screaming on the floor of Tom’s orphanage stuck in her mind. The girl’s crime had been to reach out and grab a dish of potatoes at the dinner table before Tom had taken his portion.

She started to feel sick. She’d had been certain that she had distanced herself from Riddle’s memories and that they had no real effect on her. Yes, she could pick useful information from his recollections, but they otherwise had no bearing no her behaviour.

Now she wasn’t so sure that was true.

Did the memories of Tom committing terrible acts of cruelty colour the way she thought? Did she feel their vengeance on Malfoy was inadequate compared to what she had seen Riddle do to the slightest of offences against him? If so, in what other ways was she being affected?

“Are you okay?” a voice whispered in her ear, causing her to nearly jump in the air. She turned to see a pair of bright green eyes looking at her in concern.

“Yes, I’m fine, Harry,” she replied, a touch too quickly.

“Are you sure? The twin’s badges worked a treat. I would have thought you would have been pleased, but you just look really upset,” he persisted.

“No, I… I was just thinking about something else,” she lied. “Besides, he still got off lightly, didn’t he?”

“I don’t care,” Harry said, grinning. “I won’t have to deal with those stupid badges being waved in my face anymore. As far as I’m concerned that’s a result. Thanks for persuading Fred and George to do that for me, Gin.”

“No problem, Harry,” she said dismissively. “I’m sure my brothers would have done it for you if you’d asked them anyway.”

“Maybe,” Harry acknowledged. “But it was you that thought of doing it and you that asked them. Those things were really starting to get to me, Gin. Thanks for looking after me.”

Ginny felt herself melt under his warm smile and affectionate gaze. Her cheeks were suddenly hot and she looked down in embarrassment at his praise. No matter that by Tom’s standards her actions against Malfoy were completely inadequate; Harry thought they were just right.

At that moment she was struck by a sudden revelation. No matter how much Riddle’s memories coloured her perception, Harry would always be the counter balance to them. He would act as her moral compass and she knew if she disappointed him it meant that she’d gone too far. As much as she was helping him with her inherited knowledge, he was keeping her grounded.

In short, she needed him as much as he needed her, even if he was unaware of their symbiotic relationship.

She looked back up at him and smiled. “Any time, Harry,” she told him simply.

Maybe things would work out okay.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Poor Harry never gets a break, thought Ginny as she watched him growing angrier and angrier. She’d hoped that since they had managed to get rid of the annoying badges a few days before that they could enjoy their breakfasts together peacefully. Clearly, that was not fated to be.

She should have guessed something was up when she noticed numerous Slytherins clutching copies of that morning’s Daily Prophet and smirking. On entering the Great Hall she saw people on every table eagerly huddled over copies of the paper. She could practically feel the sense of apprehension coming from Harry who had entered the hall next to her. Once they had taken their seats, they borrowed a copy of the paper from a nervous looking Colin and started reading. Pretty soon they both wished they hadn’t bothered.

Rita Skeeter’s article on the Triwizard Tournament had made the front page. In truth, rather than actually being about the Tournament, it was a thinly veiled character assassination of Harry. The other three champions were barely mentioned, other than to register their anger that Harry had been allowed to compete.

Harry was painted as a dangerous and delusional young man whose troubled past had led him to seek attention wherever he could. He apparently had a self-destructive personality and may even have a death wish. The stress of being nearly killed by the wanted murderer Sirius Black the previous year had finally pushed him over the edge and caused him to cheat his way into the competition, regardless of the fact that he would be hopelessly out of his depth.

In addition to doubts being cast about his sanity, his personal life was described in such a way as to make him sound like some lascivious Romeo rather than a fourteen-year-old schoolboy. His string of female conquests were apparently the reason his long term lover, Miss Hermione Granger, had finally broken up with him. After reading this part Ginny glanced up the table and noted that Hermione was nearly as angry as Harry. Ron looked furious, as well.

