Albus and Cornelia were sitting in their usual spots, Rose arriving a bit later. Monday had come and gone and Tuesday was just beginning; first with some breakfast and gossip, then onto Charms. As Rose approached her friends, they both looked up at her with coy grins plastered across their faces.
"So, Cor wouldn't tell me…how did Uncle Ron take the news of you having a "special friend who happens to be a boy" shall we say?" Albus' face was smug and expectant of an all-too-obvious answer. He knew exactly how uncle Ron would react and he was just dying to see Rose's face as she recounted throwing the cat among the pigeons.
Rose sat down with an exasperated thud, giving Albus a look of finality; she was onto his happiness at her having to deal with an overbearing father.
"Shut it." Was the only answer he got.
Cornelia's brows lifted, as if to distance herself from the heat coming off of her friend. She'd been there when Ron's howler arrived, of course, screaming things the likes of "YOU'RE JUST A GIRL!" and "A SLYTHERIN OF ALL THINGS?!" and "YOU'RE A WEASLEY AND IT'S HIGHTIME YOU STARTED ACTING LIKE IT!"
Rose knew her father's temper would simmer down over time and that's just how he handled 'bad news' at first. She also expected to receive an owl from her mother apologizing for her father's behavior and to enjoy herself. She knew them all too well and so while she was a little unsettled for now, she knew it would all blow over in a few days.
"Well you don't have to get techy with me young lady." snickered Albus, still grinning at her and thoroughly enjoying his extended family's antics and temper tantrums. Cornelia cleared her throat, as she knew Rose could only take so much chiding in a stressful situation.
"So, Charms for us this morning, eh? Did you do your homework?" Cornelia asked, trying to change the subject. Rose just looked at her with incredulity.
"Seriously? Of course I did, Cor." She said with a chilly undertone, just as one of the resident ghosts catwalked across the Gryffindor table, hardly bothering any of the delicious smelling breakfast laid about. Looking around, all the house ghosts had arrived and were hovering about, making small talk, as the daily mail dropped in. Rose's letter from her mum arrived, but before she could open it, several students looked up as they heard a clamor.
A boy from the Slytherin table had fallen over the bench in fright. With his robes disheveled and covering up his face, he ran out of the Great Hall in a flourish. The Bloody Baron laughed him out.
"Poor boy. Tsk tsk tsk." Said Nearly Headless Nick, floating toward the staff's table. The entire hall had a chuckle at his expense. Who in the world would be afraid of the school's ghosts? The Headmistress looked on disapprovingly.
"Time to go, Rose! See you later Al!" said Cornelia, as the bell for morning classes tolled. The girls grabbed up their books and hurried out with the rest of the students.
The girls walked quickly to class, not daring to be late for one of their favorites. They were also keen on getting good seats next to each other so they could be partners. Rose didn't want to admit it but she was also quit keen on not running into Carrow or Malfoy and not sitting anywhere near them, ever, if possible. She'd been avoiding them, even Franklyn for fear that maybe they'd told him. She really didn't want to face the prospect of the utter embarrassment she might feel. Even worse, she didn't want Frank to stop seeing her, since those were his friends, obviously.
They made it to the classroom and picked two seats toward the front of the class. There were four long tables and a podium, ready to receive the Charms Master, professor Flitwick. He hadn't changed much in 10 years, except perhaps his whiskers were a bit longer and his forehead a bit more wrinkled than in the photos Rose's mother had shown her. He was still as sharp as ever.
Finally, just before the time allotted for getting to class was up, Persephone and her gang of girlfriends sauntered in, taking up a large space toward the back, uprooting some timid Hufflepuffs from their own seats to accommodate the group. Scorpius and another Ravenclaw boy sat among them, like kings. Persephone draped her long, thin arm around Scorpius and he draped his own arm across the back of her chair. Persephone's eyes scanned the room appraisingly, finally falling on Rose. She narrowed her eyes and smiled maliciously, giving a final wink, promising something ominous.
