p style="margin: 0in;"strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"A/N: /span/strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"This story is written by a gay woman who just wants to write a coming-of-age story about a gay woman so do with that what you will. I'm a college student who is much more used to writing lab reports than stories, but I need a creative output so here we are. My grammar sucks and I have no beta so I promise I will do my best to reread my writing and try and make it legible. Honestly, I'm writing this because I can't get the idea for this story out of my head, and I haven't seen anything similar. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"A/N: This is the more important one so please read. /span/strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"This story will lightly touch on themes that many LGBTQIA+ children have to deal with as they grow up. This means homophobia, mental health, suicidal ideation, and such will be covered however there will be a trigger warning on relevant chapters. I can promise there will be no graphic depictions of self-harm or the like but instead this will more so cover the more mental aspect of teenage depression and its effect on a pubescent brain. Despite this I ask you not to read those sections if you worry it will trigger you. No story is worth the depletion of your own mental health. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/strong/p
p style="margin: 0in;"strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Disclaimer/span/strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;": This is a fanfic site and I'm not a terf so obviously this is not written by JKR. I make no money from this. This is the only time I'm writing this bs. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The sensation of the barrier between platform nine and three quarters and the rest of the world felt like static. The dizzying, heady sensation accompanied by the overwhelmingly bright colors screaming at her led to the worst kind of feelings. The kind of feelings that made her want to curl up into a ball in her closet and never come out. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Rose, watch where you're walking darling." said her mum, while apologizing to the man she had almost ran her trolley into. The man did not seem to even notice the apology as he was far too busy staring at her mother in awe to do much of anything else./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose had always thought her mother, with her mahogany curls, small face, and golden-brown eyes, was beautiful- but that was not the reason for the man's awe. Her mother was a war hero, which in Rose's mind had always been quite annoying. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Rose! Your mother already told you once today. Watch where you are going, for Merlin's sake." Her father, a man with a temper as loud as his bright red hair, scolded her. He reached out one of his pale, lanky arms to tightly grip around the top of her arm and pull her and her luggage away from the pillar she had been about to hit./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose didn't mean to be so distracted, though honestly, she was usually much more interested in her own thoughts than the world around her anyway. She was just frankly overwhelmed by the sights and sounds around her. She found herself wishing she had decided to wear her beautiful noise-canceling headphones instead of pretending as if she was fine with the world intruding on her mind. She knew from experience that her father would have been annoyed and her mother would have been annoyed that her father was annoyed, and this would have triggered an awful fight for the couple, so she had decided against them. She should have just worn the damned things. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Forcing her focus back into the world around her, she allowed her father to guide her and her luggage to the ever-growing group of red heads. She tried to compose herself for what felt like impending doom as she approached her much too large extended family./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hey Bill!" shouted her father much too loudly in her ear./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ron! Hey, I haven't seen you in ages!" Her Uncle Bill shouted back at her father./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""We all just saw each other at the Burrow this past Sunday, Bill." reminded her Aunt Fleur with a small pat to his scarred cheek. She then reached forward to pull Rose in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Are you excited for Hogwarts, little rose?" asked her Aunt./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""No- I- um not really." Rose responded, doing everything she could to form a complete sentence. One of the downsides to spending so much time in one's own head is that one never spends time truly developing social skills. This had led to Rose's characteristic blunt honesty and occasional stutter. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I don't think I would be either. Remember you can always go to Beauxbatons, emcherie./em" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Enough of that nonsense." Her father cut in, "Rosie's going to be the smartest Gryffindor to ever walk through those doors." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ronald, Rose hasn't even been sorted yet," her mother cut in, "she could be a Slytherin for all you know."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""There won't be any damn Slytherins in my house, Hermione." With an angry fire in his blood, Ron turned to look Rose in her large blue-grey eyes, "If you're not in Gryffindor we'll disinherit you, but no pressure." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"This comment led to a rather public argument about the merits of Slytherins and the importance of Hogwarts houses. Rose, utterly bored by this exchange, turned her back to her family in the hopes that she could pretend like she didn't know them. While she hadn't inherited her father's firetruck red hair color, she had still gotten her mother's rather large curly hair. She was one of the few anomalies, inheriting her mother's brown hair. Thankfully, she had from a young age found products that calmed her curls to ringlets instead of a bushy mess. Rose may be shy and not so great with conversation, but she still knew how to take care of herself./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The 'conversation' between her mother and father was beginning to turn into a screaming match when her Uncle Harry showed up to save the day. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hey Ron, Hermione! Rose, you ready?" Uncle Harry greeted them with an awkward pat on Rose's shoulder. Uncle Harry had about as many social skills as Rose but was much better at hiding it. Which is why, Uncle Harry and her mother's parents were by far her favorite family members. This however was mostly due to the fact that she didn't need her headphones around them. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Eh" Rose replied, as she did not feel like reigniting the house conversation between her parents./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""You'll be fine, kid." The green-eyed man replied, "You've got all your cousins and Albus will even be in the same year as you." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"She gave him her version of a smile, which she had been told made her look as though she was in pain. This observation was not exactly far off the mark as forcing a smile always felt a little painful. She had never mastered hiding her emotions./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"It was at this point that her bumbling, black haired cousin decided to make an appearance. Albus had always been on the clumsy side, with too long limbs and a lack of awareness, no one would ever suspect what an athlete he was. On the ground he was in a constant fight with gravity to not trip over his own feet, whereas the second his feet left the ground he was as graceful as a bird. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ready Cousin?" Albus asked her. His own anxiety bleeding through his words. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"She nodded her head, face set as though she was off to battle. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see her little brother with tears in his watery blue eyes./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Her baby brother Hugo was one of the few people in the world she genuinely enjoyed being around. He had a way of making people comfortable and happy no matter their age. Though perhaps Rose was biased, as Hugo, with his bright red curly hair and lopsided smile, had been her best friend since he was born barely less than a year after her. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hey- don't- stop that." She said in response to his tearful eyes./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Rosie, emotions are healthy, you should try them sometimes." He replied with snarky tone, all while wiping his eyes with his sleeve./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I'll see you in December and I'll write everyday- well not emevery/em day- but often I promise." She said with a tight feeling in her throat and a stinging sensation in her eyes. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Love you or whatever." Hugo said with a punch to her upper arm./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Love you or whatever." She replied with what she hoped was a harder punch to his chest./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""You guys are weird." Commented Albus, laughter in his eyes./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Albus's comment soon cleared the air of the remaining tension and they were able to share a genuine laugh and smile for the first time that day. Suddenly Hogwarts didn't seem so bad. Rose would have Albus and in a year she would have Hugo with her too, all would be okay. Until the smoke cleared, and her father decided to notice the small blonde family down the way. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"There was a tall platinum blonde man with a slightly receding hair line and a black coat buttoned up to his neck. He had his hand on the small shoulder of a boy that looked as much like his father as Albus did his. A honey blonde woman with much softer features had her hand on the boy's other shoulder and a tall man with dark black hair had his arm around her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""So that's little Scorpius," said Ron under his breathe, "Rose, you better beat him in every test."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ronald. How many times have I told you to leave that poor man alone?" Rose's mother said with a tone that indicated this had been a long standing and repeated argument, "He already went through that awful divorce that of course Rita Skeeter wrote all about in that blasted paper of hers."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The woman with a fire in her eyes as large as her trademark curly hair turned to her daughter, "You be nice to that boy, Rose. He's going to need a good friend."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"This comment only seemed to insight further rage into her father's- emRon's/em- face. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""You will do no such thing." He said gripping her arm for the second time that day, "No child of mine is going to friends with some filthy snake."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose, quite tired of these annoying adults telling her what to do, ripped her arm out of her father's too tight grasp. She turned towards her mother with a grimace on her face, "I'll see you in December, Mum."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Hermione turned towards her daughter, snapping out of her rage at her idiot of a husband to remember that she was saying goodbye to her baby, her firstborn, for four months, the longest she had ever been away from home. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Oh darling, I'm going to miss you so much. I love you to the moon and back, Rosie." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Moon and back, Mum." Rose said with a smile breaking through her annoyance at the familiar phrase. Turning towards her father with her shoulders squared she nodded her head and mumbled, "B-bye." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The red-haired man nodded his head at his oldest child. Their relationship had never been close, there truly had just never been much to bond over with his daughter, who was so much like her mother it hurt. He supposed he would miss her, if just for the calming effect she had on his wild wife./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose, face set with determination, turned towards the bright red steam engine and climbed aboard, set on leaving her problems and worries behind the second she stepped on the train. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;" /p
