chapter two
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"Come on, please," Remus whined, attempting to pull a stubborn Rosie from her spot.
"No, you were lucky enough that the Hufflepuff prefects offered to cover for us," she huffed, crossing her arms.
"I just want you to actually meet the rest of my friends," Remus persisted, slightly loosening his grip on her arm. "It's our fifth year and you have yet to have one actual conversation with any of them."
"I don't want to, not after what Potter had called Severus right in front of my face, and also saying that he wasn't worth our time -"
"I'm sorry that he offended you, but I promise that they're much better once you get to know them," he tried hopefully, a large grin plastered on his face.
As the stubborn girl looked up at her friend's hopeful smile, she sighed heavily, silently praying that she wouldn't regret her decision. "How about this? I'll sit with Lily and Severus for the train ride - I already promised Lily - and I'll sit with you guys on the carriage ride?" she suggested. It was a simple compromise; she knew that Remus - the headstrong boy he was - wouldn't give up and if she didn't, they would be standing there for the rest of the ride.
And as Remus' smile widened, she couldn't help but feel hers grow too. "Great! Just meet me at the platform once we stop, ok?" he told her, his bright hazel eyes gleaming with happiness and satisfaction.
"You got it," Rosie sighed and pulled him into a hug, her face resting on his chest. "Why are you so tall?" she asked, her voice muffled. She could feel the vibrations of his chest as he laughed at her question.
"Why are you so short?" he remarked with the same tone.
She looked up and narrowed her eyes at him. "Touché."
--
"And I just don't understand why he would automatically assume that I would flock to him with his stupid friends just because I smiled at him. Since when did smiling become a form of flirting, and how could he be so daft, thinking that I would be flirting with him -" Lily rambled on to Severus before Rosie stopped her.
"Let me guess, rambling about Potter?" Rosie laughed lightly, leaning against the compartment door. Lily whipped her head around to face her.
"Merlin! How did you get in here without me noticing?" the red-head joked while quickly enveloping her into a tight hug.
"Well, you were so into your rant about Potter that you didn't even notice when she opened the door, walked in, and slammed the door shut," Severus quipped with a ghost of a grin on his face. His comment made Lily turn as red as her hair and playfully glare at the two.
Rosie turned to Severus with a mischievous grin. "Sevvy, where's my hug?" she asked with a pout and puppy dog eyes, her arms wide open for a hug.
"No, not the puppy dog eyes, anything but the puppy dog eyes," he groaned while covering his eyes with his hands.
Crossing her arms, she replied, "I haven't seen you all summer, and you barely wrote me, I think I deserve a hug."
"Ok, fine," he sighed and gave her a tight hug, a smile slowly forming its way onto his face.
"Ooh. Before I forget, my mum and I got you some presents over the summer," she rushed, unwrapping her arms from around Severus as she reached into her black bag, fumbling for the box.
"You didn't have to get me anything," he frowned.
"We insist," Rosie said as she handed him the neatly wrapped box with a large smile on her face.
"I also baked a ton of cookies before I left, and my mum made you guys some chocolate fudge too," she told Lily and Severusl the former noticeably perked up at the mention of cookies and fudge. Before she could even ask, Rosie tossed her a small container with cookies and fudge packed inside. "Specially packed for you," she winked. Lily smiled at Rosie with gratitude before eagerly opening the container and stuffing a fudge square in her mouth.
Whatever Elizabeth Winters put in her fudge was magical.
"No way! How did you get this?" Severus remarked in wonder, holding the gifted book in his hand. The book was a limited edition signed copy of Advanced Potion-Making.
"By the way, if the rest of the gift still matters to you, there's a set of robes and a container of cookies and fudge in there as well," Rosie reminded him as he nodded and excitedly flipped through the pages of the book. He suddenly whipped his head up and embraced her into a tight hug.
"Thank you so much," he expressed, his voice muffled in her long hair.
"No problem, Severus," she giggled, patting his back. "Oh, if you find a hairbrush in there, it's from my mum, she reckons that you just need a good brush."
Severus blushed bright red and sunk back into his seat, a large smile still plastered onto his face. The sight warmed Rosie's heart. The dark-haired boy held a special place in her heart — not just because he was one of her first friends, but also because of how she could always confide in him.
