Pranking hearts

Rhea laid in her bed peacefully sleeping on the cold Saturday morning. So were Alicia, Angelina and Katie. Everyone was in their dreamland. Enjoying the cosiness of the warm sheets that were covering them and the softness of their pillows. After a hard first week back that they have experienced everyone was glad to get some quality sleep after a long time. Rhea was planning to sleep as long as possible, knowing that since Ron and Harry managed to tick off Snape right on the first day that he will start quite harshly for this first month. 

So it was good to do some energy supplies while they didn't have piles of homework as big as Rhea herself. It was rather quiet in the room, other than Alicia silently muttering something to herself whilst asleep and the heavy breathing from the other sleeping girls. Occasionally someone would move in their bed but that was about it. A pinking glow was coming through the windows from the rising sun. Everything seemed quite perfect until a small owl came flying through the partly opened window that Rhea had next to her. 

The bird screeched, dropping a red letter on Rhea's bed, causing it to open and a loud voice of no other but Oliver Wood, the Quidditch Captain of Gryffindor, filled the whole dorm room of the four sleeping girls. 

"WAKE UP LADIES! WE HAVE A QUIDDITCH PRACTICE!" All the girls quickly shot up in their beds. Katie was gasping for air due to the scare she got from the loud letter. Angelina and Rhea immediately reached for their wands and were frantically looking around the room for any disturber of their peace. 

"I didn't kiss Lockhart!" Alicia shrieked shooting up in her bed. The girls all gave her a confused look. Opting to rather not question the girl who had a serious bedhead at the moment. Just the mention of Lockhart in her dream sounded pretty disturbing. Rhea turned her attention to the red letter that was at the foot of her bed and she groaned when it spoke again. 

"Because I couldn't come and wake you up personally, I hope this little wake-up call managed to subtly wake you, lot, up. Meet you in the changing rooms in fifteen minutes. Don't be late." And with that, the letter fell to the ground. Angelina sent a spell at the paper setting it on fire. She then involuntarily climbed out of her bed and went to change into her Quidditch robes. Muttering to herself. 

"I am going to kill him." Rhea looked over at Alicia who was dozing off to sleep once again and so she stood up to shake her a bit. 

"Get changed, we don't need him to miraculously get permission to go to girls' dorms." She pushed Alicia towards the wardrobe with their robes, following closely behind her. Rhea looked over at Katie who was falling back asleep. The lucky girl could sleep for how long she wanted. 

The three girls were quickly changed and they sluggishly left their dorm. Trying to be quiet not to wake up the others or they would be in a great deal of trouble. Some girls aren't fond of getting woken up by sports enthusiasts like Oliver who plan their practices in the ridiculous morning hours. Once they made it out of the common room they started down the stairs. Being quiet the whole time as none of them had the energy to be talking. They were honestly more focused on not falling down the stairs. 

They walked in silence all the way towards the changing rooms where Oliver was already there, drawing something on the boards. Undoubtedly a new strategy that he came up with over the summer. Boy should have rather gone on a holiday than be locked home in his Puddlemere decorated room, every day thinking about quidditch. Rhea immediately went over towards Fred and George who were sitting down on the bench, falling asleep while sitting. She sat in between them, her head resting on Fred's shoulder and his head fell on her as they both started dozing off again. 

Having a practice this early seemed to be good only for Wood who looked like he had energy for the whole team. Angelina went to the corner, trying to stay as far from Oliver as possible because otherwise she would be tempted to hex him out of England. Alicia sat on the other side of George, feeling like she needed to sit down or else she would fall. 

Everyone was quiet while Oliver kept playing with the boards, scribbling something there that Rhea couldn't understand and quite frankly she didn't even want to try. All she wanted at the moment was to sleep. To be back in her nice warm bed and sleep until noon. But thanks to Oliver that was impossible. Finally, Harry walked into the locker rooms, also looking exhausted...shocking. 

