Read My Mind

Reactions

All Ria could think of is to be extra cautious about everyone and dial her thought-poking power to the highest level in the hope of bumping into anything useful. It was an excruciating punishment when the first task was taking place. 

Ria was sitting on the spectator seats, except she was not interested in how the contestants were doing but rather people's reactions. She decided to pay extra attention to those who are not students, as they are more likely to be powerful enough to trick a magical object like the Goblet of fire. But so far everything looks normal. 

Apparently everyone already knew what the first task was and was prepared accordingly. She could feel Madame Maxime's pride in Fleur's performance and Karkaroff's confidence in Crum's ability and eagerness to win. Dumbledore is worried as well, along with Professor Mcgonagall, Professor Flitwick...Madam Pompfrey's thought is particularly high-pitched, she's very much against this kind of dangerous tasks, AS IF THE STUDENTS ARE NOT HURTING THEMSELVES ENOUGH ALREADY EVERY DAY.

Professor Snape was also concerned, he was less confident in Potter's ability and Ria realized he was gripping on his wand hard, as if he was ready to rush down any minute and battle the dragon himself. Hagrid is cheering for Harry, good to have someone believe in you, Ria guess, although she wasn't sure how Harry would feel about that. If you ask Ria, she would rather not have anyone trusting in her than going through something like this.

"WOW," the crowd all gasped as Harry summoned his firebolt. Even Ria was distracted and took a solid minute to appreciate Harry's genius move.

She saw Professor Moody smiled, GOOD...HE LISTENED TO ME...HE'S FOLLOWING THE PLAN...

So Professor Moody was helping him...Ria didn't expect him to be the caring kind of professor, but after all the chosen one could very much need some help, and the professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts sounds like a reliable option.

She kept looking around, Mr. Crouch looked serious and gloomy as usual, he was very worried about something. But he is a very reserved person, and his thoughts are rather quiet. The person next to him, who introduced himself as the Head of Sports was Ludo Bagman. He has been twisting his hands and counting his fingers, and he had a huge grin when Harry won.

No one seemed particularly disappointed in Harry's outstanding performance, except Igor Karkaroff, who had given him only 4 points. Could he be the suspect?

Ria went to update Dumbledore about her observations, even though she's pretty sure Dumbledore has already thought of everything she's going to say.

"Don't be frustrated, Miss Lectus." Dumbledore reassured her, "These information have been useful."

"I just feel like this is searching for a needle in the sea."

"My apologies, say that again?"

"Oh, sorry. That's an expression I learned from a Chinese sorcerer, meaning it's so hard to be looking for something when there's no direction at all."

"Perhaps...," Dumbledore paused, "I suspect whoever put Harry's name in the cup, they are not trying to kill him, not right away."

Ria's eyes widened, "Then what's their goal then, if not killing the chosen one during the process."

"Voldemort is a very...ego-centric person, he would not want anyone else to kill Harry Potter."

"He needs his revenge."

"Precisely, and most importantly, he needs to prove to the whole world that he is impregnable, and Harry is just a little boy who got lucky."

"I see." Ria said.

"We'll just have to be patient, and hopefully something will surface, Miss Ria."

Before anything had surfaced, Professor Mcgonagall had decided to drop something instead. People have different reactions to the upcoming Yule Ball. A mixture of anticipation, excitement, and worry to be exact.

Ria sighed. She hates socializing.

She stayed in the Great Hall after finishing her essay to she could avoid going back to her dorm listening to her roommate going on and on about not being interested in whether or not this particular boy is going to ask her to the ball, while in reality Ria didn't even need to read her mind to tell that she liked him. Why won't she just ask him then?

Ron was very anxious about finding a date, understandably so. Ria couldn't help but look at Fred and George's direction, and that's when she saw Fred shouted out his proposal to Angelina Johnson.

She looked at him for a few seconds and said yes. Ria wasn't able to grasp onto her exact thought, probably because she didn't want to.

Ria left the Great Hall so she could stop looking at Fred's confident face. He knew Angelina would have said yes, why wouldn't she? He's tall...funny...popular..., and good-looking.

Ria sighed, she had to admit, Fred Weasley is a handsome person, despite he always has this casual smile on his face, which makes him particularly annoying at this moment.

If this is not enough, Fred asked her, "So who are you going to the ball with?" After sitting next to her during divination again. They had no problem making use of divination as their regular meeting times to talk about product progress.

"I don't want to talk about it." She said.

"Someone's grumpy today." Fred was surprised by her reaction, she's not cheerful but usually friendly at least.

George nudged his brother to make him stop talking, but Fred Weasley would not be Fred Weasly if he ever listens to anyone.

"I was thinking, maybe you can go with George, you know, he's a fine bloke. I mean, not as fine as I am, but if you need someone."

"I don't think Ria needed your help in finding a date for the ball, Fred."

"Thank you!" Ria shouted her appreciation, making Trelawney notice them.

"Crap," Ria said, but she's slightly glad that they could put this conversation to a stop.

"Oh, young lady. You have spent quite a few years in the orient, haven't you? I'm sensing something mysterious. Anything you are hiding, perhaps?" She stared at Ria with wide, frightened eyes behind her thick glasses.

"I see secrets...I see love, ah, secret unrequited love. My poor girl, nothing is worse than that, isn't it?" She grabbed Ria by the shoulders and gasped.

"Uggh..." Ria didn't know what to say, "Yeah, perhaps professor. Secret and unrequited love, that's exactly the title of my diary."

That resulted in a nice chuckle in the classroom.

"Seriously Ria, are you sure you don't need any help?" Fred was still not letting the topic go, "Come on, spell the tea. Who's the lucky guy?"

"There is no guy!" THE ONLY TEA I HAD TODAY WAS DURING BREAKFAST AND IF I STILL HAVE IT I WOULD SPILL IT ALL OVER YOUR DUMB FACE. Ria thought.

She stormed down the tower, leaving Fred looking at George, confused, and the latter was staring at his brother with a "You-are-hopeless look."