Chapter Four: The First Night
In another abandon classroom two teachers where trying to comfort a hysterical Rose Weasley.
"Miss Weasley, please try and pull yourself together," the witch insisted. "This is giving Ravenclaw a very bad reputation."
"I don't care about Ravenclaw!" Rose howled. "I belong in Gryffindor! Tell her Neville, tell her!" She looked at the wizard covered in dirt. Professor Longbottom took Rose's hands and looked her in the eyes.
"Rosie the sorting hat is never wrong," he whispered. Rose yanked her hands back as if she'd been shocked.
"You said! You said that one day I could be Head Girl! You promised!" Rose screamed, tears streaming freely.
"I only promised if you were in Gryffindor-" Professor Longbottom started.
"I'm supposed to be in Gryffindor!" Rose interrupted. "It should be up to me to decide!"
"Rose, you know the hat decides. And I can see that you will be a wonderful asset to my house. I'm Professor Higglebottom, Head of Ravenclaw house," the witch said.
"Don't you dare talk to me! I am not in your house you vile witch and I never will be!" Rose cried, her wand clenched in her fist.
"Rose, do not talk to a teacher like that unless you wish to have detention," Professor Longbottom said seriously. Rose grumbled and crossed her arms. "Rose, you are a Ravenclaw. Congratulations. You must accept it." Then Professor Longbottom left leaving Rose with Professor Higglebottom.
"I understand you are not pleased, but know that you cannot change who you are no matter how much you wish you could. I foresee that you will find a place at Hogwarts and will play a significant role in this world," she said.
"You foresee this?" Rose asked doubtfully.
"I'm a seer. Not many are gifted with Sight but I am a descendent of the greatest seer Casandra. I teach Divination," Professor Higglebottom explained. "My Mother also taught here."
"Your Mother?"
"She retired five years ago. We don't really get along well since I decided to take my Father's surname rather than hers."
"Your Mother was Professor Trewanley," Rose stated.
"Yes."
"She was a fraud."
"She possessed the Sight."
"Very little Sight."
"I am not going to discuss my Mother with you Rose. You must first earn my trust," Professor Higglebottom sighed. She waved her wand and a plate of sandwiches and a goblet of pumpkin juice appeared on a desk. "You will eat here. Ravenclaw dormitories are in the West tower. If you are not there by curfew, ten p.m., then I will give you detention. Enjoy the food." Then Professor Higglebottom left as well. Rose quickly ate as many sandwiches as she could (the plate kept refilling itself) then she left the room. The feast was over and the halls were empty. But Rose did not go Ravenclaw Tower. Instead, her feet carried her to the North Tower.
"I will go get your Head of house. You will stay here," Professor Hillgust said.
"Wait. What Head of house are you?" SS asked.
"I am not a Head. I was, however, in Slytherin," Professor Hillgust stated then left. SS just stared. Soon, another wizard entered in frayed, dirty robes.
"Please sit Mr. Malfoy," the wizard said, pointing to a chair in the abandon classroom. SS sat. "I am Professor Longbottom. Can you please tell me why you jinxed Mr. Kim?" SS sighed.
"He was getting on my nerves," he replied.
"How so?" Professor Longbottom looked genuinely interested.
"He was just going on about my family and why I don't belong," SS muttered. Longbottom nodded.
"Mr. Malfoy-" he began but paused when he saw SS flinch. "What do you go by?"
"SS." Professor Longbottom nodded.
"SS, I understand. I was told I did not belong as well. But trust me when I say that you will find your place. I sense something in you, something ancient and powerful. You will be great. Now go to bed. Gryffindor dorms are in the North Tower," he told him then left. SS just stared after him.
The Fat Lady eyed Rose with suspicion.
"Who are you?" she asked her. Rose stood tall, but inside she was shaking.
"I'm a Gryffindor, but I got lost. Let me in," she demanded.
"Can't do that. Not without a password," she sang, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"But I got lost. I don't know the password!" Rose declared. "Let me in!"
"No password, no entry!" Suddenly her portrait swung open and SS walked out, a roll of blankets under his arm.
"What are you doing here?" SS asked angrily.
"I belong here, unlike you!" Rose yelled. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," he muttered.
"Yes you are. You know you have a bed for a reason," Rose scoffed.
"I know!" SS yelled, getting angry.
"You're going to find somewhere else to sleep. Did the other boys kick you out because you don't belong?" Rose simpered, faking sympathy.
"None of your business Weasley," SS growled. "You don't belong either. Go to your own dorm."
"I am at my dorm, Malfoy!"
"Tell that to the hat." Rose froze at SS's words.
"Shut up," she hissed and spat at him, hitting his eye. SS growled and drew his wand as quickly as lightning.
"ANTIOCULATIA!" SS yelled the same curse he had yelled at dinner. Rose was now sprouting giant antlers. She reached up, felt them, and screamed.
"YOU VILE SCUM! YOU STUPID IDIOT MALFOY! YOU EVIL LITTLE COCKROACH! HOW DARE YOU! I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS!" Then she bent her head so her antlers were pointing at SS and ran. SS swished his wand and the antlers shrank. But Rose still head butted him and it hurt. They fell through the hole onto the Gryffindor stairs that lead to the common room and landed in a heap. Rose leaped up at once and tried to run up the stairs. SS grabbed her leg and yanked her back down. "Let go of me!" Rose screamed, kicking him in the face. SS's lip split and a nasty bruise appeared over his eye but he didn't let go. Instead he yanked her and himself out of the portrait hole and slammed the Fat Lady shut.
