Fourth Year VII.
Rhea was walking on her tiptoes. Going as carefully and soundlessly as possible. She made her way out of the girls' dormitories creeping down the stairs and all the way towards the common room. Being suspicious of even the smallest sound coming from the boys' dorms. She was trying to get to her book that she had accidentally left in the common room earlier today when she was running from Fred and George.
Those two have been extremely overprotective of her ever since that one Quidditch match. To Rhea, it was too long ago as now it was the beginning of December already, but Fred and George were still on her case, following her everywhere she went. Her only luck was that they couldn't go to girls' dorm rooms because the stairs would turn into a slide if they stepped on them.
For the first time, she was glad for the safety measures that the Professors did. It was truly life-saving at the moment. She loves spending her time with her best friends but they were so annoying the last few weeks. Whenever they were pranking they never let Rhea do the fun, slightly dangerous, parts. She could only throw dung bombs or set off small fireworks. Not much fun in that is there? That's why she was trying to avoid them today at all cost, hoping it would show them that she can take care of herself without them there.
Her copy of Narnia was sitting in the middle of the table in their cosy common room. The firewood was cracking, radiating the heat, much needed in these cold months that were to come. Most of the first and second years had their duelling club today. Rhea already attended with the students her age and aced it. Even Snape had to cover up how impressed he was. But that's beside the point. the point now was that the common room was empty. Or so she thought, but there she saw young ginger sitting on the couch alone.
It wasn't a bizarre occurrence seeing Ginny alone these days. She seemed to be distancing herself from everyone. Always just carrying some strange journal with her. Never even attempting to talk to the students her age. Rhea wanted to speak with her about it many times already. To see what was wrong since she refused to speak with her brothers, so Rhea might as well try her luck now.
"Hey Gin," She greeted cheerily, flopping down on the soft red couch next to her. The first year jumped, startled a bit by the unexpected company. She was quick to hide the already mentioned journal next to her so Rhea wouldn't be able to see into it.
"Um, hi." She muttered unsurely, scrutinizing Rhea with her brown eyes. Rhea didn't fail to notice that Ginny no longer had the usual twinkle in her eyes. She was usually very perky when around Rhea but now it seemed like she wasn't happy to see her in the slightest. She looked more bothered to see the girl join her here in the common room.
"How are you?" Rhea asked, trying to move past the awkward stage of the conversation, hoping that Ginny would warm up to her once more. But it seemingly wasn't a success.
"Fine," Ginny said her one-word answer, moving away from Rhea so she was sitting on the edge of the couch now, with her journal still touching one of her hands so she could be sure it is there.
"Um, okay." Rhea sighed. She wasn't sure how to approach the girl. Ginny was distant like she didn't want anything to do with the blond girl next to her whom she used to see as her idol. "Um, do you want to talk? I noticed how distant you were these past few days and I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Rhea said carefully. Hoping it would get the girl to open up. "I can help you if there is any problem. You know you can trust me." Ginny stayed silent. Looking somewhere in the distance. Before turning to Rhea with a cold look.
"Don't pretend like you care Black." She snapped at the girl, shocking her totally before continuing. "No one is buying your perfect girl act anymore, so just drop it." Ginny snapped, her eyes a few shades darker than usual. She then picked up her journal and marched towards the girls' dorms.
Confused and slightly hurt Rhea watched the ginger leave the common room. She wasn't hurt that someone would say that because honestly, that comment wouldn't hurt her coming from anyone else, she was hurt that a girl that she has known for so long would suddenly be so unfriendly to her. She was hurt by Ginny's odd behaviour. Rhea sighed, sinking back into the couch thinking of what was wrong with Ginny all of a sudden.
