right where you left me~ 𝑔. 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

ii. the chain.

1:02 ────|───── 4:31

▷ⁿᵉˣᵗ ˢᵒⁿᵍ ↺ ʳᵉᵖᵉᵃᵗ ⊜ ᵖᵃᵘˢᵉ

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙ ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙ ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"All I'm saying is if you let me spray this the wrackspurts in your head will go away" Rhiannon protested her friend once again on the very important spray she found to be the most effective way to keep away the pesky creatures while they were walking towards the great hall for dinner. 

"Ria no I'm not spraying your weird essential oil," Estella said for what felt like the millionth time. 

She just sighed and muttered something about having a fuzzy head.

"Why are you so grumpy anyway?" Sage questioned her.

"Apart from having a shit summer, those annoying clones sat in my compartment the whole trip I had no time to myself" her voice reeked of frustration and anger. 

"Weasley four and five sat with you the whole way?" Sage questioned, they organized the Weasley children by numbers so it's easier. 

"yeah, I was looking for an empty compartment and found one right by the Gryffindor part of the train, but I wasn't alone for very long until they came in and wouldn't leave" Ria gave a quick explanation to her friends. 

Her friends all had some sort of mutual agreement that if Rhiannon wanted to sit on her own at any time to just let her. they don't know much about her life but from what they know she isn't left alone very much. It's just a respect thing. 

"I'm sorry, Ria, that sucks. Are you up for a girl's night tonight?" Estella offered to her as they sat down at the Hufflepuff table waiting for the food to be served. 

"No I think I just wanna sleep, haven't had a full night all break" she admitted to her friends.

They never talk about what goes on in Rhiannon's private life. Never. It's the one line none of the girls cross so getting that sliver of information was groundbreaking.

What happened during her summers?

Dumbledore's voice rang out, gathering everyone's attention.

Ria never paid attention to the start of term speech, but she always paid attention to the sorting. She would cheer for every first-year whether they were a part of her house or not.

In her mind Hogwarts was about feeling welcomed, it's all she wanted people to feel.

She cheered for everyone, including a girl with bushy hair and larger teeth and one boy with bright red hair. But one name caused everyone to break out into hushed whispers.

Harry Potter? Why is it so familiar but so foreign?

"Stella, why is everyone talking about that boy?" she questioned her friend that grew up around magic.

"He's the boy who lived, he killed you know who. His whole life is a miracle that's why" Estella whispered to her.

"Poor boy" Sage muttered

"He's got quite a lot of wrackspurts," Ria commented.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙ ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙ ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

The feast was wonderful as usual, Harry potter was the talk of the school. Which was unusual but not surprising.

"They are going to tear that boy to shreds" Ria muttered as the trio of girls stood from the Hufflepuff table.

"I'll try and look out for him seeing as he's in my house" Estella replied coolly, "speaking of houses farewell my lovely ladies of badger house I bid thee farewell till dawn"

"Shut up you big old goof" Sage laughed and shoved her up the stairs to her tower.

"Goodnight!" Ria called up to her as she climbed the stairs. 

The two puffs started descending towards the barrels.

"Ria," Sage spoke up, "I know we don't talk about your home life at all but just want to know that you aren't being hurt"

Something flashed in Ria's eyes but she quickly masked it over with her usual airy gaze "Everything's Fine Sage, nothing I can't handle" she tried to reassure her friend.

Ria's mind was in inner turmoil, she had to tell someone at least and sage was the person she trusted most. What was stopping her? they were in complete privacy so it's not like anything bad could come from it, Sage deserved to know.

She sighed before speaking once again "ok you're right, the homes I'm passed around in aren't all sunshine and rainbows. I'm treated more like a maid than a child. And if I speak out or in french or do anything they don't like-" she paused to steady her breathing trying not to have a breakdown not even 24 hours into the term "if I do something they don't like I can be hit, or worse. It honestly just depends' ' she refused to meet Sage's eyes. Pity was not something Ria did.

"Ria I'm so sorry," Sage's soft voice finally spoke after what felt like hours of silence, "but I'm here for you, I always have been. You know that right?"

Ria sighed "yeah I know" a tear rolling down her cheek as they tried to forget the conversation. Sage linked their arms as a sign of comfort and continued to walk towards the common room.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Unfortunately, George didn't have the ability to forget what he just overheard whilst setting up a prank. Child abuse was horrible and not something he was ok within the slightest.

He wanted to get to know Rhiannon better anyways, but knowing something like this gives him more of a fighting chance seeing as she isn't so fond of him anyways.

And besides, he liked to think he was friendly, what could go wrong? 

A/N

chapter two baby! 

chapter song: the chain - Fleetwood mac 

if you can't tell I really like Fleetwood mac el oh el. 

enjoy this slightly confusing and boring chapter that introduces the main problem (or problems if you count the harry potter curse) 

much love 

-the author