Scorpius had also found her, but instead of looking to the front when Flitwick entered like everyone else, his eyes stayed trained on her, as if trying to figure something out. Rose looked away, her cheeks growing hot, feeling as though every eye in the room was on her, even though it was only him. She cleared her throat, trying to ignore the growing feeling of discomfort in the pit of her stomach. After a minute she chanced a glance back at Scorpius and found him to be focused on Flitwick, as if the fixation had never happened.
"Alright, alright. Last time we touched on the Levitation Charm. It's the first of several charms you'll be expected to master upon the end of this term. Some of you got a bit of lift, but you all need practice of course!" he prattled cheerily, beaming at the students who'd begun to understand the charm a bit earlier than others. Rose was among them.
"I want you all to partner back up. If you had some trouble last time, sidle up to someone who can help you along. Remember: Wingardium Leviosa!" he cooed, swishing and flicking his wand. He continued to swish and flick his wand, waving his hands and body as if conducting an orchestra, peering at each couple with an indomitable optimism. This went on for several minutes. Rose managed to get her quill a few inches off the table this time, while Cornelia was just starting to get some movement out of her quill.
Just then a knock came at the chamber door. "Yes?" said Flitwick. Horatia Saison, the beautifully dark and sensual Dark Arts professor glided into the room.
"I'm so sorry to disturb you but the Headmistress would like a word with you on some urgent matters." She said, her voice like velvet.
"Oh. Very well then. Class! Please continue practicing with your partners. I'll be back as soon as I possibly can manage. Do behave!" he tittered, climbing down from his podium and following Saison to the Headmistress' office.
As soon as the chamber door latched close the room fell into a clatter of voices and no one was practicing their spells anymore. Rose turned and smiled at Cornelia, opening her mouth to say something when-
"Oi! Weasley!" Persephone barked across the room, her serpentine eyes fixed onto Rose. Rose flushed and looked at her hands, then at Carrow, saying nothing.
"Don't you have anything better to do then interrupt people in the library? You really ought to look into getting a life and keeping your nose out of others' business." She stopped smirking. Her cronies looked at her and back to Rose, thoroughly approving of the confrontation, ready to cheer on their leader.
"Then again, with all that ruddy hair, dull eyes and mousy personality it's really not a wonder you have to go poking around to get your jollies. I've no bloody idea what Frank sees in you." She continued, her tone steely and treacherous. Her friends continued to snigger at the disaster unfolding.
Rose didn't know what to say. She hadn't meant to put her nose where it didn't belong. It was all a mistake. She looked down, tears threatening to fall. She'd never been in this situation before and on top of everything, she completely agreed with Carrow. She didn't know what Franklyn saw in her either.
"Why don't you shut your mouth? Whatever she did it couldn't have been bad enough for you to be such a twat." Spat Cornelia, her anger growing. She already didn't like the girl and now she was giving her best friend a tongue-lashing. As Persephone was getting ready to retort, Scorpius looked at her and cleared his throat. It seemed he felt what had been said was enough. Persephone looked at him dumfounded, like a child who wasn't getting their way.
Before either she or Cornelia could take it further, the door to the classroom swung open and Flitwick returned with a confused expression. He looked up to the class and his naturally cheery disposition returned.
"Why, for goodness sake, aren't you all still practicing?! Wands up, keep going, that's it, Wingardium Leviosa!" he squeaked, waving his hands back and forth as he made his way to the podium. Rose turned to the half-goblin Charms Master and quietly asked to be excused. Seeing the redness in her face he softened and nodded his head yes, as long as she went to the Hospital Wing.
She gathered her things quickly and left as quietly as possible, though every pair of eyes in the room was on her. Persephone smirked, satisfied, only to be met with a more-than-deadly gaze from Cornelia.
Once outside the chamber, Rose stopped, leaning her hand against the wall to steady herself. She'd been able to keep the tears back until now, when she could no longer hold them in. One, two, three, they rolled down her cheeks, following the same tear tracks from the ones before. She felt so stupid and at the same time felt so much anger. She wasn't sick so there was really no reason to go to the nurse. It wasn't her favorite option, but after crying she felt mentally and physically exhausted, and so resigned herself to return to the common room. When she got there the Fat Lady looked at her disapprovingly.
