She literally pounced on Dru when she saw her on the platform towards the train. "I missed you!" she squealed. "How was your summer?"
Dru hugged her friend with a big smile on her face. "You should be so proud of me, Rose. I was grounded all summer."
"Ah, better grounded than ill, I can't remember most of my summer," she replied and put an arm around her friend before walking towards the train. "However, you can't tell me that you haven't snuck out... wait... is that what got you into trouble? Sneaking out to see Neville?"
"Well, no! Not really." her friend replied. "I did sneak out twice to see him, but.." Dru's happy face almost turned into a frown.
"But, what?"
"Let's just say It didn't really go as I had hoped. First time I spent half the night crying and the second time... well that was just really weird."
"Oh, young love, it's so adorable," Rose smiled with a bounce in her step. "Did your brother at least behave himself or do I have to beat him up?"
"I didn't see much of him." Dru lied. Draco's behavior about the mayhem after the world cup made Dru want to keep him out if Rose's way. "Have you spoken to Neville yet?"
"No, I haven't seen him," she replied and fumbled a banana out of her pocket. She released it from its jacket and started to eat it. "But I'm sure he'll turn up."
Dru decided it was better to talk about it before Neville joined the girls in the train compartment. She closed the door as soon as the girls got in and take care of their stuff. "Rose, something happened last time I was with Neville."
"What happened? Did he try and force himself upon you? You know that teenage boys are unreliable and thinking about sex all the time, don't you?" Rose said, still munching on her banana as she shrugged off her coat.
"Rose, first of all, this is Neville we're talking about. He wouldn't know how to force himself on a girl." Dru was getting a bit frustrated.
"Boys are boys, and Neville is a boy. Honestly, if we want him to be more... pro-active, we need to start treating him as such and not act as if he's the most precious thing there is."
"I meant he's ... He's a good guy. He would never hurt me like that." Dru didn't like that Rose was implying that Neville would do something like that to her. "I'm trying to talk to you about something important here."
"I know, but he's still a boy." she waved her hand around and sat down in the seat. "And stop beating around bushes then and tell me what is going on."
"I got into his mind. And I couldn't get out. I lost complete control. It was so scary."
"I can imagine," Rose said after a while and pulled her knees to her chest. She rested her head on top of her knees and looked at her. "What do you think happened?"
"I have no idea! I never lose control. But, Rose, I think I scared Neville too. I mean... he hasn't kissed me since!"
"Oh don't be so dramatic, I'm sure that everything is fine, and don't worry about losing control in the future, we're going back to Hogwarts, remember? Best teachers ever, and I'm willing to bet they wouldn't mind helping you out."
"Yeah, you're right. I'll just go to McGonagall and tell her that while I was making out with my boyfriend, I got my mind stuck in his. where I had to witness, the one thing he really wanted to do was to have sex with me." Dru said sarcastic.
The train started to go on his way. Dru laid down the seat on her side. She closed her eyes. Maybe Rose did have a point. Dru could asked if Snape could help her teach Neville how to close her mind. Although it would be tough getting Neville in one room with Snape if he didn't have to.
"At least you now know that the feeling's truly mutual? Dru, what do you want me to do? I'm the last person who can help you after last year's problem with my own thing."
"Yeah, but that's not your fault. You were out of focus because little miss know-it-all and her timeturner. Not because you're a hopeless always know how to help me, Please?"
Dru took a deep signe. "Rosalie, please? You're better in this than me. You're the smart one of us. If Neville want can't you help him close his mind against me? If he ever show up at least. You don't think he missed the train, do you?"
Rose sighed. "Okay fine, I'll see what I can do but I'm not making any promises, okay? Because I've been sick for the last eight weeks and I'm off."
Dru got up, almost jumped into Rose's lap and gave her a big hug. "You're the best friend, ever."
"I don't know about that," she chuckled.
"Yes, you are. But I've got some sad news for you."
"Shoot," she said and rummaged in her bag. "Want a Muggle soda?"
