Tainted Roses

Even without your voice, I can still feel your presence around me.

Rose woke up the next morning to the sound of her dorm-mates opening and closing their trunks. She rubbed her eyes for a moment before sitting up and swinging her legs to the side of the bed. Opening the curtain around her four-poster bed, Rose stepped out of her confined space. She wondered what time it was. Her dorm-mates seemed to be in a hurry.

Finally, one of them spoke to her. It was her cousin, Roxanne. "You'd better hurry, or else you'll be late for our first class," she said to Rose as she passed her, walking straight into the bathroom.

Rose looked at her watch. Roxanne was right. Rose only had twenty minutes before Transfiguration. She let out a small groan before realizing that it was breakfast or class and Rose had to choose class. Well, hopefully she would be able to get a big lunch.

Walking over to her trunk, she got out her clothes. Rose felt half asleep as she got ready for her first day at Hogwarts and hoped that she would wake up soon. Even as she sat in Transfiguration beside Roxanne, though, Rose was tired. She let out a lengthy yawn, which resulted in the Transfiguration professor calling upon Rose.

"I take it this class is too boring for you?" she asked with her eyebrows raised at Rose.

The rest of the class hid their laughter quite poorly.

Rose didn't respond, but she was glad that she didn't have to because the professor seemed to dislike laughter even more than yawns. She instantly turned on the rest of the class, glaring at all of them, before assigning the homework for that evening. Rose couldn't help but wonder how much they would have been given if she hadn't yawned and the rest of the class hadn't giggled. Well, it was too late to be thinking about such things, because now Rose had to read two whole chapters. This was just too much.

As Rose walked to the next class with her cousins, she hoped to see Trevor or Matilda soon. She couldn't remember which houses she had class with in each lesson, but she knew that they shared classes with the different houses.

As Rose, Roxanne, Albus and the rest of the first year Gryffindors, for they seemed to travel in a pack, entered the Charms classroom, Rose was glad to see Matilda sitting at the front of the room. She was all alone, which was odd because there were other Ravenclaws there. Rose felt bad for not being able to be with Matilda for the rest of the day, but at least she could enjoy this class with her.

Rose turned towards Roxanne and Albus, stopping them before they found their seats. "I'm going to go sit at the front today," she told them.

They gave her two identically perplexed looks, but then eventually Albus shrugged and Rose's two cousins took their seats near the back of the room. Rose smiled at them in thanks and went to the front of the room to sit with Matilda.

Before sitting down, she decided to make her presence known. "Hey," she said as she dropped her books on the desk beside Matilda and sat down in the chair. Matilda didn't say anything at first and it felt awkward. May be she didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. Rose suddenly felt stupid for even bugging her. May be she should have known that there was a reason Matilda was at the front of the classroom, all alone, but Rose had merely thought she was too shy to sit with anyone else.

Eventually, though, Matilda responded. "Hey," she echoed back, not looking at Rose. She stared at the front of the room, but then suddenly opened her book and started to read.

Rose felt even more awkward than before, so she decided to set up her things while they waited for the professor. She put her textbooks at the upper left corner of her desk, while she put her ink bottle in the upper right. Rose placed her quill along the right side of her desk, far enough in that it wouldn't fall off.

Albus and Roxanne were probably wondering why Rose had even wanted to sit with Matilda if they never even spoke, but she would deal with them later in case they wanted to tease her. Before Rose had to think about 'later' too long, though, the Charms professor strode through the door. She was fairly young, apparently a new addition to Hogwarts in the past few years. With nearly black hair, she strode to the front of the classroom and stopped when she reached her desk. She had a bright smile for all of her newest students.

"Welcome to your first Charms class!" she exclaimed, sounding more excited than the tired eleven year olds sitting before her. "I'm Professor Clearwater and today we're going to be learning a spell. I don't know if you learned one in your first class or not," She ignored the shaking heads, "but we're going to be learning the Levitation Charm. Now, does anyone know how it works? I know this is your first day, but surely some of you did some summer reading." The professor looked around the room expectantly, waiting for a hand to shoot up from one of the desks.

Eventually, it did - a hand from Matilda, actually. Rose sat in shock, looking at her awkward friend as she spoke.

"Yes, Miss. Edgecombe?" Professor Clearwater encouraged.

Matilda cleared her throat before she spoke. "The Levitation Charm can be cast on an object, which makes it levitate, or float upwards."

