Rose Evans and The Scroll of Life [HIATUS]

I.VIII

"WHAT WAS SNAPE'S PROBLEM?" ZOEE asked, lying stomach-down on Rose's bed. Rose shrugged.

"I don't know." She was sitting up against the headboard, leaning against on pillows, her textbook in her lap—she had been intending to study for Defence Against the Dark Arts, but then Zoee had come over and tried to talk, and Rose had felt obligated to join in. "Maybe he just knew my mother or something. Maybe she was a former student. . . ."

"The name does sound familiar . . ," said Zoee, "but the only famous Lily I know is Lily Potter, and she's too old to have been taught by Snape."

"Is that Harry Potter's mother?" asked Rose, curious. Suddenly, this was much better than their assigned reading—Vampires.

"Yeah," said Zoee in a hushed tone. "She's dead now. Died that . . . night. When it all happened."

"What did happen?" Rose lay back on her bed, staring at the ceiling; she had finally remembered to decorate it. Zoee had helped—that had been a lot of fun, Rose remembered.

"We don't really know," said Zoee. "It's a big mystery. All we know is that Lord Voldemort disappeared."

"You said his name." Rose flipped to face Zoee, and rested her head on her forearm. "Nobody really says his name."

"My parents told me it was ridiculous to fear a name," said Zoee matter-of-factly. She shrugged. Rose went back to staring at the ceiling.

"You should've been in Gryffindor," Rose said after a pause. "You're really brave."

"We-e-ell, he Sorting Hat almost put me there," said Zoee slowly. "but eventually it decided on Ravenclaw."

"I wish we had more classes with them," sighed Rose. "The Gryffindors, I mean." She was staring at a line on her ceiling, one she'd heard the orphanaged helpers say many times—fall seven times, stand up eight—when the day wasn't going well. She'd put it there to remember to always keep moving forward, no matter what.

"Well, we have Charms," said Zoee. She sat up. "Hey, want to practice the charm we're learning? Reparo?"

"Um, no . . . I want to finish the reading . . . and it's almost lunch." Rose felt guilty refusing Zoee's offer, especially seeing her bright face.

"Oh, of course!" Zoee went to the door. "I'll ask Jay."

Rose smiled brightly at her, happy to have the dormitory to herself. She setttled back in her against-the-headboard position, and started the chapter over again.

The source of very many Muggle myths and books, Vampires are a species little is known about. The Ministry of Magic is unable to classify a Vampire as human or beast, due to—

The dormitory door burst open. Victoria Tate and Ruth Lee came in, gossiping happily. They stopped when they saw Rose, who went back to her book and tried to block her ears. She heard Victoria sigh in a long-suffering way, the creaking of bedsprings, the sound of the blue curtains being pulled, and the whispers started up again.

Rose turned back to her book, trying to ignore the two. They were probably whispering about her; they didn't seem to like her much, always sneering at her and rolling their eyes at her. And they were pretty public about it, too.

. . . .The Ministry of Magic is unable to classify a Vampire as human or beast, due to the fact that they take a very humanoid form, although . . .

"Who does she think she's kidding?" The sharp whisper was obviously directed at Rose; she took a deep breath and tried to tell herself they were just jealous.