Pranking hearts

Rhea sat in the room with the Goblet of Fire. She was basically dragged there by Alicia who wanted to rate every boy that was brave enough to enter. In her words, she wanted to make sure that the person who would be representing their school would look representative enough. But mostly she was just looking at the boys for the happiness of her eye. Angelina somehow managed to wiggle out of it, saying she wasn't feeling like joining them.

Katie was off to somewhere disappearing early in the morning, which was weird since it was Saturday and Katie always liked to sleep in. Never missed the opportunity to have some more hours of much-needed rest. However this morning she was nowhere to be found since the early hours when Rhea woke up so she could go for the early morning run.

Listening to Alicia rant about every single boy who entered the room was not exactly how Rhea imagined spending her day. Sure it was interesting watching who was crazy enough to join the deadly tournament, so many brave, young, stupid idiots. It was a shame some of them looked quite decent. 

Rhea could swear she even saw a glimpse of Edmund watching the Goblet with interest but was quickly pulled away by Althea. The Black didn't blame her. Edmund had the pride to give around and if one of his stupid friends dared him to enter he wouldn't miss a beat.

For this Rhea was very grateful that Althea was Edmund's girlfriend. She was keeping him alive. Quite literally in this situation. She was a very caring and nice girl, exactly the person Ed needed by his side.

"Are you even listening to me, Black?" Alicia asked, nudging Rhea in the side when she noticed the other girl wasn't paying any attention to what she was saying.  Rhea rolled her eyes absentmindedly looking at the goblet which was giving out a faint blue glow.

"Yeah, yeah. Hot Ravenclaw guy with dreamy eyes." Rhea shot her shot in the dark. Alicia frowned at the apathetic attitude of her friend.

"No..."

"Handsome, tall Hufflepuff then." Rhea dismissed, her tone bored as if she were asleep until now. A rather large group of loud Hufflepuffs had decided to enter the room at that moment.

"Speaking of handsome Hufflepuffs..." Alicia teased nodding towards the tall guy with brown hair that got pushed towards the goblet. Rhea's attention is suddenly consumed by the boy who has passed the age line surrounding the cup. She moved in her seat just as Cedric dropped his name in, followed by loud cheering coming from his housemates. 

Before he was dragged away to celebrate, the tall Hufflepuff managed to send the blonde a short polite smile, his cheeks flushing a light shade of pink when Rhea stared back at him.

She couldn't help but worry. It didn't matter that the boy wasn't entirely her love interest. But they were friends. Great friends even and Rhea couldn't bear the fact that his life was now in danger. 

Rhea could be worried all she wanted but there was no turning back now, once the name of the Diggory boy was inside the goblet. While Rhea was distracted by Cedric, Alicia managed to slip away to talk with the Durmstrang boy who had been eyeing her hungrily from the doorway.

Loud yelling entered the room, obviously coming from the two twin gingers that Rhea dreaded to see there. But even she knew it was inevitable. They just had to test their luck in any way possible. 

Though she wasn't exactly expecting the whole room to be cheering them on. That is the natural charm of the Weasley twins. They can get the sympathies of anyone they desire. Apart from their mom or Rhea when she was angry at them.

"Thank you thank you," George started, silencing the cheers to give their great announcement, "Well lads we've done it."

"Cooked it up just this morning." Continued the older twin with excitement lacing both their voices. The enthusiasm made Rhea even angrier at the two. Risking their lives like that for ridiculous reasons.

"It's not going to work," Rhea said in a sing-song voice. Pushing some fake enthusiasm into her words so as to not appear as irritated as she was in real life. Fred was aware of that. Just the sound of that pretend friendliness was a sign not everything was all right. That however only prodded the ginger to tease his friend. A wicked smile attacked his lips as he leapt to her side, crouching down next to her.

"Oh yeah? And why's that Black?" Fred asked, leaning his body against hers causing Rhea to frown. Meanwhile, George also took his place on Rhea's other side, eager to hear Rhea's explanation.

"You idiots must have forgotten but Dumbledore drew the age line around the goblet," Rhea explained. 

"So?" Fred asked, his head resting on Rhea's shoulder.

"So someone like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something pathetically dimwitted such as an age potion especially made by fools like you two." She smirked at Fred who imitated a hurt expression.

"But that's why it's so brilliant," George remarked, patting Rhea's shoulder.

"Because it's so pathetically dimwitted." Fred teased. He bumped his and Rhea's head together while he was standing up. He then rushed over to George, leaving Rhea to stare after him with a pained expression.

