"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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On the train back to Hogwarts, Rhea held in her hand the Christmas present that her mother gave her, or rather, that her mother had planned to be given to her.
But this would be the last that she would receive, seeing that in a few weeks she would turn 17. She had wanted to open it on Christmas, but she knew that she would cry, and she honestly didn't want her friends to see her like that.
So much had happened since Christmas that she had forgotten about the gift completely, until she found it the night before.
Rhea had taken some time to read the letter her mother had written all those years ago. She had cried alone in her room, hugging her pillow.
When she opened the little box, she found a key. But it was not an average one, but rather, a key to a Gringotts vault.
Take care of your gift and use it wisely.
Her mother had said in the letter, among other things.
Now, as they were on their way to Hogwarts, she looked at the key one more time before she put it in her bag. She planned on going to Gringotts on the summer break.
The road was not quiet at all. Everyone was questioning Lily about the time she had spent with James at the wedding, and she was blushing so much that her face resembled her red hair.
"Why don't you ask Rhea about her time with Remus!" she exclaimed in exasperation.
"Old news" said Josh.
"AHA! Why don't you ask him about the time we all know he spent with Theo at the wedding," Lily said, pointing at Josh, who blushed more than her, if that was even possible.
They spent the rest of the trip questioning Josh.
✧☽✧
The first days of the second term of school were somewhat uneventful. Maybe Rhea felt that way thanks to the organization plan that Lily had made for them.
Yes, it was definitely that.
One day in January she was leaving the potions class with a big smile. A couple of days ago they had given a test and she was happy she got the highest grade. It was her way of reassuring herself that perhaps she was good at something.
Lily was just as happy. Even though she was wrong on two questions, her smile was huge.
To everyone's surprise, James Potter had gotten the same grade as Lily. And something that surprised them even more was that he didn't gloat when Professor Slughorn congratulated him in class.
One person was bothered by all that fuss, and he was not at all happy that Rhea Devereaux had beat him, again. He cursed himself for answering question 15 wrong. Severus Snape was radiating anger.
"I don't get it! I went over this thousands of times!" Remus complained, walking beside Rhea, moving the exam sheet with his hands, "we went over it together, right?"
"Yes, we went over it together," Rhea said, taking the test from Remus' hands and checking his answers. She nodded and shook her head as she read.
Remus just looked at her, confused "Rhea, love," he said, scratching the back of his neck, "can you...?
"Yes, right, sorry" she smiled at him, "look, you were wrong here" she said pointing to the parcel, "in the recipe for Laughing Potion you need to say that you have to giggle at the potion"
"Giggle at the potion?" Remus asked, wide-eyed, "giggle at the potion?" he repeated, taking a breath.
"Yep" Rhea replied laughing, "and here you should put that it was 8 drops of-"
"On top of blood traitor, now you hang out with half-breeds" Severus Snape yelled at her. It was merely luck that the only ones in the corridor were the three of them.
Ever since Snape had called Lily that terrible word, he had been pestering those who spent time with the redhead. Rhea and her friends, of course, were those that received this kind of comments from Snape.
"Ignore him, it's not worth it" Remus told her, and she took a breath, nodding and walking the other way with Remus by her side.
"Be careful with her, Lupin" said Snape suddenly, a smirk appearing in his face.
Rhea stopped dead in her tracks and turned around, her gaze in Snape.
"You know, her father used to kill the likes of you, Lupin. A lot of them, if I'm not mistaken... Who knows, maybe she has it in herself to do the same"
This time she didn't hesitate as she walked towards Snape and punched him so hard on the face that he fell on his back.
Rhea took out her wand, pointed it at Snape and glared at him, "what the fuck is wrong with you" she said, "You really lack any sense of maturity, don't you?"
He just glared at her
"Don't you speak to me or Remus like that ever again" Rhea said.
"Or what?" he asked, blood pouring from his nose.
"Or next time it won't be a punch..." she said, getting closer and putting her wand on his neck, "but perhaps a curse so dark that you won't be able to move for weeks, do you understand?"
Severus didn't say anything.
"Do you understand?" she asked him angrily and he nodded, "great," Rhea said and turned around.
She walked towards Remus and heard Snape going the other way.
"Um... Come on, I don't want to be late for dinner. Marlene said there were going to be roast potatoes," she murmured without looking at him.
"Rhea" he said, taking her hands in his, making both of them stop in an empty hallway.
She gulped, "why would he say that? This was- He crossed the line this time..." she went silent and then took a shaky breath, "but I did too, I shouldn't have done that" she whispered.
"No, hey, listen to me" he said, taking her face in his hands, "he did cross the line. And I know you, Rhea. You wouldn't do that just for anything. Snape, he... He shouldn't say things like that"
She took a breath, looked at the floor and went silent.
"Remus I-" she took a breath after a moment and looked at him, "I would never- Never"
"You are not your father," he said.
Was that true? She had thought of killing him just like he had killed her mother.
She had been about to do it.
Was she any different?
She shook her head; she didn't want to dwell on that.
Rhea hugged Remus, tightly. She was on the verge of tears but took a breath. He hugged her back, stroking her hair.
