Winter's Rose ▫️T. Lupin

▫️ Eight

"Rise and shine, girls, today is the big day!"

Beatrice, Brenda and Angela all let out a series of groans along with complains at the voice yelling in their dormitory. The person, shouting, of course, was none other than Rose Jones.

Her hair was in its countless braids once more but she had gathered it all together in a ponytail and had put on her black band to keep it in place. She was already dressed in her Quidditch gear and it was safe to say by the glint in her eyes that unlike most mornings, she was awake and ready to tackle whatever task they would assign her. Today's task was winning against the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"Get up!" she hollered, ripping Brenda's blanket off, bringing her to gasp at the sudden cold. She knew exactly what she was doing, of course. Brenda immediately started shouting and she threw the blanket carelessly over her shoulder as she left the room, her plan complete. Once Brenda started yelling, there was no chance the other two would remain asleep. It was a method that always worked.

There was a skip in her step as she got down the stairs, took a look around the common room and not seeing anyone there, she made her way to the Great Hall. She practically burst inside and headed to the closest member of her team.

"Eat up, Smith," she called out as she sent a smile at one of the Chaser who weakly smiled back. "Chin up, you know we've got this."

"Rose! Rose!"

A wide smile formed on her lips and paying no heed to all those watching her, she sat down beside the Seeker of her team, third year Timothy Grey. "Hello, Timmy. I'm glad to see you're in good spirits."

"I was nervous last year, I got over it," he grinned, showing no annoyance at the nickname, only sending a look at a few of his friends that laughed. "Katherine and Justin aren't eating."

"They aren't? Shame on them," she shook her head as she stood up, not failing to steal a sandwich from his plate as she ruffled his hair. "See you on the pitch, Timmy."

"What did my sandwich ever do to you?"

Her smile widened as she took a bite and headed straight to Katherine and Justin. They were sitting together, as most couples did, and both of them seemed to try to coax each other to eat but neither actually ate. Katherine was another Chaser in the team while Justin was her fellow Beater. Seeing her come their way, the student sitting beside Justin moved away to let her take the seat beside him.

"Well, well, well," she said as she got closer, smiling briefly at the boy who had moved away at her arrival before turning to the members of her team. "Someone told me you aren't eating."

Justin sighed, "Ever since Timmy has stopped feeling nervous he's trying to stop our nervousness and it's honestly not going to happen any time soon."

Katherine nodded in agreement but Rose only shook her head with a sigh. "I'm sorry, do you see any Slytherin being nervous?" They shook their head. "Why should we be nervous, then?"

"It's more along the lines of personality and not house-"

"You've been under my command in the Quidditch team for two years already, guys," she said, cutting Katherine off with a small smile. "Did I ever disappoint you?" They shook their heads. "Did I ever stop pestering you when you told me you were nervous?" They shook their heads once more. "Did you actually end up eating in the end?" This time, they nodded, and she smiled as she stood up, patting Justin's back. "Good. Now eat up. I'm going to see you on the pitch."

She walked off once more, taking yet another bite of her sandwich as she walked until she reached the last members of her team; the Jackson siblings. It was John, the Keeper, and the last Chaser, Elizabeth, both of them alike, both of them extremely skilled, just fourth-years. She sat down beside Elizabeth who sent her a small smile as she set her orange down.