In Shadow and Signal (Book 2)

Harriet Potter's POV

They looked at me like I'd lied.

Like I'd cheated. Manipulated. Stolen something sacred.

Even people who'd fought beside me - Ron, Seamus, half the Gryffindor table - now couldn't meet my eyes without suspicion twisting behind theirs.

"She wants the attention," I heard someone say in the corridor.
"She's addicted to it."
"She's not even of age."
"She had to find a way to stay famous."

I stopped correcting them after the third day.

It didn't matter what I said.

The Goblet had spoken.

And the Goblet never lied - even when it wasn't telling the whole truth.

Hermione stayed by my side. Fierce. Brilliant. Refusing to flinch, even when girls in the common room cleared out of her way like she was catching something contagious. I knew she didn't believe for a second that I'd entered myself.

Ron... wasn't speaking to me.

He wouldn't even look at me.

That hurt more than I thought it would.

But what hurt most?

Was how quiet the contract had become.

Still there. Still warm beneath my skin. But subdued.

Like it was waiting.

⸻

Dumbledore didn't address the rumors.

He just called an assembly three nights after the drawing.

The four of us stood near the front of the Great Hall - Cedric, Krum, Fleur, and me - while the rest of the student body whispered behind cupped hands.

"I'm aware that this year's circumstances are... unconventional," Dumbledore began.

His eyes found mine for half a second.

"But the Goblet's choice is magically binding. Miss Potter is, officially, a Champion."

My throat tightened.

"And as such, she will compete in the three tasks set before her - the first of which will take place in three weeks' time."

Three weeks.

That was it.

No clues. No mercy.

Just a ticking clock and the knowledge that everyone wanted me to fail.

⸻

That night, I sat on the Astronomy Tower with the Portkey chain clutched in my hand, fingers pale from gripping it too tight.

The wind was sharp.

I didn't cry.

But I whispered into the cold, "If you can feel me... I'm scared."

The pendant pulsed once - soft as a heartbeat.

And that was enough.

For now.