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"Rosie you can't just sit there all day."
"Try me."
"It's near the end of September and it hasn't been sunny for at least a week - in fact it's raining. I'm freezing here."
The usually quiet atmosphere of Hogsmeade was permeated by the sound of aggressive tones, echoing through the cobbled streets. It was strange to be subjected to this form of distraction, the only time it was ever this loud was when the students of the nearby castle came flooding out of the gates.
The two women who disrupted the peace were almost idential copies of each other, blonde curly hair laying flatter and flatter as more rain fell. One was sitting down on a wooden bench beside a sign post with plenty of bags surrounding her feet. The second stood above her, matching blue eyes flashing dangerously as she looked down at her.
"You dragged me here, I didn't want to come here." The girl sat on the bench replied, lips settling into a line. "If I'm going to be staying in this village, then I can sit right here."
"Rosalie May Rosmerta if you do not get off your arse and get into that inn then so help me." The older woman replied. "It's your own fault that you're here, Rosie, so you're going to have to deal with the consequences."
"Merlin maybe if you actually let me be a normal teenager then perhaps I wouldn't have to do that Rhonda." Rosie replied, her mother's face hardening as the usage of her first name.
"A normal teenager doesn't go missing for five days straight!" Rhonda Rosmerta said, eyes casting over her bitter-faced daughter.
"A normal teenager isn't forced to go and find social interaction with people her own age because they go to school." Rosie rolled her eyes as she stood up. "I shouldn't be punished for that."
"But it isn't just that, is it?" Rhonda watched as the girl picked up her bags and began to stalk towards the previously pointed out Inn, pushing open the door to the Three Broomsticks and dragging her bags inside. "This is just the consequences of all your actions, not just that one event!" She continued as she followed her in.
Only to come to a stop, her daughter having frozen in her place. The inn was filled with customers finding shelter from the rain, curious eyes drifting over the mother-daughter duo. But whilst Rhonda was a lot more cautious about family feuds in such a public place, Rosie didn't care so much.
"Well my actions are only because of your shitty parenting!" Rosie said, twisting back around to face the woman. "If you had done what every witch or wizard did and sent me to Hogwarts, then we would all be fine?"
"Really? How am I supposed to believe that you being sent away to boarding school would bode well for you? You would have been the exact same during the holidays." All sense of dignity Rhonda had was discarded as she yelled at her daughter, acutely aware of the eyes on them.
"Now, now, what's all this then?" Yet another incredibly similar-looking woman joined the fray, but this time it was Madam Rosmerta, looking much more lively than the other two. "Rosie, darling, why don't you go and wait over by the bar whilst I talk to your mother." Raisa pulled her niece into a hug, before pointing over to the bar.
"Hi.." Rosie was slightly cautious, and wasn't too close to her aunt despite being sent to stay with her. They barely even met up for special occassions, and now she was going to live with her. But all the same, she pulled her bags over to the bar and waited there, watching as the two Rosmerta sisters whispered to each other.
Around ten minutes later, they broke apart, Madam Rosmerta approaching her niece and leaning against the counter. "Your mum's going to go now, okay? You don't have to say goodbye if you don't want to, and we'll arrange you meeting up with her at some point." Raisa explained. "I have a room ready for you upstairs, down the hallway and the last door, so when you've said goodbye you can go straight up and settle in. I'll be up when it's a little quieter so we can talk."
"Alright." Rosie nodded, standing up and pull her bag over her shoulder, smaller trunk carried in her hands. Glancing over to the door, she saw her mother waiting for her, but something sickening pounded in her heart.
The girl rose her hand in a wave, twisting around and heading up the stairs without a second thought. A bitter taste filled her mouth as she followed her aunt's instructions and finding the room.
It already had her name engraved on a small wooden plaque, painted roses curving over the swirling letters. Blinking, she pushed open the door and took in the contents.
The room was plain, filled with matching wooden furniture - a bed, bedside table, wardrobe and a desk with a chair. A small triangular window sat above her desk, a potted plant sitting there.
There was no doubt that she would be adding to the room with the contents of her cases. She had no choice but to do so, considering she would be staying there for Merlin-knows-how-long.
Her mother had shipped her off to live with her aunt, and she wouldn't be returning home any time soon.