"Ready Fred?"

"Ready George."

"Bottoms up." They both downed the potion at the same time, their faces twisting something in distaste when the liquid flushed down their throats. The next thing anyone knew they jumped inside the age line, and cheered when nothing happened to them. They put their names in the flame and high-fived each other in glee. Rhea rolled her eyes when Fred sent her a cheeky grin. She couldn't believe they would fool the charms of Dumbledore like that. With the potion that she was sure wasn't even mixed correctly, unless they got someone to do it for them.

Suddenly the inviting blue glow of the goblet turned into a menacing red fire and the twins were thrown across the room. Rhea stood up from her seat quickly. Fear for her friends chilling the insides of her body as she watched with concern her two best friends who were groaning on the hard stone floor. 

An unsettling feeling spread through her stomach, watching them both with worry as they slowly lifted themselves from the ground. But once Rhea got a good look at them she had to bite her lip to restrain herself from laughing.

It is said that gingers can't grow white hair. Well, Fred and George were now definitely defining that saying as their previously bright orange hair was now even longer than before and purely white. Somehow they even managed to grow long beards to go with their new...aged appearance. 

Fred's first reaction when he somehow got a grasp of himself after the harsh landing was to glance over at Rhea. But seeing her trying to contain her laugh got him confused. He turned his head peeking at his twin, his eyes growing in size when he saw the new look on his brother.

"You said..." George accused, not at all satisfied with his quick ageing. 

"You said..." Fred argued back and the twins started fighting on the ground. Rolling around in a wrestling match while other students encouraged them to continue. Rhea on the other hand only sighed, walking down and through the crowd which seemed to magically part just for her. That was the privilege of being the famous witch of her school. With the reputation that she has anyone would clear out of her way. The crowd silenced when Rhea sent them a look.

"Cut it out you two. You are playing clowns for a wide audience." Rhea hissed at the two, grabbing the back of their robes to pull them apart. It seemed so effortless when she did so, but in reality, both twins just rather pushed away from each other when they saw that Rhea was there. "Let's get you to the Hospital Wing before I lose it." The three of them made their way to the Hospital Wing.

The twins bickered all the way there while Rhea was arguing with herself about whether she should find it funny or annoying. When Madame Pomfrey was fixing the two of them Rhea stood in between their beds where they were forced to lay down. She was silently staring into the distance just enjoying the twins being quiet for a while. 

But Fred saw her silence as the opportunity to strike up a conversation. So once Madame Pomfrey moved from him, after giving him a potion, to tend to George, he turned towards his best friend. A cheeky grin played on his face.

It was a right clash with the white hair, beard and generally worn-out old complexion that he now had. But that didn't stop him from doing so. The childish spark in him not getting cursed along with his looks.

"Oi young lady, you mad?" Fred croaked, poorly imitating a voice of an elder person, gaining the attention of Rhea. She looked down at her fellow Gryffindor, trying to hide the obvious smile that his bad acting skills caused. "You cannot be mad at the old man Rhea. No one knows how much time I have left." He prodded some more, just trying to get Rhea to speak with him. "I...I think I see the light." He started fake coughing, causing some of the patients in the room to send them annoyed stares.

Rhea had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. The disturbance of the peace was just Fred's thing. He was just not observant of his surroundings sometimes. But in this situation, even Rhea could care less about the irritation of the kids lying there.

"Better say your last words to me now...or you'll never have the chance..." Fred pretended to faint dramatically. Now even George was done with drinking his potion and was watching the show, a smirk covered by his beard, which would soon disappear hopefully. Rhea shook her head flicking Fred in the forehead.

"Such a drama queen are you?" Fred let one of his eyes open to glance at the girl sitting on the chair next to his bed.

"You are not doing this right. You have to kiss me to break the curse like in the...ugh the stupid muggle tale you read to us in the first year..."

"Sleeping Beauty?" Rhea offered the answer unsurely. She wasn't really remembering when she read the story to the twins and the fact that Fred seemed to recall the concept of it was quite remarkable.

"Yes! See, she had her prince to break the curse now you gotta do the same to save me." Fred explained. Rhea tilted her head in confusion but then smiled.

"You see yourself as a princess Freddie?"

"I see you as my saviour. Now pucker up and save this luscious piece of man." Even if Rhea had dreamed countless times of an opportunity like this, it was more than obvious that Fred was just thinking of it as a joke. It was just that twisted humour of his that he liked to put to use since it played so well with his good looks. 

