Eleven year old Rhea was struggling to remember the ingredients for a potion. It was the middle of the night, and Rhea, with bloodshot eyes, continued her studies out of fear of getting scolded—again—by Professor Snape. She immediately slammed her Potions, Grade 1 book on the table, not aware that the Grey Lady was behind her.
"Oh no!" Rhea gasped and instantly took the book in her hands and stroked it as though pacifying an injured child. The Grey Lady smiled faintly as she looked upon the young girl growing frustrated.
"I wish I was Hermione." Rhea said gloomily and slumped into the arm chair, rubbing her eyes tiredly. It was about one in the morning, and she had made no progress whatsoever.
"And why is that?" the Grey Lady asked quite sharply, floating around Rhea's chair.
As Helena Ravenclaw had expected, Rhea Arquette hardly showed any sign of surprise at hearing the voice of the unexpected visitor.
"Well, for starters, she's extremely intelligent," Rhea said as though this was quite obvious. "She can understand everything and anything that she's taught and even though she didn't even know what Hogwarts was a few months ago, she's the best in our year."
The Grey Lady looked at Rhea with an unreadable expression. "Do you think you were Sorted into the wrong house?"
Rhea's shoulders slumped. "Maybe." She replied moodily.
"Getting good grades," The Grey Lady said loudly to make her point. "Doesn't mean one is knowledgeable."
"But—" Rhea started in confusion.
"I have no doubt," she cut Rhea off again. "That this Hermione is quite knowledgeable. But do you think that's all what matters? Books and essays and potion ingredients?"
"No," Rhea said, nettled. "But—"
"Have you ever wondered why Miss Granger was not Sorted in Ravenclaw?" The Grey Lady asked, interrupting her yet again.
"Well," Rhea said obliviously. "Because her bravery overpowered her intelligence?"
"No," The Grey Lady said softly. "Because Ravenclaws are the epitomes of creativity and open mindedness. Miss Granger, and I mean no contempt, lacks both."
Rhea looked annoyed, but the Grey Lady smiled gently. "One day, you'll understand. For now, don't worry yourself over it."
"Okay," Rhea shrugged, not really understanding what the Grey Lady meant. "What is your name, anyway?" she asked curiously.
Helena raised her eyebrows. "Why would you want to know?"
Rhea shrugged. "I can't keep calling you 'Grey Lady' now, can I? I mean, isn't that kind of racist?"
For the first time in years, Helena Ravenclaw laughed out of pure amusement. Smiling down at the young girl, she said, "For now, you can call me Helena. One day, perhaps, I shall tell you my full name."
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Tw: harassment
"Ready to go to Potions?"
Lily's voice snapped Rhea out of her stupor, and the she blearily looked at the redhead. Rhea had been trying to do some last minute studying for a potion test, but she'd ended up daydreaming yet again.
Rhea smiled sheepishly. "No."
Lily laughed and linked her arms with Rhea's. "It's alright. Slughorn loves you anyway."
"Yeah, because I totally live to please him." Rhea replied sarcastically, and the two friends laughed.
"On the way to Potions?" Remus asked from behind them, and the two Gryffindor girls turned to find four boys walking towards them. He gave Rhea and Lily a smile as greeting, while the rest simply hovered in the background.
Lily stifled a sigh. "Yes, Remus. Joining us?" her tone sounded like she desperately wanted him to decline that offer.
"Yeah, sure." Remus said, and Rhea groaned slightly.
"Not too happy, are you, Cadieux?" Sirius asked snidely.
"Get lost, Black," Rhea said quite bitterly, and even Sirius was shocked at her hostility.
"So," Remus started hurriedly, as though it was his personal mission to patch their differences up. "Did you prepare for the Deflation Draught Potion? We're brewing it today."
"You have no idea how prepared I am, Remus," Rhea said dramatically, with an awful amount of sarcasm.
"That," James scoffed, "is an easy potion."
"I," Rhea scoffed too, trying to imitate James. "beg to differ."
"Really?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "And why is that?"
"Well, for starters," began Rhea, and Lily hid her grin. "To make the Deflating Draught is as easy as it is to deflate your heads, James and Sirius."
"Which is not easy at all," Lily added, and the two girls grinned at each other.
