Authors Note :

Alright. . . so I know I haven't updated my multi-chap story in quite some time, but I swear there was a good reason. And you're reading it right now. This story is rated T, but in a few chapters, it is a HIGH T rating. Harsher language does pick up down the road and there are definitely some mature subjects. I'll put a warning above the two chapters.

Also, there is a lot of foreshadowing in this - with literature and other such things. I'm curious if anybody catches anything or has guesses. I'd love to hear them as they come up. Happy reading!


PROLOGUE - VIGNETTE


For her ninth birthday, Rose Weasley received a toad as a gift from her younger brother.

Yes, it really was a toad.

She was incredibly surprised at first. She stared in shock at the brownish lumpy creature sitting on the dark oak table in front of her. Her parents had gotten her books, clothes, and tickets to some theatrical plays – things that were practical and what she asked for (in the case of books and tickets).

A toad, however, came out of the blue; she was not at all expecting it. After the initial surprise faded, she didn't really know how to react. Toads were. . . gross. Rose had never really seen a toad up close before and it was honestly one of the ugliest creatures she had ever seen. Its eyes stared straight at her, unblinking and unmoving.

Suddenly it croaked and Rose gave a small jump. Her mum gave her a hesitant smile from where she was seated across the table. "Hugo picked this out for you all by himself."

Rose looked at her seven year old brother, Hugo, who was beaming at the toad. "Its kind is a Natterjack toad Rosie. They told me at the pet store. And it's a girl! I was going to name her Matilda like that girl in Lily's favourite book, but Dad said to let you name her."

She didn't want to disappoint Hugo who had such beaming eyes, splatters of freckles on his face, and dimples in his cheeks, but she didn't even want to touch the toad. . . or Matilda. It continued to stare at her with its black eyes, croaking every nine seconds or so.

"I think Matilda is a great name for her," Rose told Hugo as she twisted her fingers nervously under the kitchen table. She didn't have to pick the toad up, did she? "I love her. Thanks."

She didn't quite mean it, but from Hugo's happiness and her parents relieved looks she knew she said the right thing.

But what on Earth was she going to do with a toad! They didn't do anything, did they? All she knew was they ate flies and swam in water; she was sure she read that somewhere.

Actually, she didn't think she'd ever read anything about toads before. Maybe it was frogs that did all that? She was going to have to read up about her new pet.

"Do you want to take Matilda upstairs to your room Rose? We'll wash off the table and then have some cake – Ron! Stop picking off the icing! Wait for Rose to at least blow out the candles," her mum exclaimed giving her dad a death glare before she turned back to flipping through one of Rose's new birthday books.

Her dad looked guilty as he stood behind the island counter, licking his fingers clean. Rose's birthday cake was sitting in front of him; it had thick white and red icing around the top and bottom. The cake was raspberry chocolate, a family preference. The icing was everyone's favourite part though. And her dad always, without fail, tried to sneak some early.

Usually Hugo did too – and speaking of the devil, it didn't take long for Hugo to realise he was missing out. Rose saw him scramble off the chair and run beside their dad. She couldn't see much more than his frizzy red hair above the counter because he was so small. Then he stood on his tippy toes and his nose popped up over the counter as his hand snaked upwards and plunged in the cake, giggling like mad. Her dad didn't do anything; just put a finger to his lips to get Hugo to be more silent as he used the chance to steal more icing.

"Hugo Arthur Weasley! Ronald!" exclaimed her mum who reluctantly turned her attention away from Rose's book a second time to look up at the giggling. When she realised how far the situation had gotten in the past few minutes she leaped out of her chair to Hugo and grabbed his arms, hauling him away from the cake. His hand and face were covered in white and red and even some of the actual cake because he had plunged his hand in rather far. "I just told your father no! That doesn't mean you can eat icing too! And Ron, I said no! Stop teaching your son to steal cake. This isn't your birthday!"

Her dad looked sheepishly at her mum. "Hermione, you can't just put a raspberry chocolate cake on the counter and expect me and Hugo not to touch it. . . it's impossible!"

Her mum shook her head and flicked his ear with her hand as she wheeled Hugo away to the washroom to go clean up. "Rose, take your toad and all your presents upstairs!"

Right. The toad.

She turned back around to see it sitting in exactly the same spot. It didn't budge a leg in the commotion. Her dad looked at her sympathetically and tossed a tea towel. She wrapped it around Matilda and whilst holding it away from her body, she carried it up the stairs to her room.

