DOORWAYS || MARAUDERS ERA

ϟ80: CLOSUREϟ

"Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through. . . ."

Fred and George were going out of their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors. Ever since Harry was sighted next to the petrified body of Justin, people feared he was the Heir of Slytherin.

"It is not a laughing matter," Percy said coldly.

"Oh, get out of the way, Percy," Fred said. "Harry's in a hurry."

"Yeah, he's off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant," George said, chortling.

"But who are you attacking next, Harry?" Fred asked loudly. Everyone sans Percy snickered.

George pretended to ward Harry off with a large clove of garlic. "Now," he stuttered, waving the garlic threateningly, "you stay away from me!"

"For Merlin's sake." Rhea huffed, trying to keep up with their strides. "George, where did you get that garlic? Throw it away—"

"The heir of Slytherin is allergic to garlics." George said saintly.

Everyone looked at Harry to check if he was annoyed, but Harry didn't seem to mind—he was quite glad that the twins were making a joke out of all this.

"I'm tired." Rhea said suddenly, though she was only lazy. The twelve year old looked at Percy innocently. "Piggyback ride?"

He looked conflicted. "Er," he cleared his throat. "No."

Rhea's face fell comically, which only made Percy look highly guilty. Harry tried to tell him that she was just trying to guilt trip him, but Percy sighed and bent down, letting Rhea hop on.

"Let's go!" Rhea cheered, shoving her bag towards Harry, who stumbled and glared. "Run, Perseus, run!"

"No running on the corri..." George faltered, looking at Percy and Rhea, who had already run away from them. "...dors."

"Are you sure that's our Perce?" Fred asked shrewdly.

"Yes, Fred." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well," Fred said, looking slightly proud. "Guess he really is human, then." 

╔═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══╗

Rhea flicked the page of her Arithmancy book absently, her brain barely registering what she was reading. Her eyes skimmed the pages just for the sake of it, occasionally revisiting the same sentence in a feeble attempt to remember it.

It was almost twelve in the morning, and the Common Room was empty. The sky outside was extremely dark, and the stars seemed to be glittering twice as brightly. Rhea sighed for the millionth time, unable to sleep nor study.

Lily, Marlene and Mary were already fast asleep back at the dorms, having exhausted themselves during the day with their N.E.W.Ts preparations. The Marauders, as usual, were hell bent on wreaking havoc in the school, though it wasn't as bad as usual since they too seemed to realize the severity of the exams.

Severus had taken to studying the entire day without a break, which only worsened his stress. Lily, Remus, Rhea and even Regulus force fed him some food in between classes, annoyed with how careless he was being with his health. However, those little encounters were always awkward since Rhea and Remus were still hovering on tenterhooks.

Which prompted Severus to ban the duo from visiting him because he already had too many issues to deal with without 'two idiots' adding to his emotional stress.