Families are Rough PV Closed

 she ended up in the abandoned toilets, Rhea did not particularly know. All she knew was that she wanted a little bit of piece of quiet - that wasn't her dorm room or the common room, because neither of those were all that quiet - and just some time to herself. Why? There was no particular reason, other than that everyone needed a minute alone once in a while, simply to ponder and reflect the day. Last year, Rhea never would have done such a thing - but she was trying to turn over a new leaf now! And become a much better version of herself (God, that sounded corny & cheesy).

As she wandered around the endless corridors in the grand castle, she took in all the sights that were offered. The talking paintings, the moving staircases, even the brick walls. It was all something she'd never had a chance to appreciate, seeing as she was usually either outside or sulking in her dorm room. Somehow, whichever path she was following led her to the abandoned toilets. Maybe it was random and absolutely no magic was involved, but when Rhea heard heavy sobs coming from behind a closed idea, she couldn't help but think at least some magic was involved - why else would the stairs basically lead her to to this crying student?

Her eyebrows furrowed in concern, Rhea made her way to the closed door, not knowing whether to burst in or to leave the person alone. From her own experience, sometimes when she was crying that last thing she wanted was to be left alone - and other times, she just needed someone there with her. Shrugging, Rhea decided to take a leap of faith and enter the bathroom, resolving to be there simply as a listener if the person did not want her help or advice. 

Upon entering, it took Rhea a while to pinpoint where the crying was coming from - but when she found the source, her eyes widened. It was a brunette girl, a first year it looked like, crying her heart out on the cold stone floor. Her heart clenching in worry, Rhea speed walked over there and knelt down beside the girl. Biting her lip, she had no idea how to start but resorted for a simple, "What's the matter?"

Her advice was not always the best, nor did it make sense most of the time, but Rhea hoped that simply her presence would help the girl. Maybe it was homesickness that was the cause of her tears? After all, Rhea assumed that no eleven year old had ever been away from their parents for more than a week, and the sudden change of going to a boarding school would definitely call for homesickness feelings. 

The girl's sobbing did not seem to lessen, and so Rhea did something that she never thought she would do. Not in a million years. She hugged the sobbing girl - albeit, it was an awkward side hug that should not even count as a hug, but it was a hug nonetheless. Rhea Bishop was hugging a stranger! Getting rid of all the weird thoughts coursing through her mind, the Gryffindor focused on simply hugging the other and trying to calm her down. 

As she did, Rhea noticed a piece of folded paper. That had to be the cause of the girl's pain! She picked it up and started to unfold it, before looking at the girl, questioning, "May I?" 

Anastasia heard someone else enter and made a small attempt to stop her tears, which only made them flow faster. She couldn't stand crying in front of other people, it made her feel weak and silly. In addition to that, her parents had always scolded her when she cried, whether it was because she had scraped her knee or because a beloved book character had died. It was always the same - her father would shake his had and click his tongue which prompted her mother to start scolding her. She had quickly learned that she couldn't ever cry in front of them, no matter how badly she wanted to. Add that whole mess to the time she had cried in front of her cousins with she was nine because she had sprained her ankle, and they had laughed at her and teased her about it for months afterwards. The two factors had added to her general dislike of crying in front of people, and now, she only cried when she knew for certain that she was alone. She hoped the other student couldn't hear her, but an indignant part of her wanted whoever it was to hear. Everyone cries sometimes, it's not something to be ashamed of. While she knew that was true, she still hated it. 

When her stall door opened, Anastasia barely glanced up at the newcomer, and couldn't make much out due to her eyes being bleary with tears. She could see red and gold, which registered as Gryffindor robes in the back of her mind. That was a bit comforting, since that meant the girl probably wouldn't tell everyone about the incident due to the fact it would reflect badly on their shared house. She still half expected the girl to just leave, and was quite surprised when the girl knelt beside her. She was even more surprised when the other girl asked her what was wrong.

She tried to answer, but couldn't get control of her sobs long enough to make a complete response. "I-i-it's m-my parents," she hiccuped. The more proper part of her was irritated at her for speaking badly of her family, especially when she knew her parents would be very disappointed in her  for doing so. Then again, no matter how hard she tried, nothing was ever quite could enough for him, and they were always disappointed in her anyway. She gave up trying to stop her crying since the other girl had already seen her crying and there wasn't much she could do about that at this point. 

