Chapter 3: Third Year
It was a foggy Sunday morning that day at Hogwarts, the rolling green of the school grounds were illuminated with the sun and the trees were swaying gently in the breeze. Rose sat with her brother and cousins under the shade of a large tree on the outskirts of the castle. Louis was playing a game of Wizards chess with Hugo while Lily was chatting animatedly to them about the upcoming Quidditch season and what kind of tactics her house was going to employ. Quidditch had been the hot topic lately, as the year had just begun and the first match of the season was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw.
Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were quite pleased, to Rose's surprise, that Lily Potter was sorted into Ravenclaw. Lily, who had been so upset with her split with her older brother and favourite girl cousin Rose was close to tears when Rose and Louis found her after the beginning of term feast.
"I suppose it's not too bad," reasoned Lily, her voice trembling. "I mean I should really be proud shouldn't I? I was named after Aunt Luna for a reason," she smiled through her shimmering eyes.
Rose looked at her younger cousin with a small pang of sadness in her stomach, she knew that if it had been her, Rose would have been an emotional wreck. She remembered what the hat had said about her belonging in Ravenclaw and seeing her cousin now, Rose felt guilty for, ironically, not being brave enough to be different from the 'traditions' of the Weasley clan.
Hugo's sorting had also shocked Rose and it was a turning point in their relationship as Rose knew Hugo was growing up. Earlier in the year, her pensive and non-confrontational brother found himself perched on under the sorting hat, forming a small "O" with his lips in surprise when the Hat had announced "it better be… HUFFLEPUFF." Rose had felt her jaw drop just as it did for Albus and she felt tears swell in her eyes. 'First Albus, then Lily and now Hugo…' She had thought. Hugo had hopped off the stool uncertainly, gave her a sad smile and made his way over the Hufflepuff table where he had sat with Lysander Scamander.
She wasn't able to see Hugo before bed on the first night as the Hufflepuff first years had been ushered out of the hall by their prefects first, however the morning after, Rose waited anxiously to see her younger brother.
"Oh Hugo!" She had burst upon seeing his ruffled auburn hair and freckled nose emerge from the corridors closest to the kitchens. She pulled him into a tight embrace and Hugo had to pry her arms off him before huffily replying "What's going on Rose?"
"Are you okay?" She asked concernedly, fixing his dishevelled hair and straightening his robes.
"Geroff me Rose, stop being mum" he pulled away. "I know you're worried about me but honestly I'm fine!"
His tone held a slight hint of annoyance and exasperation in his voice that Rose wasn't used to hearing. He usually agreed with most things she said and when he didn't he would only give her one of his knowing looks.
"I honestly like being in Hufflepuff, I feel like I belong. When I speak, people listen to me and when I don't speak, people don't assume anything, it's different from being at home. I like it." He explained pointedly, no doubt referring to Rose's and her parent's habit of asking if everything was okay when Hugo sat in silence.
"I just… was worried is all," replied Rose in a small voice, conflicted with how her younger brother was making her feel, "Mum and dad said I have to take care of you."
"They say the same to me too you know," He replied kindly, "I'm happy Rose, I really am. Plus, Lysander's been there for me, he's shown me around the common room and told me where the best study spots are and whenever I'm feeling like I miss you guys, he reminds me that you're always going to be there, and that I'm always going to be here. The only difference is that I get the warmer common room." He beamed at her.
Rose, feeling unsure of herself, had walked with Hugo back up the kitchen corridors and into the Great Hall, listening to him describe the cozy common room with a hint of envy. I did sound really warm and relaxing. She remembered realising that instead of her making sure Hugo was okay, he was the one reassuring her about their living situations.
"You don't have to put up with my snoring anymore!" he chirped, waving her goodbye as he joined a friendly look bunch of Hufflepuff's for breakfast.
Rose didn't realise that she had been staring, lost in her own thoughts, at a particular silvery-eyed boy that was waving calmly at her, approaching from the direction of the castle.
"Lysander!" She beamed as he made his way towards them, holding a battered library book and reading spectacles. "Looking for a place to read?"
"Yeah," he answered back with a shy grin. "Hey guys," he nodded to the other Weasleys.
"I thought you would be at Quidditch practice Rose? Lorcan's been having practice all week it seems. I hardly see him around now besides breakfast and some classes." He said with a tone of sadness in his voice.
"Yeah," she answered. "James actually requested from Professor McGonagall if we could use the Room of Requirement for practice since the Ravens are hogging the pitch." She stuck her tongue out at Lily to signal that she was just teasing.
"We actually should head up soon. That bench won't warm itself." Louis said dryly. James had forced Louis to take a reserve Chaser position on the Gryffindor team even though her sandy-haired cousin wasn't interested in playing or sitting through boring pep-talks, drills or team building exercises. He did however, enjoy the attention he got from the status of being a Quidditch player.
