Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related, only Rose Grey and minor characters that I have made.
Thank you guys for being so patient. I love Rose and this world but the last few months I hit a real writers block but I finally got through it and I hope it was worth the wait. Thank you to all new readers, all old ones, and to all the beautiful reviews that I have received. I love all of you and I love how you have all been here for Rose. I hope you enjoy and feel free to leave me a comment/review on this chapter or past ones (or anything you want to see more of in future ones).
I woke up early on my birthday, the first thing I needed to do was to find Cedric. I walked down to the lake, the grass crisp and wet. I started stretching my arms and legs. I heard him before I could see him.
"I'm surprised to see you here," he says panting. His shirt already covered in sweat.
"So am I," I groan. "I could never figure out why you trained all the time."
"I need to keep fit if I want to make Captain," He says stretching. "You look like you need the exercise anyway."
"Hey!" I say going to smack him but he dodges me easily. "You know I don't play anymore. I couldn't deal with that shit."
He nods his head, "I know, and I'm glad you did. It's a shame you can't join our team, we could really use a player like you to win this cup."
We start to walk down the path around the castle. The hairs on my arm are sticking up from the cold air. Cedric starts to jog and I follow him. We run all the way round to the stairs going to the boathouse. Cedric starts to walk down the stairs. I quietly follow him, both of us lost in our own thoughts as we walk all the way down. The boathouse is in need for some serious maintenance but its cosy all the same. The sun is burning now and after that run, I am pretty hot and tired.
"You're not going for a swim are you?" I ask.
Cedric laughs as he sits against the wall. "No I just like to sit in here and forget everything you know?"
I nod and sit down next to him.
"You have feelings for George don't you?" he states more than asks.
"How did you know?" I ask surprised. I wonder if Hermione told him.
"Professor Trelawney told me," he said seriously. He starts laughing when he sees my face.
"That's not funny Cedric," I shout pushing him.
"You should have seen your face," he says still laughing. "Hermione told me, she said I should know before we talk."
I start picking the skin on my thumb.
"Why do you want to talk to me about it?" he asks. "I thought that I would be the last person you would want to talk to."
"I just don't want to have feelings for him."
"Why not?" his face filled with confusion.
"I ruined our friendship and I don't want to ruin my friendship with him."
He pulls me into a hug and I lean my head on his shoulder.
"You didn't ruin our friendship," he says kissing the top of my head. "I gained a sister by dating you."
"Ced that's just wrong."
"You know what I mean, we grew closer after all the shit happened and we got over ourselves." He throws a stone into the water, watching the ripple take place.
"You'll know what to do," he says patting my head like a dog. "Are you going to Hogsmeade today?"
I nod, "Fred and George are taking me."
We both walk to the hall together. I grab a piece of toast from the Slytherin table before rushing back to the common room to get changed. As I slipped a clean t-shirt on, Millicent walked in.
"Those ginger twins are at the common room door," she says slowly. I don't reply to her but as I walk to leave she grabs my arm pulling me back.
"Be careful," she whispers. "People talk and those 6th years and 7th years don't forgive or forget."
"Why are you telling me this?" I ask. "You have never been nice to me."
"I'm not a bitch, Rose." She says letting go of me.
Once Fred, George, and I arrived at Hogsmeade, they both grabbed my hands and lead me into a store titled 'Zonko's Joke Shop'. Once inside they both rushed off into different isles. I stood there and just looked at everything. The store on the outside was orange and small but once you walked through the door, it was like a whole new world. I looked at some of the objects lining a shelf. It was a plain white tea cup.
"Don't look too closely," says George into my ear. I jump and my face goes red.
"What happens?" I squeak trying to act normal.
"It bites your nose," he says picking it up. "Really painful."
"Experience?" I ask laughing.
"Not me but Ron on the other hand had a swollen nose for two weeks."
I smack his shoulder, "the both of you tease him too much."
George laughs "it's too easy and that's what brothers do."
We smile at each other but I quickly look away, embarrassed. I grab the closest packet, which happened to be a bag of Hiccough Sweets.
"I'm going to just go and buy these," I say quickly glancing at the packet. "Been looking for them everywhere."
I leave George behind who looked very confused, and I buy my sweets. I wait outside the shop while they purchase their own hoard of Zonko products. When they come back out they give me a packet. Inside are four sugar quills.
"Your Birthday present," says George.
"We know how you have a sweet tooth, so we-" says Fred.
"Thought you might like to have some sweetness in class," finishes George.
I give them a hug. "Thanks guys," I say holding the packet closely.
We walk around, Fred and George showing me all the shops. We all get a class of Butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks before heading back to Hogwarts for the Halloween feast. The feast was glorious and just as beautiful as the past two years. No one from Slytherin bothers me and it isn't long before people are sitting around me chatting to each other. For the first time I felt like I belonged in Slytherin and the no one cared about my blood. I'm one of the last Slytherin at the feast so I head the common room, full from food and tired after a long day. When I arrive at the entrance to the common room I spot a crowd of people.
