Oculus Reparo!

@ oldbook;
Gwen knew she shouldn't have walked away, but at the moment all she needed at the moment was to be alone. She looked up seeing a flame come to life and groaned knowing someone was in here. She shook her head and stared out the window before silently crawling up to the window sill and staring out the window softly. She brought her knees to her chest once more as she looked out the window. She hoped tomorrow was better. She needed at least one good day. She dropped her head on her knees feeling her hair spilling all over her legs. She watched the sky feeling herself slowly relax as she watched the stars twinkle. Soon enough, she was relaxed and sighed tilting her head to the side enough to hear the joint pop. She pulled out her own textbook and started the reading not humming this time, since she knew it was the library and she didn't want to interrupt anyone. She looked up outside the window feeling as if the woods were calling to her.

Biting down on her lips, she kept to the shadows trying her best to make it away without the other person noticing. Finally, she made it to the door frame and started to run, her shoes lightly clicking as she did so. She charmed them to be silent cursing herself as she made it outside, through the many secret passages. She smiled smelling the fresh air and sighed in contentment as she made it into the woods. She knew that the forest was dangerous, but she had ended up making friends she never thought she would've. Two of the centaurs were friends of hers and was hoping she would run into them and speak with them. She stepped over a root, that if you hadn't been through the forest enough, you would've tripped over and fallen on your face. "Lumos." She whispered soflty.

Jason heard the laughing and felt his friend come up to him asking if he was alright. "It's fine. Let them laugh." He told his friend with a grin. "We'll see whose laughing when Gryffindor wins at Quidditch and the points." He grabbed his hand and did their usual handshake before going up into the common room. He ended up not being able to sleep and snuck out of the room to look at the paintings and to explore the castle more than he had before. He dodged teachers, and most importantly, Filch. He knew what would happen if he were to get caught by him. He headed up to the plantarium, figuring that if he couldn't sleep, he might as well learn some more stuff concerning the planets and all that stuff. He was a little upset he hadn't seen Rosina at dinner, but knew she was probably having her own stuff to worry about.

Smirking he walked slowly around the planetarium watching as the stars twinkled. He wondered if his mom was proud of him not hitting that kid with the mouth in the face. He hoped so, because he had really wanted to, even if he wasn't a violent person. It wasn't because he had hit him with potatoes, though. It was more because he had insulted Rosina, and something inside Jason just didn't like that one bit. She didn't even have anything to do with the conversation so he was confused as to why the guy had brought it up. He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair as he watched the stars a small smile resting on his lips.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina left dinner with a funny feeling in her stomach. She instructed some first years and had some meeting with them. They were all so anxious about how things were starting. It was the least she could do to be there for someone, especially since Gwen wouldn’t let her be there. She tried to shake off her negative feelings, but they lasted throughout much of the night. Once it was dark, and late, she decided she needed to take a little time to herself. She knew she shouldn’t be out so late, but she needed to take a bath. She headed to the prefect bathroom and was relieved to find it empty.

She filled the water up with bubbles, letting the comforting scents of lavender and vanilla wash her over. She dunked her head, letting herself float and sink in the big bath. She had such a strange day, both a mixture of good and bad. She wanted to wash it all off of her and start over fresh tomorrow. After long, she knew she had to head back to bed or she was going to be quite the hypocrite. She dried herself off, flicked her hair behind her and got dressed her pajamas. She sighed, noting that the purple in her hair was fading. She wondered if she could re-do that spell. Either way, she slipped her slippers back on and headed back towards the Hufflepuff common room.

Alaric peeked his head up from his sketch when he heard noise in the library. For a moment, he had flashes from years past when noises in the library were malicious. He shivered a little, but refocused. Eventually, it all settled down. He finished his studying, feeling triumphant and headed off to bed. He was none the wiser about who was in the library, but only of what he accomplished. He headed to bed, flopped down with a huge sigh. His roommates were also asleep, so it must be later than he knew. He sat on his bed, staring up at the stars that he conjured before him. Tomorrow would hopefully be a little better than today was. Hopefully they’d have better food for breakfast.

@ oldbook;
Gwen found her centaur friends in the forest, smiling and embracing one of them that made her feel like family. He reminded her of a brother she had never had. She hugged him tightly before feeling herself start to break down and tell them all about her day and what had occurred, and how she was so conflicted and knew she shouldn't use violence, but didn't understand how else to go about things and she was very confused and had been fighting with her parents again, and that she was sure that they were going to get a divorce, since she had heard them screaming at each other every night. She wiped at her face before being embraced by then and she let it all out as she did so, and held on before smiling and just visiting them underneath the starlit night.

