13TH NOVEMBER 1994 - Herbology P1

Meera's vision cleared to reveal thick foliage of a tree in some woods, she tried to cover her ears as she heard a loud chirp of a bird, which was sitting next to her. Something about everything around her felt strange, as she looked around she realised that she was actually on the tree, perched on a branch with her talons. In her confusion she felt herself drop a little bit and opened her mouth to scream as she noticed how far from the ground she was, but only a loud squawk came out.  Then she saw a feather fall from where she'd just been.

From her new perch she noticed a very large body of water...a lake perhaps...and a mountain beyond it. It was quite picturesque actually. Strangely, something was protruding out of it. Meera flew higher and closer for a better view of the...the hand holding a...sword.

The surroundings then changed, fading into a more grim and cloudy day. Meera was no longer perched on a tree. She had legs once again and jumped out of her skin when Morgana walked right past her. However, the high priestess didn't bat an eye and continued her work on a stone table of some kind. Several ends of rope dangled from its edges

Meera couldn't move very much from where she stood but saw the ends of red fabric. Morgana carefully placed a sword in front of her, admiring it for a few moments before returning to her work. She muttered an incantation of some kind and there was a flash....

"Rise and shine Meera! We have to get to classes hurry! You're alarms been going off for thirty minutes!" someone exclaimed.

"What's going on? Where's Morgana?" Meera asked groggily.

"Morgana? What the hell are you going on about? Stop being a silly goose and get out of bed." Laura pulled her up and shoved her into the dorm bathroom.

Meera exhaled forcefuly as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, it seemed that all she'd been doing since November started is hurrying. Meera struggled to recall the last time she had managed to sustain a proper conversation with her friends that did not involve tiresome school work or ancient prophecies. 

She had not had a chance to mention Freya's recreational reading to Evie and Merlin. Usually she wouldn't mind telling them seperately but in this instance Evie was highly suspicious of Freya already why add fuel to the fire without sufficient cause. Freya could have simply been reading the book in an attempt to impress Merlin, knowing his fondness for the era.

Before they knew it they were two weeks into November and Friday the 13th seemed to have started working its magnificent charm of bringing misfortune. Meera muttered an abashed apology to Professor Sprout before taking her seat next to her lab partner Charlie.

She'd been meaning to find out how Harry was doing at the moment, and wished she could do more than ask how his day was or something when she passed him in the entrance hall or some other place. According to Lory,  Harry was doing great in terms of raising publicity for the tournament from an external point of view. However, the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins felt he was trying to steal their glory and despised him solely for the fact that his name came out of the Goblet. 

A few Hufflepuffs already felt a little overshadowed by Merlin being a champion but would never say it in front of Evie or Cedric. Unfortunately, most of the Ravenclaws seemed to agree on the common belief that Harry was just an obnoxious prat trying to steal the glory from the other champions and now that even Ron didn't support him, Meera couldn't imagine just how miserable his days have become.

Since they were working on the Herbivicius Charm they could talk for a little, unfortunately they got caught when Madelyn decided to point it out to Professor Sprout. "Professor please could you have these two seperated so they can focus on the lessons rather than the popularity of the Triwizard Champions." She said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

Professor Sprout regarded them with disapproving looks. "Miss Ranga, I suggest you move to the front and sit with Miss Chang and Miss Edgecomb, please move to the back to sit with Mr McManis."

Meera gave Cho a tight smile as she sat down and quickly scribbled down some notes Professor Sprout had written.

As they were working on some rose plants Cho said. "So, what were you and Charlie talking about?"

"Hmm?" Meera asked as she concentrated on her potted plant.

"Well it certainly wasn't about the champions popularity." She said. "You're not the gossiping kind."

"You'd be surprised Cho." Meera muttered. "Anyway, it was...but not in the way Madelyn said. I was just feeling a little sorry for Harry, because contrary to popular belief, I don't think he entered his name for the tournament."

"Well, fair enough. That's your opinion." Cho said. "He is a sweet guy."

Meera turned from her plant and rose her eyebrows at Cho who'd suddenly become very concentrated on her own rose. Meera could have sworn that her face was a little pink.

"Is that a blush I see Cho?" She asked.

"It's just the cold." Cho shrugged, still concentrating on her potted plant.

"I don't know about you but I'm boiling in here." Meera said. She recalled the way Cho had blushed when she'd noticed Marietta's smirk after Diggory left on the train. Perhaps Diggory's not the only one that can make Cho blush.

