Chapter 35 - Can Gryffindor House Be More Welcoming (Rose)

I was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, minding my own business, as I sat with my friends in a semi-circle of chairs in front of the fireplace. The fire was very low, but still threw enough heat of keep me comfortable in the morning chill. Freddie James was regaling us with what he had been able to learn about the terrible accident suffered by the Witch member of Ravenclaw's Polyjuice challenge in the Sex Tournament. Freddie enjoys spying and had put a lot of effort into this scoop. He was talking excitedly. "This poor Witch has an extra body part, one which normally belongs only to Wizards. She fears it will get in the way of almost anything she attempts with her boyfriend from here on. I tried to imagine possible positions they could use... I couldn't. She may never be able to have children. Apparently, she took bad Polyjuice, which she made herself. I didn't think upper levels could be that stupid. Anyhow, I heard that Doctor Lester volunteered to slice off the, umm new addition. I think..."

"Just shut up, you little twerp! That isn't at all funny. It is tragic. It could have happened to us!"

I recognized what I believed were two sixth-level Gryffindors standing behind us. I was sorry to have laughed. It really wasn't funny. I sort-of recognized the two students, but couldn't remember the name of either.

"Sorry. It is major news. News of a tournament that you upper levels kept secret from us. It may not be funny, but it is interesting."

"You all laughed. You disgust me - all of you! Come Monica, the air is purer over in that corner."

They stomped away from us, pointing at us and jeering. They stopped halfway across the room to explain to three other students.

I felt both bad and falsely accused: we may have giggle; we didn't outright laugh. That was the start of a really mellow morning turning to crap. At that moment, the headmaster's Patronus came through the portal, advanced to right in front of me, and indicated that I must follow. As soon as I entered Headmaster Longbottom's office, he told me that Mum wanted to speak to me and that I should grab his arm. I took a good hold off his arm and almost instantly found myself inside the Hogwarts Pyramid standing right in front of Mum. As soon as I released the headmaster's arm, he was gone.

No "hi dear" or "good to see you again." Mum went straight to "I'm not pleased to learn that my daughter seems to have turned into a mean girl. I fought against mean girls since I was a child."

I opened my mouth to protest, not even knowing of what she spoke, but she was already leading me toward the privacy of two chairs in a far corner of the pyramid.

As I sat, I told Mum that I had no idea what wrong I had committed.

"Concerns have been expressed to me - not by your headmaster, but by others whom your father and I trust. I worry that we gave you too great a head start coming to Hogwarts and that our and the Potters' positions have given you and Freddie James too much power and overly large egos."

"That's not fair. I try to be kind to all. I'm even neutral to most of the students I don't like. I look out for the first levels and for those who are insulted or threatened by bullies. I helped to organize our group to fight the Slytherins who attacked Gryffindors. I've not used a serious curse. I take the least possible action to defend the weak."

"You ruined Hogwarts for Asphodel Longbottom. She is a friend you spent a lot of summer days with. Her parents are among our closest friends. You accused her of snitching on Freddie and turned Gryffindor against her. We talked about this. You agreed to make things right and to help her fit in. She was in a very difficult situation, with her father as headmaster. You made it worse for her. You destroyed a family friend. I've had ample opportunity to observe Asphodel. She's shy, but a sweet and extremely intelligent young Witch. I know she started Hogwarts with a positive attitude."

I didn't believe what I was hearing. Mum didn't usually speak to me like this. She was more upset with me than I could remember.

I assured her. "I did apologize to Asphodel. As I told you before, I was just trying to protect Freddie. I learned almost immediately that Asphodel didn't snitch on Freddie. I told all of the Gryffindors that. I thought they accepted that I was telling the truth when I said that Asphodel had done nothing wrong. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time and the daughter of Headmaster Longbottom."

"But you led the in group and you excluded Asphodel, even though you had been friendly before Hogwarts. The other Gryffindors must have taken that as a sign that you didn't really trust her. You could have done more. You should have done more. You displayed no warmth toward Asphodel. When you harm a good person it becomes a special responsibility to help her and to make her situation right."

"My apology was sincere. I think the gang understood that and knew that Asphodel did nothing wrong. Yes, she's not a part of my close friend group. She's just not and exciting or fun person to be around. She isn't at all into mysteries or spying. She's smart, but she isn't social or adventurous. She's actually dull. I'll bring her into my group."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that. Asphodel left last night. Gbek and Tigrid went with her. They've gone to America. I don't know how two Goblins will manage at a magical school in America. America has no Goblins."

