SERPENT HEART° TOM RIDDLE

031. IN ABSENTIA LUCIS, TENEBRAE VINCUNT

Tom cleared his throat and climbed to his feet. He glanced between Abraxas and Ramsey.

"We should go." Tom said. It wasn't a suggestion, but a demand. Ramsey and Abraxas were on their feet in an instant with Ramsey sending Rhea a wink. Tom turned to Rhea. "The first Knights meeting will be tonight in the Room of Requirement. Bring Yaxley."

Rhea smiled at Tom's acknowledgment of Seraphina. Ramsey raised a brow and Rhea could hear him asking Tom why Seraphina Yaxley was a member of the Knights of Walpurgis as they walked out of the compartment and left Rhea to her own devices.

She glanced at the compartment and hoped that there would be no more interruptions before she picked up The Black Book. Rhea hummed melodically as she flipped through the contents of her mother's book, sighing in frustration.

Delphine told her to get back at Pandora Parkinson and Rhea wanted to live up to her promise. Her mother's spells for torturing were either too intense or not good enough for Pandora. Rhea sighed in frustration and closed the book.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek, thinking silently to herself before an idea started forming in her.

If I can't find a spell to use against Delphine, I'll just have to make one myself.

Spell creation wasn't unheard of, but it was quite difficult and there was only one person at Hogwarts who she could turn to — Osiris Shafiq.

Professor Slughorn descended from the staff table and began distributing schedules to the Slytherins, taking the time to check and make sure everyone was in their proper classes.

"I'm excited to have you in my N.E.W.T. class, Miss Hel." Professor Slughorn said when he reached Rhea and handed her her schedule. She smiled politely.

"I'm excited to learn from you this year, Professor." Rhea said. She could see Davina rolling her eyes out of the corner of her eye. "I heard from previous students that we get to make Felix Felicis on the first day of classes."

"Yes, but I've found that most students look forward to the Amortentia smelling." Rhea heard Seraphina bite back an excited squeal that made Professor Slughorn give her the side-eye. He distributed the rest of the schedules to the girls and Seraphina leaned forward conspiratorially.

"I've wanted to know what I would smell for Amortentia since I found out what it was." Seraphina said excitedly, her eyes darting between each of the girls before they landed on Rhea. "Who do you think you're going to smell? Probably Atlas since you two are so smitten with each other."

The corner of Rhea's mouth turned up. Smitten. She hadn't even spoken to Atlas since she left Krane Manor, though that was mainly because she'd been stuck in Hel House for the last remaining weeks of summer holiday doing damage control. But, Seraphina was naïve and a hopeless romantic and it hadn't been too hard to convince her that Rhea was interested in Atlas.

"That's not necessarily true," Walburga shrugged lazily as she spread jam on her toast. Rhea turned to her curiously, asking her to elaborate. "Amortentia only lets you smell who you're attracted to. Maybe Rhea's not attracted to Atlas."

Seraphina blinked slowly at Walburga. Even Druella lifted her head from her plate to stare at her friend.

"How could you not be attracted to Atlas?" Seraphina asked, turning to Rhea.