Oculus Reparo!

@ oldbook;
Jason was more than a little surprised when he answered. Intently listening, Jason nodded and said, "Oh.." He put the bicorn horn in and started to stir it. He smiled at Alaric and said, "Thanks." He listened to him again and bit his lip before giving a grin. "Thanks!" He told him once more before looking back to his own potion and trying to make sure it came out the way it was supposed to. "I owe you one." He told him with a smile as he looked up hearing Professor Rex. Hearing his praise he nodded and said, "Alaric helped me, but thank you." He bowed his head.

Jason smiled softly before just chilling and waiting for the class to end, or rather for the others to finish with their potions. He noticed some of his friends looked frazzled and he chuckled knowing if Alaric hadn't helped him, he would also be one of those people. Hearing the teacher he smiled. He grabbed his stuff and said bye to Alaric and Gwen. He caught up to Rosina and said, "Yeah. I wonder if McGonagall is still going to teach the class. Probably not, but i hope so." He chuckled as he walked with her.

Gwen smiled making her ferret disappear before running a hand through her hair. She heard Professor Rex say that she should partner with Alaric and looked back noticing his frown and bit down on her own lip before running a hand through her hair once more and popped her back gently against the back of her chair. She looked back down at her sketch book and started to draw again before biting down on her thumb as she finished up her drawing hearing Professor Rex beginning to speak. She closed her pad and looked at him smiling softly. Hearing that she had earned her house 10 points excited her.

Gwen stood up grabbing her stuff and smiled once more. "Bye, Rosie." She nodded in agreement. She headed towards the stairs blinking when she saw Alaric in front of her and bit down on her lip. She shook her head and hummed softly as she made it to astronomy class. She looked around seeing a few girls that made fun of her a lot and then Alaric and that was the extent of the people she recognized in the classroom. Looking around, she heard the professor begin to speak and gently sat down in a chair waiting to see what she would be doing in the class. She looked up almost gasping as she saw the constellations above them shining down bringing light upon them.

(I'm sorry it's short!)

@ FlyAway;
Rosina and Jason made their way to the transfiguration room to find a different t professor than McGonagall. She wished too that McGonagall was teaching, but understood that she probably had a lot more to deal with. She could at least hope that the new professor would be just as good Professor McGonagall. She looked like kind woman, a little less sharp and stern as McGonagall. The Professor had long golden curls that trailed down her back, bright green eyes, and a bright smile. She sat at her desk, writing with a quill as the students filed in. Rosina smiled at Jason, “Well thanks for walking with me,” she said, before walking over to her roommate, Lea.

Lea smirked at her. “You were walking with Jason? Like Jason? The super sexy Chaser?”

Rosina rolled her eyes. “Oh please, as if he’d ever even seriously look at me. He could have any Gryffindor he wanted. He doesn’t want the stuffy Hufflepuff prefect,” she said, her cheeks heating up. She stopped when Professor Leblanc cleared her throat. Though, she couldn’t stop her cheeks from being so impossibly hot. She wasn’t sure why she was embarrassed. Part of it must be the fact that she hasn’t had a boyfriend her entire time at Hogwarts. She wasn’t sure what she wasn’t doing right, but she wasn’t convinced she was even pretty at this point. She shook her head, trying to focus.

“Good morning, students. My name is Professor Leblanc. I’m really delighted to have you all in class. I’m wondering who can tell me what they covered so far to get into an OWL level class,” she said, moving to the front of her desk and sitting on it.

Alaric glanced up at the stars above them as the room darkened. He was wondering how Astronomy worked during the day, but magic was far from limited. Professor Sinistra sat looking as regal and stern as she always did. Her face was illuminated softly by something sparkling on her desk and with a wave of her hands, the stars above them disappeared. She asked them to plot the stars to see if they remembered or if everything was lost during summer. Alaric set to work quickly, dipping his quill into ink and plotting the stars almost perfectly. Even if he was somehow friendless in his classes, at least he started his day with his two favorite classes. He looked back up at the ceiling, trying to visualize what had been right before them. Before long, he completed his star map with a proud smile and positive affirmation from Professor Sinistra.

@ oldbook;
Jason saw that the Professor was not McGonagall and was a little more than disappointed, but erased it from his face not wanting the professor to think he was being rude. He saw her kind features and hoped that it was going to be a good class. He looked down at Rosina and gave her a smile. "You're welcome." he watched her walk back to another girl before sitting down by one of his friends. He ignored them looking at Rosina for a moment before figuring out that thta was probably rude. He turned his eyes away.

Hearing his friend asking if he was on earth, he laughed and replied, "No, i'm on Jupiter." He grinned and shook his head as his friend asked why he was walking with a Hufflepuff, "Because first off, people aren't automatically their houses, dude. Second off, because she's actually pretty cool." He laughed his voice carrying a little. He shook his head as he looked up hearing Professor Leblanc clear her throat. He thought she was extremely pretty, but knew that she'd probably never like him considering he wasn't as smart as her. He started on his class work. He listened to the Professor and his mind kind of blanked.

