That night at dinner, Rose was relieved to see Lysander sitting at the table, his plate overflowing with food. He smiled when Rose sat down but could not speak as his mouth was full of carrots. Rose began to fill her own plate when she saw two familiar faces plop down across from her.

The Gemini looked disheveled, which surprised Rose more than them being in the Great Hall. Both of them looked pale and exhausted, and Genna's face was covered with a thin veil of sweat.

"We're heading out," said Genna simply. "Moving up our schedule a little bit."

"Nothing to worry about," said Gemma, glancing at her twin, "but we wanted to let you know. We'll get in touch with Dmitri for you."

"Do keep in touch," added Genna. "Let us know how your year goes."

"And if anything— well, odd happens."

"Anything."

"I will," said Rose. "I hope you have a nice trip, wherever you're off to first."

"Of course," said Gemma absently, looking at Genna once more. "And we'll be in touch. Dido will be in the Owlery. She knows how to reach us."

They exited the Hall quickly. Rose realized that Lysander was watching her, so she busied herself with slicing the chicken breast on her plate. She did not look up again until Albus and James sat across from her, and by then, Lysander had seemingly lost interest in her odd visitors.

Rose quickly forgot about the Gemini's hasty departure from Hogwarts. The first Quidditch game had arrived with very little fanfare. Albus and James only began to talk about it a week prior to the event, and Rose managed to forget about it until the morning of the game. She found herself at the Gryffindor table as it broke into cheers that Saturday morning. She looked up from her eggs to see the team enter, waving to their classmates as they sat together at the far end of the table.

"Cameron's still talking to them," noted Lysander, watching the team huddle over their plates. "I bet he won't stop giving them plays until they're actually in the air today."

"I doubt he'll stop even then," said Rose. "Didn't we play in the first game last year as well? Shouldn't it switch around somehow?"

"It should," agreed Lysander, "and maybe the rest of the season is different. At least we're not playing Hufflepuff first."

The Slytherin team was scattered throughout the Slytherin table. Rose saw Scorpius sitting with Lily and her friends, who were all listening raptly to something he was saying. It was odd, seeing Scorpius surrounded by people when he had made a point of keeping to himself during his first year. So much had changed in a short time.

When the teams got up to leave, Rose waved at her cousins. As much as they had always joked about populating the house team with Weasley relatives when they got to Hogwarts, Rose was still astonished at how close they had actually come. Dominique was the team's Keeper even though she was preparing for her N.E.W.T. exams at the end of the year. Louis was back on the team as one of the Beaters, and James had managed to secure his place as Seeker, even though he was young. With Albus in a permanent spot as a Chaser, Rose's family had secured over half of the positions on the Gryffindor team.

With a jolt, Rose wondered if Lily was planning on trying out for the Slytherin team when she was older. Like her cousins, Rose had assumed that Lily would end up in Gryffindor and try out for their team. It was an odd thought- and what if Hugo ended up on the Hufflepuff team? They were certainly doing well, and he could have a spot there in a few years.

Still feeling uneasy, Rose finished her breakfast and headed down to the Quidditch pitch with Lysander. Lorcan met them in the stands, where he had saved a few spots with the help of Ariana Burrow. Ariana smiled warmly as Rose took a seat next to her.

When both teams marched onto the field, the crowd erupted in screams of support, along with a few jeers. Rose immediately picked Scorpius out from the Slytherin group. He was still the shortest, even with the new additions to the team. On the Gryffindor side, Albus stood next to James as Cameron crossed to the center of the pitch to shake the other captain's hand. There were some words exchanged, and then both teams were mounting their brooms.

The crowd erupted as the whistle blew, signaling the start of the game. Rose saw Dominique streak towards the Gryffindor goal posts, circling around the front to watch the game unfold.

"First game of the season," called an unfamiliar voice, "and what a game it will be! Starting out with Potter with the Quaffle- passed it to Longgrass- intercepted by Delaney!"

"Who's announcing?" Rose asked Ariana. "Didn't you used to?"

"Only last year," said Ariana. "I wanted to again, but Professor McGonagall thought it would be a conflict of interest since Louis was back on the team. I don't mind, really, since it means I can actually watch the game now."

Rose still couldn't identify the unfamiliar voice of the announcer. It wasn't until the Gryffindor team called its first time out that she got any help on the matter.

