Chapter 19
"Ouch!"
Lily's eyes filled with tears. Professor Sprout, seeing the disturbance, bustled over.
"Now now, move aside. What have we got here, then?"
She took Lily's pale hand in her own earth-covered one and raised it up, examining the set of vicious teeth marks that were oozing droplets of blood onto Lily's skin. She shook her head regretfully.
"Oh, dear me, I knew we should have moved it to Greenhouse 3 last week. I think you'd better go to the hospital wing, lovie. Venomous Tentacula bites can be nasty things."
Lily nodded, and wiped her eyes with her free hand. Professor Sprout smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry dearie, you'll be fine. Now, Miss Wattcheon, will you take Miss Evans to the hospital wing?"
Shonelle nodded and moved forward. Professor Sprout handed Lily a large handkerchief, which she wrapped carefully around the now yellow-tinged bite. As the two girls left for the castle, Professor Sprout gingerly picked up the offending plant and put it on a higher shelf, and the rest of the class returned to the Quivering Peonies they'd been pruning. Roseline grinned as she caught sight of James' distraught face through the crowd, before she turned back to her own tray.
The bell rang at the end of class and everyone put away the pruning shears with a collective sight of relief.
"Don't forget now, read chapter sixteen tonight," called Professor Sprout as they moved as one towards the door. Once they were outside, they spread out a bit, joining up in twos and threes as they headed towards the castle. Roseline fell into step with Cennia and Daniea, but when they reached the Entrance Hall Roseline turned away from the crowd.
"We'll see you later, Ro!" called Cennia as they went into the Great Hall. Roseline waved in reply, before turning down the corridor that led to the Hospital Wing.
She had just turned the last corner when she walked right into someone.
"Oh- sorry," she said, stepping back to see who it was. Snape scowled at her.
"Watch where you're going, mudblood," he spat. "Don't think I'm going to waste any more time on you. You're more trouble then you're worth, with your stupid guard dog of a boyfriend, Black, out to protect your name if you're ever in danger." He sneered. "You may be safe for the moment, but it won't last long if you don't get out of my way." His hand moved to his wand and Roseline dodged into the Hospital Wing. She frowned in thought as she walked. Something about Snape's words sounded meaningful to her in some way.
"Hi Ro!"
Roseline looked up and smiled when she caught sight of Lily, who was having her hand bandaged by Madam Pomfrey.
"Hey," said Roseline, going over to her. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," said Lily. "Madam Pomfrey says I can go now, but I just have to come and get a fresh dressing for a few days."
Madam Pomfrey tied up the bandage and put Lily's hand down.
"You can go now, Miss Evans, but don't forget to come back tomorrow. I want to keep an eye on that."
Lily nodded and the two of them left the room together.
"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Lily after a few minutes of silence.
Roseline shrugged. "Nothing much. I met Snape when I was on my way down though, and some of the stuff he said to me stuck in my mind."
"What did he say?"
"He said I was more trouble than I was worth, and that he wasn't going to waste any more time on me, because Sirius was always there to protect me, or something."
Lily frowned. "That's weird. But oh yeah, I forgot to ask you earlier. What happened last night after I went to bed? Remus and James seem really annoyed this morning. You know anything about it?"
Roseline gave a wry smile. "They're probably annoyed at me."
She related the last night's events to Lily including the letter she received, but not the letter she sent.
As she finished, realisation dawned on Lily's face. "Ro! They were telling the truth! What Snape said, he said he wasn't going to try and get you again because he got into trouble with Sirius because of it! That must be it!"
Roseline's brow furrowed in concentration.
"I suppose it would make sense....." she said slowly.
"Of course it makes sense!" Lily stopped and turned to face her. "You know what you should do? Write back to Sirius. Tell him you're sorry. You have to."
"I might....."
"Oh come on, Ro, do it. You'll regret it if you don't."
Roseline shrugged. The last bit was true.
"All right then. I'll do it tonight."
Lily smiled. "That's my girl. I'll see you later."
"Where are you going?"
Lily looked at her like she was crazy. "The library of course! The OWLs aren't that far away, you know!"
Roseline slapped a hand to her forehead. "Shoot! I haven't even started on my homework, and there's a load due tomorrow! I need to go. See you later Lils!"
Lily waved over her shoulder and disappeared into the library. Roseline hurried back to the common room, all thoughts of Sirius driven from her mind as she sat down with the mountain of books and got to work.
As the night wore on, Roseline was dimly aware of people leaving for bed, but she kept working despite her tiredness. She was only halfway through her work.
No time for sleep, she thought grimly, gritting her teeth as she reached for the next book.
At half three in the morning she finally put down her quill. She was exhausted. She didn't have the energy to even close her books, let alone bring them up to her dormitory. She laid her head down on her arms and closed her eyes.........
