Chapter IV:
Would I die as the hero or the villain?
⊰᯽⊱┈──╌❊╌──┈⊰᯽⊱
"I told them I'd meet them in the trophy room at midnight for a proper duel," Malfoy said proudly, lying back in his seat, "I already told Filch I overheard some students claiming they would be there after hours. I can get Potter expelled, without ever having to leave my bed."
"Brilliant, Draco," complimented Pansy Parkinson, desperate it seems to become part of the Malfoy heir's clique.
Rosaline could only encourage her, as any minute she spent kissing up to Malfoy, was a minute less stuck to her side. She had spent the afternoon in the library with Susan, trying to make sense of their Transfiguration theory, which was incredibly difficult. It was one of those subjects were either excellent natural practical talent was required or a proclivity for mathematics, as the formulas related to changing mass, were not exactly easy.
It was the one class in which Hermione had a big advantage on Rosaline. Every other week, when the teachers would give them feedback on their progress, Hermione was first place in Transfiguration. Rosaline took it as a challenge.
She would not stop until she had mastered one of the hardest spells in the book, The Avifors Spell, which transformed all kinds of objects into birds and was the most advanced Transfiguration spell of their first year.
That evening, too excited to sleep at the prospect of his rival possibly being expelled, Malfoy suggested a séance. As Hallowe'en was upon them, he wanted to use the lifting of the Veil between the Living and the Dead to call upon his ancestors. As fascinating as Rosaline found the idea of speaking to those passed on, she was less excited to have the world of the Living filled with more crazy prejudiced Malfoys. Even if it was just for a minute or two.
However, she was intrigued by the magic and preparation it took to have a séance. So, she asked to be a part of it anyway and asked all kinds of questions. Like, do you need to have a personal connection with the deceased? A blood relation or a memory? Malfoy could not answer that for certain, although he did assume blood relations were easier. So, naturally, Rosaline wondered whether or not blood would be involved in the ritual. Malfoy had stared at her in horror, so she took that as a no.
In fact, Malfoy seemed to know as much about a séance as the average Muggle did after having watched one supernatural film about ghosts. He seemed of the assumption that a few candles, a couple of strange runes and sitting around it in a circle, waiting for the deceased to show up, was going to work.
Rosaline highly doubted it. But it did inspire in her a desire to know more and whether or not it was considered possible in the Wizarding World to contact the dead. And if so, how and what it took. It was, no doubt, ancient magic. One that you could not perform with a wand and a spell as ancient Magic often required sacrifices to work. That sort of magic needed a balancing of the scales. You got something but had to pay the price for it. She didn't think a couple of candles was going to somehow awaken their eternal slumber and summon them.
And when she had sat there for a good five minutes, listening and waiting for anything special to happen, she was certain that she would wait forever in this set-up so she might have sabotaged the entire endeavour by blowing out the candles to scare the other first-years who immediately ran to safety. It really didn't take much. She hadn't expected her fellow, cunning Slytherins to be this gullible. She had a whole plan of playing with doors, and curtains, and raising objects off the table with whispered Levitation Spells.
Part of her wished it had worked, though. She had a whole list of dead people she wanted to talk to. Most of them were reasonable. Like Merlin or Salazar Slytherin, to ask for wisdom, their experience or actual opinions on things that had been deluded by time. But on the top of her list was a name that was not logical at all. The first person she would want to talk to. The very person she was desperate to meet, Felix Rosier. Her father. Illogical and too emotional for her liking, but that's just the way it was.
Her father had been killed in early 1981. A few months before Voldemort met his downfall. He, like most others that died during this time, had become the victim of bloodthirsty Death Eaters. However, he wasn't what you would call their ideal victim. He was Pure-blooded, rich, successful and never actively fought against the Death Eaters. However, they saw his passiveness to neither fight against, nor join the Death Eaters, as the ultimate betrayal. Seeing as both his brother, and his nephew had joined the Death Eaters as soon as they were old enough to do so, Felix's choice was an oddity. His brother, Tobias, had been a part of the gang of Slytherins that had followed Voldemort around at school. He would refer to them as the Knights of Walpurgis. And it was Tobias who was one of the first to be given what would later be called, the Dark Mark.