She wasn't sure what one did with a toad. She set her on the floor in the middle of the room.

"Stay," Rose said to it, pointing her finger at it. It continued to stare at her, croaking faithfully every nine seconds. She grimaced. Her new pet was turning out to be rather creepy.

She went downstairs to go eat the cake, blowing out all nine candles with one big blow. Over half the icing was missing on the cake and there was a Hugo shaped handprint on one of the sides, but the cake still tasted delicious. Rose even had two whole slices.

When she went to bed later that night after brushing her long red hair and braiding three loose braids, after putting on the nightdress with beluga whales over it, and after having a toothbrush sword fight with Hugo (Hugo lost), the toad still hadn't moved.

It was gross, ugly, and loud. It was a weird brown colour and had the bumps or warts all over it. Rose was half terrified it would be sitting on her when she opened her eyes in the morning. She didn't like it. Why would Hugo give her a toad? She fell into a fitful sleep.

It wasn't until a few days later that Rose began to appreciate Matilda. A few weeks later and she didn't know how she ever lived without Matilda. Hugo was a genius.

She squeezed him very tightly, tight enough that he squeaked. "Thank you Hugo. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! I love you! I love Matilda!"

"See! I knew you'd like her Rosie. And mum wanted me to get you a book with a man holding someone's dead face. I knew this was better."

It was better. It was brilliant.


"Are you sure Rose? You can get a cat. . . or an owl instead! Then you can send us letters whenever you'd like."

They stood in Diagon Alley at their last stop outside the Magical Menagerie, trying to figure out their last purchase of the day. It had been a very long day of shopping and everyone was tired of being out since morning. They were tired of the extra attention focused on them, how stores seemed to crowd up when they entered, and all the finger pointing that happened. Of course, Rose didn't really notice it as much as her parents. This was her first time at Diagon Alley and she thought it was always like that.

Hugo was running circles around his parents with his arms spread wide open and making airplane noises while Rose was jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone on two feet chanting random words as her hair bounced up and down on her back. "Bootless barnacle! Blundering Cyclops! Ugly maggot-pie! Crazy Zeus! Weedy knuckle-sandwich!"

It said on Rose's Hogwarts acceptance letter that she could bring an animal to Hogwarts: a cat, owl, or toad. And she wanted another toad.

"Rose. . . Hugo. . . we're almost done here. Can you two calm down a bit? An owl Rose, or a cat? You remember Crookshanks. . . ?" her mum asked.

"Sniffering bobble-headed toad! I want a toad. . ." Rose glared up at her mum. Then she continued, "bamboozling worm! Blinking computer. . . !"

"A toad is better than a rat, I'll give you that Rosie," her dad told her. He leaned forwards and picked Hugo up, when he got a bit far from them, giving him a quick twirl in the air before setting him back on the ground beside him. "I had a rat when I was your age. . . Never get a rat. . . especially one that's an animagus."

". . . Slobbering animagus! What's an animagus?"

"It's when a human can turn into an animal with a spell. Transfiguration. You'll learn at Hogwarts. Let's go pick out your toad Rose and then get out of here. We should have been shopping last week before it got this busy," her mum said. "School rush."

Her mum was just about to grab her hand and pull her into the pet shop to pick out a toad, when her dad stopped them with a hand.

"Hermione, seven o'clock. In the distance."

"Seven o' - ? Oh. . . Ron. Don't worry about him. Let's just focus on what we need to do and then leave. Come on Rose."

Rose tried to see what her parents were talking about, but there were so many people on the street that she couldn't see very far.

"How about a ferret instead Rose?" her dad asked suddenly. "A white ferret? I'll even send a letter to McGonagall and ask – I'm sure it would be no problem."

Her mum sighed, exasperated. "You can't do that."

"We can name him Draco!"

"That's a little obvious."

"Draconian then. Or Malfoy. Malferret!"

"I want a toad named Guacamole!" Rose whined. She didn't like whining, but she was tired and just wanted to go home. She wasn't even sure what a ferret was.

"No ferrets," her mum said firmly.

"Can I have a ferret?" asked Hugo. He had progressed from an airplane to a velociraptor and was stalking around his dad's legs with his fingers formed into claws. He then attached himself to his dad's leg and looked up at him. "Dad, can I get a ferret?"

"No ferrets," her mum repeated with a warning look at her dad.

