Yawning, Rose Weasley entered her Charms classroom and collapsed into her seat. She was exhausted, not because she partied madly every single night like people thought she did, but because she was just not a morning person. The class passed by in a haze of tiredness, accompanied by the soundtrack of the professor's voice. The rest of the morning followed the same pattern, and she was relieved when it was finally lunchtime.
Rose joined her friends at the Slytherin table. She'd begun to feel a bit left out lately. Jenna had Andrew, Claire had Patrick, and Molly had Nathaniel. Rose had no one. Not even a friend that would rather spend time with her than their respective boyfriend. At least, that was how Rose felt. She knew she ought to tell herself off for being ridiculous, but she really believed that it was true. Not that she blamed them; she'd probably like hanging out with her boyfriend better than with her friends. If she had one, of course, which she didn't. Rose sighed.
"What's the matter?" Claire asked, seeming concerned.
Fortunately, Rose had a gift for thinking fast under pressure. "Classes," she said, which wasn't actually a lie. "They're all so boring. I absolutely cannot wait to get out of here."
To Rose's consternation, the other six looked at her like she'd gone mental. "Seriously?" asked Nathaniel. "You're excited to leave Hogwarts?"
"Well, yeah," Rose said, slightly confused. I'm not a school-worshipping freak like you, she added to herself. It had taken her a while to adjust to having to hang around with Nathaniel all the time, and even then, the week before school ended, he still annoyed her sometimes. "I'm tired of being in school and I want to try my hand in the real world. You don't want to leave?"
"Not at all," said Molly. Rose had thought Molly would agree with her, but apparently not. "I love it here. I mean, yes, it's school, and learning, but it's also so much more. Think of all the things you'll never get to do again, all the people you'll never see. Doesn't it make you feel sad?"
Rose thought about it. "I don't know. Nothing I've done that I would want to do again is something exclusive to Hogwarts, and the only people I'd really want to see again are all of you, and we'll all keep in touch." She was suddenly worried. "We will, won't we?"
"Obviously," said Jenna, in her matter-of-fact but reassuring way.
"So then I have nothing to lose," Rose concluded.
"If you say so," said Andrew, smirking slightly. "But mark my words, on the last day of school you'll be a mess."
Rose just scoffed at him, but his rather foreboding words kept coming back to her for the rest of the day.
Will I really miss it here? she wondered on her way to Potions. I've wanted to leave from practically the moment I arrived. But I suppose it is a cool place...I don't know. I guess we'll see.
"We'll be trying our hand at brewing Felix Felicis today," said Slughorn. A murmur of surprise and excitement swept the room. "This is an extremely tricky and complicated potion, but you're the most advanced Potions class I've had in a good few years, so I think you'll be up to the challenge. Turn to page 523 in your books."
The class did so. Rose heard Jenna, the only of her friends to continue in Potions, let out a groan. Rose glanced at the page herself and saw that Slughorn was right: she'd never seen a more difficult looking potion. But Rose was a Potions whiz, and she went to gather ingredients with a sense of excitement.
Halfway through the class found all the students sweating, biting their nails, cursing, and having various minor disasters with their potions. All except one. Rose was in her element. She was throwing in ingredients, stirring her cauldron, and checking the instructions all at the same time, as if she'd been born to make potions.
"Bloody hell, Rose, how are you doing that?" Jenna demanded, staring into her own cauldron, which was filled with thick purple sludge and emitting lilac-colored smoke. Jenna coughed and waved some out of her face.
Rose glanced over. "You stirred it five times instead of six," she said perfunctorily. "Oh, and your hair's turning purple, just so you know."
Jenna looked horrified. "What?" But Rose was already back in the zone. Jenna Vanished her failed potion, hastily excused herself from the class, and came back ten minutes later, her hair restored to its shade of lime green. "Don't get your potion near me," she warned. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to put a lasting Color Changing charm on hair?"
"No, because I don't have the insecurity needed to make me change the color of my hair," came Rose's drawling voice. "And nothing's going to happen to your hair. My Felix Felicis doesn't turn hair purple."
"That's what you think," Jenna muttered, but she was suppressing a smile.
"What?" Rose asked suspiciously, noticing her friend's mysterious smile.
"Nothing," said Jenna innocently. But unfortunately for her, Rose was the only one Jenna couldn't fool with her expert Slytherin lying skills. All Rose had to do was raise an eyebrow skeptically, and Jenna said, "All right, all right. I was smiling because it's nice to have good old Rosie back."
Rose couldn't decide to be more scandalized by what Jenna had said or by being called "Rosie," so she simply turned back to her potion, although some of the abandoned feelings she'd had earlier that day had dissipated.
Just then the bell rang, and Rose looked up from her cauldron, surprised. "Goodness, time certainly does fly when you're having fun!" Slughorn exclaimed. He was met by stony-faced students, none of whom had had any fun, except Rose, who nodded along with Slughorn. "Everyone put a sample on my desk. But don't worry: I'll be more likely to offer extra points to those of you who brewed acceptable potions than to take points off those who did not. Again, this was a very tricky potion."
The class did as he instructed and rushed out. Rose, however, was lagging behind, and told Jenna to go on ahead. "Look sharp, there, Miss Weasley," Slughorn said jovially. "Anything I can do for you?"
"No," said Rose. "I was just thinking that I'm going to miss Potions when I leave." She surprised herself with these words, but she realized that they were true. She was going to miss Potions. Rose had never noticed the happy feeling that bubbled up inside her each time over the past seven years that she'd sat down in front of a cauldron, and now it was almost too late. She sighed.
"Well, actually, Miss Weasley," Slughorn said slowly. "You might not." Rose looked at him quizzically, and he continued. "I'm getting on in years, and I'm going to need someone to replace me soon. I've been looking out for possible candidates, but none have been suitable. You, however, are the best student I've taught in decades. Better even than your mother, perhaps."
Rose swelled with pride. She'd heard the phrases "nothing like your mother," "You'd think she'd do well, considering who her mother is," and "Are you sure she's Hermione Granger's daughter?" too many times for her to count, but now, for the first time in her life, she was being told she was better than her mother at something. "Thank you," she said sincerely. Slughorn smiled and went on.
"I would like to offer you the post of Potions Master, or Mistress, as it were, here at Hogwarts. Not now, you're still young, but in a few years. I'd have to clear it with the Headmaster, of course, but I'm sure he'd be willing. What do you say, would you be interested?"
Rose beamed her. "Yes, sir, I would. I'd like that a lot."
Rose Weasley, party animal, Ravenclaw-in-denial, and slacker extraordinaire never imagined until that moment that she'd become a Hogwarts professor.
I'm sooo sooo sooo sorry for the wait! I know that to keep using school as an excuse is lame...but it's true. I'll try to finish this up within 2 weeks! Also, I wanted this chapter to be called "Rose Finds Her Ravenclaw Love of Learning" but it exceeded the limit by one character...ah fate...
