Hermione left bright and early the next morning to try to help Hagrid with his lessons. Rose, Ron and Harry did their homework in the common room, trying to ignore the gleeful shouts of students playing in the snow. They also had to ignore the constant thumps as people bewitched snowballs to hit the window.
"That's it," Ron muttered as he threw open the window and stuck his head out. "I am a prefect and if one more snowball hits this window-OUCH!"
Rose let out a laugh as Ron quickly brought his head back inside and angrily closed the window. His whole face was covered in snow.
"It's Fred and George," Ron huffed as he angrily sat in his seat. Snowballs continued hitting the window.
"Ok, my turn," Rose muttered as she opened the window. The twins grinned up at her angry face. "If you two don't stop hitting this window I'm going to give you antlers for the rest of your lives and I'll write your mother!"
Fred and George sent each other panicked looks before running off. Rose smiled and closed the window and sat back down.
"Thank you," Ron murmured. Rose nodded and continued writing her Potions essay until Hermione came back a little before lunch.
"So?" Ron asked as Hermione sat next to him. "Got his lessons planned for him?"
"I tried," Hermione said as she used her wand to warm up after being outside in the snow. "He wasn't even there when I arrived. I knocked for thirty minutes before he came out of the forest-"
Harry let out a groan when he heard that Hagrid had been in the Forbidden Forest.
"What's he doing in there?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure. He says he wants to keep everything a surprise. I tried to explain about Umbridge, but he just said that nobody in their right mind would want to study the boring stuff that I was suggesting. He's in a funny mood. He still won't tell me how he got those injuries," Hermione responded. The whole quartet shared nervous looks, worried for the half-giant.
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Hagrid returned to the Great Hall the next morning. His reappearance was met with varying responses: Fred, George and Lee all seemed excited while Lavender and Parvati looked like they could cry. Even Rose was a little sad that Professor Grubbly-Plank was going to have to leave, but Rose would always have loyalty to Hagrid first.
"Is anyone else kinda nervous for this?" Rose asked on Tuesday morning as the quartet walked down to the Care of Magical Creatures lesson. She was wearing one of Harry's sweatshirts to try to fight the cold, but it wasn't doing much.
"I am. Let's just hope Umbridge isn't there," Harry said as he pulled Rose into his side, trying to warm her and warm himself at the same time.
Umbridge, luckily, wasn't there. Hagrid was waiting for the class in front of the forest, his cuts seemingly getting worse, not better.
"Is that a cow?" Rose gasped as she looked at Hagrid. He had the dead body strung over his shoulder. Hermione nodded, disgust clear on her face.
"We're going to be working in here today!" Hagrid told the class once they were all there. "Bit more sheltered. Anyways, they prefer the dark..."
"What prefers the dark?" Draco asked, worry clear in his voice. Rose noticed that he was back to hanging out with Crabbe and Goyle again. Theo and Blaise stood back behind everyone instead of next to Draco like they had before. "Did he-did he say what?"
"Ready?" Hagrid asked. "Right! I've been saving a trip into the forest for fifth year. Thought we'd go and see the creatures in their natural habitat. What we're studying today is pretty rare, and I imagine I'm the only person in Britain who has them trained-"
"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" Draco asked loudly, trying to act as if he wasn't scared. "Wouldn't be the first time you've brought something wild into class."
A few people in both Slytherin and Gryffindor looked as if they agreed with Draco.
"Course they're trained," Hagrid said.
"So what happened to your face then?" Draco asked.
"He should be asking you that question," Rose called out. Draco turned to glare at her. "Tell me, have you always looked like a ferret or did your parents just drop you enough as a kid that your face changed?"
"At least I had parents," Draco sneered at her. Hermione quickly held Rose back as Ron and Neville held back Harry.
"Enough of that!" Hagrid called out. Rose and Harry both huffed but calmed down enough that they were let go. "Mind your business, Malfoy. If you're done asking stupid questions, follow me."
