His Greatest Challenge

Viktor re-read the letter for the fifth time. How could she do this to me? he thought. He had always thought they would stay together, at least until the end of this year. But now, the letter didn't even let him down easy - it was downright cruel.

His tears had smudged the ink and the words were hardly legible. "Viktor, time to play," grunted one of his teammates. Viktor nodded and lit the piece of parchment on fire. He shuffled out onto the Quidditch Pitch.

He flew into the air and that's when he saw her. She wasn't extraordinary; she had bushy brown hair, dark eyes and warm skin. She's glowing, he thought to himself. C'mon, Viktor, you can't be that stupid, it's the light reflecting off the stands.

No! he corrected himself, she's glowing with warmth. Oh, how I wish to warm myself by that light.

He hardly knew what was going on during the match below him; he was too busy watching the girl in the top box. He pulled a Wronski Feint hoping to impress her; everyone else seemed to have enjoyed it, but she seemed somewhat indifferent.

Viktor fell back into his trance watching every little movement she made. He was brought to reality when a Bludger crashed into his nose, and that's when he saw it - the Golden Snitch. Within moments, the game was over and he thought he had made the greatest mistake of his lifetime.

He landed and trudged off the field, blood flowing freely from his nose. He felt near tears again. Suddenly one of his teammates appeared and told him to clean up; they had to go to the top box. His heart skipped about twenty beats. C'mon Viktor, pull yourself together.

Soon he was shaking hands with people he didn't care about; his attention was focused on the girl with the brown hair. Yet no sooner had he been so near to her, he was whisked away.

He sat in the team's campsite remembering every detail he could about his mystery girl. "Viktor, Ivana is here," informed one of his teammates.

Ivana? he thought looking down at the ashes of the letter he had received earlier. He had completely forgotten about Ivana; all he could think about was the girl in the top box.

She walked into the tent; her black hair fell like a beautiful velvet curtain. Her milk-white arm reached out to him, but he pushed her away. "Viktor, what is wrong?" Ivana asked, her black eyes shimmering.

"'It's been fun, Viktor, it really has, but I have to end it.' Sound familiar?" he retorted. "Well, here, try this, 'Viktor, I've been with someone else for the past year.' No, okay, how about, 'You could never be the man I want, sure, you're famous and that kept me interested for a while, but you're just not good enough.' DOES ANY OF THAT SOUND FAMILIAR!?" His face was red from shouting.

Ivana's eyes narrowed. "You'll regret this." She turned heel and walked out of the tent.

Viktor took a deep breath and slouched down in one of the chairs. "At least I have the Triwizard Tournament to look forward to," he told the air around him