When it came time to get back on the Hogwarts Express, Romina's and Arden's families came together to bid the girls goodbye. It was definitely a sight to see Arden saying goodbye to her sister and her brother. Lilah was desperate to go with her older sister, especially now that she finally expressed some true powers.
"Next year!" Arden promised the younger brunette. "We'll have fun, I promise!"
Romina smiled and turned to say goodbye to her Lyonel and Sage. Things had been a bit awkward from their fight, even as they crossed into a new month. "Are you still mad at me?" she asked her uncle.
Lyonel exchanged a look with his wife, the latter seeming to encourage him on with a small smile. Eventually, Lyonel sighed and shook his head. "No, I'm not. Your aunt and I have been talking and...we realize you were right."
Romina absolutely beamed. "I am!? Ha! I am!"
Her aunt chuckled. "Don't let that little ego grow too much, dear."
Abashed, Romina settled down. "Sorry. But...but you think I was right?"
"Yes," Lyonel repeated. "It is unfair for us to ask you to do the same thing that we always feared would be done to you. But please… we do DO want you to be careful. Because, unfortunately, there are some kids who take their parents path rather fast...and it's rather visible."
"I will be careful," Romina promised them.
"Well, I think it's time to get you on that train," Sage hugged Romina first, and tightly. "Have a wonderful school year, dear. And don't forget to write to us."
"I won't forget," Romina chuckled.
"And you best keep up those grades," Lyonel warned her. "Don't think I didn't notice your potions grade."
"I'll get better! Last year was a bit difficult to focus when almost the entire school hated me. I will strive for an Acceptable."
"Exceeds expectations," Lyonel pointed at her.
"...Acceptable it is!" Romina exclaimed like she hadn't heard his words.
"Romina!"
"Bye uncle Lyonel! Bye aunt Sage!" Romina waved and rushed off, swiping Arden with her on the way.
~0~
The train trip to the school was oddly quiet, and with a few missing people. Romina could not, for the life of her, find neither Harry nor Ron. She found Hermione, instead, with Neville in one compartment. Arden excused herself to go find Daphne, and Romina decided to stay with Hermione and Neville. There they talked about their summer, while Romina of course played with Trevor the frog. The frog knew her even more since she did indeed visit Neville over the summer - which came to the surprise of his entire family poor thing. Hermione would pause her conversations to look over Lockhart's books every now and then. Still, none of the three could figure out where Harry and Ron were.
Things became worse when both of the boys failed to show up for the feast.
"Oh just let it go," Arden would say every now and then when she caught Romina exchanging looks with Hermione across the room. "They're always causing trouble anyways. Who's to say they're not starting a prank?"
Romina hated that she couldn't discard that idea. It could very well have been that the boys were beginning some sort of prank but even then it didn't feel right. Harry was never one to go for pranks, no matter how many Weasleys were beside him. Needless to say, that night hadn't been easy for Romina (or Hermione) to get past the night.
The next day, however, rumors and stories began to fly in the air about Harry Potter and Ron Weasley crashing into the Whomping Willow.
"I don't believe that one bit," Romina puffed as she and Arden made their way towards the school's Greenhouse. The second year Slytherins and Ravenclaws were to have Herbology that afternoon.
But as soon as she had said that, their instructor - professor Sprout - walked past the girls and gave view of her arms that had been cut...as if by branches.
Romina and Arden froze, mouths hanging open.
"Those two…" Romina began.
"...actually did it…" Arden went on, rather breathlessly.
"Idiots," Romina concluded and shook her head to snap herself from her stupor.
"I wonder why they did it," Arden commented once they began to walk again.
"I'll let you know soon I know," Romina mumbled once they entered the greenhouse.
The scent of damp earth mixed with fertilizer and of course dangling flowers filled the air as the students walked in. There was a long table at the center - similar to one of the House dining tables of the Great Hall - that were covered with deep trays. What was in them? No one knew. It seemed to be purplish-greenish tufty plants.
"I do not want to touch that," Pansy Parkinson's voice rose from the crowd. She was eyeing the plants with disgust.
"If you want the grade you will," Arden pushed past her in order to take their places. Professor Sprout was motioning them to get a spot so that class could officially begin.
"Welcome to Greenhouse Three, Second Years," she began in an outright cheerful voice. "Today, we will be repotting Mandrakes. Now, who here can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"
Some of the Ravenclaws shot up their hands but Sprout had chosen the only Slytherin who's hand was raised. "Yes, Miss Oswell."
