Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter.
Rose
Rose was mesmerized by the swirling mess in front of her. With flourish, she started to add a horned slug, and then another, and then another, to her pot of items after waiting for exactly thirty-seven minutes. Rose murmured some ingredients for an antidote to common poisons as she worked to exercise her brain and jog her memory.
"Bezoar, unicorn horn, mistletoe berries…"
Rose knew Albus and his housemates also had to be there in the dungeon, so she had an opportunity to see who he would hang out with. This was because the class was shared with both Slytherin and Gryffindor. However, Rose was perfectly happy working on brewing a cure for boils by herself (well, technically with her partner) and didn't want to deal with any type of distractions of that sort.
It was the first class in Hogwarts for Rose and all of the rest of the first years, and Rose was attending potions with Professor Vaughan. She was surprised to find she had been paired with the girl who had clapped with her for Albus, her cousin, at his sorting. Rose was excited at first, until the familiar girl proceeded to sit back in luxury and let her do all the work. Not to say Rose didn't mind, or like it, even, but she had thought the girl would be a bit more collaborative and friendly. Rose tried to strike up at least a start to a conversation as she carefully took their cauldron off the fire.
"Hey, um, would you pass me those porcupine quills just beyond you? Yeah, those two right there, both of them. Thanks. So… Are you excited to be in Gryffindor?"
The girl shrugged and looked at Rose blankly. "Yeah, I guess."
...Okay, thought Rose. So she was not very social right now, but maybe Rose could get a little bit more out of her.
"I'm Rose. Yup, like the flower, I know. What's your name?"
"Chamomile. Yup, like the flower, I know." Chamomile smirked at Rose expectantly. Rose bit back harsh words and laughed dryly.
"Pretty name and interesting word choice. Got a nickname I can call you?"
"Cammie," came the nonchalant response. Rose wondered if this girl had been a tough choice or even a hat-stall between Gryffindor and Slytherin. What an attitude! There was a long silence.
"Your name's Chamomile and mine's Rose. Flower power, huh?" she grinned stupidly to break the tension. Cammie blinked and stared at her. Rose sighed and turned back to their cure for boils. "Or not," she muttered, slightly deflated.
There was a churning in her stomach as Rose stirred the ingredients. She felt like they looked now, all scattered and grimy and isolated. But would she ever come together like the items in the potion? Would she ever do anything, have any kind of big purpose? Rose sighed dejectedly and stared down at her cauldron. The bubbling slugs in there seemed to mock her, haughtily stating that they already knew their part in the action, and were a part of a purpose; to cure the boils of an organism. Rose stared more intensely at the metal container, noting all of its dents and scratches. She was interrogating the instrument with her gaze, holding it down with her piercing stare. The contents flowed more rapidly, Rose thought, but then she realized that her heart was just beating so fast and loud, it was reflecting on her senses. Rose's poisonous glare reluctantly softened towards the cauldron, and then Cammie finally looked up to meet her eyes. They were a hard, almond brown, but there was a small glint of light in them that made her look less intimidating and more witty somehow. Rose smiled softly, barely looking up enough to see Cammie's eye color; maybe she was going to be able to crack the challenging code of her partner after all. She knew she wouldn't give up until she broke through the barriers. Rose only worried that the walls she was fighting would rebound and collapse upon her with every blow she inflicted upon them.
Cammie slowly swallowed and walked over to Rose. "How is it coming along?" she asked. Her voice was soft, and yet with every consonant she enunciated, it projected around the room as clear as a crystalite. Rose was so entranced in the effort Cammie gave to reach out, she almost forgot to reply.
"Huh- oh, wait… The potion! Yes, the potion's doing great!" Rose laughed, almost too enthusiastically, and then bit her lip. "I think we're ready." She took out her wand and took a deep breath. Then she held it over the steaming, smelly pot, ignored the wriggling slugs inside, and gave a few flicks of her pale wrist. As quickly as she could, Rose turned back to Chamomile and let out a breath she'd been holding. She sure didn't want to see those slugs again, for how gross they were to place. Their slimy bodies made it extremely difficult to grab them, so Rose had had to attempt several times at correctly grasping them and dropping the slugs in the pot. The professor moved towards them, and Rose told him she and Cammie were ready to test the potion.
