"Anthony, you're one of my best friends and all, but please stop being an arse."
Rhea, Anthony, Isobel, Lisa, Padma and Micheal were in Herbology. The second years had to re-pot mandrakes, something that was very hard and dangerous.
"Why d'you look sour?" Anthony asked brightly, "Is it because your pals Harry and Ron drove a car to school?"
Rhea huffed out a laugh. "Of course not. Though, that was dumb of them to do that. Anyway, I'm moody because we've got potions later; I don't think Snape has considered starting the term off on a nice note."
"Don't worry about that," Lisa dismissed. "Worry about the mandrakes; they're like the spawns of Satan himself."
"Who's Satan?" Isobel Macdougal, a pureblood, asked.
"Never mind that," Padma said loudly, gesturing towards Professor Sprout who was handing over earmuffs to everyone. "Can you believe their cries can knock you out? Why are we studying them at SCHOOL?"
"I think you're forgetting that we're at Hogwarts," Micheal said reasonably. "Besides, I have a feeling that the Mandrakes are going to be crucial for us this year."
"Last time he had such a feeling," Anthony remarked lightly, "he told us that the third floor corridor had something dangerous lurking in it. Turns out he was right."
"Yes, because Astrologer Corner knows everything." Lisa said sarcastically.
But they didn't have enough time to talk—Sprout had given them their earmuffs, and before they could put them on, Rhea asked timidly, "Professor? Can we swear if the mandrakes bite us?"
"No," was the Professors reply, and then she herself put on her earmuffs.
When Anthony and Rhea were sure Sprout's earmuffs had covered her ears well, they grinned at each other, plucked the mandrakes from their pots and yelled when the mandrakes lashed out on them. "SON OF A FUC—"
"Rhea! Anthony! Language!"
╔═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══╗
╚═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══╝
Rhea didn't know why there was an ant continuously trying to drown itself in her goblet of pumpkin juice.
Come to think of it, she couldn't remember why what her purpose in this life was, anyway. Maybe the stress overload was to blame.
"Look here, ant, I don't appreciate you dying in my pumpkin juice," Rhea said seriously, taking her goblet to eye level and peering down at the ant. "Maybe you're just thisty? Here—" she put a drop of the juice on the rim of the goblet, but the ant stubbornly crawled down the goblet to drown itself.
"Oi, no dying. Come up here." she let the ant climb onto her finger and set it down on the table. "Yes, now, shoo!"
It did not 'shoo' away. Instead, it made a beeline for the nearest soup bowl on the table.
"Not again!" Rhea tutted disapprovingly, snatching the soup bowl and holding it above the table. In fact, she didn't know why she herself hadn't squashed it yet. Maybe she was feeling merciful today.
"Look here, ant, I thoroughly agree with your views on death—why d'you have to live when you're gonna die one day? But here's life's policy: death will find you one day, but you aren't supposed to look for death. If you disagree with this policy, life will whack you left and right until you're black and blue."
Rhea fancied that the ant gave her an unimpressed look. Well, it seemed like it was looking at her, anyway.
"Don't look at me like that, Antonio, I can't sit still and watch while you're about to end your life. Remember, life will push you to your limits. It will test your endurance. But guess what? Such heights of struggles create depths of character—yes, I modified Nelson Mandela's quote. Not that he's quoted this just yet," she added suddenly.
Then, sighing irritably, she said, "Go on, now. Go, live your life! Find love! Make the most out of it! And visit me again, Antonio, I enjoy our visits."
She gave the ant a few crumbles of her biscuit and flicked it to the floor, where it continued its journey of life.
"Did you just give the ant a pep talk?"
Rhea turned in her seat to find none other than Remus Lupin standing behind her, looking thoroughly amused.
"I might have," Rhea said, dignified. "Got a problem?"
"Nah," he grinned at Rhea and took a seat next to her. "I'm just hungry."
"'Course you are," Rhea returned the grin. "You missed the kitchen detour yesterday."
"Because you went with Lils," he huffed in reply. "I chose to stay in the dorms."
"Aw, is that a hint of jealousy I sense?" Rhea cooed teasingly, laughing when Remus rolled his eyes.
"You wish, Cadieux."
Rhea burst out laughing. "Then why're you red?"
