Rose was lying motionless in her bed. She had been for quite a while. She was racked with something that was between nervousness and anticipation but wasn't quite either. She had never considered that there was more to magic than what she knew. Why would there be? She could do almost anything. She could make things float, repair things, break things, set things on fire, cool things down, turn one thing into another thing. If she could imagine it, all she had to do was channel her magic, and it would be done. According to her school books, however, that wasn't at all how magic worked, or, at the very least, not how it worked with a wand. There was no imagining what you wanted, no channeling magic, just saying a few silly words and waving around a wooden stick.
It had taken her an embarrassingly long time to even figure out how to use her wand. All her books said was to wave it in a specific way and speak the incantation, but nothing she did seemed to work, and to make things worse, she had the distinct feeling her wand was laughing at her every time she failed to cast anything. It frustrated her, especially since she could use magic, and she couldn't understand how to cast a spell without, you know, using magic. Then it hit her, and she'd felt so irrevocably stupid that she had to lay face-first on the couch for several hours lamenting her own idiocy.
She wasn't the one supposed to cast the spell. Her wand was. The wand-waving and the incantation were just telling it what spell to cast; all she had to do was provide it with the magic.
With this in mind, she funneled some magic into her wand, which it happily accepted, then gave it a little twirl and chanted, "Lumos." A bright, white light shone from the tip of her wand, slightly to the touch. She'd grinned widely when she finally managed a spell and waved it around, lighting up random objects. The light itself wasn't all that impressive, but the novelty of using magic with barely any effort on her part was exhilarating. Then, with a small frown, she realized she didn't know how to turn it off. She'd stopped funneling magic to her wand, but apparently, the light's magical cost was negligible enough that the magic she had already given it was enough to keep it lit for… well, she wasn't sure but a long time.
She'd spent several minutes perusing her charms book until she found the counter-charm and wondered why the hell they weren't located right next to each other. The wand movement was a bit more complicated, a bit of a flick followed by a sort of reverse twirl, but she'd managed it well enough and incanted, "Nox," and the light extinguished itself.
That was several weeks ago, however, just a few days after returning from Diagon Alley. She had tried several other spells from her books since then and had no trouble with any of them, though transfiguration spells were exceedingly odd. They were too specific to be any use. Why would anyone need to transform a matchstick into a needle? Granted, she had been able to successfully cast them, provided she could find the item required, but if a different spell was needed for every object, it wasn't exactly all that useful, was it? She read a couple of chapters of her history book but quickly grew bored and tossed it aside. She had lost interest in history years ago when she realized a majority of it could be summed up by the words 'some greedy prick wanted something from some other greedy prick, and both tossed thousands of innocent people at the other side until one of them one of them got what they wanted.' It seemed the magical world was no different. She was also quite excited for potions class, as it was the only subject she couldn't experiment with at home. She wasn't going to find Pungous Onions and Shrake spines just lying around in the garden, after all.
It wouldn't be long now. It was - she glanced at her clock - four thirty-eight in the morning, and the Hogwarts Express left at eleven A.M. on the dot. She wanted to get there early, so she told the Dursleys to take her to King's Cross at seven. It was about an hour's drive, so they'd arrived at around eight with three hours to spare. Her ticket had been, well, owled to her not long after that day in Diagon Alley. She had been surprised, and the Dursleys unnerved, when a small, tawny owl showed up at the kitchen window one morning with an envelope in its beak. Surprised, but delighted, even if she still found it unfeasible, and happily took the envelope from the bird and fed it a piece of bacon before it took off. Inside was a letter from McGonagall, as well as a ticket to the train.
"Dear Miss Evans," it read. "Inside, you'll find your ticket to the Hogwarts Express in King's Cross Station. The platform, Nine and Three-Quarters, is hidden from Muggle sight." She didn't know what a Muggle was, but given the context, she guessed it was a person without magic.
"I like it," Mummy told her. "It sounds derogatory," she said, and Rose agreed.
"Simply pass through the barrier between Nine and Ten, and you shall find it," the letter continued. "Additionally, after our discussion, I took the liberty of looking through the ministerial records of your parents' Marriage Contract. Rather curiously, and in stark contrast to tradition, I might add, it appears that, while your parents were indeed married, one of the stipulations was that your mother would keep her maiden name, as would any children she bore. This would, effectively, change the Potter Family into the Evans Family. Given that the Potter Family has a long and proud history, there would be quite an outcry from many prominent families, so it is not hard to see why this has been kept a secret. I hope this goes some way into explaining the disconnect between your name and your image in the magical world."
It did explain, but it also made Rose wonder why anyone would care about one particular family's name, though she was starting to get the feeling that the magical world was medieval in more than just aesthetics.
She had also written Hermione a few times, though she had used the regular post. She had found a sort of owl post office in Diagon Alley, but she wasn't going to bother driving all the way up there just to send some mail. They didn't speak about much, really. There were a lot of empty phrases and meaningless platitudes. Their subjects tended to revolve around their school books and what they thought Hogwarts would be like. Rose hadn't really expected much more than that, to be honest. Neither of them was experienced with holding a conversation, even if Rose didn't like to admit it. That was fine, though. Letters were more for maintaining relationships than cultivating them, Rose figured. She would have to do that in person. Maybe she could find that pretty blonde girl Daphne and start something with her, as well. She certainly wouldn't mind having such a lovely-looking girl hanging around.
Rose took another glance at the clock. Five thirteen. She let out a sigh. It was too late; she wasn't going to get any sleep. She didn't feel tired, anyway. There was no point in lying in bed. It wouldn't accomplish anything. So instead, she waved her arm, and a book appeared above her. She caught it before it could fall on top of her and got up out of bed, leaving her room to head down to the kitchen. After turning on the light, she sat down at the dining room table and set her book, titled The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, down in front of her and opened it up to read. She had already skimmed through it, mostly to try out the spells inside, but it also had descriptions of all kinds of fascinating creatures that Rose thought only existed in fiction, so she entertained herself for the next hour with tales of werewolves, vampires, zombies, and hags.
Petunia came down not long after six, looking startled to see Rose already up. For good reason, too, Rose never liked having to wait long for breakfast and made a point of making sure the Dursleys had, at the very least, already started on it by the time she showed herself. Today, though, she merely kept reading, not bothering to acknowledge her Aunt's presence, and she started making breakfast after several tense moments on her part. Vernon came down a little later, and he looked physically pained to see her. Rose imagined he was hoping to get a few moments to chat with his wife over the paper before she showed up, and she was glad she managed to ruin his plans.
Pancakes for breakfast, Rose idly noticed as she read a particularly intriguing chapter about werewolf bites. She grabbed her cutlery and started to eat, though she was too entranced with her book to really taste it. It didn't take long, then, for her to finish her plate, and she looked up at the clock to see that it was nearly seven.
She slammed her book shut, causing everyone at the table to jump. "Eat quickly," she said to Petunia, who was sitting at the far end of the table with her plate of breakfast. "We'll leave once I've grabbed my things." She put her book into her non-space and went back up to her room and got dressed. She already had most of her things packed, technically. It was all in her magical storage space though she was no closer to explaining how it worked to Mummy than when she first used it. Calling it a non-space was apt, however, as calling anything else implied she had some sort of personal pocket dimension that she shoved all her stuff into, which Rose firmly denied when Mummy brought it up as a possible explanation.
Regardless, all she had to physically bring was her wand and her new pet. She held out her hand, and her wand flew into her palm. She ignored its indignant buzzing at being left behind for so long and wrapped it up into a bun in her hair. There was a little pocket in her robes that she could keep it in, but she wasn't wearing them right now, and she liked putting it in a bun as it gave her hair some semblance of order. Then she went over to a glass tank in the corner of her room. She pried open the lid and reached into it, lifting a small, hollow rock to reveal a tiny, sleeping snake curled up under it. She stretched out a finger and gently scratched the top of its head.
