PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

59 || The Third Task

"Have any of you seen Chris?" Katie asked Niall and his friends as they were sat at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

"He was looking for you earlier, actually." Niall replied.

Katie quirked an eyebrow. "Really? What for?"

"Dunno," Niall shrugged as he brought himself to his feet. "He's probably in the common room. The password is fairy lights."

A couple of Gryffindors scowled at Niall when he gave the password to Katie, but they didn't say anything. After giving Niall a thanks, Katie set off for the Gryffindor common room.

When she arrived, Katie found the Gryffindor common room completely empty, as everyone was eating lunch, apart from Chris, who was sat alone in an armchair by the fire. He looked rather grim. Frowning, Katie made her way over and sat down in the armchair across from him. Chris didn't look up to acknowledge Katie's arrival, he just continued to airily stare into the fire.

"Niall said you wanted to talk to me." Katie said.

Chris finally looked up, and maybe it was just the whirring fire reflected in his eyes, but he appeared much angrier than Katie had ever seen him. She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, growing anxious.

"Why didn't you tell me about the vision?" Chris asked flatly. Taken off guard, Katie found her words failing her, and all she could do was blink at her brother, who let out a cold and dry laugh. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out? You announce something like that to your entire class, Katerina, and the news tends to spread rather quickly."

Katie could feel her heartbeat gradually beginning to pick up speed. Her palms were sweating so, as subtly as possible so as to hide her nerves, she wiped them in her cloak.

"I — what?" Katie stammered out. Chris rolled his eyes.

"All this time," he began, an evident bitterness to his voice. "All this time, you've known how our dad died, and you didn't think to tell me? You didn't think to tell anyone?"

"Chris, I — I didn't know how—"

"Save it," Chris spat. "I don't want to hear any dull excuse, I just want the truth. How did he die?"

A thick lump formed in Katie's throat and she couldn't seem to swallow it, so when she spoke, her words came out in a broken croak. "The Killing Curse."

Chris' breath audibly hitched and he shivered. Katie noticed tears spring to his eyes, but he promptly blinked them away. When Chris remained silent, Katie decided that she should say something to argue her case.

"I wanted to tell you," Katie said, and upon seeing the stone-cold glare that Chris gave her, she continued on. "Really, I did. I just didn't know how."

"You could've at least said something!"

"OK, listen—" Katie jumped to her feet suddenly, "—this hasn't been easy for me, alright? Everywhere I go, people are whispering and pointing and glaring—"

"And you think I'm not getting the same taunts as you?" Chris growled. He, too, was standing up now, and was shaking slightly.

"No, Christian, you're not!" Katie snapped. "You're a Gryffindor, you have a good house reputation. I'm in Slytherin, and the other houses jump on any opportunity they can to frame Slytherins as the bad guys."

Chris ran a hand through his hair and yelled, "Well maybe they're right!"

Katie froze. "What?"

"Maybe Slytherins are the bad guys. You know what, maybe you really did kill dad!" Chris shouted, his eyes narrowed.