Accidental Enemies
Glad to escape Angelina without having to explain her circumstances, Rose quickly slipped her school uniform on. Tiptoeing back out of the room as the other girls were still asleep, she was surprised to already see Ron and Harry sat on the sofa she had recently been on with Edward.
Noticing Rose walk towards them Ron stood, stretching his arms and yawning noisily;
"Could you have taken anymore time?" Ron said mockingly.
"Would it surprise you to know that I know full well that you have only been down here for five minutes at the most?" Rose chuckled.
"How do you know that?" Ron enquired curiously.
"Lavender and Parvati did an all nighter with Dean and Seamus and woke me up." Rose replied. "I've spent the early hours of this morning in here and only went back up shortly after I heard people getting up."
"Ah! That explains a lot then!" Ron answered turning to Harry "We were wondering why it was so quiet in the room!"
"Didn't the lack of bodies give it away?" Rose laughed.
"We didn't think to check to be fair." Ron replied seriously.
"Well the girls are still asleep in my dormitory so I would be surprised if the boys were up."
"Do you think you will be okay with todays learning?" Ron inquired, a worried tone to his voice.
"I''ll be fine." Rose smiled. "So far today I feel brilliant."
Ron looked carefully at her, worry still present in his features. Rose knew that the reason for her perkiness was Edward's doing, but she felt she couldn't say this to Ron and Harry. She didn't want to sound pathetic. Noticing the dog lead was still placed on the mantelpiece by Edward, Rose went to retrieve it, looking round for Smutz.
"Are you bringing Smutz to breakfast?" Harry asked hopefully.
"It doesn't say in the letter that I can't, and I do need to feed him." Rose said thoughtfully.
"Where is his dog food?"
"It was unpacked out of my suitcase." Rose muttered thoughtfully. "If I cant find it over breakfast I'll ask Hagrid for some."
"Good idea." Ron agreed. "Can we go sooner rather than later? I'm hungry."
Chuckling, Harry and Rose gathered their things and made their way out of the portrait hole after Ron.
"Now, where do we go from here?" Ron mumbled grumpily.
"I believe Percy took us this way." Rose said confidently.
Going over the mental map that she had made the night before, Rose lead them down the long corridors, through the hidden passageways and down the correct staircases. They had just turned down a narrow corridor with suits of armour when the three of them started to realise they weren't alone. Students had started to congregate behind, following them and whispering excitedly about 'Harry Potter'. To begin with they kept their distance, happy to just be able to see Harry, but after a while of Harry politely ignoring them, their comments on his appearance - in particular his hair and scar became too loud and too personal.
"Enough!" Rose shouted at one girl who had reached out to touch Harry's robe. "If you want to meet Harry, why don't you act like a normal person and say 'hello'?"
"Ohh." The girl whimpered, instantly falling behind looking embarrassed.
Looking around, at the other students who were looking just as uncomfortable, Rose whipped around to carry on walking with Harry and Ron.
"Thanks" Harry whispered.
"You shouldn't have to say thank you." Rose muttered. "You're not a play thing."
They continued walking, the students from earlier now leaving a reasonable gap between them. Not wanting to ask them for help, the three of them persevered with their walk, eventually arriving at a corridor vaguely familiar to them.
"Does anyone else recognise this from last night?" Harry asked trying to ignore the whispers that were steadily getting closer again.
"I think I recognise it." Rose said slowly. "I think if we turn left once we get down there, we arrive at the top of the Grand Staircase."
"Lets go for it" Ron said impatiently. "I'm bloody hungry remember and we are about to get attacked by the Harry Potter fan club again."
Both looking at Harry's eagerly nodding face, they quickly made pace down the corridor, practically running down the stone steps to the Entrance Hall.
The doors to the Great Hall were both open, allowing the smell of breakfast to greet them at the bottom of the stairs, the smell extremely inviting.
The four House tables were filled with hungry students eager to start their first day back at school, with Rose, Harry and Ron having to walk all the way down the long table until they were able to find a space to accommodate them all.
As they walked by, Rose couldn't help but observe what was on offer for breakfast, the table overflowing with choice. The bacon, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans and eggs were placed in ginormous bowls along the middle of the table, with metre long toast racks placed either side of the bowls. Large pitchers of orange and apple juice accompanied the warm breakfast, along with the usual favourite English breakfast tea.
Their mouths watering at the sheer amount of food, they eagerly sat down ready for their first breakfast at Hogwarts. Helping herself to a bit of everything, she turned to Harry who had done exactly the same.
"Orange or apple Harry?" Rose asked.
"Apple please."
Pouring two apple and one orange juice for the three of them, Rose passed Ron the apple juice without bothering to ask what he wanted. Hearing his grunt of thanks at the drink, she turned to see what he was doing astounded.
