Night of the Rose

\"Harry! There you are!\" A shrill voice penetrated the thickness of the excited students scrambling around in the Hogswart Express. Harry Potter, resignedly, turned his head to the offender.

\"Yes, Lavender?\" He murmured carelessly, wanting to find his place with his friends. Harry could not stand the shallowness of those even the ones that were unfortunately in his own House of Gryffindors. He felt lucky having true blue friends such as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Where were those two, anyway?

Lavender Brown simpered at him with a seductive smile. She obviously wanted something, and he didn\'t feel like beating around the bush. She was violating his boundaries by holding onto his arm. Ever since the fiasco with Ron last year... let\'s just say that Harry didn\'t put much stock on her seriousness in relationships.

\"Well, Harry! How you have grown handsomely over the summer! Whatever happened to those horrid round spectacles of yours? You finally let Madame Pomfrey do one of those sight improvement charms?\" She breathed deeply out of excitement, flipping her streaked hair. Harry mumbled something about needing to go. She smiled even widely, \"It was luck that my mum let me go to Hogswarts after.. well, the unfortunate demise of Dumbledore. Oh! Don\'t go, Harry! I found a suitable... seat for us on this rather crowded train. Let\'s go!\" She tried to tug his arm, but he retracted it harshly.

\"Leave me alone, Lavender! I\'m not... my friends are waiting for me!\" He quickly disappeared into the crowd before Lavender could blink her eyes out of disbelief. She clenched her fists and turned on her heels and headed for her room in disgraced defeat.

Our Slytherin Prince has watched this whole exchange with amusement. Draco Malfoy shook his head, and was in search for his own place. Many thoughts ran through his head in a flurry, and his summer has been an uneasy one. He was finally cleared of the charges of attempting to kill Katie Bell and others. As a matter of fact, he had hesitated to kill the old man. Dumbledore! He still couldn\'t believe that he even nearing death put total trust in him... Draco Malfoy! The son of a disgraced Death Eater! He furiously opened the tiny passenger room and shut the door behind him.

Draco was so deep in thoughts, he nearly tripped over a small bag that had a lot of stickers all over it. If it wasn\'t for a pretty brunette grabbing him by the arm to give him his balance back, he would have stumbled onto her tender laps. T\'was unfortunate, he thought to himself nevertheless. The rounded eyes on the pretty brunette revealed a deep shade of sparkling green. Draco felt his stomach tighten... and with a closer look, he noticed the brunette\'s hair was in fact.. reddish. A nice touch of auburn, and.. did she have a nice figure to boot? It was hard to tell in all that grey cloak!

Draco felt foolish that he did not introduce himself swiftly and suavely even when he felt more like a first year schoolboy. The brunette merely smiled at him, after recovering from her initial surprise.

\"I-I.. is this seat available? I would be.. honored to know you during the voyage, miss.. \" He drawled, as he took his seat. Now it was unavailable. The young woman started to open her mouth, and then shut it. She had a perfect expression of being confused. She gave him a beautiful smile, and held up a finger which told him to wait a moment. She then opened her little brown purse, and grabbed a pad and pen. Draco\'s smile was frozen. She started to scribble away.

\"What.. is this?\" He muttered, as she was done writing her message.

<>

He started to frown, puzzledly. Rose. A beautiful name... but.. this didn\'t add up. Why... was she writing instead of talking?

Rose sighed, and grabbed the pad from him. She wrote:

<> Rose felt her face turning hot at this part. She looked up at Draco with a wiry grin and continued writing. <> She stopped as she formed her mouth into a small O, as she realized Draco didn\'t fully understand why she was writing like a maniac.

\"Oh!\" She uttered out a squeaky sound.

<> She looked up to his expression and was pained by it. He wore a mask of horror. She did not finish what she was writing.

Draco scowled, \"She might as well be a Mudblood.\" With that, he cast her a disgusted look and exited the compartment quickly. Rose was thoroughly humiliated and angry. Stupid unfeeling hearing people! Ignorant, the lot of them! He just seemed so charming.. and so handsome.

\"I guess there\'s some kind of rot in every good looking apple, and that boy\'s a fine example of it!\" She thought to herself darkly. She sincerely hoped she did not bump into him again for the rest of her year at Hogswarts. She had a mind to hex him into hades next time she clapped her unfortunate eyes on him! Suddenly she felt alone. She held her brown purse to herself tightly. A lone tear fell down her inflamed cheek. Rose wiped at it, when a brown haired man entered her compartment. He was handsome, but he wore a harried look. He cast her a tentative smile, and took his seat silently. Rose didn\'t want to talk to him, feeling completely humiliated and still angry at all hearing people of the world.. both magical and muggle.

The brown haired man sighed with an air of being mentally tired. Rose looked at him when she thought he wasn\'t looking. She felt a twinge of unwanted sympathy for this man.

\"Remember, Rose, you\'re still mad at all hearies! They\'re not worth your time!\" She thought to herself. Rose then stared out through the window in silence. It was her first time to Hogswarts. She would not mess it up again like before. She bit her lips determinedly, and continued to look outside. It was raining.