"How about this?" Belle finished the last braids and surveyed her work on Rose's hair. "Damn, I look like a country bumpkin." Rose said unappreciatively.
"You could at least pretend to like it!!!" Belle whined. "Who ties green hair-ties on orange hair?" Rose wondered dryly. "If you'd stop changing color for a minute, then maybe it'd match!" Belle pouted.
"I can't change my colors on my own you know…" Rose was definitely getting annoyed, but was tolerant enough, though her hair turned scarlet.
"Must be your moods. I mean, aren't you pissed off?" Belle pulled the braids back and removed them, just as Rose replied, "Of course… But then, you always do that. Why fuss over the usual?" She shrugged lightly.
"I guess your hair reacts to your moods. That's so cool!" Belle jumped happily as Rose stood up. "Am I even allowed in the Hufflepuff dormitory?" "Sure. As long as you didn't break in or come uninvited." Belle replied.
"Why the makeover?" Rose demanded. "You NEED a social life! Guys might actually start admiring you if you at least looked good. But an attitude adjustment would be soooo much better." Belle exaggerated on the boys business, but gave Rose a hug.
"I won't let my friend be known a freako git-bitch to people who are too shallow to get to know her as I do." She said sincerely. Somehow, whatever the reason was, Belle had a way of making Rose love her as a cute sister and hate her as one too.
"Wait… People think I'm a- well…" "NO. Just something that popped into my head." "OOOOOkay…. Well, let me know when I can call you twinkle-toes, then maybe I'll let git-bitch slide…" Rose mused.
Belle frowned a funny one to Rose at the memory. As she dragged her new friend to the Hufflepuff dormitories, she tripped on two of the magical flights of stairs, on the foot of a suit of armor, and, wouldn't you know it, Peter Pettigrew. He slinked away like a rat and as they got to the dormitory, and Belle lastly tripped on the rug and the stairs.
"I was excited…" Belle gave an exaggerated frown, and Rose burst into laughter.
"WHAT?" Belle demanded. "Your face is so funny!!!! Hahaha, this is priceless!" Rose kept laughing, the same enticing musical laugh that made Belle gawk.
"You know Rose… You're like an angel. From hell. Makes me wonder how your personalities are all squeezed into one body." Belle commented.
"Which is why I'm perfect to help you with your payback issue." Rose grinned unexpectedly. "How'd you…" "Oh, please. I hate them as much as you do, and I swear I'm ready to kick that Black's bloody arse." Rose said in an unlady-like (She struck Belle as the type) manner.
"Black? Hey, do you…" "What?" "Nevermind…" Belle said quickly.
"Oh, that reminds me. That git Bellatrix Black has been saying things about you. Thought you should know." Belle changed the subject, but instead of being the least bit outraged or even bothered, Rose shrugged.
"What, you think I didn't know that? 'I'm a freak, a possible retarded half-bred who draws just to ignore the fact that nobody likes me at all.' Blah blah, I don't care."
Rose laughed sarcastically, but meant it when she said she didn't care.
"Okay then. Let's get some lunch now. Our free period is pretty much over and I heard they're serving custard cream today." Belle said excitedly. Rose laughed again. "Gluttonous cow." She muttered.
"Anti-social bitch." Belle countered. "I never really cared about custard really." Rose said boredly. "Then it's time you started living." Belle said.
"Uh-oh. Trouble, thy name is Black. Or, in this case, Blacks." Belle stopped in her tracks as they entered a crowd of people watching a fight that seemed to have erupted from the two worst brothers: Regulus and Sirius Black.
Rose could hear words like 'blood-traitor' or 'death to muggle scum', or 'arrogant bastard', or 'you filthy piece of-' well… As much as she hated Sirius, her instinct resulted in well-placed kicks to Regulus' bloody arse; With all the Slytherin support Regulus was getting, it was only fair that Sirius had SOME help.
In a while, after Rose was pretty well-involved, Belle helped get her Uninvolved. Well, after half the faculty tried, at least. As it turned out, Belle had the whole of Hufflepuff on her side, as well as some Ravenclaws and a handful of Gryffindors. Rose didn't take it too well, the small issue.
"Rose! You need to get to the hospital wing!" Belle chased after her. "As if you care! You've got a whole lot of other friends to be with, why not just leave me?" Rose demanded bitterly, walking too quick for Belle to catch up.
"What?! Some gratitude for saving your butt back there!" She screeched. "Gee, thanks, but I don't need pity! Why be MY friend, if you're so great?" Rose demanded.
"BECAUSE YOU'RE DIFFERENT! YOU'RE BETTER THAN THEM, YOU KNOW! But then again, you're doing bloody well to prove that." Belle's cold tone startled Rose. She was no longer wearing the Belle 'lively' face that, with her red-brown wavy hair and pretty red-brown eyes, made her the prettiest in Rose's eyes.
Only now did she realize how important the smile was, because at this time, it's absence made Belle look like a banshee.
"I'm sorry." The words flowed out of her mouth smoothly, but Rose was dying on the inside. She was cruel, yet this girl was persistent. To be her friend.
"Thank you so much, Belle…" She started sobbing, but soon, Belle's fist came in contact with her head. "Enough crying. I want CREAM!" She demanded.
Rose laughed again, and Belle grabbed her by the collar and dragged her to the great hall.
"Sirius, you should stop getting yourself into trouble. You wouldn't have stood a chance with all those Slytherins." Remus scolded, making James snicker.
"Oh, come on, Moony. At least he had Harper to help him out, right?" "That's exactly what we should be avoiding. Mary Rose got badly hurt because of Sirius' actions." Remus went on.