Rose, on the other hand, had begged for James to make her the official Gryffindor Seeker but James was adamant that she was going to be the reserve this year. It was the current Seeker's last year and James mentioned that Scott Davidson deserved to finish with a bang.
"Yeah, let's go up," Rose said, packing up her quill and parchment, not realising that she had been gripping her quill so hard in frustration from thinking about how she wanted to play this year. She was trying to finish her star chart for Astronomy before practice so that she could have a relaxing night but it looked like it would be a long night.
"Sorry to leave as you just got here Lysander," Rose mentioned apologetically.
Lysander was still standing with his book and glasses in hand, contently watching the brutal finish that Hugo's knight delivered to Louis' King.
"That's okay. I was just on my way to the lake. I don't mind the quietness." He answered, looking dreamily at the still, black surface shimmering in the warm light.
"Oh come off it Lys," said Lily kindly, fake-rolling her eyes. "Stay and sit here with us, you can watch me avenge Louis." She waved her wand and the broken chess pieces magically mended and whizzed back into their starting positions.
"Let me show Hugo why they should call it 'Witches Chess'."
"Alright you maggots!" boomed James' voice off the incredibly high walls of the Room of Requirement.
The room had transformed itself into an indoor to-scale Quidditch pitch for their practice session. Three metal hoops sat high in each far corner, as tall as the real ones on the grounds. In addition to the trunk sitting in the middle of the pitch which held all the balls they would need for practice, the floor of the pitch was transformed into a boot-camp style obstacle course. There were stacks of trunks, big metal rings resembling muggle car tires dummies resembling opposing Quidditch players and a mounted wall rack full of Quaffles and strapped down Bludgers.
James was currently marching back and forth as the rest of the Gryffindor team lined up with their brooms to their side.
"James, is 'maggots' really necessary?" Asked Daniel Haim, the tall and burly fourth year Keeper.
"That's it Haim, drop and give me twenty," James snapped back at the Keeper, who rolled his eyes. "And it's Captain Potter."
"James, seriously?" said Francesca Le, a pretty fifth year Chaser who, in Rose's opinion, James had a soft spot for despite his womanising ways.
"Right. Sorry. Got carried away." He stopped pacing and gestured above him. "But I mean look at this room, it is just epic! And it even gave me a clipboard, whistle and blackboard to sketch out tactics! McGonagall really hooked us up didn't she." He said excitedly looking at the rest of the thirteen players standing in front of him, most of which were amused at his antics or shooting
"Alright, fine! Pair up according to your positions and give me ten laps around the pitch to warm up. Reserves I want you to stick close to your player, really give them a run for their position."
All fourteen players, the main team and their respective reserves shot off into the room on their brooms. Rose was truly impressed with the scale of the room. Due to how open it was, James and the team didn't need to yell at each other as they usually do on the pitch to be able to talk. Their voices were bouncing off the walls without much effort.
"Rose!" came a deep voice behind her, "you've gotten a lot better since last year. Crashed into any trees lately?"
The voice came from what Rose could only describe as the most beautiful creature on the planet.
Scott. Davidson. Head Boy. Seeker. Tall and charming.
Rose turned her head to the demi-god riding his broom next to her as they entered their sixth lap. His black, perfectly tousled hair was whipping around his face in the wind. He had chiseled high cheekbones, soft, gentle lips and an incredibly straight nose. The best of all, according to Rose, were his deep green eyes which were currently looking at her in a cheeky grin.
Rose was reduced to a puddle of incoherent troll-mush every time he addressed her during practice. All she could muster was a ridiculous giggle at his jest. He was referring to the mishap in the Forbidden Forest last year that scored her a position on the team.
"Well keep it up, kid. You've got a lot of potential." He put on a burst of speed and shot down in a perfectly delivered dive before levelling out and skimming the bottom of the room with his toes.
"Nice one, Rose," drawled the sudden voice of Louis by her side. "Why is it that you've never got something clever to say when boys are around you?"
Rose chose to ignore her cousin and the blush creeping up her neck at his comment. She followed Davidson in his dive and dismounted just as she finished her tenth lap.
James was already waiting for the Gryffindor team once they landed down the pitch. He summoned over a large blackboard which had their tactics for the year planned out. Since their first match was with Ravenclaw, their tactic would be to delay catching the Snitch as much as possible to allow for them to gain a bigger lead to start off the season.
Rose was paired up with Davidson for a good portion of practice, he was teaching her how to maneuver a Wronski Feint and showing her the collect posture and hand placement, much to her delight. They were both flying high above their teammates who were closer to the ground, playing a broomless game of Quidditch (much to everyone's dismay) to practice passing and dodging bludgers.