p style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"***/span/p
p style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 243.0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Sadly, her worries did not dissipate the second she stepped aboard the train. She searched for Albus, only to find he had run off with their cousin, Fred. Instead, she ran right into one of her loudest and most annoying cousins. His bright red Gryffindor robes clashed rather awfully with his even brighter Weasley hair he had inherited from Rose's loud and boisterous Aunt Ginny. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hello Rosie," said one James Sirius Potter, his awful smirk he thought was so like the man he was named after causing him to look rather constipated, "How's my favorite mute?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Squaring her shoulders and narrowing her eyes Rose replied with venom lacing her tone, "I'm n-not mute. I-I thought you w-were supposed to get s-s-smarter as you get older."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Behind her she heard a mean but rather pretty laugh that immediately drew her attention./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Wow Potter, even your own family doesn't seem to like you." said the musical voice./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose turned her head to suddenly be face to face, or more like face to shoulder, with a tall, dark-skinned older girl. The girl had light topaz-brown eyes that shone from one of the most beautiful faces young Rose had ever seen. Her dark black hair was wound into hundreds of small braids with strands of gold running through them and tiny gold metal hoops accenting a few of the braids. The girl's green school robes that made most students appear like shapeless boxes only seemed to accent the smooth curves of the girl in front of her. This said girl appeared to be moving her full lips, which finally tore Rose out of her awe and pushed her harshly back in to the world of the living./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hello? Are you going to move, firstie?" The girl said her hand on her hip, her foot tapping impatiently./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""S-sorry." Rose choked out, feeling the blood rush to her face./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Using this rather awkward encounter as an excuse to escape her annoying cousin, she darted towards the first empty compartment she could find./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"When she finally was able to sit down, pull her large noise-canceling headphones out of her trunk, and steady herself enough to think and bask in the silence around her, she could not help but ask herself what in emthe buggering hell/em had just happened./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose had always been an odd child, she had known this since she had been able to remember and catalog thoughts. Her mother always had said that that was what made her special, her oddness. Her father had just blamed her mother for her oddness and noted that it seemed like she had gotten nothing from emhis/em side of the family. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose had a perfect, photographic memory and debilitating anxiety. This perfect memory that allowed her to remember every detail of every day along with every smell, every taste, emevery feeling/em led to a perfectly awful recollection of every scary, every othering event that she had ever experience in her short life. This coupled with her anxiety led to a perfectly understandable fear of the world that manifested itself in an uncontrollable stutter and general awkwardness. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"However, for the first time in her life Rose could not help but thank her awfully detailed memory as she was able to emsee that girl/em in every beautiful detail over and over again. Rose didn't entirely understand her fixation on the tall girl, but she knew that this girl was important. Not why or when or how this girl was going to be important, but somewhere in the back filing cabinets of her incredibly large mind, she knew without a doubt this girl was important./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose was abruptly rocketed out of her trance when a pale hand belonging to a boy with a shock of blonde hair covering his rather pointy face, waved in front of her face. The boy's cool blue-grey eyes stared frankly into her own. In his face she saw the fear of rejection that she felt deep within her own heart. She slowly reached up to take off her headphones, allowing the loud noises of the train to filter into her brain./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""H-hello." she said in a hope that it would prompt this odd boy to speak./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hi-um- sorry to interrupt you. Um- would you mind if I sat with you? A lot of the compartments are full. And well the ones that aren't, weren't exactly- well- welcoming I guess would be the correct word." The boy said as his face geared up, ready for what he seemed to expect as rejection./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Sure." Rose said, rather interested in this peculiar boy./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Oh, wow really? Thank you." said the boy as he dragged in his large trunk and settled into the compartment. "My dad warned me that people might not be very nice, but Mum said that if I was nice to everyone I met, someone would be nice back. Theo, my stepdad, said that my mum was too optimistic for her own good and that I was better off finding an empty compartment or sitting with the Goyle twins or Alessia Zabini. Honestly, I'm really glad I didn't do that though because, well, the Goyle twins are dumber than rocks and Alessia is a third year and honestly she's kind of terrifying in that, emI'm more powerful that you will ever understand/em, kind of way."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose realized that this small blonde boy seemed to talk a lot once he got comfortable./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Oh, I almost forgot! My name is Scorpius, but everyone calls me Scorp. What's yours?" This boy, Scorpius, said with more enthusiasm than Rose was used to. