The Seven {tom riddle}

Hera's Story

tw// homophobia, toxic relationships, and explicit references to su1c1de

'Thank you,' Hera sounded grateful. 'I really appreciate this. Thank you for giving me a chance.'

HERA'S P.O.V

I was so excited to get my Hogwarts letter, I was 11 years old and this was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me— my brother and I were so excited to go together. Like I told you, my family comes from a long, long line of Gryffindors, and we'd pretty much been preparing for this our entire lives.

We learned spells, we read and read, we practised Quidditch every weekend. Hogwarts had always been a dream; it seemed so far off and distant, so hopeful; an escape from the pressure placed on us by our parents. I think what Zeus resents most is that I left him to shoulder that burden alone.

Our parents packed us off on the Hogwarts express on September first with everyone else. The sun was shining, the birds were singing— I felt like a princess, everyone knew who we were and even the sky looked like it was smiling down on us. Zeus and I spent the whole train ride stuffing ourselves with sweets and talking about how proud we were to be making our family proud; to be living out our birthright and taking our places as Gryffindor royalty.

Obviously that didn't happen. The hat took one look inside my head and didn't- didn't see any bravery, I guess. It told me I was cunning, a leader, ambitious. It told me I would never, ever stop at anything to get what I wanted, and back then I didn't see what was so wrong with that. I asked, begged it to put me with my family and you know what it told me?

'That is not your family anymore.'

I didn't know what that meant— we'd always been taught nothing was thicker than pure blood.

The look on my brother's face has never left my mind. He was sitting at that scarlet table, so excited; waiting for me to take my place beside him. I've never seen hope drain out of someone like that.

His smile just melted into the floor, it flooded out of him and pooled around his feet. I felt so awful, I thought he was just upset we couldn't be together, I thought he was upset at how disappointed our parents would be. At first I asked myself why the hat would do something so awful - keep me from my brother and my birthright - but now I wonder why it chose to save me and not him.

The walk to the Slytherin table was the longest of my life, I felt like I was walking to the gallows. Every step was lead-weighted and every breath felt hot and crushing. I sat by myself at the end. The others knew who, or what, I was.

For the first few days, no one would speak to me, no one would look at me or sit next to me in lessons. Then maybe a week in, Tori Parkinson's partner wasn't in and she got moved beside me in Transfiguration.

She obviously didn't want to speak to me either, but we were doing a group project and Dumbledore made her. She started off asking lots of probing questions about my family—most of which I shouldn't have answered— and making me do all the work. After a couple lessons we were, almost, friends.

She wouldn't sit with me at lunch, and as soon as the lesson ended she'd just walk away; but for those precious 2 hours she'd laugh and whisper and shoot me these little smiles that I'd just catch out of the corner of my eye.

In maybe 2 weeks she'd leave her friends to spend time with me, but it was always in the library— or usually the Astronomy Tower where no one would see us. We'd do homework and talk, and she'd bring me food since the others glared at me when I got near the Slytherin table.

We'd hold hands and she'd rest her head on my shoulder and stuff but I never, ever thought anything of it. She always asked about my brother, my parents, my house, and I told her everything about me. I trusted her, I needed her.