AN: It has been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for the very long wait. We are now at the very closing stages of year two! I hope you'll enjoy this!
ssj3gohan007: another nice theory :) You'll find out what's what very soon :D
justin jossart: Thank you very much :)
Mutation88th: Having people binge read any of my fics gives me the fluffiest feelings :D
Corvus Black: I admit, the premise is very out there, but at times I was so annoyed with canon Harry I wondered what he'd think if himself if he had an outside view if some of his behaviour. That was the initial idea. Then all the other stuff happened and well, here we are :D I'm glad you ended up enjoying this. And thanks for the quick note; must have missed that one fifth-year thing. Corrected it.
The days and weeks until the deadline Rose and Cedric had set themselves would arrive were passing by quickly and Rose knew that she had to step up her game a lot. It wasn't like she hadn't applied herself more than usual in class since this competition between Cedric and her had started. Even before their competition, in her opinion at least, she had been very active in class. Cedric Diggory had simply proved himself to be a challenging opponent.
She would prevail, though. She was sure of it. She was even more active now, her essays were of the best possible quality she could offer and she got every practical application of each lesson right at the first try. Granted, she was cheating there a bit – considering all of her memories.
Ultimately, it would all come down to the last few metres.
"Very well done again, Ms Potter."
Rose couldn't help but be smug at Professor McGonagall's praise. However, she wasn't sure why she couldn't help it. She certainly had never been like this in the other reality, in her previous life. In that reality, it would all have been too much attention for her, and she had hated every second of it. It had made her uncomfortable. She still hated attention, there was no doubt there – if it was the wrong kind of attention, at least.
Being praised for something she did well? She loved that and basked in it. She soaked it up. Whether it was teachers telling her that she had done her work well or her Quidditch captain telling her that she had flown well, she just loved it. Where exactly that new part of her personality came from she couldn't tell, but that was okay. Her acceptance of her new self was growing with each passing day, her personality changes – no matter how marginal – and her new quirks as Rose included.
She didn't find herself freaking out over every girlish thing anymore. The worst had pretty much passed with her starting her period at the beginning of the term and she had gotten used to it by now. Thankfully, she only got mild cramps – unlike Susan for example, who appeared to be on her death-bed every month for a week, even with pain-relieving potions. Rose didn't want to imagine how that poor girl would be feeling without them.
"Know-it-all…"
Rose narrowed her eyes at that and turned towards the voice, seeing Malfoy and his two gorillas snickering. "Know...nothing-all…" she muttered under her breath and only when those words had left her mouth did she realize how dumb they actually sounded.
"What?" Megan asked and gave her a confused look.
"Please forget you ever heard that, Meg," Rose said, her cheeks flushing red. She was just glad that it wasn't anyone else who had heard her comeback, otherwise, she'd have to ask Death for another trip in time.
She wished her Rose-self wasn't as bad as her Harry-self at comebacks.
The day had finally arrived. It was time to see who would be the seeker for Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw. Would it be Cedric? Or would she actually have managed to catch up on those five points he had been leading with?
Rose would be lying if she said that she wasn't nervous. Sure, if she wouldn't get to play against Ravenclaw, it obviously wouldn't devastate her or ruin the past term for her or anything like that. Nevertheless, she would be disappointed not to get the opportunity to redeem herself after that loss against Harry and his Gryffindors.
But, now, it was time. Cedric, his friends, the Quidditch team, her friends and she were all gathered in the common room, plus a few more curious people and those invested in Hufflepuff's Quidditch team. The noise and chatter of the rest – those who did not care all that much about who would be the seeker for the next match – was calming for Rose. It'd definitely be worse if she would have had to deal with the whole of Hufflepuff being curious about their competition's result. But, thankfully, most of the upper-years, which included the fifth-years and above, didn't particularly care. No matter how popular Cedric was, even he flew under the radar of those students.
"Rose?"
She looked up at Cedric, clutching the small and folded piece of parchment in her hands. "I'm ready, Cedric."
"Do both of you promise to have been absolutely fair?" their team captain Maxine O'Flaherty, who took on the role of the impartial referee, asked. "No undeserved and unearned extra points accidentally included in your totals?"