"Why aren't you in class, young Rose?" she huffed, sipping from her glass of wine.
"I'm not feeling well." Rose muttered, rubbing her reddened face.
"Then you ought to go to the Hospital Wing, don't you think?" she asked, raising one unnaturally thin eyebrow.
"It's…" she began. "It's not that kind of ill…"
"Oh, having boy troubles?" pried the Fat Lady.
"Not exactly." Rose was growing tired of this banter and she didn't particularly feel like talking about it.
"Oh, won't you tell me?" the Fat Lady whined.
"I'd rather not. Look, can I just go inside please? Sneezewort." Rose begged.
"Fine then. But don't expect to hear any juicy stories out of me! Selfish." she swung open finally, a pout on her face.
Rose just shrugged and stepped through the portrait hole, not really caring about the obnoxious gatekeeper's feelings. Once she was up to her bed, she kicked off her shoes and dropped her heavy bag with a flump onto the floor. Leolin awoke from a catnap and mewled at her curiously. Rose pulled her blankets back and slipped underneath, pulling them up around her shoulders and cradling Leolin in the crook of her arm. She fell asleep almost instantly.
Several hours later, long after the sun had gone down, Rose awoke to the sounds of her fellow first years sleeping peacefully. Turning over, still shrouded in a hazy half sleep, she looked at Cornelia's bed, to see her wavy brown hair spilling out from under the blankets, her chest rising and falling evenly. Rose ran her hands up and down the length of her four-poster, expecting to feel a familiar, furry bump. Instead, nothing.
Rose sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked around the dormitory. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw no glowing eyes and heard no kitten-y sounds anywhere. Pulling her covers back and slipping out of bed, she peered around Cornelia, in case Leolin had decided to cuddle in with her. Nothing. Where would he have gotten to? It was highly possible he's slipped out as students came and went throughout the day, but he'd never done that before.
Rose was still in her uniform, though it was wrinkled and mussed now. Fearing the worst, and well aware of what sometimes happened to pets that wandered where they weren't allowed, Rose slipped on her trainers and headed towards the boy's dormitory.
After stumbling through the common room and to the top of the boy's staircase, Rose made it to the door of the dormitories. Raising her hand to knock on the door, she froze. Was she really about to do this? Why was she all of a sudden intent on breaking the rules? She sighed and instead of waking up a random boy to open the door for her, she quietly pushed it open herself and slipped inside before any noise could wake someone up.
She was inside another stairwell, which was presumably just like the girl's dormitories. So, all she had to do was go to the level that the second years were on. She finally took out her wand and whispered 'Lumos' so she didn't fall down the stairs like an idiot and get caught sneaking about. She passed the first years and continued up. She finally reached the level that James should be on. She needed something very important from her cousin James and she could only hope that he would be too tired to argue with her. 'Nox' she said, putting out her wand. She reached up and pulled the door open, slipping inside just as quietly as before.
Inside she looked around, trying to find the familiar, messy hair belonging to James. She suddenly felt like she couldn't go through with it. Her heart caught in her throat and she felt like she couldn't breath, but she knew if she lost her wits now, she'd wake someone up and get Gryffindor in some nasty trouble. 'Calm down, Rose.' She thought.
Finally, she saw a four-poster with a banner draped over the headboard. It had 'JAMES 3' written in girly letters with other adornments of infatuation. Obviously some fan girls had given him a gift. Rose rolled her eyes, nauseated. She crouched down and tiptoed over to James' bed.
"James." she whispered. Nothing. Poke.
"Bloody hell-" he yelped, before Rose clamped her hand over his mouth. She shushed him with a finger over his mouth. Slowly, she released his mouth.
"What are you doing here, Rose?" he whispered, leaned over the side of his bed. Was he dreaming?
"I need to use the cloak." She said, matter of fact, and seemingly out of time to wait on permission.
