Rose wished she could have her entire day back. To put it rather bluntly, it was a disaster. It wasn't necessarily that she didn't know anything; she actually had more input than students who had retained their full memory and had attended the school for 6 years. No, it was more that she felt so out of place she couldn't stand it. Sirius, of course had been a life-saver. He never ceased to be funny. It was so natural, Rose bet he didn't even know he was being satirical. She appreciated his humor. However, she had an utter lack of patience with Lily that day. Lily tried not to pry, and she was very sweet and didn't ask questions about what had happened, but she treated her differently, and Rose couldn't stand it! She would give her looks of concern, and rub her arm, and ask her if she felt alright. She wasn't in the hospital anymore!

After a full first day, she collapsed exhausted on one of the deep red sofas of the Gryffindor common room. "Is it always this intense?" she asked, throwing her bag to the floor.

Sirius mirrored her action, flopping down beside her and stretching his feet out on the table in front of him. Resituating himself, he rested his head on his hands behind his head.

"Well, the first day usually is. It's just getting into it, you know?"

Rose sighed. Just getting into it. She could do this. She would take each day one at a time, and eventually she would have the knack of a busy schedule. Unwillingly she sat up. Groaning, she flipped back the lid of her bag and rifled through it, withdrawing a fresh scroll of parchment and writing utensils. As if a nauseating odor was drifting through her nostrils, she stood and moved the supplies for her homework t a vacant table. Sirius let his hands fall into his lap. He had a rather blank expression of surprise.

"What are you doing?"

She lifted her head from where she had been titling her essay for Professor McGonagall.

"Homework, of course," she replied as if the answer were absolutely obvious, (which, as a matter of fact, it was).

"As she should be," Lily said, entering the conversation. She had just reappeared, along with a suspiciously goofy James.

"And as you should too, Mr. Black."

Plopping her bag into a chair next to Rose's, she dug around and pulled out her own things to begin her own homework. The disastrous duo looked on, faces painted with amusement.

"Bless them," James said after about a minute's fascinated observation. Rose looked up from her work.

"Why shouldn't I be doing my work? This means I won't be up at an ungodly hour on Thursday trying to cram rather repetitious and superfluous information into a sad excuse of a paper," she rattled off, praising assignments to the skies. Sirius and James sunk back into the couch. Rose rambled on the virtues of work for over a minute and half before examining the boys' faces and frowning.

"You aren't listening to me, are you?" They moved not. Twisting her mouth into a mischievous grin, she turned to Lily and with a wink said, "Lily, I fully support and agree with your decision to dump James for the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain."

The Marauders were upright before Lily could even react. It took Rose's mad laughter to force them to the realization that Lily, had none whatsoever, any intention to break up with her boyfriend.

Rose finished her essay, of course, as did Lily, and by Thursday were feeling free and easy. Meanwhile, the two unprepared Marauders, (you know which is excluded, having finished his work in a timely and fashionable manner, Peter with the help of Remus) were rushing and moaning about why in the world it could possibly matter if they could turn a rabbit into a newt. Rose looked at the majestic, cherry grandfather clock in the corner of the dimly, firelit common room. It was half past eleven. Was it right to let them get off easy and help them with their work?

"Done," pronounced James, thowing his arms out behing him and stretching. Sirius snapped his head up.

"You'll help me then?" he asked eagerly. James looked unsure.

"Well, Padfoot, under normal circumstances-"

"These are normal circumstances," Sirius pleaded impatiently.

"Yeah, but you forgot I have to hold Quidditch tryouts tomorrow." Sirius groaned.

"But how am I possibly going to finish this essay before tomorrow?"

Here goes nothing, Rose thought to herself. Except the relief of a good night's rest.

Drawing in a reluctant breath she rose from her chair in her corner unnoticed and announced quietly, "I could help you."

Sirius whipped his head around to face her. A smile spread across his tired, but grateful face as she approached him. James had already siezed his oppurtunity and slipped away so that he would not be missed by his mate. Sliding into the chair previously occupied by James, she folded her arms on the top of the table and leaned over to see what he had written. She screwed up her mouth in a thoughtful manner, and without even looking withdrew her wand from her pocket. She traced her finger across the parchment and began tapping words. Sirius watched in silence as words respelled themselves correctly, and sentences shifted to sound more sophisticated and well thought out. When her grammar check was complete she slipped her wand back into the deep pocket of her robe and glanced at the clock. 11:47.

Now, she looked Sirius in the eyes. They almost immideatley flickered down again. His eyes were the most intense color she had ever seen. They were a blend of ice and steel; she knew not what to make of his powerful, yet gentle gaze. She turned her attention to the parchment to mask her embarrassment.

"Well- you've completely disregarded the useful properties of newts in potions. Say you were in desperate need of a newt, yet all you had avaliable was a rabbit. Then, by transfiguring the rabbit, you would now be able to brew your potion and possibly save a life, as they are useful and commnly found in poison antidotes."

Sirius absorbed this. As it clicked, he nodded and dipped his (well, hers really) into the midnight ink and began to scribble away. She watched as his untidy script was sprinkled over the page, and observing his interpretation of her words. He phrased himself better than before. With a keen eye on the clock she stifled yawns to retain his morale. With a final, grand flourish he marked the end of his final sentence, and dropped the quill back into the ink. Unfotunately, the grace of his motion did not match the quill's. Ink splattered, though avoiding the paper, covering their faces in little specks of black. Rose blinked several times in surprise, before, dabbing her right cheek with her index finger.

"Smooth," she observed, now siphoning off the ink with her wand. He laughed, and followed suit. When they had cleaned up and the essay had dried, they stood and parted at the staircases.

"Thanks for helping me, Rosie," Sirius said geniuinely. She noted his exhaustion. How good she felt now that she had not left him to his own devices.

"Anytime. But maybe you won't leave off your homework this late next time?" she added hopefully. He grinned.

"Perhaps," he replied non-commitedly. She couldn't help but smile at the smirk he was flaunting.

"Sure."

"G'nite, Sirius."

"Good night, Rose."

"We found it- we found it- please!" Another wave pain swept over her body.

"Tell the truth, you filthy Mudblood! You've been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth!"

Heat and knives were ripping her to pieces.

"Please!"

"HERMIONE! HERMIONE!" She could hear the distant calls of distress. She could take no more. Her body was on fire, her head was bound to explode any moment. Every flash of red drew her closer to death.

"Tell the truth!"

"PLEASE!"

Rose woke up, her skin still prickling. Her cries of vivid and incomprehensible pain had been muffled by her pillow. Tears, hot and salty trickled down her pale cheek and intermingled with the beads of sweat there. Hermione had been tortured. But why? And who was the woman with dark lids that had done it? Whose was the voice that had cried out to her. Weeping softly she turned over onto her side, only to find she could not return to sleep.