"What?" Rose remarked.
"Sorry, had my mouth full. I said thanks." Ron replied, thumping his chest to make the food go down.
"You know that you can chew your food right?" Rose quipped, with a raised brow.
"I did!" Ron protested.
Smirking Rose looked at his plate which was piled high with only sausage and bacon.
"Good grief Ron! Your going to get thir-sty." Rose said in a know it all voice.
"I don't ca-re" Ron mimicked back taking a big sip of his apple juice. "Ahhhh refreshing."
Laughing at Ron, Rose and Harry tucked into their own breakfasts, every item tasting just as good as the last mouthful.
"What the..?" Ron suddenly muttered looking underneath his seat. "Rose I think I've found Smutz's dog food!"
Swallowing guiltily for getting preoccupied with her own breakfast, Rose followed Ron's action bending down underneath the table. she was meet by Smutz who gave her face a good sniff, his beard tickling her nose.
"Aw Smutz, I'm sorry boy!" Rose apologised.
Gently pushing him to one side, she saw where Ron was pointing. Pushing the double dog bowl carefully towards her, Rose saw that one side was filled with water and the other with dog food. Making sure that Smutz was content eating his own breakfast, they both stood, happy to continue their own meal.
"Well that's handy." Ron said once he had had a mouthful of sausage. "Wherever we sit his food and water will appear."
"Its almost like magic" Rose replied with a smirk.
"Do you ever get used to magic?" Harry asked intrigued.
"I don't." Rose replied truthfully.
"Ah look Nevilles here!" Ron interrupted, shuffling closer to Harry to make room. "And the rebels!"
"How did you sleep all of you?" Harry asked cheekily
"I'm not even going to answer that question." Seamus muttered "Just pass me the bacon."
"A man after my own heart." Ron mumbled sarcastically.
Chewing her lip in amusement, Rose looked up and down the table slightly concerned;
"Wheres Hermione?" She asked frowning.
Ron looked at her, his eyebrows raised stunned.
"Stop it" Rose said quietly. " Everyone is here apart from her!"
"I think she is already off exploring." Neville said. "I haven't seen her all morning."
"She wasn't in the dormitory when we got up" Lavender said yawning.
"Why would she choose to walk to class alone?" Rose stated sadly. "She didn't seem shy yesterday, I would have described her as extremely confident."
"And yet some might describe her as obnoxious." Ron retaliated.
Shaking her head in dismay, Rose finished her breakfast with a slight bitter taste in her mouth.
"Professor McGonagall is coming over." Parvati whispered to Lavender. "She scares me."
"Its all a front." Ron said automatically.
"You think?" Lavender queried. "She just looks so mean."
"First year time tables." McGonagall stated, handing out individual parchments to everyone."You will see asterisks next to classes where you are permitted to bring pets if you wish to. Though be warned, that rule applies to cats and frogs also."
Nodding her understanding, Rose eagerly looked to see which classes Smutz was allowed to attend. Every subject allowed Smutz to be present apart from Flying lessons for obvious reasons and Potions. Disappointed that double potions on a Friday morning would mean a long period without Smutz, she was somewhat less apprehensive at the realisation of Friday afternoons being free from study.
"Ah nice! The weekends start early on a Friday!" Ron said ecstatically.
"I've just read it." Rose agreed happily. "Hopefully we won't get much homework for the weekend and I can take Smutz out for a nice long walk to make up for double potions."
"So History of Magic first today, then Charms, then Transfiguration and then Defence against the dark arts, that's a jam packed day!" Lavender moaned.
"What did you expect?" Rose laughed.
"Two classes at most?" Seamus replied honestly.
Rose laughed at their naiveness, glad that they took it in good humour.
"Defence against the dark arts though." Dean said intrigued. "Does sound exciting doesn't it?"
"Its the one I'm looking forward to most." Rose agreed.
"Me too." Harry nodded. "It sounds mysterious."
"Ron, Harry I'm just going to take Smutz out, want to come?" Rose asked, checking the time and noticing they still had forty minutes.
"That would be nice actually." Harry replied. "I need to walk off breakfast."
"I'm going to stay here." Ron belched, looking uncomfortably full. "I need another juice."
"For goodness sake." Rose sighed subtly, looking at Harry with amusement.
"Okay, shall we meet you back here in ten minutes?" Rose sighed.
"Make it five?" Ron said seriously. "We still need to find the classroom.
"Its not going to take thirty five minutes to get to class Ron." Rose said exasperated.
"Just do it?" Ron whined.
"Fine. Five minute walk, come on Smutz" Rose muttered.
