A/N: Please review/follow if you like it :)
Chapter 2
Adventures on Rainy Days or The Attic
September 3rd, unlike September 2nd or September 1st, is a rainy day. In fact, it is the pitter patter of rain that wakes up Rose Weasley.
Six o'clock in the morning, Rose is dressing.
Six thirty, she's having breakfast, the only one in the school to be doing so.
Six thirty five, she's now one of two students to be in the Great Hall. The ever-present Scorpius Malfoy has the honor of being the other.
Six forty, he makes her laugh.
Six forty-two, she makes him laugh.
Six forty-five, the two first years are clutching their stomachs over a stupid joke about a wizard in a bar.
Six forty-seven, they regain sense. Silence except for the sound of rain.
Six fifty, thunder ensues and cocoa is shared.
Seven o'clock, the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor leave.
*.*.*.*
Rose Weasley loves the rain.
She tells Scorpius that as they take a walk around the school, precisely two minutes after she asks whether or not they are allowed to be wandering the corridors.
His response to her comment: me too, Weasley.
His answer to her question: not if we have somewhere to go.
She's not sure how she feels about him using her surname.
"Glad you agree, Malfoy," She responds with a smirk.
He laughs, "Of course I do, Weaslette."
She rolls her eyes, "So, Ferret, where are we going, anyway?"
"Ferret?" He asks, puzzled.
"Your dad never told you the story?"
"No," He's hesitant, "What's the story?"
She chuckles, "Ask your dad sometime; it's a legend at my house."
Instead of replying he turns right, and starts running down a stairwell.
She chases after, annoyed.
He's fast. It takes her a good five minutes to catch him.
He nods toward another corridor, puts an index finger to his lips, and motions for her to follow.
"Scorpius, where are we going?" she whispers furiously.
He lets out a silent chuckle.
"Relax, Rose, we're almost there." he whispers, "Close your eyes."
Though she knows she probably shouldn't (he could be attempting to kill her or something for Merlin's sake), she does anyway. He leads her down the corridor, turns her to her left, and then whispers in her ear: open.
When she opens her eyes, she gasps.
It's a window. But more than just that. A whole glass enclosed balcony. It's beautiful.
"Yeah, I know," He says and she realizes he said that aloud.
"My dad told me about it."
Rose disregards what he says, walking closer to the glass room and proceeding to open the door.
He follows her inside.
She stands there, mesmerized, for a good hour. A nice hour of silence and peace, and the appreciation of sheer beauty, at least for Rose.
But alas, like all good things, the hour had to end.
"Rose, we should probably head to the library, class starts in less than half an hour."
That snaps her out of her trance.
"Alright, let's go." She says, already half way out the door.
Scorpius follows her out. They walk to the staircase. Or to where the staircase should have been. There isn't even a trace of the old-fashioned wooden steps. Rose turns to see Scorpius. For a split second, he looks puzzled, if not slightly worried like herself. But the look leaves as soon as it arrives and Scorpius leads her across a few corridors and down some different stairs. Rose lets herself be content in believing he knows another rout back. Because he has to. Right?
It's been a ten minutes when worry begins gnawing at her stomach. Five more minutes and she decides to ask the dreaded question.
"Are we lost?"
He turns to look at her. His eyes still have a confident look in them, however his composure seems forced.
Then he lights up, "Are you on good terms with the eldest Potter?"
"My cousin James you mean?" She responds with her own question.
He nods, seeming to recognize the name.
Rose takes a second to think. She's known the infamous James Sirius Potter for as long as she can remember. When she was 18 months and he was around two and a half, he coined the nickname "Red" for her, having just learned all his colors and still unable to pronounce "Rose" properly due to his childish lisp. Since then it's been an ongoing joke among her older cousins. She remembers the years of mutual teasing and family get-togethers. The summers at the burrow and their annual Christmas party. She thinks about the last prank he played on her, jinxing her hair a more orange color, because he was bored of calling her Red and thought Ginger would be a better replacement.
