━━━rita's riot!

BIRDIE POTTER STARED at the newspaper in her hands, the picture of Hagrid moving as he waved merrily at the camera — she could not fucking believe that bitch Rita Skeeter, what did Hagrid ever even do to her? He's just a care of magical creatures Professor at Hogwarts, and the key-keeper. What could she have possibly gained by exposing his secret like that, "Bloody hell" Birdie breathed out.

"I know" Lorelei said, taking a sip out of her butterbeer, they were both at The Three Broomsticks, drinking butterbeer surrounded by the usual mess of the crowd — of course, they'd sneaked out to do it, because of the Triwizard Tournament not much attention was being paid to normal students, "Bloody brutal, that is, poor Hagrid, I can't believe I'm just seeing this"

"Yeah, maybe we should start reading newspapers more often, I mean no one in the school even talked about it, how does she even get all this news?" Birdie frowned, putting down the paper and finishing off her butterbeer, "I mean I highly doubt Hagrid spilled his entire life story out to her the first time they met"

"You know, knowing Hagrid — he might" Lorelei said with a wince, "but he hasn't said anything about that to us before and we've known him for, like, forever!"

"I know!" Birdie sighed, slumping down on her seat, "And now that Professor Bubblyfrank or whatever is here, I don't like her one bit"

"I think her name is Grubbypank or something" Lorelei frowned, "I don't remember, I heard from Cedric that she's quite boring — at least with Hagrid you had fear for your life"

"Oh, it was nothing!" Birdie waved her off, "Cedric's being a wuss, Hagrid's lessons are funny — like that one time Capella got a little bit her hair burned off by those blast-ended skrewts"

"Ooh" Lorelei made a face, "Is that why she had those horrible bangs for a month or two?"

"Probably" Birdie snorted, she looked down on her watch — it was almost the time for Lorelei's curfew, "Come on, we should leave, we don't want Karkaroff taking points off you just because you got back to the ship late"

"Relax" Lorelei rolled her eyes, "He barely even acknowledges me, I mean you should know I practically spend my whole day here"

"That's true" Birdie said, "You do, if you wore a uniform it would literally be like you're back at Hogwarts"

"Hmm" Lorelei said, her furrowed brows making her scars and scratches look more prominent, "I do have to get back though, Ms Ross is getting strict about me getting my rest"

"Ms Ross sounds cool" Birdie shrugged, grabbing her purse and putting two a few knuts as tip for Madam Rosmerta, "What's she like?"

"Oh, she is cool!" Lorelei grinned, "She is super cool, she's always cracking jokes during lessons, and she's so friendly with everyone, especially me — she's just super lovable and nice"

"Damn" Birdie said after a while, "If Karkaroff can hire someone like that, why the hell are we still stuck with Snivellus, I mean what the hell is Dumbledore even doing at this point?" Birdie shook her head.

"Got a thing or two to say about Dumbledore to me, girls?" A woman with platinum blonde hair curled into perfect little waves came forward, her grin displaying her gold teeth, "You can talk to me"

Birdie could feel her blood boiling, and she could tell Lorelei was having the same reaction, "Yeah, I've got a thing to say — it's not about Dumbledore, though it is pretty spicy" Birdie said and Lorelei looked over at her, the confusion visible.

"There's this lady who doesn't know how to mind her business, and um, it's actually quite funny because..." Birdie watched the acid green quill write it down furiously, "She can't be bothered to deal with her own life problems, like maybe that ugly purse of hers along with those shoes — sound familiar, Rita?"

"Haha" Rita said dryly, "Funny, that's funny coming from the sister of the chosen one, tell me, Ms Potter does everyone know about your current fling?"

"Hey, I think that's enough" Lorelei said taking a hold of Birdie's arm, and pushing her back, "Let's go, Birdie"

"No, no, let her speak" Birdie shook Lorelei's hand off and glared Rita down.

"You're pretty quick to jump onto another guy, aren't you, Ms Potter?" Rita said, her face dripping with disgust, "The word going around is that it's 'your thing' jumping from one guy to the other, tell me, is Mr Weasley just another guy?"

Birdie stared at Rita, is that what everyone really thought of her? Just some girl who goes around dating guys? Did her grades, her personality, her politeness, none of that matter just because she dates people?

"Let's go, Birdie" Lorelei placed her hand on Birdie's back, trying to guide her back to the palace.

"Can't expect much from the child when the parent's the same" Rita chuckled, "I'd heard Lily Potter used to get around—"

Birdie had had enough out of that old hag's stupid mouth, she turned around and swung her fist at the woman, Rita released a gasp and stumbled back, holding her palm up to her nose. Lorelei gasped too, but her face wasn't as pained looking as Rita, in fact she looked pretty delighted.

"Keep my family's name out of your filthy mouth" Birdie seethed, "If I hear one bad word about my parents or my little brother from you, I swear to Merlin I will find you and end you, Skeeter, watch yourself" she passed her one last glare before fixing her purse and taking Lorelei's arm, walking away from the scene.

"Deserved" Lorelei grinned at her best friend and wrapped her arm around Birdie's shoulder, "You ok, peach?"