Gwen gasped looking at the stars, smiling as she stared at the constellations she had grown to memorize. She heard one of the girls start to tell their friends that Gwen was so weird that even the stars shied away from her. She frowned before hearing Professor Sinistra. She dipped her quill in ink, taking her time as she filled in the constellations. She got an approval from Professor Sinistra, blinking seeing everyone else had failed except for Alaric. "Ten points to Ravenclaw. Ten points to Slytherin. Brilliant work, you two." She smiled.

Gwen couldn't help but smile before hearing the girls speaking about her once again. She finally turned around a frown on her face. "Just because i'm not super plain like you two, doesn't mean I'm weird. Either shut up, and keep my name out of your mouth, or at least have the decency to say it to my face." She frowned. The girl laughed her voice tinkling annoyingly. "What? You're talking to me? The weird ferret girl that doesn't even have a single friend except for the Hufflepuff prefect? No, i'm pretty sure you're weird." Gwen frowned shaking her head and turned back around biting down on her lip. Her shoulders slumped a bit more. "Stupid bitch." She heard those words and nearly lost it. She turned around and grabbed her by the neck and slammed her head into the table. "Don't." She hissed her eyes ablaze. "TEN POINTS FROM RAVENCLAW! GWENDOLYN. DETENTION. RELEASE HER AT ONCE." Gwen looked up before letting her go. She grabbed her stuff rushing out of the room. A small sparkle gave away the tears starting to run down her face.

@ FlyAway;
Some other student replied to the professor, who nodded and began discussing the curriculum for OWLs. She gave some information on herself: she was a Hogwarts alumni, a Gryffindor, and she was animagus just like McGonagall. She explained how this year they will be working on Human Transfigurations. Rosina felt a flutter of nervousness in her stomach, like her intestines had transfigured themselves into butterflies that were trying to find a way to escape. Rosina struggled last year with Cross-Species Transfiguration and she imagined that Human Transfiguration was going to be almost impossible. For a moment, she wondered if this would be her last year in Transfiguration.

“As an added bonus, those students that do exceptionally well this first semester will have the option to apply for the Animagus elective to be offered over winter break,” Professor Leblanc said. “Only 5 students will be selected for this elective, so do your best. For todays class, I’d like to work on the Inanumatus Conjures Spell.”

Rosina peaked up immediately, trying to sit a little taller. The idea of being able to compete for the possibility of a special elective was something that she could not pass up. With her announcement, class began with a start. Everyone seemed to want to prove themselves. They worked diligently on the proper motion for this spell, even though they worked on this in 5th year. It felt different and important. Leblanc was clearly assessing their abilities to conjure, which should be a skill that was relatively mastered by the NEWT level. Rosina, finally, conjured a teacup in front of her and smiled brightly. So far, this was a pretty good morning.

Alaric tried to stifle that smile that threatened his lips when he received points. He felt a strange sensation in his stomach though now that him and Gwen were yet again on the same level. No, it wasn’t strange. He knew exactly what it was. He felt exceedingly guilty. He underestimated her. He judged her. She was clearly brilliant. Before he got to even say anything, some other Ravenclaw began to taunt her. He felt another pang of sadness. He knew what it was like to be teased. He was taunted until 4th year when puberty hit, his voice dropped, and his chin got far more chiseled. He wasn’t saying he was handsome, but he definitely looked better and people were nicer to him. He wanted to say something, but then Gwen snapped. She slammed the other girl’s head down and Professor Sinistra reacted quickly.

What was once guilt and sadness was replaced with a little bit of fear. Was she crazy or had she just hit her limit? He wasn’t sure. He stood. “Professor, may I?” He asked. She nodded, a surprise look on her face. Gwen left her paper ferret on the table and he scooped it up. He walked down the stairs, finding Gwen crying next to a stain glass window. “Gwen,” he offered, “You left this in class,” he said, sheepishly. “I just thought you might want it. Seems important to you, even if it’s awfully annoying.”

@ oldbook;
Jason was surprised when she said that she was a Gryffindor alumni, but knew for a fact that that meant she wasn't going to play favorites. If anything she was going to be harder on Gryffindor's like McGonagall had been. He listened and his interest immediately piqued at the idea of being an animagus. His mother had been once before she had passed away from cancer. He wanted to be one so bad and knew that this competition was going to be difficult but he wanted it more than anything and was going to make himself get it.

Looking up, he nodded and knew he wasn't bad at Transfigurations at all. It was his second best class, potions being his worst. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes before casting the spell, conjuring a teacup and a tea kettle. He blinked, in awe. He had never been able to conjure up a kettle before, a smile immediately coming onto his features as he looked up at Professor Sinistra complimented him. He nodded his head before hearing her praise Rosina as well. He looked at her, and flashed her a white smile before looking back down at what he had conjured. He wasn't having the best of mornings since the potion had been terrible, but he was getting it on rather well.

Gwen wiped at her face sniffling. She didn't understand what made people just want to mess with her. She was one hundred percent sure that she didn't have a sign on her back saying to kick her. She wiped away her tears crossing her arms over her chest as she stared out the window. She bit down on her lip knowing she had been having a nice morning but now it had turned sour. She knew she shouldn't have lost her temper, but enough was enough. She had dealt with the same girls for four years and she knew that she should have taken it a different way, but she had lost it from her last words. She ran a shaky hand throughout her hair. Biting down on her lip even harder she looked out the window.

