Unfortunately, Rose couldn't find George after her tutoring lesson. He had something to do with Quidditch practice at the moment. That also meant that Harry ought to be preoccupied as well. Unsure of what to do or where to go, Rose made up her mind that she might as well head to Hufflepuff Common Room. She was pleasantly surprised to find her friend Cedric Diggory sitting on the couch and staring into the fire place.
"Mind if I join you?" Rose asked and Cedric looked up- interrupted from his train of deep pensive thinking.
"Oh, no," He said and made room for Rose on the couch. Rose tried to figure out what he'd been staring at but it seemed like a perfectly normal fireplace to her.
"How'd the test go?" Cedric asked.
Rose shrugged. "Who knows…" She said letting her voice trail off "Professor Trelawney mentioned something about a Time Turner and not being able to actually finish all of my work in time."
Cedric's eyes widened at the mention of a Time Turner.
"Meddling with time…" He began "is tricky business you know Rose?"
Rose shrugged again. "I've never heard of a Time Turner before just now."
"Anyway," Rose said trying to change the subject "What were you thinking about?"
"I know it's absurdly deep but what it means to have a sense of purpose," Cedric wiped his hands over his face as if to wake himself up.
Rose looked at him with curiosity and Cedric felt he ought to elaborate.
"I don't know, Rose, before I leave Hogwarts I want to have done something meaningful," He paused "Something more than just be popular."
"You're incredibly smart, Cedric, and kind," She touched him lightly on the shoulder, "I don't think anyone in their right mind at Hogwarts doubts your ability to do whatever you want to accomplish if it makes you feel better."
Cedric gave her a tight smile. "Yeah… it's complicated is all. And Cho and I haven't been getting on well lately."
"Oh," Rose dropped her voice, "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yeah," Cedric looked out the window as if checking the weather, "Can I ask you something?"
Rose nodded.
"Are you and George Weasley like together?" Cedric quickly hurried to explain when he saw Rose blush "It's just that some people are definitely talking about you two, I mean, I heard Harry, Ron, and Hermione talking about it."
Rose bit her lip, well, she assumed now would be about as good a time as any to just come out and say it.
"Yeah, actually, we're dating." Rose sighed, "I've been meaning to tell Harry I just hardly have any time with all the studying I have to do and I barely even have enough time with George. I tried to find him after class today but he's been gone at Quidditch and by the time we're done at dinner it's off to bed for the both of us."
"I'm happy for you two," Cedric said supportively, "Has it been really hard the time thing?"
Rose was surprised to find herself beginning to tear up. She shook her head to make sure she didn't actually begin to cry.
"Yeah, it's hard with us being in different Houses," Rose admitted, "I feel like we're separated all the time. Really the only time we have is in Charms class because we take it together, between classes, and the weekends. And, now, it sounding like the school administration is going to want me to cram as many classes on top of the ones I already have to take so that might only give us the weekends this year to talk at all."
Rose trailed off and stared into the distance.
"Have you talked to George about any of this stuff?" Cedric asked. Rose shook her head.
"What day is it today?"
"Blimey, you've lost track of the dates have you it's a Wednesday," Cedric responded. Rose let out a light laugh. "Well, the good news is we have Charms tomorrow so I'll talk to George then," She paused "And, you, have you thought about talking to Cho?"
Cedric nodded slowly, "Yeah, never an easy thing to do though."
"Tell me about it," Rose murmured in agreement.