"Al!" Rose called, from the other side of Honeyduke's. "What do you think, Fizzing Whizbees or Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans?" She came over and waved the packages under my nose. I swatted at them like they were annoying flies buzzing around my face.
"Rose, honestly. For the last time, I don't care! She likes both of them!" I sighed, exasperated 'She' was referring to Lily, who had missed the Hogsmeade trip because she was sick. Rose eventually put the jellybeans back, and bought the Fizzing Whizbees. I grabbed a pair of Acid Pops as a joke for my boyfriend, Jake Simmons, a Gryffindor. He was really into jokes. As Rose and I stood in the line of students waiting to check out, the door jangled and a breathless, rosy-cheeked fourth-year came running in. I think she was a Hufflepuff...Dawn, maybe?
"Alissa?" She asked, looking around the shop. I waved my hand at her and she came over. "You're supposed to be down at the Three Broomsticks...all of the Champions are, they sent me to come find you." I smiled apologetically at Rose, and shoved the Acid Pops and a Galleon into her hands.
"I expect the change." I hissed jokingly in Rose's ear. She rolled her eyes and waved me off. I thanked Dawn, and walked through the street to the Three Broomsticks.
As I pushed open the door, I was greeted by loud, hearty laughter, but not for long. A gloved hand yanked me into a side cupboard and slammed the door shut, leaving me in total darkness.
"Um...any reason why I'm being kidnapped?" I ventured. I mean, it couldn't hurt to ask, right?
The hand tugged at a string and a dim lightbulb flickered to life above us. My captor gave me a toothy smile.
"Hello, Alissa, hope you don't mind that I went for a more private setting."
"Hi, Rita." I sighed.
It was Rita Skeeter, the reporter for the Daily Prophet. She quickly explained that she was interviewing all of the Champions, and pulled out a Quick-Quotes Quill.
"Alright, launching straight into the questions, Ali." She gasped. "Can I call you Ali?" I shrugged. Usually I went by Al or Alissa, but it didn't really matter.
She took my shrug as a yes and continued, talking a mile a minute. "Great, Ali! And you can call me...Rita! Okay, straight away, what is your biggest fear for this Triwizard Tournament?"
I paused. Did I really want to admit this dumb fear of mine to the whole Wizarding World? "Well...I'm kind of...afraid of...clowns." Her quill scribbled it down.
"And you feel like this might appear in the Tournament Challenge?" Rita's eyebrows raised. I shrugged, not feeling the need to elaborate more. "Alright, moving right along. Ali, why did you enter your name in the Goblet of Fire to begin with?"
"Well..." I dragged out the word. "I knew my dad would be really proud of me if I was chosen, and I...well, I just wanted to." I finished lamely. There was no way I was going into the whole family thing with Rita. She pressed about my dad, but I waved her off with a "no comment."
he sighed, disappointed in my response. "Well, now brag about yourself a little bit. What do you think will make you win this competition?"
"Well, I'm very intelligent, being a Ravenclaw. I'm tied for head of my year, and I'm very practical and logical. According to the last Tournament held here at Hogwarts, the clues were cryptic, and I feel I'm well-prepared to figure those out. Also, I can create spells rather easily, as well as potions, it comes naturally." Rita's pen scribbled down furiously. I didn't even want to THINK about what it was writing about me.
"What are your motives for entering?" Rita fired question after question at me. I ignored this, because I already answered this one.
"Oh, well, what do you hope to gain?" She asked quickly. I thought about the right response.
"I feel like I could become closer with these other Champions, and I'd like that. It'd be nice to win the prize and become respected, but I hope to gain more magical experience and friends from other schools."
Her Quick-Quotes Quill scratched something out on the page and wrote something else. Rita grabbed her notebook and read it, nodding her head satisfactorily.
"Good, good, this is all very good. Now, just a bit more. What's after this? What happens if you win? What about lose? Where do you want to go in your future?"
"Oh, goodness, I don't know." I stopped talking. I felt like I was failing this interview, but I continued after a sneeze, thanks to the dusty cupboard I was sitting in. "If I win, well, I'm going to finish out my time at Hogwarts, but I think I may use the Galleons for Auror training. I think that'd be a very interesting career. If I lose, well, I suppose I will just finish my time here and then move on to something like creating spellbooks and new spells, maybe even look for a teaching job, because I really enjoy creating new spells.
Rita finished her Quick-Quotes notes, and read them over, finally coming back to pry more about my dad.
"You said your dad would be really proud." She said, cocking her head curiously. "Does that mean..." She paused for a dramatic breath and then hissed, "he wasn't proud before?"
"It means exactly what I said! Nothing more, nothing less!" I shouted. "Pry into someone else's life!" I jumped up and stormed out of the cupboard, leaving Rita to stew in her own thoughts.
I deeply regretted my actions the next day, however, when Rose Weasley came flying into our dormitory waving the Daily Prophet.
"Al, Al, Al, Al, Al!" She yelled. "You've got to see this. And...just...don't shoot the messenger, okay? Your interview is in here, but, well, you'll see." She shoved the paper in my face, and I grabbed it." Skimming the bulk of it, I saw that Skeeter twisted my words, just as I knew she would, making me sound arrogant and hurt at the same time. The last paragraph made me smolder with fury.
"SHE WHAT?!?!" I exploded, throwing the paper into the fire. Rita Skeeter had written that 'when asked about my relationship with my father, I began to cry and then get emotional.' And then, she wrote that I said 'it meant exactly that, and then stormed out crying, leaving Rita sorry for me but hurt by my rudeness, wondering if I was the right Champion after all.'
Rose patted my back. "It's okay. I understand. I understand." Sighing, I flopped down on my bed and ate a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean. One would think I would have learned the hazards of that by now.
"Blech, mucus!" I moaned, spitting it out into Rose's hand. She shook it off onto my bedspread quickly.
"Ew, Al, not on me!" She laughed, poking me and wiping her hand across my shirt. I shook it off and she went to use tons of hand sanitizer, putting it over everything. As I laughed, I felt bad for the people who didn't have best friends, because a best friend can instantly make your day better. I turned to the he fire and watched Skeeter's nasty words burn to ashes, already feeling better about myself.