"Wakey, wakey, Alice," Rose called to the snake. "Time to get up."
The snake stirred slightly. "Sleepy," it mumbled, barely audible. "Go away,"
"Now, now," Rose tutted. "That's no way to talk to your new mistress. If you don't get up on your own, I'll just have to make you. And trust me, that will be significantly less pleasant,"
The snake grumbled but gradually uncurled itself and crawled up and around Rose's hand. It was barely long enough to wrap around her palm, but it was just a baby. It was a reticulated python, which meant it would grow very big, given time. It kind of amazed her that you could just buy one of the world's largest snakes. She chose the name Alice on a whim. It sounded like a good name for a snake, though she admitted her first thought was Ekans, after the pokémon.
"Where we go?" Alice asked.
"Where are we going," Rose corrected. "And we're leaving for school, remember?"
"Train," said Alice, nodding, though Rose was pretty sure she didn't know what a train was.
"Yes, we're taking the train." Now that Alice was out of her tank, Rose held her hand outstretched in front of it, concentrating hard. The tank was large, and it took a fair bit of focus for her to put it into her non-space, but eventually, it shimmered slightly, then vanished.
"My box!" Alice cried.
"It's not gone," Rose reassured. "Just hidden. You'll get it back when we get to school."
Alice didn't seem to entirely understand but grumbled in acceptance anyway. She slithered her way up Rose's arm and into her shirt, emerging out the collar and settling herself around the back of her neck. "Tired. Sleep."
With that, Rose was set to go. She didn't bother checking to see if the Dursleys' were ready, just hollered out a "Let's go!" when she reached the front door and made her way to the car, taking a seat in the passenger's side. Petunia followed her out and took the driver's seat, and soon they were off. It was a quiet ride, but that was the norm when Rose was in the car. Petunia kept glancing warily at Alice, which Rose found amusing, but not enough to comment on. She desperately hadn't wanted to get the snake for her, but it wasn't like she had much choice in the matter. Rose had taken to talking about random things with Alice with the Dursleys around to freak them out. She still didn't quite understand why she could talk to snakes and not any other animal. For the longest time, she just thought that snakes could speak English for some reason, even Mummy thought so, but then on a trip to the zoo (the same one that made her realize how boring they were,) she was chatting idly with a boa constrictor about how dull the place was when the Dursleys noticed and went pale-faced. She couldn't think of anything she'd done to cause it this time, so she asked them what was wrong. They told her she had been hissing, and indeed, when she paid closer attention, she realized her words sounded nothing like English.
As intriguing as it was, she had no explanation for it. It didn't make any sense why snakes of all things would have a language that only she could mysteriously speak, but then again, maybe all animals had their own language, although that still didn't explain why she could only talk to snakes. Of course, she'd tried to speak to other animals, and while she could order them around, that was more like some kind of mind control than any actual understanding.
Well, it didn't matter in the end. Maybe she'd learn something at Hogwarts, but for now, it was well enough to freak out the Dursleys every once in a while. Though she wouldn't be seeing them for some time, Rose thought they approached King's Cross Station. Not that she minded terribly, and the Dursleys were probably ecstatic to have her gone, but she had to admit she would miss tormenting them.
"I'm sure you'll find plenty of others to torment soon enough, sweetheart." Mummy consoled.
Rose believed it. Her old school was full of idiots; she doubted Hogwarts would be any different. Magic or no, humans were the same everywhere.
She left Petunia in the car once they reached a parking space. Rose could find her way well enough. Indeed, following the signs to the platform between nine and ten was positively pedestrian, but it was the space between that held her interest. There was no obvious passageway to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, not that she expected it. McGonagall's instructions had been simple, but Rose held back and watched as people passed by the barrier. She wondered how normal people, Muggles, never noticed if this barrier was the way through. How did no one notice witches and wizards passing through a solid brick wall?
A small family approached. They were dressed a little oddly, like they preferred the fashion of twenty years ago, but that wasn't what caught Rose's attention. No, the first thing she noticed was the caged owl sitting on their trolley. Others noticed too, she saw, and gave them strange looks, but as they walked toward the barrier and swiftly passed right through, no one gave so much as a start.
Rose's brow furrowed. The Muggles couldn't have missed it. It happened plain as day; she saw them watching. But then…
Another pair came along, and these ones were definitely wizards. They hadn't even bothered to change out of their robes. Rose stared raptly as people gave them askance looks, but then, just as they were about to cross the barrier, their eyes just… slid away. And not a single person saw as the two wizards walked right through a supposedly solid wall.
"It must be magic," Mummy said.
"Really?" Rose replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm."I never would have guessed."
Mummy gave her the mental equivalent of a light smack upside the head, which felt a bit like someone tickling her brain, weirdly enough. "You know what I mean. There must be some sort of enchantment to keep the regular people from noticing the barrier."
"Oh," Rose said after thinking a moment, but she had many more questions. "I wonder how that works? Who maintains it? What's to keep someone who isn't paying attention from accidentally walking straight through?"
Rose felt Mummy's amusement flutter through her. "I have no idea, my love. But I suppose that's why we're off to school, isn't it?"
"I suppose."
She watched for a while longer but eventually determined there was nothing more to be gained from just observing. The only other thing she noticed was that surprisingly few people came to pass through the barrier, even for how early it was. The school's population must be even lower than she first thought.
She lifted herself off from the bench on the opposite side of the barrier and swiftly made her way forward, then passed straight through the brick wall without so much as a flinch. The other side was, well, it was about as disappointing as Rose expected, to be honest.
"Can it really be disappointing if you expected it?" Mummy wondered idly, and Rose ignored her.
It was just another platform. The Hogwarts Express was bright, vivid red, unlike all the other trains at King's Cross, but other than that, the only thing unusual about the place were all the robes people were wearing. Suppressing a sigh at how utterly mundane it all was, Rose quickly boarded the train. The inside looked comfy enough, she supposed. She searched the corridor for either Daphne or Hermione but settled into a cabin in the back when she found neither.
With nothing else to do for another two hours at least, she gave a flourish with her hand, and a book appeared in front of her, this one titled Magical Drafts and Potions, which she promptly opened up and began to read.
Noise gradually filled the train as time passed, but the cabin doors successfully kept most of it out. Rose adjusted her reading position, pulling Alice off her neck, who hissed irritably, and set her on her lap. She grabbed her wand from her hair, gave it a swish, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa." The book hovered about a foot above the seat, and Rose stuck her wand back in her bun and settled onto her back under it to read more comfortably. Alice crawled into her shirt to rest on the warmth of her chest and Rose idly pet her through the cloth.
At some point, the cabin door flung open. Startled, Rose jerked her head up and saw Hermione in all her bushy-haired glory standing in the doorway with a nervous smile on her face.
"Rose!" she exclaimed.
"Hello, Hermione," Rose said, smiling softly as she sat up. She heard Alice hissing at her to stop moving around so much, but Rose paid her no attention. Hermione hadn't moved from the doorway and just stood there, biting her lip anxiously. "Well? What are you waiting for?" She asked, patting the seat next to her.
Hermione rushed forward suddenly and startled Rose by nearly tackling her into a hug. Rose stiffened at the sudden contact, barely managing to keep the both of them in the seat. She managed to relax herself after a moment, but she sincerely hoped this wouldn't become a regular thing. Careful not to let her thoughts show, she schooled her face into one of mild amusement.
"Missed me, did you?" she asked teasingly, patting the other girl lightly on the back.