In Rosie's second year, after she received an extremely upsetting letter from her parents, who were on the brink of a divorce, she found solace in Severus. He spent his entire afternoon and even missed his two favorite classes - DADA and Potions - to comfort her. It was then when he told her about his own family issues and reassured her that no matter what, he would always be there for her.
After that, Rosie made sure to take care of Severus when she could, which is why it saddened her that he was starting to spend more and more time with some Slytherins.
Rosie was never one for house prejudice — she believes that everyone is equal and their house doesn't define them automatically. But, it was well-known that some prejudiced Slytherins have been dabbling in the Dark Arts, and it terrified Rosie that her close friend may be falling into their footsteps.
As she watched Severus admire the book and Lily practically inhale her cookies, Rosie shook away the thoughts and shut her eyes.
--
"Rosie, Rosie, Rosieee," Lily called to Rosie, waking her from her sleep. The barely conscious girl groaned and turned over on the seat. "We're almost there, c'mon," Lily whined, poking Rosie on her side, causing her to jerk up in shock and hit the person closest to her in the face. That person was Severus.
"Ow, bloody hell, how can you hit that hard," Severus grumbled while rubbing his cheek.
"Sorry," Rosie sheepishly apologized while rubbing her eyes. She barely got a second to wake up before Lily pulled her up and out of the cabin. "Where are we going?" she yawned.
"We have to change into our robes. I already have yours."
Rosie nodded slowly, yawning again. They soon reached the restroom and went into separate stalls to change. Rosie finished changing first and leaned against the sink while waiting for her red-headed friend, almost falling asleep again.
"You still need to tell me about the prefect meeting," said Lily, startling Rosie out of her sleepy state as she lost her footing and crashed into Lily. The half-conscious Gryffindor shrieked in shock as her friend steadied her, smirking in amusement.
The dark-haired girl sighed and adjusted to the head rush and blinking away the dark spots she suddenly saw as she answered, "The meeting was ok, we just talked about our duties for the year, how we set examples and whatnot."
"That sounds kinda boring," Lily pointed out as they walked out of the restroom, her arm looped around Rosie's to prevent her from stumbling into anything else.
"It kinda is, but at least I've got Remus there to help me live through it. You'd be much better at this than I am... Never really been one to lead..."
"Speaking of Remus, are you two...together?" asked Lily, causing Rosie to choke on her spit and enter a coughing fit.
"Remus and I? Together? No, what would make you think that?" she sputtered out with a laugh.
"Well, you two are together a lot, you talk about him quite often and you guys give each other a look whenever one of you walks into a room,"
"I think of Remus as a brother and he thinks of me as a sister, we are most definitely not together," Rosie assured her. When they returned to the compartment, Severus was already in his robes and reading the potions book feverishly, eyes scanning the page like he was trying to memorize all the words.
"This is his second time reading it," Lily whispered as she leaned into Rosie's ear, "The first time, he skimmed through it," she continued as they both sat back down.
"You seem to really like the book, Sev," Rosie observed as she dug through her charmed bag.
He looked up, briefly glancing at her before returning his gaze to the pages in front of him. "Hmm? O-oh yeah, thanks, again," he replied, a smile forming on his lips.
"No need to thank me," she halfheartedly added on while zipping open her black toiletry bag. Taking out a small mirror and her pink lip balm, she then applied the rosy pink lip balm neatly on her lips and put it back in the bag while inspecting her lips for any spots she might've messed up.
The past summer, Rosie became very familiar with muggle makeup as she spent a large portion of her time with Lily, who showed her the ropes of all the latest muggle trends. Unfortunately, the dark-haired girl didn't quite enjoy how heavy makeup look and felt on her face, so she opted for lighter items.
"Do you have that coral lip balm in there?" Lily asked. Rosie nodded with a hum and handed her the tinted balm and the mirror. The red-head applied the balm, which complimented her brilliant green eyes and bright hair perfectly, messily before standing to look out the window and informing the other two that the train was halting to a stop.
Together, the three stood and left the compartment in peaceful silence. Rosie tightened the strap on her bag as they stepped out of the train, making sure not to drop it from the pushing of eager students.
