XXVIII

For every time that Cho sat down for supper, the overwhelming feeling of anxiety grew. She would look around; getting more and more paranoid with each growing day. She was sat beside Luna and Hether. The girl had wedged themselves in between her and Grega, from the supper after they had found the two of them by the lake, as if she wanted to be sure of their movements round the clock.

To make it worse, Luna Lovegood was sitting beside her. She was quiet and more aloof than present, but she had a knack of sensing when something was off. If she sensed anything, there was nothing that would stop her from informing Harry; who would then inform Hermione; who would then turn them in. As far as she could see, it was a never-ending chain of downfall that would only lead to them being expelled.

"Do you have a fever, Cho?" A light voice came from beside her, interrupting her thoughts. A chill ran down Cho's neck as she turned to face Luna.

"Pardon me?" she stuttered and cursed internally. Was she that transparent that her inner conflict was displayed through her body language for everyone to see?

"I think you've got a fever," Luna repeated. "You're sweating and you've barely touched your food."

"What are you talking about?" Cho frowned and turned away. "It's summer; it's hot."

"Then you've definitely got a fever; you're wearing a sweater." The girl was persistent. The corner of Cho's mouth twitched in anguish and she silently pleaded for Hether to intervene, but she took no notice of her.

"It's a very nice sweater." Cho could feel the sweat trickle down her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hether turn her head the slightest bit in her direction.

"Or is something else the matter?" the question trailed off into the air.

Cho's lips clamped shut, unmoving and unwilling to say anything even so she so desperately wanted to. Eventually they opened, but words refused to form. It was as if her mouth had a mind of its own.

A firm hand landed on her shoulder, jolting her out of her panic. She turned; it was Hether, with a jovial look upon her face.

"Cho, you silly thing, you've got your sweater inside out!" she gave a mock frown. "We should fix it quickly before- dare I say; Harry notices. Come on, up you get."

Cho breathed a sigh of relief, and restraining herself from bolting out of her seat and making a dash for the doors, she followed Hether.

Luna's eyes followed them until they had left the hall. "Yes," she said, puzzled. "I suppose you've got it inside out. How strange."

Hether marched to the nearest bathroom, not bothering to check if Cho was able to keep up the pace. She slammed the door behind her and gave a frustrated groan. That girl's mouth was going to be a problem for them. Why was she so compelled to talk and say everything? Didn't she have any secrets she held? It was pathetic, and she had half the mind to do away with her. She was irrelevant in the story, and Hether didn't have any room for strays.

Finally, the bathroom door opened quietly and closed just as quietly. When she didn't hear any sound, Hether whipped around and narrowed her eyes. Cho was pressed against the door as if she wanted to get as far away as she could from her, eyes wide with fear.

Hether took a deep breath. She would only end up killing her if she got angry. "What's the matter with you? Why cant you shut up?"

Cho winced. Straight to the bone. "It's not my fault!"

"'Bloody well is!" Hether shut her up with a snarl. "What is it? Are you cursed?"

"No." Cho scowled. "Umbridge put a truth spell on me once, but that was it. I'm not cursed."

"Give me your hand," Hether said but grabbed her left hand and yanked her towards her.

Cho yelped as she was torn away from the door and pulled towards Hether. Just as she was about to crash into the girl, she stepped aside and let go of her hand, and Cho came tumbling down to the floor in a heap.

"What did you do that for?" Cho said angrily.

"Don't look at me like that." Hether sneered, circling her like a hawk about to descend on its prey. "You're weak; you've got no resolve. You can't hold your ground; you do whatever and anything youre told. Umbridge didn't need a truth spell to make you spill."

"SHUT UP!" Cho yelled at her, but stayed on the ground. "You don't know anything about me!"

"But I do," Hether chuckled. "I know everything."

Cho whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it was all a dream. When she opened her eyes, she would wake up, and her life would be normal again. When she opened her eyes, she would wake up, and her life would be normal again. When she opened her eyes-

"It's not a dream, Cho." Hether said in a calm voice. "This is real life. Your life. Pathetic and miserable."

"Just stop," Cho's voice broke. "Why are you doing this? Aren't we roommates- aren't we friends?"

