Even to those closest to her, Althea was as much a mystery then as she is now. As a girl, she was driven by her ambition and thirst for knowledge to a place very few could follow, and she didn't hesitate to leave them behind. But now, after living a...
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"WE GOTTA DO IT RIGHT."
From that day forward, the Black brothers didn't speak.
It took Althea a while to warm up to this idea. Regulus was her friend, her best friend, and he always would be, but now that he was hated by both of their brothers another level of complication was added into the mix of their friendship. From that day on, their friendship was even more secretive, but somehow that only drew them closer. The two became so close that Althea finally had the courage to admit a life-long ambition of hers.
Althea had always been interested in spells, ever since she saw her father produce sparks from his wand when she was young, but it wasn't until she had begun at Hogwarts that she had a desire to make her own. The thought alone was ambitious, but ultimately harmless - except for the fact that she didn't want to create the next lumos or wingardium leviosa. She wanted to create very serious spells. Spells that could change the world.
"I don't know about this, Thea," a fourteen year old Regulus Black whispered to his best friend. The two of them were in the library only minutes before curfew, searching in the restricted section for something, though Regulus had no clue what.
Althea smirked from atop a library ladder when she finally found the book she was looking for. She looked down at her friend, and held out the magical theory book. "If we're going to make our own spells," she said cockily, "we've got to do it right."
From the moment Althea had told Regulus, he was hooked on the idea. He wanted to be a part of the process of making a spell in any way he could, and it was at that moment that Althea had known she had found the right person to tell.
"Think of it, Reg," she excitedly conversed as the two walked out of the library. "We could make spells that could change the world as we know it.I mean, can you even imagine - "
"Thea?" the two heard from a distance away. When they turned and found James, standing dumbfounded at the end of the corridor, Regulus said a quick goodbye to his friend, and hastened away, leaving Althea to her brother. She smiled at Regulus, then turned to her brother, trying her hardest to hide her nerves. By that time, he was already within speaking distance. "What were you doing with Regulus Black?"
"And why do you need to know?" she retorted, beginning to walk in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room, clutching Adalbert Waffling's Fundamental Laws of Magic to her chest. She didn't mean to come off as abrasive to her brother, but she wanted to avoid this conversation in any way possible.
"You're not - " he stuttered, " - you're not seeing him, are you?"
"No, I am not seeing him!" Althea interjected. "Merlin, James, do I accuse you of snogging every girl you talk to?"
"My," spoke a new voice, one the two of them both easily recognized. They stopped in their tracks, turning to see Sirius Black approaching them. "It's been a while since I've seen the Potters fight," he commented with a smug smirk that made Althea want to punch him. "I'm assuming Potterette was caught snogging some guy Jamesy didn't approve of?"
Instead of punching him, Althea rolled her eyes, then sucked in a breath, knowing Sirius was about the only one who could get through to 'protective-big-brother-James'. She faced the Gryffindor with clenched teeth. "Would you please tell my brother that a boy and girl can be friends without snogging?"
Sirius laughed in a condescending, yet conformational way, causing James to cock an eyebrow in victory, though Sirius hadn't technically said anything on the subject. "I'm curious now - who's the guy?"
James and Althea exchanged glances, both knowing very well the kind of relationship the Black brothers had. "Benjy," Althea quickly lied. James made no sign of protest at her lie, because while he was weary of Althea's relationship with Regulus, he knew that if Sirius found out, his sister would be dead to his best friend.
"Fenwick?" Sirius responded with a bit of surprise in his voice. He grimaced, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head a bit. "I don't know, Thea. Fenwick's a bit of a player."
Althea scoffed at the irony of this situation, though a red flush was quickly overtaking her face. "You don't even know Benjy. And besides, you have no room to talk! This is coming from the guy whose goal it is to snog every girl in this school before he graduates!"
No one could deny that Althea's statement was true. Last year, Sirius had been pretty indifferent about the girls that flocked to him, only seeming to talk to Althea, but in the past year, that had been flipped entirely. He seemed to have a new girlfriend every other week, and he hardly ever spoke to Althea any more. She didn't know what had changed, but she didn't like it.
Sirius took a step towards her, a challenging smirk across his lips. "You're just jealous you're not one of those girls."
"Okay!" That was when James awkwardly, yet protectively stepped back in, pushing Sirius away from his sister. "I know you're joking mate, but seriously, that's my little sister."
Sirius started laughing then. "You think I was hitting on her?" he was saying incredulously, but Althea didn't care to stick around to hear the rest. She turned, and restarted her walk to the Ravenclaw tower, ignoring the bickering of the two fifth year Gryffindors behind her.
"Where are you going?" James called after her once he realized she was not standing beside him.
She held up her book without turning around. "Studying," Althea called out lazily.
There was a short silence before James responded with, "What are you doing reading Fundamental Laws of Magic?"
Althea's face reddened, having forgotten that that was the book in her arms. She turned to face them, continuing to walk backwards. "Again, none of your business."
When she turned the corner, Althea stopped. She pressed one hand flat against her chest as she attempted to gain control of her heartbeat, feeling the cool metal of her locket against her warm skin. She tried to convince herself that she was reacting like this because she and Regulus had nearly been exposed, but that wasn't the reason for the redness of her cheeks and the adrenaline pumping through her veins.