"Very funny," James looked unimpressed. "Really witty."
"What can I say?" Rhea shrugged. "I've got to lower my humour standards so that you and Sirius can keep up."
Their bickering lasted till they reached the classroom, after which they went their separate ways, with Rhea and Remus sharing a desk since they were potion partners. Lily and Sirius were partners as well, and James was paired up with a girl named Heather Adams.
Slughorn began giving them last minute instructions, but Rhea knew it was more for her benefit than anyone else. Even if it was a test, she knew she'd at least pass with a 'P', since she could just copy from Remus who was sitting right next to her.
Now, she normally didn't approve of copying, mainly because copying never helped anyone in the long run, and because she was a Ravenclaw in nature, for crying out loud. But, it was her second chance at passing the Potions O.W.Ls this time, and she was not going to let it go, even if it was not exactly fair for her to do so.
She remembered her abysmal skills at potioneering in her previous time at Hogwarts. Needless to say, she hadn't been able to take Potions in her sixth year.
"Now," Remus started, giving Rhea a lopsided grin. "I hope you will not resort to illegal means to brew the potion, Miss Cadieux."
Rhea rolled her eyes at him as she jotted down hasty points on her parchment for future reference. "Rough world we live in, Mr Lupin," she replied vaguely, absently biting the end of her quill. "Desperate times, desperate measures."
Remus snorted bemusedly, shooting her a disapproving look. However, it was clear he had no intentions of snitching on her, seeing as he was not a huge fan of Potions, either.
"Begin," Slughorn chimed happily, and the students hastily lit their cauldrons and begin brewing the Draught.
"Okay," Rhea muttered. "I got this, I got this, just remember the ingredients..."
For half an hour, nothing went wrong. Rhea was almost starting to believe she'd at least get an 'Acceptable' in her test, which would be a great accomplishment.
Almost.
"Okay, calm down Rhea." Rhea muttered feverishly, her hand shaking violently as she stirred the potion. "Add the aloe, slowly, slowly, you stupid girl..."
"Rhea," Remus said sternly, but he was smiling slightly at her antics. "You're getting too loud with your nasty comments about yourself."
"Okay, okay," Rhea grumbled under her breath, increasing the flame slightly. For a few seconds, there was silence, but immediately Rhea began muttering like a mad woman, and Remus shook his head and gave up.
"Now, I've got to cool it," Rhea told herself, pretending she was on a show and was teaching a million people how to brew the Deflating Draught. "I'm taking the cauldron off the fire now..."
"Merlin," Remus said, rolling his eyes at her. "You've gone mad, Rhea. It's just a potion—"
"A potion to you, Lupin, but a lifetime's achievement for me!"
Remus sighed resignedly and shook his head at her before concentrating on his own potion.
"And I'm done!" Rhea announced loudly to the silent classroom. "Geniuses and idiots, I present to you the Deflating Draught!"
The class went extremely silent, and there was an awkward pause.
"Give it up for Rhea Cadieux, losers!" Lily yelled from the corner of the classroom, and promptly the entire class broke into a chorus of applauds.
***
"Hey, duckling."
"Hey, freak."
"That's rude."
"Get used to it."
"But why can't you be nice? Ducklings are nice."
"I don't like ducks."
"Why ever not? Because I turned your wand to a duck?"
Luna and Regulus were in Care of Magical Creatures. Luna remembered being surprised when she first saw Regulus in the class. She'd thought he'd only be interested in DADA, potions, Transfiguration and Astronomy. But she had fallen prey to the stereotypes. She realised that Regulus, the cold and seemingly demeaning boy, was actually a big softie underneath his cold exterior.
Of course, over the past few weeks he had been warming up to the idea of being friends. Initially, he just ignored her entire existence to keep up his 'I-don't-fraternize-with-blood-traitors' act, but gradually, he began initiating conversations too, as though he couldn't resist the urge to talk to someone about something other than academics or Dark Arts.
And after a long, painful, slow, tantrum-filled journey, Regulus Black and Luna Cadieux finally became friends.
Dorcas and Timothy, however, were not so happy about this, since they hadn't forgiven him for his stupidity. But they reluctantly agreed to tolerate him when Luna promised she'd be careful.