Chamomile looked just about ready to jump up and down when some of the boils on the poor animal cleared up, but Rose felt sick when she saw a few remain. She groaned inwardly and slumped back down in her chair, slouching and putting her head in her hands. Cammie didn't pay any attention and was smiling so widely, her cheeks seemed to be straining. She was clearly euphoric that the potion even sort of worked, a feeling Rose couldn't share. All she saw was another footstep she couldn't fill, another expectation she'd just failed. She slid further down in her seat and sighed audibly. Great. Well, maybe she'd prove herself in her next class. What was it again? Oh, that's right. She had Charms with Professor Dunlap.
Rose hurried down the hallways to her Charms room, wanting desperately to be one of the first kids so she could choose a seat near the front. After her failure to cure all the boils in Potions class, Rose wanted to excel even more now. She wished the qualities her mother possessed came as easily to her, but she wasn't sure. Rose smoothed her bland uniform without purpose, subconsciously trying to make herself look especially tidy and kempt. She wondered where Albus was going now, knowing he had been in her Potions class despite that Rose hadn't seen him. Well, at least she had one sort-of friend in her House: Cammie Marre.
"Okay, who in here knows what Charms are?" asked Professor Dunlap. He looked slightly bored, Rose noted. Still, she tried to look enthusiastic as her hand shot up. The professor smirked at her and looked around. When another girl's hand in Ravenclaw climbed up slowly, He turned his piercing gaze on her. Rose scowled a bit at the competition as Professor Dunlap called on the Ravenclaw girl. Her opponent smugly glanced at her, flipping her layered, blonde hair. It certainly didn't help that the girl was absolutely gorgeous with those glittering green eyes and tan, Californian skin. Oh, it was on, Rose thought as she looked at her own messy, fiery hair.
"Charms are spells that add certain properties to an object or creature. The concept differs from Transfiguration because it centers around what an object does as opposed to what it is," the blonde stated. Rose grit her teeth as she realized how wonderfully worded the answer was. She refused to back down, mentally going through answers to any other possible questions the professor might ask. Professor Dunlap nodded curtly at the answer, letting a the right side of his mouth curl slightly for a brief moment before pacing to the other side of the room. His voice rang loud and clear, prompting Rose more awake immediately.
"Yes, yes, very good, two points to Ravenclaw."
The girl from Ravenclaw looked slightly miffed she only received two points for her House, but when she saw Rose looking, she put back on her mask of innocence and arrogance. Rose raised her own head higher and scowled harder. She prepared herself for the next question, but Professor Dunlap started a short lecture on what they would be doing in Charms and why it was important. Rose zoned out, bored, as she knew everything the professor was covering. Finally, she jolted upwards and got her game back on as she heard the ringing voice of her instructor say, "All right, open The Standard Book of Spells, which should be on your desk at this point, Mr. Whitaker." Francis Whitaker sighed audibly and plopped his textbook on his desk.
"Excuse me, Professor Dunlap, where do you want us to turn to?" asked a Gryffindor girl, whose name, as Rose recalled from the Sorting, was Casey Hendricks. The professor stiffened at the interruption but answered, "The chapter on the Fire-Making Charm, if you will." Obediently, all the students flipped through the book to find the given chapter, Rose included.
As the rustling of the pages settled, Professor Dunlap cleared his throat. "Now, who can tell me the necessary incantation for this spell?" Quickly, Rose scanned the page. Her hand went up a few seconds before the blonde Ravenclaw girl's, she saw with satisfaction. Her instructor nodded at her, signaling she should answer. "Incendio," she replied, trying to project her voice and appear confident. "Correct. Two points to Gryffindor," Professor Dunlap said. Rose was silently annoyed at these words. Would he ever give above two points? She didn't dare look at the Ravenclaw blonde for fear her temper would ignite and she'd get out of control at the trademark smirk that was surely on her face.
