Hera

{Chapter Twenty-Six}

Cassiopeia-Hera Lestrange was on her way back from the girl's lavatory on the second floor to the Slytherin Dormitory. She had just finished her second day's routine of the animagus process and reassuring Moaning Myrtle that she'd bring Harry Potter to the lavatory as a gift of thanks to her - which she still had to think of how she'd actually get to do that.

Their lessons for the day had finished hours ago so the students were free to do as they pleased, so it made sense for Hera to use this time to do what she needed to do. With that out of her way, she could return to the dormitory and find herself some peace after having to deal with all of the past few days' events.

She desperately needed some time alone.

But lo and behold, fate clearly did not want that for her.

As she turned into the next passageway, she was stopped, by a very familiar face. Troy Greengrass smiled at her awkwardly. "Uhm, can we talk?"

Hera, who desperately just wanted to return to her dorm room, sighed. It was all that she could do because she knew that there was no getting out of it. "Of course," She said, though she had it quietly. "What about though?"

He didn't hesitate to answer. "I know you know about what's going on with Daphne."

This snapped Hera out of her tiredness, and an unsettling feeling grew in the pit of her stomach as she tried making up excuses to get Troy off of her case. Unfortunately, she took too long while thinking of an excuse. "Merlin, I'm right." Troy sighed.

"No!" She said a bit too quickly.

Her face started to redden as she stuttered. "No, I don't...but if it helps," Hera thought of a better way to word her sentence so that Troy isn't let on, on too much. "We just kept on seeing Daphne return to our dorm later than usual for the past few weeks. She's probably stressed out about our class in Divination."

Troy eyed her skeptically, but luckily he did buy her excuse. He sighed heavily, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Well that Divination's Professor you've got is known to be quite the nutcase...I guess she really might be worried about that."

Her thick eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "What's a nutcase?"

"Oh Merlin..."

♧

After speaking to Troy, Hera was finally left on her own. Away from all the commotion and stressful situations, she could finally take a breath of fresh air.

The winter air was refreshing, even though the weather wasn't the most pleasant. The presence of the Dementors limited a large majority of the activities the students can do - which meant most of them spent their free time in the castle.

It was more chaotic than ever before, so Hera resorted to sitting out in the courtyard away from the masses of rowdy students. A few other students lingered about in the courtyard, probably in the same situation as Hera, who wanted peace away from the the masses. It was a quiet haven for all introverts with social anxiety.

Soon her peaceful state of mind started to fade into thoughts of the current task her uncle had tasked her to do. The lurking thought of a potential stalker also started flashing in her mind, making all sense of calm vanish from her body.

Anxiety started to settle in.

She looked around the courtyard, only seeing the very few students that lingered about. It came as a relief to her, there would still be people around, in case she'd be ambushed.

It may sound as an absurd thought, but she had to take the extra precaution.

Taking a deep breath, Hera relaxed and closed her eyes to enjoy the gentle cold that embraced her well. There was nothing that could take away her peace at that moment...until someone eventually did, after she had just let herself relax.

"Well, funny seeing you here all alone." Came a familiar voice. It was a quiet voice, it felt almost unnatural for her to hear them be so quiet.

"Well, it's because I go to school here, Blaise." She said.

Hera knew that he was sitting behind her, against the column that she was sitting in front of. It was obvious that he didn't want to be seen by anyone else, even though there were only a few of their fellow students lingering in the courtyard.

"That part is obvious, Cassiopeia." She stiffened, he had used her first name. "You know about Daphne and I..."

That was what he wanted to talk about.

"Well, whatever is going on between the two of you, is between you and her. Please don't drag me into it." Hera's eyes darted around the courtyard, trying to find a way out of the situation she was in.

"It's not that. You didn't tell anyone, did you?"

She stiffened in her seat, "No, why would I tell anyone?"

"Come on, you are best friends with one of the biggest gossips in the whole school." Blaise countered.

Hera scoffed and she turned around to face the boy who sat behind her. "Even if the news did come out that you were dating Daphne, it would be your own fault. I don't even get why you're hiding it in the first place?!"

He was just about to reply but she cut him off. The pent up frustration from her potential stalker, her animagis transformation and now, having to keep Blaise's relationship a secret, was now making her burst at her seams.

"I don't want to be a part of this or whatever you want to drag me into, I have enough on my plate!" This piqued his interest, but he didn't say a thing.

He could see that her cheeks were tinged red from the cold and as well as her sudden outburst she had just had, she looked tired and frustrated. He almost felt bad for her. He looked away, thinking about how messed up his day had become.

"Alright, I'll leave you alone."

"Thank you." She huffed, turning back around so she didn't have to face him anymore.

Hera couldn't believe she had lost her composure. She was internally scolding herself for losing her temper, yet she felt so much better after having said what she had wanted to say for the longest time.

"Daphne's angry at you." She mumbled, leaning back onto the cold surface of the column behind her.

Blaise hummed in agreement. "I know, I've got to fix it somehow."

"And Troy's bound to find out sooner or later. He's interrogated me earlier."

"I know, I saw him basically corner you."

Hera shook her head, the frizz in her hair started to pop up. "It was the other way around, but don't worry I didn't tell him anything."

Blaise stood up from his seat and shoved his hands in his pockets to keep them warm. Hera could feel his presence near her own, she wasn't used to speaking to him for this long. So the two of them fell into an awkward silence.

She couldn't stand it any longer so she got up from her seat, not saying a word to Blaise, who turned to look over his shoulder to look at her. He was just about to say something, but Hera was already walking away.

He could've just stopped her, but it just ended up as a missed opportunity.