"Yes." "Yep."
"Alright, I'll trust both of you. If, however, at a later time, it should come to my attention that either of you has actually cheated here, that person will be kicked from the team, no questions asked. Understood?"
Both Cedric and she glanced at each other and nodded. The time had come. They put their pieces of parchment on the table and took a step back. Maxine took their place and grabbed the parchment on the left, unfolding it. "Cedric Diggory...one-hundred-and-thirty-two points."
Yes! Just out of respect, she tried her best to not break out in jubilation and at least wait for Maxine to read her points out loud as well, but she had actually, bloody done it. And once her one-hundred-and-thirty-five points had been announced, she whooped freely. She could feel her friends throw their arms around her and jump up and down in excitement while she pumped her fists in victory. But then, she turned to look at Cedric and, despite his gracious smile and doing his best to not be a sore loser, she could see the disappointment in his eyes clear as day. It made her feel a bit bad to celebrate the way she did.
She retracted herself from her still ecstatic friends and walked over to her 'rival'. "Well played, Cedric. You really had me worried for most of the time."
He just chuckled at her and gave her a mock punch on her shoulder, making her stagger backwards a bit and Rose wasn't sure whether to be offended or flattered that he mimicked her like that. He sighed. "Can't say that it doesn't sting a bit, but you won fair and square." Then, he gave her quite the cocky grin. "Next term it's going to be my turn, though."
Rose grinned back, resting a hand on a cocked hip. "Not if I have to say anything about that."
"I definitely hope that you won't hold back just because you feel bad," he said. "Anyway, I've still got a bunch of homework to do. Catch that snitch for us, will ya? It'll do us good to have a positive win-loss ratio for once."
She nodded in return. "I'll do my best."
With a lazy wave, Cedric and his friends returned to their table, his friends giving him comforting pats on his back. It really made her feel bad, but as he'd said – she'd won fair and square. Just a few points less, and she'd be in his position. She'd definitely make it up to him with a win against Ravenclaw and Cho Chang though.
Matchday had arrived and the game was on the brink of ending.
She wasn't sure for how long this match was going on already, but it definitely felt longer than the Gryffindor match. It was just as wild though.
Rose dodged the oncoming bludger, hot on Cho's heels – or the end of Cho's broom. Both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had been trading blows like mad and it had been clear early on that it would come down to the seekers to decide this match. Now that decisive moment was upon them as Cho was chasing the snitch and Rose was catching up to her rapidly. Her hair was whipping about wildly behind her in the wind and her surroundings were blurring, her vision narrowed down to only the Ravenclaw's seeker and the small, winged and golden ball she was chasing. The excited roars of the crowd and Lee Jordan's commentary disappeared in the whistling wind while Cho and she were chasing their target. The golden gleam of the snitch, with its rapid and erratic movements, forced wild manoeuvres out of them and Rose was impressed that Cho was able to keep up this breakneck flight.
A sudden dive of the snitch had them both fly ever closer towards the ground, but both she and Cho kept their cool and pulled up again effortlessly. Rose inched closer to her opponent with every passing moment, her faster broom showing its quality with her pushing it to, and even beyond, its limits. Cho tried to fend her off at first, but Rose finally managed to catch up, flying next to Cho after the snitch now. She glanced at her opponent on her left, surprised at the concentrated glare on the beautiful girl's face.
"I won't let you win this, Potter!" Rose heard her shout. "And I won't let you have Cedric!"
Her brain stopped to a halt.
What? Let her have Cedric?!
Rose shook her head and just in time too, because she was about to crash into the stands. She made a sharp turn, her stomach turning into lead when she saw how far behind Cho she had fallen in those few precious moments. She urged her broom to fly as fast as it could, but Cho's raised hand and Madam Hooch's whistle crushed any and all hope for redemption. Her second game as Hufflepuff's seeker ended as a second loss.
Rose followed the other players towards the ground and as soon as her feet hit grass she let herself drop onto her bum, her knees pulled to her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees and her tear-streaked cheeks hidden in her arms. She was sniffling uncontrollably and tried her best to suppress the sobs threatening to break through. She didn't want to cry but felt so terrible. She couldn't believe how easily Cho had played her, how easily a few words had thrown her off. Such a stupid, little thing and it had worked on her.