"We should head out early so we can catch a carriage with Marlene and Alice." Severus hesitantly nodded in agreement as he wasn't very fond of the other two girls but didn't want to argue with Lily.
"Sorry Lils, but I promised Remus that I would take the carriage with him this time."
Lily turned to Rosie with wide eyes,
"If there's Remus, there's Black; if there's Black, there's Potter. Why on earth would you agree to sit in the carriage with them?"
"Well, he begged, so I'm sorry. And there's another boy, Peter Pettigrew," said Rosie. Lily was about to respond before she was interrupted by someone tapping on her shoulder.
"Sorry to intrude on the conversation Lily, but I need to steal my friend here," Remus apologized before grabbing Rosie's hand and pulling her away.
"Bye Lily! Bye Severus! See you at the feast!" Rosie called to them. Severus gave her a light-hearted smile and Lily waved her goodbye.
She turned back around and faced Remus with a faux angry expression.
"That was rude, you can't just drag me away like that," she playfully scolded him.
"Y'know, it's even harder for you to look mad when you have to look up to talk to me face to face," he grinned, causing her to huff and lightly hit his shoulder, "and James, Sirius, and Peter don't like to be kept waiting, c'mon," Remus finished, taking her hand again and pulling her away towards the carriages once again.
Once they reached the carriages, Rosie's vision was met by three other boys, two of which were pushing each other while the other boy just stood and watched in amusement. The boy with long dark hair, who Rosie recognized as Sirius, saw Remus and Rosie and stopped his game with James.
"Oi, Moony! Who's the beautiful lady you brought with you?" Sirius winked at Rosie, causing her to turn a light shade of red.
Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius' dramatics and flirtatious attitude. It was obvious that everyone knew who Rosie was and she knew who they were.
"This is Rosie Winters, my very close friend who has luckily managed to miss you guys for the past four years," Remus introduced her, gesturing his arm out as if she were a painting at a gallery.
Rosie couldn't believe she was actually there. After four successful years of avoiding the infamous pranksters, she was willingly inviting them into her life. She inwardly punched herself for giving in, they were practically against what she stood for. She only hoped they would forget about her soon; she preferred peace and silence over the spotlight.
"Winters? As in the smartest girl in our year?" Sirius asked, looking directly at her with a teasing grin. Rosie blushed again at the compliment — well, she took it as a compliment.
"I doubt it, Lily's way better than I am," she shrugged. At the mention of the redhead, James immediately began to throw her several questions ("Did Evans cut her hair?" "Did Evans get a new owl?"), which Rosie chose to politely ignore. However, she wasn't out of the water yet as she had also sparked Sirius' interest and he too had started to heckle her with questions.
"Easy, Pads, you can ask her questions later, now let's get a carriage," Remus interjected, saving Rosie before leading them away from their spot. They all piled into a carriage, Rosie sitting next to her scarred friend.
"What do you have in that bag of yours, beautiful?" Sirius gestured to Rosie's bag.
Rosie blushed again. Did Sirius really have to call her that? "Just a few of my things," she muttered, reaching into her bag and pulling out a container of cookies and fudge for Remus. The rest of the guys eyed the cookies and fudge wantingly as he opened the container and gave Rosie a quick thank you. "Sorry I didn't make any for you guys, I didn't know that I'd be with you guys, um, sorry," she awkwardly told them.
"S'ok, beautiful," Sirius smiled.
Rosie blushed once again while cursing herself inwardly. Why did Sirius have to be so attractive? And why was he calling her that?
"I've packed loads more of cookies in my trunk, I'll try and give some to you guys tomorrow or something," Rosie paused for a second and turned to James with narrowed eyes, "none for James," she finished, causing his eyes to widen.
"W-why? Is it because I made you fall over on the train?" spluttered James.
"No, it's because you made fun of Severus," Rosie huffed, maintaining lethal eye contact with him.
"You mean Snivellus?" snorted Sirius from beside James. Rosie sharply turned her head towards him and kept a sharp glare with him, her blush long gone.
"Looks like Peter and Remus are the only ones getting more cookies tomorrow," she hissed with newfound bravery at the two protesting boys.
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edited: 05/25/2020