A Rose in Bloom
A Rose in Bloom
Disclaimer: These characters unfortunately do not belong to me (haha, I wish) but to the most talented J.K. Rowling~ so please don't sue me I mean no harmJ
Hermione Granger was sick of life, and most of all she was sick of being 15. Sick of being too young to do anything, to apparate, to go out alone, to stay out late on weekends, to do advanced magic, the list went on. Anything remotely interesting, was forbidden because of her age.
Even at Howarts everything seemed dull. There were days when the very thought of going to the library had thrilled her to near hysterics, and squealing with delight she'd prance of to the library, to sit idly for hours and hours, completely lost in some dusty volume. But now, she was sure she'd read every book in the library or even when she stumbled upon one that didn't seem familiar, she would find her thoughts wondering absently, and every book seemed just like the one before, dull and listless.
And although everything at Hogwarts was seemingly perfect, to Hermione, it seemed to have lost its magic touch. Her life seemed to have an enormous gaping hole and she yearned to find something to fill it, but she just couldn't figure out what.
She just couldn't understand what could be missing, she had wonderful friends who were delightfully fun and always there for her, perfect grades, and loving family, etc. etc. etc. And yet, she wasn't happy. Her mother insisted this restlessness was a direct result of Hermione's teen years, and life from here on out would be an emotional roller coaster. She was positive that Hermione would go from being ecstatically happy, to melodramatic, 'I wish my life was over.' But Hermione ignored these speculations and continued to wonder desperately what she needed to make her life what it had been in recent years, blissfully delightful and content.
Hermione was wondering these exact things at dinner one night, gazing disinterestedly into her plate of mashed potatoes, only half listening to Harry and Ron's heated discussion about the newest kind of candy at Hogsmeade, 'Sickler's Skin Transformers.' They were said to turn your skin inside out for exactly 15 seconds, but it seemed all the kids were too wary to try them.
"I just wonder how they do it, y'know?" Ron questioned Harry excitedly, "I mean, the pure science of it is mind boggling!"
Harry screwed up his face, deep in thought, "Maybe, it's all an illusion. Like, you don't actually turn inside out, you just see yourself that way."
Ron shook his head, " I dunno though, cause the people around you have to see it too, I think it's the real thing Harry, definitely for real. But how do they do it?" He began again. Harry could only shake his head in bewilderment, staring deeply into the candlelight.
"I mean, if someone could just tell me how, I'd be satisfied!" At this point, Ron had been so upset and wrought up in the discussion that he'd flung his hands out sideways, knocking an entire goblet of pumpkin juice down Neville's front. Neville gave a small yelp and shot up from the table, knocking his chair over in the process. "Oops! Sorry Neville." Ron glanced sheepishly at the enormous orange stain blossoming on Neville's robes.
"No problem." Neville smiled good-naturedly, dabbing gingerly at his robes with a napkin. "But, d'you know what I heard about the Sicklers?"
Ron whirled immediately around to face Neville, attention completely focused, "What?"
"Well," Neville piped up eagerly, evidently quite proud to be sharing such juicy information. "I have a cousin who lives in Derbernshire, and they released the Sicklers early there, over the summer, and there was a boy who wanted to be the first to try it, so he did, and it worked and"-
"No joke then huh?" Ron breathed in fascination.
Neville nodded fervently, "And he turned inside out and his eyeballs sucked inward and you could see his blood pumping and everything." Ron stared at him, unblinking, in awe. "Yeah, but the bad thing is, he got stuck."
Ron blinked fiercely, snapping back to attention, "He what?"
"He got stuck." Everything Neville said before had been very fast and breathless, but when he came to this bit, he dropped his voice dramatically, and paused.
"What d'you mean, he got stuck?" Harry pressed.
Neville went on in his stage like whisper, "He just did. The skin wouldn't go back and he froze up like that, eyeballs sucked inward and everything."
This was enough to bring Hermione out of her mashed potatoes. "Neville," she began in her calmest voice, "How reliable is this cousin of yours?"
