Selenophile // Marauders

|76| Christmas - Part IV, Sixth Year

Riley and Penny returned home, but as they stepped inside, Penny went upstairs without looking at anybody. Riley just looked behind her and then looked to everyone else sitting, gathered in the living room. 

"What happened?" Mr. Humphrey asked. Riley just stood there, scratching her head, wondering what to say.

"Er—" she said stuttering. "N— n— nothing."

"Nothing?" Adelaide Humphrey asked. Riley sighed, she couldn't tell them anything. "That was clearly not 'nothing!'" she roared. Riley winced as she raised her voice. 

"I really don't think it's my place to say anything in this situation that your son created..." Riley said as she set her eyes on Ethan angrily. Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey frowned as they turned to Ethan sharply. Ethan's eyes widened as he fidgeted with his hands nervously. Will looked at Riley in confusion. Madelyn gave a stern look at Riley, indicating her to stop but Riley ignored her. Even Walter shot his head up.

"What did Ethan do?" Walter asked with his squeaky voice. "He promised he would show me his toys..."

"And it keeps getting worse... Shame—" Riley said with a fake smile. 

"Ethan Humphrey!" Mr. Humphrey shouted loudly, Riley had never seen him angry, but she was glad to see Ethan suffer. "You tell me what happened, now!"

Ethan gave Riley a glare and frowned.

"It was not my fault!" he just said loudly. 

"What was not your fault?!" Mrs. Humphrey asked angrily. Ethan stuttered.

"It's probably nothing serious, right—" Will said but Riley looked at him.

"Stop defending him before you know what he did, Dalton!" Riley said sharply. Will gulped as he gave an embarrassed nod. 

"What did you do then?" Will asked, cluelessly. "Mate, it really doesn't seem like nothing..."

Riley rolled her eyes as Will spoke with sense, finally...

"What about presents?" Ms. Spade nervously said as she tried to break the tension. Riley looked at her mum and nodded fastly. She wished Ethan suffered more, but if this continued on, it would take all night. She also didn't want to make Penny sadder.

"Great idea, mum!" she said in relief. She sat next to Walter, who was playing with some things on the floor. She was absolutely disgusted by that kid but he was sitting far away from Ethan. 

Walter seemed to be enjoying the big box he got as a present. It was mostly toys, but he kept showing them to Riley. She could only smile and nod, she wasn't good with little children. However, Walter didn't seem to be as annoying as before. Nevertheless, he was the most unproblematic one in the room.

Ethan was dead silent for the rest of the night. He kept giving nasty glares to Riley, she would definitely curse at him if the parents and Walter weren't there. Penny had locked herself in her bedroom, not coming out of the room for the rest of the night. Will seemed to be uncomfortable by all the tension. 

As the Spade's left the house, the Humphrey's and Dalton's waved goodbye. Will and his family were staying there for the night. As they left, Riley noticed Will get out of the front door and awkwardly wave at Riley. She told her mum that she would come in a couple of minutes and went next to Will. 

"So, what the hell happened in there?!" Will asked quietly but sharply. 

"Go ask that to your stupid fucking cousin—" Riley said but then lowered her voice.

"I'm assuming that's Ethan..." Will said with a small smile. Riley nodded. "How's everything at Hogwarts?" he asked. 

"Er— fine, I guess."

"Fine?" Will repeated. "What happened?"

"Nothing too serious, well it sorta was but it's fine now," Riley said as she gave a confused expression. "It started last year, at the end of it. These two Slytherins started cursing and jinxing some people, especially muggle-borns— so I was sorta their victim last year and it was right before the OWLs so I failed Potions and can't take a Potions NEWT now..."

"What— are you okay?!" he asked worriedly. "That doesn't sound like something that's 'not too serious,' Spade," Will said. 

"I'm fine," Riley said but not too sure of herself. "How's quidditch going?"

"Good! Great, actually," he said cheerfully. "But— that's not what I wanted to tell you—"

Riley looked nervously at Will. He swallowed and sighed as he finally spoke.

"The war is out of control, Riley," he said. Riley anxiously bit her lip. "I don't think I'm supposed to tell anyone that the Order exists, but I already did tell you. I mean— I really don't know how we're going to make it through safely. Even the people I graduated with are getting murdered every day..." he said. "They almost took Jade away..."

Riley gasped in shock as she heard the name. Jade Miller, the chaser of the Gryffindor team until 1975. 

"She was kidnapped for a week or so, and they tortured her to get her to tell Dumbledore's plans— But she didn't give in any information. She was traumatized after that, they let her go eventually but she wouldn't even talk to anyone..."

"Oh, my—" Riley said weakly. "I didn't know— I mean, there are death eaters at Hogwarts too..."

"Who?"

"I'm guessing most of the Slytherins are headed that way, and I know someone who is a death eater already..." she said. "I don't get it... they murdering innocent people. That's awful!"

"It is, but we can't really stop them... I'm trying to keep these things hidden from my family. They know there's something wrong but they don't know it's this serious... I've put protection charms around the house. You're of age now, you can do magic outside of school. So try to stay safe."

"My mum definitely knows there's something seriously wrong in the Wizarding World. And I can't really hide it, she's trying to keep me safe," Riley said. "I don't think she wants me to end up like Ivy and dad..." she then said wryly. "I should go."

"Oh— okay, see you later," Will said softly. Riley waved goodbye and walked back home.