The sound of tearing paper made her look around and she saw Harry ripping Colin’s copy of The Prophet to pieces. Colin was watching him with his eyes wide and his mouth firmly closed. Realising it was probably a futile exercise, Ginny decided she’d better try and calm Harry down, although in truth she was as angry as he was.

“Don’t worry about it,” she assured him. “No sensible person is going to believe a word Skeeter says.”

“Yeah, but in case you haven’t noticed, sensible people are a bit thin on the ground around here,” he spat. “I bet most of the morons around here will believe every bloody word!”

Ginny was about to refute his words, but realised he was probably correct. Even her mum had a tendency to believe everything that was put in print. Most of the people in the hall were quite willing to believe the worst of Harry, and would lap this rubbish up. Of course, if next week there was a story saying that Harry was a wonderful hero they would probably believe that, too. Small minded bloody idiots.

Suddenly, an idea stuck her. She was right; a lot of people might change their tune if they read something positive about Harry in the press if it was presented correctly. Maybe it was time for Harry to receive a bit of positive press for a change.

Before she could tell Harry about her idea, they were interrupted by the arrival of the post owls. However, rather than one of the normal brown owls that usually delivered letters, a brightly coloured bird of a type Ginny didn’t recognise swooped in front of Harry. Cautiously, he reached out and removed the envelope from the bird’s leg. As soon as he saw the handwriting on the front of the letter, he hurriedly shoved it inside his robes. He glanced over at Ginny and mouthed the word ‘later’ at her. It didn’t take much for her to deduce the letter was from Harry’s godfather.

As soon as the exotic bird had departed, Harry began to virtually inhale his breakfast. Realising he was keen to get away and read the letter, Ginny began shovelling her breakfast into her mouth. In a couple of minutes flat they had both succeeded in demolishing their meals and they hurried out the hall. Harry was so hell-bent on finding somewhere private that he completely ignored the cat-calls and jeers being thrown at him from the people who had clearly believed everything they had read in the paper. Ginny resisted the urge to hex them and hurried after Harry.

They ended up in the third floor classroom where they had been practising spells and as soon as they closed the door Harry tore open the letter. Glancing over his shoulder, Ginny should see that the letter was extremely short; just a couple of lines. She hoped Harry wouldn’t be too disappointed by the brevity of Sirius’s correspondence. Harry finished reading and just looked puzzled.

“What does it say?” she prompted him.

“Sirius wants me to be by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room at midnight on the twenty-first of this month,” Harry explained.

“He’s going to contact you via the Floo network?” Ginny gasped. “Is he nuts? He could easily get caught.”

“I don’t know,” Harry said, shaking his head. “Sirius is pretty cunning. I don’t think he would do this unless he was sure he could get away with it. Besides, I really want to talk with him.”

“Okay, I hope you’re right,” she said. “When the time comes, I’ll stand guard and make sure no one comes into the common room while you’re talking.”

“That’s a good idea,” he acknowledged with a smile.

“Yes, well, I’m full of good ideas today,” she grinned. “I’ve got a suggestion how to counter Rita bloody Skeeter, as well.”

“Really? Does it involve hexing her to oblivion, because if it does I’m all for it,” he growled.

“No, but that’s a good idea, too,” she laughed. “The trouble is people are only reading what Rita wants them to read. I think you need to tell the world your side of the story.”

“What, you mean talk to another journalist? It’s not a bad idea, but who? Not many people want to go up against Skeeter,” he pointed out.

“Have you met my friend Luna Lovegood?” she asked. Harry just shook his head. “She a Ravenclaw in the same year as me, and lives just a few miles from the Burrow. Well, her Dad owns and runs ‘The Quibbler’. I bet if you offered them an exclusive interview they’d bite your hand off.”

“The Quibbler?” Harry said doubtfully. “What, that weird paper that Hermione is always criticising?”