Upon hearing a voice, she wiped at her face even though her beautiful hazel eyes were red from crying, making the flecks of emerald appear more thoroughly. She turned around and looked at him. Seeing her paper ferret, she looked down before nodded. "It is." She murmured before taking it into her hands. "I can make other ones, but ferrets are terribly loyaly." She said softly. She looked at him and said, "I thought it disgusted you." She wiped at her face again, determined to make sure not many people say her crying. She figured that she was have a better day tomorrow since Quidditch began tomorrow. "Thanks." She told him. "I hope I broke her nose." She mumbled looking out the mirror. "Everyday, I hear them whispering about me. Enough is enough." She said, probably more to herself than anyone else. She turned back to look at Alaric. "Thanks again. I'll see you later." She mumbled before grabbing her bag again and starting to walk down the staircase, knowing that if she returned to class all that would happen would be more comments and more stares.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina caught Jason smiling at her and knew her face was growing hot again. She could barely listen to Lea make jokes about it. She wasn’t used to boys smiling at her or thinking of her at all. She tried to focus on conjuring a tea kettle like Jason had, but she was unsuccessful. Eventually, Professor Leblanc assigned them homework about what can and cannot be conjured. She stood, grabbing her books and walking over to Jason.

“Hey, that was really brilliant. Just wanted you to know,” she said, before quickly walking away and catching up with Lea. The rest of her classes passed by with nothing eventful happening until lunch. By the time lunch arrived, she sat with Rodney, Lea, and Marjorie. Rodney retold the story of what happened with Gwen. She felt sad for her friend and looked for in the lunch room to no success. Instead, she caught Jason’s eye again, but quickly turned back to her friends. She was being a silly girl and she was far better than that.

Alaric felt a pang of sadness for her, even if her eyes were sparkling and beautiful. He ran his hand through his hair and went to answer her. Before he could get a word out, she pushed past him and down the stairs. He thought of going after her once more, but she seemed to need to be alone which he understood. Besides, they weren’t friends. He only came to find her because he felt bad. He sighed, climbing the stairs back to the Astronomy tower. He walked back into the classroom and it seemed that Professor Sinistra got everyone back on track. He walked over, gave her a small report, and then returned to his seat.

“Alaric,” Paxton said, “I thought you were done with freaky stuff and freaky girls. I mean, did you see that shit? Clary had to go to the hospital wing. Shit was crazy.”

Alaric looked at his roommate, “Yeah, man. It was crazy,” he said, even though he felt quite sad for her. He pushed through the rest of his classes without seeing Gwen at all. He wondered where she went. By the time he wrapped with DADA, he was starving. His stomach was rumbling and he walked with Paxton towards the lunch room and people were still chattering about what happened in the Astronomy tower:

I heard she broke her nose.

Maybe she’s possessed like Ginny was.

Oh no, that girl has always been weird..

He tucked his head down, trying to ignore them. He felt really bad for Gwen, enough where he wasn’t sure he would ever give her shit again. Instead, he might just rival her in their best classes and try not to step on her ferret. He sat down at the Slytherin table as Paxton retold the story to his other roommates. He searched for Gwen in the crowd until Paxton said his name. He was asking what happened when he went looking for her. He looked at his friends, their faces eager with anticipating. "Nothing, guys. She was crying. Um, yeah. It's not that funny, okay?" He said. "Let's talk about something else, jeez." He stuffed a cucumber sandwich in his face, averting his eyes.

@ oldbook;
Jason noticed her face get red, and smiled to himself glad that he had that affect on her. He turned back to his word, dipping his quill in ink as he began to write down his homework. He started on the rest of his classwork, getting his mind into it as he answered the questions. He finished up and ran a hand through his hair. He looked up seeing Rosina and blinked before grinning. "Thanks." He said watching her leave. He ignored the comments from his friend as he shook his head.

Jason made it into the great hall and sat down before blinking hearing about Gwen and frowned hearing people whispering about her. He shook his head ignoring them. He finally snapped at a friend saying, "Look you don't know what happened. You weren't there, just drop it, man." He shook his head sighing. He knew they weren't friends, but he knew her on the Quidditch field and knew she didn't do anything without a reason.

Gwen began to sob once she got to the bathroom and stifled her sobs with a hand over her mouth. She stopped crying and sniffed before shaking her head once more pulling her knees to her chest laying her head on her knees. She calmed herself down as she slowly began to sketch once more. She was in the midst of drawing the womping willow when she realized what time it was, but figured she would skip lunch since she didn't want to walk into the Great Hall since she knew people would be whispering again.

Instead of staying on the floor in the girls' bathroom, she stood up and headed to the library. She made it there and then started to work on her homework. After a moment she knew it was time for her to stop being a wuss and took a deep breath as she made her face emotionless and walked into the great hall, easily striding past everyone and sitting down at the table. She gritted her teeth gently hearing Clary's friends talking about how she was a psycho bitch. She sat down, most of the chatter stopping for a moment before picking back up. This time, more fervolous. She got soup and started to eat it calmly before looking back at her sketch book and starting to draw once more. She finished up her drawing of the womping willow and then saw the time and sighed knowing that it was time for her Alchemy class. She gathered her things and headed towards her class.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina looked for Gwen, but never saw her. She wondered where she was tucked away, drawing and probably crying. She felt torn between being a good friend and a good student. Lunch was finally over and she knew she had to head to her next class. Her next class was DADA and she really couldn’t miss that. It was her only Exceeds Expectations. She felt bad, biting her lip as she looked, but eventually had to give up. She gave directions to some first years before making her way down to the DADA room.

