Rook felt rejuvenated after lunch, and headed to greenhouses for her double Herbology lesson. She would have been optimistic about this, except she was to take Herbology with the fourth year Slytherin class.
Granted, she would not be dealing with them all on her own. The fourth year Hufflepuffs would be among them, and Rook had to hope that they, at least, would be friendly.
Too soon, Rook's anxieties were proven justified when two Slytherins came up behind her on her way to the greenhouses, one of them shoving her roughly as he passed. Rook lost her balance and fell forward onto the ground, which was still mostly muddy from the previous night's heavy rainfall.
"Sorry," said the boy who pushed her, stifling laughter. The girl with him laughed openly, however, and she looked back to watch Rook get to her feet and try to brush the mud off her robes. Rook had hardly been upright for more than a second, however, when another boy came up behind her and "accidentally" knocked her over once more.
They were all laughing now, hurrying ahead to the greenhouse, and talking amongst themselves. It was no mystery what about.
"Hey, are you all right?"
A heavyset girl with very long hair in a ponytail was kneeling beside Rook, the tip of her ponytail lying upon the muddy ground.
"Y-your hair," Rook muttered.
"Never mind it; it gets everywhere," said the girl dismissively. "Here, let me help you."
The girl easily lifted Rook to her feet with almost no help from Rook herself, and Rook marveled at the girl's strength. Another girl had joined them at this point, panting slightly. "Is she okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine," Rook assured them both. "Thank you. I'm just embarrassed, honestly."
"'Embarrassed'?" the first girl repeated. "YOU'RE not the one who should be embarrassed!" The second girl nodded in agreement.
"Walk with us," said the second girl insistently.
Rook gladly accompanied the two (who Rook assumed to be Hufflepuffs) to the greenhouse.
"I'm Max—Maxine," the burly girl introduced herself. "This is my friend Tamsin."
"Girlfriend, actually," Tamsin corrected, a hint of pride in her tone, causing Maxine to blush and smile bashfully. Rook smiled as well.
"I'm Rook. I'm… new."
Tamsin laughed. "We noticed. It's odd to have Herbology with a Gryffindor! You are headed to our class, aren't you?"
Rook nodded. "You're fourth years, right?"
"Aren't you?"
Before Rook could answer, they had arrived at the greenhouse and the professor interrupted with instructions to gather around outside greenhouse four and wait for her there.
"I want your utmost attention and cooperation this lesson," the professor spoke warningly. "Ah, Miss Rook… I forgot you were starting today! My name is Professor Sprout. Today's lesson will be a delicate one, so I do hope that you stay close to Miss O'Flaherty and Miss Applebee, and follow their example."
"That's us," muttered Tasmin, as the three walked toward greenhouse four. "I wonder what we're doing?"
Rook peered into the greenhouse, noting nervously that there was much more movement within the building than she had expected.
"Before we go inside, I want to make it absolutely clear that I will not tolerate any monkey business this lesson. We are having lessons in greenhouse four today because Professor Snape is in need of a fresh batch of shrivelfigs and this is the only place I had room for them. We will not be working with any other plants, is that clear? We will be staying in the corner with the shrivelfigs. Anyone who wanders off, talks while I'm talking, or messes around today will be given detention and will have to wait out the remainder of the lesson outside."
The students followed Professor Sprout into the greenhouse and to a corner where several pots full of soil sat awaiting them. Professor Sprout then proceeded to demonstrate the Herbivicus Charm, a charm used to rapidly increase the growth rate of plants. As they watched, a shrivelfig plant sprang out of the soil, apparently reaching full maturity before their eyes. Rook tried to focus her full attention on Professor Sprout, but kept getting distracted by the Slytherins who had passed her earlier. They said nothing, so as not to attract the attention of Professor Sprout, but they continually looked in her direction with mocking and menacing expressions. Max helpfully positioned herself so as to obstruct the view between Rook and the Slytherins, shooting them her own mean look in kind.
Once the class was busy practicing the Herbivicus Charm on a small batch of potted daisies, the students began to talk quietly amongst themselves. Rook was grateful for the opportunity to get to know Max and Tamsin better. Tamsin was muggle-born and they bonded over their favorite movies. She and Max had apparently started dating at the end of the previous school year, and had spent much of the summer watching muggle movies together.
"Tams says I always laugh at the wrong parts," Max shared, giggling as she aimed a haphazard Herbivicus charm at her daisy, causing it to shoot out of the soil and wither almost instantaneously.
Tamsin rolled her eyes. "You should have seen the looks she got in the theater. And she's always too busy asking me questions about the movie to actually watch it!"
The girls were just as interested in her, and asked her questions about Texas, her family and who she had met at Hogwarts thus far. Rook avoided mentioning her time in foster care and her supposed amnesia, just as she had with the Weasley twins. She also tried to avoid bringing up Madeline, but as it happened…
"Eloise mentioned that you and that Slytherin girl had hit it off on the train," said Max. "What's her name… Madison Selwyn?"