She appeared to be fine on the train and even those two or so weeks after the sorting. True, Rhea never saw her around any group here in Gryffindor or with other houses. She was mostly alone. Maybe that is what's bothering her. Rhea's train of thought got cut off by someone rushing inside the common room. She quickly whipped her head in the direction of the portrait hole to make sure it wasn't the twins. Letting out a relieved breath when she found out it was just Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?" Ron asked quite harshly as he pushed Harry into the armchair nearby. Rhea looked in their direction weirdly. She never met anyone who could speak with snakes. It was said that only Salazar Slytherin and his heir could speak with them. But even with the sudden craze of someone from the students being the heir of Slytherin and opening the Chamber of Secrets and kids getting petrified, she couldn't bring herself to believe it could be Harry. No matter how many clues she'll have.
"I'm a what?" Harry was quite confused, most likely he never heard such a word. It did sound weird even to Rhea when she read about it for the first time, not being able to pronounce it for a long time.
"A Parselmouth!" Ron repeated impatiently, stepping from one foot to the other in a nervous manner. "You can talk to snakes!"
"I know," Harry didn't seem to be bothered by it. He was calm and took it as a normal thing. "I mean, that's only the second time I've ever done it. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once, long story, but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to that was before I knew I was a wizard..." After Harry said that Rhea had to put her hand over her mouth. The three didn't notice her still sitting on the couch by the fire and she didn't want them to know about her being there just yet.
"A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?" Ron repeated faintly. Looking over at Harry in disbelief.
"So? I bet loads of people here can do it."
"Oh, no they can't," Ron fussed. His hands flew around. Something he had in common with the twins. They also like to explain things very visually with their long limbs flying in the air. When explaining one of their pranks which involved explosions Rhea rather ducked down every time, better than to get smacked in the head by one of them. "It's not a very common gift. Harry, this is bad."
"What's bad?" said Harry, starting to feel quite angry. Rhea didn't blame him, Ron wasn't explaining anything to him properly and he just kept pressing on Harry more and more. Probably making him nervous. "What's wrong with everyone? Listen, if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin..."
"Oh, that's what you said to it?" Rhea noticed how quiet Hermione was the whole time. Which was unusual, she was always the one talking everybody's ear off. And now there she stood just looking at Harry with serious eyes letting Ron do the talking for once.
"What d'you mean? You were there...you heard me..." Harry stuttered. Rhea could see how anxious he looked all of a sudden.
"I heard you speaking Parseltongue," stated Ron. "Snake language. You could have been saying anything, no wonder Justin panicked, you sounded like you were egging the snake on or something, it was creepy, you know." Harry gaped at him. And Rhea would give all her money to watch such a show. Must have been fun. Watching terrified Hufflepuff looking into the eyes of a snake and Harry looking like he was telling it to eat Justin alive. Could be a good prank one day. It would need a bit of thinking but it could work.
"I spoke a different language? But...I didn't realize...how can I speak a language without knowing I can speak it?" Harry stuttered once again. Not being able to find the right words to express what he wanted to say. Ron shook his head. Both he and Hermione were looking as though someone had died. Rhea didn't understand why they were making the situation so difficult. "D'you want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a massive snake biting off Justin's head? What does it matter how I did it as long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?" Rhea snorted silently, finding Harry infuriated comments quite funny. Maybe it was just the time she spent with Fred and George.
"It matters," said Hermione, speaking at last in a hushed voice, "because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent." Finally, someone explained the history behind this. Harry was finally in the light of things.
"Exactly," said Ron. "And now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-great-grandson or something..."
"That's a lot of great..." Rhea muttered to herself, listening to these three was entertaining for her. She didn't hope for such fun while just sneaking for her book.
"But I'm not," Harry was quite obviously in panic. Looking at his two friends with wide eyes.
"You'll find that hard to prove. He lived about a thousand years ago; for all we know, you could be." Hermione explained softly. Rhea, seeing as Harry was starting to freak out decided to speak up.
"Oi, don't go making that boy go crazy with worry," Rhea said loudly, looking over at the three. Harry snapped his head in her direction, and Hermione jumped slightly at the sudden voice. But Ron's reaction was the funniest. He almost jumped out of his skin. Even shrieked with fright like a girl.
