Disclaimer: Harry Potter and it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing except the original characters and plot.

The Dilapidated Shack

It's a new era at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. A couple years after the second war, all the professors except Hagrid retired. A much needed relaxing retirement is what they deserved after the Battle of Hogwarts. Now, there is a completely new Headmaster and Professors. It was definitely a new era at Hogwarts. School robes were not mandatory anymore, students were allowed to wear any style of clothes, wizard or muggle style; although one rule was absolute, no shirt too low or skirt too high.

For once the Wizarding World could breathe easily knowing it was safe for the time being. Two decades of living in terror took a toll on a lot of witches and wizards. Some families completely fell apart, some didn't survive those two decades. For a lucky few, they picked up the pieces and moved on, paving the way for new witches and wizards.

As the train arrived in Hogsmeade, all the students prepared their luggage. Rose stroked her cat's fur. She felt a little bad for not taking her out of the cage but she couldn't risk her running around the train. She bought her cat when she was first starting school. Before she came to Hogwarts she was attending a muggle school. She had a friend that was obsessed with Pokemon. Once Rose was shown the game, she couldn't help but like Pokemon herself. Out of all the Pokemon, her most favourite was Umbreon. It was a beautiful majestic looking Pokemon.

When she had to choose an animal for school she spotted a sleek black cat with pointed ears and red eyes. She instantly fell in love. She bought the cat and brought it home. Arriving home, she went on the computer and found a picture of Umbreon and showed her mom the picture and her cat. She pleaded with her mom to do charms to make her cat have the gold trimmings like Umbreon. After two weeks of pleading her mom finally gave in. Obviously, she named the cat Umbreon. She was dying to show it to her muggle friend but she forbid herself because it would be impossible for a normal cat to look like Umbreon. For seven years she kept it a secret why she named her cat Umbreon. 'A person has to have some secrets' she thought to herself.

The carriage ride, the sorting ceremony and dinner passed by in a blur. She was sitting in her dorm with her two best friends. They had one other roommate but she transferred to Beauxbatons in their third year. The three best friends had the dorm to themselves since then. She had Umbreon in her lap and was currently looking at her timestable, trying to figure out the fastest route to get from one class to the next.

"I know why you named your cat Umbreon." Mimi said.

Rose started to panic a little. 'Uh oh. My secret's been found out' Rose thought. She played stupid as she replied, "Oh? Why did I name her Umbreon then?"

"The term Umbra in latin means shadow. Your cat is pure black with the exception of the gold trimmings. I've never seen a cat with trimmings like that. It's so… majestic."

Rose smiled proudly. "Yes, she's beautiful, isn't she?"

As if sensing she was being praised, Umbreon perked her ears and meowed.

Her friends didn't bring up what happened on the train and she was glad. She wasn't ready to answer any questions yet. The more rational solution would be just to tell her friends why she doesn't like hair barrettes anymore but she just couldn't. She felt ashamed. The last time she tried to tell someone what happened, they told her she should be ashamed. And that's what she felt since then, shame.

...

"Scorpius is staring at you." Kianna whispered to Rose in Potions class.

Rose just shrugged it off. What could she say?

"He's been watching you since that little moment you two had on the train."

"We did not have a moment. He had a lapse of judgement or whatever."

"Then why is he staring at you?"

"I don't know! Focus on the potion."

"We're basically finished the potion!"

"Then read notes! Quit staring at other people staring at other people."

"That sentence didn't even make sense."

"Whatever. Just quit staring. We are not having this discussion."

"Rose! He's hot. Just-"

"No."

"But-"

"Kianna."

"All I'm say-"

"Kianna!"

"Okay! God…"

Mimi giggled. "I wonder what people think when they look at us. We always express everything we talk about. We emphasize it with our body language or hand gestures like we're really trying to get a point across or something. I didn't notice that until you and Kianna started bickering."

Rose gave Mimi a look.

"I'm going to pretend this chapter is interesting."

Mimi had a point though, Rose had to admit. She loved her best friends more than anything, but they did have their annoying moments. Humans are not perfect though. Rose smiled and put each arm on her friends to give them a hug.

The bell rang and she packed up her stuff. She grabbed the book for her next class out of her bag and hugged it against her chest. She didn't have to, it was more of a habit. Also, she didn't have to dig around in her bag for it later. As she was walking out of the class she accidentally bumped into someone. She looked up and saw that it was Scorpius. As she bumped into him, her nose also bumped into his chest. She accidentally got a whiff of him and didn't realize she took a deep breath.

"Watch it, Weasley." he said but didn't have any contempt in his voice.

"Oh, sorry Scorpius." Rose put her head down and made her hair cover her red face.

She didn't see the smile on his face as he walked out of the classroom.

"Did you just breathe-" Mimi tried to say but Rose cut her off. "Shut up!" Rose bolted from the classroom.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid.' She smacked her head as she thought each word.