After about an hour and a half she bid them farewell telling them she would visit as much as she could. Making it back into the common room she went into her room and flopped onto the bed before falling asleep a smile on her face as she relaxed. She awoke in the morning, early, and dressed before going down to the great hall. She looked for Rosina before going towards her quickly and hugging her and said, "Thank you. I'm so sorry about yesterday. I was just so overwhelmed. Do you forgive me?" She asked her frowning as she looked at her friend, biting down on her lip as she did so.

Jason ran a hand through his hair as he looked at the stars a smile on his face as he relaxed, wondering if when you died if you became a star and burned brighter than you had in your previous life. He laughed at the thought, but smiled wondering if his mother was one of them. He knew she'd be the brightest star he could find. This brought him solace knowing. Standing up he headed to bed. He fell down on his bed before finishing up some more homework. His eyelids started to droop, and he set down the book and curled up underneath his blanket and his breathing slowed as he did so.

Awaking in the morning was not fun since his roommates were fighting. "Stuff it!" He yelled waking up with a glare at them. "Waddya frickin' screaming about at this hour huh?" He asked with a glare. They both started in on each other before one of them explained the situation to Jason. He huffed and shook his head before saying, "Give me an hour of sleep and then scream at each other." He then returned to his bed and fell back asleep for an hour before getting up. He went to the showers getting in and dressed again and got his robes on before handling the situation and heading down to breakfast.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina woke feeling well rested and a little better than she did yesterday. The bath loosened her sore muscles and eased her mind. She felt immeasurably better. She was up a little earlier than the rest of the roommates, but she was pretty good at getting ready quietly. Sometimes, she liked to head to breakfast early to read the paper and drink some coffee. She slipped into her robes quietly and then headed down the stairs, saying good morning to anyone else that was awake. It was fortunate how close the Hufflepuff common room was to the Great Hall. Soon enough, she was drinking coffee and reading a copy of the Daily Prophet she ordered.

She jumped, almost spilling her coffee when Gwen hugged her. “Oh,” she said, setting the cup down. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. I understand. It’s stressful,” she said. She picked her coffee up, now that the hug was over, and continued drinking her coffee. “You seem like you’re in a better mood.”

Alaric slept fitfully, unable to fall into a deep sleep. He tossed and turned all night until finally he heard the rustling of others in his room. He sat up slowly, ruffling his hair and running his hand over his face. He was exhausted from the day before and from just being back at Hogwarts. He forgot about all the drama and ridiculousness. He sighed, getting up and casually throwing on his robes. He looked like a wrinkled mess, but he didn’t even care. He grumbled his way down to breakfast, looking a little like Filch, and plopping down dramatically. He searched for coffee and a piece of bread, trying to revive himself.

@ oldbook;
Gwen flashed her a smile and nodded. "I saw my centaur friends last night." She whispered to her before grinning again and sitting down beside her getting some food for herself as she spoke with her friend. "By the way, I didn't mean to surprise you, my bad." She laughed and ate with her and nodded. "I am in a better mood. Yesterday, honestly, just kind of sucked." She replied shrugging. "I took it out on you, and that wasn't fair of me, and I'm sorry." She told her eating some bacon as she looked at her friend. Looking out across the Great Hall she noticed Alaric looked like hell and smirked glad that he was having a bad day since he had started being a complete ass to her.

Shrugging, she turned back to Rosina looking up when she heard someone ask her why she was at their table in a disgusted voice and raised an eyebrow and said, "Because my friend is here?" She looked at Rosina confused and asked, "Am I not supposed to sit here?" She took a sip of her orange juice before continuing to eat her food and ignored the glare she got from Rodney when he couldn't sit by Rosina. "Sorry, Rod." She told him laughing when he just shook his head and sat across from them and laughed when he made a joke that she wasn't exactly following normal procedures. She shrugged and said, "We should all be a bit more adventurous."

Jason ignored the pair arguing behind him and sat down at the table and ran a hand over his face. He picked up the newspaper and skimmed through it before setting it down, figuring he didn't really care about politics. He sighed hearing them still arguing and turned to them with a glare that silenced them. He sighed happily when they finally started to talk like normal people and looked down at his food and started to eat a bit pulling out some of his homework and beginning to finish his potions stuff before turning the page and starting on some of his herbology. He figured the least he could do at breakfast would be his.