"No, I'm not eating or drinking anything muggle ever again. But back to the sad news," she said as she was still sitting in Rose's lap. "I've been very lonely this summer. So if that Longbottom boy doesn't show up, I'm sitting on your lap for the remainder of the trip." Dru giggled and put an arm around Rose. She was so happy to have her friend back.
"Hey, as long as you don't want to have sex with me, it's fine."
"Rose, you are disgusting."
"Oh, and I'm not kissing you either," she remarked as she sipped her soda. "But as long as you're comfortable... fine by me."
"One kiss? That way you can compare mine to Draco's." She said teasingly, pretending to give Rose a kiss.
"You're gross!" Rose laughed and moved her head away. "You know... I might still be infectious... I don't think it's healthy to sit so close to me!"
Dru threw her hands in the air, giving up. "Well, at least I tried." She got up and laid down on the seats opposite Rose. She closed her eyes. If Neville wasn't gonna show up, she might as well get some sleep. She knew Rose would soon try to sleep as well. It didn't take more than two minutes for Dru to fall asleep.
Rose had been sleeping for an hour, when she was gently woken up. When she opened her eyes, she was looking at Draco's face. He was kneeled down on the ground next to her.
Rose growled as she saw Draco, expecting another useless come on from him. She glanced over to the other side of the cabin. Neville was sitting in his usual seat by the window. He must have joined the girls after they had fallen asleep. Dru's head was on his legs as they were both sleeping
"How has your summer been?" Draco asked trying to start a conversation with her.
"What do you want?" She asked tiredly, he was either going to ask about Neville and Dru, or ask for something that would annoy her even more.
Draco turned his head towards his sister. He didn't look pleased.
Rose signed. "Look, I'm not gonna help split them up. So before you-"
"I wasn't going to ask you that. I've already realised that if I leave the both of them alone, they'll break up eventually. They're from two completely different worlds and they'll soon realise that it's not going to work."
"Yeah, speaking of which," Rose said, finally sitting up and trying to pull back her hair in a ponytail. "You and me, not going to work," she shook her head. "Look, before you say anything, your family is all about keeping the blood line pure. You're supposed to hate people like me."
"Yes, but you..."
"I'm still a mudblood, Draco," she said with a slight smile. "Regardless of who my father is, my mother was a powerless Muggle. It's in your best interest to find someone who's pure blooded like yourself and just forget about me, okay?"
"Fine," Draco spat after a moment of silence. Rose could tell that he wasn't too happy about it but he also knew that Rose was right. In the long run, they couldn't work. "I just wanted to ask you to keep an eye on her for a few days and here you're lecturing me about bloodlines."
"You started it," she pointed out and took a sip of her soda before the warmth would ruin it even further. Draco seemed worried, truly worried about Dru and that sparked a curiosity inside of her. "Why?"
"She was shaken by something that happened a few days ago. She won't tell me what it is, but it has gotten to her. I think this is the first time she slept in days. Just keep an eye on her and if something is wrong, let me know?" Draco got up on his feet again.
"She'll be alright." Rose said, hoping to give a little bit of comfort. "Dru's easily spooked. And please don't give me that little package you have in your pocket? I know you brought me something from Bulgaria, and I think it's adorable, but I just told you that we would not work, or well, we would, but it wouldn't be beneficial for you. Give it to someone else. Thanks though," she smiled at him and got up to hug him. "You're going to make a great boyfriend to someone one day."
"You scare me sometimes," Draco said, stepping away and opened the compartment door. "But okay, I trust your insights. Thanks for being honest." He then quickly hurried away.
Dru suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head. She opened her eyes and looked at Rose. "What did you say to him?"
"Hey, good afternoon," Rose said as she sat back down. "I told him the truth... I'm a mudblood, he shouldn't be seen with me... You're already tainted because you like Neville so we can hang around still if you like."
"I know you're right. You two aren't meant for eachother, but..."
"But what? You want me to string him along until your father finds out?" She responded and shook her head. "No no, this is the best for him, he's probably a little bit hurt right now but he'll get over it."