"There you are, Harry, what kept you?" Oliver said briskly. "Now, I wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get onto the field, because I spent the summer devising a whole new training program, which I really think will make all the difference..." Oliver was holding up a large diagram of a Quidditch field, on which were drawn many lines, arrows, and crosses in different coloured inks. He took out his wand, tapped the board, and the arrows began to wiggle over the diagram one over the other. 

"Oh, will it?" Rhea muttered tiredly, but Oliver seemed to not hear her as he was too focused on his board. 

As Oliver started explaining what was happening in the picture and who was which colour and what they were supposed to do Rhea felt Fred's head on top of hers nuzzle a bit more into her and she felt his arms wrap themselves around her waist pulling her closer to him and he made himself a bit more comfortable on the bench. This position allowed Rhea to lean against him more so she didn't fear falling from the bench. 

The first board took nearly twenty minutes to explain, but there was another board under that, and a third under that one. Everyone started falling asleep. Listening to Oliver talk and talk about the tactics that Rhea was sure they wouldn't even use in the end. Wood always made such a fuss about different tactics and how they should be done but still they end up playing the same. 

"So," said Wood, at long last, Rhea who has almost completely fallen asleep on Fred, who most probably was sleeping as well, jerked awake. Her eyes opened and she looked over at Oliver who was standing in front of the board eyeing them expectantly. "Is that clear? Any questions?"

"I've got a question, Oliver," said George, who had woken with a start. Nudging Rhea a bit as he sat up straighter. "Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we were awake?" Wood definitely wasn't pleased by George's comment. 

"Now, listen here, you lot," he said, glowering at them all. Rhea went to straighten up her head banging against Fred's successfully waking him up. They both shot up in straighter positions, Fred rubbing the side of his head while Rhea rubbed the same side on her own head. That wasn't the best idea. "We should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We're easily the best team. But unfortunately...owing to circumstances beyond our control..."

Rhea watched as Harry shifted guiltily in his seat. He had been unconscious in the hospital wing for the final match of the previous year, meaning that Gryffindor had been a player short and had suffered their worst defeat in three hundred years. No one could have helped that, they weren't able to play without a Seeker. No matter how much Rhea tried to score points without Seeker to catch the snitch they had no chance. But Oliver didn't need to bring that up. It wasn't Harry's fault. 

"Oliver," Rhea warned, sending a pointed look in the Captain's direction. Wood took a moment to regain control of himself. Their last defeat was clearly still torturing him. But no one cared anymore. They will work some more this year and it'll be all better, no? 

"So this year, we train harder than ever before... Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!" Wood shouted, seizing his broomstick and leading the way out of the locker rooms. Angelina was the first to leave after him, pulling Alicia with her. George then stood up, grabbed his broom and followed. Fred helped Rhea stand to her feet, handing her the old broom that she got from Remus in her second year. He said it was her father's broomstick so she carried it around quite proudly. 

Fred and Rhea were the last to exit the locker room. Once they walked out they were blinded by the shining light of the sun. They had been in the locker room so long that the sun was up completely now, although remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium.

"Aren't you finished yet?" Fred and Rhea looked over at the stands where Ron and Hermione were sitting. She spotted Katie there also, waving to Rhea with a blanket that she had brought in case anyone gets cold. While Lee slept perched on the bench next to her. 

"Haven't even started," Rhea hear Harry say from in front of her. "Wood's been teaching us new moves." Rhea quickly jumped onto her broom, turning her head towards Fred as she started hovering above the ground. 

"Catch me if you can Weasley." She taunted picking the handle of her broom up causing it to shoot up in the air fastly. She laughed when she heard Fred's voice protest behind her but he soon joined her in the air, flying just a bit behind her. They were flying circles around for a bit, Rhea trying out some new tricks that she learned over the summer at the Burrow after watching a Quidditch match of Holyhead Harpies with Ginny.

