The Mystery of the Frozen Heart

Chapter Twelve: Learning the Game

1914

1 "...so I do believe that the book is quite mistaken. The text is over fifty years old, mind you. In my opinion, if the Hibernus Horridus does go so far as to project its frozen heart, it probably won't live for more than a year. Of course, I can't prove anything at this point, but one day, I will. I just hope they haven't become extinct, yet, but I don't believe so. There's been a reported sighting at-" Newt interrupted himself when he saw that Leta was frowning, seemingly rather consternated, and scanning the Great Hall - more specifically, the Slytherin table. He leaned back a little and scrutinised her closely.

She was a bit fidgety, wasn't she? Her shoulders were visibly tense, she was chewing on the inside of her lower lip, and she was drumming on the table-top with the fingertips of her left hand. Also, she hadn't been listening to a word he'd been telling her.

Trying not to be too disappointed and reminding himself that she was only not listening because she was obviously upset about something, he reached out and gingerly touched her shoulder. "Leta?"

"Hm?" She barely looked at him.

"Why are you staring at the Slytherins?" He glanced at the table in question, too, but found nothing out of the ordinary. It seemed a bit on the empty side for this time of morning. However, that wasn't anything to be alarmed about, especially on a Friday. Less than a third of the students had classes this early on Fridays. Sometimes, people simply did not want to eat breakfast, either. It happened. "Leta, why are you staring at the Slytherins?"

This time, she snapped out of it. Blinking, she half-turned to face him. "I...what? I wasn't staring at anybody."

He didn't even try to hide his consternation this time. "Remember when I told you that I can tell when you're lying? I wasn't joking."

Her slight confusion made way for irritation. "I'm not lying, Newt. Your go-to assumption shouldn't be that I'm hiding something from you." Well, wasn't that an odd reply? Usually, she only got defensive like this when there actually was something going on.

The overreaction to his calm remark didn't exactly help assuage his doubts, either. "So I was just boring you? Is that why you didn't hear a word of what I said?" he said, instead.

She looked confused again for a second. Then, she shook her head and took his hand. "What? No! Of course not. I just didn't sleep very well. I'm having some trouble concentrating. My head hurts, too. It's got nothing to do with you - honestly."

It wasn't something he could pinpoint, but for some reason, her answer was too glib to be honest. They hadn't exactly met yesterday. However, if she didn't want to talk about it, she didn't want to talk about it. He certainly would not insist on something that went against her will.

He said, "All right. I'm sorry. Maybe you should go to the nurse and get something for the headache?"

Leta, who was sitting straight again and eyeing the Slytherins with unmistaken apprehension written all over her face, said, "Mm? No, no, I'll be fine. Don't you worry."

This was getting too weird for his taste. Not that he cared a lick about anything being labelled as such, being who he was, but she was hiding something from him. That couldn't be good. He had to admit to himself that he didn't like being left out of the loop, no, but this wasn't like Leta at all. She shared everything she deemed important with him. When she lied, it was because she believed that he wouldn't approve of whatever she was up to. If it were simply something she didn't want to talk about, she'd tell him that in no uncertain terms. This, however, was highly suspicious. He just hoped she didn't have anything in mind that could get her into trouble.