"How can that be. She always complained that her father would never allow her to leave. I can't believe King Gobbledegook allowed his daughter to travel to school in a land with no Goblins."

"She was miserable. Neville had no choice. He is very worried for her safety in America. King Gobbledegook also worries about his daughter's safety, but she was insistent and he finally agreed. He agreed as a temporary experiment. I hope they all survive the experiment. I blame myself. I put you in too entitled a position. I and the Ministry were far too present at Hogwarts this term. I never should have allowed you to go to seid space. There was just way too much favoritism for the Minister's and former Minister's families. I hated that about Draco Malfoy. It has also robbed you of the Hogwarts experience which I had. From now on, all of you will be as normal Hogwarts students as possible. Definitely no travels to other worlds or to seid space. Please work to expand your group to include the friendly, lonely outsiders. It would be a great favor to me. Now I must go apologize again to your headmaster - for so many things."

"I'm sorry I messed up. I didn't mean to. I think you are right about trying to be more of a normal student, but a lot of bad stuff has happened this term. Please don't take may Auror away."

"I wouldn't do that. She also helps to protect the other students, so it's a reasonable and necessary privilege."

Mum Apparated me to the lawn in front of the main entrance to the castle. It was cold enough that I gave Mum a quick hug and then ran to the door. I needed to find Elvis. I badly needed a snog. I was close to tears. I was determined not to cry until Elvis and I were somewhere private. When I entered the Gryffindor Common Room, only Elvis, Freddie James, and Lily remained by the fire. They had skipped breakfast to wait for me. The presence of such good friends dried the beginnings of tears.

"Is everything alright?" Freddie's voice conveyed genuine concern. "That had the flavor of a death in the family."

"Fortunately, no. Mum is unhappy that I made Hogwarts miserable for Asphodel and then abandoned her, even though she didn't snitch on Freddie to her dad. She's left Hogwarts, so have the Goblins. You should expect to hear from your mother. Thanks for waiting for me. Go try to get something to eat. I have to go off to be private with Elvis."

We had 'our' spot in an almost untraveled short side corridor on the third floor. We grabbed a blanket from the sofa and hastened to our spot. I felt calm and warmth return to my soul as Elvis wrapped his arms around me. I felt better still when his tongue flirted with mine. I felt cozy and loved. I did not get super sexy feeling from what was really a super-hot snog. I had begun with too troubled a mind for that to be possible. Also, I wanted a chance to talk to Elvis, before we had to be in our first class of the day.

"This was great, but I need to talk and we haven't a lot of time. How awful do you think I was to Asphodel? Mum thinks I'm a terrible person."

"I'm sure she doesn't think you're terrible. I definitely don't think you were terrible. You were very quick to leap to Freddie's defense. It almost made me jealous. You quickly tried to correct the problem as soon as you realized that she didn't rat Freddie out. You found that our quickly. You apologized and told the gang that you were wrong, before your mum asked you to. Then you apologized again. I don't think anyone in our group still thought Asphodel was a snitch after that. She couldn't get over it. She wasn't comfortable around us. Really, for the past week or so, it has been just her and the Goblins. I know that it wasn't just what you said. She has been totally convinced from the beginning that she couldn't exist with her dad as headmaster. She tried to make herself small and invisible. That limited possible friends. The Goblins were trying to do the same. They started out very friendly, but when the Auror took Gbek's sword, they changed. They felt they were viewed as enemy. It was natural that those who saw themselves as outcasts hung together. We all should have tried harder to be their friends. You weren't alone. You were friendlier to Asphodel and the Goblins than just about anyone else. Their minds weren't in a good place. It's the adults' fault, not yours. You weren't perfect, but you were better than most of us. Hogwarts is mainly a bunch of little cliques within Houses. That's why Maxwell has been so essential to organizing us. The Slytherins just naturally stick together as one big, nasty gang. Until she found the Goblins, Asphodel never had a clique to call her own."