“Well, it can be a bit weird at times, but I bet that they’d print whatever you said accurately. I’ve met Mr Lovegood and I’m sure you could trust him,” she said.

“A journalist I can trust? I’ll believe that when I see it,” he scoffed. “But you’re right; unless I can find a way to get my story heard, everyone is just going to believe that crap in The Prophet. It’s definitely worth a try.”

“Great. I’ll speak to Luna in class later. I’m sure she’ll want to help,” Ginny told him.

“Right. See you at lunch?” he asked.

“Of course,” she replied.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

“Come on, Harry,” Ginny urged. “You can do better than that!”

In reply, Harry just made a strange grunting noise that made it sound like he’d strained something.

“Come on!” she insisted. “I want five more.”

Instead, Harry collapsed face down onto the floor of the classroom. He lay there, gasping for breath with his face an alarming shade of red. Ginny sighed.

They had recently started to introduce some physical exercise into Harry’s training. Ginny’s memories of Tom revealed he had played quite a lot of sport during his years in the Orphanage. It was strange to think that the boy who had later become the feared Lord Voldemort was quite an accomplished footballer. While at Hogwarts Tom had shown no interest in Quidditch, but instead had been a keen runner. Being physically fit had been of great benefit to him in many ways, and Ginny was determined that Harry should share those benefits. Unfortunately, years of malnutrition was not making it an easy job.

“You’re going to kill me, Gin,” Harry moaned.

“Oh, quit moaning,” she chastised him lightly. “All I asked you to do was twenty press-ups. You should have been able to manage that without any problems.”

Harry managed to turn a slightly different shade of red and mumbled something under his breath. Ginny could understand his embarrassment. He was rather small for his age and skinny as a rake. While she placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of his vile aunt and uncle, it did mean that it would be some time before Harry could display a good level of fitness. That could hamper him in extended duels which would require endurance. She began to think about brewing some nutritional supplements to help build him up a bit.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Knowing that she had arranged for Luna to meet them to discuss the possible interview, she moved over and opened the door. She was greeted by the sight of her small, blonde friend in the doorway, standing there with her usual seriene smile on her face.

“Hi, Luna” she greeted the girl. “Come in and meet Harry.”

The girl did as she was asked and entered the classroom. She walked directly to Harry, who had by now clambered to his feet. Luna stood a couple of feet in front of him, peering at him curiously as if he was an exhibit at some museum.

“Err… hello?” Harry said cautiously.

“Hello, Harry Potter,” Luna replied. “You’re very red in the face. What were you doing with Ginny in this locked room?”

“Nothing inappropriate!” Harry blurted. “I was just doing some exercise. Please don’t print anything that says otherwise!”

“Exercise is very good for you,” Luna told him sagely. “You are rather thin. In fact, a single Jarwobbler could probably pick you up and fly away with you easily. You probably should put on some weight to prevent that.”

“I’ll bear that in mind. Thank you,” said Harry, clearly unnerved by the strange girl.

“Good, it wouldn’t do for you to be snatched up and fed to the Jarwobbler’s chicks before you’ve had a chance to be interviewed for The Quibbler,” Luna added.

“So you’ll arrange for me to be interviewed then?” Harry asked, gamely pressing on.

“Oh, yes, I’ll sure Daddy will love the idea,” she told him warmly. “In fact, I’ll even interview you myself to save time.”

“You?” Harry exclaimed, before he started to look embarrassed. “Um, sorry. I wasn’t trying to be rude or anything, but surely your dad would want a professional journalist to conduct the interview?”

“Why would he want that?” Luna asked with a frown. “Professional journalists are all so boring. Who would want to read anything written by one of those people?”

“I think Harry is just keen to refute all of Rita Skeeter’s lies about him,” Ginny said jumping in. “He just wants the truth to be told.”

“Ah, but don’t you think that there are many versions of the truth, depending on a person’s point of view?” Luna asked thoughtfully.

