Pranking hearts

Rhea was getting back from her detention. Conveniently enough she had it with her uncle for some reason. McGonagall after Oliver Wood came pleading to her, was kind enough and only banned her from visiting Hogsmead for the next five months, meaning she was still allowed to play in the Quidditch games. Not that McGonagall would actually ban Rhea from Quidditch, the girl was a vital player of the team and the Professor wanted to see her house win the Cup just as much as Wood did. Rhea didn't mind the punishment. She was in Hogsmeade many more times than she can count and Fred promised to help sneak her there if she has a deep desire to go. But they would have to avoid Angelina who was a stickler for rules all of a sudden. Probably the fight in the Great Hall angered her more than possible. 

She didn't even mind the detention. Yesterday she was dusting the shelves in the library. Not that much work to be honest. And today she spent it talking with Remus in the DADA classroom. Since today was the night of the full moon he was quite in pain most of the time and feeling sick. Hence the reason why their detention ended sooner. 

The longest time ever she spent in front of the portrait to their common room. The Fat Lady's ripped canvas had been taken off the wall the morning after they spent their night in Great Hall. It was replaced with the portrait of Sir Cadogan and his fat grey pony. Nobody was very happy about this. Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels, and the rest thinking up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day. And so it happened that Rhea was left standing in front of the common room. Arguing with the old portrait about letting her pass through. 

She had to practically force her way through. Arguing with the demented guardian of the portrait hole for more than ten minutes before someone from the inside let her in when they were leaving. To say that Rhea was majorly pissed would be stating the obvious. Once she made it through the hole she spotted Percy in the common room and made a straight beeline over to him. Ignoring Ginny greeting her from the couch. 

"That man is completely bonkers Perce, I'm telling you. It is a wonder we can get inside the common room still somehow." Rhea complained to the seventh year who sighed, probably Rhea wasn't the first one to be complaining to him about the knight in front of their exit. 

"He's a complete lunatic," Seamus Finnigan who was standing by with his friend Dean Thomas added angrily. He too was left locked out of the common room today. Not just once. "Can't we get anyone else?"

"None of the other portraits wanted the job," Percy shook his head. If it were up to him he would also gladly exchange the guardian of the entrance. "Frightened by what happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer."

"This will get unbearable soon." Rhea sighed shaking her head while making her way towards the stairs to go to her common room. There was a big Quidditch match nearing and she needed to be ready for it. 

***

The weather worsened steadily as the first Quidditch match drew nearer. The Gryffindor team was in the locker rooms getting ready for their last training before the match they were supposed to play on Saturday. Rhea's hair was already drenched from the rain that was outside. The drops of water fell down her back and to the ground. Damping her training clothes that she had just changed into. The locker room was filled with light chatter as the girls talked to one another and twins were talking somewhere to the side in a hushed tone. Most likely planning some new prank of theirs. The easy atmosphere was interrupted when Oliver barged into the locker room.

"We're not playing Slytherin!" he told them, looking very angry. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead." He announced, fist-balling at his sides in outrage. Rhea looked over at him confused. Just this morning she was talking to Edmund and they were arguing about who would win the match on Saturday. Why would that change all of a sudden, she already had 5 galleons bet on her team. 

"Why?" chorused the rest of the team while Rhea was still stuck thinking about what could have gone wrong.

"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm's still injured," Oliver said, gritting his teeth furiously. "But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances..." Rhea looked out of the window to see a strike of lightning hit, followed closely by a roaring sound of thunder. Clearly not the best playing circumstances. 

"There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm!" Harry piped in furiously coming over to stand on the other side of Rhea since she already had Angelina beside her. "He's faking it!"

"I know that, but we can't prove it," Oliver said bitterly, "And we've been practising all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory..." Angelina, Alicia, and Rhea suddenly got into squeals and giggles. Immediately gaining the attention of the boys. "What?" Oliver asked, frowning at this lighthearted behaviour. The girls looked at one another, Alicia nudging Rhea lightly who just rolled her eyes but she couldn't help but smile.

"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" said Angelina looking over at Rhea. 

