Her father's hair had thinned in the four years since he had first taken Rosa to King's Cross Station. It was grayer and bags beneath his eyes had formed and perhaps, if you looked hard enough you could tell that he had grown thinner as well.

Rosa had hardly noticed however and as they walked through the train station her eyes darted around excitedly, searching for Anton and Lily.

But as she looked around it wasn't her friends whose eyes her own locked with. Sirius Black glared at her as a woman, who Rosa assumed to be his mother, angrily snarled at him. She couldn't make out what they were saying and as soon as they had made eye contact, Sirius was pulled roughly away by a haughty, older, dark haired man and Rosa continued walking briskly after her spindly-legged father.


There was something strange about this particular train ride back to Hogwarts this year, now that Rosa thought about it. As she watched the green pastures roll by she couldn't help but notice how unusually serene their compartment felt.

Lily had fallen asleep with her head on Anton's shoulder and Anton was reading their new potions textbook quite intently. Despite the quiet breaths escaping Lily's open lips, their compartment was almost silent. It was strange and Rosa felt for a moment as if she were an observer of her own life, riding along next to them and looking in through the train window.

But that notion soon passed as a sudden thought struck her. It was very much too quiet. They had been on the train for nearly two hours now and not once had Potter stopped by to harass Lily.

The marauders were usually quite pesky on trains. Rosa wondered what they could be up to.


"Remus, I know you're a prefect, but no interrupting me," James said sternly.

"I-" Remus began but was cut off by Sirius pointing his wand at Remus's mouth.

"Nope!" Sirius said jovially as his spell silently zipped Remus's two lips together. Remus's face turned red in fury.

"Sirius and I did some thinking over the summer and we came to the conclusion that, if we can't stop your furry little problem from happening every month, we can still make it easier."

"There was this book in my father's study that I nicked-kind of dark, but pretty useful. Anyways, it lays out the steps for becoming animagi," Sirius added.

"And we could come with you every month-if there's three of us, you couldn't hurt us and if we're animals, you wouldn't attack us necessarily."

Remus's face was now the color of the crimson train they were riding and Peter seemed to look a little squeamish.

"There's nothing you can do to stop us!" Sirius jovially laughed.

"You're insane!" Remus yelled, wheezing as his lips had finally ceded to being forced open. "I'll report you!"

"No. You won't," James told him calmly.

"Come on, it'll be fun. Right Peter?"

Peter nodded meekly at Sirius's question.

"You can't do this! You don't understand! I'm not me on the full moon, I won't be your friend!" Remus fumed. His eyes seemed to be brimming with tears.

"Oh shut up," Sirius said casually.

"We're your mates," James added. "And we understand but we want to do this. Come on, let us help you."

Remus faltered, moved by the sincerity in James's voice.

"I-fine."

"Great!" James and Sirius high-fived. "And now onto more pressing topics… Girls!"

Remus rolled his eyes. Even if James had seemed for a moment to be maturing it had been just that: a moment.


"My dearest Rosa,

Your mother and I are vacationing in America. Her doctor recommended a change of scenery for her. She hasn't been feeling so good lately; I thought a bit of warm weather and nature might do her well. Remember to stay on top of your studies. We both send our love.

Your Father"

Rosa frowned and folded up the small piece of parchment and placing it in her bag. She then patted the delivery owl a few times before it flew off. She hadn't realized her mother had been that sick. In fact, she hadn't been around her much at all over the summer. She had stayed at Lily's for the majority of the summer upon her Father's request and when she had been at home had only surfaced from her room for Friday night Shabbat dinners, which were short and not as lively as they had once been.

Rosa looked at the porridge in the bowl in front of her, feeling utterly despondent. Perhaps she should have stayed at home more this summer; then she could have taken care of her mother.

A loud crash sounded from two tables over and Rosa was broken from her reverie.

"You're such a bloody arse!" That was Lily. Rosa could have known that without having looked up. And the next voice would be…

"Aw, come on! I'm not that bad! You would know if you came on a date with me!" Potter.

"Oh, shut up about it already! No is no. Now leave me alone!"

"Unfortunately my Lily," Rosa cringed, knowing how angry James's possessiveness would make Lily, "we do sit at the same table for breakfast so if you'd like to leave you may, but I have every right to sit here."

"Fine!" Rosa began to silently count in her head knowing that in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 seconds Lily would appear by her side and as if on cue, she felt a very, very angry presence plop down next to her.

"Ugh. He is so disgusting," Lily moaned.

"I honestly don't know why you still there at all any more," Rosa responded.

"Well, I can't just leave Dorcas to fend for herself-they're such pigs." Dorcas. Rosa didn't like Dorcas very much. She was Lily's other close girlfriend and Rosa had admitted to herself a long time ago that she was jealous. Dorcas and Lily were dorm-mates and classmates in every class. And, like the majority of the students at Hogwarts, despite Rosa being Lily's friend, Dorcas had never once given her the time of day.

