The Traitor

In the days after the Yule Ball, a lazy atmosphere hung over the school, as though everyone were recovering from the grand revelry.

But that lethargy was soon swept away by the announcement of the Second Task. At breakfast, Professor McGonagall announced that the Champions needed to solve the Golden Egg's secret before February 24, or they would be like headless chickens during the Second Task.

Clara knew what was in the Golden Egg.

Of course, she wasn't going to tell.

Cedric and Cho Chang seemed to have grown closer after the ball. Sometimes, while eating in the Great Hall, Clara would see Cho Chang come over from the Ravenclaw Table and sit beside Cedric. The two would put their heads together and talk, and Cedric would smile, his eyes crinkling. Whenever Rowle saw this, he would quickly change the subject, secretly watching her.

"You don't have to look at me every time you see Diggory and Cho Chang together," Clara said at breakfast one day. "I'm really fine."

"I wasn't looking at you." Rowle guiltily took a huge bite of toast. "I was looking at... the weather's nice today."

Outside the window, rain was pouring down.

Clara rolled her eyes at her and sighed.

On the day of the Second Task, Clara didn't go to the lake.

She knew what would happen.

"Aren't you curious who Cedric's treasure is?"

After failing to persuade her for the third time, Rowle tried to use Cedric to pique her interest.

"It's not me, anyway."

The Champions would bring their respective "treasures" up from the Black Lake-Harry would bring up Ron and Phoebe's "treasure," Gabrielle; Cedric would surface with Cho Chang; and Krum's treasure was Hermione.

If the Weasley twins took bets on it, she thought she would make a fortune.

She sat in the dormitory with a copy of Witch Weekly open in front of her. The room was empty, so quiet that only the occasional crackle from the fireplace could be heard. She curled one leg up on the chair, rested her chin on her knee, and turned a page.

The special training lessons had reached their second stage in recent days, and every day she felt as though she had been beaten up. Today, at last, all the professors had gone to watch the competition. Rather than watch a contest whose outcome she already knew, she would rather get some proper rest.

Late in the afternoon, noise began to sound in the corridors. Cheers rolled down from above and poured into Hufflepuff's underground passage. The barrel-shaped entrance to the common room was pushed open again and again as students crowded inside, everyone talking excitedly.

"Cedric was amazing! He tied for first with Harry Potter!"

"He was holding Cho Chang when he came out of the water-oh my goodness-"

"Cho Chang was his treasure! Do you understand? His treasure!"

Clara looked up from her magazine, the corners of her mouth curving slightly, then lowered her head and continued reading.

"Clara Albert! Do you know what you missed?"

Rowle rushed back into the dormitory, his face wearing an expression that said, "You missed the whole world." He snatched the magazine from Clara's hands and launched into a vivid account of how Krum had turned into half a shark, how Phoebe had been attacked by Grindylows, and how Cedric and Harry had emerged from the water.

"I know." Clara pulled the magazine back out of Rowle's hands. "I heard."

"Lyla, I still don't understand. Why didn't you go?"

"Too lazy."

"Clara Albert!"

Rowle was truly frustrated that she wouldn't live up to her potential.

The celebration began after dinner. The Hufflepuff Common Room had been decorated with yellow and black streamers, and enchanted candles floated in midair.

Butterbeer was brought out, along with a pile of snacks filched from the kitchens. Cedric stood at the center of the crowd, a tired but happy smile on his face, patiently answering everyone's questions about what it had been like under the Black Lake.

Clara stood at the edge of the crowd, leaning against the railing of the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories. Rowle pressed a bottle of Butterbeer into her hand, and she took a sip.

When most of the crowd had dispersed, Clara went up to Cedric and congratulated him.

"I know this might not be an appropriate question," he said, his voice much lower than before, "but are you really all right? I feel like you haven't been looking well lately."

"I'm fine." Clara raised the Butterbeer in her hand. "Congratulations, Diggory. Tying for first is impressive."

"Thank you. If you're feeling unwell, I suggest you go to the Hospital Wing promptly. Madam Pomfrey knows her way around medicine." Cedric smiled and winked at her. Whispers seemed to arise from the crowd behind him.

