Stay - Mattheo Riddle

Norberta

Kirra had been focusing so hard on teaching the Transfiguring Charm to Cedric that evening that some of her blind panic had left her. It returned in full measure, however, on the following morning.

The atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure — though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there. 

Kirra felt oddly separate from everyone around her, whether they were wishing her good luck as she passed or giving her hugs, telling her that she had this in the bag. It was a state of nervousness so advanced that she wondered whether she mightn't just lose her head when they tried to lead her out to her dragon, and start trying to curse everyone in sight.

She didn't even know why she was so nervous, after all she was working with dragons... what could go wrong? Time was behaving in a more peculiar fashion than ever, rushing past in great dollops, so that one moment she seemed to be sitting down in her first lesson, History of Magic, and the next, walking into lunch . . . and then (where had the morning gone? the last of the dragon-free hours?), Professor Sprout was hurrying over to her in the Great Hall.

Lots of people were watching the girl who was sitting at the Gryffindor table between the twins who had been trying to calm her down for the last half an hour. "Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now. . . . You have to get ready for your first task."

"Okay," said Kirra, standing up, her fork falling onto her plate with a clatter.

"Good luck, Lil Hufflepuff," George whispered.

"You'll be fine love!" Fred told her with a grin and they pulled her in for a hug

"Yeah," said Kirra in a voice that was most unlike her own. She left the Great Hall with Professor Sprout. She didn't seem herself either; in fact, she looked nearly as anxious as Maxine had looked that morning.

As she walked her down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hand on her shoulder. "Now, don't panic," she said, "just keep a cool head. . . . We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. . . . The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you. . . . Are you all right?"

"Yes," Kirra heard herself say. "Yes, I'm fine."

She was leading her toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Kirra saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.

"I believe in you Potter... I've known you a long time and you are one of the strongest witches I've ever met. You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor Sprout, in a rather shaky sort of voice, "and wait for your turn, Potter. Mr. Bagman is in there . . . he'll be telling you the — the procedure. . . . Good luck."

"Thanks Professor," said Kirra, in a flat, distant voice. She left her at the entrance of the tent. Kirra went inside. Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a low wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy.

Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which Kirra supposed was his way of showing nerves. Cedric was pacing up and down. And Harry was standing in the corner looking like he was about to throw up.

When Kirra entered, Cedric gave her a small smile, which Kirra returned, feeling the muscles in her face working rather hard, as though they had forgotten how to do it.