"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is used to return those who have been transfigured to their original state," Romina recited perfectly from her memory. "It's quite dangerous. The Mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it."
"Excellent. Ten points to Slytherin," Sprout went on to explain just what the Mandrakes would do. "As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet. However, they will knock you out for several hours. That is why I have provided each of you with a pair of earmuffs. If you would then…"
As the students picked ear muffs - which had many of the boys frantically searching for non-fluffy pink ones - Romina felt a tap on her arm. A petite girl with exceptionally long, straight brown hair stood beside her. She wore the Slytherin colors but Romina didn't recall ever seeing her before.
"I'm sorry to bother, but can I ask how you knew about the Mandrakes? I read the books and I saw nothing of them," the girl said rather shyly, her hazel eyes seeming to be looking from under her lashes.
"Uh…" Romina was caught off guard for the first couple of seconds but nonetheless answered. "Actually, I got it from Neville Longbottom. He's really good at this stuff."
"Really? The kid with the toad? From Gryffindor right?"
"Yeah. He knows his stuff when it comes to Herbology."
"Do you think...you could help me, then?" the girl asked. "See, last year my grade for this class was not as good as I hoped."
"No problem," Romina smiled. "I'm sure Neville wouldn't mind helping someone else. He's really nice."
The girl seemed to like the idea. "Okay. I'm Carolinha Paes by the way. You know my brother, Angel?"
Romina blinked as soon as it hit her. Her eyes raked over Carolinha with a new light. "Oh! You're Angel's twin sister!"
Carolinha's lips stretched into a smile, albeit a bashful one. "Yeah. I'm finally starting school with you guys."
"Yeah, you were going to Castlebruxho in Brazil because your mother was taking care of your sick grandmother?" It was only after Romina had asked that she realized how imprudent it had been. Luckily, Carolinha didn't seem to mind.
"Yeah, my grandmother got better thankfully. I really wished I could've started last year here at Hogwarts. Angel's told me so much about this place. I arrived early in the morning today and I got lucky to be sorted in the same House as him. I already know half the people in my House."
"Right," Romina figured that made sense since the Paes family ran in the same social circle as the Malfoys, Parkinsons and so on. "Well, I'm Romina Oswell. Nice to meet you."
Carolinha chuckled and shook hands with Romina. "Yeah, I know. Angel always sent me pictures of his friends here. He talks about you the most."
"Aw, he's so sweet," Romina said, flushed.
"You don't mind if I stick by you during this class, do you? Everyone's sort of partnered up and, well, I don't really like the idea of doing this by myself."
"Absolutely!" Romina beamed. If Carolinha was anything like her brother, they would be almost like best friends. "And like I said, I'm sure Neville wouldn't mind tutoring you."
Carolinha beamed at the prospect. "Great!"
Mandrakes turned out to be uglier and more violent than foreseen by the second years. They screamed from the moment they were pulled from their pots. Although Romina couldn't hear, she was sure Pansy had let out the loudest shriek possible when she pulled out her muddy Mandrake. She couldn't blame Pansy this time, unfortunately, for the Mandrakes were green and had roots growing right from their heads. It was quite a sight to see.
Everyone was relieved when they were released from the class.
"I smell like mud!" Pansy was the first one to leave.
"I thought that was your natural scent." Arden went after her, of course intending on taking advantage of the situation.
"Leave me alone, King!"
Romina laughed as the two girls in front of her. "And that would be dear Arden and Pansy, our entertainers," she told Carolinha who chuckled shyly.
"Pansy has a tough personality and it seems like your friend Arden knows exactly how to piss her off," Romina said, still able to hear the lingering snaps of the girls in question.
Pansy wasn't the only one complaining, as Romina began to see, because there were plenty of students coming out and grumbling over their disheveled appearances along with the new earthly scent they carried with them.
One of said students was of course Draco, who was in the middle of complaining of the 'useless' class to Blaise Zabini.
"Would you two rich boys quit complaining over a little mud?" She called to both of them. "It's called hard work—you wouldn't know about it."
Neither boy was pleased with the insult, but Draco was more or less used to those remarks from her so he didn't bother making a comeback. Blaise was not.
He turned right around, throwing her the coldest glare a twelve year old could muster. "We don't do the work below us but you wouldn't know about that, would you? What with living amongst muggles—I'm surprised you're not back there helping to clean mud off the walls."
Romina's tongue pushed against her teeth to repress the smartass response she was working on.
