Chapter 9
Snape returned to his office with Professor McGonagall, looking at the two pale-faced boys who awaited their verdict. They flinched when the head of Gryffindor raised her wand to only spark a flame in the fireplace.
"Sit," the two backed into chairs by the fire. "Explain."
Ron started talking right away, Harry spoke here and there until they both believed what they did was justified.
"Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have an owl," she said coldly.
"I…I didn't think of that," Harry gasped.
"That…is obvious."
Knock, Knock
Snape went to answer the door, wearing a peculiar look on his face. Once the door opened, it explained his smile. Professor Dumbledore walked in, with not the most pleasant expression. There was a long silence before he spoke.
"Please explain why you did this."
The boys told the same story again, Harry couldn't bring himself to meet his head master's eyes.
It looked as though Christmas had been cancelled when Professor Snape failed to convince Dumbledore to have the boys expelled.
The two gentlemen left to return to the feast, leaving McGonagall with Harry and Ron.
"You'd better get along to the hospital wing, Weasley, you're bleeding."
"Not much," Ron said, hastily wiping his cut with his sleeve. "Professor, I wanted to watch my sister being sorted-"
"The Sorting Ceremony is over," she interrupted. "Your sister is also in Gryffindor."
"Oh good."
"And Rose?" Harry asked.
"Rose will be a temporary Gryffindor student this year," she gave a weak smile.
McGonagall took out her wound once again and pointed it to Snape's desk, a large plate of Sandwiches and, two goblets and a jug of pumpkin juice appeared. "You will eat in here and then go straight up to your dormitory." With that, she left the boys alone as she headed back to the feast.
As the boys finished their sandwiches, the door opened, fearing it was Snape they both stood straight. They relaxed when they saw Professor McGonagall with a small girl behind her.
"Rose will take you back to the dormitories." She said before turning to Rose, "I take it you know the password, dearie?" Rose nodded. Once McGonagall left and the door clicked closed, Rose dashed to hug Harry.
Whack!
She quickly gave Ron a hug too, despite the physical pain she caused seconds before.
She furiously started writing on her blackboard, standing between the two. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? I was scared when I heard the rumours. Please don't do that next time."
They were quite shocked by Rose's sudden openness. Harry smiled, he missed her. He noticed Ron was red, attempting to answer Rose's questions while she noticed Ron's cut above his eye. Ron became redder at her touch. Harry had an unsettling feeling when he watched the two.
She withdrew her hand noticing Harry's expression.
"Tummy upset I wonder." She tugged on his robe and they headed to the dormitory.
They turned a corner to bump into Prissy.
"The wolf is still here?" Rose nudged Ron at that.
"Hello Prissy," Harry greeted the black wolf, who found licking her paw of much importance.
"She's more feline than scary," Harry observed. As he said that, Mrs Norris came into view.
"It's Mrs Norris," said Ron anxiously, "that means."
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" They would even recognise the voice if the hallway was having a party. "If only Mom wasn't so nice, the both of you would've been expelled," he sneered. "What are you doing wandering around the corridors?"
"Professor McGonagall asked me to take them back to the dorms," she wrote.
"Lies."
"Want to take us to her now and see who's right?"
He gulped, "off to bed before I change my mind." As they started to walk away, Harry stopped to pick something off the floor. They looked at it before Rose whistled. It was a Kwikspell letter addressed to Argus Filch.
"Mr Filch, you dropped this," Harry said, handing him the letter. Filch quickly stuffed the envelope into his pocket as he turned red. They left an embarrassed Filch as they headed to the pink lady.
They soon approached the portrait of the fat lady, Rose wrote "watter tail" on her blackboard and showed the password. Rose did a small bow before the portrait swung, revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor tower.
There was a sudden storm of applause, almost all of Gryffindor were awake to congratulate the boys on their spectacular entrance. They evidently got separated in the crowd, Rose whistled to Harry and gave a letter. They knew this year they would be writing to each other more.
Next morning, Harry sat opposite of Rose who was sitting next to Hermione, reading. Hermione was giving the silent treatment to the boys after the flying car incident.
"Errol," Ron shouted, they watched as he picked the unconscious owl, taking an envelope from his beak.
A red envelope to be exact.
Rose instantly knew what it was, she was getting ready to cover her ears.
"Oh no," Ron gasped.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked. Of course, he wouldn't know.
"She's sent me a Howler," he muttered.
"Go on Ron," said Neville. "I ignored one from my gran once, it was horrible," he gulped.
"What's a Howler?" Harry was very much out of the loop. No explanation was necessary once Ron shakily opened the envelope.
This was why Rose liked her Howler so much.
Before long, Professor McGonagall handed out their schedule. Double Herbology with Hufflepuff first. By the time the four reached the greenhouses, Hermione was talking as if her silent treatment never took place.
The cheerful little professor who loves wearing her old patched hat was somewhat displeased.
"Oh, hello there!" Rose pleaded with herself, hoping it wasn't a certain defence teacher she heard. "Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow!"
