Chapter 3: Dorm mates
(Rose's pov)
As I sat down next to Albus at the Gryffindor table, he gave my arm a playfully squeeze. "Congratulations, Rose." He said with a smile.
I smiled back. "Thanks. You too." I replied.
Albus turned away from me to say something to Malfoy, who was on the other side of him, so I turned to the other first year Gryffindors. When I made eye contact with the girl across from me, she smiled. "Hi." She said, "I'm Alana Finnegan. Who are you?"
I smiled. "I'm Rose Weasley. You're a first year, too right?"
The girl sitting next to her nodded. "We both are." She replied. "I'm Sahara Thomas, by the way, named after the Sahara Dessert in Africa."
Alana and Sahara were extremely different from one another, yet they seemed to know each quite well. Alana had shoulder-length, sandy colored hair and blue eyes. She was a quiet girl with an Irish accent. Sahara one the other hand, had long, silky, black hair. She was dark-skinned, and had large, chocolate brown eyes. She seemed to be the kind of girl that always liked to be doing something, and she laughed often.
It wasn't long before conversation erupted between us. We talked about our families, and I started out by saying that I was the daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley, and the niece of the famous Harry Potter. I also said that I had a nine-year-old brother named Hugo, and ten cousins. Alana explained that her father's name was Seamus, and her mother's was Claire. She had a ten-year-old brother named Connor. Because their fathers had been friends in school, she and Sahara had been friends since they were little. Sahara's parents were Dean and Parvati – formally Patil – Thomas. She had a nine-year old sister named Savannah and a six-year-old brother named Nile. Sahara explained that her parents enjoyed traveling to Africa, and so they gave their children names of places there.
When we were lead up to our dorms after the feast, Sahara, Alana, and I discovered we would be in the same dorm together along with two other girls named Violet Brown and Zoey Chang. Violet and Zoey weren't especially friendly with us for reasons unknown to me, but they didn't seem like the kind of people that I would be friends with anyway. They seemed like the kind of girls who thought they were better than everyone else. By the way they kept staring at me and giggling and whispering to each other, I was under the impression that they were talking about me. I shrugged it off though, and decided not to let it bother me.
After we finished unpacking, Sahara and Alana decided they wanted to look around and explore the castle some more.
"Do you want to come with, Rose?" Alana asked, but I shook my head.
"No thanks." I replied. "I think I'll just stay here and read my book."
Sahara shrugged. "Suit yourself." She said, and she and Alana disappeared out the door. I climbed on my bed, covered myself with the blankets, and closed the curtain around me. Having a little brother at home, I enjoyed all the privacy I could get, even if the dorm was completely empty.
A few minutes later, the dorm room door opened again, and at first I thought it was Alana and Sahara coming back after realizing they had forgotten something, until I heard the obnoxious, giggly voices of Violet Brown and Zoey Chang. I decided to keep quiet, because keeping quiet was something I was good at. If no one knows your listening, you just might hear some good information. But the information I heard that day wasn't what I had been expecting.
"My mum, Cho, dated Harry Potter in her sixth year." Zoey was saying, causing me to set my book down and pay attention. Harry Potter was my uncle, and I was curious as to what she would say next. "They broke up though, and then married a muggle. I could never understand why. I mean, I love my dad, but I could never fall in love with a muggle."
"So she really dated him?" Violet asked, and I rolled my eyes. Isn't that what Zoey just said? They weren't going to get anywhere with this conversation if Violet continued to ask the same questions over and over again.
"Yes."
Violet laughed. "Wow, and I thought my mum, Lavender, dated famous boys. The most famous boy she dated, though, was Ron Weasley. She says he was a jerk though."
That was what really made me mad. First they were talking about my uncle, and now they were saying things about my own father. I was tempted to show myself, but I didn't because I wanted to hear what else they had to say.
"Why does she say that?" asked Zoey.
"Because she really thought he loved her, but in the hospital wing when he was unconscious at one point during their sixth year, he murmured the name of another girl instead of hers. Then later, he broke up with her, and after the war, he married Hermione Granger, a muggle-born! My mother couldn't believe that he had actually lowered himself down to her level. She says they had two children, and I think that snobby Rose girl is one of them."
