Pranking hearts

Standing in the huge hall lit up with candle lights that were hanging from the ceiling, Rhea couldn't believe her own eyes. The stories could never well enough describe the incredible feeling of stepping inside the castle for the very first time. For a small girl such as Rhea, everything seemed giant and even the old rusty armour in the hallway was enough to capture Rhea's attention. Now standing in the Great Hall, looking around while Dumbledore was giving his speech she was totally captivated by the smallest of things.

If she had the time she would even go as far as counting the stars on the enchanted ceiling that reflected the clear night sky. Dark blue with many small shiny dots scattered across. The four long tables all of them having students with different coloured robes around. By the colours, she could. easily tell which house was which She felt most driven to the red and gold one. But also knowing her ancestors she knew there could be a possibility of her being put in the house of green and silver. To be honest she didn't really care where she would be put.

Though Fred and George seemed to be pretty set on being Gryffindors. She doesn't blame them. Their whole family has been in Gryffindor for as long as anyone can remember so it was maybe expected of them to be put in the house of brave. Rhea's family already had a few breaking the long-term rule, her father being the one that cleared out the way for her himself, so it will no longer be a surprise for anyone if she lands in a different house than Slytherin.

"When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses." When she heard Professor McGonagall speak, Rhea lifted her head, looking forward to be prepared for any time the teacher will call her out. She waited for a few minutes. Students already getting put in their houses. Almost three of them already being in Slytherin. Seems like Slytherins will have some reinforcements.

"Fred Weasley," Rhea glanced to her right where Fred was standing, a confident smirk across his face. He didn't look nervous at all. Unlike George who had some doubts clearly visible on his face. Giving Rhea a wink Fred walked forward, plopping down on the stool at the front, waiting for the hat to be put over his head. But before it could even touch his head the hat screamed.

"Gryffindor!" If it was even possible, Fred's confidence seemed to be boosted even more as he gave out a laugh, jumping down the stairs and joining the Gryffindor table that was cheering for gaining another Weasley. Fred sat down next to his brother which Rhea assumed to be Charlie. The twins had told her a lot on their way here so she could already be able to write an essay on their family tree if needed.

"George Weasley," Professor McGonagall called, just slightly confused about seeing another Weasley in the same year. Rhea looked to her left to see George hesitantly taking a step forward.

"It'll be fine," She muttered to him quietly so only he would hear her. He gave her an almost invisible nod and with a deep intake of breath, he stepped on the stairs. Rhea could see how his hands were shaking slightly from nerves and so she smiled at him to assure him it will be alright. The hat was placed on his ginger head, slightly covering his brown eyes.

"Ha! Another Weasley. I know just what to do with you...Gryffindor!!" The hat shouted through the hall. Relief instantly washed over George's features when cheers from the Gryffindor table sounded. He jumped down from the stool and rushed over to his twin brother. Rhea laughed lightly as the two high-fived with wide grins a quiet 'we did it' leaving their lips. As if hearing her laugh the twins looked back at her. George sitting one seat away from Fred leaving a space between them. Clearly implying that that's where Rhea should sit when she gets sorted. Rhea smiled at the gesture, shaking her head in disbelief.

About three more students went before McGonagall glanced down at the sheet of parchment again, a small smile appearing on her face when she read the name. She scanned the group of kids in front of her, her eyes finding the small girl that she has been waiting to see.

"Rhea Black." Letting out a quiet breath she stepped forward, bravely taking the first move to her new life. Having slight struggles with reaching the tall wooden stool but she managed, without making a fool out of herself. She made herself comfortable on the stiff material as the old ragged hat was placed on top of her head. For a second she thought that the hat won't even start talking until a weird feeling of the slow and heavy moves on top of her cranium.

"Ah Miss Black, you are a hard one to place. I see a lot of potential in you. Smart and ready to learn, also a lot of talent. Very cunning you are indeed and ambitious. Your family has always been benefiting from being in Slytherin. But you are not like them no...you are like your father. Ready to give fight for her beliefs, a strong feeling of loyalty, chivalry and a strong desire to prove yourself as a good daughter to your parents...well, I think I know where I shall put you...GRYFFINDOR!" The hall erupted in cheers. Well, mainly on the Gryffindor side and the loudest of them all being the twins.

