UNTOLD | D.M (UNRAVEL BOOK 3)

[ 17 ]

"Why can't we just go in?" Aine questions and Hermione shook her head, "No! We're not supposed to be here! We'll just do this secretly!"

"Psst! Harry? Is that you?"

"Who else could it be?" Harry replies, his voice soft but it was shaking slightly, "How are you feeling?" the girl asks him and he swallowed, "Nervous, really..."

"Just remember to say the summoning spell very clearly, Harry. You've been doing so well during those times when we practised. You will be fine!" Aine chimed in, offering some support to him. She could feel how tensed Harry was from his breathing and it pains her to know that there was nothing she could do to ease his worries, knowing how dangerous this tournament was going to be for him. All she could do was to boost his confidence and relieve his anxiety with her words of comfort.

"Aine? What are you doing here too?" Harry blurted, not expecting his other friend to come and visit him. 

"To cheer you on, Harry Potter! And maybe... Well, to listen to your last words if you have any?" she replies jokingly, however, Harry simply forced a laugh. "I'm kidding, you will do well, I know you will!" 

"Thanks, Aine," he mutters, genuinely feeling a bit better with her joke. 

"You remember to concentrate, after that you just have to—" Hermione reminded him as he finishes her sentence for her, "Battle a Dragon. Easy."  

Hermione's lips quivered before she could no longer hold back and rushed inside the tent, embracing Harry in a tight hug, she whimpers into him. It caught Aine off guard when her friend burst into the tent, "Cat's out of the bag now, what happened to pull this off secretly?" she questions her, sighing at her two friends who were tightly glued together. Aine plastered a smile on her face, watching the two before a bright flash was shot in her direction, making her clamp her eyes shut.

"Who—"

"Ah~ Young love!" a lady beamed, strutting confidently into the tent-like she owned the place. Her blonde hair was curled up into buns and she wore a leather jacket along with a matching brown coloured pencil skirt. Her eyes narrowed through her chained spectacles as her bold red lips spoke to the Quick-quotes Quill who scribbled onto the notebook next to her, "How stirring! If everything goes, unfortunately, today, you two may even make the front page!" she clasps her hands together with delight, causing Aine to look at her with displeasure. This was the infamous journalist who loves to tell false stories to her readers, Rita Skeeter.

Skeeter glanced to Aine after noticing her frown, "Perhaps you may even join them, sweetie," she grinned, her fingers trailing down Aine's cheeks before another flash lighted up in the raven-haired girl's face. "You're quite the beauty, aren't you?"

Aine jerked her chin away, glaring at the woman, "Fiesty, little lady, might I add," Skeeter remarked.

"You two have no business here. This tent is for champions— and friends," Krum rebuked with his thick accent, expressing his disapproval of her barging in. Skeeter turned to him, eyeing down on his toned, muscular body, squealing at the sight. "No matter. We've got what we wanted," she said to him, her quill brushing its feather down his face as he flinched at her actions. She walked out freely after saying what she wanted, and her photographer snapped a picture of him before joining her out.

"Are you alright?" Krum asks Hermione who nodded stiffly, "Yes, um. Thank you."

Fleur immediately ran towards Aine and took her hands, "Ma Cherie! Aine! 'ow love'y to see 'ou!" she smiles at the girl who squeezes her hand, "It's good to see you too, Fleur!" Aine replies, turning to Cedric, "Hello, Cedric!" she greeted him.