Rose, Fred and George were sitting awkwardly in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop. Rose glanced round at the tacky and very frilly covered decorations. The windows were steamed up and they were sitting at a very gaudy table over in the corner at the back of the room. Rose looked down at the lacy napkin that was positioned in front of her and the garish china bowl that had sugar in and the three china cups and saucers that were perfectly matching. As she surveyed round the shop, she noticed it was full of couples who were holding hands and she suddenly felt very out of place with both Fred and George. Rose watched as Madam Puddifoot struggled to get round the tables and would occasionally bump into people sat down trying to get past.
"What can I get you?" Madam Puddifoot said smiling at them, she was a very stout woman, and her hair was very pristine in a tight bun above her head. Rose noticed that she was wearing bright pink florals and could have almost blended into the surroundings if it hadn't been for how dark her hair was. Rose drew her attention back to the twins who were both looking gormlessly at the menu and now appeared to be struggling to find something to drink.
"Can we have two earl grey tea and one flowering tea please," Rose said turning her attention to the menu and then to Madam Puddifoot, who in return smiled at her and with a swish of her wand three cups were filled on the table.
"Thanks," Rose and twins mumbled at the same time and watched as Madam Puddifoot bustled through the tables and greeted another couple who had walked through the door the sound of the bell breaking the awkward silence that had appeared between the table.
Rose silently watched the twins looking uncomfortable at this awfully girly environment and it was very clear that the twins had never taken a girl out on a date, let alone be in an awkward triad of a date. Rose could see in her peripheral vision past the twins that the couple behind them had started snogging and Rose had to supress a giggle and take a sip of her drink to try and hide it.
"So, what do you think of this place?" George asked, delicately trying to pick up his cup of which the handles were too small, as Fred picked up the frilly napkin – grimaced and quickly put it down.
"It's erm," Rose paused for a moment taking in another glance of her environment and having a long pause before she ended the sentence with, "nice." Rose took another sip of tea and asked, "what do you think?"
"Errr," George started to say and glanced over towards his brother for any form of support.
Fred then finished the sentence with, "it's very pink and flowery," which George nodded in agreement.
"So, what you are telling me is that you haven't spent other Hogsmeade weekends sat in here with Lee?" Rose chuckled trying to break the tension and awkwardness of this place and both the twins chuckled at her comment.
"Can't say pink and floral is Lee's thing," Fred said.
"Or really mine," George said, and Fred nodded.
"We just really wanted to try and take you somewhere romantic and Bill had mentioned previously that he would always take girls here and we thought," George didn't quite finish the sentence as he trailed off and quickly took a sip of his tea.
"This is silly," Rose laughed, "why are we all so nervous? And so awkward!" Rose now lowered her voice, "I mean we hang out all the time and we've kissed plenty."
Fred chuckled, "and what an excellent kisser you are," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.
"I will agree with Freddie there," George said smirking, "and you have a great bum!"
Rose rolled her eyes and laughed, she reached her hands across the table and took their hands and gave them a nice big squeeze and continued holding their hands for a few moments, "Come on," she told them, "how about we finish our drinks and get out of this awkward place and you can show me around Zonkos." Rose wasn't at all surprised when the twins face's lit up with excitement and they both nodded – all three of them releasing their hands and quickly drinking their tea. Once they had all finished, both Fred and George made their way to the counter to pay as Rose had popped into the restroom.
"She knows the way to our hearts Georgie," Fred told his brother quietly, "I think I'm in love."
"Me too Fred," George said, "how much trouble do you think we will be in when mum finds out?"
Rose was relieved by the end of their date things had gone a lot smoother, both Fred and George were more relaxed around her, and she loved every minute of their time together. They had gone into great detail about the different products Zonkos had and it was very clear that they had a true passion about jokes. She could easily tell why they wanted to open a joke shop so badly and she knew they would be brilliant at it. They had taken her to go see the Shrieking Shack and had teased her about it being haunted. Rose was so happy that could burst, the twins had this amazing ability to make her feel that she was at home in their company – for the first time in her life she felt love.
-x-
A few months had passed, and it was now gearing up for Christmas holidays. Rose had been trouble sleeping and found that most of her nights were now restless, she hadn't screamed herself awake but she would wake up in a pool of sweat. Her sleep filled with a mixture of dreams that appeared to be memories from what she assumed was her childhood as she wasn't necessarily sure if these were real or just ones that she had maybe made up. The other nights were filled of nightmares of cloaked hooded figures that she knew weren't dementors but felt much scarier and dangerous. They would give out warnings of 'the dark Lord will rise again, a faithful servant will be returned and he will come for you.' Rose was absolutely exhausted and had to be nudged by Hermonie multiple times over breakfast to stay awake as one point she had almost fallen asleep and would have landed headfirst into a bowl of cereal if Hermonie hadn't.
"Come on love," Fred said wrapping his arm around her as George took her books, "lets get you to divination and then you can have a right proper sleep in class."