"I guess, want to get out of here?"

"Yes, please!" Lily and Rosa stood up and headed out the giant doorway, leaving Rosa's untouched porridge behind.


"I wish a decent guy would like me for once," Lily whispered. They had relocated to the library-a place that had become their secret hideout in first year after realizing that none of the self-proclaimed marauders (apart from Remus Lupin, and Rosa didn't mind him so much) would ever venture into. Since then, they had adopted a table in the far back of the giant room as theirs and theirs alone.

"At least boys know you exist," Rosa laughed. "I would be completely satisfied just for one-decent or not-to get my name right."

"Of course they know your name!" Lily giggled. "All the boys here are just idiots."

"You can say that again," Rosa sighed.

"I just want to go to Hogsmeade with someone-the trip's next weekend-but Potter will threaten anyone who looks at me like he did last year and I'll never get a date!" Lily said exasperatedly.

"Shhh!" Madam Pince peaked around the book shelf angrily as she passed the two girls by.

"Well…" Rosa started, "why don't you ask someone-if it is discreet enough, Potter won't know!"

"You really think I should ask someone? Is that weird?"

"I don't think so. Besides, desperate times call for desperate measures!" Rosa giggled.

"There is someone I sort of like…" Lily trailed off. "But Rosa, if I tell you, you have to promise to keep it a secret."

"Who would I tell?" Rosa said reassuringly.

"No you don't understand, you can't tell anyone, especially him!" Lily whispered.

"I'm not going to tell anyone! You and Anton are my only friends and-" a look of understanding appeared on Rosa's face. "Oh. You like Anton, don't you!"

"Shhh!" This time it was Lily hushing her before she nodded meekly. "Promise not to tell?"

"I promise," Rosa said solemnly. "But you should definitely ask him-we all hang out in Hogsmeade anyways so it won't be that big of a deal for him!"

"I think I will!" Lily said happily.

"Oh! Do it tonight! When we're all doing our astronomy homework. I can leave early and it would be so cute if you did it on the astronomy tower!" Rosa encouraged.

"Tonight? That's so soon! I don't think I-" Lily was cut off as the bell rang.

"Oh god, I'm going to be late for Care of Magical Creatures! Gotta run! Have fun in Ancient Runes with Anton!" Rosa winked at Lily as the two girls grabbed their bags and scampered off to their different classes.


Rosa enjoyed double Care of Magical Creatures. She enjoyed being outside of the castle every Wednesday morning and she enjoyed knowing that her notes were far better than any of her classmates.

While Professor Kettleburn's peg-leg had frightened her when she signed up for the class as a third year, she had soon warmed up to him in her third year after he had offered her extra-credit for studying the Fire Salamanders so astutely in her free time.

"Alright students, pair up. Today we'll be feeding Knarls. There's one for every pair of you," Professor Kettleburn said gruffly. Rosa looked around. She was the only Ravenclaw in her class-most of her classmates had chosen to take more "rigorous" courses for their electives.

She quietly headed to the back of the line of students where a pimply red-haired Hufflepuff stood alone. Rosa smiled at him and he nervously smiled back.

"No, no-definitely not. Potter, Black-you are not pairing up together again. Black, move to the back of the line, you can share a Knarl with Rosa," Kettleburn said exasperatedly. Rosa groaned inwardly and closed her eyes.

"Better not fall asleep on me, Rose."

Rosa sighed and opened her eyes. "It's Rosa. With an a at the end."

"Whatever," Sirius responded lazily. Rosa glared at him in return and the two silently waited for their Knarl.

An hour later, Rosa and Sirius sat on the lawn in front of the forrest, studying their Knarl.

"I wouldn't do that," Rosa said calmly as Sirius grabbed some cabbage to feed their hedgehog-like creature.

"Why? Kettleburn said we should feed them," Sirius responded, annoyed.

"Knarls go berserk if they think they're being poisoned; humans can't feed them unless the Knarl recognizes you." Rosa didn't look up as she said this. Her eyes stayed focused on the small creature that was crawling around in the grass in front of her. Her hand was moving feverishly across the page in her field notebook.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Sirius glared at her.

"Here. Give me the cabbage." Rosa stretched out her left hand, balancing her notebook on her knee as she continued to sketch the creature. "Now, pick it up and don't let it see the ground."

Sirius obeyed and Rosa finally put down her notebook and began to shred the cabbage into tiny little pieces with her hands, before sprinkling them around in the grass.

"Okay, you can put her down, now." Again, Sirius obeyed begrudgingly, obviously not used to being bossed around. The Knarl began sniffing around the spread out cabbage, before slowly biting one piece and nibbling on it idly.

"How'd you know all that?" Sirius glared at her.