“Well, Harry would like the chance to present the facts from his point of view,” Ginny insisted. She was starting to have doubts whether involving Luna was a good idea.

“Oh, well. I can do that,” Luna said reluctantly. “I’m sure people will be interested to hear how Harry was tricked into being involved in the Tournament as part of the Rotfang Conspiracy. Only a Vampire could have put his name in the Goblet without detection.”

Ginny groaned quietly to herself and noticed Harry glaring at her accusingly. This really wasn’t proving to be one of her better ideas.

“Let’s get this interview started, Harry,” Luna said pulling a quill and a sheet of parchment from a bag she had slung over her shoulder. “Tell me; do you think the first task will involve Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?”

Oh, bugger, thought Ginny.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was several days before Harry’s interview was published in The Quibbler. An owl swooped down one morning just before they were due to go into Hogsmeade for the day. When Ginny had asked Harry if he had any plans for the visit he had just shrugged his shoulders. Clearly his estrangement from Ron and Hermione was playing on his mind, and he’d decided not to bother visiting the village on his own. However, it didn’t take much persuasion for him to agree to accompany her. Under different circumstances she would have been thrilled with the idea of spending the day with him, but she knew that he didn’t consider the trip was a date as such. Besides, he was worried about the Floo call he was supposed to have with Sirius that night.

Ginny could see the trepidation on Harry’s face as he reached over and untied the furled up copy of The Quibbler from the owl. Once relieved of its burden, the bird immediately took to the air without waiting for payment. This was obviously a complimentary copy. Once Harry had un-rolled the periodical, Ginny could see his picture plastered over the front page. She resisted the desire to peer over his shoulder as he found the article about him and started to read.

At first, his expression was of one of quiet bewilderment but it soon changed to one of intense concentration. As he continued to read Ginny became more and more concerned. It was her, after all, that had suggested that Harry conduct the interview with The Quibbler. If it was a disaster would he blame her?

After about ten minutes spent poring over the article, Harry looked up. Ginny was surprised to see he was smiling.

“So what’s it like?” she asked hesitantly.

“Bloody brilliant!” he responded enthusiastically. “Here, read it yourself.”

He thrust the copy of The Quibbler at her and she placed it on the table to read. She had to confess that she’d been worried about what would be printed ever since Luna had conducted the interview with Harry. The whole thing had been, quite frankly, bizarre and Luna’s interview techniques could only be described as bewildering. The blond girl had started questions only to abandon them half-way through, changed topics on the turn of a coin and quizzed Harry on trivial subjects of absolutely no relevance to the matter at hand. It was only now, when Ginny was reading the completed article, did she realise that her friend was a genius.

Throughout the article Ginny could see quotes and comments Harry had made, but rather than being spread out as they had been over the course of the interview, they were presented in a logical, concise manner. Reading the words on the page, they seemed like a direct insight into the mind of the Boy Who Lived, and they clearly spelt out his frustrations and fears, as well as his hopes and dreams. There was a depth and richness to the writing that made Rita Skeeter look like an incompetent amateur. In short, the article was a masterpiece.

“Wow,” Ginny exclaimed. “I had no idea Luna could write like that.”

“I know,” Harry agreed. “After that interview I was dreading what she was going to come out with. But this article… it just says everything I wanted it to say. Come to think of it, it says a lot of things I was feeling but had no idea how to put into words. It’s fantastic!”

They both looked over at the Ravenclaw table and saw Luna looking over at them. Seeing them looking at her, Luna waved at them and Ginny would swear that the girl’s normally serene smile became even dreamier.

“Do you think Luna would like to come with us to Hogsmeade?” Harry asked suddenly. “I think that buying her lunch is the least that I could do.”

Ginny grinned at him. She’d wanted to ask her friend along previously, but, until she knew how the article was going to turn out, had been reluctant to. As much as she wanted it to be a romantic visit for just the two of them, Ginny knew Harry wasn’t ready for that, and Luna’s presence would prevent him becoming uncomfortable.

