Unofficial Portkey Archive

Unwanted Attention

With speculation over now that the Champions had been selected things settled down again for a while. If you could ever really call things settled at Hogwarts. There was still the fascination with the new arrivals, who seemed to be staying on to cheer on their Champions; more than once Alice heard people return to discussing the events of the World Cup and the attack on Gringotts. Then there were the Skrewts, which Hagrid seemed determined on subjecting them to, not only in classes, but during their free time too. Alice was becoming quite accustomed to having to put out fires on her smouldering robes. Then of course there was the rather eventful Transfiguration lesson during which Seamus successfully managed to turn his hedgehog into a pincushion, but somehow managed to bewitch it to fire its spines around the room in intermittent bursts. Even McGonagall seemed at a loss to explain how he had managed it; either way they all spent most of the class sheltering under their desks.

Two weeks later Alice, Ron and Harry, inspired by Cedric's earlier invitation, took advantage of a break in the bad weather and went with their brooms out into the grounds. Ron had his rickety old broom and Alice was still using a school one, but since they had plenty of time Harry shared his Nimbus 2000 around with the others. She couldn't believe how much she had missed flying over the last few weeks; it felt as though someone had given her back a limb she didn't know was missing. Taking advantage of her turn on the Nimbus Alice took off in the direction of the castle indulging in something she had always wanted to do: fly around the castle towers.

"Are we even allowed to be up here?" She asked Harry, out of breath and grinning as they hovered over the roof of the Great Hall.

"Who cares?" Yelled Ron as he swooped off as fast as his decrepit Shooting Star would allow him.

As Alice glanced back to her brother he grinned and shrugged. "You know you really should ask Sirius to buy you a proper broom for Christmas or something," he informed her, "you can't ride a school one forever. You wouldn't even be able to outfly a bee on those things."

"A broom's an awful lot to ask for," she pulled a face just thinking about it, "I suppose I could ask for him for the money for part of it instead of a gift and save up the rest myself."

Harry scoffed. "Don't be daft. Sirius would stand on his head and sing The Weird Sisters backwards if you asked him to. Besides it's not as though he can't afford it."

Alice made a sceptical noise, it was still a big ask, though even she would admit that Harry was right about one thing. Sirius did dote on her. Changing the subject, her gaze moved beyond her brother to the deep purple cloud bank just rolling over the mountains.

"We shouldn't waste time, it looks like it's going to rain soon and I want to try out a few new moves before we go back inside." Without waiting for Harry to respond she dropped sideways into a dive swooping towards the ground and pulling up at the last minute, her own whooping laughter ringing in her ears.

It wasn't long before her prediction came true and it started to rain however so they all traipsed back to the castle chattering excitedly about who had been able to do the best Wronski Feint and whether or not they would get into trouble for scaring a first year who had been peering out of one of the tower windows as they zoomed past. They had just reached the first floor when they very nearly ran into a group walking in the opposite direction.

"Do watch where you're going, I - oh, Harry Potter!"

Alice was unsure exactly what to make of the woman who was now watching her brother as though all her birthdays had just come at once. Wide, carefully made up eyes lit up as they darted from his face to his scar and back again, reassuring herself that she had identified him correctly. Her acid green robes were so vivid amongst the grey, muted colours of the castle corridor that she seemed to fill the entire space. Horn-rimmed glasses in a matching shade were framed by very deliberate looking blonde curls, judging by the luminosity of her hair Alice suspected that some potion or dye had been involved in its production somewhere along the line. With a casual flick of her taloned finger there was a sudden flash followed by a profusion of purple smoke that made the unsuspecting group jump at the abrupt disturbance.

Coughing as the smoke cleared Alice became aware that there were other people behind the woman; she had just been too distracted by her unusual appearance to take much notice. The flash and smoke seemed to have been generated by a wizarding camera held by a rather disgruntled looking photographer hovering behind the bizarre woman. Further back and looking as though they would rather be anywhere else were the three champions: Cedric, Fleur and Krum. Alice smiled tentatively at the former just as the woman began speaking again.