Ron simply starred at her, taping his watch in silent communication. Grinning Harry and Rose got up, gathering Smutz from under the table and made their way back towards the Entrance Hall. As they walked down the left side of the Gryffindor table, Rose spotted the twins tucking into their own breakfast. Waving as she passed them by, she couldn't help but overhear Lee moaning;
"I can't believe we could have had a lie in. Couldn't a certain someone let us know sooner that we got Monday mornings off." He grumbled.
That's a bit unrealistic Rose thought. To expect McGonagall to have personally tell him sooner.
Walking through the oak front doors to the castle grounds, Rose and Harry had missed the owl post arrive in the Great Hall by mere seconds.
The owl delivery was a large spectacle that took place after every breakfast at Hogwarts. It allowed the students to keep in touch and get presents from their loved ones back home. As it was the first day of term there were fewer owls than usual as most parents wanted to wait a few days before writing to allow their children to settle back into school life. Alice on the other hand couldn't wait to message her brother.
A pale pink envelope was dropped lightly on Edward's lap, the owl not wanting to get too close to him. The owl hooted cautiously before flying away instantly. Recognising the handwriting as Alice's straight away, Edward couldn't resist the tug on his lips. He was finally going to get the explanation for the weird mood she was in yesterday.
' Edward.'
The letter started, her voice clear as a bell in his head.
'Edward,
I think by now you know why I blocked you out yesterday and I prey that you have somewhat got acquainted with her.
Please for heavens sake don't mess this opportunity up! I will be so angry with you if I don't get to meet her, she is going to be a good friend to me.
Just, control your temper please? And try to not react so.. Edward like?
All my love,
Alice.'
Snorting at the last comment, Edward finished the letter with a sigh, pushing his hair back in agitation. So this was about Rose, how could it not be? Alice must have known that he couldn't hear Rose's thoughts, but did Alice realise the extent to his need to be near her? Rose's smell was becoming more intoxicating by the hour, driving him wild. Like an addict with withdrawal symptoms, Edward felt a release of tension every time his throat burned and filled with venom due to her blood. The notion now making him itch to be near her every second. He was trying to keep a composed exterior, but the letter confirmed the thing that Edward dreaded most. If Alice was so interested in Rose, this meant that this wasn't going to be a short term infatuation.
Anger burnt in Edward's chest. He was in charge of his own future, his own destiny. Alice only saw one aspect and this was because he was following her guidance, like a blind man in the dark. Even contemplating a future with Rose was dangerous and unrealistic. Not only would it put his relationship with the twins in jeopardy but he was a monster, he wasn't even being melodramatic about it. Edward had promised Dumbledore that he could be trusted and be safe. Allowing any human to get that physically close to him was asking for trouble.
"You lost in your own world there Oliver?"
Edward closed his eyes for a split second before turning to the owner of the voice. Angelina was sitting closer than most people normally did, her elbow resting on the table with her head in her hand, her eyes trying to look seductive.
"Unusual for you to get post so quickly, everything okay?" She said sweetly.
Her eyes dropped to his torso, her eyes longing to rip the buttons of his shirt open. Preying for someone to come and rescue him, Edward instead had to endure listening to her thoughts.
* Ooooph that body, what I would do to massage my hands all over those muscles and snuggle so deep into that smell! Wow he smells good….incredibly good.
He is looking at you, expecting you to speak, oh god Ange say something quick, keep him talking to you… Ask him whether he wants to spend the morning with you! just casually drop it into conversation…You could ask about the Vice Captain position, anything! Just keep him talking, the more he talks to you the more every girl sees you hanging around with him. That will give them the message- they will know he is yours.*
Edward looked from Angelina down the table to Lee and the twins who were watching in amusement.
*We would come and help you Oliver, but to be frank its more amusing to watch.* Fred thought, giving him a friendly sarcastic wave.
*Another Monday morning with you getting all the attention* Lee thought dryly. *Lucky Sod*
Rolling his eyes at his friends, Edward quickly returned his attention back to Angelina who was still admiring his physic, unaware of his mind being elsewhere.
"Morning Angelina." Edward replied stiffly.
He hadn't forgiven her for the way she had treated Rose last night. Sighing again as his thought process had come back again to Rose, he continued;
"My sister was just being her bossy, know it all self yet again." Edward muttered.
"Oh well, at least it wasn't bad news?" Angelina said prying.
"Not exactly no." Edward said bluntly.
As he finished his sentence, he double took as he watched Rose walked past with Ron and Harry. How had he missed her coming back into the room? And why hadn't she waved or acknowledged him at all? Surely she must have seen him here?
Realising who he was still stuck in a conversation with, Edward panicked hoping that Rose hadn't ignored him because of the company he was keeping. Moving subtly away from Angelina unconsciously, Edward followed Rose's red rucksack leave through the door, wondering what was going through her head at that precise moment.
