ROSIER

2

Rumours
...

Countless Rumours circled the corridors of Hogwarts every day. Whether it was a scandalous affinity between two students or about the newest Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, said to have a sketchy past. The whispers never failed to spread from ear to ear.

Gwen herself has been the subject of countless rumours. There was one accusing her of losing her first kiss to Connor Abernathy, a particularly beloved Ravenclaw from the year above. Another accused her of letting engorged bees into the office of the late DADA teacher (the man quickly packed his bags after).

However, this time around, the rumours were overshadowed by the newest safety measure they faced when stepping off the train. Two Aurors, with stern expressions, waited for them at the gates to check the bags of each student before they were allowed to enter the carriages.

"Now they're searching our bags, tomorrow the ministry starts supervising each of our fucking steps," Evan hissed through his teeth, his eyes small lines as he glared at the two men.

"What are they searching our bags for anyway?" Gwen wondered. She shouldered her bag a little tighter. There was nothing suspicious in it, but the thought of them going through her things still made her sick.

"Haven't you read the Prophet?" Dorcas replied, keeping her voice down so as to not draw unwanted attention. "The Dark Mark appeared in the sky not far from here. No, attack or anything, just the Mark. They think it's a warning or something. If it weren't for Dumbledore, we might not have come back this year."

Like a magnet, her eyes glanced up at the cloudy sky. Gwen only ever saw the Dark Mark in blurry photos or drawn sketches, but to think it appeared so close by was shocking.

"Name." The man on the left asked. He gripped Gwen's bag and opened it with no care for the pins he nearly ripped off.

"Gwendolyn Rosier,"

"Rosier," He repeated, his cold eyes inspecting her from head to toe. It was easy to tell how much longer he took to search her bag than he did with other students. When he couldn't find anything, his gaze just grew more suspicious about her.
"I knew your grandfather. They shouldn't leave any of you unsupervised if you ask me."

"No one is," Evan snarled, gripping Gwen by the arm and pulling her toward the carriage.

Gwen watched the Auror as they drove off to the castle once the carriage was full. Her memories with Augustus Rosier were countable on one hand, had he died when she was seven. Grey hair and blue eyes, quiet and reserved. The first to let her smoke a cigarette when she was still too young to know the word and never laying a finger on them in a fit of rage.
She had always considered him the most tolerable man in the family tree, but what were her thoughts to count on this?

The first years got sorted into the four Houses, and Dumbledore apologized for the Aurors at the gates. He called it a negotiation he had to agree on but promised the school year would go on as planned. Not a single word was spoken about the Dark Mark, but the thoughts about it were pushed to the back when the feast began.

Gwen was glad to be in her dorm room again, with her roommates at each corner of the room and the window leading a view into the lake. They talked about their vacations, exchanged summer assignments to fill in the missing blanks, and rumoured about the peculiar new woman teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"She fled a psych ward." Was the most common gossip about the woman. "Changed her name and took the job to ensure she wouldn't be put back."

And Gwen had to agree about the strangeness of the new professor when they finally met her.