She internally groaned, "Why must he be at school…"
"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" That sparked an interest in the second-years. They only ever been in greenhouse one before. The higher the number, more exposure to dangerous plants. Can only wonder what greenhouse three would have in store for them.
"Welcome to Greenhouse three, second-years. Now gather around everyone," Professor Sprout began. "Today we are going to repot Mandrakes. Who here can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"
We can guess whose hand shot up into the air first.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Mandrake, or Maudragora, is a powerful restorative." She began. "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."
"Such as reviving people from being Petrified," Rose wrote.
Hermione spoke her words on her behalf before continuing again. "It is also quite dangerous. The Mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it."
"Excellent explanation Miss Granger, fine example Miss Rose. Fifteen points to Gryffindor. Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young, their cries won't kill you yet. But they can knock you out for several hours which is why I've given each of you a pair of ear muffs for auditory protection. I'll tell you when to put them on. First, four to a tray."
The four stood by a tray and continued to listen to Professor Sprout until it was their turn to repot the Mandrake. She made it seem easy, but Mandrakes didn't like leaving the pot or going into another either, throwing tantrum like an actual baby.
The only person that didn't leave the greenhouse sweaty was Rose, it seemed that the Mandrakes preferred to be in the pot over being near her, basically quivering over crying, kicking like the others. No one could tell she wasn't sweating, like everyone else she was covered in Earth, her nose was scrunched up until she got a good wash.
Transfiguration was next, nothing but a sum up from the previous year. While the girls easily turned the beetles into buttons, the boys found it rather difficult, one had forgotten what he learned during summer and the other had a spellotape patched wand. You can imagine how successful they were.
Lunch was a good break for all of them. Harry and Ron talking about Quidditch, Hermione reading 'Voyages with Vampires' again with a sleeping Rose on her lap. Herbology seemed to have taken her energy away.
She needed her energy for her next class. A class she felt like she would dread for the whole year.
Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award but I don't talk about that."
"Of course, you do," Rose Huffed.
She was fixated on a sound coming from Lockhart's desk to noticed Hermione giving her a test paper.
"Rose," Hermione nudges her. Rose took the paper and stared in disbelief.
"Is it bad I know the answers?"
"Tut, tut…hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac, but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair care potions, good girl. In fact," he flipped her paper over, "full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?" She raised her hand slowly. "Excellent!" He beamed. "Oh, another who has full marks, Miss…there's no last name, Miss R-Rose?"
"Guess it was a good thing Hermione read her books out loud all summer."
Rose raised her hand, "Quite excellent! Ten points each! So, to business," he lifted a largely covered cage onto his desk.
"So that was the noise I heard."
"Now, be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind!" The rage rattles, "You might find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I'm here. All I ask is that you remain calm." Lockhart gripped onto the cover of the cage. Many were curious, some were scared to see what was in the cage.
Once he whipped off the cover, it was revealed to be Cornish pixies. Rose huffed before slouching into her seat. Rose wasn't fond of them.
"Right then, Lockhart said, "Let's see what you make of them!" With that, he opened the cage and the eight-inch blue pixies flew out of the cage like mini rockets. Some were breaking things, ripping pages from books while others were disturbing the students in the classroom.
Rose hid under her seat, she did near Lockhart casting a spell, but it didn't faze the pixies.
"I'll ask you three to just nip the rest of them back into their cage," Lockhart said as he shut the door to his office, hiding.
Rose got up to see that the trio were still in class. One of the pixies started pulling on her hair making her turn into its direction. It quickly flew away upon seeing her expression.
"Freezing charm, Hermione," she wrote.
"Hermione got out her wand and pointed it in the air. "Immobulus!" The stunned pixies floated in the air until they were placed back into the cage.
"Can you believe him?" Ron grumbled.
"He just wants to give us some hands-on experience."
"Hands on?" Harry questioned, "Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing."
"You've read his books," she urged. "look at all those amazing things he's done."
"He says he's done," Ron muttered. Rose nodded in agreement.
For the next few days, Harry was able to dodge Lockhart and camera boy Creevey with the help of Prissy. Finally, it was Saturday, the four wanted to go visit Hagrid. However, things may not go as planned when Wood decided to wake Harry up early in the morning.
"Whassamatter?" Harry groggily spoke as he attempted to open his eyes.
"Quidditch practice! Come on!"
"Oliver, it's the crack of dawn," he squinted at the window.
"Exactly," Oliver smiled. "Meet you on the field in fifteen minutes," he said as Harry climbed out of bed.
As Harry descended the stairs, he paused halfway when he heard a voice of a certain person he was avoiding. Colin Creevey, first-year Gryffindor student who was eager to get to know Harry Potter.
"So why do you use a blackboard instead of talking?"
Harry knew who he was talking to and wasn't going to let her struggle any longer.
"Sorry, Colin, we're in a hurry," Harry said walking towards Rose. "Quidditch practice."
The duo walked through the portrait hole. "Wait for me! I've never watched a Quidditch game before!" They heard from behind.