"Careful there, Zabini," Draco pulled the boy back to his side. "She's an Oswell, remember? We know how that goes." Despite his supposed warning, Romina couldn't find the true meaning behind the words. That made her smile a bit.
"Fat chance," Blaise scoffed, apparently also finding no more meaning behind Draco's words. "She's nothing like the stories."
Romina practically beamed for everyone to see. "Please boys, keep the compliments coming. Draco, something to add, maybe?"
The blonde wasn't amused. "Could you maybe be serious for a minute or so?"
"I would but then that would give Blaise the upper hand - I don't do upper hands," Romina smiled widely. "And now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lunch with my new friend." She made a gesture at Carolinha a few feet behind her. "Let me know when you come up with more compliments."
Carolinha chuckled lightly once they were walking together. "Blaise is so quiet until he's not, and then he's got quite the words."
"You know him too, then..." Romina knew she shouldn't be surprised and in the next second, Carolinha was confirming the same thing.
"Oh yeah, Angel and I practically grew up around these guys — Daphne and Pansy too. We've been friends since forever."
"Yeah, Angel mentioned that to me once or twice," Romina said, "And I'm so sorry you've had to deal with them for that long. That's inhumane."
Carolinha giggled. "I can see why my brother likes you so much. You're funny."
Romina smiled. Yeah, she was going to like Carolinha Paes.
~ 0 ~
During lunch time, Romina could not (and was certainly not) going to wait until Harry told her about the 'flying car' mishap. Unbothered by how it would look, she surprised Harry and Ron by plopping down at the Gryffindor's table with a readily expectant face.
"Boys, care to explain yesterday's incident?"
"Blimey, you're sounding like Hermione now," Ron grumbled. Romina smirked - so Hermione had already given them both a good scolding.
"Harry, what the hell happened?" she decided to ask.
"It wasn't our fault!" the boy began defensively. "The King Cross portal got shut down on us for some reason. We missed the train because of it!"
Romina crinkled her nose in the manner Harry knew would mean the end of any more explanations he could give. "So you mean to tell me that instead of - I don't know - asking for help from Ron's parents or any of the other wizard families...you decided to steal a car? A magic, flying car?"
"Now you're even looking like Hermione too," Ron glumly said, reaching for his goblet.
"It wasn't that simple Rom—" Harry was interrupted by the owls flying into the Great Hall. One particular owl, an old one who lacked coordination, fell right over the empty place in front of Romina, causing the girl to lean back with a flinch.
"Errol!" Ron recognized his family's owl.
"That's an owl?" Romina crinkled her nose again.
"We can't all be Oswells like you," Fred came by and promptly took a seat beside Romina.
"All richy rich and whatnot," George took the seat on Romina's other side. "And Ron, you best open that."
For Errol was carrying a red envelope in his beak. Both Harry and Romina noticed the frightened expression sitting on Ron's face and questioned over it silently.
"Bet it's from Mum," the twins said cheerfully, but Ron looked like he was going to faint any second now.
"She's sent me a Howler!" the poor ginger could barely speak.
"What's a Howler?" Romina asked just when Harry opened his mouth.
"Something wicked," Fred smirked and threw her a look. "Bet you haven't gotten one, huh? All gushy and nice - what a lovely little Oswell."
Romina frowned. "You know, that's my name, not an object."
"You'd better open it, Ron," Neville had spotted the envelope from his spot and now matched in paleness as Ron. "It'll be worse if you don't. My gran sent me once and I ignored it and...it was horrible."
"Can't be that bad," Romina decided to be optimistic. "I'll open it for yah, Ron." She reached to take the envelope but Ron snatched it away in time. "Well," Romina huffed with indignation, "I was only trying to help."
Ron didn't acknowledge her words because the envelope in his hands was smoking at the corners. In preparation for the blow, Neville covered his ears and for a second Romina thought of doing the same. The twins on either side of her were smirking with anticipation.
With a trembling hand, Ron finally slit the envelope open. Everyone save Neville - Because he had his ears covered - jumped in their seats because the envelope had burst into terrible roars of Mrs. Weasley's voice. Things were so bad ceiling dust shook off with her voice.
"— STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE —"
Romina and the twins seized the goblets on the table before they fell over. Harry could feel everyone turning in their general direction, but no one felt it more than Ron who was sinking lower and lower in his seat while his mother went on.
"— LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED. I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED — YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."
