Rose Potter, The-Girl-Who-Lived

This is the first version of the story that became Rose Potter and the Girlfriend

Chapter 1: Getting to Hogwarts

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of Number Four Privet Drive, were perfectly normal, thank you very much. Mrs Dursley was a homemaker, and her husband was a director at a firm called Grunnings, which manufactured drills. They had a son named Dudley, and in their minds, there wasn't a finer boy anywhere.

The Dursleys also had a secret – their niece, Rose Lily Potter. Everyone in the neighbourhood knew about her, of course, she'd been living at the house ten years, but nobody in the neighbourhood knew her secret. Rose was a witch.

Rose was a witch (and as Hagrid had said, 'A thumpin' good 'un once she's trained up a bit') who was about to start her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. According to the ticket, she'd be leaving from Platform 9 ¾ at 11:00 on 1 September. She was happy to get away from her family and go to a school far away.

Her time at the Dursley house had not been happy. Her uncle and aunt were not physically abusive, but they didn't exactly care for her either. She had slept in the Cupboard under the Stairs for the majority of her time at their house, and it was only when the letters from Hogwarts started to come that they gave her a bedroom. They also didn't feed her well, sometimes "forgetting" to feed her for days at a time.

Although her aunt and uncle didn't physically abuse her, one of Dudley's favourite games was to chase Rose, and beat the hell out of her if he caught her. Fortunately, Rose was fast so it hadn't happened often. Also, the teachers at school didn't like boys picking on the girls, so they usually stopped it when they saw it.

It was rather fortunate that she was quite a tomboy, as her guardians rarely gave her any new clothes, and most of the clothes she had were either from Dudley (who at 11 years of age was already nearing roughly 14 stone 4 lbs, and only 5'5″, meaning that he was at least 50 lbs overweight) or were from the charity shop. Her skirts, of course, came from the charity shops. She preferred to wear them in the summer and trousers in the winter, but occasionally she would wear trousers or shorts in the summer, as well.

The Dursleys also preferred not to take her anywhere, for fear that she would botch up their precious Dudley's vacations. It was during these scenarios that they preferred to leave her with the neighbour, Mrs Figg (who lived at Number 15 Wisteria Walk, a block away).

Hagrid, who was a huge man at about 8ft tall, had taken her to Diagon Alley to buy her school things. There she'd met Draco Malfoy (who she found to be repugnant), Hermione Granger (a teacher's pet whom she quite liked), and a number of other people.

That had been a shock walking into the Leaky Cauldron and finding out that she was the Girl-Who-Lived. Everyone seemed to know her name, mostly from the lightning-bolt scar on her forehead, under her red hair and above her hazel eyes. Hagrid said that she looked nearly identical to her mum, except with her dad's eyes.

Soon, but not soon enough for her liking, Rose was at King's Cross station in London, where she would catch the Hogwarts Express. Unfortunately, Hagrid had forgotten to tell her where the platform was, but soon, she noticed a family with flaming red hair all pushing trollies that looked suspiciously similar to hers.

As Rose got closer to the family, she realised that there was the mother, four boys (two of whom seemed to be twins), and a girl. The girl was the only one who didn't have a trunk.

'Excuse me!' called Rose as she neared the family.

'Is it your first time at Hogwarts, dear?' asked the mum kindly. 'It's my Ronnie's first time, as well.'

'Yes, ma'am,' responded Rose. 'It's just that I don't know how to get to the platform.'

'That's easy,' said the mother in her kind voice. 'All you need to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten, and you'll be there.'

'I'll show him,' said one of the boys. He seemed to be the eldest. Like the others, he had flaming red hair, but he also had a badge with a 'P' on his uniform.

'Thank you, Percy,' said the mother. She turned back to Rose. 'What's your name, dear?'

'I really don't want to say,' said Rose. She lowered her voice. 'It usually causes a fuss around this lot.'

'I'll have Fred and George help you get your things onto the train,' said the mother, glancing at Rose's forehead. 'You look like you've not had a good meal in a long time. Much too thin, Rose.'

She said the name in a low enough voice that nobody around them could hear her. 'You next, Fred,' she called. 'And you George. And help this girl out when you get on the train, could you? She doesn't look like she could lift a Kneazle.'

'Can't you tell that I'm George?' asked the first twin. 'And you call yourself our mother!'

'Well, sorry then, George,' the mother apologised to the first twin, who immediately said, 'I'm only joking. I am Fred,' as he went through the barrier.

There was only one boy, the girl and the mother left. Rose started to push her trolley, and aimed at the middle of the barrier between platforms nine and ten. She braced for impact, but then found herself on a new platform, which was labeled 'Platform 9 ¾ – Hogwarts Express, 11:00'

The twins helped her onto the train with her belongings. 'I'm George and he's Fred,' said one of the twins. Knowing about what her instincts told her about their personalities, she figured that the one called George was actually Fred, and vice versa.

