September first has come again. The thought entered her head accompanied by a rush of relief as Rosalinda Maria Ruiz sat in her compartment on the Hogwarts express, forehead leaning against the window pane as she watched her classmates bidding their adieus to their families. First one here. Again. Lifting a finger to rub a pattern onto the cool glass, her lips turned down. There's no one saying goodbye to me.
A banging startled her, interrupted her musings, and she turned to see Snape (The Slimy Slytherin)lugging his trunk down the empty corridor. He froze as his startled dark eyes met her light brown ones, and she nodded to him, taking in his appearance - complete with a blossoming black eye. Scowling, he nodded back, going on his way.
The same as every year. She and Snape never spoke, never even acknowledged each other outside of this moment, but for this brief second, when they were the only ones on the train, she could pretend that they had some sort of understanding.
A whistle blew, the sound making her whip her head back to her view of the platform. Parents, children, and siblings began wrapping up their goodbyes, and making their way to toward the train cars. Finally. The sooner she was at Hogwarts, the better.
"Rose!"
"Lily!" Moving to embrace her friend and fellow Gryffindor, Rose felt a rush of warmth and affection warming her. I missed this. It was her fifth year at Hogwarts, and it never failed to amaze her just how much she missed it. Trying to hold back a hiss as Lily's hand hit a bruise on her shoulder, she smiled - and if her eyes were a little bright when they pulled away, Lily didn't say anything.
She knew Lily had her suspicions about her homelife - one as bright as her didn't tend to miss much - but to her immense relief, the redhead never saw fit to mention it, only the occasional tightening of her eyes and lips when she looked at her hinting at any misgivings she might have.
"Look at you!" Lily exclaimed, holding her Spanish friend at arms length and giving her a thorough looking-over. "You look amazing!"
"Me?" Rose laughed, "Look at you!" It was true. Over the summer, the already pretty Lily Evans had become even lovelier. "You've grown at least three inches over the summer, I swear!" Tall and slender, the auburn-haired beauty threw back her head and laughed.
"Something like that!" Green eyes sparkling, she lifted her trunk. "Here, help me with this, will you?" As the two girls struggle to lift the heavy trunk up onto the rack above their heads, the door to the compartment slid open with a schlik and the weight of the trunk suddenly became far easier to heft.
Whirling, one pair of green eyes and one pair light brown met the bespectacled hazel gaze of James Potter. Smiling uneasily and looking a little dazed, he shoved a hand through his already messy hair. "Hey, Lils."
His speaking broke the spell. Sparks lit Lily's eyes, a well-known danger sign, as she lifted her chin haughtily. "Potter."
"Wow, Potter, gotten taller, have you?" A new voice joined them as Charlotte squeezed past the messy-haired boy.
Stepping aside to let her trunk pass, James smiled in greeting. "Just a bit," he answered. A bit? Rose mused. That's an understatement. The Chaser, who had previously been roughly the girls' height, now towered over all of them. "Need a hand?" he asked, nodding toward Charlotte's trunk,
Lily's eyes flashed. "We don't need your help, Potter," she informed him, disdain dripping from her tone. Though he tried to hide it, James' shoulders fell, and his smiled took on a slightly brittle edge.
"Actually," Charlotte's voice interrupted hesitantly, "I could use the help."
Beaming down at the small slip of a girl, James gripped her trunk and easily swung it up onto the rack as Rose hid her smile. Another black-haired giant appeared, grabbing James' shoulder and sticking his head into the compartment. "Prongs, come on! All the good compartments will be gone!" Sirius Black blinked realizing who else exactly was in the room, then turned his dazzling smile on the girls. "Hey, Evans, Clayworth." And right as Lily began to open her mouth in outrage, he turned his attention back to his friend and dragged him out into the corridor.
"I cannot believe them!" She seethed to Rose, throwing herself down onto a cushion. "They didn't even acknowledge you!"
Laughing lightly, Rose settle down across the redhead. "It's alright, Lily," she reassured her friend, "We all know James only has eyes for you."
"It's true," Charlotte agreed. "And, well. . . Sirius is. . ."
"Sirius?" Rose suggested, and Lily lifted her head to glare at her.
"That's no excuse!"