His son, Evan, had been born and raised in a household that whole-heartedly believed in what Voldemort could and should do. And he had joined the Death Eaters before he had even graduated Hogwarts.
Felix had heard the Dark Lord's call and had considered it. He was the sole Ravenclaw of his family, after all. He preferred to think for himself, and saw further than the honour and ideals of the Death Eaters. He found that the chaos that would ensue if Death Eater were given free rein, would not have been beneficial to anyone. And so he had refused, many times. Even having to go into hiding when he found that saying "no" was no longer sufficient.
But it was futile. His own brother had found him, and it was his own brother that had killed him. For the family honour. To Rosaline, it was a bit vague what happened next. Joy Rosier had admitted that she had gone to seek Voldemort after the death of her husband but what exactly transpired between them is a mystery. All Rosaline knows is that Voldemort killed Tobias Rosier not long after that. Whether it was to avenge the death of Felix, or another reason, Rosaline would never know. But that Felix had died by Tobias's hand, Tobias had been killed by Voldemort, and Evan had died, fighting Aurors to avoid arrest, that she was sure of. It had ended the male Rosier line. And she was now the only one left carrying the name by birth.
The next morning, she found out through a furious Malfoy who had turned all shades of red, that not only had his plan failed to get Harry caught out of bed after hours. She had also been right in the fact that Harry Potter had been made a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Apparently, Professor Flitwick confirmed it himself as Malfoy had once again tried to get Harry expelled by showing their Charms Professor he was in possession of a broomstick.
She couldn't say she was surprised, nor particularly interested.
Rosaline often studied in the library with a few of the more brilliant minds of their year. There were three of them, each representing their house it appeared. There was Rosaline's childhood friend Susan Bones, who gave the group the Hufflepuff point of view and Sue Li from Ravenclaw. They only missed a Gryffindor, and they knew exactly which Gryffindor it should be. However, whenever Hermione saw them sitting together, she avoided them as best as she could instead of asking to join them. None of the three other girls took this to heart, but Rosaline got the distinct impression Hermione was gathering the courage to join them and that it would be a great personal victory for her to come up to them.
That afternoon, they had another unofficial meeting of the study club and once again Hermione passed them without a word. Rosaline wondered how long Hermione was going to ignore them, not even trying to make friends. After all, it didn't appear as though Hermione had gathered an abundant number of friends in the weeks since she had arrived.
"Look," said Susan, shoving her book towards them, "Quirrell only mentioned in his lesson that the Verdimillious Charm emits a green light," she held her classroom notes out as proof, "but the reading clearly says the charm does much more than that. It also reveals doors, or other objects if hidden by Dark Magic."
"That makes far more sense," said Sue Li, "I was already wondering why we got a spell like that in Defence Against the Dark Arts."
The three girls browsed through their books, trying to find more clues as to the uses of the Verdimillious Charm. It turned out that not only did it reveal Dark Magic, it could also be used in Duelling. There were even upgrades on the charm. They were only taught the Verdimillious Uno, while there were more powerful Verdimillious Duo and even Tria versions available of the spell.
They decided to write a short essay on this to remember for the exams. It was somewhere during this that Hermione Granger approached them. Rosaline watched as she took a deep breath, straightening her back, books pressed against her chest, and said, "I overheard you talking about the Verdimillious Charm. I had noticed the inconsistencies too. Can I join you?"
"Of course, you can, Granger," Rosaline said, motioning for Sue Li to give Hermione their findings.
"Let's be honest," Sue said, smiling kindly at Hermione, "if we don't do the thinking work, then the class will think they are just some green sparks. It's what Quirrell leads us to believe anyway."
"You should sit with us more often, Hermione," said Susan after a while. "We always see you in the library, but you never joined us. We have a bit of an unofficial study club going on. We meet pretty much every afternoon after classes, whenever we have time. You should join us."
And that is how Rosaline became official friends with Hermione Granger.
