Pranking hearts

Rhea sat in the armchair in the living room of her uncle's house. She was reading a book, just about halfway finished with it. It was just a pastime before she will go to the Weasleys to go with them to the Quidditch World Cup. Until then she was forced to just sit down and stop fussing around as before she was going up and down the stairs, every two minutes asking if it was time to go already. That's how excited she was to go.

Her uncle was quite nervous about letting her go to such a big event and if it would be just up to him he wouldn't let Rhea go. Even if everything was taken care of by the Weasleys. But Rhea still got to go. Only because her father came over, mainly to hide there since the south was too hot for him. And so just for the fun of it, he came over to Remus' house, instantly taking the role of the great father and allowing his daughter everything she wanted.

He knew Rhea's love for the sport and she had great potential in being professional. At least that's what he gathered from watching her play in the school cup last year. If only she realised the talent that she has. And he hoped that seeing the professionals play would get her onto the right track of what she would be good at. Not some stupid ministry job that she wants only to clear out the family name Black. And the fact that she got straight O's on her O.W.Ls report was something that needed rewarding and so this was it.

While the atmosphere in the house was calm, Remus was reading the Daily Prophet in the kitchen. Drinking his tea. Finally, he enjoyed the fact that he could relax and not worry about Rhea breaking her neck on the stairs while running up and down. Sirius was in the living room with Rhea. He was lying on the couch, sleeping. Getting some long-deserved rest now that he knew he had people around him and he didn't have to worry about being taken away by the dementors or other ministry officials.

Rhea furrowed her eyebrows in displeasure. She didn't like one bit how the book was turning up. With batted breath, she read on until she groaned when yet again her favourite character didn't make it. It was a curse to fall in love with fictional characters. Annoyed the girl threw the book away.

"This is terrible!" She yelled so loud that her father almost fell off of the couch that he was lying on.

"Wh-what? What is?" Sirius muttered tiredly, but he had already his wand in his hand in case anyone was causing his daughter any trouble. Remus came rushing over from the kitchen. He stopped by the doors of the living room where he stood looking around the room in worry.

"What's happened?" Remus looked towards Rhea, tilting his head to the side in confusion when he saw the book thrown on the ground and Rhea sulking in the armchair. Sirius wasn't as observant and was rather occupied with trying not to fall off the couch but as he tried to get himself back into a sitting position he fell from the couch, hitting the side of his head on the coffee table in front of him. "Oh my..." Remus muttered as Sirius groaned in pain.

"I am going to be alone for the rest of my life!" Rhea whined, throwing her head back in frustration. Remus stared at her with a confused look on his face. Rhea's outbursts while reading a book weren't unusual but it didn't commonly end like this. With people around injured and all.

"This one is new..." Remus muttered, walking further into the room.

"Now darling, I doubt that." Sirius groaned from the ground trying to calm down his daughter whilst fighting with the pain that erupted through his head from the earlier impact. "You just have to..." Before he could finish his sentence Rhea started one of her dramatic speeches again.

"Why can't I have the perfect love story?" She asked in an almost desperate tone. Remus was just watching the girl in amusement while her father was utterly confused. Only having the pleasure of experiencing such a show for the first time. "Do I have to die like Juliette to get my Romeo?" Sirius pulled himself up on the couch.

"A who?" He asked confused, not being familiar with muggle literature. Sure he did have muggle studies at Hogwarts in his years but who's to say that he actually paid attention? As far as he is concerned he only took them because of Remus.

"I'm sure there's no need for dying Rhe, besides it was rather ineffective." Remus reasoned with his goddaughter, bending down to pick up a book from the ground and setting it on the table while ignoring the pointed looks he was receiving from Sirius. The father of the blond was maybe glad for the care that Remus provided to his daughter but he wasn't a huge fan of literature. He was a bigger fan of music.

"I swear to Merlin if you give her one more muggle book, Remus, I'll set it on fire." Sirius threatened as Remus sat down on the couch next to him. He decided that it was the end of his quiet time as he had to be there so the father and daughter wouldn't start fighting about the importance of reading. He made that mistake once this summer already and no one will be able to mend one of the shelves in his library.