Class bore on, Professor Dunlap giving instructions and advice on how to perform the Fire-Making Charm. Finally, he said, "Please pair up with another person; now we will attempt to complete this charm. Don't worry if you don't succeed, but I expect you guys will all learn from your attempts. I am not controlling who you pair up with, but no fooling around! Especially you, Whitaker." Francis looked up from sniggering with his friend and made a look that said, "Huh?" Rose gave a snicker of her own at his naivete, looking around for Chamomile.
Kids murmured quietly as they looked around for their best friends. Rose turned away, minorly annoyed, as she saw Cammie chat enthusiastically with a friend. They'd probably work together, she figured. After almost everybody was with a partner, Rose looked around. She hadn't been able to find anyone who hadn't made a friend yet. Only she, the blonde Ravenclaw, and a few trouble-maker boys were left alone. Sighing in exasperation, she walked over to the Ravenclaw girl.
"Hey. What's your name?" she asked half-heartedly. Rose didn't really want to be with the girl, but she knew she had to.
The girl narrowed her eyes and flipped her hair. "Clara Witt," she said condescendingly. "But we should really get started on our project instead of socializing." Rose flinched when Clara said the word "socializing" but otherwise she kept her disposition pleasant.
"Yes, I agree. So about lighting a fire…" Rose trailed off as she looked in her textbook. "The wands we are grasping really don't look ready to produce a bunch of fire right now, do they?" she glanced pointedly to their dry wands. "So how do we do this?" Rose read the incantation aloud, slowly, as if breaking the word apart. Huh; Rose thought that the word "incendio" was Spanish for fire. Maybe that's where it originated; Spanish-speaking countries. Did it come from muggles, then? Rose would've pondered longer, but Clara was loudly reading directions from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. Rose tried to get back to the path which she had digressed with a mental sigh, knowing she wanted to impress Professor Dunlap more than ever.
Around Rose, many groups were trying unsuccessfully to cast the spell. Rose observed their small triumphs and failures and attempted to figure out what they were doing wrong. Clara, next to her, was uttering the incantation for the charm over and over again. Rose wanted to help her, to explain she should think about why she wasn't succeeding first, but then overruled that judgement; it might hurt her pride. Rose bit her lip and raised her wand, which fit snugly and amiably into her hand. She tried to think of strong memories, almost like you would whilst completing the Patronus spell. Rose had learned from watching her parents talk, Hermione and Ron, as well as Albus advising her, that to cast a strong spell, it was the caster and not the spell that determined everything. If your purpose, reason and feelings for summoning the charm were unperturbed and impregnable, the results would be more powerful.
Everything built up inside of Rose Weasley's head. She thought of her dearest memories of Hugo, her little brother, and then of the desperation he'd get better when he grew ill. She thought of pressure from her parents, and the permeating fear of never being able to fill in their big footprints, and then in contrast of how much she loved them. She thought of Cammie, the friend she thought she had, and then seeing her choose another person to work with. She thought of Albus and the distinct shock, fear, and agony on his face as the Sorting Hat yelled out the inevitable word: "SLYTHERIN!" Lastly, Rose thought of the color of her hair and, coincidentally, that same color on a rose. She thought of how much it had impacted her life, and how it would continue to. She imagined her blazing, boiling hair lashing out against enemies, reliving anything that had made her angry and left her feeling powerless. Rose summoned those thoughts and, in pure rage, she shouted, "INCENDIO!"
The only thing Rose could see or smell for minutes was the aroma of burning and the flash of beaming light that transpired afterward. There was complete silence in the classroom, but Rose barely noticed. She tried to regain her bearings, but her vision was still slightly blurred. She could, however, make out the silhouettes of a pale-faced Clara Witt, an amazed Cammie Marre, and a pleased Professor Dunlap. An incessant buzzing had control over her ears, but in a surreal-like state, she managed to hear the professor say, "Excellent! Absolutely exemplary! Five points for Gryffindor!" Although five wasn't a large number of points in the slightest, Rose felt elated and triumphant she'd earned more than the promised number, two. Also, Professor Dunlap had shown a lot more emotion than he'd shown since the beginning of class, which Rose considered a small victory.
