Raise Hell → Harry Potter

039. Hold Your Breath

Chapter thirty-nine. 

Frankie

Hold Your Breath

"Yeah, I am not doing this!" Frankie's voice was sharp, looking towards the other three students in disbelief, "Why would I ever consider doing that?"

Frankie stood in front of the other 'chosen' contestants, her stance wide as her eyes glinted with anger. She was wholly ignoring the other professors in the room in favour of throwing all her disapproval at Dumbledore. 

Frankie had been in Dumbledore's office many times before. Punching your fellow students in the nose was looked down upon - especially if you were a first or second year. Perhaps they let up once you got to the sixth year. She'd been so many times, in fact, that she could remember each password Dumbledore had (he only changed it three times a year). So when she was pulled away from helping Harry in the library with clear instructions to see Dumbledore, she hadn't given it much thought. Sure, she wasn't as trigger-happy with her punches as she used to be, but getting sent to Dumbledore's office had been etched into her muscle memory. 

Once she was halfway up the stairs, Frankie realised Dumbledore had nothing on her, at least nothing he could prove.  By then, it was too late. Now she was being forced to deal with the consequences of going with the flow. 

"You will never be in any real danger Miss Marsh," Dumbledore said calmly, the sight of the enraged young woman being nothing new. He was very used to strong-minded women, especially when they were attached to a Potter, "Should the Champions fail to retrieve you, we will not let you drown,"

"I think you can trust Professor Dumbledore Frankie," Hermione spoke up from behind them, offering the girl as much of a supportive smile as she could muster, "The tournament is the safest it's been since it was created,"

Frankie groaned at Hermione's trust in Dumbledore, but before she could retort to that, her mind was brought to another point of argument, "Why am I even here anyway?"

"You are to be Harry's most important treasure. We've already explained this," Professor McGonagall said impatiently. 

"See, if that were to be anyone, wouldn't it be Ron?" 

Frankie did not want to be here.  

"You're probably right, Miss Marsh, but this is far more interesting," Dumbledore said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "This is a spectator sport. After all, we must keep the audience entertained,"

"I am not agreeing to this,"

--

The drenched Slytherin almost drowned in both water and air. While she could feel a toned arm around her waist, supporting her body, her need to support herself kicked in quickly enough and she began wading in the water. The fog that sat heavily around her head began to rise as her vision adjusted to the sun's blinding light. 

"I can't believe I agreed to that," Frankie groaned, tilting her head back slightly to feel the full force of the sun's warmth. Her eyes glanced to the side to look at Harry, who was holding another, much more petite and blonde girl, "Who's that?"

"Fleur's sister, Gabrielle," Harry said as Frankie moved past Harry to grab the young girl, "Fleur didn't turn up. I couldn't leave her,"

"Always the hero, this one," Frankie scoffed, beginning to swim on her side to help Gabrielle to swim with them, "As if Dumbledore would just let her drown. He'd only pull that on a Hogwarts student,"

The last part was a snide comment, but they both knew Dumbledore wouldn't really let someone die in this tournament. Or, Harry was quickly coming to that realisation. 

"Frankie!" Pansy's voice could be heard from the Forbidden Forest, "Oh, thank Merlin!"

The weight of Gabrielle was lifted from Frankie's grasp as Harry swapped out, aiding Gabrielle in her poor attempt at swimming. Frankie could see her friends at the shore. Blaise, like always, supported Pansy, holding her hand as tears of joy rimmed her eyes. Ron joined Theo and Draco as they splashed out to meet them, having zero care for their now-ruined robes. Theo helped Gabrielle out of the water, taking the girl to her hysterical sister as Draco pulled Frankie into a hug. Frankie tried to wriggle free, but it was clear Draco had been taking lessons from Pansy in bone-crushing hugs. 

"Alright, Draco, you might accidentally let people know you have a heart," Frankie grinned, noticing Draco wasn't wearing his robes. He'd gotten his suit trousers ruined for her.

"Shut up. None of us had any faith in Harry to rescue you," Draco muttered, glancing back at Harry, who was walking to the shore with Ron. 

Pansy got to her first, throwing her arms around Frankie before frantically looking for any sign of harm. 

"I was so terrified. Theo, tell her how terrified I was," Pansy exclaimed, turning to a blank-faced Theo.

"I'm glad you're okay," Theo smiled slightly, sending Frankie into shock as the group looked at Theo in alarm, "What? Oh, shut up,"

"It's almost like none of you had any faith in me," Harry said, appearing behind Frankie with Ron beside him. 

"Never," Frankie grinned, turning to him, "I guess I owe you some thanks,"

Frankie maintained her grin as she closed the small gap between them, placing her hand on the nape of his neck. Subconsciously, Harry got closer to her, the rest of the world fading away as Frankie became his focus. 

Just as he dipped down, her hand pushed his face to the side as her tongue went from his chin and up his cheek. With a chuckle, she pushed his face away as he rubbed the spit off his face with a curious grin.

"Too bad you were the reason I was in there, to begin with," Frankie said. 

Turning away from him, she made her way up to the medic tent, leaving her friends to snicker at the lovesick-looking Harry, who merely sighed into a smile and followed after her.