Shit. "That's a temporary problem of my blood vessels flooding my skin with blood." Remus said smoothly, masking his flush into a smirk. "You're idiocy, on the other hand, is...a permanent malfunction."
Instead of getting stunned into silence, Rhea just laughed again and gave him an impressed look. "Nice one, Moony."
"I try."
They lapsed into silence. The rest of the Marauders were still in bed, seeing as it was a Sunday. Lily refused to get up since she'd spent the previous night cuddling with James, and Mary and Marlene just wanted to sleep in for a few more hours.
Regulus, Amy, Dorcas, Luna, Timothy and Severus were still in their respective dorms, having had enough of the exam stress. While the sixth years were overloaded with homework, Severus had been through the hassle of preparing for the N.E.W.Ts, like all of them. Except, he was under a lot more pressure since he wanted the best grades to get a decent job.
Like all of them, actually. But he was the most worried of them all.
Speaking of everyone's well being... the school was in chaos.
Lily and James, the most popular students at school, caused an uproar of excitement when their news of dating spread. Dumbledore became rich within 24 hours.
Many of James' admirers had shed a few tears over this news, and many even had the audacity to send Lily hateful letters. But they were taken care of by Sirius, Remus and Peter, who didn't tolerate such vile behaviour towards their girlfriend.
Yeah...it was kind of a package deal for Lily.
"How is Severus?" Remus asked, jolting Rhea out of her thoughts.
"Surprisingly? He's alright." Rhea answered, passing some toast to Remus as well. "A bit bitter, yes, but he'll get over it. Lily's his best friend, after all. He might have threatened to murder James if he ever hurt Lily, though," she said with a grin.
Remus laughed before buttering his toast. "I expected nothing less."
They sat in silence for a while. The Great Hall was steadily getting noiser as more and more students entered.
"We're going to learn how to conjure a patronus soon," Remus said conversationally, gving Rhea a sideway glance. "Sounds fun, doesn't it?"
"I already know what my patronus will be," Rhea said confidently. "It's a parrot. Always has been, always will."
Remus looked slightly surprised. Well, rightly so, too. Parrots were creative, adventurous, athletic... all the things Rhea was, no doubt. However, parrots didn't just suit Rhea. It might've suited her when she was younger—just like how parrots loved to mimick others, Rhea too, once upon a time, had tried to act like others.
Not that she was faking anything, no. It was mainly because the old Rhea Arquette had always been afraid of doing things the Rhea way. And so she often tried to think like her friends in order to get things done, which was not the solution.
Suffice to say, Rhea had changed a lot since then, and Remus was extremely sure that her patronus had changed. However, he was fairly certain that she wouldn't take the news all that well, because if there was anything Remus knew about Rhea, it was that she hated change.
Remus knew that Rhea was getting suspicious about his silence, and he immediately put the mental barriers in his head to use. Once she realized this, a faint, yet impressed, smile tugged at her lips, and Remus gave her a lopsided grin, knowing that he had surprised her with his occlumency.
"What're you lovebirds up to?"
The duo turned to look at Sirius, who was grinning cheekily at them. Behind him, Timothy, Amy, Marlene and Regulus were talking lazily amongst themselves.
"Shut up, you dog," Rhea said casually, budging up a little to make space for Sirius and Regulus as Timothy, Amy and Marlene sat opposite them. Remus went pink in the face, but he did manage to glare at Sirius quellingly.
"I'm hungry." Timothy declared, looking at the breakfast on the table. "But I don't really have an appetite. Does that make sense?"
"This is the Gryffindor table." Regulus rolled his eyes. "Nothing makes sense here."
"Okay, first off," Marlene ticked off her fingers, "that slander is unacceptable. Second off, where are the rest of the members of your Duck Squad?"
Regulus choked on his pumpkin juice while Amy grinned.
"I dunno where Luna is, but Dorcas is likely to be with her." Amy said casually, and Rhea frowned slightly.
"Amd stop calling us the Duck Squad." Regulus said firmly. "We're all FOTT."
"Have you accepted that title?" Rhea fake sobbed as she gave him a one armed hug. "I'm so proud of you."
"Gerroff me!" Regulus shook her arm off him, only to be tackled into another hug by Sirius. "Shoo, you stupid cuddlers—"
"You do realize that once Lily and James get married," Remus said, grinning slightly. "That 'Friend of Time Travellers' becomes 'Family of Time Travellers', right?"
