**Disclaimer: All characters, settings, and other copyrighted material belongs to J.K. Rowling and affiliates. Nothing belongs to me, with the sole exception of the story I've created using this copyrighted material.

Rose closed the book and shoved her journal and quill into her bag. She looked at it for a moment, pondering something. She stood, stretched, and carefully walked to the end of the row. She peeked around the corner, and listened for a bit, making sure that nobody was there before she went back to the section of Muggle Studies she'd been in before. She looked down at the book, tugged her wand from somewhere in her robes, and pointed at the book with it.

She closed her eyes, whispered, "Geminio," and the little yellow volume doubled in her hands.

Rose put one of the books in her book-bag, safely hidden below the rest of her textbooks. She levitated the other copy into its rightful place, and to make extra certain that nobody knew she had accessed this book, she decorated the row with enough dust and cobwebs to make it look like it had never been touched. Nodding in satisfaction, she backed out of the row and quickly exited the restricted section so that she could get to class in time.

She checked her watch, and if she didn't hurry she was going to be at least two to three minutes late. Thank goodness Arithmancy had been moved from a classroom on the seventh floor to a wing on the second floor. She just had to climb a set of stairs and swing directly left. Rose skipped every other step as she climbed the stairs, and nearly ran down the emptying corridor towards the Arithmancy class. She tried to get in through the narrow doorway, but was impeded by another student who was trying to do the same thing. Their shoulders bumped just so that Rose was shoved forward into the room, wand clattering several feet in front of her.

The almost-full class looked back at her. She stood up, brushing herself off, and turned to look at the other student who had caused the kerfuffle. For some ungodly reason, it was Albus Potter. His green eyes in a slight frown, he slowly mouthed the words "Wake up, would you?" and stalked over to the only empty table that remained.

"Ah, Miss Weasley, a treat for you to join us this fall," Professor Abbott's hollow voice echoed from the front of the classroom. She grabbed her wand and stood straight back up, nodding in embarrassment.

"I so enjoyed your work with numbers last year, I thought you might be able to calculate your schedule so that you'd be on time for the first class of seventh year," he continued.

As the class chuckled at Abbott's quip, Albus sat in his chair, motioned grumpily for Rose to sit, and began pulling out his books.

"Finally, we can begin class," Abbott chuckled, and waved his wand so that a piece of chalk began writing on the board.

Rose was confused. Hufflepuff hadn't had Arithmancy with Slytherin last year, but looking around the classroom, it appeared that students from all four houses were in the class.

"You'll notice that we have quite the mixture this year," Abbott's voice broke through her thoughts. "Many students drop Arithmancy in year seven, in favor of other, more career-oriented classes. You all are here because you've been advised that you're good with numbers, and that a career that involves Arithmancy would be very fitting for any one of you."

Rose swallowed, and pulled out a parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink to take notes with. Potter was already taking some down with an enchanted quill. It flicked across the page in quick, angry strokes as the Professor continued to outline the requirements for the year. Rose dipped her quill in ink, and began writing the notes by hand. She had always felt that writing things helped her remember them more easily. Either way, it was much more comfortable for her to write things herself.

"Oh, also," Abbott explained, "The seats you are currently sitting in will be your seats for the rest of the year."

Some groans, some exited voices, erupted throughout the lecture hall. Rose's stomach dropped. That meant she had to figure out a way to somehow avoid talking to Albus, who would be sitting there, next to her, all year.

"It makes attendance easier," he said simply. "Now, on to actual learning…"

As Professor Abbott continued with the class, Rose could only think about the book burning a hole in the bottom of her book-bag. Albus was right next to her, and if it had been her books rather than her wand that had been thrown onto the floor earlier, he would have known about the book. And that would almost certainly lead him to suspect her, maybe even follow her as she left for Hogsmeade every week to go to therapy appointments, with a muggle psychiatrist, to help heal her mind. From what she could gather from the book, the World of Wizarding would certainly not take kindly to that kind of news.

Rose was hyperaware the entire time of Albus sitting next to her, afraid he would question her about her absence in the spring, or ask her why she was late to Arithmancy, or make some dig at her hair. Contrary to Rose's expectations, Albus didn't talk to her. But even at the thought of all he had said to her, she felt her heart begin to beat quickly, almost too quickly, and she felt her breaths become shallower and shallower. The letters on the page became harder to read as her writing hand began to shake slightly, and then a more apparent tremor took over her fingers. Rose barely managed an enchantment in her head so that it would keep taking notes for her on its own.

She looked at the clock at the front of the room. There were still ten or fifteen minutes left in the class, but she didn't know how long she would last in this state without collapsing on the table in front of her. The thought of collapsing in front of Albus of all people made her pounding heart feel as though it would leap out of her chest. Sparkles of black and grey began to dazzle her vision, and her mind began rocking back and forth inside of her head.

Rose gripped the desk with one hand, stood up, knees knocking, and cleared her throat weakly. As the professor looked towards the back of the room at her, he asked what the matter was. She replied with some excuse about needing the loo, and made sure to grab her things before she exited the classroom.

Now, it was just a matter of getting to a broom closet before she fell over. There was one directly downstairs, and she started the slow process of leaning against the tower wall and holding for dear life onto the railing, as she took step after agonizing step to take her down the rather long descent.

Finally, at the bottom of the stairs, she swung open the door to the broom closet, collapsed inside, and fumbled desperately for her wand. She held it up in the general direction of the door, and whispered:

"Collo—colloportus!"

Satisfied after the quick locking sound that followed the incantation, Rose rested her head on the ground and closed her eyes, wondering what could have gone wrong. Through the fog, she realized that she had forgotten to take her pills that morning. Her breaths were now so short that she thought she would suffocate. Her mind kept spinning and spinning, until finally, she gave in to the grey and black spots that had been dappling across her vision, and blacked out.