CHAPTER TWELVE
— consider the end
"DO YOU THINK DRUELLA'S GOING TO BE OKAY?" Walburga asked them over breakfast. Rhea drank orange juice from her goblet and looked at Walburga from the top of her cup. Walburga had a perplexed expression on her face and Rhea knew why — Druella and Walburga were best friends with one another. It was no surprise that Walburga was more worried than anyone else about the girl.
The effects of the spell had worn off two days prior, but there was a notable change in Druella's demeanor that Rhea was about to be forced to take care of. Lately, Druella had been isolating herself from everyone and looking worse for wear. Rhea had forgotten how weak some people could be and Druella was proving to be the weakest link of their group. Rhea was pondering whether or not she needed to threaten Druella again to get her in line when Davina said —
"Who cares?" Davina rolled her eyes when the girls turned to look at her. Persephone stopped eating her cereal while Seraphina closed her eyes, looking as though she was about to get a headache. Walburga, on the other hand, looked livid. "She's probably faking the whole thing to get out of class, which only hurts her seeing as O.W.L.s are coming up soon. We all know Druella's an attention seeker."
Rhea glanced at Walburga and found her shaking with rage while Davina drank her tea. Rhea caught Walburga's eye and nodded her head, urging Walburga to say something to Davina to see what would happen.
"I wouldn't be so careless when speaking if I were you, Davina," Walburga said coldly. Rhea hid her budding smile behind her hand as Davina's eyes snapped back to Walburga. Davina was silently seething when Walburga continued, "We may be your friend, but don't forget that you're still a Selwyn."
It was a greater insult than most would understand and Rhea felt triumphant at the way Davina's face paled. It was as she said before — Blacks and Rosiers had more pull than the Selwyns did. If House Hel had been included in the Sacred Twenty-Nine, Rhea was confident that her family's status would've exceeded all of them, but alas . . .
Davina grinded her teeth together but didn't say anything more.
"What are you doing over Easter holiday, Rhea?" Persephone asked, turning the attention away from Walburga and Davina, who were both too angry at the other to speak. Seraphina nodded her head, eager to know as well.
"Well . . ." Her eyes trailed down the table where she saw Jasper approaching her, an envelope in hand. Rhea perked up. Tom followed through on the deal after all. "I believe we're about to find out."
Persephone and Seraphina looked over their shoulder as Jasper appeared behind them.
"Hello, ladies," Jasper said, smiling charmingly at them. Seraphina batted her eyelashes at the boy and Jasper turned his attention over to Rhea. "Rhea, my mother would like to extend an invitation for you and your family to attend our annual Easter celebration."
Davina's face sunk — the Selwyn's had never been invited to the Rosier's Easter Party; Seraphina's jaw slackened because the Yaxley's had never been asked to attend either; and Persephone looked at Rhea with an impressed expression on her face whereas Walburga seemed intrigued.
"Really?" Rhea asked, pretending to be surprised. She wondered what Tom's gang thought about her still being alive after Tom's plan. Jasper smiled at her and held the invitation for her to take. "I'll be sure to write to your mother thanking her."
Jasper nodded his head and spun on his heel, taking his seat between Lupe and Cassius.
Persephone turned to Rhea with wide eyes.
"You got invited to the Rosier's Easter Party!" Persephone whispered excitedly.
"How did that happen?" Davina asked. "The Hels aren't even considered one of us. How is it possible you got an invitation before I did?"
"Perhaps his mum realized that the Hel's should've been included in the Directory." Persephone suggested. "My parents say it all the time. It's a wonder Cantankerus didn't add your family in the first place, Rhea. Your family is completely pure."
A flash of annoyance appeared on Rhea's face at the mention of Cantankerus Nott, Lupe's father, and his damned Pure-blood Directory. The Hel's and Nott's had a bit of rivalry ever since Cantankerus decided to exclude Rhea's family from the Sacred Twenty-Nine. For years, people thought it had been because her family were blood traitors and wanted to aid in the Muggle war when the reality was that Cantankerus had been upset with Rhea's mother and left them out of the book to spite her. Once again, their problems could be traced back to Caliope Hel.
"That's not what my mum says," Davina huffed. "My mum says that Nott included all of the families that deserved to be included."
"It's a good thing no one asked your mum, isn't it?" Rhea snapped, surprising them all since they had never heard her say anything like that before. Davina blinked at Rhea, shocked, though the other three looked a tad bit impressed.
"You get that invitation and suddenly think you can speak to your betters anyway you please?" Davina asked.
"Believe me when I say the Selwyn's are most certainly not my betters." said Rhea. Davina rose from her seat and stormed out of the Great Hall, but Rhea didn't care. She was too busy admiring the envelope in her hand.
"You shouldn't speak to Davina like that," Seraphine kindly advised while Rhea ran her hands over the fancy red writing on the back of the envelope. "We may think the Hel's should have been included, but at the end of the day, Davina still has more pull in our circle than you do."
"Not for much longer." Rhea said, waving the envelope at Seraphina. "Before that Directory changed everything, we Hel's were known as the Great House of Hel, not Dark. This is our ticket back to greatness."
Rhea tucked the envelope into her robes securely with a smile.
Tom didn't approach Rhea until they were about to step into Slughorn's Potions class. Persephone wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Rhea — still under the impression that Tom had a crush on her — before ducking into the classroom.
"I see that you followed through on our deal." Rhea said to him.
"There are strings."
"I would expect nothing less from you."
Tom rolled his eyes.
"I will be staying with you over the holiday's and I will attend the Easter Party as your date."
Rhea's face fell at this.
"Absolutely not," She said immediately.
"Then you might as well destroy the invitation. Jasper will turn you and your whole family away at the gate if you showed up and I wasn't with you." said Tom, the corner of his mouth almost turned up.
Rhea glared at him, thinking over what he was saying. If Jasper did that, he'd embarrass her family for years to come and they'd never forgive her. Tom took a look at her face and smirked when he realized she wouldn't argue with him.
"Fine," She agreed because she didn't see any other way out of this predicament. "But, I need to warn you about our house."
"I know as much as I need to know about your family." Tom said.
"No." Rhea snapped, annoyed. "About our house, also known as the place where we live. It's called Hel House. The house has a certain type of magic that you, nor anyone outside of my family, could possibly understand. If you're going to be spending the night there, you need to be prepared for what you might see, or who."
"So, your house has ghosts?" Tom asked, amused. Irritation welled up inside Rhea.
"I don't have time for this. I'll just let you figure it all out for yourself. It'll be much more interesting for me that way." Rhea patted Tom's chest and walked away. He flinched underneath her touch, but she pulled away too fast to notice.
She knew what was waiting for him at Hel House. If he wasn't scared from her warning, he would be when he saw where she came from.