"Yeah, I bet Trelawney wont even notice." George laughed, "I don't even think she can see in those glasses she wears."
Rose begrudgingly allowed Fred to direct her towards the classroom as she stifled a yawn, "so what's keeping you up?" Fred asked, "don't tell me you're having dreams of two devilishly handsome red heads?"
Rose chuckled, "that's exactly it!" She said and the twins smiled, "Percy and Ron – I just can't stop thinking of them."
Rose laughed at them, and the twins faked shock hurt, "cheeky," they both said at the same time smiling at her as they went into the classroom. George placed Rose's books on her usual table where she would be sat with Katie and Angelina that was positioned a few tables away from the twins and Lee Jordan.
"Padfoot," James said as he came from the doorway, "Rosie needs her sleep, plus we need to go see Moony." Rose looked over towards her dad who was now picking her up from a lap that she had been on. Rose snuggled into her dad and looked to see the person she had just been taken from. "Goodnight little one, I will see you in the morning." James said, passing her over to Lily.
Rose looked between Sirius and James and watched as Sirius turned into a black dog and James kissed both Lily and Rose and walked out of the door. Rose watched from her mother's arms James transforming into a stag.
-x-
"Rose," Angelina nudged her snapping her awake from her dream, she looked up and saw Angelia and Katie staring at her, "if you're not careful Professor Trelawney will see you falling asleep." Angelina whispered to her.
Rose could see in the corner of the room Fred and George looking over in her direction. They looked concerned over Rose's reaction, this dream that Rose had shook her to the core. She could feel her blood turning cold and she felt utterly panicked. It must have been obvious now that something was wrong as Angelina and Katie were looking scared and the twins and Lee Jordan had stopped mucking about and all three of them were watching her intently.
"Rose," Katie said looking at her, placing a hand on her arm, "are you okay? You look really pale."
Rose didn't say anything, all she could think about was the names Padfoot and Moony. She had seen Sirius Black turn into a dog and what from what she thought she had only thought the dog had been a pet. She recognised him so clearly and she could see the wanted poster in her mind. It had definitely been him. This had not been a childhood pet that she remembered from her first flashback, but if the dog was Sirius Black then why hadn't it killed her?
"Professor Trelawney," Angelina said raising her hand trying to get the attention of the teacher, "something seems wrong with Rose."
Rose had managed to snap herself out of her thoughts by the time Professor Trelawney had made her way over, "Are you okay my dear?" She asked, her voice dreamily but filled with concerned, "you look awfully peaky. Let's see what the cups say," she said taking hold of Rose's cup and looking down at it. It was very clear now that Professor Trelawney hadn't even noticed Rose had fallen asleep in class.
"Professor, I don't feel well –" Rose started,
"I can see that my dear," Professor Trelawney had gasped, "you are in grave danger. Theres a grim!" She was practically shouting and Rose snatched her cup from the professor's grasp and looked down at it and there was a symbol of a large, black, menacing, spectral dog. "The omen of death," she continued moving backwards and sitting on a chair, her hand flung over her head. Rose tried to brush this to the back of her mind, she had known that Harry had a similar reading not so long ago.
Professor Trelawney continued talking, "there is another warning too, there is a skull, and this means great dangers are ahead of you, my dear you are going to have a troubled life."
Rose heard the classroom gasp, it was very clear that a few people in the room took divination very seriously and now have got her pegged to die a very painful death just like Harry had been predicted.
"Professor, please may I be excused?" Rose said quickly taking her bag, "I feel like I'm going to be sick."
Rose didn't wait for a response as she walked out of the door, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the classroom. She needed to get answers, she needed to go to the one place where she could.
Rose was so grateful that by the time she arrived outside the classroom that the class had ended, and people were now leaving to go to the Great Hall for lunch. Rose smiled at the first years leaving the classroom as she squeezed her way through them to get inside of the classroom. "Excuse me professor," Rose said causing Professor Lupin to look up from the desk, he gave her a small smile, "do you have a moment to talk?" Rose's eyes trailed down quickly and saw that he was looking at the map. "Why do you have Harry's map?"
"So, you're the reason why Harry got this map?" Professor Lupin said getting his hand and tapping the parchment, "mischief managed." Rose chose not to say anything to this and stood there in silence watching Professor Lupin stand up and position himself, so he was perched on the front of the desk. "We will discuss this matter later, what is it you wish to speak to me about?"
Rose took a deep breath, "you know how you told me that you were really close with my parents," Rose said, and Professor Lupin nodded encouragingly at her for to continue. "Who was Padfoot?" The moment those words left her mouth she saw his face fall and he looked panicked with what to tell her, "And Moony." Rose quickly added in and before Professor Lupin even had a chance to try and explain anything she added in, "And why are their names on the map?"
-x-x-x-x
AN: I know I'm not necessarily following the correct time line with a lot of stuff but this all fits in better with my version. Thanks to those who have messaged me too its always nice to get messages and reviews etc :)