George soon joined them he and Fred trying to knock Rhea from her broom as a sort of training for all three of them. Rhea had to admit it wasn't an easy job to stay on her broom when those two were coming at her. They calmed down a bit once Harry joined then since Rhea didn't want him to get hurt before the season even starts properly. They were racing circles around the pitch. Rhea and Harry went neck to neck with each other while the twins were some ways behind them. Rhea smirked at Harry who seemed to be quite proud to be able to fly alongside her. 

"Think you can keep up?" She asked the wind that was whirling around them making it a bit harder for Harry to hear clearly but when he listened carefully he was able to distinguish the challenging tone of voice Rhea was using. 

"Absolutely." He smiled back, gripping harder onto the handle. Rhea suddenly leaned forward a bit more and her broom zoomed forward insanely fast. Harry mimicked her action soon coming behind her. The two were racing each other for a few minutes. Rhea subtly showing Harry some new tricks that he could use in a match. She knew that if she would give the instructions to Harry he wouldn't be able to take much from them. But when she showed him...that was a different story.

"Nice," Rhea praised when Harry managed to do a perfect double spin. Rhea smiled proudly at the younger boy. Fred and George soon caught up to them since they were flying a great deal slower now.

"What's that funny clicking noise?" called Fred as they hurtled around the corner. Rhea flew to his side, trying to catch a trace of a sound and soon enough she heard it. 

"It sounds like a camera..." She stated confused, looking around and spotting a small boy in the stands. He was sitting in the highest seat, his camera raised, taking picture after picture. He was grinning quite madly as if he had been getting some kind of sugar rush just from taking the pictures. It seriously creeped Rhea out. 

"Look this way, Harry! This way!" the first-year cried shrilly. Rhea and Fred shared a look before they both turned to Harry who was flying in front of them. 

"Who's that?" asked Fred loudly so Harry would hear them. 

"No idea," Harry said quickly and zoomed off, leaving the two gingers and a blond to just someone caught up to him. They caught him when he got stopped by Oliver. 

"What's going on?" The Captain of the Quidditch team didn't look pleased by the first year taking pictures. "Why's that first year taking pictures? I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to find out about our new training program." Rhea rolled her eyes at how paranoid he was. 

"He's in Gryffindor," said Harry quickly.

"And the Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver," George stated, floating next to Rhea his eyes fixed on the ground with a frown on his face.

"What makes you say that?" Oliver asked looking at the twin that spoke to him. 

"Because they're here in person," said George, pointing down, to where several people in green robes were walking onto the field, broomsticks in their hands. Rhea's eyes widened when she saw the Slytherin Quidditch players. 

"I don't believe it!" Wood hissed in outrage. "I booked the field for today! We'll see about this!" Wood shot toward the ground, landing significantly harder than he meant to in his anger, staggering slightly as he dismounted.

"Oh my," Rhea muttered also letting her broom lower down, being careful about her landing, she didn't need to shake the whole ground as Oliver did.  Harry, Fred, and George followed close behind her. Rhea dismounted her broom just in time to rush after Oliver who was charging at the Slytherins angrily.

"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!" Rhea stopped Oliver by grabbing his shoulder so they had stopped just in front of the opposing team. Flint smirked once seeing Rhea behind Oliver. The Slytherin Captain never being able to take his eyes off her outside the pitch, but on the field, he had no trouble plummeting her. Marcus Flint was even larger than Oliver, despite both of them being in the same year. 

"Plenty of room for all of us, Wood." He sneered, eyes not failing to trace down Rhea's body an unpleasant smirk tugging on his lips. Oliver noticing the action moved more in front of Rhea and lightly pushed her back so she could be snatched by Fred and George who held her between them. Angelina and Alicia had come over, too. They were just talking with Katie when the ruckus started so they came down as quickly as possible. 

"But I booked the field!" Oliver was positively spitting with rage. "I booked it!" He had woken all of them up to have the pitch until noon. He had been discussing it with McGonagall for far too long to have it now taken away from him by Flint. 