Of course for Rhea, the simple kiss would mean so much more than just an aimless joke. It didn't matter whether she hated being the buzzkill of good jokes, she didn't want her fragile soul broken or her infatuation played with.

"Not with that beard, you're not." She muttered to herself getting a laugh from George who heard her. Fred only groaned loudly, indicating that he was bored with the hold-up. Rhea leaned a little closer to the Weasley boy who lay on the bed, eyes closed and waiting for the kiss that was unfortunately never to come from the Black. 

She took a quick glance at his hair, seeing the faint red tint there at the roots that were quickly spreading. She smirked to herself. She kissed the palm of her hand, exaggerating the smacking sound with her lips before she slapped Fred causing the boy to shoot up in the bed, startled by the impact.

His hand shot up to cover the spot where he had been hit. George on his bed almost fell off because he was laughing so hard. Fred rubbed the side of his face which was now a little red and with a hurt expression turned to look at Rhea.

"What the bloody hell was that for?!" He asked voice mixed with annoyance and confusion.

"That was a kiss." Rhea shrugged, an amused smile on her face.

"That was definitely not a kiss. Have you never kissed anyone before?" The question came out a bit harsher than intended and the question itself wasn't something that made Rhea comfortable. Truth to be told she never experienced the magic of the first kiss, if we do not count that time when Fred kissed her to taste her chapstick.  Unlike Fred who had to make out with each of his hook-ups at least once, Rhea was more reserved. She didn't feel comfortable with showing affection to just about anybody that she didn't know well. So the question of kissing was yet not answered in Rhea's book. Instead of letting it show though she merely shrugged.

"I'd say it worked well enough. You ginger again." She said nodding to his head before standing up. "You welcome." With that, she went to leave only to stop and look at George who was slowly losing his white colour as well. "Want a kiss as well?" She asked the younger twin who quickly shook his head.

"Nope, all good here, thanks for the offer." Rhea nodded, leaving the Hospital Wing to get to the Great Hall for the announcement of the contestants. She could wait for the twins there. And it was rather exciting to think that one of her classmates would be chosen to compete in the Tri-wizard tournament. Even if it was a life-threatening experience.

***

"It's a shame Potter won't tell us how he got his name in..." Angelina sighed that night when the four girls were all lying in their beds, about to go to sleep. Harry had just been chosen as one of the representatives in the tournament along with Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum. It was a right mess. Everyone seemed to somehow believe that Harry had forced his way into the tournament to be famous even more. Ron even felt betrayed by his best friend for being chosen.

Rhea on the other hand was observant of the look of pure terror that Harry had on his face when Dumbledore read out his name from the piece of small paper that flew from the goblet. In no way Harry would do that to himself. Especially if he knew how dangerous he was. Rhea talked to him at the beginning of the year. He just wanted one calm year, without the risk of dying. Now that all seemed to be just one desperate wish that would not be coming true.

Still, it was interesting how his name got in the election in the first place. Persuading anyone from the school would be next to impossible seeing the reaction of people who were now angry at Harry for even existing. Hufflepuffs were certainly having their rage fest since Harry was stealing their limited spotlight once again. 

There were not many times that Hufflepuffs got their chance to shine these past few years. Cedric's participation in the tournament was supposed to put them back up on the horse. Well, something just doesn't work out obviously.

"I still think it wasn't him," Rhea muttered, her arms tangled behind her head, providing her with some elevation. Alicia in the bed next to her snorted rather loudly which echoed in the quiet room. "Something on your mind Ali? For once something else than boys?" Rhea asked threateningly, knowing that her friend was about to voice the now popular opinion of the school.

"Harry's just being an attention seeker. There's nothing to it, really." Alicia explained matter-of-factly staring at the ceiling of their room, just like other girls were. "Don't get me wrong. I'm glad we are having a Gryffindor in the Tournament, but it was a really desperate move from Harry's side." 

Rhea frowned some more, turning her head to the side to glare at Alicia even though in the darkness of the room it was impossible to see. But Alicia could feel it. Gulping down the uncomfortable feeling of having Rhea glare daggers at the side of her head.

"Just shut up Alicia and go to sleep." Rhea snapped, pulling the covers over her body and deciding to rather go to sleep than listen to Alicia's comments any longer. The other girls followed suit, no longer interested in speaking in this tense atmosphere.