Rose Weasley and The Beast of the Black Lake, year 2

The Beast Attacks

Max yawned and stretched his arms to shake off the grip of sleep. It had been two weeks since their trip to the muggle village, but as he feared but had expected, everything went back to the way it was. Scorpius and Al stopped showing up for breakfast, Astronomy, and Library sessions, and Rose remembered that she was angry with them, though her sour attitude was less toward Max now.

The weather outside the castle had become cold and bitter. Leaves nearly all lay pressed against the pavement to be stomped on underfoot. Students wore hats, and scarfs, and gloves, and nobody enjoyed the freezing Herbology lessons in greenhouse three. At least Professor Neville used to light a fire so that inside was toasty and warm.

Rose talked less and studied more. She was less energetic, less enthusiastic, and she always had her nose in a book. This wasn't a good sign. Though her marks were fantastic and only getting better, Max knew that she hated studying, and she was spending an awful lot of time doing something she hated. It was as though she was trying to avoid doing something she hated more.

Quidditch practice wasn't even there to occupy her thoughts. After the match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, where Hufflepuff spectacularly won, Quidditch matches were closed until after the Holidays. Everyone, especially the Gryffindor team, became very sick after each bitter cold practice. And though Madam Pomfrey could cure a sniffle in a second, she swore that it wasn't healthy to be constantly switching back and forth; (Your immune system will forget what it standard for it.) This early end of practice meant that picnic in the stands were over until after the Holidays too. That was the only time Scorpius and Al bothered to show up.

"Hey, Rose?" Max said in the common room after dinner and during their now extensive study time. They weren't even studying together anymore; it was just at the same time.

"Hm?" Rose hummed as a response without looking up over Magic for the Mundane.

"How about a game of wizard's chess?" he asked, anything to get her away from her mountain of school and remember that she has a life.

"Hmm?" she said again, still without looking up.

Max shut his copy of 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi that was open over his lap, but he was not reading. He reached across the couch and pulled Rose's book down. The fire from around the room dilated her pupils, and she blinked the light from her eyes as she emerged into the real world.

"Wizard's chess?" he repeated. "Exploding snap, poker, go fish, charades I don't care! You need to stop with school!"

"But I have a lot of work to do," she assured him as the last other Gryffindor made their way up to bed.

"No, you don't," Max tried. "You've rewritten that Charms paper four times already! You're just stalling!"

"Every time I finish I find something that I should add," she shrugged.

"Then add a sticky note!" Max smiled, taking the book from her hands. "Come on, play wizard's chess with me."

Rose thought for a moment. Her brown eyes were red with exhaustion, and she had more ink on her hands than visible skin.

"I," she started. "I'm going to go to bed. I'm tired." Rose stood slowly and took her book back from Max's arms. "Sorry," she said. "Maybe another time." And she retreated to the girl's dormitories.

Max considered running after her, but what would that accomplish? He slumped back against the sofa, truly miserable, and rubbed his eyes. He was ready for this year to be over. He crossed his fingers that after the Holidays everything would be okay again. Rose would go home with Al and the rest of her family and have one of her perfect Christmases, make it up with Al, and burn her books. He really missed his friends. Halloween was one day he saw them, and he almost wished he hadn't, he had almost forgotten how much he cared about them; it would have been easier to ignore if they never showed back up.