When she walked in, she saw a seat next to Jason. She wanted to be bold. She smiled at Lea. "I'm gonna do a thing. It'll probably going awful, but let's just see what happens. Maybe I'll be right about Jason or wrong." She shrugged. She twirled her fingers through her hair, trying to give it a little curl. She then walked over to Jason’s table and sat. “Since you seem to shine here, I thought it might be good to sit next to you. What do you think?” She asked, her brow corked. She wanted him to say yes both because he seemed to be paying attention to her and because she really did want to be better at DADA. It could be a win-win or like, a really fantastic friendship. Nothing has to happen, of course. He was out of her league, so to say.

Alaric finally saw Gwen enter and his entire body wanted to go up to her. In truth, he had no idea why. Paxton was right; he needed to stay away from freaky girls. He turned back to his friends, trying to get reengaged with them. Before long, he was laughing and joking with them. He wondered why he had been so resistant with them. They were kind, even if they were making fun of Gwen. At least, they were just telling the story and not calling her names. Well, not exactly. It didn’t matter either way.

Alaric gathered his things to head to Alchemy, another of his favorite classes. He finally spotted Gwen again, but resisted the urge to even talk to her. She didn’t need that. She probably didn’t care. Instead, he sat with Paxton and worked diligently. As the class droned on, he wanted to call for Gwen, but how could he? He almost blushed thinking of it. He had to stay away from her. He had to just treat her like any other student in Hogwarts.

@ oldbook;
Jason caught sight of Gwen but figured it was better to just leave her alone. He finished eating his meal before laughing and joking with his friends smiling before looking up at the ceiling a little seeing that it was apparently a sunny day today. He smiled at that before looking back at his friends shaking his head a little hearing them say something he laughing seeing one of his other friends get almost exploded from trying to do a spell.

He stood up once it was time to go to class, hoisting his bag up onto his broad shoulder. He bid his friends farewell before going to an empty seat in the class. He took out some parchment and a quill with some ink. Looking up he saw Rosina. He smiled at her and laughed, "I'm not going to tell you where to sit, Rosina." He smiled at her. "I don't mind at all." He told her giving her a smile. He looked around the room seeing people still whispering and muttered, "I wish they would give it a rest already." He shook his head before looking back at Rosina and said, "Does that mean I can sit by you in every other class because you shine at them?" He gave her a grin.

Gwen was well aware of the things people were saying; it made her sad, but she knew full well that people loved more than anything to gossip. She just continued on her merry way, knowing that later she was going to get an earful in detention. She didn't much care, though. She had been to it over and over. She sighed as her shoulders slumped.

Gwen sat down and looked up at the professor listening to her diligently before nodding grabbing some parchment and her quill. She dipped it into ink before starting to write down and finish up the assignment that she had been given to complete. Slowly, she felt her body relax and she read about the transmutations of different elements and a small smile appeared on her face as she worked. She bit down on her lip feeling the eyes of people on her. It made her kind of itch. She wasn't freaky. She just didn't appreciate people messing with her for no reason. It wasn't as if any of these people knew anything about her -- or even cared to. Her quill paused in mid sentence as she sighed finishing it and propped her chin down on her hand as she turned her head to the side to stare out the window. She turned in her work and waited for the class to be over. She was excited for Herbology. She smiled softly. She wanted to go to Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina smirked at him, flicking her lavender hair behind her. She wanted to be witty and funny. Oh gosh, she was probably overthinking all of this. What was she doing? She shouldn’t be flirting with someone like Jason, she should be with someone more in her league. Rodney was so on her level it probably made more sense. She glanced over at him and he even waved his fingers at her. But then, Jason said he didn’t care and so, she slid into the seat with a smile. She opened her book, cracking the spine of her fresh new DADA book.

She too heard them all talking. “Me too,” she said, looking at her fingers. Her nail polish was chipped. She started chipping away at it with her fingers. She was feeling exceedingly guilty that she hadn’t looked for Gwen, but instead found her way to Jason. She felt so relieved when he changed the subject. “I guess if you want to,” she said, almost passively with a shrug. “Gwen has to sit with Alaric now, so I guess it’d make sense. We have almost the same schedule. What do you have after this?” She asked, wondering if they would be paired for this entire year.

Alaric did his best to ignore Gwen throughout the rest of the day. He did his best to ignore everything that everyone had to say. He was surprised, though. Gwen was also a Quidditch star. How could they all love and hate her? He wasn’t sure. He bit his lip, trying to focus on anything else; he couldn’t think of everyone being mean to her. It made him feel stuck in what he could say to her and what he couldn’t. He also didn’t want her to feel like he pitied her. Pity wasn’t pretty. He was pitied when his mom was arrested as a Death Eater; pitied and hated. He was’t sure what was worse. She was too much for him, too much drama. He needed things to be simple. He focused on this throughout Alchemy and Herbology. He churned over these thoughts as he churned the dark soil in his hands.