The rest of practice was gruelling and intense. Her father was wrong when he said Uncle Harry had it easy, being a Seeker wasn't as simple as just catching the Snitch. James had gathered everyone up and made the team do intense exercises and fly obstacle courses to increase agility and stamina. Aunt Ginny had obviously drilled it into her eldest son that a good Quidditch player was a well-rounded one.
The Gryffindor team made their way tiredly out of the Room of Requirement, dragging their brooms and Quidditch robes behind them after hitting the showers that the room also supplied.
"Alright, so how about we go to the library to finish off our star charts?" Rose asked they both climbed through the portrait hole into Gryffindor's cosy common room.
"It's your lucky day Rose, I've already done mine and you can copy it if you like." Louis said with a smile.
"Sod off, I don't believe in 'copying'" Rose replied with a huff.
"Alriiight Aunt Hermione," he teased. "But while you're slaving away trying to figure out where Jupiter orbits, I'll be outside enjoying the last of my weekend."
Louis smugly looked at Rose's scowl.
Rose ignored his jest and stomped up the stairwell to the third year's dormitory to collect her homework.
Apart from the Quidditch pitch, Rose's favourite place on the Hogwarts grounds was the Library. It was a labyrinth of bookshelves looming over study tables nestled throughout the floor or perched by the stained glass windows. Some of these study tables were so well hidden that Rose enjoyed the isolation from the other students' scratching quills and occasional coughs and murmurs.
Rose was sitting at her favourite study table which was by one of the smaller stained glass windows overlooking the grounds. She had been lazily dipping her quill in her ink pot when she was interrupted by a dreamy voice.
"Hello Miss Waverly, enjoying studying on this fine afternoon?"
The Librarian Mance Blackthorn was an odd, yet interesting man in Rose's opinion. He was tall and lanky, with dreadlocks that reached just above his waist.
"Yes Mister Blackthorn, thank you," She replied kindly.
He had a kind face with bright green eyes and always seemed to be smiling at students, which he would never remember their names correctly.
"Oh please Miss Windle, call me Mance," he replied with a wave of his hand as he walked past her. He was lazily swishing his wand around to return books to their rightful place amongst the high shelves.
Rose's concentration went back to her homework as she heard muffled footsteps against the red carpet slowly approach her.
"Oh, hi Rose," came a familiar voice.
Rose looked up for the second time to see Scorpius Malfoy standing a few feet away from her study table, holding his own Transfiguration homework.
"Hi." She replied, unsure of how to talk to Scorpius after their accident last year and a handful of polite, but aloof conversations in the presence of Albus.
"Would you mind if I sat down?" Scorpius asked, fidgeting with a corner of his parchment. "I usually like to sit by this window."
"Oh, yeah, go for it," Rose stood up from her chair and gathered her things closer to her to make room for Scorpius opposite her.
Rose pretended to be absorbed back into her textbook that she was reading about the moons of Jupiter as Malfoy carefully set down his books, parchment, inkpot and quill.
"Did you have a nice summer?" Scorpius asked in a quiet voice.
"Yeah," answered Rose hesitantly. "Albus, Louis and I spent most of it playing Quidditch. We usually go out into the field behind Grandma's house to escape from the rest of the family."
"That sounds fun… Albus talks a lot about you two."
"That's because we're his favourite out of all the cousins." Rose answered, mimicking the smile that was on Scorpius' lips.
"How was your summer?"
"It was… uneventful, as usual. The highlight of it was honestly getting letters from Albus. And having that weekend with my parents at home when they both took work off." Scorpius answered, somewhat sadly.
Rose felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. She had forgotten that Scorpius was an only child, growing up in the Malfoy Manor. Her mother and father didn't talk about the Malfoy's a lot around her, but they did briefly mentioned that it was Malfoy tradition to only have one child. She couldn't imagine what it was like to be so lonely as there was hardly ever a quiet moment in the Weasley/Potter family. She imagined that Scorpius' parents worked too much to be home with him and she immediately regretted talking so much about her family.
"Maybe next year Albus could ask you to stay with him for a bit for the Summer?" Rose suggested confidently.
"We don't have another Seeker out of us cousins quite as good as me, so I wouldn't mind beating someone else for a change." Rose pretended to be cockily examining her nails, letting out an overly exaggerated sigh.
She shot a glance at Scorpius from across the study table. He was looking at her with his head cocked to the side and a big grin on his face.
"We'll see about that, Rose."
Rose snapped out of her playfulness and felt a blush creep up her cheeks. She averted her eyes and went back to her parchment. She didn't feel this way around Scorpius. He was Albus' best friend and they had hardly spoken to each other through the years.
'What is this feeling?'
A/N: I know it's been a while and I do apologise. Life got in the way, but I am back now with a couple of chapters already written so it won't be months and months until I update again (hopefully). This chapter is just setting the mood for the next and I wanted to introduce you guys to new people and the personalities of the Weasley/Potter clan. Please leave me a review, I'd love to hear what you think.
- SQ