"Mm-hmm," Hermione mumbled while nodding her head, surprisingly honest. Pulling herself free from the hug, she gave Rose a self-conscious look. "Is that weird? I know we only met a month ago, but I've never had a friend before and I've been wanting to see you ever since we parted ways. Letters just aren't really enough, you know?"
Saying it like that, it did sound a little creepy, but it was entirely possible that she genuinely didn't connect with any of her peers and wasn't just being a little dramatic like Rose first thought. If so, then it was probably just her desperation for friends leaking through, though it did make Rose wonder how far deep this desperation ran. She'd have to find out.
Regardless, Rose just gave her a warm smile and said, "It's not weird at all. I missed you too."
Hermione responded by blushing furiously and returned the smile bashfully.
There was a few seconds of silence where Rose debated what to turn the topic toward when Hermione pointed out that she wasn't wearing glasses like when they met.
Rose tilted her head and stared at Hermione curiously for a moment, trying to figure out if that was somehow important before deciding that this must be what they call smalltalk and simply said, "I don't normally wear them. They get in the way of my reading, it's easier to wear contacts."
That was certainly true, and she'd been reading even more than usual lately due the sudden influx of interesting books, so she'd hardly worn them at at in the past month.
The response wasn't exactly expected.
"Really?" she said, looking a little disappointed. "That's a shame. I thought they looked quite good on you."
It took her longer than she was comfortable with to come up with a reply to that, especially with Mummy practically shouting "I told you so!" in her head. Trying not to frown lest she give the impression she was upset, she tried to think of the best way to respond, but her mind just kept circling back around to the compliment before she could even complete a thought. It was frustrating, it should not be this hard. She tried to think of how she normally responded to compliments, but quickly realized that the only one ever did was Mummy, and that was usually followed by embarrassed stammering, which definitely wouldn't help this situation.
"You could just say thank you," Mummy gently reminded her.
Oh. Right. Refocusing herself, she shot a grin at Hermione, who was just beginning to look worried she had said something wrong, and said, "Really? Thanks. Maybe I'll start wearing them more often." She supposed she would, too, since they apparently really did look good on her, though she didn't really see how. Perhaps it was just that she was wearing them.
Mummy started giggling uncontrollably leaving Rose to wonder what on earth she missed, at least until she started saying in a teasing tone, "No, not vain at all. The paragon of humility, you are."
Rose made to protest, but then realized that did sound rather conceited, so she stuck to pouting mentally. Hermione brought her attention back to reality before either could respond.
"Is that book floating?" she asked, apparently just now noticing it.
"Oh, yes," Rose answered. "I was reading under it, before you came in. It's much less tiring with the Levitation Charm."
Hermione let out a gasp and slapped her hand to her forehead, like she just had an epiphany. "Why didn't I think of that? That's the hardest part about reading, isn't it? Finding a comfortable position. I love reading on my back, but my arms get so tired holding up my books, but then if you lay on your stomach, your arms get tired from propping yourself up so you can read properly. Laying on your side is just terrible, you can't hold your book properly and the pages keep falling if you don't keep them in place. Sitting up is really the only comfortable way to read, but even that gets tiring after a while just because it's hard to sit in the same position for a long time and you want to shift around but the other positions aren't much better so you just end up sitting back up."
Rose blinked at the sudden onslaught of the admittedly relatable woes of bookworms. She had almost forgotten the bushy-haired girl's tendency to devolve into rants. Still, she could sympathize with her, even though she hadn't actually been talking about the strength of her arms when she mentioned the Charm. She used to manually hold her books in the air with her magic while reading, which solved the vast majority of the problems just mentioned, though it still took a certain amount of focus and effort to maintain, and it tired her out after a while. With the Levitation Charm, however, she just had to place the charm and position the book, no extra effort required. Rose had no real desire to sit through a lecture on the various solutions to these problems that Hermione had managed to come up, though, so she quickly interjected during her short pause for breath.
"You've managed to cast it, then?" she asked. "The Levitation Charm?"
"Huh?" Hermione started at the regress in topics, but her mind quickly switched tracks. "Oh, yes. All the spells I've tried so far have worked, though some took a couple of tries. I was a bit surprised, to be honest, but I suppose they are only First Year spells."
Rose nodded in agreement. Since it was the same for her she wondered if she was ahead of the curve, but if a First Year student who had never even heard of magic before could do it, she figured that level of skill was normal.
"I'll have to visit the school library soon and get ahead while I can," she told Mummy.
"You might not get a chance," Came the dry reply. "I wouldn't be surprised if your little bookworm commandeers the place before anyone else can set foot inside."
Rose held in a chuckle. "She does seem rather… fervent about her books."
Turning her attention back to Hermione, she said, "Yes, I know what you mean. I had some trouble in the beginning, but once I got the hang of it the rest came pretty easily. There's still so much to learn, though, the school textbooks weren't nearly enough."
"Right? I've read through all the assigned reading twice already and I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what's out there!"
Twice? That seemed a bit excessive, though Rose supposed it was all very interesting.
"We did just established that she's apparently decided to make a love of books one of her defining features, love."
Ah, right. She'd have to dig more into her personality. She liked Hermione so far, but if all she had to talk about was books, their relationship would stale fast. She quickly called up everything she knew of the girl (doubtlessly intelligent, likes to read, prone to rambling, and probably quite lonely) and tried to come up with a question that would reveal more of the girl's personality, but wasn't too invasive.
"Well, I'm sure we'll learn a lot in class," she started. "Hogwarts is supposed to be the best, after all." She was pretty sure she remembered McGonagall saying something to that effect. "I'm sure the teachers are all very good at what they do."
"Oh, I hope so!" Hermione gushed. "Being able to learn from a master of their art would just be amazing!"
Rose privately had her doubts whether they were really all they're cracked up to be, but continued without voicing them. "Speaking of which, which class are you most looking forward to? Charms sound really cool, but Potions seems really interesting."
Hermione's eyes lit up. "Oh, Transfiguration for sure! Professor McGonagall teaches that class! I think I mentioned that. She's so amazing! She's a little strict, but she's really nice! Did you know she's an animagus? That means she can turn into an animal! A cat!"
Rose frowned inwardly at the adoration in her voice. She didn't like McGonagall. That wasn't exactly the stern witch's fault, Rose's default stance was mild distaste, unless they were particularly cute, but regardless, Rose didn't like the fact that Hermione was directing all that awe to someone she wasn't fond of. She'd much rather it go to someone much more deserving of it.
Like Rose.
Should she show off a bit? Try and impress her with some wandless magic? She couldn't turn into a cat, not yet at least, but she could do plenty of other things.
No, she didn't know enough about Hermione to determine how she'd react, it might come off as arrogant or belittling. Besides, she preferred more subtle means.
Hermione continued, oblivious to Rose's annoyance. "She's also the Head of Gryffindor, did you know? The same House Headmaster Dumbledore was in! Oh, I do hope I manage to get in as well. I wonder how the Sorting works." She looked a bit nervous at the prospect, biting her lip cutely.
Rose tilted her head curiously. "Gryffindor?" she asked.
Hermione blinked in surprise, then gave her an odd look. "Yes, House Gryffindor. Don't you know about the Hogwarts Houses?"
She didn't. Somewhat ironically, she was so busy learning magic that she forgot to bother to learn anything about Hogwarts itself. "Tell me about them."
Hermione brightened, seemingly happy to impart some knowledge. "Well, according to Hogwarts: A History, there are four Houses in Hogwarts, each named after one of the school Founders. There's Gryffindor: the House of the brave and the bold, Ravenclaw: the House of the intelligent and curious, Hufflepuff: the House of the loyal and diligent, and Slytherin: the House of the cunning and ambitious."