Then she laughs, "I suppose you could say that."
He grins. It's the first time she's seen him really grin. His eyes twinkle and his serious face looks properly boyish, with dimples and all. With his neatly combed back platinum hair and pale skin, the grin looks lightly out of place, yet exactly what he needs to look..normal.
"Brilliant." He says, then stops to think.
What he says next surprises the little Weasley Girl.
"Accio Marauders Map.
The familiar incantation sounds strange in an eleven year old's mouth.
And the "Marauders Map," she thought it was only a legend. But sure enough, a piece of parchment comes flying into Scorpius's hands.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
The map reveals itself, every room in the school and every person labeled.
With a single glance at the map, Scorpius knows exactly where to go. And with only five minutes left till they're late for Transfiguration, they sprint.
*.*.*.*
As the clock chimes nine times, they duo are barely on time. The rest of the class is already seated and the teacher has apparently already started lecturing as she stops mid-word and proceeds to glare at the new arrivals. She's a short Asian woman, with long black hair and piercing eyes that are nearly black in color. She's strikingly beautiful with a small but full frame, and she hold an air of honor around her. She turns away from the center of the room to them.
"You are late. Five points from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Take your seats." Her voice is sharp, lightly tinted with an Asian accent.
Rose and Scorpius dutily scramble to their seats.
The teacher picks up where she left off, "As I was saying, my name is Suzuki Yui, my surname is Suzuki. You will address me as Professor Suzuki and you will do so with respect. Any hint of sarcasm or mockery and you will fact consequences. Now, Transfiguration is an elusive art that takes practice and proper focus to master. It is considered difficult, but I assure you that if you commit yourself, you will pass my class. Before we begin, any questions?"
Nearly every student stares silently at this intimidating woman. And every hand remains unraised except for one.
"Yes," Professor Suzuki acknowledges a bold Gryffindor who's right hand shot up.
"Where are you from?" he asks.
"Japan." She answers flatly.
"Aren't you a bit young to be a teacher?" he dares to question.
"In Japan you begin studies at nine. I graduated at the top of my class from Mahoutokoro Institute of Magic three years ago. I am more than qualified to teach you."
"So you're only nineteen years old."
"Yes." There is contempt in her tone.
"So you're only eight years older than me," the kid smirks, "Would you consider going to Hogsmeade with me in a few years?"
The entire class, with wide eyes and disbelieving glances, is silent. Rose cannot even believe her ears. Did he actually say that?
Professor Suzuki responds sharply, "No. That is illegal. Five points from Gryffindor for disrespecting a teacher."
The smirk has fallen from the kid's voice.
"Anymore questions, ones that aren't offensive comeons?"
The class remains silent, staring up at her.
"Okay then, turn to page 15 in your textbooks. Today we will begin simply. Turn a match into a needle. You have until the end of class. Anyone who is able to manage the transformation will earn twenty points for their house. If you ask for help you will not be awarded the points. You have fifty minutes. Go."
Half the class stares at her in bewilderment. No instruction. Simply a page number and a proposal. Rose follows the other half of the class, scrambling to page fifteen of A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration and attempting to transfigure the match in front of her.
Fifty minutes later, and both houses have made up for their loss of points with Scorpius and Rose's successes and Diana's half success (her match is thinner and metal). Ravenclaw is up with a net gain of 25 points and Gryffindor has a total of 10.
Professor Suzuki concludes the lesson, "Now while I've been surprised by a few successes, the point of this experience was to show you how hard this can be. Tomorrow we will really begin." She gives a genuine smile, "You are a talented group of kids and I hope we will be able to enjoy this year together."
She dismisses the class just as the bell rings.
As the students file out, she calls, "Weasley and Malfoy I'd like to speak to you both."
The duo come to her desk.
"You both have unusual talent for transfiguration. I won competitions in this field of magic as a student and on my own first try I could only get my match as far as Miss Zhang's." Professor Suzuki admits.
