Rose quickly shielded her eyes. The sun in the sky was blinding and little bits still slipped through her fingers. She couldn't tell if it was the thought of flying or the bright sun that disoriented her. Maybe it was both. Rose just knew she had to get away from the door with Ravenclaws and Gryffindors streaming out or she'd get trampled on.

Which way was the quidditch pitch anyways? Maybe- oh. Way to go, smart one, Rose told herself. Ever think it was the place where six golden hoops and stands are? Why'd the Sorting Hat put you in Ravenclaw? Rose quickly walked to the field and realized she'd lost Star. That's just great.

Rose cast her eyes skyward. What a glum feeling for the perfect day. The clouds were little cotton balls packed with extra fluff. The weather was perfect, not too cold but not too warm. It was the beginning of fall and the tops of the trees started changing to the vivid, fiery red that Rose thought was just beautiful in nature.

A hesitant smile rose to Rose's lips. C'mon, she tried to encourage herself. It isn't so bad! You don't have to fly that high. Wouldn't it be great to be up there with the birds and treetops?

"Ahh!" Rose screamed. She looked behind her at the reason of her yell. It was a grinning Albus who had just jumped on her as a joke. "Really, Albus?"

"Ha!" Albus laughed, "So worth it!" Rose just rolled her eyes and started walking again.

"Anyways," Albus continued and spun Rose so she was facing him again. "You need to meet someone."

Rose watched curiously as Albus suddenly realized that, like Rose, he had lost his friend amongst the crowd. He searched frantically and Rose was just about to leave for the quidditch pitch when he found him.

"Man, what'd you run off for?" Albus demanded.

"I just got pushed around," the dark haired boy explained. Rose took in his appearance. He had short dark hair, dark eyes and a broad build.

"Okay," Albus huffed. "Rose, this is Vince. Vince, this is my cousin, Rose."

"Pleasure to meet you," Vince greeted pleasantly.

"Uh, great to meet you too," Rose's greeting sounded awkward and messy compared to Vince's. Albus rolled his eyes.

"Vince is always that formal," Albus informed Rose. "I'm surprised he didn't call you m'lady like he did to Rachel."

"It's my knight training that makes me so formal," shrugged Vince.

"Knight training?" Rose inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah!"Albus confirmed. " He actually trains to be a knight. He even has a suit of armor and everything!"

"Wow?" Rose had never seen Albus so excited about what someone else did. Except the time he'd heard of his father's godfather's flying motorcycle, that is. Rose shook her head and ruffled Albus' hair affectionately. Out of everyone, she was most motherly of Albus.

"This is great and all," started Rose, "but you do realize that we're going to be late for class, right?"

"No, we won't!" Albus looked around and realized they were the only ones still on the path to the quidditch pitch. "Quick, run!" The trio started running and though Rose and Vince just met, they exchanged an exasperated look.

They raced in and turns out, they weren't late at all. Albus smiled breezily and told them, "See? We aren't late at all. Worry warts." Rose was starting to get nervous and nauseous again though and barely heard him.

"Hey, Rose?" Albus called tentatively. "Is everything alright?"

"Just," Rose muttered, "great."

"Rose? What's wrong?" Albus asked. Rose just kept staring at the mud and trying to get her stomach to settle down.

"Calm down, everyone!" a brown haired man yelled above the noise. Tell my stomach, Rose mentally grumbled. The whole class went quiet right away, probably because they were all beaming with excitement on flying. Who isn't excited to fly? thought Rose bitterly.

"I am Professor Davies," he announced. "You can just call me Davies though, much more simple.

"I'm sure everyone wants to start flying so I'm going to make this short," Davies started the instructions. "Stand behind a broomstick. Any, quickly please. Now stretch your arm out and say, commandingly, mind you, 'up'."

Rose did as he said, "Up." She was, well, confused to say the least when the broomstick leapt into her hand at once. Looking around, it had only jumped into around 6 other people's hands including Vince. Albus, on the other hand, was looking at both his friends and his broom confusedly.

The feel and weight of the broomstick was so alien and it was even kind of disturbing. It was so out of her comfort zone and Rose hated it. She didn't want to touch the broomstick, be near it or see it. Rose looked up at the people who had started to fly and she felt sick. She raised her hand and waited impatiently for Professor Davies to come.

