The Rose

Chapter 13

Rose woke up the next morning, to Hermione shaking her. As she did last year, to wake Rose up. Rose got dressed in her school robes and followed Hermione down to the Great Hall. Rose sat down and watched as Hermione pulls out her copy of Voyages with Vampires from her bag and opening it and propping it up against the milk jug.

Harry and Ron walked towards them. "Morning." Rose and Hermione greeted, their voices laced with disappointment. Harry frowned at Rose but Rose ignored it and continued to eat. The sound of screeching owls travelled through the Great hall, as the owls dropped letters down for the students.

Suddenly an owl crashed into a bowl that stood on the table, spilling all the contents. "Errol!" Ron says and Rose looked at the owl and saw a red envelope in the owl, apparently Errol's beak. "Oh, no." Ron gasped as he stared at Errol. "its all right, he's still alive." Hermione said, prodding Errol with her finger. 

"It's not that -- it's that." Ron pointed towards the red envelope. It looked normal to Rose, but by the looks on Ron and Neville's faces, she's guessing that it is not a normal letter. "What's the matter?" Harry asked. "She sent me a howler," Ron says faintly, he started to look a little white in his face. "You'd better open it, Ron. It'll get worse if you don't. My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and it was horrible." Neville said.

"What's a Howler?" Harry and Rose asked together. But Ron's attention was on the letter, which has begun to smoke at the corners. "Open it. It'll be over in a few minutes." Neville says to Ron, who stretched out a shaking hand, took the envelope from Errol's beak and opened it. Rose watched as Neville stuffed his fingers in his ears, a second later, Rose and Harry found out why. A roar of sound filled the huge hall, shaking the dust from the ceiling.

 " -- STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET A HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE -- "  the voice of Mrs Weasley echoed through the Great Hall. People throughout the hall turned to see who received a howler. " -- LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED -- ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED -- YOUR FATHER FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."  The envelope burst into flames in Ron'd hand as a silenced was all over the Great Hall. A few people laughed and a babble of talk broke out again. Hermione closed her book and looked down at the top of Ron's head.

"Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron, but you -- "

"Don't tell me I deserve it." Ron snapped at Hermione. JUst as Professor McGonagall walked toward them and handed them their schedules. Rose glanced down and saw that they had Herbology first. The four made their way across the vegetable patch towards the four greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept. Rose and Hermione decided the Howler was punishment enough for the two boys so they talked to them again.

Nearing the greenhouses, they saw the rest of the class waiting for Professor Sprout. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Rose had just gone to stand with the rest of the class when they saw Professor Sprout striding across the lawn, with Gilderoy Lockhart accompanying her. Professor Sprout was carrying bandages, which Rose assumes were for the Whomping Willow.

"Oh, Hello there!" he beamed at the assembled students, "Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow, but I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is. I just happen to have met several exotic plants on my travels . . . " Gilderoy Lockhart says to them, Rose rolled her eyes at the man and turned to Professor Sprout.