chapter sixteen
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Number one on the Marauders' agenda was to gain Rosie and Lily's forgiveness. That was already proving to be difficult to complete. No matter how hard the four tried, the two girls always found a way to brush them off.
James was the most frustrated out of the four. If he thought that Lily was ignoring him before, she was definitely ignoring him now. Sirius, who was also frustrated, remained a calmer composure and was noticeably less desperate around the two girls.
Aside from Peter, Remus had it the easiest. While Rosie was slightly irked with him for his silence, he was still her first best friend and she could never stay mad at him. As for Lily, she knew that he wasn't very much at fault.
However, it did annoy James and Sirius when the girls treated Remus like royalty in comparison to them, and this morning was no exception.
"Remus, would you like some rolls, I overheard some of the house-elves in the kitchen saying that they're trying a new recipe," Rosie offered, her hand carrying the tray full of warm, buttery rolls.
"Ok, thank you," he smiled as Rosie plopped on two large rolls onto his plate. Sirius stared incredulously at their interaction and huffed to himself.
"Say, Rosie, how would you li-" Sirius started, but was quickly shut down by Rosie who threw him a dark glare. "Ok, then," he muttered as he turned back to his plate.
"Hello, Rosie, Remus, Peter," Lily greeted as she took a seat next to Rosie, her red hair in a messy braid.
"Oh, bloody hell!" James exclaimed hotly, his face red with annoyance.
"Now you're just making it obvious!" Sirius added from next to James, a half-playful frown resting on his face.
"Making what obvious?" Rosie and Lily asked in sync, both of them feigning innocence.
"Are you bloody serious," James groaned, rubbing his face with his hands frustratedly. Sirius turned to him with a smirk and began opening his mouth to make a smart remark, but James and the others at the table gave him a sharp look. He slowly closed his mouth and looked back to his plate for the second time that morning.
"Rosie, did you remember to write a letter to your parents?" Lily asked her, wondering if she would have to send out the letter she'd written last night to Rosie's parents. Rosie subtly looked around before turning to Lily.
"My parents don't want me to send any letters to them unless they send me one first, they're worried that they might get intercepted or something," Rosie whispered into her ear, a frown tugging at her lips.
"Oh," Lily said, her brows furrowing. That meant she ought to watch what she wrote today as well. Lily knew she wasn't exactly very popular in the wizarding world with her blood status and all.
Rosie saw Lily's troubled face and quickly went to reassure her friend. "But I'm sure that they're just overreacting, there's probably nothing to worry about. After all, Hogwarts is the safest place in the world," Rosie smiled, trying to convince herself what she said was true as well. Dumbledore had definitely increased the security in the castle as well as restricted access from Hogsmeade, which comforted Rosie greatly. Lily nodded and her mouth pulled out of her frown, but the gears in her brain continued to turn.
"My parents had me learn ciphers and codes over the summer, they figured it would be useful. I thought it was quite fun and interesting," Rosie added on, recalling how confusing it was at first.
"Really?" Lily asked, impressed that her family had gone to such lengths, but with what had happened the previous year, she wasn't that surprised. "Could you teach me?" Lily asked, thinking that it could possibly come of use in the future.
"Sure, it's not that confusing once you get the hang of it," Rosie grinned while spooning more roasted potatoes onto her gold plate.
"What's not that confusing?" Sirius asked, turning from his conversation with James.
"None of your business," Rosie huffed, setting the large spoon down and picking up her fork. Sirius frowned, the thought of falling into Rosie's favor during breakfast quickly vanishing in his head.
James, who sensed his best friend's sadness patted him on the back, his feelings matching Sirius'. He knew better than to blame the girls, though. He knew that it was their own fault, even if he wouldn't admit it aloud.
Remus turned to Lily to ask him about their rounds that night, knowing that they'd have to take the dungeons that night. Neither of them liked making rounds in the dungeons; it was damp and extremely cold, even more so at night. The dungeons were always Rosie's least favorite place to do rounds when she had to. She remembered constantly bringing sweaters and shivers running up her spine. However, it was a good place to be alone with her thoughts.
Leaving her distracted state of mind, Rosie felt someone staring at her. Turning her head slightly, she saw Peter peering at her behind Remus. She offered a small smile but was only returned with him blushing a bright red and reverting his eyes back to his filled plate. Odd, she thought. Rosie had never been close to Peter but sometimes felt bad for him. It seemed like he was excluded from his other friends at times, but she knew that they all equally loved each other.
"Where's Marlene?" Lily asked Rosie, noting the lack of her freckled friend at breakfast this morning.
"Hmm, where is Marlene?" Rosie wondered aloud, recalling seeing her sound asleep in her bed a few hours ago.
"She said she would catch up with me when I left, but I guess not," Lily shrugged before turning back to her scrambled eggs and grilled tomatoes.
Remus, who saw McGonagall coming their way, straightened his postures and let out a cough, notifying his friends of the oncoming professor.
"Miss Winters," McGonagall said as she gave her a smile. She handed Rosie her schedule before turning to hand out the other's schedules. Rosie immediately took a look at her schedule, taking in her classes.
Monday:
Defense Against the Dark Arts
Ancient Runes
Double Potions
Tuesday:
Transfiguration
Defense Against the Dark Arts
Free Period
Ancient Runes
Wednesday:
Charms
Herbology
Double Potions
Thursday:
Defense Against the Dark Arts
Free Period
Astronomy
Double Herbology
Friday:
Transfiguration
History of Magic
Double Charms
**Note: you will have lessons on Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in the evenings from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM. You will be escorted back to Gryffindor common room with the instructor from your lesson**
Albus Dumbledore
"You're not taking Muggle Studies or Care of Magical Creatures this year?" asked Lily after inspecting Rosie's schedule.
"I dropped them for a free period...I figured that it would be a little easier to have a bit more free time," Rosie explained, knowing that their teachers were not going to be kind with work this year. However, it was what she was expecting from NEWT level classes.
"We could do that?" Lily asked, a look of regret on her face as she stared at her filled schedule.
"Yeah, maybe it's not too late. You don't have Muggle Studies until tomorrow! Then you can spend that Free Period with me," Rosie suggested. Lily smiled at the thought and made a mental note of visiting McGonagall during lunch to discuss the change.
"Rosie, would you mind if I took a look at your schedule?" Sirius asked politely after receiving and reviewing his own.
"Sure, Sirius," Rosie agreed and handed him her schedule in exchange for his. Much to her surprise, yet not at the same time, she discovered that they had nearly the exact same schedule, the only difference was Arithmancy.
"You've got to be joking..." she mumbled under her breath.
"Well look at that, looks like we all basically have the same schedules," James smirked while looking up from inspecting everyone's schedules, Rosie's included.
"I don't think so," Lily disagreed, not knowing that James had Rosie's schedule sprawled in front of him. Rosie smiled awkwardly at Lily before gesturing to hers. "Well then..." Lily muttered.
"Well, boys. It's a new day and year, let's get our books and get to class," Sirius said as the four rose from their seats and went to go grab their books.
"Can you smell it? It's the smell of new pranks, detentions, and mischief!" Rosie and Lily heard James exclaim as they exited the hall, his fellow Marauders laughing at his statement. The two girls rolled their eyes before standing up to go collect their things as well.
"Think we're ready for this year?" Rosie asked Lily as they left the hall, her left eyebrow quirked.
"Are we ever?" Lily giggled with Rosie as they quickly ran up the moving stairs.
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edited: 06/02/2020