"I'm afraid of heights and I feel nauseous," Rose's eyes begged Please don't make me do this.

"You can," Davies hesitated, "It'd be better if you tried but if you really can't then I suppose you can sit in the bleachers." Rose looked at her classmates laughing and starting to zoom around. Their faces were flushed and they looked so alive and free…

"Thank you," Rose took one more look at the freedom and rush of the others. If only she could gather up her courage… Rose put the broomstick down and walked to the stands.

The walk to the stands seemed to take forever. Maybe she was imagining it but she seemed to feel the gazes of the other first years. Rose was so sure she could feel the eyes of Albus burning a hole into the back of her head.

Rose sat down in the stands and tried to avoid looking at the flying class. She smoothed her robes and twiddled with blades of grass that reached her seat. The first thing she saw when she finally sneaked a peek was a student speeding straight for her.

"Rose?" Albus landed on the seats in front of her.

"First day of flying classes and you're already a pro," Rose smiled and tried to distract him. Albus waved the comment off impatiently.

"You know I've been flying for years," Albus studied Rose. "Everything okay?"

"Wonderful," Rose sighed. "Look, I just don't want to fly because-"

"-of your fear of heights," Albus finished. "I know."

"It's really stupid isn't it," Rose fixed her gaze on a crack in the benches. "I really wanted to fly."

"Hey," her cousin comforted softly. "It's not stupid. Don't worry, okay? Once you're ready, you're going to try out flying and be great. Just don't beat yourself up about it, alright?"

"Thanks," Rose smiled gratefully. "Look at this though. I'm ruining your first flying lesson! Go fly high for me, okay?"

"Hey, you aren't ruining my lesson!" Albus placed a hand on her shoulder and said in a jokingly intense tone, "You know you always brighten my day." Rose couldn't suppress a grin as she mock shoved her understanding cousin. The latter gave her a quick hug before returning to the air.

Rose watched him leave with a smile. She was really glad she had him in this class. Thank God it's Albus and not Rachel! Rose chuckled to herself. Rachie is amazing but Albus has just always been the sensitive one, Rachel more… like mum says dad was. Rose was imagining what would've happened had it been Rachel and not Albus just now when Star landed where Albus had been minutes before.

"How come you're not flying?" a concerned Star asked.

"Fear of heights," Rose explained.

"Oh yeah," Star looked at her with sympathy. "Are you sure you don't want to try?" She held out her broomstick.

"I'm sure," confirmed Rose firmly.

"Is there anything I can do?" Star offered without knowing what else to do.

"Yes!" Rose exclaimed, pushing Star towards the pitch. "I just had my self-esteem machine drop by, I'm fine! Go, have fun, be free!" Star started to fly away grudgingly, glancing backwards at Rose every couple of seconds.

Rose looked up and watched the others flying. She sometimes fixed in on one person and traced the pattern they drew in the air with her eyes. It was, in its way, beautiful. So much more so however, from the ground. She thought to herself that she'd come watch quidditch matches. Watching flying really was pleasant. Rose was happy though, she knew staying rooted with gravity was right for her.

Rose lay in her bed. She was reading a couple of pages in her history textbook that she'd been assigned as homework. She was actually quite baffled as to how many people didn't pay attention in that class. If you blocked out the ghost professor's dull voice and just read the text, it was quite interesting. Rose shut her book and sat up.

"Who, what, when, where?" Sam called, shooting up. The sudden noise of the huge history textbook had startled her out of her slumber. She looked confused at Rose, "What?"

"Haha," Rose laughed. "Go back to sleep, Sam. I'm just going to write my parents a letter."

"Okay, okay…" Sam snuggled back into her bed and was back asleep within moments. Stifling laughter, Rose exited her dorm and then the common room. The walk to the owlery was serene and pleasant. Walking in the castle alone, except for the occasional student, was calm and a perfect time to think.

Rose smiled. She liked it here. The castle was beautiful. Its outside seemed like building royalty, Rose found, and the inside seemed both timeless and perfect as well as homelike. The classes were great, other than the flying fiasco. Her favourite must've been charms.