The change began after that day.

At first, there were only a few subtle moments. Some Hufflepuff students walking toward her in the corridor would look away and pretend to study the tapestries on the walls.

The first time the word "traitor" reached her ears was on the fifth day after the Second Task. She had come out of the library and was carrying several books around a corner on the second-floor corridor. Two third-year Hufflepuff girls were whispering together, and they hadn't stopped in time to keep the last word from reaching her, loud and clear.

Clara stood still for two seconds.

She thought that if this had happened last year, she probably would have been upset all afternoon. But now she just felt a little tired.

The end of the Second Task meant that the time was drawing ever closer.

Aside from Dumbledore, she had no one to confide in. Even the professors knew only that she might have to face You-Know-Who and that Dumbledore was sending her.

As for why it was her and what she had been through, Dumbledore had told her in private that, for secrecy's sake, he hadn't told anyone else.

The weight of that secret was more exhausting than any gossip.

She had no energy to spare arguing in her own defense.

But Rowle didn't see it that way.

"Aren't you angry?" Rowle slammed his bag onto a library table with a dull thud. Madam Pince poked her head out from behind a bookshelf and glared at them. Rowle ducked his head and lowered his voice, but he was practically steaming.

"I just heard Linda Smith in the Great Hall saying that you spend all day hanging around Harry Potter, went to the Yule Ball as his partner, and didn't even cheer Cedric on during the Second Task—and she actually called you 'a spy Gryffindor planted in Hufflepuff.' Can't these people use their brains before making things up?"

"You already proved it yourself just now." Clara turned a page. "They don't have brains."

"Lyla!" Rowle nearly stood up in anger. "They're slandering you, calling you a traitor!"

"All right, Rowle, don't be angry. Like you said, they don't have brains. Getting angry at people with no brains only wastes ours."

Rowle glared at her, his mouth opening and closing, then opening again, before he finally sat down in a huff. Even so, he pulled a bag of Fizzing Whizzbees from his bag and shoved it in front of Clara.

"You've gotten far too thin lately. Eat more. These are new."

She accepted them with a smile, then popped a sweet into her mouth.

Things finally came to a head one Wednesday afternoon.

Clara had classes all day-Professor Flitwick's Charms lesson in the morning had run a little late. In the afternoon, she had two consecutive Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, which would most likely mean another few hours rolling around in the dungeons. She wanted to go back to the dormitory first to drop off her bag and change into an old robe, then head to the dungeons for class.

The Hufflepuff Common Room was usually quiet at around two in the afternoon, but today was different.

She knocked on the barrel lid, and as she climbed inside, she heard loud voices.

"Ced's too nice. He doesn't want to offend anyone. But surely we can tell the truth?"

Zacharias Smith sat in the largest armchair beside the fireplace, his legs sprawled out. Seven or eight boys had gathered around him. Some nodded in agreement, while others were holding back smiles.

"You're right," Eddie Carmichael said from his perch on the arm of the sofa. "She's a Hufflepuff, but she didn't go and cheer Ced on during the Second Task, and she spends every day with Potter from Gryffindor. What's that about?"

"She's very busy," Zacharias said, taking a sip of Pumpkin Juice and deliberately slowing his speech. "Every day she has to rush off to the dungeons for some kind of lesson. What was it again? Anyway, Snape's giving her private lessons, the only one in the whole school. Which of you gets that treatment? I certainly don't. A Hufflepuff, getting Snape to teach her alone."

"Who knows what kind of lessons they are?" Eddie lowered his voice and put on a suggestive expression. "Everyone knows how Snape usually treats Hufflepuffs. Just what she did to make him look at her differently is really worth..."

"What are you talking about?"

The voice came from the other side of the group of boys. It wasn't loud, but it carried an intimidating force.

Cedric stood in a corner by the window, an open book still in his hand. He had probably been sitting there all along, hidden by a high-backed chair. He was still wearing robes damp with sweat from practice, evidently having just returned from the Quidditch Pitch.