"Well, well, fancy bumping into you Harry Potter," she took in the broom he was carrying, "been out flying have we, of course I've heard you have a certain aptitude for the sport. And this must be your sister is it? Of course I recognise you from the pictures, please don't be alarmed a good journalist always does her research, and I am, I flatter myself, a very good journalist. Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Rita Skeeter." She said all this very fast and grabbed each of their hands in turn, shaking them in a grip that seemed at odds with her powdered appearance.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron offered as she shook his hand, but Alice wasn't sure if this was for Rita Skeeter's benefit or Fleur Delacour's; it certainly seemed to be the Beauxbatons girl he was looking at.

"Nice to meet you, Don," Rita replied absently.

Alice was still too busy trying to place the woman. She had heard the name before, had probably read some articles by her if she was a well-known journalist, but there seemed to be a connection she was missing.

"Miss Skeeter has been writing a piece about the Champions," Cedric informed them as they continued to shuffle awkwardly.

"Whilst I'm here," Rita Skeeter's gaze had a predatory quality to it, "how would you two like to do a quick interview too? I can just see the angle: `Sharing the limelight - what it's like not to be the only celebrities at Hogwarts.' What words of wisdom can you share with our new champions?" As she spoke she whipped a pad of paper and a quill the exact colour of her robes from somewhere and stood poised to note down anything.

"We don't do interviews," they chorused instantly.

"Don't be silly dears, everybody does interviews with Rita Skeeter."

Harry tried to explain rather patiently that they liked their privacy, but the woman took no notice so Cedric attempted to come to their rescue. Again.

"Miss Skeeter, perhaps another time would be better? Harry and Alice are quite shy really, I mean they barely spoke to me this morning when I came out of the Great Hall. They dashed round the corner so quickly I barely saw them." He grinned to show there were no hard feelings although as flustered as Alice was by the whole situation she was struggling to remember seeing Cedric after breakfast. Still she returned the smile. "I see you took up my suggestion of going out flying then? Did you have fun Alice?" He gestured to her unruly hair which had escaped from the neat bun she had constructed that morning and the strands that were now hanging loose down her back.

"Oh, do you two know each other already?" Skeeter's hawk-like eyes were swinging from face to face before any of them could answer, as her quill skidded across the pad seemingly of its own volition. Alice was beginning to feel decidedly uncomfortable.

"We met over summer, and Alice and I seem to have a habit of bashing into each other." Cedric told her. Alice blushed furiously at his mention of her though she couldn't help smiling.

At this point the Beauxbatons girl broke in irritably with a toss of her silky, platinum locks. "Do you need uz for anything at all? Only it eez very cold `ere and I would like to go and warm up with zee uzzers from my school."

"No, no we're all done dear," Rita turned to look at Fleur and Krum, who had adopted his usual scowl.

Harry took advantage of her momentary distraction to grab Alice and Harry by the elbows and hustle them along the corridor. Ron whistled loudly the minute they were out of sight. "Well she seemed… different."

"She was a bit intense." Alice chuckled.

Harry just glowered. She knew he was sick of journalists prying into their lives and she couldn't blame him, she'd only had to put up with it for a few months and already it was wearing. Barely a month went by when they weren't at least mentioned in the Prophet and although she didn't get any other wizard magazines she knew they were often featured there too.

The following day there was another to add to the collection. She was sitting at breakfast, still in the process of acclimatising herself to the fact she wasn't in bed, when the post arrived. A quick glance at the front page Harry and Hermione were pouring over told her that the three champions, rather unsurprisingly, were the story of the day. After that she went back to concentrating on getting her tired jaw to chew the toast she had before her.

It took her another five minutes to realise that she was beginning to get some odd looks from around the Hall. Raising an eye brow she cast her eyes about and saw that quite a few people, mostly girls seemed to be giving her decidedly unfriendly glances. She was just about to ask her friends what they thought of it when none other than Cedric came rushing over to the table and spoke directly to her.

"Look, I'm really sorry about this. I swear I didn't say anything, I think she just made it up for a good story." He ran a hand distractedly through his hair and Alice suppressed the thought that it made him look rather attractive, forcing herself to focus on his statement.

"What? Said anything about what to who?" The others looked round at her words and in glancing at them she could see more people were staring openly at them now. It was becoming such a common occurrence that she wondered whether she should hide under the table or set up a podium or start selling tickets.

Cedric looked horror struck for a moment at her question though. "You mean you haven't seen it yet?"

"Seen what?"

