Hera

{Chapter Twenty-One}

The feeling of a bitter-tasting leaf was not the best feeling Hera-Cassiopeia II was experiencing, nor was it exactly the worst, but Hera couldn't help but wish for a sweeter and more satisfying flavor, craving for the buttery croissants that she smelled that morning in the Great Hall. Sighing in defeat, the young girl opted for the vegetable broth, pushing the mandrake leaf under her tongue and sipping the soup, hoping to at least get rid of the bitter taste that flooded her tastebuds.

It was the next morning, in the Great Hall, the day after she had stolen a few mandrake leaves from the greenhouses and after she had witnessed one of the most shocking revelations she had never thought she would. A million thoughts ran through her head that night, why everything had finally made sense and how it all clicked into place after crossing paths the with couple in the halls of the castle. At most, she felt awkward and burdened by the fact that she, of all people, was the one to catch them in the act.

Despite that, Hera decided it was better that she pretended she had not seen a thing that evening, trying her best to avoid the both parties of the couple at all costs, but it even more harder with the fact that she had to share a room with one of them.

It's not your business, don't think too much about it. Hera convinced herself, pushing away all the thoughts about the encounter from the night before, and focused on her breakfast in front of her.

"If the vegetable broth is that bad, why do continue to torture yourself by eating it?" Hera inwardly rolled her eyes at her platinum-haired cousin who had taken the seat next to her. "I mean, judging by your facial expressions, it's not that good."

Draco Malfoy had finally decided to spend quality time with Hera in the Great Hall for breakfast, that, and he was not able to find any of his goons or Blaise that morning. 'Quality family time' he called it, making Hera scoff and scoot over to accommodate him a seat. She was incredibly jealous of the meal he had pieced together infront of him, the savoury smell of bacon enticed her.

"It's not bad, it's incredibly nutritious." She mumbled, mostly to convince herself to take another spoonful.

"Please, I can feel your suffering from here, dear cousin." Draco plated two pieces of bacon and placed it next to her bowl of gloop. "Reward yourself with fatty goodness!"

Hera looked warily at the bacon, wondering how she'd be able to get out of this one. A moment or two passed before Draco spoke again, this time softly. "Are you...? Please don't tell me it's happening again."

The girl's head immediately turned to look at her cousin, her brown eyes large as she stared at him and shook her head vigorously. "Merlin, no! No, no, it's not that again." She mumbled, almost ashamed and embarrassed that Draco had to draw that conclusion. "I'll have the bacon don't worry. Thank you, Draco."

She stared once more at the bacon, pulling closer to her, and cut a few to put in her mouth. It was difficult to chew while trying to keep the mandrake leaf out the way, but the salty flavour helped drown out the bitter taste in her mouth. She almost hummed in ecstasy.

"My word, Hera! Share some of that bacon!" Came Elena's familiar voice, as she took a seat next to her. She grabbed a fork, and immediately forked a piece and placed some in her mouth.

Draco scowled at the Asian girl, "You should learn to get your own bacon, Huang."

The girl rolled her eyes, "Hush, Malfoy." She chewed, and started plating food onto her own plate. She then noticed the vegetable broth in front of her best friend. "Uh, care to explain why you're eating that?"

Hera sighed, "No, not really."

The shorter girl hummed, giving her a skeptical look before shrugging. "Well anyway, I heard that they're going to execute that poor hippogriff  of Hagrid's."

Hera nodded, as she had already heard from Draco, who seemed too excited at the thought.

"Poor hippogrif? Poor!? It attacked me, I could have died!" Draco exclaimed, the vein on his forehead started to pop out.

Elena just fed herself another forkful of bacon before waving it towards the blonde boy. "You provoked it. If you didn't act like the little green jealous creature you are, you wouldn't have landed with those tiny scars on your porcelain skin."

Draco's face started to redden in frustration. "Watch yourself, Huang."

The Asian girl sighed, her palm under her chin as she pretended to day dream. "I always do. Can't really take my eyes of that beauty I see in the mirror everyday."

This made the boy groan in frustration before getting up and walking away from the table to most likely find his two goons.

Hera turned her gaze to Elena, "Must you always be so confrontational with him?"

The girl shrugged with an amused grin on her soft features and winked at her best friend. "Somebody's got to deflate his arrogance once in a while."

♧

So this is a filler chapter, because I lost the original draft for this chapter. I planned on updating a long while ago but so much has happened. The chapter was supposed to be action filled and what not, but I sincerely apologise.

I'm currently in my final year of high school too, so I'm busy working on studying and applying to universities and all that stuff so I barely had time to rewrite a new chapter and when I did have time I hardly had any motivation.

I also started one of my own works while I tried looking for inspiration for Hera so that happened too.

But sincerely, everything has been really tough on me these past few months and I hope you all understand.

I'll try update Chapter Twenty-One Part Two sometime next week or end of this week.

I hope you are all staying safe.

If there are any questions you'd like to ask, feel free to comment on this line. ❤❤