"…Vice Captain again, I know it's meant to be a group vote but I think we work well as a pair don't you? We could work out a plan this morning since we are both free? Its a nice day outside or we could go to your office?" Angelina waffled confidently
"Not right now Ange." Edward began to speak. "I've got to.."
"We would be the best together, you know we would, a couple of strategical geniuses. And everyone would think we were a power couple." She said purring the last few words, leaning even closer to Edward.
*I would seriously move if I were you mate, that cat is about to pounce!* George mentally screamed.
Jumping elegantly up from the table and taking a couple of steps back, Edward awkwardly made his excuses to Angelina;
"Let me think about it….like you said, it really is a group vote."
Without hesitating Edward walked toward to the exit, trying to ignore the mental sound of Fred and George's laughter following him. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, and trying to shake the dirty feeling he now had, Edward started to walk towards the front door to the castle. He was about to step out into the grounds when he shut the door again remembering Angelina's words.
"Its a nice day outside or we could go to your office?"
Edward hit his fist lightly against the door, even his own office was off limits incase she went to find him. Leaning his head against his hand he took another breath in, trying to ignore all the thoughts going around in his head. As he breathed in, he got a subtle hint of Rose's scent, mixed in with Harry and Smutz's. It must have been from when they took him out earlier. His mind preoccupied with the Turkish delight smell, Edward allowed the scent to consume him. Calmer now, he thought of what he was going to do until his afternoon classes started. His mind fixed upon the one distraction that made him feel good- Rose. The morning had already started so well, how could he feel so miserable?He needed a plan, and fast. Knowing she had Smutz with her, he thought he could ask Rose if he could take Smutz for the morning. He could take him for a walk and then switch with her at lunchtime. That way he could innocently interact with her and where was the harm in that?
Following the delicious petal scent up the stairs, he managed to follow her exact footsteps. On the third floor Edward paused, to the left was the way to Professor Binn's classroom and to the right, the forbidden third floor corridor. His gut twisted as he breathed in her scent, why was Rose's scent coming from the right? What were they all doing down there? Rushing to get to them in time, Edward was relived when he could hear the the voice of Filtch the caretaker. At least now they wouldn't be in danger - of the deathly kind. Slowing down so that he didn't look too eager to interrupt, he hovered in the shadows waiting for the right moment to make himself known.
"You are going straight to the Headmaster! All three of you!" Filtch hissed angrily, the vein in his forehead popping.
Rose, Harry and Ron were bunched together against the wall looking confused. Smutz however was growling at Filtch his heckles up.
"Honestly Mr Filtch, we have just got the wrong corridor on this floor. If you could direct us in the right direction, we won't be late for our first class." Rose said calmly.
She stepped towards him, trying to maintain the peacemaker.
"A likely story and completely unacceptable!" Filtch snapped back. "I knew you were going to be just as bad, just as horrid as those twins of yours!"
He wagged his finger at Rose and then to Ron, his boney bent finger inches away from her face.
"You shouldn't be applying that any student is horrid, Mr Fitch." Edward spoke with authority, his body tall making him unusually intimidating. "And you certainly shouldn't be judging people on who they are related to."
Rose looked at Edward, relief and confusion on her face. Filtch on the other hand looked petrified, going a deathly pale, a bead of sweat forming on his brow.
"Mr Wood. I ddidn't see you there." Filtch stuttered "These students.."
"Are just lost I understand." Edward interrupted.
"Well so they say." Stammered Filtch. "I will have to tell the Headmaster of this."
"Do." Edward agreed. "I'm sure he would love to know how you threatened some first years on their first day of term."
"Mr Wood." Filtch replied horrified. "They have broken the first rule that has been given to them!"
Edward looked at Fitch, shaking his head. The look was almost pity, with a hint of disappointment.
"Thank you for getting to them in time Mr Fitch but I will take it from here. I will show them how to get to History of Magic." Edward said bluntly.
Filtch nodded nervously, his eyes never leaving Edward. Filtch scooped up Mrs Norris protectively, and walked abruptly around the corner muttering under his breath.
They all watched in silence, dumbstruck that they managed to avoid Fitch's wrath. Turning to look at Edward, his body was now more relaxed and less intimidating. He was looking back at the three of them, a smirk evident on his face.
"Come on." Edward spoke out, amusement laced his voice.
He indicated with his hand to the left, beckoning them all to follow him.
"Lucky you were here Oliver!" Ron said gratefully. "I was seriously concerned we were about to get in trouble already."
"You wouldn't have missed out on much." Edward answered dryly. "Professor Binns is extremely difficult to listen to."
"How come?" Harry enquired.
"Lets just say that I bet you one sickle that there will be at least one person asleep by the end of the lesson." Edward said confidently.
