Hopelessly Devoted - (Draco Malfoy)

THREE

The rest of my classes went pretty normal, although I do have four classes with Draco which is all but one. I had decided that it was the universe punishing me for something, not sure what but I must have done something to deserve it.

  Ron and I had our last class of the day together. I walked with him to the Great Hall for dinner afterwards. Tonight was the night they would be selecting the Triwizard champions. One contestant from each of the competing schools. I was excited to see the Goblet of Fire in action. I had heard about it but never seen it.

Ron and I strolled our way to the Gryffindor table, the goblet of fire was in the front, flickering it's bright flame. Ron sat next to Hermione and I took my spot next to Harry.

"Exciting, Isn't it?" Harry asked.

"Very." I smiled "I was just thinking about how I can't want to see the Goblet in action."

"Cedric put his name in, didn't he?" He asked.

"Of course, he did, it's Cedric." Ron interrupted. "He's bloody wicked." I rolled my eyes, I know a lot of the Gryffindors think Cedric is great and he is, of course I think so, he is my brother. But I found it annoying sometimes, all the praise he received. Either way, he was my brother and I loved him.

"He did." I finally answered Harry.

"Brilliant." He smiled.

I know my brother really wanted to compete in this, but I had also heard people talking about how dangerous it was. Rumors were swirling around that students have died in the past trying to complete their tasks, I didn't like to think about that. My imagine would run wild, conjuring up all kinds scenarios. I didn't want anything to happen to my brother.

"Let us begin" Dumbledore announced, the room grew silent. The fire rose higher and expanded, spitting out the first name. "The Champion representing Hogwarts will be, Cedric Diggory."

    The Gryffindor table erupted with applause and cheers. Sounds were echoing off the old walls, ricocheting in all directions. A cold shiver ran down my spine, I was taking in the fact that my brother had actually been chosen. My throat tighten, my heart raced and my palms began to sweat.

   I was able to snap myself out of my state of shock, watching my brother smiling walking up toward Dumbledore. Everything will be okay. Cedric clenched his fist and raised it in the air towards us. The crowd roared again but this time I joined. People began chanting "Diggory, Diggory, Diggory!"

"Brilliant!" Ron boasted. "I knew it would be him."

If I'm being honest, I knew it would be too. I felt it.

"You alright?" Harry asked, he was studying my expression trying to see how I felt about this. I decided it best not to get into it.

"I'm good." I smiled. He returned a half hearted smile; I could tell he didn't fully believe me but that was okay.
 
   I will be fine with this, Cedric will be fine. I need to stop thinking of the worst and remain on the positive side. Afterall, I'm sure its rare a student truly dies during one of these things. The schools couldn't keep participating if they did.

Dumbledore continued with the selection of the other two champions. It ended up being Viktor Krum from Durmstrang and Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons. The cheers broke out again from everywhere when he said that was it, these were our three champions. We finally knew who would be competing, it was set and done, which only made it feel more real.

The celebration quickly halted, turning into confusion. The Goblet fire began twisting and swirling, growing larger until it finally spat out a tiny charred slip of parchment into the air, eventually landing in Dumbledore's hands. We watched as he read the name, waiting for him to say something, anything.