"Rose, I know you're right. Really, I do. I'm just feeling what he's feels right now. I just hate it when he's sad like this."
"You feel this? Or have you peeked into his head and saw dark clouds?" Rose said, tossing her soda bottle in the bin and reached for more food in her bag. An apple would do. "Because if you feel someone else's emotions, that's something entirely different."
Dru sat up straight. "No. I woke up, because I felt him being sad. Rose, something is happening to me. Everything is screwed up."
"Maybe you're evolving? How am I supposed to know? I'm only 14. You need to talk to a teacher... I'm sorry."
"You're right. I'll talk to Snape, maybe he can help me." Dru looked at Neville, who was still sleeping. "Don't tell Neville about it will you. He'll just be worried. I'll tell him as soon as I know what's going on."
Rose shrugged as she bit into her apple. "You know me. So hey, what was the World Cup like? Grandfather told me it was a success?"
Dru looked at Rose with a surprised look. "Didn't your grandfather tell you? Rose, it was anything but a succes!" She vacated her seat and sat down next to her friend. "Somebody casted a dark mark."
"The game itself, it was a success, right?" Rose shrugged. "I didn't ask him what happened after the game."
"Rose, aren't you listening to me? Somebody casted the dark mark!" Dru raised her voice. She didn't get why Rose seemed to be so disconnected. It was frustrating.
"I am not surprised, Dru." Rose said calmly. "I told you about the upcoming war, it has to happen and I'm not surprised that it's been set into motion."
"Are you two talking about the world cup?" Neville asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"No," Rose replied and finished eating her apple. "Hi Neville, glad you could join us today."
"Yeah, I got hold up by Seamus and Dean. They... they wanted to talk to me about something."
"About what?" Dru asked.
"Nothing important." Neville said as he looked out if the window. Dru looked at Rose. He was clearly lying.
"I think that they're a little bit jealous about the fact that Neville spends more time with girls rather than them." Rose grinned and got a mars bar out of her bag and started to eat that as well.
"Merlin, you're worse than that Ron Weasley." Dru said to Rose smiling.
"What?" She blinked at her friend. "I haven't been fully aware of the world for two months because I was ill, I didn't eat a lot either and I just like stuffing my face right now."
"Really? What's your excuses for the rest of the year?" Dru smiled. She looked over at Neville, feeling a bit uncomfortable. She hadn't seen him since the last time she went to visit him at his home.
"You know what?" Rose said, getting up with a smile. "How about you two catch up, without the third wheel," she opened the door of the compartment and reached for her bag. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she winked and made her way out.
"Well, that doesn't leave us with much to do." Dru smiled and looked at the floor. She always felt a bit nervous around Neville, feeling like he turn on her at any point. That he didn't want her anymore. That she wasn't good enough anymore.
Neville was still looking out if the window. He wasn't sure what to say.
Suddenly she felt a nagging sensation in the back of her head. Dru sighed and realised that Rose was feeding her imagines of Dru kissing Neville, trying to help them along. "Stop it, Rose." she muttered.
"It's not easy, you know." Neville spoke up with a sigh. "You pretty much scared me when you got into my head... why do you do that without an invitation? It's rude. I felt completely naked."
Dru got up from her seat and sat down next to Neville. "I'm sorry," She took Neville's hand in hers. "But you have to understand something. I didn't go into your head on purpose. I do, with Rose or Draco and, honestly, I've really tried to get into your head in the past. But what happened a few days ago was different. My mind made a connection with yours on its own. I didn't...-" Dru took a deep sigh. She looked at her and Neville's hand. He was still holding hers. Maybe it was better to tell him the truth.
"Do you remember last year, Neville? You'd told me that if I'd told you about my monsters, you'd keep me safe? Do you still mean that?"
Neville didn't say anything. He hated it if Dru or Rose were having problems. Somehow he usually was the one ending up as collateral damage.
"Something is wrong with my … thing," she hated the word 'gift' as it was currently feeling more like a curse. "But monday I'm going to Snape. I'm going to tell him everything and ask for help. Maybe we could ask him if he could teach you how to block your mind to me. He taught Draco how to do it."