"I mean there's nothing wrong with liking someone Cho." Meera continued more quietly to avoid prying ears. "We've all had those feelings for the popular guys."

"And I suppose you're immune to those feelings Meera, considering you hang around with two of the most popular ones in school and all that is going on is friendship." Cho said sardonically. Meera was surprised to hear such a tone on the normally sweet natured girl.

"Well, I don't like Harris that way because he's like a brother to me and Cedric...well..."

"What? He's just Cedric?" 

"No..we didn't really talk all that much until the end of my fourth year and he annoyed me most of the time. I have liked my fair share of the popular kids." Meera assured her. 

"Right." Cho said dryly.

"Oliver Wood." Meers stated, ignoring her ears burning, at memories of her making excuses to bump into the seventh year boy.

Cho's eyebrows shot up. "Doesn't seem like your type."

"Harry doesn't seem like yours." Meera rebutted.

"Well...I don't know, but Marietta said it was best if I didn't really associate myself with him at the moment." Cho said.

"I'm guessing she suggested you focus your attention on other pretty boys." Meera said. Cho nodded. "Any in particular?"

Cho shook her head quickly. "No. Just in general."

Meera wondered what the school's reaction would be if they found that Harris was Merlin. She expected initial ridicule, but then acceptance and then the same worship that Krum receives. She wouldn't be surprised, but that is one of the most important reasons to keep that secret. Merlin can't do his duty with his every move exposed...it would only put him in danger.

Just then there was a loud crash near the back of the classroom. It seemed Madelyn's pot had tipped over the edge, spilling soil on her and shattered. Meera glanced at Charlie who winked before turning his attention to his pot.  Moments later the bell rang. Professor Sprout exhaled forcefully clearly trying to calm herself. 

"I...I don't know what happened Professor I'm so sorry." Madelyn said. "Must be because it's Friday the 13th."

"Luck has nothing to do with your inattention. Be more careful next time. The rest of you get yourself cleaned up and head of for your next lesson." Professor Sprout said.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful; Meera had manged to avoid further 'Friday the 13th' misfortune for the most part discounting the burden of Homework that both Professor Flitwick and Vector had set to be done over the weekend.

As Meera walked down the staircase she scanned the other sets for Evie who was likely taking her sweet time making her way down from the North Tower, chatting away about something with one of her classmates. To her surprise Evie had already made her way down to the third floor, and was now at the meeting point between the stairacases leading to the east and west wings of the castle.

"OI Stop having big legs!" she heard Evie snap from behind her, hurrying down the staircase seemingly chasing someone. Meera frowned as she saw who Evie was chasing. Cedric looked beyond irritated as he walked down the staircase along with Krum and Fleur, the latter of whom was gesticulating rather violently as she spoke.

"Ooh I'm Cedric. I've got..." Before Evie could finish the sentence however, her foot had touched a trick step and it fell through. She began tumbling down the staircase, at an alarming rate. Cedric tried to reach Evie to slow her fall or stop her, but couldn't get through the bunch of people who were running out of the way. A small Slytherin girl tried to stop Evie; the results would have been disastrous had her friend not pulled her back in time. 

Meera hurried down the remaining steps pushing through the few people who were watching, pulling out her wand and pointing it at the floor a few feet in front of the staircase. "Molliare." 

Seconds later Evie landed just within the patch of pillows Meera had enchanted. 

"Evie are you okay?" Cedric asked looking at her concernedly. "I'm so sorry, I..."

"I fucking hate Friday the 13th." Evie snarled pushing herself up and shoving the sixth year boy away. "And this is why you shouldn't have big legs...could you not hear  me calling you?"

"I was talking to the other champions I'm sorry what did you want?" Cedric said hoisting himself up. Meera approached the squabbling pair and pulled her friend up. 

"Nothing just to say hi." Evie snapped. "Stupid fucking stairs, why the hell do they have to move. Whoever built this castle had a severely dark sense of humour."

"Hey...um...sorry to disturb you guys, but have you seen Harris?" Freya had emerged behind Cedric. 

"Why do you want to see him?" Evie asked, before Meera could answer.

"Oh, to talk, that's all." Freya shrugged. "He's a very good listener you know and I thought we could discuss tournament strategies."

Meera nodded. "I'm not sure..."

"He's in the Great Hall." Cedric said pointing to the Slytherin boy who was standing in front of the tables. Harris turned towards them and Freya waved which caused a smile to grow on his face.

Evie glared at Cedric. "Why would you do that?" Evie asked Cedric.

"Why not? She's quite nice you know..."

