RISE OF THE FALL | R.B.

XXVIII.

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

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

Reia sat by the window and watched the storm rage on outside.

Almost out of nowhere, a storm had started, pouring rain, soaking those who had decided to spend their free period outdoors.

Even though she was up in the corridor, inside Hogwarts Castle, she could hear the shrieking of the students who were hurrying inside.

She wasn't in the Slytherin Common Room because after getting Butterbeer with Regulus from the Kitchens, and spending some time with her friends, she'd wanted to find peace, somewhere where she could be alone.

There weren't many places in Hogwarts where she felt at peace, especially in times like these.

With Death Eaters in every corner—it was hard to avoid trouble.

Reia knew her own friends were Death Eaters too, but there were also Slytherin students that Reia hated and suspected to be Death Eaters, and not all Death Eaters were as friendly as Lucius and Regulus and the others.

"Miss Lupin?"

Reia leapt up from her seat and turned to find Professor McGonagall giving her a thin-lipped smile.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Congratulations on Slytherin's win," McGonagall said, clearing her throat, "And I also wanted to apologise. I realised this was a long time ago, but a while ago I heard you were upset by my words, and I didn't mean for them to be discouraging. I wanted to give you my most sincere apologies."

Reia sighed and smiled tiredly, "It's alright, Professor. I was just hurt at the time...everybody expects me to be the same as my brother—as good as him, as smart as him, as popular as him—but I'm just not."

"I am glad you've learnt to accept that, Miss Lupin," McGonagall said with a genuine smile—albeit a small one, "But do not underestimate yourself. Every witch, wizard and muggle alike can be strong and good in their own ways."

"Thank you, Professor," Reia said with another sigh, running a hand through her dark hair.

"Why aren't you with the other Slytherin students?" McGonagall asked, frowning, "Is something the matter?"

"It's just that I wanted to be alone," Reia murmured, "There has been so much stress recently, with everything that's been going on."

"I understand," Professor McGonagall said knowingly, with a sigh of her own, "You...you are graduating soon, and I have been curious—are you going to pursue the Auror path like your brother and his friends or are you going to find another job?"

"I...I don't know," Reia admitted, "I probably wouldn't want to go through all of the Auror training, though. I wouldn't mind fighting, but I don't want to be an Auror for the rest of my life. I might study healing? Or maybe find a Department in the Ministry to work in? I'm not sure...but I'm certainly not going to do what most Slytherin students do after graduation...I know that for sure."

"I'm glad to hear," McGonagall said approvingly, "Well, I best be going now. Good luck in the future."

And then the stern professor strode off down the corridor, the sounds of her heals clicking against the stone floor echoing around the castle.

Reia watched the teacher leave before letting out a sigh and sitting back down by the window sill.

But it wasn't a moment later that there was an extremely loud explosion from somewhere not far, and the entire castle shook with the force of the blow.

Startled, Reia leapt to her feet and quickly checked to see if there were any threats near her.

Left. Right.

None.

She ran down the corridor, whipping her wand out from her pocket and making a rapid decision to head back to the Slytherin Common Room.

It'd be what the teachers would want.

She saw the two fifth year Slytherin Prefects gathering the drenched First Years by the entrance of the Common Room, lining them up to enter. Their faces were masks of calm, but Reia knew that inside, they were terrified.

So, it wasn't the Slytherins that had done whatever that was done, then.

But this didn't do much to cheer her up. The Slytherin House was massive—these were a group of fifth years, neither of whom had any connections to the Dark Lord, from what Reia knew.

The boy was a half-blood whose parents had both move to Britain from America, and the girl was also half-blood, and her parents had come from France.

Dumbledore had had no intention of selecting possible Death Eaters to be his Prefects this year, it seemed.

Regulus and Reia had had their turns as Prefects in their fifth years, and they had both been quite responsible with their duties, especially when in front of students or regarding their studies.

The First Years whispered anxiously amongst themselves, unsure as to what had happened and what to do.

Reia suspected that it was a Death Eater attack of some sort. Although that offered little comfort to her, at least it assured her that Regulus, Josie, Lucius and Narcissa would most likely be unharmed.

"Prefects," Reia said loudly enough for her voice to be heard over the hum of First Years' voices and quiet words shared between the two Prefects.

"Reia," The girl, Elma Cariway, said, bowing her head in respect.

The boy, whom Reia barely knew but remembered had the name Warren, also bowed his head as Reia approached.

The two prefects gestured for the First Years to move aside a few steps so that Reia could enter the Common Room.

"The explosion was from inside," Warren said quietly, "It was something with the Seventh Years. They did something. Or...something happened to them. We're not sure if it's safe to go in. We were just taking the First Years back here from the Quidditch Pitch, accompanied by Professor Slughorn, when we heard the explosion. He ordered us to return here and to wait outside the Common Room until it was confirmed to be safe by a teacher."

"Alright," Reia said, regretting her decision to ever leave the Common Room to find quiet in the first place as frantic worry began to settle inside of her, "I'll go in. You all wait out here."

She muttered the password, and the moment the enrance closed again behind her, she found a wand at her neck.

Reia didn't hesitate to raise her own wand, and she used all her strength to escape—but the person had grabbed hold of her wrist.

With her other arm, she shoved the wand aside and it cluttered to the ground and rolled a few meters away. The person didn't bother to reach for it—they just used their now free arm to grab hold of Reia's other wrist.

She snarled and looked up from her arms to see who it was that had tried to attack her.

But she faltered.

She lost her strength, and her eyes grew wide as she scanned the face of the person before her.

Reia knew him.

"Reia," He said, his voice quiet, "Don't make this any harder than it has to be for yourself."

Reia's eyes were still wide as she uttered his name...

"Reg?"

Author's Note:

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