all the whispers of the possible become clear

Chapter 8: 6th Year - Part B

"So who've you got your eye on now?"

Rose rolled her eyes as she tried to concentrate on her essay, finding herself annoyed and a little surprised at how the two boys at the desk behind hers had not stopped gossiping for the past fifteen minutes. She now knew more about the Ravenclaw Quidditch team's exploits and a few seemingly slutty Slytherin girls than she'd ever cared to know.

Worse, a third friend had joined their table – a handsome Hufflepuff seventh-year by the name of Jack Hamilton, whom Rose had had a tiny crush on the previous year, and she couldn't help but be curious about his opinion.

"What are you guys talking about?" Jack seemed to be avoiding their line of interrogation.

"Come on, man, I saw you looking over at the Gryffindor table the other day. Someone catch your fancy?"

Meredith looked up from her essay and exchanged glances with Rose, who tried to look exasperated. "Boys." Meredith mouthed in agreement before turning back to flip to the next page of her textbook.

"Let me guess." The second gossipy boy said. "That blonde one – Yvonne Eversleigh."

"Nah." Jack sounded disgruntled. "That girl's got less brain than a Kneazle."

Rose winced at the harsh assessment of the seventh-year girl, who while somewhat ditzy, was still a fairly warm-hearted girl, and fiercely loyal to their house.

"Oh, that sixth-year...what's her name? Mary Smith or something equally common."

"You know Jack doesn't go for those boring girls." The first boy said dismissively, and Rose wanted to stand up and tell him that Maria was a terribly interesting person, thank you very much. "And I think Louis Weasley's got his eye on that one."

"Really?" The second boy echoed. "Wait, that reminds me. Rose Weasley."

Rose stiffened at the mention of her name, and Meredith looked up again in concern.

"That girl's a little too brainy for our Jack, isn't she?"

"Nothing wrong with being smart." Jack countered, and Rose inwardly cheered, but her heart sank at his next comment. "But I prefer my girlfriends to be thinner, and Weasley's not quite..."

"Yeah, I see what you mean."

"She could stand to lose a few-"

By now Rose's face was burning, because weight was a slightly sensitive issue for her, but she'd never heard a boy – especially a boy she could have easily fancied – cite it as a reason not to ask her out. She suddenly regretted all the food she'd stuffed herself with over the Christmas break.

Meredith had heard it too and seriously considered stalking over to that table and giving them a piece of her mind. But she glanced at Rose, who was stalwartly appearing to ignore them, and realised that the girl might be even more embarrassed if Meredith (who wasn't by any means Rose's close friend) created a scene. So she followed the Gryffindor girl and tried to tune out the insensitive prats who had gone on to outline the merits of dating slim girls.

--

Rose stared at her reflection in the mirror in the prefects' bathroom. She'd always known that she would never be as enviably slim as some of her cousins or the other girls in her year, but she'd never really thought she was fat, until now. What exactly did people see when they saw her?

After overhearing that horrible conversation, Rose couldn't help but compare herself to every girl she sat next to, and even a few of the boys. It didn't help that Maria, Meredith, Lily and several others were all slimmer than her. Of course, she knew objectively that she wasn't by any means the biggest girl in school, but it seemed like she had a long way to go before becoming the ideal size.