Glancing up for the first time he saw Rosina and met her eyes giving her a bright smile noticing Gwen was with her and nodded his head before looking back down at his word a smile on his face. He had noticed that Rosina had looked particularly happy and pretty this morning and shook his head figuring she didn't want to be with him and just looked back at his word confused for a moment at a problem before turning the page and finding the answer and continued to work knowing that if he wanted Quidditch to be less stressful he had better get a handle on his homework beforehand.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina frowned, her forehead wrinkling with concern. She was happy that Gwen had other friends who she felt supported by, but she felt torn. Gwen was actively breaking school rules and that really wasn’t allowed. Even if the Dark Lord was finally defeated, the forest was still a dangerous place and centaurs aren’t usually so kind to humans. They’re prideful creatures. While Rosina was quite sure that Gwen would never disrespect them, it didn’t change the fact that she was breaking the rules. She felt even more conflict as Gwen hopped around through subjects: apologizing, being able sit here, to joking with Rodney. Rosina almost couldn’t keep up with her friend. For a the flash of a moment, she wondered what made her stick by Gwen’s side all this time.

Rosina quirked a brow when she said they should be more adventurous. Rosina tactilely ignored Rodney at this point. He was just her friend and she was more focused on Gwen. “I guess in the past it was weird to sit at other tables. It doesn’t bother me, but Gwen,” she bit her lip. She glanced at Rodney, grabbed her coffee and lowered her voice. “Just be careful if you’re going to break school rules, okay? You know you’re on thin ice now and I know you’re careful, but please. It’s still against the rules to be out at night and to be in the Forest.” She resisted the urge to flinch, half convinced that Gwen would react as she had yesterday. Rosina never won with Gwen, even if she was acting out of concern.

Alaric sipped his coffee slowly, letting the warmth fill him up. He wasn’t sure what made him sleep so poorly, but he hoped it wouldn’t last. Weird things always happened at the castle, but he hoped it was just a normal person thing and not a wizard thing. He ate slowly, like a sloth. If anything, it helped to pass the time as he tried to become half alive. He looked at Jason from across the room and wanted to roll his eyes. He was so diligent and perfect; Quidditch and excelling at studies. It made Alaric all the more grumpy. He almost didn’t notice another Slytherin talking to him. “Oh, sorry,” he said to Penelope Vortran, another 6th year. “I didn’t hear you.” She went on about classes, but in a way that was more attentive than usual. Alaric smiled at her, finding it comforting that someone else wanted to talk to him. Before long, he felt much better to have a friend. At least he could send Penelope notes in Potions if Gwen was being terribly annoying again.

@ oldbook;
Gwen chewed lightly on bacon sipping on her orange juice from time to time looking back at Rosina and knew she was concerned. She frowned softly, her forehead crinkling. She gave her a nod gently and whispered, "I won't do it often at all, and I'm sorry I worry you." She told her. Sometimes she just wished that Rosina would break the rules sometimes and realize that life was short and sometimes having fun was worth some of the consequences. She loved her friend to death and was really upset that she worried her. She turned her eyes to look into Rosina's and murmured, "I will be careful, and I swear, I'm trying to be better." She tried to help her friend find some peace of mind concerning her. She gave her a smile gently before taking her hand softly in her own, squeezing.

Before Rodney could ask what they were talking about, Gwen switched the subject casually. "So you and Jason Monroe are the talk of the town." She glanced over at her friend with a smirk before whispering to her softly, "If he hurts you, I'll kill him and no one will discover the body." She told her jokingly knowing that she didn't want her friend to get hurt. "But, as long as he makes you happy then he's safe." She gave her friend a grin laughing as she spoke with her seeing her blush a little and smirked before saying, "Go for it. He seems into you." She glanced back at Jason almost giggling when she saw him staring at Rosina before he looked away quickly having seen Gwen looking at him.

Jason scribbled down answers looking at the time seeing that he didn't have as much time as he wanted before sighing as he finished up as much as he could. He smiled at his work knowing he would finish the rest up at lunch since he didn't have to turn it in until the end of the day. Putting his parchment away, he ran a hand through his hair beginning to eat. He felt a glare glancing over to see Alaric and sighed looking away ignoring his fighting friends still. He shook his head at them quite annoyed at the fact that they had woken him up by screaming at one another. Bloody hell, he needed new room mates. He felt his eyes wandering until they landed on Rosina. He gave a small smile before he saw Gwen having turned around and catching him staring and quickly looked away knowing for a fact that she was laughing at him. He finished up his food and stood up stretching before grabbing his satchel and slowly starting to walk towards the dungeons.

@ FlyAway;
The hustle bustle of the morning was now in full swing. The teachers and other students had finally piled in. Rosina was relieved almost immediately that the conversation about Gwen’s illegal activities was over. She would surely not be Head Girl if someone knew that she knew about what Gwen was doing. Rosina’s fear was almost realized as Rodney suddenly appeared in front of him. His red hair was messy and his presence was, well, inconvenient at best. To her relief, Gwen covered what they were talking about smoothly or at least, she distracted Rodney.