Today, they were working on Fire Crabs. Professor Kettleburn had managed to find Fire Crabs in Fiji, after getting the Ministry's permission, of course. Luna remembered asking Hagrid how he'd managed to find the Blast Ended Skrewts, and Hagrid had told her that he'd made a Fire Crab and a manticore mate, and that was how the Blast Ended Skrewt came into existence. Whatever he did wasn't exactly legal, though.
"It's beautiful," Luna breathed, stroking the Fire Crab's back. "You know, when I was young, I always thought Fire Crabs were actual crabs. So when I saw Fire Crabs looking like tortoises, I was confused."
"I could say the same," Regulus chuckled slightly, completely entranced by the Fire Crabs. "But I was more surprised when each one of them had a jewel on their back."
All fire crabs have jewels on their backs. It could be sapphires, emeralds, rubies or something else. Luna was holding a sapphire Fire Crab in her hand, something not many dared to do, since all Fire Crabs shot out fire when they felt threatened.
Luna had always thought, from what Rhea had told her, that Regulus' kindness to creatures extended only to Kreacher, the house elf. But only now did she realize that he loved all sorts of creatures, just like her.
"You've got to stroke its back first," Luna told Regulus, whose Fire Crab was reluctant to sit on his hand. "That way they feel assured that you aren't going to take its jewel."
"You're weird," Regulus decided. "But you do have some knowledge about Magical Creatures, I'll give you that. No offense." he added, just in case.
"None taken," Luna said cheerfully, "I'm not overly fond of your take on normalcy either."
Regulus' lips twitched slightly. "Fair."
They worked in silence for a while, before Luna decided to speak up.
"Funny, Amycus and Gibbon keep looking at me," Luna observed quite dreamily, smiling slightly.
"They're scared you might attack them with your Fire Crab," Regulus replied casually, not gracing his former friends with a single look.
"But I'm as harmful as a duck!" Luna countered, looking genuinely annoyed that they were scared of her.
"Very harmful, then?" Regulus asked, fighting off a grin.
Luna looked miffed. "But I'm not going to harm them!"
"Well, if I were you, I'd bask in their fear for me."
Luna didn't respond, and Regulus stole a glance at a Slytherin girl standing a few feet away from them. Her red hair was tied into a bun and there were a few freckles on her skin. Normally, Regulus didn't condone staring (that was such a 'Sirius Black' thing to do, utterly disrespectful), but Amy Jackson was an exception.
Professor Kettleburn was helping a few students clean the cages of Fire Crabs, since they were scared they were going to get burnt.
"Oh, come on, Reg," Luna said finally, fed up with his antics. "Just go to Amy and talk to her."
Regulus blushed. "I wasn't—"
Luna raised her eyebrows. "So I was imagining you staring at her?"
"Well—"
"Just go!" Luna chimed happily, letting go of the Fire Crab for moment.
"How—how do I start the conversation?" Regulus asked quite desperately, glancing furtively at Amy, who was gingerly petting her Fire Crab.
"If I were you," Luna said quite serenely, which was unusual for her. "I would go to her and show her the right way to hold a Fire Crab. Then I'd tell her about all the other creatures I know, like Wrackspurts, Nargles, Crumpled Horn Snorcack, Umbugular—"
"—alright, I get the idea." Regulus interrupted, amused. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck." Luna said cheerfully, and Regulus rolled his eyes at her.
He took a deep breath and mentally scolded himself for being so cowardly. But then, he'd always been weary of interactions, since he wasn't such a social person, like Sirius or Luna. To cap it all up, he was scared his mother would know he fancied a half blood. He shuddered to think what would happen then.
"Er—hi," Regulus said, coming to Amy. He cringed at his own voice.
Amy looked surprised. "Hi, Regulus."
There was an awkward pause, and Regulus was struggling to find his voice. He looked genuinely frightened.
"He wanted to show you how exactly to hold a Fire Crab!" Luna's cheerful voice trilled from behind them.
Regulus mentally facepalmed, and Amy went a little pink. She wasn't aware she'd been doing it wrong.
"Thank you," Amy said graciously after recovering from her shock. Regulus awkwardly hovered behind her, muttering out instructions and reassuring her that it wouldn't spout out fire any time soon.
