George Weasley x Reader ~ Jaffa Cake

20 - Churlish Behaviour

'I hope you didn't actually think we were gonna die down there, Harry', spluttered Ron, having just spewed out a fair jug full of water. Harry looked annoyed and quite abashed. 

'But the song said-' Harry protested.

'Dumbledore wouldn't have let us die', Ron interrupted, 'you absolute idiot.' 

A very cold look washed over Harry's face, and you patted his shoulder lightly in an attempt to stop him from getting more annoyed - especially at Ron's name calling.

'Harry, you did what any good person would have done', you told him, Hermione nodding in agreement. 'Don't beat yourself up for it.' 

Harry managed a weak smile for you before Madam Pomfrey forced a warm looking potion down his throat, causing steam to gush from his ears. He barely noticed the steam, still looking quite irritated with himself. You were rubbing his shoulder now, and felt a little annoyed at Ron for calling him an idiot. It was sort of a relaxed atmosphere, before Ludo Bagman's voice boomed out across the lake again, startling all of you. The people around stopped cheering almost immediately and took their seats, eagerly waiting for the results as Bagman stood patiently. 

'Settle down all, we have the final results', he announced, his voice still echoing further than it really needed to. 

Fleur had used the bubblehead charm, but was attacked by Grindylows and didn't manage to reach her hostage; this earned her 25 points. She allowed a smile to form on her face for not even a second, before returning to straight-faced as the crowd clapped. Cedric had also used the bubblehead charm, and reached his hostage promptly, returning one minute out of the time limit; this earned him 47 points. The cheers became even louder, especially from the Hufflepuffs. Both you and Harry watched Cho give Cedric a look of admiration. When you looked away you caught Harry's eye and both immediately knew what the other was thinking, so you gave each other a quick grin, and looked back to Bagman. Krum had used a badly executed form of Transfiguration, causing only the top half of his body to become a shark (which looked rather terrifying), but nonetheless he'd retrieved his hostage; this earned him 40 points, and a heavy pat on the back from Karkaroff. Bagman began to explain that Harry had used Gillyweed very well, but had been late returning due to his perseverance in wanting to return all the hostages to safety. If he hadn't been worried about the others, he would have most likely come first place; for this, he earned 45 points. This tied him with Cedric.

Everyone surrounding Harry that moment began cheering resoundingly for him,  and anything Ron had thought about Harry's heroics were now irrelevant - it was far too loud to hear your own thoughts anyway. The atmosphere had become immensely upbeat, and the only face that didn't appear to be smiling was Igor Karkaroff's. He actually appeared to be scowling very sourly. Deciding this wasn't important, you continued to cheer for Harry as loud as you could, waiting for Bagman to signal for silence. It wasn't one of your top priorities to get involved with whatever was going on with Karkaroff and his past. 

Bagman held his hands out, gesturing for the crowd to be quiet. It took a short while for the cheers to subside, and Bagman's voice once again echoed further than required. 

'The final task will occur on the twenty fourth of June at dusk', he informed. 'The champions will be told what this task will involve a month before it takes place. Thank you for your support towards them and have a good day.' 

At that final note, the entire crowd got up at once and began to file out the stands, taking no care at all to watch where they were going - for that reason, you stayed behind, waiting until there were less people around to avoid getting crushed. You were watching people leave as George appeared behind you, Fred tailing him.