Rose hummed in thought. It seemed a bit arbitrary to sort eleven-year-old children into Houses based on just a few personality traits, but it hardly mattered to Rose. If nothing else it would make it easier to judge someone's basic character at a glance. She was curious how students were sorted into these Houses in the first place, but Hermione already mentioned she didn't know, so instead she asked, "Why Gryffindor, if you don't mind me asking? You seem more like you'd fit better into Ravenclaw."
Hermione blushed, looked a little embarrassed. "You think so? I thought the same, at first, but… Things like taking the challenge head on; overcoming hardships with courage and grit. It sounds nice, doesn't it?"
Ah, she wants to be brave. She wrapped it up in fancy imagery, but that seemed to be the core of what she admired. Her hardships were obvious; she wanted to make friends. She wanted the courage to put herself out there and interacted with her peers, gather connections and form relationships, and probably whatever other advice you'd find in those generic self-help books.
The question was: how to respond? Rose herself thought she'd go to Ravenclaw given how much she loved to learn about the sciences, and recently magic, so with that in mind she'd prefer if Hermione was in Ravenclaw as well, if only to have more time around her. She didn't know how the sorting worked, but having Hermione aim for another House could only hurt her chances.
She figured there were two options: idolize Ravenclaw, or demonize Gryffindor. Or both. The second might be difficult given her apparent admiration for McGonagall and Headmaster What's-His-Face, so she'd decided to stick with the first for now. The only trouble was that she wasn't too sure how to aggrandize a House she knew next to nothing about.
"You're overthinking this," Mummy said, interrupting her thoughts.
Rose held back a frown. "How so?"
"She wants friends, remember? Which do you think she'll be more drawn toward? The House where she can make friends, or the House where she's already made one?"
Oh. Yes, that would do the trick, wouldn't it? She was kind of annoyed she missed something so simple, actually.
"I'm looking forward to Ravenclaw, myself," Rose finally said, though it had only been a couple seconds since Hermione had finished speaking. "It'd be nice to interact with people who actually care about learning for once, and don't just waste time playing around."
That was actually the second biggest reason she never talked with any of her old schoolmates. None of them cared about the things she cared about. All they wanted was to do was slack off; Rose wanted to learn the mysteries of the Universe.
The biggest reason was that they were Muggle.
Hermione gave a small huff. "Honestly, I don't even know why those sorts of people come to school. What's the point if you don't bother to learn?"
Rose let out a smile. "I'm sure they wouldn't if they're parents didn't make them. I'm just glad there's at least one person I know who's willing to put in the work."
Hermione blushed. "Yes, well…" she stammered, struggling for words.
Rose didn't give her a chance to collect herself. "You'll meet with me, won't you?" she asked, adding just a touch of insecurity to her voice. "It'd be easier if we're in the same House, but even if we're not, I'd still like to spend time with you. We can study together."
Studying seemed a little weak as a hook, but she just realized she didn't actually know what friends typically do together, and that was the first she could think of that came to mind that she knew Hermione liked as well.
Regardless, it was enough, and Hermione's blush deepened and her shy smile returned. "I'd like that," she said softly.
Rose grinned. It wasn't much, but hopefully with that Hermione would start to reconsider Gryffindor.
They continued talking, Rose trying to learn more about Hermione while she did the same for her, though probably for more innocent reasons. They had a surprising amount in common, Rose was surprised to learn. They both craved knowledge so they both were top of their class, grade even, in their respective schools. Their talents ostracized them from their peers, and each became something of a pariah to the community. The difference was how they dealt with it. Hermione had buried herself in her books, learning more and more in the misguided notion that she needed to prove herself in some way, failing to realize that she only succeeded in pushing herself further and further away. Children never appreciated true intelligence, after all. Her only solace was her parents and teachers, who recognized her as the gifted student she was, ironically worsening her situation, as the special treatment labeled her as a Teacher's Pet and invited bullying.
Rose, however, recognized the others for what they were: a complete and utter waste of space. They were bland and monotonous caricatures filled with pointless motivations and petty bickerings, hardly even worth being called background characters in Rose's story. There was no point in deigning to lower herself to their level just to interact with their vapid minds. She made no secret of her thoughts either, which obviously brought its own share of troubles, but after a few, let's say, private lessons, it wasn't long before the majority of her classmates were too afraid to approach her, which suited Rose just fine. The teachers had tried to curb her attitude, of course, but given that Rose considered them a part of this vacuous community as well, they made little progress.
Not that she told Hermione this. Instead she merely mentioned that her and her classmates never really saw eye to eye and left it at that.
It wasn't long into their talk that the train began to move, and Rose was half-expecting a rush of last-minute students looking for seats, but luckily none came. Not long after an old witch came by with a trolley carrying all sorts of funny looking sweets, and Rose happily bought enough candy to give a dentist grounds to claim self-defense. Which apparently included Hermione's parents, as Rose learned after suffering through a lecture on dental hygiene which went mostly ignored, though she did her best to look attentive. She managed to placate her with admittedly unfound speculation ("How do you know it's not just charmed to be sweet?") and even managed to convince the uptight girl to try a few.
Honestly, half the fun of the treats was just trying to figure out the magical twist to them. Some were quite boring; the liquorice wands for example, were just liquorice shaped like wands, but the chocolate frog that jumped right out of her hand when she took it out of its packaging was delightful. She caught it before it could get anywhere luckily, then laughed at Hermione's disgusted face when she bit its head right off, still squirming in her hand.
Both of them were wary of the Every-Flavour Bean, as Rose had little doubt after the moving frog that it really did mean every flavour. She dared Hermione to try one first, who hesitantly popped one into her mouth. After a few moments of wary consideration, her face cleared to wonder.
"Huh," she said. "Pancakes."
"Really?"
"Yes. Tastes just like them. It's kind of amazing, actually."
Rose looked down into the container. Slightly more confident, she picked a bean from the bunch and tossed it into her mouth. A second later her face twisted in disgust, and Mummy started laughing in her head at her misfortune.
"I think it's… oil."
"Oil?" Hermione asked incredulously. "What kind? Vegetable oil? Olive oil?"
"Motor oil."
Hermione's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Oh."
"Yes," Rose said distastefully. "Oh."
Neither of them tried any more after that. Not that they needed to, there were plenty of other candies to entertain them, like wintery mice that made their tongues chatter and squeak, stringy mints that flossed their teeth, bonbons that exploded when you bit down on them, sending their flavour to every inch of their mouths, and a cockroach-looking candy that was, as Rose found out the hard way, literally just a cockroach.
Eventually though, Rose's sleepless night began to catch up with her, and as the hours passed by her eyelids began to feel heavier and heavier. Hermione was observant enough to notice, but it wasn't like there was any reason to hide it. She suggested getting some rest while she had the chance and Rose figured there was no reason not to acquiesce. She was having fun with Hermione, something incredibly novel to her, but there were only so many ways to pass the time, and as their conversations started winding down, Rose took the opportunity to lay on the seat across from Hermione and rest her eyes. She wasn't worried about the bushy-haired girl doing anything untoward to her, nothing about her gave that sort of impression, and Mummy would protect her regardless.
It felt like no time at all had passed when Rose found herself being shaken away by Hermione.
"Hmm, what is it?" she slurred, still slightly groggy.
"Come on, Rose, get up. We're almost there. We need to get changed."
"What? You want to watch me get changed?"
Hermione's scandalized screech did wonders to drive the fogginess out of her head, and also had the added benefit of sending Rose into uproarious laughter. After several minutes of rolling on the floor while failing to contain said laughter, she eventually managed to calm herself, though Hermione's red, embarrassed face still had her giggling every so often.
