AN: Another chapter for you lot. I couldn't help myself but write this chapter! Also, thanks to everyone for faving, following and reviewing! Also, thanks to my hard-working Beta Peiniger!

alix33: I wanted to put in small things about everything Rose ordered in future chapters. I felt like putting in a huge scene with detailed descriptions about make-up, clothes and what-have-you would be too much. Might have been wrong, though.

ssj3gohan007: On AO3 someone else had the 'Lockhart is a time traveller'-theory as well. Well, all will be revealed soon. :)

Roostertheking: Rose is still a bit young for lingerie :P He might have, but there were lots of time skips in between scenes. Also...well, find out soon :) the second year is almost over.

pinks99: many thanks to you for all of your reviews!

Ashabel: Thank you! I hope you got to catch up on your missed sleep :o)

GreenTea4062: Thank you! I'm glad I could provide that fic you looked for :) though it was my Beta who came up with the Cedric as LI for Rose idea, since I couldn't decide at the time. I liked it enough to agree :D

The competition between Rose and Hufflepuff's very own Prince Charming had officially begun. Rose was kind of disappointed that it wasn't a competition where they actually had to go against each other face-to-face.

It was fine though.

In the end, their house benefited from it because they both wanted to play against Ravenclaw, so she knew they both would give it their all, which would result in tons of points for Hufflepuff. But, this competition was also a test of trust. Neither could guarantee that the other wouldn't cheat in another point or two. Neither of them could also guarantee that, if they were to have someone 'neutral' from their year count the points, someone else from their respective years would 'accidentally' add another point or two.

So, Cedric and she had to trust in the other's sportsman- slash sportswomanship. They were both Hufflepuffs, they both believed in fair play, so Rose wasn't worried at all. She also had memories of Cedric from her past life, from her life as Harry. A good bloke. In her past life, he had been someone who had lived and literally died by the concept of fair play. Rose was immensely relieved that that hadn't changed in his personality. Cedric still was so unbelievably nice.

So, she trusted him and hoped he thought the same way when it came to her and her sense of sportswomanship.

"Great work as always, Ms Potter! Ten points. I wished your brother would show at least a little bit of your dedication to this class…"

Rose couldn't help the proud and beaming smile covering basically her whole face at Professor Sprout's muffled praise – the whole class was wearing ear protection – after her head of house watched her effortlessly pot a young mandrake. "Thank you, Professor. Harry has his strengths elsewhere," she said, her voice almost raised to scream. She then turned to watch her brother struggle with his wiggling and screaming mandrake, wincing a bit at the display. She had been the same, though, in her previous life, however.

She exhaled forcefully, glad that the ear protection made it impossible for others to notice.

She seriously needed to stop doing that. All that thinking about how she used to be like this and had done that in her previous life was counterproductive. It didn't help her while she was in the process of fully accepting and embracing this life as hers and herself as Rose, as a woman. Especially since she liked being Rose more than she had liked being Harry.

Megan nudged her with her elbow and Rose turned to see what her best friend wanted.

"How do you do this?" Megan asked while pointing at the mandrake dangling from her gloved hand.

Rose rolled her eyes at her friend with a small smile on her lips. "Don't crush its leaves in your hand and rub some of the fresh soil on the roots."

Megan wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I have to touch it?"

Rose laughed at the brunette's expression. She then laughed again at the way her brother had potted the plant after she looked at what he was up to on the other side of the greenhouse. Harry had potted the poor mandrake sideways and Rose was half of a mind to accuse her brother of plant cruelty.

She felt like this term she hadn't spent as much time with Harry as she did during the last term. Obviously, they both had started to go through changes. Individual interests had started to emerge; their respective groups of friends had started to establish and stabilize themselves. Still, she felt bad for it. While she had no memories of her early childhood in this reality, she knew that, for the longest time, they had had no one but each other. She knew that Harry relied on her. She had begun to rely on him as well. Now, with her new mindset of accepting and embracing herself as Rose, she also started to truly accept Harry as her brother.

