Winter's Rose ▫️T. Lupin

▫️ Thirteen

The ringing in her head dimmed slightly as she groaned but she didn't open her eyes. She tried to move slightly as her hearing returned to normal and she heard someone talking, in a voice she recognised.

"Thomas," she called out with a wince as she opened her eyes, blinking quickly as she looked around her at the bright white walls. The voices quieted down as she turned her head to the side, only to see Thomas in the bed beside her own, Teddy standing above him, his eyes on her.

"Thomas," she tried once more and he let out a small groan in response. "I'm sorry for that hit, it's part of the game, I'm afraid."

"Yeah, no hard feelings," he mumbled as he turned to face her as well. "My Beater got you anyway."

Rose chuckled slightly as she turned back to face the ceiling. For a while, there was silence until she heard Thomas speak once more. "Teddy, who won?"

"Gryffindor." Thomas cursed as Rose smiled. "We caught the Snitch, though."

"All that matters is our win," Rose mumbled with a small smile as she closed her eyes once more. "Why are you still here, Lupin?"

"Madam Pomfrey is having dinner and asked me to keep an eye on you two."

"I doubt we need supervision."

"I think she knows better."

She chuckled only to hear Thomas whistle. "You really are in a good mood today."

"I won one more match, Thomas, I'm one step closer to winning the Quidditch Cup, of course I'm in a good mood."

"Enjoy it while you can because Ravenclaw is going to crash you in the next round."

This time, she actually laughed, and for a moment, she couldn't help but wonder when really was the last time she had laughed because the sound appeared unusual and foreign. She didn't allow her good mood to waver though as she heard Thomas huff.

"You keep laughing. I'm going to sleep."

"Sweet dreams," she muttered as Teddy hummed in what seemed to be a response and an agreement at the same time. For a while, the Hospital Wing was quiet before Rose turned to Teddy, a bit surprised to see he was already watching her. However, she didn't show it as she slowly turned to Thomas. "Is he asleep?"

For a while, Teddy did nothing, and then, he reached forward and pinched his arm. Rose's eyes widened as Thomas remained unresponsive and Teddy leaned back in his seat with a shrug. "It seems like it."

"I thought of what you told me before Christmas." She paused for some sort of a reaction but when he kept looking at her blankly, she cleared her throat and started talking. "I mean, I thought about it a lot because I didn't have anything else to do at home. Mum kept to herself and so did I. I studied for most of the day, actually, as Professor Longbottom suggested and I think I've covered most of the things I missed in that month I haven't been paying attention. And I also thought about my relationship with my friends and you were right about that too."

She swallowed and opened her mouth to speak but he beat her to it. "Just because I was right it doesn't mean I wanted to be."

"But you were right, Angela and Brenda are keeping to themselves and there's something going on I really haven't realised. Brenda and Beatrice seem closer and I feel like the only one who listens to me at this point is Beatrice. But she's mostly busy with Head Girl duties and doesn't have much time to spare for me and I also have to study because there are just a few months left before NEWTs and I really want to become a Herbologist. It's my dream, I've wanted to tend to flowers and plants pretty much my whole life. I won't give up because of some hardship."