Interstellar || Draco Malfoy

28 || The Second Task

The morning of the second task came all  too quickly. The girls in my dorm room had long since abandoned their beds, leaving me to prepare for the second task by myself. I quickly got dressed for the task with the clothing that Professor McGonagall had sent up to the dorm earlier this morning, and spelled my hair so that it wouldn't frizz up after I hit the water.

After pulling on shoes and a coat, I headed out to the common room in search of Draco. I wanted to speak with him about last night, but as I scanned the common room, his familiar blonde hair was nowhere to be seen; instead, I was greeted by a bunch of rowdy Slytherins cheering as I appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Des!" Blaise shouted, grinning up at me. I nervously smiled at the crowd, unaware of the fact that half of these people even knew my name. "Are you ready for the next task?"

"What's all this?" I questioned, tentatively stepping down off the last step.

"Your fan club, obviously." Blaise scoffed as if it was a commonly known fact. "How's our champion feeling this morning?"

"I'm... fine." I answered slowly, looking to Goyle and Crabbe for some backup. "Where's Draco?"

"Haven't seen him." Crabbe questioned.

"He wasn't in the room this morning." Goyle added. "I don't even think he came up last night."

"Odd." I hummed, looking back at Blaise. "I need to go-"

"Right!" Blaise gasped. "Our champion needs breakfast. Come on, you lot, let's go rile up the Hufflepuffs in the Great Hall."

I watched with mild horror as the whole of Slytherin house stampeded out of the common room, save for Goyle, Crabbe, and myself.

"I was going to say I needed to go to the Black Lake." I hummed, looking between Crabbe and Goyle. "I don't think I can even eat."

"We'll escort you down to the lake, Des." Crabbe smiled.

"Maybe we'll find Draco on the way." Goyle tacked on. I nodded and followed the pair out of the common room, avoiding the fan club as we navigated through the halls.

The walk out onto the grounds was quiet for only a few moments, before the sounds of a raucous crowd flooded the air. I sighed deeply, scanning the crowd for Draco as we got closer.

"Hey, I wouldn't worry, Des." Crabbe said softly, nudging my shoulder with his.

"I'm sure he'll be here." Goyle added.

"The task starts in ten minutes." I reminded them quietly. "He should already be here."

"He's never let you down before, Des." Goyle poked me gently. "He's not going to start letting you down now."

"Ah, Miss Littlesea," Professor Snape greeted as we approached the shore of the Black Lake. "I've been looking for you. I have a boat ready to take you and you... cohorts to the platform."

"Thank you, Professor." I smiled softly. "Come on, boys."

We climbed into the awaiting boat, settling into the seats before the boat set off towards the large platform in the center of the lake. The closer we got to the platform, the more anxious I got. I knew that Goyle was right- that Draco had never let me down before- but I felt uneasy that he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Miss Littlesea." Professor McGonagall shuffled over to me as our boat docked itself. "Come with me."

I followed after her, glancing back at Crabbe and Goyle as they were swallowed up by the crowd. She led me to a spot at the front of the platform, slightly lower than the rest of the platform, and stopped.