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

Mr Crouch's Warning

"What happened?" Heroneka tried to pull away from Fay, but she wasn't letting go of her. "Where have you been? Are you alright?"

"They cut her finger!" Hermione said abruptly, wiping her tears.

Heroneka watched her in disbelief. She pushed Fay away a little trying to get hold of her hands. To her horror, Hermione was right. The ring finger on Fay's left hand was missing. Fay cried even harder, hiding her face in Heroneka's arms. When everyone asked Fay why Dumbledore had taken her away, she managed to speak a little and say that one of her spells went horribly wrong, trying to Andrew from running towards the forest. They had to cut off her finger to save her hand from getting infected.

But Heroneka knew that wasn't the truth. It burnt her from inside, even looking at Fay. How could she have let this happen? Why couldn't she have pulled up some courage and talked to Fay about not going to the Yule Ball with Andrew? None of this would have happened if only Heroneka would have chosen to be brutally honest with her, not kindly silent to give Fay some temporary happiness.

"Snape managed to collect all of Andrew's enchanted blood in my ring finger," Fay told her after all the other girls had left. "He asked me which finger I was willing to lose." She touched her left hand's fingers. "He said that the finger can't be regrown with magic because... It is getting rid of the dark magic. It can't be healed."

"Why did you choose the ring finger?" Heroneka asked her softly.

"I don't want any other boy in my life ever again." She sobbed. "Never."

As days passed by Fay began to talk again, but barely. She was spending all her time with Heroneka now, not looking at anyone else. Blaise would keep watching her whenever he could. In the Potions class, Care for Magical Creatures class, the Great Hall, library, literally... Everywhere. He would try to talk to Fay, but looking at how depressed she had become, he couldn't pull up the courage.

People would watch Heroneka more now because her protective shield was active a lot. She had to tell everyone that it was some kind of phase in her angelic evolution during which she couldn't control her shield. Ron and Hermione, who knew about Andrew's truth, were now beginning to get normal towards Heroneka. She knew they feared that something might happen to her. Although they didn't talk to her, Ron and Hermione were now hanging out quietly with her as Harry refused to leave her alone. Fay would accompany them too. She had slapped Harry once for calling Heroneka names. But now, after he had saved her from Andrew, Fay was being nice to him and they were getting along too.

Draco wasn't liking any of it because Heroneka being accompanied by Harry, meant that he would get less time with her. But because he knew Dumbledore had asked Harry to stay with Heroneka, he was cooperative.

"Maybe Dumbledore is keeping an eye on Potter!" Draco told Heroneka. "We can't be the only ones who have figured out that the Dark Lord is returning. Dumbledore wants to make sure that you stay with Potter so its easier for him to keep an eye on the two of you."

The start of the summer term would normally have meant that Heroneka was training hard for the last Quidditch match of the season. This year, however, it was the third and final task in the Triwizard Tournament for which she needed to prepare, but she still didn't know what he would have to do, neither did Harry or Viktor. Finally, in the last week of May, Professor McGonagall held Heroneka and Harry back in Transfiguration.

"You both are to go down to the Quidditch field tonight at nine o'clock. Pearlstone, Potter," she told them. "Mr Bagman will be there to tell the champions about the third task."

So at half-past eight that night, Heroneka and Harry left Ron and Hermione in Gryffindor Tower and went downstairs. As they crossed the entrance hall, Cedric came up from the Hufflepuff common room. He smiled at the two of them, which was a relief for Heroneka because Cedric had been ignoring her since the second task.