"Bloody hell, how did you get here?" He asked, out of breath. His hand pressed against his chest.
"Got a letter four years ago just like you, but that's not important." Rhea dismissed jokingly Ron's previous question and turned to Harry. "It's families like mine or Malfoy's that have closer to being descendants of Slytherin than Harry would ever have. So don't go overthinking it Harry." She smiled at the raven-haired boy. Harry only nodded. He believed Rhea and if she said that there was no way he was related to him then he wasn't worried about it. But others weren't as trusting towards the Black girl and she certainly couldn't make others believe her forcefully. Especially Justin who now won't come any closer to Harry anymore. "Maybe you lot should go to sleep, it is quite late."
"What about you?" Hermione asked curiously, noticing the book on the table that belonged to Rhea. She knew because she saw Rhea reading it earlier today before Fred and George appeared in the common room.
"I just came here for that. I need to hide from Ron's brothers for another few hours till they stop being so overprotective." Rhea explained getting a chuckle out of the three. But two voices from outside got her attention. She cursed silently when she recognised the laugh of Fred and George just outside the portrait. "And that's my cue to run, bye guys." She called over her shoulder. Using her wand to summon her book and she dashed for the stairs. Fred and George only got a glimpse of her blond ponytail as the doors of the girls' dorms closed behind her.
***
"Why do you two keep making fun of Harry, the boy has enough on him as it is." Angelina wondered when they were sitting in the Gryffindor common room after hours playing wizarding chess. Well, Angelina was playing with George while Alicia was trying out her new nail polish on Katie. Rhea was sitting on the couch next to Angelina finishing her book while Fred was showing Lee a new plan for a prank that Rhea helped him and George develop earlier that day.
The common room was quiet and empty. No one was there anymore as it was quite a late Friday night. Rhea vaguely remembers Hermione leaving the common room earlier tonight but she can't recall seeing her get back. Maybe it just slipped her notice.
"We are not making fun of him," George answered cheekily, ordering his pawn to move to a certain spot where it killed one of Angelina's white figures. "In your face Johnson," George laughed victoriously when the pieces of Angelina's white pawn scattered through the playboard. The girl frowned, leaning forward some more as if that would give her a clearer concentration on the game.
"Sure, walking around in front of him, shouting that he's the heir of Slytherin. That doesn't classify as teasing." Alicia said sarcastically, her full focus was on Katie's pinkie that she couldn't figure out how to paint since Katie's nails were so small. She had the habit of nervousness where she kept biting her fingernails so Alicia probably didn't choose the best subject to be testing her polish on.
"It's all in good fun. We don't really mean it," Fred dismissed, for a spare second lifting his head from the paper to look at the girls with a cheeky grin.
"I'm sure Harry appreciates it," Rhea muttered, flipping the page in her book. Just four more and she will be finished with the book finally. And then she can start the other one in the series. She was so into her book that she didn't notice the look on Fred's face. The frown that he sent her way for not enjoying their joke. An evil plan formed in his mind, knowing how to tick the girl off and get her back for her snappy comments.
"You know, we don't think it is Harry, but I do have my suspicions." Everyone in the room turned to him. Even George looked confused. Not knowing what Fred was getting at was making him really nervous because the look Fred had on his face was not giving out anything good. But Rhea already had a clear image of what Fred was getting at. She pulled her book closer to her and groaned.
"Don't even start, Weasley." She muttered under her breath, getting to the final page of her book. Fred smirked at her continuing with his plan.
"Let's just think of it for a second, who looks like they could be the heir of Slytherin..."
"Who?" Lee asked, moving a bit to sit closer. Being the curious boy he was, he wanted to know everything.
"I don't know about you, but to me, Pevensie is quite suspicious." As he said that Rhea finished the last word of her book, closing it shut forcefully with a loud sound causing Angelina next to her to jump in surprise.
"Can you not?" Rhea asked annoyed, putting the book on her knees while she glared at her best friend.
