Hera

{Chapter Eleven}

The two days seemed to pass by quickly as Hera tried thinking of ways to stop talking to Blaise. She suppressed the urge to send an owl to him for advice, but how can one ask a person on how to break a friendship with them. After leaving her uncle's office and entering the comforts of her bedroom, Hera broke down in tears.

Later on in the day, she was summoned by her aunt to the gardens where she sat by the pavillion sipping her tea while house elves brought along baked pastries. She knew that was going to be the start of her classes.

Her knuckles were pained and red from the amount of times Narcissa had struck her with the ruler for not doing something right. Her back was sore from sitting upright for the time she was at the pavillion and her tongue was burnt from sipping the hot tea too quickly.

Never had she felt Narcissa's wrath on being ladylike. It felt peculiar to witness it because she was used to the loving side of her aunt. The woman had become more stricter and impatient with Hera, and the young girl couldn't help but feel hurt to see that the woman who had given her everything that she wanted, was not listening to Hera's pleas of ending the lesson.

"When you are married, you are your husband's property. You are to listen to his every word and do as he pleases." Narcissa hummed, fixing another cup of tea for herself. She had had Hera repeat it plenty of times.

The young girl couldn't wrap her mind around the statement. What if she didn't want to be owned by her husband. What if she didn't want to be as significant as a quill? She wanted to be much more than such but it did not seem she was to get what she wanted. No one gets what they want, besides Draco anyway.

She was sure that Draco didn't have to go for any lessons on how to be a lady. But it was absurd for her, why did she need lessons on how to be a lady when she is a lady? She bit her bottom lip before she was struck on the knuckles once again.

It was finally the day that the Greengrass family was to visit the Malfoy Manor, and she couldn't help but feel nervous for their visit. It seemed like everything was just suddenly rushed, the betrothal to Troy and the lessons with Narcissa, everything overwhelmed her.

All she wanted to do was to sit down for a few moments and try to register what was happening around her.

Hera was dolled up nicely with her curls put up in a braided crown. Stray curls fell upon her face, framing her round chubby face, accentuating the natural pout of her lips. Aunt Narcissa had picked out her outfit of a lavender blouse and a black skirt.

She felt awkward as she sat in her room, sitting near the window to look out for the Greengrass' carriage to arrive at the manor. It had been twenty minutes since she sat down, counting the minutes. Why was she waiting so impatiently? She was not sure. Maybe she wanted to get this over and done with but she felt like she was just lying to herself.

Since the incident back at the Hogwarts library, Hera could not take Troy out of her mind. It may have been out of pure embarrassment but she admired his kindness and will to help her even though she was known to be the daughter of two notorious followers of He-who-must-not-be-named. Yes, she did find him handsome but the fact that he helped her in her time of need outshined the other charming factors about him.

Suddenly, a familiar black-and-green blur flew past the window, startling Hera from her seat and causing the young girl to fall backwards on her backside. She sat up, ignoring the pain from behind and cried out in joy. Sitting, perched on the railing of the small balcony connected to her room, was the same Augurey, who she approached during the quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It's green and black feathers were smoothed out on its back as its large grey eyes stared at her through the window, as if calling her to come towards it.

She got up from her spot from the floor, walking out onto the balcony. She suddenly felt guilty because she didn't have any bread or breadcrumbs on her to give to the bird that was perched on the railing. It sqwaked loudly, bringing her attention the large bird.

"What have you got for me today?" The girl hummed, putting her hand out for the bird to inspect. The bird leaned forward, it's large eyes investigating Hera's small hand before giving it a small nip. Hera yelled and moved back, clutching her hand towards her as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"Why did you do that!?" She grit at the ugly bird. The augurey flew to her side, hopping to her and nuzzling it's head into her arm. Hera took a shakey breath and let the bird nuzzle into her, "I guess you thought I had something for you, sorry but I don't have any crumbs for you."

Hera sat still on the floor, a sudden thought came into her mind as she watched the bird that was picking at the threads of her jumper. Was this the same augurey from Hogwarts? If so, how on earth did it find her. Many thoughts rushed into her head as she watched the bird. Yet, the large grey eyes seemed to comfort her as they looked comfortingly familiar.

"You know...I think I'll just call you Crumbs, what do you think of that?" She smiled.