The following school days were weirder than anyone had even imagined. There was an obvious tension amongst the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs—who usually got along very well in all circumstances. All except one, apparently.

She had heard Jillian Devereaux angry rant to Alexander as she sat with the Ravenclaws for breakfast. To her understanding, the Hufflepuffs felt as if Gryffindor was stealing their Champion's glory. And that house rarely got any recognition for anything, and thought of the given situation as one that was unfair.

This said tension was manifested further during first period, when Olivia Banks had picked a fight with Lee Jordan after having a single conversation about Harry joining the tournament to George. Professor Binns had to call in Professor Sprout,
Who sent the brunette straight to Dumbledore's office.

Cedric did not at all look to happy with this, growing silent as the class went on with their discussion. "Hey, you okay?" she couldn't help but ask her seatmate, who offered her a small, unsure smile, "I don't really like what they're saying about Harry..."

"Well," Florence began, "It's just a big deal for your house, you know? To have someone from their house to represent the whole school."

"I've told them to tune it down a bit," he huffed, "I don't know why Olivia had to do that. Jordan didn't really do anything."

"She'll come to her senses and will know that what she did was wrong," she said, "Now don't think about it too much. We have lessons to catch up with."

"You're right," he smiled, "I shouldn't let this stress me out more than it should."

Lunches weren't all too pleasant either. There was a wave of whispers as Slytherins went across table to table to hand out suspicious looking buttons from table to table. Fred looked furious at this, showing Florence the pin that he had picked up from the ground.

"I mean, seriously?" he grumbled bitterly, "They aught to cut Harry a bit of slack, yeah? He's entering the competition whether they think he deserves it or not. And he's going to win it."

The Slytherins were endlessly handing out buttons to people, even during Florence's free period where she was face-to-face with Draco Malfoy and his cronies.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" she questioned the blonde boy skeptically, making him clench his jaw. "That's none of your business, is it? Now are you lot going to take one or not?"

Florence set her book down beside her, glaring up at Malfoy, "Honestly, though, what are you supposedly going to gain out of distributing these nonsense pins?"

"What are you trying to achieve? Aside from making yourself look like a bigger toerag?"

Malfoy's cheeks flushed red, slightly embarrassed to have been told off by a 6th year. Without a single word of retort, he had marched off quickly.

She had also found Harry among a sea of students, all were clearly talking about him behind his back. Seeing as Alexander and Nicolai were nowhere in sight, she went over to the black haired boy.

"Hello," she said, unsure of how to start a conversation with him. It had only occurred to her that she had never had an actual conversation with Harry ever since. He, too, looked startled by her presence, "Oh, uh, hi."

"Sorry, I just, I know we don't know each other that much but you looked like you could use some company."

"No, no, it's okay," he said hurriedly, "I do need some company, thank you. Florence, was it?"

"Yeah. So, uh, how are you feeling?"

"Weird," he said, not missing a beat, "Everything's weird. I feel like everyone in this school thinks I'm a big fat liar..." Harry muttered, "Even my friend does..."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I believe that you didn't put your name in." Florence said, offering Harry a small smile as well. "My friends do, too."

"I don't know your friends, but it means a lot that they do." he said.

"So..." Florence trailed off, unsure exactly how she was going to say it. Whether or not Harry knew about Sirius hiding out at her house was unknown.

"Did, uh, did you write to Padfoot about it...?"

He looked at her, brows raised so high that it was dangerously close to disappearing into his hairline, "How do you know about padfoot?"

"Well," she said, "He's kinda hiding out in my place. He was my aunt's fiancé." Florence revealed, before her she let out a low chuckle, "Wow, this is such a casual conversation about him..."

"It is," said Harry, a little bit shocked by the information, "But yes, I have written to him... About this...whatever this is that's going on." he huffed.

"Coming from someone who has not experience nearly half of what you have, it might not mean a lot when I tell you that you're going to be okay. But you are. Don't let them get to you."

"Thanks, Florence."