@ oldbook;
Jason smiled seeing her smirk his own eyebrow quirking knowing full well that he was flirting -- but he just couldn't help it. She was so fun to be around, which he had not expected at all. He had always thought that she would be so stuck up. He was surprised and extremely happy that he was wrong. He smiled seeing her sit down before seeing Rodney wave to her, but kept his face neutral knowing it wasn't his place to get jealous. They weren't an item, and he had no reason to be upset if she was going to be seeing another person, but granted, she had sat beside him.

Jason sighed shaking his head. "It won't accomplish anything." He frowned again before running a hand through his blonde hair and then laughed hearing her, "I have Ancient Runes next, which I have a feeling i'm going to be not the best at." He gave a hearty laugh before looking down at her and said, "And what if I said I do want to sit by you?" He questioned with a smile before looking up hearing their new DADA professor clear her throat and beginning to speak.

Gwen was pretty sure they only liked her at Quidditch games because they wanted her to win for them, otherwise she was useless and back to being hated. She made it into Herbology and ended up beside Alaric and focused on the plants. She hummed as she stirred the soil in before adding in some worms that would help to fertilize the soil. She made sure the worms were deep in the soil before making a hole into the middle of it and sticking her plant in. She then covered it up, smiling as she added water. She did this for quite a few plants and then started to look over her Herbology notes. Biting down on her lip, she bit on her thumb nail as she did so, her hair falling into her eyes for a second before she flicked her head tossing them to the side. She looked up feeling eyes on her and met Alaric's eyes softly.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina tilted her head, surprised with how sensitive Jason seemed to be about Gwen and everything that happened. He always seemed so distant from her and so different from her. He was this smart Qudditch star and she was a goody-goody know-it-all. If she was just a bit smarter, she probably could have followed in Hermione’s track or maybe been in Ravenclaw. She wasn’t sure. Besides, she liked her house, so none of that mattered. What mattered was that Jason was smiling at her and she really couldn’t understand why. “Well, I have Ancient Runes next too, so we’ll just give it a trial run for these next two classes,” she said, turning to focus on the Professor Craft.

“As you all know, as NEWT students that we will eventually begin work on curses, counter courses, defensive spells, and nonverbal spells. However, since, as you all know, there has been quite the lack of structure in this class, I would like to do a review on Dark Creatures and other simple spells that you should be fairly sufficient in. We shall start with your simple spells.” Professor Craft took out her wand and instructed the students to stand. Rosina stood, glancing at Jason with a perplexed look. Before she could ask, Professor Craft flicked her hand and the desks moved to the sides of the room. “Please, with your respective partners, show me your best disarming charm.”

“Oh brilliant,” she said, a little exasperated. “Now you’ll really get to see how much better you are than me.” She said this as she pulled her wand from within her boot. She ran her fingers along it: a red wood wand, 11’ with a phoenix core. She couldn’t think of a better wand to have and it really did suit her. She lifted her hand, trying to remember the exact motion of this spell, though she was sure she knew it. “Ready when you are.”

Alaric sat next to Gwen, feeling his anxiety and anger rising. He did not want to be associated with her. He did not need that kind of target on his back. If he was mean to her, then he would look like a bully. If he was nice to her, he looked weak. He couldn’t be either. Not with everyone here knowing his mother was rotting away in Azkaban. He flicked the hair out of his eyes and added the rest of the worms to the plants they were working on. The next step was to clip the leaves and try not to the let the plant clip you. It seemed simple enough. It always seemed like the first few days at Hogwarts were used to restock Madam Pomfrey’s supplies. Not that it mattered, but he wondered if the school had a small budget.

He sighed, grabbing the shears and making eye contact with Gwen. “What do you want?” He said, his words like ice.

@ oldbook;
Jason watched her, wondering what went through her hair. He knew he should probably stop flirting, since he was almost sure that she wasn't going to want to have anything to do with him in that manner, but something inside of him kept speaking and talking him into it. He laughed hearing her and nodded. "I would like that." He smiled before looking up at Professor Craft. He tilted his head listening to before grinning a little bit. His favorite part was always being able to use spells.

Jason stood up watching the desks fly across the room into perfect lines of five a row. He listened to Professor craft before turning back to look at Rosina. He laughed hearing her and said, "Oh come now." He told her. Taking his own wand out, he smiled. It was made of Cherry wood with a dragon heartstring core and was 12 and 3/4". He ran his fingers over the finely made wand before smiling at Rosina. "Would you care to go first?" He asked her, "Or shall I? Besides you'll do fine." He encouraged her with a smile. He ran a hand throughout his blonde hair with a smile.

Gwen blinked hearing his cold words before frowning. "I was going to thank you, but nevermind. Seems you're just like everyone else." She said curtly before turning her back on him and started to cut the leaves, ignoring the fact that one of the plants had gotten her. She didn't even flinch, she simply stroked the plant until it let go and smiled at it. She then started to clip the other leaves, putting them on top of the plant. Once finished, she set the shears down and gave the plant some more water, watching as it soaked it up practically. She finished with the hands-on portion of the class. Getting her quill and ink out, she started to write what she had done on a piece of parchment. She continued this pushing her hair out of her face. Her hand was now bleeding and had a pair of fang like holes in it.

