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

The First Task

"Are you going to die today?" Harry asked Heroneka.

It was early in the morning. They had crept out of the castle, walked up to the lake and Heroneka was making him walk on the water with her, holding his hand. He had told her that it was oddly satisfying.

"I don't want to, Harry." She said, gazing up at the sky that was party glittering with stars and partly losing its darkness. "I won't be using my shield though. The judges want to keep the competition fair, that's why they have asked all of us to use only our wands."

Harry's eyes were fixed at the lake under his feet. He kept jumping to see if he would drop in, but the water felt like a cushioned jelly. Little drops would splatter around, but Harry wasn't able to drop inside the surface of the lake.

"You want to drown?" Heroneka laughed looking down at his feet. "I can let go of your hand."

"Not yet!" Harry exhaled looking around them. "Sometimes I just -- wonder!" He had a precious smile on his face. "How come Hogwarts is real? I mean, I was living under a staircase, in a cupboard."

Heroneka smiled. "Now you have your own Firebolt! And a huge family!" She thought of the Weasleys.

Harry nodded with a smile, gazing at her. "If you were given a choice, what would you pick? Would you choose a life in which you never found out about all this - Hogwarts - magic - Angelbay! Or, would you choose to have this life - the life full of magic, deaths, troubles..."

"I would choose this moment." She said quietly.

"What?" He frowned.

"No, I mean," she chuckled. "I can't imagine not knowing about Hogwarts, Harry. It's our home. It's - our truth."

They continued walking towards the centre of the lake, then after a few minutes, they turned around to head back towards the edge. They didn't want any Durmstrang students or Karkaroff to see them.

"How far we've come," Harry said abruptly. "You were my first friend ever, remember?"

It was true. Heroneka had never had a friend before she met Harry. He had shown up at the Bradys' house, the muggles she used to live with back then, with Hagrid to see her. They had spent the day together at the Diagon Alley.

"And here we are -" she chuckled thinking about it. "Almost ready to die together."

That morning, the atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure - though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there.

Heroneka and Harry, although talking again, we're sitting far away from each other at the Gryffindor table. They both needed some alone time to get themselves into their zone of preparedness.

Heroneka felt oddly separate from everyone around her, as boys and girls in groups came over to wish her good luck on the Gryffindor table. Even Draco, Pansy and Blaise came to uplift her spirits. When they left, the same tiny girl from the second year, who admired Draco joined them. This was the only girl who had been making Heroneka feel jealous.

Time was behaving more peculiarly than ever, rushing past in great dollops, so that one moment she seemed to be sitting down in her first lesson, History of Magic, and the next, walking into lunch.

Hermione sat right next to Heroneka during lunch, holding her hand under the table. They didn't eat at all, and she could feel Hermione's hand shivering. Or was it her hand that was shivering and Hermione was trying to calm her by holding on to it? It was hard to tell. Harry was nowhere to be seen. Heroneka wondered where he was.