                                         ----------

"So, how did your Potions test go?" Florence asked as soon as Noel Johnson had pulled up a chair across from her in the library. He laid down his books without a single word, before continuing to sit down in silence.

"I take it that it wasn't at all pleasant?" she said, the Gryffindor boy nodding his head slowly. "It's okay, Noel. That was just one of the many tests. We can study harder."

"It's just," he mumbled, "I don't get why my mind always blanks out when the test is right infront of me. I do understand when you teach me and stuff, but it seems as if it all just magically disappears when I actually need it."

"Well," Florence pondered, "Maybe because you get test frights. Nicolai used to have them all the time, when the pressure  of passing gets to your head enough that it distracts you from actually studying effectively."

Noel sighed heavily, "This is so stressful." he said, pressing his temple against the surface of the table in pure agony.

"You'll make it, buddy. Don't worry." Florence chuckled, patting him on the back.

There was a loud thud that came from the entrance of the library, the two seeing Nicolai practically running over to where they were, and completely disregarding the stern glare that Madame Pince sent her way for disrupting the peace and quiet.

"Flo—" she managed to breathe out, before pausing to regain her breath, "Xander—he's—got into a fight—hospital wing..."

"Wait, what?" Florence replied incredulously, "How?"

"No time to explain. Just...can you excuse us for awhile, Noel?" Nicolai asked the boy, who nodded, "Sure, don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

The two had rushed over towards the Hospital Wing, Florence nearly tripping on her feet as she did so. It was very unlikely—also very mind-boggling—for Alexander to be involved in a fight, as he never really did anything irrational.

But there he was, sitting upright on a hospital bed, an icepack held over his bruised cheek. Jillian was there as well, guilt evident on her face as she pressed the icepack carefully onto his skin.

"Xander," said Florence, hair blowing behind her as she rushed to his bed side, "What happened?"

"There were these Gryffindor pricks, seventh year by the looks of them. They tripped Jillian in the hallway." he muttered, his eyes not daring to look at Florence.

"And you punched them?"

"No," he replied almost immediately, "I-I told them to lay off. But then they called her a bitch and—"

"Then you threw the first punch." Florence finished, Alexander looking down in embarrassment, "Yes." he mumbled. "Xander..." she said, frowning, "Why were they even picking on Jillian in the first place?" Nicolai added, who was also greatly agitated by it.

"It's because of this button," said Jillian, who unclasped it from the fabric of her shirt, "They were mad because I was wearing it,"

"And they have the right to," Florence shot at her, agitation evident in her voice. Jillian had pursed her lips, clearly bracing herself for what was about to come. "Flo, I don't think—" Nicolai began, immediately at Jillian's defense.

"No, Nic. Honestly? This whole bullshit about being against Harry is getting way out of hand. You shouldn't be wearing that button," she told Jillian, "No one in this bloody castle should be wearing that damned button. How daft can you be to believe that a 4th year student can cross the bloody age line with ease? Hell, even my boyfriend grew a fucking beard just by attempting it!"

"And you think Harry likes that he's being thrown into this tournament? No, he doesn't! The boy's scared out of his wits. How many times has he had his life in danger? And you think he deliberately placed his life on the line for the sake of fame?"

By this time Jillian too had her head down, clearly ashamed of what she was supporting.

"What about Cedric? Sure your support and everybody else's means the world to him, but doing it by putting someone down is not the way." said Florence, eyes over-bright.

"Flo," said Nicolai again, "That's enough."

"I have to go, I'm sorry," said Jillian hurriedly, picking herself off of the waiting chair before storming out of the hospital wing in shame.

"And you," she said, turning to Alexander, "You know better than to throw the first punch."

"No need for the lengthy sermon," he huffed, "I'm getting detention first thing in the afternoon tomorrow."

"Serves you right." Florence muttered, "Merlin, this Tournament hasn't even started yet but it's driving everyone to insanity."

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a.n: 4K! GAHHH! I love you all & I'm sorry my writing is gradually sucking it's just that I'm not too good with writing fillers and I just feel so awful for that. Better chapters are coming, don't you worry :))

-Denise