The night after the most interesting History of Magic class ever, Hermione went to talk to Rose with some interesting news.

"Rose, Ron, and Harry are convinced that Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin," Hermione said.

Rose hummed thoughtfully, although she couldn't manage to get the grin off of her face. She quickly wrote on her chalkboard and held it up.

And you're not?

"Well, no. But we're going to find out."

This sent warning bells off in Rose's mind. How could they possibly think to find out if it was Draco? She quickly wiped off the board and wrote again.

How?

"Well, we're going to make a potion-" Hermione had barely gotten the word potion out of her mouth before Rose was writing again.

Veritaserum is too hard to make, so Polyjuice? Don't do it Hermione.

"Well, why not? We need to know!"

It could be anyone! Why not Nott? You heard what he yelled!

"Speaking of which… This has been bothering me…" Hermione sat on Rose's bed and looked down. "What is a 'mudblood?'"

Rose sighed and wrote quickly and rather small so she could fit everything onto her board.

It's pureblood idiot talk for someone of unpure blood. It's a derogatory term for muggle-borns. In their eyes, muggle-borns blood is so dirty (because it isn't magical blood) that it's mud.

Hermione frowned and exclaimed, "That's terrible!"

Rose just wiped off her board to let Hermione process that. Then, finally, "Malfoy has never called me that."

Rose looked at her, questioning where she was going with this.

"I mean, if he hasn't called me that, and he's supposed to be the Heir of Slytherin… That means he probably isn't! It's more likely it's Nott!"

Rose nodded her head slowly, smiling at her friend's ingenuity.

"That's great! That means I don't need to make that potion! You're the best, Rose!" Hermione said, hugging Rose tightly.

Rose patted her friend's back and once Hermione got off her bed she pulled the curtains and frowned. So her brother and Ron still thought of Draco as a terrible person. This may not bode well for Draco. But with Hermione there to keep them on track, Rose wasn't as worried as she could be. What she was really worried about was Lockhart's class the next day.

Since the disastrous episode of the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. Instead, he read passages from his books to them and sometimes reenacted some of the most dramatic bits. He usually picked Harry to help him with those reconstructions; so far, Harry had been forced to play a simple Transylvanian villager whom Lockhart had cured of a Babbling Curse, a yeti with a head cold, and a vampire who had been unable to eat anything except lettuce since Lockhart had dealt with him. Rose hadn't been picked on yet, and for that she was thankful. But she was always afraid of the possibility.

Harry was hauled to the front of the class during their next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting as a werewolf. This made Rose feel sick to her stomach, but she (obviously) kept silent.

"Nice loud howl, Harry- exactly- and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced- like this- slammed him to the floor- thus- with one hand, I managed to hold him down- with my other, I put my wand to his throat- I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm- he let out a piteous moan- go on, Harry- higher than that- good- the fur vanished- the fangs shrank- and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective- and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks."

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.

"Homework- compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!"

Rose walked out and met the twins, who although were 'upset' with her still met with her after Defense Against the Dark Arts to make sure she was okay.
No problems in class? George wrote.

No, Harry just had to act out being a werewolf. Lockhart is such a fraud.

We know. Both twins wrote.

They walked to the common room and sat at one of the tables, Lee Jordan sitting with Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell at another table. Rose sighed quietly, accidentally drawing the attention of the boys. At their questioning glance, she just shrugged and smiled.

Quidditch match tomorrow, right? Slytherin?

They both nodded and Rose wished them luck before they all started working on their homework.

Rose woke early the next day and sighed. It had been seven days since she could talk, and seven days since she could eat freely. The leaf, thankfully, wasn't nearly as hard anymore, but she did secretly hope that it never turned to mush, as holding that in her mouth would be much harder.

She went and took a shower before getting dressed and forcing her hair into a dutch braid. She hummed in contentment and was about to leave when Hermione commented on her hair.

"Rose, your hair looks beautiful today!" she said with a large smile. "I wish my hair could do stuff like that."

It can. I can show you if you want me to?

Hermione's eyes shone like stars at the offer, "Really? I'd love that!"

Rose checked the time, an hour to spare. She could work with an hour. She quickly pulled Hermione into the bathroom, washing her hair for her, and then added some of her Grandfather's secret Sleekeazy's Hair Potion while her hair was still wet. Hermione went to touch her hair but Rose slapped her hand away and magically dried her hair, thankful that she could cast that particular spell non-verbally. She hummed happily at Hermione's hair, which was normally an unruly mess but was now falling into a very pretty mass of curls. Pulling her back into the dormitory, she smiled as Parvati and Lavender exclaimed at how pretty Hermione's hair already looked. Hermione was blushing happily, but Rose wasn't done.

