Chapter Three

I Hope You Don't Mind

I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind

That I put down in words

How wonderful life is while you're in the world

~Elton John, Your Song

Rose thought dealing with her love crazed friends and school would be the hardest thing about the week before Valentine's Day. She hadn't however, counted on receiving secret-admirer poems and then having Carly discover that fact. Now, the worst part of her week was the near-constant pleas and suggestions from Carly that Rose try and figure out who was sending her the letters.

"This is perfect Rose. There is already a guy out there who obviously wants to take you to the dance. You don't have to do the legwork and try and find one. All you need to do is figure out who it is that wants you and say yes!" Carly exclaimed at breakfast the next day, the scrambled eggs skewered on her fork whipping around with her excited chatter.

"There's just one problem with your plan," Rose responded, cutting off a piece of pancake and stuffing it in her face. Carly opened her mouth to respond, but quickly closed it and scrunched her eyebrows to together in thought.

"No there isn't; it's a super simple plan." Carly finally answered.

"The problem is that I don't want to find out who the guy is or go to the dance with him. What part of 'I don't need a date' can you not comprehend Carly!" Rose was so frustrated with her friend that she left her breakfast half eaten and stormed out of the Great Hall.

"Rose!" She was halfway to her first class of the day when a distinctly male voice called out her name, stopping her progress. Annoyed already by Carly's persistence, she turned around slowly, and gave the male a withering stare. Rose recognized him, but in that moment, she couldn't place his name.

"Yes?" she asked, her foul attitude showing through in her tone.

"Can I ask you something?" Rose let out a deep sigh but agreed to talk to the semi-mysterious male. He motioned to an empty classroom, which immediately raised the hairs on the back of her neck. However, not willing to put up much of a fight, Rose followed him in. The door clicked shut behind her.

Rose held her hand over the pocket containing her wand and apprehensively followed the sort of stranger into the empty classroom. She stayed several steps behind him as he moved around the room lighting the candles. Finally, Rose felt her deeply repressed boldness bubbling up.

"Who are you, again?" she asked, hoping it didn't sound too rude. She watched as he flicked his wand to light the final candle then turned around, chuckling slightly to himself.

"Michael Graffer," he responded. Rose took the new information and began searching the recesses of her mind to see if she could place the name. Within a few seconds, her brain found a match.

"You're one of James' friends," Rose responded, referring to her least favorite cousin. With her realization, Rose expected him to continue on with why he had brought her into the classroom, but he remained silent. Rose's boldness had since receded and she simply quirked her eyebrow up, hoping he would understand the hint.

Rose was almost ready to write Michael off as a weirdo and just leave the classroom when he finally began to talk.

"So, as I'm sure you know –you'd have to be a complete idiot not to- Valentine's is in two days…" he trailed off. Rose assumed he was waiting for some verification of his statement. She nodded her head and he continued, "well, rumor has it that you don't have a date for the dance."

The hairs on the back of Rose's neck rose as her whip-smart brain realized where the conversation was headed.

"Nope," she quickly responded, hoping to shut him down, "and I don't plan to change that fact." Before Michael could say another word, Rose turned on her heel and strode out of the classroom.

'Worst. Week. Ever!'

Rose decided that heading straight to her first class, Transfiguration, would be the safest for her sanity as well as the wellbeing of the rest of the school. Having left breakfast a good twenty minutes before the end, she arrived at the classroom ahead of everyone else. She walked into the unlocked room and took her usual seat. She had momentarily debated sitting somewhere else to avoid Carly but decided that Carly wouldn't have an opportunity to annoy her during the lecture.

She was in the midst of unpacking her textbooks and notebooks when she heard the door open. With the day that she'd had, the noise instantly put Rose on edge. As inconspicuously as possible, she looked over her shoulder at the new arrival. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she discovered that it was only Scorpius Malfoy.

"Hello, Scorpius," Rose called, their more frequent interactions making her feel more comfortable in his presence.

"Hello, Rose," Scorpius responded, taking his regular spot several rows behind her. Craving the company of a sane individual, Rose stood and sat, momentarily, in the row in front of the blonde, facing back towards him.