Rhea grinned, already excited about how she will write this to Remus. He will be thrilled. He always said how she had it set in her blood that she will end up in Gryffindor. Well, now she can inform him that he might have a future in divination. Rhea skipped down the two tables making it towards the two goofballs whom she was proud to call her friends. She plopped down on the chair in between Fred and George, both of them attacking her from either side with a bear hug.

"I knew you would make it," Fred started squeezing Rhea from the right.

"Didn't doubt it for a second." George continued, hugging her from the left. Rhea laughed, feeling she was already deaf in both ears from the yelling. The three then tried to be quiet for a while, listening to the rest of the sorting. Later, all of the first years are sorted in their houses, and all of the students were talking to each other. McGonagall dings on a cup to gain the attention of the chirping crowd.

"Your attention, please." The natural authority of the Professor gained everyone's attention. The Great Hall grew quiet just by the sound of the fork clicking against the glass. Headmaster rose from his chair, looking around at all of the students.

"Let the feast...begin." As he said that the long tables got piled up with food. Out of thin air, the table was packed with all sorts of foods. Rhea's eyes widened, never seeing so much food in one place. At home, she was used to somewhat simpler meals as her uncle wasn't particularly skilled in cooking. So seeing this was something especially new to her.

"You might want to start eating before it disappears again," Fred nudged her, his plate already stuffed with chicken and roasted potatoes. Rhea shook her head with a laugh and pilled some food on her plate as well.

***

Rhea stood in front of the wooden door of one of the many rooms. Her name was written there along with the other two names next to hers. Rhea supposed those were supposed to be her new roommates. With enough luck, they will be nice. She might have seen them already but in the crowd of first-years, it was hard to be sure. She just hoped they would be friendly enough.

Making friends with Fred and George was fairly easy, but that could have been because of their similar personalities and the fact that all three of them loved pranks and Quidditch. They bonded over that, it was the main topic of their conversation on their way to school. But girls tend to be different from boys. They use to have different likings and Rhea isn't sure if she will be able to fit in. But she can at least try.

She slowly opened the door to look inside the room. Decorated with natural Gryffindor colours of red and gold, with the house symbol of a lion on the flag that hung on the wall. The room had somewhat of a warm cosy feeling and Rhea immediately felt welcomed there. She knew she would like it there. Two of the four beds were occupied by someone already. On the bed right in the middle of the room sat a girl with dark brown hair pulled in a ponytail. Her skin was slightly tanned and a smile plastered across her face. The girl that was to the side of her had darker skin and dark almost black hair were falling over her shoulders and a headband was pushing a few loose strands out of her face. She looked to be more serious but still had a faint smile when she looked at the smaller girl that now stood in the doorway.

"Hi there," The girl with the ponytail said with a smile jumping off of the bed and coming closer to Rhea.

"Hi, um, I guess I am supposed to room in here with you," Rhea said a bit shyly, not knowing how to approach the girls even if they looked friendly.

"Sweet, we've been waiting for someone to come, I'm Alicia Spinnet." The girl with a ponytail introduced herself. Rhea smiled back at her.

"I am Rhea Black."

"And I am still here," The girl with dark hair said with a laugh as she stood up as well. "My name is Angelina Johnson."

"Nice to meet you." Rhea laughed, happy by how easy it was going. Her eyes suddenly fell on the bed next to which Angelina was sitting. It had her trunk in front of it already. "I guess that would be my bed?" Rhea asked stepping over to it. The material of the sheets was so soft, Rhea immediately wanted to fall asleep. She climbed up on her bed and sat down looking at the girls. "So...what do you guys want to do?" She asked carefully, not yet knowing how to start a conversation with girls. She just guessed it should be the same as with boys.

"I am so excited to be in Gryffindor, my brother said I would be obvious Ravenclaw because according to him I am a know it all but I just knew I would be placed here. It was the feeling in my gut." Alicia started talking immediately, not hesitating for a single moment. Her mouth hitting a speed that surprised Rhea greatly. How does someone talk that fast? Angelina didn't look quite as excited as Alicia and she too found her rant a bit weird.

"Um...could you now try in English?" Angelina asked causing Rhea to laugh lightly and Alicia to pout.

"I was just expressing my love for this house." Alicia declared, climbing to sit on her bed that was on the left side of Rhea. Angelina shrugged, jumping on the bed that was right next to the blond girl so Rhea was now in the middle of the two.

