RISE OF THE FALL | R.B.

IX.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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CHAPTER IX.

Hey Reg,

You haven't been replying to any of my letters. Are you okay? I'm really worried, and I miss you so much. Have you seen the others? They're not replying either.

Reia paused, and in her moment of hesitation her quill slipped in her hand and made a jagged mark across the parchment.

Reia groaned and scrunched up the parchment into a ball with her fist before tossing it to the paper bin in the corner of her bedroom.

She was disappointed, and despite her brother's company over the past few weeks of the Summer, she hadn't been in contact with any of her friends.

She had sent a letter to Regulus before—more than one.

In fact, she'd sent almost twenty letters over the past few weeks, though she hadn't gotten a single reply.

"Whatever," Reia told herself, "He and all the others are probably under a lot of stress, with the Dark Lord rising and all, and them all being from Slytherin families..."

But that thought didn't offer her any comfort.

Instead, it just made her start worrying about what her seventh year would be like.

Remus wouldn't be there anymore, so none of his friends would be there either. Reia wouldn't have an older brother at school to turn to when she was in trouble or when she just needed an extra friend to talk to.

Would all of her friends return...and bear Dark Marks on their forearms?

Would Reia still be willing to be their friend, if they were all Death Eaters?

She quickly wiped that thought from her mind. Of course she'd be their friend! They were her friends and had supported her for six years even though she came from a Gryffindor family, was a half-blood, and was a Lupin.

They'd accepted her even though she didn't come from a family like theirs.

Why wouldn't she still be their friend, if they all became Death Eaters over this summer and...and...

But Reia felt guilt and doubt bubble inside of her. Would she really want to be friends with a bunch of Death Eaters, who were working for the wizard responsible for the deaths of countless muggles and wizards and witches alike?

Quickly, she shook the thoughts from her head, refusing to worry herself further.

Instead, she decided that she'd go outside and take a walk. After all, Remus was at James Potter's place and she had nobody else to talk to aside from their parents.

In fact, Remus hadn't been at home much over the past few weeks. Reia had no idea where he goes every day, but she trusted her brother enough to know that if it was anything important, he'd have told her.