Gwen ignored the pain, as she continued to work. Looking up, she turned in her work to Professor Sprout. She was awarded 10 points to Ravenclaw for her good work. She nodded her head before getting her sketch book out. She turned to a clean page, getting her graphite pencil out and looking at the plant before starting to sketch it out, biting down on her lip, as she pushed some hair out of her face and behind her ear as she did so.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina appreciated his optimism and his encouragement. He had a kind spark in his eyes, even as he took the dueling position. Rosina smirked back set him. “Expelliarmus,” she said, flicking her wand with the delicate swirl that this spell requires. She knew it probably wasn’t the nicest way to duel, but, as they all know now, dueling and fighting wasn’t really fair at all. Jason’s wand arched out of his hand and into her outstretched hand. “Gotcha,” she said, tossing his wand back over him. She knew he probably wouldn’t let her get away with that again and in an actual duel, he would probably best her. Still, it felt good to have beat him at least this one time.

Alaric rolled his eyes. Gwen confirmed everything he thought about her. She was ignoring her bleeding finger, letting it seep into her plants and onto her pages. She was awarded ten points, once again, which was surprising. She simply finished before everyone else, but that didn’t mean she had finished well. Alaric stroke the plant in front of him, knowing that will make it easier to trim the bushes. He liked to treat plants tenderly, more tenderly than he would treat other people. He didn’t like being compared to other people who were being cruel to Gwen, but he wasn’t really being cruel. He just needed her to keep her distance. Let her keep her nose buried in a book and out of his way. The last thing he needed was to be compared to Gwen.

(Sorry it's so short!)

@ oldbook;
Jason smiled softly before blinking when his wand was out of his outstretched fingers. He laughed and nodded, "Yes you did." He said with a smile before getting his wand back. He took a deep breath closing his eyes as he concentrated before opening his eyes, adjusting his stance a little before watching her. He waited for just the right opening before saying softly, "Expelliarmus." She was just a tad slow, and he caught her wand before smiling. He tossed it back and said, "The trick is to listen as well as watch." He smiled at her kindly. "Though, I don't think I have to tell you that."

Gwen smiled sweetly at the plant and stroked its stalk once more before saying, "I guess I'll call you Oliver." She smiled before going back to her work. She may have finished the first, but she also had done it well, considering her plant was practically growing faster from the way it was leaning towards her practically. She laughed and snuck it some more worms a smile on her face as she looked at her plant. She returned to her drawing trying to get down the complex leaves. She finished the basic sketch, before adding in more specific details and started to color it and hummed softly to herself, not realizing that Alaric could hear her beautiful voice as she softly continued. She had ended up humming a lullaby and her plant had fallen asleep.

(You're fine!!)

@ FlyAway;
Alaric was relieved when Herbology finally ended. Between being situated and compared to Gwen and having to listen to her sing (even if she was good), he was feeling extremely frustrated. The rest of the classes seemed to pass by with little incidence. In fact, he was lucky enough to get away from Gwen in Care of Magical Creatures and finally Charms. He stayed with some fellow Slytherins. He felt relieved to not be near her because he really hadn’t figured out if he wanted to be her friend or if he wanted nothing to do with her. Although, the later became more appealing the nastier they were to each other. For a minute he felt guilty like he was the only one who was nasty to Gwen, but she clearly had anger problems. Either way, he tried not to focus on her.

That became even easier as the day ended. He returned to the Slytherin common room and collapsed into a chair on the corner. A few of his fellow sixth years came over and they started talking about the assignments due and more gossip. “That Gwen freak looked at you all day,” Paxton said. Alaric shrugged because he was looking at her too. “Not that it matters, but just be careful. Maybe she’ll slip you a love potion, eh? Don’t take any strange gifts,” Paxton said. He elbowed Alaric who offered him a half sort of laugh, though he didn’t find his humor too funny. He just shrugged.

“Whatever man,” Alaric said. “Let’s talk about literally anyone else. We only have 30 minutes until dinner.”

Within just a few moment, Rosina was also wandless. She was sure that they could go back and forth for the entire class disarming each other, but that almost seemed tedious. Some of their classmates were excelling and others were struggling. Professor Craft walked amongst them all and gave instructions. She smiled at both Rosina and Jason and moved along; apparently she wasn’t so liberal with giving away House points. “I think this spell may be too easy for us,” Rosina said, laughing slightly. Soon enough, they moved onto other charms which lasted for a good duration of class. In the end, Professor Craft returned their desks and they sat. They did a quick review of dark creatures and she requested an essay (2 scrolls) on their favorite dark creature of choice.

Ancient Runes and, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures went well. Although, after her first class, she was thinking of dropping Care of Magical Creatures. She just didn’t find the subject interesting or challenging. She wasn’t a huge fan of the outdoors or big creatures. If she was being honest, she couldn’t stand Hagrid’s teaching style. Rosina and Jason seemed to stick together as discussed for the rest of their classes, which she actually enjoyed. He was really sweet and funny too. She had a great time in class and knew she’d be gossiping all about it with her friends. At the end of Care of Magical Creatures, Rosina turned to Jason. “Well, I’ll see you at dinner,” she said. “Thanks for today!” She linked arms with Lea and headed back to her Common Room.

