Pranking hearts

A few days after the whole conversation between Sirius and Fred the young ginger wizard has been scheming, which wasn't a good word to be used when it was supposed to include Rhea in some way in the end. This wasn't supposed to be just some elaborated prank that he was about to pull with his brother. This was to be the best date ever, because Rhea deserved the best date ever. He just needed to put himself into a mindset to plan it. And that meant looking at it as if it was an elaborated plan for a prank. Very weird approach in deed. It did work though, cause in his head, he had everything excellently planned. And even George seemed to be on board with the idea, so Sirius felt it unnecessary to worry again since the younger twin at least seemed to have some common sense. They reminded him so much of a particular group he once knew. It was almost crazy.

Rushed footsteps echoed through the whole house. The twins, Ron, Ginny, and Rhea were chasing each other around, caught up in a game. It made Sirius chuckle. So much destruction to the old house. He loved it. Mrs Weasley however wasn't as thrilled, especially when she heard something breaking on the upstairs floors. Arthur was out at work and Remus had once again some Order business to attend to, which left Sirius alone with Molly. The woman however wasn't in the mood to talk to him.

He didn't blame her. They never really had that warm relationship with each other even if they were both in the order before. She was much keener on Remus or James. And Sirius didn't mind it. Their way of viewing the world was way too different to be seeing eye to eye with each other. ANd no, the height difference wasn't the issue here. Another loud crash echoed through the house. Sirius chuckled to himself as Mrs Weasley dropped the fork she was holding in frustration.

"Kids, stop that this instant. You are going to bring down the roof on us!" He heard the woman yell from the kitchen downstairs. He was in the dining room reading the paper.

"Wouldn't that be a disaster?" Sirius muttered sarcastically. Fortunately for him, Molly didn't hear him otherwise he would be gifted with one of her famous icy glares.

"Come down here and help me with dinner!"

"But mum..." A whine was heard from upstairs causing Sirius to chuckle.

"I won't take any complaining Ronald, you and your siblings get down here this instant to help me out." And even if Rhea wasn't specifically called downstairs Sirius could tell she would go. She would always come and help whether she was asked to do so or not.

"Beat you downstairs!" One of the twins yelled and there was a pop sound heard. Most likely the twins apparating. Something that Molly forbade them to do but the two kept at it anyway.

"Hey! No fair, not all of us can apparate!" Ron complained.

What caught his attention more was the hurried sound of footsteps on the stairs followed by a crash and loud yells. Startling was the fact that all that happened was not too far up the stairs. A screechy, loud, and obnoxious voice of Walburga Black filled the house.

"Good for nothing child! Such dishonour to the name Black. Had I gotten my hands on you as I was promised you wouldn't have grown up to be such a disappointment. Befriending blood traitors, mudbloods, helping half-breeds. Keeping such disgusting creatures. You're nothing but a failure, looking the way you do." Sirius heard his mother's annoying voice yell at one of the children. And from the second sentence he knew which one of the kids it was.

Quickly he walked out of the hallway, angrily staring up the stairs. George was standing there having his arms protectively around Rhea who had a hurt look in her eyes as she stared up at the portrait of her grandmother. Fred was holding the cloth that used to cover her and was trying to drape it back over to shut up the old hag.

"You have no place in this house!"

"Bloody hell, lady, put a sock in it, will you? Nobody cares about your senile blabber." Fred muttered angrily, standing on his tiptoes to put the cloth over the painting. Sirius groaned as his mother continued screaming. Seeing the hurt look in his daughter's eyes he quickly swished his wand. The cloth slipped out of Fred's hands and placed itself on the corners of the portrait.

"That's enough from you, Mother," Sirius said pocketing his wand. Everyone seemed to be relieved that the terrible noise had been silenced. He looked over at his daughter, seeing her slowly peel herself off George. He scanned her with his eyes, noticing the unsure look she had in them. "Alright, Rhea?" Sirius asked. The blonde looked up quickly, forcing a smile when she noticed that people were picking up on her nervousness.

"All good." She answered back a little shakily. Sirius couldn't blame her. His mother did have that effect on people. It used to be even worse when she was alive. He could well remember the first and last time Walburga met baby Rhea.

The poor child started wailing as soon as her grandmother looked at her. It was a rather traumatic moment in Rhea's early childhood. For both her and Sirius. Since that was the day after Max's funeral. Everybody was still very much not okay and Sirius was mentally lost. Walburga came to take Rhea into her care after the incident happened. Rhea's cry was the thing that got Sirius to decide to keep her and not give her up to be destroyed in the Black family house.