'We're the Weasleys' said Fred. 'The one with the badge is Percy, and the other one is Ron. And that's our little sister, Ginny, who will start next year.'

'I'm Rose,' she responded.

'That name didn't really become common until a couple years after you were born,' said George.

'Along with James and Lily, of course,' said Fred. They sounded so identical that if she'd closed her eyes, she wouldn't know she was with two people.

'Unless, of course, you are,' said Twin One.

'The real,' said the other.

'Rose Potter,' they nearly whispered in unison. There wasn't even a microsecond difference in their speaking, and not a single difference in the tone of their voices.

'That's me,' said Rose. 'Just don't go shouting about it. It generally causes a ruckus with you lot.'

'Of course it does,' said twin one, whom Rose was calling Fred.

'You're The Girl-Who-Lived,' said twin two.

'Anyway, if you ever need anything,'

'Especially if "anything" means "mischief",'

'Then talk to us,' said the twins. They kept switching off between them, and really it was getting annoying. 'We'd best be off. Lee Jordan says that he has a tarantula.'

The twins left. Only a minute later, someone else walked into the compartment.

'Hello, Hermione,' said Rose.

'Hello, Rose,' responded Hermione. 'I'm so excited!' she exclaimed.

'Me too,' said Rose. Hermione and her had talked over some ice cream while they'd been on the Alley. Hermione had been bullied by the other students at her school, and had no friends. Her only friend had been her Labrador Retriever, who'd died a couple of years before.

'I still can't believe that the stuff I did as a kid was magic,' said Hermione. Lily agreed. They talked for a while longer before the door opened again.

'Word on the train is that Rose Potter has come to Hogwarts,' said the intruder, who Rose instantly recognised as Draco Malfoy. He pointed to the two boys next to him, who looked like bodyguards. 'This is Crabbe, and Goyle. You'll remember, of course, that I am Draco Malfoy.'

He said the last part in a tone so pompous that not even Percy Weasley could compete.

'As you know, I am Rose Potter,' she responded.

'You'll do better to stay away from people like this,' said Draco, pointing to Hermione. "What's your name?' he asked Hermione.

'Hermione Granger,'

'I don't recognise the name,' said Draco. 'You must be a Mudblood.'

'There is no need for that kind of language, Draco,' said Rose. 'Your father might use that type of language, but I certainly do not accept it. Besides, she might be related to the famous Potioneer.'

'Potioneer?' asked Draco, dumbfounded that The Girl-Who-Lived was trying to say that a Mudblood was related to anyone of value.

'Hector Dagworth-Granger?' said Rose. 'Member of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?'

'She doesn't know anything about magic, though,' said Draco, trying to argue his point.

'Neither do I,' said Rose. 'I grew up with some of the worst Muggles known to man.'

Draco was frustrated that he hadn't made his point, so he gestured to Crabbe and Goyle, and they left. Not more than five minutes after Draco left, the compartment door opened again.

'Have you seen a toad? Trevor's gone missing again.' said the boy.

'No, sorry,' said Hermione.

'Neither of us has seen him,' said Rose. 'What's your name?'

'I'm Neville,' said the boy. 'Neville Longbottom. My gran didn't think that I would get my letter – they didn't think I had enough magic.'

'Does that happen often in magical families?' asked Hermione.

'More often than we'd like,' said Neville. 'But my uncle dropped me out of a window a couple years ago, and I bounced! I never got your name, by the way.'

'I'm Rose, and she's Hermione'

'Rose as in "Rose Potter"?' asked Neville.

'Keep your voice down,' said Rose. 'We don't want everyone knowing.'

Soon, they were at Hogwarts, and Hagrid was assigned to escort the First-Years to the castle by way of the Lake. Rose thought that the castle looked great from the outside, but nothing prepared her for when she actually got inside.

A stern looking professor by the name of Minerva McGonagall led them into the Great Hall, where all of the other students were waiting. There were four tables for the students in the hall, and one for the professors and staff, perpendicular to the student tables.

In the middle of the staff table sat Albus Dumbledore. He was an old man with a very long beard. He appeared much like the way Muggles interpreted Merlin.

McGonagall pulled out a hat, and placed it on a stool. She explained that when she called a student's name, they were to come to the stool, put on the hat, and the hat would call out which "house" the student belonged in.

Rose could hear Ron muttering about how the twins told him that he'd have to wrestle a troll.

Soon, McGonagall got to "GRANGER, HERMIONE", and she stepped forward. After a couple of minutes where Hermione seemed to be arguing with the hat, it yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

A couple of minutes after that, "MALFOY, DRACO" was sorted almost immediately into Slytherin – the Hat barely touched his disgusting blond hair (which seemed to be slicked back with the magical equivalent of hair jell). A set of twins "PATIL, PADMA" and "PATIL, PARVATI" were split between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and then it was Rose's turn.