"Oh that wasn't my first attempt, Professor." Rose declares honestly. She doesn't want her teacher to get a false impression of her abilities.
"Oh, so you've practiced?" the young teacher inquires.
Rose nods. She went through the spells quite a few times early on in the summer.
"Still impressive." She narrows her eyes, "What about you Mister Malfoy?"
He shakes his head. "I hadn't tried before today, but I have read through the textbook."
She shakes her head in understanding as she gathers some parchments together at her desk.
"Thank you. I look forward to our next lesson, but for now you are dismissed."
The two murmur their goodbyes to the new teacher and head off.
*.*.*.*
Rose's next class is History of Magic, a class that despite her complaints, she is actually really looking forward to. History is something she was good at. Memorize facts, analyze, write essays. Easy. The hardest part will be paying attention in class, and even then, she has already made up her mind that it would more efficient if she picked a seat in the back and worked on work from other classes, while self studying later. Besides no one pays attention during History, the teacher is a ghost lectures in such a monotonous tone that even her mother wasn't quite as diligent in this particular class.
So, instead of attempting to take notes on chapter one, Rose spends the class period passing notes with Scorpius.
*.*.*.*
Are you paying any attention?
No, and apparently you aren't either.
I've resolved not to.
Why? I thought you planned to keep straight Os
I do. But come on this is what you call a blow off class. And Binns just drones on and on in with his boring voice.
Got it. Hey is your cousin going to kill me for uh.. borrowing his map
Eh. I'd return it ASAP if I were you. James doesn't take kindly to people "borrowing" his things XD
Could you please do it for me? If he caught you he wouldn't be compelled to murder you.
At least we hope he wouldn't. Aunt Ginny would be so mad. Not to mention my parents.. haha
So you'll do it? Please say yes
Fine. But if he asks about it; it's all on you!
X_X NO. HE WILL KILL ME
Come on. He wouldn't go that far. He's never committed murder before..as far as I know haha
Yeah. But he's also never caught a Malfoy with his personal belongings. Especially not a secret map no one is supposed to know about.
What does you being a Malfoy have anything to do with him killing you?
What does it not have to do with him killing me?
He is not going to kill you. Anyway, do you know of any other secret rooms hidden in Hogwarts?
YES HE WILL
…I've heard of a few more rooms, but I'm not exactly sure where they are.
Ooh tell me please :)
The room of requirement and =======
The attic? There's an attic at Hogwarts?
No, of course not
You've turned red Scorpius. I know there's an attic.
OWW that hurt!
That's what you get for not admitting to there being an attic.
You hit hard. Fine, as far as I know, there may be an attic. But I have no idea where it is.
We should look for it. Afterschool. Shoot. Binns looks like he's turning around. We'll talk about this later!
*.*.*.*
After a mini-lecture from the ghost professor about how he will not stand for anymore napping and note-passing in his class, Rose is too afraid to pass anymore notes for the remaining forty odd minutes of class. Instead she keeps herself busy reading her "textbook" (Jane Eyre).
After their second class, the students of Hogwarts head to the Great Hall for lunch. The options are plentiful. Rose ultimately decides to have a nice chicken sandwich and some strawberries and steamed vegetables as well as water as a drink. Al looks at her as though she's insane while he piles on lamb chops and a slice of each available pie, as well as some stew.
"Huh ca you at tha abbi ood?" he swallows, "How can you eat that rabbit food?"
"I'm eating chicken. If you had paid any attention in primary school you would know rabbits cannot eat meat." She replies indignantly.
He asks her and Scorpius what they thought of the teachers they had thus far met.
They all agreed that Professor Suzuki was intimidating (as well as "fit" as far as Scorpius and Al were concerned―ugh, aren't they supposed to be too young to think like that?!) and that it was understandable how Professor Binns could put people to sleep.
"I found myself nodding off at least three times. I would have fallen right asleep if it hadn't been for my mate here" Al nods to Scorpius, whom he'd sat next to during History of Magic. "Though he was kind of distracted. Kept turning around during the first half of class. What was that about?"
