Tainted Roses

Only if you'll take me with you, wherever you go.

After History of Magic class, which consisted of a long overview of what they would be learning that year - which only ensured Rose that it would be completely boring - Rose headed down to the Great Hall with her cousins and other classmates. When they got there, most of the school was already eating lunch. Being first years, they weren't entirely sure of how to get everywhere yet, but Rose knew that they would get better at it as time went on.

When they arrived at Gryffindor table, most of the seats were taken, but Rose managed to squeeze in between Roxanne and Alex Cunningham. Alex had been the first person sorted, but other than seeing him the night before, Rose hadn't talked to him.

"Hey, Alex," Rose greeted with a smile as she took a piece of bread.

Rose had caught him in the middle of eating his lunch and Alex looked to be quite hungry. He didn't even stop eating to greet Rose back.

Rose turned around to look for Trevor. May be she could go visit him at the Hufflepuff table and see if they had any classes together in the afternoon. However, when she turned around, it wasn't Trevor's eyes she met. Rose wasn't intentionally looking at the Slytherin table, but when someone was staring at her, it was hard not to see them. Yet again, with that mysterious smile, Tristan Parker was looking at Rose from across the room. When he realized that she was finally looking back at him, he gave her a short wave and then turned to his friends once again.

Rose turned around and continued eating her food again, not quite paying attention to everything around her or what she was really doing. She was in shock that Tristan was still accepting he fact that he knew her. She thought that he didn't want to talk to her again after the train and after she got sorted into Gryffindor... Well, it didn't take a genius to see that Tristan's friends weren't too keen on Gryffindors or Weasleys. But for some reason, Tristan was different. It didn't matter anyway, though, Rose concluded. When would they ever see each other anyway? They were in separate years and houses and unless luck worked in their favour, Rose would probably only get to wave to him at lunch anyway. Yes, a nice acquaintance. That was all Tristan was and all he ever could be. Friends... No. Friendship just wasn't an option.

"Rose..." Roxanne waved her hand in front of Rose's face, almost touching her nose, trying to force her to come back to reality. "Are you okay?"

Rose suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and blinked her eyes to focus on what was in front of her. She instantly leaned back, nearly falling out of her chair, at the shock of how close Roxanne's hand was to her face.

"Good. You're back." Roxanne grinned. "We're going to Herbology now. You coming?"

Rose looked down at her food. She had barely eaten, but it would do until dinner. "Yeah, coming." Rose stood up, picked up her small bag and swung it over her left shoulder. She then followed her cousins outside the Great Hall, not even daring to look back at Tristan.

When Rose, Roxanne and Albus arrived at Herbology, there were a few students there, but the greenhouse wasn't full yet. The professor was standing at the front of the room, chatting with a couple of the first years. Rose and her cousins found a table near the back and waited for the class to start, but then Rose found someone she had forgotten she was looking for. Without another thought, she walked over to Trevor and tapped him on the shoulder. He had been one of the first years talking to the Herbology professor.

"Hey, Trevor. How's your first day been?" Rose asked him.

"Hey, Rose! It's been great. How about your's?" Trevor grinned. Rose was glad that his day was going well and that he made some friends too. But suddenly, Rose realized that she hadn't made many friends. She had been travelling to and from her classes with her cousins all day. The only time she had talked to anyone else was at lunch with Alex.

"It's been good. What did you have this morning?" Small talk was always the best option.

"We had Potions with the Ravenclaws and then History of Magic and Charms with the Slytherins." Trevor let out a small groan at the memory of the classes the Hufflepuffs had to share with the Slytherins. Clearly, he didn't have too much fun.

"Well hopefully you don't have to deal with them again today." Rose grinned encouragingly at Trevor and he grinned back.

"Nope. After this, it's just Potions with the Ravenclaws." His spirits seemed lifted and it was just in time. The professor decided to start, so Rose quickly waved goodbye to Trevor and found her seat beside Roxanne.

"Welcome to Herbology," he announced. "I'm Professor Longbottom and I'll be your Herbology professor for this year." The professor smiled at the class, hoping that they would all love Herbology as much as he did. He could remember when he was a first year, but that was quite a long time ago. Now he was teaching his friends' children, hoping that they would all enjoy Herbology. He knew that they all probably wouldn't, as even most of his friends hadn't enjoyed the subject at school, but Neville would try to make it interesting for his newest students.

Professor Longbottom continued on, explaining the rules of Herbology class. Rose yawned widely. After having History of Magic before lunch and now dealing with plants... It was too tiring for her. Rose had got caught up in the excitement of being at Hogwarts and learning magic all morning to realize just how tired she was, but now her fatigue was catching up on her.

Class dragged on almost as long as History of Magic had. The professor was animated, unlike Professor Binns the ghost, but he just couldn't manage to hold Rose's attention. Albus seemed fairly interested, but not as much as Trevor. Trevor was absolutely captivated by everything the professor said and looked very excited to be there. Rose wondered if he was like that during History of Magic in the morning with the Slytherins.

Rose's thoughts drifted from Trevor to Tristan and then back to what class she had next. Rose wanted to take out her schedule, but she knew that Roxanne would tell her which class they had next after Herbology was over. But for some reason, the time for them to leave never came.

"When's class over?" Rose whispered to Roxanne.

"We have double Herbology, Rose." Roxanne giggled at her cousin's lack of knowledge of their schedule.

"Oh." Rose faced the front again with a sigh.

Herbology ended up feeling longer than History of Magic, but it was only because the professor didn't think it was a smart idea to start some hands on work in the first lesson.

"We won't have enough time to do what I wanted us to do today, so I'll let you all go a few minutes early. I'll see you all on Wednesday!"

"Finally," Rose muttered under her breath as she stood up and collected her things. She quickly waved at Trevor as she left the greenhouses with Roxanne and Albus. There was only one more class until her day was over - Defense Against the Dark Arts. Rose couldn't wait until it was over, so she could go back to the common room and relax in one of the comfortable sofas. Rose could also do with just collapsing on her bed, but she knew that she probably wouldn't make it up the stairs once she got to her dorm. However, first she had to get through Defense Against the Dark Arts... with the Slytherins. Rose hoped that it would be as uneventful as it had been in the morning during Transfiguration, but she somehow doubted it, by the way Trevor wasn't too impressed having classes with them earlier.