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I met Mal my first day at Hogwarts. Well, technically before we even arrived at Hogwarts.
We met on the Hogwarts Express after my ever so kind brother refused to share a compartment with me. After a little searching I found an empty compartment to wait out the train ride.
Mallory Verity McGonagall is, just like her mum, a steadfast Gryffindor. Just as the train started to move, the door to my compartment flew open and a tall girl plopped herself down on the seat across from me. She leaned back and threw her arms over the seat behind her, making herself instantly at home. She had honey blonde hair that fell to her shoulders in waves. Her pointed nose and wide blue eyes gave her a stern look. While comfortable, she sat rigidly, as if a board was behind her back.
"Mallory McGonagall, but please do call me Mal, it drives my mum mad," Mal extended a hand to me. We shook hands and the rest is, as they say, history.
- - -
The showers on the sixth floor have the most atrocious water pressure I've ever encountered.
After grabbing some clothes and regaling Mal with the tale of the lake, I cast a quick drying spell and headed to the sixth floor.
The sixth floor bathroom was luckily empty. I place my towel and clothes on the sink counter. The large room is covered in white tiles. The ceiling is made up of intricately pressed gold panels, filled with filigree and swirls. The west wall is filled with tall arched windows, looking out over the greenhouses below. The wall of showers is to my right, and I start toward them, unbuttoning my robes and tossing them to the floor. I pull my dress over my head and pull back the golden curtain to the first shower. I turn the water on and step back out of the stall, unclipping my bra.
"Rose?!" I jump back toward the shower stall, clasping my hands over my exposed skin.
I close my eyes, the familiar voice making my cheeks burn.
"Bloody hell, my bad, Moony!" I call, mortified that Remus just saw me near naked. "I thought I was alone," I justified lamely.
"Uhh, no, uh, worries?" sputtered Remus. I hear him shuffle quickly out of his shower, scrambling toward the bathroom door. I hear the door creak open and shut with a light thump. I open my eyes slowly, cheeks still blazing. Bloody freaking hell.
I run a hand through my damp hair and step into the warm water.
I stand under the water for nearly an hour, hoping the shower will wash away the stresses of the morning with the lake grime.
I emerge from the water and dry myself off, slipping on a pair of grey sweatpants and a Weird Sisters tee shirt. I gather my things slowly, in no rush to make it back to the Gryffindor common room.
