PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

50 || Clock Tower

"Who's there?" Filch yelled nastily.

Katie looked at Harry, eyes wide and alert, not knowing what to do.

"Quick!" Harry hissed. He grabbed Katie's arm and tugged her towards the wall, then he threw the Invisibility Cloak over them both. They had to crouch down so that their feet were hidden. Katie wobbled a bit and tensed up when she felt Harry's hand slip around her waist to steady her.

The pair held their breaths as Filch emerged atop of the clock tower. Mrs Norris was there too, tracing around Filch's ankles. Filch's crazed eyes scanned the surrounding room.

"I know you're in here," he growled. "I heard voices."

Katie was beginning to grow hot underneath the cloak. She shifted around uncomfortably. Harry squeezed her hip and she took this as a signal to stop moving so she didn't blow their cover . She tried to focus on something — anything other than Harry's hand on her hip, but her mind couldn't seem to travel elsewhere.

Filch thoroughly searched the room, and when he was sure that there were no students hidden in any of the nooks and crannies, he returned to the stairs. Harry waited a few moments more, until Filch's footsteps had completely died away, then ripped the Cloak off himself and Katie. They both brought themselves to their feet, but Harry's hand remained wrapped around Katie's waist, which did not go noticed by the girl.

"That was close." Harry chuckled.

Katie smiled, unable to find a response as her mind was still foggy. Her eyes flicked between Harry's face and his hand. Harry noticed this and his face went slightly pink, but he still didn't take his hand away. If anything, he only tightened his grip, which made Katie's stomach flip.

Katie couldn't stop her eyes from trailing down to Harry's lips, but she hastily snapped them back up to meet his eyes, which were wide but soft.

Harry started slowly leaning forward. Katie's heart beat rapidly picked up its pace — she would've been surprised if Harry wasn't able to hear it thumping. A strange warmth rushed through her veins as her legs quavered.

They were so close now, their noses almost touching, and then—

There was a great bong.

Katie and Harry yelped in fear, springing away from each other at the speed of light. The chiming clock on the face of the tower had just struck eleven and, being so close to it, the gong was extremely loud to Katie and Harry's ears.

The pair broke into fits of giggles, still flustered from their little moment only seconds before hand.

***

The weather grew colder and the days grew shorter as November dawned upon Hogwarts.

Katie's mind was constantly overwhelmed with thoughts. Every week, an owl would deliver her the newest print of the Daily Prophet and she would flip through it eagerly, hoping that she would see the wonderful news that her brother and mother had been found. Each time, however, the newspaper displayed the same missing persons poster, and Katie's heart broke a little bit more.

Her dream about her father had repeated itself twice more since the first time she had it. On all three occasions, she awoke with a start, sweating and crying, and Pansy was there to comfort her each and every time.

The one thing that usually managed to keep Katie's mind occupied from gloomy thoughts was Quidditch — a good, hard training session was enough to distract anyone. Sadly, due to the Triwizard Tournament, Quidditch had been cancelled for the entire year, so Katie supposed that her fourth year of education at Hogwarts was going to be her worst.