“I’ll go and ask her,” Ginny confirmed, leaping to her feet.

Luna seemed delighted to be invited and soon all three of them were making their way to the village. Harry had been lavish in his praise of Luna’s journalistic skills and had succeeded in bringing a faint blush to the girl’s cheeks. Ginny suspected Harry would now be a firm friend to the sometimes strange girl; he never forgot someone who did him a good turn.

Being third years, this was Ginny and Luna’s first visit to Hogsmeade, but Harry was familiar with the place and proved a good guide. While they were all having fun, Harry especially seemed in a very good mood and Ginny was relieved to see some of the pressure that had been building within him recently forgotten for the moment. With the first task only days away she was glad to see him relax and enjoy himself.

It was as they walked down one of the side streets that Ginny noticed a shop sign that caught her interest. She halted the little group and peered in the shop’s window.

“Harry, when was the last time you got your eyes checked?” she asked.

“Not since I got my glasses. Why?” he asked.

“I think you’re supposed to get them checked regularly,” she responded. “Besides, those frames are getting too small for your face; they look wrong.”

“You think I should get my eyes tested again?” he asked, examining the different styles of frames in the shop’s window.

“Yeah, I do. Those glasses could be completely wrong for you now,” she informed him. “And have you ever thought about contact lenses? Every time you perform some crazy stunt on your broom I expect your glasses to fall off. Who knows what they’ll have you doing during the first task. Just how far can you see if something happened to your glasses?”

Harry removed them from his face and blinked owlishly for a moment. “I can see about as far as that lamppost. Beyond that everything’s a bit blurry,” he confided.

“That’s about ten yards!” Ginny exclaimed. “If your glasses get broken or fall off, you’ll be helpless. That’s it; get in that shop now! ”

Harry offered no resistance as the girls pushed him into the opticians. Three quarters of an hour later he emerged with a couple of sets of magically treated contact lenses. He looked both ways down the street and smiled.

“This is brilliant,” he exclaimed happily. “I had no idea my glasses were so bad. I can see loads better than before.”

“You look much better without them,” Luna advised him. “You really are quite handsome and those glasses spoiled your look. It’s quite lucky The Quibbler printed that picture of you wearing them otherwise you would have had witches throwing themselves at you.”

Harry turned bright red and mumbled something about Luna having too vivid an imagination. Ginny giggled at his discomfort even if she agreed with Luna’s words.

“Don’t worry, Harry. We’ll protect you from the over-amorous attention of all those witches,” she declared, grabbing his right arm. Luna took hold of his left and the three of them headed back down the street. Harry looked rather surprised to have a witch on each arm, but not displeased.

“Thank you,” he informed Ginny with a grin. “Are my wonderful protectors hungry yet? If you want to head to the Three Broomsticks lunch is on me.”

“Lunch is on you?” Luna repeated in confusion. “Wouldn’t it be better if it was on a plate?”

“Ooh, but think of the possibilities, Luna,” Ginny disagreed. “Obviously we wouldn’t want to get fluff on the food, so we’d need to strip him first. I think eating lunch off of Harry’s naked body could be interesting.”

“Pudding would be fun,” Luna agreed. “We could cover him in custard and…”

“You two are NOT covering me in custard and licking it from my naked body!” Harry shouted much to the amusement of several people who happened to be passing by. He flushed bright red while the two witches sniggered.

Wisely, Harry decided to keep quiet for the rest of the walk to the pub while the girls discussed what they would order for lunch, generally in preference of gooeyness and lickability. Ginny could only giggle at the boy’s apparent relief when they finally arrived at the Three Broomsticks. They entered the busy establishment and immediately began to attract attention.

