The Slytherin Thorn

Chapter 9 - Rain

Indie came out of Hospital the next day her arm in a sling and her ankle bandaged. She was still pale faced and looked worn out but she arrived in the Common Room with a smiled on her face. She hobbled over to the group sat completing homework. "Hey." They all looked up and upon seeing her grinned. "Your back!" Rose exclaimed leaping up to hug her, once she pulled back she helped her injured friend to the Sofa were the others greeted her enthusiastically. They spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing and all homework was forgotten about. "Your lucky." Rose said as they made their way to bed later that night. "You came back just in time for school tomorrow."

"You call that lucky? Look at my wrist, I'm surprised it didn't snap in half." Indie pulled up the sleeve on her arm not in a sling to reveal a black and blue bracelet. The bruise was in the same shape as Molly's hand, Rose winced upon seeing.

"Oh, I think they'll leave us along after yesterday, Scorpius beat James up really bad and I didn't do to badly, I saw Fred earlier and let's just say he didn't look the most comfortable."

"And Molly?"

"I didn't know Isabelle could duel so well." Indie nodded and climbed into bed pulling the curtains shut. Rose stared at the green sheet before doing the same, she lay on her back thinking about her cousins, she was sure they wouldn't return, this time they'd well and truly been beaten but she wasn't 100% certain, James could be very thick after all. It seemed that this time James did take the hint, he nor Molly or Fred bothered the Slytherins for the rest of the year. They left Rose to live peacefully in her common room surrounded by her friends. The rest of her cousins left her alone as well, Victoire and Louis would acknowledge her in the hallways, Dominique still talked to her, she informed Rose that she'd told Molly exactly what she thought of her and the two didn't appear to be talking. The most trouble Rose got was from Albus, when they bumped into each other, they either glared at one another or ignored one another.

The rest of Rose's first year was spent laughing with her new friends. By the end of the year Sia had stopped hanging out with Isabelle and Ivy at all and had become the third member of Rose and Indie's girl gang, most evenings were either spent chatting in the common room or dormitory and eating snacks they'd stolen from the kitchens. As the end of term drew nearer her friends did they're best to please her as Rose became more agitated for the end of term only meant two things, A.) End of term exams which her mother had written to her about and pressed that she got good marks and B.) Returning home, her dad still hadn't said anything to her, Hugo's letters had become a rarity and Rose was terrified that without her friends about Molly, James and Fred would gang up on her again.

"Albus!" Rose found herself shouting after her cousin, it felt odd to say his name she hadn't said it in months. Her cousin, however, did not slow down and appeared not to have heard her. She quickly stuffed her quill and ink in her bag and rushed past her friends after him. "Albus! Albus, wait."

This time he did hear her and turn around, it was more because he didn't have a choice though, half the corridor could hear her and it would cause people to talk if her didn't. He glared at her. "What Rose? I thought you asked me to stay away from you, make your mind up."

"Sorry." Rose said taken a back, the Albus she'd known would never have said that but it was almost a year ago she'd last spoken to him. "I just wanted to know if you knew whether your parents were picking me up from the station." It was a week before the end of term and they'd just finished they're second to last exam, they had one more after lunch.

"Well I don't, why don't you owl them?"

"What's wrong? Why are you being so mean?"

"Mean? Your the one in Slytheirn."