Neville shook his head ardently, "No! He wasn't lying, it was in the papers and everything."
"Did you see it in the papers?" Hermione went on in her sedate tone.
Neville squirmed, and looked at the floor, "Well…Not really, but he would lie about something like that!" Hermione scoffed.
"Oh, c'mon Hermione, this is serious stuff! I'm sure Neville's cousin wouldn't lie about something like that." Ron stared at her pointedly.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Ron, obviously if something like that happened, they would recall the product, and it would have been all over the news. Besides," She continued reasonably, "There would have been enormous lawsuits, and"-
"I guess she's right," Neville said dejectedly, poking at his pumpkin pie, "Frances does make lot's of stuff up."
Ron glared at Hermione fiercely, enormously agitated that she'd spoiled the dramatic mood. "Leave it up to Hermione to ruin a good story! If I"- But Harry interrupted him quickly, elbowing him in the ribs and pointing towards the teacher's table, Dumbledore was rising out of his seat. Hermione scowled, and crossed her arms across her chest. It was a stupid story anyway, who would believe something about a boy getting stuck inside out, absolutely ridiculous.
As Dumbledore rose from his chair, the clamor of voices immediately died away. Every face turned expectantly, it was rare for him to make an announcement other than at the beginning and end of the term.
He beamed at them jubilantly, his hands clasped behind his back. His crinkly eyes glimmered mischievously and he cleared his throat. "I'm afraid I have some bad news. You all know Professor Duzbyn, our defense against the dark arts teacher had been developing a rather nasty cough in the past few weeks. Unfortunately this nasty cough turned into a rather severe case of nephylephatitis." He paused staring around as if hoping for some sort of reaction. When he received none, he continued. "Although it is nothing too serious, he has been forced to take a leave of absence that will most likely extend far until next year."
This time, there was a definite reaction. A babble of excited voices broke out. Nobody had been fond of Professor Duzbyn. He was said to be almost as old as Hogwarts itself, and it seemed to be a mystery why he was still around. In the past, he'd been rumored to suffer from numerous strange diseases, but after each disease, he remained, if slightly more wrinkled, very much alive. It seemed that with each new illness, people became more and more anxious to see him go. And so yet again, he was taken ill, and yet again, it was not a shock. But the announcement of his leave of absence was definitely something to be excited about. The meant yet another defense against the dark arts teacher would be filling in the tentative position.
Everyone was eager to see Professor Duzbyn go. He was small and old and feeble. Too rickety to stand on his own, he scooted about on a sort of wizard wheelchair that hovered above the ground and was controlled by Professor Duzbyn's wheezing crackle of a voice.
His skin sagged loosely and was covered with large brown spots. His eyes appeared to be lost in the folds of skin, but he still wore a pair of wire rimmed spectacles, that he squinted out of irritably. His head was covered with several delicate wisps as fine as spider's silk. Fred and George used to say if you sneezed too hard, they float right off. He'd often substituted for teacher's at Hogwarts and it was said he only had the job this year, because no one else would take it, and Dumbledore had run out of options.
Dumbledore put up a hand for silence, and hall quieted, eager to discover who would fill Duzbyn's place. "As your substitute for the remainder of the term, will be an old friend of mine, who is taking a leave of absence from his job as an auror. Although he has not yet arrived, he will most certainly be here tomorrow, in time for you morning classes. Thank you, that is all."
The babble of voices erupted once more as the students jostled their way over to the two enormous double doors. Ron was fuming, "That old fox! He won't even tell us the new guy's name, now we're all going to die with anticipation."
Hermione sighed, "Oh Ron, it isn't so bad. We're going to find out tomorrow anyway. You're so impatient!" But as she called good night to her friends and made her way up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, she was aching to know who the new teacher would be too. Maybe, she thought brightly, This new teacher will be what I've been looking for, and fill my life with some excitement again. And as Hermione crawled under the covers and flicked out the light, she hardly knew how right she'd be. ~