She sat Hermione down and frowned thoughtfully, unsure of what to do with it exactly. She knew there were many things she could do, but what would fit Hermione? She asked Hermione for her opinion and let her look at herself in the mirror. She gasped loudly as she touched her curly hair. It still managed to look like silk, and shone in the sun and she smiled brightly at Rose.

"I don't think I need anything else, truly. Thank you so much!" Hermione hugged Rose tightly, and Rose offered her services to Parvati and Lavender, who politely declined.

Rose and Hermione walked down to the Great Hall, everyone complimenting Hermione's hair. Hermione was glowing happily with all of the attention.

As eleven o'clock approached, the whole school started to make its way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a muggy sort of day with a hint of thunder in the air. Rose sat with Hermione, Ron, and Neville. She didn't have a good feeling about the day ahead of them.

As the teams walked out onto the pitch, a roar of noise greeted them, although there was much more for Gryffindor than for Slytherin. Madam Hooch asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, and Rose could practically feel their bones breaking from her spot in the stadium.

Madam Hooch started counting down and then blew her whistle. With a roar from the others in the crowd, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Harry flew higher than any of them, squinting around for the snitch.

Draco streaked underneath of Harry, probably showing off his speed, and almost immediately afterwards a Bludger went pelting towards Harry, and Rose could tell he very narrowly avoided the hit.

George went flying past Harry with his club in his hand, ready to knock the Bludger back toward a Slytherin. Rose saw George give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction in midair and shot straight for Harry again.

Harry dropped quickly to avoid it, and George managed to hit it hard toward Draco. Once again, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and shot at Harry's head.

Rose watched as Harry zoomed toward the other end of the pitch. She saw the Bludger closing in behind him. What was going on? Bludgers never concentrated on one player like this; it was their job to try and unseat as many people as possible...

Fred was waiting for the Bludger at the opposite end of the pitch. Harry ducked as Fred swung at the Bludger with all his might; the bludger was knocked off course.

But then it was back on course. The Bludger pelted after Harry once more, and Harry was forced to fly at full speed.

It had started to rain, and Rose knew Harry couldn't see a thing.

"Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero-"

The Slytherin's superior brooms were clearly doing their jobs, and meanwhile, the mad Bludger was doing all it could to knock Harry out of the air. Fred and George were now (thankfully) flying as close as they safely could on either side of Harry to deflect it.

She watched as George tried to signal Wood to call a timeout and stop the Bludger from breaking Harry's nose at the same time.

Wood had obviously gotten the message. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out and Harry, Fred, and George dove towards the ground, still trying to avoid the mad Bludger.

Rose tapped into Harry's mind so she could tell him what was going on, and he could pass it to Wood.

"What's going on?" she heard Wood say as the Gryffindor team huddled together. "We're being flattened. Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger stopped Angelina scoring?"

"They were about twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger from murdering me, Oliver," Harry said. "Someone's fixed it, least Rose says so, and it won't leave me alone. It hasn't gone for anyone else all game. The Slytherins must have done something to it."

Not Malfoy. Rose offered.

Harry ignored her, and she kept listening into his conversation.

"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with the then…" Wood sounded anxious.

Then, Harry did something very stupid, and Rose screamed in his head for it.

"Listen, with you two flying around me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the Snitch is if it flew up my sleeve. Go back to the rest of the team and let me deal with the rogue one."

She could tell Fred and George were just as upset about this as she was.

"Oliver, this is insane," said Alicia Spinnet angrily. "You can't let Harry deal with that thing on his own. Let's ask for an inquiry-"

Rose left her brother's mind and stood to leave the game, knowing that her brother would appeal to Wood's insane obsession. When Hermione and Ron asked where she was going, she pointed to the castle. Neville decided to go with her.

"So, you're still being silent, right?" he asked, as they listened to the crowd going wild, indicating that the game was back in play.

Rose nodded, her chalkboard currently useless because of the rain anyways. She shivered and held it close to her as if it could give her warmth. Neville noticed.

"Hey, want my cloak? I mean, It's wet and all, but maybe it could keep you warm?" he offered.

Rose shook her head but smiled broadly at him, it was, after all, very sweet of him to offer.

Once they reached the castle, Neville cast a drying charm on her chalkboard and chalk, and she smiled again, writing on the board.

Thank you, Neville.

"You're welcome, Rose."

They walked to the common room in companionable silence. They heard the halls start filling with people and they sighed, knowing the silence was going to be broken.

"You know, Rose, I've been thinking… We umm… We used to study History of Magic together. And I know I said I didn't really want to this year, but I can't afford to get a bad grade on that, too. So… Can I study with you?"