"It'll be really boring," Harry said quickly, but Colin ignored him and bombarded them with questions. "You were the youngest player in a hundred years, weren't you, Harry?"
"Rose is too."
"I'm a year older, like Hermione. So, you're the youngest. Besides, I'm just a reserve player." Colin took note before he continued asking questions.
"We should've taken your cloak in order to have peace," she wrote. Harry smiled and nodded.
The rest of the Gryffindor team were already in the changing room, waiting for the duo. Though Wood was the only one wide awake. The rest of the team was sitting down, twins with tousled hair, Alicia nodding off, Angelina and Katie, yawning continuously.
"Now, I wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get on the field. I spent the summer devising a whole new training program," Wood continued to explain his training program on multiple boards, with diagrams and colour coded crosses, very vibrant one would say. If only the team was just as bright and awake.
Rose had sat between the twins, Fred used her head as a pillow for his own and commence snoring while Rose herself was leaning on George's shoulder.
"Is that clear? Any questions?"
"I've got a question, Oliver," George said adjusting himself. "Why couldn't you have told us all of this when we were awake?"
"And what is your definition of a quick talk?" Rose wrote.
Oliver glared at the two. "Now, listen here," he said unpleasantly, "We should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We're easily the best team." Rose whistled. "But unfortunately owing to circumstances beyond our control…" The duo looked at each other before looking down, remembering that they were in the hospital wing for the final match last year.
Gryffindor had suffered their worst defeat in three hundred years.
"This year, we train harder than ever before. Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!" Oliver shouted, leading his team out of the locker room.
Rose was close to having her face meet first with the ground when she got up.
"Easy there," Fred yawned, holding Rose. She could only yarn in response. Contagious things.
"Better walk with us," George said, taking hold of her broom and they walked out.
"Aren't you finished?" Ron asked Harry.
"We haven't even started," he replied. Harry waited for Rose to pass Hermione her blackboard before they mounted their broomsticks.
Harry felt wonderful flying on the field again, he took one full lap with the twins and Rose.
The duo were brought back to reality when they heard clicking. They completely forgot Creevey was there to watch them practice, of course, no one else knew that.
"Why's that first year taking pictures?" Oliver said as he got closer to the group. "I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to find out about our new training program."
"He's a Gryffindor," Harry said quickly.
"And Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver," Fred chipped in.
"What makes you say that?" he asked.
"Because they're here…in person," George pointed downwards. Several people in green robes were on the field, broomsticks in hand.
"I don't believe it," Oliver hissed, "I booked the field for today! We'll see about this!" Oliver shot towards the ground as the rest of the team followed. "Flint," he called for the Slytherin Captain. "Why are you here?"
"Quidditch practice!" Flint stated plainly.
"I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today."
"Ah, I've got a note," Flint handed Wood a piece of parchment.
"'I, Professor Snape, hereby, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today owing to the need to train their new Seeker.' You got a new Seeker? Who?"
From the six tall players, emerged a smaller boy with white-blond hair.
"Malfoy?" Harry said as Hermione and Ron came to see what the commotion was all about.
"That's right," he smirked. "That's not all that's new this year," he stood in front with his broomstick in full view. That's when they noticed the new broomstick he had, they soon realised the whole team had the same broom.
"Those are new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones," Ron said in amazement, "How did you get those?"
"A gift from Draco's father," Flint smirked.
"You see Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best," Malfoy said as the Slytherin team snickered.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," Hermione said sharply, "They got in on pure talent."
The smug look on Malfoy's face faltered for a moment before getting his composure.
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," he spat. There were gasps all around before an uproar came from the Gryffindor team. They were stopping each other from jumping at the boy. Rose was caught up pulling the twins back to do anything herself.
"You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" Ron said as he took out his wand. "Eat slugs!" A loud bang echoed on the field as a green light came from Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach which sent him flying backwards.
"You okay, Ron?" Hermione dashed towards him as the rest of Gryffindor followed. "Are you all right? Say something."
Ron opened his mouth, but no words came out. Instead, a slug came out.
Anyone would've lost their appetite at the sight.
Apparently not Slytherin as they were paralysed with laughter.
"Wow, can you turn him around, Harry?" Creevey was most interested in photos than the actual situation which seemed to anger the duo.
"No Colin, get out of the way!" Harry said angrily. "Let's take him to Hagrid's," he told Hermione. "He'll know what to do." She nodded as they lifted Ron to take him.
Creevey would've been able to take a photo of a sluggish Ron if Rose didn't snatch his camera. She passed it to the twins given their height.
Rose walked up to the Slytherin team, watching Malfoy on all fours, banging the ground with his fist in laughter. This angered her even more. She grabbed a fistful of Draco's robe and brought him to his feet. That stopped the snakes from laughing any further.
"You have to admit, it was funny," he said as the snakes snickered. Rose just glared at him.
"Oh? No words today Baby Gryffindor? You're probably just like her, I bet you're a Mud-"
Slap!
Her glare pierced into his eyes. A moment later she turned to leave, walking in the direction of the trio leaving those who witnessed all stunned.