Tainted Roses

They can lock us up in different cells, but I'll always feel you close to my heart.

Just one more class. Just one more class, Rose told herself as she walked to Defense Against the Dark Arts with her cousins and the rest of the first year Gryffindors. They only had to go through one more hour with the Slytherins and Rose hoped that it would be as uneventful as History of Magic had been in the morning. Of course, she doubted that anything could be as boring as that class had been, but Rose could only hope.

When they entered the classroom, Rose looked around the room. It was chaos. The Slytherins had decided to take up the back seats, so the Gryffindors were forced to stay in the front few rows. The students who were already there, all Slytherins, were throwing pieces of parchment and other things around the room. Where was the professor? Rose wondered, but she didn't have to wonder a second longer. Right after Rose passed the Slytherins and found a seat in the second row of desks beside Roxanne and Alex, the professor decided to finally enter his own classroom.

With a slight limp, the professor walked over to his desk and sat down. The air around him was that of importance and the Slytherins got a sense of extreme punishment if they weren't to settle down, so they instantly found their seats. It was silent for a few moments as everyone waited for the professor to speak. He didn't. Everything felt tense, even for the Slytherins who didn't seem to care about respecting anything - or at least that was how it seemed they were when Rose had first entered the room.

Rose was just about to whisper to Roxanne, asking about the professor, when he finally spoke. "Good afternoon, everyone. I'm professor Hodge," he said, sounding quite bored to be there. He didn't sound delighted to see his newest students - not like the other professors Rose had in the morning or after lunch. "I take it you're going to want this done as quickly as I do, so let's get on with it." Rose was surprised by his need to get the class over with. Weren't professors supposed to like teaching?

He got up and walked around to the front of his desk. Rose wondered how he got that limp, but she supposed that it wasn't nice of her to be thinking about such things. So what if he had a limp? It wasn't in her rights to even care about that. "I'm not going to bore you with all my classroom rules. Yes, come on time. Yes, do your homework. But that should be common sense for you all. I bet you got that all five times today already, so just know that my class will be like the rest in the natural ways. However..." the professor paused before continuing. "This class will be more... hands on than you may have previously expected." Rose had no idea what she had expected from Defense Against the Dark Arts, only that they would be learning spells, but she barely had time to think about this, as the professor continued. "There's no sense in learning about spells and not practicing them. I'm here to teach you how to defend yourselves. From what, I don't know, but this is my job, as much as it is yours to learn what I teach you." He really did seem like he didn't want to be there at all, but may be he would let them go early - At least, that was what Rose had hoped. "Today, we're going to start with the most simple spell - Yes, we are starting today. I am going to attempt to curse every one of you, while you will try to conjure the Shield Charm." Looking around at all the students, the professor added, "Don't worry, I'll give you time to practice." He sighed, looking like he wished that he hadn't given that liberty to the first years. "Now, pair off and go and practice your spell." With an airy wave of his hand, he limped back to the seat behind his desk. "Go on," he said once he got there and saw that none of the students had done what he had asked.

Rose looked from Roxanne to Alex, wondering who to be with. "You go with Albus, Rox." It would be good to get out and talk with someone who wasn't one of her cousins, Rose decided.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, just go and practice." Rose grinned at Roxanne in encouragement and then turned to Alex. "Want to be my partner?"

"Of course." Alex smiled at Rose before they got up and walked into the aisle. Some of the students were on the outskirts of the classroom, while a few others were practicing in the aisle between the two sections of desks.

"Uh... How do we do this?" Rose asked him.

"Oh, it's easy." Alex grinned again. Rose doubted how it could be easy, as she couldn't even do the Levitation Charm in the morning, but may be Alex just meant that it was easy in theory. Either way, though, Rose didn't want to get embarrassed and get cursed by the professor.

"Show me, then."

"Okay." Alex cleared his throat as he raised his wand in front of himself. "Protego," he said, as clearly as he could. Nothing happened except a slumping of his shoulders in disappointment of the failed spell. He turned to Rose, forcing a smile. "Your turn."

"Okay..." Rose also rose her wand in front of her chest and pointed it straight out in front of her. "Protego!" she exclaimed. Nothing happened for Rose, just like it hadn't for Alex.