"Snape scares me," Neville answered and then looked at her, he was obviously worried. "Are you okay though?"
"I'll think so. My head just hurts. Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" Dru put her chin on his shoulder as she looked at him.
"I was never mad... you just frighten me, that's all." Neville smiled and softly caressed her hair.
"You seem to forget I'm the one who got to see what you wanted to do to me. I think I got the scary part." She teased him. Neville smiled and gently kissed her. Dru put her arms around his neck as she kissed him back.
Suddenly the nagging sensation was back. Rose was still feeding her imagines. Dru put her hand infront of her eyes, trying to block out the pain it was causing her. "Stop it." She muttered. she tried to sent Rose a message to stop, because Rose was hurting her. But getting into Rose's head increased her headache. "I don't understand. It never hurt before."
"Can I do something to help?" Neville asked concerned as Dru was clearly feeling more pain by the second.
Dru put her head on Neville's lap. "Please find Rose and tell her to stop."
"Stop what?"
"Just tell her."
Neville was just about to get up when Rose came back into the compartment. "What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know. One minute she was fine, the next she was in pain." Neville was still caressing her hair, trying to comfort her. "You know she told me to find you and tell you to stop. What the hell were you doing to her?" Neville shot at Rose, thinking that Dru's agony was Rose's fault.
"This is not my fault. I didn't do anything I haven't done a million times before." Rose snapped back at him. She kneeled down next to Dru and put her hand on Dru's head. How dare Neville blame her for this. "You know this never happened until a few days ago."
Neville looked angry at Rose. "Are you blaming me for this? You two are the ones with special gifts. I can't see the future or read minds."
"Maybe not, but Dru never had any problems until she got into your dirty thoughts."
Neville's face turned red. But this time his anger seem to overpower his embarrassment. "Yeah, but she didn't tell meto stop though, did she? She told you stop."
Rose got on her feet and looked down at Neville. "Look, I was just trying to help you two make up."
Neville gently lifted Dru, got up and laid her down on the seat. Then he turned to Rose. "We're doing fine on our own. Thank you very much."
Rose put her hands to her side as she looked up at Neville. The fact that he was a lot taller than she was, didn't intimidate her. "Really? Because it seems like everytime I turn around there's another Neville and Dru crisis I seem to have to solve."
"If I have a fight with my girlfriend, I'm capable of solving it myself."
Rose could feel her blood boiling. After everything she had done for him. If it hadn't been for her, Neville would have never been brave enough to make things right again with Dru after their fight last year. Let alone, kiss her. "You ungrateful git!" she spat, "You can barely hold your wand! You really want to tell me you can take care Dru now?"
Neville thought about the promise he made about keeping Dru save. "Yeah, I can. I don't need your help. We're fine if you're not with us."
"You're joking, right! You two wouldn't last two days without my help."
"You're just jealous of us. Because you can't get anyone."
Rose chuckled. "I can get anyone I want, but I don't want to have a boyfriend."
"Nobody wants you, Rose! Just Draco, but he only wants you because he knows who you are!"
Rose pulled out her wand and pointed it at Neville. "Who am I then, you bungling idiot!" her voice sounded menacing.
Neville now had his own wand out aswell. "You're a basket case. Just like your -"
"Will you guys please stop it." Dru suddenly had gotten up and was now standing between her friends. Neville and Rose looked at her. They both seem to have forgotten for a moment that Dru was still in the compartment.
When she saw that her friends had both lowered their wands, Dru nearly collapsed as she sat back down in her seat.
"Are you okay?" Neville asked. He kneeled down in front of her.
Dru nodded. "You are both not to blame for this. This is my fault, not Rose's fault." She said as she looked at Neville. "or Neville's." She looked at Rose.
"You told me to ask Rose to stop." Neville put his hand on Dru's cheek as he looked at her with a worried look on his face. He was still not convinced she was okay, nor that this wasn't Rose's fault, for some reason he never trusted her.