"What's going on?" I ask the closest Slytherin, a girl who is a year above me.
She looks annoyed by my question or maybe just by me. "The prefects won't let us in the common room."
"Everyone head to the dining hall or you will get a detention with Professor Snape," calls the head girl from the front of the crowd. The mention of detention with Snape gets everyone moving back to the dining hall.
"Rose," calls Fred and George simultaneously from the Gryffindor side of the hall. All the tables had disappeared, replacing them with sleeping bags.
"What's going on?" I ask them.
"Sirius Black is in the castle," says Fred.
"Attacked the Gryffindor portrait lady," finishes George.
"Well at least it adds some excitement to my birthday," I say trying to pretend that it was an exciting event. I had sent an owl to him a few days ago but still haven't received any word back from him.
"We saved you a sleeping bag over here," says Fred pointing to three empty sleeping bags amongst the Gryffindor's.
"I shouldn't," I say. "The Slytherins have finally accepted me and I don't want to go back to before."
They look slightly disappointed but I notice that they try to look happy as they go off to find Lee, whispering plans for a prank. I walk down the Slytherin line of sleeping bags and find and empty one next to Millicent.
"Is this one free," I ask her half expecting her to make a snide remark in front of everyone at me.
"No," she says patting it. "I was actually saving it for you."
On the other side of my sleeping bag was Daphne Greengrass, a close friend of Pansy and Millicent.
"I saw you talking to those Gryffindor boys," says Millicent.
"Aren't they just hot," whispers Daphne.
"Yea I guess so," I reply timidly.
"Oh shut it Daphne," snaps Millicent.
"Het you dated that Cedric boy from Hufflepuff didn't you," asks Daphne, ignoring Millicent.
"Yea," I reply worried about the direction of conversation.
"Is he a good kisser?" she asks dreamily.
"Daphne SHUT UP!" growls Millicent who had turned red.
"You shut up Millicent, we ARE allowed to talk to Rose now and I have been dying to ask for like two years," snaps Daphne leaning over me.
"What?" I ask. Why would they be not allowed to talk to me? I wonder.
"Um well," Daphne goes pink. "We were told to not talk to you or to bully you. It was fun at first but then I just felt like a bitch."
"Who told you?" I ask but I already knew the answer.
"Just about the whole Quidditch team," she stammers. "But you have to understand that they were going to do the same stuff to us as they did to you or even worse. We were scared, we all were." Daphne looks as if she is about to cry and Millicent was red with embarrassment.
"It's ok," I say slowly. "I wouldn't wish any of it on either of you."
"I want to make it up to you," says Daphne.
"We both do," says Millicent. "But you have to be careful around those Gryffindor's. We won't nark on you but you won't let you take us down with you."
"That's seems fair." I say calmly, still processing all of what they told me.
"LIGHTS OUT!" calls a Slytherin Prefect before the hall goes black. We lie down quietly. We all lie down.
"Rose," whispers Daphne.
"Yea?" I reply.
"You're really cool," she says.
"So are you," I say smiling to myself in the dark.
"I wish I had been friends with you when we first started Hogwarts," she says.
"Me too," I whisper before we both fall asleep.
Over the next few days, talk of Sirius Black was anything anyone would talk about and the weather got worse with each new day. I spent a lot of time with Daphne and Millicent during this time, stopping me from having a talk with Adrian about his commands. The upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin distracted everyone about the break in but as the weather got worse, the game was changed to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. The day before the big match, I noticed that Harry looked a little green from across the hall at breakfast. I looked down the Slytherin table and noticed that the Quidditch team were all laughing and enjoying themselves. I clenched my fists trying to hold in my boiling anger.
"Careful there," says Millicent from across the table, munching on a piece of bacon. I looked down at my hand and noticed that my nails had cut the skin, causing my palm to bleed a little.
"You ok?" asks Daphne, looking up from her latest copy of Witch Weekly.
"Just a little annoyed," I say.
"Doesn't look like a 'little' annoyed," comment Millicent. "Looks like you have some beef with the Quidditch team."
"It was soo stupid that you aren't on the team anymore," says Daphne. "Slytherin could have actually won, for once."
"I couldn't deal with that drama. There is more drama in that team then Pansy and Draco's relationship," I say quietly so Pansy won't hear me.
Over the last few weeks Pansy had been going on nonstop over Draco and how 'amazing he is'. Just about everyone, apart from Draco' was sick of it. The seniors even have a tally of how many times she says his name in a day. Today I heard it was up to 20. I watched Harry leave the Hall with Oliver Wood following close behind him, the poor guy. Later that day, I walked into Defence Against the Dark Arts, excited for class as it was my favourite. I sat down and the room started to fill with students.
