Stay - Mattheo Riddle

The First Task Begins

Kirra had a very enjoyable morning walking over the sunny grounds with Harry, Bill and Mrs. Weasley, showing them the Beauxbatons carriage and the Durmstrang ship. Mrs. Weasley was intrigued by the Whomping Willow, which had been planted after she had left school, and reminisced at length about the gamekeeper before Hagrid, a man called Ogg.

"How's Percy?" Harry asked as they walked around the greenhouses.

"Not good," said Bill. Kirra wasn't exactly a fan of Percy Weasley, but she did feel bad for him. 

"He's very upset," said Mrs. Weasley, lowering her voice and glancing around. "The Ministry wants to keep Mr. Crouch's disappearance quiet, but Percy's been hauled in for questioning about the instructions Mr. Crouch has been sending in. They seem to think there's a chance they weren't genuinely written by him. Percy's been under a lot of strain. They're not letting him fill in for Mr. Crouch as the fifth judge tonight. Cornelius Fudge is going to be doing it."

They returned to the castle for lunch. Mattheo gestured for her to come and sit with him but she just gave him a small smile, gesturing that she was going to be sitting at the Gryffindor table for lunch. Mattheo frowned but nodded his head  

"Mum — Bill!" said Ron, looking stunned, as he joined the Gryffindor table. "What're you doing here?"

"Come to watch Kirra and Harry in the last task!" said Mrs. Weasley brightly. "I must say, it makes a lovely change, not having to cook. How was your exam?"

"Oh . . . okay," said Ron. "Couldn't remember all the goblin rebels' names, so I invented a few. It's all right," he said, helping himself to a Cornish pasty, while Mrs. Weasley looked stern, "they're all called stuff like Bodrod the Bearded and Urg the Un- clean; it wasn't hard."

Fred, George, and Ginny came to sit next to them too (Fred and George sat either side of Kirra), and Kirra was having such a good time she felt almost as though she were back at the Burrow; she had forgotten to worry about that evening's task. 

Hermione turned up, halfway through lunch

"Are you going to tell us — ?" Harry asked, Kirra looked at them in confusion. 

Hermione shook her head warningly and glanced at Mrs. Weasley.

"Hello, Hermione," said Mrs. Weasley, much more stiffly than usual.

"Hello," said Hermione, her smile faltering at the cold expression on Mrs. Weasley's face.

Harry looked between them, then said, "Mrs. Weasley, you didn't believe that rubbish Rita Skeeter wrote in Witch Weekly, did you? Because Hermione's not my girlfriend."

"Oh!" said Mrs. Weasley. "No — of course I didn't!"

But she became considerably warmer toward Hermione after that.

Kirra, Harry, Bill, and Mrs. Weasley whiled away the afternoon with a long walk around the castle, and then returned to the Great Hall for the evening feast. Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table now. Bagman looked quite cheerful, but Cornelius Fudge, who was sitting next to Madame Maxime, looked stern and was not talking. Madame Maxime was concentrating on her plate, and Kirra thought her eyes looked red. Hagrid kept glancing along the table at her.

There were more courses than usual, but Kirra, who was starting to feel really nervous now, didn't eat much. Mattheo who had had his eyes on her the whole time noticed this. He at his food silently, completely oblivious to anyone who had tried to talk to him throughout dinner. He had taken some first years dessert plate that they hadn't used yet and began to pile all her favourite foods on there. 

As the enchanted ceiling overhead began to fade from blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table, and silence fell.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."