"Because it hurt, but Rose did not know that. It never hurt before. How was she supposed to know it hurts now!" Dru took Rose's hand. "It's not your fault, but could you maybe close your mind to me. At least for the time being, until I figure out what's going on?"
"Of course I will," Her friend nodded and then muttered to herself that she had been doing that ever since she stepped on the platform and had only fed her a few images without letting her in. Rose sat down by the window across from Neville, who had taken his seat again as well. As Neville pulled a still fragile looking Dru in his arms, he looked at Rose and she looked back at him. They were definitely not friends anymore.
By the time the train had reached Hogwarts, Dru was feeling a bit better, but she clearly wasn't herself yet. Rose and Neville had both insisted that she would go to the hospital wing, but Dru wouldn't hear of it. She didn't want to miss the opening feast.
Neville finally gave in. Dru was still a bit unsteady on her feet, so Neville put one arm around her trying to give her some support without other people noticing that Dru wasn't well.
Even though Rose wasn't speaking to Neville, she didn't want to let Dru out of her sight and accompanied them to the carriages. While they were waiting for the carriage to arrive, she noticed something strange.
A few meters to her left, the rest of the Gryffindor fourth-years were standing talking to each others while sneakily looking at the trio. They were clearly talking about them and certainly not sneaky.
Rose suddenly was reminded that Neville had acted a bit strange when he mentioned being held up by Seamus and Dean. She'd wanted to ask Neville about it, but then she realised they're weren't on speaking terms anymore. As their carriage arrived, Rose decided to let it go.
They arrived at the great hall before their classmates and took their seats at the Gryffindor table. A few minutes later, they were joined by the other fourth-years and Ginny, Fred and George. They sat down around next to them. "Are you feeling better Rose? We heard you have been sick all summer?" Hermione asked.
"Who told you that?" Rose asked surprised, she was surprised on two accounts, one, Hermione wasn't supposed to know, and two, Hermione had barely spoken two words to her in four years.
"We heard Lucius Malfoy tell Draco. Apparently he heard it from your grandfather." Ron responded. "But you're feeling better now?"
Rose nodded as she looked around her. Neville had always been on good terms with their other classmates, but Rose and Dru were never really accepted. But now Ron and Hermione were talking to her as if they were.
The others started talking about their summers and they continued to asked Rose a few things too. It took Rose a while to realise that the only one not being asked questions or talking was Dru, who had noticed it too. She just sat there all quiet looking at the others.
Rose reached out her hand over the table and put it on Dru's arm. Dru looked up at Rose and gave a weak smile. "Are you okay?" Rose asked quietly.
Dru nodded. "I'm fine. Stop fussing over me."
Rose tilted her head a little. "Are you sure?"
Neville put his arm around Dru and pulled her closer to him, while giving Rose an angry look. "She said she was fine, Now drop it!"
Rose let Dru's arm go and turned her head around. She could see Draco looking over at them. He too clearly noticed something wasn't right with his sister.
Rose was just about to get up and go over to him to tell him what happened on the train when Dumbledore told everyone to be quiet. Rose looked over to the table at the end where all the teachers were sitting and gasped. Between them was a very familiar face; her grandfather!
He hadn't told her that he was coming to Hogwarts! The introduction and explanation of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the arrivals of the Beauxbaton students and those from Durmstrang got her mind off things for a moment. She had to admit, she wanted to hurt the pretty faces of the French school and was impressed by the guys from Durmstrang. She was not surprised to see Krum there, but hated the way that he was almost worshipped by everyone in the hall.
The food was great, as always, and Rose decided to leave Dru and Neville alone, and ignored everything and everyone around her. She had been wrong into saying so much in the last few hours, not to mention she'd spoken to Hermione and she was wondering why they were suddenly talking to her. Was it because she had been sick for two months? Did that make her special or something?
