Rosabella Black |Daughter of Sirius Black| (Book 6)

Silver and Opals

Rosabella's Point of View:
Dumbledore was definitely leaving the schools, regularly. I only caught sight of the Headmaster only twice over the next few weeks. He rarely appeared at meals anymore.
Halfway through October came our first trip of the term to Hogsmeade. I had wondered whether these trips would still be allowed, given the increasingly tight security measures around the school, but I was pleased to know that they were going ahead. It was always good to get out of the castle grounds for a few hours and it's really the only time Harry and I can be alone together since Harry isn't having the nightmares anymore. Harry had become quite the jinxer lately. He's been trying out the spells the Prince had invented.
There had been a hex that caused toenails to grow alarmingly fast and Harry had tried this on Crabbe in the corridor, with very entertaining results. A jinx that glued the tongue to the roof of the mouth, which Harry had twice used, to general applause, on an unsuspecting Argus Filch. Perhaps most useful of all, Muffliato, a spell that filled the ears of anyone nearby with an unidentifiable buzzing, so that lengthy conversations could be held in class with out being overheard. The only person who did not find these charms amusing was Hermione, who maintained a rigidly disapproving expression throughout and refused to talk at all if Harry had used the Muffliato spell on anyone in the vicinity.

Hermione and I got up and dressed in in warm clothing for the Hogsmeade's trip.
Hermione's Outfit:

Rosabella's Outfit:

We meet the boys in the common room. Harry smiled at me as he came over. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist. Ron immediately bursted into a story about how Harry had used a spell that made Ron hang upside down in the air. He told it as we walked down to Great Hall. Harry and I held hands as we walked and Winter walked next go me. As usual Winter walked closely by my side and then ran off into the grounds to get her own breakfast.
    ". . . and then there was another flash of light and I landed on the bed again!" Ron grinned, helping himself to sausages.
I laughed hysterically.
    "Levicorpus, right? I used it on Parkinson when she was trying to take points of a first year Gryffindor for no reason." I asked Harry.
Harry grinned and nodded.
Hermione had not cracked a smile during this anecdote, and now turned an expression of wintry disapproval upon Harry.
  "Was this spell, by any chance, another one from that potion book of yours?" Hermione asked.
Harry frowned at her.
   "Always jump to the worst conclusion, don't you?" Harry said.
   "Was it?" Hermione pressed.
   "Well . . . yeah, it was, but so what?" Harry said.
   "So you just decided to try out an unknown, handwritten incantation and see what would happen?" Hermione said, highly disapproving.
   "Why does it matter if it's handwritten?" Harry said, preferring not to answer the rest of the question.
   "Because it's probably not Ministry of Magic approved." Hermione said and Harry, Ron and I rolled our eyes.
   "And also, because I'm starting to think this Prince character was a bit dodgy." Hermione added.
Both Harry and Ron shouted her down at once.
   "It was a laugh! Just a laugh that's all!" Ron said, upending a ketchup bottle over his sausages.
   "Dangling people upside down by the ankle? Who puts their time and energy into making up spells like that?" Hermione said.
   "Jay and Jake and probably me to be honest." I said chuckling.
   "Fred and George. It's their kind of thing. And, er -" Ron said shrugging.
   "My dad." Harry said.
   "What?" Ron and Hermione said together.
I already knew.
   "My dad used this spell. I - Lupin told me." Harry said.
The last part was not true. Harry had seen his father use the spell on Snape, but he had never told Ron and Hermione about that particular excursion into the Pensieve. Only me, Dad and Remus.
    "Maybe your dad did use it, Harry, but he's not the only one. We've seen a whole bunch of people use it, in case you've forgotten. Dangling people in the air. Making them float along, asleep, helpless." Hermione said.
Harry stared at her. As did I. With a sinking feeling, I remembered the behavior of the Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup. Harry was rembering it too. Ron and I glanced at each other.
  "That was different." Ron said robustly.
I nodded quickly in agreement.
   "They were abusing it. Harry and his dad were just having a laugh. The only spells that are evil by nature are the Unforgivable Curses, hence why they're Unforgivable. No other spell is evil, it depends on how you use it." I said firmly with a pointed look at Hermione
    "You don't like the Prince, Hermione, because he's better than you at Potions -" Ron added, pointing a sausage at her sternly.
   "It's got nothing to do with that! I just think it's very irresponsible to start performing spells when you don't even know what they're for, and stop talking about 'the Prince' as if it's his title, I bet it's just a stupid nickname, and it doesn't seem as though he was a very nice person to me!" Hermione said, her cheeks reddening.
   "I don't see where you get that from. If he'd been a budding Death Eater he wouldn't have been boasting about being 'half-blood,' would he?" Harry said heatedly.
   "The Death Eaters can't all be pure - blood, there aren't enough pure - blood wizards left." Hermione said stubbornly.
   "I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure." I said, thoughtfully.
   "It's only Muggle - borns they hate, they'd be quite happy to let you, Ron and Ro join up." Hermione said.
    "There is no way they'd let me be a Death Eater! My whole family are blood traitors! That's as bad as Muggle-borns to Death Eaters!" Ron said indignantly, a bit of sausage flying off the fork he was now brandishing at Hermione and hitting Ernie Macmillan on the head.
   "Ha. The only reason my brothers and I are so desirable to the Death Eaters are so we can be used as breeders for the next generation that they can raise in their own image. Restore the line of Black to its former glory." I said coldly.
   "And they'd love to have me. We'd be best pals if they didn't keep trying to do me in." Harry said sarcastically.
This made Ron and I laugh, even Hermione gave a grudging smile, and a distraction arrived in the shape of Ginny.
    "Hey, Harry, I'm supposed to give you this." Ginny said.
It was a scroll of parchment with Harry's name written upon it in familiar thin, slanting writing.
   "Thanks, Ginny . . . It's Dumbledore's next lesson!" Harry told Ron, Hermione and I, pulling open the parchment and quickly reading its contents.
  "Monday evening!" Harry said happily.
   "Want to join us in Hogsmeade, Ginny?" I asked.
   "I'm going with Dean - might see you there." Ginny replied, waving at us as she left.
Winter then came back into the Hall and settled at my feet.