"Let's take a brief break to play my favorite game: Barton Everett's Player Analysis."

"Is that really a game?" asked Lysander cynically. The announcer- who Rose assumed was named Barton Everett- continued, unaware of the students questioning him from the crowd.

"The game is still tied with neither team scoring. This isn't good for either side, since we know that the team with the most overall points throughout the season is awarded the Quidditch Cup at the end of the year."

"Yes, we know," grumbled Lysander. "Why did they take a time out?"

"No clue," said Rose, squinting down at the Gryffindor team. She could see Cameron gesturing wildly, but couldn't tell if he was angry or just excited. It was always a tossup with him.

"On the Gryffindor team," continued Barton, "we have an interesting mix of players. Cameron Thornton plays as Beater, though he seems more focused on his role as Captain, as he's missed the Bludger a few times already in this game. He's in his seventh year, so this is his last season to make a mark on this school. He is joined by fellow seventh-year Dominique Weasley, playing as Keeper. She has been on the team since her fourth year, though she took one year off due to the Triwizard Tournament."

"Actually, Quidditch was cancelled, but you can say she took a year off if you want," said Lysander.

"What's your problem?" asked Rose, turning to Lysander. "Do you know this bloke?"

"I don't particularly care for him," said Lysander carefully. "Not a big deal, I'm just impatient for the game to start again."

As he said this, the Gryffindor team remounted their brooms. Cameron waved to the referee, and after a short blow of the whistle, the team was once again airborne.

It wasn't that the Chasers on either team were bad, it was just that the Keepers seemed to be doing an exceptional job guarding their goal posts. Albus made his third shot and the Slytherin Keeper smacked the Quaffle away with the end of his broom. Scorpius caught it and shot off towards Dominique, who hovered in front of the center hoop.

"C'mon Dom," muttered Ariana, "you can-"

The Slytherin students roared as Scorpius scored, shooting through the left hoop at the last possible moment. There was a groan from the Gryffindors, and Ariana exhaled sharply.

"I'm not sure if I should be pleased or not," remarked Lorcan casually. "Either way, one of my friends is going to win. Great game, this is."

It turned out not to be as great a game as Lorcan had hoped. The score went up quickly from that moment, reaching sixty-fifty in favor of Slytherin before the next timeout was called.

"The youngest Slytherin player is certainly showing that he's worth his weight in bronze," announced Barton. "Scorpius Malfoy, one of the three Slytherin Chasers, is playing a great game today, scoring three of the six goals so far."

The timeout lasted only two minutes before the players remounted their brooms. This time, Rose was certain that Cameron's gesticulations came from anger and not joy at his player performance. Dominique shot off from the ground before the whistle sounded, returning to her goal posts as Cameron waved wildly at her.

"They're having a bit of a tiff," remarked Ariana. "This is why I don't think the players should date each other. It's far too messy on the pitch if things don't go well privately. See?"

Ariana seemed to have a point. Dominique was pointedly ignoring whatever Cameron was trying to shout at her now, waiting for the whistle to sound and gameplay to resume.

Rose found herself losing focus as the game continued. She would occasionally hear the whistle blow and the new score announced, but it seemed like it was going to continue on forever. Both teams scored two more points, and still neither Seeker had made a move for the Snitch. It didn't seem like either side was gaining any sort of advantage.

"I'm getting bored," Rose finally admitted to Ariana, whose eyes were still pealed on the game.

"Hopefully they'll wrap up soon," said Ariana, "but it can't end until your cousin finds that silly Snitch of his."

"Or the other guy," said Rose.

"Yes, or the other one."

Rose regretted saying those words as soon as they were out of her mouth. She knew that this was an important part of her cousins' lives, and she was trying to focus on it, she really was! It was just an awfully repetitive match, with the Chasers shooting back and forth and the Keepers blocking almost every shot. The Seekers were still circling above the pitch, searching for the elusive golden Snitch.

At last, James seemed to spot it. He shot off towards the Slytherin goal posts, streaking past the Chasers who were fighting over the Quaffle. The Slytherin Seeker rocketed off as well, fighting against the wind to pull up next to James. Just as James' arm reached out, he was nailed in the side by a large black Bludger. James rolled over in the air, losing his momentum and nearly toppling off his broom. He regained his balance a moment later, but it was too late. The whistle was blown. Slytherin had won the game.