"No one's taking that from you Alicia," Rhea assured the girl, whilst trying not to burst out laughing.

"What about you Rhea? What are you most excited about?" Angelina asked looking over at the shorter girl.

"Well, I was mainly excited to make friends..."

"Yay, we are friends now!" Alicia exclaimed, cutting Rhea half the speech. Both girls gave the overly excited girl a look, both trying to contain their laughter. It surely was just the fact that Alicia is still young and fairly enthusiastic about everything. Rhea knew she would grow out of that and Angelina just hoped. Knowing that the enthusiasm will soon get annoying.

"Yup, we are." Wondering whether she should start the sports topic with the girls, Rhea sighed. It is worth a shot, isn't it? "And I am also eager to play Quidditch." After she said that the room grew quiet. The two dark-haired girls looked at the blond. Suddenly she felt a bit outnumbered by them. The tension in the air dissolved instantly when the two girls broke into huge grins.

"So are we!" They both yelled at the same time. The Black girl's eyes widened at such a coincidence. So far all her friends were into Quidditch. That's great.

"Wicked, I want to be a chaser," Rhea stated proudly, jumping a bit in her seat. She didn't believe it could have been so easy to bond with someone. Especially over Quidditch. It made Rhea love the sport even more than she already did.

"Me too!" Angelina laughed, skipping to Rhea's bed and joining her there, attacking her with a hug.

"Hey! Don't leave the third chaser out of the hugging session!" Alicia complained, rushing through the room and clumsily jumping on the bed almost knocking the two girls off of it when she embraced them in a hug. The trio laughed loudly. The Prefect will surely have a hard time with them this year.

***

It was the morning of the next day. Rhea had just got her timetable and was not so delighted to see that she had Potions as her second lesson today. She heard rumours about the potions master. Professor Severus Snape. Rhea remembers how her uncle talked about him on a few occasions. None of the stories had portrayed him as a good and understanding type of person. And the fact that older Gryffindors had warned them about Snape's obvious hatred towards their house didn't help much, Rhea couldn't help but feel that this lesson will be a killer.

At least she will have her friends there. Well, Alicia and Angelina at least, as Fred and George were nowhere to be seen. They didn't even come to breakfast this morning. The three girls were on their way to the first class of the day. The Transfiguration which they had with Hufflepuffs. From what Rhea understood they were supposed to be the nice ones, but she knew better than to judge by the house.

The girls made their way into the class. Professor McGonagall nodded to them as a greeting. Rhea sat somewhere in the middle where a free table was. They had decided that Rhea would now sit alone while Angelina and Alicia will sit together and later they will mix it up a bit just so no one feels alone. Rhea didn't mind being alone. At least she could fully focus on the class.

McGonagall soon started the lesson. Telling the students to take notes of the things explained on four huge blackboards that were at the front of the class. Rhea was quietly working on her notes, with one eye seeing the teacher transform herself into a cat. A bloody cat! Rhea was surprised, to say the least. She was sure that there was a human in front of her just seconds ago. She was interested in how that was possible and made a mental note to ask about it later.

A sound of rushed footsteps came from the corridor. The next thing heard was the doors opening slowly and three panting boys sneaked into the classroom. Two of them looking identical with their bright ginger hair and freckles littering their faces. The other boy had dark skin and somewhat long black hair. All three boys wore messily tied ties with Gryffindor colours around their necks. Their shirts shoving from underneath their vests. Fred didn't even have his cloak on properly, it was still half dangling from his shoulders and cascading almost to the ground causing him to trip.

"I think we made it," George whispered, looking around the classroom, not seeing the teacher. Rhea shook her head, not knowing if she should be annoyed or laugh at their stupidity. The boys moved subtly towards the front of the class, trying to find places to sit. Just at that moment, McGonagall transformed back into a Professor. The stunned looks on the boys' faces were almost able to break Rhea into a fit of laughter. The disapproving look on McGonagall's face was only making it harder for her.

"That was bloody brilliant," Fred said, slightly ashamed by getting caught so easily. Rhea lightly giggled at the strangled tone of his voice.

"Thank you for that assessment, Mr Weasley. Perhaps if I were to transfigure Mr Jordan, your brother and yourself into a pocket watch, that way one of you might be on time." Professor said. Everyone could see that the tone wasn't meant to scare them. Just a light scolding for showing up late.