"Okay." Harry agreed. "But it can't be Seamus, Dean, Parvati or Lavender.
"That seems fair enough." Edward agreed. "Are you not worried about Rose falling asleep too?"
"Good point." Harry replied thoughtfully.
"How did you know Rose was up early? Ron asked suspiciously.
"I was with her." Edward grinned.
They all paused and turned with curious looks at Rose, eager to see what she had to say on the matter. She was lingering behind, her mind elsewhere and Edward could tell something was bothering her.
"You guys carry on, I just want to make sure she is okay." Edward explained. "Just keep going straight you cant go wrong."
Falling back so that he could keep pace with her behind the others Edward stopped Rose from continuing to walk.
"Whats up?" He said nervously.
Rose was nibbling her lip, deep in thought. She couldn't help but notice that Filtch was most defiantly scared of Edward somehow, but she couldn't understand why? Why would the school caretaker be scared of a student? Her questions didn't stop there, why did Edward know they were in this corridor? What was he doing so close to the third floor corridor himself? But the question that bugged her the most was…
"Rose?" Edward asked worried. "Rose what's wrong?"
"Nothings wrong." Rose replied distantly. "My mind was just thinking up a lot of questions."
"What were you thinking?" Edward asked curiously.
"I was thinking.. how did you know we have History of Magic first thing?" Rose replied honestly.
"Apart from the fact that it is the only subject taught on this floor?" Edward chuckled.
Rose looked at him seriously, her violet eyes reading every inch of his face. After a moment she smiled and nodded, convincing herself she was being silly.
"Good point." Rose nodded in agreement. "But that doesn't explain what you are doing here Edward?"
"Because I wanted to ask if I could take Smutz for a walk and I remembered the first year timetable?" Edward said smoothly, not hesitating for a second.
Rose's eyes narrowed for a second, registering what he said.
"And you knew we had taken the wrong turn by pure coincidence?"
"Yes." Edward nodded.
"I see." Rose replied, her eyes narrowing again.
Edward looked at her with an amused smile, somewhat liking the fact that she wasn't easily fooled. Placing his hand very gently on her back to encourage her to continue walking, he subtly kept glancing back at her. Before too long they were outside the History of Magic classroom, Harry and Ron already inside.
"See, you had nearly found it and it seems you're not the last to arrive either." Edward said warmly.
Turning to Rose, and looking straight into her eyes he spoke with an amused edge to his voice, a crooked smile present;
"Try to enjoy yourself this morning."
"I will." Rose said brightly. "But I'll keep Smutz just incase I get bored."
She walked a couple of steps before turning around once more;
"So you try to enjoy yourself this morning Edward." She grinned cheekily.
Buzzing from the long glance Edward had just given her, Rose giddily walked into the classroom sitting promptly down on the back row. Turning around to give him a farewell glance, their eyes met before he waved and left. Sighing sadly, she turned back around, slouching into her seat. She couldn't shift that Edward wasn't being one hundred percent honest with his answer. Shrugging it off as unimportant, she positioned Smutz beside her, looping his lead under her chair.
Edward walked back along the corridor, climbed the next set of stairs and found the nearest empty classroom. Sitting in the dark, cold room he began to relax, knowing he was unlikely to be found in here.
Shutting his eyes, Edward entered Ron's mind knowing he was Rose's neighbour, satisfied that he had found the most perfect view of her. He found himself grinning as he watched her mannerisms, the way she slightly frowned when she wrote information down, or tickled the quill under her nose when bored, something she did an awful lot in her first class with Professor Binns. Edward's eyes didn't blink as he mind made a perfect memory of how she tucked her hair behind her ear when she concentrated, and how she fussed Smutz when nervous. Switching his view of her from both Harry and Ron's mind, made him really feel like he was there alongside her.
Edward continued to follow Rose throughout the morning, watched how she interact with her fellow students, how easily she laughed and got on with everybody. His heart burned when boys noticed her, the jealousy hard to shift.
He was starting to get a good picture of the type of student Rose was. Rose was clearly intelligent but didn't need to show it unlike some of the other students, in particular Hermione Granger. Edward couldn't help but feel smug on Rose's behalf when on more than one occasion Rose had neatly written down the answer before Hermione had even vocalised them. In fact, by the time the lunch bell was announced Rose had already finished both sets of homework, whilst listening to Flitwick the Charms teacher lecture about Lumos.
Not wanting to cause anymore suspicion, Edwards begrudgingly got up and made his way downstairs to lunch. He wasn't particularly hungry today, having been out hunting the night before, but he knew he could at least eat a sandwich or two to blend in. Arriving into the busy Hall, he subtly walked around the table searching for Fred and George. Finally locating them, he asked Fred to shuffle down so he could sit with one of them flanking him on either side.