Sirius knew he did good back then. Although it didn't turn out like he hoped it would. Rhea still grew up with someone he trusted and loved and she received an immense amount of love and care from Remus. Something he was grateful for. At least his fight against his mother didn't come in vain.

"I...just need to go to my room for a bit," Rhea muttered. She went to step back upstairs. Rolling her eyes when she passed by Fred who tried to approach her. The ginger rubbed his forehead in frustration.

George cleared his throat aggressively getting Fred to look at him. The younger twin pointed up the stairs. Fred's eyes widened, finally understanding. He looked back at Sirius who nodded with a grin. Fred took a long breath to calm himself down before he apparated off to somewhere.

"Where did Fred go? We were supposed to help Mum." Ron asked confused. Before George could explain anything Ginny spoke for him.

"He went after Rhea dimwit." She said with an eyeroll. Leaving Ron even more confused.

"But she's still angry at him."

"Merlin, Ron, you are so thick sometimes."

"What? But she is angry at him. She won't speak two full sentences to him."

While the two younger siblings started bickering their older brother just watched them with amusement. Same with Sirius. George was quite enjoying watching his little sister get so heated up about Fred and Rhea. He knew she had her own personal interests in it. The bet the other siblings made was still going strong. But still, it was nice to know that he wasn't the only sibling that was impatiently waiting for the couple to finally get together.

It was also funny how incredibly oblivious Ron was. It was common knowledge in the Weasley family that Ron was usually pretty blind when it came to feelings. He sometimes couldn't even register how their mum felt, and let's be honest she was pretty expressive about what she felt on the inside.

"Your brother isn't on the brighter side when it involves common sense, is he?" Sirius asked in a whisper, still looking over at the two younger siblings.

"It isn't a secret really, just he doesn't know." George chuckled.

"But really what does he want with her if she is pissed at him?" Ron complained about nothing, feeling rather frustrated that he wasn't understanding the situation. George rolled his eyes. He hoped Fred at least managed to get to Rhea because if he had to deal with their younger brother he better see some results.

"He went to confess," George stated with a bored tone. Ginny cheered at the confirmation while Ron looked even more confused.

"Confess? Confess what?"

"Ah nothing, c'mon, mum needs help in the kitchen," George said pushing Ron in the direction of the kitchen with Ginny skipping happily after them.

"You and Bill will be paying me and Charlie a load." Ginny snickered.

"What do you mean pay you? They are not together yet are they?" Ron yelled frustrated, not liking the idea of losing money.

"But they will be soon enough."

"They won't!"

"They will!"

"They won't Fred will mess it up!"

"He better not mess it up!"

"He doesn't have a chance with her!" Ron huffed angrily.

"Bigger chance than you ever had!" Ginny shot back. Ron groaned shoving his sister, who retaliated with another stronger shove. The two started shoving one another until one of them bumped into George who was rolling his eyes at the banter.

"Oh for the love of...mum, Ron and Ginny are fighting again!" George yelled, tearing away from the siblings and running to the kitchen to his mum. The younger ones gave out offended gasps before quickly following after him to tell their mother it wasn't true.

Sirius stayed behind and just watched them. It was a pretty amusing sight. The Weasley family was always something. He was very intrigued by the family from a young age. They always seemed to have tight bonds with each other and the kids in those families seemed so much happier, so free. In Sirius' eyes at least. He believed he only became truly free when he ran from home in his sixth year. Weasleys never had to run, they were used to sticking together and were quite overprotective of each other. Something Sirius never experienced from his family.

When he was younger and was still majorly influenced by his parents he believed they were dirty nobodies, disgraces to pure bloodline. Then later he found himself envying them for having such a great family life. Now he still admires them. But he learned to enjoy the life he has and not keep stuck on what he can't get.

The main doors opened and closed and in came Remus. He walked further into the house. Involuntarily cringing at the relics of the Black family. When he spotted Sirius standing on the stairs by the portrait of his late mother he smiled up at him.

"Hey, Sirius." He said in greeting.

"Hello there Moony." Sirius gave him one of his charming smirks and Remus just shook his head with a chuckle. Sirius noticed how tired the werewolf looked. It has been a rough few weeks for his pal. Besides the full moon, he had a lot of things that he needed to do for the order and he rarely got any rest. "Do you feel alright? You look awfully beaten." Sirius remarked.

Remus thought a while about a comeback. Thinking he would be able to figure out a way to cover for it. But then decided to give it up and not waste the limited amount of energy he had left.