Ariana cursed under her breath. Lysander groaned, and Rose squeezed her eyes shut. James had been so close to catching the Snitch! When she opened her eyes again, she saw the players landing, their expressions a mixture of elation and defeat. James seemed enraged, but Cameron landed by his side and pulled him towards the other Gryffindors.

"Well," said Lysander, groaning as he got to his feet, "let's go deal with this. C'mon."

Rose took her time climbing down from the stands. She never liked seeing her cousins right after they had been defeated, and today was no different. Albus was sitting on the side of the pitch, his head in his hands. When Rose reached him, he looked up and she saw that his eyes were red.

"It's alright," said Rose quietly. "Go get changed and we can head back."

The rest of the day was quite unpleasant in the Gryffindor common room. Rose tried to console her cousins, but none of them wanted to talk about the match. She ended up returning to her dormitory to work on her Charms essay, but found that she couldn't concentrate on that either. Grumbling to herself about her lack of focus on her schoolwork, Rose found the newest book that Aunt Luna had sent her and began to read. At least she could feel that she accomplished something that day.

It took Albus a few days to recover from losing the game. He felt that it was somehow his fault- if he had worked harder or flown better, Gryffindor would have somehow had enough points to win. Rose made a few tries to point out that they would have had to be quite far ahead for that to work, but Albus wasn't interested in that thread of logic. Meanwhile, James was berating himself for being taken out at the last second.

"You were hit by a Bludger," Rose reminded him for the sixth time. "You were doing everything you could. You didn't even fall off your broom!"

"I should've kept going," said James glumly, stabbing his empty plate with his fork.

"Well, you still have two more games," said Rose encouragingly, "and by then you'll know how the other teams are flying. You'll have a good advantage there."

The Potter brothers only seemed to cheer up with the prospect of the upcoming Halloween feast. Albus told Rose that Hagrid had explained to his Care of Magical Creatures class that he had big things in store for this year's celebration.

"Big things," repeated Albus, putting the emphasis on big. "What do you think that means?"

"Giants," said Rose seriously, "or giant pumpkins, at the very least."

Albus groaned. "You're no fun," he complained. "Yeah, I've seen the giant pumpkins, they look great."

"I just want some more of that pumpkin pie from last year," interjected James. "It's never tasted that good before. They better not have been trying harder because of those Riders. I don't think I can go back to normal pumpkin pie after tasting that."

"I told my mum about that pie," said Lysander, laughing. "It really was spectacular. She said she'd try to get the recipe but I think she forgot."

"Then maybe it'll be a giant pumpkin pie," said Rose with a grin.

When Halloween night arrived, however, Hagrid seemed far from pleased with how the decorations had turned out. He was still discussing them with Professor Ardenia when the students began to enter the Great Hall.

"There was suppose t' be another one here," Rose heard Hagrid saying as she sat at the Gryffindor table. He was indicating a large empty spot by the wall, frowning deeply. "I counted when I brought 'em in, but now one's gone."

"I'll ask the others if they happened to Vanish a giant pumpkin," said Professor Ardenia tightly, "but it's too late to do anything about it now. The students will hardly notice."

Hagrid grumbled unhappily but followed Professor Ardenia back to the Head Table. Rose's attention was drawn by James, who was drumming on the table eagerly with his fists.

"What?" he demanded, seeing Rose's glare. "I'm excited! I'm allowed to be excited, aren't I?"

"He'll be better once he has food," said Lysander with a grin. Moments later, the platters full of the first course appeared, and the students began to fill their plates. Rose inhaled deeply, and the scent of the food brought her back to her very first Halloween feast. It had been right around the time she had met Dmitri. And the following year, it had been the day that the Riders had arrived with their dragons. It was nice to have a calm, uneventful Halloween.

James cried out with joy when the desserts arrived and immediately cut himself a piece of the pumpkin pie. It was, in fact, the same recipe as the year before. Rose savored each bite, which practically melted over her tongue. It tasted fresh out of the oven, though she was sure that the house elves had not baked all of the food the conventional way. She made a mental note to ask her mother about magical food production, since she knew that it could not just be Transfigured out of another substance.

