Read My Mind

Hold Still

To a degree, thanks to what had happened during the ball, Ria is now friends with Harry, Hermione, and as a result, Ron. Ron was not a huge fan of a girl for Slytherin, but his elder brothers probably took care of that because the next time she saw Ron, he was acting way more friendly and polite.

They have been spending time together in the library, trying to figure out ways to pass the second task.

"Ria, are there anything you could find, Asian tricks and stuff." Ron asked.

"They are not tricks," Hermione scolded him.

"It's okay. Sorry, I don't really have anything particularly useful. There have been scrolls recorded consuming the pearls of water dragons will give you their power of breathing in water."

"What's the pearls of water dragons."

"Legends say they are water dragon's tears, which will turn into solid. I heard it's pretty. Many water dragons were killed for that. They are very gorgeous people with fish tails."

"So I will need to catch a mermaid first and make her cry for me." Harry said.

"Yeah...I don't think that will work super well. But here, I still hope to provide some help." Ria showed them a piece of red paper, and she wrote down Ronald Weasley on it.

"Ron, dear, when is your birthday?"

"March 1st, why?" Hermione responded even faster than Ron himself.

"Nothing, just giving you an early birthday gift." She suggested Ron stick out his hand.

As soon as the piece of paper had touched Ron's palm, he couldn't move anymore.

"What's, what's going on?" He could still talk, but terrified to detect that his limbs no longer react to his brain.

"Wow! You petrified him." Harry exclaimed.

"No, Harry, he's still soft." Hermione said, pinching Ron's forearm.

"Hey!" Ron groaned.

Ria took the piece of talisman off and Ron was able to move again. "It's a simple trick. Knowing the person's full name and birthday could give you the ability of freezing them temporarily. Not for long though, not without some blood sacrifice and their exact birth hour."

"Wow, I need to learn that." Harry asked.

Hermione and Ron were pulled away by Professor Moody, and Neville Longbottom came to help Harry put away his books. Ria could feel Moody's magic eye staring at her. He's upset, and anxious. But about what though.

Ria tried to read his thoughts, but somehow she had this natural fear of him, and afraid of probing his mind.

"Gillyweed," Neville said, "That could help."

Ria offered to obtain it for Harry and left the library.

"Gillyweed, sir. I'm sure you have some."

"Yes, Miss Lectus. Before that, perhaps you could tell me exactly what was the reason you needed a highly classified herb, in such urgence?"

"It's for Harry, sir. The second task."

Ria knew that Harry had alway thought Professor Snape hated him, but she doubted it. She was surprised to sense his care towards Harry during the first task, hence the reason she offered to come asking him for gillyweed. But there's nothing wrong with Professor Snape, he put the gillyweed in a small bottle, and placed it on her palm along with a small vial of Custodia.

"It's slightly better. Works for less period of time but with fewer side effects." He looked her in the eyes.

"Thank you sir, I will use it wisely."

He felt bad for her. He felt bad for pulling her into this, and he disagreed with Dumbledore's decision on involving her in this.

"Be careful, Lectus," He said before she closed the door and left, "Sometimes help could be interpreted wrongly, and sometimes help itself is...unusual."

She was not entirely sure what he meant by that, but nodded anyway and left.

Ria forfeited on reading Harry's thoughts while he's underwater. It was way too far and chaotic, and her head was already exploding due to the cheering crowd. She didn't like how Fred and George placed bets on their friends, but she understood them better now with the whole incident with Bagman.

Perhaps she could do something to help.

She waited until everyone came back and was glad to see Harry not only saved Ron but also Fleur's little sister. Hermione was not happy to see Ron's ears turned red after Fleur had kissed him on the cheek. Perhaps she should tell Hermione that telling Ron that Crum had invited her over for the summer is not the wisest move, but again, what does she know about boys?

She started heading out, climbed up a tree on the way back to the castle, and sat on a branch comfortably, waiting for Bagman to walk past the forest. As soon as she had seen Bagman, she casted Shelter. It is a useful trick that allows one to slice a piece of space outside of reality, depending on the power of the person, the size and duration varies. She was only able to seize Bagman in between a few trees. The space could only be controlled by her, and no one else will be able to penetrate or break out of it. She watched Bagman circled around a couple of times, wondering why he was still in the forest and kept seeing the same few trees.

In old Chinese and Japanese folktales, people who walk outside at night sometimes experience this, what they called as the "Ghost Wall." Usually it goes away with the first sun rise, but there have been stories of people being stuck in it forever, and eventually starved to death.

She waited until Bagman had started panicking, and Ria spoke up with a purposefully ghostly voice, while releasing some cold, grey foggs that soon covered the whole space.

"Mr. Bagman."

"Who's there? Show yourself." He pulled out his wand.

"It is not wise, Mr. Bagman."

"Who's there!"
"No Mr. Bagman. It is not wise to trick people. People you think are less powerful than you. Truly."

"What are you talking about?"

"Perhaps you could use some reminder," Ria started searching his mind, it turned out he had tricked quite a few other people.

"Oh, perhaps the minister himself would be interested in knowing your business with Mr. Goldstein, and Mrs. Fegurson. Or maybe it will make a good story for the Daily Prophecy."

People like Bagman believe they are fine because no one will believe in his victims. They are weak, poor, in an inferior position, and lacking alliance.

"Who are you, why are you doing this. Look, I didn't do anything, they got their money."

"No no Mr. Bagman. Excuses are bad...Shhh...You wouldn't want this to last forever would you?"

"No...please, let me go. I will do whatever you want."

"Good. Why don't we start with the Weasleys? Huh? And if we have a deal, I will make what you want to disappear, do disappear, and you will make what should have been presented, being presented to the right people."

Bagman nodded with sweat and possibly some tears, and Ria let the space go back to normal.

Ria was so proud of the successful prank she pulled out that she didn't even notice the pair of eyes that were staring at her from behind the trees.