Pranking hearts

The group of six friends were sitting in the Great Hall, today was the day. The day they have been waiting for. It has been a week since they arrived at Hogwarts. Fully getting into their studies once again, well, at least some of them did. And today was the day of the tryouts for the Quidditch team which were held by Fred and George's brother Charlie. So to say that the two of them were pretty confident about making it into the team was an understatement. The others on the other hand weren't as sure.

Especially Rhea was all fidgety. Getting into the team was a big thing for her. Something she has always dreamed of and now it was at the reach of her hand. And yet it felt so far away from her. That Saturday morning in the Great Hall when the others were eating Rhea was just focused on nothing in particular. Her mind racing with things that could go wrong. She is not afraid of falling off her broom, it is more like finding out that she is not good enough to play Quidditch. Unlike Fred and George, she wasn't free to practice her skills outside with her siblings, without getting spotted by muggles. She was bound to stay with both her feet on the ground and just practice throwing her ball through the hoops that she had tied on the tree.

It didn't feel like enough practice for her. She was anxious and it was apparent on her troubled face. The answer to the question of why was more than obvious. Her father used to be on the team in his years at Hogwarts. And from the talking of her uncle, she concluded that her dad and uncle Prongs were big on Quidditch. Being absolute stars in their years here. And Rhea wanted that. Not because she wanted fame. But because she wanted to be somewhat closer to them, especially to her father. She wanted to be like him with all her might.

Her thoughts troubled by the pressure of her past were showing off on her usually cheery face. Not going unnoticed by the other five members of the friend group. Just like the fact that they have been in the Great Hall for almost an hour already and Rhea still didn't yet touch her food. She was sitting next to Fred and George as per usual. With Lee, Angelina and Alicia opposite them. And everyone was aware of the apprehensive look clouding the beautiful eyes of the only blonde in the group.

Fred and George shared a look, nodding at one another setting into action. George nudged Rhea, gently waking her up from her trance while Fred turned away from them doing something others couldn't see. Rhea looked up, feeling slightly disoriented, for a while forgetting where she was. Her eyes travelled around the faces of her friends. Seeing the worry and curious stares from them. She turned in the direction of George who was the one who called her into the world of living in the first place.

"What's wrong?" She asked confused. Scanning George's dark brown eyes for any hint of what was happening.

"We would like to ask the same question," He stated with a shrug, pointing towards the empty plate in front of her. "We've been here for an hour and you still didn't eat a bite. For good ten minutes we are just waiting for you to get out of this little trance of yours," George stated, getting a nod from the others in agreement. Rhea sighed realising he was right. She was holding them back. Being stuck in her little worry-land of hers.

"I'm sorry." She apologised, sending a small smile to all of her friends. "I guess I am worried about the tryouts today." She admitted, her eyes falling on the surface of the long table. A plate with something got pushed in front of her eyes. There was buttered bread with a smiley face made from a vegetable. Rhea looked up and looked to her right to see Fred grinning at her.

"The tryouts won't be much success if you collapse there from hunger. Come on, eat him." Fred encouraged, nodding towards the character that he had made from vegetables and bread. Rhea pouted looking down at the little smiley face made from tomatoes and red pepper.

"Aw but it's too cute." She said earning a laugh from Angelina and Alicia.

"Just close your eyes and eat him, Rhea." Fred sighed rolling his eyes, with a secretive grin appearing on his face.

"Whatever you do just don't give him a name," George remarked teasingly. Rhea's face lit up and Angelina laughed at that.

"I think you gave her the idea just now." Angelina laughed joined by Alicia while Fred just glared over at George who held up his hands in surrender. 

"Hey, you put a smiley face on a piece of food, not me" George defended himself only getting an eye roll from his twin.

"There, from this day on his name is Thomas," Rhea concluded, from her statement it was too much even for Lee to stay serious and he, along with Angelina and Alicia burst out into fits of laughter while George rather hid himself a bit more behind Rhea to not get whacked over the head by his brother. Fred groaned reaching over towards the food on the plate. Turning the red pepper the other way around, creating a sad face.