"Honestly, Rose," Hermione said in a huff. "You are just…" she trailed off, evidently unable to find words to use that wouldn't also insult her new friend.
Luckily, Rose could guess what she was going for. "I know, I know. I'm sorry," she said through her giggles, though the apology was half-hearted at best. "I couldn't help myself. I'll try not to say stuff like that anymore." Unless it was funny.
"Well…" Hermione started. "Good. Regardless, it won't be long now till we've reached Hogsmeade, so you should go ahead and-" she faltered suddenly when she saw Rose already in her school robes. Robes she hadn't been wearing just moments before. "Wha- How? How did you do that?!"
Rose only smiled mysteriously and answered, "Magic."
"Rose! Seriously, how did you do that? Was it some sort of spell? I've never heard about anything that can do something like that!"
Rose laughed at the inquisition, but refused to answer, much to Hermione's chagrin. It wasn't that she particularly didn't want her to know, but she pulled her robes from the same nowhere she held all her other luggage. If Mummy couldn't understand how her non-space worked, she doubted an measly eleven-year-old could, no matter how intelligent she seemed. It was easier just not to bother.
True to Hermione's word, the train soon pulled into Hogsmeade station, which was apparently a small village existing not far from the base of the castle, at least according to Hermione's recitation of Hogwarts: A History. Rose took the lead with Hermione in step just behind her out of the train and onto the platform under the evening sky.
"That is a large man," Rose commented as she saw the genuinely enormous man waving over the first years. He looked even bigger as she approached, and she guessed he easily reached over ten feet. She supposed he might have been intimidating if she hadn't had Mummy, but his bellowing voice exuded friendliness and joviality, so maybe not. The pair melded into the crowd of first years surrounding the giant and he led them through a dark path down to the edge of what looked like a lake where there was a small fleet of boats waiting for them.
There were a series of ooohhhs and ahhhhs from the crowd, even from Hermione, prompting Rose to look around her to see what all the commotion was about. There, on the other side of the lake, perched on a high mountain was a magnificent castle, complete with towers and turrets.
"So that's Hogwarts," Rose said idly. It was a rather impressive sight. She wasn't sure it was worth the slack-jawed treatment her soon-to-be classmates were giving it, but maybe that was just because she had more poise than them. Speaking of poise, she craned her head around to look for a specific blonde head of hair and smiled slightly when she saw Daphne standing near the edge of their little group, looking as nonplussed as she was. She thought about waving her over, but then she remembered her embarrassed face the last time they met, as well as how desperately she tried to hide it, and as much as she wanted to see that again, she decided that now perhaps wasn't the best time.
"Alright, then!" the giant of a man called. "No more than four to a boat. Quickly, now!"
Didn't mean she couldn't go to her, though. She grabbed hold of Hermione's hand and pulled her along, saying, "This way!" and ignoring the girl's surprised protests.
She was probably paying too much attention to how nice the bookworm's hand felt in her's but luckily there wasn't far to go and she let go once she had successfully cut through the crowd to reach the pretty blonde. "Fancy seeing you here," she called with a dazzling grin as she climbed into the boat with her, Hermione, and some other student.
Daphne's head turned sharply to her direction and Rose watched with amusement as her eyes widened dramatically and, though it was too dark to be sure, she liked to imagine that her cheeks reddened as well. Then, somewhat disappointingly, she quickly schooled her features and bit out a wary "Potter."
The other student also sharply turned to her then, and Hermione gave her a pensive sort of look, but Rose figured that she had already guessed about her not-so-secret identity. She wasn't exactly hiding her scar, after all.
"It's Evans, actually," Rose said, and Daphne's cool look morphed into one of confusion so she continued. "I know there are more than a few, let's say, misconceptions floating around about me and my name. So I'd just like to clarify that my name is, always has been, and always will be, Rose Evans."
"Evans," Daphne started slowly. "That was your mother's," she paused here, like she was considering her words, and said, "muggle name, yes?"
Rose gave a careless shrug. "I wouldn't know. I never knew her, after all." Then, for a moment, her smile turned a tad predatory. "But it's mine. That's all that matters."
The large man's shout of "Forward!" interrupted their talk for a moment, and they all jerked slightly as the boats started to move on their own. They took a moment to admire the view as they crossed the lake in approaching the massive castle, then the other student took the opportunity to speak up. "So it's Evans, then," he said. "I'm Blaise. Blaise Zabini."
Rose barely gave him a glance. "Sure," she said, before turning her eyes back to the much more interesting Daphne.
Rose could see out of the corner of her eye that the boy looked aghast for a moment, before his face twisted into barely concealed rage. Hermione nudged her side and hissed out a reproachful, "Rose!" She was obviously berating Rose for her rudeness, but Rose just gave an inscrutable smile.
"Oh yes, and this is Hermione," she introduced, and said girl gave a half-shy half-exasperated wave. "I bumped into her not long after I met you, actually, and we got to exchanging letters. We have a lot in common."
"I'd bet," Daphne muttered under her breath.
Rose didn't know exactly Daphne meant by that, but whatever it was, she obviously wasn't meant to hear, and she took great pleasure in leaning forward a bit and asking, "Oh? What makes you say that?"
Daphne's abashed look lasted for only a split second before returning to a passive glare. "Nothing, Evans."
Rose's grin grew wider. Daphne had been all stumbling and awkward when they first met. This was a marked improvement. "You've been practicing," she said.
Daphne looked startled at that, and quickly looked away toward the approaching castle. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Mhmm," Rose said, smiling ever wider. "Of course not."
What a cutie.
Unfortunately, she seemed to have made things rather awkward. That Blaise boy was still stewing in indignation at being ignored, Hermione was shifting uncomfortably in her seat, unsure what to do, and Daphne was resolutely staring out over the lake, apparently finished with the conversation. The rest of the boat ride was spent in silence.
Rose was having the time of her life.
As they approached the cliff face, they came upon a wide opening, and the large man bellowed for them to keep their heads down, though he was the only one tall enough to even warrant such a thing, and they passed through the opening and entered a dark tunnel. Rose could feel the tingle of magic in the air, slowly growing thicker and thicker as they traversed the tunnel. She didn't know exactly what that meant, other than that Hogwarts must be a very magical place. Suddenly Rose noticed a brief flash of light which vanished before she could determine what it was. She blinked in surprise and looked around, but none of the others seemed to have noticed. Leaving her wondering what it was.
"Something just tried to latch onto you," Mummy told her, and Rose sat up straighter in surprise. "Nothing dangerous," she added, reassuring her slightly. "I don't think, at least, but I'm not sure exactly sure what it was. I can only assume it was some type of spell. Whatever it was, I didn't let it get a hold on you."
Rose was relieved. Even if it wasn't dangerous, she didn't want unknown spells clinging to her for any reason. She mentally thanked Mummy as they came upon some sort of underground harbour, where they all climbed out and onto steady ground once more. The large man led them out and up an absurd number of stairs, and eventually came upon a large set of ornate, oak doors.
"Right, then," the large man said. "This is where I leave you. Professor McGonagall should be here any- Ah, here she is."
Right on cure, the doors open to reveal a familiar, stern, witch. "Thank you, Mr. Hagrid," she said. "I'll take over from here."
The newly-named Hagrid took his leave and McGonagall started her speech. "Welcome to Hogwarts. Here you will be sorted into Houses, and your House will be something like your family."
Rose nearly snorted here. She certainly hoped not. She also lost interest in listening right around then and zoned out the rest of the speech as the professor droned on about rules, and points, and blah, blah. Instead she took the opportunity to get a good look at all other children that would soon be her schoolmates and see if there were any that caught her eye.