At first, it was difficult. How wouldn't it be? For fifteen – almost sixteen – years she had lived her life as – and she had to allow this one – him. She had been him; she had been Harry Potter. The memories of that life, still so firmly and fresh in her mind, didn't disappear just because her soul had been put into Harry Potter's twin sister in a different reality. But that was over now. She had gotten over it, or was at least a lot more positive about these, admittedly, ridiculous and outlandish circumstances.

So, because of that new positive mindset and outlook to her life as Rose Potter, she felt a lot more comfortable with calling Harry her brother, her twin. As time went on, she was sure she'd also be able to be more comfortable with showing him the affection he deserved.

He had never complained so far, so she wasn't sure if the only Rose who ever existed had been her. She wasn't even sure what exactly Death did with this reality, how it had been created. It didn't really matter in the end because there was nothing she could do about it.

She certainly hoped, though, that only her version of Rose had ever existed. It would make things a whole lot easier for her.

It was weekend in mid-March, and while some might think it was a time to take a breather, that really was far from the truth.

The amount of homework they had to do reached its peak and lots of students crammed studying sessions in every nook and cranny their timetables had to offer – especially those who had to study for their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s.

"Hey, Harry," Rose said, taking a free seat next to him.

His mouth still full, he leaned over and pulled her into a hug, which she happily returned, even though she could hear him chewing noisily right next to her ear. Annoying.

"Have you finished your homework yet?" she asked him once he pulled away.

Hermione scoffed.

That's a no, Rose thought.

"Nah, I'll do that on Sunday," he said with a shrug. "It's just D.A.D.A. anyway, it's easy."

"That's fine, I suppose. Have you thought about your electives for our third year yet?" she asked Harry.

"I actually did, but I can't decide," he said, loading some of the breakfast onto her plate, and she couldn't help the smile breaking through at that simple action. "Arithmancy sounds like a ton of work, Muggle Studies is probably useless and boring, Ancient Runes is probably just boring. So, it's just Care and Divination left. Ron's brothers told him that getting passing marks in Divination is easy."

Rose wasn't sure what to say to that aside from one important statement. "Just pick which sounds most interesting to you, but, in my opinion, Divination is just rubbish."

"That's not true!" a blonde girl with a bright purple hairband threw in.

Lavender Brown.

She had to take the chance to get to know the girl better, beyond a couple of classes here and there and beyond what her Hermione had to complain about. Not this Hermione.

"Lavender, right? No offence, it's just, I don't believe in predicting the future by looking at tea leaves or staring into a foggy ball." Lavender was about to retort, but Rose held up a hand. "I respect others' opinions though. Everyone's free to believe in what they want to believe in, right?"

"That's some good wisdom, Rose," Percy said a few chairs down her row.

"I can accept that," Lavender said, and Parvati, sitting next to the blonde, nodded in agreement. "I think it's really sad when people get mean at other people just because of what they believe."

"Oh, I agree," Rose said. "So I guess you will pick Divination? Do you have an idea already about your other elective?"

"Definitely Care!" Lavender began to explain. "I love animals and the fluffier they are, the better! My family lives in the countryside with lots of green around us and we have lots of animals. It's not, like, really a farm and more like a shelter, you know? I couldn't live on a farm, it'd be so smelly. But my dream is to own a pet shop in Diagon Alley one day, so Care is a must for me!"

And in that short moment, Rose had learned more about Lavender than she had ever known before. "That actually sounds great! I still don't know what I want to do, but there's still time for us, isn't there?"

Lavender nodded. "That's true. You are really good at Herbology, though, right? I'd think something with plants would be right up your alley."

Rose cocked her head to the side. "Never really thought about it. I'll have to keep that in mind."

She then began to eat her breakfast, which her brother had so thoughtfully loaded onto her plate. Lavender really seemed like a nice girl and not someone who was shallow as her Hermione had complained about. This Hermione hadn't really mentioned Lavender as of yet. Rose would be lying if she said she wasn't curious how different this Hermione's relationship was with this Lavender.

