A/N: Ugh. Jude is such a little twat. For a Slytherin her sense of self preservation come out at the weirdest times. -_-

CHAPTER 5: FEARS

"Thank god, that's over." Heather broke the tense silence.

Waking up from the sound of the slamming door, Hannah sat up and grumbled unpleasantly. "Wha-what is going on now?" She surveyed the room, noticing the tense atmosphere. "Geez, I sleep for a few hours and BOOM, chaos." Rolling her eyes, she stretched and walked over to where Dorrea was sitting.

"Zack," Heather raised an expectant eyebrow at the boy, "don't you have something you should be doing right now?"

"Hm?" He scratched his chin.

The Hufflepuff sighed heavily and jerked her thumb towards the door Ceru ran out of. "Ceru."

Pouting he frowned. "What? But it's not my fault she ran out."

"So what, she's your girlfriend and I don't do the whole comforting thing."

"Zack, go. You're the only one who can calm her down." Kyle interjected from his spot at the Room of Requirement's bar.

"Geez, these people make the mistakes and I gotta mend them." The Black heir shoved his hands in his pockets with a huff and exited the room out the same door Ceru did.

Heather put her hands on her hips and stood next to Hannah and Dorrea at the café-like table they were seated at. "Where the hell were you anyways Han, I had to babysit and obviously the tots are out of control." Ignoring the yellow and black tie wearing girl, Dorrea hunched over and flipped though her notes.

"I was asleep. And I'm still confused, why is everyone freaking out?"

"Everyone went batshit crae in here, Jude has some weird crush on Ceru and even I'm not completely sure what was happening."

Hannah raised an eyebrow at Heather's comment. "Huh." She looked down and observed the younger snake rub her chest absently while taking deep breaths as she flipped through her notebook. Frowning and furrowing her eyebrows at the action she asked, "Jude, you alright?

Ceru sniffled and wiped her face with her palms as she tried to calm down in the corridor outside of the Room of Requirement. Her boyfriend Zack appeared from the door and walked over to her. Plopping down on the ground next to her, he tipped his head back to rest on the wall behind him.

"Oi", he poked Ceru's head lightly, "Warrior. Why are you crying? How are you supposed to fight monsters in this state?" Zack gave a soft smile.

"I can't fight monsters anymore." The Gryffindor hiccuped and wiped her face again.

"Stop crying, you know Jude likes you. She just… has a really hard time to convey it."

"It's not about that!"

He frowned and tilted his head to the side, crossing his arms. "Then what?"

"She," Ceru gulped, "she's afraid of me and she won't tell me why."

"She not afraid of you, she's afraid of her feelings."

Ceru bit her lip and stared down at the floor. "Whatever, she honestly doesn't want to talk with me."

Sighing, Zack wrapped an arm around her and kissed her.

"Better?"

Ceru flushed and gave a small smile. "A bit, yeah."

"What can I do to make you feel better?" His thumb stroked her cheek in a comforting manner.

"Just stop teasing her about liking me for once so I can talk to her." She pouted.

"Very well." Zack gave an exaggerated sigh.

"I left my bag in there, I gotta go grab it."

"Alright, let's go get it."

The two Gryffindors stood up from the wall, hand-in-hand, and approached the door

Upon entering the room, they caught the end of Dorrea saying "-fine, quit nagging."

Strolling over towards the coach where Ceru left her bag, the Gryffindor kept her eyes locked to the ground with her fists clenched. Zack hummed absently.

"Fine, fine." Hannah raised her hands in defense. "Seems like everyone had a weird day…"

"You better believe it." Heather rolled her eyes at Hannah and kept an eye on the youngest girl.

Picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, Ceru hesitantly strode over to where the three girls were sitting. Not looking too closely at the girl, she cleared her throat. "Are you, alright?" When she did not get an immediate response, her brow furrowed in confusion and she looked down at the girl.

Hunched over in the chair, breathing heavily, Dorrea flipped through her notebook with shaky hands. "Fine." She bit out breathlessly.

The Gryffindor girl crossed her arms and gave her a concerned look. "You're breathing like you ran a race."

"Or like you just- uh, never mind." Hannah whistled and stared at the ceiling at Ceru's glare.

"I said, it's fi-fine." Dorrea's fingers clenched the notebook.

"Well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Ceru looked doubtful at the girl's response as she shifted awkwardly.

"You both should talk." Zack walked up and stood behind Ceru, frowning at Dorrea's hunched over pose.

"Thank you for the ap-" the young snake winced and clutched the left side of her chest, "ap-apology. She stuttered out breathlessly, trying with all her might to appear normal.

"Jude…" Ceru said in a quiet and ominous voice, "How much muscle relaxer did you put in?"

All eyes snapped to Ceru, then back at Dorrea.

Frantically flipping through the notes with shaky hands, Dorrea winced. "I'm ch-checking n-now. I'm sure-" she took another deep breath, "it was the right amount."

Heather gave the small girl a glare. "You said this would be safe!"

"Um…well." Dorrea hunched inward and glared at her notebook. "I'm su-sure this is ju-just a si-side effect or som-mthing." She gave another small wince and tightened her small fist above her heart.

"Guys," the white-knight girl stared them all down, "we gotta get her to the hospital wing. Now."

A/N: Dramadramadrama~ And I lied, there is one more chapter to this arc. ; P