"It is not my fault that your daughter inherited your gift of being so dramatic." Remus shrugged, not interested in fighting with Sirius over something like a book. There were greater issues that Remus would argue with Sirius about but he was still good at keeping them all bottled in. Before Sirius could oppose by saying he is not at all dramatic while flipping his hair over his shoulder, Rhea spoke again.

"No, but really, what do I have to do to get a boy to like me?" Rhea was mainly asking it as a rhetorical question out of pure desperation that she felt inside but the men in the room were gladly listening both of them having their own ideas of what to say to the young girl. While Remus was glad that Rhea was in love with someone, which he suspected for a longer period of time, Sirius on the other hand wasn't as supportive. The fact that he just got the girl back was only adding to the daddy's little girl factor and he wasn't ready to let go of it just yet and let some boy date his daughter.

"Nothing," Sirius grumbled his answer, rolling his eyes the same way Rhea did when she heard him. She didn't confess to anyone her feelings towards the certain ginger. Only to Edmund. But that didn't mean that the others didn't have their suspicions.

"Certainly avoid dying," Remus advised. "I'm sure the right one will come eventually." He assured the girl who looked almost ready to cry at the thought of not being able to do anything. How was she supposed to get together with her best friend without making their friendship weird or ruining it completely? On her friendship with Fred are based various other connections she has and what if doing something with Fred would make that all collapse and disappear? She was not ready to lose everything yet. But she also wasn't enjoying being in the shadows anymore. It was almost agonizing seeing Fred with other girls. Taking them on dates and such.

It was certainly nothing that Rhea enjoyed over the year. And after every date, Fred kept on blabbering about it to her and George as if it was a normal thing to do. And it was, but for Rhea, it felt terrible. Listening to how much fun Fred had on his dates, but he never went to the second one. The longest relationship he seemed to have was with the infamous Lydia Martin, that was a solid week. But after that week he got bored and decided to drop it off. The girls that he went on a date with never lasted longer than a week. Usually, they were girls that he didn't hang around that much. Just some random students that caught his eye, nothing more nothing less. But it still hurt to see him hold hands with someone or hug someone after the Hogsmeade trips. It was these minor things that made Rhea boiling mad and she wasn't sure if she could handle it anymore.

Of course, she also went on dates from time to time. But those were just study sessions with some boys who needed tutoring. Maybe the only real thing that she could call date was her last visit to the Hogsmeade that she went to with Cedric Diggory. But for her, it was just on friendly terms rather than anything romantic. Though the time she spent with the Hufflepuff was fun. It was surely nothing that she would base a long-term relationship on, but she would lie to say she didn't enjoy it.

"Darling, you don't need some ruddy boy. You've got me." Sirius said enthusiastically, smiling over at his daughter. The young girl looked over at him, blinking her eyes slowly a few times.

"Mhm, what a joy." She said getting back to her sulking. Remus couldn't help but laugh at the look on Sirius' face. He sure didn't expect to be turned down like that. He was usually a ladies' man. Looks like his natural charm doesn't affect his daughter in any way. It was hilarious seeing the past school heartthrob be rejected by the younger female version of himself.

"You hearing that Moony?" Sirius said with a fake hurt tone, wiping away the imaginary tears. "WE are not good enough for her anymore." Remus looked over at his best friend.

"The emphasis on the 'we' wasn't necessary." Remus pointed out before getting elbowed by Sirius who wanted him to play along. Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh fine." He cleared his throat before speaking. "After all those years of care." The tall man said with a fake sobbing. Rhea watched the two with amusement. Thinking how much fun it would be if the whole group of them was still together. Without death and Azkaban and betrayal. They must have been a lot of fun.

"You know I love you both. But you can't expect to be the only two men in my life." Rhea said, shaking her head.

"We understand," Remus said sympathetically, nodding his head with a soft smile. Sirius on the other hand was not totally understanding of the idea.

"Absolutely unacceptable." Lupin looked over at his friend before he sighed.

"Rhea why don't you go up and get your things ready? You should be heading to the Weasleys soon." Remus said and the girl didn't have to be said twice. She grabbed the book from the table and sprinted upstairs to get her trunk ready since she would be spending there her time for the rest of the summer.

