Rosie Clarke thinks she's just the average Gryffindor, despite her closest friends being in Slytherin House and always being around their influence. She considers herself a good person, wanting to do right in the world after what went down at the Tr...
As the four decided to rotate in the compartment in order to change into their robes, the anticipation of getting to Hogwarts was beginning to make Rosie excited. In the back of her mind, she kept wondering what could be waiting for them this year. The one thing that she was mostly curious about was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
If she was from the Ministry, then why was she coming to Hogwarts for a teaching job? Rosie thought.
Rosie was feeling more excited once the train came to a stop. The four gathered their things and left the compartment, getting off the train as quickly as possible. While heading for the carriages, they spotted Harry Potter walking alongside the train, followed by Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Before anyone could say anything to them, Draco Malfoy and his friends came up behind them.
"I'm surprised the Ministry's still letting you walk around free, Potter! You better enjoy it while you can. I expect there's a cell in Azkaban with your name on it!" Harry went for Draco, who jumped back, looking relieved that Ron grabbed his friend before anything else happened. "What did I tell you? A complete nutter."
"Just stay away from me!" the Potter boy yelled while his ginger friend still held onto him.
Greer scoffed. "Gladly," she muttered towards her Gryffindor friend.
Rosie let out a nervous chuckle, though her smile quickly faded when she saw the anger in Harry's face.
The four took the next empty carriage, piling on. Rosie sat next to Gavin like before, while Adam leaned back in his seat, and Greer took his hand in hers. He looked over at her and flashed a small smile, for which she returned the favor.
She shook her head. "I'm just ready for the new year, that's all. Especially after everything we talked about on the train."
Greer chuckled a little. "Like I said, it'll be interesting with the new teacher this year."
The carriage moved at a normal pace, which made Rosie want to get to the castle even faster. Not only that, but her stomach was beginning to growl. She missed the food more than anything.
When the carriage finally reached the castle, Rosie was the first to jump out. Staring at the castle in awe, she felt a sense of happiness being back at her second home.
"Excited, Rosebud?" Adam teased, grinning her way.
Rosie smiled back. "Is it that obvious?"
"Well, I can already tell," he replied.
So the four headed inside the castle, with the warm atmosphere coming over them. They walked with the other students to the Great Hall and had to split up when they went to their tables based on their House.
"We'll see you tomorrow, Rosie," Greer said. "Try to stay out of trouble with the Gryffindors."
"No promises," Rosie told her, grinning.
"That's my girl." Greer smirked and headed towards the Slytherin table with Adam and Gavin.
Rosie took her seat next to Neville Longbottom, who gave her a nervous smile. The girl returned the gesture, giving him a small wave. Neville was one of the few Gryffindors that acknowledged Rosie, always being nice to her whenever they exchanged glances.
"Hi, Rosie," he said.
"Hi, Neville," she replied. "Good holiday?"
He nodded. "Yeah, you?"
"Yes, it was nice," she replied.
The conversation stopped once the first years piled inside, standing in front of the Sorting Hat. Rosie took her attention off of them and focused on her friends with the other Slytherins. Gavin was clapping for every new Slytherin, while Adam made many attempts to see the ceremony, but was getting distracted by Greer, who kept her eyes on her boyfriend, taking his hand and brushing her fingers along his skin. Rosie quickly turned away when she realized she was staring, so her focus went back on the Sorting Hat and the students.
The ceremony dragged out until every first year was placed in a House. There were many Gryffindors this year, which was to be expected, in Rosie's opinion. Then, once the feast started, she was quick to pile her plate with the delicious choices in front of her. As she began to eat her food, she could see Harry Potter eyeing her. Hermione nudged him to stop, which caused Rosie to continue with her dinner. If it was Greer, she would happily put them in their places.
But Rosie wasn't Greer, not even close. So she did her best to ignore them, still feeling their stares lingering her way.
Before she knew it, the feast was over, and Dumbledore went up to stand in front of the students. "Good evening, students! Now, we have two changes in staffing this year: We are pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank for Care of Magical Creatures while Professor Hagrid is on temporary leave. We also wish to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dolores Umbridge, which I'm sure you'll all wish her good luck. Now, as usual, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you--"
All of a sudden, the lady in pink cleared her throat and signaled for Dumbledore to stop talking. She slowly stood up and walked around the table, her hands clasped together.
Well, this is unusual for a new teacher to do, Rosie thought.
"Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome." She paused, looking at all of the students in front of her. "How lovely to see all your bright, happy faces, smiling up at me. I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends."
"That's likely," Rosie heard the Weasley twins mutter in a sarcastic tone behind her.
"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. Although each headmaster has brought something new to this historic school, progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected, and prune practices that ought to be prohibited."
With that, she let out one last giggle, then strolled back to her seat, followed by reluctant applause from the students, including Rosie.
"Thank you, Professor Umbridge. That really was most illuminating," Dumbledore stated.
Ron Weasley scoffed. "What a load of waffles."
Rosie concentrated on their conversation, not making it too obvious she was eavesdropping.
"What's it mean?" Harry asked.
Hermione was reluctant, but she gave him a response. "It means that the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts."
Rosie wanted to be shocked at that statement, but with word about You-Know-Who's return and her father's job becoming even more stressful than ever, having the Ministry of Magic involved with Hogwarts was not a big surprise. After all, they now had to know every little thing happening in the Wizarding world, while assuring everyone all was well but still looking over their own shoulders out of fear. Needless to say, Greer was right about this year. At this point in their friendship, Rosie was able to trust her. Given the circumstances of all the bad things happening around them, she needed someone to trust.
She looked over at Greer, who turned and gave her a small smirk. Rosie responded with a grin, grateful that she had Greer to look up to, despite how she came across to other people. After all, with how uncertain things were during these times, Greer was the only definite thing in Rosie's life, and she couldn't help but wonder how long it would stay that way.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A/N: Hey, new chapter!
Sorry if it's kind of short and crappy lol but I was kind of stuck on it.