"Haven't slept well in a while." He confessed rubbing the back of his neck. "It's alright though. No need to panic." He assured quickly when he noticed the worried look on Sirius' face.

"Anything I can do for you?"

Remus shook his head before he stopped himself.

"Actually, would you mind if we sat in the drawing room and listened to music for a while? Like the old times?" Sirius' heart fluttered at those words. It was almost as if Remus was asking to marry him. It made him feel like in heaven. But on the outside he managed to keep his calm persona, gracing his features with a lazy smirk.

"Sure we can, I have a David Bowie record, sure you haven't heard it yet." Sirius bragged teasingly, nudging Remus as he passed him on the way to the drawing room where he had set his new record player since he spent most of his time there.

"I doubt that," Remus said with a laugh. The shorter male threw him an annoyed look prodding him to play along. "Oh Merlin," He muttered to himself. "Ah yeah, Pads, show me the masterpiece then, I'm dying to see it." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Firstly, you can't see music. Secondly...you are a terrible actor, have I ever told you that?" Sirius said mentioning Remus' overacting earlier. Truth to be told Remus was always one of the best actors they had in the group. He could lie his way out of anything, at least Sirius believed so.

"Sure, whatever," Remus answered following him into the drawing room where the two of them finally had their long-deserved time to catch up with each other. Even if it was to the David Bowie record that they used to listen to as teenagers.

***

After her terrible encounter with her grandmother Rhea needed a second for herself. She needed to collect her thoughts. These days she was very doubtful of everything around her. She's been doubting herself quite a lot, whether it regarded her appearance or knowledge. Some days she felt insecure even about her personality. To say the least, these days were hard. Mainly because of her issue with Fred but her grandmother's nagging wasn't helping much either.

She's been overthinking too much. The fact that she spent too much time with herself without anything productive to do was getting to her. And her conversations with Sickle weren't giving her a confidence boost, or helping her sanity. The rare occasions where she fools around with the Weasley kids are the ones helping her the most.

Even from the top floor, she could hear Ron and Ginny arguing about something. She didn't know what they were saying but the conversation seemed pretty heated. It was sometimes a blessing to have the Weasleys around. Without them, the house would be quiet. And empty. As much as Rhea hates to admit it since she was originally against them being here, well, against one of them being here.

Fred being present in her life every day now was not helping her at all. Because she wanted to be angry and him being all amazing and funny and sweet was messing it up. Hence the reason she retreated into her room every time he tried to talk to her. It was a safe harbour. It guarded her from caving into Fred's sweet words and excuses.

Once she finally made it to her room she closed the door behind her. Letting out a relieved sigh once she was finally alone. Her guards came down instantly as she relaxed fully.

"Your room is nice." Rhea jumped at the sudden voice. She quickly spun around to see Fred standing by the foot of her bed, looking around at the decor of her room. "Bit too Slytherin-like for me though. But I'm not one to judge."

"How did you...You know what I don't care. Get out." Rhea ordered, pointing her finger at the door. Fred however ignored her. He kept walking around looking at the pictures on the walls. Some were there from Regulus others that Rhea put up by herself. Those were mainly with the twins and the girls. Fred could find himself in more than six pictures. He smiled to himself admiring the smile on Rhea's face in one of the pictures.

He remembered the day they took that picture. Rhea got a new camera for her fourteenth birthday from her uncle Remus. The twins, Lee and the girls went all out to celebrate in Hogsmeade. They spent the whole day there. To finish off their day they went to Three Broomsticks for Butterbeer. Fred however had the idea of checking the Shrieking Shack. Not many people wanted to go. Alicia and Angelina were quick to bail saying that they had a lot of school work they needed to finish. Which was a total lie since the semester had ended and it was just a few days before they would go home for the holidays.

In the end, only Fred, George, Lee and Rhea went to check the Shack. From afar, it did look quite scary. Fred started with the scary history of the Shack, hoping to strike even more fear into his friends for the fun of it. But in the end, it ended up with Rhea throwing a snowball at his face to shut him up. The actions started a full snowball war. Fred and Lee were team one and George and Rhea were team two. All of them put their bags to the side so nothing would get lost or damaged in the heat of the moment.

Rhea tossed a handful of snow at the back of Fred's head, bits of snow slipping past his scarf and coat and the cold water trickled down his back making him yelp in surprise. Quickly he turned around to chase after her. While the two were running around playing catch George and Lee got some time to rest. Once Fred finally caught up to Rhea he grabbed her around the waist lifting her in the air and spinning both of them around.

That's how George managed to snap the picture. Rhea, held up by Fred. Her eyes closed as she laughed. Her hair was flying around. Fred was also laughing. It was a good day.

