PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

60 || A New Chapter

Katie had been drifting off to sleep, head nodding, resting on her palm, when Harry shifted in his bed.

He let out a small groan and Katie's eyes snapped open. Harry was blinking around confusedly, as though he didn't quite know where he was, but Katie saw the realisation set into his face.

"Katie—" Harry began, but Katie shushed him quickly, pointing to Ron and Hermione, who were fast asleep in their own chairs.

Katie shuffled her seat closer to Harry's bed.

"You stayed?" Harry asked, whispering.

Katie smiled. "Of course we stayed. How are you feeling?"

Harry frowned and broke his eyes away from Katie's face, and she could tell that he wanted to cry but was trying very hard to hold his tears back.

"Harry..." Katie said softly. "I know you're not OK — you'd be mad if you were, you don't have to hide it from me."

When Harry looked back at Katie, she was shocked to see a shadow of fear glinting in his usually daring eyes. He gulped, and his bottom lip quivered slightly.

"He looked exactly the same," Harry began in a quavering voice, "exactly the same as he looked in my dreams, but, when he spoke... it was like... like—"

"Like a Dementor?" Katie finished in a whisper, remembering the rattling voice from her vision. Harry blinked at her, surprised. "Like he sucked all the happiness right out of the air?"

Harry nodded slowly as he eyed Katie steadily. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, exactly like that."

An uncomfortable shiver ran down Katie's spine. She hadn't slept all night, and she told herself that it was just because she was worried about Harry, which was partially true, of course, but every time she shut her eyes, a daunting voice in her head reminded her that Lord Voldemort was back, and it terrified her beyond her wits.

"Kill the spare," Harry said suddenly, drawing Katie away from her thoughts. She cocked her head sideways in confusion. "That's what Voldemort said to Wormtail."

And then Katie knew exactly what Harry was talking about. Harry's eyes were beginning to fill with tears again. Instinctively, Katie reached out and gripped his hand.

"It's not your fault, Harry..."

But Harry was shaking his head. "I told him to take the Cup. I said that we should both take it."

With his free hand, Harry reached out for the bedside table and grabbed the large bag of gold that he had won. He stared at it through narrow eyes as though it were something disgusting that he had scraped off the bottom of his shoe.

"I don't want this stupid gold," he growled. "It should've been Cedric's."

"Harry..."

Katie didn't quite know what she wanted to say. She worked her brain hard in search of something — anything to say that might help Harry to feel better, but deep down, she knew that all he really needed was time and his friends at his side.

***

It was the day before the end of the school year. An empty sense of despair had loomed over the castle ever since the night of the Third Task. Katie, Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't so much as mention the task or the return of Lord Voldemort. It was as though they had come to a silent agreement not to discuss Voldemort or anything relating to him until they had gotten news about his whereabouts from an outside source — Sirius, perhaps.

Katie spent most of her time playing dull games of chess with Draco, who had also been exceptionally quiet since the Third Task. When she wasn't in the common room with Draco, Katie was in the library with Hermione. Neither of them actually read. They would sit across from each other with their noses tucked firmly behind books, but their eyes would mindlessly scan page after page, not focusing on a single word.