"This." Ginny plonked herself down in a free seat next to Alice and snatched the Prophet out from under Harry and Hermione's nose. As she set it down before them she flicked to the fourth page and pointed at the relevant article. Not that she needed to, Alice's eyes were immediately drawn to the large photograph of herself which had the edges cropped to form a heart shape. Actually half a heart shape to be more exact and the other half of the heart contained… Cedric's face.

Alice felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. Quickly she made a grab for the paper and poured over the text, trying to understand what she was seeing.

YOUNG LOVE FOR CHAMPION, it read, It is undoubtedly with great disappointment that many young girls at Hogwarts, and indeed readers, will learn of the secret romance of handsome Hogwarts Champion Cedric Diggory (see page 1-3). The identity of the maiden who has captured his heart has, until this moment, remained a secret. However it is this author's pleasure to reveal it to you and she is none other than recent celebrity Alice Evans-Potter sister of the famed Boy-Who-Lived. (Alice could feel herself turning beet red and resisted the urge to slide under the table with some difficulty.)

Readers will no doubt be familiar with Miss Evans-Potter as she has appeared frequently in the press over the summer: a pretty, slight, girl with red hair and hazel-green eyes and a reputation for a fierce intellect. It is understandable that Diggory has fallen hard for her after the two met over the summer in undoubtedly dramatic fashion at the calamitous World Cup. However this author must question whether the Hogwarts Champion is taken with her or has been taken in?

It has been speculated by some that this `romance' is merely the latest bid by Miss Evans-Potter to increase her own celebrity. She declined to comment at the present time, although this author would not dream of suggesting this is an indicator of guilt, but rest assured dear Readers that this author will endeavour to discover the truth. Until then Hogwarts golden couple should be given every congratulations.

Alice allowed the paper to slide back onto the table her brain seemed to have stalled somewhere. Catching herself staring blankly she gave an irritable shake and her eyes flicked to the by-line. As she expected it boldly proclaimed that the author had been Rita Skeeter.

Suddenly there was a choking noise from over her shoulder and she glanced back to see Hermione had been reading the article from behind her and now looked completely enraged.

"How dare she -!" She spluttered incoherently.

"Alice, I'm really sorry," Cedric repeated looking distraught. "I don't know where she got that idea from, I certainly never said anything that would have made her think… I mean she asked where I met you all and I said the World Cup over the summer, but that was it. Honestly, you have to believe me."

"I do." She tried to smile at him, but suspected it was more of a grimace. With that and her probably puce face she no doubt looked rather like a tomato. Brilliant, she thought to herself. "Cedric, don't worry," her voice sounded thick and uncoordinated in her own ears. "It's fine."

"She `declined to comment at the present time'?" Hermione had taken the paper and began reading out snippets in an affected voice no doubt intended to be an impression of Rita Skeeter. "How can she expect you to comment on it if she just made it up and never asked you to comment?! Honestly… she wouldn't dream of implying you were guilty would she? Well I bet nobody thought you were until she brought it up! `Endeavour to discover the truth' my eye! That woman wouldn't know the truth if it jumped up and bit her on the nose!" Hermione continued to rant under her breath as she flicked through the rest of the paper looking for anything else she could take offense to.

"Look, I mean, like I said I'm really sorry. I'll try to sort it out or something, set her straight. I mean Alice I like you and you're a nice girl, and Harry I respect you, I wouldn't want to have…"

"Cedric honestly, it's ok, we know." Harry interrupted the sixth year as his sentences became confused.

"Ok, right well…" Cedric seemed to twist on the spot, unsure of whether to stay or go. "Well I'll see you around I guess. If there's anything else I can…" He gave Alice one last apologetic look before wishing them well and scurrying back across the Great Hall to the Hufflepuff table. Alice noticed more than a few curious onlookers and wandered if he hadn't just fuelled the inevitable rumours by coming to talk to her.

She groaned and buried her head in her arms.

"Don't worry," Ginny patted her on the back, "it'll all blow over in a few days and then they'll have something else to think about.

"I could kill that Skeeter woman," Harry muttered looking every bit as murderous as he suggested. "Who does she think she is anyway?"

Suddenly a lightbulb seemed to go on in Alice's head and she realised where she knew the name from. "She's the woman who wrote all those nasty articles about Hagrid last year that's who she is!"