She was rather shocked when the older girl put her arm around her. Anastasia was a physically affectionate person by nature, but her parents certainly weren't. Other than her mother's surprising hug when they saw her off at King's Cross, she couldn't remember the last time either of her parents had actually hugged her. They said it was most undignified and common to do so. That still didn't make it hurt any less when she saw other kid's parents hug them all the time. That, of all things, lessened her sobs enough that she nodded when the other girl asked if it was alright to read the letter. Yet another thing that her parents would be angry she had done at school, right up there with her making friends with three different Muggleborns. She hardly cared at this point - being in Gryffindor already made them angry at her, and there wasn't really anything she could do to fix or make that any worse. 

loving can heal, loving can mend your soul
and it's the only thing that i know, i know

This was weird, uncomfortable, unfamiliar. The Gryffindor didn't like it, not at all. No, she much rather would have preferred to sit across from the girl and calm her down with words - but sometimes, actions spoke louder than words. And that was why Rhea felt it right to hug the stranger. 

Simply frozen time for a hot minute, Rhea held the girl as she wept. The redhead did not particularly know what to do, or say, and thus she sat there. Very awkwardly. Soon however, she was spared, as the girl began to speak. And the answer to the girl's sadness was something that struck a particular cord within Rhea. Why? For it was her parents that were the cause of the girl's tears.

That was not right! Parents were not supposed to be the reason of their children's tears; rather, they were supposed to comfort them and destroy whoever or whatever was the reason for them! Rhea herself had cried many times because of her father, and she wouldn't allow another to suffer from the same reason. Having gone through the same experience herself, Rhea knew - kind of? - how to deal with this sort of situation.

For her part, Rhea expected more from the girl. Perhaps an explanation as to why the girl was crying - but Rhea could just guess. The girl in front of her donned red and gold robes - signifying Gryffindor. Simply because Rhea had gone through the same thing herself, and children usually thought the world revolved around themselves (especially Rhea, who was raised in a pureblood, egotistical environment), the Gryffindor thought that the cause for the stranger's tears was because she was sorted into Gryffindor. Still kneeling beside her, Rhea shifted her position so she was sitting in front rather than in an awkward position to the side. 

Trying to understand the situation, Rhea peeked at the letter. Although she knew it was most likely private information, the curious girl couldn't contain herself! She glimpsed the words 'disappointed,' 'Slytherin,' & 'Gryffindor' - and thus, thought her assumption correct. Sighing and inhaling deeply, Rhea looked up at the stranger with a grim expression. 

Not knowing what to say, Rhea decided to first introduce herself. "I have a feeling you'd like to know who the random stranger hugging you is - I'm Rhea Bishop," then, not being able to contain herself, she added, "And I think your parents suck."

She grinned sheepishly, a small blush rising to her cheeks. But she didn't take her words back. "Want to tell me what's the matter? I feel like I know, but I don't want to assume."

Rhea leaned back and maneuvered her legs so they were crossed, before placing her elbows onto her knees and leaning her chin on her palms. "I get if you don't."

Rhea smiled kindly at the girl, her mind jumping back to last year, when her own Sorting lasted in disaster. Through lying and some help, Rhea managed to keep the real truth of her Sorting a secret from her parents. However, when her parents found out, they were furious. Her father wouldn't talk to her for a solid month, and he even forbade her from living the Bishop property! Not that that was that much of a loss, considering the size of the property - but it was the thought of it. Therefore, if the matter at hand was what Rhea assumed it was, then she thought she could help comfort the distraught girl. 

Anastasia sobbed for a moment as the stranger held her. It reminded her of her cousin, Amelia, probably her only decent family member. There had been a time when Anastasia had been five and she'd scraped her knee rather painfully. She hadn't wanted to go to her mother about it since she knew her mother would scold her for crying, but her cousin had found her and comforted her. That was the only time that she could remember someone actually trying to comfort her.

She continued crying, but the heaving sobs thankfully let up a bit. She looked up at the girl in front of her when she introduced herself. She was rather shocked when Rhea said that she thought her parents sucked. Her parents had always scolded her when she spoke badly of family members, even if it was justified. She couldn't imagine what they would say here. She had a faint feeling that she was really supposed to correct the girl, tell her it was none of her business. 