"Well then why don't you talk to her instead?" Evie snapped.

"Because she wants to talk to Harris...and..." 

"Perhaps this isn't a bad thing." Meera cut off. Evie gaped in disbelief.  "I'm going to ask Harris what he's listening to from Freya later. " Meera replied.

"But..." Evie protested.

"Evie, just trust me okay?" Meera assured her.

"Fine!" Evie exclaimed. "You know what? I'm going for a run...I've got to clear my head."

"Its freezing out there. Maybe just draw something, like that time you drew Cedric as a blobfish and left it outside his changing cubicle." Meera suggested.

"That was you?!" Cedric exclaimed.

"Nice one Meera." Evie said dryly.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because you got to be seeker." Meera explained. Cedric still frowned. "It was her rage art."

"Besides you look better as a blobfish." Evie said. Meera nudged her. "Oh, I'm sorry, didn't know just how protective you were of your..hmm how do I put this? Oh! midnight acquaintance?"

Cedric frowned.

"Uh, I think I'll head out...really should go for the run." Evie tried to flee as however, Meera held her back from doing so with a tight smile.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Cedric asked.

"Oh, you know..." Evie began.

"Nothing!" Meera cut of loudly. "Absolutely nothing!"

Cedric frowned as Evie smirked. "It doesn't look like nothing." He said.

"Nose out Diggory, or I'll break it, wouldn't want that when you're posing for newspapers now would we?" Meera snapped and quickly made her way towards the Great Hall, dragging Evie along with her.

"Meera and Cedric sitting on a tree..." Evie began.

"...shut. The. Fuck. Up, before I murder you!" Meera finished.

Evie didn't say anything else, but she didn't have to: her shit-eating grin said that she wasn't going to stop with this for the rest of the year. Meera was about to make her way to the library but Evie dragged her towards the Great Hall, reminding her of the time.

"Explain this!" Lory snapped shaking a bucket of badges in their faces as they entered.

"What?" Meera asked, stepping back away from the enraged Slytherin sixth year.

"Look." Evie said, picking up a badge from the box. In large red letters it said.

Support CEDRIC DIGGORY and HARRIS SMITHSON

The REAL Hogwarts Champions!

Evie pressed the badge and it in green letters glowed:

POTTER STINKS!

"Who made these?" Meera asked.

"Oh, that would be my darling cousin, Malfoy." Lory said. "They are getting around everywhere! I stole his current batch, but he has more. He made one and has managed to replicate hundreds somehow. I don't think Hermione hit him hard enough last year." 

"Let's go talk to the real champions and see why they let Malfoy make and distribute these." Lory said.

"I'll do something about the ones that are out." Meera said.

"No." Evie disagreed. "We'll eat first."

"You guys go and eat, I'll go and talk to Harris." Lory said. Evie put a hand on her.

"Why go to him when we can get him here?" Evie said. "Harris!"

He turned grinning broadly, his expression sobered a little when he spotted the source of the summon. "Get your ass over here right now!" Evie called.

"A little harsh isn't it?" Meera commented raising her eyebrow at the Hufflepuff girl.

"If he's condoning this he deserves this." Lory said. Her gaze then flickered between the younger girls. "Is there something else I need to know?"

"No! The badges are the only reason." Evie said quickly.

"Of course these badges are the only source of your bitter behaviour. How could I have thought it was anything else?" Meera said sardonically.

"What's wrong?" Merlin asked, beaming."Should I be worried?"

"Depends on your response to this...did you or did you not know Malfoy was making these badges?" Meera asked.

"The support ones?" He asked.

"The Potter stinks ones yes." Lory replied.

"I didn't know he did that!" Merlin said defensively. "Well...he might have mentioned it, but...I didn't think that he was serious."

"Of course he was! He has a grudge against Harry!" Lory shouted.

"Do you know where he keeps his stock?" Evie asked.

He nodded.

"Destroy it." Evie said.

"What? But he worked so hard...I'll just get him to get rid of the other message..." He began.

"If you don't get rid of them..." Lory began. 

"I'll reducto your ass before you could even blink." Meera finished.

Merlin chuckled as he looked between them and Meera rose her eyebrows at him, making his smile fall. "I'll get right on it."

"Okay...I'll go with Harris to sort out those badges after finishing my lunch. You deal with Diggory." Evie said.

"Hey! Why am I the one talking to him?"  Meera asked.

"Because he cares a lot more about what you think of him." Evie replied.

"Right, so its not because you want to make sure Harris stays away from Freya?" Meera asked.