Then, out of the blue, Mrs. Weasley's voice softened like she hadn't yelled just a second ago.
"Oh, and Ginny dear. Congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud."
Ginny flinched at the sound of her name. Her startled face peeked over her black book (which was probably a diary seeing her hand held a quill) to see the others.
When it was done, the envelope burst into flames.
"...so that's a Howler," Romina awkwardly said just before many of the other students began to laugh. "I think I'll be going back to my own table now."
"Can we come?" Harry asked and ducked his head out of embarrassment.
"Nooo," Romina replied soothingly and hurried to the Slytherin table.
~ 0 ~
Defence Against the Dark Arts was certainly a class everyone was curious to see how would be run now that Gilderoy Lockhart was the professor. It was no surprise to find that nearly every girl - whether it be Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Slytherin - had seated themselves right up front.
"You have got to be kidding me," Romina released a breath when she saw the order of the class seats.
She understood the man was famous and - admittedly - good looking but things were a little extra around the room. Her usual spot next to Hermione had been taken over by a fellow Gryffindor, Padma Patil. When Romina searched for Harry, she found that Ron was already there next to him as well.
"Your little friends left yah? How nice of them," Pansy strolled into the room and took an empty desk on the right side of the room.
Romina would rather sit on her own than listen to Pansy mock her - that was Arden's job.
"Oswell, quit blocking our way," Draco now stood behind her, along with Crabbe and Goyle. This time he had been right as Romina was just standing in front of the threshold...blocking the way.
"Go easy on her," Pansy turned in her seat. "Her 'friends' already ditched her again. They beat last year's record."
"Did you take a batch of new bitchiness this lunch?" Romina snapped. "Or do you just need to find someone new to pick on since Arden's not here?"
"Relax, Romina," Pansy rolled her eyes. "Take a joke, would you?"
"Keep talking Parkinson, she's close to hexing you," Draco warned, though there was an overly clear trace of amusement in his words. One could say he was hoping to see it...
"I'm not giving either of you the satisfaction," Romina clutched her textbook closer to her.
"Well you can forget about sitting next to me," Pansy huffed and faced the chalkboard. Because as soon as Daphne rolled in, she was sucked into the empty seat beside Pansy.
"Are you just going to stand there all class, Oswell?" Draco moved past her and headed for his own desk. He turned sideways, though, with a signature teasing smile. "I'd offer you my seat, but—"
"It would be kind and thus totally beneath you?" Romina said with a wry smile on her face.
"Actually I was just going to say you would probably rather stand than sit with me."
Romina's eyebrows raised. "Oh…" She actually didn't know how to feel about that. Yes, there was a rivalry (and a terrible one) between Harry and Draco, but did it have to do anything with her? No. In Slytherin, there was always going to be snappy, sarcastic remarks but hatred? She had yet to see that.
"Well, if you promise not to hex me or anything…" Romina said slowly before smiling, "...that is...if you know any hexes."
"I know things," Draco frowned, meaning to argue until that was settled.
"We can argue standing up or we can sit down. Take your pick."
Rolling his eyes, Draco led the way to his usual desk. She took the empty spot on his left and looked around. She saw Carolinha walking in with Daphne and took a seat behind Pansy...which meant Arden would have to sit beside her now. But regardless, Pansy turned in her seat to chitchat with the girls.
"Huh, Pansy's actually being nice to Carolinha," Romina remarked. Draco scoffed beside her, drawing her attention away from the girls. "What?"
"Even Parkinson knows it's better to be nice to Carolinha," he said, and before Romina could ask why he added: "She's a squeaker."
"A squeaker?" Romina frowned. "What does that mean?"
"That she squeaks about everything," Draco said flatly, "She jumps at the slightest scare." A smirk suddenly appeared on his face. "Don't get me wrong, it's fun when we're messing with her but overall, it gets annoying."
Romina rolled her eyes at him. "So she's shy, big deal. I'd be too if I was surrounded by you insufferable lot."
Draco scoffed again. "Please," he straightened up in his seat to face the board, "You're anything but a squeaker."
Romina didn't know if that was a compliment or an insult. She didn't ask because a moment later, Lockhart showed up with his usual flair. Every word he spoke was like God himself was saying it. Nearly every girl in the class was scribbling down his mini-lecture. Girls who weren't, along with the boys, were a bit more interested in the large cage on the desk, covered with a black drape. The fact it continuously rattled made it hard to look away.