His ears were a little red and Rosina had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. “You and Jason Monroe?” His voice intruded. Rosina ducked her head, whispering something along the lines ‘Oh my god.’ She thought a lot about Jason over the last few hours, but she was not ready to admit it. She just wanted to finish her coffee, it was growing cold her hands.

“Me and Jason Monroe?” She said, echoing Rodney. “Please,” she huffed, a piece of her hair flopping forward. “He’s so… pompous. I mean, we all know that. He’s a Seeker. Arrogance is their favorite uniform. No thank you,” she said and Rodney notably sat down. Quickly, Rosina grabbed her stuff. “Got to grab my books before class. Bye,” she said, throwing Gwen a desperate look before flitting away.

Alaric was already seated at his new desk when everyone else finally poured into the Potion Room. He was there early because he liked the silence and he needed to do a bit of homework. Rosina passed him and sat in front which could only mean one thing, Gwen was here too. Rosina was chattering with Jason Monroe (Good morning. How are you? The usual rubbish). Within a moment, the chair next to him was filled. He resisted the urge to respond and instead, just put his head down. If he didn’t look up, maybe class would start and they wouldn’t have to talk. His eyes carried over to Penelope who gave him a shy smile. Yes, he’d have to focus on her.

@ oldbook;
Gwen gave her friend a smile practically seeing her relax at her words. She intended to keep her word as well and not do it so often or any at all if she could keep her head straight. She did like her centaur friends though and didn't want to just abandon them. She sighed softly hearing Rodney and blinked hearing Rosina raising an eyebrow at her friend before smiling softly. She shook her head and said, "Bye." She watched her leave before sighing seeing the time and giving Rodney a farewell and grabbing her bad.

Walking to class, she realized she had light steps and didn't hear nearly anything when she walked. She hummed to herself for a moment before heading into the class room. Once there, she gave Alaric a look before telling him morning and sitting down in her seat beside him. She didn't give him any other words as she grabbed her stuff putting it on her side. She took her sketch book seeing that she had time to kill. She looked down and bit her lip before just ignoring Alaric completely figuring he didn't like her. She didn't care. Most of the school didn't like her. He could get in line. Beginning to lightly sketch she realized almost immediately that she was drawing the wispy branches of a tree she had seen in the forest.

Jason sneezed laughing when one of his friends told him that someone must be talking about him. He shook it off telling him that kind of suspicion was just rubbish. Sitting down at his table, he pulled out his materials for the class period and sighed as he slowly rotated his neck around his shoulders needing to just stretch. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, which he didn't mind much, but it showed on his face from his slightly dark circles underneath his eyes. He rubbed at them before looking up seeing Rosina a grin forming on his face. "Morning. How are you today?" He asked tilting his head ignorant to the fact that she had just bad mouthed him to her friends.

@ FlyAway;
Potions class was not nearly as pleasant as Alaric wished for. It was mainly because Gwen was more annoying than Alaric anticipated, but only because she was ignoring him suddenly. He was not sure why that bothered him. In truth, he was far better than Gwen in almost every way. He was talented (though she was too), but he at least had some basic social skills. He offered a two-finger wave in response to her, trying not to be too rude where she would snap on him. Alaric leaned back in his chair, getting a better look at Penelope, and waiting for his favorite class to finally start.

Rosina glanced over at Jason Monroe and she tried not to huff. She felt heat creeping up towards her cheeks. She glanced around the room, wondering if the Gryffindor girls in the corner were, in fact, whispering about them. She did not want to be whispered about. She was not sure she could handle it. She looked back at Jason and smiled shyly. (Oh, how annoying. She wasn’t a stupid school-girl). “Good morning,” she said, as cooly as she could. “I’m well, thank you.”

The rest of the class was not, in fact, going well. They were assigned a nearly impossible potion: Draught of the Living Dead. Rosina gulped when the prompt was given. It was not as easy as the potion that they were assigned just yesterday. Rosina was suddenly unsure if she was going to be able to accomplish this task. She immediately doubted her ability to be in a N.E.W.T class. Almost desperately, she glanced at Jason. “Do you know how to do this?” She whispered, panic creeping into her voice.