"Strong, silent, nice, cute..." Rhea started naming out adjectives to describe the Hufflepuff seeker. Cedric had on many occasions stopped by Rhea. Asking her to go out with him. But somehow it got interrupted every time by something. It's not that Rhea would be into Cedric, she already knew her feelings lay with someone else. But she felt like it would be good to focus on someone else for a while rather than risk her long-time friendship. Of course, some extraterrestrial power was against it for some weird reason. If she only knew Fred and George were always the ones to be messing up her chances to go out with the Hufflepuff heartthrob.

"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," Fred muttered impatiently. Getting somewhat angry every time the girls started the boy talk. "I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?" Fred kept the discussion sternly on the Quidditch topic, just to avoid any more comments about the way pretty boy Diggory looks. 

"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Oliver shouted, his eyes bulging slightly. This was really important for him and the fact that from the start it wasn't going according to plan was setting him off. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker!" Oliver's hands were flying around, Harry moved slightly more in front of Rhea as if trying to protect her from getting accidentally hit by the Gryffindor Captain. Harry was still a few inches shorter than Rhea but the effort still counts. "I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We must win!" Oliver lamented. The other teammates were sure he would get a heart attack soon. 

"Oliver, calm down!" said Fred, looking slightly alarmed by the outburst. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously." The others nodded, finally getting the captain to calm down ever so slightly. 

"Fine, what are you standing here for then? The training is in session for three minutes already." Oliver ordered. The girls groaned, dragging their feet out of the locker rooms. Fred soon caught up with Rhea catching her by her shoulders to hold her back. Making them both stop in the pouring rain. In shock Rhea dropped her broom, letting out a gasp before realising who it was.

"Did you not hear? We are supposed to be training." Rhea chuckled, trying to push his arm off so she could grab her broom. 

"So Diggory is strong and silent huh?" 

"What are you on about, Weasley?" Rhea asked, the water hitting her face, her cheeks already flushing with a red tint from coldness. 

"I'm also strong," Fred pouted, flexing his muscles. Rhea couldn't help but laugh at the attempt. She had to admit Fred was fit and quite strong. How else would he be a beater, but she just couldn't figure out what was he on about right now. 

"Yeah but you are never silent." She pointed out, poking her finger in Fred's chest causing him to take a step back. The blonde grabbed her broom in her hands, gripping it in her right hand. "And you forgot he's also nice and cute." Rhea winked at the ginger before mounting her broom and flying in the air. Leaving the Weasley boy standing there fuming. 

***

The group of people crowded around one of the hospital beds in the Hospital wing. The match didn't end as they would have hoped. Harry ended up injured since dementors invaded the game. Hufflepuffs ended up winning. But Cedric wanted a rematch, just to be fair to the other team. Though it was impossible. Dumbledore was quite angry about the dementors. No one knew how they got there. Rhea was even curious how that black dog she saw got there. She noticed it after she scored the first goal of the game. 

The Gryffindors were cheering and as she was looking around at all of them, smiling proudly, she noticed the huge black dog hiding behind the stands, but he was surely watching the match. Although it was impossible for a dog to be invested in a game. Animals usually don't care for it unless they get to play. But this canine seemed to be cheering along with the rest of the Gryffindors for Rhea. It was quite peculiar but she didn't stay focused on him for long because she wanted to see Remus. 

Her uncle was clapping his hands, grinning proudly at the girl that he had raised. He had heard about her talent on the broom but this was his first time seeing her in action and he was enjoying it so much. Even with the sodding rain draining him to the bone he was enjoying every second. Well, until the dementors interrupted the game. 

Now they were here in the Hospital wing, anxiously waiting for Harry to wake up. He had taken quite a fall back there. The Gryffindor team minus Oliver were there still in their wet Quidditch gear. Ron and Hermione were also there along with a few of Harry's other friends.

"Looks a bit peaky, doesn't he?" Ron muttered, scanning Harry carefully for any sign of movement. Rhea who stood by Harry's head, debating whether she should grab his hand for comfort, rolled her eyes. Ron could be unbelievable sometimes. 

