PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

51 || The First Task

Lunch came to an end much sooner than Katie would have liked. Not even fifteen minutes after Harry left the Great Hall with McGonagall, students were finishing their food and exiting the Hall.

To say that Katie was nervous would be an understatement. In fact, she felt as though she was probably more nervous than Harry himself. She stared down at her porridge in disgust, like she had been doing for the majority of lunch, and finally pushed it away, grimacing.

As the Hall emptied further, Katie looked up from the table and saw Hermione making her way over to the Slytherin table. She was accompanied by Ron, who was shaking anxiously, and Dean, Seamus and Neville.

"You ready, then?" Hermione asked when she was in ear-shot.

Katie nodded and quickly got to her feet. She staggered momentarily when her legs trembled with fear.

"See you later, Pansy," Katie's voice was shaking too. "Bye, Draco."

The five Gryffindors and single Slytherin tread across the lawns together. Dean and Seamus were talking loudly and excitedly about the upcoming task, with occasional input from Neville, while Ron stayed silent and Hermione stared straight ahead.

The air was crisp and the grass was ridden with drew. Katie pulled her scarf tighter around her neck to shield herself from the cold — she was already shaking with nerves, so she felt as though she might collapse if she began shivering from the cold.

Professors were dotted around the lawn and pointing the students in the direction of the trees. Katie and her friends were travelling amidst most of the school who, much like Dean and Seamus, were chattering obnoxiously.

As they made their way through a small opening in the Forest, two tents came into view. One was large and colourful, while the other was white and much smaller than its counterpart. McGonagall was stood by the entrance of the vibrant tent, waving the sea of students to the left.

They followed her directions and found themselves standing by a large wooden fence. The fence was surrounding an enclosure, which was bordered by very high stands. Many students had already filed into the seats in these stands.

"C'mon!" Seamus said excitedly.

Katie and the rest followed Seamus through the stands. He got them very good seats in the back row where, funnily enough, Chris was already sat. He was engaged in hushed but elated conversation with Niall, Oscar and the Weasley twins. Dean made to sit next to Chris, but Katie called out to him.

"Not there," she said to Dean. "Budge up."

Doing as Katie asked, Dean moved up on the row, leaving three seats between himself and Chris for Katie, Hermione and Ron. Chris smiled at his sister when she dropped down beside him.

"Stop smiling." she snapped. This only made Chris' grin broaden.

"Ah, you're worried about Harry." Chris said knowingly. Katie merely scowled at him.

Chris draped his arm around Katie's shoulder and pointed to a cluster of adult wizards who were standing by the fence on the perimeter.

"Don't worry about it," Chris began. "See them? They're really skilled and well trained, apparently. If anything goes wrong they'll be at hand to sort it out."

Katie had to admit that this did give her a small kick of reassurance, but the loud prattle in the stands was setting her nerves on edge.

Five minutes later, the stands were full to the brim, and the judges — Professor Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Mr Crouch and Ludo Bagman — had slipped into the judge's panel. They were all sitting down except for Bagman, who was on his feet, beaming out at the students. He placed his wand to his throat and then—