Rose felt elated. She nodded her head eagerly and Neville seemed to find something about her demeanor funny as he laughed. Rose looked at him questioningly.

"It's just funny that you and the twins are still refusing to talk. Maybe today you guys'll make up?"

Rose shook her head and smiled, taking her time in writing her response.

I won't stop until they do. And they're stubborn.

Neville laughed in agreement as people started flooding into the Common Room, cheering and saying things to each other about the match. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thoman walked over and sat with Neville and Rose to catch them up on the happenings of the match.

"Ya shoulda seen it, Rose!" Seamus called excitedly as he sat down. "We won! But yer brother took this hard hit from a bludger! Shot straight at Malfoy, he did, thought he was gonna pummel him meself, and caught the snitch! Fell right off his broom, and Lockhart tried to fix his arm," Rose groaned at this, but Seamus pushed on. "And he took the bones right out of his arm!"

"What?!" Neville exclaimed, glancing anxiously at Rose's suddenly very pale Rose got a wicked glint in her eye, and wrote something down, knowing she'd have all of their attention.

That means Skele-Gro.

Seamus and Neville winced in empathy for their friend, but Dean looked on in confusion, "What's Skele-Gro?"

"Skele-Gro," Neville began, happy to know something other people didn't, "is a potion that grows back your bones. Really useful, sure, but it feels like there are giant splinters filling up where the bone was and it hurts really bad."

Dean nodded with wide eyes, finally saying, "Well, I don't envy Harry."

"Don't think any of us do," Seamus said knowingly.

Rose excused herself and went up to bed not too long after that. She contacted Harry long enough for him to apologize for being an idiot, and then she simply went to sleep, not caring about the party that was likely happening in the common room.

The news quickly spread around the school that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying as though dead in the hospital wing. It was Monday morning (day nine, Rose noted) and the air was thick with rumor and suspicion. The first years were now moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured forth alone.

Ginny, who sat next to Colin in Charms, was distraught. Fred and George went about comforting her the exact wrong way. They were taking turns covering themselves with fur or boils and jumping out at her from behind statues. They only stopped when Percy, apoplectic with rage, told them he was going to write to Mrs. Weasley and tell her Ginny was having nightmares.

Meanwhile, hidden from the teachers, a roaring trade in talismans, amulets, and other protective devices was sweeping the school. Neville bought a large, evil-smelling green onion, a pointed purple crystal, and a rotting newt tail before the other Gryffindor boys (under the guidance of Rose) pointed out that he was in no danger; he was a pure-blood, and therefore unlikely to be attacked.

"They went for Filch first," Neville said, his round face fearful. "And everyone knows I'm almost a Squib."

Soon enough, November had passed without any new developments. Rose and the twins felt their inner animals stirring now that they had the mandrake leaf out of their mouths, and they staged a very public, and very loud welcome back for their voices.

Rose and the twins were sitting in the Great Hall for lunch on Tuesday, December first, and they were sitting in their now normal arrangement, Fred and George across from Rose and Lee. Katie Bell often times sat next to one of the twins, but Rose happily noted that their silence had seemed to get to her.

The Weasley twins and Rose were staring intently at each other, and Lee was starting to get uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, and pulled at his collar a bit, "So, umm… Is there anything I should be informed about?"

He had expected them to reach for their chalkboards, but he was delightfully shocked when all three stood up and yelled, "I give!" at each other.

The Great Hall went silent as they watched the exchange. All three of their voices were raspy from lack of use, and they rubbed their throats simultaneously and suddenly glared at each other.

All three spoke in tandem, "Just because I'm talking to you doesn't mean you need to copy me!"

They all groaned, and they heard the sniggers around them, they glared around as if they hadn't planned any of this and called out in protest, "It's not funny that they're copying me! I'm my own person!" Then they gaped at each other groaning and sitting down, having apparently given up when they couldn't stop saying the same things as each other.

Slowly talking started to fill the room again, and they all knew that they had given a much-needed boost to the morale of the school. They smirked at each other and started chattering non-stop, trying to get their voices to return to their proper tones.

In the second week of December, Professor McGonagall came around, as usual, collecting names of those who would be staying at school for Christmas. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had signed her list as soon as they had seen it. Rose, however, struggled for a moment. She knew that she wanted to return home to her family, but she also knew that she couldn't leave her brother up to his own devices. McGonagall understood the girls plight, but she still told Rose she needed a decision. Rose eventually wrote her name down.

Rose also knew that Draco was staying at the castle too. Why he had decided to stay was, however, a mystery to her. She had just shrugged her curiosity off, though, and continued practicing for her animagus transformation with Fred and George. They had been becoming restless, knowing that they were so close to being able to attempt partial transformation, but yet it felt as if it were ages away. Currently, they were trying to figure out nicknames for each other.

