October was almost at an end. Harry had received an odd parcel during breakfast one morning and Hermione told Rose in a whisper in their next Astronomy lesson that he'd been made Gryffindor seeker after a crazy stunt at the Gryffindors' first flying lesson. Hermione sounded highly disapproving but Rose thought it was brilliant. She hadn't run into Draco in the piano room again, although she noticed he didn't glare at her quite as much when she walked into Charms anymore, and in the lesson just after their first meeting Susan had elbowed her in the ribs.

"Ow, what is it?" Rose asked in a whisper, taking her eyes off Professor Flitwick for a moment

"Malfoy's watching you," Susan replied, giving a subtle nod of her head across the room. Rose snuck a glance and saw that it was true. While it wasn't exactly a friendly look Draco was indeed watching her from across the classroom. He caught her eye for a second and then quickly looked away.

How strange.

But now it was Halloween and Rose was absolutely giddy with excitement.

"Just wait 'til you see the Great Hall," Cedric said. He'd become somewhat of Rose's mentor over the past month, helping her out with homework and helping her find her way around when she got lost every now and then, "It's always decorated amazingly!"

The two of them were headed up from the common room to the Great Hall for the feast along with the rest of the hufflepuffs. Everyone was buzzing with excitement. Rose realized that she needed the restroom. What bad timing.

"I'll be right there." Rose said, breaking off from the group and heading for the girls' room nearby. She pushed the door open and was shocked to hear the sound of someone sniffling in the end stall.

Rose finished washing her hands and realized the person was still there. She walked over to the stall and knocked lightly on the door.

"Hello?" She asked in an awkward voice.

"Go away…" said the girl in the stall. It was Hermione's voice.

"Hermione? It's Rose. You okay?"

The stall lock clicked and the door opened. Hermione stared at Rose with tearful eyes. Rose frowned. She hated when friends were upset.

"No," Hermione sniffled.

"What happened?" Rose asked.

"It's that absolute git, Ron Weasley," Hermione replied. "He made fun of me after Charms and then he said I don't have any friends. All I did was try and help him get his levitation spell right."

"Don't let him get to you like that," Rose admonished, "he's not worth it."

Hermione looked down at her feet, eyes still full of tears.

"Oh come on, Hermione. Listen, why don't you come down to the feast? A third year in my house told me that the Great Hall is going to be amazing."

Hermione shook her head, "No. I don't think I will. I just want to be alone. Thanks anyway, Rose."

"But-" Rose began, but before she could get in another word Hermione had retreated back into the stall and shut the door, locking it once more.

Realizing that she was beaten, Rose heaved a sigh and turned to leave the bathroom, leaving a still sniffling Hermione behind her.

She made her way to the Great Hall, still slightly worried about her friend but once she entered the Hall she was far too distracted to worry about much of anything.

Cedric had been right: this was amazing. There were thousands of live bats fluttering around the star-dotted sky that was shown on the enchanted ceiling. Giant jack-'o-lanterns stood in each corner. Rose looked all around as she made her way to the Hufflepuff table, (although she did pause for a moment to glare at the back of Ron's head as she passed the Gryffindor table.) She plopped herself into a seat between Cedric and Susan.

"You weren't kidding. This is awesome!" Rose told Cedric as the feast appeared suddenly in the middle of the table. Excellent. She was starving. Rose helped herself to chicken and a baked potato but just as she was cutting into her chicken a terrified looking Professor Quirrell came bursting into the Hall. Rose, along with everyone else in the Hall, turned to look at him.

"Troll! In the dungeons!" he screamed. "Just thought you ought to know." And he sank to the floor in a dead faint.

There was instant pandemonium, and it took several firecrackers fired from Dumbledore's wand to restore order.

"Prefects," he called, "will lead their houses back to their common rooms at once. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons."

Annie and the other prefects took control at once. "First-years in front please. Everyone move quickly and calmly, and keep your eyes open."

It wasn't until they were back in the common room that Rose remembered that Hermione hadn't been at the feast. She quickly tried to sneak back out of the hidden barrel door and go check on her friend but Annie caught her and sent her back to her seat.

Food was sent and they finished the feast in their common room. At least most of them did. Rose sat alone in the corner, not eating anything and worrying about Hermione. She didn't sleep well that night, she was disturbed by horrible nightmares.

