Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.
*
CHAPTER III.
Reia might've skipped class—if it hadn't been for Regulus yelling at her to get out.
"Ugh," Reia grumbled, "Why'd you have to yell? I think I'm deaf now."
Regulus rolled his eyes, "I think we both know that if I hadn't yelled you would've have gotten up."
"True," Reia admitted, "But still, you could've just let me not get up, Reg."
Regulus sighed, "Whatever, Rei. I don't think you would've wanted to miss DADA, though."
"Duh, obviously not," Reia said with a roll of her eyes, "What sort of question is that?"
"Um...Rei, it wasn't a question, it was a statement..."
"Ugh, since when did you get so annoying, Reg?"
Regulus just glared at her, and Reia grinned right back at him.
***
"Miss Lupin?"
Reia swung her feet off the table and turned to grin at Professor McGonagall.
"Yes, Prof?"
She adjusted her Slytherin tie casually as Professor McGonagall looked like she was restraining herself from giving Reia a detention.
Reia felt particularly Slytherin-ish today, so she said with a smirk, "Oh, don't hold back, Professor. Go ahead and give me as many detentions as you so dearly hope you could deep within your heart—,"
"Enough!" Professor McGonagall snapped, unsmiling, "Detention, Miss Lupin. Why can't you be more like your older brother?"
Reia was sure that the whole class felt the room temperature drop below freezing point as Reia's smirk vanished.
"More like my brother, Professor?" Reia said coolly; quietly.
"Yes, Miss Lupin," Professor McGonagall said with a purse of her lips.
Reia laughed humourlessly, and she turned her cold, unfeeling eyes over her classmates, before saying in a dangerously soft voice, "I'd love to be more like my brother, of course. But unfortunately, Professor," Reia said coldly, "I'm not my brother."
Her chair scraped—the sound sharp and cold in the empty silence of the room—as she got to her feet, her glare icy as she swept her eyes over the room.
She shoved her books into her bag angrily and stormed out of the Transfiguration Classroom without another word.
***
Reia didn't cry.
She hadn't cried for years.
But she did stay alone.
She sat on her bunk, staring into space, lost in her thoughts, for hours.
The silence was a nice change.
"Reia?"
The knock that sounded after was quiet and hesitant, but Reia had already snapped out of her thoughts.
"Yeah, Josie?"
"C-can I come in?" Josie asked carefully, her voice muffled by the wood of the door.
"Of course you can, it's not just my dormitory."
The familiar girl went into the room cautiously, her eyes darting back and forth from Reia and her own bunk.
"Josie?" Reia said softly.
Josie glanced up, looking nervous, "Erm, yeah?"
"A-are you afraid of me?" Reia said.
Josie didn't reply. She stared at her feet.
But the silence was answer enough.
"Fine," Reia said coldly, though she was very deeply hurt.
She gathered her books and her bag, and got to her feet, "If I'm not welcome here, I'll find somewhere else to be."
"Reia—,"
"No," Reia said with a sharp glare in Josie's direction, "I'll leave. But," Reia said with a snarl, "Just so you know...I'm not my brother, but I'm definitely not stupid. I know when somebody is afraid of me. I know when somebody doesn't want me around. I am not crazy."
Josie, pale-faced, watched wordlessly as Reia strode out of the room, her jaw set.
Fine, Reia thought to herself, grinding her teeth as she adjusted her golden necklace—the necklace that her mother, Hope, her namesake—had given to her when she'd first left for Hogwarts when she was 11 years old.
If you don't want me here, I'll find somewhere else to be.
***
Reia brushed Regulus' hand away.
"I'm fine," Reia said quietly, "I'm just...it's just..."
"You didn't do anything wrong," Regulus said gently, "That's like somebody—let alone a Professor—telling me to be like Sirius. I know Professor McGonagall probably didn't mean to hurt you...but she made a mistake."
"Uh, well, obviously she did," Reia retorted, "But I'm a Slytherin. It's natural of a Gryffindor to offend me—or you, or any other Slytherin."
"It's not right," Regulus said disapprovingly, "The Gryffindors go around and tell everybody how mean and cruel and bad we are—and yeah, maybe to a certain extent we are bad and cruel and mean—but that doesn't give them the right to just insult and offend us. That's like saying that just because a lion had claws that humans could hunt them. It's just not right, Rei."
"I dealt with it."
Suddenly, a grin broke out on Regulus' face, "Oh, you sure did."
He raised his arm for a high-five, and Reia smirked and high-fived him.
"You go and do your thing, Rei," Regulus said with a grin, "Who cares what the Gryffindors say? Just do your thing, and do Slytherin proud, Reia Hope Lupin."
Author's Note:
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RISE OF THE FALL | R.B.
Fanfiction[COMPLETED] REIA LUPIN IS A SLYTHERIN. But her House does not define her. * Her name fell from his lips; the sweet, smooth sound carried away by the wind. But she did not turn to him. She stared, into the distance, her eyes stormy as she said, "The...