"Are you that paranoid about Angelina." Fred asked amused. "She has had crush on you for three years now, you would think you would get used to it by now."
"She is even more intolerable than usual." Edward snapped, helping himself to a ham sandwich. "It's only our second day here and I don't want to be in the same room as her."
"You want me to have a word?" George asked sympathetically, his eyebrows raised. "I wouldn't normally offer, but I saw the way she was acting around Rose last night and I didn't like the hostility."
"You picked up on that too?" Edward grumbled.
"I did." George replied seriously. "I know Rose can stick up for herself, but I was hoping on having a word with Angelia anyway. Rose asked me earlier if she had been acting weird last night. I don't need to put two and two together to understand why she asked. Rose is just friendly, confident and…"
"Attractive?" Lee said dreamily.
"Yes." George replied awkwardly to Lee. "But she is much more than just looks Lee. If Angelina would just see past that they could be really good friends."
"Ah. So Angelina sees Rose as a threat." Fred realised thoughtfully.
"I think so." George said with a mouthful of tuna sandwich. "Which is a shame because like I said, they have a lot in common, like singing for example.."
"Rose can sing?" Edward asked surprised, shocked it hadn't come up that morning in conversation.
"Better than anyone I have ever heard." Fred said seriously. "She plays piano too, something you two have in common!"
Edwards eyebrows raised. This girl just kept on getting more and more interesting.
"I would love to hear her play." Edward said honestly.
"Well its not going to happen here is it." George said bitterly. "Your choices are: The Frog Choir, Orchestra or karaoke Friday, all of which are abysmal and social suicide." He answered counting them off his fingers as he spoke.
"So when are you going to talk to Angelina?" Lee spoke bringing the conversation back to the problem at hand.
"Tonight in the common room?" Fred offered "You can basically tell her that Rose isn't interested in Oliver, that she is only friendly with him as he is OUR friend and that Oliver likes brunettes so wouldn't be interested anyway."
"I don't think that last bit is important or appropriate." Edward answered awkwardly, inwardly cringing that he was starting to like blondes more and more.
"Okay scratch the brunette bit, especially as Angelina is. We don't want any encouragement on her behalf" Fred said cheekily. "But just make it specifically clear that Rose isn't interested in Oliver."
"Gotcha" George said with a wink.
Emptiness filled Edward's chest as his mind swallowed what Fred had said. 'She is only friendly with him because he is our friend.' Of course that was the reason for her being so kind and generous with a stranger. The good mood Edward had been in all morning completely reversed on itself with him instantly feeling dirty. How could he feel so good about mentally stalking Rose?
It so happened that George wouldn't have to talk to Angelina that evening. Edward's mood stayed sour all afternoon, with even Angelina getting the hint and avoided his toxic vibe. The twins tried and failed to snap Edward out of his gloomy mood but it was no use, Alice's prediction had come true.
Rose's afternoon had gone slightly better than Edward's. She had enjoyed both her classes, and coped reasonably well with her Grandmother teaching one of them. McGonagall was clearly stricter on Ron and Rose then anyone else, keeping them both on edge at all times. Only Hermione got praised for her matchstick progress, gaining two points for Gryffindor for her hard work. It was bitter pill to swallow as Rose had worked hard to impress her Grandmother, her progression just as good as Hermione's.
Defence against the Dark Arts ended up being slightly more disappointing than they anticipated. Professor Quirrell was so scared of the students that he actually failed to teach them anything. Twice he jumped at Smutz, who was curled up asleep, causing the room to titter in quiet laughter. There was however a lot of homework given to them by both teachers. The amount so large that by the time dinner came around, they hadn't even finished McGonagall's homework assignment. Exhausted and hungry, they walked down to dinner accompanied by Smutz, who had been nudging Rose for the past half an hour for his treats.
There was a calming presence in the Hall unlike yesterday. Dinner was available in a two hour window, making it a more relaxed and steady pace. Sitting down opposite Lee and Angelina, Rose smiled trying to act as friendly as possible. She would have been lying if she said that she didn't feel awkward. This was the first time she had seen Angelina since this mornings thorny meeting.
"How was your first day?" Lee said helping himself to mashed potato.
"Really good thank you, though the homework pile is impressive." Rose answered unimpressed.
"Who did you have? Sprout?" Angelina asked politely.
"We haven't had her yet, I think that's tomorrow." Harry replied. "It was McGonagall and Quirrell that gave out the most homework."
"Ah, they must have tweaked the timetable since we had it." Lee said thoughtfully. "We always had Herbology on a Monday morning."
"Was that instead of Charms?" Rose said curiously.
