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BELLA'S FRIENDS GREW increasingly uneasy the longer she was ill. There was an unexplainable sense of guilt they all shared, even with Madam Pomphrey's repeated assurances that she was reading their notes and missed them as much as they missed her. Her absence could be felt in every lesson, especially by Ginny, who was now nearly always sitting alone, and it reminded Nigel of their first year, after Colin had been petrified.
It was the most horrible kind of deja vu.
She had been sick for two or three weeks when they traipsed down to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures, making sullen jokes that didn't seem to be able to land and Nigel and Eva arguing much more fiercely than they usually did. It took all of them far too long to realise that it was the day of Hagrid's long-awaited surprise.
Victoria did what they all knew Bella would have, clapping enthusiastically when Hagrid announced it and urging everybody else to quickly follow suit so as not to hurt the half-giant's just as massive feelings.
"Yeh've been waiting for this a long time, you 'ave," he seemed to be bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement. "Now just close yer eyes, an'... yeah, just close yer eyes."
They all begrudgingly obliged, feigning excitement as best they could as they heard rustling around them and Hagrid whispering too quietly for any of them to make out the words he was saying. There was a hum of discomfort in the air as the time when their eyes were closed went on longer until Hagrid finally announced that they could all open their eyes.
When they did, they saw a woman sitting in front of them – or, what they might've thought was a woman, at first glance. In actuality, it was a woman's head on a lion's body. She had black hair and golden accessories woven through it, and a wise, intimidating look about her.
"This here is Akila," Hagrid beamed, gesturing between the students and the woman-creature eagerly. "She's a sphinx – native to Egypt, employed by magic folk fer centuries to protect treasures because o' how smart they are. Riddles an' such all come naturally to 'em, more so than us, yeh know, so sphinxes are some o' the smartest creatures yeh'll ever come across."
"Yes, thank you, Professor Hagrid," Akila purred, catching the group off-guard with the velvetiness of her voice and the professionalism with which she referred to Hagrid. "It is a pleasure to meet all of you. My species is indeed one of the most intelligent you could ever hope to meet, yet most ministries still withhold 'Being' status from us, instead keeping us relegated to 'Beast,' because we can have aggressive tendencies when protecting things we hold dear to us."
"Damn outrage, it is!" Hagrid shook his head. "No different than us humans in that way, I'd say, jus' stronger as a species is all. Ministry's afraid of giving yeh the recognition yeh deserve!"
"I appreciate that, Professor," she smiled kindly at Hagrid, then turned back to the group. "I would like to speak to you all privately and individually, so I will lead whoever would like to go first to the other side of this home for a private conversation."
She looked around expectantly, and Ginny sighed, because she knew what she had to do, but that didn't mean it made it any easier to do it. She sucked in a deep breath and raised her hand, stepping forward as the sphinx's eyes landed on her.
"I'll go," she spoke quietly but clearly, and the sphinx nodded and turned without a word, walking around to the other side of Hagrid's hut, so Ginny hesitantly followed behind her.
"What is your name?" she asked as soon as they were alone.
"Ginny Weasley," the redhead answered quickly. "Well, it's Ginevra, but I don't like Ginevra, so I – uh – I go by Ginny. Ginny Weasley."
"You seem nervous, Ginevra," Akila raised a brow and Ginny internally sighed at the use of her full name. "This is out of character for you."
It wasn't a question.
"Well, er, yes, I suppose so," Ginny wrung her fingers anxiously. "Usually I'm not alone is all... and, you know, I would be second, not first, if anything, so that's all. Brilliant to meet you, by the way."
"You're missing someone," Akila stated again, quite matter-of-factly. "This friend of yours, has something happened to her?"
"...she's sick."
"And you are not used to being without her. Grow into yourself, Ginevra. Learn to hold your head high even when there is not a familiar one next to it. You are hiding yourself from the world, you are afraid of the world when the world should be afraid of you. Let yourself free. Make the world fear you the way it is meant to."
"It was nice to meet you, Ginevra," Akila smiled warmly at her, and Ginny took that as her cue to leave. When she was almost gone, though, the sphinx called, quietly, "and that friend of yours? The world already knows to be afraid of her. She must learn to ease that fear and soften her edges."
"Right, thanks!" Ginny called over her shoulder and quickened her pace back to the other side of Hagrid's hut, where the rest of the class was still waiting, her friend whispering to each other anxiously and breaking into relief when she emerged into their line of sight.
"So?" Colin squeaked. "How was it?"
Ginny shook her head. "Mental. She's a prophet or something, I think, it was strange. One of you lot has to take your turn, now."
"I don't want to go," Victoria backed away, like physically putting distance between herself and the sphinx would increase her chances of not having to talk to her. "Someone else do it."
"Well I don't want to go either," Eva frowned. "How are we supposed to decide?"
Ginny thought for a moment, before finally saying, "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten."
The number had been four and Nigel guessed three, so he was the next victim sent to the enlightenment of Akila, the prophet-sphinx."Really, how was it?" Eva asked quietly as they watched Nigel walk away."It was just mental," was all Ginny could say. "Absolutely mental. Didn't like it one bit, and I don't think Bella would've either. She is not missing out."
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a/n: this short lil bonus was just kind of for fun, to see what was happening while bella was yk indisposed and to say that i didn't forget about that surprise lmao, i've actually had this idea for a while, it just never really fit into the story and didn't have much of a purpose plotwise, so i figured i could use it for a bonus!
in other news, philophobia is out, the first spin-off book in the series! if you like this one, please head over and give it a read, i'd really appreciate it, and i think you'll like it if you like hiraeth! updates on wednesdays! in hiraeth news, act two comes out next weekend! i'm so excited for it, and i hope you guys are too, because things are only going up from here. act two is gonna be crazy, i can't wait.
thanks for reading, dil <3
(ps. i know today is sunday. i don't wanna talk about it)