"So, what's your opinion on this thing called Valentine's Day?" Rose asked. Scorpius rolled his eyes and Rose chuckled. She knew he hadn't been obsessed with Valentine's Day like the rest of the school. The two spent the five minutes before the rest of the students filed into the class in pleasant conversation. Rose was grateful to have him to talk to. If not, she was sure she would have lost her marbles days ago.

She made a mental note to keep up the conversation with him even after the school returned to its sanity. You never knew when you'd need a friend who wasn't so easily swept up in the moment.

What had started out as the worst day of the week had slowly started turning around in class. By lunch, Rose was actually in a decent mood. However, that quickly changed as soon as she sat down at the Ravenclaw table. She was just about to start gathering food to eat when Michael Graffer walked up to her.

"What do you want, Michael?" Rose asked, reaching across the table for a couple slices of bread. She did not have the time or patience for an ambush.

"Just thought I'd give you another opportunity to respond to my request. You know, now that you've had some time to think it over." If Rose hadn't been so composed, she would have turned around and clocked him. Some people should really learn the definition of 'no'.

"Nothing has changed since this morning, and nothing will change before Friday so you can stop wasting your time." Rose returned to her ministrations. However, Michael didn't leave.

"Are you waiting for anything in particular?" Rose asked. She hoped he would leave before Carly arrived and started making a big deal about it. That was the last thing Rose needed right now.

"Just an answer to my question." Rose gripped her wand.

"What question?" a high-pitched voice asked. Rose's heart sank. She so didn't need this right now.

"Oh, I just asked Rose here to go to the dance with me and she's being stubborn about it." Rose didn't have to see Carly's face to know the expression of pure joy on it.

"Is she now?" Carly inquired, taking her usual spot beside Rose, "don't worry Michael, I'll work on her. She'll definitely be up for going to the dance with you by Friday." With Carly's assurance, Michael turned and left.

Rose turned to her friend.

"Not going to happen," Rose stated. She then stood from the table, her lunch forgotten, and headed to the library. At this moment, being anywhere near Carly would only be extremely terrible for her.

By the end of Wednesday, Rose was seriously considering going into the library and researching bad luck curses. It was beginning to appear as if someone had cast one on her. It seemed that everything that could go wrong did. The school went crazy; someone started sending her mushy poems; Carly discovered the mushy poems; some guy began stalking her to ask her to the dance; and Carly discovered that. Once the library closed, Rose's only sanctuary was in her room, with her bed curtains magically sealed and silenced.

That was where she had escaped to after dinner having successfully alluded both Carly and Michael. She knew Carly was currently outside her bed curtains, attempting to get in and 'discuss things' with Rose. However, Rose was so done with Carly that if she'd allowed her friend in, the dark-haired girl might not have survived long. Instead, Rose sat atop her bed, her potions textbook open as she busily finished her essay on what she affectionately referred to as 'Alice potions' –those that could shrink and expand.

She reached into her bag to grab her erasing quill to fix a grammatical mistake she had just noticed, when her hand contacted a small piece of parchment that she was sure she hadn't left in there. She pulled it out, in her gut knowing what it was.

It was yet another poem written in particularly elegant script.

The lily has a smooth stalk,

Will never hurt your hand;

But the rose upon her briar

Is the lady of the land

There's sweetness in our apple tree,

And profit in the corn;

But lady of all beauty,

Is a rose upon a thorn

When with moss and honey,

She tips her bending briar;

And half unfolds her glowing heart,

She sets the world on fire

When Michael had first begun to ask her out that morning, Rose had feared that the poems, which were actually quite lovely and something she enjoyed, were written by him. However, their interactions throughout the rest of the day made her believe he wasn't her secret admirer. Upon reading this third poem, Rose knew for sure. Whoever was giving her these poems had more depth and a greater breadth of emotion than Michael could ever conceive of having.

She gently folded the piece of paper up and slid it into her side table with the other two and her most precious keepsakes. Maybe, if whoever was writing her poems asked her to dance, she would consider going and, maybe, but that was a big maybe, not find this holiday so vile and repulsive.

To be continued

A/N: Poem by Christina Rossetti.