"YOU CAN'T KEEP ME AWAY FROM MY COMMON ROOM!" Rose pointed her ash wood wand right over his heart. SS showed no fear, but he knew that this was Hermione Weasley's daughter and she must be pretty powerful.
"Do you realize that you're a laughing stock in their? They're all making fun of you and how you're such an idiot and a weirdo and a crybaby. And those are only the polite ones. If you go in there you're just going to be tormented. Go to your own dorm, Weasley," SS told her in all seriousness. Rose gazed at the portrait leading to the Gryffindor common room. Tears filled her eyes. Anger filled her heart.
"But James, he must be telling them to stop," she whispered. "We're good friends." Pity filled SS's features.
"He's the one who started to call you a crybaby and worse," he mumbled, hoping she didn't hear him. But she did. And she felt crushed. She wanted the messenger to hurt to.
"They making fun of you too, Malfoy?" she asked angrily. "Is that why you're running away? I thought you were brave! I thought you were a Gryffindor!" Malfoy, SS, glared at her. Then, all of the sudden, he wheeled around, uttered a word so soft that Rose couldn't hear it, and walked through the hole behind the portrait. Before he closed it he turned and looked at her.
"I'm sorry. And…Thank you." Then he left. Rose wheeled around. She was not going to be pitied by a Malfoy. And she marched to her tower.
SS climbed the stairs. He hoped no one knew he had left. But he was wrong. As soon as he walked in he heard the voice of James Potter.
"What are you doing back Malfoy? We were having such a good time, until you spoiled it all!" he cackled from his chair near the fire place. He was sitting next to his two friends, Iron and Atwood. A clock on the wall read 11 pm. Many students had went to bed but a few were still in the common room. SS noticed that the Head Boy and Girl and the Prefects were gone as well. "Look at that boys! Malfoy is too stupid to know when he isn't wanted! Thought his Father would have taught him that skill." SS's grip tightened on his wand in his pocket but he said nothing as he crossed the room to the stair case leading to the dorms.
"Come on Malfoy! You know you don't belong! Why bother staying?" James laughed, then noticed the SS was heading to the dorms. "Running away, are you? I figured. You're not a Gryffindor at all. You're just a clone of your Father!" SS whirled around wand out. All the spells he had practiced at home raced through his mind. James's grin widened. "Gonna have a go at me? Well come on!" He stood, facing SS, wand drawn. Irons and Atwood stood as well, ready to defend their leader.
But then SS remembered something. Something his Mother had once told him. "The strength of a person is not measured in their power but in how they control it. True wisdom comes from knowing when to fight and when to back down and walk away." He didn't want to become his Father. SS slowly lowered his wand and walked to his dorm, hearing James's jeers all the way. But he didn't respond.
Rose clanked the eagle knocker. It sprung to life, stretching its bronze wings.
"Let me in," Rose demanded.
"You need to answer my riddle first," it said, "At night they come without being fetched, and by day they are lost without being stolen. What are they?" Rose pondered the question, her anger melting away as she thought.
"Well, there's all the nocturnal animals," she thought out loud. The eagle shook his head. "Okay, well what about the moon? No, you can see that during the day occasionally. What about the stars?" The eagle nodded and the door swung open.
It led to a loft over a glorious library. As she walked down the stairs leading to the main level of the common room she heard snoring. In front of a fireplace with blue stained glass was the Head Girl. She was lying across a cushy midnight blue armchair. A beam of moonlight fell across her pale face. Light blond hair hung over her face. Rose looked for the door to the dorms but didn't see one. She supposed that was why the Head Girl was here. She must have been waiting to show her to the dorms. But she had clearly fell asleep. Rose walked forward and jostled the pale girl slightly. Her eyes flew open. For a moment they looked dark purple until Rose realized that her eyes were really a pretty pale blue, framed with long lashes.
"Oh," she gasped, "I must have fallen asleep! I'm so sorry!" She stuck out her hand as she sat up. "I'm Asphodel. Asphodel Valle." Rose shook her hand and nodded once showing that she understood.
"I'm Rose," she told her. Asphodel smiled.
"I know. I watched your sorting," she said. Rose's smile fell and her face turned red. She wasn't one to cry in front of people. Or at all. "So you're probably wanting to know how to get into the dorms, huh?" Rose nodded, forcing herself to stop blushing. "Follow me." She led her behind the fireplace. Shelves of books formed a mini library. Asphodel walked to a shelf in the back of the library. She grabbed a book entitled "The Joy of Womanhood" and pulled. The book wasn't a book at all, but a door knob. A section of the shelf opened and reveled a staircase leading to the girl dormitories.
"A different book leads to the boys' dorms. It's a general rule not to tell other gender what book it is but people normally figure it out. Good night!" Asphodel told her and walked up the stairs. Rose followed her and opened the door labeled 'First Years.' Inside were little nooks where beds sat with blue bedding. At the head of each bed was a wardrobe jutting into the room. At the foot was a desk. Rose's trunk was at the furthest left bed. She walked over, laid down, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
