The Lost Daughter

Chapter Fifteen

A few weeks had gone by since the four Triwizard champions had been chosen. Elle felt bad because of how poorly Harry was being treated by everyone. She knew he had no idea how his name got put into the goblet, and couldn't believe other people thought that he had cheated.

Elle often sat with him at lunch or in the common room when Ron wasn't speaking to him and even offered to help him with the tasks if he needed it. Her kindness lifted Harry's spirits a little when the rest of the school hated him.

Fred and George followed Elle's suit and were extra nice to Harry, even fully supporting him when the whole school was supporting Cedric. Fred seemed to put his whole effort into being pro-Harry and anti-Cedric in the weeks preceding the first task.

At breakfast before Thursday classes in mid-November, Elle and Cedric were talking in the doorway of the Great Hall and upon seeing them, Fred loudly booed Cedric as heand George passed by. Elle had been spending more time with Cedric since he became Hogwarts champion, and it filled Fred with anger every time he saw them together. He was still trying to figure out how to tell her he liked her, but Cedric was ruining his plans.

Cedric's expression became melancholy, upset by Fred's comment, and he said a quick goodbye to Elle. He sat down at the Hufflepuff table with his friends who were shooting mean looks at Elle.

Elle stormed to the Gryffindor table and demanded, "What was that for, Fred?"

"Just supporting my friend Harry," replied Fred.

"You don't have to be so mean to Cedric to support Harry. Plus he's your friend too. Or at least he used to be," Elle replied angrily.

"Sorry didn't mean to offend you and your new boyfriend," Fred said.

"You know Cedric and I aren't dating," Elle replied. "I don't know why you had to be mean like that in front of everyone." Her anger had turned to what seemed like sadness. Without grabbing anything to eat, Elle walked over to the Hufflepuff table to apologize to Cedric and then left the Great Hall. Fred hated it when Elle was upset with him. Anger was an emotion of hers he could handle but not disappointment.

"What was that about, mate?" George asked Fred curiously.

"I don't know," said Fred, staring at his food, no longer hungry. "I might've taken supporting Harry too far."

"Yeah, I reckon you might have," George agreed.

Before lunch was over, Fred went to the Hufflepuff table and apologized to Cedric about what he had done earlier. Then to make it up to Elle, Fred made her a pin that alternated saying "Go Cedric!" and "Go Harry!" in their respective house colors.

When Fred, George, and the rest of the friend group made their way into the Transfiguration classroom, Elle was already seated in her normal spot. Fred told George, "I'll be back in a minute," and walked over to Elle, sliding into the seat next to her.

Elle looked up expecting to see Angelina but was surprised to see Fred.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hi," she replied warily, still frustrated with him.

"I made you something," Fred said, handing her the pin. "I'm sorry about earlier."

Elle was surprised by the gesture. She smiled and said, "Thanks, Fred. I love it." He gave her a playful smile back, and everything went back to normal.

When Angelina walked into the classroom, she noticed Fred sitting with Elle, and she sat down next to George. That's when Professor McGonagall started class, so Fred and Elle ended up being partners that day. The lesson McGonagall prepared was practicing turning parrots into rabbits. Elle was able to do it the fastest, and by the end of class, she had helped Fred be able to do it too.