"I just" Birdie exhaled, "Is that all people are ever going to remember be for? Just some girl who goes around with guys? Alexander Nott plays around girls like they're toys, Lee Jordon, or any other boys? They date? I don't see their whole reputation being based on that"

Lorelei sighed, she pulled her best friend into a side hug, "I'm sorry, babe, I'm sorry the world is so messed up that when a guy dates multiple girl maybe even at the same time he's labeled a heartthrob and when a girl dates a few guys she's labeled a slag"

Birdie didn't say anything.

✿

BIRDIE HAD TALKED to Hagrid after relentlessly banging on his door for about an hour, he'd cried and offered her tea but Birdie had declined, she wasn't sure if the tea he was drinking was made from water or just his tears that kept dropping down in the cup. He'd told her about how Rita had twisted his words, almost, taking things out of context.

There had to be something done about Rita Skeeter, that woman was getting on everyone's nerve real quick.

Birdie played around with her food on the Hufflepuff table, for some reason Rita's word had really stuck to her, was that all she ever did? No, that was crazy, she can't judge herself for dating guys, that's stupid, she reminded herself that she would never ever judge a girl for the number of guys she's dated, then why should she judge herself?

From the other corner of the room, Fred Weasley eyed the brunette carefully, he'd noticed that her hazel eyes had stopped looking golden in the sun like they used to, she hadn't been coming to the kitchens much and she hadn't been paying attention to her classes either. Fred knew he had to do something about it, he wanted his Robin back.

Fred stood up from his seat, grabbing his plate of food and gained confused looks from Lee and George. He plastered a grin on his face and made his way to his girlfriend, plopping down on the seat next to her, Birdie looked up, startled by the sudden movement beside her while Cedric, Lorelei and Bianca gave each other a look, scooting as far away from the couple as possible.

"Good afternoon, girlfriend" Fred grinned at her, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, Birdie felt herself smile without even realizing, "You are not going to believe what I have planned for us tomorrow"

"What is it?" Birdie asked, turning towards him with an exhausted smile — she hadn't been getting much sleep later, she would just stare at the ceiling instead.

Fred paused, he hadn't thought that ahead, quick think of something, Freddie! it was almost like George spoke into his mind and a lightbulb went off in his head, "I was thinking, since I obviously can't top our first date, we should just do something simple — like a picnic?"

"A picnic sounds amazing" Birdie gave him a smile, "As long as you're not the one making the sandwiches, though, don't want a repeat of the baking competition"

"Hey, I'm a good cook!" Fred protested, "It was just an off day for me..."

"Mhm" Birdie nodded at him.

"So, you and me" Fred said nudging her shoulder, "outside near the Black Lake with sandwiches, chips and a shit ton of chocolate pudding, what do you say, Ms Potter?"

"I say, sounds perfect, Mr Weasley" Birdie grinned at her boyfriend, "I'll meet you there tomorrow"

"Ok, Robin" Fred nodded, placing a strawberry in his mouth, "Don't be late, see you at five, tomorrow!"

"Oh, Rowena" Lorelei said with a disgusted tone, "Chew first and then talk, Fred"

Fred rolled his eyes at the brunette before turning to Birdie and giving her a quick kiss, taking all of his food back with him to the Gryffindor table after he'd gotten a few glares from Professor McGonagall.

...

On the picnic blanket, laid two teenagers, it was actually a pretty nice day today, kids were walking around but Birdie and Fred didn't care, between them was a basket full of food they'd already consumed, Birdie and Fred were looking up at the sky.

"Fred?" Birdie asked and the boy turned to face her, "Does it bother you that I dated many guys before you?"

"Of course, not" Fred huffed, "That'd be stupid, I mean what's it have to do with me? All I know is that we're together now and I'm happy"

Birdie's heart swelled up, "Have I told you how great you are today?"

"You can always say it again" Fred winked at her, and then turned a bit serious, "What brought that thing up?"

"Just something Skeeter brought up..." Birdie shrugged and Fred got up, a frown on his face.

"Blimey, Robin" Fred said frustrated, "You're not actually considering believing that woman, are you?"

"Well, she just" Birdie played with her sweater ends, "I don't know...she just said something about me dating around a lot and people talking about it, I guess?"

"Robin, listen to me — that woman is absolute bonkers, she makes up stories and she exaggerates things as much as she can" said Fred, "If she were to spit out some bullshit about me or Lorelei, would you believe it?"

"No" Birdie shook her head.

"Exactly, then why the hell are you believing something another person said about you?" Fred placed his hand on hers, grabbing them and playing with her fingers, "And as for people talking about you — they love you, Robin. You care for people who don't even know you, like that one time you made so many cupcakes in your third year because everyone at Hufflepuff was sad that they lost the house cup, or when you offered to work in the hospital wing in our fourth year because kids were petrified, and when you spent the whole day cheering Ginny up after the chambers of secret thing" Fred turned to look at her.

Birdie felt herself tearing up, she released a chuckle, "Question — if I told you something right now, will you promise to not run away?"

"Hey, as long as you're not planning to propose" Fred joked, "I mean, I am way too young to be hitched"

"Haha" Birdie said monotonously, "I just wanted to say..." that I'm in love with you, "that I have some extra chocolate pudding for you"

Fred grinned from one year to the other, "Wicked"