"Rita Skeeter is always writing horrible articles about people, I'm sure people won't take it seriously," Ginny tried to reassure her.

"You should write to the paper and complain. Set them straight," Hermione insisted, "this isn't fair at all."

"They'd probably just print that as some sort of exclusive interview," Ron put in sagely. As Alice squinted up at him from the table she saw Neville nodding quietly next to him, though he didn't say anything. A quick glance round the room told her that people were still staring, or rather glaring. Some of the girls, Cedric's admirers she assumed, seemed quite fierce.

"I think I might just go and find a hole to swallow me up." She waved off Hermione's protestations and scurried out of the Great Hall, face scarlet, before anyone could say anything.

She spent the rest of breakfast hiding out in the Greenhouses hoping that her burning face might be hot enough to ignite every single copy of the Daily Prophet and reduce them to ashes. Unfortunately the class, when it eventually started was with the Hufflepuffs.

When the rest of the class filed in Hermione made a bee-line for her. "I don't suppose there is any possibility I ate hallucinogenic mushrooms at dinner last night and imagined this morning is there?" Alice asked her friend.

"Unfortunately not; though that Skeeter woman is certainly a poisonous toadstool!"

Alice smiled weakly. She was grateful that the rest of her friends didn't try to bring the subject up again, but the rest of the class felt no such compunctions and she could hear them whispering about it all through the lesson. Unfortunately their only task for the day involved them pruning Promethean Roses which didn't require much concentration and wasn't a very noisy task. Unless the buds caught fire, which as they were quite young didn't happen very often yet, Alice had nothing to do except snip away at a very ordinary looking plant and dodge out of the way whenever her sleeve got too close to a spout of flame that would be randomly emitted from it.

Much to her dismay Lavender and Parvati had set themselves up at the next bench with Sally-Anne and some of the girls from Hufflepuff. She could see they were dying to say something to her, but it wasn't until nearly the end of the lesson that they succumbed to the temptation. If she hadn't been so embarrassed she would almost have been impressed by their restraint.

"So Alice," Lavender began quite nonchalantly, "I didn't realise that you were going out with Cedric Diggory. Congratulations. You should have said something."

Alice glanced over at them all and could see the rabid curiosity in her eyes mirrored, if slightly less obviously in the other girls'. Each one of them had paused in their pruning. From the corner of her eye she could see Harry open his mouth to defend her, but she shook her head and he shut his mouth sharply again.

"I'm not," she responded flatly.

Lavender raised her eyebrows. "Oh, I see." It was obvious that she didn't believe a word of it. To her, anything that appeared in the Prophet was evidently the truth.

Alice concentrated on her rose bush for a while, but she could feel that the girls were still watching her so she glanced back again. Almost at once they pretended to be absorbed in their own work, but they didn't drop the topic.

"I think he's so good looking though," Lavender continued in an unashamedly loud voice. Her comment was directed at the other girls, but Alice knew it was meant for her. "I know if I was going out with him I wouldn't want to keep it quiet. You're in Hufflepuff," she addressed some of the others, "what do you think of him?"

Esther Smith, a small, blonde girl who Alice had never really spoken to much, piped up. "Well, he's Captain of the Quidditch team isn't he? And now he's Champion, and he's really smart, I've heard people say he should have been put into Ravenclaw. I've never really spoken to him much, but people I know say he's really nice and of course it doesn't hurt that he's easy to look at." She blushed and giggled as she said this.

Alice ground her teeth and viciously beheaded a smouldering blossom. She wasn't sure if the whole situation was being made worse or not by the fact that she probably had a little crush on Cedric herself and agreed with most of what the girls were saying. Either way it was still really embarrassing. She couldn't wait for Herbology to end until she remembered what came next. Care of Magical Creatures. With the Slytherins.

She could just imagine Malfoy's sneering face, Pansy Parkinson's smug, self-satisfied smirk… She didn't think she could cope with that on top of everything else this morning so as they were walking towards Hagrid's hut she feigned a headache and slipped away. They had all seen through her ruse of course, though Hermione had still been outraged at her contemplating missing a class - even if they were just going to be running around after Blast-Ended Skrewts. Ron and Neville had perfectly understood and she suspected that only Hermione's disapproving glare had kept them from skipping the class too, although for entirely different reasons. Harry had just quietly promised to lend her any worthwhile notes.