"Roseline!"
The voice sounded uncomfortably loud in her skull. No, she thought, go away. Leave me alone.
"Roseline!"
Someone was shaking her shoulder.
"Hmm?" She opened her eyes slowly, squinting in the bright light. "What?"
"Roseline, come on, Charms starts in ten minutes!"
Roseline sat up quickly, shielding her eyes as the room came into focus. Lily was standing beside her.
"You coming, Ro?" called Daniea from the portrait hole.
"Yeah, just give me a sec." Roseline grabbed her books, throwing them pell-mell into her bag. She chucked her quill in afterwards and swung her bag onto her shoulder.
"Okay, I'm ready."
The day was a hard one. Roseline was behind in most classes, not having done any practise or revision. Cennia helped her out, but by the end of the day they were all exhausted, and with another mountain of homework.
"Stupid OWLs," grumbled Cennia, dumping her bag unceremoniously on the floor and collapsing into an armchair. "Who cares anyway?"
"I do," replied Lily without looking up from 'Advanced Transfiguration'. "OWLs are really important!"
"For what? Its not like they affect our later lives, or anything. That's just NEWTs."
"Yeah, but OWLs are practise for the NEWTs," said Roseline resignedly. "Without practise, we wouldn't have a hope in hell."
Cennia shrugged and picked up a grubby piece of parchment. "All right, you win. I'll work."
Roseline grinned and sat down opposite her. After a few minutes of silent study, though, Cennia was fed up.
"Oh, I give up. I don't care. Screw the NEWTs, I wanna be FREE!" She threw the parchment to the floor and jumped to her feet, grabbing a cushion. "Who's up for a pillowfight!"
James sneaked up behind her and whacked her with a cushion, knocking her over.
"I am!"
Cennia scrambled to her feet. "You're going to pay for that one, Potter!"
"Oh yeah?"
A few minutes of feather hailstorm later, though, Lily decided that enough was enough.
"Cut it out!" She screeched.
The movement stopped, and the feathers drifted gently to the floor. The culprits stood shamefaced in the middle. The two ringleaders, plus everyone who had joined in, mainly to get revenge for a careless pillow to the face. Cennia, James, Remus, Roseline, Peter, Chassie, Ellen, and a few others.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves," Lily began.
"Aw, Lils, not a lecture!"
Lily glared at James who visibly wilted and fell silent.
"Get it cleared up, and then QUIET."
A smile tugged the corners of her mouth.
"What do you think weekends are for?"
Roseline flopped down on her bed, lighting her bedside candle with a wave of her wand. Most of the other girls were still downstairs, but she had a letter to write, and wanted some peace so she could think. She picked up her quill.
Dear Sirius,
I want you to know that I'm sorry. I found out the truth of what really happened, and I owe you an apology. I still think you might have taken it a bit too far, but I know you did it for me and I can't complain about that! I hope you will accept this apology, because I miss you.
Love Roseline.
Satisfied, Roseline folded up the letter and put it in an envelope, writing the name on the front before sealing it. She looked around and frowned, Cosmo was nowhere to be seen.
Oh well, she thought, I'll send it tomorrow.
She hid the envelope in her trunk. "Nox," she said, and closed the door behind her.
Roseline woke up early the next morning. The room was bathed in sunlight and the other girls were still asleep. She dressed quickly, then picked up the letter and went to the owlery.
Cosmo had arrived back, and once he judged she had stroked him enough he was perfectly happy to deliver the letter. Roseline watched him go, then headed down for breakfast.
Roseline's mind was boggling as she packed up her things after Arithmancy later that day. Professor Vulpez had given them a very long lecture about the importance of the OWLs, and a ton of homework. As she left the room she was swallowed up in the bustle of the corridor. Snatches of conversation came from all directions.
"Yeah, 150 to 20 on home ground...."
"That Transfiguration work was really hard........"
"Idiot Jeremy, he's after dissolving his cauldron again....."
"Yeah, I'm sending one to Jack and Graham......."
"Oh my God, are you? Graham's so ugly. I'm sending one to Daniel..........."
"Oooh, I can't wait..........."
Oh yeah, Roseline thought, of course. It's Valentine's Day tomorrow. I'd forgotten.......
"Hey, Ro, over here!"
"Hey Cennia!"
"Come on, let's go get lunch while we can. We've got loads of work to do, we won't get much free time today, not even to eat!"
"Yeah, I know. I'm starving!"
A/N: I am soooooooooo sorry I haven't updated sooner! I've been really really busy, but hopefully I'll be quicker next time. As always, please read and review!
Thanks to my wonderful reviewers:
HermoineGirl03
TearsofBlood24
Badmoony
You guys rule!