But then, hadn't she always been like this? Even in her previous life? Malfoy saying just a few, little things and she'd lose her temper. Granted, she didn't lose her temper that easily anymore, but all those offhanded comments about Cedric and her being awfully chummy did grind on her nerves and she hadn't expected anything of that sort from Cho.
She jerked at a sudden hand squeezing her shoulder. Looking up from her lonesome position on the ground, she saw her teammates gathered around her, all looking pretty down but none disappointed or even angry with her, something that made the whole situation almost worse.
"What happened, Rose?" Maxine asked her after sitting down next to her. Her tone was kind, calm and patient as if nothing had happened at all.
Rose sighed and wiped her eyes and cheeks with the sleeve of her jersey. "Cho just...said something and threw me off. I feel so stupid."
Maxine cocked her head to the side. "So, some trash-talking got to you?"
Trash-talking. Right. But it did sound better than what it actually was. "Yeah."
"Learn from it, Rose. You are only twelve and still have five years to go. Enough time to pull off an upset and give Hufflepuff the Quidditch cup," her team-captain said with a wink, before turning serious. "I'm not mad and I don't think any of the rest is. We played some fantastic Quidditch this year and were at least equal in every match. There's some great talent here and I see a great team for next season. Don't let this drag you down, okay? Next year you'll catch that blasted snitch."
Rose felt even more like crying now, her chin wobbling violently as her head jerked in an awkward nod. She didn't even know why this loss bothered her so much. Not even when her Nimbus had been blown into the Whomping Willow in third year in her previous life had she felt like crying. She'd been more...dead inside. But this, now...was it severely wounded pride? Was it a girl thing? Whatever it was, it sucked.
After a few more moments, she felt herself calm down, glad that she hadn't actually broken down into sobbing hysterically; a few silent tears certainly were more than enough for a school Quidditch match. Looking around, she was surprised to not see Harry anywhere in the crowd that had gathered on the field by now. She'd have expected her twin to come and try to make her feel better.
"Have you guys seen Harry anywhere?" she asked her teammates. They all shook their heads, though, except for Tamsin Applebee.
"I saw him walk over here but Lockhart talked with him," the chaser said and Rose immediately forgot all of her small, tiny, unimportant and irrelevant worries.
"W-with Lockhart, you say?" This is bad. So, so bad. "Alright then...I'll, uh, I'll go and see what's what. I'll shower in the dorms." She got up to her feet, hyper-aware of the confused looks of her teammates and her own wobbly knees. With a quick wave, Rose immediately made for the castle, ignoring the jeers from the Slytherins and encouraging words from her fellow Hufflepuffs. Her steps were hasty at first, her eagerness to dodge her friends certainly helping, but once she felt she had put enough distance between herself and the Quidditch pitch, she started to actually sprint. Within a few short moments, she reached the castle's entrance, practically barging inside, and even out of breath, she didn't stop running. Her legs and lungs were burning as she ran up the stairs to the second floor, and she was drenched in sweat by the time she had finally reached Myrtle's bathroom. She quickly got inside and her heart dropped to the floor when she saw the entrance to the chamber opened.
"Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks!" This was so bad. Harry was down there with this weird version of Lockhart and she didn't even know what to expect. Taking a quick look around the bathroom, she saw a few sheets of parchment strewn across. Frowning, she grabbed one and her frown deepened. Without having to take the time to properly read through this she saw that it was a sheet of Lockhart's notes – his flowing, neat handwriting was a dead giveaway – and it seemingly was about the Chamber of Secrets. She then looked back at the entrance, steeling herself. Since what she had gone through here the first time she went down to rescue Ginny, she had done her best to avoid this lavatory as much as she could. If she didn't absolutely have to, she even avoided walking past it. Now, she was here again. Again in her second year, again on a rescue mission. Her heart was pounding violently and she felt herself sway slightly.
Exhaling slowly and shakily, she stepped towards the hole and, swallowing thickly, allowed herself to drop and slide down into the basilisk's lair.