Read My Mind

The Boggart

Ria came down when they were playing Exploding Snap. Fred and George made revisions with the card so that they not only explode now, but also transform into other objects when the person failed to call "SNAP" . Harry enjoyed his best buddy's face when Ron's card turned into a spider.

"They did it on purpose!" Ron accused his brothers.

"Oh of course they did it on purpose." Ginny said.

Harry watched Ria sit down next to Fred and George, "You are not playing?"

"Well there isn't gonna be much left to play with if she's joining, is it." Fred said, holding his cards up to Ria, "Come on beautiful, give it a blow."

"Go with that one." Ria pointed at one of the cards.

"Hey! Oh wait." Ron first exclaimed in disagreement, then realized that was exactly the card he had wanted.

"Oh come on." Fred groaned.

"Well, you chose to trust me." Ria laughed.

"They can't cheat anymore when Ria's here." Ron explained to Harry happily.

Harry noticed Ria was smiling, but her smile faded soon when she thought no one was looking at her. He recalled the bits and pieces of information he had overheard in the hospital wing, about Ria's mother, and her death.

She must have heard his thoughts, because she stood up and left the table.

The next couple of days were rather peaceful. They were cleaning up the room, battling with all the repellent creatures sneaking around. Sirius was also battling with that house elf, and Mrs. Weasley was battling with her two sons.

"Stop trying to take those eggs!" Mrs. Weasley snatched the bag of doxy eggs from the twins.

"Oh Mrs. Weasley, I can just take it." Ria took the bag over, pulling out a piece of fire talisman.

"Oh then, be careful dear."

Behind her back, Ria handed the bag to Fred and George.

"I think the dried ones might work better." She said.

"Oh yeah, Ria is like a part of the business now." George explained to her.

"Check this out," Fred said, showing Harry a small piece of stone.

George pulled out his wand and said, "Alarte Ascendare," but Fred didn't get shot to mid-air. He was standing still, and the stone exploded and dis-integrated into pieces.

"It's an amulet." Fred said.

"We figured it might be a good idea to have something that also protects you from being a victim of our pranks."

"It's not super powerful, but it works for simple curses. Ria is working on making it look better so people would wear them like jewelries."

"Yeah, a lot of people wear something made in jade or crystal in Asia, hoping it would bring good luck or scare away the better fortunes." She explained, "it's good to make use of some of the nonsense I have learned."

"Pretty neat. Now you can make double the money." Harry commented.

"Yup!" The twins high-fived each other.

On the day of Harry's trial, Ria wanted to go with him, just so she could hear what the juries were thinking. But Mr. Weasley stopped her, "Dumbledore would want you to stay underground, Ria. Now it's not a good time to show other people your family is involved with Dumbledore." She sighed and nodded.

"Harry, don't worry. Dumbledore will be there, and he will for sure be able to help you." She came up to hug him.

"Thanks." His voice was still dry.

It was not a smooth process, but Harry was truly relieved when Fudge was practically forced to announce him not guilty and withdraw all charges. He wanted to talk to Dumbledore, about what happened over the summer, he Dumbledore left as soon as the trial was over.

"Harry, he's very busy." Ria read his concern, "Of course he cares about you."

He gave her a little smile and didn't say anything, and soon she realized he did not want people to know that he was hoping for Dumbledore's attention.

Everyone was celebrating in the living room, congratulating Hermione and Ron for getting the prefect badges and admiring Ron's new broomstick.

Ria was not there, she went with Mrs. Weasley to take care of the Boggart in the cabin. Then all of them heard Mrs. Weasley's crying.

"Oh Arthur, Bill, no!!!" Mrs. Weasley was crying over the constantly changing corpses on the floor. Harry was confused why Ria was not helping, then he saw the Boggart changed into Fred.

Fred looked...fine. He was just standing there, smiling at her. If anything, his smile seemed a little bit of...condescending? But somehow Ria looked like she just had a piece of talisman stuck on her and couldn't move at all. Harry soon pulled out his wand and finally turned the Boggart into white smokes.

"I'm fine." Ria dropped her words before Harry could even ask her what just happened.