Rosina’s frazzled expression was quite the opposite of Alaric. His mother was quite the talented potion master and he figured out this potion over this summer. Mid-July, if you were wondering. He stood up, flexing his shoulders, and smiled. This was a standard N.E.W.T potion and so, he figured it was going to come up in class. He wanted to impress. Alaric was confident enough in his ability to impress, so he opened his book just for show:

Add the Infusion of Wormwood.
Add the powdered root of asphodel.
Stir twice clockwise.
Add the sloth brain.
Add the Sopophorous bean’s juice from 12 beans.
Stir seven times anti-clockwise.

He read the lines quickly, remembering the process in his mind from just this summer. He would make his mother proud. He would make Severus Snape proud. He just had to. Rosina had many she wished to make proud too, but she had not looked at her books over the summer. She only pretended to be so confident, but she was not as well versed in this subject. She looked behind her at Gwen and Alaric with a huff. Potions was not going well at all.

@ oldbook;
Gwen didn't think she was better than anyone else but she didn't appreciate Alaric being so bipolar and figured if she was going to not associate with him, then he wasn't going to bother her. Pushing back her beautiful mahogony hair she smiled softly seeing Rosina and giggled softly shaking her head lightly. She looked back at the work tilting her head slightly before realizing what the potion was. Biting down on her lip, she let her eyes scan the recipe before gathering all of her hair out of her face pulling it into a pony tail at the top of her head. She shed her robe letting it hang on the chair as she pulled up her sleeves. She started to get busy as well.

Beginning to gather the ingredients, she followed the recipe before frowning at one of the steps shaking her head and changing it lightly and smiled softly as the potion turned out better and simply crossed her legs in her chair as she worked stirring seven times anti-clockwise. Finishing, she looked up seeing the professor and was surprised again when he told her that she was his best student. She blushed softly before giving a nod glancing over at Alaric before looking over at Rosina not wanting to make anyone mad or anything. Maybe she should just pretend she didn't know anything. She sat back in her seat glancing at Alaric's potion seeing that he was finished as well. She gave him a nod before looking at the homework they were assigned beginning to answer the questions.

Jason was a little confused at how she responded but let it slide since he didn't want to just assume that they had gotten close in just one day. He was getting ahead of himself and didn't want to just imagine things in his head. He looked over the assignment eyes widening and glanced back at Rosina seeing the panic before shaking his head. "Come on, we can do it." He told her trying to encourage her. "Come on, if anyone can do it, it's you. You're the top of our class." He told her meaning overall, not the particular class, because it was obvious that the top of the class at the moment was Gwen.

He looked bcak at the potion recipe before shaking his head lightly. He sighed before getting started unable to hide his laughter when he saw that his potion was bumpy and rather hideous. "Well... This is going well." He laughed again shaking his head. "I think I'm going to need tutoring in this subject.' He sighed looking at it, running an exasperated hand throughout his hair. "How is yours going?" He asked looking over at Rosina almost speechless because hers didn't have any bumps. "Oh that's good." he told her watching the potion.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina’s potion did not exactly how it was supposed to. It was a bit of a dark purple rather than a pale lilac. She threw a frustrated glance at Jason. She knew he was only trying to help, but she didn’t really need it. In her glance, she looked at his potion which did not look much better than hers, but she was sure they were still doing better than everyone else. She should be more appreciative of his kindness, but she wasn’t really used to people being kind to her in school. She certainly did not have it as bad as Gwen and being a prefect has made thing better, but still. Her and Gwen became friends because they were both outcasts.

Before she even finished thinking about her and Gwen, Jason complimented her once more. Her flush from frustration grew hotter from embarrassment. “Oh, thank you. It should be the color of my hair though,” she said, laughing a bit.

Alaric looked around at the class and felt even more at ease. He didn’t even mind Gwen working so diligently next to him. It made him feel more motivated. Before long, they were both finished and they were the first in the class. He leaned back in his chair after jotting down the homework. He peeked over at Jason and Rosina. He wasn't sure why he felt like helping them. Maybe the whole 'school unity' thing was getting to his head or maybe it was some level of guilt for being a Slytherin. He wasn't really sure, but he leaned forward.

“Jason, man, you’ve got to stir counter-clockwise twice and then add a clockwise turn,” he said. “Just keep stirring you guys. You probably messed up proportions, but you can still make it alright. When it starts to go clear, stop,” he said before turning back to his homework. May as well finish it now.

Before long, Rosina’s potion turned clear (or at least clear enough) and she sat back in her chair. She felt fried already and wasn’t sure how she’d get on with the rest of the day at all. She felt an anxious spike once more, but tried to calm her nerves by smoothing out her hair. "I guess not to bad," she said with a sigh, waiting for the professor to circle around.

@ oldbook;
Gwen smiled softly seeing that Jason was trying very badly to speak to Rosina and was a little upset for him to see that Rosina was simply too frustrated at the moment to even consider his kindness. She giggled softly before letting her hair fall back down in waves around her shoulders and layering evenly to fall around her face.