"Don't be daft, Moony," Sirius said daftly, trying his best to bring Regulus into a cuddle while the younger boy fruitlessly fought against him. "Family of Time Travellers means that we're all time travellers. That doesn't make sense."
"Well, that is another way to look at it—"
"Can you stop throwing the word 'time traveller' so casually?" Amy said loudly and Marlene snorted derisively. "We can get caught."
"But how are Lily and James?" Timothy asked swiftly, putting an end to the arguments. "And where are the others, anyway?"
"Lily and James are fine," Marlene smirked slightly, and Amy made a move to cover Timothy's ears. "Don't be ridiculous, I'm not going to talk about that. And as for Mary, she's still in bed. Lily as well."
"Same goes for Peter and James." Sirius informed them. "James is still sleeping; and thank Merlin for that, otherwise he'd have started his yoga regime."
Everyone muttered their approval at this. Rhea, getting bored of the silence, took out her Sony TR 63 Remus had gifted her. Of course, muggle objects could never work in Hogwarts—too much magical interference—but Remus and Lily placed a few charms that allowed her access to the Wizarding radio stations that played muggle songs.
"What is that?" Regulus asked, looking at the Sony TR in Rhea's hand. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Neither have I," Marlene and Sirius chorused. "But Remus gave it to her a few weeks ago."
"That's music?" Regulus asked, appalled as Rhea switched the dial to a random station. He was staring at the device as though it was something monstrous.
"Music?" Timothy asked disbelievingly. "It's gold, Regulus. Much better than Wizarding music."
"This is too noisy," Regulus complained, waving his fork at the device. Rhea and Sirius looked highly affronted.
"This is noisy?" Rhea asked incredulously, "Excuse moi? Fleetwood Mac is one of the best bands!"
Sirius' eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "Regulus, dear brother," he said with a parental air. Regulus huffed slightly, which only emphasized the father-son ambiances. "This song is called 'Go Your Own Way'. It's a very famous one; it is simply awesome!"
"I don't like it," Regulus said stubbornly. "I'd rather hear Mother's collection."
"Please," Sirius ridiculed, looking aghast. "Mother's taste in music is as bad as the salmon Peter made during the summer."
"Don't force him," Remus sighed, giving Rhea and Sirius a pointed glance. Marlene, Amy and Timothy sniggered a little. "He's entitled to his own opinion."
"Yes, thank you Remus." Regulus said gratefully, nodding at Remus. "You're the sanest one here."
Marlene scoffed. "Little Black," she said tantalizingly, and Regulus scowled at her. It was funny how both Marlene and Sirius acted like immature parents to Regulus. "Remus is not sane. Have you seen him when he's hungry? Or when he's sleepy or while he's studying?"
Remus looked at her calmly. "You exaggerate, Mar, I'm nothing but a saint."
Everyone snorted.
"As much as I enjoyed the gathering," Rhea exhaled, smiling at all of them and getting up slowly. She shoved her Sony TR into her bag and waved at them. "I'm gonna check on Luna. See you!"
"Bye," they chorused, and went back to their debate. The last Rhea saw, Regulus had finally lost his patience with Sirius, Remus was trying to calm him down, but was laughing, and Marlene, Amy and Timothy were doubling up with chuckles.
They were just so chaotic, disorderly and uncontrolled.
But Rhea loved it.
She walked up to the Gryffindor Tower, where Elizabeth and Violet were dozing in the portrait door. It took several minutes for Rhea to wake her up ("It's a Sunday!" "Sorry, Lizzy.") and when Rhea entered the common room, she headed straight for the fourth year girls dorms.
"Knock knock." Rhea said, bored as she stared at the door to their dorm.
"Who's there?" Dorcas' cheeky voice replied and Rhea laughed.
"Annie."
"Annie who?"
"Annie one you want!"
The door opened, revealing a brunette wearing a large grin. "That was terrible, and you know it."
Rhea shot her a smirk. "I try, Dorks. Now where's my dear sister?"
And suddenly Dorcas' grin faltered, as though she was worried. Rhea immediately stiffened all over. "Dorcas?" she prompted, her voice sharp.