On Hallowe'en morning, Professor Flitwick excitedly announced it was time for them to learn the Levitation Charm. They had been waiting to try it for a while, as it was one of the most useful charms they would learn in their first year. Professor Flitwick put them all in pairs, Rosaline had the misfortune of being matched with Draco Malfoy, who looked equally annoyed. Rosaline was one of maybe two or three Slytherin first-years who didn't worship the ground Malfoy walked on and he hated it. She was one of those people with whom he lost his confidence and felt awkward, and she was never in the mood to make the discomfort better for him.
"Swish and flick, ladies and gentlemen, swish and flick," Professor Flitwick squeaked, as everyone started practising.
"This should be easy enough," grumbled Malfoy, rolling up his sleeves. "I've seen my parents perform this charm over a million times."
"Highly unlikely," said Rosaline absent-mindedly. "Million is a lot."
Malfoy was unamused as he picked up his wand, "Wingardium Leviosa," the feather sort of fibrated, which was admittedly more than most students had been able to manage. However, it definitely never lifted from its spot on their desk.
Rosaline figured it was now her turn to try, "Wingardium Leviosa," their feather rose off the desk easily enough and hovered a few feet above their heads.
"Oh, well done!" Cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Miss Rosier's done it! Ten points to Slytherin for Miss Rosier's hard work."
Rosaline grinned proudly. The number of points she had earned their house, far exceeded her classmates. She might even have the best personal score in the whole house. She had certainly set a record when she managed to get a hundred points within her first week at Hogwarts, or so Gemma claimed. She had congratulated Rosaline heartily, saying Slytherin was blessed to have her.
After classes had ended for the day, the Slytherins made their way to the Great Hall for the annual Hallowe'en feast. The gossip queens of Gryffindor, namely Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, had a by now familiar look on their faces that told the other students they knew something no one else did. It wasn't necessarily a malicious look, more one of superiority.
When Pansy asked, the two didn't answer her and just walked away. This could have been caused by just two things. One, Parvati and Lavender had finally gotten enough of Pansy. Two, they weren't about to tell a Slytherin something that involved a Gryffindor.
Seeing as Pansy hadn't necessarily changed behaviour since the last time Rosaline saw them together, she figured option two was more likely. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she couldn't help how her perceptive eyes studied the Gryffindor table. She was hoping someone would give something away. She figured it most likely had something to do with the first years, as Parvati and Lavender would have been less inclined to protect someone older.
Hermione Granger was missing.
Rosaline approached the Gryffindor table for the first time since her first day. "Hey," she greeted Parvati, who instantly looked up. "I can't help but notice Hermione Granger isn't here. Did something happen?"
Parvati was reluctant to answer her. "I heard her crying in the girls' toilets just now. But when I asked if she needed anything, she told me she just wanted to be left alone."
Rosaline nodded. "I'll go check on her, convince her to come to the Feast, at least. Thank you, Parvati."
She slipped back out the Great Hall and casually made her way to the girls' bathrooms. She had been Hermione's sort of friend since they started studying together and she, therefore, felt somewhat obligated to at least see if the girl was OK.
The Hogwarts Castle held lots of bathrooms, and after having checked the ones closest to the Great Hall, Rosaline really regretted not asking Parvati which bathroom she had been referring to.
She eventually did manage to find Hermione, after three failures to do so. She could hear the Gryffindor sniffle behind one of the locked bathroom stall doors. She knocked on the door, the sniffling stopped as Hermione held her breath. "Granger? It's Rosaline. Are you OK?"
Hermione let go of the breath she was holding and shuffled around a bit. "How did you know I was here?"
Hermione was probably scared that somehow the reason for her being there had travelled around Hogwarts like wildfire, so Rosaline quickly assured her that wasn't the case, "I just noticed you weren't at the Feast," she shrugged. "So, why aren't you in the Great Hall right now?"
Hermione didn't answer, but it appeared as though Rosaline's question made the tears worse again as she could now distinctly hear her hiccup.
"Look, Granger, I don't know what happened, but you really shouldn't be isolating yourself and missing out on all the fun in the Great Hall just to cry."
