I'm Here When You Need Me- Chapter 15
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: Please review! I really would love it! Also, this is the last chapter for a while. When I originally wrote this story, I had written up to this point, then stopped, as my inspiration faded. So now, I am writing on this story, but it is taking me a while. Please bear with me, while I finish!
Do you two ever sleep in your dorms?" Fred exclaimed.
Harry and Sarah had, yet again, fallen asleep by the fire in the common room. It was almost a habit. Sarah got up first, and she walked to the girl's dormitories to take a shower and change before the Task, which would be taking place after lunch. When she got back down to the common room, almost everyone in the House was sitting around Harry, trying to calm him. Apparently, he was having a complete meltdown. Ron saw her walk in, and he sprinted toward her.
"Please go and talk to him. You are the only one who can make him relax. He is freaking out over there," he pleaded.
"He was fine last night. I guess it is just because it is less than six hours away. I'll go talk to him," and with that, Sarah strode over to Harry.
The crowd of people parted, and Harry looked up. He was completely pale, and his eyes had lost their sparkle. When she knelt down and took his hands in hers, they were clammy and cold. He was shaking like a leaf.
"Harry, listen to me. You are going to do fine. We have practiced this spell thousands of times. You have mastered it. You are an excellent flyer, and you won't have any trouble dealing with this. Think of it like a Quidditch game. You have to focus. Concentrate and you will amaze yourself with how well you do."
When Sarah finished her speech, Harry looked into her eyes, and threw his arms around her neck. When they broke apart, the color was back in his cheeks, and he wasn't shaking anymore.
"Thank you Sarah. I needed to hear that. Especially from you," he whispered.
"No problem. That is why I'm here," she smiled.
All morning, Sarah, Ron, Hermione, and Harry could be found at the Gryffindor table, and were periodically joined by others, wishing Harry good luck. In the middle of lunch, Malfoy came over to the group. He was alone, and looked as if he would very much like to run back to the Slytherin table.
"Good luck, Harry," he said, sticking out his hand.
Harry looked stunned, then cautiously shook hands with him.
"Thanks, D-Draco," Harry responded.
The two let go of the other's hand, and looked anywhere but at each other. Draco scratched the back of his head nervously.
"See you later Sarah, Ron, Hermione, and Harry," he said quickly before scurrying back to his seat.
When Malfoy had sat back down, the quartet turned to each other.
"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron asked.
"I told you guys that he wanted to be friends. He's trying. It is just taking a while, because of the, erm, history between you four," Sarah said, attempting to put it as delicately as she could.
"I guess. It still feels weird though," Hermione whispered.
All of a sudden, all chatter ceased. The four looked around, and saw that Dumbledore had risen.
"Will all the Champions please follow Professor McGonagall outside? The rest of you will go down to the Quidditch Pitch in twenty minutes. Thank you," he stated. He then sat down.
Once again, all the color drained from Harry's face. Sarah noticed this, and kissed him on the cheek before whispering in his ear.
"You will be incredible. I love you."
He gave her a small smile and a hug, then he stood. He followed Cedric and Fleur out of the room. Krum had lingered behind, and gave Sarah a small wave, and a grin. Hermione saw what he had done, and she whipped her head in Sarah's direction, only to see Sarah as shocked as she was.
"Since when are you friends with Viktor Krum?" Hermione asked with a smirk on her face.
"Since never. I have never even spoken to him. He did the same thing to me the night the Champions were announced. And he said hi to me the night they arrived! And he keeps following me to the Library," Sarah said quite perplexed.
"What is he playing at?" Ron asked, more to himself than to the group.
"I have no idea," Sarah mused.
"Well, I do," Hermione said. She had a stupid grin on her face.
"What? Why won't he leave me alone?!" Sarah said, shaking Hermione by the shoulder, being over dramatic.
Hermione giggled, and then spoke.
"I think he likes you. It is pretty obvious, actually. He doesn't talk to anyone, and there he is, waving at you!"
Sarah thought about this for a moment, then a look of pure horror crossed her face.
"No!! I don't want him to like me!! Why can't he go after someone who is available? This is a nightmare! Kill me now!!" she cried.
Hermione was rolling around in hysterics, and Ron was shaking with suppressed laughter. This was such a sight, that other people were beginning to look over at them. Sarah had to laugh at her friend's reactions, and soon, she thought the whole situation was rather comical.
Several minutes later, the whole student body was congregating at the Quidditch Pitch. Sarah, Ron, and Hermione got a spot at one of the seats in the middle of the stands, and had a clear view of the whole Pitch. Sarah took her seat next to Hermione. Hermione was sitting in between her and Ron. A few minutes later, someone sat on Sarah's other side. Sarah didn't even have to look at the person to know who it was. She had smelled the cologne so many times before, she automatically knew who was sitting next to her.
"Hey, Draco," she said, facing him.
"Hi Sarah. How are you?" he asked quietly.
"I'm really nervous actually. I hope Harry will be okay," she said, her voice quivering slightly.
"Oh, he will be fine. He's a good flyer, and he should do well," Malfoy said, with some difficulty.
It seemed that it was hard for him to compliment Harry, but he was going to do it anyways, to calm Sarah down.
"Thanks. I know you're right, I just wish that I could be absolutely sure that he is going to make it," she said with uncertainty.
"He will. He has a great girl to come back to," he said, glancing in her direction.
"Thanks, Draco. I'm glad we made up. I've missed hanging out with you," she whispered into his ear, so that Hermione, or anyone else for that matter, couldn't hear her.
He smiled, and opened his mouth to speak, when he was interrupted by Dumbledore's voice coming from an unidentified source.