She grunted when she dug into her second helping of chicken when the table changed into desserts and Professor Dumbledore started to explain more about the Tournament, and only looked up from her ice cream when her grandfather started to speak. Of course, it was quite entertaining when a soaking wet Professor Moody (yes, THE professor Moody, famed Auror and whatnot) entered the hall and changed the entire hall's atmosphere by accident. She deemed it quite fitting that thunder and lightening interrupted her grandfather's speech.
For someone who worked for the Ministry, her grandfather wasn't one for holding public speeches very well. He was obviously very nervous. "Oh this is embarrassing," Rose muttered and tried to make herself shrink so she could hide behind Dean.
She was glad when the evening was over and she could retreat to the Dormitory. She decided to leave Dru alone and nurse her headache while Rose continued to ignore everyone around her by burying her nose deep inside a book.
It was the first DADA given to the fourth-years this year. The entire school had been buzzing with stories about Allistor "Mad-eye" Moody. It was no surprise that the students were all early in the class to get good seats. Well, all except for Neville and Dru. The class had been in session for five minutes, when Neville and Dru came into the class. They were both out of breath. "Sorry, professor. we...we'd left our books back in the common room." Dru's voice said.
"Take your seats." The Professor replied, not caring that they were late.
Dru took the seat next to Rose and Neville made his way up to the front to sit next down Dean.
Rose took a long look at Dru, who bit her lip not to smile and looked at the table. "Where were you really?"
"Common room. We lost track of time." Dru smirked.
Rose shook her head laughing.
Rose and Dru listened to Moody and where both in shock as he started talking about the unforgivable curses.
"You don't did he would.." But Before Dru could answer her own question, Moody had called Neville to his desk and showed the Cruciatus Curse on a spider.
Dru's face turned as white as a ghost when she saw the torment in Neville's eyes. The tears were rolling down her face and suddenly her head started racing. She grabbed Rose's arm. "Let me in." She whispered in agony.
It took Rose no more than two seconds to let Dru in before she got a taste of what her friend was seeing; Neville's parents being tortured by Dru's own mother, and Rose spotted her father in the background.
Dru suddenly felt somebody tugging on her arm. She snapped out of whatever it had been and and stared into a pair of grey eyes belonging to her brother. "Come on." She followed the whisper and let the person take her hand and lead her out of the classroom.
As Dru was lead down the staircase towards the dungeons, she could hear somebody running behind them, trying to catch up.
"Where are you taking her? She should go to the infirmary!" Rose said after she had caught up with the two Malfoys.
"Later, i'm taking her to Professor Snape first." Draco replied.
"Snape?"
Draco didn't reply to Rose and just burst into Snape's classroom, where he was teaching the sixth years. "What's the meaning of this, Malfoy?" Snape asked.
"Here, Hold her." Draco asked Rose as he walked to the front of the class.
Rose reluctantly put her arm around her friend, wondering why she was even accepting all the hugging and other touches over the last few days.
"My head."she moaned.
"I know," Rose softly said.
The eyes of the entire class were trained on Dru and it made Rose feel uncomfortable. She knew that she was Dru's friend and all (or supposed to be) but she should have told someone about her advancing ability a lot sooner!
Professor Snape waved them into his office and when the two Malfoy's and Rose were inside, Snape closed the door behind them. He pulled out a stair with his wand and Rose helped Dru into it.
Snape kneeled down in front of Dru and examined her. "What happened?"
"Well, she started screaming for no reason." Draco said.
Rose looked at him. "I didn't hear her scream."
"Well, you were in pain too. I could see you clutching your head." Draco said
At hearing this Snape turned around to Rose. "Miss Shepherd?"
"She asked me to let her in and I did. But she was losing control again. I could feel it."
"Again? You mean this happened before? Why didn't you tell me?" Draco snapped as he grabbed Rose by her wrist.
"She told me not to. She said she was gonna talk to Snape on Monday. She promised!" She hissed at Draco and tugged on her arm, she wanted her wrist back!
"You may not be in my class, but you still address me with sir of Professor." Snape's cold voice spoke.
"Sorry, Sir."
"Miss Shepherd, tell me what happened earlier to Druella."