"It's a wonder these creatures aren't extinct yet," Amy mused, stroking the Fire Crab. "Don't people hunt these down for money?"
"Yeah, they do. But the Ministry has offered utmost protection to the species in Fiji." Regulus explained. "
"Really?" Amy asked absently, stroking the Fire Crab. "They're beautiful, I've got to admit."
Regulus smiled slightly, but before he could say anything, Luna interrupted them, "If you like Fire Crabs, I'm sure you'd like Gulping Plimpies too."
Okay, maybe interrupting them wasn't the best idea, but hey, she was a social butterfly. She remembered interrupting Harry and Cho's conversation in the DA practice, not out of spite, but out of pure excitement. She'd thought Harry would be angry, but instead, he had been quite amused after he heard what she had to say.
Regulus, however, was not impressed.
"Really?" Amy asked immediately, ignoring Regulus completely. "What's a gulping plimpy?"
Amy and Luna chatted happily throughout the class, and Regulus stood on the sidelines grumpily, watching how Luna interacted with Amy with ease. The trio trudged up to the castle as soon as the class got over, and Luna and Amy were still talking.
Regulus was growing more and more annoyed, and finally decided to make his presence known.
"Mulberries!" He blurted out before he could stop himself.
Luna and Amy turned to look at him. "What?" Amy asked, amused, and Regulus groaned mentally, knowing he had just embarrassed himself.
Luna piped up, "Sometimes our mouths say things we don't really want to say. Don't worry, Reg, you've just got a broken brain filter."
"Did you just call me an idiot?" Regulus asked, looking genuinely confused.
Before Luna could reply, there was a shrill scream from the floor below them. The trio froze in their tracks, straining to hear any further screams.
Well, the scream was eerily filled with terror and fear, but was it simply a prank? Was that person really in trouble?
"Should we check on them?" Amy asked softly, pointing at the staircase that would lead them to the dungeons. Regulus was highly skeptical of this - he didn't think it was anything serious. Maybe just an overexcited first year.
"We should," Luna said, her dreamy tone lost in the worry and anxiety. Without further ado, she sprinted down the stairs, leaving Regulus and Amy to gape after her.
"Does this happen often?" Amy asked, bewildered, as they watched Luna's retreating figure.
"What? Random screams echoing throughout the corridor?" Regulus asked, distracted.
"No, I meant do you lot keep getting into these kinds of situations?" she gestured vaguely at the stairs.
"Yeah." Regulus said apologetically, and he too began walking down the stairs, not keen on letting Luna go down there alone.
Once they reached the dungeons, they saw Luna staring at something in front of her, her mouth agape and her eyes as wide as saucers. Regulus made a move to ask her what had happened, but Amy clutched his arm tightly and pointed at something in front of her.
"What are they doing?" Amy whimpered, looking at the scene unfolding before them in barely concealed disgust and fear.
Avery and Mulciber had manic grins on their faces, their wands raised and their lips pulled leeringly. Regulus, for the life of him, couldn't being himself to move.
Everything that he was taught to do and encourage, everything, was happening right in front of him. Magic is Might. Muggles and mudbloods, in their rightful place.
But for some reason, Regulus didn't find any satisfaction in watching them harass Mary MacDonald.
Avery and Muliciber had been levitating Mary MacDonald upside down, their evil eyes roaming around her body as she desperately tried to cover her lower body with her skirt. Her face was drenched with tears, and her cheeks were a red, angry colour.
Regulus knew he should do something—hell, even Luna and Amy couldn't move from their spots. Avery and Mulciber kept their gaze on her body, their lips pulled to a leer. Every time Mary failed to cover her body with her skirt, the fifth year Slytherins would laugh jeeringly.
"Flipendo! Incarcerous!"
Regulus, Luna and Amy whipped their head towards the new voice, and to their relief, it was Remus Lupin who was making his way towards them, brandishing his wand at the Slytherins. Amycus was thrown off his balance, and Mulciber had tight ropes binding him still.
Mary was almost crying in relief, her hands pulling her skirt to cover her lower body, but at the same time she was heaving heavily from the pressure of being dangled upside down.