Hagrid turned and entered the forest. No one in the class moved until the quartet shared a look and entered the forest, the rest of the class hesitantly following. They walked for about ten minutes until it was almost completely dark and there was no snow on the ground. Hagrid dropped the cow on the ground and turned to face the class, many of whom were in tight groups as if expecting to be attacked.
"Gather round," Hagrid instructed and the class slowly inched forward. "Now, they'll be attracted to the smell of the meat, but I'll give them a call anyways. They like to know it's me."
Hagrid turned again and held his hands up to his mouth before making an odd shrieking noise. No one laughed, as they all looked too frightened. Hagrid called to more times before Rose saw yellow eyes emerging from behind a bush. Rose and Harry, as well as a few other students, all gasped.
Rose watched as the familiar body emerged. It was the same animal that had been pulling the carriages. The animal watched the class before starting to eat the cow.
"Why hasn't Hagrid called again?" Ron asked. The rest of the class looked just as confused as Ron, except for Blaise and Neville, who were both staring at the animal with disgust.
"Here comes another one!" Hagrid said. Rose smiled softly as another animal emerged.
"Can I touch it?" Rose asked softly. Hagrid nodded so Rose reached out and ran her hand on the animal's back as Harry smiled softly at Rose. The animal gave Rose a soft nudge of gratitude before it walked away and started eating the dead cow.
"Who all can see em?" Hagrid asked.
Hagrid nodded at Harry and Rose.
"I knew you two would be able to," Hagrid said. "And you too, Neville? And you-?"
"What are we supposed to be seeing?" Draco interrupted.
Hagrid simply pointed at the dead cow. The class all gasped as they watched bits of flesh be ripped up and then disappear. Rose understood how scary that could be, but she still thought their reactions were funny.
"What's doing it?" Parvati asked as she backed up.
"Thesterals," Hagrid answered. Hermione gave a soft 'oh' of understanding. "Hogwarts has a whole herd of them. Now, who knows-"
"But they're really unlucky!" Parvati interrupted. "They're supposed to bring bad luck and horrible misfortune to those who see them! Professor Trelawney told me-"
"No, no, no," Hagrid said with a small chuckle. "That's just superstition. They're dead clever and useful, actually. Course, here they mainly just pull the carriages or take Dumbledore places he doesn't want to apparate-ah, look! Here more come!"
Two more Thesterals came over, one brushing against Parvati, who quickly jumped away and pressed herself against a tree.
"I felt something! It's near me!" Parvati shrieked.
"Don't worry, it won't hurt you," Hagrid assured her. "Who knows why some people can see them while others can't?"
Hermione quickly shot her hand into the air and Hagrid called on her.
"The only people who can see them are people who can see death," Hermione answered. Rose immediately felt the breath leave her lungs as the faces of Cedric and the muggle man flashed before her eyes. She reached out and grabbed Harry's hand as her heart started beating faster and her chest felt tight.
"That's right," Hagrid said solemnly. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Now, Thesterals-"
"Hem, hem."
Rose's heart seemed to beat even faster when she heard Umbridge. The woman was standing at the edge of the group with her clipboard ready. Hagrid had never heard her fake cough before so he started looking at the Thesterals with worry.
"Hem, hem."
"Oh, hello!" Hagrid said brightly once he finally saw Umbridge.
"You saw the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" Umbridge asked, her voice loud and slow as if Hagrid was hearing impaired.
"I did! Glad to see you found the place alright. Now, as you can see- well, I don't know if you can see. Can you see the Thesterals?" Hagrid asked.
"I'm sorry? What did you say?" Umbridge asked.
"Er-Thesterals," Hagrid repeated. "The winged horses."
Hagrid started beating his arms like wings and Umbridge gave him a look before writing on her clipboard. One of the Thesterals bumped into Rose and she let out a gasp.
"You okay?" Harry whispered to Rose as Umbridge continued to write on her clipboard, saying every word outloud as she wrote. The Slytherins were laughing as she wrote that Hagrid had to use crude hand gestures and had memory loss.