I felt better. A final brief snog and we had to have sprint to make it to our herbology class in the new greenhouse. We were only a minute late. Professor Longbottom pretended not to notice. This class was part herbology and part ancient Wizard history. We were studying the national plant of Scotland: the Scotch thistle, Onopordum acanthium, or as we've named it, the Witches' Guardian. It is called this because the ancient Witch Priestesses weaponized it. They bred common thistles to create the bigger, more rugged, spikier Scotch thistle. It was the first major horticultural achievements of us magical folk. Witches had been experimenting with strange plants for centuries: searching them out, cultivating them, breeding them to change their properties, and propagating those which best suited their needs. There is not a lot written about this - you certainly won't hear a word in your Wizard History course. One reason might be that this is Witch history, not Wizard history. Another reason is that this research and plant development was carried out in secret, largely by solitary Witches who hid from both nonmagical Brits and Wizards. Many Priestesses were involved. Some of those Priestesses left their memories of plant research in the Hogwarts Black Stone. Ginny Weasley discovered some of these memories and steered me to them.

"One direction of the Witches' plant breeding activities was to instill magic - plants which could be affected by spells. Little steps at first, but finally resulting in plants like Devil's Snare and magical a Scotch thistle which could be commanded to stand on guard and bend to inflict its thorns upon unwanted visitors. You each have a potted thistle in front of you. They are excellent specimens, mostly four feet tall or a little over. We are going to begin to practice talking to our thistles. There is no breeze in the greenhouse but think as strongly as you can that you want your thistle to bend toward your left. Visualize it bending as you give the command spell 'bend left'. This will take some time to master. I predict the majority won't master this skill no matter how much you practice. It seems to only work for certain Witches. I've found only one Wizard, apart from myself, who can command a thistle. I guarantee you that these are all magical thistles, not at all the same as the ones you see along a road or in a field. Now, to work..."

My thistle refused to bend. As Professor walked around the greenhouse, checking whether any of us were making any progress and looking for students who weren't even trying, I stopped him. "I'd like to talk to you after class. Actually, Freddie, Elvis, and I all want to talk to you - together."

Professor Longbottom agreed and told us to simply remain in our places at the end of class. The greenhouse was a suitably private space, when a class wasn't in session.

The class filed out of the greenhouse and the three of us stopped in front of Professor Longbottom. Similar to Professor Celine, who had a more relaxed approach in Art Club than in the regular Art class, Professor Longbottom was more relaxed, less intimidating, and more one of us than was Headmaster Longbottom.

"Mum told me that Asphodel has left Hogwarts. I'm very sorry that I accused her of snitching on Freddie to you. I don't even know why I said that, except that I am very protective of Freddie - he's been my best friend as far back as I can remember. Asphodel suddenly appeared within hearing distance of our group, just as Freddie was talking about his plan to investigate the strange light in the corridor. The words just blurted from my mouth. That was wrong; I was wrong - I quickly realized that she hadn't been spying on us at all - just walking up to say 'Hi' and tell the group something. I quickly apologized. I told the group I was wrong. I apologized again to Asphodel and again told the group that she wasn't a snitch, after Mum told me there was a problem. I thought things were fine, or else I would have done more. I was shocked to learn that Asphodel had fled Hogwarts. I didn't want her to leave. I could have made more of an effort to be her friend. I didn't realize how much she was hurting. I'm sure you are very worried about her. I'm very sorry to have caused this worry for you. You had so many problems already and you have always tried to help the three of us and to keep us safe. It's very unfair and it's my fault. I try very hard to avoid this..."

"I don't blame you. This is largely my fault and the fault of the Slytherins. I have been too much the ever-present headmaster this term, and not the approachable friend of the students I have tried to be from the start. Events and responsibilities overtook me and I changed more than I realized. I knew that Asphodel couldn't be a completely normal student in my school. I refused to realize how strongly she believed she couldn't possibly fit in, or be trusted, or have a close friend group, or find a boyfriend. I should have understood my daughter better. I don't blame you because I've learned that if a student believes she can't possibly make friends, then she won't be able to find friends. I was especially surprised - I still don't understand it - when the Goblins left with her. It's hard for a Goblin at a Wizard school, but I thought Tigrid was making a better start than her sister had."

When I mentioned the Auror seizing Gbek's sword, Professor Longbottom replied "Ah, yes. That was both very unfortunate and utterly unforgivable. The Ministry and Mother have caused me problems this term."

I told him that I wanted to help. I would visit Asphodel in America but was certain Mum would not permit this."

"You could write her a letter. And write to Tigrid and Gbek as well. Let them know that they are missed and remembered fondly, assuming that is true."

"It is true!" We all made that reply, in almost identical form. We all wrote letters that night. The Headmaster had assured us that he could guarantee their prompt delivery.