Instead, she laughed a bit. "I-i suppose they do, don't they?" Anastasia agreed. She attempted to wipe her eyes, but the tears kept flowing. "My name is Anastasia. Anastasia Beckett."  She had felt a bit conflicted at the inclusion of her surname but had decided to. Just because her parents were angry at her and she was hurt didn't mean she wasn't a Beckett. For better I for worse, this was her family and there was really very little she could do about it. 

"I was supposed to get sorted into Slytherin," Anastasia admitted between hiccups. She wasn't sure why she was telling the girl this - she was normally fairly reserved, even with her close friends. Still, Rhea seemed like she was a kind enough person - after all, she was comforting a stranger in the bathroom - and maybe it would help a bit to have someone who knew what she was going through. She wondered if Rhea would know what it was like - having parents with impossibly high standards who acted like they were perfect and their child was nothing but a disappointment. "As you can see, that didn't exactly happen." Anastasia laughed wryly as she said that. No, that certainly didn't happen.

She still felt that this was hopefully better than if she had just kept it from them. Then, they would have found out from someone else, and they would have been even more furious with her. At that moment, it was rather hard to imagine. While her parents' words probably didn't seem too harsh to a stranger's eye, she knew her parents and knew that they were extremely angry about the whole thing. 

"And they think that it's my fault and I asked the Hat to be in Gryffindor and are practically threatening to disown me," Anastasia finished, pushing it all out before bursting into another sob. It somehow felt more real when she said it out loud. Her parents, who hadn't mentioned Amelia since she'd been disowned, had mentioned her just to make their point. Being disowned was her worst fear. Maybe she didn't want to be a carbon copy of her mother, but that didn't mean that she wanted to be completely disowned. She tried to take a deep breath but instead, another sob shook her whole body. She vaguely felt a bit embarrassed for being such a mushy mess in front of this girl, since they'd never met before. Not an ideal first impression..

So she was right! Rhea couldn't help but feel a bit victorious, but then realized the situation she was in. Moving her competitive nature aside for now, Rhea focused on just listening to the girl's - apparently, her name was Anastasia Beckett - problems. Sighing, Rhea adjusted her position so her leg was falling asleep, before pursing her lips as she thought of what to say.

Just a year ago, the Gryffindor prefect had been going through the same thing. She had been faced with deciding what to do about her Sorting, and had spent many a night writhing around in bed, unable to sleep due to her fear. But now, look at her! She was the prefect of Gryffindor; she was [partially] in charge of a house that was rival to her parents'. What had seemed to her like the worst disaster and event of her life had now turned into what was possibly the best. How else would she have met most, if not all, of her friends? She wouldn't have! A smile growing on her face, Rhea waited until Anastasia was finished before she began to comfort her. Granted, Rhea wasn't the best - she was much more used to suppressing everything up until she burst, which had not yet happened - but at least she could try! If only she herself had had a second year help her through all her troubles.

"Look Ana - can I call you Ana? Anastasia is quite a mouthful-yep, I'm calling you Ana - I faced the exact same thing last year. I could not stand to tell my parents I was a Gryffindor - I was terrified they would disown me!" Rhea closed her eyes, just envisioning her parents reaction again. It caused a tremor to run down her spine. "But, Gryffindor isn't so bad! They might be mad now, and may threaten to disown you, but I promise they won't. And even if they do - their loss! If they want to be that immature, then let them! You can stay with me," why she was offering to let a stranger stay at her house, Rhea wasn't particularly sure. And her parents would most likely not let her invite an outsider just live with them, but what the twelve year old said in the heat of the moment didn't matter much to her. She just wanted to comfort the girl. 

Her words would most likely not help Ana much, but sometimes, it just helped knowing someone was there and going through the same thing as you. "It will get better, alright?" she leaned forward and grasped Ana's hand between her own, in a show of solidarity and support. 

Anastasia was rather surprised at the girl's lack of comment while she explained what was wrong. If she had started crying in front of her parents, they would have just sent her to her room and told her she was being silly. Even if they did ask what was the cause of her tears, they'd usually interrupt her while she was trying to tell them and tell her that that wasn't something to get so upset over and that she really needed to have better control of herself and her emotions. Thinking about her parents brought forth a fresh wave of sobs. Even as she remembered their harshness, she still wanted them to be proud of her.  