"She's um," Dorcas stammered, and then sighed, taking Rhea by her arm and pushing her out of the dorm so that Luna couldn't eavesdrop. "She's tired." Dorcas whispered urgently.
Rhea blinked.
"I mean," Dorcas clarified, "You know, we all have that one day where we have zero motivation to do anything?"
"Yes I do," Rhea said dubiously. "I'll take care of it, Dorcas, why're you so worried? Anyway, you should have some breakfast—can you wake Lily and Mary too? Those sleepyheads—I dunno why they think sleep is relevant—thanks Dorks, bye!"
And Rhea pushed Dorcas out of the dorm, ignoring the latter's protests.
She stepped inside and went straight to Luna's bed. She was still in her nightclothes, and her hair was unkempt. She looked...
Exhausted.
And not the physical exhaustion—she just looked defeated. Like she was just sad.
Now, for people who didn't know Luna, they'd have been surprised that for a cheerful girl like her, she was looking particularly glum. But Rhea knew Luna the best, and sometimes, the most cheerful and content people in life also have their lows.
"I could hear you and Dorcas," Luna said airily, and there was a hint of a smile. "You don't really speak that softly."
Rhea shrugged and smiled, abashed. But her grin faltered slowly, and she said, "Luna...what happened?"
And she shrugged, a sad glint in her eye, though she remained expressionless. "Do you remember the day we went to the Department of Mysteries?"
Rhea pursed her lips a little. Of course she did, that was the first time she'd witnessed death, for Merlin's sake.
Luna continued, "Do you remember how Ginny stopped to look at a bell jar that contained the egg of a humming bird?"
"It looked like time," Rhea said slowly, remembering that day vividly. "The egg turned to a humming bird, and it flew until the rim of the jar, when it suddenly turned into an egg again."
"And the time when a Death Eater tried to attack you, but got his head stuck in the jar?" Luna persisted, "And his head turned into a baby, but his body remained the same as a fully grown man?"
"I remember," Rhea said in a low voice, wondering why Luna was telling her all this. "What about it?"
Luna took a deep, shaky breath. "My mother worked in the Department of Mysteries."
Rhea stilled. Not because she didn't know that, but because she was shocked that Luna was bringing this up now.
"She trying to recreate the spell," Luna whispered, her cheer blue eyes tinted dully. "The spell in that bell jar—the spell that de-aged whatever was placed in the jar."
Rhea took in a sharp breath—Luna had never told her what spell had caused Pandora's death.
"Aevum," Luna closed her eyes tightly. "Do you know what it means?"
"It's Latin," Rhea answered, her fingers digging into her palm. "Meaning 'age'"
Luna nodded. "She tried to modify the word. Trying to recreate the original one so that things would be easier in the Department...but it went wrong..."
And the rest, Rhea knew. Luna had told her this long ago: as much as Luna had accepted her mother's death, sometimes the grief would still hit her.
But grief wasn't something that just vanished. It would always stay with you, but it depended on whether you chose to succumb to it or not. And in Luna's case, she never, ever, succumbed to it. She let the grief consume her, held it like a makeshift shield. A makeshift armour. And once in awhile, the armour broke.
But that didn't mean the armour was weak.
It simply meant that it had withstood too many struggles.
And it was okay: it was okay to have a bad day. It was okay to break down once in a while. Because in the end, they were all just teenagers forced into the cruel world of war and suffering.
But in the darkest of times, they'd made the brightest and happiest moments of their lives.
"It's okay." Rhea said, in an attempt to cheer her up. Except, this time, she really meant it when she said it was okay. "we're okay, Luna." And she took Luna's hand in hers and gave it a gentle but reassuring squeeze.
"I know we are," Luna smiled, returning the pressure on their joined hands. Despite everything that they'd gone through, there was one thing that was constant in their lives: their friendship. And Rhea would never trade it for anything in the world.
Luna was her anchor, and Rhea was hers. They couldn't be any more different, but together, they were as strong as a bed of nails. Rhea was as close to Luna as she was to Harry, but Rhea and Luna were their own duo. It wasn't any more or less than the love Harry and Rhea shared, but it was theirs.
"It's just..." Luna faltered, taking a shuddering breath and clutching Rhea's fingers for dear life.
"It's just tiring to stay cheerful all the time."