"Sickle for your thoughts?" a voice brought her out of her head. She turned to see Fred with chicken in his mouth while looking at her with an inquisitive look. He had been watching her stab at her mashed potatoes for about two minutes now, and had finally decided to say something.

"I'm just thinking about the tournament," she answered with a small shrug of her shoulders.

"Haven't seen anything in your map about it?" he asked, not realising that he had just broadened Sophia's mind into something she had been brewing over for the past couple of hours.

"Oh yes, about that Frederick-" she started and Fred immediately groaned, putting down his fork. "-I don't like the fact that you and George made a bet around what I said about the Quidditch match. We could all get into a lot of trouble for that."

"Oh come on Soph," Fred attempted to sway her. "It was only a small bet. Bagman actually gave us fake gold! It disappeared right under our-"

"It doesn't matter Fred!" she cut him off, knowing full well that he was going to try and use his typical Weasley charm to change the subject. "Anyone could be suspicious at how you and George knew the exact outcome of the game. I could be taken into the Ministry for the misuse of-"

"But you won't love! Not if you keep quiet about it like George and I have been!" Fred took his turn to cut her off, leaning extra close to her face in order to catch her attention. "Just stop yapping on about it and no one will know! I'm sure people do it all the time in the betting industry. Just let it go, and eat your mashed potatoes."

Sophia huffed in response and decided to do as he said. There was really no point on dwelling on past events. She just had to be more careful about what she let slip to Fred and George about what she's seen through her map and the sky. The girl instinctively looked up towards the teacher's table, where her father once sat and would smile at her from his spot next to Hagrid, only to meet eye(s) again with Professor Moody. The man hadn't tried to talk to anyone at the table, only stare over to countless heads of students in the hall. His enlarged eye was pinning her in her seat, making her want to shrink away. She didn't like this man. Ex- Auror or not, he didn't seem safe at all.

---

The next day, classes started as normal. After breakfast, Sophia made her way to Defence Against the Dark Arts with Hermione, Ron and Harry. The four of them were slightly eager to have their first lesson with Professor Moody, but partially nervous as the man was so intimidating. Sophia's stomach churned slightly at the thought of being in such close proximity of the Ex-Auror, considering Hermione had decided to have them occupy a table three rows away from the front of the classroom. Once they had settled, the man stood at the front of the classroom and began to introduce himself in his harsh and clipped tone of voice.

"Alastor Moody, Ex-Auror," he wrote his name on the blackboard frantically. "And your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm here because Dumbledore asked me to, good bye the end! Any questions?"

The class stayed silent with a layer of slight fear, as he looked over everyone. Much to Sophia's relief, he didn't stare at her like he did last night in the Great Hall. But he did do so to Harry, who fidgeted nervously in his seat from the Professor's penetrating stare. The lesson went on with talk of the three Unforgiveable Curses, and resulted in Neville Longbottom having a near melt down when forced to watch Professor Moody torture a helpless spider with the Cruciatus Curse. It was horrible, and Sophia found herself being terrified of the man. At the end of the lesson, she attempted to leave the room amongst the crowd of Gryffindors and Slytherins when the same gruff voice stopped her.

"Miss Lupin, can I talk to you for a moment please?"

Sophia stopped near the door and turned back to face the teacher with a nervous gulp down her throat. Professor Moody stood in the middle of the room between two desks, leaning against his walking stick with his enlarged eye settled on her once again. She took small steps back towards the middle of the class and stopped in front of him, looking up at the man with sweating palms. Harry, Ron and Hermione pitied the girl and decided to wait outside for her.

"I hear you're very interested in Astronomy," Professor Moody stated, staring down at the small Gryffindor. This surprised her, but she tried to mask it the best she could.

"Oh y-yes, I mean... I dabble in it," she replied with a shaky voice.

"More so from what I've heard," he continued with what looked to be an attempted smile. This didn't settle her in the slightest. "You know Miss Lupin, some say that Astronomers can sometimes read star patterns. Almost like they can talk to them and find information from the past, present and future."

"Y-Yes I've heard of that," Sophia was starting to think that he knew about her recent ability to read the night sky. Had he been sent by the Ministry to arrest her for letting Fred and George cheat Bagman out of his money?!

"Hm, I hope you stay on this course in Astronomy Lupin," Moody nodded his head. "Off you go then."

She didn't need to be told twice. Sophia nodded in reply before scurrying out the classroom to Harry, Ron and Hermione. They looked at her with anticipation and curiousness, seeing as she had gone slightly pale and seemed even more nervous than before.

"He knows," she stated. "I think he knows about the tip off I gave Fred and George about the match."

"There's no way," Ron shook his head as they made their way down the steps towards their next classes. "Fred and George may be stupid, but they wouldn't sell you out like that."

"How else would he have known?" Hermione questioned, feeling the same panic as Sophia was feeling.

"Well he's an Auror isn't he?" Harry pitched in. "Maybe he just asked Professor Sinistra. She was bound to say how brilliant Sophia is in Astronomy. Maybe he doesn't know about the bet. Did he even say anything about the Quidditch match at all?"

