House: Ravenclaw
Year: 3rd Year
Category: Bonus Round
Theme: Spring
Prompt(s): Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem; Meeting a sibling for the first time
W/C: 798
Notes: To some this may be AU because Lavender Brown is not dead. Also, it is AU because some events are changed from what is determined to be canonical via The Cursed Child.
Read & Enjoy
Rose Weasley's fourth year has been worse than the breezy, sunshiny days of spring. She's wringing the edge of her skirt while wandering back and forth on the seventh floor. Even though plants have bloomed all around Hogwarts, she just wants to be alone. School will be over soon and her mum says they're going to her new flat in London. Between wearing bras, exams, Hugo shadowing her, and her parents' unexpected divorce - Rose can barely hold it together.
She stops and places a hand on the wall, heart aching and eyes burning with tears. Without warning, the wall suddenly transforms beneath her touch, and the smooth wall is now a wooden door. Feeling excitement for the first time all year, Rose wriggles inside of what she knows can only be the Room of Requirement.
Her mum described this room as being filled with rubble and charred remains, but she and Aunt Ginny cleaned it up. Several boxes stacked from the floor to the ceiling with lists on the front-facing side detailing the contents. Rose scans a few boxes and even pulls one down simply labeled books, but the only one worth keeping was an advanced potions textbook. She thinks she's seen some of the older students with a copy, plus the etchings inside could prove useful. Rose finds more interest in the scattered items that must have appeared since her mother attended Hogwarts. Now there are piles of brand new lost treasures.
There are many things that are intriguing, but nothing really catches Rose's eye for long. At least, not until she sees a glittering headband at the bottom of a pile of broken furniture in a corner. She heads towards it, sure that it is the reason that she is there, though not knowing why she feels that way.
"Don't you touch that!" A brown-haired little girl appears out of nowhere with an obnoxiously large pink bow flopping around a sideways ponytail. She looks very young, maybe even a first year like Hugo. Without much of a warning, she flings herself onto the ground and yanks what Rose can see now is a diadem. In fact… "Is that - Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem?"
"Yes, and you're a Gryffindor!" Rose raises her eyebrows in surprise.
Nodding her head, she ponders what she should say for a moment. "I'm Rose, by the way. What's your name?" The girl calms down and even pokes her hand out. However, the other hand keeps a firm hold on the diadem, as if it is her lifeline.
"I'm Daisy Brown," she says confidently, but her expression changes and a veil of sadness covers her. "Well, I'm Daisy Brown for now at least."
Rose decides to really look at her, unable to shake a familiar feeling about the girl in front of her, noticing freckles along the bridge of her nose and underneath her eyes. Nobody would see them if they weren't looking closely. Daisy's skin isn't nearly as fair as Rose's, which is why they're so hard to see at a glance. But they remind her very much of her own freckles that she's been trying to get rid of all year. It's a strange coincidence, she figures.
"Are your parents' getting divorced, too?" Rose asks, revealing her own situation to Daisy. The young girl shakes her head, though, and groans. Pulling the diadem to her waist, she fiddles with the topmost gem nervously.
In a quick sigh, "Just the opposite, actually."
Rose squats down to look the little girl in the eyes, hoping to cheer her up. She's been in this situation with Hugo many times, it comes naturally - faking a grin and using a soft voice. "Aw, so you're parents are getting married then? That's exciting!" Daisy shakes her head, though, assuring Rose that it is not exciting.
"But I don't want to be Daisy Brown-Weasley. He was gone for almost twelve years. I don't want his name."
Gulping hard, she feels the breath leave her lungs. This little Ravenclaw is her half-sister? Everything makes sense now, the sudden divorce that her parents announced at the beginning of the school year… the Room of Requirement appearing for her…
Rose knits her brows together, a mixture of rage and sorrow bubbling in her chest. But she questions if she has any right. This little girl, Daisy Brown, went without a father figure for twelve years, when she's had both of her parents for her entire life. No matter how much it hurts, she sets her lips in a line and prepares to tell Daisy what a good dad Ronald Weasley will be to her. Like the sun has brought life to the beautiful world outside of the morphing walls of the Room of Requirement, her father will see to it that Daisy flourishes.
Acknowledgements:
A mighty 'thanks' to my wonderful BETA readers for this story. Double aces to TheCrownedprincessBride for reading this multiple times. Additionally, 2DaughtersofAthena and Crackaboom for looking into the finer details, making sure I squeezed as much as I could out of the prompts given the word count constraints! These lovely Ravenclaws help me continue to grow as a writer and as a person.