"No we had charms on a Monday morning too." Lee said "What did you have first thing?"
"History of Magic" Ron answered, piling a large pile of mashed potato on his plate and then Rose's.
"Ah that's defiantly new this year. We always had Binns in the afternoon."
So Edward was lying. Why would he feel obliged to lie for no reason? Rose thought to herself, unconsciously frowning in confusion. He spoke earlier of not being trustworthy, maybe ironically that was one time he was speaking the truth.
Deep in thought, Rose didn't notice Ron add sausages, vegetables and gravy to her plate. Placing the cutlery in her hand, she glanced up, smiling at him in thanks, brushing the thought of Edward's lying to the back of her mind. Noticing that the twins had now joined in the conversation, she wondered where Edward was. Angelina noticed her look at the twins and answered Rose's questioning stare.
"He won't come down to dinner when he is like this." She said knowingly.
"I'm sorry.. what?"
Caught off guard, Rose looked back to Angelina confused by her statement. Angelina raised her eyebrows, smugly looking at Rose in amusement. A glow started to form on Rose's neck, not wanting Angelina to gain even more amusement, Rose lowered her gaze concentrating on cutting up her sausage and eating it.
"You were looking for Oliver?" Angelina replied complacently, "He has been in a bad mood all day since Breakfast. He doesn't eat when he is in fowl temper, he will be working out genius Quidditch strategies to distract himself."
"That's good to know." Rose announced, still focused on her dinner and cutting the vegetables a little too aggressively. "But I was just going to ask Fred or George to throw down the salt and pepper for my mashed potato."
"Ooh I'm sorry." Angelina gushed, looked embarrassed.
"Don't be." Rose said smiling at Angelina. "I should cut down on my salt intake anyway. It's a shame to hear about his mood though, he was fine when we met him in the corridor earlier."
Dinner continued with no other mention of Edward, but he was constantly present in Rose's mind. By the time they had finished their homework and had taken Smutz out for the last time, no one had seen Edward reappear. The next three nights followed the same pattern as Monday, with Edward staying in his mood. To the outside world, he went to classes, ate his meals and stayed on the Quidditch pitch or in his office, wanting his space and to be alone.
For Rose, Harry and Ron, their week consisted of endless cycles of homework. The workload getting harder by the day. By the time Friday came around, they wondered whether they would actually get a weekend to enjoy.
Silently eating their breakfast, the first years continued to work on their homework from the previous days. After a round of contagious yawns, it was Harry who spoke up.
"When will this workload end? I've loved this week, but I seriously cannot wait for the weekend. Potions can't have too much homework if that's all we have today, surely?"
"I've heard he is really strict." Rose said glumly. "And biased towards Slytherin's."
"I wish McGonagall would favour us." Ron said bitterly.
Buttering her toast, Rose snorted at his comment.
"But you knew she wouldn't be? We may be her 'protégé's' but when has she ever openly shown to be impressed?"
"Very true." Ron agreed. "I can live in hope though."
"I'm still getting my head around the fact that you are both related to her, and worse still that you managed to keep it quiet for ages!" Harry said miffed.
"Well in our defence, it's not something you can casually bring up is it?" Ron said jokingly. "And it's our first week, I would argue we have told you quite quickly."
"At least I have only said nice things about her." Harry muttered amused.
There was a flutter of wings as the owls entered the Great Hall through the open east window.
Rose liked to watch the organised pattern of diving and swooping, enjoying seeing how each bird had its quirk. One of the last to arrive at the table, was Hedwig, Harry's pet owl. A beautiful snowy white bird, with a warm temperament, she nibbled on Harry's hand gently hinting for a treat. Chuckling, Harry acknowledged her, giving her a piece of his toast which she accepted gratefully. Stretching her wings, and elegantly taking off, Hedwig left along with the other birds. Where she had perched, a letter was now left on the table, with Harry's name roughly written on it.
Excited to actually have a letter addressed to him, Harry eagerly opened the envelope and smiled.
"It's from Hagrid!" He explained, beaming. "He knows we have Friday afternoons off and wonders whether we would like to go round for tea and cake at three today. He also says to bring Smutz as Fang loved him last time."
"Well that sounds much better than homework!" Ron said happily.
"And I can take Smutz for a walk beforehand, so he is on his best behaviour." Rose added thoughtfully.
Happy with their plans for that afternoon, it was only when she approached the common room that the feeling of apprehension lingered in Rose's stomach. Was leaving Smutz in the common room that bad? Convincing herself that he would simply find a warm place to fall asleep, she smiled sadly as they left him, giving him a last tap of the head before turning her back on him, his tail wagging slowly as he watched them leave.