Rose answers his question, "I was asking him about the Attic."
"The Attic? As in the Hogwarts Attic?" He pauses to take a drink of pumpkin juice, "Since when does Hogwarts have an attic space?"
"I don't know, ask Scorpius." She replies.
He turns to Scorpius expectantly.
Scorpius responds hesitantly, "Well I'm not even sure if it really exists. My dad was telling me about the places that I shouldn't go and he mentioned the Attic before laughing and muttering something about how even the Weasley twins couldn't find it."
"Should I ask James about it? He might have it marked on that map he stole from Dad" Albus says getting interested in the idea of the Hogwarts Attic.
"I don't think he'd know, or be able to find out." Rose laughs mischievously.
Just then the Potter boy in question marches up to the trio of first years.
"Al did you take it?" He doesn't seem angry, only slightly annoyed.
"It?" Al asks.
James looks at Scorpius suspiciously, "You know what I'm talking about."
"I don't think he does," Rose replies.
"The Mauraders Map," James whisper-shouts in Al's ear.
Rose laughs, "You might want to work on your whispering skills."
James glares at her then returns to his brother, "Well?"
"No. Wait, did someone nick it?" Albus replies inquisitively.
"Apparently. Rose, what about you? I want to make sure it wasn't you guys before I confront Dom, 'cause she's 'borrowed it' before when she," He makes a face, "had 'plans' with that Davy bloke of hers"
She laughs, "It is not in my possession, dear cousin."
"You have that look in your eyes and you called me 'dear cousin.'" James exclaimed victoriously, "That means you know something. Where's my map?"
Rose glances quickly at Scorpius (masking it by acting as though she's innocently looking around the room for it) who's silently begging her not to say anything about the parchment in his robes.
"I'm sorry, dear cousin, but it doesn't appear to be here." She grins, still using a sugary innocent accent, "Whatever do you need it for?"
James scowls at her, "None of your business."
He glance over at Scorpius, "Oi! What about you Malfoy?"
Scorpius looks up, "Excuse me?"
"Did your father teach you some map nicking charm?"
Rose is surprised by his good acting. He replies in a confused voice, "No. I don't even know what map you're talking about."
James turns back to Rose, "I know you know where it is and if you don't tell me I'll tell Uncle Ron about your little friend here," he nods at Scorpius, "I wonder how he'll take the news that his daughter is friends with, not only the son of a Death Eater, but also his mortal enemy."
Rose stands up, infuriated by what he's said, "I don't care what you tell my dad. He will have to get over it! In fact, I'll tell him myself. But you James Sirius Potter are getting way out of line. I know Aunt Ginny will not be happy to hear that you said those things."
"Well she'll be happier than Uncle Ron." He says pointedly and leaves, still scowling.
The trio returns to eating and talking, but the mood has been ruined. After lunch, Rose and the two Gryffindors part ways as she has Charms with Hufflepuff and they have Herbology with Slytherin.
*.*.*.*
"Hi, my name is Xavier," the boy next to her introduces himself immediately, in an accent she's hasn't heard often: American. He deeply pronounces he X in his name, so it's not "Zavier" but instead "X-zavier".
"And before you ask, yes I'm American." He smiles and puts out his hand for her to shake, "What's your name?"
She glances over him as they shake hands. His hair is a sort of dirty blond color, its cut in the fashion she's seen in Dom's American magazines. His eyes are startling, a pretty green-blue colour. His skin is tanner than most people she's seen in her days, so she figures he's in the sun often. It's weird for him not to know her name, a good kind of weird. Most people are all too familiar with her family and think they know her personally because they know her name and have read a bit about her in the Prophet.
"I'm Rose Weasley," she responds politely, "it's nice to meet you."
She then turns her attention to the front of the classroom. She recognizes the professor from the feast. He looks to be barely older than Professor Suzuki, with nicely cut dark hair and warm brown eyes. He's rather tall and has a good physique.
