"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...
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The exams were quite literally around the corner and Rhea had studied. A lot.
But she had done it alone in her room. Her friends would accompany her, and bring her food, because she refused to leave the quiet and calm place.
But if she wanted to take the end of term exams, she needed to go out.
And so, one day, Remus appeared in her doorway. He had a knitted hat on and gloves the same color.
"You look nice," she said as he sat next to her.
"You too"
"I look disgusting" Rhea chuckled, looking at her pajamas and touching her mess of hair.
"You don't" he said, "take a coat," he added.
"I'm not going out" said Rhea, "I've already told everyone that"
"And they got scared of your bad temper" chuckled Remus, "even Black did. But your bad mood does not scare me Rhea Deveraux" he smiled.
Rhea noticed Remus had said Black and not Sirius or Padfoot, but decided to not touch the subject.
"So, take a coat," Remus said.
Rhea stayed still for a moment, looking Remus in the eye. But he didn't even blink.
"Fine" she huffed, put her feet on slippers, put on a coat and left with Remus.
Luckily, no one was in the common room, but then they headed to the yard, where several students were walking and chatting. Immediately, Rhea felt all of their thoughts pierce her head, but Remus put his hand on her cheeks and she looked up.
"Look into my eyes" he said, "I read that if you focus on something, that helps" he added, trying to help and Rhea nodded.
She looked into his brown eyes, those eyes that she knew really well and that she never got bored of seeing. She focused on his eyes, on his face, on him. And it was as if out of nowhere, everything fell silent.
She took a breath and smiled widely.
"It worked?" he asked cheerfully and she smiled, nodding, "you need to practice"
"Since when do you know more about Legilimency than I do?"
"I told you, I've been reading"
"Well, that's-" Rhea was saying but lost focus. All the voices came to her at once and she placed her hands over her ears.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to shut everyone up.
"It's not going to work" she said desperately, running towards the Black Lake, where no one was on sight, Remus on her tracks.
She stopped when she heard no other thoughts apart from Remus' worried ones.
"It's not going to work," she repeated.
"Don't say that '' said Remus, taking her hands, "please don't say that. I'll help you, Rhea. Please, don't shut me out. Please, let me help you. Let all of us help you"
Rhea wanted to do the contrary. She loathed being the one being looked after, the one they always asked if she was okay.
But she had brought that on herself.
It was entirely her fault.
And she knew, she was certain, that without her friends, without Remus, she was not going to make it.
And after so many years fighting with her own thoughts, after so many years not wanting to keep going, Rhea felt as if finally there was a light at the end of the long and dark corridor that had been her life.
She could feel it. She could sense it as well as she could sense the sadness, the joy or the anger of someone else.
And after so many years hurting, she felt she needed a break from the pain.
So she decided to keep going.
"Okay" she whispered and took a shaky breath, "let's try it again"