Unfortunately, none of them did. None of them were as pretty as Daphne, or seemed as intelligent as Hermione. There was one redhead who's hair Rose found herself admiring for a moment, but that was about the only thing interesting about her.
Rose only zoned back in when McGonagall announced that she was leaving the room, and would return shortly, though it baffled Rose why they would leave a bunch of snot-nosed brats alone for any period of time and expect them not to get into trouble. Sure enough, after a few whispered murrmerings, one particularly bratty-looking kid spoke up.
"I heard Rose Potter's attending this year," he spoke, addressing no one in particular, eyes scanning the crowd. Rose rolled her eyes even as the mutterings grew in intensity. She heard not-her-name repeated several times and most of them began twisting their little heads around searching for her. She debated speaking up, but the choice was taken out of her hands when a pug-faced girl noticed her with widening eyes and pointed at her forehead.
"You have the scar!" she exclaimed.
Almost comically, they all abruptly turned to stare at her with awe on their faces, though a few, who Rose guessed were from Muggle families like Hermione, just looked confused.
Rose gave a sardonic smile. "So I do."
The first boy who spoke up approached her with a dumb little smirk on his face. "So it is true. Rose Potter's come to Hogwarts."
Rose scowled, slightly irritated. She was going to let it be, but having people constantly misnaming her was more annoying than she expected.
The boy held out his hand and said, "The name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
Rose stared blankly at him, unimpressed. Was it some sort of custom to introduce yourself like a Bond character? Also, she sincerely hoped she didn't expect him to shake his grubbly little hand. She gave him a once over, (slicked back, blond hair, arrogant little smirk, shiny new robes) and quickly lost interest in him altogether.
She decided it would be best to put an end to the misinformation about her as soon as possible. Stepping past the kid, she climbed up a couple steps and turned so she was facing the crowd to address them as a whole. She clapped twice to gain their attention, which was really unnecessary since they were all staring at her anyway. "Right, then," she announced loudly and clearly. "It looks like not all of you have heard of me, so this is mainly for those who have. I don't know how this sort of misinformation spread, but my name is not Potter." There were several sudden protests, but she talked over them. "My name is Rose Evans. That has always been the case."
"But your parents were the Potters, weren't they?" some unknown kid spoke up.
"Don't know, don't care," she said. "My name is Evans. I won't hear any dissent." She then gave her sweetest smile. "And if anyone comes asking about me, I'd appreciate it if you could tell them the same."
"But that's disrespecting your entire family!" the blond kid she ignored earlier objected. The Potters had a long, pureblooded history before your mother came along. They were a great family! You can't just throw that away!"
She had no idea what the kid was talking about other than that it sounded vaguely racist, but she didn't particularly care, either. So she just raised a brow at him and asked, "How great could they have been? They're dead."
The stairwell fell silent. It seemed no one knew what to say to that, and the conversation was effectively shut down. Rose smirked victoriously, just as the doors began to open once more and McGonagall returned for them. Rose stepped back down next to Hermione and Daphne, both of whom were looking at her with curious frowns, though Daphne was more subtle about it. Rose wasn't sure why, but figured they were just impressed with her impeccable speaking ability.
McGonagall gave them all a once over, then ushered them past the doors.
The first thing she noticed were the students. Seated on four, long tables, were kids of various ages, each table seating a different colour, which she assumed corresponded to the different Houses. Then she noticed the staff. They were at the end of the hall on an equally long, perpendicular table, seated a little higher up to give a good view of the entire hall. Then she noticed the candles. Hundreds, no, thousands of them all floating throughout the hall, all at varying heights. Then she noticed the ceiling, and how it very much looked like there wasn't one at all.
She somehow hadn't noticed before, distracted by the giant that was Hagrid and reacquainting herself with Daphne, but far out here in the scotland highlands, far from any human city and with next to no light pollution, Rose realized that the night sky was absolutely breathtaking.
Hermione must have noticed her staring, for Rose heard her say, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside according to Hogwarts: A History."
Rose didn't give any indication she had heard, and instead elected to let herself be entranced by the Milky Way, ignoring Hermione's attempts to get her attention.
It was only when some ghastly singing of all things annoyed her enough to pull her gaze down from the sky to try and find whoever the hell thought it was a good idea to start singing at a time like this, only for her eye to fall upon...
A mangy old hat. That was singing. That was… both incredibly impressive and unbearably moronic. What was animating the hat? Magic, obviously, but what were the mechanisms involved? Was it intelligent, or was it just programmed to act like it? Did it come up with the song itself, or was the song given to it? Mostly, she just wanted to know why in the hell someone would want to put all that effort into making a singing hat. Surely whoever did it could find better uses for their talents, however it was made.
It did give her some ideas to try out, though.
Eventually the song came to an and McGonagall, who was standing next to it, unfurled a piece of paper, or rather, parchment, and said simply, "When I call your name, come forward and sit on the stool. I will place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be sorted."
Wait, that's how the Sorting worked? She thought you were supposed to go to the House that best fit your qualities, how was putting on a dirt old hat supposed to do that? Was that all a lie? Did they just put you in a random House? No, you wouldn't need to put on a hat to do that.
"Abbot, Hannah!" came the first name.
Rose watched as a pink-faced girl with pigtails stepped forward and sat on the stool. McGonagall gently set the hat down over her head, which somewhat amusingly was much too big for her and the brim of it fell past her eyes. A short pause later, the hat yelled out "HUFFLEPUFF!"
Rose frowned as McGonagall took the hat off the girl's head. The trim of her robes flashed slightly and changed from black to yellow, and the girl stood off the stool and rushed over to the Hufflepuff table.
She didn't know how it worked. There was nothing obvious about the girl that Rose could see that made her a Hufflepuff. She didn't see how a hat could make that decision, not unless it read her mind or something.
"That's almost certainly what it's doing, love."
Rose's frown deepened. It certainly made the most sense. She couldn't see how else the hat could make such a decision, but she didn't really like the idea of someone, or something rather, rummaging around in her head. But at the same time…
"Bones, Susan!"
The girl with the pretty red hair stepped forward next. She took a seat and the hat was placed on her head. It took a little longer this time, but the hat called "HUFFLEPUFF!" same as the girl before her.
Rose doubted it was dangerous, not if everyone here so willingly consented to it. Not that she was worried about that, she had Mummy after all. She blinked as a thought occurred to her.
"You can keep it from reading my mind, can't you?" she asked Mummy. There was a slight doubt, since there was a possibility such a thing wouldn't count as harm.
"Hmm," Mummy thought for a moment as more students were called forward. "I think so. Be it magic or a bullet, it's the same concept in the end. I just have to keep it from reaching you. It doesn't matter what it's for, if you don't want it to touch you, I won't let it."
Rose smiled in relief even as she was called, thankfully by her proper name. She thought furiously on what she should do, but in the end, her curiosity won out. She desperately wanted to know how it worked. Maybe she would get the chance to ask it directly, if it really was a mind reader.
Besides, it wasn't like she had anything to hide.
She didn't get the chance. Just as she sat down, before the brim had even reached her forehead, the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" and McGonagall was already taking it off.
Rose was outright scowling now. She didn't even get a chance to speak with it! Not only that, she thought for sure she was going to be in Ravenclaw! Now all that work she put in with Hermione was a complete waste!
With a huff, she stormed away from the stool to sit at the Slytherin table. She found the nearest empty spot near another first-year student and sat down, a few other students giving her nasty looks for whatever reason, looks that turned to complete shock when they noticed the scar on her head. Rose was too irritated to give them any regard either way, and her mood only soured when, after an amusingly named Hufflepuff, Hermione was called up to the stool. The hat sat on her head for a long time, far longer than any of the others, but eventually she was sorted into Gryffindor.
