Rose Among the Thorns: The Third Evans Sister
By Jedi Blu, Lady at Large
Standard Disclaimer Found Here: I do not own anything that is not mine.
Italics are thoughts, emphasized words, or letters. Thank you!
NOTE: I'm back. ;-)
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Summer Doldrums—1976
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Rose sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples with a frown. "All right. So when are you going to apologize to Lily?"
Severus had spent the last fifteen minutes explaining what had happened. They were sitting in the rose gardens of Hogwarts, among the more exotically colored purples and blues. "Apologize to Lily? For meddling and making things worse?" he asked, sincerely surprised.
"You called her something terrible, Severus. Very terrible. She was only trying to help, and she's my sister. Please, Severus." Rose put a hand to his arm and looked earnestly up into his eyes. "She came to your defense and she's not even your friend, nor is she in your house. That's saying something about Lily Evans, and I'm proud of her."
"You might well be," he responded, folding his arms and leaning back against the stone bench they rested on. "I'm irritated."
"Now who sounds conceited?" she asked, mimicking his posture. "Just apologize for calling her a mudblood, okay? I promise it won't be too painful. You'll only deflate your ego a bit," she teased, poking him in the ribs with her index finger. He jumped a few inches and scooted out of her reach. "Oh, I forgot you're ticklish." The twinkle in her lovely green eyes made him seriously doubt she had forgotten anything.
He snorted and then reached into his bag and pulled out the exam paper. "Want to see?"
Rose spent the next few minutes quietly studying the essay prompts, raising her eyebrows here and there. "Wow. How do you think you did? Some of these are difficult."
He had to smirk at that. Here she was, only a third year, finding 'some' of the questions difficult. Yes, she was brilliant and probably knew enough to rate an 'A' on the same O.W.L. he had just taken. "I'm hoping for an 'O.'"
"You'll probably get it." She handed the paper back to him with a smile. "And this afternoon you actually have to demonstrate all this wonderful knowledge, right?"
Severus nodded, his eyes not on her but on a clump of blue roses across from them. "I'm sick of Potter, I'm sick of Black and their pranks."
Rose shrugged. "There's not much you can do about them, is there?" She chuckled. "Unless you find a way to get them all expelled in one fell swoop, which I doubt even you, the esteemed Severus Snape, ward of Hogwarts, can accomplish. They're too popular, too rich, too smart, and too tricky."
"But it could be done," Severus muttered. "Remember how they were sneaking out? And Lupin still disappears all the time. I'm keeping track of them, but somehow they manage to sneak around me. Whatever they're doing can't be within school rules, and if I can prove they're out of bounds without incriminating myself...." He became absorbed in his thoughts for the moment.
"It sounds risky. Is it really worth it, Severus? Risking your schooling, your education, and your home for a group of idiots you probably will never have to deal with after graduation? Just let it go, Severus, and let it die down to the school-boy grudge it should be."
He didn't acknowledge her words, and she didn't press for him to. He was under a lot of stress, Rose knew that, and she didn't want to lecture him or give him more to think about. There would be another time to discuss all of this. "C'mon, Severus, it's lunch time."
But one thing was for certain; Severus Snape never would apologize to Lily Evans.
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Rose yawned as she stared out the bedroom window, trying hard not to over-hear Petunia who was across the room and on the phone. The irritating muggle device had been installed upon Petunia's fifteenth birthday, and now the girl spent a great deal of time on the phone with her friends and 'boyfriend.' It was still hard to believe Petunia had managed to get a boyfriend, but Rose had met Ralf McDell and realized he wasn't all that bright. Besides, from the sound of things Petunia was planning a break-up all ready.
Lily was out with friends, seeing a movie or something. Rose's mother was in the yard tending to her beds of (what else?) petunias, lilies, daisies, and rose bushes, while Mr. Evans was at the office. He was a small time investor and a full time family man, so he had spent the majority of the summer with his girls.
