The Romance of the snake and the rose

Avenging Hinami

Rose walked into the Gryffindor common room and gasped. James Sirius Potter had seriously outdone himself this time. She couldn't remember him pulling off anything at this scale since Valentine's Day two years ago.

Rose stared at the dozens of posters that had been messily plastered all over the wall of the Gryffindor common room. She would bet ten galleons that James had gotten some people to paper the walls of the other common rooms too. He really had seriously outdone himself this time because all over the walls and ceiling were posters of Emma Cullers reading things like 'stop bullying first years' or 'Cullers stinks'. Rose was not going to lie, it was the most beautiful thing she'd seen that week besides Scorpius without his shirt on.

She raced down to breakfast, eager to congratulate James on his genius idea. Rose entered the great hall and ran up to her cousin and hugged him. Just the other day she'd been doubting that he would agree to prank Emma, and now he'd done something she never would have thought him capable of.

"You're the best." She told him, grinning madly.

"Don't worry," he replied, winking at her, "I know Rosie,"
Next Rose ran to the Ravenclaw table to where Hinami was sitting, smiling and laughing with her friends. Hinami spotted her and waved her over.

"How did you do it?" Asked the little girl incredulously.
"I'm afraid I can't take the credit for this one," she laughed, "It was my cousin James who did it"

"James Potter?" Asked one of Hinami's friends, a girl who'd dyed her mane-like afro bubblegum pink. Rose nodded, still smiling in spite of herself. "I'm not surprised," said the girl, "No one else could pull something like this off"

"I better get back to my table," Rose told the first year girls, and headed back to where Alice was already starting breakfast. Today was going to be amazing.

It was bound to happen. Of course Emma would suspect Rose for the posters plastered all over the common rooms. Rose was her greatest enemy at the moment; it was just Emma's natural progression of thought. The next idea in this natural progression was to go and take revenge on Rose, but Rose had assumed Emma Cullers would be too devastated and embarrassed to show her face. She had been wrong.

Emma entered the great hall and strode across it to the Gryffindor table where Rose was sitting. Rose saw her coming but pretended not too. She could tell Emma was furious, and even though her eyes were puffy and red from crying, she still looked formidable.
"Crucio!" Yelled Emma, a blast of green light shooting out of her wand. The spell was badly aimed and hit Rose on her left arm, but the pain she felt next was excruciating.

Her whole body convulsed violently and she collapsed onto the floor, writhing in pain. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear indistinct voices shouting and screaming, footsteps pounding, spells flying. Rose spiraled in and out of consciousness, tears streaming down her face, the sound of her own screaming echoing in her ears. She felt as though she was being stabbed and stunned and stung all over her body, but there was no blood, only excruciating pain in every limb, in every atom of her being. Then just as suddenly as the pain had started, it stopped.

She heard McGonagall shouting for silence as the world around her began to come into focus, slowly becoming less and less blurry.

Scorpius was crouched next to her, holding her hand in his, Alice was hugging her, rocking her back and forth, praying quietly.

"What is the meaning of this?!" McGonagall demanded, striding over to Emma, her green and tartan robes flowing out behind her. Emma was quivering, her wand was on the ground and her eyes were wide. She was staring at her shaking hands, panicking.

"It's my fault!" Shouted James through the alarmed voices of shell-shocked students, "Emma was bullying a first year and I wanted to teach her a lesson. She thought it was Rose because the two of them are enemies. Please professor it was my fault!"

McGonagall turned to James.

"Mr Potter, Miss Cullers, in my office!" she shouted, "Miss Longbottom you take care of Miss Weasley," McGonagall's eyes rested on Scorpius for a second, and she saw his hand in Rose's, but in a swish of her robes she was gone, James and Emma hurrying after her.

"Are you feeling alright now Rose?" asked Alice gently.

"Much better," replied Rose, attempting a wry smile. It came out as more of a grimace but she really did feel alright. She pushed herself into a sitting position, Alice and Scorpius helping her.

"Why don't we go somewhere a little more private," suggested Alice. She was right, although half the Weasleys and Potters were crowding around Rose and blocking her from view, people were trying to get a better look at her and whispering in the crowd. Scorpius helped Rose to her feet and they began to walk out of the great hall together. Alice stayed behind, saying something to Rose's family.

"Why don't we go to the hospital wing?" suggested Scorpius softly, "Madam Pomfrey can give you a sleeping draught or something," Rose shook her head.

"Lets go to the room of requirement," she told him. She didn't want to fall asleep, even if it would give her a bit of peace. The door for the room appeared on the wall in front of them and Scorpius held it open for her.

This time the room was larger and there was a huge padded patchwork quilt and an assortment of cushions on the floor. The floor itself was covered by a thick, comfy carpet. Rose immediately sat down on the floor and Scorpius wrapped both of them in the quilt. She leant into him, and silent tears began to cascade down her cheeks, dropping off her chin and nose and onto the floor. She shivered as she cried, she knew she'd never ever in all her life forget all the pain she'd felt that morning. Scorpius stroked her hair, his chin on her head.

"You're fine now," he murmured softly, "It'll be alright." And he was crying too, his warm tears joining hers on the floor.

"Why did she do it?" whispered Rose, her voice breaking.

"She was angry," Scorpius whispered back, "People do awful things when they're angry."

"Do you think they'll send her to Azkaban?" asked Rose after a pause.

"No," replied Scorpius, "She's only thirteen. They'll probably just expel her,"

"It's all my fault," sniffled Rose, the tears coming thick and fast, a lead weight in the pit of her stomach.

"No," said Scorpius sternly but softly, "You just wanted to help, Emma's accountable for her actions, you didn't make her do it."

"But it was inevitable, wasn't it?" replied Rose, quivering under the thick quilt, "She was going to be angry...She was going to do something without thinking..."

"You only wanted to put Emma in her place," Scorpius told Rose, his arms encircling her, "It's not your fault,"

And it wasn't, not really. But Rose still felt somewhat responsible for the expelling of Emma Cullers when it was announced the next day and her wand was snapped in two.