"Nope. I have a feeling that Diggory would be a lot more agreeable with you then me."  Evie grinned.

"What's that supposed mean?" Meera asked.

"I guess she just means you have a more eloquent and unique way of putting things that he'd find appealing." Lory cut in. "Let's get to work we don't have much time."

------***------

13TH NOVEMBER 1994 - 12:30

"Diggory!" Meera called, startling several Hufflepuffs in the courtyard.

 A Hufflepuff no older than a second year approached her "Here, have a badge."

Meera grabbed the hand that was holding the badge in a tight grip. "Tell me where Diggory is."

"There." the startled Hufflepuff replied pointing behind him. 

"Ten points from Hufflepuff, for spreading items with prejudicial content." Meera said and walked away leaving behind the protesting second year.

The insufferable sixth year was casually lying down on a bench, his head resting on his friend's leg, with a book on his chest. He was laughing at something when Meera approached him.

"Well, hello your majesty." Meera said sarcastically. "You're quite a hard person to find. Am I interrupting you from your very important fan mail reading?"

Cedric got up quickly, a slight flush rising across his cheeks. "Hey, Meera whatsup? How can I help?"

"Can I have a word with you?" Meera asked as calmly as she could. "Alone."

Roman whistled, gently shoving Cedric. Meera exhaled trying to stop herself from getting more annoyed.

"Right now?" Cedric asked, ignoring his friend.

"Yes. Right now." Meera said, ignoring Roman's coy smirk.

He frowned and Meera rolled her eyes. She then took hold of his sleeve to pull him along with her to a tree, away from his friends.

"Jeez, Meera! Are you trying to pull my arm out of its socket or something?" Cedric exclaimed exasperatedly as he straightened his cloak and dusted his robes off.

"No. I asked politely, you wouldn't comply, so I gave you a gentle tug." Meera replied.

"Gentle?!" he exclaimed exasperatedly. "That's gentle?"

She ignored him and reached into her almost full basket, for one of the many badges that she had confiscated.

"What the hell is this?" she asked showing him the badge she retrieved

"A support badge." he shrugged.

"That conveniently says, Potter Stinks?" Meera asked

Cedric glanced at the badge for a second before spreading his hands, unfazed by the message. "Believe me, I've been trying to get rid of them." Meera was surprised at his lack of sincerity.

"Really? Is that why almost every single Hufflepuff except Evie is wearing it?" Meera demanded angrily. "I know you Diggory. You can be a bit of an ass sometimes, but this is just horrible. Don't you think Harry gets enough everyday with the cat calls? He already gets bullied by almost everyone in Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw? He's just a kid...a fourteen year old kid, who's..."

"...a kid who willingly signed up for a deadly tournament, I'm sure he can handle it." Cedric interjected sharply. Meera's eyes widened a little and she took a step back from him. Noticing this he paused, and then continued more calmly. "It's just...can't we Hufflepuffs have something for ourselves. Does Gryffindor have to come and sweep it away from us yet again?"

Meera remained silent for a few minutes, gathering her thoughts, she then exhaled heavily. "Ravenclaw is the only house in this school that doesn't have a champion. How do you think some of us feel? Besides, if you seriously think that Harry entered the tournament by himself, then you are an idiot."

"Am I?" he asked. "I'm not the one who's famous..."

"For the death of your parents?" Meera cut off.

He paused then, and then opened his mouth to say something, before stopping.

"You forget that little tidbit?" Meera asked coolly as she crossed her arms across her chest after slinging her basket onto one arm. Cedric looked away from her, a touch ashamedly.

"Believe it or not. Harry has had no choice in this matter. The Goblet of Fire binds you into a magical contract and someone's trying to kill him... again! And what does he get for this? His best friend abandons him out of spite, the whole school antagonises him, just like they did when they thought Harry was the master of the Chamber of Secrets..."

"You did too, after Evie was taken." Cedric pointed out, sheepishly.

"I didn't know Harry that well then. Besides, I apologised after that. I don't see the whole school apologising to him. Anyway, Harry's isolated now, and going to end up feeling more and more depressed. When I was in first year it sucked, and I didn't really have much to look forward to but my lessons, because I wasn't exactly a social butterfly and no extrovert happened to be around to adopt me into their friend group. It was really hard being all alone then, and it sucked having to put up with my mother's incessant advice about being safe and getting a future. Thankfully, Evie showed up seemingly out of nowhere in second year, I don't know where she came from, but I don't think I'd have made it this far without her." Meera continued. "Hermione tries her best to offer that, but Harry's not taking it...and these badges? It's only going to make things worse for him. It really hurts to be criticised, ridiculed, and despised for something you can't control you know?"