"Welcome everyone, to the first Task of the Triwizard Tournament!" Everyone cheered. "The object of this Task is this: each Champion will be facing a different dragon, and in the nest of eggs that the dragon will be protecting, there is a golden one that the Champion must retrieve. Without this egg, they have no hope of continuing with the next Task. They may use any means to recover the egg, and points will be awarded to each Champion, based on how quickly they perform and the difficulty of the spells, charms, etcetera that they use. Also, points will be deducted if any of the other eggs are smashed in the process. Now, let the Task begin!"
Again, the stands erupted into applause.
Sarah watched as each Champion approached the challenge in front of them. The first one to deal with the dragons was Cedric. He didn't try flying, like Sarah had suspected he wouldn't. Instead, he tried to distract it with various spells. He narrowly missed a jet of flames issuing from the dragon's mouth. Eventually he had been able to grab the egg, but one got smashed by the dragon's tail. Fleur was next. She tried to do the same thing as Cedric, but she wasn't nearly as lucky. She got hit in the torso with the tail of the dragon as she made off with the egg. Krum was next, and everyone was shocked when they realized he wasn't going to fly. Krum tried to stun the dragon, and wasn't getting anywhere with it, as the dragon's skin was so thick. Soon though, he aimed for the eye of the creature, and it went down like a massive sack of potatoes. Calmly, he walked over to the nest, and grabbed his egg, to cheering from the Durmstrang boys. That just left Harry.
Sarah was on edge. When Harry walked out onto the field, he looked around, trying to get his bearings. The dragon was nowhere to be seen, and it looked as if it was going to be a clear path to the egg. However, the dragon was hiding behind a huge rock, and pounced as soon as Harry was in sight. Sarah gasped, and grabbed a hand of each person sitting next to her. Hermione looked like she was about to do the same thing, so Sarah suddenly grabbing her didn't surprise Hermione in the least. Draco, however, tensed up then relaxed, and put his other hand on top of hers. While running, Harry had raised his wand to the sky, and shouted something inaudible, though Sarah knew what it was. In a matter of seconds, Harry's Firebolt was shooting toward its owner, and Harry jumped on. The dragon gave chase, and the pair flew around the Pitch, until a sudden jerk from the dragon's neck broke the chain holding it back. Sarah's eyes started to swim with tears. Oh, Merlin. Is he going to be okay? she thought.
Before she realized what she was doing, she had buried her head on Draco's shoulder. He was stroking her hair, and whispering to her that it would be okay. Just then, there was a collective gasp. Sarah looked up, and saw that Harry was now, nowhere in sight.
"Where did he go?!" she asked, starting to get hysterical.
"That's just it; he had flown over by the castle, and the dragon followed. Now, no one can see him," Draco whispered.
That was all Sarah could hear. She started to sob, and people began turning around to look at her like she was weird, but upon seeing that she was Harry's girlfriend, all the expressions turned to looks of sympathy.
It had been five minutes since Harry disappeared, and Sarah's tears had ceased. If she had had anymore tears left, she would have been crying though. All of a sudden, a moving speck materialized in the distance, somewhere near the clock tower. As it came closer, Sarah, and everyone else, could tell that it was Harry. The dragon was nowhere in sight. She gave an involuntary shriek, and began applauding along with everyone else. Harry got close to the eggs, and swooped down, grabbing the golden one.
About ten minutes later, after fighting their way through the crowd, Sarah, Ron, Hermione, and Draco reached the nurse's tent. Madam Pomfrey was dabbing some sort of purplish potion onto Harry's shoulder; apparently, the dragon had struck him. Then, with a wave of her wand, his shoulder was completely healed. Harry looked up, and saw his friends… and Draco waiting for him. He stood, and walked first to Sarah.
"You've been crying," he said to her.
"Thank you Captain Obvious. Harry, don't you dare scare me like that again! Do you hear me?!" she said, holding back some tears that had formed when she was walking to the tent.
He grinned, and replied with an "I promise," before pulling her into a tight embrace. Sarah could tell Draco had tensed up behind her, but that was his own fault. She had clearly said they wouldn't be getting back together.
"Good job out there, Harry. You were the best. Krum didn't even think of flying!" Ron said, patting Harry on the back.
"Thanks, Ron. Hermione, what happened to your face?" Harry asked.
Sarah looked over at her friend, and saw, for the first time, that on one side of her face there were nail marks, where she had been clutching herself.
"Oh, I just got a little nervous there, for a second," she replied, sheepishly.
"A second? It looks like you were nervous for more like an hour, Hermione," Draco said.
Everyone looked around to him. Sarah smiled, and Hermione appeared like she was stunned. Ron was expressionless, and Harry let a small grin cross his lips before replacing it with a slight frown. Noticing the tension that her friends were exhibiting, Sarah broke the silence.
"Well, lets get back to the castle. I hear that Fred and George are setting up a party in the common room."
"Sounds good. I could use a little bit of fun right now," Harry said, grabbing the golden egg in his left hand, and taking Sarah's hand in his right one, lacing his fingers in hers.
The five of them made their way to the castle, and once they reached the Grand Staircase, Draco stopped.
"Well, I guess I will see you all later. Congratulations again, Harry," he said, and, not expecting a response, turned to walk away.
"Yeah, see you later, Draco. And thank you," Harry replied.
Draco turned back around and smiled. Harry smiled back, and started to make his way up the stairs. Sarah mouthed "Thank you," to Draco, who gave her a half-hearted smile, and looked into her eyes. She could see pain— not physical, but emotional pain in his eyes. Her face fell, and she turned to follow her friends, who had stopped at the top of the stairs waiting for her. Harry put his arm protectively around her waist and kissed her quickly but passionately on the lips. Sarah glanced at Draco, and she could have sworn she saw him wiping a silver tear from his cheek as he walked away.