"Well… What are you, Rose?" Fred groused as he tried to brush Rose's hair, having finally gotten Lee to teach him he only needed to put it to practice now.

"Well, I'm- ow, Fred! Not that hard," ("Sorry, Rose," was Fred's muttered response) "a Black Jaguar. And no I will not be called Blacky. Her name's Misty, by the way," Rose said.

George hummed thoughtfully, "Well, I'm a Coyote. Had to look it up to figure it out, honestly."

"Wolf," Fred grunted, trying to maneuver his way through a knot that was particularly hard to get out.

"Well, yours is easy at least," Rose aimed at Fred. "You could be Paws."

George nodded his head and smiled, "And if he goes with Paws I could be something like Claws. You know, so we're still similar."

Rose smirked, "Oh, so worried about being separated from your twin, dearest George?"

George blushed and muttered something under his breath, making Rose laugh. She loved it when the twins got flustered, especially when she caused it.

"But that doesn't answer what my name'll be, does it?" Rose inquired.

"No, it doesn't," Fred sighed, finally getting through the troublesome knot, "But we don't have time to get concerned about that, we need to get you to potions or Snape'll have your head."

They walked to the Potions lab in the dungeons. Rose had honestly forgotten all about the fact that Thursday afternoons were for potions, so she did her hair nimbly as they walked to the classroom, braiding it so she could be sure that it would be out of her face.

"Still partners with Malfoy?" Fred asked, fascinated by how her fingers were flying through her hair.

"Yeah, I think we're the best pair in the class, honestly. And it's not like we work together every time, but most of the time we do."

Rose wrapped the hair tie around her hair as she finished the braid and Fred and George couldn't tear their eyes away from the task.

"How do girls manage?" George whispered conspiratorially to Fred.

"I've got no clue, mate. I think they're magic," Fred said in awe.

"Well, I am a witch," Rose said with a smirk.

The twins laughed and dropped her off at potions, none of them knowing about the chaos that would ensue in the classroom.

Potions took place in one of the large dungeons. Twenty cauldrons stood steaming between the wooden desks, on which stood brass scales and jars of ingredients. Snape prowled through the fumes, making waspish remarks about the Gryffindors' work while the Slytherins sniggered appreciatively. Draco, who was Snape's favorite, kept flicking puffer-fish eyes at Ron and Harry. He only stopped when Rose swatted his arm.

Rose's Swelling Solution was perfect, as was Draco's and she had whispered instructions to Draco about how to help Crabbe and Goyle with their potion work when suddenly Goyle's potion exploded, and showered the whole class. Rose had screamed when she saw the explosion and Draco was in front of her in a second, getting a faceful as his nose began to swell like a balloon; Goyle blundered around, his hands over his eyes, which had expanded to the size of a dinner plate- Snape was trying to restore calm and find out what had happened.

"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape roared. "Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draft- when I find out who did this-"

Rose noticed that Harry was trying not to laugh at Draco as he went forward, his head drooping with the weight of a nose that looked to be the size of a small melon. As half of the class lumbered up to Snape's desk, some weighted down with arms like clubs, others unable to talk through gigantic puffed up lips Rose kept her eyes on Harry, who seemed very interested in the table in front of him once he noticed his twins hard stare.

When everyone had taken a swig of antidote and the various swellings had subsided, Snape swept over to Goyle's cauldron and scooped out the twisted black remains of the firework. There was a sudden hush and Rose felt sick to her stomach. Surely this hadn't been Harry's doing?

"If I ever find out who threw this," Snape whispered, "I shall make sure that person is expelled."

And for once, Rose fully agreed with the punishment that Snape had thought of.

As the bell rang ten minutes later, Rose gently placed her hand on Draco's arm, knowing that everyone would be too busy scurrying out to take notice of how close they suddenly were.

"Draco…? Are you okay?" Rose murmured, removing her hand and packing up.

"Yeah. A bit embarrassed, but Uncle Sev fixed everything right up," Draco muttered in response.

"Is your neck okay?" she reached out a tentative hand and massaged the back of his neck, feeling his tenseness.

What she hadn't expected, was for him to suddenly turn and hug her tightly. Rose blushed and shyly hugged him back she could feel him shuddering for a second, before muttering against her shoulder, "I'm fine as long as you didn't get hurt, Rosie."

This had Rose's face feeling like it was on fire and she tightened her grip on him for a moment before releasing him, knowing they were still in Snape's classroom.

"I'm glad you're okay, Draco."

Draco nodded as they grabbed their things and walked out, leaving a thoughtful and perplexed potions master in their wake.