"It's okay, Lily, really," she tried to soothe her friend, her Spanish accent lilting her words. "I'm used to it.
A whistle blew, and the train began moving forward, jostling all three girls.
"It's not right!" Lily insisted. "Why shouldn't they? We've been going to school together for almost five years!"
Yes, but I'm not like you. Rose sighed, wishing her friend would drop it. I'm not beautiful, or spunky, or kind. I'm not tiny and delicate like Charlotte. I'm quiet, aloof, and standoffish. Steeling herself, she attempted a change in subject. "How was your summer, Charlotte?"
"It was good! My family decided to go on vacation to France. You would not believe how beautiful Paris is!"
"City of romance," Rose teased.
"Do the men there live up to its name?" Lily asked with a grin.
Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Charlotte answered, "Oh, they most certainly do." This statement was met by squeals and giggles all around. "Lils? How was yours?"
"It was great! You'll never guess what happened!"
"You met the Queen?"
"You decided to dye your hair black?
"You met the man of your dreams?
"Who met the man of their dreams? All three girls looked up.
"Louise!" Charlotte exclaimed.
Greeting her friends with a smile, Louise repeated her question."Who met the man of their dreams?"
"Nobody!" Lily responded. "I made prefect."
"Prefect?" Charlotte gasped.
"Of course you did!" Rose said. "It's not as if there's any Gryffindor candidates better than our Lily."
Louise frowned, confused. "But what does that have to do with men?" Her question caused them all to burst into laughter.
"Nevermind that! Where have you been?" Charlotte queried.
"Oh," the girl giggled, "I happened to run into Sirius. We were. . . erm. . . catching up."
"Catching up?!" Lily shrieked.
"That would be much more convincing if there wasn't a blush staining your cheeks right now," Rose observed.
"Well, one thing led to another, and you know. . ."
"Actually, I don't," she responded. Snogging the hottest guy in school? Of course I don't know anything about that.
"Well I do," Charlotte giggled, her hand covering her mouth as though she were embarrassed, "He is quite a good kisser, isn't he?"
"And on that note," Rose drawled to Lily, "Shouldn't you be getting to the prefect's compartment?"
Looking at her watch, the redhead shrieked and sprang to her feet, stepping on the bench to open her trunk and yank out her uniform. "Mother of Merlin! I've got to get into my robes!"
Chuckling, Rose got to her feet as well. "Wait. I'll come along to get changed." Hanging behind for a second, she turned to look at the two girls still seated as they commiserated over the power of Sirius Black's kisses with a small smile, fondness warming her. It's good to be back. Feeling her gaze on them, they both looked up."If the trolley comes, get me a pumpkin pasty and a bit of pumpkin juice, will you?" The girls nodded their acquiescence as Lily, huffing in impatience, dragged her away.
"What is it with you and all things pumpkin?"
"What?" She laughed as they reached the bathroom, "It's my favorite. We don't have such things back in Spain." How is it that I've been on the train for less than an hour and I'm already feeling happier? "Do you know who else made prefect?"
"Not yet," her friend answered, stepping in the stall to change. "I suppose I'll find out once I get up there." She paused. "I've been meaning to ask you, are you feeling alright? You look a bit peaky."
"I'm fine." Rose answered, leaning against a sink to wait, "Just happy to be going back to Hogwarts." There was a tense, unhappy silence, and Rose was left to wonder, yet again, what exactly her friend knew about her life in Spain.
Lily stepped out of the stall, Hogwarts robes hastily on, prefect badge pinned firmly in place, a frown wrinkling her brow. "Will you be fine if I leave you here?"
"Of course, Lils, go on." Smiling, her friend gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and rushed back out into the train proper.