"For what?!" he huffed, both shocked and suspicious
"I can't find Leolin. I want to make sure he's okay." She said, her eyes pleading.
"You've got to be joking." His mouth dropped in disbelief. Rose only raised her eyebrows, waiting for an answer.
"If you get caught…" he continued, fully awake now, "I never saw you and you stole the cloak. And…I expect my potions homework to be done for a month." He finished, smirking cheekily. Surely she would chicken out.
"Done." She said confidently, returning his snark. "Now, where is it?"
James reached under his bed, pulling out a small sack closed with a braided rope. He pulled it loose and revealed the cloak, throwing it at Rose's face. She grabbed it away, entirely unamused.
"Jerk."
Making it safely out of the boy's dormitory, she was now snaking her way around the seventh floor. She stayed close to the stone cobbled walls, wand lit and at the ready. No sign of her kitten. She'd been searching for about an hour before sitting beside the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, listening to his snores. About 13 windows down she could see the entrance to Professor Flitwick's office and down the adjacent hall she could see the Headmistress' office, guarded by a gargoyle.
Here and there she heard the pitter-patter of small creatures, and the raucous sounds of sleep by the various portraits, tapestries, and statues. Every sound she heard was magnified, putting her on edge, not to mention the fact she had slept all day and was now wide awake, senses tingling. It may have been the darkness around her but, suddenly, she thought she saw a flash of golden orange fur at the end of the hall where Flitwick's office was.
Crouching, she stood up and made her way in the direction of the apparition, slowly, given she was on high alert and her anxiety was returning in full force. She just knew she was going to be caught at any moment now. For all she knew, she could have seen Miss. Norris, which meant Filch wasn't far away, if she had seen anything at all. About three quarters of the way down the hall, she heard voices, causing her to swiftly plant herself where she was, huddled against the wall behind a suit of armor.
The door to Flitwick's office creaked open and three figures filed out; one short and two tall. McGonagall, Flitwick, and unknown woman, wearing long flowing robes of silver. She seemed to shine like a beacon in the darkness. Her skin was light and flawless, eyes dark, but blue. The purest blue Rose had ever seen. Rose must have been twenty feet away but the blue of this woman's eyes pierced her to the core. They began walking in Rose's direction, causing her to stumble backward.
"I'm honored you feel that Hogwarts is the safest place for this…eh…situation." Said Mcgonagall, hands clasped as always.
"But of course, Headmistress. We have every confidence in you and your staff." Said the woman, with a voice that made you feel safe. She handed a scroll of parchment to McGonagall, who in turn handed it to Flitwick. He stowed it away carefully in his robes, patting the bulge it made on his chest with a confident smile, as of to assure the woman of its safety. She smiled an eternal smile of gratitude.
Rose finally turned to leave, but in doing so stepped on the hem of the cloak, causing it to almost slip off. She floundered to remain unseen, making a bit of noise and dropping her things. The enchanting woman turned in her direction. She seemed to not notice anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly, she smiled in Rose's direction. As soon as she did so she was looking back at McGonagall.
"I'll be leaving one of our warriors in the castle to keep an eye on things. We have every faith but, of course, Hogwarts has a reputation." The woman said, a kindly look on her face, begging understanding.
"Oh yes, I understand completely. I daresay, none understand its reputation better than Filius and I." said McGonagall, a somewhat pained and deflated look on her face. "Our groundskeeper is downstairs, waiting to escort you back to your company."
With that, Flitwick was walking with the woman, taking the stairs down, and McGonagall was walking briskly to her own chambers. Rose finally slumped down, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. The pressure of the moment had caused her to sweat nervously, and in a flurry of motion she whipped the cloak off, revealing herself, for once not caring if she was seen. She felt like she was suffocating. Eyes closed, she leaned her head against the wall, trying to regain her wits. She then felt something nudge her hand.
"Blast you! You stupid cat!" she hissed at Leolin, petting his head affectionately anyway. Now that that was out of the way, what had she just seen?
