this is home; r.a.b

003. drive all of us insane

(lowercase intended. i'm feeling kinda bad for reia.)

second year was a blur of quidditch, parties, classes, talking to marilyn, and classes. it was perhaps one of the funnest years roxy's ever had (although she could only compare it to first). she talked to reia more, hanging out by the lake like last year. cassiopeia still felt this magnetic pull towards her best friend, but she didn't know what it was.

sometimes, she'd stay up all night in the library, looking for any book that says something about it - she had no luck.

third year, whilst they were drunk on butter beer in the three broomsticks, cassie randomly suggested on becoming animagus ("we.. we should- become ani- anigamus- animagus" she slurred. "we can be.. we can fly.. and be - be peaceful and run around..").

fourth year, they followed through with the idea, wanting to do it for fun.

every day, after classes, they'd meet up under a willow tree that they had carved their initials into.

c.r.b
m.r.l

they talked, sometimes they even swam in the lake, the did each others hair, and often played around. one time, whilst roxy waited for reia under the cool shade of the tree, she spotted two girls who were holding hands and laughing. they were on the other side of the lake, so roxy couldn't see their faces. suddenly, the were hugging, the next moment, the were... kissing?

cassie rubbed her eyes. they had both disappeared round a big oak tree. strangely, she didn't feel disgusted, she felt weird, though; she was confused. a few minutes had passed and she saw reia skipping her way towards her, long blonde hair swaying behind her.

when cassie saw her, all she could imagine were the girls across the lake. hugging, holding hands, kissing. she felt a pang of longing.

it wasn't until the summer before fifth year when she finally realised what that feeling was. the weird butterflies in her stomach everytime she saw reia. the blush in her cheeks when her friend came too close.

sweet circe, she groaned in horror, i have a crush on marilyn lovegood

"HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE THE NOBLE AND KOST ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK!" she heard her mother scream. "SOMEONE INFORMED ME THAT YOU- THAT YOU WERE KISS- KISSING A BOY? CRUCIO"

"stop," her brother begged. "stop, please, it hurts. cass, help me!"

she froze, casting a silencing charm over her room to drown out the screams of her brother. it was the cowards way out, everyone knew that; but she was a coward. she could bear to hear her brother begging for mercy. for his own mother to stop torturing him.

the next day, when she went down for breakfast, she couldn't spot sirius anywhere. "mother, where is my brother?"

her mother slammed the table with her fist, her fathers eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "gone." she muttered.

*
august 25th 1976
Devon, england - lovegood home
2:16 pm

it was nearing the end of summer holidays. reia was overjoyed to see her bestfriend - roxy. she lay in the grassy field, flowers surrounding her. she picked off some dahlias and iris', making a flower crown. i could give this to roxy, she thought, i hope the nargles don't take it.

as she looked up, marilyn could see her brother and his girlfriend - pandora.  she was very pretty, and had a heart of gold. 'don't worry,' her brother said before, seeing reia staring at pandora. 'you'll have a boyfriend soon; though, don't tell father i said that.'

overall, reia was a pretty nice girl. she didn't know why she got teased, or bullied. had she done something wrong? she never talked back, never said more words then she needed to, she did what everyone said, so why was she getting bullied?

ever since the incident in second year, the marauders have pulled more pranks on her, stolen her stuff, and sometimes mock her. ("oh, loony, looking for some wrackspurts? i heard there's some at the bottom of the lake, wanna go check?"). she didn't mind, of course. she just wanted to know what she did.

during first year, they didn't bother her much after finding out her brother was a prefect. it only started to get back near the end of january, when they had lost all form of respect for xenophilious lovegood - finding out that he, too, was no better then his younger sister. he, too, had shared the same beliefs of these made up creatures.

then there was the animagus project. her and cassie have already started it, putting a mandrake leaf in their mouths right before the summer. they brewed the potion and they just needed to wait until they were both together to transfigured themselves. marilyn hoped that she was something useful. she wouldn't wanna be a rat or a bug.

*
august 26th, 1976
james' pov - potter family's house, with sirius, james, remus, and peter
10:21 am

it was been the day after sirius had mysteriously arrived at james' home. it was a shock, at first. but they immediately ran to help him.

james, remus, and peter were all sitting in the drawing room, talking animatedly to one another, when sirius popped out of their fireplace. remus was the first one to help him. he ran over to the now unconscious boy, and plopped him up on the couch - werewolf strength, james remembered.

it was currently 10 am in the morning, and sirius had just woken up. he opened his eyes to find james and remus looking at him, sirius looked down and found peter sleeping on the floor. james, following his gaze, kicked peter hard in the stomach.

"oi, wake up, pete" he muttered. peter groaned but stood up, spotting sirius. "are you okay? what happened?, siri?"

"don't call me siri," he muttered darkly. "as for that, mother found out that i was, yknow.. gay."

everyone glanced towards remus, who was staring at him in shock. "oh, i'm sorry, this is my fault. maybe -"

"remus," sirius said warningly, "it wasn't your fault. it was cass'. i know she was probably the one who ratted me out. her and her stupid friend - loony."

"yeah," peter agreed. "it's like those two are in love. always talking to eachother, it's so annoying. we can never catch lovegood alone."

*

a week later, it was September first, and they were all boarding the train. cassie was glad to go back, along with almost everyone here. the war had taken a huge toll on them, hogwarts was the only safe place. cassie hadn't thought much of it, until one night she saw a gaggle of people in dark robes, making a plan.

it was finally their fifth year, and cassie was made prefect. she couldn't wait to tell reia.

reia

oh, what was she going to do? should she tell her? ignore her? pretend like nothings happened? yes, the last one. she'll pretend that they're nothing but best friends. nothing more, nothing less.