Locking the door behind her friend, she turned to examine her reflection. She might not be a great beauty, but there would be definite improvement once she put on her makeup. At least her father hadn't found her stash this year. The year he did, she had had to go bare-faced and wait until the first Hogsmeade weekend to replace her entire collection. If her friends ever had their suspicions as to why she arrived and left Hogwarts sans cosmetics, they had yet to comment. As always, she thanked her lucky stars that he had seen fit not to mark her face. Good luck explaining that away, she thought bitterly as she applied her foundation. She tried to move a little as possible, pain issuing from her torso with every movement. Out there, she would have to move as normal and pretend nothing was wrong, but in here, with no eyes but her own, she was free to let the stiffness and the soreness show. I can brew some bruise paste once we get to the castle. She was fairly good at Charms, decent at Transfiguration, but Potions - now that was her subject. She could whip up a burn salve or a bruise paste better than even Madam Pompfrey. During the school semester, when money was needed, she even sold some of her own inventions - nothing medical, of course (no one would buy that when they could just get it from the hospital wing for free), but items such as a potion that made the drinker burp toads, talk in bubbles, or remove or temporarily dye hair were always popular sellers.
There. Done. Stepping back, she examined her reflection critically. She was no Lily or Charlotte or Louise, that was for sure, but she liked to think she had a certain. . . allure. Her skin, being from Spain, was naturally tan and brown even in the winter. Her hair, while not as red as Lily's or blonde as Charlotte's, was black as Potter's or Black's, fell almost to her waist in waves. Even her eyes, which she normally dubbed as Blah Brown looked pretty, now that she had enhanced them with makeup. Too skinny by half, still. Well, there was hardly anything to be done about that. She may have been born with the curves natural to most Spaniards, but there was no denying that a bit more meat on her bones would soften up her appearance.
Time to stop putting off the inevitable. Lifting her shirt, she hissed as she saw the bruise. Surely it wasn't this bad before?Her back was striped with bruises from where her father had taken a belt to her, but that in and of itself wasn't the problem. just above her hip, was a large round bruise, punctuated by a large, puffy cut. It's getting infected. Her father was fond of wearing steel-toed boots. I don't think I know how to make a disinfecting potion. Biting her lip in worry, she lowered her shirt and began to change into her school robes.
In the Marauder's compartment, Sirius was trying to cheer up a sad and dejected James, who realized that he wasn't doing too well in the "Lily department."
"Oy! Look, mate! There she goes now!" James whipped around, staring at her through the window of the closed door.
"She gets prettier every year," he remarked, morose. Nose to the glass, he stared at her as only a lovesick puppy could do. Remus, who had just returned from the prefect's meeting, was trading an amused glance with Sirius when James suddenly back from the window, looking alarmed.
"What is it?" Sirius asked. "It's your chance to watch her walk away without her hexing you, mate."
"Padfoot, her friend, the one with the Spanish accent," his frown deepened as his brain tried to supply a name, "Ruiz - she's limping."
Now, even Remus sat forward. "Rose?"
Sirius whirled, staring at his friend. "Rose?" he queried, "I didn't realize you were that close to her."
Remus frowned distractedly, waving a hand at Sirius in dismissal. "We were Potions partners second year. She's brilliant." He stood up. "Shove over, James, I want to see." Staring out the window only confirmed James' observation. "She really is limping."
Intrigued, Sirius stood up to look as well. "Huh."
"What?"
"She's got a great arse."
The boys all laughed, turning around to look again. "She does!" James remarked.
"I want to see!" Peter tried to peer around the much bigger boys to no avail. Mood broken, they all returned to their seats.
"I wonder what that's about."
"She's always like that at the beginning of the semester."
All three Marauders turned to stare at Peter, who flushed ruddily, not used to being the center of attention.
"What?" James' tone was low and dangerous, and Peter squeaked.
"W- well, that is, she's always stiff and sore and limping at the beginning of the semester. Usually she's better after the first week. I- I think she heals herself, because you can usually smell that she's been brewing on her clothes."
"And how did you come to notice this?"
Peter's ears began to turn red. "E- er, third year I accidentally walked into her, and she yelped and she looked like she was in pain. And every year she's on the train before all of us, and she's not wearing makeup, but she comes back and suddenly she is."
"You've noticed an awful lot about her."
Peter, who now resembled something more akin to a beetroot than a boy, stammered, "Y- yes, well, she's quite pretty, isn't she?"
Letting out a bark of laughter, Sirius clapped him on back, knocking the boy into the wall of the train. "Aye, Wormtail. That she is." And with that, Remus returned to his book with a chuckle, James resumed staring out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lily, and Sirius and Peter continued their game of Exploding Snap.