She was already overwhelmed with homework, but decided to leave it off. Instead, they joked and talked a little about Jason. Her friends said she should be even more bold, but that made her so nervous she could almost vomit. Instead, she was hoping that if she was reading the signs right, he’d make a move. If anything, she’d just see where things go. If they go in a good direction, maybe she’ll showcase her possible affection at the first Quidditch game next month. Either way, the idle girly gossip got them through to dinner.

Rosina parted with her friends, heading towards the Ravenclaw table to where Gwen was sitting with her nose in her sketch book. “Hey,” she said, swinging a leg over the bench. “I’m sorry I didn’t catch you early. I got really swamped today. It’s been the craziest day ever. How are you?”

(Made up for it!)

Gwen sighed for a moment before standing up and whisking herself away towards Care of Magical Creatures. She smiled seeing her favorite creature from last year and wrapping her arms around it before gently taking the brush and brushing its fur gently whispering softly to him. She smiled at Hagrid and helped him out with some things before the others came. She much more at home near the woods. She wanted very badly to go into the Forbidden Forest, but knew she would have to wait until after dark or at least until everyone else was inside the Castle. She cast one more longing look at it before smiling at Hagrid telling him about her break. She told him goodbye and that she would see him tomorrow before heading up to Charms.

Flitwick pulled her over asking about the incident and she finally explained what happened her eyes sad. He softened and simply nodded saying that he could not get her out of detention, but he was glad that she had stood up to her bullies. She smiled at the head of Ravenclaw and said, "Thank you, Professor. I'm sorry for causing trouble for our house." The last part came out as a whisper as she looked down feeling disappointed in herself. He simply shook his head and whispered back, "Someone had to." He winked before she smiled widely and headed to her seat as she practiced charms with everyone else. She headed to detention before sighing as she got out the same time dinner had begun. She headed in and plopped herself into an empty chair and looked up seeing Rosina and mumbled, "It's been terrible today. I didn't mean to lose my temper, but she's the same one I told you about last year. The one that purposely changed out my stuff and made my skin turn green." She whispered to her friend her eyes sad.

Jason saw Professor Craft smile and wiggled his eyebrows at Rosina smiling at her softly and laughed hearing her words. "I think it might be." He agreed before sitting down and started with their review. Hearing their homework he groaned but nodded knowing he would do it, simply because he figured it would be interesting and he didn't want to get bad marks in his classes. He spoke with Rosina throughout the day making jokes and laughing with her. He thought she was gorgeous and grinned down at her. He nodded hearing her, and said, "See you. My pleasure." He told her with a grin before heading towards his own friends. The smile on his face, he didn't think, could be wiped off by anything.

Jason decided to go ahead and start with his homework laughing at his friends hearing them fake swooning and said, "Bugger off, yeah?" He rolled his eyes seeing them mimicking Rosina and him and said, "Leave her alone." He shook his head laughing before going back to his homework. He finished up some of it and decided he'd finish the rest after dinner. He headed down to the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table and began to eat his dinner. He ate quite a lot since he was hungry and knew that he would need to eat more since Quidditch season was coming up. He thought about it and wondered if Rosina would be cheering on the Hufflepuffs or him. He looked around the room, searching for her and finally found her seeing her with Gwen.

(You certainly did!)

@ oldbook;

Rosina reached her hand over to her friend and laid it on top of hers. She wanted to give her some sort of comfort, but she wasn’t sure what she could offer. She knew that these girls were giving Gwen a hard time and bullying her, but at the same time, what Gwen did wasn’t excusable. She hurt someone and that wasn’t okay. Rosina knew for sure that you can’t fight your bullies with violence or more anger. It didn’t work and it just egged them on and gave them more ammo. Rosina felt nervous to say this to Gwen, wondering if she’d get mad at her rather than seeing her words as advice. She took a deep breath, “I’m going to tell you what I would tell anyone else in this position. I mean this in the nicest way I can possibly say this to you.”

She took another deep breath and squeezed her hand. “You cannot do that. You’re only going to give them more ammo if you act that way. You have to just ignore them. They don’t know anything about you. You’re so much better than what they say. All you did was give them more to talk about,” she said, a voice quivering a little. “I’m sorry if that hurts, but it’s true. You can rise above them like a phoenix.”

Alaric couldn’t help but notice Rosina’s purple hair bobbing through the crowd to Gwen. He rolled his eyes. He wasn’t sure that anything could help Gwen. It didn’t matter. He grabbed his fork and started mashing the potatoes in front of him into a pile. He wasn’t even sure what he cared for or why he was watching. He must need a new hobby and it certainly wasn’t going to be befriending Gwen, even if the whole universe seemed to be pushing them together. Hogwarts had endless magic, but not enough to make him feel differently about Gwen. She seemed unhinged. His friends were right. He talked idly to his friends about their amount of homework and tried to think about how much homework he wanted to do tonight. He would probably head to the library after, to stay ahead.

@ FlyAway;

@ oldbook;
Gwen listened to her and frowned softly and mumbled, "It's hard." She looked at her friend shaking her eyes. "You don't understand." She told her. "I get that it won't make it better, and no it doesn't make me feel better hurting someone, but you don't understand, Rosie." She whispered with a sad smile before wiping at her eyes again not wanting people to have something else to talk about. She sniffed for a moment taking a deep breath as she calmed down. She held her hand tightly and said, "My mom and dad can't seem to talk about anything concerning me without arguing and then they yell at me to talk to the other and I can't say anything without having more people start to just yell at me, or hate me, and I can't take this anymore. What's even worse is that people here just keep going on and on and on about how I'm so weird and deranged and none of them take the time to really see me." She shook her head once more wiping away a stray tear.