Zacharias turned and saw him. Surprise flashed across his face for an instant, but was quickly replaced by an indifferent attitude. He didn't stand, merely setting down his cup and shrugging.

"Diggory. We were just talking about Albert."

"I heard what you were talking about." Cedric walked over, his voice still controlled. "But I think you should explain exactly what you meant by those remarks, Smith."

"I didn't mean anything by them." Zacharias spread his hands, an irritating smile on his face. "I'm just stating the facts. She does run down to the dungeons all day for some kind of private lessons with Snape, and she's close to Potter. Aren't those reasonable questions to ask?"

"Do you think your tone sounded like you were asking questions?"

Cedric took a step forward, the full authority of a Prefect on display.

"Diggory, you're Hufflepuff's Prefect and Champion. You ought to care most about the honor of the house." Zacharias looked around as though he were making a speech. "She's always coming and going with Potter from Gryffindor. The whole school has seen it. She was Potter's partner at the Yule Ball, and she didn't even go to cheer you on during the Second Task—she's a traitor, plain and simple!"

"She's free to be friends with Potter and go wherever she likes with him." Cedric raised his voice. It was the first time Clara had heard him speak so loudly. "And as for her lessons in the dungeons, that's Professor Snape's territory. You can go and ask Professor Snape directly. Go down to the dungeons and say what you just said to his face. Do you have the nerve?"

The entire common room fell silent.

The people who had been agreeing with Zacharias a moment ago now said nothing. Snape's name alone had the power to freeze all discussion in an instant.

Zacharias's face flushed red. His lips moved, and several seconds passed before he forced out a sentence. His voice was much quieter than before, but his tone was even more sour. "Oh, so now you're speaking up for her. Diggory, you're really defending her like this? You already have Cho Chang, and you still..."

"Whoever I'm with is none of your business." Cedric cut him off, his voice dropping suddenly and turning cold. "That's never a reason for you to hurt a fellow student."

He didn't finish.

Something caught his eye, and he turned his head.

Clara stood on the steps by the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

No one knew when she had come in. She stood there with no expression on her face, yet somehow she made people uneasy.

Every eye in the common room was fixed on her. Zacharias's mouth was still half open, his face red. The boys around him wore a variety of expressions, and no one spoke.

Clara descended the last few steps and walked past the group without so much as a glance. She crossed the middle of the common room, went into the dormitory, changed, and came back out. Her footsteps were the only sound in the quiet room.

Zacharias seemed to be provoked in that moment. He took half a step forward, pointed at her back, and raised his voice again. "Look, she doesn't even dare explain herself! She has a guilty conscience!"

Clara didn't stop. Zacharias's words stirred nothing in her.

"Clara."

Cedric called out to her and hurried after her. It was the first time she had called her Clara instead of Miss Albert.

If it had been before, she probably would have been very happy.

The stone corridor on the basement floor was much colder than the common room. Wall lamps burned quietly, casting orange light on the rough stone. Clara bent down and climbed out through the barrel-shaped entrance, with Cedric close behind her. His strides were long, and he caught up to her in a few steps.

"Clara, wait."

He moved in front of her, turned around, and blocked her path. He looked down at her, the cold anger from the common room gone from his face. His eyes held guilt, worry, and an anxious uncertainty about what to do.

"Those things just now," he said, his breathing a little uneven, probably from hurrying after her, "what Smith said, don't listen to him. He's just a-"

"An idiot." Clara stopped and looked up at him.

Cedric paused, the corners of his mouth twitching, unsure whether to smile.

"Something like that. But that's not what I wanted to say." He took a deep breath, his gray eyes fixed on her. "None of what they're saying is true. No one thinks you're a traitor. I believe you. I'll make them all shut up. Your lessons and who you're friends with are your own business. No one has the right to interfere."

Clara looked into those gray-blue eyes and remained silent for a few seconds.

Then she sighed, a hint of helplessness and weariness in her voice.

"Thank you, Diggory," she said. "But I really don't care about any of that." She smiled at Cedric. "For now, though, I need to go to Professor Snape's lesson. If I'm late, I don't think he'll let me off, and that would be worse."