Once the two men were alone in the room it became uncharacteristically quiet. The two still have some unspoken tension between them. The main issue was the dispute between their parenting styles. While Remus was the responsible parent who kept the girl alive for over twelve years. He looked out for her even if it meant that he was a bit stern at times. Sirius was more of a laid-back parent. The fun parent if you will. He didn't mind anything as long as his daughter was happy.

"I gave her life and she wants to leave me for some pathetic boy," Sirius muttered, grumpily leaning his back against the couch. Remus sighed.

"I so knew this was coming." He mumbled under his breath before turning towards his friend. "You knew she wouldn't be a little kid all her life, right?" He asked cocking an eyebrow.

"But she is my little girl, I don't want her to grow up," Sirius whined. It was quite hilarious seeing a grown-up man pout like a little child. Remus sure found it funny. But at the same time slightly annoying as Sirius was saying one thing and doing another.

"Hence the reason why you let her go to the Quidditch World Cup." The tall man said sarcastically. He stood up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen to finish the tea that he had prepared himself in the kitchen some time ago. It sure was getting cold already.

"I just wanted her to be happy." The curly-haired man opposed, not finding any problem in letting the fifteen-year-old go to the sports match with her friends. Since it was sure to make Rhea extremely happy.

"May I add to a Quidditch World Cup, with thousands of witches and wizards where she can get lost or injured," Remus said sternly, picking up his mug and taking a sip. He grimaced slightly when he realised the drink was already cold. Sirius made it inside the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe. Hands crossed over his chest.

"Arthur Weasley is going with them. It's not like they are unsupervised, like we did as teenagers and we were still fine." Sirius shot back smugly, reminding Remus of one of the most adventurous trips of their lives. Remus only frowned. He remembered the time at their Quidditch World Cup quite differently.

"First of all, we sneaked out to that match. We lost Rhea's mother in the crowd for a good three hours, you and James got into a fight with some Slytherins, Peter got his head stuck in the bucket because you dared him to and in the end, James had to call his dad to come and get us." Remus listed all the things that went terribly wrong on their little adventure.

"Ah, those were fun times," Sirius commented with a content sigh. An attitude which he certainly didn't share with his best friend. "Relax Moony, that's why I'm allowing Rhea to go with an adult, to make sure she doesn't get into trouble."

"Arthur also has four of his own children plus Harry and Hermione, so quite enough for one person to handle," Remus said, putting the mug down rather harshly, spilling the contents of it which stained the table.

"She will be fine," Sirius said equally as loud as Remus. The two men now glaring at each other.

"Many things can go wrong Sirius! You don't know how to parent her properly!"

"Now you sound like my bloody mother Moony!" Sirius said angrily causing Remus to shut up. Sirius's mother never showed him any hint of care or compassion. He still didn't forgive the many things that she did in his life. From insults to forbidding him to go to the Quidditch World Cup in his fifth year when James initially offered him one of the free tickets, he got from his uncle. In the end, they still sneaked out to it but that's beside the point. His mother was a touchy subject for Sirius. It was quite a cruel woman, to be honest, and what she hated more than her son's betrayal of the pure bloodline was the fact that he had a daughter with a blood traitor as his mother put it. And later on, when Rhea's mum died and Sirius decided to parent the baby on his own his mother was no help whatsoever.

What was more, she despised the idea and said that Sirius would do better to let the girl for adoption. Hinting that her son's responsibility was not reaching a high enough level to be able to take care of a child. But Sirius was either too stubborn or loved his daughter a little too much to let her go just like that and so despite the words of discouragement from his mother's side he kept Rhea.

And now hearing it come out of the mouth of his best friend, from his Moony, it hurt even more. For the whole time that he had Rhea with him, he was trying to show everyone that he was a great father. And if it weren't for the betrayal of Pettigrew he would be an excellent father. But that didn't happen and Rhea got into the care of Remus. Not that he minded, he was sure Remus did a great job but now that he was back it was hard to get the hold of things again.

"Sirius I..."

"I'm ready!" Rhea said, grinning from the hallway. Luckily she didn't hear the argument between the two of them since she was too excited to be going to the World Cup. Sirius was quick to shake off his angry expression and replaced it with a smile as he looked over at his daughter. She had a huge smile on her face and from her backpack was sticking a green and white scarf to support the Ireland team.