That was the final straw. How dare she talk about my mother that way, probably just because she was a muggle-born, and Violet's mother was jealous of her. My mother may be a muggle-born, but she was the smartest witch of her age when she went to Hogwarts.
Angrily, I pulled back the curtains of my bed and marched right over to where Violet and Zoey were sitting on their beds with very surprised expressions on their faces.
"For your information, those are my parents you're talking about." I snapped.
"For your information," Violet mocked, "you should mind your own business."
"Yeah," Zoey added. "Why do you even care?"
"Because, they're my parents, and my father did not lower himself to her. They were at the same 'level', as you put it, from the very start, and besides, my mum was the brightest witch of her age."
Violet laughed. "So that's why she only had two friends."
"She did not just have two friends!" I protested.
"Oh, really?" Violet asked snobbishly. "Who? Name them."
I hesitated. Well, there was Dad, Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood… why couldn't I think of any others? Surely there must be more, that was only five…
"See?" Violet mocked me. "She can't even name one."
"Don't worry, Rose, I'm sure you'll be just like your mum." Zoey said. " Once Sahara and Alana find out what a nerd you are though, they'll most likely abandon you, and then you'll be even worse off."
"That's not true!" I snapped. "Sahara and Alana don't care about how smart someone is."
But how did I even know? I had only just barely met them….
"You aren't thinking that they care more about beauty, do you?" Violet sneered at me. "Because if they do, you're out of luck there, too. You're so pale you could pass for a vampire."
I couldn't take it anymore. I'm very sensitive about my skin tone, because although it should be the same tone as the rest of my family, my bright, fiery red hair makes it seem paler than it really is. Angrily, I turned away from Violet and Zoey and stormed toward the dorm room door.
"Aww, poor baby." Violet cooed mockingly. "Is little baby Rose going to go cry in the girl's bathroom with Moaning Myrtle, now?"
I quickly spun around to face Violet and Zoey again. "I am not leaving to go cry, I am leaving because I'm afraid I'm going to have to hurt one of you if I stay, and I don't want to get detention on the first day!" I snapped, and flung the dorm door open. I stormed outside into the corridor and slammed the door to drown out their laughing voices.
As I rushed down the corridor, I was horrified to find tears spilling down my face. This always happened when I got anger, and it was a habit I desperately wanted to break. There was only one person I wanted to see right now, and that was Albus.
(Scorpius's POV)
Albus, muggle-born Luke Phillips, and I were in a dorm with Ben Wood, the son of Oliver Wood and the brother of Michael Wood, two famous Quidditch players, and Thomas Simons, a shy, awkward boy. Albus, Luke, Ben, and I were sitting in the Gryffindor common room and talking about how ironic is was that Ben, who was the fourth of five children of Oliver and Katie Wood, despised Quidditch, when everyone else in his family was crazy about it, when Albus's cousin, Rose streaked into the room. She was crying and appeared to be extremely upset about something. She seemed to be embarrassed about crying around four boys, but buried her head in Albus's shoulder anyway.
"Rose, what's wrong." Albus asked protectively.
"Two of my dorm mates were saying horrible things about Mum and Dad, and me too." Rose whimpered.
"What exactly did they say?" asked Albus.
All at once, the story flooded out of Rose. I felt really sorry for her, but I also felt like she could have handled the situation differently. "Just ignore them, Rose." I said softly. "This is only the kind of reaction they –"
"Leave me alone, Malfoy!" Rose screamed at me. Albus gave me a look that said, "Maybe you should back off a little."
I sighed. People could be really mean sometimes. I knew that from personal experience. That was why Rose needed as many friends as she could get. So, why, wouldn't she accept me?
Author's note: I don't know who Cho Chang and Lavender Brown married, but I wanted their daughters to be in the story. And I know Cho was a Ravenclaw, but this part of the story would only work if her daughter was a Gryffindor. Anyways, if you want more of an explanation, feel free to pm me, or even better, write a review. :)
Reminder: My driver's ed. Class starts tomorrow. I'm really excited for it, but since the class is from three to six, (normally) Mon. – Thurs, I won't have as much time to write, and updates will be farther apart for three weeks. Thank you for understanding, and sorry for any typos because I had to post this really quickly before dinner, and I wanted to post it tonight, because who knows when I'd get another chance. :)