The Potter Twins and the Goblet of Fire {4}

15. The Weighing of the Wands

"Ask no questions and you'll get no lies" ~ Blaspemy, Bring Me The Horizon

When I wake on Sunday morning, it takes me a few moments to remember why I feel so miserable and anxious. And then the memory of last night rolls over me. I sit up and pull the curtains back, intending to talk to Tay, to force her to believe me. Yet I find her bed empty; she's obviously gone down to breakfast early, perhaps to avoid me.

I dress, careful not to wake Hermione, and hurry down the spiral staircase into the common room. The moment I appear, the people who have already finished breakfast break into applause again. The prospect of going down into the Great Hall and facing everyone, many of them treating me like ahero, is enough to make me feel sick.

I hurry out of the room and make my way down into the Entrance Hall, where I catch a flash of red hair in front of me.

"Ron!" I shout, jogging to meet him. "Ron!" I grab his shoulder, forcing him to stop and speak to me.

"Oh, it's you," he said begrudgingly.

"Oh, so you're mad at me too, then?" I ask, taken back despite anticipating this. "Ron, we didn't put our names in."

"Oh, so they got into the Goblet on their own, then?" he asks sarcastically.

"You know that I wanted a normal year," I say, almost pleadingly. "Don't be mad at Harry and I."

"Too late."

And he turns and enters the Great Hall without another word.

"Haylee?"

I turn to see Draco coming out from the dungeon, his eyes widening slightly as he notices me.

"What? Come to have a go at me, too?" I snap.

He takes a step back, raising his eyebrows questionably.

"Look, I'm sorry," I sigh, grabbing his hand and pulling him closer. "Ron and Taylor are breathing down my neck."

"It's Taylor again?" he questions. "The last time you called her that you were in that big fight."

"Exactly. You believe me, right? Harry and I didn't put our names in."

He nods. "The looks on your faces, no one could fake that. You went stark white."

"Tell that to Ron and Taylor for me, will you?" I groan, tugging on the ends of my hair irritably.

"They'll come around."

"Taylor is the queen of holding grudges. Last night she brought up what happened between the three of us last year," I explain. "And Ron is a stubborn little shit."

He laughed. "I've only been saying that for four years."

"I don't want to do this," I moan, leaning into his chest.

"You've done worse," he assures he, rubbing my back. "You've been through worse. You and your brother could win this, you know."

"Krum is a world renown athletic," I scoff. "Fleur is...well Fleur is a veela, at least whatever we have to do, she'll look pretty while doing it. Same with Cedric - "

"You think Cedric is 'pretty'?"

"God yeah. Plus they're all seventeen."

"And you're Haylee Potter," Draco says, exaggerating my name. "I'll be rooting for you. Maybe not your brother, but for you, definitely."

"Thank you," I chuckle. "Go have breakfast, I won't keep you any longer."

"You aren't coming?"

I shake my head. "I don't want to face everyone just yet."