Anastasia smiled a bit as the redhead began to speak. A handful of people had called her Ana when she was younger, but her parents had discouraged that since, according to her father anyway, Anastasia was a perfectly distinguished name and they didn't name her just so she could run around being called something as common as Ana. 

Anastasia's dark eyes searched Rhea's face as she talked about her own struggles with the exact same issue. Anastasia had felt like she was the only person in the world. Like nobody else could possibly understand what she was going through. Anastasia had briefly considered not telling her parents about her sorting, or tell them she was in Ravenclaw or something, but she knew that would only make it that much worse when they did eventually find out that their daughter was in the House of Lions. 

Anyway, since she ripped the band-aid off, hopefully, things would be tolerable by the time she went home for the holidays. As long as she didn't do anything else to provoke them, like join any house activities or fail anything, things would be okay by then, right? She bit her lip as she thought of Amelia. When she'd been sorted into Hufflepuff, she hadn't even gone home until the summer, due to the fact that her parents said they didn't want someone like that in their home. They'd eased up a bit, but she'd still ended up getting disowned just before her fourth year. That was part of the reason that she was so scared and heartbroken at her parents' letter - she knew they were perfectly capable of what they were threatening to do. 

She shook her head when the girl - Rhea was her name - said that they wouldn't do it. "My aunt and uncle did it to my cousin a few years ago, and they're far more patient with things like this than my parents are," Anastasia said, giving up on trying to stop herself from speaking badly of her family. Anastasia smiled a bit when Rhea offered to let her come and stay with her. She knew that it wasn't entirely realistic, but it was nice to feel like somebody actually cared and would be there if that horrible thing did ever happen. "It's just, they're so hard to please when I do everything perfectly. I can't even begin to imagine how much worse it'll be when- when-" Anastasia broke off into another round of tears. She'd managed to mess up the one thing that mattered the most to her parents. She suspected that they would rather her fail all her classes and not make any friends if she was in Slytherin than get all O's and have a perfect year in Gryffindor. Even to her, that sounded a tad messed up.

It was nice, having someone who understood. It wasn't every day Rhea found another person who was in the exact same situation as her - one would expect all pureblood parents to want their child to be a Slytherin, but she guessed that was no longer the case. Times had changed, beliefs had changed, even if her parents hadn't.

The girl crying in front of her left Rhea just a bit flustered; the Bishop had no clue how to comfort herself, much less someone else. Actually, the action much reminded her of when she used to cry, as a child. Rhea would cry over the smallest things - yes, she was that kid. Anytime she didn't get her way, someone ignored her, whatever else a spoiled child cried over. Neither her nanny nor her parents knew how to make her stop, so rather than actually talking to her they just gave her whatever she was crying over. And slowly, she got more and more spoiled. 

Could she do the same with Anastasia? But then, that would require her to know what Ana wanted. And what did she want? All Rhea wanted to do was to stop her crying; she hated seeing others cry. The thought of it being a sign of weakness still lingered in the depths of her mind, but that wasn't why she hated the sight. It was because it meant someone was sad... and with her own, twisted reasoning, Rhea thought she was the only one allowed to be sad. 

"I'm... sorry about your cousin," the apology slipped out of Rhea's mind. She didn't even know what she was apologizing for, but just felt the word necessary for the occasion. "My uncle was the same. He got sorted into Ravenclaw, and my grandparents disowned him," the Gryffindor pressed her lips together and shrugged. "I haven't seen him much over the years. But he lives life like he wants, I know what. It's not too bad," Rhea then offered a smile, leaning back on her elbows. The floor of the bathroom was just a bit dirty, and although that usually would have bothered Rhea, not today. She was too focus on the situation at hand. 

"I know what you mean, not being able to please your parents. I spent my entire first year worrying about what they thought, and now- hey, hey, it's alright!" She got cut off by Anastasia bursting into tears. Flustered, Rhea leaned forward once more and attempted to awkwardly hug the girl. It wasn't that great of a hug, but she hoped it would work for her nonetheless. "It's alright." Her arms wrapped tighter around the girl and her face grew somber. 