Dru gave a little grunt. She hated it being called by her full name.
Snape now turned back to Dru. "Can you tell me what happened?" his voice sounded concerned, almost gentle.
"I lost control of it during the summer. Just one time and then again on the train." her voice sounded weak.
Rose could feel Draco's grip on her wrist tighten and when she looked at him, she could see he was really, really angry with her.
"Mr Malfoy, I think you'd better release miss Shepherd's wrist, if you don't want to her to lose her hand," Snape spoke without looking at the two. He had put his hands on Dru's head, she was still in pain as Snape was trying to get into her head.
Snape let go of Dru's head eventually. He looked worried. "Miss Shepherd, could you please tell me what Miss Malfoy told you about her promise?"
"Well, just that she lost control and couldn't break the connection over the summer. And on the train she was in pain, when I tried to show her something in her head. Look, professor, I did that a million times before. She's never been in pain before."
"Nothing else?"
"Well, she did mention she was feeling Draco's pa- how Draco was feeling. She never felt anything before."
Snape nodded. "What about in class?"
"She told me to let her in, so I did and then I saw..." Rose looked at the ground as a terrifyingly thought crept up on her. She kneeled down in front of Dru and took her hands in her hands and made Dru look at her. Dru's dark eyes looked straight into Rose's. "Did you feel..."
Dru nodded and Rose gasped. "I could feel it. It was horrible."
"Rose, what did you guys see?" Draco asked. Rose didn't dare to look at him.
"Miss Shepherd, what did you see?" Snape's toon was now demanding.
Rose swallowed. "The crime her mother was sent to Azkaban for," Rose closed her eyes. She didn't want to see, hear or feel their reactions.
"Miss Shepherd, maybe you should take Miss Malfoy to Madame Pomfrey," Snape voice sounded calm, but Rose could hear his shock coming through it. Without speaking a word she pulled Dru out of her seat and started to walk towards the infirmary. Half way down the hall, they ran into Professor Moody.
"Ah, I was looking for you two. I need you in my office, miss Shepherd."
"I can't, sir, I have to take Dru to the infirmary."
Dru was coming back to herself and suddenly realised why she wanted to get into Rose's head in the first place. "Neville." she softly muttered. She let go of Rose's arm and just walked away, leaving Rose alone with Moody.
"Dru!"
"I'm fine!" Dru replied, her clear head was unexplainable but she needed to go and see Neville.
"That's the wrong way to the-"
"I KNOW!"
"Professor, she really needs to see madame Pomfrey," Rose said as she ran her hand through her hair. "Professor Snape said so too, and I'm worried that something might happen..."
"Don't worry about her, child. I am sure that Mr. Longbottom will take her to see Madame Pomfrey, now please, join me in my office." Alastor Moody said kindly as he put a hand around her shoulders.
She didn't like his office. To her, it looked like it was all clutter, just like her home. It was just stuff. "You have a lot of stuff, Sir." she remarked as she sat down.
"It's not just stuff, Rose, it's keeping me safe. You never know who can be trusted!"
"This is Hogwarts, Sir. I am sure you're perfectly safe."
"Ha!" Professor Moody took a swig of his flask (she was beginning to think that Harry had been right, that there wasn't any pumpkin juice in there, but up close she couldn't smell alcohol either).
"Why am I here, professor? I'm sorry I ran out of your class the other moment but Dru... if you want me to I'll write an essay on the Unforgivable Curses."
"You don't have to," Moody replied and used his wand to close the door. "I happen to know that you're pretty well versed with curses yourself, Miss Shepherd."
"Sorry, sir?"
"Wasn't there an incident at your house this summer where you used Stupefy against your friend?"
Rose blinked at the Professor and tried to think hard. "I'm not sure what you are talking about, sir. I have been sick all summer after eating a cake our house elf had made. Dru was with me for less than a few hours but she fell ill as well." She thought she could see a glimmer of regret wash over the Professor's face as he handed her some Pumpkin Juice. "To be honest, I don't know why it hit me harder than it had hit her."