"There, now Thomas is depressed and needs you to put him out of his misery," Fred said lifting the bread. Rhea went to argue with him only to get the piece of bread stuffed into her mouth. "See? Wasn't so hard," Fred commented smiling triumphantly at Rhea who rolled her eyes, finally biting into the bread. The group waited for Rhea to finish her breakfast finally. All of them chatting together about everything and anything they could think of just to distract themselves from the learning tryouts.

"Hey, isn't that the girl you were talking about?" Lee asked nodding towards the first-year girl that sat at the front of the table all alone. Rhea and the other two girls knew her as their new roommate that they met at the start of the school year. She walked in on their pillow fight. And unlike they were expecting she scoffed at them. only briefly introducing herself as Katie Bell, before walking towards the only free bed. She stayed quiet the whole time, only shooting the girls a disapproving look when they were being too loud.

Angelina and Alicia already had their own opinion made of her. Angelina had it set clear with herself that she didn't quite like the company of the girl. Alicia, being the nice empathic girl she is tried to approach her kindly the first few days. But after Katie pushed her as far away as possible Alicia gave up. Rhea was advised to not even try approaching the grumpy girl.

"Yes, that is Katie boys, the pain in our..."

"Angelina!" Alicia halted Angelina before she could use any chosen words that she had in her mind. All three girls were quite annoyed that they could no longer do whatever they wanted in their dorm. Now they had to be careful around Katie who seemed to despise them as much as humanly possible. Which was weird considering she never saw them before.

"No, no, let her, I was quite curious what the graceful lady had on her mind." Fred grinned in Angelina's direction to which the older girl just rolled her eyes.

"So what is so bad about the girl?" George inquired, asking for an explanation as to why his friends considered the seemingly harmless first year as some beast from the midst of hell.

"She is so grumpy, like an actual old hag in a body of an eleven-year-old girl." Angelina started, being eager to express her hatred towards the new addition to their dorm. Fred and George had to bite down their tongues when she said that. When they first were introduced to Angelina they also thought that she was rather serious and no fun. But over time she proved them wrong.

"Yeah, and she is boring and rude. We can't have our normal midnight talks anymore because every time either of us tries to make a single sound after ten o'clock she goes into that shush state where she just shushes our every word or even an attempt to apologise. I am telling you she is a nightmare." Alicia explained. Making many exaggerative gestures with her hands nearly hitting Lee who sat on her left.

After that, the attention turned towards Rhea who was now finished with her bread. Just chewing down the last reminders of it. Once she noticed the attention on her she looked confused at her friend.

"What?" She asked, his mouth still half full. Angelina rolled her eyes, finding Rhea a bit too distracted this morning.

"What's your opinion on Katie Hell," Alicia clarified, using the nickname that the three girls came up with when they got a moment away from Katie once.

"Her name is Bell, Ali," Rhea corrected shooting her friend a look that said that they shouldn't be picking on the younger girl. "I'm not sure, I mean, we don't know her so we can't judge her..." Rhea's moral speech was quickly halted by Angelina.

"The girl doesn't want us to know a single thing about her, apart from the fact that her name is Katie and that she is a first-year. That's all that is to the little bugger." Angelina concluded, not wanting to be accepting of Rhea's good nature.

"And so what? Am I supposed to judge her on first appearance?" Rhea asked shaking her head. The boys were just confusedly watching the verbal match between the two girls which luckily wasn't heated enough to erupt into a fight. Just a small controversy.

"Yes!" Angelina and Alicia said at the same time, both dark-haired girls tugging on the same end of the rope against Rhea.

"Oh, so you want me to think of her as an annoying egocentric bother, who has as much personality as Snape on his worst days. And that she is annoying and that I am not surprised she has no friends because who would ever speak to a bossy girl like her?" Rhea asked sarcastically. ut when she lifted her head a bit she noticed Katie staring at her as she was just passing behind Angelina, Alicia and Lee. Her eyes bore into her, welling up with tears a look of disbelief and hurt clouding them.

Rhea's breath hitched in her throat as she watched Katie storm out of the Great Hall. That was when the other two girls noticed her as well. Instantly knowing that she must have heard what Rhea said, maybe even what they have said. It is so easy to talk about someone behind their back, but when you figure out they have heard it, it just sends that pang through your heart. And that is exactly what Rhea felt. She felt as if someone had kicked her chest repeatedly, causing her lungs to tighten and an unpleasant feeling settled at the pit of her stomach. Her palms started sweating and a sense of urgency filled her veins. She wanted to get up and make everything right. But she knew that if she would follow Katie now she would most likely push her away, maybe even yell at her.

