Hera

{Chapter Fourteen}

"Hera, you do realise that you look absolutely beautiful with your curly hair, right?" Elena hummed from her place as she wrote in her leather-bound journal, not bothering to look up at her best friend who was struggling to straighten her wild curls.

"Yes, but I feel more beautiful in straight hair. Also, those bloody twin ginger heads' fault! Making it rain in the train corridor. The audacity." Hera huffed before charming her hair back into it's straight state from before the Weasleys decided to make it rain. Elena chuckled to herself, closing the book in her hands and looking at her black-haired companion.

It had been almost two years since the two had become friends, and to say things have changed drastically since then, could be an understatement. For one, the two girls were entering their third year in Hogwarts and were excited about their new electives. Although they were almost joined together by the hip, both Hera and Elena had their own different interests. Hera enjoyed arithmancy, while Elena decided to continue on in History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures. In comparison from when they first started their first year in Hogwarts, both Elena and Hera had changed almost drastically.

During the course of her first year, Hera discovered a hair straightening charm in the Witch Weekly, while browsing with Elena. Not wanting to look like her Death Eater mother anymore, Hera had aquired the habit of always straightening her coily curls, almost looking like her mother's sister, Narcissa. Although her hair was straightened, her hair's dark colour still stood out like a sore thumb  in her aunt's family.

Elena, on the other hand, embraced her straight black hair, which almost looked identical to Hera's hair when it was straightened. The only difference was the white birthmark that stood out in her hair. Elena had outgrown her pigtails and exchanged them for a simple head band, restricting her sleek neat hair from falling on her face while she wrote.

"There. Absolutely, perfect." Hera sighed, taking a glimpse in the pocket mirror that she kept on her all the time.

Elena looked at her best friend with a raised eyebrow, "What is this obsession with always being perfect, Hera? I swear, you sound just like your aunt."

"I am not obsessed with perfection, Elena." Hera leaned back into her seat, tucking stray hair strands behind her ear. "I just enjoy looking good, can I not look good for myself? Aunt Narcissa always says: a proper lady always has to look good. It's etiquette 101, love."

Ignoring the later part, Elena gave a cheeky look to her other half, a sly smirk plastered on her face. "So, is it because of Troy then?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hera muttered under her breath, her cheeks reddened as she looked out of the window flustered at the mention of her betrothed's name.

"So it is because of Troy." A obvious smirk was laced into Elena's voice. "Not that it matters... that you spent the last week with him and his family!"

"Oh shut up, Elena!" Hera squeaked, not wanting to be made more flustered than she already was. Luckily the trolley witch, came by their compartment, saving Hera from a whole lot of teasing from Elena.

♧

The Great Hall was bustling with chatter as the students all sat at their respective house dining tables. Colours of green, red, blue and yellow decorated the dining hall, symbolising the four great houses of Hogwarts, each as unique as the other. The first years had been sorted into each of the houses, and as usual, those who were sorted into Slytherin, it was only Slytherin and a few others that applauded and cheered for them.

The prejudice against the house of Slytherin was not just a friendly banter of competition that the three other houses had with each other, but it had to do with the fact that it had housed many Death Eaters. "You know, I really dislike all the disrespect that our house receives." Elena huffed, dinner had commenced. "It's just bloody cruel. They don't see us doing the same."