Cora was woken up by a throbbing pain inside her skull. She didn’t have any alcoholic drink at the party so she knew that couldn’t be the cause. Perhaps her room was just stuffy and it was lack of air made her feel that way. She opened the window and went back to bed, patiently waiting for the pain to go away. When it didn’t, she finally reached out for some painkillers. Cora usually tried to avoid taking any pills as she believed in more natural remedies, but she needed to go to work in a few hours and she didn’t want to look unwell.
She had a lovely time at the dance. She twirled and laughed and even petted some dogs. She was still surprised by how many pets one of her customers had. Seven seemed like a lot, but he was handling them well. Cora smiled at the memory of playing with one of the bigger dogs, a Doberman called Cerberus. She thought the name was a great fit, especially given where Harry worked.
Her smile quickly turned into a grimace. The pain became worse and she stood up on wobbly legs and made her way into the bathroom. Maybe cold water would help her. She closed her eyes, but a few seconds later quickly opened them, gasping. Her mind was playing tricks on her. That had to be it. She imagined herself petting Cerberus but at first the dog was gigantic and had three heads. As its size shrank, the heads merged into one. Silly, it was just silly. The name also didn’t help and it was probably why she even imagined the whole situation in the first place.
Cora sighed, slowly walking bad to her bed. Maybe she could still get some sleep, or... Or maybe she would call in sick. She had never done it before, so it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. She would take her time and focus on getting better. Perhaps seeing Cerberus would help her out too... Dogs didn’t have three heads. There was no questioning it. It’s how the world was. Ordinary, with no mythological creatures running around it.
