Acceptance: Hogwarts Legacy Continued

Chapter 42: Poppy- concerned

Poppy watched as Diana nodded off with her textbook propped up in front of her. They were sitting in the Library getting some work done before it was time for dinner. They hadn't even been at it for more than a quarter of an hour when the red headed girl seemed to lose focus. Now she was asleep, and it wasn't the first time today.

The girls shared Care of Magical Creatures (since Poppy was a year ahead in the subject), and usually the class was lively and high energy. Today though she had caught her friend nodding off more than once. It was odd behavior for her, and she felt that it had more to do with lack of sleep than any amount of boredom that she might feel. Diana was a stellar student, and enjoyed even the most boring of classes- such as history of magic.

On top of all of that she was unusually quiet. She wasn't an extremely chatty person, unless you asked her something she really enjoyed. Poppy had listened to her go on about Ancient runes for two hours one evening, content to hear about what her friend enjoyed. But now, even amidst discussions she was usually passionate about, she just stayed silent. She had a defeated air about her, and it was concerning. There was definitely something going on.

"Diana-" Poppy nudged her friend, trying not to scare her.

Diana shook awake and looked around, getting her bearings. "Ah, sorry I must have nodded off there. I just can't seem to keep focus lately."

She watched her try again at her textbook, but the other girl remained staring at her. Finally Diana realized, or gave up trying to ignore it, and looked back.

"Why aren't you sleeping?"

The girl's face started to get pink and her eyes looked anywhere but at her friends. Poppy resisted the urge to press again; she had learned that Diana often needed time to sort out what she was feeling before she was ready to speak.

"I want to be honest with you.... But some of the stuff I've been working on is confidential..."

"Savior of Hogwarts kind of stuff?"

At this Diana's face went from pink to cherry, but she nodded nonetheless.

"It's... it's been really tough to work through.  I've been using every spare second I have to try to figure it out, but I still feel like I'm in the dark. It feels hopeless."

"Well I'm sure that it is very important, but it seems to be taking a toll on your life. Can you step away from it for a while?" Her friend shook her head and stared at the floor.

Poppy reached out and placed a hand on top of hers, she knew Diana didn't love it when people touched her, but she wanted her to know her intentions.

"I promised myself that when we started our friendship again that I would do for you what you had done over and over for me. I want to help you, is there anything that I can do?"

She shook her head again, but Poppy felt Diana squeeze her hand back before sliding it out and onto her lap.

"Well something needs to change, I can't let you wear yourself down and do nothing to help.  If you can't tell me what's going on, maybe you could talk to someone who already knows? Is there anyone else that you can trust with it?"