Blind Game Again

XV - Anthea

Seeing that he closed his eyes again she leaned forward a bit more to look at his face. She liked looking at it – she could do it forever and she still wouldn’t have enough of watching it. It wasn’t that his face was overly attractive – well, it was – but not in the way other girls might think. There was just something about him that made Thea’s heart beat faster whenever she saw him and her palms got sweatier, her breath quicker and all that rot that goes along with having a crush on someone. But was having a crush supposed to last since third year, Thea asked herself as she cocked her head again at his comment about being hopeless at romance.

“What are you talking about?” she asked him, “I never said that you were hopeless at romance. What made you think that?”

Then the subject changed to Veelas again and Thea couldn’t help herself but grin and laugh at the comments Remus was making about Venus. “Yeah, she probably was – you did say that Venus was the ancestor of today’s Veelas so the Veelas must have diluted powers and aren’t as strong.” It seemed that whenever they talked about something that actually had a topic (like mythology) Remus could actually talk without that nervous stance of his. Thea wondered what that was about, but knew not to ask – it would probably only make him even more nervous, the poor sod.

“Yes, I feel sorry for them too – she did marry Hephaestus after all. But I prefer the story of Eros and Psyche to Venus’s. It’s amazing just how strong a love a woman feels for a man can be,” Thea said, sighing longingly as she looked up not wanting to see Remus’s reaction to that. “I want to feel that love someday too. But I guess everyone wants that, so I’m not all that different.”

Looking back down at Remus, she grinned at the boy’s speculation and responded in kind, “Yes, it’s much fun – and of course the gods are real – haven’t you read the book ‘Ancient Gods and Modern Days’? It’s a very dry read unfortunately, but it does say that the gods themselves send prophecies to the world, that they are the ones that hold the fate in their hands and the string of life.”

The conversation about mythology continued with Remus grinning when she mentioned Odysseus and telling her what his favourite stories were. Her eyes sparkled when she heard the titles and couldn’t help but clap her hands in front of her and say with a wide smile on her face, “The Illead is also one of my favourites! It’s really interesting how gods and goddesses have their favourites and help them and appear in front of them. I kind of researched the rituals a bit and they’re pretty interesting to do. You just have to bring a live sheep to an altar, put a golden goblet underneath its throat and cut it so that the first blood flows in the goblet, then you remove the sheep and offer the blood to the god you want to appear in front of you, and if they want to appear, they do. I haven’t tried it yet, because I just couldn’t bring myself to kill a sheep, but if there was an alternative to this, I would absolutely try it.”

Then the conversation somehow changed into roman mythology and Thea giggled as she heard that the founding of Rome was one of his favourites as well. “No wonder it’s your favourite – it has your name in it.” She went silent for a moment and then grinned again, “It’s funny though that both your name and your surname mean wolf.” When she mentioned Egypt she saw his face light up in amazement as he asked her if she’s been there and she laughed, “Of course I’ve been there – we go and live there every summer and winter – my dad’s a curse breaker for Gringotts and a Daily Prophet journalist so he only sings a contract for Gringotts when he can take me there too – since I want to become one as well. It’s so much fun walking through a pyramid and reading what ancient Egyptians wrote.”

She quietened again to listen to what Remus had to say – she liked listening to his voice – it always sent shivers down her spine, and warmth to her heart at the same time. His voice was simply captivating. She could listen to him all day and still not have enough of it. “Rome? Cool, I haven’t been there yet, but my mother did say that it was lots of fun for her too when she went there.”

She couldn’t help but grin at Remus’s wince as she described the Hom Dai. Most of the people she told about it reacted the same. Sure it was disgusting, but it was so interesting as well. “Don’t worry – the Hom Dai was only performed once – on Imhotep.” If that was supposed to be a consolation, then Thea was a chocolate frog. She sighed – she really didn’t know how to console people. Okay, she did – but she had no idea what she should console Remus for – throughout the whole time they were talking he seemed extremely upset about something, but Thea just couldn’t bring herself to ask him about it. He would probably faint, mused Thea with a slight quirk of her lips.

“The scarabs are flesh-eaters so it was nothing unusual. They eat whatever comes under their feet – if a swarm of scarabs would run over someone, only bones would be left of that person – they’re really quick when they want to be… the little buggers.”

She shuddered again at the memory of the person she saw get eaten. Suddenly, she felt like being comforted – although that was probably impossible at the moment. But she really didn’t feel all that good anymore. Why did she even have to start the topic about scarabs anyway? She let her fixed smile fade and shuddered again as she brought her arms around her shoulders as she tried to force the flashbacks away. She half turned to Remus and mumbled, “Don’t mind me – just a bad memory.”

She was quiet as Remus told her about the legend of King Arthur. She would have liked to reply in kind, but she was still shivering and didn’t want him to notice her voice that would probably tremble when she spoke – never mind the teeth that were chattering like crazy. Why oh why did she have to speak of scarabs? To make herself not think of the horrible memory, she turned all her attention to Remus when she mentioned the prank wars – that was surely bound to recognize her – although she did fill out a bit over the summer… but all that went out of her mind when she heard him mutter about a chance being lost.

“Woah there, Remus – what are you talking about? I didn’t mean it like that!” she said, jumping off the wall and walking over to Remus when she saw how he was beating himself up. It seemed as if he would collapse any moment now and the only thing Thea could think of doing was to put her arms around him just in case he really did faint – it certainly seemed so at the moment.

“I’m not really surprised you don’t remember me – we did have prank wars in our first and second years only – and I do admit that I’ve talked to SOB and Jamesiepoo more than I did you, but that doesn’t mean I’m angry that you don’t know my name – disappointed and hurt, yes – but I’m not angry or insulted.”

Pulling away from him – but still keeping her arms around him, just in case, she looked up (he was a good head taller than she was) in concern and then grinned, “You’re not gonna faint on me, are you? If you do, you’re gonna be an even bigger ninny, Remus. But I don’t mind that – that’s what makes you you, I guess.”

Then she realized that he still didn’t know her name and had the grace to blush and let him see it, not even trying to hide it. “I’m sorry – I’m Anthea Holmes aka Thea – or from what Sirius and James call me all the time – the Midget. Is that better? Now you know who I am and you can stop beating yourself up over it,” she said with a smile on her face and let a small laugh come out of her mouth, completely forgetting about scarabs for the moment as she realized where she was and with whom she was. It would take a bit more than that to tell Remus that she liked him – but she guessed she was well on her way to actually make him notice her. It certainly seemed so.