Thankful that the castle was quiet as she crept back in, everyone being in class, Alice made her way slowly up to Gryffindor tower. Although it had just been a convenient excuse, she did actually have a headache coming on, the sort that crept up on her whenever she was stressed but she dismissed the idea of going to Madam Pomfrey to get something for it. Instead she decided to write a letter to Sirius to explain about the article.

Rubbing her eyes tiredly she wound her way up the spiral staircase and crossed the dormitory to her trunk without really paying much attention. It wasn't until she put her hand on the catch that she realised it was open already. Throwing the lid back she stood, rooted to the spot, gazing at her upset belongings. Her usually neatly stacked possessions had obviously been rifled through. The stack of parchment, which was what she was looking for, had been knocked to the bottom of the trunk, a few torn sheets fluttered in the breeze she caused as she opened it.

Suddenly a noise behind her made her spin round, just in time to see the dormitory door swing closed, the corner of some dark robes fluttering momentarily round the edge.

Like lightening Alice dived across the room and wrenched it back open again, bolting down the stairs two at a time she stumbled to an ungainly halt in the common room the carpet snagging on her shoes. Wisps of hair spun out from her head as she swivelled on the spot, searching the room for the intruder, but finding no immediate evidence of them she hissed in frustration and continued her dash towards the portrait hole. Much to her annoyance there seemed to be no one out in the corridor either. Running as fast as she could Alice made her way swiftly to the first intersection in the corridor before she paused again.

There was no way to know which way the student had gone from here and she was convinced it had been another student; those had been Hogwarts robes she saw disappearing. She stood in the corridor for a moment, leaning against the wall as she regained her breath. It would be pointless to try and guess which way to go, she would only end up wandering around the castle and probably get lost doing it.

Annoyed at herself for failing to catch the culprit and enraged that someone had been through her things, Alice stomped back to the dormitory. She rifled through her trunk, removing everything and laying it out neatly on the floor, trying to work out what had been taken. It wasn't as though she had anything much worth stealing. Her mind had instantly gone back to when Harry had found himself in a similar situation in second year, but then he had owned Voldemort's possessed diary and Ginny had had easy access to the room. As far as Alice knew all her belongings were spirit-free, although she couldn't rule out the possibility that a Gryffindor had been the culprit, but who? Once she would have said no one else could get past the Fat Lady, but with her years at Hogwarts had come the realisation that there were ways around the castle security; she herself had breached it on numerous occasions.

With a growl she rocked back on her heels and surveyed her possessions strewn across the floor. As she conducted a mental inventory, her scowl turned to an expression of confusion. Assuming she had remembered everything, the only things missing were a set of her school robes and the book on Ancient Egyptian wizardry that she'd gotten for her birthday the previous year. It was the oddest collection of things to have stolen.

More than a little annoyed, and feeling foolish that she'd been robbed Alice began stuffing everything back into her trunk with energy, she did take the time however to make sure that everything was lined up neatly as it should have been. When it was done, she briefly toyed with the idea of reporting the incident to Professor McGonagall, but then she would have to explain why she hadn't been in class and that would be more hassle than it was worth. Instead she grabbed some parchment, a quill and ink and headed for the owlery.

As she walked Alice kept an eye out for anyone else that might be prowling the corridors when they should have been in class. Part of her was still looking for whoever had been in the dormitory whilst part of her was just keen to avoid people. She kept getting a horrible creeping feeling that someone was watching her; the skin on the back of her neck would prickle as she walked and more than once she turned round to double check that no one was following her. Of course there was no one there, having a space as private as the dormitory invaded had just set her on edge.

She ran up the last few sets of stairs to the owlery and as Archimedes swooped down to join her she settled herself in the cleanest corner of the room she could find.

"Hello sir," she whispered to the owl as he landed gently on her shoulder. She reached up to ruffle his feathers as he, perhaps sensing that she was unsettled, didn't resort to his usual nip of welcome, but instead hooted curiously and turned to watch her. "You'll look out for me won't you Archimedes?" The owl gazed at her with unblinking black eyes, deep pools that could swallow her up and revealed little of what he was thinking. She suspected, and hoped, that the owl liked her but sometimes it was difficult to tell.