In a flash of a second, Mary was suddenly lowered onto the ground, her body hitting the floor with a gently thud. Regulus looked at Remus, but it wasn't him who'd cast the spell.
"Nicely done, Remus. Though I suppose the two bastards deserve more injuries than being tied up."
Regulus gaped at Rhea as she walked towards them grimly, her bag on her shoulder and her wand pointed at Avery. "What're you—?"
"Slughorn dismissed all of us early," Remus said, his expression grave. He was looking at Rhea with an unreadable expression, as though wondering how she knew the counterspell and how she performed it non verbally. "Mary was the first to leave..."
"Check on Mary," Rhea interrupted, looking at the three fourth years, and Luna and Amy immediately rushed to Mary's aid, giving her some water and dabbing the blood off her forehead where Mulciber had used a spell to make a cut.
Regulus, as much as he knew that he should help Mary, couldn't move. There was still a part of him that felt repulsed at the idea of helping a mudblood. This thought thoroughly disgusted him—how could he be so sadistic?
Before he could think of any more self-deprecating comments, Rhea stalked up to Avery and Mulciber angrily.
"Where did you learn that spell?" Rhea snarled, her wand pointed threateningly at Mulciber's throat.
"How did you know the counterspell?" Mulciber spat, writhing against the tight ropes.
"Answer her question." Remus snapped, and Regulus swore he saw a tinge of amber in his eyes.
"That mudblood deserved it!" Avery sneered, ignoring the blood trickling down his face from where he had hit the wall
Even Regulus saw it coming. Regulus knew Avery had crossed the line. Rhea swung her fist right into Avery's face. There was a sickening crunch, and Avery clutched his broken nose, crying out in sheer pain. He tried his best to stem the flow of the blood gushing out, but that attempt was in vain.
Nobody noticed Severus Snape standing there, taking in the entire scene.
"Thirty points from Slytherin," came a voice from behind them. They all turned to find Lily Evans, James Potter and Sirius Black standing there, fuming.
"Another mudblood." spat Mulciber, and Rhea was about to smack him too but Remus held her back.
Lily looked at him coolly. "I'd shut your mouth if I were you, Mulciber."
Mulciber and Avery, despite their injured states, sneered at her. "And if I were you, I would be watching my back. The moment you step out of Hogwarts, you'll be dead. And the mudbloods will be first."
Sirius and Potter had had enough, and they stalked towards the boys. Potter got hold of Avery's collar, and shook him violently. "What spell did you use?" he asked with gritted teeth, enraged that someone had attacked his Housemate.
"He asked you something." Sirius said in a deadly calm voice, for once sounding like his first name. "What spell did you use?"
"Say it!" Potter snarled, and his fingers dug into Avery's neck.
"Lev—Levio-corpus." Avery choked out, desperately trying to pry Potter's fingers off his neck. Potter mouthed the spell, as though trying to commit it to memory. He then shoved Avery off him, and the Slytherin bent down on his knees, gasping for breath.
Lily, Rhea, Luna, Potter, Remus and Sirius whipped their heads to look at Severus Snape. They knew, they knew, it was him. He had created that spell. Severus' smug smirk was open testimony to this theory and Lily looked like she would very much have liked to smack him, but she restrained herself.
"Remus, call Professor Slughorn, tell him what happened." Lily ordered sharply, and Remus nodded quickly and sprinted towards the Potions classroom.
"Luna, Amy," Lily paused, and looked at Regulus, who nodded slightly. "And Regulus. Take Mary to the Hospital Wing."
The quartet left. Mary, who was supported by Regulus and Luna, was limping slightly. Amy was pushing past the students, trying to make way for them so that they could reach the Hospital Wing quickly.
Once they left, Rhea looked at Severus, who was now fidgeting nervously. Sure, she'd known he would have created this spell sooner or later, but still, it was a nasty shock. She knew this was going to cause more conflicts between Lily and Severus, and that was saying something since their friendship was already rocky.
"He'll pay," Sirius said quietly, and everyone turned to look at him. His grey eyes were already planning ahead, and his fingers were curled into fists. Lily pursed her lips tightly and avoided looking at Severus and the rest of them.
But Rhea knew Sirius wasn't threatening Avery or Mulciber.
It was Severus.