Rhea's face got settled with a guilty look. The same happened to Alicia who realised that now they have pushed the girl even further away than before she also felt guilty that they got Rhea to say all those things. They knew Rhea would never say something like that out loud. She would not even consider judging someone like that, which hurt even more because now Rhea was sad too. Angelina was probably the only girl who felt indifferent about the matter. Not seeing the problem in what had just happened.

"I totally blew it," Rhea muttered, her head exhaustedly falling on the hard wooden table. A loud thud was heard, making Lee wince. Alicia reached over the table gently patting Rhea's head the best she could.

"I feel bad." She confessed. The boys somehow understood what the girls meant. They weren't involved in the issue but they could relate well to it. Their eyes turned to Angelina who was sipping on her pumpkin juice. When she noticed eyes on her she raised an eyebrow. Putting the cup down.

"What? I don't feel bad," She shrugged nonchalantly, not seeing the problem as something serious. She then noticed the saddened expressions of her two friends and sighed. "But I feel bad that you guys feel bad."

The mopping mood got interrupted as a red-haired seventh-year made his way into the Great Hall. Strolling down the corridor in between the table with confidence. Flashing a few smiles here and there at people that greeted him as he walked. The twins admired the way their brother walked so confidently, getting greeted from every direction. He was popular and they loved that. If Fred and George used to be Ginny's idols before Rhea showed up, then Charlie was the biggest paragon for Fred and George. They admired everything about him. The way he looked, the way he behaved. His Quidditch skills were also something fairly admirable. And most of all he never scolded Fred and George about pranking as their other older brothers did. If anything Charlie supported them wholeheartedly. That's why it was so important for them to do well today. They needed to show their awesome big brother how great they were.

So to conclude, Fred and George felt more pressure from the trials than any of their friends could even imagine. They were anxious to show what they've got to make their big brother proud. But they were relatively great at hiding their freaking state of mind. Intending to appear as confident as Charlie.

Following the tall ginger with their eyes, they noticed he was heading straight to them. George's eyes widened and he bit his lip looking down into his lap to mask the surprise that has painted his face. Fred on the other side of Rhea gulped loudly catching her attention. She noticed the twins suddenly behaving weirdly. Not pinpointing it as the impact of their older brother she just shrugged it off. Charlie made his way over grinning at the younger kids.

"Hey guys, ready for the tryouts today? It's going to be brilliant," He cheered, his hand landing on George's shoulder. The poor boy flinched a bit at the impact, covering it up with a nervous chuckle that sounded so unnatural to Rhea.

"Oh, um, yeah. All ready for it." Fred answered, stuttering a bit. Before Rhea could question it Charlie turned to her grinning at the favourite best friend of any of his siblings.

"What about you Tiny," Charlie asked, jokingly referring to Rhea's small height. "Gonna show them all what you've got?"

"I'll leave you all stunned," Rhea said, pushing all the reminders of her confidence into her voice. Charlie grinned at her answer, ruffling the hair on her head, messing up the already messy hair that she had.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Same with you two I hope," He pointed to his two brothers who just nodded. With that Charlie left, walking over to his friends. The three turned back to their table, scared expressions suddenly painting their faces.

"Anyone else suddenly feeling nervous?" Alicia asked, shyly apprehensively picking on the pale pink nail polish she had on her nails. The other occupants of the table steadily raised their hands in agreement with the girl. Which was a sign that all of them now felt the nerves from the upcoming tryouts.

***

The group of friends was pilled up on the Quidditch pitch. Anxiously awaiting the results. They wanted to see whether they made the team. If the trick with bludgers the twins and Rhea tried out today, worked out well enough to get them a place on the team. It would be quite bad if not considering Rhea almost risked her life doing that trick.