Both of them sighed at once. "Let's keep practicing," Alex suggested. At will, they both did just that. However, after the tenth time, Rose was getting tired of doing the failed spell over and over again.

"May be we're doing something wrong," she suggested. Looking around, she saw that only a few students were managing to do the spell correctly, which comforted Rose slightly, but what were they doing right that Alex and herself were doing wrong? As Alex kept practicing, Rose watched one of the Slytherin students, who seemed to be able to conjure a Shield Charm - whether it was right or not, Rose wasn't sure. Rose narrowed her eyes in concentration as she inclined her head, watching the girl move. She did something funny with her wrist, so Rose tried it, hoping that it would work. "Protego," she said once again. This time, it did work. Something - not clearly visible by any colour - came out of her wand. It was more of a force field, no matter how weak it was. Rose could feel it in front of her more than she could see it by the naked eye, but she was proud none-the-less.

Alex gasped when he saw that Rose had performed it correctly. "What did you do differently?"

"Er..." Rose didn't quite know how to answer that one. "I watched her," she said as she tilted her head back at the Slytherin girl.

"Oh... Bianca."

At the mention of her name, the blonde girl arrived behind Rose and Alex with her hands on her hips. "What are you talking about me for?" she accused.

"What? We weren't talking about you," Rose said instantly. It was a lie, but she didn't want any trouble.

"Uh huh. I heard you! Don't think that I'm deaf or something." The girl rolled her eyes. "I know my own name." Bianca's voice had a high pitched annoyance to it that Rose couldn't stand to hear and her hair was bright enough to blind her, but Rose tried not to hold that against her.

"We wouldn't think that of you," Rose said kindly. Though I'm sure if she had to hear herself all day, she could go deaf. Rose suppressed a chuckle at this thought, but it came out in a small smirk.

Bianca furrowed her brow at this, deciding that Rose was completely lying. "Hmph!" she said as she turned away and stomped away, back to her Slytherin partner.

Rose and Alex shrugged at each other, wondering what was wrong with the girl. She was very touchy. Just then, though, before they could have another go at the spell, the professor was standing at the front of the room again, in front of his desk, just like before. "I think you've had long enough to practice. Please line up so we can practice this spell."

Before Rose knew what had happened, she felt a strong shove against her back, forcing her to the front of the line. Everyone else lined up behind her. Alex was probably stuck somewhere in the middle, but when Rose looked behind her, all she could see was a smirking Bianca at the back of the line - her hair was too noticeable not to see and the dirty look she flashed Rose told her that it was Bianca who had shoved her.

"Well, Miss Weasley, it looks like you're first," the professor said, bringing Rose's attention back on him. Rose gulped, not liking the look of things. She hoped that Bianca's wand movement wouldn't fail her now. As she stepped forward, all she could hear was Bianca's giggling from the back of the room. Couldn't she just keep quiet? "Now, when I count to three, I'm going to shoot a curse at you." Professor Hodge then looked up, addressing the rest of the class. "Just know that this would never happen in the real world, but it is your first day and I don't want the school nurse giving me heck this early on in the year. We'll leave that 'til next week." The professor waited for a bit of laughter at his joke, but there was none. Clearing his throat, Professor Hodge rolled his eyes and gave a little sigh. "Okay. One, two, three."

As he finished saying 'three', Rose started on her spell, assuming that Professor Hodge was probably a lot quicker than she or any of the other first year students were. "Protego!" she exclaimed. Rose was right in thinking that she did it at the correct time, for when her Shield Charm was finally complete, Professor Hodge had already sent his spell towards her. The spell bounced off the Shield Charm and hit the side wall. It didn't do any damage to the wall, which gave the rest of the students hope that it wouldn't do any damage to them if they were to fail in doing the spell properly.

"Very good, Miss. Weasley," Professor Hodge said, not sounding very impressed at all. "Two house points to Gryffindor." Rose thought that two points wasn't very much for what she had just done - since Professor Clearwater had given five points to Matilda for merely answering a question correctly - but she wasn't going to argue with Professor Hodge. Instead, she quickly moved to the back of the line.