As she finished her dessert, Rose scanned the room. Hugo was sitting with Taylor and some of the other Hufflepuffs, and all of them were laughing hysterically. A bit further down the table was Fred, who was involved in what looked to be a serious discussion with two of his classmates. Over at the Slytherin table, Scorpius sat between Lily and Callum Leach looking mildly uncomfortable as everyone chattered around him. As Rose watched, Scorpius nodded, then shook his head and shrugged. She wondered what they were discussing.

xxx

As November began, Rose started bringing her novels with her to meals. She would split her focus between her food and the characters she had grown far too attached to, especially considering how one of them was already dead, and she was certain more would be by the time the story concluded. Albus teased her for her new hobby, but James failed to see the difference between her interest in schoolbooks and her interest in fiction.

"It's a lot of reading," he noted one morning, waving his yogurt-covered spoon precariously close to Rose's open book. She pulled it away and closed it after marking her page.

"Awfully observant of you," she said, rolling her eyes. "You don't have to like it, you know."

"Speaking of liking things," said Albus pointedly, looking at the Head Table.

Professor Evariste sat on the end of the table, deep in conversation with Clare, the new library assistant. Rose hadn't seen her in the Great Hall before. She realized suddenly that apart from delivering books to Professor Evariste's classroom, Rose had never seen Clare outside of the library. She seemed to spend all of her time there, including meals.

"Maybe they're talking about our lesson," said Rose, returning to her breakfast. "Maybe we need new reference material or something."

"Or something," repeated James, imbuing her words with an entirely new meaning.

Rose pretended not to find her professor's new interactions with Clare interesting, but it was hard to disguise her curiosity when she heard the other girls in her dormitory discussing it. She paged through a book absently as she listened to Kara telling the others what Dominic had told her during Transfiguration.

"He said that Professor Evariste is sweet on her," Kara gushed, "and that they'll be going to Hogsmeade together soon!"

"With all of us?" asked Mary, her eyes wide. "We could probably follow them. You know, for research."

"Research," agreed Kara, nodding.

The first trip to Hogsmeade was two weeks away, and the third years were particularly excited since it would be the first time they could visit the Wizarding town. Rose had gotten her mother to sign her permission form as soon as it had arrived, and all of the other girls had done the same. Rose certainly thought that they deserved a break after how much work they had been putting in for their new classes.

In the common room the next morning, Rose asked Dominique if she would be going on the trip. Dominique's eyes were bleary, and she blinked in confusion a few times before responding.

"Hogsmeade," she said, "I had forgotten. I don't know, I'll go if I have all of my work done. We might have practice."

"Albus and James are both going," Rose pointed out, "and I doubt Cameron would schedule practice during the first trip. Even he has to have fun sometimes."

Dominique looked dubiously at Rose. "Sometimes," she said, "perhaps he does. I just have a lot of studying to get done. It feels like I'm always behind on something."

"I can help!" offered Rose. Immediately heat rose to her cheeks, and she stammered, "I mean, if you need me to get books out or something, or maybe fetch some tea-"

"That's sweet of you," said Dominique, her expression softening. "If you'd like, you can keep me company tonight while I work on Charms. How does that sound?"

Rose nodded eagerly. She knew that Dominique was preparing for her N.E.W.T. level Charms examination, so the spells she would be practicing would be very complicated. At the very least, it would be a better use of her evening than sitting and staring aimlessly at more Runes.

That night, Dominique claimed a corner of the common room, leveling icy glares at anyone who tried to encroach upon her space. Rose sat across from her, straining to read her upside-down notes as Dominique looked them over.

"Anything could be on the exam," sighed Dominique. "Professor Halberton is excellent, but she doesn't know what we should expect. They revised the exam after she took it herself, so we're going off of the Ministry's guidebook, which she says isn't the most clearly-written manual."

"Oh," said Rose, frowning. "That's... not very helpful."

"Professor Flitwick has sent her some suggestions," said Dominique, shuffling through some of her notes, "but it's not as if he knows any better than Professor Halberton herself. I want to focus on the complicated pieces we've been learning in class, but I'm worried that I'll be missing something embarrassingly basic."

"I'm sure that won't happen," said Rose reassuringly.

A few minutes later, Dominique had chosen a charm to work on for the night. She Transfigured her water glass into a small vase, then pulled out a sack of tiny rocks from her schoolbag.