Then, the professor's small grin evaporated and he cleared his throat. Kids dispersed disappointedly from their friends, clearly having wanted to talk about what happened. "Okay, class, you have just witnessed an amazingly performed Fire-Making Charm. I'm not saying it was flawless, but it was sure a whole heck of a lot better than your pathetic attempts! So let's discuss the occurrences. Rose Weasley, come up here and tell the class how you did it, please," said Professor Dunlap.
Rose tried to refocus on the task at hand and, giving a barely audible whimper, trudged nervously to the front of the room.
"Er, hi," she said softly, giving a small wave. "Well, er, I guess I… um, I guess I released some energy build-up from inside me." Rose winced and took a deep breath, wondering why she was so nervous and disoriented when being praised and used as an example like this had been what she'd wanted. She tried to think about how to word her feelings. She began again, this time trying to be less awkward.
"Er… In a Patronus, you think about a strong, powerful memory, right? Well, for this spell and, really, any other spell, you use the same technique. Putting your whole self into it, exerting your energy, and finding a cause for your magic will really help you. On a hunch, I recognized that I was making fire and for me, fire means anger and feeling impotent, and then I quickly recollected and tried to relive any especially strong memories that made me feel mad and helpless. Fire also means bravery and courage to me. Bravery and courage represent Gryffindor, as I subconsciously knew. I let that sense of belonging and yet not, feeling safe and yet out of control, and knowing what the charm meant to me take over. So, like I said before, I did it using all that energy build-up inside me, and, er, that's how I conjured fire like that."
The professor stood up and walked over to Rose. "Thank you, Ms. Weasley, you can sit back down in your seat now. Class, I hope you learned a great deal from your discussion with her today. Don't feel bad that you couldn't do it; this spell is taught to all fifth years here at Hogwarts. This assignment isn't graded, and it was merely a challenge. I knew most of you, if not all, would fail to complete it correctly, but I was interested to see where you would fall short. Yes, I was indeed watching as you worked.
"There was another reason I chose a charm that had to do with fire, besides that it was a complicated spell that I picked as a challenge. As you all know, I am the head of the Ravenclaw house. I therefore prize knowledge and logic, which brings me to why I chose the charm I did. Only one child in this room understood a logic so deep it is often missed until later, sometimes around third year. Ms. Weasley here correctly thought that she should bring to mind thoughts about her experience about fire; what it is to her, how it impacts her, and some examples. If any of you thought about anything other than goofing off with friends and unrelated things, you didn't put your whole self into it and connect with the object you are enhancing. Instead of simply performing the spell and creating a fire from a wand, Ms. Weasley went deeper and created a fire from herself and through her wand. I don't expect any of you to fully get the concept of this until you are of at your third, fourth, and fifth years here at Hogwarts, but I want you to try. One more thing, class; the thing that surprises me most about the situation is this: Miss Rose Weasley is not a Ravenclaw. Her biggest qualities are not her logic and knowledge, no matter how much she possesses, but her bravery and courage. Rose is a Gryffindor, a part of a house that is considered to be inferior to Ravenclaws on the smart side, simply because that is not what they value most and are most known for. If you take anything with you, boys and girls, when you exit this room, know that where you have been placed does not determine who you are. I know we are running out of time, so I will wrap up this lecture. Miss Rose Weasley, I award you five more points for teaching us all, including me, something new, and for mastering such a high level of moral and academic understanding. You are now dismissed, everyone."
Here's the third chapter! I hope you like it, and, as always, thanks for your reviews! The next chapter will probably be finished next week, so I'll update then. For now, it's going to be mostly classwork and meeting some of our characters, but we'll get into some action later.