• • •
whoever is delighted in solitude
is either a wild beast or a god
• • •
"Weasleys! Jordan! Will you pay attention!"
The twins and Lee jumped and looked up when Professor McGonagall's enraged voice shattered through the Transfiguration class on Thursday. Rose snorted, receiving a glare from Professor McGonagall too. Rose's head stung when she looked up to her Professor; her and Adrian's lessons were tiring her out, she couldn't even look at Fred anymore without getting the urge to set him on fire.
It was the end of the lesson, Rose was sitting beside Amara with the twins and Lee in the table behind them; apparently Lee and the twins had made amends and were, as they said, 'better than ever!'.
The boys dropped what they were playing with, Rose reckoned they were messing with some of their trinkets and muffled their laughter with their hands.
"Thank you, boys, I know it must be hard to listen," McGonagall said sternly, not taking her eyes from the troublemakers. "I must now share something with you all. The Yule Ball, a staple of the Triwizard Tournament and a chance for us to mingle with our visitors from abroad, is quickly approaching. Now, only fourth years will have access to the ball-"
"Oh, Salazar, The Yule Ball!" Amara whispered in Rose's ear; the red head felt her own excitement raising through her throat but as her eyes settled into Fred's, it faded away. McGonagall ignored Amara, and some of other girls who were giggling at her announcement. "We'll have so much fun!"
"Dress robes will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight, in the Great Hall. Now then-"
Professor McGonagall stared deliberately around the class.
"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to – er – let our hair down," she said, in a disapproving voice.
The girls besides Rose, Angelina and Katie, giggled louder than ever, with both their hands pressed against their mouths to try and stifle the laughter. Rose and Amara themselves were working hard on keeping their poker faces on.
"But that does NOT mean," Professor McGonagall went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behaviour we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way."
"Not to worry, Professor-" Fred began, his voice noble and smooth. His voice made Rose flinched, Amara noticed. She gave Rose a questioning look, but Rose simply smiled and nodded.
"I am ESPECIALLY worried about YOU, Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall snapped, pointing her finger at Fred. The bell rang, but when the gang tried to walk out of the classroom, McGonagall spoke again. "Weasleys, Potter, Jordan and Morgenstern! The five of you, stay back!"
Rose winced, feeling a small smirk tugging in the tip of her lips. She turned sideways to Amara and noticed the way her whole face had gotten pale and she was breathing rapidly.
"Yes, Professor?" Rose wondered sweetly once the rest of the students had filled out of the classroom. "How can we help you?"
"I'm warning you, Potter," McGonagall glared irritably at the small red head. "You five better be in your best behaviour! I don't want any of my Gryffindors acting like a bumbling band of baboons!"
"Come on, Minnie-" Lee tried to persuade her, but with one look, McGonagall shut him up.
"Don't get me started with you, Jordan," she sighed then turned specifically to the twins. "Best behaviour, you two. I don't want to have to drag you from the ball because you turned the singers into hippogriffs!"
"What-!"
"BEFORE the ball," McGonagall clarified. "I want you at your best behaviour!"
Rose could see the small smile that was snaking its way into Minerva's lips, she decided not to comment about it.
"Run along, you three, I need to speak with Miss Potter and Miss Morgenstern."
Rose smiled securely at the twins and Lee, urging them to go whilst ignoring the way her blood rushed to her head at the sight of Fred; Amara noticed the mad look in her eyes. Rose didn't think she could keep lying to Amara.
"Professor," Amara coughed, her horrified expression not clearing from her face. "Is everything alright?"
"I know what you two, along with Mr. Morgenstern and Mr. Pucey are doing," McGonagall announced, her stone eyes digging deep into the two girls.
"Professor-" Rose tried to intervene, but McGonagall cut her off.
"Potter, what you are trying to do is honourable, I'll admit," she sighed, her voice pained. "But you will get nowhere. You will only succeed in making some powerful people angry."
"We don't know what you're talking about, Professor," Amara breathed diplomatically. "We aren't trying to do anything."
"Miss Morgenstern, do not try to fool me," McGonagall said with a frown. "I am trying to look out for the both of you." She then turned her eyes specifically to Rose, a sorrowful look in her eyes. "Rose, you have angered many powerful wizards and witches. You will not be in the protection of the Morgenstern family much longer."
Rose could now sense Minerva McGonagall was not talking about them helping Harry get out of the tournament. Something was brewing in the surface, something bad, and Minerva McGonagall knew... Rose didn't.
"What does that mean," Rose asked, digging her nails in the palm of her hands forcibly. She was praying to whoever was listening that whatever McGonagall was saying was simply an exaggeration; a lie to scare Rose and Amara into dropping helping Harry.
Unfortunately, the look in the Professor's eye told Rose that she was wrong. It wasn't an exaggeration; it was a warning. She couldn't accept it.
"It means that you are being more watched than you think," McGonagall breathed. She then coughed and cleared her throat, that look in her eyes was still there. "Go on, both of you. Watch your backs."
• • •
"Do you think she was possessed?" Avalon Morgenstern asked, his voice urgent as he paced up and down his dormitory. He had bitten all the nails on his right hand and was about to go for the left one.
"She didn't seem to be possessed," Avalon's sister, Amara, repeated for the fourth time that evening. "It was like she was trying to tell us something without giving everything away!"
"Real, specific, Ames," Adrian Pucey snorted, his head resting in the headboard of his bed. He was terrified for what McGonagall had said, he hadn't stopped thinking about it, but he knew Rose hadn't either.
Rose Potter hadn't said a word about her interaction with the Head of Gryffindor House; instead, she sat on the edge of Adrian's bed pondering over her words.
'You will not be in the protection of the Morgenstern family much longer,' she heard McGonagall's words ring over her ears. She twisted her sentences, teared them apart, isolated them, but still, she could not understand what she had meant.
"I'm going back to my dorm," she mumbled, snatching her robe and walking to the door. She was held back when a tight hand gripped her arm.
"We haven't figured out what she meant," Adrian said, his eyes were full of guilt and Rose could not understand why.
"She was trying to scare us, Adrian," Rose scoffed, tearing her arm away from him. "That's all it was."
"You and I both know that isn't true," Adrian said, glaring at her. He took ahold of her arm again, pulling her closer to him. "Whatever McGonagall said, we know one thing, it was a warning. Something is happening, Rose, we knew it when the former death eaters attacked the Quidditch World Cup and we know it now; denying it won't do you any good."
"It's not true!" Rose insisted again, her voice growing in volume. "Whatever she said is some bullshit to get us to stop trying to mess with the Tournament!"
The atmosphere had grown tense, Rose couldn't help but look at Amara. Her eyes told Rose that she knew what was bothering her, and it was not only the tournament. Rose's heart couldn't stop beating and her mind was filled with noise.
"Rose, you know it wasn't!" Adrian argued back, matching her tone. "Merlin's beard, why are you denying it?!"
"Because nothing is going on!" Rose screamed. "What McGonagall said, wasn't a warning! The death eaters at the Cup weren't up to something bigger! Harry is NOT getting hurt and Fred is not cheating on me!"
"WHAT?!"