The rest of the students faced the professor, some of them not succeeding in making the Shield Charm work properly. Either it was too weak to deflect the curse, or some students weren't able to make it at all. However, only about fifteen minutes later, Rose was at the front of the line again. She was glad when Professor Hodge said it was time for them to go and that there wouldn't be a second round of practice on this day. Rose sighed in relief as she went to go and collect her books. When she left the room with Roxanne, Albus and Alex, Bianca was waiting for her outside the door. Rose and her friends stopped dead in their tracks, wondering what Bianca wanted - She was blocking their path.

"What do you want, Bianca?" Rose said with a sigh. She didn't want to have made an enemy this soon, but it looked like becoming friends with the Slytherin girl was out of the option now.

"Oh, I just wanted to let you know that you'd better think twice about trying to trick me again. I know what you're like - all of you," she said, addressing the rest of Rose's friends. "And I'm not going to forget it." With a flip of her blonde hair, Bianca stalked off in the direction of the marble staircase. She was probably going down to the Slytherin common room, which would work out well for Rose. If they just slowed down and didn't go to the marble staircase too quickly, they would probably miss her, as they were going up and Bianca was going down.

"What's wrong with her?" Albus asked.

"I honestly have no idea," Rose said, completely honestly. She really didn't know what was wrong with Bianca. Clearly she had over reacted about the whole thing. Really, there was no thing to over react about, but apparently Bianca decided that there was and that she would hold a grudge against Rose for it. Rose sighed as they continued their journey to the Gryffindor common room. She had hoped to be able to relax with her friends, but Rose knew that Bianca would probably be consuming her thoughts all night.

As they walked down the hall, Roxanne, Albus and Alex were consumed in conversation about their first classes and how to get everywhere tomorrow. They would be walking all together, most likely, so Rose knew she didn't have to worry about directions. As long as Roxanne got it right, Rose could follow, and she would eventually learn it for herself.

When they reached the marble staircase, Rose was met by a familiar sight. It was both comforting and shocking. Tristan Parker was leaning on the railing of the bottom of the staircase with that annoying yet charming smile of his. Rose's voice suddenly felt dry, like she didn't have the ability for speech anymore, but she managed to tell her cousins and newest friend that she would meet them upstairs later.

"You sure?" Roxanne asked, worried for Rose after the Bianca incident.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay, we'll see you later, then," Alex said as the three of them passed Tristan and walked up the stairs, in deep conversation once more.

"So, how did your first day of classes go?" Tristan asked Rose, his grin not fading, even slightly.

"They were... interesting." To put it bluntly, Rose added in her head.

"So I've heard." Tristan chuckled.

"Heard?"

"It's hard not to hear her when she's storming down the hall, ranting your name."

"Ah... Bianca. Was I really that terrible?"

"I wouldn't know." Tristan laughed again. "But you must've done something to offend her. I've never seen someone so angry after the first day of class."

Rose wanted to say that Tristan really wasn't that much older than her, but she didn't. Instead, she spoke another bit of truth. "I just want this day to end." She sighed.

"I'm with you on that one. Well, I'd better be getting back. Else Tommy'd come looking for me again." Tristan rolled his eyes with a laugh. "I'll see you later." Tristan waved to Rose, and she waved back, as he flashed her a smile that left her thinking about him once more.

Bianca wouldn't be able to plague Rose's mind on this night - Tristan would be taking up that spot in Rose's thoughts. How someone could be in the same house as Bianca and yet be so nice was beyond Rose, but she still tried to figure out how Tristan and Bianca could be so different, all the way back up to the Gryffindor common room. Even when Rose got up to the common room and watched Alex attempt to beat Fred at Wizarding Chess, Rose couldn't stop comparing the two Slytherins. She was glad that everyone was too distracted by the game between Alex and Fred, for Rose probably wouldn't have been able to tell anyone what she was really thinking about. Even as she ascended to her dorm, Rose still couldn't figure out why Tristan was so nice, but by that time, her thoughts had evolved. Was he nice all the time, or was he just nice to her? Or was it Bianca who was messed up? Was every Slytherin nasty like her or hateful like Tommy was on the train? Rose had almost no way of knowing, but she hoped that she could figure it out soon - Or else she might drive herself crazy, trying to figure it out.