Rose's birthday, on the twenty-first of June, had been celebrated with a trip to the theatre for a grand show of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and then there had been a night on the town with ice cream, a lovely Italian restaurant, and a trip to Diagon Alley to obtain a beautiful great-horned owl that had been immediately dubbed Oberon, after the King of the Fairies.
Honestly, though, being fourteen did not feel all that different from being thirteen. Except, of course, this meant moving up a year in school.
There was one change Rose did notice and it was that her wardrobe wasn't quite working the way it should. Her blouses fit a little tighter in the bust, she was missing some of the baby fat at her waist and in her cheeks, and she had actually managed to grow half an inch. She had long ago given up hope of being as tall as either of her sisters; they seemed to have taken all the height genes and left none for her.
There wasn't much to be done about it, though, except buy new clothes. Her parents weren't so cheap as to make her wear Lily's old things, but they did warn her to be careful about the expense.
Finally Petunia hung up the phone and allowed an exasperated sigh to escape her lips. "It looks like I'll have to break up with Ralf. There's an exchange student from the United States that's seen me at a party and wants to ask me out." She smiled and flopped back onto her pillow. "Just think! I'm finally in demand!"
The youngest Evans rolled her eyes and decided it would be best not to comment. She laid back on her own pillow and closed her eyes, wondering if she could block the boredom out until it was time to go back to Hogwarts. There really wasn't much to do. All of her old friends, from pre-Hogwarts days, had no use for her and her only friend from Hogwarts lived at the school in Scotland. So she was at the mercy of her family for entertainment.
That meant only one thing, really. Out of her school trunk came her textbooks, and she set to studying some of those that would carry over to her fourth year at Hogwarts.
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The castle was eerie when there weren't any students around, and it was even worse with most of the staff gone for the summer holidays. Severus was the only person under the age of thirty who stayed on. To his surprise, he found himself occasionally wishing he wasn't so lonely. In years past all he had ever wanted was to be left alone, and now all he wanted was someone to talk to. Oh, the Headmaster wasn't very busy in the summer and so Severus spent a great deal of time on the grounds or inside Hogwarts with Albus Dumbledore. He was progressing very well with his Occlumency lessons, and he looked to Dumbledore the way some would look to a favorite uncle.
Still. A wizard just past a century old was no replacement for someone closer to Severus in age. He actually missed Rose Evans, loathe as he was to admit it. She wasn't around to compare notes with, to show his latest advancement on his potion experiments, or even to make the forbidden sojourn into the forest with him to gather information and ingredients. He couldn't very well tell the Headmaster about these things, though he had a sneaking suspicion that Dumbledore knew very well what he was doing and looked the other way.
When he found the grounds of Hogwarts too stifling he would wander down to Hogsmeade, sometimes on an errand for the school and sometimes of his own violation. Albus Dumbledore was in the habit of giving him odd jobs for a bit of money, and he must've told some of the villagers that Severus could use work now and then. Everyone from the young Madame Rosemerta to the shifty barkeep of the Hog's Head Inn could usually come up with something for him to do worth a sickle or a handful of knuts. Since he was hard-pressed for money Severus did the odd jobs and didn't mind them much.
He ate breakfast in the Slytherin common room, and the House Elves were very obliging on that point. They also made sure to leave him a copy of The Daily Prophet, among other magazines. Severus would page through it, not really wanting to read all the bad news inside but forcing himself through it. The world was going mad outside of Hogwarts, and there were so many attacks on Muggles and half-bloods.
Despite himself he was intrigued by what was going on. Who could be so powerful, after all, as to gather so many followers and still manage to avoid being captured and killed by the Ministry of Magic? What was this Dark Lord hoping to accomplish? The papers made vague references to world domination and killing all non-magical folk, but that didn't make since. For him to have survived for so long, the Dark Lord would be smart enough to have achievable goals and probably very interesting ones.
Not that he agreed with murder or anything. But one had to wonder what exactly was happening on the other side of the line.