They had grown accustomed to improvising their routes to class for the past week. However knowing they were heading towards the dungeons, they arrived at their destination a little too early. With fifteen minutes left until class started, the three of them sat on the cold damp floor with their backs against the wall, ignoring that it could have been fifteen minutes spent more with Smutz.
"Shall we finish Sprout's homework as a team?" Rose asked unenthusiastically. "We might as well and then it's less to do later, especially now we are going to see Hagrid."
Working slowly through Herbology, they managed to finish Tuesday's homework and also some of Wednesday's before the slow trickle of students became too noisy to concentrate. The door creaked open and Professor Snape glided out of the room slowly, peering down at them all with a look of discontent. Potions itself was yet another learning curve for the Gryffindor First Years. Not only did Snape have obvious preferential treatment towards the Slytherin's, but he seemed to take great pleasure in deducting points for absolutely no reason what so ever. At one point Dean Thomas sneezed, interrupting the introduction to the lesson, which caused fifty points to be removed from Gryffindor.
Nothing however was more uncomfortable to watch than the inexcusable loathing Snape held for Harry. All professionalism seemed to escape Snape, with him jibing Harry on his so called fame, something that disgusted Rose as it made a mockery of his parents death. Snape ridiculed Harry on his lack of potions knowledge on more than one occasion, even encouraging the Slytherin students to join in the bating.
The room fell into an awkward, miserable silence as Snape fired question after question at Harry. Glee present in his black eyes, they sparkled joy every time Harry explained that he didn't know the answer. Hermione wasn't helping, clearly desperate to gain the house points that had been lost. She was practically dancing on the table by question four, giving Harry a look of horror, that he didn't know the answer too. Rose could see Harry shrinking smaller and smaller as Snape carried on with the questions, she caught Ron's attention, he too looking gobsmacked. Snape caught their glance and smiled cruelly.
"How about you Ward, can you answer on behalf of Potter?" He said with a sneer.
"To the question on.."
"On the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane."
"Well I can't be certain on the answer Sir." Rose replied honestly.
She was concentrating on the desk in front of her, wanting to keep her eyes away from Snape. She caught out the corner of her eye his sneer, as he turned to pick on Ron. Panic plunged in her stomach, she didn't want Ron to have the same fate as Harry. Her mouth dry, she quickly recounted;
"But if I were to take an educated guess, I would say that you have asked a trick question. That they are actually the same plant."
The glee had disappeared from Snape's eyes now and instead his eyes were glittering with anger.
"Your educated guesses will get you nowhere in this class." Snape snapped.
Rose looked at him innocently, but she was biting her cheeks to hide her own smug smile. Hermione had turned around in her seat looking shocked.
The rest of the potions continued to be equal parts torture and embarrassment for the Gryffindor's. No matter how hard they tried, Snape kept docking House points for no reason, and praising the Slytherin's especially Malfoy for just breathing. By the end of double potions, Rose was relieved on reflection that she wasn't allowed to bring Smutz to the class. Neville at one point had managed to accidentally melt a cauldron, the acidic liquid drowning the floor in a hazardous pool. Jumping onto the tables for safety as the table legs slowly melted towards the floor, Snape managed to remove all evidence of it happening but left the remnants on Neville who needed to be taken urgently to hospital wing. Leaving class exhausted, the three of them didn't even care that they had a large homework assignment on monkshood and wolfsbane if it meant that it was a whole week until they had to see Snape again. Snape had assigned them all to do an essay of ten thousand words on why they were exactly the same plant.
"What on Earth was that about?" Ron said appalled.
They were safely back upstairs in the light and the warmth of the Entrance Hall. Unnerved by their first potions lesson they had decided to go get changed out of their uniforms and collect Smutz.
"I have no idea." Rose replied drained. "All I can say is, I'm glad it's over. The way he treated you Harry was despicable."
"He was really laying into you, Malfoy was loving it." Ron agreed glumly.
"I don't know what I did done wrong" Harry answered bitterly, scuffing his feet against the floor as he walked.
"You didn't do anything wrong! None of us are meant to know much about magic yet, otherwise it would be pointless us being here." Rose replied softly, rubbing Harry's arm soothingly. "He is the one that wants to make an enemy out of you, and he is meant to be the adult in this situation."
"And Rose managed to piss him off by getting the question right." Ron said proudly.
"That was classic." Harry said grinning. "Were you just guessing?"
"A little bit yes." Rose answered truthfully, with a slight grin. "I think I must have heard it somewhere and remembered the fact… but it was fluke knowledge. I'm just sorry that everyone has to do a homework assignment because of it."
"Don't be." Harry said grinning. "Can you imagine what it would have been about otherwise?"
" Probably…In ten thousand words describe why Harry Potter is the worst human being alive.'" Ron replied, pinching his nose to create the perfect Snape impersonation.