Winter's Rose ▫️T. Lupin

▫️ Nineteen

Helen Jones was dying. And there was nothing her daughter could do about it.

Rose stayed in the hospital for days, making sure to be there for her mother's last moments. The doctors had estimated she'd live for about a week more. She ended up dying in three days.

The cause of her death was cancer in her brain. There had been instances to indicate it but Helen had ignored all of them and when she had finally gotten to the doctors, it had been too late for them to do anything.

Her funeral happened quickly, with their neighbours helping Rose in any way they could. And as soon as it was over, about a week later, Rose returned to Hogwarts. But she wasn't the same.

She seemed to be slouching permanently in the corridors and she was always lost in her own world during classes. The only thing that brought her some joy was Quidditch, and she trained as hard as possible, as soon as possible. Today was no different.

"This was our last training before the final match against Ravenclaw this Saturday," she said after the end of the training as she faced her teammembers, her face stoic. "We've trained hard for this all year long. The Ravenclaw Quidditch Team is the only obstacle on our way to winning the Quidditch Cup this year. I know we can do it guys, we've done this before. And I want all of you to try your best in the upcoming match. Because we deserve the title. It belongs to us."

Timmy cheered and Rose couldn't help but smile at the small boy that had become something like a brother to her in the last two and a half year he was in the team. "We're going to win, Rose!"

"That's right," Elizabeth Jackson nodded in agreement as she exchanged a look with her brother. "If we don't win, I'm going to punish everyone responsible for our loss. But no pressure."

Timmy laughed as Rose shook her head at her. "Off you go, now. If I recall correctly, the weather wasn't all that nice when we trained. It'd be best if we got back to the castle before it starts raining cats and dogs."

At that, everyone started moving faster and soon enough, Rose was alone in the changing room. She got ready as soon as possible and locked her broom before leaving, pulling her robes tighter against her body as a particularly cold gust of wind blew her numerous dark braids back.

Halfway up to the castle, it started raining. By the time she had gotten up to the castle, she was soaked from head to toe, her teeth chattering from the cold. The way to the Gryffindor Tower was long and she was absolutely freezing when she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady guarding her common room and spoke the password. She was let inside after she received a look of clear distaste from the lady. Rose walked up the stairs to the girls' dormitories and got up in her own dormitory. Only to notice she wasn't alone.

Brenda, Angela and Beatrice were inside, and at her appearance, all chatter stopped. She barely looked at them before heading to her bed.

"Rose, you should change, you're going to catch a cold."

"That's what I was planning to do, Beatrice," she mumbled as she reached her bed. "What were you guys talking about?"

For a while, nobody answered, and Rose let out a small breath she hadn't realised she had been holding in clear disappointment. Ever since she had returned to Hogwarts the girls had been keeping their distance. She supposed it was because they thought she needed some time to spend alone. But Rose didn't want to spend time alone. That would only allow her to have more time to think and at this point, she really didn't want to think. She knew she'd be lonely as soon as she left school as there'd be no one in the house to keep her company, the least she wanted was to feel lonely at school too.

"We were thinking of going to the library to study," Beatrice said after a while, as Rose took off her damp school robes. "Would you like to join us?"