Year Four: The TriWizard Tournament

Part 17

Finally the girls are ready. They slowly descend the stairs to the entrance of the Great Hall. But Anne had forgotten her shawl and heads back to the Slytherin dungeons. Upon retrieving it, she runs into Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson.

Draco's eyes widen when he sees her.

"Anne, you look fantastic!" he complimented which surprised her. He never said anything nice to her until now.

Pansy whirled on Draco furiously. There was a look of jealously and envy on her face.

"Thank you, Draco," Anne replied sweetly. "You don't look too bad yourself." For once she was glad of his attentions as well as amused by Pansy's reactions.

But as she approaches the Great Hall, her nervousness returns. Suppose Harry or Cedric think she looks over-dressed and ridiculous? Slowly, she rounds the corner and sees the entrance of the Great Hall ahead.

Harry was already there, with Ron, looking quite handsome in his dress robes.

The entrance hall was packed with students, all milling around waiting for the doors to the Great Hall to open. People who were meeting partners from different Houses were edging through the crowd trying to find one another.

The oak front doors opened, and everyone turned to look as the Durmstrang students entered with Professor Karkaroff. Viktor Krum was at the front on the party, dressed in a scarlet uniform accompanied by Hermione.

Anne hesitates and approaches Harry from behind.

Harry turns and his eyes widen, just like Draco's. Then a big smile lit his face. "Wow! Anne, you look great!"

The feeling of relief is so strong that Anne feels almost giddy. "Thank you," she murmured. "You look good yourself."

Harry grinned broadly. "Yeah, we, uh, both look sharp, don't we?" He then holds out her arm. "Shall we?"

Anne nodded and took his arm.

She glanced over at Hermione who was chatting excitedly with Viktor who was staring at her in awe. Anne couldn't help but smile to herself as she pictured Ron's face when he saw Hermione. Serves him right!

"What's so funny?" Harry asked. He followed Anne's gaze and stopped dead when he saw Hermione. "Is that Hermione?"

"Hi Harry!" Hermione said when she saw him. Then she spotted Ron. "Hi Ron!"

But Ron walked right past her without looking.

Then Professor McGonagall's voice called out, "Champions over here, please!"

Once everyone else was settled in the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall told the champions and their partners to get in line in pairs and follow her. They did so, and everyone in the Great Hall applauded as they entered.

The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoes and ivy crossing the silvery white ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people. It looked like a beautiful winter wonderland.

As they walk toward the front with all eyes upon them, Anne suddenly sees one face she had never expected to see ---her father's. He is staring at her as though he doesn't recognize her. Anne quickly turns away, wondering why he is staring at her like that.