Rose Evans and The Scroll of Life [HIATUS]

I.XI

I'm going to post this, then the prologue to what was going to be the second book, then I'm done. SO MANY APOLOGIES!!

Rose sighed as they trudged through the mud that was now building up around the castle; clouds had come and it had started to rain shortly after they'd gotten out of the forest. Even though she was wearing her heavy coat, she was chilled to the bone, and the rain was beating down on her. Fred's arm was still around her waist, and George was leading; Rose thought he felt responsible. 

"Well, this is miserable," Fred remarked, shaking the mud off his boots. 

Fred grunted in agreement but George just sighed and said again, "Sorry for this rain, guys."

"You don't control the weather, Georgie," Fred consoled his twin. Normally, Rose would've found the name cute, but her mind was preoccupied with other things. Namely, Professor Trocar and Greyback's conversation — whoever he was.

"What do you think we just heard?" Rose voiced her thoughts tentatively, not sure of the twins' reaction.

George looked slightly scared. "I don't know, and I don't particularily care to," he admitted. "We do like to stir trouble—"

"—but that's not the kind of trouble we get into," Fred finished.

"But it doesn't spark your curiousity?" Rose pressed, needing backup on this.

George shrugged. 

"Not really," Fred said.

"Oh," Rose said, feeling insignificant and dismissed. Then she reminded herself that Zoë, at the least, would be curious — their Ravenclaw instincts. "Well, I am," she added. "And I have half a mind to go digging."

Fred stopped and turned to her; his arm around her waist jerked her to a stop as well. 

"What?" she asked.

Fred's face was white. "Don't go investigating into teachers' business," he said in a low and serious voice. "Especially not Trocar. It would be too easy to get hurt."

"I agree with Fred," George's voice dipped even lower, "rumour has it Trocar is a vampire, and, if I recognize that name, I think Fenrir Greyback is a werewolf — Dad talked about him once, warning us. It's way too dangerous."

A forgien object seemed to be lodged in Rose's throat at the mention of vampires and werewolves. They were creatures she had no experience dealing with; coming from the Muggle world, werewolves were things of stories, and she didn't know anything about them. She shook off the lump by laughing and continuing to walk again, but a little faster this time, in order to put as much distance as possible from from the vampire and her. "Anyone would think you two weren't Gryffindor."

The twins, jogging, caught up with her. "We're serious," Fred said.

"Dead serious," said George.

"I promise," Rose said, a quiver in her voice at the thought of running into a creature only portrayed in myths and bad love stories. "I'll stay away from vampires at all costs," she said, and it was true.

The two seemed to visibly relax. "Good," George said.

"You're so much like our little sister, Ginny," Fred added.

"She won't listen to us either," said George.

They were now turning up the gravel path that lead to Hogwarts; mud was spattered all up and down Rose's nightgown and her slippers. She sighed. This was becoming a longer and more adventurous night than she expected — although she should've been prepared, she reckoned with herself, it was Fred and George. But Rose had classes tomorrow, and she had to get back into the Ravenclaw common room, with an especially hard question promised, for her things. . . . She was bound to fall asleep in History of Magic; normally she was able to keep herself awake and pay attention, but the fatigue bogging down her eyelids would make that difficult. She stumbled forward, barely thinking about where they were walking.

A sudden rattling sound shook her from her stupor. "Um, Fred, we're locked out," George's voice whispered anxiously. 

"What?!" Fred said incredulously. Rose blinked the fog from her eyes in order to see Fred jog to the intricately decorated castle gates and try to open them. His efforts proved pointless; the gates were locked from the outside until morning.

Rose let out a whimper. She was done with this night. At the beginning, the adventure was fun, but now after vampires, werewolves, a long walk, rain, and the eastern sky starting to get a little lighter, all she wanted was to sink into her bed in the dorms and sleep.

Unfortunately, that wasn't available to her at this minute.

The twins looked concernedly at her then had what looked like a mental telepathy conversation wherein Fred would raise his eyebrows and George would sigh defeatedly. They were probably talking about her, but Rose didn't care at the moment. She sank to the ground by the gates and put her head in between her knees.

"Rose?"

Rose felt someone sit next to her and put their arm around her. She opened her eyes and lifted her head and saw Fred smiling down at her. "George's going back for the map, and he's going to use the tunnel to get back into Hogwarts to open the gates for us. I'm staying here with you."

Rose smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thanks," she said.

"Sorry we dragged you into this."

Keep smiling, Rose reminded herself; that thought had got her through orphanage after orphanage and it was probably still applicable now. She took a deep breath. "It's okay, you didn't know any of this was going to happen," she told him. "Now, I need a distraction from this dreadful night. Tell me about your sister."

"Ginny?" Fred smiled fondly. "Oh, she's something. You two are a lot alike," and he went on about his sister and the rest of his rather large family whilst the stars disappeared in the sky and the sun turned the eastern sky into a rosey pink.

Finally, Rose heard hurried footsteps behind her, and she rose, opening her mouth in preparation to throw some snarky comment at George for taking so long. 

Professor McGonagall's angry and disappointed face stared back at her as, with one hand, she dragged George along and, with the other hand, quickly started to unlock the gates. Rose slowly stood up and hung her head low, trying not to divulge the burning shame apparent on her cheeks.

The door swang open with a clang. Rose winced. "Profess—"

Professor McGonagall tutted, and cut her off. "That's enough out of you. Honestly, I'd expected higher from someone of your ... caliber."

"We're terribly sorry, ma'am, we were just exploring," Fred tried desperately to explain, despite George's warning looks behind McGonagall's imposing figure.

McGonagall looked down her now-whitish nose at him and tutted again. "Just because I'd expected you to do such a thing, young man, does not mean you're off the hook. Now, shut up, or I'll be forced to drag you by the ear like I am your twin here."

Fred shut up.

It was a long and terrifying walk down the empty halls to McGonagall's office.  Their footsteps echoed, waking up the portraits, who muttered and shook their heads at them. Rose's cheeks were burning, and she closed her eyes, searching in her head, hoping to find some sort of spell that would turn her invisible. The sun outside was becoming brighter every second, meaning that at some point breakfast would be served in the Great Hall, and there would be even more people around to laugh at Rose's shame.

Professor McGonagall dumped them in her office with a sharp, "Sit!" then stalked off again, presumeably to find the headmaster.

George groaned and put his head in his hands. "We're so sorry, Rose," he said.

"We just wanted to have some fun with you," Fred said.

"And show off our knowledge of the castle a little bit. Obviously—"

"—we didn't do that."

"It's okay, you two," Rose said, trying to keep her 'keep smiling' mentality in mind. "I mean, yeah, the night was pretty miserable, but it's not like it was your fault."

Bad place to end it, but guys, I just really don't care anymore. I feel like an awful person. Nergh. BYE.....