Rose Woman

Chapter 2

Breakfast before the first day of classes was always a bummer, especially for the seventh years. There wasn't any excitement over new classes, just dread over the impending doom that was the NEWTs.

Thomas, however, seemed quite perky this morning.

"Blimey! I have free periods for first class every Monday and Wednesday! Emmy, why didn't you tell me third year was gonna be so great?"

Yawning, his sister picked at her porridge, clearly sleep deprived and not interested in entertaining her younger brother.

Stepping in to help her, I answered, "Don't jump the gun, Thomas, I promise it'll get worse."

He rolled his eyes at me, muttering profanities that I'm sure he learned from the fourth and fifth-year boys. Thomas was sort of the little brother I never had and it warmed my heart to see him so excited, even if that excitement was not fated to last.

Something I loved more than anything about being a Hufflepuff was how much of a family we truly were. Sure, the other houses might make that claim- but no one would ever be as broadly accepting and loving of one another as Hufflepuffs are. I mean, all the Slytherins are too busy trying to stab one another in the back, Ravenclaws trying to one up one another, and Gryffindors trying to out-matcho one another to really bond the way Hufflepuffs do.

"What do you have first period?" I asked Em. I had potions, which she didn't take, so I knew her schedule must be different.

She looked up, still a bit drowsy- she really did need to start getting to sleep earlier, "Ancient runes, I think? I don't know, I tried to look at my schedule as little as possible, to tell you the truth."

I chuckled, shaking my head, "Understandable."

I looked down at my own schedule, it hadn't changed much from last year except that I would be taking Potions first class on Monday instead of History of Magic. The other classes were spread throughout the week: Astronomy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, and Divination. My hope for this year was to try and pass all of my NEWTS with an E and although I didn't have much hope- I was willing to put some faith in hard work. 

I wasn't exactly the most skilled of witches in the more practical magical subjects. I often joked with Em that my father stopped believing in blood purity when he realized how shite I was at magic. Which wasn't true but is funny to imagine.

What was true, however, was that I was pretty shite at magic. Outside of potions, which I did show a profound aptitude for, I hadn't been able to pass any of my practical OWLs with more than an A and an E in charms- which was only on account of the written portion anyways. I didn't even pass transfiguration, which was why I couldn't take the NEWT level. I was forced to take History of Magic NEWT level because I knew I could do well in it. The non-practical subjects were not a problem, hard work seemed to pay off for me in those subjects. But with the others, charms, DADA, and transfiguration- none of my efforts ever came to fruition.

After breakfast, I made my way to Slughorn's classroom alone. Although Emilia had managed to pass her potions OWL and had taken NEWT Potions sixth year to please her parents, she decided to cut her losses senior year and finally be done with the subject.

Despite not having Emilia to keep me company, I would still have Ash. Ash Patil completed our trio and although I wasn't nearly as close with him as I was with Em, I still greatly valued his friendship. He was a great laugh and never failed to cheer me up. He, like Em, was a night owl and rarely, if ever, showed up for breakfast. He even planned ahead for the first day and asked Professor Sprout for his schedule the night before.