Meera replaced the badge in her basket and began to play with the end of her robe's sleeve. Cedric rose his eyebrows at her, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. "Are we still talking about Harry?"

Meera shrugged his hand off. "Yes. We are"

"You sure?" he asked. "I know that..."

"I said yes." she cut off adamantly. Meera saw that same expression of concern she'd seen on the night of the 30th when she'd, unintentionally, said a little more than she perhaps should've. She didn't regret it, but she doesn't plan to have regular heart to hearts with him like that, either.

"I'll do my best to try and talk them out of wearing them." Cedric said after a few moments.

"And I'll do my best to round them up and Evie will probably blow them up..." Meera said. Cedric's eyes widened and Meera chuckled and pointed to the basket. "The badges, silly."

"Oh...yeah." he nodded smiling. "Happy now?"

"If I see some change, I will be. Remember, Evie will tell me if you don't do anything." Meera said.

"Yes, I know. I promise, I will try to do something about it. Otherwise we can go with yours and Evie's way, together." he said.

Meera rose her eyebrows at him. "You sure you can be that mean to people Diggory?" she asked jokingly.

"Yeah, I'm sure." he grinned.

"Good, cause as I said before, being nice won't help you win the tournament." she reminded him.

"Well, the girl has gotten that right." a voice said and Meera jumped.

A woman with blonde hair in maroon robes, appeared and Cedric rolled his eyes. "I thought the photoshoot was over, Miss Skeeter."

"Oh, please call me Rita, dear. And you see, I requested to observe the champions whilst they're with their friends or girlfriends. This one has quite a hold on you doesn't she?"

Cedric flushed and began shaking his head. "No, no..."

"I'm not his girlfriend. I'm..." Meera paused, feeling her ears burn. What exactly were they? She was so adamant in insisting that they weren't friends to others. "We're just acquaintances."

"You seem a little close for just acquaintances...physically and in terms of what I overheard." Rita said. "Don't worry, I'll keep your secret."

"There's nothing going on." Meera exclaimed struggling to keep a level tone. "So could you please just mind your own business?"

"Of course! As long as your boyfriend here gives me a little tidbit about his friend, Ms Black." Rita said. 

"What?" Meera asked confusedly.

"Miss Skeeter I have told you that I have nothing to tell you about Lory. First you claim that she's my girlfriend and so I should know more about her life and parents and now you're claiming Meera's my girlfriend. Why don't you make up your mind?" Cedric suggested, the expression of irritation Meera had seen earlier had returned. "Why don't you just leave Lory alone? Hasn't she suffered enough?"

"That's exactly why she's good news." RIta grinned. 

"How could you just..."  Cedric began

"I don't see what else there's left for you to write about Ms Skeeter. Right now Lory's just a Hogwarts student. Its not like she's a Triwizard Champion or anything." Meera interjected calmly. 

"My sources state that Ms Black or Lory as you call her did enter her name for the tournament, unfortuntely she just didn't make it in, although her best friends have somehow managed to." Rita replied. "My reporters intuition tells me that girl still has a lot to offer to this world."

"I'm sure she does, she's very talented from what I hear." Meera said. "But I think she can do that without a camera crew..."

"...and a despicable woman like you following her around." Cedric finished.

"Aww, how cute? You finish each others sentences." she said smiling in a sickeningly sweet manner. "Listen, this is the way its going to be. Why don't you try and put your skill for persuasion to convince Lory to talk to me?"

"Or what?" Meera asked.

"You may never know what will show up in the paper, Mr Diggory here is an attractive lad and he happens to be associated with not one but two lovely young women." Rita smiled. "I'll leave you two to figure out what you're going to do, I've got to run now. Could you get back to me by...why don't we say Sunday?"

Before either of them could respond Rita left, leaving the pair speechless.

"Despicable! Does she actually think we'll do this?" Cedric said. "What kind of fool is she? It's obvious who she's going to end up printing about...she was fawning over Harry in that interview session it was kinda creepy to be honest with you."

"Think about it. With or without the interview Rita wins, because all she wants is a story..." Meera began

"About Lory and a puff piece about a love triangle associated with a Triwizard champion is just as good as an interview..."

"Exactly! Well maybe not just as good, but it gets her foot in the door, everybody wins...well everybody but Lory, you and..." 

"You." Cedric finished, he edged away a little as Meera's grip on her wand tightened.

"I fucking hate Friday the 13th!"