Rose was pulled into the store where she picked out her next toad. She chose a big bright green one that was just as bumpy as Matilda. This time she wasn't afraid to hold or touch the toad. She picked it right up and held it to her chest as her mum paid for him.

"Guacamole, you're going to meet Matilda at home. I know you two are going to be the bestest of friends. Only we won't be at home for very long because guess what Guacamole? We're going to go on a big adventure! I get to go to Hogwarts in a week with Al. That's my cousin you know. He doesn't like toads very much, he likes owls instead. So he won't pick you up or anything and he'll run away screaming if you go too near. So just stay near me. My other cousins James and Lily didn't mind Matilda when I brought her to go see them and they didn't run away like Al. But that was really funny. You would have laughed, if you were a person. But dad says that's a bad thing so I hope you're not a person."

"Your toad is definitely not an animagus," her mum reassured her.

They rejoined Hugo and her dad outside.

"Cool! He's so green! Can I hold him Rosie?" Hugo asked, running to them. Rose relinquished Guacamole to him. A few minutes later all the shopping bags were off the ground and Rose held onto her dad's hand while he held her new toad. They apparated back home and Rose sent a letter to Al to tell him about her new toad. She was so excited.


Platform 9 ¾ was packed full of people. After giving her parents and Hugo a huge hug she walked on the train, her trunk hitting all the steps with a bang. She was wearing her long purple raincoat, the one with large pockets in front. Matilda was in the left and Guacamole in the right. She had lost Al and James a few moments ago so she was unsure where to go.

Surprisingly Teddy, who was practically family, came out of a compartment ahead of her, silently shutting the door with a big grin on his face. His hair was bright purple and his cheeks rosy. When he turned around he gave a jump. "Rose! What are you doing?"

She frowned at him. "I'm looking for Al. Or a place to sit. Are you coming back to Hogwarts this year?"

Teddy's face and hair turned red. "No. . . I was just saying goodbye to someone. . . "

"You were snogging Victoire still?"

"Urghhh. . . nooomaybeeeee. . . gotta go Rose, have a good year!" With a burning face, he vaulted over Rose's trunk and ran back onto the Platform. Rose giggled at him and waved goodbye to his disappearing back. Then she turned to face the train corridor and was met with a packed train. It was absolutely chaotic.

She groaned. She didn't want to weave and dodge all the students that were clogging the corridor.

She saw a few students ahead of her, presumably first years like her with the way they nervously glanced in compartments as they dragged their trunk behind them. All the higher years were running from compartment to compartment and catching up with friends, yelling across the train, dodging cats –

Rose froze and felt her pockets for her two toads. They were still there thankfully, but what was with all the cats on the train? Black, brown, orange, white, calico – she didn't think there was a colour she didn't see! And some of those cats were fighting, others hissing, one just crawled up someone's leg, a student just tripped over one, and people were carrying them.

This train was a gongshow! And behind all the noise, she could hear all the hooting of owls that were in cages. There were even more animals to worry about eating her toads! It was like a zoo.

"Can you move? You've been standing in the same spot for a long time," Rose turned around and blushed as she stumbled forward to get out of the way. There was a line-up of students waiting to get on the train, waiting for her to move. She said sorry to the tall boy and moved forwards, trying to dodge cats and students.

Every compartment she passed seemed to be full. Seemed was the key word, for it was hard to judge how full the small rooms were when students were up and running around and putting trunks up high. Rose would have even have braved sitting with the older students if she had a friend or cousin with her, but all her cousins seemed to be missing! She was alone. Eventually in the last carriage in the very last compartment did she finally find an empty seat. . . sort of.

It was empty of humans, but full of cats. She opened the door and tried to shoo some of them away to have a seat. She couldn't lift her trunk so she just left it on the floor.

Then she sat in the seat and twiddled her thumbs. Her toads were croaking loudly, the presence of cats making them more nervous than usual. She didn't know what to do; she hoped Al came to find her soon, or someone else who was looking for a seat would come to join her.

The only cat to come near her after she shooed them away was a black kitten. It started winding itself around her leg while purring. She fended off all the other cats who tried to climb onto her lap because that was where her toads were and she didn't want a cat to eat one of them.

Once in a while a student would pass by and peer in. They looked at her weirdly and turned around, without saying anything or opening the door. "Great," Rose said to her toads. "I'll probably be known as the crazy cat girl for first year."