"Madeline," said Rook glumly, lowering her wand. "Yeah, I guess we… talked a bit."
Max and Tamsin exchanged a look that Rook was getting used to. The look that said that everyone knew what to expect from a Slytherin. Everyone except Rook, of course.
"She's different," said Tamsin unexpectedly. "She's never quite fit in with the rest of them."
Rook shrugged. "She seems to fit in just fine."
An awkward silence followed this statement. Rook didn't dare hope that Madeline was different. She had been naïve enough already. Besides, she had already discovered that she could make other friends, hadn't she?
The three were back to chatting amicably when Professor Sprout informed them that they were to cease all conversation and switch to working on the shrivelfig plants for the remainder of the lesson. She walked among them to ensure they were performing the charm correctly as well as to harvest the fully-grown shrivelfigs for Professor Snape. While Professor Sprout was occupied with a particularly stubborn plant, one of the students appeared to misfire, hitting a fanged geranium well outside their workspace. As it grew, however, it's tendrils easily reached around Rook's ankles and began dragging her backwards, toward its teeth which were now as large and sharp as daggers. Rook screamed and struggled. Max and Tamsin reacted quickly, grabbing each of Rook's arms and engaging in a high-stakes tug-of-war with the bloodthirsty blossom.
"PROFESSOR!" Tamsin screamed, but before Professor Sprout could reach them, a Hufflepuff boy had advanced on the gigantic fanged geranium and summoned a large burst of flame that caused it to withdraw its tendrils hastily. Professor Sprout then returned the geranium to its previous size and rounded on the students.
"Who is responsible?" she demanded. When no one owned up to the mistake, the Hufflepuff boy who had saved Rook stepped forward.
"It was one of them," he said, indicating the three Slytherins who had been antagonizing Rook before the lesson. "It was either Urquhart, Clegg… or Ashworth."
The atmosphere was tense. Professor Sprout addressed the indicated students. "How did this happen? I set this space up specifically so this would not happen."
The blonde girl among them straightened up and addressed Professor Sprout confidently. "Professor," she said, "For one thing, I doubt Ogden saw anything coming from us because we were minding our own business, and secondly, if anything did come from us, it was surely an accident."
"Which is it, Ashworth?" Max interjected angrily. "It wasn't you, or it was an accident?!"
"I'll handle this, O'Flaherty," Professor Sprout spoke warningly. "Fifteen points from Slytherin, from all three of you."
"What?!"
"That's not fair!"
"Professor!" Ashworth exclaimed, "There's no proof we did anything! Just what Ogden claims he saw! This is favoritism!"
"Miss Ashworth, if I did have proof, you can be sure that the consequences of such a transgression would be far greater than the docking of forty-five points! Seeing as the lesson is nearly over anyway, you're all dismissed! Out!"
The students made their way out of the greenhouse, but Rook lagged behind in the hopes of avoiding Urquhart, Clegg and Ashworth on her walk up to the castle. Max and Tamsin dawdled as well, to ensure Rook was all right in the aftermath of the incident.
"Miss Rook, I would like to ask you something," Professor Sprout asked when the other students were far enough away. Rook turned to face Professor Sprout nervously, but she was now wearing a kindly, sympathetic expression. "It occurs to me that, while it may be normal for me to be covered in mud and dirt, it's less normal for a student who has, presumably, spent most of her day indoors to be covered in mud. I should have asked before, but… are any of your classmates giving you a hard time?"
Rook looked desperately at Max and Tamsin for guidance. Tamsin seemed encouraging, but it was hard to tell.
"I-I think… some of the Slytherins might not like me much," Rook admitted. "But it's my fault, I think. I started it."
"What happened?" Professor Sprout inquired gently.
"I... I told them off earlier. They were making fun of a boy—a third year, I think? I just told them it wasn't funny."
Professor Sprouts eyes were sad. "You did the right thing. It doesn't justify this behavior in the slightest."
At this, Rook felt the need to backtrack. The last thing she wanted was to start off the school year as a snitch. "I don't actually know that they don't like me or anything. They haven't really done anything, I just thought… I mean, I don't expect them to like me. Thank you, though, for your concern."
"You'll let me know if something does happen?"
Rook nodded and departed alongside Max and Tamsin.
"Why didn't you tell her?!" Tamsin said once they well on their way back toward the castle.
"Isn't it obvious?" said Max impatiently. "If she tells Sprout what happened, they'll get detention and it'll just get worse for her!"
"They could be expelled! They should be!"
"Even if all three of them get expelled, do you think the rest of the Slytherins will leave her alone?"
Rook sighed heavily. "I should have kept my mouth shut."
"No, Rook," Max insisted. "Sprout was right—you did the right thing. That's the difference between Slytherin and us. They're cowards."
"And bullies!" Tamsin fumed.
Rook parted with the Hufflepuff duo in the Entrance Hall, feeling considerably drained. At this point, she was quite looking forward to seeing Fred and George again.