"No..." Sophia answered. Her nerves settled, Harry's words easing her slightly. She was very anxious, maybe she was just over-thinking like she normally does. She's just paranoid, Mad-Eye's mad after all. Who would believe him anyway if he did know? Surely anyone who was dangerous would also think that Mad-Eye's off his rocker at this point.

Sophia tried not to dwell on it for the rest of her lessons, but couldn't help but squirm uncomfortably under Professor Moody's stare at meal times in the Great Hall. She tried to make sure that Fred or George would sit on the side that faced the teacher's table, so that their tall frames blocked her from sight and stop Moody from penetrating her with his stare. This hadn't gone unnoticed by Harry, who was quite frequently under the same stare of the man's. He had taken an odd interest in him and Sophia, and Harry kept wondering why. Being the Boy Who Lived always came with unwanted attention, but Harry somehow didn't think this was Professor Moody's reasoning.

The week went by and nothing that out of the ordinary happened for Sophia. The stares from Moody hadn't stopped, but she had been able to find ways around it. Defence Against the Dark Arts was a little tricky to hide from, but at least the Professor would split his lingering stares between Harry and herself. That was less dawning for both of them. Although, the Charms class she had on the Thursday of that week was rather eventful. While sitting with Hermione and writing down notes from the blackboard, she heard a hiss of her name from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see Draco Malfoy sitting with Gregory Goyle, and they were both looking at her with smirks on their faces.

"Words gone 'round about you and Weaselbee," Malfoy spat with his usual sneering expression. "Apparently he's been skipping his Herbology classes."

"What's that got to do with me?" Sophia asked back in a hushed whisper, not wanting Professor Flitwick to catch her talking in class. To Malfoy of all people would also be a real waste.

"The way I've heard it-" Malfoy started with Goyle sniggering next to him. "-is that Weasley's been going to a particular broom cupboard and getting blowies from Lupin."

If something could ever make Sophia turn into a beetroot, it would be something along the lines of that. Her breathing had stopped and Hermione had even looked up from her work and stared in shock at Malfoy who was now laughing hysterically with Goyle. Hermione had never heard anything so vile in the halls of Hogwarts, and was glad that Professor Flitwick heard the Slytherin's laughter and gave them detention. But when she turned to look at Sophia, she felt an immense amount of second-hand embarrassment and pity for her friend.

"It's just a rumour Soph, don't listen to them," Hermione whispered to her friend but it hit deaf ears. Sophia couldn't think of many other rumours that she'd never want to be the topic of, and it brought a dead weight to her stomach. Even though they absolutely weren't true, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed at the fact that the school was under the impression that she had done such things with Fred in a broom closet. She wondered if he had heard about this and was trying to keep it quiet, but it didn't help the situation at all.

At dinner that same day, Sophia felt like all eyes were suddenly on her. They weren't, but the paranoia of the rumour had made her believe that everyone was whispering about her and laughing behind their hands as she made her way to the Gryffindor table. Thankfully, Professor Moody wasn't sitting at the teacher's table today, so that was one less blaring eye that followed her around the Great Hall. But once she sat down next to Hermione and faced Ron and Harry who sat opposite her, the looks of pity from the boys just made it worse.

"Ignore it Soph," Ron said first, looking rather sheepish. "It's just some stupid rumour that Malfoy probably made up."

"He makes rumours about me all the time," Harry added. "I've learnt to ignore him at this point, it's the only thing you can do."

"Does Fred know?" Sophia spoke up for the first time since the incident.

"What does Fred know?" George plopped himself down in the seat unoccupied next to Sophia, leaning forward into the conversation to hear the latest gossip. "What's Freddie been up to without me?"

"Shagging Sophia by the sounds of it."

"RON!"

The boy shrunk away from Hermione's book that had been lobbed at his head from across the table. Sophia wanted to sink through the floor at this moment, and buried her face into the crevice of her arms that were crossed on the table. The humiliation of the situation was bringing her mood down further and further every second, and Ron was definitely too dim to notice that.

"Shagging? No way," George was surprisingly calm, but doubtful about the situation. "No offence Sophia, but you don't seem like the type of girl to already be shagging my brother in a broom cupboard. And it was a blowie Ickle-Ronniekins, not a sha-"

"Can we stop please?!" Sophia cried as she shot her red face up from her arms, glaring at the redhead next to her. "I suppose you've heard about it then? No doubt Fred knows too..."

"He doesn't actually," George answered with a disinterested tone. "Don't worry about it Soph, you'll be old news soon enough. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang lot will be here soon, and everyone will forget about you and Freddie."

Just like George said, people at Hogwarts began to forget about the unconfirmed rumour about Fred and Sophia. The only thing the school was talking about now was that today was the day that the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students would arrive at Hogwarts. Up to this moment, Fred hadn't shown any sign of knowing about the rumour and it settled Sophia greatly. He stayed his cheerful and goofy self, and continued to hook his arm around her shoulders at meal times. But he was yet to make the move to hold her hand again, which slightly upset Sophia. She was way too shy to try and hold his hand first, so the chances of it happening was quite low at this point.