"You can't judge a book by its cover, Rhea"
"Yeah well, I can judge a person by their thoughts"
For Rhea Devereux, being in other people's mind was as easy as taking candy from a baby. Being born with the gift of Legilimency, it was something she wa...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The second week of November arrived and thus, the first game of the Inter-House Quidditch Cup (Slytherin versus Gryffindor), which was in two days.
Emma Vanity was very nervous. It was her last year at Hogwarts, and therefore her last year as captain. Brice Higgs, the Slytherin Seeker, felt very confident, and Rhea, one of the team's chasers, felt the same.
For Rhea, Quidditch was some kind of escape from it all. When she flew through the sky with her Nimbus and chased after the quaffle, she felt everything else being thrown away, her thoughts drifting away like dust in the wind.
That day, Rhea and Brice were lying on the Quidditch field, watching Emma throw many quaffle at the goalpost and yelling at the keeper, Derrick, that even after he kept all the quaffles away, it did not seem to be enough for Emma.
"She looks really upset," Rhea said.
"That might not be because of quidditch," mumbled the Slytherin boy, looking away from the ground.
"Brice, what did you do?"
"Well, you see, on Halloween, well, I played a little prank on her..."
"Brice, what did you do?" hissed Rhea, narrowing her eyes.
"I thought it would be funny, but apparently waking up next to a skeleton wasn't"
"Your joke wasn't even creative," Rhea told him, holding back her laughter.
"Yeah, I know " he said, grinning, "but, it seemed like a good idea when I thought about it"
"Now the whole team trembles when they see her" said Rhea, "but hey, that might help us win the cup this year" said Rhea.
"I hope so"
When the Quidditch Match finally arrived, everyone seemed a little nervous. Like Emma, the Gryffindor captain was leaving school that year, so there was much more rivalry.
The game had started more than half an hour ago and both teams were tied, 40-40. It seemed that everything was in the hands of the seekers, who seemed even more nervous. Higgs's confidence appeared to have waned until he spotted a golden ball and flew quickly towards it. The green crowd cheered as they noticed that Brice Higgs had caught the snitch, and that Slytherin had won the match.
✧ ☽ ✧
Rhea had made a list of the bad decisions she made in the weeks after the match. It had been two months since her father escaped Azkaban, and it seemed like Rhea was looking worse and worse.
The first bad decision she had made was to walk away from her friends.
She wasn't sure if it was out of fear that her father could hurt them, or if it was because she believed that if she walked away from them, and her father found her and killed her, they might not miss her much.
Her friends probably hated her, Rhea thought. But she was sure that her father would find her, and when that happened, it would be less painful to leave knowing that the people she loved would not miss her much.
She knew it was dramatic to think that way, but she couldn't help it.
Her father was a very powerful wizard. If he wanted to, she could sneak into Hogwarts and kill her like he planned to long ago.
The second bad decision was to stop talking to Remus.
It hurt her not to, but she couldn't go on like this, leading him on. She knew how he felt, and even though she felt the same, Rhea hid those feelings.
They had talked again for a bit before she walked away from everyone, and even if she missed his company very much, she knew Remus deserved so much more than the mess that was Rhea.
The third bad decision was perhaps that dinner with Dolohov.
From that day on, they spent a lot of time together. Well, correction, Rhea would walk alone and Dolohov would find her and walk with next to her.
They all believed they were together, and even he had said so, but Rhea didn't care. She hated to admit it, but being with him and listening to the long, boring stories he told, it was as if the thoughts of her father disappeared.
Oh, how Rhea would have wanted to feel that way with anyone else.
That was exactly what she was talking about with her aunt on her visits every weekend. Brianna was very worried about her nephews, and she had asked Dumbledore for permission to see them on those days. The director gladly agreed.
"I've heard you got a boyfriend?" asked Brianna.
"He's not my boyfriend"
"Sure" said Brianna, "so, he's a year older than you?" questioned Bree.
"He's in sixth year" said Rhea while drinking tea.
"Isn't he a bit older for you"
"Isn't uncle Daniel like a decade older than you?" joked Rhea and Brianna chuckled.
"Seven years" she corrected.
"Anyways, were just friends, so it doesn't matter"
"Ah, so you're still thinking about him?"
"Him?"
"Yes, that guy... with a weird name, Sirius told me about him over summer... what was his name..." was thinking Bree.
"Remus?"
"YES! That's the one. You fancied him?" asked Bree with curiosity.
"I don't know what all of this has to do with anything" mumbled Rhea, sipping her tea.
"Look, I know you don't allow yourself to feel-"
"I do allow myself to feel!" replied Rhea.
"Are you sure?" questioned Bree.
"I- well- It doesn't matter, all right?" Rhea took a breath.
"I'm just saying, you should give yourself a chance"
"Look, right now, I'm a mess... like literally, look at me" Rhea signaled herself.
She was pale, the dark circles on her face were more visible than ever and her hair was just a mess.
After a moment of silence, Brianna added "I'm sure they'll catch him"
"That's what you said weeks ago!" exclaimed Rhea, frustrated, "sorry" she mumbled, "I didn't mean to shout at you"
"Rhea, you can shout all you want, it's understandable" Bree said while sitting next to Rhea, wrapping her on a hug.