"Absolutely gorgeous." Someone remarks, putting Roses thoughts into words.
She turns to see the commenter was one of her roommates—Fiona, she thinks. It looks like the comment didn't account for only her own feelings, it seems that it correctly expressed the sentiment of a majority of the girls in the room. Rose notices how they are all staring at him in what can only be called an adoring manner.
"Okay class," he begins as the bell silences the first years, "My name is Johnathan Demetrius Carian, but you can call me Professor Carian, Carian, or if you're a bit bolder, Johnathan."
Rose can hear a gaggle of Hufflepuff girls whisper "Johnathan" and irrupt in fits of giggles as the professor continues.
"In this class you will delve into the science of charmwork. Charms is a fascinating subject, but it does take precision to master. One slip up in how you hold your wand or how you pronounce the incantation, and your charm will not work. Hopefully, you'll have fun in this class and find the subject as interesting as I do." He grins, "Now we could start working on the levitation spell today or we could get to know each other. How about a vote? Raise your hand if you want to start lessons today."
No one raises their hand, even Rose decides not to as she'd be overruled anyway.
"Just as I expected," the professor remarks, "Now starting with this young man," he motions to a guy sitting in the farthest right seat in the house, "You will state your full name, birthday, favourite colour and something interesting about you."
When they get to the tenth person, a small Hufflepuff girl named Liliana Terrier, they get to sing Happy Birthday and get cupcakes. When they get to the twenty-second, they listen to a debate on the existence of colour between Andrew McMillan and Professor Carian. Rose learns only one thing from the experience: a majority of 1st year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs prefer the colour blue to any other colour.
When its her turn, she answers quite simply, "Rose Jeanette Weasley. Eleventh of August, Grey. My parents helped defeat the dark lord."
She's surprised when Carian doesn't accept her answer, "Something interesting about you, not your parents, Rose."
She stops to think. What is there that's interesting about her?
"I fell off a dragon when I was seven. The impact of the fall almost killed me, and it took a few months to fully recover." She amends.
He seems far more satisfied with this response, "Well, I'm glad sure you and me both are glad that you lived to tell the tale,"
He then turns to Xavier, "What about you?"
"My name is Xavier Jeremey Reynolds, My birthday is January 31st, my favorite color is indigo, and I am American, is that interesting enough?" he responds.
"I suppose." Carian nods.
Zinnia Monroe finishes just as the bell chimes to dismiss them. Everyone seems to have enjoyed the little "get to know you" session (especially the bit with the sweets), but Rose honestly thinks it was a waste of time. She hopes the next Charms class will be at least a bit productive.
*.*.*.*
They only have one class on Mondays so Rose is free to go off to the library and take a seat in one of those comfy armchairs and just read. She's just finished Jane Eyre and is about to start The Count of Monte Cristo when she hears footsteps and a few familiar voices whispering.
"Ah ha, told you she'd be here." Scorpius grins.
"Never doubted it, mate, I mean come on it's Rose. Libraries are her natural habitat." Al replies taking a seat on the armchair across from her.
"Hullo boys," she looks up from her book then proceeds to ask Scorpius, "Whatever is so important that Albus here agreed to come to a library?"
"He wants find the Attic." He answers.
Al nods, "I'm bored to death. Care to join us?"
She doesn't hesitate for a moment, "Of course. But do you have any idea how to get there? Or what's up there? Or if it actually exists and isn't just a figment of Scorpius's imagination?"
"No. We were hoping you'd figure something out." Al admits.
She rolls her eyes and takes out her copy of Hogwarts A History: Revised Addition and goes to the page with the map of the school. It goes up to the seventh floor but says nothing about an attic. She tells the boys this and Scorpius asks her how to get to the seventh floor. She asks for the map, which Scorpius reluctantly hands over.
"Hmm it says here that there's a passage hidden behind a bookshelf just opposite of the portrait of Sir Camogan." She informs them after looking over the map.
