"Who remembers about the sunshion?" Rose asked. Looking around the room, she saw plenty of hands raised.

Selecting Choji, just to single him out, Rose tested what he would do with the attention. She was pleasantly surprised when he didn't make a fool of himself this time. It really seemed like he was starting to get used to her.

"The sunshion take you from one destination to another" he managed to squeak out.

"Good thing that you didn't forget to look at the textbook, Choji. Do you feel up to demonstrating?"

"Yes, Miss Uzamaki" he said, and sunshioned right up to her.

"Nice to see that you have been practicing" Rose said, subtly referencing the time a spell backfired on her at Hogwarts last study group. Seeing that better hidden panic, Rose smiled to herself. Looks like he was starting to get used to her. "Back to your seat". It really was nice being the teacher, even when Petunia wasn't there to gossip with anymore. Suddenly fighting back tears, Rose motioned her co-teacher to take over the lesson. She just couldn't talk right now.

"Do you know why she keeps singling you out" Hinata asked. She would never talk when Rose was leading the class, but no one was as obedient under I leadership.
"Yeah" Choji admitted.

"Then why does she do it?" she asked. A few years ago, Hinata would never have been so demanding, but seeing one of her former classmates lead the whole group and seeing what she survived gave her a bit more confidence. No one else might have noticed, Hinata was a Hujira and could see right through the hinge hiding a pregnant stomach. Hinata had never dared to tell anyone, and she didn't think that anyone else would care to look that deeply, but she was watching. Before seeing that, it was Naruto that Hinata had primarily looked to for inspiration, but seeing someone live through what Hinata had worried about happing the day she was nearly kidnapped started to desensitize her worries. Rose never once outright rejected the cards that life gave her, and seeing someone play and gamble their deck so simply made Hinata start to think that worrying so much over the decisions she chose. If someone out there could manage such cards, Hinata could try to get that strength for less deadly games.

"I'll tell you after class" Choji compromised.

When Hinata singled him out after class, Choji knew that he had to make good on his promise and just hope that Rose didn't murder him.
"Ready to give?" Hinata asked.

"I just started going to a new school in my other, and Rose goes there to. I think that she's trying to punish me for spreading rumors about her on her first day, either that or she if she can brainwash me into becoming her gopher"

"Detention, Choji, for gossip" Rose cut in. She knew that he was talking about her again. "I thought I told you to stop doing that"

"Yes, Miss Uzumaki" Choji agreed.

When Rose left, Hinata turned right back to Choji. "She really is singling you out"

"I wish she wasn't" Choji said glumly. "Her face is starting to haunt me everywhere. I keep wondering whether she's listening to every conversation I have. She knows how I do on every test, and she is starting to do things with that information"

"What are you going to do about it?" Hinata asked. What Rose was doing didn't seem very nice, and Hinata didn't want to see a classmate suffer if she could help.

Looking at the ground a few seconds, Choji made a decision. "I'm going to keep existing. I can't stop her from doing that, but I can work hard, stay on task, and generally not do things that she can embraces me with"

"If you'd like, I c-can practice with you. I have a lot of training with my clan, but it could only help to work with someone with s-somewhat l-lower s-standerds" It was terrible for her to admit her own shortcomings by her family's standards, but if Rose could be brave for more, Hinata could show courage and admit this.

"I'd be glad to for your help" Choji gratefully said. "If we help each other and keep it up, it could only help"

He stayed true to that ideal to. He listened as best he could during classes, he practiced when given the opportunity, he trained during breaks. Even people he had never met before noticed the change. He was doing, he was motivated, and he wasn't going to give in. Hinata didn't do nearly so much, but having a benchmark closer to her abilities helped Hinata stay brave and keep courage.

There was quite a mixed reaction to this behavior. Their parents seemed proud of the dedication, even though Hinata's father wasn't very impressed that his daughter felt like she needed to try to find help outside of the clan. The Hokage was a little warry of what Rose was doing now, as he wasn't going to budge on his no-passing rule. The Gryffindor's as a whole decided that Neville's newfound commitment was embarrassing and half thought that he had a crush on Rose. His friends were still his friends, and that wasn't going to change even if they started to find themselves catching his wind and picking up their own pace. The people he didn't care about didn't stay interested in him that long, and there was a limit to how interesting you can get when Rose was around. She seemed to steal the crowd's attention just by entering the room. The people who didn't like him still didn't like him, and a better score wasn't going to change that. Rose just kept pushing him, wondering how far she could get Neville to go.

It was months before this behavior made any real changes. The first time he did ok against Sasuke in a spar, Nevile turned a few heads. When studdury Hinata did the same, it was far more interesting. The Hujaras now had something to boast about for their heir, and they were much snobbier that Choji's clan. It wasn't very much, but that managed to give Hinata some credit. When a better effort and some progress became the norm from them, Sasuke started seeking the two out for spars. That was very quick to take the wind out of the Hujara's sails for pride about their heir. It was far more imortand to make sure that history didn't repeat itself by comparing a prodigy to someone beneth them, and Hinata was kept farther away from Sasuke and Choji. That was quick to snap anything more than passive freindlyness between Hinata and Choji, even though neither truly forgot the other.

The competition only strengthened Choji, and Sasuke would have done well without them and weren't nearly as affected. He still had the orange menace to spar with. Near constantly exhausted and always on the verge of panic, Neville's stutter wore out. He was getting desensitized to this nerve-wracking scrutiny, and he was running out of ways for it to scare him. His wand-work was still awful, but he was starting to get the theory down. Even if he was a failure at some things, Choji was now honestly successful at others.

Rose considered her interference a success either way. Choji had stopped gossiping and was holding his tongue. That was a pretty big accomplishment for her. No more loose lips to sink her reputation's ships. That didn't fix he damage he had done before, however. Most of the kids at school either belittled Rose or were frightened of her. It wasn't very nice, but Rose was used to that much. It was still great that he wouldn't be adding to her social woes anymore.

.