"Ah, but I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape." Flint pulled out a wrinkled note from his robes and cleared his throat before reading out loud. "I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker." Flint grinned triumphantly, stuffing the note back into his pocket. 

Rhea looked over at Edmund, seeing him in the crowd. She gave him questioning eyes. Edmund looked over at her, shaking his head telling her that she didn't want to know who the new Seeker was. But Wood asked anyway. 

"You've got a new Seeker? Where?" Once Oliver asked the question Rhea wished he didn't. Because from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face. It was Draco Malfoy. Rhea gave Edmund a look and he just shrugged defeated, indicating that he wasn't all in for this idea.  He much preferred Higgs. And Rhea did too. That boy was one of the few that didn't cheat during games and just played because he loved the sport. 

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" Fred asked with a glare. The two families share quite some hatred for each other. The Malfoys were one of the wealthiest pureblood families while the Weasleys...well, had far less money than Malfoys. Also, the other purebloods disliked Weasleys because they don't discriminate against others based on their blood status and wealth. 

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," said Flint as the whole Slytherin team smiled still more broadly. Well apart from Edmund who just rolled his eyes. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team." Six of them held out their broomsticks. Six highly polished, brand-new handles and six sets of fine gold lettering spelling the words Nimbus Two Thousand and One gleamed under the Gryffindors' noses in the early morning sun. Rhea frowned at how the Slytherin bragged about their money all the time. She was quite sick of it. 

Edmund was standing in the back holding the old broom that he had from his brother Peter. Once Peter stopped playing Quidditch due to an injury he gifted his old broom to his younger brother. And Edmund cherished it quite a lot. Peter will be graduating this year and once he graduates the broom will be the last thing Edmund will have left of his brother as he is intending to fly all the way to America and work at the Ministry there. So it was more than understandable that he wanted to leave his broom instead of some new, polished splinter that his teammates now had. 

"Very latest model. Only came out last month," said Flint carelessly, flicking a speck of dust from the end of his broom while looking over at Rhea. Thinking he would get her on the brand of his broom. Oh, how wrong he was. "I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps," he smiled nastily at Fred and George, who were both clutching Cleansweep Fives, " sweeps the board with them." 

Rhea groaned when she heard his comment. She hated when someone as nasty as Flint would comment on her friends just because they didn't have the priciest things. Rhea also didn't have a modern broom in her hands. If she could bet she would say it was even older than Fred and George's combined. But she was sure it would still outfly Flint. 

"Gloating on the ground gets you nothing Flint," Rhea muttered angrily, though the Slytherin ignored her, rather focusing on something behind the Gryffindors. 

"Oh, look. A field invasion." He chuckled coldly. Rhea turned her head around to see Ron and Hermione crossing the field, coming towards them. Probably to inspect what was going on. 

"What's happening?" Ron asked Harry once they stopped by the raven boy. "Why aren't you playing? And what's he doing here?" He was looking at Malfoy, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes. Rhea had already heard about the quarrel the two had in their first year and she was fully on Ron's side. 

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," said Malfoy, smugly. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team."

"More like feeling repulsed by the corruption in the Slytherin electing system," Rhea said earning herself a glare from Flint who went to take a step closer to her but got blocked by a threeway blockade consisting of Oliver, Fred and George. Harry and Ron were too busy glaring at Malfoy who was relishing at the moment. 

"Good, aren't they? But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them." The Slytherin team howled with laughter at Malfoy's comment. Rhea sunk back knowing that she shouldn't be commenting now that Flint had his aim set on her. 

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," Hermione said sharply. " They got in on pure talent. Rhea could easily race your fancy brooms with her eyes closed and hands tied behind her back." Hermione said sending a smile at Rhea. Knowing how much it meant for her that someone has noticed her Quidditch skills. The smug look on Malfoy's face flickered when hearing Hermione's comment.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," he spat. Rhea's eyes widened when she heard the terrible slur come out of the mouth of the twelve-year-old. How can a child his age be using such insults? How can anyone be using such words? The slur caused a loud uproar in the Gryffindor team. Flint had to dive in front of Malfoy to stop Fred and George from jumping on him.