"Practice materials," she explained, seeing Rose's quizzical expression. "See? Lumenir."

The stone in her hand shuddered, then begin to emit a faint light.

"We're supposed to be able to make things glow," said Dominique, dropping the stone into the vase. "The Charm shouldn't begin to wear off for a week, but mine haven't been lasting that long. I have no idea how they would evaluate that during the practical exam, unless they're planning on taking samples back with them. Lumenir."

The second stone glowed a pale pink and quickly joined the first in the vase. Rose watched as Dominique drew one pebble out at a time, fixed her intensely concentrated gaze on it, and recited the incantation.

"It seems straightforward," said Rose after Dominique had covered the bottom of the vase. "Why is it so advanced?"

Wordlessly, Dominique handed her a stone. Rose drew her wand, pointed it at the small rock, and said, "Lumenir."

Nothing happened.

"Lumenir," she repeated, her face wrinkling in frustration. At her third attempt, her wand spat out a single white spark, but the stone did not so much as shake in her hand.

"I thought it seemed easy too," said Dominique as Rose returned the pebble to her, "but the tricky part is actually getting the light from somewhere. It's not simple like Lumos- no, Nox- sorry about that."

"So you have to take light from somewhere else?" asked Rose.

"Essentially, yes," said Dominique. "Lumenir. See, it needs to take the energy from somewhere to put it in the pebble. It's an energy transfer, and as you know-"

"We cannot create nor destroy energy," recited Rose.

"Precisely. Lumenir."

Rose watched, now completely fascinated as Dominique worked her way through the bag of pebbles. She wondered what else her cousin kept in her schoolbag for when she had time to practice for her exams. She imagined it was much more interesting than the contents of her own.

The following week, Rose stayed behind after her Charms class to speak with Professor Halberton. She had to wait for two Ravenclaw girls to finish with their questions about that day's lesson, which had been (or so Rose had thought) fairly straight-forward. After they left, Professor Halberton focused her attention on Rose.

"Sorry," said Rose sheepishly, "I just had a quick question."

"No need to apologize," said Professor Halberton, "you know you can always bring questions to me."

"I was watching my cousin Dominique practice one of the charms you've been working on with your N.E.W.T. students," explained Rose, "and I didn't really understand what she was saying about the energy transfer."

"Lumenir," said Professor Halberton, "of course. That's a rather tricky one, I'm afraid, and not the most useful spell in a person's arsenal, but still part of the suggested curriculum. Baffles me as to why. I suppose you gave it a try, then?"

Rose gave a half-hearted nod.

"Nothing?"

She shook her head.

"As to be expected," said Professor Halberton, circling back behind her desk. "You see, while the charm makes it appear that there is a burning light inside of each stone, what is actually occurring is an energy transfer, which it sounds like Dominique mentioned to you. It's not light at all, just pure magical energy. It merely presents itself as light."

"Where does it come from?" asked Rose.

"That is one of the reasons it is only introduced in one's seventh year. Students run the risk of drawing out some of their own energy if they are not properly supervised while learning the spell."

"You can do that?" said Rose incredulously.

"Unfortunately, yes," said Professor Halberton. "Lumenir is instead supposed to absorb the natural magical forces of the environment. Hogwarts is simply buzzing with magic, so it will be easier to perform this spell here than, say, in the middle of a Muggle town. We start by teaching the advanced students about the warning signs of magical depletion- what will happen if they begin to use their own energy instead of the ambient magical energy."

"That's good," mumbled Rose.

Professor Halberton gave her a measured look, then sat back into her chair.

"Leave that one alone for a little while," said the professor, the warning clear in her voice. "There's plenty to occupy yourself with in your own year's curriculum. I don't need to be explaining to Minerva why I've got a third year in the Hospital Wing suffering from magical exhaustion, alright?"

Rose nodded obediently before scurrying from the room.

She was unable to shake the thought for the rest of the day. The spell seemed too dangerous to be teaching to students in a school where self-control and discipline were sometimes as foreign as runes. She spent a few hours worrying about whether that was why Dominique had been seeming so fatigued, but one look at her cousin over dinner erased that thought. Dominqiue was laughing at the head of the table with Cameron, who was making funny faces behind a slab of pork loin. Dominique was too smart to hurt herself with classwork, Rose decided, dismissing the worries from her mind.