"I'm sure you are." Sirius chuckled. The previous harsh tone was long lost.

"Yeah, I also took the face paint, I'm going to use it on Fred and George." She grinned happily. Feeling so enthusiastic just thinking of the match. Sirius loved the cheerful look on her face. And although he wasn't utterly sure where Rhea got the face paint he was happy for her.

"They have a lot to look forward to I see."

"You can use the Floo Powder," Remus said, cutting through the father-daughter moment. Rhea nodded grinning before rushing towards the fireplace, dragging the giant suitcase behind her. She stopped just a step from the fireplace. She turned around abruptly, abandoning the suitcase behind her, racing to the kitchen where she attacked her father with a giant hug.

"I'm gonna miss you." She said to him before going over to her uncle and giving him an equally tight hug. "Bye!" She called running to the fireplace and transporting herself to the Weasley's by the Floo Network.

***

"Rhea. Hey, Rhea," A voice whispered from the door of Ginny's room. Rhea was bunking in with Ginny over her visit here at the Burrow. There was a huge fight about it between Ginny and her two older brothers. But since Rhea is a girl and Mrs Weasley found it safer to have her with another girl, Fred and George came out with empty hands from the fight. The room was sure to get packed when Hermione was to get there two days later.

Rhea turned around on her mattress that was by the foot of Ginny's bed. With a faint groan, she pulled the blanket up to her chin, completely ignoring the voice from the door. But the ginger that stood there was persistent. With a huff he opened the door slightly more, cringing as the doors creaked with the movement. Slowly he stepped into the room and practically crawled towards the mattress on the ground.

"Rhea, are you asleep?" He asked, poking the supposedly sleeping girl. Rhea grunted.

"Mhm," She hummed half asleep. Shooing the hand of the other person away from her. But the guy was adamant. Jabbing her one more time while grinning.

"Everyone knows a sleeping person doesn't talk."

"Then you haven't yet shared a room with Angelina after a lost match against Slytherin. She not only talks but yells in her sleep." Rhea muttered tiredly. It was late at night and she was tired from travelling today. Going by Floo Network might be quick but so tiring when going such great distances.

"Come on I want to show you something."

"Fred, can't it wait till morning?" Rhea asked, turning away from the guy who was kneeling by her makeshift bed. Ginny in bed whined in her sleep, causing Fred to freeze. If Ginny finds him in her room all the hell will break loose. Either she would hex him or she would call Mum and he was not ready to explain this to his mother this late at night. Once Ginny stilled in her bed finally, he turned back to Rhea.

"Sh," He scolded even though Rhea had her eyes closed and wasn't minding his attempts to wake her up. "There will be no stars in the morning dummy." Fred grinned seeing Rhea's eyes flutter open. It never happened that Fred came to her with an offer like this. Usually, he wanted to set pranks and Rhea was his second choice when George didn't want to get out of bed. But he never came with an invitation to stargazing. "You coming then?" Fred asked teasingly as he stood up from the ground.

"Yeah," Rhea breathed out quickly. She tripped over her sheets as she tried to get to the door. They were careful to be quiet as they stepped down the many creaky stairs. If they would as much as alert Mrs Weasley who slept on the fourth floor they were as good as dead. Even if they weren't up to any mischief that wouldn't matter to the plump woman. The ginger had chills running down his spine the whole time he was sneaking his way inside Ginny's room.

Fred carefully got the backdoor of the house to open and they both slipped out. Rhea looked around not seeing anything but darkness but she was sure that there were some garden tools around that the Weasley kids left out when Rhea arrived, not caring to tidy them up. Even if blindly she was still following Fred out of the garden while being careful not to step on the rake or something.

"Come on lagger. Or the sun will rise before we get there." Fred whisper-shouted to her. He was already by the gate of the garden where he was waiting for Rhea. The girl clumsily jumped over the shovel that got under her feet.