Severus was walking across the grounds, headed for the gates and then to Hogsmeade, when a very large owl swooped down almost upon him. The Slytherin boy had just enough time to duck then stumble over a package the owl had dropped. The great beast perched himself on a nearby tree and preened his feathers, keeping an eye on Severus.
There was only one person Severus could think of who would send him anything, and this realization made him kneel quickly to untie the string and tear off the brown paper.
He wasn't disappointed; the package was from Rose Evans. There was a letter in which she told him about her birthday, Petunia's birthday, and a few of the things going on in her world. She also asked him a few questions to help her with her studies, giving him reference titles to look up for her in the library. It was the last few lines that really interested him, though.
"To tell you the truth, Severus, I really miss Hogwarts. It's the only place I can go where I feel like I'm accomplishing anything, and it's the only place where I have a good friend to while away the hours with. My parents really want to meet you, by the way. I wish you could've come with me on the train at the end of the term, or that you'd be there to make the ride back to school with. You probably think I'm silly for saying so, but it would make such a difference to come and go with someone who actually understands me a bit. I really do miss you, Severus Snape, and I hope we have actual fun this coming term.
I've sent you a few things I've picked up over the last few weeks, as Petunia and Lily have dragged me shopping to every reputable (and a few disreputable) shops in London. If you're anywhere near as bored as I am they might come in handy.
I'll see you soon.
-Rose-"
There were plenty of things to keep him busy in that little box. Rose had sent him something called a Rubix Cube, a jigsaw puzzle that changed pictures on you while you were putting it together, a book full of Irish riddles, a dartboard, a small 'travel-sized' wizarding chess set, a book written by a muggle on the subject of werewolves, and a box labeled 'The Experimental Candy, Berty Bott's Every Flavor Bean.' There was also a small postcard at the bottom of the box, addressed to Rose with a tiny note saying, "Give your reply to Oberon, just write it on this, I want to know if he got everything to you."
In a moment one of the darts was transfigured into a pen.
"Received the package, Oberon did his job. Place is damn tedious when it's empty. Will meet you at train station.
-Severus-"
He held the card up, and the owl swooped low once again to scoop up the piece of paper and hurry home to his mistress. Severus smirked a bit as he gathered his things to take back to his dormitory. He had no doubt that the note would be received quickly, and that Rose would be very much irritated by the brevity of his response. He was sure he'd hear from her again, and next time he just might pen a few more lines to her. After all, she wasn't all that bad for a girl and a fourth year.
Severus actually liked her.
More so than he had the year previous.
But he was still kicking himself over what had gone on in February. He had never felt so stupid in his life, leaving her anonymous notes and flowers. It had been hard to talk himself into it, and even harder to talk himself out of confronting her. But, for Merlin's sake, she had only been thirteen years old. What did he know about any of that stuff anyway?
It didn't matter. She was his friend, and he could live with that. Severus was used to having only the second-best of everything.
Besides, once school started up he wouldn't have so much time to think about such dribble.
In the meantime, he would enjoy his Rubix Cube. Or try to…while he did eventually solve the mind-toy he had to cheat, using a bit of magic to make it reverse itself back to solid colors.
Brief Note: The Rubix Cube was 'born' in 1974 in Budapest, Hungary, the patent was through all the nitty-gritty in 1975, but it wasn't until 1977 that the first prototypes were handed out to big-time investors. Rose was very lucky to get a hold of one so early, and it was because of her father that she had one. Peter Evans was given one of the earliest prototypes so as to be persuaded into investing his money, and the money of a few friends, in the venture. Fortunately for Mr. Evans, the Rubix Cube would make a great deal of money for him in the future. Unfortunately for Mr. Evans, he would not be alive to enjoy the profits of the amazing little brain-toy.
NOTE: All responses to reviews will be posted in the next chapter, posted at the same time as this chapter. :-) I'm so good to you guys!
-JB-