Chapter 3 - Rose II

The room looks like nothing she imagined. It's not strange as she spent no time thinking of the room itself.

It looks like a city with towering walls, full of various objects like old broken furniture, thousands of books, chipped bottles of congealed potions and lots of clothes.

She looks at the figure, who is dressed in Slytherin robes. She can't mistake him for anyone else, as she has seen this face, this thin angular frame so many times.

In her dreams, they were talking, laughing together. She was always as smart as he is, and witty and confident.

Now she stands with her mouth agape, unable to move, rooted to the ground. He starts approaching her and in one lucid moment she shuts the doors behind her.

"Who are you?" he asks; his voice has a silky timbre, more so than she imagined. She heard Snape's portrait speaking once, but his voice seemed to be muffled by dust.

Rose just stares unblinkingly, taking in the sight of him. He can't be much older than her, although his features are more serious for a sixteen years old, so unlike hers. His hair is greasy, shoulder length and parted in the middle. His robes are worn out and a little too short for him. His obsidian eyes look like something dark is lying in wait in them, ready to rip her into pieces.

She is sure that behind his musical voice and composed façade he is struggling between hurting her and kicking her out of the room, but she doesn't know why. Her fantasy wasn't supposed to shoot murderous glares at her!

He extends his arm towards her and snaps his fingers inches from her face. She flinches against her will.

"Are- are you r-real?" she manages to stutter, and he rolls his eyes.

"Of course I am, you stupid twit," he sneers.

No, the real Severus Snape wouldn't be like THAT.

She wants to know why he hates her on the spot. They met something like a minute ago and he seems capable of murdering her for merely being in the same room with him. What could possibly go wrong?

She musters all of her Gryffindor courage, at least those remnants which are left in her. She knows how much smaller than him she is, but it's nothing new—every boy around her age is taller than her.

Taking a deep breath, she blurts out, "Why are you being such an asshole? I know I can be crazy sometimes, but why this stupid room created such a psychopath when I just wanted to meet Severus Snape!"

Rose is fully aware that it comes out as a shriek, but she's past caring. His angry expression does nothing to her anymore as she is blinded by emotions. She can't tell if she's more devastated or disappointed or angry.

Severus raises his eyebrows in disbelief.

"What are you babbling about?" he asks, surprised. His disdainful attitude makes her feel like someone stupid and worthless. "You were created by this room and believe me, you are a pathetic excuse of who you were meant to be," he continues and Rose is helpless as to her trembling hands and hitched breathing.

Something clicks in her brain, but she refuses to believe that; no, not yet. It's stupid, it's nonsense, but…can it be?

"Whaaaat?" she asks, stretching syllables like a child. Despite everything she felt and is feeling now, she's on the verge of laughter. "Are you trying to tell me that you wanted Lily Evans and something went wrong?"

Is it possible that he appeared here exactly like she did, but didn't specify who he wanted to meet? Maybe he said redhead and… bam! Here they are.

"Very wrong as I happened upon a hysterical," he spats every word, advancing on her, "scrubby excuse of a girl and also one as freckled as a turkey's egg!"

Ohhh so you're real indeed!

Rose doesn't want to laugh anymore. She fights the tears that are threatening to fall. No one ever vituperated her so. She isn't the most popular, the most liked person; but no one, not even Malfoy, has told her things like this.

She grabs the front of his robes, fighting the urge to punch him straight in his hooked nose.

"Such a shame that you're nothing like you are in books, being a rude, tactless dolt of a wizard, Snape!"

He shakes off her hands, his face twisted. "I don't know what books are you talking about and where the likes of you breed."

Roses feels that she can't take it anymore. She turns on her heels and heads to the door she came through. She doesn't even turn around to look at him.

"If you're in the books, it means that you're from the past to me, you arrogant twit. I know everything about you," she spats through gritted teeth. Tears are streaming down her cheeks but she makes no attempt to brush them away. She doesn't want him to know that he's made her cry.

"Wait," he calls after her, but her hand is already on the handle. "I want to ask you something."

She stops, eyes fixed on the doorknob. "I have no wish to talk with you right now. Think of Rose Weasley and maybe I will come here again. Because right now I can't stand you anymore."

It's dark outside and past curfew for sure as Rose sits by the lake. The sun taken its warmth with it as it hid behind the horizon. It's not a bad thing, as Rose feels cold inside. Only her tears are hot while they're carving new paths on her cheeks.

The worse part is that she wants to see him again, even just to make sure that she can't change anything between them. She still clings to some insane spark of hope.

His words pierced her like daggers. She wonders if she's really as ugly as he said. She's never wondered about, it as no one has ever teased her for this.

Finally she feels that there are no tears left to cry and only silent sobs are racking her body from time to time.

Everyone seems to be sleeping by the time she comes back to the girl's dormitory. However, when she sits on her bed with hands in her hair, she feels a light touch on her shoulder.

"Have you been in the room?" she hears Lily asking.

Rose nods and then realizes it's too dark for Lily to see it. "Yes," she whispers.

"Something gone badly?" asks Lily, stating the obvious. Rose just shrugs in reply, knowing that Lily can feel it as her hand is still on Rose's arm.

"Try to approach it differently. It helps sometimes when you give yourself some time to think over the matter."

Lily has no idea what happened a few hours ago and Rose is unwilling to tell her. If she knew what happened, maybe she would be able to tell Rose something useful. However, Rose has already kept her secret for too long and is too embarrassed to tell anyone about it. Ever.

A/N: Thanks for reviews, they're always appreciated!

Next chapter will reason someone's rude behaviour :)