'A good mind, I see,' said the Hat in Rose's mind. 'Normally, I'd suggest Slytherin, but I doubt that would suit you, especially when someone important to your future is waiting for you elsewhere. Best be GRYFFINDOR!'

"That was strange," thought Rose. "I wonder what it is talking about."

She went over and joined Hermione at the Gryffindor table waiting for the end of the ceremony. Finally "WEASLEY, RONALD" became a Gryffindor, and "ZAMBINI, BLAISE," an Italian boy, became a Slytherin.

Dumbledore said a few a words, and then the food appeared on the tables. It was a feast unlike any that Rose had ever seen – it was even larger and more grandiose than the Christmas and Easter meals that she'd been forced to cook for the Dursleys.

There were roast chickens, multiple kinds of potatoes, and much more, and when dessert appeared there seemed to be a little bit of every type of dessert.

After the meal, Dumbledore warned the students to stay out of the third-floor corridor, and the Forbidden Forest (he looked at the Weasley Twins as he said this), and sent the students to their Common Rooms.

'First Years with me, please!' called the Weasley with the prefect badge (Percy), who led them up to the Common Room, which was guarded by a portrait of a Fat Lady.

'Password?' asked the portrait.

'Caput Draconis' said Percy.

'Correct,' said the portrait as she opened.

'Hello, First Years!' said Percy. 'Girl's dormitories are up that staircase on the right, boy's dormitories are up the left staircase. If you have any problems, let me or any of the prefects know. Good Night.'

\\/

Rose quickly learned that Hermione was perhaps the only girl in their year that she'd actually get along with. Lavender and Parvati were total airheads, while Fay was a complete Quidditch nut. Fay was less of an airhead than the others, fortunately. That would make living with her for the next seven years more tolerable.

Both Rose and Hermione liked to study. Although her grades in primary had been low, Rose was actually a good student. It was just a means of self-preservation, because she'd gone without supper for a month and only had school lunches the last time that she'd scored higher than Dudley on a test.

The next couple days, as she started classes, she found out more about her Gryffindor year-mates. Ron Weasley was a chess and Quidditch nut, who had a massive inferiority complex, as he was always compared to his older brothers. Rose found out that the twins and Percy weren't his only brothers, but he had another two that had already left Hogwarts. One worked in Romania with Dragons, and the other worked in Egypt doing curse-breaking (i.e. tomb raiding) for the Goblins.

Seamus Finnegan was an Irish wizard with a proclivity to blow things up. By the first month, he'd blown up at least five goblets at mealtimes, a feather, a Muggle football poster (owned by his friend Dean Thomas), and the curtains to his bed (and those were just the incidents that Rose knew about). Rose had a feeling that if he'd been like this in the Muggle world, he would've been locked up.

The aforementioned Dean Thomas was a black boy from London, whose father/stepfather (Dean nor his mum were sure which) had gone missing for a couple of years during the 1960s. Dean was a big football fan (especially West Ham United, of whom he had a number of posters, according to Neville). It was a good idea to not mention "Tottenham" or "Millwall" around him, as both were rivals of West Ham. He was also a very good artist.

Neville had been born mere hours before Rose had, according to Neville and his Gran. He'd been born at 23:50 on 30 July, whilst she'd been born just after midnight on the 31st. He lived with his Gran because his parents had met "an unfortunate fate" at the hands of Voldemort's Death Eaters. Rose figured that they were dead or were so incapacitated from that action. He loved Herbology, and by the end of the first month, it was quite clear Herbology would be one of the few classes where someone got a higher grade than Hermione.

\\/

Their first day of classes, Hermione and Rose were nearly late to transfiguration. Ron Weasley actually was, and McGonagall threatened to turn him into a fob-watch or a map. She then gave a lecture about the dangers of transfiguration, and that "anyone mucking about should leave and not come back." Rose knew that would never happen, as Transfiguration was a required class.

Charms was a fun class. Professor Flitwick was small (he looked part-Goblin) and had to stand on a pile of books to be seen over the desk. He nearly fell of the books when he was taking attendance and got to Rose's name. Hermione told Rose that Flitwick had been the International Duelling Champion ten years in a row before he retired and went into teaching. Unfortunately, most of the first couple of weeks of his class were theory.

'I'll have you levitating things by mid-November, though,' he squeaked happily.

The first couple of days at Hogwarts, Rose had a suspicion that Professor Snape disliked her. When she got to his class, she found out that she was wrong.

Professor Snape did not just "dislike" her, he hated her. Loathed might be a more accurate term. Rose could see that he had a hurt face half of the time he saw her, generally right before he took points for something stupid, like helping Neville (who was helpless at potions) with his potion.