Right after her came Daphne, and finally Rose's spirits lifted somewhat when she was sorted into Slytherin with her. She motioned for Daphne to sit next to her, and, surprisingly, so did the other firsty next to her. They both gave each other looks that said something along the lines of 'what the hell are you doing?' She recognized her as the girl who went just before Rose in the Sorting, but she couldn't place her name for the life of her.
"Her name is Tracey Davis, sweetheart." Mummy helpfully supplied."You should really pay more attention to your classmates."
Rose frowned. "Why? None of them are as interesting as Hermione or Daphne."
"In case something like this comes up," Mummy said as if it was obvious. "I know you're vain, but not everything is about looks. Take Hermione for example, she's not as pretty as Daphne, but you still like her."
Rose pouted mentally. She could see Mummy's point, but she wasn't going to admit it, not aloud, at least. Instead she insisted, "I'm not vain! Besides, I remember some of them! Like-" She thought desperately for a moment, struggling to come up with a name. "Susan! There's a Susan Bones in Hufflepuff!" she eventually exclaimed, triumphantly.
Mummy laughed. "Oh yes, the one with the pretty red hair. No, you definitely remember her for her winning personality, nothing else.
Rose pouted some more, but it didn't do much but make Mummy laugh even more. By then Daphne had arrived, and Rose's attention was pulled to the pretty blonde. She sat down between Rose and the other girl, Tracey, and addressed them both.
"Hello, Tracey," she said to the other girl before Rose. "Evans," she said curtly.
"Oi," said Rose. "What's with last-name treatment?"
Daphne gave her a dry look. "We've only just met. We barely know each other, not to mention you haven't given permission for me to use your first name. To do so would be improper."
Rose raised a brow at the formality of it all. Magical culture really was different. And boring. She gave Daphne a grin and said, "Improper, huh? Well, that's too bad, Daphne, because I've already decided I like you. I figure that puts us on a first name basis."
Daphne's mouth opened like she was going to say something, but nothing came out. She stared at Rose for a moment too long and her cheeks coloured slightly, her mouth shutting close and turning her head away from her. "Whatever, Evans."
Rose's grin sharpened triumphantly. Then she peered around her favourite blonde to the much plainer Tracey. There was nothing obviously remarkable that stuck out to Rose, but she supposed if Daphne was friends with her, there must be something interesting about her. "And it's nice to meet you too, Tracey. I look forward to getting to know you better."
"Oh," said the girl, clearly not expecting to be addressed. "Er, same to you, Pot- I mean, Evans."
The rest of the sorting went by relatively quickly. Few students took as long to sort as Hermione, the most notable being the hilarious named Neville Longbottom. One it was all said and done, a terribly old, white-haired, bearded man who positively screamed wizard stood from his seat in the middle of the staff table.
"Welcome, welcome," he said jovially. "To another year at Hogwarts. Now, before we begin our banquet, I have just a few words I'd like to say. Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you for your time." Then he sat back down.
"Huh?" Rose uttered, more than a bit confused, but before she could even question it, a mountain of food appeared before her, and her eyes lit up in delight. There were all sorts of foods, from sausage to steak, and potatoes cooked all sorts of ways, whether boiled or mashed, and gravy to go with it. There were veggies like peas and carrots, and fruits like apples and bananas.
Rose frowned. There were no strawberries. In her view, no meal was complete without some form of strawberry-based dish, but as her stomach growled and she realized how hungry she was, having had nothing but sweets since breakfast, she decided that this would do for tonight, and eagerly began piling a bit of each dish onto her plate and ravenously dug in.
She was happily chowing down on some steak when one of the older students turned to her with a disgusted look. "Oi, firsty," they said disdainfully, and Rose turned to them curiously, still nibbling on the meat. "Show a little class, would you? You're acting like a Muggle."
Rose scowled at the implication, but mostly she was confused. Sure, she wasn't exactly being careful with her food, but she wasn't making a mess either. She made sure anything that left her plate went straight to her mouth, anything else would just be a waste of good food. So what was her problem?
"You're doing nothing wrong," Mummy told her. "But look at the others."
Rose did, glancing at the rest of the students for the first time. They were all acting like a bunch of nobs, sitting with their backs unnaturally straight, utensils held carefully in hand, taking slow, tiny bites. She turned and saw Daphne and Tracey acting the same way, and couldn't help but snort at how they looked like kids playing at nobility.
Then she turned back to the girl who had insulted her. "False decorum is for those who have something to prove, trying to impress those better than them," she said dismissively. "I have nothing to prove to anyone, and I quite enjoy my food, so I'll eat however I wish."
The girl's face turned ugly, as did those near who heard, and tried to argue a response, but Rose had already spent her limited patience on idiots, and returned to enjoying her food, much to their dismay, and ignored their further pestering. The only ones she paid attention to were Daphne and Tracey, who she shot a grin at when she saw them giving her odd looks. After making sure her teeth were clean, of course. Just because she didn't care for such things, didn't mean she was a slob.
When dinner was finally winding down, and Rose's stomach nearly felt like bursting, all the leftover food disappeared as suddenly as it came, and the old wizard, who Rose was fairly certain by now was the Headmaster, stood once more. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I have a few announcements to make. Firstly, the Forbidden Forest is, as always, forbidden."
Rose made a mental note to go check it out sometime.
"Secondly, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, would like me to remind the students that no magic is to be used between classes in the corridors."
Don't get caught, gotcha.
"Also, Quidditch trails will be held two weeks into the second term."
The hell was Quidditch?
"Anyone interested in playing for their House should contact Madam Hooch for further information.
"And finally, and most importantly, this year the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is off-limits to all those who do not wish to die a most painful death."
Rose blinked, not quite sure if she had heard correctly. She glanced around to see everyone else's reaction, and found them looking quite solemn, apparently taking the warning to heart.
"Ah, I see," she muttered to herself, understanding filling her. "He's insane."
She heard Dahne snort, but when she turned to look, her face was as passive as ever. Rose just grinned at her.
"Right then!" the Headmaster finished. "No need to keep you here any longer. Off to bed with you!"
They all stood from their seats, Rose wobbling a bit from her full stomach. "I think I might have eaten too much."
Mummy didn't say anything, but her amusement was plainly felt.
They, the Slytherins that is, followed the prefects out of the Great Hall and through winding corridors, going deep down into what Rose could only assume were the dungeons, though why a school had a dungeon was beyond her. Eventually they stopped at an unassuming stone wall.
"This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room," the prefect said, guestering to the wall. "You will need the password to enter, which is subject to change every fortnight. Although," the prefect added with a caustic smirk, "if you happen to be a Parselmouth you can open the entrance whenever you want, according to the rumours."
There was that word again. Parselmouth. Ollivander had mentioned that as well, or maybe it was Parseltongue? Wanting to know, she leaned a bit closer to Daphne and asked, "What's a Parselmouth?"
Daphne gave her a quick look. "It's someone who speaks Parseltongue. The language of the snakes."
Rose blinked at the answer. She thought about Alice, still curled up somewhere in her robes. She was a Parselmouth? "Huh. That's useful." She was glad she wouldn't have to bother remembering a new password every two weeks.
"Yes, it would be. No need to remember that password," Daphne said, mirroring her thoughts.
Rose had the feeling Daphne misunderstood her, so opened her mouth to correct her, but the prefect continued, interrupting them. "The password for today is Wiggenweld."
At his words, the stone wall shuddered, then slowly began to rise, revealing a wide space behind it. They were all ushered inside, and Rose looked at what would apparently be her home for the next few years.
