(Y/n)'s POV
Time passed around very quickly, or that's what I'd like to say, Harry and Ron were babbling about how Harry preferred to be stuck with Filch, although we all agreed I, alongside Harry, got the short end of the stick, detention with Snape? I wouldn't wish it on even my greatest enemy.
Hermione was being... Well, Hermione; she had that look on her face, and I could feel from a distance how much she wanted to say 'You did break the rules', but somehow kept it in her, although she still had that face for pretty much the rest of the day.
She did help me to change my bandages, which I thanked, I never really hurt myself or got into fights to be honest, so I never properly learned how to do that, but I guess that's normal.
"How do you know how to change bandages?" I asked, "Did you get hurt a lot when you were little?" I was a bit nervous to see what she said. I didn't want to think about her being harassed by her old school classmates, but my mind started to wander.
"I read about it in case I ever needed it, but I never got hurt myself, it was mostly in case I ever made... friends." I could see a tinge of red in her cheeks, so I laughed a bit.
"It isn't the first time that you liking books so much saves me, and I sure hope it isn't the last, thanks Hermione, really."
"Just don't ever do something as rash as that again, no word that comes from Malfoy's mouth is worth getting into trouble, or worse, hurting yourself, you should know that." I could see her eyebrows frowning, I felt guilty, and looked towards the ground.
"I'll try, I... I really don't know what happened, the word was filled with such emotions that I blanked out, I'm sorry,"
"You already apologised, Malfoy's words can infuriate anyone, it's the only thing he's good at." I laughed again, and she smiled, suddenly I remembered today's detention, and again felt bad.
"Uh... I hope you don't get mad, but I don't think we'll be able to study herbology today, I've got detention with Snape,"
"Oh, well, I don't like it, but one day of not studying won't make you forget everything we've been doing for the last year, oh! Perhaps I could even give you a small exam with everything we've seen!" I was left with a bad taste, but if I couldn't say no to anyone, it was worse with Hermione.
I just had to accept I had someone who loved every class, no matter what it was, as a best friend.
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Here it is, eight o'clock, the time of my death, or at least, it felt that way, with my head down, and without much will on me, I walked towards Professor Snape's office, and as I knocked, I prayed and prayed that, by some magical reason, he forgot I was supposed to be here.
That my presence was so insignificant to him, that he forgot all about the detention and was busy doing something else, but all of that hope went away when I heard a very annoyed,
"Come in,"
I let out a trembling sigh, and opened the door. The first thing I saw was the Professor, with his black robes, and his hair that seemed like he had a lot of hair gel, though everyone said it was grease.
He was sitting in front of his brown desk, writing something with his quill on a parchment, I assumed it was probably related to next class, some sort of notes, he raised his eyes off the parchment to look at me, raising his eyebrows too, and motioned with his head towards a shelf.
Or rather, a mini desk that was in front of that shelf, it was a circular one, that surrounded most of the office, on the mini desk, there was another parchment, much bigger than the one he had, with a quill, and there were already a few potion vials.
I went to sit down, the whole room felt... tense, overly tense, to be honest, it made me not want to say anything at all, though that isn't much different to how I usually am.
"Describe what the vials have, and what each one of them does," His icy voice made me jump, "Once you're done with those, show them to me, and then I'll give you more to do," His voice had disgust in it, and so did his look, that was accompanied by mild annoyance.
"If you fail, damage, or break any of them, I will take all the points Gryffindor has," That last statement made me feel really nervous, I even started to sweat, usually, my hands were really slippery, so I grabbed each vial extra carefully.
One of those that I grabbed, was one that had a glowing purple liquid in it, carefully, I took it, uncorked it, and smell it, immediately, a really acidic smell hit my nose, as if it was burned, my eyes watered, and my tongue went a bit numb, but thanks to that I was able to identify it.
I did what I did, because that's the way mom taught me to identify most potions, and this one, in particular, had a really funny name, so it was hard to forget, and also the effect it had was one that I already went through.