Smiling softly once more, she took her notebook out forgetting all about her homeowork and began to sketch an outline of the two of them biting down on her lip as she did so, rocking back in her chair a little to do so. Soon, she had the outline of them both. She focused on trying to get little details of their faces and folds of their clothing down. She frowned softly as she bit down on the end of a pencil she had before beginning to sketch once more. She hated to sketch in quill since she couldn't exactly layer it as easily and it overall just looked less cohesive when she drew with a quill.

Glancing over, she saw a few girls looking at her and beginning to whisper about her. She looked down softly before shaking her head wondering if the class would end soon so she could escape all the whisperings.

Jason was getting frustrated himself but tried his best not to show it, knowing he needed to try his best to seem like he was okay. It wasn't the end of the world just because he didn't understand how to do something. He would get it eventually. He smiled at Rosina seeing her frustrated look but figured she wasn't mad at him, just at the situation. He didn't mind, though. He could take it.

He laughed and said, "That's fine. At least yours doesn't look like the swamp creature." He told her giving her a sweet smile. Hearing someone say his name, he turned back to look at Alaric a little surprised that he was helping him, but didn't want to say anything to discourage him, and instead said, "Oh, thanks. I appreciate it, man." He replied before turning back and starting to work back on his potion starting to grin when it began to clear up. "Not bad at all." He replied before turning back to Alaric. "Thank you." He grinned.

@ FlyAway;
It seemed like the longest time before their potions were judged, but thanks to a level of talent and Alaric’s assistance, Rosina, Gwen, Alaric, and Jason seemed to have passed (or excelled). Rosina was relieved, letting her hair shake out of her bun. She knew she was good, but she was starting to feel less and less competent. She wondered where that feeling could have come from. In fact, she thought about throughout the rest of her classes. She was able to be engaged as much as usual and even able to share a few laughs with Jason and a few other Hufflepuffs, but still the feeling nagged at her.

In fact, if it wasn’t for a few first years throwing about Fanged Frisbees, she would have stayed in a rut all day. To her relief, her duties (and Rodney’s pestering her because he wasn’t very stern) brought her back to reality. Rosina was on her way to the common room when she finally had her head back on her. She dropped off her books for the day and headed to dinner.

Alaric moved his way through his classes as best he could and ignored Gwen’s casting stares and others smart remarks. He was had just entered the Slytherin common room when, for the first time since school started again, he felt excited:

**Quidditch Try-Outs - Next Thursday 6pm**

Alaric had almost always had a small passion for Quidditch though he was often embarrassed to admit that. Alaric always felt a need to be serious and to exceed; his parents being who they were (though not exactly Death Eaters they were pretty close), he was expected to be serious. Perhaps, just maybe, he could and should play this year. If anything, maybe he’d get Jason to not be nearly as smug. Plus, the Slytherin team was almost completely decimated.

“Going to try out?” Penelope Rivaro asked, stepping beside him. “I always thought you’d look great on a broom.” Alaric was surprised. Penelope was one of the most popular girls and he turned his head.

“Well, uh, thanks,” he said, “I better head off to dinner.” He walked away before his cheeks got too red.

By the time he arrived, the plates were filled and everyone seemed to be settled in their place. Rosina herself was chattering excitedly at the Hufflepuff table with her few friends and Gwen sitting next to her scribbling away. “I’m just saying, wouldn’t it be terrible if they really did disband the House Cup and House Quidditch Teams? I heard a rumor about it. I know we’re all about unity, but that would be extreme!”

@ oldbook;
Jason was glad that they had passed or excelled and shared a look of relief with Rosina. He flashed her a grin and noticed something was off about her, but kept it to himself knowing for a fact that it was none of his business and didn't want to push something that he had no business knowing. He just tried to cheer her up a little feeling as if she felt a little down about something. He didn't know and didn't need to know what was going on. He smiled again glad that she laughing and sharing jokes with him again.

He headed to the common room ignoring the leers he got from several girls knowing he had his eye on one already. He dropped his stuff off in his room before heading to dinner. He got to the table and just plopped down with a few of his buddies that were on the team and grinned and chatted with them, but his eye kept wandering over towards Rosina. He caught himself several times and just shook his head giving his attention to his buddies as they started to speak about Quidditch.

Gwen ignored Alaric as much as possible feeling as if he was trying to compete with her in potions. She wanted to just say "screw it" and let him win, but the small competitive side of her wanted to show him up as much as possible knowing he didn't care for her too much. She ignored him most of the time staring at him a bit but pretty much kept to herself. She headed to her own common room ignoring the stares she was still receiving. She grinned seeing the Quidditch poster.