The room was large, but had a cold sort of feeling to it. The stone walls were painted dark green, and round, green-tinted lamps were hanging down from the ceiling. There were a few black, leather sofas dotted the room, as well as several wooden tables. A fire was crackling under a fancy mantlepiece, and several ornate tapestries were hanging on the walls. The most striking feature, however, was the large, glass window on the far side of the room, giving a magnificent view of underneath the lake outside of Hogwarts. For now it was too dark to see naught but vague silhouettes shifting around, but Rose could only imagine the sort of view it had during the daytime.
"Here is the Slytherin common room. Every two weeks, the new password will be posted on the notice board there. It will only be up for a few hours, so don't miss it. Do not under any circumstances bring students from another House here. There hasn't been an outsider in here for nearly seven centuries, and we're not going to end that streak just because some troublemakers couldn't be bothered to follow the rules."
Rose though that was a stupid thing to be proud of. What did it matter if another House member found their way into the Slytherin common room? She might go ahead and bring Hermione in here, just to see their reactions.
"Curfew for first years is nine o'clock sharp. Be back in the common room before then. First and second years are also expected to be in their dormitories by ten, thirds years by eleven. Fourth years and up have no such rule, and curfew also begins an hour later. The entrances to the dormitories themselves are on either side of the common room, in the alcove with the spiral staircase, as you can see there. Upwards is the girl's dormitory, and down is the boy's. And, boys," the prefect added with a hard glint in his eye. "Don't even think about trying to get into the girl's dormitory. You will not like the consequences."
Well, it was nice to know there was some sort of security. Rose wondered what would happen if some did try.
"First year rooms are at the top and bottom of the staircases, respectively," the prefect continued. "When you reach your year's floor, you'll find a room with your name written on a plaque. That will be your room for the year. You'll be bunking two to a room, and the placements have already been decided. Complaining about your roommate won't get you anywhere, so don't."
She hoped she was roomed with Daphne.
"Now, our Head of House will give a short speech. After that, you'll all head straight to bed."
With that, the prefect stepped to the side, and a pale man in dark robes emerged from the shadows, like a creeper. She didn't recognize him from the staff table, but that may have been because her eyes had simply slid past him to save herself the pain of witnessing his hideous face.
"You're exaggerating," Mummy said. "He's not that ugly."
Rose frowned. Maybe she was a little, but his large nose, yellowing teeth, and greasy hair wasn't exactly pleasant to look at. "But you admit, he is ugly."
"Well, nobody's perfect. Except you."
Rose smiled.
"Welcome to Slytherin," the Head of House said softly, in a commanding sort of tone. It grated Rose's nerves. "Unfortunately our noble House has, as some of you may well know, a reputation that you may find… lacking.
"You may find that some of the other students, Gryffindor especially, may be… less than receptive to the results of your sorting. That is why, when you are outside this common room, you will provide a front of unity. This is not a request, but an order. You will move in groups of two or more when travelling, any disputes will be kept on this side of the common room. You will act cordially with any other Slytherin on the outside regardless of your personal opinion of them. Disobeying will see you summarily punished. I will not have Slytherin's dirty laundry aired for the whole school to see." He gave them all a harsh look to drive the point home.
Rose nearly snorted. She couldn't care less about Slytherin's reputation, or lack thereof. If he honestly expected her to follow these ridiculous rules then he would soon be sorely disappointed.
When it was Rose's turn to be glared at, he faltered slightly. He stared at her with a hard, inscrutable look for a moment, then quickly looked away.
"Gross." She figured it was probably because she was apparently famous, but that didn't mean she wanted people like him staring at her. Maybe if he was a cute girl, instead.
"One of these days I'll get you to admit how vain you are."
"Never."
"That is all for now," the professor finally said. "Go to your dormitories. Class begins tomorrow."
With that, he swept out of the room, robes billowing behind him. The prefect returned moments later to usher them all to their rooms, and Rose was soon grumbling about climbing seven flights of stairs.
"Too good to climb stairs are you, Potter?" shot the pug-faced girl who outed her earlier.
Rose turned her head to glare at the girl who was deliberately misnaming her. She guessed that she was like the rich, blond boy, and didn't like the fact that she was throwing away a name she never even considered hers. "Of course I am," she said, which wasn't what the other girl had expected, if her stunned look was any indication. "This many stairs is ridiculous for anyone to climb just to get to their room."
"That's the point," Daphne interjected. Rose gave her a look that prompted her to continue. "The whole of Slytherin is like a political playground. At least, that's what my father told me. It's where the ambitious can refine their skills for when they make their foray into the real world. Advancement to each year is supposed to symbolize climbing through the ranks, and each time you're given perks to represent that. The dormitories being closer to the common room is one of them. I'm sure there are more."
Rose was tempted to frown. It… wasn't a terrible idea. There was a reason that most politicians tended to be a bunch of old farts, besides just the misogyny, that is. The best politicians were the ones with lots of experience under their belts. So starting young, having children practice in a mostly (she assumed) harmless environment seemed like a good idea.
But Slytherin was supposed to house the ambitious. Lumping them all together as politicians seemed somewhat disingenuous.
It probably said a lot about her that instead of voicing any of that, she instead chose to tease Daphne.
"Oh?" she said with a grin. "Are you sure you want to tell me that? Don't want to keep your advantage as long as you can?"
Daphne just rolled her eyes. "You're quick enough, Evans. I doubt you would've stayed ignorant for long."
"You flatter me," Rose said exaggeratedly, hiding bashfully behind her hand, causing Daphne to roll her eyes harder.
When they finally reached their floor, Rose eagerly sought out her room, only to wilt in disappointment when she found it, across from Daphne's. Sulking, she read the name next to hers. Pansy Parkinson. Who names their kid Pansy?
"Oh wonderful." the pug-faced girl intoned, her voice dripping with sarcasm, and Rose groaned aloud. "We're roomed together."
"Whatever," Rose dismissed, making her way inside. "Just keep out of my way."
"I could say the same to you," said the girl, Pansy.
Rose rolled her eyes. She would do whatever she damn well pleased, but Pansy would learn that soon enough. For now she simply did a quick scan of the mostly bare room, painted a pleasing green, and declared the left side to be hers.
"And what if I want the left side, huh?" the girl said, purely to be contradictory, Rose was sure.
Rose sighed in annoyance and twirled around and slapped her palm against Pansy's forehead, giving her quite the fright. "Go to sleep," Rose intoned before the girl could react, pulsing her magic. Pansy's eyes involuntarily slid closed and she slumped to the floor a moment later.
Ignoring the now unconscious girl, other than to magically lift her to the bed on the right side, Rose approached the base of her bed and held out her arms. After focusing for a short moment, Alice's tank had materialized at the foot of the bed. With a satisfied smirk, Rose pulled Alice out from where she was hiding under her robes and put her back into her tank.
"There you go. See? I told you you'd get it back."
"Box!" Alice hissed happily, slithering around her home. Rose snorted and turned her attention to the nightstand beside her bed. With substantially less focus her prized moon globe shimmered into existence on top of the nightstand, glimmering beautifully. Rose smiled, admiring it for a moment, before setting her wand down next to it and plopping down onto her bed. Her smile soon turned to a wicked grin as she thought of all the havoc she would inevitably cause. She couldn't wait to learn all she could about magic and expand her abilities even further. Nor could she wait to spend more time with Daphne and Hermione, and maybe some other students who caught her interest. She was so excited for the future she thought perhaps she was in for another sleepless night, but apparently her nap on the train wasn't enough, and as Mummy softly sang her a soothing lullaby, Rose soon found herself drifting off, dreaming of grander things.