They scour the library for the portrait, which is difficult to find as Sir Camogan has left the frame, but eventually they find the bookshelf. The passage is small and narrow, which makes Rose thankful that she's short and rail-thin. After trudging on for a while, they encounter a door, which opens to the Seventh Floor Corridor.
They explore the corridor for nearly half an hour before Scorpius notices something behind a tapestry: a little door, only about a three feet tall that looks to be closed off. He mutters something under his breath and the door opens. They crawl up the steps for what feels like an hour (but more likely around ten minutes), and come across another small door.
*.*.*.*
Rose's first impression of the Hogwarts Attic: creepy. With the sound of the rain (which hasn't stopped all day) and the flashes of lightning it looks like something out of a muggle horror film. Her second: very, very dirty. Everything in the room is completely covered with layers of dust. The trio is silent for a few moments, taking the room in.
"I think we're the first people to be up here in ages," Al finally says.
Rose looks over the things in the room. There is various furniture, chairs, couches, even a few wardrobes. Then there are mounds of trunks and boxes all closed up. So they do what any eleven year olds would do: open them. What they find is somewhat surprising. Keepsakes, trinkets, and clothesthings, all from different eras. The most intriguing things they find are a trunk that apparently belonged to Salazar Slytherin himself (sadly there isn't a key anywhere, so they do not know what the old wizard's knickers looked like) and a small box that belongs to a certain "Draco Malfoy." They can't seem to open that as well, because it simply doesn't haven't opening.
Overall they aren't really impressed by the attic, at least not until they open one of the wardrobes. This wardrobe is metal, sliver, guessing by the colour and looks to be older than any of the other wardrobes. Like much of the other things they've found it doesn't seem like it'll open, however Rose finds that there's a lock on the back. They take turns guessing the combination, until, finally, Scorpius cracks it open. The entire back of the wardrobe opens and they can see a room.
They go in together. Inside they find it much less dusty and quite nicely lit. It's decorated in the colours of all the houses and looks very much like an old fashioned sitting room. There are four arm chairs and a few bookshelves. Rose and Scorpius are shocked by the books they find, volumes written by Merlin that were said to be lost, novels they have never heard of by famous writers, and a bunch of books by Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, and Godric Gryffindor.
"Oh my goodness this must be a sort of meeting room." Rose exclaims examining the four armchairs, "One armchair for each of the founders. Books they wrote and books written by people they admired. This is absolutely brilliant!"
They don't spend much more time in the wardrobe room deciding to leave before they're late for tea. Once they are out, they close the wardrobe by putting the lock back in place. Then they look around for anymore exits and sure enough find one that leads them to a tower. They assume it's the Astronomy Tower, and the assumption is affirmed by a glance at the Maurader's Map.
They make it back in time for tea in the Great Hall, but Rose decides to sit with her roommates rather than Albus and Scorpius. The girls are all buzzing with excitement over the first day, Fiona and Emmaline decide they are in love with Jonathan, and Minnie and Diana inform her that according to a few Hufflepuffs they spoke to, Potions is definitely not something to look forward to. Taylor informs them of House meetings that night.
"House meetings?' Rose is intrigued.
"Yeah they started having them a few years ago. Good for announcements and such."
She nods and takes another bite out of her biscuit. It's enjoyable to talk with the girls. They all seem to be very intelligent, but also quite girly (except for perhaps Taylor). They talk about their favorite books and classes, but also about which boy band they like the most (Minnie and Fiona are Jinx fans while Harmony, Kat, and Taylor dismiss them in favor of the band Amortentia). Rose decides that she needs revisit pop culture as she has no idea who either of these bands are.)
After tea, Rose retreats to the library again. This time she is joined on the way by Al and Scorpius who are going on about how some Slytherins told them that the Potions Mistress assigned them a 15 inch essay due tomorrow.
"Relax, I'm sure they were just teasing you." She tries to calm them down, but the horde of first years in the library doing research for that particular essay doesn't really help.
