PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

67 || The Hog's Head

Hermione and Ron simultaneously frowned and Katie felt her heart sink.

"Well... he was sort of reluctant..." Hermione said slowly, her eyes now averted to the ground. Ron spoke next before Katie had the chance.

"But we were hoping you would talk him into it, Katie." he said warily, as though he was scared Katie might hex him when she heard this suggestion.

Katie goggled at him. "Me?"

"He'll listen to you," Hermione said and, in response to Katie's raised eyebrows, went on. "Put it this way — he hasn't really snapped at you, has he?" Katie shook her head. "Exactly. And he has a go at Ron and me on the daily. You're the only one that can really get true to him, Katie."

Katie's mind worked hard for many moments. She glanced between Ron and Hermione, whose eyes were silently begging her to agree.

"Fine," Katie sighed out. "Fine, yeah, I'll talk to him."

During a free period, Katie asked Harry up to the clock tower to talk. He seemed rather reluctant, so Katie got the impression that he already knew what she was going to ask him.

Once they were in the clock tower and were sure that there was no one around to eavesdrop, they sat on the ledge as usual. Harry was the first to speak.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Katie swallowed thickly. "Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Harry heaved a great sigh and stared unresponsively into the horizon. Katie shuffled closer to him and leaned her head out over the railings so she could have a clear view of his face.

"Harry, I think it's a great idea—"

"Of course you do," Harry cut her off. "You're not the one who's being asked to teach a bunch of people who think you're a nutter."

Katie frowned. Convincing Harry was going to be a lot harder than she had expected.

"I think you'd be surprised by how many people that would be willing to listen to you,"
she said, and when Harry didn't respond, she resumed. "Look, it's like you said to Umbridge, we need to be prepared to face what's out there, and if Umbridge refuses to teach us we need someone who will. No one is better than you, Harry. You've really been there."

"How so?" Harry asked.

Katie have him an are-you-serious look.

"You're having a laugh, right?" she said. Harry shook his head. "Harry, when you were eleven you saved the Philosopher's Stone—"

"That was just luck."

"When you were twelve you killed the Basilisk, got rid of Riddle and saved Ginny—"

"I couldn't have done that without Hermione."

"When you were thirteen, you fought off a hundred Dementors at once—"

"You know that was a fluke—"

"You won the Triwizard Tournament, for Merlin's sake! You fought You-Know-Who! You escaped from him!"

"Stop!" Harry snapped suddenly. "That could've just as easily been Cedric. If Voldemort didn't need me, he would've killed me right when he killed Cedric."

"Harry—"

"I didn't get away because I'm some great, powerful wizard," Harry continued angrily. "I knew I was going to die in that graveyard. I got away purely by luck. You don't know what it's like out there." he added with a shiver.

"That's why we need you, Harry," Katie said quietly. "You're the only person that really knows what he's doing."

Harry opened his mouth as though he was going to argue but promptly decided against it. Then, with a great exhale that sounded oddly like a groan, he said, "Fine. I'll do it."