ONLY LIGHT. harry potter

╰➢ rita skeeter

This was supposed to make her feel better— at least there were a few people who believed her. But the fact that she knew that Ron still wasn't buying it made her stressed out.

"How bad is it with the Slytherins?"

"Very bad—" Aurora started, but shook her head as she remembered what she was really here for. "Look. I don't know why but someone wants you dead. People die—"

"— in this competition! I know! I've kind of had that figured out!"

"We need to tell mom and dad. Maybe they can help you out with this— what did they say, by the way? About your name getting reaped?"

Nicole didn't reply. She hasn't told her parents yet.

"YOU HAVEN'T TOLD THEM YET?"

"I was stressed out, okay! Mom would probably think I did it on purpose and Dad is busy with the whole Si—" Nicole had suddenly remembered about Aurora not knowing that Sirus was innocent. "They've been busy."

"You still need to tell them, dumbass!" Aurora exclaimed back. "They need to know this. If you don't tell them then I will."

"Alright— alright." Nicole raised both of her hands in defeat. "I'll tell them."

—

"I don't think they're that mad at you, Nicole." Ellis tried to cheer her up.

Nicole found him in the halls having a conversation with Mad-Eye Moody, and as weird at it seemed, she just ignored it and dragged him over to the Gryffindor common room— the only place where she was safe. The Gryffindors were still treating her like she was some kind of hero just like in the morning.

"I Hufflepuff called me a freak, Ellis." Nicole sighed. "A Hufflepuff."

"Huffa who?"

Ellis noted that this cheered Nicole up a little bit because she set the quill down and gave him a soft smile.

"Anyways," Nicole changed the subject, carefully writing her name on the paper. "Mcgonagowl, give this to mom and dad."

The owl hooted, took the letter, and rushed out the window.

"Are you sure I'm allowed to be here?" Ellis asked, looking around to see some of the Gryffindors eyeing him suspiciously. One of them was Colin Creevey and his brother, while Fred and George Weasley were shooting looks between Ellis and Nicole, grinning at times.

"Ignore them." Nicole told him, hoping that Hermoine, who she presumed was still taking to Harry, would come back. The girl stared at the fire for a few minutes, until Fred Weasley came walking towards the pair and started to pester them.

—

The next days were way worse for Nicole and Harry.

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 and Nicole 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.

The Slytherins tormented them to no end, and even Aurora couldn't stop them. To make matters worse, her parents wrote back to her a day after she sent the owl.

Both of them were pissed off and they had every right to do so. Atlas said that he would try to speak to Dumbledore about this and her mother, surprisingly told her to owl her if she needed and help if she was really forced to compete. Nicole expected for them to say more, but the letter wasn't that long.