Both twins were nervous since they were testing it today for the first time. They only had the theory on paper but when Rhea informed them in the air that she wanted to try it today without rehearsing, it was a shock. But luckily it worked out without any injury. The rest of their friends were quite stunned, mildly freaked out when they saw Rhea almost getting hit by the bludger that got shot by Fred. But then she just spun herself upside down on her broom, dropping a few feet down, narrowly missing getting bloody injured. The bludger hit some of the older members of the team, who was surprised when Rhea just suddenly moved out of the way. Leaving the guy stunned which led to him falling off his broom. George, later on, fired the bludger away in the direction of someone else.

The three were a good team, working together flawlessly. It looked almost as if they were communicating with their eyes. In the case of Fred and George, no one would be surprised, they were twins after all, living with each other their whole lives. Charlie himself knew that they could speak at the same time without even trying. Which was kind of terrifying to him. But now even Rhea seemed to be getting on the same wave of thinking as them which could be used to the advantage of the team.

"All right guys," Charlie started. The rest of the team standing behind him. There was a fifth-year boy that they recognised as a prefect, something Percy was looking forward to being one day. He was a chaser, the one that the trio knocked down with their trick. He looked like his shoulder still hurt as he was clutching it with pain written on his face. He had blonde messy hair and blue eyes. Next to him stood a boy who was a lot smaller than Charlie and the fifth-year boy. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. He looked like the game or just the presence on the Quidditch pitch gave him some sort of energy boost. Rhea remembers him being the Keeper and quite a good one. Until she got closer to the hoops and was able to score a goal. Surprising the boy greatly. That was the whole team they had. Not much but since some players had already left the school or were injured last year they couldn't play now. "So we saw some pretty impressive tricks today." Charlie started, shooting a look in the direction of his brothers and their best friend.

"Yeah, pretty impressive." The blonde boy muttered. Sounding a bit grim. Charlie shot him a look.

"Oh come on Pevensie, it is not their fault you weren't looking." The boy whose last name was Pevensie frowned. He seemed like a boy full of pride to be honest. "Back to the topic, all of you were very good," Charlie said. Lee forced out a dry chuckle, knowing he didn't have much of a chance of getting in the team since he couldn't even keep up with the others. "But we have only four spots on the team." Charlie started, first looking at his brothers. "Since you two, were the only ones wanting the position of Beaters I guess I have no other option but to give you the spot," Charlie said teasingly. Fred and George both happily cheered. High fiving and yelling at top of their lungs.

"We did it!"

"Hell yeah!"

Charlie chuckled at the two. He knew from the start that the two would make the team. He had confidence in them. More than he ever had in himself. For Charlie, the two were very talented. Of course, it might have looked like he was playing favourites here but Charlie didn't care. Fred and George were like literal bludgers themselves so he was positive they would be the best for the job.

"All right, next, Angelina, was it?" Charlie asked, looking at the dark-skinned girl who had her hair pulled in a tight ponytail. Angelina nodded, her eyes wide with expectation. She stared up at Charlie awaiting what he was about to tell her. "I liked how rough you were up there girl, you have a future. I hope to see the aggressivity in the match against Slytherins next month." Charlie winked at her causing the girl to smile and nod.

Both Alicia and Rhea were sure she was about to explode on the inside. Trying to expertly hide how excited she was in reality, just to maintain her professional composure. Angelina only ever loosened up enough with her dormmates. So the others found this as normal behaviour of the dark-haired girl.

Charlie's eyes once again wandered towards the twin who had Rhea in between them as per usual. He smirked down at the small girl. Seeing the scared expression she had on. He knew how much being on the team meant for her. How could he not? He read all the records of Quidditch matches throughout the years. He was well informed about all of the players Gryffindor has ever had, so the names like Sirius Black surely didn't skip his attention.

"And of course, we wouldn't want to split the best working trio I had ever seen in my years of Quidditch," Charlie stated nonchalantly winking at Rhea, whose eyes widened in the size of saucers. The information about her accomplishment took too long to sink in. Still, in a state of shock at actually achieving her dream, she felt Fred and George shake with her both of them overly excited for her. Angelina, Alicia and Lee also raced over congratulating the girl and giving her hugs and praises for making it. But Rhea was someplace else with her mind.

She was thinking of how proud her father would be. And how truly happy he would be that she is following in his footsteps. She was going to be like him, and nothing was supposed to come in her way.