RISE OF THE FALL | R.B.

XIII.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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CHAPTER XIII.

"I guess I'm really doing this," Reia muttered to herself as she rolled up her sleeves and opened up her Seventh Grade books.

She spread them out in front of her as though she'd usually get so excited about practicing spells early.

But she needed something to do. Something to think about. Or she was afraid she'd worry herself so much, to the point that she probably wouldn't be able to do much else.

She had always been against the stereotype that all Slytherins were evil; that just because a Hogwarts student wore a green-and-silver tie they were prejudiced, pure-blood Death Eaters.

But...but she couldn't fathom the thought of her friends actually becoming Death Eaters.

Of her best friends becoming the Dark Lord's servants.

She shook away the thoughts as she quickly reconcentrated on the books that she had opened up before her.

Of course, all of her books were Remus' old ones; though they were still in very good condition. Reia smiled a little to herself at that.

As per tradition, she scribbled out Remus' name and wrote hers in her messy scrawl right above his.

Remus' handwriting was so neat and beautiful, with the fancy dips and swirls—his writing didn't always look like that, obviously. His notes were...messy. And that was an understatement.

But Reia usually didn't like to look at her brother's notes. They were hard to understand. It was like Remus wrote in his own little language that only he could understand.

Well, at least it prevented lazy people from borrowing his notes and copying them.

Reia had once tried to borrow his notes in third year. Remus had given her his notes from that year, but she couldn't understand anything, so she'd given them back, and Remus had just given her a pat on the shoulder and told her that next time she shouldn't be so lazy.

Actually, she wasn't being lazy. She'd fallen asleep—it was History of Magic; who didn't fall asleep in History of Magic?

Josie, Reia's brain answered immediately, but that thought just led her to thinking about Josie becoming a Death Eater again...

With a groan, she realised her train of thought and quickly shut them out.

She pulled out her wand from her pocket and flicked to a random page in her Charms Book, and she was about to turn to a simple spell that she could start with, but something else caught her eye.

Patronus Charm

She furrowed her eyebrows as she read the instructions and the description on the spell.

Of course, Reia had heard of the spell before, but she'd never seen it conjured in real life.

"Happy memory, huh?" Reia muttered to herself, "Well, I definitely have plenty of those."

Even she herself didn't know if she was being sarcastic or not.

She decided for thinking about one of her childhood memories, before she was sorted into Slytherin:

"You'll be good, won't you?" Hope said with a smile as she squeezed her eleven-year-old daughter's hand.

"I will, mother," Reia said, smiling up at her mother, "Rem will take care of me if I get into too much trouble."

"I will," Remus said patting Reia's head playfully, "Don't worry, mother."

"Good, good, thank you, Remus," Hope said, before pulling both of her children into a hug, "Now, I can't get onto the Platform. Go with your father, both of you. Be safe."

She kissed both of their foreheads, and Reia and Remus giggled to each other before they ran off to their father, who was waiting at the barrier between Platform 9 and Platform 10.

"Exp—expecto Patronum...?"

Suddenly, she felt so ridiculous as she feebly made a couple of movements with her wand, to no avail.

Not even any wisps of light. Nothing.

With a frustrated groan, she reread the instructions in the Charms book, and she did the process again.

"Expecto Patronum."

And again.

"Expecto Patronum!"

And again.

And again.

And—

"EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO—EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Frustrated, she impatiently bent down, dropped her wand on the ground and furiously reached to flick to another page, but then Remus opened the door and frowned at her.

"Reia, I could hear you from downstairs," He took in the books that Reia had spread out across her bedroom floor, and smiled in amusement, "Practicing spells? Reia Lupin is practicing spells before the school year even starts?"

Reia groaned, "Be quiet, Remus! Why are you here?"

"Trying the Patronus Charm?" He asked, ignoring her demands as he approached her and laughed a little, "You're supposed to think of a happy memory, Reia. And you're not supposed to yell it so angrily and move your wand so forcefully that your wand almost breaks."

"Whatever," Reia grumbled, "You're welcome to help me, if you want to," She said dryly, but Remus just shrugged.

"Alright," He said, "Well, I learnt it in Seventh Year, just as you will. We usually learn them as an extension task—and most people won't be able to get it, so don't worry if you struggle a bit."

"Alright, alright—,"

But Reia was cut off.

Remus calmly raised his wand, shut his eyes, and said, "Expecto Patronum!"

And a wolf burst out of the tip of his wand, a silvery corporeal Patronus like nothing that Reia had ever seen before.

Her eyes widened in awe at the creature, "Whoa. It's beautiful. I've never seen a real corporeal Patronus before."

"Neither had I," Remus said with a smile, "before I learnt to conjure mine. Do you want me to teach you?"

Reia hesitated for a brief moment, before she said with a nod, "Yes, please. Thank you."

Author's Note:

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you liked that chapter. If you did, do vote and comment to let me know!

Some questions for you guys to answer/think about:

1. What colour do you think would suit this chapter best?

2. Who is your favourite character as of this point? 

3. Has your favourite character changed throughout the course of the story?

4. Any other thoughts/comments?

Be sure to leave your answers/thoughts in the comments to let me know what you think!

Thanks so much, cya <3