"What did I do? I'm just expressing my opinion." Fred defended himself, a cheeky smile on his face, knowing that he was successfully ticking Rhea off. The Black girl groaned, pale green eyes piercing through the ginger.
"Fine. I'm gonna express my opinion too." Rhea said standing up from the couch. "You are a git." She said, grabbing her book and walking in the direction of the portrait hole.
"Where are you going?" Alicia asked curiously. Looking over at her friend that was exiting the common room.
"To the library." Rhea shot over her shoulder, not waiting for any response. She made her way down the stairs, praying for them not to move this late at night. She was carefully stepping down the stairs. Looking out for possible Filch or Mrs Norris' appearance. Or if worse comes to worst Snape himself. Silently cursing herself for not grabbing the Marauders Map from the twins as she slipped carefully inside the library.
Rhea marched all the way towards her favourite section of the library. The secluded one. The one where no pureblood would step a foot and muggle-borns don't need to go here. Once or twice you can see half-blood browsing through the shelves but overall the section of muggle novels is all for Rhea. Sometimes she drags Edmund here with her, but for a long time, she has been going here alone.
Since Edmund was now focusing on spending his time with Althea. It was Rhea's idea. That he should try spending more time with her so she would catch some feelings for him. Now she is just waiting for the news of her friend finally having a girlfriend. Of course, it would be thanks to her that he would have someone. Rhea was practically a master of relationships. Having read all the possible books she knew all the techniques.
Needing a moment to calm down, Rhea sat down in her favourite spot. She could hear a distant rustle of pages, indicating that someone else was here as well. For a second she wondered who it could be, considering it was late and definitely after hours. Maybe some Ravenclaw that got too caught up in studying. Deciding not to question it anymore she grabbed a book from the shelf and got into reading. Trying to get her mind off of Fred and how angry she was at him for always picking on Edmund. The boy never did anything to him so Fred had no real reason to behave the way he did.
But to understand Fred's mind was something that went far over Rhea's capability. And she would rather leave Fred's thoughts alone. No one needs a glance into that disturbing and messed up place. Thought she we are glad to finally find out what his deal was. He tends to hate every single boy apart from George, and Lee that Rhea starts talking to.
For example last week she was paired up with Cedric Diggory for Herbology. Cedric was a good-looking guy. Rhea wouldn't dare to dispute them. He was also nice to talk with. The whole school nicknames him Pretty Boy Diggory and he is truly living up to that name. He and Rhea got engaged in a conversation during Herbology and that was enough for Fred to rant about how he didn't like Diggory for a good hour. It was getting ridiculous.
And how was it that when Rhea talked to some boy Fred instantly disliked him but when he talked to a girl Rhea was supposed to be fine with it? Isn't that the same? Should she also be jealous that her best friend is talking or in Fred's case flirting with someone else? No, she is not bothered. Or is she?
She's been in her thoughts for a good while when she finally woke up from them she noticed the time. Cursing softly under her breath she quickly stood up and hurriedly made her way out of the library. They were supposed to have a Quidditch match tomorrow or rather said later today and Rhea needed to get some sleep before it. No need for her to be dead on her broom out there. That wouldn't be a good game.
She slowly slipped out of the door, immediately going for the stairs to get to her common room. An uncomfortable feeling of someone watching her was creeping onto her but she refused to look around. The sound of running water suddenly sounded so eerie to her. Why would there be water in the corridor? Deciding to rather not to question it more and just quickly make her way to her common room. She practically raced towards the stairs. Ignoring the fact that her footsteps might have been loud against the stone floor. She wanted to get to her dorm and forget this frightening experience.
Once by the portrait, she sighed a sigh of relief. Gently waking up the Fat Lady who, of course, had to scold her for lurking in the castle at such a late hour, Rhea made her way inside. Not even stopping in the common area she made a straight line for her dorm. Her heart still beating loudly in fright even as she lay down in her bed and pulled the covers over her. Calming herself that she was just imagining things she let her body slip into a much-deserved sleep.