Ron and Hermione were seated at a small table near the door and Ginny saw her brother’s face harden at the sight of them. Ron started to stand with his fists clenched, but Hermione grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back down. She did look intently in their direction, however, and Ginny wondered if it was Harry’s glasses-free appearance that grabbed her attention, or the fact that he had entered the pub with a witch draped over each arm. Either way, Ginny fully expected to be cornered and extensively questioned by the bushy-haired girl sometime soon.

As they headed to the back of the pub to find a table of their own, Ginny noticed Cho Chang glaring at them. As the Asian witch was in the company of Cedric Diggory, Ginny couldn’t imagine what the girl’s problem was.

They eventually found a table and sat down gratefully. As they perused the menus, Ginny leaned over to Harry.

“You should thank Luna and me,” she told him with a smirk. “I think that entrance has established your reputation as a bit of a stud.”

“Great, right after I was doing everything I could to disprove Skeeter’s article painting me as some womanising scoundrel,” Harry muttered.

“Whoops,” Ginny replied, frowning. Harry had been particularly upset by that accusation and their entrance had probably not helped matters.

“Never mind,” Harry said, smiling suddenly. “It was worth it just to see the expression on Ron’s face. I honestly thought he was going to come over and take a pop at me.”

“You might find it funny, but I don’t,” Ginny disagreed. “Ron still seems to think I’m about eight. I’m sick of his overprotective ways. Honestly, Fred and George don’t act like that so why should he?”

“I think Ron likes to remind everyone that he’s not the youngest,” Luna chipped in. “He’s rather insecure. It’s a shame really; if he had a bit more confidence in himself he could be rather nice.”

“Ugh! Don’t tell me you fancy my brother, Luna,” Ginny exclaimed with a disgusted expression on her face.

“Not really,” Luna replied. “Besides, I think Hermione Granger has first dibs on him, and I don’t think she’ll share. As it looks like I’m going to have to share Harry with you, I don’t think I’d want another relationship like that.”

Both witches sniggered at Harry’s outraged protests. Ginny made a mental note to invite Luna to spend more time with her and Harry. The two of them made a perfect Harry-teasing team. Before they had the opportunity to embarrass him further, however, a large figure suddenly loomed over them.

“Hello, Hagrid,” Harry said, sounding grateful for the diversion.

“Ello, ‘Arry,” the large man boomed, before looking over at Luna and Ginny. “And ello ta you two, as well. Must say, I’m surprised ta see you over ‘ear, ‘Arry. I’d a thought you’d be over with Ron and ‘Ermione.”

“I’m afraid I’ve had a bit of a difference of opinion with them,” Harry explained. “They think that I put my name in the Goblet of Fire and I think they’re a pair of backstabbing gits.”

“Oh, sorry to ‘ear that, ‘Arry,” Hagrid said in a sympathetic tone. “But didn’t the ‘eadmaster say that you didn’t do it? That should be good enough for the pair of them.”

“I don’t know what to tell, Hagrid,” Harry replied with a shrug.

“Well, never mind that for the moment,” Hagrid said. He looked around suspiciously for a second before addressing Harry in a conspiratorial manner. “If you come down to my ‘ouse after curfew you might see some’ut interesting, like. Oh, best you bring your cloak, n’all.”

“Err… okay, Hagrid,” Harry agreed, looking a bit confused.

Hagrid just winked at him and then ambled off trying to look inconspicuous, which of course he completely failed to do.

“What do you think that was all about?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know,” Ginny admitted. “Do you think it has something to do with the Tournament?”

“It’s possible,” he acknowledged. “I’m sure Hagrid would help me if he could.”

“He’s a very nice man,” Luna agreed. “I’ve had some fascinating conversation with him about magical animals.”

“I’ll bet,” Harry muttered under his breath.

“Well, the only way you’ll find out is to go,” Ginny said sagely, before dropping her voice to a whisper. “Just keep an eye on the time. Remember you need to be back in the common room by midnight.”

Harry just nodded. It looked like he was in for a busy night.




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