I locked the vial, grabbed the quill, and wrote on the parchment, that had more potion names, all described in the way mom taught me to, 'Dogbreath Potion', 'sometimes, you don't have to be a genius to know what a potion does, when used, pluck your nose, and be sure to eject all the fire from your mouth away, so that you don't have stomach aches'.
It sounds obvious, but for a kid it isn't, in the summer I had a bad experience for not remembering it, and had stomach aches for a week, and when I sneezed, embers of fire came out through my nose.
After some time, I realised that it wasn't that difficult for me to do this, I could remember what Professor Snape taught in class, and also, mom's classes helped a lot, specifically with the descriptions of the potions, this way mom can't say I don't listen to her when she rambles.
Thanks to that, I relaxed a bit, and stretched, putting my arms upwards and then behind my head, trying to relax my arms that have been writing for an hour and a half, from the side of my eyes, I could see that Professor Snape was looking at me with his eyebrows frowned.
It felt as if he was analysing me, and after some time with that, I couldn't bear it any longer, usually I couldn't bear silences for long, because they made me feel awkward.
"P-Professor...?" I couldn't make out his expression, he seemed a bit annoyed at first, and with a snarl, he said,
"You clearly inherited your father's tendencies, even in the way you stretch," He frowned as he said that, and looked even more annoyed, and from the vibe I got, he seemed to be expecting some sort of answer.
"I-I'm sorry, sir, t-there's not much I can do about that..." My voice came out quieter than I expected it to, I guess I was really nervous.
"Obviously you also inherited his shy demeanour, although... he wasn't as timid as you... must be something from your mother." His face wasn't as stern anymore, and the whole room felt... lighter on my shoulders, the shift in the vibe made me feel a bit sick.
I took a deep breath, and with the whole room feeling less tense, I was able to finish with the few potions I had left, I stood up, and presented him the parchment, with less nervousness than before.
He took a good look at it, with his stern face back, and frowned every time he read some of the descriptions of the potions.
"Your... mother must be teaching you about potions, isn't she?" I nodded, his tone had disdain in it, sure, but it was less than when we were in classes and he corrected someone else from Gryffindor, "I suppose that explains it,"
"Phoebe was always... rather joyful with the descriptions she made, even of the deadliest potions." He seemed unimpressed at it, and I was a bit surprised how he knew my mom. I already knew he was at least on friendly terms with dad, but with mom? That's news to me.
My parents didn't talk a lot about their school days, they always looked a bit uncomfortable when I brought it up, but I had to know, that's why I wanted to ask Hagrid about them, and if there was anyone else who knew about them, well... I had to ask them too, even if it was Snape.
"P-Professor, can I ask you a question?" He frowned, and looked a bit annoyed too, which made me feel anxious, with Snape, you never know.
"I suppose you've done a decent job. Ask, but make it quick"
"W-Well, I, uh," I gulped, "Could you tell me how my parents were... when they were students? I-I mean, if it's all right," I looked down the whole time, just so I wouldn't have to look him in the eyes.
"Have they told you anything?" He said, with an edge in his tone, "Look at me when I'm speaking, boy." So I did, I locked eyes with him, and... seeing how Hagrid reacted when I told him they didn't, I lied.
"Y-Yeah, they've told me a bit, not much, though, that's why I wanted to ask y-you, sir, my dad told me you're f-friends..." He looked me straight in the eyes, and after a few seconds, seemed surprised, he spent a few more seconds silent.
"Your father... was an idiot," He said the word idiot with so much intent I felt it slapping me across the face, "But compared to every other Gryffindor, he wasn't as unpleasant to be around,"
"I-Is that because... he was the first one in his f-family?" I asked, I started to get a bit more relaxed as he spoke, maybe because his words weren't filled with venom in each sentence.
"I'm astounded he's told you that much, yes, it was related to that, it wasn't an everyday occurrence that a Rosier wasn't a Slytherin," There was a pause in my brain in that moment, a name I didn't really expect, and another name I didn't know at all.
