Chapter 25
On the morning of July 31st Rose was woken up by an owl tapping its beak on her window. It was carrying a package with bright wrapping paper. Rose shuffled over and opened the window letting the brown owl in. She untied the parcel and the bird flew off. It was a present from Neville. She unwrapped it to find a book tumble out into her bed, The Beatle and The Bard. Rose flipped through it deciding she would read it later and got dressed to go meet Draco in Diagon Alley. She tied her hair up, pulled in pants and a decent shirt. She caught the bus to London and was at the Leaky Cauldron by noon.
Rose met Draco at the front of Gringotts after she got her money out of her vault. They bought their textbooks, even the extremely nasty one for Care of Magical Creatures. They came bound in belts and came with a warning of not letting it bite you. They also purused through Quality Quidditch Supply and admired the Firebolt. The fastest broomstick in the world.
"Potter would never beat me if I had this broomstick,"Draco said but Rose just imagined how much more appreciated she would be on the team with this broom being able to score more.
"You do fine already,"Rose told him. She was a little jumpy and worried since Miss Flora hadn't left her chair in days. She now ate and slept in that chair.
"You alright?" he asked her. Rose looked up at him and nodded with a smile on her face.
"Ya I'm fine." After that they bought ice creams and sat in the parlor of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
"So what happened to you over the summer,"Draco asked.
Rose sucked in breath and told him. She told him about Miss Flora being sick and what she did for her. "It was a lot and I wanted to write but I couldn't. I wouldn't leave my room for days."
"Oh. You should have told me,"Draco said.
"Have you done your summer homework,"she asked changing the subject.
"Ya I wrote my History of Magic essay in my family history," Draco said and went on and on about it. Rose sat eating her ice cream while she listened to him. It was about a good half and hour when Draco stopped to ask her," Have you heard that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban?"
Rose looked confused. "What's Azkaban?"
"Right I forgot you were raised in the muggle world. Well Azkaban in a wizard prison and no one has ever escaped but somehow Black managed to under the noses of the dementors," Draco answered.
"Why was he imprisoned?"
"He blew up a street of twelve to thirteen muggles and one wizard," Draco tells her. "They saw that he was You-Know-Who's second in command." Rose nodded, she remembered a book she read about You-Know-Who, how he died because of Harry Potter. It made her more confused about Draco, like why would he be jealous of someone who is famous but costed the lives of his parents?
"I'm so excited to be able to go to Hogsmeade,"Draco said. "Did you get your guardian to sign it?"
"She can hardly move, so what do you think,"Rose said. "Besides what's so great about Hogsmeade." Draco looked astounded.
"What's so great about Hogsmeade?" he repeated with a little more dramatic flare to his tone. "The sweet shop Honey Duke's, there is the Three Broomsticks, and the Shrieking Shack. There is so much to do there and it's the only freedom we ever get from school."
"Maybe next year when I have Mr. and Mrs. Vanders as my guardians," Rose said.
She went back to the orphanage that evening and just sat on the porch. She flicked through her Divination book and didn't dare touch the Care of Magical Creatures book. Her head flew up as she heard a rustling in the bushes. Her eyes adjusted after a few moments and she saw lying in the bushes was a dog. Rose dragged her stuff in before she got out the last of the lunchmeat and put it on a plate with whatever meat products there were left, since Miss Flora couldn't chew meat and it made Rose's stomach feel bad.
She got as near to the dog as she dared and set down the plate. She sat on the porch and after a few minutes the dog emerged to eat and she went inside.