Hold me under the stars-Drarry

Chapter 36

Day 4

Song=Forest fire-Brighton

Harry

Lupin's usual countdown roared down the shore, as students from each house set off towards the lake.

I was standing behind Seamus who eagerly cheered on Neville as he struggled in the water, slowly making his way towards the buoy. A cheer soared through the wind as he grabbed one of the small balls and returned to the shore, the next Gryffindor then setting off.

The line quickly got much smaller and suddenly I was the one running towards the water. I hadn't really paid that much attention to how much progress the other houses had made, but so far it seemed like Gryffindor and Slytherin were in the lead.

Cold water embraced my body as I started moving forward, my arms moving in quick, swift motions. My muscles screamed from the coldness, my pulse instantly responding to my movements.

Beside me, a boy much smaller than me struggled to keep his head above the water. The Ravenclaws behind him cheered loudly, but he didn't seem to hear.

I had almost reached the buoy when I noticed the Slytherin entering the water.

His blonde hair disappeared below the surface and lay slicked back as he appeared again.

His arms started moving faster and I knew he did it just to prove he could beat me. I did the same thing and my whole body tensed as my hand reached the buoy. Malfoy made an annoyed sound, knowing how far he was behind me.

My hand dove into the bucket and retrieved a little, red ball. With the ball glued to my hand, I started making my way back to the shore. Halfway through I heard small struggling grunts and turned to see the Ravenclaw boy struggling to reach his own bucket on the buoy.

For a moment I considered swimming back to help. I knew it was the right thing to do, but every limb of my body screamed no. I knew Malfoy saw the hesitation, and I could hear his low chuckle.

"Come on, Harry!" Dean cheered from the shore.

Then I realized: I was the last one. As soon as I put my ball into my house's can, we would win. But I still couldn't remove my gaze from the small boy still struggling to reach the bucket while his team grew more and more impatient.

Reluctantly I turned around and swam back to the boy. He made a surprised sound as I swam up beside him, but he made no further comments. I retrieved the little, blue ball and passed it to the boy. He whimpered a silent thank you, and we started to swim back to the shore.

Malfoy was now far ahead of me. Just like in the Quidditch try-out. I felt how my body was hit by instant adrenaline as the cheers from my house grew louder. I fought against the water as if it was quicksand, my lungs screaming for air, my eyes half-closed. Wrinkles had also started to appear on my hands and it felt as if the ball grew heavier and heavier.

I watched as Malfoy reached the shore and started to make his way up to his team. I did the same, but for a moment I was surprised to see Malfoy pause. Unlike him, I didn't. I continued running towards the little can until something hard hit my leg and then suddenly I was lying on the hard ground. Dirt caking my mouth. I spat it out and opened my eyes despite the searing pain in my leg. Someone then helped me to stand but as I watched Malfoy come from behind me running towards his own can, a wide grin spread on his face, I knew it was already too late.

A cheer grew from the Slytherins and I could tell what had happened. I stood up beside Ron, sensing he was watching as well.

"He cheated." I exhaled. A small aftertaste of dirt still filled my mouth. I gazed at Malfoy, his grey eyes finding mine. There was no way of telling what he was thinking.

"How could the teachers miss it?" I asked Ron.

"I honestly don't know. Trelawney was watching over the event the whole time."

Supportive hands gently touched my back and small comments about Malfoy were directed towards me, as I watched the houses start to vanish from the lakeside, and I began to let the whole thing slide. I began to reflect on what I had expected from Malfoy anyways and why I had expected a miraculous change in his behavior. But all I knew for sure was that the boy from yesterday was gone.

***

As the sun began to set a huge bonfire was made. All the houses gathered around the burning flames and as I sat down beside Hermione it was clear she was also pretty exhausted.

My leg was still hurting and the instant memory of Malfoy's malicious grin appeared suddenly as I thought of it. However, my thoughts were interrupted by Professor Lupin who entered Camp Circle before placing his usual megaphone all the way up to his lips.

"As a cheer for the success of today's events, you will, as promised, be handed your phone, on one condition."

A cheer went through the students but quickly grew silent as Lupin continued.

"As I mentioned earlier, you will only be permitted to use your phone for ONE hour, no more than that. The point of this trip was for you all to bond and it will do you no good just sitting around with your faces plastered to your phones."

Small chuckles came from the girls grouping around Lavender Brown, but I hardly imagined it was Lupin's speech that had caused it.

I looked at Hermione who looked like she was thinking the same thing.

"Well, I'm not gonna hold you here all day. If you would please make a line in front of Professor Trelawney over by the food table you will be handed your phone," Lupin said with the least excitement I had ever heard.

This triggered a storm of students. As they all rushed towards Trelawney, who I was worried might be overturned by the raging students. Hermione and I were some of the last students to get in line.

I knew Hermione didn't really do socials, and I had never really had any reason to, so we weren't filled with nearly as much enjoyment as the rest of the students running around in bare excitement.

Since everyone was very occupied by the latest news and posts, I quietly sat down and started going through my phone. As usual, no messages had been left for me and I don't know why I had expected it either. That didn't stop the stinging feeling of disappointment though.

Next, I opened a couple of other messaging applications but just as I had expected they were just as empty as the first one.

I had just thought about turning off my phone and joining some of the other students when a notification suddenly flashed across my screen. I clicked on it and was brought to a my-story by Cedric. It showed his class and the other houses. They were having a party and everyone was laughing and smiling. I tapped the screen and was brought to another video where everyone was running through the woods with torches in their hands scaring each other. I smiled. Why couldn't our camp be more like this? All the houses had gathered and had fun together just as they were supposed to. I scrolled through some other images when I finally reached a video I had wished I'd never watched.

One of Cedric's friends had filmed him and a girl leaning up against a tree. Cedric towered over her, whispered something in her ear and she chuckled soft and lightly before he bowed down and brought his lips to hers. My eyes froze on the screen. Somehow I managed to turn off my phone, but it was too late.

It was like my whole body halted in time. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh or be jealous or something else entirely.

Was Cedric happy? Was the girl his girlfriend? Had there ever even been something between us or had it just been in my head. For the first time in my life, I'd thought I had found someone who understood how I felt, but it had just become blaringly apparent that there had never been an understanding for us.

I noticed the tear rolling down my chin when it was already too late to stop it and without a word, I walked back to Camp Circle and handed in my phone.

Then, I hurried through the woods before finally finding my tent. I began to feel the tight pressure strangling my heart as I slipped into my sleeping bag, my eyes now on fire.

But everything stopped as I suddenly heard the zipper to the tent open as another shadow entered.

YOU SHOULD BE EXCITED FOR NEXT CHAPTER!!!!