"Well, yes, I am, but I don't know why being a demigoddess means my parents aren't my parents."
Suffice to say that the rest of the meeting didn't go anywhere near how Ernie excepted it to go. In the end, the already aware Heri was introduced to the rest of the semi-divine without anyone of the gravity of circumstance Ernie had been expecting. None of them could figure out how Heri managed to have two fully mortal parents, and not only that, but they were no closer to figuring out who her divine parent was than they were at the start. As Carmichael kept insisting, they had been too far away from Heri to get a proper look at the hammer-like image, so all they knew was that her parent was related to battle in some way.
Possibly.
Maybe.
The weeks after the First Task were marked with the increase of Heri's popularity amongst her peers.
Yet again.
No one had believed that she had cheated to enter the Tournament (not really — those that claimed to do so did so only for the sake of being nasty), she was a Hufflepuff after all, but there was a grudging exasperation that had been directed at her for her 'bloody amazing luck' that granted her the things everyone else wanted so badly. Those ruffled feathers had been soothed back down when those that griped about Heri's 'good fortune' realised that there was absolutely nothing lucky about having to face a fire-breathing monster big enough to wrestle with the giant squid from the Black Lake.
Adulation pouring in again, Heri decided that the announcement of the Yule Ball couldn't have come at a worse time.
A ball. A ball she was contractually obligated to attend and accompanied with a partner to boot. She had been looking forward to a winter holiday that she could finally spend at a home with people that loved her, but instead she had to stick around to go to a sodding school dance. It was only how used she was to reigning in her temper that kept her from screaming in outrage when Professor Sprout informed her.
With the Ball on their brains, it seemed to be the only thing anyone ever talked about now. Forget classes, it was all about dates and outfits. Being someone who worked her arse off for her top marks (though no one knew it), it grated on Heri's nerves that the bit of studying and tutoring she did was being blown off for such a trivial matter. She was no Hermione Granger, but if someone pestered her when she was trying to read one more time . . .
Heri had never known so many people to put their names down to stay at Hogwarts for the winter holiday; she always did before, of course, because the alternative was going back to Privet Drive, but she had always been very much in the minority before. This year, however, everyone in fourth-year and above seemed to be staying, and they all were obsessed with the coming ball. While the girls were far more obvious about it — giggling and whispering in the corridors; shrieking with laughter as boys passed them; excitedly comparing notes on what they were going to wear — the boys were just as preoccupied — Heri did not miss the way their eyes lingered longer than usual on their female counterparts, calculating their chances.
During all this hoopla, fanboys had been trying their luck with her as well.
In the time when Marcus was still attending Hogwarts, no groupie dared to approach her in such a way, fearing his rebuttal. He had never expressed any sort of returning romantic interest in her (much to her dissatisfaction), but it was generally accepted that in the same way Marcus' friends were 'his boys', Heri was 'his girl'. By the rules of the animal kingdom, one did not approach another group's females unless they wanted to fight for them, and it was well known that Marcus Flint would wipe the floor with someone so thoroughly that the stone would be polished red with their guts. Now that Marcus was out of the picture, they'd started slavering like it was open season.
Lucian and Graham kept the baying hounds at a distance when she met up with them and their friends, but they just didn't have the same intimidating presence like Marcus — it must've had something to do with being a legacy of a war god. The former Slytherin had a fear-inspiring presence that kept people from even calling out to Heri when she was around him. Even though the Slytherin Quidditch team was all sorts of growlly and forbidding, Heri's admirers were regrowing enough of their backbones to brave the proverbial dragon's castle to reach the princess.
It was not that Heri was intimidated by their attentions, of course, it was just . . . she felt awful for the fact that if one of them ever managed to get through her crowd's barricade to reach her and actually ask her to the ball, she wouldn't have the heart to let them down by saying no. All that effort and courage only to get shot down? She wouldn't be able to handle the guilt. This lead to the next fact that if she ever said yes to any of them, she'd then inevitably have to say no to the rest of them. The lose-lose reality of the situation made her curse whoever it was that started the tradition of a Yule Ball.
On that day, Heri was blessed with an afternoon free of hangers-on, so she was taking advantage of the situation to enjoy some time outside. Megan, Hannah, and Sally-Anne were caught up in their Muggle Studies assignment, but her usual three boys were with her, as were Luna and Ginny, so maybe they could play a game of three-on-three Quidditch or something. There had been a light snowfall the night before, so they could have a snowball fight as well.
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