"I should be asking you the same question." Hether knelt on the ground beside her, and spoke softly into her ear. "Why are you so eager to rat us out? Aren't we roommates? Aren't we friends? They rejected you, Cho. What is it that they have that we don't have?"

Cho didn't respond, but lowered her hair around her face so Hether wouldn't see as the tears fell from her eyes and into her trousers.

"I mean it, Cho." Hether looked away. "I'm sorry for bursting out at you like that. But I'm not wrong. Your resolve is weak and pathetic. Broken, probably. Almost as if it's ill. It reflects your aura. Give me your hand."

Hether held out her hand to receive Cho's, but the latter withdrew her hand closer to her body. Hether sighed. "You've good reason to withdraw," she stood up. "But I believe Umbridge may have done more damage than they intended. For that to have happened, you must have had a strong but unprotected resolve. I'm not going to hurt you, but all at your own pace. Don't forget about your sweater."

As the girl made her way towards the exit, Cho wondered bitterly what could have possibly made someone become as unsympathetically sadistic and bipolar as Hether. She was like the weather; her temperament was very unstable.

Hether grunted softly. "I wasn't always like this, you know. And I try not to be." Her hand rested on the doorknob, but she didn't turn to look at Cho. "But sometimes things happen to you, and people test you. Eventually, you become mad, and then everything explodes." Hether hesitated, as if she wanted to say something else but thought the better of it.

"See you in the room." She said, and left, shutting the door quietly behind her.

It took Cho the rest of the nineteen minutes of supper to pick up the pieces of herself. She sat on the floor, in the corner, ignoring everyone that came in and went out. Hether was wrong for doing that, but she too was wrong. Everyone was wrong, and everything was wrong.

The pillars of Cho's safe cocoon collapsed, and she left the bathroom to avoid seeing her safety nest crumble before her eyes. There was no place she could hide now; she had to find the truth. A bitter irony; she thought, since she was always the one willingly or unwillingly giving the truth.

The world was a blur as she ascended the stairs to their room. Maybe she wanted to confront everything that had happened in the bathroom. Maybe she didn't want to, because part of her wanted to please Hether. That was how it worked; the child always pleased the parent. It was confusing for her to understand; confusing for her to breakdown and decipher the meaning behind the actions, but her dumb self thought numbly; that it was all for her own good. It always was, and that was just how it was.

Cho opened the door to their room and closed it gently behind her. It was empty, just as she expected. Grega was off beating herself up about the girl who fell, for some reason she didn't know; and Hether was obviously somewhere hidden with Draco, as she always was.

She had said she heard and knew everything, so perhaps she could hear her right now.

"You think there's something wrong with my aura or whatever it was; come and check it." She called out into the room. "I know you can hear-"

"Not so loudly, now." Hether's voice came from behind her, coarse and guttural.

Cho turned and went red. Sure, Hether was there, but there was someone else she wished to see last of all standing behind her, with their chin rising just above her head. And they were both dripping wet, with a pool of water gathering at their feet.

"Did you have to bring him?" Cho cleared her throat. She wasn't weak anymore, so sights like this shouldn't shock her anymore.

"Hello to you too." Draco sniffed. "Couldn't you just bring her down? I had that formation very perfect. And it's freezing in here."

"Cho's not a fan of the water," Hether loosened herself from Draco's grasp. "Dry up, before you start to rain on everyone. There's a towel in my wardrobe."

"Does it smell like you?" Draco's voice came out muffled as he stuck his head in the wardrobe.

"Don't be daft, darling; it smells like laundry soap." Hether rolled her eyes and focused on Cho. "Right. Where were we?"

Cho held out her hand. "You were about to- ahh!!"

She quickly yanked it back from Hether's grasp and cradled it to her chest, much to Hether's astonishment. She hadn't done anything; she had barely touched where her pulse could be felt. Cho looked down at her injured limb. It was bright red, and just under her palm, a bloody signature had began to form. Draco stuck his head out of the storage space, and seeing the scene, rushed to observe.

"Exactly what did that Umbridge person do to you again?" Hether frowned, looking Cho in the eye.

Bile rose in Cho's throat and she doubled over, depositing macaroni and haggis unto the wooden floor.