Anastasia leaned into the hug, her hiccuping sobs finally seeming to subside. She'd bottled it all up since her sorting, and she was already beginning to feel a bit better having let it all out. It didn't mean that everything was all better, but now she was beginning to formulate a plan. She could do this. She could. She certainly wasn't the first pureblood child who had disappointed their parents by being sorted into Gryffindor and she wouldn't be the last. Sure, a good portion of them were probably disowned, but not all of them, right? She could figure this out. This girl in front of her was proof that it was possible to be in Gryffindor and still have something of a relationship with your parents. 

Sitting back and meeting the older girl's eyes, she took a deep breath. "How did you do it? Get them to understand it and be okay with it?" she asked, wiping her eyes with her robe sleeve. She couldn't imagine her parents ever being anything even close to okay with their only daughter being in Gryffindor. Hufflepuff wasn't even half as bad in her family's minds, and Mia getting sorted into Hufflepuff had been what had started the series of events that lead to her being disowned. Despite the ray of hope this girl had given her, there was still a part of her that felt like it was inevitable. Her parents were not the most accepting of her even before her sorting. Nothing she did ever seemed to be good enough for her parents. She worked so hard to be so perfect all the time and it never worked. Not to mention it was bloody exhausting to be perfect all the time. She couldn't even begin to fathom how disappointed her parents would be now that she had actually messed up. 

Anastasia inhaled sharply and blinked. She was not going to break down in tears again. She was going to figure something out and deal with her problems instead of trying to hide from them like a small child. Also, she was hopefully going to show Rhea that she wasn't just some pathetic crybaby. She already quite like and respected this girl for comforting a complete stranger. Anastasia didn't know if she would have done the same, had she been in Rhea's shoes. Half the time, she was the one who made girls go running to the bathroom crying. Oddly enough, that particular habit didn't disappoint her parents. Anastasia had never thought much about that, but one would think that making other people cry was far more reprehensible behavior than not getting a school question perfectly correct the first time. She'd always just accepted her parents' opinions on things and was only just now even starting to doubt them. 

The hug not only benefited Anastasia, but Rhea as well. It seemed to trigger something inside of the 12 year old, making her realize that maybe... maybe there was more to life than just her parents' opinions. She spent so much of her life caring about what they thought, what they wanted her to do, but never about what she thought, what she wanted to do. Of course, things had been a little bit different this year, seeing as the people she had met in her first year changed her perspective things. But still... her parents' words always rang through her mind. 

Eventually, she let go of Anastasia and mirrored the other girl's actions. At the girl's question, Rhea couldn't help but snort. 'Get them to understand?' As if. Rhea's mind flashed back to the day when she'd returned from Hogwarts, and remembered her father's yelling. Okay with it was as far as it could be. Biting her lip, Rhea sighed and looked deep into Ana's eyes. "I didn't," Rhea replied simply, shaking her head with a somber look. "The only thing that stopped my father from disowning me was my mother convincing him that it would look bad for his reputation." At that sentence, a bitter laugh escaped the Gryffindor's lips. 

At first, the events of that fateful day had affected Rhea to the ends of the earth. She'd wanted to cry, scream, yell... but most of all, wanted her father to take his words back and say he was sorry. Of course, Rhea knew it would never happen. It didn't change the fact that she wanted it to happen more than anything else in the world. 

Reflecting upon her words, Rhea seemed to realize just how useless her words were. Even further, they might have made the situation worse. Frowning, she offered a weak smile at Anastasia, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "I think that the best thing to do would be to just... get either of your parents, or perhaps even your grandparents, to sympathize with you. That way you would have one more adult figure on your side. For me, it was my mother," Rhea nodded, seeming assured with her advice. She seemed far above her age for a moment, a look of confidence in her words appearing on her face as she spoke. 

Standing up, she extended her hand for Anastasia to take. A happy, mischievous smile appeared on her face as she cast a look upon the younger Gryffindor girl. "Now, come on. You cannot wallow in here forever. It's what I did last year, and I wish someone had distracted me. Now, I'm being that person for you."

The smile never leaving her face, Rhea held back the urge to sniffle. Something inside her would not allow her to leave Anastasia on her own, to allow her to just be sad all the time. Even if Rhea had managed to find the light in the dark, maybe Anastasia wouldn't be so lucky - and that was what spurred Rhea to basically take Anastasia under her wing. 

Should Anastasia take Rhea's hand, the older girl would lead them both out of here and probably back to the Gryffindor tower, to spend the rest of the night talking.