"Yeah, I...I'm fine," Rose lied. Harry gave her an unsure look but turned back to Hagrid so Umbridge wouldn't say anything.
"Oh, yeah," Hagrid said. "I was telling you how we started the herd. We had one Male and five females. This one, Tenebrus, he's my special favorite. He was the first one born-"
"Are you aware," Umbridge interrupted. "That the Ministry classified Thesterals as highly dangerous?"
"They're not dangerous!" Hagrid said heartily. "All right, they might take a bite out of you if-"
"Shows signs of pleasure at the idea of violence," Umbridge muttered as she wrote.
"No! That's not what I meant!" Hagrid quickly said. "I mean, a dog will bite you too! Thesterals just have a bad reputation because of the whole death thing. They're just misunderstood."
Umbridge didn't answer for a second as she continued to write. She finally looked up to Hagrid and gave him a smile that Rose knew meant that Hagrid was in trouble.
"I'm going to walk among the students and ask them questions. Please continue teaching as normal," Umbridge said. Rose felt her blood boil as Umbridge mimed out what she was going to do.
"I don't think I like them anymore," Rose whispered to Harry as Hagrid tried to continue teaching, but Umbridge was making it very difficult.
"They're not going to hurt you," Harry assured Rose.
"I know...that's not why I don't like them," Rose whispered back. Harry stared at her with confusion as she tried to blink Cedric's face away. It was replaced by the muggle man's face.
"I want to sit," Rose whispered. Harry nodded and guided her to sit leaning against a tree. Umbridge moved and started asking Neville questions.
"She's going to crucify him," Rose whispered. She tried not to look at the Thesterals because any time she did Cedric or the muggle man would enter her mind.
"Yeah," Harry muttered as he watched Umbridge walk off, a happy smile on her face. Hagrid dismissed the class not long after.
"You good to stand?" Harry asked. Rose nodded and allowed Harry to help her stand. Rose quickly grabbed Harry's hand. They joined Ron and Hermione and exited the forest.
"That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!" Hermione yelled as they walked through the snow. "She just hates half breeds and she knows Hagrid is a half-giant! And for Hagrid the Thesterals were actually a good lesson!"
"Umbridge said they were dangerous," Ron reminded her.
"Well, like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves. And maybe older students should be the ones to see them, but they are interesting. I do wish I could see them," Hermione said.
"Do you?" Rose whispered.
"Oh, I didn't-" Hermione said.
"I'm gonna...gonna go feed Tillie," Rose mumbled as she detached herself from Harry.
"You need help?" Harry called after her.
"No..." Rose said, making her way to her dorm room where she laid down on her bed and cried herself to sleep, her nightmares filled with Cedric and the muggle man.
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December was not starting off good. Rose had started having nightmares again, so she rarely slept more than three hours a night. Detentions with Umbridge continued, and Rose was getting used to constantly being light headed and cold. She was almost always wearing one of Harry's sweatshirts to keep warm, but she always shook anyways. To make matters even worse, Tillie wasn't showing any signs of having kittens anytime soon, so Rose owed Hermione five galleons.
The quartet could barely hang out anymore because Ron and Hermione were always doing prefect duties and Rose was forced to go to detention every night except the on the weekends. Hermione had even stopped knitting hats for the house elves, which came as a relief to Rose.
Rose also didn't know where she was spending Christmas. Hermione would he going skiing with her parents while the Weasley's and Harry would be going to the Burrow. Mcgonagall had informed Rose that Dumbledore was appealing to the Ministry that Rose spend the break at the Burrow, but he hadn't gotten a response yet.
The last DA meeting before the holidays came and Rose was actually able to attend. Umbridge had a meeting, so Rose didn't even have a detention at all, leaving her much happier than she had been in a while.
"Hello?" Rose called as she entered the Room of Requirements. It was before the meeting was set to start, but Rose knew that Harry would be there. Rose immediately started laughing when she saw all the Christmas decorations, including a banner with Harry's face on it, wishing everyone a very Harry Christmas.
"Oh, shut up. It was Dobby," Harry said as he walked over and hugged Rose. "What are you doing here so early?"