Slytherin? Rosier? W-What? I tried to keep a straight face, but that was a surprise to say the least, my father's last name was Rosier? I always thought it was (L/n), did he change it somehow?
"Enough questions, you have more potions to organise, and... I do not want to be stuck here with you for longer than needed." Going back to that tone of disdain of his, but something felt different, I guess the whole vibe of the room was more relaxed.
I kept on writing on the parchment all the names and descriptions of the potions, it took me a few more hours, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I said goodbye to the Professor, and started to walk towards the door, I grabbed the handle, but something stopped me.
"(L/n),"
I heard Snape's voice, turned around, and looked him in the eyes, remembering what he said before and not wanting to be scolded again, scoldings made me feel really anxious, we stayed like that for a few seconds, until he finally looked down to his parchment again.
"You did a... decent job," I nodded at him, and went to the common room. I was not expecting to get an answer from Professor Snape of all people, honestly, I thought he would just ignore me or insult me.
Still, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but that last name was still in my mind, Rosier? The way Professor Snape said it, it sounded like a known family, maybe I could look in the library about them? I'll see if Hermione can help me with that.
My dad came from a family of Slytherins, that much... I could tell by myself, I had my suspicions, but still, confirming it doesn't make the uneasiness go away, why keep it hidden? He already told me his family were a bunch of extremists, at least most of them, what is that he didn't want me to know?
I was walking through the halls. To be honest, it was quite scary, I think people noticed it, but I'm pretty much a scaredy cat, I get scared really easily, and being around the school at night wasn't all that pretty either.
Before I could reach the common room, I was stopped in my tracks, not because I wanted to, but because I heard something that made me freeze up in fear, a voice that compared to Voldemort's whispers last year, it made shivers run through every bone of my body.
That wasn't the worst, usually, when people talked, you could feel some sort of vibe from it, but this voice was emotionless, cold, and... dangerous.
"Let me rip you... tear you.... Let me kill you... so hungry...." I didn't realise I was sweating, until it went cold, it was really similar to the vibe I got from Voldemort last year, but... worse, more real, more deadly.
I moved my head around, trying to find where the voice came from, but... I was alone, could the voice be coming from the walls? How? I didn't have time to find out, as fast as I heard it, it disappeared.
I was freezed up there for a few seconds, until my legs finally decided to move, this was nothing like the troll, that acted merely on instinct, no... this was something evil.
I quickly paced towards the common room, I wasn't expecting anyone, of course, but near the fireplace, in one of the armchairs, was someone I knew, Hermione, I started to approach her, but I quickly realised that she was asleep, I didn't understand why she was here.
That is until I looked to the table that was in front of her, and saw a bunch of books, at first I thought they were Lockhart ones, but I realised that they were Herbology books, she... was waiting for me.
She really thought I could be back before it was too late, to at least teach me a bit? I guess I wasn't the only one enjoying them, honestly, I never quite found the reason for studying, but doing it with a friend like Hermione was something else.
And I guess she thought so too. I feel bad now, if only I was faster at doing my detention... usually I tend to overthink things, and as of late... I've been thinking how maybe I'm not a good friend, they all put in this huge effort, and I'm just... me.
All this thinking about not being a good friend, made me remember something: Hermione's birthday, it was soon, we're still in September, and it's the nineteen, I'll get her something this year. I promised her that.
But first, I can't let her sleep here, so I start moving her, nudging her shoulder a bit.
"Hermione... Hermione, wake up," I said, as softly as I could, I don't like being woken up, and mom always says 'never do something to someone that you wouldn't want to happen to you' so, I try as softly and gently as I can.
She started to groan, move a bit, and her eyes slowly opened; at first she seemed disoriented, then looked around, and her eyes landed on me. Again, I felt awful for making her wait this long, especially knowing how Hermione usually is.
I think it showed in my face, or again, she is really good at reading my face, because as soon as she saw me, she said,
"Oh! (Y/n), you've arrived, don't worry, I wasn't waiting for you, I just felt like studying in front of the fireplace, and of course, because it's comfortable here, I fell asleep," She... wasn't all that good at lying, or perhaps it was more not being good at improvising.
