"Don't mind me—"
Fleur, standing on the second glass panel, said with a grin,
"I was only joking with you."
But Hermione merely kept a grim face and did not react.
"I'd wager all my Silver Sickles on it, Harry."
Ron leaned close to Harry's ear and whispered,
"Hermione is at odds with Fleur because of Professor Breen."
Harry and Ron both knew that Hermione admired Professor Breen just as she had once admired Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Hermione just doesn't appreciate Fleur's flamboyant style."
Harry shook his head in disagreement and gave his own opinion.
Once Fleur stepped onto the second panel, the next few steps became clearly visible to her.
Fleur offered Hermione her arm, and the two girls repeated their earlier movements, crouching down again.
After hesitating for a moment, Fleur chose the step on the right again.
Holding her breath, she carefully stretched one foot from the left side of the second step onto the right side of the third. Her eyes remained fixed on the third glass panel, which reflected two meteors.
Another oppressive silence followed as everyone held their breath.
This time, Fleur was lucky. The step she had chosen did not shatter.
That meant they had now confirmed the correct panels for the first three steps.
After two consecutive successes, the people waiting on the platform finally relaxed. Now they could be sure that Viktor's proposal was feasible.
It was slow, but at least it was safe.
The first step was finally free. After a brief discussion, the boys let Luna go first.
Fleur and Hermione continued opening up the path in their difficult, clumsy way. Two or three minutes later, they had identified enough safe steps for everyone to climb onto the glass walkway.
Viktor followed behind Luna, then Cedric. Harry followed Cedric, while