Rosaline was momentarily distracted by a pink flickering. She looked down to see that the pink gemstone in her ring had lit up. It appeared as though the protection charms placed upon it were being activated. Rosaline was in danger.
"Hermione, I need you to come out right now! Something is happening."
"What...?" said Hermione, not moving as quickly as Rosaline hoped she would. Her adrenalin was spiking. Her ring was now growing warm, a clear sign the threat was getting nearer. She could smell something now, a foul stench, like a mixture of old socks and uncleaned toilets.
"Alohomora," chanted Rosaline, opening the door and dragging Hermione out. She was protesting but stopped immediately when she too caught the scent. Rosaline shushed her as they heard a low grunting that was distinctly non-human. They looked around the stalls towards the door. It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. The worst part? It was holding a huge wooden club.
Hermione let out a high-pitched terrified scream as she caught sight of the full-grown male mountain troll that had appeared in the girls' loo. The loud sound had aggravated the troll, and it had now zeroed in on them, raising the heavy club above his head.
"Hermione get down!" shouted Rosaline, realising they were about to be beaten to a pulp. The first hit turned the stall door, behind which they had been previously hiding, into a bunch of splinters. The second knocked a row of sinks to the ground, as Hermione sank to her knees in absolute terror.
Right at that moment, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley appeared out of nowhere. "Confuse it!" Harry said desperately. He seized a tap and threw it as hard as he could against the wall.
The troll stopped a few feet from Rosaline and Hermione. It lumbered around, focusing his attack on Harry now, lifting its club as it went.
"Oy, pea-brain!" Weasley yelled from the other side of the room, and he threw a metal pipe at it.
While the troll was distracted, Rosaline whisper-yelled at Hermione to get up. She calculated a way to the door, preferably one that would not end in her brains on a tile. "Come on, run, run!" She pulled desperately at Hermione's arm. "They cannot distract it forever; we have to try and get out." Hermione couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth opened with terror. "Hermione, please, move, you're going to get us all killed."
The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started towards Ron, who was nearest and had no way of escape.
In an effort to save his best friend, Harry proceeded to perform the most Gryffindor act that could possibly be done in that kind of situation. It was both brave and incredibly stupid as he took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel him hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose and Harry's wand had accidentally been shoved so far up, it had probably pierced its brain. "Ah, gross," was all Harry had to say to that.
The troll howled in pain and started waving his huge club around. "Flipendo!" shouted Rosaline, knocking the troll face-first into a wall. The tiles broke off the wall, and the troll did appear to have gotten quite the concussion, but it wasn't out yet. It stood weakly upon his legs.
He was now in a wrong position for Rosaline to attempt it again, because now Harry was in between the troll and the wall.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron suddenly cried, no doubt using the first spell that came to mind in his panic. The club flew out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over – and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.
Almost immediately Rosaline's ring started cooling off again, the light dimming as it deemed the protection was no longer needed.
"Is it – dead?" Hermione said with a tremble.
"I don't think so," said Harry. "I think it's just been knocked out." He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy grey glue. "Urgh! – troll boogers."
A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the four of them look up. The racket from the troll's roaring and his eventual fall must have alerted the teachers. As a moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Professors Snape and Quirrell. Professor Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.
Professor Snape bent over the troll while Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Her lips were wide with anger. "What on earth were you thinking?" Said Professor McGonagall with cold fury in her voice. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"
"Please, Professor McGonagall – " A voice small said, just as Professor Snape was staring Harry down with a glare. "They were looking for me."
"Miss Granger!"
"I went looking for the troll because I – I thought I could deal with it on my own – you know, because I've read all about them."
"Well, - in that case – Professor McGonagall, staring at the four of them. "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?" Hermione looked about ready to cry again. "Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this." Said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all you'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses." Hermione left.
Professor McGonagall turned to two Gryffindors and Rosaline. "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken a full-grown mountain troll. Mr Potter and Mr Weasley, you each earn Gryffindor House five points, same goes for you Miss Rosier and five points for Slytherin. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."