"I'm really sorry, Hermione, I swear I tried to finish as fast as I could with Snape, I-" My voice came out with more pain than I wanted to, so she interrupted me,
"Don't worry about it, it's fine, it's late, I'll go to my room now," She put on a smile, as she grabbed all of her books, I gave her one, but it was filled with a bit of sadness,
"I-I'll make it up to you, Hermione, I promise," She looked like she was thinking for a moment,
"If you want to make it up to me, make sure to pay attention in Herbology, I've seen you sleeping on class, honestly, I do not want to keep waking you up in them, and make sure to learn what I teach you in the lessons," I stood still looking at her, and then laughed, she didn't get it, and tilted her head a bit.
"I promise I'll try my hardest on Herbology, thanks, Hermione," Now, with a true smile, filled with happiness,
"Like I said, don't worry about it, now, go to sleep, it's late, good night, (Y/n)," And with a smile, she went up the stairs to her dormitory.
"Sweet dreams, Hermione," I stood there, thinking about what to get for her birthday, and also, I wanted to tell her what I found out today, but I can wait, it's not like something's going to happen anyways.
I think I have the perfect gift for her, all I have to do is buy it.
With that, I went to the boys dormitory, and there, Harry and Ron were asleep, obviously they arrived much earlier than me, I envied them.
I put on my pyjamas, fed Blaze, who as of late was sleeping more, probably because she was in her teenage phase, according to a book I read about magical creatures, I've been reading lots of those, they're fun, Grandma always picks the best too.
Anyways, with that in mind, and a new mission on my head, I fell asleep, well, not right away, it took some time, but I did.
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19th of September, 1992.
A week passed without anything worth mentioning, really, Lockhart still talked a lot about himself, Professor Snape was being Snape, and the extra lessons with Professor Flitwick were coming nicely. If I say so myself, Hermione was enjoying them a lot too.
I woke up early today, because I asked Professor McGonagall a spell in particular, which I wanted to try today. She didn't seem too happy to teach it to me at first when I asked her to teach me, but after she found out what spell it was, she gave in easily.
It wasn't a normal day, it was Hermione's birthday! And I had to get it right today,
"Do we really have to get up this early? Bloody hell, the sun isn't even out yet!" I heard Ron say.
Of course, if I wanted to get it right, I couldn't do it alone, thankfully, I had Harry and Ron.
"This is just like with Wood all over again," Harry sounded really tired, and they could complain all they wanted, if they didn't want to be here, they wouldn't, I know they care about her.
"Oh, come on guys, Hermione's done a lot for you guys too, the least we can do is put on some balloons and wish her a happy birthday, besides, knowing her, she'll be happy with just us saying it to her," Even though I knew they cared, I had to remind them, just to be sure.
"Yeah, well, we're doing all of this and we don't even have a birthday cake with us, I don't think you planned it all that well, mate," I could see Ron's point.
"Having balloons is better than anything, to be honest." Given how the Dursleys are, hearing Harry say that made my chest hurt a bit.
"Don't worry, I've made sure we got the cake on time," I was confident. I practised the whole week, the tone on how I said it must've got to them, because we all just kept on putting some balloons.
"What are you three doing?" No, no.. no! She wasn't supposed to wake up yet, I turned my head, and saw Hermione walking down the stairs. The reason why I woke them up this early was because she woke early too, and I wanted everything to be ready by the time she came down.
"W-W-We... uh-" My brain started to crack, this tiny mismatch in my plan made me go blank, Harry walked next to me, nudged me with his elbow, and said,
"Happy birthday, Hermione," Once again, he saved the day, by just saying it outright, he went for a hug, which gave me enough time to pull out my wand, and point to a space that had nothing in it, it was impossible to make food out of nowhere.
It sounds weird, but it's written on the laws of a guy named Gamp. I remember it because the name's really funny.