Alicia shrieked, "How dare you!" being held back by Angelina who was just simply glaring at the platinum blond in front of them. Rhea quickly moved over to Hermione, hugging her to tell her it was okay.

Ron plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, yelling, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!"  He pointed the tip of his broken wand at Draco. A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backwards onto the grass. Rhea immediately let go of Hermione and both of them rushed towards the boy. Fred and George were hot on their heels to see if their brother was okay. And of course, Harry followed as well.

"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione. Looking over at the boy who was suddenly pale as chalk in Snape's classroom. Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, he gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth onto his lap. Rhea took a quick step back at the sight. Everyone around cringed slightly, while the Slytherins were rolling on the floor with laughter. 

"Harry, I think you should take him out of here," Rhea advised Harry, looking over at the snickering Slytherin. Ron surely didn't want to be humiliated by them any longer. Harry nodded and with Hermione's help they got him off the pitch and escorted him to Hagrid. 

Rhea turned around seeing Fred and George looking in the direction of their younger brother who was escorted out of their sight. Rhea could see in their eyes how worried they were. They weren't even joking about their brother puking slugs just seconds ago. It was that bad. She stepped closer to them standing on her tiptoes to put her hand on their shoulders to comfort them a bit. 

"He'll be fine." No one of them managed to answer when Edmund's voice was heard behind them. 

"Is he okay?" He asked concerned, looking at the twins and Rhea with sorrow-filled eyes. He took a step closer, his broom hid behind his back. It was obvious he was trying to be nice but Fred seemed to be having none of that as he just clenched his fist at his sides. He had a grip so tight Rhea thought he would break the wooden handle of his broom. 

"What do you care, it's your fault anyway," Fred muttered angrily, sending a scowl in Edmund's direction. The Pevensie boy took a step back in surprise. Holding his one free hand up in surrender. 

"I didn't do anything mate," The raven-haired boy defended himself. He was confused and looked over at Rhea for help but the Black girl was also lost in the situation. George just looked between his brother and the Slytherin boy, feeling the tension radiating off his twin, he shifted uncomfortably. 

"Yeah, that's what you want us to think," Fred said a sarcastic laugh escaping his lips as he threw his broom at the ground. "That you are good while you are just like the rest of them. Stuck up, evil git who takes pleasure in other's suffering." Fred snapped, an aggressive glint in his eyes as he glared at the Slytherin player. 

"Fred," Rhea warned, seeing how hurt Edmund was by Fred's words, even if he was trying not to show it much. Fred spun around quickly, glaring down at Rhea. 

"Oh, so you are going to take his side now? I thought you were my best friend." Fred snapped at Rhea, his harsh voice causing her to take a step back. 

"I am Fred, but you are also not being fair, Edmund did nothing wrong." The short blond defended her Slytherin friend from her best friend. Feeling slightly scared of the anger emitting from Fred. 

"Screw this," Fred muttered and stepped forward, harshly pushing past Edmund and going in the direction of the castle quickly. George and Rhea shared a look. Debating whether they should let him cool down or go confront him now. 

Rhea looked over at Edmund who looked guilty, even though he had no reason to. He just was hit hard by the words Fred said. He was never one to be taking criticism and the opinions of others to heart. But when you are hearing from other houses how evil are you before anyone tries to get to know you, sometimes it tends to get to you no matter how hard your exterior is. 

George sighed and bent down, picking up Fred's broom. He went to the changing rooms to put them in the lockers. On his way he stopped by Edmund, sending him an apologetic look full of remorse. Edmund managed to smile weakly in appreciation before George left to get changed. He was used to this. Fred blowing up at someone or taking a prank too far leaving George to apologise for it all. He couldn't say whether he was sick of it or if he just couldn't imagine his life without it. But he was sure that one day Fred would do something that he won't be able to apologise for and will have to leave his twin to fix the mess on his own.