"Umbridge had a meeting so I didn't have detention," Rose answered as she started helping Harry remove some of the most distracting Christmas decorations. Harry smirked and pulled her closer.
"It's been a while since we've had time to ourselves," Harry murmured.
"It sure has," Rose whispered with a smile on her face as she grabbed the back of Harry's neck and connected their lips. Harry grabbed her hips and pulled her closer just for the door to open. Harry and Rose shot apart as Luna Lovegood entered.
"Hello," Luna said as she looked around the room. "Those are nice. Did you put them up?"
"No, Dobby the house elf did," Harry replied, his cheeks burning red from being caught.
"Mistletoe," Luna noted as she looked up. "It's often infested with nargles."
Rose and Harry shared a questioning look before shrugging and working together to make the room less Christmas-y and more defense-y. The room slowly started to fill up as more and more members came in.
"Well," Angelina said as she approached Harry. "We've replaced you."
"Replaced me?" Harry asked, his voice showing both shock and sadness.
"You, Fred and George," Angelina clarified.
"With who?" Harry asked.
"Ginny is seeker," Katie answered as she walked over.
"Oh, I have to go congratulate her!" Rose gasped. She gave Harry's hand a squeeze and saved bye to the two girls before running off to find Ginny.
"Ginny!" Rose squealed. The girl quickly turned around.
"You've heard?" Ginny gasped excitedly. Rose nodded quickly with a wide smile on her face as she gave Ginny a huge hug.
"Congratulations! I know how much you wanted this!" Rose said. Ginny had told her and Hermione about her quidditch dreams when they were getting ready for the Yule Ball.
"Thank you!" Ginny said excitedly before she glanced past Rose and saw Harry. "Is Harry ok?"
"He will be," Rose assured the girl.
"Okay!" Harry called out. The whole group turned to look at him. "I thought that since this is our last meeting since Christmas, we could just practice what we've already learned."
"We're not going to learn anything new?" Zacharias Smith asked. "If I'd known that I wouldn't have come..."
"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," Fred said. Multiple members of the DA laughed at Fred's remark. Rose's stomach twisted uncomfortably when she saw Cho staring at Harry.
"Ginny?" Rose whispered as Harry gave out instructions. "Can you watch Cho tonight? Something about her seems..off."
"Sure, but what do you mean?" Ginny asked as she stood opposite of Rose to practice the Impedimenta jinx.
"She's just looking at Harry weird...like she has something planned," Rose said. Ginny looked until she found Cho and she frowned.
"Yeah...she's not looking away from him," Ginny noted as she cast the spell on Rose.
"I thought so," Rose said once she had recovered from the spell. She did the spell to Ginny. "I know she's a nice girl, but I don't trust her."
"Harry wouldn't cheat," Ginny told Rose. Rose looked over her shoulder and saw Harry giving Cho instructions as the girl leaned closer to Harry.
"I know...but I think he used to like Cho. Before he liked me," Rose admitted.
"Well, he loves you now," Ginny said. Rose nodded, but she couldn't help but look over her shoulder repeatedly.
"Ok!" Harry announced once the clock struck 9. "That was really good! You've all improved loads. We can come back from the holidays and do bigger stuff- maybe even Patronuses."
There was a murmur of approval as everyone carefully made their way out of the room, making sure to not be caught by Umbridge or Filch.
"Rose, you coming?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah," Rose nodded. Hermione caught up to the two girls as they left the Room of Requirement.
"Did you see Cho today?" Hermione asked. "She usually always stares at Harry, but it was worse than usual today. And she sent her friend Marietta out without her. She's still in there with Harry now."
"She is?" Rose asked.
"Yeah," Hermione confirmed.
"I-I left my bag. You two go on without me," Rose said.
"You sure?" Ginny asked. Rose nodded and turned around, quickly walking back to the Room of Requirement.
"Harry?" Rose asked as she opened the door. A sob left Rose's throat as Harry and Cho sprang apart, much like Harry and Rose had earlier.