Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
—✧—✧—✧—✧—
NINE TAKE ALL OF 'EM FUCKERS
(AND BLOW EM' AWAY!)
—✧—✧—✧—✧—
"WHEN THE AUDIENCE has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag, from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face!" says Bagman, smiling from ear to ear. It's obvious to Holly that he isn't the one facing the creatures, considering his grin, and the light-hearted way he's swinging the purple bag to show it. "There are different — er — varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else, too... Ah, yes... Your task is to collect the golden egg!"
Holly nods. She goes back to what she was like, right before she left Durmstrang. How she'd walk around with a constant poker face — that's what her dad called it, when he went to collect her at the end of the school year, and she couldn't make herself smile until she was away from anyone affiliated with the school. Her mind still thinks that, sometimes, it's easier to keep her face expressionless. To make sure others can't see what she's feeling, what's she's thinking.
She looks over at Viktor, who has the same expressionless response. The one that's mastered by Durmstrang students, even without a lesson on it. It's essential to know at Durmstrang, how to stop frowns and smiles, looks of panic. It's especially essential if you're one of the students the teachers keep their eyes on — the clever students, the ones at the top of their classes, the ones they bring to the side and ask to help at detentions.
So the task is what she figured it would be. Collect an egg. That seems simple enough, all she has to do is out-smart a dragon, slip past it. Holly's in the house of the snake, she's going to have no difficulty being a little cunning, sneaking past and getting what she wants. She can do this. She can do this.
Holly stands at the side of the tent, holding onto her necklace to seek some comfort. It's relaxing to her, to reach for the little diamond and hold onto it, feel the edges against her fingers. It helps take her out of this situation, ignore the last of the butterflies in her stomach.
For the most part, she isn't nervous. Her stomach has some butterflies still, but over the course of the day, she's tried her hardest to get rid of them. At one point Daphne mentioned that chocolate can help with nerves, and thus, Holly shoved as much as possible down her throat during morning break. Then at lunch, after an hour of feeling full and still nervous, she was walking down the hallway, on her way to try and stomach a sandwich, and she had a thought. An epiphany, even.
I can do this, why am I nervous?
She can do this. After skipping afternoon lessons yesterday, and practising until the early morning, she knows she can do this. She knows different dragons, and if she needs a recap, she's left a textbook open in her dorm room, so Susannah can double-check for her. She knows how to get past them, last resorts for dragons sensitive to light, dragons with a taste for blood.