"How do you feel about your grandfather being present here at Hogwarts?"
Rose didn't quite know how to answer that. She knew that Professor Dumbledore had informed all teachers about her family, but it was still weird. It had been weird too when Professor Lupin spoke of her family. And it wasn't as if he was the most bravest man that she knew. "I don't know, sir."
"Alright, well, drink your Pumpkin Juice," he smiled with a nod. "I just wanted you to know that if you feel the need to talk about something, anything, you can always come to me."
"Thank you sir," she replied as she sipped on the juice. It didn't quite taste like pumpkin. "Did you make this yourself?"
"Hmm?" Moody gave her a small, all knowing smile. "It's not that hard, but I do have to warn you that you might feel a little weird the next few days."
"Sorry?" Rose said alarmed as she dropped the glass out of her hands when she got up.
"Not to worry," he tapped his fake eye. "I could see that a lot of magic has been performed on you in the last two months, I am merely attempting to free you from it."
"You're mad."
"I'm usually right, now, I know that it's still early in the day, but I want you to go to your Dormitory and sleep this off."
"Okay." Rose shrugged and made her way out of Moody's office before heading straight to bed without questioning as to why.
Neville was sitting in a crowded common room. he just spent the last hour having to listen to his classmates telling him to end things with Dru. Apparently they heard the rumor that Neville was just a bet between the Malfoy's. Neville wanted nothing more than to tell them to stop, that he knew that it was lie, but somehow he couldn't. He just didn't feel like himself after DADA class today.
Dru walked into the room and looked around the room. when she saw Neville sitting on the sofa, she quickly ran towards him and threw her arms around her neck. "I'm sorry."
Neville wanted to put his arms around hers and tell her it was okay, but instead he gently took her arms and pried them off of him. "Don't do that." he could hear himself say it, even though he didn't want to.
Dru looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Neville, you know I didn't mean to. I told you I can't -"
"You still did it." Neville's voice was cold and harsh.
Dru looked at him in shock. "Neville, please." her voice was shaky.
"I'm done with you," Neville wanted to kick himself in the head. Why was he saying that?
"What do you mean?" The entire common room was now quiet and watched them.
"I've decided that I don't want you anymore. You're too … high maintenance." No, you're not. Dru, I don't mean this.
Dru got up from the sofa. "Too high maintenance? What the hell does that mean!" she was no longer in tears, but she was getting angry.
"I mean you're be more trouble to me then you're worth." No, you're not. please don't listen to me.
"Don't be so mean." Ginny shot as Neville as she had just came into the room and heard what he said.
Dru took a deep breath as she tried to remain calm. "You know what? I'll go upstairs and we'll talk tomorrow when you... calm down or something." Dru turned around and wanted to walk away.
Neville had been wanting to stop her through their entire fight, but his body wouldn't cooperate. but seeing Dru walk away suddenly made Neville able to grab her wrist. "Why don't you go off and run to your little Blaise, then." Too bad he couldn't control what he was saying though.
"Stop this, Neville. Or I'll swear you'll regret this." Dru's voice was sounding low and threatening, matching the creep factor of her brother.
"It's a good thing we're done, because everyday you're starting to look more and more like your mother." NO! Neville was screaming on the inside, but he just couldn't seem to stop himself.
Dru took a step closer to Neville. They're where now so close that anybody that had not just hear them fight would have thought they were about to kiss. "Go To Hell!" Her tone was calm and steady, but that made Neville realise even more that he couldn't never make this right again.
Dru turned on her heels and went up to the girls bedroom. Ginny stood there for a second and watched as Neville looked horrified at the spot where Dru had been standing. Seamus gave Neville a pat on the back and Ginny could hear Ron mutter to Neville. "You did the right thing, mate."
Rose woke up because she heard someone cry. No, she was not going to look who it was! She opened her eyes and saw that it was Dru. Sighing, she reluctantly got off her own bed and sat down next to Dru, patting her back. "Welcome back to Hoggiewarts," she muttered to herself.