Courage

-56-

"What's up?" said Ron.

"It's — it's stupid—"

She thrust the letter at Harry, who saw that it was not handwritten, but composed from pasted letters that seemed to have been cut out of the Daily Prophet.

YOU ARE A WICKED GIRL. HARRY POTTER DESERVES BETTER. GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM WEREWOLF GIRL.

"They're all like it!" said Layla desperately, opening one letter after another.

"'Harry Potter can do much better than the likes of you.' 'You deserve to be boiled in frog spawn.' This is a joke! Oh, this one's even funnier. 'I read In Witch Weekly about how you are playing Harry Potter false and that boy has had enough hardship and I will be sending you a curse by next post as soon as I can find a big enough envelope.' Thanks for the heads-up, brainiac."

"You're not going to open them all, are you?" frowned Hermione.

"Definitely not," said Layla. There were only a few envelopes left, but Layla picked them all up and ripped them to shreds. Once she ripped up the last envelope, a yellowish-green liquid smelling strongly of petrol gushed out. Layla leant backwards in surprise, watching the liquid pour over the table, making sure that none of it got on her.

"Undiluted bubotuber pus!" said Ron, picking up the ripped-up envelope gingerly and sniffing it.

Layla rolled her eyes and grabbed her wand. With a quick wave of it, the bubotuber pus vanished from the table before it could get on anyone.

"Blimey, you'd better watch out for yourself, Layla," said Ron.

As the four of them headed for their Care of Magical Creatures class, they saw Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle descending the stone steps of the castle. Pansy Parkinson was whispering and giggling behind them with her gang of Slytherin girls.

Catching sight of Harry, Pansy called, "You guys split up, have you? Why were you so upset at breakfast, werewolf girl? Where's your other boyfriend?!"

"No..." Layla's eyes widened. "Cedric! I haven't seen him since yesterday! With everything going on, I forgot to talk to him about the rumours and what's going on. I need to go find him! He's got a free period. Can you guys please cover for me with Hagrid?"

"Of course," Hermione nodded. Layla then turned and dashed off up to the library where she knew Cedric would be.

Upon entering, she sighed when she saw Cedric walking down a bookshelf, looking at all of the books. Layla approached him.

"Hey, Ced..."

"Finally found time to talk to me?" Cedric scoffed. "What with all of your time spent with boyfriend number two and all."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Layla frowned. "Let me explain everything. Please."

At the pleading look in Layla's eyes, Cedric nodded and gestured over to an empty table. The two walked towards it and sat down.

"Well?" said Cedric quietly, looking both angry and sad.

"Rita Skeeter has been after my friends and I all year," Layla began. "I don't know how she found out about the talk we had after the last task, but she's twisting things. It's what she does! I promise you, I have never had any romantic feelings towards Harry. You are my first love, Cedric, and hopefully, you will be my last. It's you I want. It's not Harry, never has been and never will be. I'm sorry if me being so close to Harry has ever made you doubt us. It's just... Harry has been there for me since first year. He's my best friend. But that's it, I promise."

"I believe that you don't have any feelings towards Harry," said Cedric after a moment of silence, "but I do think he has feelings for you."

"Harry?" Layla's eyes widened. "No! No, I don't think so. No way. He doesn't like me."