She headed to the Great Hall with a grin on her face sitting down excitedly. She wondered what the team would look like. Suddenly she had an itch to draw something. She sat down at the table greeting Rosina and ignoring her Hufflepuff friends. She gasped. "We need this! It's the only way to get some pent out anger out!" She pouted. "I doubt our McGonagall would get rid of it. She's as much of a fan of Quidditch as the rest of us." She winked before looking back at her drawing. She shook her head and balled up the almost finished protrait of the womping willow throwing it in the trash. It missed and accidentally hit a Slytherin in the back of the head. She ducked her up making a face. She sighed when the girl came over and started to bitch her out.

"I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." She promised before seeing her grab her sketch book and throw it into a pile of pudding. She stood up anger pulsating in her. She shook her head and left her sketch book heading away from the Great Hall. She had quickly mumbled to Rosina that she'd see her tomorrow.

@ FlyAway;
Rosina had to agree with Gwen, it seemed quite likely that McGonagall would never completely get rid of the Houses and yet, there seemed to be this mounting pressure to find unity amongst the Houses. Evidence of this was the fact that Gwen sat amongst many Hufflepuffs and no one had any problem with that at all. Rosina wondered how much more unified could they get and what was the point? The war was over. They were safe now. It didn’t make sense. Quidditch gave her something to look forward to, although she would never play. She wasn’t really that coordinated.

Rosina cut her roast beef into cubes and savored the taste. She really did miss Hogwart’s food; her mother wasn’t much of a cook. She sipped her pumpkin juice, talking with Rodney about Quidditch this year. He was explaining how the team was looking and discussing how relieved he was that all their teammates had returned to Hogwarts this year. Hufflepuff hasn’t won the Quidditch cup in some time and usually they lost, but maybe it would be better this year.

“What we need is a seeker as good as Cedric was,” Rosina was saying. She was interrupted by the voice of Penelope Rivaro. Rosina turned her head to where Gwen sat and Alaric caught the scene from across the way. He felt nervous for Gwen because no one would really punish Penelope, plus she was prefect herself.

“What are you doing, you little freak?” Penelope said, grabbing the sketch book from her hands and tossing it into the chocolate pudding. “I think it’s time you got your head out of this silly book of yours.” Gwen took off almost immediately and Alaric’s stomach twisted. He couldn’t understand this inherent need to protect her and to hate her at the same time.

Rosina stood, “Hey! Gwen, wait!” She said, stepping around the seat of the table. Before she could follow her, Gwen was gone. Rosina sat slowly back down and grabbed her sketch book.
Penelope gave he a snide smile as she walked back to the Slytherin table. “Tergeo,” she said, siphoning off the most of the pudding she could. (Thank goodness she was good at Charms).

Penelop sat across from Alaric and he sighed. “Penelope,” he said with a shake of his head. He lifted himself from his seat, grabbed a treacle tart to go and walked out the Great Hall. He walked aimlessly towards the courtyard, wondering where Gwen may have gone.

@ oldbook;
Jason caught a glimpse of what had happened with Gwen and Penelope. He glared at her shaking his head ignoring her completely. She had used to be all over him and he was glad that it seemed to be over. He looked back at his friends before saying, "I just hope we beat Slytherin." He knew they had an ongoing feud, but to be perfectly honest, Jason really couldn't stand most of the current Quidditch players for the Slytherin team, ESPECIALLY Penelope. She was snotty and snobby for no reason to anyone that wasn't up to her crazy 'standard.'

He glanced back at Rosina seeing her eating and bit his lip before shaking his head again. He looked down at his homework and sighed beginning to finish some Potions. He was having a hard time. He knew she was busy, but he needed help since it was supposed to be turned in the next day. He bit down on his lip harshly again before grabbing his shit and heading over to her. "Hey, Rosina."

He sat down beside Rodney, nodding his head before asking tentatively. "Could you possibly help me with the homework that's due tomorrow? I'm not understanding it." He told her a little nervous to ask for help, but he knew he needed to up his game in his studies and he wasn't aware of anyone better at school than Rosina. She was bloody brilliant.

Gwen heard Penelope's voice echoed in her head and shook her head feeling rage pulsating in her. She went into the courtyard before sitting down underneath the stars and pulling her knees to her chest. She wiped at her face a bit sniffling. She wasn't upset or hurt, just angry. She didn't want to be the freak of the school anymore, nor did she really need people doing anything to fuck with her.

