A Serious Rose

[Rose Holland]

Rose loved this time of year, she loved seeing people get roses and surprise each other. There was a sort of excitement in the air, and it made her happy. She herself had not sent any roses to her friends, as she wanted to do something special instead. She hoped they would like her gift, but it had to wait until she was done delivering her roses.

Her first one for the day was red, something that was normally rare but not this year. Rose alone had three of them. It was for Lennon Cohen-Knight, and Rose had heard by asking around that he was the editor of the student paper. So that's where she went to look for him. She had never been here before, so she looked around curiously. Not spotting anyone at once, she decided to use her most trusty weapon in this case. Her voice. "HELLO?" She shouted. "Is Lennon here?"

 

[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

After having received two rose deliveries he was positive he wouldn't get anymore so he would need to be easily found and retreated to the newsroom. Even when Lennon wasn't working on the paper, he liked to spend his free time in the newsroom because it was the perfect place to get some privacy if he didn't feel like being around so many people. However he hadn't been there long before he heard his name being shouted very loudly at the entrance to the room. The fifth year quickly stood up and went over to see who needed him. When he saw a girl there with a rose he raised his eyebrows. "Another rose?" he questioned, then added, "I'm Lennon, hi."
​

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose smiled as the older boy approached her, but at his question she couldn't help make a joke. "Yep, that's me. Another Rose." She said with a happy grin. She paused, realizing the boy probably didn't know her name so the joke would be lost on him. "That's my name, I mean. I'm Rose." She said as an explanation. "But I do have a rose for you, and it's red!" She said eagerly as she took it out of her basket and handed it to him. "Here you go. I hope it's a good one!"

Lennon,

I know nothing of love.
I am young, and dumb, naive and selfish,
I am shallow and weak, with no discipline and no idea of the human complexities that go into that emotion.
But I know you.
And that's all I've needed.

 

[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

At first Lennon didn't understand that the girl had made a joke, which she was laughing at herself, until she paused to explain why it was so funny to her. Lennon let out a small, "Ha," to humor the girl and chuckled at her silliness before returning his attention to a rose she took out of her basket. The last two roses had been unexpected for him, especially the pink one which meant a crush, but now he was even more curious about a red rose. But then he quickly figured his twin had sent him one so his curiosity diminished right away, all interest deflated. "Thanks," he said nonchalantly as he opened the note to read what loving insult Zara had for him this time.

But instead he was stunned into silence by the note, re-reading it over a second time and then flipping the card over to see if the author's name was written there, though he knew better. His sister was poetic, but this was definitely not something she'd ever send him. As if the pink rose hadn't been interesting enough to wonder over, now he had this to add to the list of things that would keep him up at night. "I'll give you 10 galleons if you find out who sent this rose," he told Rose half-jokingly, chuckling as he looked down at the note again, wondering if his guess about Mini was correct or not, but too afraid to seek her out to confirm his suspicions.
​

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was eagerly watching the boy's reaction as he took the rose, opened it and read the note. She was intensely curious, and wondered if she could get away with asking him who sent it. But before she could, he told her he would give her money if she could find out who sent the rose. Disappointed, she bit her lip, feeling bad for the answer she had to say. "I would do it for free if I could, but I don't get that information. So unless you go beg the boy that put all this together, I don't think anyone knows." She paused. "And he got like a thousand roses to hand out, so I don't think he would even remember."