"Rose, wait up!" she heard Kianna say but she kept walking.

After what she did, she didn't want to face her friends. Who does that? She didn't mean to breathe in his scent but she couldn't help it! Damn that Malfoy.

"Rose Amelia Weasley!" Rose stopped walking and waited for her friends to catch up. It was an agreement between them that if a full name was used, they had no choice but to listen. "Finally! Why did you just bolt like that?"

"I was embarrassed, ok? I can't believe I did that. It was so stupid of me. Why does he have to be so handsome?" she said the last word with a whine and put a hand over her face.

"You know he did that on purpose, right?"

Rose looked between her fingers at Mimi. "How do you know?"

"We watched the entire scene. He deliberately hung back and waited for you. He wanted you to bump into him. You know what that means, right?"

"No?" Rose replied sheepishly.

Mimi and Kianna rolled their eyes. "Ugh. It means you had the upper hand on the train when you flirted with him for a bit-"

"I didn't-"

Kianna made a 'zip it' gesture with her fingers. "Zzt. Now he has the upper hand. You have to flip the script on him or he'll have you flaunting after him like a little school girl. Got it?" Rose could only nod. "Let's go to class now." Kianna said as she led the way.

As Rose sat in charms she couldn't concentrate. The only thing on her mind was Scorpius. Her friends were right. She needed to flip the script soon or… she didn't even want to think about that right now. His scent invaded her mind again; a husky mint odor. For some reason it smelled so good to her. She wasn't really one to eat mints or smell like it. She could picture herself cuddling him, face on his chest… 'Stop it!' she mentally scolded herself. They were learning the Bubble-Head Charm today. As Rose tried to focus, her mind drifted and she started wondering if Scorpius' hair was soft. She wondered how it would feel to run her hands through it. How…

Kianna poking her with a wand brought her back to the present. "Think any harder sweetie you're going to start drooling. This is the last class of the day. Focus at least until the end of class."

Rose mentally shook her head and focused on the lesson. After four tries, she did a perfect Bubble-Head Charm. The professor awarded Gryffindor 10 points. The bell rang and Rose couldn't have been more relieved. The three friends headed back to their common room to drop off their stuff. They talked about mundane things on the way back to the common room, saving the gossip for later when they were alone. Rose was not looking forward to the 'gossip'. Her friends were obviously going to grill her or make fun of her for acting stupid in front of Scorpius.

Once they dropped off their school bags, Kianna suggested they sit by the lake. Summer was coming to an end, they figured they might as well enjoy the last few warm days before the chill sets in. They picked a spot by the tree.

"So why did you bolt after the incident with Scorpius?" Kianna asked.

Rose sighed a little from embarrassment. "I don't know. I just… felt ashamed." She started playing with a piece of grass, twisting and untwisting it.

"Why?"

"Because I had this moment where I was completely relaxed. I let my guard down. It shouldn't have happened."

"Rose, you don't have to have it together all the time. You can let me or Kianna shoulder whatever burden you're keeping from us." Mimi said softly.

Rose looked up at her two friends and saw concern in their eyes, just like in her mom and her Aunt Ginny's eyes. After an incident with her mom and aunt, she knew to keep everything to herself. The concern was only a lie; a lie to get in your heart and then stomp on it. She couldn't handle her heart getting shattered all over again, not by her friends or boys. She couldn't chance it or trust it.

"Rose, whenever you're ready, we're here for you. All three of us have been best friends since the first year. There's nothing you can't tell us." Kianna said with the utmost sincerity.

Rose felt her lower lip start trembling. All the secrets, all the shame, all the pain just threatening to escape. She took a deep breath and pushed it all back. She couldn't. These two girls were her best friends. She wouldn't be able to recover if she told them and they said the same thing her mom and aunt said. If it was only her mom who said hurtful things, she would be able to tell her friends. But it wasn't just her mom, it was also her aunt. She put all her trust in her aunt and she said the same things her mom said. The words stung like a poison needle, seeping into her heart, mind and soul. She managed to pick herself up and cope, but she wouldn't be able to if her best friends took her mom and Aunt Ginny's side.

As if reading her mind, her friends changed the subject and started talking about the next Hogsmeade trip which was coming up fast.

"We should all go together and sit at the Hog's Head. Hardly any students go there. We can sit and talk, get out of the school for the day. Rose? Rose…?"

Rose didn't catch the question. She was looking towards Hogsmeade as if she could see through the school grounds. She could see the shack in her mind. The broken down, ugly, dilapidated shack where 'it' happened. All the memories came flooding back like a mudslide. Before the tears started she made an excuse about studying and that she couldn't go. She got up and told her friends that she had to go to the bathroom, hoping to escape before the tears started.

Her two best friends didn't miss the sad look in her eyes, though. Yet again, they felt helpless.

Next time on His Gryffindor Minx: Rose finally tells her story. how will it go? will she get the relief she deserves? or more heartache?

o.O