She wonders if she should be worried; the two Gryffindors have gone as far as to pester Hufflepuffs for the prompt. She thinks on it, and comes to the conclusion that it's not worth it.
"You guys are absolutely mad with paranoia," she declares after the fifth time the interrupt her with a question about a random potion, "I'm going to the commons where it might actually be quieter."
The Ravenclaw common room is in fact quieter than the library and Rose manages to finish The Count of Monte Cristo by dinnertime.
She sits with the boys for dinner. Luckily, their paranoia has died down. Apparently, not long after she left they realized how thick they were being and settled to play wizard chess in their own common room.
Dinner is absolutely lovely; Rose decides to have a bit of lamb stew—which by the way is heavenly—and some pieces of the pies she saw Al have during lunch. She listens to the guys talk as she eats. They seem to argue frequently, but in a good-natured way. Scorpius's eyebrows furrow when he gets upset and the overall affect it has on his face is amusing. When Al's feeling particularly passionate, his emerald eyes seem to get darker. Their friends join in their discussions rather often. Frank and Scorpius like the same Quidditch team, the Chudly Cannons, who Rose supports by default as her father is probably their biggest fan, while Al and the one Blakely bloke—Wren was it?—support Puddlemere United
By the end of dinner, Rose has had enough Quidditch talk to last her a lifetime. Wren decided to explain the entire game to her when he noticed she hadn't been following their discussion on the amazingness of the Puddlemere seeker, quite so keenly. Then, Scorpius had indulged her all the stats of the main chaser for the Cannons since he had begun on the team roughly ten years ago.
Ugh, if only she cared.
*.*.*.*
Rose sits in the back of the common room during the house meeting. Professor Hawthorne, the Head of Ravenclaw and apparently the fearsome Potions Mistress, leads it. She has her brown hair done in a tight bun and her glasses are low on her nose making it look like she's staring at you expectantly at all times, which she might was well have been doing. She was quite thin and quite tall, somewhat skeleton-like. Despite her demeanor her tone is soft and her grey eyes sparkles kindly.
"To begin announcements, I would like to remind you that the library does close at ten every day and all library books are due within three weeks of being checked out unless they are necessary for a NEWT course research project. Madame Cadence's Choir auditions will be next week on Wednesday and Thursday. Any students interested should stay at the Great Hall after dinner. Auditions for the school's orchestra will be on Friday of next week with Professor Connolly at eight o'clock in the Arithmacy Room. The Art Club will meet every Thursday after dinner starting this week. The dueling club is open to second years and up and will meet on Mondays in the Great hall after dinner as well as during tea time in the court yard. The Gobstones Club will have meetings every Sunday from two o'clock till tea time and tryouts for the Gobstones team will begin next month. Professor Fallen also would like to remind you that any clubs you want to form have to be first approved by the deputy headmistress, Professor Hurst. Ravenclaw is currently in the lead in for the house cup by twenty points, so keep up the good work. Thank you for your attention that concludes this week's house meeting."
Her speech is done in a matter of minutes and Rose honestly thinks that it would make more sense to call them announcements rather than house meetings. She returns to the dormitory to find that her roommates do not share her apathy; they are in fact excited about the announcemnts. Fiona and Emmaline are joining the orchestra. Taylor says she might consider Gobstones, as "while it's not Quidditch, it is rather fun." Minnie is trying to convince Harmony to at least audition for a spot in the choir. Apparently she's a good singer.
Taylor asks for a sample and Harmony responds by singing as Spanish lullaby her mother used to sing to her. Her voice is soft and sweet, like honey and by the second verse Rose has fallen fast asleep.
She dreams of the Attic and the Glass Room. She dreams of rainy days that have past and adventures to come.
A/N:
Garideth: Thank you so much for this lovely review! :D I'm glad you like that Al isn't super soft, frankly I find it weird when I see him portrayed like that.
Updated 8/21/14