Finally after forever (it seemed like to her) someone finally walked in. It was a small girl with dark skin, black curly hair, and bright blue glasses. She looked as if she were about to speak, but then abruptly sneezed. And sneezed again. Then she rattled off five sneezes in a row and her eyes started running.

". . . bless you?" said Rose.

"I'm allergic to cats. I've gotta go!" The girl ran out of the compartment before Rose could even ask her her name. Rose sighed and put her head on her hand. This wasn't how she imagined her first day at Hogwarts; all alone and surrounded by cats.

The train started moving and she still sat all alone.

"Well Matilda and Guacamole, it looks like it's just you and me for this train ride. I wonder where Al is sitting, I might go try and find him later. He's probably made loads of friends already."

Rose stopped talking and sat back against the seat to stare out the window. Wasn't the train supposed to be packed with people looking for places to sit? Why was nobody coming to check this compartment? Why were people scared of cats? As nobody came the longer she sat there, she lost the courage to leave and find Al.

"I'm not shy," Rose told her toads. "I just don't want to wander around by myself. . ." Perhaps she was a bit shy. She didn't like when people stared at her, and if she were wandering around she was sure that everyone would look. Even with just standing on Platform 9 ¾ that's all people seemed to be doing.

Her parents always said to treat everybody with respect, but it was hard to when they just stared all the time; she just wanted to make funny faces at them.

After about half an hour someone walked in with a black cloth wrapped all the way around their head multiple times. Rose stared; she could only see the person's kind brown eyes and a hint of blue around them, every other inch of skin was covered.

"Hi," a muffled girl's voice came from somewhere in the shirt. "I was in here earlier – the one who was sneezing. Do you want to sit with me in the other carriage? I'm all alone too. I can't stay in here long or I'll start sneezing again."

True to form, she gave a sneeze and quickly backed away, beckoning at Rose. Rose didn't need another prompt; she jumped up and pulled her trunk after the girl. Unbeknownst to her, only the black kitten followed.

The girl's carriage had two older students talking by the window. They helped Rose lift her trunk up and then Rose sat down across from the unknown girl.

"My name's Aziza. First year," she said with a slight accent as she unwrapped the black cloth from around her face, which turned out to be her school robes. Her black hair was braided neatly in cornrows on her head. Aziza pulled her hands out of her shirt sleeves and extended one out to Rose.

They shook hands. "Rose, First year too. Pleasure to meet you."

"I was told that I should go to the hospital wing when we finally get to the school. The gentleman there can give me something for my allergies 'cause there are so many darn things around this train I'm allergic to." Aziza held up a roll of toilet paper. "I had to nick this from the toilets. My nose is running constantly and I can't stop sneezing."

"I don't like cats that much. I brought toads," Rose said proudly and showed Aziza Matilda and Guacamole. Even though half her family was scared of toads and almost all the rest were apprehensive, Rose didn't hesitate to plop Matilda on Aziza's lap. Luckily Aziza was a tough sort of person and proclaimed toads the best sort of pet because she didn't sneeze once.

The two girls got to know each other for the rest of the train ride. The two taller students who were seated by the window introduced themselves a few hours in. They were Kahil and Denika, both Hufflepuff Seventh Years. Kahil asked to see one of her toads and inspected it briefly before giving it back.

"After this year I'm going to school to be herpetologist. Which is a researcher for amphibians and reptiles," the boy told them as he noted their confused looks. Rose thought that sounded like the coolest job ever.

Even though she was fine with toads, there was still lots of cat hair around the place. Aziza sneezed periodically and blew her nose just as often through the train ride. There was nothing she could do about it until reaching the school and no way to stop the perhaps hundreds of cats roaming. Prefects eventually came by and told them to get their school robes on.

Denika and Kahil left to get changed while Aziza and Rose just changed in the empty compartment. Rose's robes were extra special; her Gran had sewn two large pockets on the inside.

The sun was just setting and they sat down, fully changed, when there was life in the hallway outside.

A small blonde haired boy knocked on the compartment and opened the door. There was a brief moment of recognition; Rose saw him from when her parents pointed him out on the Platform. She didn't say anything and waited for him to speak first. Up close he had messy blonde hair and hazel eyes. There was the hint of a dimple in one of his cheeks and he looked to be about her height. He also looked tired and a bit anxious.

"Have either of you seen a black kitten anywhere? He ran away from me a few hours ago," he asked Aziza and Rose in a rather monotone voice. The two seventh years were still gone from when they left to change their robes.