"It's in the book," Rosa responded, her eyes focused back on her notebook as she began to draw the Knarl again on the next page.

"And how'd you know it's a 'her?'" Sirius questioned unrelentingly.

"She has little nipples on her belly," Rosa flushed as Sirius barked out a loud laugh.

"Merlin, you are such a Ravenclaw!"

Rosa looked up at him incredulously. "Obviously, it's my house."

"No I mean, you're such a nerd!" Sirius laughed again.

Rosa locked her eyes onto her notebook again, refusing to look at Sirius. She knew that the hurt on her face would only encourage him.

"Ah, Rosa, nice technique," Professor Kettleburn said as he hobbled over to them, interrupting Sirius's laughter. "Personally I would have sprinkled some dirt on the cabbage to make it seem more natural but your Knarl doesn't seem to mind one bit!" The Knarl was chewing happily on an extra large piece of cabbage. "Could I take a peak at your notebook?"

Rosa nodded, smiling as she handed her notebook up to the professor.

"Wonderful," he muttered. "Simply fantastic," he said a little bit louder, before exclaiming "I haven't seen field drawings like this since my time in Africa! I would wager my entire life's savings that you'll get an O on your OWL this year. Keep up the good work!" He handed the notebook back to Rosa, beaming, before walking off to check on other students.

As soon as the Professor was out of earshot, Sirius grabbed Rosa's notebook from out of her hands. "You are freakishly good at this...wow," he said.

"Thank you," Rosa said through tight lips. She stretched her hand out to grab her notebook back but Sirius swung it out of her reach.

"Hold on, I want to see the Hippogriff drawings from last week. I am definitely studying with you for the OWL." He began to flip back the pages casually.

"Wait! Stop!" Rosa yelped but the damage had been done.

"Hold up-this is Rosier, isn't it?" Sirius questioned, holding the page out to Rosa who blushed and shook her head furiously. "It is, huh?" Sirius said to himself, staring at the detailed portrait of the handsome blonde Slytherin. "You like him, don't you." It wasn't a question but more of a statement.

"Give me my notebook back," Rosa said harshly.

"You're a Ravenclaw; you're supposed to be smart," Sirius said exasperatedly, still staring at the portrait. "I can't believe you like him. He would never go for you," he added as an afterthought.

"And why is that?" Rosa said through gritted teeth, trying to hold back tears while finally grabbing her notebook out of Sirius hands and shoving it into the depths of her canvas school bag.

"You're a muggleborn. And he's a pureblood Slytherin. Just... don't get your hopes up," Sirius said casually, lying back on the grass.

"Thanks for the advice, asshole," Rosa said glaring at him. "You can return the Knarl." She grabbed her bag and stormed off up the lawn to the castle. Rosa felt her stomach twist as she pushed through the giant doors into the entrance hall. She was fuming at how rude and arrogant Sirius was but mostly she knew she was angry because a part of her had always known that his words were true. Tall, handsome, pureblood Evan Rosier would never even look at someone like her.


Rosa looked down at her watch; it read 8:27 PM. She looked back up through her telescope before quickly scribbling a few last notes on her astronomy homework.

"I think I've finished; I'm going to head back to the dormitory," she said slowly to Lily and Anton. Anton nodded, not looking up from his homework. Lily however, eyes wide open, stared at Rosa nervously. Rosa gave her a reassuring smile and then said, "I'll see you tomorrow," very deliberately. Lily shook her head spastically and Rosa laughed to herself as she grabbed her bag and telescope and headed down the steep astronomy tower stairs.

Just as she reached the bottom of the stair case she stopped abruptly. There, walking towards her, no less than ten feet away, were James, Sirius and Peter. She gulped and looked back nervously over her shoulder up the staircase to where she knew Lily was mustering up the courage to ask her best friend to Hogsmeade.

The three boys stopped as well, looking almost as shocked to see her as she was to see them. That's when she noticed that Peter was holding a giant cauldron filled with various vials and books. Odd.

Rosa wracked her brain for something to distract them from heading up the tower stairs but nothing came up and an extended silence ensued.

"Astronomy homework?" James said finally, his voice cracking with nervousness. Rosa nodded meekly. "Lily up there?" he continued, gaining confidence.

Rosa paused, unsure of what to say. If she said yes, James would bound on up there and interrupt Lily. If she said no, they would probably head up any ways. "She and Anton are studying," she said quietly. At this, James seemed to have a brief internal dispute and his face blanched.

Rosa cringed at how silently awkward the conversation was going. It was strange however; the marauders weren't usually so lost for words.

"Wouldn't want to disturb them now, would we, James," Sirius said loudly, breaking James out of whatever argument he was having with himself. "Better get going. See you, Rose," he said, before whisking the other two down the hall.

"It's Rosa," she muttered quietly to the empty air.