"I didn't tell her to help me; she just jumped in. And anyway, why would she help me? I bet she just had a score to settle with my dear brother." Sirius countered.
"Where is Harper at? She wasn't at the Hospital wing." Peter piped up. "Yeah. I wonder…" James muttered, and Remus sighed.
As they entered the great hall, at once, the four spotted Rose among the Hufflepuffs, actually smiling like they'd never seen. Also, her bruises seemed to have been thoroughly healed, though she'd not even set foot in the Hospital Wing.
"What? Did she heal herself or something?" James wondered incredulously.
"I assume so. Before, McGonagall told me that she's an advanced healer because her mother had taught her since she was little. Not as good as Madam Pomfrey, but very decent with common illnesses and injuries." Remus said.
"With all that she can do, it makes you wonder why she's so anti-social." Sirius muttered. "Because her father's dead and her mother might as well be." Remus stated.
"How the bloody hell do you know this, Moony?" James asked.
"Her father was the one who provided the 'seeds' for the Whomping Willow and he knew my secret. Naturally, he seemed interested and talked with me a lot. Then he told me about his wife, Rose's mother." Remus started.
"She had an illness wherein she could not recognize people she knew. It started a little while after Rose was born. She knew she had the sickness, and could still remember everything she learned. Just not the people she met, so she didn't even know her own husband. The strange thing was, the only person she ever recognized was Rose."
"She'd teach Rose what she knew from working at St. Mungo's, knowing that it was her daughter. She was very welcoming to people, though she hardly knew who they were. Then she had the misfortune to meet and help someone, who then killed her husband. Ever since, she locked herself up in one of St. Mungo's insanity wards. She seemed to remember her husband when he was killed, but never accepted visitors anymore."
"Not even Rose was accepted. That was when we were in third year. We didn't know her then, but since, she refused to be close to anyone." Remus finished.
"Moony… how come she's chatting with Belle Levi if she's refused to talk to people?" Peter asked. "I wonder, Wormtail…" Remus mumbled.
Later that night, it was the last night before full moon the next night, and Remus was pale as ever.
Wormtail had hoped not to disappoint his friends, so he practiced pressing the knot in the dark.
James had gone to bed early.
And Sirius had decided to take a walk around the castle grounds in secret, when he spotted something strange.
Rose was still sitting at her spot by the lake, and a strange voice drifted over the grounds, unheard by those inside the castle.
The darkness of the night makes memories drift, but never forget. Never forget that I'm here for you, to make the darkness gone. Like the moon before the dawn…
The song was strange. It was reserved, as though no one else could hear it. But Sirius could hear it well. And the one thing that surprised him was that she was singing it.
He crept quietly behind the bushes that covered where she was sitting, and saw her drawing again, the words flowing smoothly out of her mouth.
And what she was drawing… It was a woman with beautiful black hair and bright eyes, smiling serenely. As soon as Rose put down the pencil she used to draw, the drawing started moving, and it smiled at her, and spoke.
"Hello Rose!" "Mom… I miss you." Rose said faintly, hugging the drawing. It didn't take Sirius long to realize that she was crying. "Please! I want to see you again." She pleaded. But the drawing had become still all of a sudden, leaving Rose to cry, without the comfort of her mother.
Sirius impulsively changed and turned into the large black dog, then struggled through the bushes. "Huh? Who's there!?" Rose demanded, hiding her drawing, but under the moonlight, all that was there was her and a large black dog, looking at her with strangely human eyes.
"Oh… Did you hear me? Hey… who owns you? I wonder…" Rose reached out to pet the dog's furry head. "Thanks, I guess I needed you right now. I'll go back now. I must look pathetic." She muttered more to herself than to the dog.
Sirius wondered how she could be so nonchalant about a dog as big as her coming out of nowhere. But then, she probably welcomed the company.
Remus had woken up early the next day, though it was a Saturday where people usually slept later than 5:45 am. To his surprise, though, there was already someone at n the Gryffindor table, licking custard cream off a spoon.
"Rose? You're up early." He sat beside Rose, who's hair was a hazy purple-black.
"Mmm…" She mumbled, spooning more cream into her mouth. "Why are you eating that?" Remus asked. "It's my comfort food. Life's a bitch." She mumbled.
"Isn't that Belle Levi's favorite food? I heard that she's your new friend." Remus continued, undaunted by Rose's 'Go away already' look.
"Yeah, but she sleeps like a brick, so I'm just waiting." Rose said.
After 15 minutes of silence, Rose said, "I'm going." She picked up her things; parchment, quills, pencils, and others and left.
She was back at her spot again, but though she had the pencil and parchment at hand, she was drawing nothing, and instead, stared blankly into the lake water.
She put down her stuff and positioned herself at the edge of the lake, touching the deep water. "What's it like down there?" she wondered blankly, looking into the surface.
Then she saw her mother's face again. It was understandable, because her own face was a reflection of her mother's, but the face in the lake seemed to be so real.
It was so like her mother. "Mom…"
It was dark. It all covered her, blanketing her with a choking grip, but she welcomed it. She was sinking down, and her body didn't even react. She just floated down, seconds closer to drowning.
Her vision was blurring now, but she saw something. A dog? She couldn't even think straight. Consciousness was drifting away, but then, a sharp pain in her leg brought all sense back again.
I can't drown!!! I need to be there for mom! The thoughts came as a revelation, and she struggled to kick up, but her body weakened.
No no no!!! She finally lost her last bit of strength, but not before she felt someone pull her arm.
Suspense!!! R&R plzzzz!!! The plot is thickening, and I'm on my last day before graduation.Whoot! Adrenaline pump!