And how different was this Lavender to her Lavender anyway?

Rose stopped chewing for a moment, feeling slightly dazed.

How could she guarantee that any new person she would get to know was the same as they had been in the other reality?

She really needed to stop comparing both realities, or her brain would be in danger of exploding at some point.

Just enjoy what you have here, Rose.

Taking a quick breath through her nose to calm herself down a bit, she glanced back at Lavender. She really liked the girl's hairband. She hadn't shared compliments with any girl yet when it came to superficial things, like clothing, make-up or accessories like hairbands. She might as well start now, right? That was what girls did, after all, right? Or, at least, what they should be doing.

"I really like your hairband, Lavender," Rose said while looking at the blonde. "It's really pretty."

There, she'd done it. She'd complimented a girl as a girl on something she was wearing because she really did find it pretty. It felt good to do that, even though, in hindsight, it hadn't really been such a special deed.

But maybe it was, considering Lavender's beaming smile.

"Thank you! That's so nice of you to say! You know, I think they'd really suit you too, but more like green tones, like emerald or even teal."

Rose grinned back. "I'll keep that in mind."

She really would. She had a feeling she'd be rocking those hairbands.

"Rosie, I've been meaning to ask you something," Harry suddenly began, and she turned her attention back from Lavender to her brother.

He looked kind of serious, which made her both worry and feel suspicious. "Yes?"

"Is Malfoy still staring at you? Because if he is, I will ask Fred and George to prank him."

Rose still wasn't sure how she felt about that protective big brother thing Harry had gotten into since she'd mentioned Malfoy.

Rose was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, topless, and examining her still-growing breasts. They were coming along nicely if she had anything to say about it.

She hoped they wouldn't get so big that the additional weight would become noticeable. That'd be annoying and probably uncomfortable more often than not. She had read a few horror stories about really big breasts in Teen-Witch-Weekly. Backaches, sweat down there, probability of them jiggling when walking stairs up and down.

Girls really didn't have it easy.

But she liked her body. She was petite, yes, and had experienced her first growth already during her first Hogwarts year. She doubted she'd grow much more from now on. At least the guides she read about a girl's puberty said so.

She hoped she'd at least get past 160 centimetres.

Then, there was also the growth of body hair on her armpit, her legs and...elsewhere. In Teen-Witch-Weekly there had been an article about the best ways to remove body hair, some even muggle. It also said that it was up to every girl when they wanted to shave, that there was no appropriate or inappropriate age to do so.

The spells were supposedly very easy to use, though the article had recommended starting with the leg hair.

She might as well get down to business.

The week passed uneventfully and Rose did not mind that one bit.

She was a Potter, however, which meant that events would eventually seek her out, whether she wanted them to or not.

So, one midday afternoon, in late March, her brother walked up to the Hufflepuff table, something he had never done before.

"Hey, Rosie, can I talk to you for a moment?"

She looked at her brother, quite surprised at his nervous appearance. "Umm, okay."

She got up from her chair, her friends all looking very curious, and she couldn't blame them.

She hoped it wasn't anything too serious, but she doubted it.

Harry led her out of the Great Hall and behind one of the pillars in the corridor as he had done once before in the last term. Then, he'd explained to her why he had accepted Malfoy's challenge to a duel.

She wondered what to expect this time.

"So," Rose said after making sure they were out of sight, "what is it?"

"So, the other day I was checking the map just for fun," Harry began, though his rosy cheeks indicated that wasn't entirely true, "and I noticed something weird."

Rose felt her gut plummet. "Weird how?" she asked, her apprehension clear in her voice.

"Lockhart has been out in the castle every night for the past few days – I made sure – and is walking up and down different corridors multiple times every night."

"Sounds like he's looking for something," Rose muttered and now every weird and random mention of snakes and parselmouths made sense to her.