Gwen looked down at her hands and shook her head whispering her patronus just to be able to see the small ferret scurrying around. A small smile found its way to her lips. She watched as it disappeared within smoke before figuring she would go out later that week and see if she could visit her friends in the forest. She knew Rosina didnt' agree with it, but what Rosina didn't know wasn't going to cause any harm.

Hearing footsteps, she raised her head, green hazel eyes focusing on Alaric as she whispered Lumos to be able to see who it was. Her gorgeous ebony hair flowed down around her shoulders as well as framing her face gorgeously. She figured he was just walking around and turned back around not really wanting to speak at the moment. She rubbed at her face again to make sure there were no traces left of the tears she had shed. She didn't need him making fun of her, nor did she want it.

@ Joker;
Rosina had been hard at work siphoning off the pudding and it seemed that Gwen’s sketch book looked almost as good as new. She smoothed it over and frowned. She was unsure why people were so mean, especially to Gwen. It didn’t seem fair and it made her stomach twist. Her and Gwen were best friends and yet, no one was ever mean to Rosina. Were they not, in some way, the same? Her frowned deepened, almost feeling guilty.

Rosina, a guilty feeling sinking in her stomach, began picking at the pudding from dinner. She felt bad, but she also loved pudding. She only looked up when she heard her name being called (and an annoyed huff from Rodney). She felt a little heat creep to her cheeks when Jason asked for help, embarrassment and nerves replacing her guilty feeling. She dropped her spoon, wiping her mouth quickly. Maybe the rumors were true and they both actually did like each other. How did other people know before she did?

“Oh yeah, definitely. Want to go now?” She said, scooping up her things and Gwen’s sketch book. “Too much drama in here anyway,” she said, standing and smiling. She felt butterflies in her stomach and wondered how the rumors may spur as they walked out of the Great Hall together. “Is Potions or Charms?” She asked, trying to be casual and confident.

Alaric had been resigned to not finding Gwen as soon as he walked out of the Great Hall. Honestly, why would he even want to find her? Perhaps, somewhere inside, he knew he was just like her. If was an artist instead of an athlete or if his parents, at one point, weren’t powerful, he’d never be accepted. Now, of course, his parents were shameful. He left them, but their namesake gave him some recognition in Slytherin. Without that, he wondered if he’d be pushed aside like Gwen too.

He noticed a flash of light in the corner of the courtyard and he jumped, grabbing his wand from his pocket. Quickly, he was embarrassed and relieved. It was just Gwen, sitting under the tee. Although, he wouldn’t put it past her not to hex him. He tucked his wand again and walked towards her. “You know, hiding isn’t too efficient if you wave around your wand like that,” he said, hands tucked sheepishly into his pockets.

@ oldbook;
Jason watched her seeing her trying to get the pudding off of a book. "Did something happen?" He asked having missed it from being distracted from his homework. He blinked confused frowning softly. "Did someone do something to you?" He asked beginning to feel his anger rising not really understanding why he cared so much.

Hearing the huff from Rodney, he glanced at him raising an eyebrow before shaking his head. He ignored it before turning to look back at Rosina liking the way her lavender hair framed her face. A small smile replaced his worried expression as he watched her. He snapped out of it hearing her words. He grinned nodding.

He stood up following after her before laughing. "The Great Hall is the worst place for drama besides the Quidditch Field." He pointed out and walked with her with slow strides as he did so, not wanting to get ahead of her since he was taller and could walk a bigger distance than her. "Potions." He said with a disgruntled groan. He gave a shake of his head. "I don't understand the homework and I'm getting really frustrated by it." He explained to her.

Gwen just stared at the stars feeling the anger and embarrassment in her chest beginning to subside. She wiped a single tear from her eyes before pressing her hands to her cheeks closing her eyes as she inhaled deeply and letting the breath out in a quiet exhale from her mouth. She slowly opened her eyes as she calmed herself.

Her wand was raised as she narrowed her eyes. Seeing it was only Alaric, she sighed putting her wand down. "I'm not hiding. Just getting away from your girlfriend." She replied softly looking at her hands with a shake of her head. "If I was hiding, I'd have picked a better spot and then you wouldn't have found me." She pointed out raising her head to look at him with her green hazel eyes. She then frowned softly. "What are you doing out here?" She raised one of her eyebrows.

Raising her hand slowly, she tucked a piece of stray strand of hair behind her ear before dropping it onto her lap with a small thud. She felt uneasy with Alaric here since she was sure he didn't like her. She was stil holding her wand. After realizing this, she tucked it into her robes before turning her face to look up at the stars watching it. "I wish my hair looked like starlight." She murmured softly more to herself than anything else.