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"She noticed that this boy had neglected to tell her his last name and therefore that was enough for her to neglect the use of her own last name as well. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I'm Rose," she whispered, slightly intimidated by this much too friendly boy./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Nice to meet you, Rose! Are you excited for Hogwarts? Do you know what house you want to be in?" With barely enough time for him to draw in a breath, he continued, a large smile on his pointy face, "Both of my dads, well my dad and my stepdad, were in Slytherin but my mum was in Ravenclaw! My cousin, Cecelia, says I'm too nice to be in Slytherin and that I'm probably destined for Hufflepuff, but I don't think so. I don't have enough patience or dedication to much of anything for Hufflepuff I think. I bet I'll be a Ravenclaw like Mum. My dad always says I'm too much like my mum for my own good."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Finally finding her voice Rose responded, "M-my father says the same thing."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The boy perked up at her response./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Well, hey we already have one thing in common! Do you think you'll be in Ravenclaw too?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Clearing her throat of her remaining nerves she said, "Well both of my parents were in Gryffindor but I'm not much like either of them. I'm not a brave person."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The excited boy's face immediately dropped to a much more serious expression./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""There is nothing wrong with not being traditionally brave, Rose." Scorpius said, his eyes much wiser than his age would suggest, "Bravery is not all yelling and charging into battle. Bravery is getting up every day with the hope to make that day a good day."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"After saying this, the seriousness in his demeanor melted away as quickly as it had come, the goofy, much too large smile, returning to his face./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""At least that's what Dad says, and Dad usually isn't wrong." The boy said with a tone of finality in his voice./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I like that," Rose said, a small smile on her lips, "I think you'll do great in Ravenclaw, Scorpius." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I think you will too, Rose!" said Scorpius with a large smile, "I think we're going to be best friends and it will be the easiest if we're in the same house. Plus, you seem like a smart girl."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"For the first time in Rose's not so long life she felt as though she belonged. This oddly pointy blonde boy might be bossy and way too talkative, but she knew, in the same way she knew that tall girl was important, that this odd boy was also important. Except she knew exactly why he was so important. He was going to be her first ever friend. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ravenclaw then." She said, the small smile on her face becoming so big she felt her cheeks burn. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" ***/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"strongA/N: Hope you all liked it. A small note on story pacing: I intend to just write the most important moments of Rose's life. These moments might span a couple chapters but primarily they will stick to one chapter each. /strong/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"A/N: This is the more important one so please read. /span/strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"This story will lightly touch on themes that many LGBTQIA+ children have to deal with as they grow up. This means homophobia, mental health, suicidal ideation, and such will be covered however there will be a trigger warning on relevant chapters. I can promise there will be no graphic depictions of self-harm or the like but instead this will more so cover the more mental aspect of teenage depression and its effect on a pubescent brain. Despite this I ask you not to read those sections if you worry it will trigger you. No story is worth the depletion of your own mental health. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/strong/p
p style="margin: 0in;"strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Disclaimer/span/strongspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;": This is a fanfic site and I'm not a terf so obviously this is not written by JKR. I make no money from this. This is the only time I'm writing this bs. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The sensation of the barrier between platform nine and three quarters and the rest of the world felt like static. The dizzying, heady sensation accompanied by the overwhelmingly bright colors screaming at her led to the worst kind of feelings. The kind of feelings that made her want to curl up into a ball in her closet and never come out. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Rose, watch where you're walking darling." said her mum, while apologizing to the man she had almost ran her trolley into. The man did not seem to even notice the apology as he was far too busy staring at her mother in awe to do much of anything else./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose had always thought her mother, with her mahogany curls, small face, and golden-brown eyes, was beautiful- but that was not the reason for the man's awe. Her mother was a war hero, which in Rose's mind had always been quite annoying. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Rose! Your mother already told you once today. Watch where you are going, for Merlin's sake." Her father, a man with a temper as loud as his bright red hair, scolded her. He reached out one of his pale, lanky arms to tightly grip around the top of her arm and pull her and her luggage away from the pillar she had been about to hit./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose didn't mean to be so distracted, though honestly, she was usually much more interested in her own thoughts than the world around her anyway. She was just frankly overwhelmed by the sights and sounds around her. She found herself wishing she had decided to wear her beautiful noise-canceling headphones instead of pretending as if she was fine with the world intruding on her mind. She knew from experience that her father would have been annoyed and her mother would have been annoyed that her father was annoyed, and this would have triggered an awful fight for the couple, so she had decided against them. She should have just worn the damned things. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Forcing her focus back into the world around her, she allowed her father to guide her and her luggage to the ever-growing group of red heads. She tried to compose herself for what felt like impending doom as she approached her much too large extended family./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hey Bill!" shouted her father much too loudly in her ear./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ron! Hey, I haven't seen you in ages!" Her Uncle Bill shouted back at her father./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""We all just saw each other at the Burrow this past Sunday, Bill." reminded her Aunt Fleur with a small pat to his scarred cheek. She then reached forward to pull Rose in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Are you excited for Hogwarts, little rose?" asked her Aunt./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""No- I- um not really." Rose responded, doing everything she could to form a complete sentence. One of the downsides to spending so much time in one's own head is that one never spends time truly developing social skills. This had led to Rose's characteristic blunt honesty and occasional stutter. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I don't think I would be either. Remember you can always go to Beauxbatons, emcherie./em" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Enough of that nonsense." Her father cut in, "Rosie's going to be the smartest Gryffindor to ever walk through those doors." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ronald, Rose hasn't even been sorted yet," her mother cut in, "she could be a Slytherin for all you know."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""There won't be any damn Slytherins in my house, Hermione." With an angry fire in his blood, Ron turned to look Rose in her large blue-grey eyes, "If you're not in Gryffindor we'll disinherit you, but no pressure." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"This comment led to a rather public argument about the merits of Slytherins and the importance of Hogwarts houses. Rose, utterly bored by this exchange, turned her back to her family in the hopes that she could pretend like she didn't know them. While she hadn't inherited her father's firetruck red hair color, she had still gotten her mother's rather large curly hair. She was one of the few anomalies, inheriting her mother's brown hair. Thankfully, she had from a young age found products that calmed her curls to ringlets instead of a bushy mess. Rose may be shy and not so great with conversation, but she still knew how to take care of herself./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The 'conversation' between her mother and father was beginning to turn into a screaming match when her Uncle Harry showed up to save the day. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hey Ron, Hermione! Rose, you ready?" Uncle Harry greeted them with an awkward pat on Rose's shoulder. Uncle Harry had about as many social skills as Rose but was much better at hiding it. Which is why, Uncle Harry and her mother's parents were by far her favorite family members. This however was mostly due to the fact that she didn't need her headphones around them. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Eh" Rose replied, as she did not feel like reigniting the house conversation between her parents./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""You'll be fine, kid." The green-eyed man replied, "You've got all your cousins and Albus will even be in the same year as you." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"She gave him her version of a smile, which she had been told made her look as though she was in pain. This observation was not exactly far off the mark as forcing a smile always felt a little painful. She had never mastered hiding her emotions./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"It was at this point that her bumbling, black haired cousin decided to make an appearance. Albus had always been on the clumsy side, with too long limbs and a lack of awareness, no one would ever suspect what an athlete he was. On the ground he was in a constant fight with gravity to not trip over his own feet, whereas the second his feet left the ground he was as graceful as a bird. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ready Cousin?" Albus asked her. His own anxiety bleeding through his words. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"She nodded her head, face set as though she was off to battle. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see her little brother with tears in his watery blue eyes./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Her baby brother Hugo was one of the few people in the world she genuinely enjoyed being around. He had a way of making people comfortable and happy no matter their age. Though perhaps Rose was biased, as Hugo, with his bright red curly hair and lopsided smile, had been her best friend since he was born barely less than a year after her. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hey- don't- stop that." She said in response to his tearful eyes./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Rosie, emotions are healthy, you should try them sometimes." He replied with snarky tone, all while wiping his eyes with his sleeve./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I'll see you in December and I'll write everyday- well not emevery/em day- but often I promise." She said with a tight feeling in her throat and a stinging sensation in her eyes. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Love you or whatever." Hugo said with a punch to her upper arm./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Love you or whatever." She replied with what she hoped was a harder punch to his chest./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""You guys are weird." Commented Albus, laughter in his eyes./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Albus's comment soon cleared the air of the remaining tension and they were able to share a genuine laugh and smile for the first time that day. Suddenly Hogwarts didn't seem so bad. Rose would have Albus and in a year she would have Hugo with her too, all would be okay. Until the smoke cleared, and her father decided to notice the small blonde family down the way. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"There was a tall platinum blonde man with a slightly receding hair line and a black coat buttoned up to his neck. He had his hand on the small shoulder of a boy that looked as much like his father as Albus did his. A honey blonde woman with much softer features had her hand on the boy's other shoulder and a tall man with dark black hair had his arm around her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""So that's little Scorpius," said Ron under his breathe, "Rose, you better beat him in every test."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ronald. How many times have I told you to leave that poor man alone?" Rose's mother said with a tone that indicated this had been a long standing and repeated argument, "He already went through that awful divorce that of course Rita Skeeter wrote all about in that blasted paper of hers."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The woman with a fire in her eyes as large as her trademark curly hair turned to her daughter, "You be nice to that boy, Rose. He's going to need a good friend."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"This comment only seemed to insight further rage into her father's- emRon's/em- face. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""You will do no such thing." He said gripping her arm for the second time that day, "No child of mine is going to friends with some filthy snake."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose, quite tired of these annoying adults telling her what to do, ripped her arm out of her father's too tight grasp. She turned towards her mother with a grimace on her face, "I'll see you in December, Mum."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Hermione turned towards her daughter, snapping out of her rage at her idiot of a husband to remember that she was saying goodbye to her baby, her firstborn, for four months, the longest she had ever been away from home. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Oh darling, I'm going to miss you so much. I love you to the moon and back, Rosie." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Moon and back, Mum." Rose said with a smile breaking through her annoyance at the familiar phrase. Turning towards her father with her shoulders squared she nodded her head and mumbled, "B-bye." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The red-haired man nodded his head at his oldest child. Their relationship had never been close, there truly had just never been much to bond over with his daughter, who was so much like her mother it hurt. He supposed he would miss her, if just for the calming effect she had on his wild wife./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose, face set with determination, turned towards the bright red steam engine and climbed aboard, set on leaving her problems and worries behind the second she stepped on the train. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;" /p
p style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"***/span/p
p style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 243.0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Sadly, her worries did not dissipate the second she stepped aboard the train. She searched for Albus, only to find he had run off with their cousin, Fred. Instead, she ran right into one of her loudest and most annoying cousins. His bright red Gryffindor robes clashed rather awfully with his even brighter Weasley hair he had inherited from Rose's loud and boisterous Aunt Ginny. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hello Rosie," said one James Sirius Potter, his awful smirk he thought was so like the man he was named after causing him to look rather constipated, "How's my favorite mute?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Squaring her shoulders and narrowing her eyes Rose replied with venom lacing her tone, "I'm n-not mute. I-I thought you w-were supposed to get s-s-smarter as you get older."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Behind her she heard a mean but rather pretty laugh that immediately drew her attention./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Wow Potter, even your own family doesn't seem to like you." said the musical voice./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose turned her head to suddenly be face to face, or more like face to shoulder, with a tall, dark-skinned older girl. The girl had light topaz-brown eyes that shone from one of the most beautiful faces young Rose had ever seen. Her dark black hair was wound into hundreds of small braids with strands of gold running through them and tiny gold metal hoops accenting a few of the braids. The girl's green school robes that made most students appear like shapeless boxes only seemed to accent the smooth curves of the girl in front of her. This said girl appeared to be moving her full lips, which finally tore Rose out of her awe and pushed her harshly back in to the world of the living./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hello? Are you going to move, firstie?" The girl said her hand on her hip, her foot tapping impatiently./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""S-sorry." Rose choked out, feeling the blood rush to her face./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Using this rather awkward encounter as an excuse to escape her annoying cousin, she darted towards the first empty compartment she could find./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"When she finally was able to sit down, pull her large noise-canceling headphones out of her trunk, and steady herself enough to think and bask in the silence around her, she could not help but ask herself what in emthe buggering hell/em had just happened./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose had always been an odd child, she had known this since she had been able to remember and catalog thoughts. Her mother always had said that that was what made her special, her oddness. Her father had just blamed her mother for her oddness and noted that it seemed like she had gotten nothing from emhis/em side of the family. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose had a perfect, photographic memory and debilitating anxiety. This perfect memory that allowed her to remember every detail of every day along with every smell, every taste, emevery feeling/em led to a perfectly awful recollection of every scary, every othering event that she had ever experience in her short life. This coupled with her anxiety led to a perfectly understandable fear of the world that manifested itself in an uncontrollable stutter and general awkwardness. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"However, for the first time in her life Rose could not help but thank her awfully detailed memory as she was able to emsee that girl/em in every beautiful detail over and over again. Rose didn't entirely understand her fixation on the tall girl, but she knew that this girl was important. Not why or when or how this girl was going to be important, but somewhere in the back filing cabinets of her incredibly large mind, she knew without a doubt this girl was important./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose was abruptly rocketed out of her trance when a pale hand belonging to a boy with a shock of blonde hair covering his rather pointy face, waved in front of her face. The boy's cool blue-grey eyes stared frankly into her own. In his face she saw the fear of rejection that she felt deep within her own heart. She slowly reached up to take off her headphones, allowing the loud noises of the train to filter into her brain./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""H-hello." she said in a hope that it would prompt this odd boy to speak./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Hi-um- sorry to interrupt you. Um- would you mind if I sat with you? A lot of the compartments are full. And well the ones that aren't, weren't exactly- well- welcoming I guess would be the correct word." The boy said as his face geared up, ready for what he seemed to expect as rejection./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Sure." Rose said, rather interested in this peculiar boy./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Oh, wow really? Thank you." said the boy as he dragged in his large trunk and settled into the compartment. "My dad warned me that people might not be very nice, but Mum said that if I was nice to everyone I met, someone would be nice back. Theo, my stepdad, said that my mum was too optimistic for her own good and that I was better off finding an empty compartment or sitting with the Goyle twins or Alessia Zabini. Honestly, I'm really glad I didn't do that though because, well, the Goyle twins are dumber than rocks and Alessia is a third year and honestly she's kind of terrifying in that, emI'm more powerful that you will ever understand/em, kind of way."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Rose realized that this small blonde boy seemed to talk a lot once he got comfortable./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Oh, I almost forgot! My name is Scorpius, but everyone calls me Scorp. What's yours?" This boy, Scorpius, said with more enthusiasm than Rose was used to. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"She noticed that this boy had neglected to tell her his last name and therefore that was enough for her to neglect the use of her own last name as well. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I'm Rose," she whispered, slightly intimidated by this much too friendly boy./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Nice to meet you, Rose! Are you excited for Hogwarts? Do you know what house you want to be in?" With barely enough time for him to draw in a breath, he continued, a large smile on his pointy face, "Both of my dads, well my dad and my stepdad, were in Slytherin but my mum was in Ravenclaw! My cousin, Cecelia, says I'm too nice to be in Slytherin and that I'm probably destined for Hufflepuff, but I don't think so. I don't have enough patience or dedication to much of anything for Hufflepuff I think. I bet I'll be a Ravenclaw like Mum. My dad always says I'm too much like my mum for my own good."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Finally finding her voice Rose responded, "M-my father says the same thing."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The boy perked up at her response./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Well, hey we already have one thing in common! Do you think you'll be in Ravenclaw too?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"Clearing her throat of her remaining nerves she said, "Well both of my parents were in Gryffindor but I'm not much like either of them. I'm not a brave person."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"The excited boy's face immediately dropped to a much more serious expression./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""There is nothing wrong with not being traditionally brave, Rose." Scorpius said, his eyes much wiser than his age would suggest, "Bravery is not all yelling and charging into battle. Bravery is getting up every day with the hope to make that day a good day."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"After saying this, the seriousness in his demeanor melted away as quickly as it had come, the goofy, much too large smile, returning to his face./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""At least that's what Dad says, and Dad usually isn't wrong." The boy said with a tone of finality in his voice./span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I like that," Rose said, a small smile on her lips, "I think you'll do great in Ravenclaw, Scorpius." /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""I think you will too, Rose!" said Scorpius with a large smile, "I think we're going to be best friends and it will be the easiest if we're in the same house. Plus, you seem like a smart girl."/span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"For the first time in Rose's not so long life she felt as though she belonged. This oddly pointy blonde boy might be bossy and way too talkative, but she knew, in the same way she knew that tall girl was important, that this odd boy was also important. Except she knew exactly why he was so important. He was going to be her first ever friend. /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0in;"span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""Ravenclaw then." She said, the small smile on her face becoming so big she felt her cheeks burn. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" ***/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"strongA/N: Hope you all liked it. A small note on story pacing: I intend to just write the most important moments of Rose's life. These moments might span a couple chapters but primarily they will stick to one chapter each. /strong/p