Eventually he blinked and settled himself more comfortably on her shoulder, tucking his head down into his body in what she assumed was an affirmative. With her first proper smile of the morning she gave him another pat and returned her attention to the parchment in front of her.

She began by writing Sirius' name at the top of the page, before fixing her quill between her teeth and pausing. "What next?" She looked at Archimedes. He looked back again, something slightly sceptical in his avian gaze, before making an exasperated clicking sound with his beak. She felt the pinch as talons tightened their grip on her shoulder through the fabric of her robes. "I know, you're right. I should just tell him everything. Harry and Hermione would tell me to do exactly the same thing." She returned to the beginnings of her letter and did just that: told her godfather all about their run-in with Rita Skeeter, the articles she had written about Hagrid before, how none of what had been in the Prophet that morning was true - although she omitted the part about her slight crush on Cedric - and then finished by telling him about the intruder. She had to smile again at the irony of this last part considering it was only a year ago that Sirius had been the one breaking into Gryffindor tower. When she was done she sealed the letter and attached it to Archimedes leg.

Once he had carried it off into the rapidly greying sky her gaze moved down to the wide swathe of green that made up the grounds between the castle and the forest. She could just see the gaggle of black robes making their way slowly back from the direction of Hagrid's cabin; the class must have just finished. With a sigh she turned back to the owlery and took a deep breath. It was no use hiding up here all day, she might as well go down and face the music.

One week of excruciating embarrassment and whispers later there had been no let up in the Hogwarts rumour mill. Despite her most fervent protestations half the school still thought she was going out with Cedric Diggory. A run in with the Slytherin's in the Great Hall had very nearly led to Harry and Ron hexing Malfoy to the other side of the room, before she and Hermione had managed to drag them away. Alice had very nearly decided not to go to Hogsmeade the following weekend, but some strenuous effort on the part of her friends had convinced her to go.

They sat at a table in the corner, Neville and Ginny making welcome additions to their group and six bottles of butterbeer between them. Around them the atmosphere in the Three Broomsticks was bright and cosy, candles burnt merrily in brackets next to the windows, warding off the chill of the overcast day outside. The place seemed louder than usual as a large group of Durmstrang students had arrived to sample the local hospitality. For her part Alice had shuffled as far back in her seat as she could without actually disappearing under the curtain in an effort to avoid being seen. Her face had spent so much time burning red recently that she felt it might be in danger of spontaneously combusting, so she was trying to avoid notice at all costs.

"Look on the bright side," Ginny commented as she took a sip of her drink, "at least you haven't really been in the papers much again."

"I don't need to be in the papers again," Alice replied grumpily, "once was enough. I think the whole school read that article. Anyway, can we please talk about something else?"

"Did your godfather reply to the letter you sent him?" asked Neville. Alice had told them all about the intruder and the letter she had written to Sirius afterwards.

"Yes, but there wasn't exactly much he could do about it. He just said to keep an eye open for anything else suspicious. Especially with all these Death Eater attacks going on."

"Do you think the two things are connected?" Ron glanced from Alice to Harry for an answer."

"Maybe," her brother replied, running a hand through his hair as he always did when he was thinking. "But then again why would a Death Eater steal robes and a book? More likely it's a student."

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know, there are lots of spells, jinxes and curses mostly, that need something of the person they are cast upon to work. It's a bit like voodoo really."

They all glanced at each other for a moment. After a while Alice broke the uneasy silence, trying to inject some levity into her voice. "Thanks Hermione, that makes me feel loads better."

Harry reached across the table and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry about it. We'll look out for you."

Alice smiled back and tried to look as though she wasn't worried, but she was beginning to get the ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach that usually signalled trouble. And after all these years if she had learned anything, it was to trust her instincts.

A/N: I invented Promethean Roses - borrowed the name from Prometheus from Greek mythology who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mankind. I would imagine they look like ordinary roses except, as I indicated the flowers burn (magically and not injuring the plant) more frequently as they mature. The Hufflepuff in the Greenhouse Esther Smith is Zacharias' sister - I made her first name up, but there is a Smith (gender unknown) who was put into Hufflepuff according to JKR's notes on the books.

Document created with wvWare/wvWare version 1.2.7

-->