Blood of The Birds (~Gabrielle)

Chapter 1 - The Weasley House

One beautiful, sunny morning in late August, Rose Weasley woke to the sound of birds chirping. It had been nearly two months since she had heard the cardinals that sang their melodious song every morning, just outside her window in the small English town of Ottery St. Catchpole. She smiled at the familiar sound, slowly pulling herself out of bed to get ready for the day ahead of her.

Today, Rose, her little brother Hugo, and their parents would be traveling to Diagon Alley, where they would buy their new schoolbooks and robes for their upcoming year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was a day that Rose looked forward to every year, as she loved nothing more than the smell of new parchment. She was, after all, her mother's daughter.

This year in particular, though, was extra special. First, Rose had been away on vacation with her family all summer, and so she hadn't see either of her two best friends, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, for quite some time. She was very eager to meet up with them again, as she knew the Potters would be meeting them there, most likely along with Scorpius, who often spent a large portion of the summer at the Potters'.

Second, Rose was secretly hoping that this year she would be getting a new broomstick. Last year, she had joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team as their new Keeper, though she had had to use an old broom from the school, because she hadn't known originally that she would make it on the team. Once her father found out, he had apparently wanted to buy a new broom right away, but Rose's mother insisted that he wait until the summer, when Rose could pick it out herself. Neither of her parents had mentioned it since then, but Rose was sure that they hadn't forgotten.

At this thought, Rose began to get dressed even more quickly, and before she knew it, was on her way downstairs to the kitchen, where she was sure her mother would be, either cooking breakfast or reading the Daily Prophet.

Sure enough, Hermione Granger-Weasley was there, sipping coffee and reading the paper just like any other day, with freshly made pancake mix sitting by the stove, ready when needed.

"Good morning," Rose called as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Good morning," Hermione replied, looking up from her seat at her soon-to-be fifteen year-old daughter, finding it difficult to believe, as it was every morning, that she could possibly have two teenage children already. Albeit, Hugo was just barely a teenager, at only thirteen, but it still made her feel a little old.

"Why did you wake up so early? You know we're not to be at Diagon Alley for a few hours from now," Hermione asked Rose. Rose was normally never up this early, but of course today was no normal morning.

"I know, but I just wanted to make sure that I was ready on time. Plus, I have to get all of my school lists organized. Do you know where they are?" Rose replied. She knew that she didn't owe any explanation for her promptness to her mother, whom she had inherited this habit from in the first place, but provided it for her nonetheless.

"Yes, of course. An owl dropped them off last night. They're right here," Hermione answered, taking the top letter from Hogwarts off the table and handing it to Rose.

As Rose ripped open the envelope, excited yet gentile, Hermione couldn't help but notice just how much Rose reminded her of herself. With her enormous intellect and logic, Rose had taken all of Hermione's best traits. The ones that Rose hadn't inherited from Hermione only made her that much better in Hermione's eyes. Though Rose had long, semi-curly, thick hair like herself, it was a stunning fire red: the spitting image of Ron's. She had also inherited Ron's beautiful blue eyes, along with his bravery, loyalty, and Quidditch skills (though admittedly, Rose was much better at the wizard sport than Ron had ever been). These traits were slightly less obvious than the others, but they were there. They must have been, after all. Otherwise, Rose would have been sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor. In fact, Hermione used to think that Rose would have fit in better in Ravenclaw, but as the years went on, she realized, just as she had for herself when she was at Hogwarts, that Rose was a Gryffindor through and through.