The people here were pretty good too. She had her two best friends from before Hogwarts and now had met new, amazing people. It's going to be a good seven years, Rose decided. Almost two soon, Rose reached the owlery. Oh. Maybe I should've written the letter before coming up here. No matter, Rose realized, I'll just write it here.

Rose brought out some spare parchment, a quill and an ink pot. She paused thoughtfully, thinking of what to write. Still thinking, and trying to not look out the window from this height, she dipped her quill into the ink and started writing.

Dear Daddy, Mommy and Hugo,

I'm doing great! You might be a bit disappointed Dad: I'm a Ravenclaw! I love the house though. It's really something here at Hogwarts! I had some of my first classes today, you guys know that though. The three that stand out most are potions, flying classes and charms. Charms is by far my favourite, I was the first one to levitate my feather! Potions was pretty good too; the professor seemed impressed with the potion I made with my partner.

Flying class wasn't as great. My fear of heights kicked in so I sat it out. Other than that, everything was great though! The Ravenclaw common room is wonderful, it already feels like home. Don't worry, I mean home away from home. My roommates are really nice. There's Star who's quickly becoming a friend of mine, Laira who's really outgoing and Sam who's a bit more reserved but great none the less.

Everything is just amazing here. I can already tell I'm going to love my seven years here. Hugo, I can't wait till you come join me! You'll love it too, I know it. To give you a little "taste" (hehe) I packed some heavenly chocolate chip cookies from dessert. Hope they're not crushed by the time they get to you.

How's everything with you guys? Is Crookshanks still alive? It's still weird that he's still alive from before mum's third year. Give him a good scratch behind the ears for me! I miss you guys! Can't wait till Christmas to see my family again! Remember that cat you promised to buy me if everything goes well till then? Just saying. Love you guys! Oh and by the way, I might be friends with Scorpius Malfoy. Also, he said his dad told him that you two and Uncle Harry were brave and heroes. Bye!

Love always,

Rose.

Rose folded the letter and wondered what her dad's reply to her being friends with his school enemy would be. She found an alert barn owl and cooed for it to come down. Once the owl came down, Rose tied the letter, with the cookies, to the owl's leg and gave it a treat.

"Bring this to my family, alright?" Rose asked gently. The owl rubbed its head against Rose's hand, gave one last hoot and flew out a window. Rose watched it go, still trying not to look down, and marvelled at how flawlessly it flew.

Rose woke with a start. She was still in the owlery but she'd dozed off. Rose let out an unladylike word and checked her watch, praying that it wasn't past curfew. A sigh of relief came out when she realized that it wasn't curfew; but just by a couple of minutes. Still cursing, Rose ran out of the owlery and down the flight of stairs. She was out of breath but still jogging when she was down the stairs and going through the hallways.

Please, Rose semi-prayed, let now not be the time when I meet the infamous Peeves. Rose had barely finished thinking that when she almost stepped into a hallways containing, you guessed it, Peeves. His back was to Rose though and she had time to run to another path before he noticed she was ever there. Shaking but relieved, Rose took the longer but now surer way to her common room.

At last, two minutes past curfew, she ran into her common room. Thank goodness! She looked around her common room and realized that the blonde Ravenclaw in the armchair by the fire was actually Star.

"Hey Rose!" Star greeted. "Wait, where were you? I couldn't sleep. Fancy a game of wizard chess?"

Rose sat down in an armchair facing Star's and laughed, "I was sending a letter to my family and fell asleep. I was running, trying to get back before curfew. As for the chess, sure!"

"You do seem awfully sweaty," Star joked and set up the chess. They played for some time and Star won every game. Rose didn't mind; she always was rubbish at wizard chess. It must be her mother in her. Hugo was always the genius with chess, like their father. People often said that excluding her flaming red hair, Rose got everything from her mother and Hugo everything from his father. Maybe one day Rose would ask her dad how to really play chess.

They got tired and remembered they had class the next day. So Rose and Star packed up and headed to bed. Rose hadn't realized how tired she was; she was asleep moments after her head hit the pillow. She dreamed of classes and food but mostly, she dreamed of watching others fly.