"I thought we'd start today with a little quiz," Lockhart finally managed to get through to all of his students. Worried eyes burned on him. "Nothing to worry about. Just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in…" as he spoke he began to pass out the quiz papers.
There were a few murmurs around the classroom, and when Romina got her own quiz she could see why.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday and what would his ideal gift be?'
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
"What the hell is this?" Romina scowled at the paper.
"A quiz, didn't you hear?" Draco said calmly, although he didn't seem so happy either.
"You know the answers?"
"Don't be silly. I wouldn't read anything about that man even if they paid me."
Romina raised an eyebrow and placed her paper down. "So what you're telling me is...we're both going to fail."
The expression on Draco's face said it all. Shaking her head, Romina willed herself not to laugh and just do the stupid quiz. Pulling on some memories of her aunt's talks of the author, Romina scribbled in answers for each question...no matter how ridiculous they all were.
Later on, Lockhart collected the quizzes and literally looked at everyone's answers right there and then. "Tut, tut. Hardly any of you remembered my favorite color is lilac." He gave a stern look at the class as if that should have been something truly important for the class. "But Miss Hermione Granger knew that my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair care potions. In fact full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?"
Sheepishly, Hermione raised a hand.
"Excellent! Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so — to business-"
"What?" Romina nearly lost it, and because she was distressed with what she considered to be an unfair situation, her voice was not as quiet as she would've hoped for.
"Is there a problem?" Lockhart looked over to her. "Miss…?"
"Oswell," Romina didn't deter her name, not anymore. "And it's not a 'problem' as it is more of an unfair situation. You see, your books - all written by you - are really...all about you. So, in theory, you are awarding a student points for knowing...you."
Hermione seemed aghast that Romina was arguing against her well deserved points. In comparison to her, Harry and Ron were just trying to process the fact Romina had taken a seat beside Draco. When the hell had that happened!?
The rest of the students released snickers here and there when Lockhart couldn't answer to Romina. The girl in question was having a really good time herself.
Lockhart quickly moved the class on to the lesson of the day, but no one would forget that on his first day he was upped by a second year. "Now, be warned," he backtracked to his desk. "It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourself facing your own worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here…"
Somehow, many of the students doubted that.
"I must ask you not to scream. It might provoke them." Lockhart then pulled the drape off the cage to reveal several blue creatures that resembled fairies...with electricity cackling around their small, eight-inch, bodies.
"Cornish pixies?" Seamus asked curiously, probably one of the few students that weren't pale and scared.
"Freshly caught Cornish pixies."
Seamus snorted and began to laugh.
Lockhart gave the boy a small look before speaking. "Laugh if you will, Mr. Finnegan, but pixies can be devilishly tricky little blighters. Let's see what you make of them now!"
And he opened up the cage...just like that.
The pixies didn't waste time in destroying things. Whatever they could hold, they threw at the students. If they weren't throwing things then they were shredding things and breaking others.
Some of them had the crazy idea to lift Neville up by the ears.
"Neville!" Romina cried from the floor. She'd taken cover, like many of the other students, on the floor.
"Come on now, round them up, round them up. They're only pixies!" Lockhart took the matter as a cup of tea. He waved his wand meaning to get the pixies back into the cage but two things went very wrong. One: the spell he had said did not work. Two: the pixies stole his wand and threw it out the now broken window.
"Well, I'll ask you to just nip the rest of them back into their cage." Lockhart ran for the door, nearly pushing some of the students out of the way in the process.
As soon as Romina got up, her face was splattered with writing ink. She stumbled back against the desk, covering her face and in the process spreading the ink about.
"Rom!" it was Harry who'd come to smack the pixies away from her. They'd taken to pulling at her curls.
"I can't see! I can't see!" the girl cried, frantically jumping in her spot. Harry didn't know what to do besides keep swatting the pixies away from her and himself. Those remaining were just Ron, Hermione and Neville who was on his way up towards the ceiling.
Ron was busy fighting pixies off his ear while Hermione used a book to keep herself free from them. Finally, she threw her book to the side and pulled out her wand.
"Immobilus!"
All the pixies in the room froze and fell down like a shower of rain.
Romina stopped jumping but her face remained covered with her hands. "Is it over?" came her muffled question.
"I think so," Ron rubbed his ear that had managed to become a chewing toy for some pixies.
"Why is it always me?" came Neville's weary voice. His cloak had kept him hung to the chandelier.
The remaining students looked up at him, not a single one surprised.
A/N:
P.S As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"