"We got lost." Rhea assumed the boy that said that was Mr Jordan as she yet didn't know the boy.

"Then perhaps a map?" The Professor suggested, looking over at the three boys over her round glasses. "I trust you don't need one to find your seats." She said expecting the boys to find their seats quickly but the trio seemed to be struggling. All three going to spring in different directions only ending up bumping into one another. Groaning in pain all three boys stopped, Fred, rubbing the side of his head because he had bumped it with George. Rhea could see the disappointed look on Professor's face as she sighed. "Or perhaps I was erroneous. Mr Weasley, Mr Jordan. That one desk in the middle seems to be just right for you two." Rhea saw George quickly race over to the desk sitting down there, a smug grin on his face as he looked at his brother who gave him a murderous look back. "As for you Mr Weasley, you can join Miss Black over there." McGonagall pointed over to Rhea, Fred's frown replaced by a smile and later on by a smirk as he looked back at George victoriously.

Fred strolled over towards Rhea, sitting down in the vacant seat next to her. He gave her a huge grin, happy to see her after those few hours apart. Rhea gave him back a polite smile before turning back to her notes. Frowning slightly at the action, Fred scooted a bit closer to the blond girl that was scribbling her notes. He poked her in the elbow trying to gain her attention.

"Rhea...pst...Rhea." Those whispers were anything but subtle and quiet. The whole class must have heard. Rhea, however, opted to ignore him. Until she will be finished with her work. It seemed like Fred was not going to take her ignoring as he continued nudging his friend. "Rheaaa...I know you can hear me..." Finishing the last letter of her notes Rhea smiled triumphantly to herself before turning to the ginger next to her.

"I feel like the whole class can hear you be honest." She admitted in a much quieter whisper than Fred had earlier.

"Oh..." The ginger boy blushed a bit seeing the looks he was getting from some students. But he was quick to shrug it off. "Well, the nosey gits should keep themself to their own business." Rhea shook her head at her friend and smiled.

"Mhm, sure. What did you need?"

"I was bored." Came the simple answer of the boy.

"You have full four boards of notes that you need to write down." Rhea pointed out. Fred's eyes widened as he looked to the front of the class at the neatly written words. His eyes then travelled around the class to see everyone else working. Even his brother. Well, that was bad then.

"We are supposed to write that?" The boy asked bewildered. Exagerative hand movements not being left out.

"No, you are supposed to look at the words until they start dancing around the classroom," Rhea said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her friend. "Of course, you are supposed to write that down, why else would it be there?" Fred quickly turned to work but before he could even write two words McGonagall stood up from her desk.

"Very well, students. Class is dismissed." She said clapping her hands together. All the students stood up packing up their things. The Professor walked around the class stopping by the table with Rhea and Fred. Fred was already packed just waiting for Rhea to collect all her things. "Mr Weasley, I feel the need to advise you to get your notes together as soon as possible. Or it will be highly possible that in the next lesson, you will not be able to join us for the practical part of the spell."

"Yes, Professor," Fred replied, ashamed. McGonagall nodded and walked off to talk to some other students. Looking over at Rhea who just now stood up from her chair her hands gripping the bag where she had stuffed all her parchments and quills.

"Ready to go to the definitely great lesson with one and only Snape?" Rhea gave out a laugh, throwing the backpack over the shoulder. Fred shook his head at her fake enthusiasm. None of them was excited about the lesson with the man that was the Head of Slytherin House.

"Let's get this over with," Fred grumbled, already feeling like attending classes won't exactly be his strong suit. He already felt drained and he wasn't even in one full class. How could he even manage to handle Snape now? He didn't yet know what kind of teacher he was but the talks about him weren't flattering enough.

The two started making their way over to the group of friends. Angelina and Alicia were already standing by the door talking to George and the boy they just now recognized as Lee Jordan. All four of them were patiently waiting for Fred and Rhea to make their way over.

"Um, hey Rhea," Fred asked causing the shorter girl to look at him. "I just wanted to ask, I know it is just our first day and I am already falling behind but if you could let me borrow your notes from this lesson I would be grateful." Fred requested, even surprising himself with how polite he was. That was so not like him. Rhea however just smiled at him.

"Yeah, sure. Just remind me in the common room later." And with a final smile, she skipped over to join the friend circle.