The thing I was practising all week didn't exactly have a name, it was more of a vibe, really, I wanted to ask Professor Dumbledore, but Professor McGonagall said he was busy, and that she was the Transfiguration teacher for a reason.
I moved my wand, and expressed my desire, and a small cake appeared, I wasn't making food from thin air, Professor McGonagall taught me a conjuration spell, she told me she'd have someone make it in the kitchen, she was really nice about it too.
Yeah, the cake was small but it was fine, because I had the help of another spell, with my wand, I made a 'U' in the air, and pointed towards the cake,
"Engorgio!" I whispered, thankfully, the cake grew until I ordered it, and the chocolate cake was ready, it even had 'Happy Birthday' in it.
I turned around just in time as I watched Ron and Hermione awkwardly shake hands, and, with the cake in my hands, I congratulated her too.
"Happy birthday, Hermione! I'd hug you, but, uh, my hands are a bit busy now," I laughed, and was surprised to see her eyes were watering up,
"Oh! You shouldn't have! This is... thank you so much," I put the cake on a table, and she went and hugged me, I hugged her back, I think I was getting used to hugs, to be honest.
"Hermione, you always do all these things to help us, it's the least we could do," I opened my eyes widely, as I remembered something, "Oh, right! The gifts!"
"You say that, but it was your idea in the first place, here," Said Ron, honestly, I didn't want her to know it was my idea, but Ron being him with less sleep on him, he's probably a bit more grumpier than usual.
"It was quite obvious, really, but you guys helped too, so I'm thankful," She took Ron's gift, which turned out to be candies, they always came in handy.
Harry's gift was a bigger school bag, he asked me what he could get her, and really, she needed more space on her bag, that many books weren't going to do well on her back.
"I really hope you like it, Hermione, it was painful to get this..." I gave her my gift, and when she opened it, she gasped,
"Oh! You didn't... oh, (Y/n), thank you!" It was a copy of 'Magical Me!' of Professor Lockhart, but that wasn't the painful part.
"Open it," She did, and there she gasped even louder, she even screeched a bit, which was... surprising to say the least.
"(Y/n), this is – oh my – this is brilliant! Thank you so much," It was a copy of the book with a signature from Professor Lockhart himself, that was the painful part. I had to hear him talk about himself for literal hours before getting that signature, it was physically and mentally painful.
"I'm just glad you like it," She looked really happy, which indicated to me we did a good job. It made me really happy to see my friends happy.
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After that, the day went on really fast. I still haven't got to tell Hermione about what I found out about my family, because I was busy learning the summoning spell, but I would tell her soon, when I got the chance.
Thankfully, it showed itself, we were in our daily lesson of Herbology, I finally solved a mock exam she made, which was exhausting, but after I did it, I asked her.
"Hey, does the name Rosier sound familiar to you?"
"A bit, perhaps I read it in a book from the library, why?" She tilted her head, I hesitated at first, but then thought, why would I hesitate? She's my best friend, she would never judge me.
"Well... on my detention with Snape, I found out something... that made me feel a bit uneasy," I shifted on my seat.
"What is it?" She looked a bit worried,
"My dad... his last name isn't (L/n), it's Rosier, he was the first Gryffindor in a family of Slytherins, and for some reason... he didn't want me to know, I want to find out what the Rosier family is about, w-would you... help-" I couldn't even finish my question.
She closed her book in a snap, and looked at me straight in the eyes,
"Is this why you've been so anxious as of late? (Y/n), of course I'll help you, in fact, let's go to the library at this instant," She started to grab her books and put them in the bag Harry got for her.
"Y-You don't mind?"
"Oh, honestly! Why do you think I'll mind? Let's go," She went back to that bossy tone of hers, and I smiled, I didn't even need to tell her thank you, her vibe gave me everything I needed to know. I found a friend for life in Hermione Granger.
Maybe I wasn't able to tell her what Voldemort whispered to me last year, but I would, after I figure out what he meant with them, perhaps what we found about the Rosiers will be of help.
But that's just... wishful thinking.
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