Her babbling continued, "The one person that even seemed remotely nice to me, changed just like that and I know exactly what they're thinking. I'm crazy, I create drama, etc etc." She gasped breathing in a breath realizing how fast she had been talking before continuing, "I have no friends in my own house and the one friend I have is friends with almost everyone else and is telling me to let it go when they don't understand the way I feel, and I'm glad you don't understand but it's not so easy to control my feelings when I have almost five thousand different people whispering behind my back all at once. The only outlet I have is drawing and when I can't do that, I get angry, and I'm working on it, Rosie, but some times I mess up. I'm not angry, I'm just so tired." She looked at her friend, running a hand through her hair. "I was taught from an early age to have people leave me alone by violence. Trust me this hasn't happened since a year ago, and it was because last year they hit me first." She told her looking at her gently before wiping at her eyes, feeling herself not hungry anymore. "I'm glad you're here, but I think I need to just be alone. I'm sorry, Rose." She whispered before standing her hand still in hers. "I'll see you tomorrow." She looked at her once more before releasing her hand and heading to the library. Once there, she sighed and sat down pulling her knees to her chest.

Jason frowned before shaking his head sighing as he heard people talking. He knew Gwen was a friend of Rosina's and finally said, "Quit it, alright? That was earlier. Leave it there." He hadn't meant to snap, but he did and he shook his head sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. One of the Gryffindor's sneered at him and said, "What? You like her?" He turned to look at them his eyes going icey. "She's actually pretty cool when you aren't a dick to her." He spat at him shaking his head. "So when you're a dick, she's mental?" He smirked watching Jason. Jason laughed without any emotion in his voice. "No, like anyone else, I'm sure she met her breaking point for shitty people." He replied glaring at him. "Oh, so that whore Rosina and her are both mental? When is Rosina going to lose her shit?" He laughed joking with his friends. Jason stood up, his broad shoulders blocking the light as he looked down at the guy. He then said, "You aren't worth my time." He turned away before feeling something hit the back of his head. It was mashed potatoes.

Turning, he looked at him before smiling softly. "You're doing Quidditch, right?" He asked him. The guy glared. "What's it to you?" Jason nodded and said, "Good. 'Cause I'm going to squash you on the field." He grinned before grabbing his bag and walked towards the exit, quite aware that he had potatoes in his hair.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina stared blankly at Gwen as she spoke. She was right, she didn’t understand her struggle. What she didn’t understand the most was her silence. If anyone in Hufflepuff told her that they were being bullied, Rosina would end it so quickly. When Gwen fights back, it makes her look equally guilty. That’s why it never stops. She was simply trying to explain that cycle to her, but evidently, she hadn’t done a good job. One thing was true though, Rosina did feel like Gwen had quite the flare for dramatics. Not that she would deny she was hurting, but she was so hard to deal with sometimes. So much so, that when she walked away, it didn’t even cross her mind to follow after her. She knew it was a waste of time and energy. She sighed, casting a careful smile to the few Ravenclaws that were near her. She was embarrassed that Gwen had walked away from her. In a way, it hurt her too. She just smiled at them and stuffed her feelings down as deep as they would go.

“Lovely dinner tonight,” she said, standing and awkwardly walking away.

Rosina was making her way back to the Hufflepuff table when she heard Jason’s voice. She was so lost with what happened between her and Gwen, she hadn’t noticed that a food fight was practically brewing. Oh, if she could take points away from other houses, she absolutely would right now. Instead, she looked at him for a moment before walking back to her table. She just didn’t have the energy to chase after anymore people tonight. She needed things to be a little more simple. She sat down, pushed her own food around her plate, and slowly retold the story to her roommates. She needed to feel like she wasn’t such an awful friend, but it was hard right now. She felt pretty low, but also exhausted.

Alaric, on the other hand, couldn’t have enjoyed dinner much more. His friends were being lively and he watched Jason get smacked right in the back of the head with mashed potatoes. The potatoes slid through his hair like some sort of gel. It gave everyone at the Slytherin table a good laugh. The rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor couldn’t be mended so quickly and so, it was a treat to see Jason ‘creamed.’ "Gryffindor’s new golden boy with golden potatoes in his hair,” someone said with a chuckle. Alaric rolled his eyes: a weak joke, but a great sight nonetheless. The teachers didn’t seem to notice or if they had, decided not to intervene. Alaric shrugged it off. He eventually dismissed himself and headed to the library to study.

Most people headed off to bed or to the common room. Not many people would choose to study on their first night, except for a few. Alaric would rather have the weekend off than to be working over it. He always tried to keep on top of his work. If he couldn’t be the smartest, he’d at least work hard. He sat down with his books at a table in the corner. He murmured incendio and lit the candle sitting in front of him. He always appreciated the glow of a candle. It was so much better than the artificial lights that Muggles used. He pulled out his quill and began working on a sketch for Herbology. He wanted to finish this and his potions essay before they were due on Thursday. He had a lot to work on, but he didn’t mind. He wasn’t very good at sleeping and the candle lit library felt comforting tonight.