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

Cedric's Death

Heroneka fell hard on the ground and rolled off a few times; her injured ankle seemed to have broken now. No wand, no Harry, no Cedric and not even Andrew. She remained like that on the ground, still feeling the effect of the Cruciatus Curse that had made her too weak.

She raised her head to look around. Heroneka had left the Hogwarts grounds completely; she had obviously travelled miles - perhaps hundreds of miles - for even the mountains surrounding the castle were gone. She was laying instead in a dark and overgrown graveyard; the black outline of a small church was visible beyond a large yew tree to their right. A hill rose above her to the left. Heroneka could just make out the outline of a fine old house on the hillside.

Suddenly, she heard two more thuds and sat up painfully to see Harry and Cedric, groaning, lying next to each other. They hadn't seen her yet. Cedric got up and helped Harry stand up. They had the Triwizard Cup with them.

"Harry..." She mumbled.

Cedric spotted her first. "Snitchy! You're here too?" But he looked happy seeing her.

Harry limped towards her. His leg was bleeding. It seemed that the gigantic spider had bitten him.

"Where are we, Snitchy?" he said. "Is this a part of the task?"

She had no idea where they were. "Run..." She said trying to get up. "Run, now..."

But Harry and Cedric weren't paying any attention to her. They were observing the surrounding.

"Cedric!" Heroneka managed to get up, but her ankle was broken. "Andrew is here!"

Cedric hurried to her and helped her stand properly.

"Andrew who?" He frowned.

"We have to get out of here!" She told Harry, who wasn't listening. "Harry!"

Cedric looked down at the Triwizard Cup and then up at Harry.

"Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?" he asked.

"Nope," said Harry. He was looking around the graveyard. It was completely silent and slightly eerie. "Is this supposed to be part of the task?"

"No!!" Heroneka said through her pain. "It is a plan. Andrew is here, Harry!"

Harry stared at her for a moment. "How did you get here?"

"Andrew was in the maze!" She said impatiently as Cedric held her. "He sent me here! That's not important now. We have to get out of this place right now."

"Andrew Bolton?" Cedric sounded slightly nervous. "That Slytherin guy who ran away?"

"Yeah," said Harry, pulling out his wand and looking around. "We have to keep her safe if Andrew is here. He wanted to sacrifice Snitchy to help Lord Voldemort and Zagan."

"We need to go!!" She found the courage to speak louder.

Heroneka had, yet again, the strange feeling that they were being watched.

"Someone's coming," Harry said suddenly.

Cedric didn't have any time to ask another question. He did as Harry had asked him to. He held Heroneka's hand, hiding her behind him, pointing his wand in the direction Harry was looking. Heroneka covered her mouth to keep herself from crying and whimpering out loud. Harry and Cedric were now shielding her, keeping her behind them. Cedric's hold on her hand grew tighter. Harry was ahead of them, ready to attack.

Squinting tensely through the darkness, they watched the figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. Heroneka couldn't make out a face, but from the way it was walking and holding its arms, she could tell that it was carrying something. Whoever it was, he was short, and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over his head to obscure his face. And - several paces nearer, the gap between them closing all the time - Heroneka saw that the thing in the persons arms looked like a baby...or was it merely a bundle of robes?