She rushed to breakfast the next morning and stopped by the Gryffindor table. Hermione was fine; Rose found her in a very odd seat between Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Rose ignored this for the moment and tapped Hermione on the shoulder.

"Oh, hey there, Rose," Hermione greeted her.

"Hey. I'm glad you're alright after last night. Guess you didn't run into the troll?" Rose replied.

"Actually…I did," Hermione said. "Harry and Ron came and found me. They saved my life."

Rose looked impressed, "Nice one, guys," she said.

"Thanks, Roselynn," Harry answered. "But it was all dumb luck, really."

"Hey, I did a great levitation spell to knock that thing out!" Ron objected.

"Yeah, because you were lucky," Harry retorted smugly. Ron gave his friend a playful shove. Rose chuckled and then looked at Harry.

"My friends call me Rose, and any friend of Hermione's is a friend of mine."

Harry smiled. "Alright then, Rose, see you around," Harry answered. Rose waved to the three and then made her way to the Hufflepuff table and began piling eggs and sausages on her plate. Now that she knew her friend was safe, she was ravenous, having hardly eaten any dinner the previous day.

Charms class was that morning and Rose noticed that Draco was watching her again. Of course she only spotted this because she was watching him, too. He hadn't said a word to her since the piano room encounter which had left her feeling confused and slightly hurt. She'd thought that maybe they'd be able to be friends.

She tried hard to focus on the lesson but she kept getting distracted, although she did manage a half-decent levitation charm when they went back for a review.

When the bell rang, the class gathered their stuff and headed towards the door, all talking as usual. In all the kerbubble nobody noticed when Draco ended up walking beside Rose. She was just wondering if it was intentional or not when he suddenly spoke, his voice low to make sure nobody else could hear.

"Tonight. After dinner."

Rose knew exactly what he was talking about but before she could even answer Draco had sped up and walked out of the classroom.

Rose spent the rest of the day wondering whether or not she should go and meet Draco. It was odd to think he'd even ask. Did he want to be friends or not? It was all so confusing. Susan noticed her preoccupation as the two of them headed for dinner that evening.

"Something on your mind, Rose?" She asked.

"Sorta," Rose answered.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. Thanks anyway."

As Rose ate her dinner, she kept tossing covert glances at the Slytherin table. She had to make her choice, soon.

By the time she'd finished her treacle tart she knew she was going to go to the piano room.

"I'll catch you later, Susan," she said as they left the Great Hall.

"Where are you off to?"

"I just fancy a walk."

"Alright, later then."

Susan headed for the common room and Rose waited until she was out of sight before she began climbing the staircases and heading for the piano room.

She got there first and sat down on the bench, playing as she waited. Her music was slow and light today. Something to calm her nerves.

She was just starting to wonder if she'd been stood up when the door opened and Draco walked in, looking slightly guilty for some reason.

"Hey," he said awkwardly, joining her at the bench.

"Hi," Rose replied, just as awkwardly.

She stopped her playing and allowed Draco to take over. His song was slightly fast and bouncy today.

"So, where do your friends think you are?" Draco asked as he played.

"On a walk. Yours?"

"At the library."

Rose sighed and began to play another of their duets, adding to his song with a happy sounding melody of her own. After a few moments she decided to try another stab at conversation.

"Some Halloween wasn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah, pretty crazy," Draco answered.

"Wonder how it got in?"

"Who knows. Probably someone's idea of a joke."

The two of them continued playing for a while before Rose stopped suddenly. Draco paused as well, glancing over at her.

"What?" he asked.

"Umm…it's just–" Rose started fiddling with her dragon necklace nervously "-I was wondering. Are we friends or not?"

Draco didn't say anything for a few minutes. He looked just as awkward as she did.

"I…guess we are," he answered, "but only here."

"Why?"

"It's..complicated."

Draco started to play again and Rose took that as a cue that the conversation was over.

Later that night Rose laid awake staring at the canopy of her four-poster and wondered. Wondered about how to handle this. Could she really be friends with Draco if he was going to be so secretive about it? The answer was yes, but Rose couldn't explain why, even to herself. Perhaps in time she could change Draco's mind about the whole secrecy thing. She also wondered what was so complicated. Why couldn't two people just be friends?

Rose eventually got tired enough that she fell into a very confused sleep.