"Have you checked the cat compartment yet?" Aziza asked. "There are loads of cats just hanging around there."

The boy looked surprised at that. "There's a cat compartment?" He looked between Rose and Aziza, a slight frown on his face.

"Yes. Full of cats," Aziza repeated. "It's actually quite ridiculous."

Suddenly Rose felt something jump on her lap. Her attention was turned away from the blonde haired boy to the disturbance on her lap – and then she screamed.

A black cat had Guacamole's leg in its mouth and was gnawing away at it. The cat stretched out on Rose's knees, its claws digging into her leg.

She swiped the cat off her lap to get it away from her and get it off her toad, but Guacamole went flying, his leg still trapped in the cat's mouth.

"Rigel!" the blonde boy exclaimed as his cat landed on its feet and dragged the toad to the boy. "Have you been in here this whole time? Got some lunch do you?"

Rose gave an angry cry and leaped at the cat, prying open its mouth with her fingers and getting a few scratches for her efforts. She pulled out Guacamole. "Guacamole isn't lunch! How dare your cat! You better keep an eye on that abdominal beast before he eats my toads!"

She cradled Guacamole to her chest where his vocal sac was going in and out rapidly.

The boy looked with an expression of disbelief. "Your toads?"

"Yes my toads! I just said that. They're with me, aren't they?"

"Your toads?"

"Yes!"

"Toads."

"Alright, what is your deal?"

"You brought toads to Hogwarts?"

Rose raised her eyebrows at him. ". . . Yes! Are you allergic or something?"

The boy jeered. "Is this a dream? Or a prank? This isn't actually happening, is it?"

Rose started to get frustrated. This was absurd. "No, this is bloody well not a dream! What is your problem?"

"Well, I just can't believe that anyone would bring toads to Hogwarts. I mean, how big of a loser would they have to be?"

Aziza stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Hey! Excuse me –"

Rose held up her hand to stop her and faced the boy, stepping closer to him as she kept talking. "I'm a loser? Says who? You? And at least I'm not a dankish maggot-pie half-wit who's a motley-minded coxomb lout!" She poked him angrily in his chest and he teetered backwards before bracing himself on the door.

The boy looked stunned at her and slowly backed away with his kitten in tow. Rose shut the door behind him.

Aziza looked at her in awe. "That was brilliant! Where did you learn to do that?"

Rose shrugged. Her toad's leg was bleeding and needed attending to. She stood up on the seat to access her trunk and pulled out her nightdress where she ripped off a piece of the bottom.

"I like reading a lot and sometimes the books have really interesting insults. I have a list in my bag. I don't know what most of them mean though."

"Well with the look on that boy's face you don't have to know the meaning! It shut him right up. Brilliant."

Rose laughed. "It was rather brilliant, wasn't it?"

"I wonder who he was. . . he can't have been a first year. Who would be that rude?"

Rose hesitated for a moment. She knew who he was. Her dad had pointed him out. "It was Scorpius Malfoy. . . "

Aziza thought for a moment. "Malfoy. . . Malfoy. . . I swear I've heard that before! Or read. . . ohhhhh. Ohhhhhh." Her eyes were wide open with a knowing look at Rose.

Rose left it at that. She didn't know if Scorpius Malfoy knew who she was when he insulted her, but he had another thing coming if he assumed he'd get away with it. She would not take that from him just because she liked different things than him.


The Sorting Ceremony turned out different than she expected after that train ride. Rose was sorted into Gryffindor whereas her new friend Aziza was sent to Hufflepuff. Even Al didn't end up where he anticipated; he was sent to Ravenclaw. Rose's only consolation was that Scorpius was Slytherin.

It's not how she would have liked it, but there wasn't much she could do. At least Scorpius was in a different house than her.

Kahil and Denika clapped loudy for Aziza when she was sorted to their table. Rose stared wistfully at them as she sat by herself at Gryffindor. Sure she had a few cousins nearby, but they were occupied with their own friends. The other Gryffindor girls seemed to have started a friendship already that Rose missed out on because her last name was at the opposite end of the alphabet. Or it could have been the looks they were giving her toads. She wasn't exactly sure.

Aziza then turned and waved at Rose.

There was nothing that said they couldn't be friends in different houses. Suddenly she felt better and waved enthusiastically back.

As long as Malfoy and his cat stayed away from her and her toads, her seven years at Hogwarts were going to be just fine.


~xx~