Love Is In The Air: The Angelic Witch And Draco Malfoy (Book 4)

The Four Champions

Heroneka couldn't sleep well that night. All she kept thinking about, was the fact that the rules have been changed. A new champion was going to be added; a wild card champion, who was supposed to be an underaged student. If none of the underage students would be able to get past the Age Line, there would be no wild card champion. Her gut said a million times that Dumbledore had done this specifically for Heroneka. So she could have an opportunity to face death. He had somehow managed to convince Ludo Bagman and Mr Crouch, along with Madam Maxime and Karkaroff to get on with this idea.

Her worst fear was confirmed, when she spotted Fawkes, sitting outside the window of her dormitory, tapping his giant beak on the glass. Fawkes was Dumbledore's loyal phoenix. Everyone was asleep. She slowly got up of her bed, tiptoed to the window and opened it. Fawkes blinked a few times, watching Heroneka intensely. Then she sensed a thought coming off him.

QUEEN!

"Oh, shut up!" She eyed him. "Angel!" She corrected him in a low voice.

Fawkes began to peck at the envelope tied to his leg. Heroneka thought it was very unusual for the phoenix to bring a letter to her. And she already knew that it was from Dumbledore. But she wondered why he had sent her a letter so late at night, that too, using Fawkes and not an owl. She quickly untied the envelope from his leg and then traces his head with the back of her forefinger.

"Thank you, Fawkes." She smiled, whispering softly.

QUEEN!

Heroneka felt a little pissed now. All the animals she had tried to talk to had called her Queen, not Angel. She wondered why they always messed up their thoughts of referring to her as Queen and not an Angel. Fawkes made a low gurgling sound and then flew back into the night.

Heroneka stood there, feeling the cold wind, watching him fly away until the dark sky took over his shape. Then she shut the window slowly, went back to her bed and picked up her wand.

"Lumos," she mumbled covering herself with the blankets.

She kept her wand on the bed, ripping the envelope slowly and there won't be any sound. Then she realised that there were two notes inside it. She pulled out the first one and read it in her mind:

Dear Gemma,
The rules have been altered. The game has been twisted. The tasks are set. All that remains, is your approval. The final decision will be yours.
If you choose to enter the Triwizard Tournament, you will be ready to greet death as an old friend. Get used to death so much, that it fears getting near you.
If you are willing to enter the championship, kindly put your name in the Goblet of Fire by tomorrow morning. You know how to breach the Age Line.
Albus.

Heroneka pulled out the other note. It had been folded a few times. She opened it quickly and read:

WILD CARD
Heroneka Nexus Pearlstone
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

She put the letter under her pillow. And then laid back, mumbling "Nox". The light vanished.

Dumbledore had sent her a note to drop it in the Goblet of Fire. She felt like for some reason, he had been hoping she accepted this opportunity.

As the next day was Saturday, most students would normally have breakfasted late. The common room was crowded even before breakfast. The excitement for Triwizard Tournament champion selection was too high.

"So?" Hermione asked Heroneka. "Are you going to do it?"

The two girls, along with Harry and Ron were outside the portrait hole, walking towards the corridor that led towards the stairs down the Gryffindor Tower. Heroneka had just told them about Dumbledore's letter.