"Books out," comes Snape's voice as he walks to the front of the room. Everyone looks confusingly at Professor Snape. "Books OUT!" he repeats himself, waiting. We all hurry before he starts taking away house points.
Harry opens the door, "Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin, I–"
"This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down," snarls Snape.
Harry just stood there and a few Slytherins snickered, "Where's Professor Lupin?"
"He says that he is feeling too ill to teach today," says Snape with a smirk. "I believe I told you to sit down?"
Harry stayed by the door. "What wrong with him?"
"Nothing life-threatening," he said. "Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty."
Harry slides into the spare seat next to me. Snape glares at him, almost about to ask him to choose another seat but he doesn't.
"Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far –"
Hermione cuts Snape off, "Please, sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas and Grindylows, and we're just about to start –"
"Be quiet," says Snape coldly. "I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organisation."
Dean Thomas now jumps in to defend Professor Lupin, "He's the best Defence Against the dark Arts teacher we've ever had." This causes murmurs of agreement throughout the class, even from some Slytherins.
Snape glares menacingly bringing silence to the class. "You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly over-taxing you – I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows. Today we shall discuss -," he flicks to the back of the textbook. "-Werewolves. Turn to page three hundred and ninety-four."
We all took notes from the book while Snape looked over the marks Professor Lupin had given us throughout the term.
"You ready for the match tomorrow?" I whisper to Harry. He shakes his head.
"Is Cedric good?" he whispers.
"He taught me how to play," I reply not wanting to lie or ruin any confidence Harry had.
"Shit," he mumbles. Snape glides by and we scribble away. "You are a really good player, Rose. The Slytherin team are idiots for kicking you off."
"Don't worry, they know that." Harry gives me a confused look. "They asked me to go back on the team but I declined." He smiles at me. The bell rings at last.
"You will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognise and kill werewolves. I want to rolls of parchment on the subject, and I want them in on Monday morning," snaps Snape as we hurry out of the room. As I leave I spot someone I have been trying to talk to.
"Aidan," I call. He turns, once he spots me he turns back around and continues to walk down the hall. I catch up to him.
"What do you want, Grey?" he sighs as we walk to the great hall for dinner. "considering my offer to go back on the Quidditch team?"
"It's still a no," I laugh, I had received owl after owl from him trying to bribe me to come back and no wonder, I had seen my replacement and he was useless. "I wanted to talk to you about something I recently found out."
He stops and frowns before pulling me aside. The corridor empties quickly as everyone hurries to get to dinner.
"What is it?" he asks annoyingly.
"I heard that people are now allowed to talk to me now," I state. "I heard that the Quidditch team were forcing everyone to not talk to me with threats."
Adrian goes red. "We had to," he says slowly, not looking at me in the face. "I regret it, ya know, you are a great person now that I know you and I feel like a dick for doing it but I had to we all did.
"Why?" I demand, crossing my arms.
"Blood status and all that crap, put you in your place etc. pick a reason," he says shrugging it off as if it was nothing.
"You know what? Screw you," I shout at him.
"You say it like we had a choice."
"Everyone had a choice Adrian," I say slowly walking away. "Just like I have choice not to take your shit anymore. Please don't talk to me again and stay the fuck away from me."
The next day at the Quidditch pitch, I sit with Daphne and Millicent in the wind and rain, huddled together for warmth. Both teams were flying around but it was hard to see anything with the fog clouding half the pitch.
"Can we leave?" screams Daphne over the wind, whose hair was now frizzed up. We hurry and get changed and then I leave to start the werewolf assignment from Snape. As I walked to the library, I see a flurry of red Quidditch uniforms.
"Game over already?" I ask Fred and George as they stop in front of me.
"Harry fell off his broomstick because –" puffs Fred.
"- Dementors on the Quidditch pitch," finishes George.
They both take my arms bringing them to the hospital wing. Harry wakes shortly after getting a quick explanation of what happened and how Hufflepuff won the game.
"Where is Wood?" asked Harry as he noticed who was missing.
"Still in the showers," says Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself." I chuckle but Harry puts his face into his knees. Fred and George then try to figure out which team would have to lose by how much before they even had a chance at the cup.
"It's ok Harry," I say trying to cheer him up. "We've all lost game, my team lost two cups to Gryffindor since you joined the team." He smiles slightly and then Madam Pomfrey bustles over to leave Harry to rest.
Fred and George walk me to the common room. They both gave me a big hug each, much to my resistance, and covered me in mud. I went inside to have a shower, and both of them went back to their common room to clean up also.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. I will now be starting chapter 22 (yay) and I am sorry if it takes a while (currently doing a degree full time and working full time). Writing for you guys has helped me through my darkest times just as Harry has while reading the series.
Love you all, and I hope to see you soon.