"Peaky? What d'you expect him to look like? He fell fifty feet." Fred asked in disbelief and a slight hint of sarcasm. Not believing that his little brother could be so stupid. 

"Yeah, c'mon, Ron. We'll walk you off the Astronomy Tower and see how you come out looking." George said, placing his hand on Ron's shoulder and gripping it tightly, causing the younger ginger to jerk away quickly. 

"Probably a right sight better than he normally does." Came a mutter from the bed and every eye in the room turned towards its source. they were pleased to see that Harry was awake and was able to talk. He didn't look quite great yet but at least he was alive. 

"Harry! How're you feeling?" Hermione asked coming to the other side of Harry's bed to have better access to him.  Rhea noticed how Harry wanted to sit up in his bed and so she helped him edge up against his pillow. 

"Brilliant." Rhea wasn't sure whether he was being sarcastic or if he just didn't want to worry them but she could just tell that he wasn't fine. If anything his head must be hurting like mad from the fall. And he must be feeling quite sore. Even she can feel her muscles convulsing and she didn't get attacked by a dementor. 

"Gave us a right good scare, mate. Caused Rhea to nearly dive for you." Fred commented giving Rhea a look. The girl would kill herself just to save someone. 

"I would have but the bloody dementors blocked my way." The blonde muttered with spite aimed towards the things from Azkaban. They were seriously getting on Rhea's nerves. Where ever they stepped everything seemed to freeze. 

"What happened?" The group shared a look. Waiting for someone to start talking. But no one seemed to have the right words to explain what exactly had happened back at the match. Rhea was about to speak when Fred beat her to it. 

"You fell off," Fred stated the obvious. "Must've been what fifty feet?" Fred did the mental math, counting the height from which Harry took the fall. 

"We thought you'd died," Alicia pipped in, peaking her head from over Angelina's shoulder. 

"But the match," said Harry. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?" Rhea had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from reacting in any way. The others followed suit, not wanting to hit Harry too hard with the truth. After all, he had just now woken up. But Harry wasn't that stupid and he realised quite soon what had happened. "We didn't...lose?"

"Harry it's fine, you couldn't have done anything," Rhea said quickly before Harry could overthink it and blame himself for the loss. 

"Diggory got the Snitch," George explained after a while. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square...even Wood admits it." Which was a shocker. It deeply hurt Oliver to admit the win of the other team but there was nothing else to do. 

"Where is Wood?" Harry asked, scanning the room with his tired eyes. 

"Still in the showers," Rhea answered with a sheepish smile. Wood could have at least come by to see if Harry was okay. 

"We think he's trying to drown himself," Fred stated, trying to put some joke into it but it only seemed to make Harry feel worse. He put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Fred grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly. As if trying to shake the negative thoughts out of him. "C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it," George added with a shrug. Rhea had the feeling that these two will take it too far once again. 

"It's not over yet," Fred continued. "We lost by a hundred points. So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin..."

"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points," George said next. The twins once again doing their thing with finishing each other's sentences. But if only they would pick a better time for it. 

"But if they beat Ravenclaw..."

"No way, Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses against Hufflepuff..."

"It all depends on the points...a margin of a hundred either way..."

"You two are not helping," Rhea said loudly stopping the twins. The two looked at her, seeing the stern look she was sending them. "I think we should let Harry rest. He had a hard day. And someone needs to go check on Oliver if he actually didn't drown." The short blonde ordered. Everyone nodded but the twins, who knew what was coming. 

"Why do I get the feeling that you want us to check on Wood?" Fred asked, already sounding bothered. 

"Because he is in guys' showers." Black deadpanned. Fred looked over at his brother who was already on Rhea's side. 

"She's got a point." He said with a shrug. Fred just huffed not in the mood to be pulling a depressed Oliver out of the shower and trying to convince him that life still has meaning for him. The bloke could be so dramatic at times it was unbelievable. 

"Or if you want I will gladly go see Wood...naked...in the shower," Rhea said with a smirk. 

"Shut up, I'm already on my way." Came the answer from the ginger who was already marching towards the door. About to invade Wood's shower time. The group that was left behind chuckled softly at the ginger's behaviour.