"Where even are we going? I thought you said we were going to see the stars." Rhea muttered, following Fred up the hill that led to the lake. Out of instinct, he grabbed her hand to help her walk faster up the steep hill. And suddenly Rhea was glad for the darkness around them as it prevented anyone from seeing the burning red rosiness that rose to her cheeks at the contact.

"We are," Fred said nodding slowly. He was still looking in front of him, only gripping Rhea's hand behind him to make sure she was still following. "But we need someplace special." He said dismissively. Finally, they reached the lake. It wasn't too big, just large enough for them all to swim in during hot summer days. Rhea also had the pleasure of damping herself in the water of the lake. The only bad thing for her was that she had slight trouble touching the bottom of it so she wouldn't drown when Fred and George were splashing around her.

Rhea didn't even realise when Fred let go of her hand. She was mesmerised by the amazing view of the moon illuminating the crystal-clear water. For once you could see all the stars in the sky, glimmering on the dark surface. When watching stars from the Astronomy tower at school or during Astronomy lessons they never looked quite as astonishing as they did now.

Finally getting herself out of the little trance that she was in, she walked over to Fred who was already lying on the ground, looking over at her. As if waiting when she would realise his presence there. She sat down next to him, only to be pulled back by her shirt into a laying position by Fred. He chuckled lightly at how Rhea huffed when her back hit the ground. One of his hands went behind his head to prop it up a bit better, while the other one reached down to once again take hold of Rhea's.

For a moment everything seemed perfect. Outside on a warm summer night, stargazing with a boy that she has a crush on. Life couldn't be going in a better direction for Rhea at the moment. She didn't even care she only had an oversized t-shirt that she didn't even know where she got it from. It just somehow appeared in her wardrobe. But the moment seemed like the best in her life so far.

"You know, now I know why I failed the Astronomy test last year." Fred laughed, gazing up at the starry night. "All I see is shiny dots." Rhea chuckled at that. Shaking her head slightly. The boys told her about their...interesting score on the O.W.Ls. Though they didn't seem too bothered by it.

"I would be drawing a blank at the moment as well," Rhea muttered. It was true, her brain seemed to be completely vacant when Fred was holding her hand. It was ridiculous how dumbifying effect his simple touch had on her. After a moment of silence, where Rhea was trying to collect all her thoughts together she finally managed to get a question out of herself. "So, did something happen when I am here with you? You know usually, there would be George somewhere around...I hope you guys are not pranking me here." Rhea accused turning her head to give a pointed look in Fred's direction.

The ginger only chuckled. The hand behind his head ran through his ginger hair which had grown quite a lot over the summer. They were now reaching his shoulders. Same with George's. Even Ron's seemed to grow quite long over the month that Rhea hasn't seen them.

"Calm yourself. I just couldn't put up with George's snoring any longer and I needed to get out. So I thought why not take you out, just the two of us." Fred grinned proudly, his thumb drawing circles on her hand. Rhea smiled in contentment.

"That's nice of you." She hummed happily, moving her head so it was somehow leaning on Fred's shoulder. The ginger shifted a little under her touch. He seemed a bit uncomfortable but ever since George hinted him something he was itching to ask Rhea a question.

"Um...so I heard you went out with Diggory..." He started unsurely.

"Yeah, went with him for one Hogsmeade trip. It was fun." Rhea shrugged, not paying much mind to the matter.

"Fun. Hm..."

"Mhm."

"I bet he was incredibly boring," Fred muttered, rolling his eyes at the thought of Cedric.

"Actually not really. Had a bit too many compliments for my taste but he was a real gentleman." Rhea smiled at the memory of the time she spent with Cedric. She didn't really think about it before but she did have a great time back then.

"Hm, but I am still better than pretty boy Diggory right?" Fred asked turning his head to look at Rhea expectantly. His brown eyes stared right at her waiting just for the one answer. Rhea slowly turned to him with a soft smile that Fred couldn't really see because of the dark but it was still there.

"Of course you are Freddie. You are the best." After that, Fred seemed quite satisfied with himself. Rhea had a blush on her face for the rest of the time that they were there which was quite a long since they both almost fell asleep on the grass that was slowly getting damped by the morning dew. When they got into the house it was already early in the morning, but still, there was enough time for them to go to sleep without anyone noticing that they were gone the whole night.