Read My Mind

Her First Task

Ria regretted not drinking a dose of Custodia before coming to dinner tonight. The whole Great Hall went silent when Dumbledore read Harry Potter's name out loud from the Goblet of fire, but their thoughts went unbearably loud.

HE CHEATED...

HOW DID HE DO IT...

WHY WOULD HE DO IT...

HOGWARTS HAVE TWO WARRIORS NOW...

Ria tried to narrow her focus to Harry's thought, as a way of fighting against the noisy, but also for curiosity. Harry's thought is particularly intense anyway.

He didn't do it. Ria realized. Good, the chosen one is not so stupid. However, then this is bad, truly bad. Someone must have planned this...but for what purposes...

By the time Ria arrived at Dumbledore's office, he had already met with the other professors and Barty Crouch. She looked at the old man, who appeared to be tired and...in pain. So he has decided to let Harry Potter compete, a risky, but seemed like a necessary move to find the person behind this.

"You want me to try and find out who put Harry's name in the cup, headmaster Dumbledore?"

"Yes, yes indeed, Miss Lectus. If you could assist in finding that person, that would be ideal."

Ria nodded. "Any person in mind, sir? Someone I should start with?"

Dumbledore slowly shook his head, "That's the tricky part, Miss Lectus. It has to be a person with exceptional power, someone capable of tricking the Goblet of Fire, a strong wizard, experienced in dark magic, perhaps. But I couldn't think of anyone currently in Hogwarts that is capable of doing so."

"Could it be that the cup was enchanted prior to its arrival at Hogwarts, sir?"

"That's a plausible direction, good thinking. But the Goblet of Fire had been stored securely in the Ministry's office, with the most secured spells and magical items, plus the guard of Matagots. Head Minister Fudge had to sign off for importing them from French just for the purpose of protecting valuable truly magical items."

Also to make the French Happy. But Ria didn't say anything.

"I understand."

Ria was about to leave, but Dumbledore stopped her. "Miss Lectus, I hope you understand that you don't have to do any of this if you don't want to."

Ria just looked at him.

"Afterall, the least I would want is for you to feel like you're in your mother's position."

Ria turned her head away, breaking the eye contact, "Well I'm not my mother. At least as for right now, I still have a choice. I appreciate the thoughtful reminder, good night Headmaster Dumbledore."

Ria felt her blood burning under her skin as she was rushing back to her dorm. A mix of anger, fear, sadness, devstation, and resentment arose when Dumbledore mentions her mother. How dare he mention her mother like that, so casually, like he's talking about the weather. How hypocritical of him to say that she has a choice? As if she would actually say no to him in his face, when she is physically here, inside Hogwarts. She is already a part of it, she can't remain an outsider anymore. Perhaps she never was.

She threw herself into the bed and immediately fell asleep from all the exhaustion of reading mins all day. She was unconsciously tossing and turning as she dreamt about her mother again. She saw her beautiful, soft, sad eyes. They were always sad, from the beginning of her memory. The first time Ria pointed out, "But you want wine, dada," when his father agreed to her mother's proposal of having tea after dinner. Her father laughed, but her mother's smile disappeared. She pulled her close and sat Ria on her knees, gently stroking her hair, trying to think of how to tell her daughter about her exceptional gift.

Ria waited as her mother struggled with words and articulating what to say. Ria lost patience eventually, "Why is it dangerous, mother?" She has read her mind.

"Oh Ria." Tears dropped down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them but of course Ria has already seen them.

"Oh my baby. It's just, it's just too much, honey. See, others can only access their own thoughts, but as a legilimens, you are exposed to so many people's different thoughts, and they could be...a lot."

"What's others?" Ria has not yet been able to make the distinction between self and others. Afterall, the voices were always there, and for the longest time she thought they were there for everyone, hence the reason why she was amazed by her father's lie when she assumed her mother would see through him right away.

Well, she actually could, but why didn't she say anything?

It is after a long time that Ria finally learned something about her mother's view of the world. "It is a blessing to be living in a muddle. Seeing through everything offers nothing but brutal truth and unnecessary pain." But Ria was only able to understand that long after her mother's death, she never had the chance to tell her that she finally understood what she meant.

The day her mother left, she sat Ria on her knees like she always does, and started telling her how much she loves her, like she always does. She was smiling and stroking Ria's hair and planting soft kisses on her forehead, but Ria could tell there's something wrong.

"Why are you not coming back?"

"Shh, no one said that."

"But I know, you are thinking that."

"Shhh, Ria, don't," she put a finger on her lips to stop her from revealing, "what did we say about this."

"...Never say what others have not said out loud."

"Yes. And?"

"Never seek information that didn't come to us willingly, and never say anything that's not ready to be heard by everyone."

"Good." She kissed her again, "Keep that in mind, will you?" Then she put her down and started walking out.

"No," she screamed, but her father stopped her. "No, mom, come back, no!" She struggled and kicked and screamed even louder, but she never looked back.

"I'm ready." She told the two men in black robes, and they vanished into the thin air.

"She's always sleeping."

"Yeah...It's so weird."

Ria heard the voice of her roommates. She knew they think she's a weirdo. She is too distant even for a Slytherin, she never talks to anyone, and indeed, she is alway sleeping thanks to her particularly exhausting gift.

"Ria, you are awake!" The girl was surprised to see her sitting on her bed.

"We were just talking about you." They looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh, what were you guys talking about?"

"We were....we were just worried about you."

"Yeah, hope you didn't miss the news tonight."
"You mean how Potter's name got in the Goblet of fire?" Ria asked, didn't bother calling out their lies. Lying is the new polite, or perhaps has always been.

"Yes, what do you think about it?"

"I don't have anything to say about it." Ria didn't want to get involved in their discussion at all. She left the room, leaving the other two girls staring at each other and resenting her rudeness in their heads.