"Very good, Miss. Edgecombe. Five points to Ravenclaw! Yes, that is exactly what this little charm does. Now, we're going to be practicing with feathers today, as they are quite light and easier to charm than something that would be heavier. Yes, weight always factors in to things you're charming. You'll find that you will be working with a lot of small objects this year - and not in just my class alone! Your feathers are on my desk in a box. Please come and get them when you're ready." Professor Clearwater then walked around her desk, revealing the box which had been sitting behind where she was standing, on the desk. She sat down in her chair, smiling at each of the students as they came up to get their feathers.

Rose got up quickly, so she wouldn't get stuck in her seat from the pile of students coming from the back of the room, and walked over to the teacher's desk in only a few paces. She took of the feathers out of the box and examined it as she returned to her seat. Matilda got one too, but quickly got to work. By the time Rose picked up her wand, Matilda had already tried the spell two times. But Rose suddenly realized that she didn't know what the spell was. She could hear Matilda mutter something under her breath, but Rose couldn't figure out exactly what she was saying. With a glance up at the professor, Rose gave her a questioning look, but all Professor Clearwater did was tap the book on her desk. Rose looked down at her own book and then back up at the professor, who was smiling with encouragement. Rose sighed. This meant she actually had to do work.

Putting the feather down, Rose opened up her Charms textbook. Matilda was probably far ahead of her by now and wouldn't help Rose, most likely, but Rose would eventually get through this class before meeting up with her cousins once more. Turning past the Table of Contents and the Acknowledgements, Rose finally got to the first chapter. She was lucky that the first spell was the Levitation Charm, but may be the professor was following the book. Either way, it made it a lot easier for Rose.

As she read through the first page and then the second, Rose couldn't find the incantation anywhere. She then started to skim through the pages of the chapter, looking for any sign of a spell. Finally, on page five, she say the incantation, clear as rain. Wingardium Leviosa. Well, that seemed easy enough for Rose. Closing her book and putting it at the upper left hand corner of her desk again, Rose picked up her wand. She cleared her throat as she pointed her wand at the feather. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she said, but nothing happened. Disappointment coursed through her, but it was expected. Matilda hadn't even gotten it right yet. Suddenly, though, Matilda turned towards Rose.

"You're doing it wrong," she said.

I've just started! Rose thought, but she decided not to rudely outburst at Matilda, even if Matilda wasn't being very nice to her. "What am I doing wrong?" she asked.

"You don't just point your wand at the object." Matilda shook her head as if the proper way was obvious.

"Then what do I do?"

Matilda took Rose's hand and made a circle and then a swift, flicking movement after the circle was completed. She did this a couple more times before realization flooded Rose's face. Matilda was actually trying to help her.

"Ah... Thanks, Matilda," Rose said.

Matilda didn't say anything else to Rose, but instead turned to face the front again, intent on making her feather float.

"Um, Matilda?"

Matilda turned to Rose again, this time more reluctantly than before. "Yes?"

"How do you know all this?"

Matilda merely tapped the book in front of her with her forefinger, just like the professor had done. "Summer reading." Then, she turned towards her feather again and started to practice the spell once more.

"Ah," Rose said. She turned towards her feather as well. That blasted summer reading. Did everyone read before getting to Hogwarts? Rose's mother tried to force her to read some books, but Rose just faked it every time her mother entered her bedroom to check.

Rose mocked the wand movement Matilda had taught her as she said the spell over and over again, making the last flicking movement directly at the feather. Nothing happened each time, which was frustrating. Rose thought magic was easier than this. Wasn't she a witch, after all? Why was it so easy for her parents and her older cousins to do magic? Rose wondered if it was this hard for them in their first Charms class at Hogwarts, but that only distracted her mind from doing the spell properly. Before Rose got too frustrated, though, the professor was standing at the front of the classroom. Rose hadn't noticed her get up from her seat behind her desk, but she supposed that she was too concentrated on the feather to notice.

"Class is dismissed," she announced. "I'll see you all on Wednesday!" Professor Clearwater smiled at all of her students as they got up to leave, but then she quickly added, "Don't forget to read the first chapter!" Satisfied that most of her students had heard her, at least, she walked around her desk again and took her seat once more, awaiting the next batch of hopeful witches and wizards.

Rose quickly gathered up her things and, without another look at Matilda, she joined her cousins once more, who were waiting for her outside the Charms classroom. "Let's go," she said to them simply, not wanting to explain anything about Matilda.

They obliged and walked with her to their next class, History of Magic. Rose wasn't looking forward to it at all, but may be she would be able to see Trevor there, at least. He had seemed more social than Matilda at the boats and Rose hoped that she could be friends with him, even if Matilda decided to be awkward most of the time.