Sands of Dragon Scales

Chapter 16

Rose's recovery went rather smoothly as Newt hardly left her side. Delora and the other girls had report letters sent straight to each of their parents from the Headmaster himself as they were also given punishment by Pr. Diggory for the remainder of the year. Rose was relieved to see that the pranks had ceased once she returned to the dorm room.

As for the spot of golden scales on her side, Rose knew they would eventually fall and flake and eventually leave a scar. Of course, Newt was still the only one aware of this. To the staff, nurse Serene had figured it was due to the Time Turner, that refused to be removed from the girl's neck, and reported it as such.

The last remaining weeks went by uneventful and slow, but, none the less, normally. There had been no trouble, no arising problems, nor dangers. Rose had almost been expecting something rather devious to arise within the shadows. But alas, she remembered that this was not her time. She was safe as far as she was aware. Her life had become rather normal and average. Something she had long desired. And as much as she was grateful for the experience, she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty that she wasn't able to help Harry and the others... that is, if time had continued on without her there in her original time.

Rose couldn't help herself but think on it sometimes. Did time continue for them there? Or did her time cease to exist until she would finally catch up to it again? Could her life possibly be controlled within a loop or was this the first time she had created a timeline as such? As many questions as she had, she knew she couldn't think much on the matter. If she did, there was a high possibility of her going mad; and she couldn't let that happen. So, in the mean time, she had to continue moving forward. It was the only thing she could do.

Rose was currently standing in the middle of their Defense Against the Dark Arts class with Pr. Merrythought. The professor in question had promised a lesson involving the Boggart and hadn't planned on breaking it anytime soon. Rose had been aware of the lesson and had gone to the Headmaster on the topic. Due to her horrifying past and fears of what lie within her time, Headmaster Black had requested Pr. Merrythought to have Rose perform her lesson after the class had dismissed if the girl so desired.

Of course, as soon as Pr. Merrythought had everyone line up, Rose immediately stepped out to stand by her professor. Newt had given a very confused and terrified look. He honestly didn't want to confront a Boggart without Rose somewhere nearby. Even if Rose had helped him prepare for this specific lesson, he was still rather nervous. Being that none of the other students had a past quite like Rose's, most of their fears included spiders, snakes, clowns, dragons, bugs, and monsters of sorts from random scary movies in their time. Rose was honestly surprised that no one was scared of a person.

Rose had mostly concentrated on the Boggart. She didn't honestly remember which was Newt's. Though she had a feeling it could have possibly been the giant green slug. "Pr. Merrythought?" That had been Delora's voice, her hand raised, and her littler innocent mask upon her face, "Why isn't Miss Black participating?" Pr. Merrythought seemed to wonder the same thing. But before she could answer, Rose answered for herself, "You wouldn't like what you would see."

The tension was rather high in the room. People were nervous beyond belief about facing their worst fear. Most people would laugh after how their fear was vanquished but the tensioned remained. Rose wondered if she should have suggested some upbeat music to play, like Pr. Lupin had once did back in her third year.

"Are you scared?" Delora sneered. "I find the only thing to fear, is fear itself. For fear comes in many shapes and sizes and appears quite unexpectedly," Rose calmly answered. Everyone had fallen silent as many seemed to be curious. "If you so desire, I will face the Boggart, if I have permission, that is," Rose turned to Pr. Merrythought as the lady gave a small nod. "Just know, what you see will be," Rose paused, took a breath, and spoke again, "utterly terrifying. For those who get nightmares easily, I suggest you avert your eyes and cover your ears."