Phoenix|| A Harry Potter Love Story

4

Later on that night, Harry and Ron had gotten into an intense spat about the whole issue of Harry supposedly putting his name into the goblet. Ron was upset that Harry didn't tell him about it and Harry tried to reason with him, telling Ron the truth. But Ron wouldn't take an alternate answer, as much as Harry tried to tell him the truth. Since that fateful night, the both of them had not talked to one another. 

The morning after the fight, Ron had tried to make both Rosie and Hermione take sides in the argument. But that ended miserably for Ron because Hermione just ended up telling Ron all the ways he was wrong and why Harry was innocent. Rosie had simply told him that she would not get into the argument, it was not worth fighting over, yet again, another thing. 

Since then, Ron had decided to distance himself from the three of them. It had been around a month since the big fight. Ron seemed to always be spotted with Seamus and Dean, even the professors found it bizarre that he was not around his usual three. 

Rosie and Harry often went to their secret room that was located on the sixth floor, not only so that Harry could practice his variety of spells, but also so that he would get away from everything that was crashing around him. Rosie was not much help with the spells, but she was a good listening ear, and most times that was all that Harry needed. 

This particular day, Harry was in an unpleasant mood because of a certain reporter who was named Rita Skeeter. An article had just come out about him, and it contained some incorrect information, to say the least. His dislike for the woman had grown exponentially. 

"She kept on saying I was twelve, I am not twelve! I am fourteen," He said, pacing up and down in front of Rosie, "And I tell you- I was not crying!

Harry seemed to pace whenever he became very angry or extremely nervous. He was definitely angered by this occurrence. One thing was for sure, this Rita Skeeter was no good news. She did not sound like the nicest or most truthful woman. Rosie turned on her listening ear, and listened to Harry complain about the wretched woman for a few more minutes. 

To change the subject, and to distract Harry from the double-dealing reporter, Rosie told Harry about her father's most recent letter. It detailed that he had been struggling to find work in the wizarding world. Since his condition had been leaked out to the public, he had been turned away from a few jobs and he was finding it much harder to find work. Needless to say, he wasn't happy about the situation, but he was coping with it and sometimes that is all that you will have. 

Harry was glad to hear of something other than his impending task. The task was the main thing that occupied his brain, but he wouldn't let other people know that. He had been lying to all who asked about how he was feeling about the task. Time after time, he would shrug it off and say he was going to "wing it." Rosie had head him say that a few times. 

Yesterday morning, Professor McGonagall had pulled Rosie aside to tell her that he Hogsmeade privileges had been taken away because she was missing out on quite a few Potions assignments. She would not be able to join back until all of the assignments had been handed in. She did not tell Harry this, though. She didn't want him to be too distracted or possibly worry about anything else. So, she made the decision not to tell him. 

A Hogsmeade weekend was approaching and Harry decided that he wanted to go, to get his mind off things for a night. Possibly. The only thing different is that he wanted to go through the underground passages that the Weasley twins had shown him a year prior. Rosie was glad that he insisted to get to Hogsmeade the secret way. This way she wouldn't have to let the cat out of the bag. 

Harry was tired of being the center of negative attention. He was tired of people bombarding him with questions about the tournament and all that it entailed. He was tired of seeing Ron and being called a cheater or a liar by him and others. He was so bloody sick of it.