Now he wondered how he could have forgotten days like those. And how did he not realise things sooner? The day could pass as one of the best days he had in school. And yet he didn't keep it in his mind for some reason.

"That's a nice picture. Was a pretty cold day wasn't it?"

"I don't know, now get out."

"Where's this one from?" He asked pointing to the picture where Rhea was with Edmund sitting in the grass somewhere and reading a book together.

"Summer before our fourth year. Went to London with Edmund and his little sister Lucy."

"Interesting." Fred nodded, still admiring the picture as if he didn't know that Rhea wanted him to leave the room.

"Can you get out now? I want to be alone."

"I would, truly, but..." He pulled out his wand and locked the door. Rhea turned quickly around staring at the door before she turned back to Fred with a frown, while the ginger just grinned at her. "...would you look at it? The door's locked." He said with fake surprise. Rhea rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"I'll gladly fix that for you," Rhea said with a forced smile and grabbed her wand from the chest of drawers.

"Ah, underage use of magic. Miss Black, have you no shame." Fred said with a shocked face, of course, everything was pretend. When he saw that Rhea was ready to use her wand. Either on the door or on him directly he decided to do a rather dangerous trick. "Expelliarmus."

Rhea's wand came flying out of her hand and right into Fred's. Both of them were quite surprised. For one Fred never managed to perform the disarming charm quite so effortlessly. He had this inner block in him that never let him perform the charm like it was supposed to. For one the opponent's wand never landed in his hand. It would go flying in a different direction.

The girl was surprised for another reason. She had never been disarmed by one of her classmates, furthermore, she was never taken by surprise by a charm. She had this gift that she could almost read the thoughts of people when duelling. So the fact that Fred out of all people caught her off guard was something.

"You..." She stuttered. Shaking her head and clearing her throat he tried to appear as if it didn't bother her. "Give me back my wand and get out of my room." She extended her hand out for him to give her the wand.

Fred clicked his tongue as he started walking towards Rhea. He kept balancing the girl's wand in his hand as he paced around her. He was about to hand the wand to her, but before she could grab it he pulled it away. With a grin, he hid the wand in his back pocket.

"Only if you hear me out."

"I can kick your ass."

"Tempting, but no."

Rhea sighed. Shaking her head as she walked over to her bed. She flopped down letting out another annoyed sigh. Waving her hand in the air in circular motion she signaled for Fred to start speaking. The boy practically jumped in happiness. He quickly cleared his throat so he could speak.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Brilliant," Rhea said sarcastically, throwing herself back to lay on the bed.

"Let me speak." Fred scolded. "I know I messed up, I was a jerk and a git and..." He stayed quiet for a second.

"An idiot, an absolute bloody..."

"Okay I get it, you're angry." Fred stopped her before she could continue. Rhea stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue. "What I wanted to say is that...I do love you." He waited for her to say something but Rhea remained unfazed, although on the inside she was freaking out. "And I know you probably don't believe me now but I can prove it to you."

Fred looked relieved. He was finally feeling good about himself since he found the guts to speak to Rhea and confess his feelings. But the look on Rhea's face was unsettling. She gave out no real emotions.

"What makes you think I still feel the same?" She finally asked in a choked tone. Even though she didn't expect it Fred's face was graced with a large smirk.

"I'll try to make you feel the same if you give me a chance to take you on a date," Fred suggested.

"Fred I don't..."

"Brilliant, Saturday will be the best day of your life." The ginger said quickly, grinning from ear to ear. He quickly tossed Rhea's wand at her, almost hitting her if it wouldn't be for her Chaser reflexes. Hurriedly he went to exit the door only to smack right into them. "Hah, it's still locked isn't it? My bad...you didn't see that." He said awkwardly, pulling out his wand and unlocking the door. And with that, he was gone.

Rhea still had her arm in the air where it stayed after she caught the wand. She was blushing hard just thinking about what had just happened. Was it really true? Did he ask her out? Just like that?

"Oh. My. Merlin."

Outside the door Fred was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. This was the most stressfull yet liberating thing he had ever done. He was really going on a date with her. This Saturday will be the greatest day. Becaus he had prepared the greatest date. A date that he still needs to figure out.

"Merlin," Fred muttered to himself, sprinting towards the stairs. "George!" He yelled almost killing himself on the stairs. When he successfully survived the first flight of stairs he finally realised that he was holding his wand in his hand. "Oh...right." With a swish of his wand he apparated downstairs to talk to his twin. He had to have someone to help him. This was important.