Lockhart was looking for the Chamber of Secrets.

Late at night on the same day, Rose snuck out of her dorm to the soft snores of the rest of the girls.

She snuck through the empty common room, where even the flowers were sleeping, and carefully crawled out of the tunnel and pushed open the barrel lid at the end of it before stepping outside.

"Rose!"

Both her hands flew to her mouth so fast, she slapped herself trying to stifle the shriek threatening to escape her. With frantic eyes, she glared at the hovering head of her brother who, apparently, had been waiting for her behind the barrels and under their invisibility cloak.

"Bloody hell, Harry!" she hissed at him. "I nearly pissed myself!"

"I think you kind of did," he said with a wince and pointed at her crotch.

Her face immediately felt as if it was on fire. She quickly turned away to look at the front of her pyjama bottoms, only to find them dry. With a deadpan look, she turned back around to her snickering brother. "Just let me under that bloody cloak, you bellend…"

He held it up and she quickly got under it next to Harry. A quick one-armed hug later, Harry pulled the Marauder's map from his sweatpants' back pocket. He then activated it and they both watched the magical ink spreading through the parchment and drawing every known inch of Hogwarts.

Rose immediately went to search, her index finger moving from dot-person to dot-person, but there were only so many who were still moving around this late at night.

Though, all – save for one – were in a room.

The lone dot was currently moving at a pretty decent pace through one of the third floor's corridors. That dot was named Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Come on, let's go," Rose said, urging Harry on.

With quick yet careful steps, they made their way away from the kitchen corridor and past the Great Hall. No matter how many times she had snuck out before, this eerily silent Great Hall would always just be wrong in her eyes. It needed the chatter and laughter of the students, the amazing scent of Hogwarts's house-elves' cooking.

It needed to be alive to feel right.

Moments later, they reached the stairs leading up, their only light provided by the castle's torches.

"So," Harry began, his voice barely even a whisper, "since when did you become a potty mouth?"

Rose blushed and pointedly avoided him. "You hear things. You pick up things. Shut up, it's your fault anyway."

She could almost feel his flabbergasted expression. "Wha-"

Before he could even get a word out, Rose shushed him with a hand over his mouth. They were only halfway up the stairs leading to the second floor, but she had picked up the sound of rapid footsteps which were getting closer. Frozen on the spot, she strained to listen, but the footsteps were moving away from them again.

They slowly took the rest of the stairs and moved close to a wall. Rose felt Harry's hand move to his back pocket and moments later, they were again looking at the activated map.

"It was Lockhart," Rose whispered. "He moved from the third to the second floor."

Harry furrowed his brows, obviously confused. "Why?"

"Dunno." But she did and it worried her. "Let's go check."

Harry nodded at her after looking for Lockhart's position, followed by a whispered 'mischief managed'. He then stowed the deactivated map back in his sweatpants and they both headed down the corridor where the map indicated Lockhart to be. The only good thing was that it was not close to Myrtle's bathroom – yet.

Sooner than she expected, but later than she wanted – she was very impatient right now – they started to hear a lone voice echoing through the empty corridor.

"...-ere is it?! This rotten, humongous castle…"

Harry nudged her with his elbow. "Looks like you were right. He is looking for something."

Rose indicated with a finger to her lips for Harry to be quiet. They inched closer to Lockhart and, once at a corner, pressed themselves against the wall. No matter how well the cloak hid them, Rose would always get the feeling that she could be found.

They rounded the corner carefully, and there he was.

Lockhart's wand was pointed at a wall, a bright light shining at its tip. With his free hand, he was searching and touching every inch of the wall. "Where would I hide it?" he muttered, his hand moving slowly and deliberately. "If I were Salazar Slytherin, where would I hide it?"

That was the last confirmation she needed.

Trying to keep calm, she tugged at Harry's hand and indicated for them to head back. And while her brother accompanied her back to the entrance of her common room, she racked her brain over one question:

Why in the world would Lockhart look for the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets?