Catching Up

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte had come back for her fifth year in quite a good mood. She was more than ready to take anything on and felt that the last few years at Hogwarts had gone quite well, especially considering she had taken on the role of prefect, despite how much she was still afraid of her head of house. Somehow, Charlotte only had three more years left of school and she knew she was definitely growing up too fast. The girl sat in her dormitory feeling bored. The first week back at school was always boring. Classes hadn't really started yet and so there was nothing to do other than read ahead which was definitely not what Charlotte wanted to do. But suddenly it had come to her that, despite how much she had explored the castle ever since her first year, she had never come across the hidden room Avie had told her all about.

Charlotte hadn't been to Avie's rock yet but she knew exactly where it was and was eager to get there to tell him everything - everything about her life, school and the adventures she had been on since. It had been almost two years since he had died and she still was not over it, but the girl was always staying positive. Avie's rock was the best place to be as near to him as possible and she was not going to miss out another opportunity to visit it. When she made it there, she slowly walked in front of it and sat down cross-legged. A snitch was carved into it and she gently placed her hand over it. "Hey Avie." she said quietly. "Did you know we won the cup last year? My name was in the Hogwarts Monthly last semester. They think I'm the best player and I'm a co-captain with Alana now." Charlotte chuckled, using her sleeve to wipe her watery eye. "You know that hidden room you told me about? I haven't found it yet but it's somewhere and I'm still looking. I'm a prefect now, just like you were, so I might have some more opportunities." It felt weird talking to a rock, but Charlotte knew he was listening, and she kept asking him questions as if he was answering them, wishing there was a way to get him back, even just for a second, so she could tell him how much she had missed him and how sorry she felt for not saying goodbye.

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

Dan had somewhat missed the castle during the break, although it had been a relief to go home and see the rest of his family and relax after everything that had happened last year not to mention all the work he'd managed to get through. The slytherin could not imagine what this new year would be like in terms of work, but he was hoping to spend more time with his friends and sister because he felt like so far he had failed. Daniel almost couldn't believe it when he was made prefect as that was the last thing he had expected to come out of the break and surely there would have been people in his house that would have been a better suit but clearly Professor Styx considered him a good role model. He wasn't going to complain though, as intimidating as people found his head of house to be, Dan liked the fact that he was - kind of - on Professor Styx's good side, if he had one.

The fifth year was wandering around outside, it was rather peaceful as it was the first week back and he could not see many people around. He wondered whether his cousin was settling in fine. Matt could make friends when he wanted to, that much he wasn't worried about at least. He'd check up on him every now and then. It did not come as a surprise that he had been sorted into Gryffindor, after all Matt's personality screamed Gryffindor. Still, he couldn't help but feel the want for his cousin being in either his house or Amy's. Shrugging, Daniel put his hands in his pockets and sighed in contentment. A couple of minutes later he squinted. Was that Charlotte? Going to Avie's special rock. Frowning, he watched as she sat down and didn't miss the action of a tear being wiped away. He should probably check up on her, see if she was coping alright. He knew he'd be working with her this year, they were both prefects. Dan put on a soft smile as he approached her. "Hey, congrats for Prefect," he said as he sat down next to her. "How was your break?"​

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[Charlotte Owens]

Everything was silent as Charlotte sat there, staring straight at the rock with a frown on her face. Not even magic could bring back the dead and she hated that. She just wished she was able to hear his voice one more time and the stories that came along with it. The sound of footsteps soon filled the silence, gradually getting louder and louder as they came closer. Turning around, Charlotte smiled up at Daniel with red eyes. She hated that Daniel always seemed to appear when she was upset. He probably thought she overreacted too much and had such a horrible life that she just had to be sad. In fact, it was much the opposite and Charlotte was quite a happy person. She felt most lucky to be living the way she was and nothing was going to tell her otherwise.

"Hey," she replied as Daniel sat down. "Congratulations to you too! I wonder why Styx chose us out of everyone else? I guess there is a soft spot in him somewhere." Charlotte chuckled, finding it quite hard to imagine Styx being kind. But he had chosen Charlotte as a prefect and so she was very thankful for that. "My break was good! I quite liked the party at your house. Was it hard to clean up? I would've stayed to help but it was late and my mother would have killed me." Charlotte smiled at him, hoping he didn't think she was serious.

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

Dan frowned when he saw her red eyes, but just assumed she was feeling sad over the death of her friend, which he didn't comment on because he knew she was going to be fine. She had to be. Dan was concerned about how she felt with James and Maddie, that was all he needed to know. He smiled at her. "Thanks." He pretended to think about what Charlotte was saying, mock thinking with a finger in the air. "Yeah...nope, doubt it," he chuckled, shaking his head. It was plain ridiculous if he had a soft spot in him. "I guess we're the least...troublesome out of all the people he could've chosen," he tried to reason. Maybe Charlotte was right and Professor Styx did have a softer side but Daniel thought the Head chose them for some other reason. Dan sighed as he remembered the house party he'd hosted. "Well, it wasn't hard cleaning it up it just took a while. I can't wait until we're allowed to do magic outside of school, it'll make us get things done quicker." He was already about to turn sixteen, there wasn't long to go still. He could wait. "Your mother's that strict, huh?" The fifth year smiled at his friend again, happy to have a chance to speak to her about normal things again. Last year had been dramatic, a little too dramatic for his liking. ​

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[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte chuckled when Daniel stated they were the less troublesome out of everyone else in their house. Her mother had always thought otherwise, joking that the reason Charlotte was one of the rare Owens in Slytherin was because she was always getting away with everything. It reminded her of the time in her first year when James secretly gave her and Maddie brooms to fly over the cliff and didn't get caught. "Or maybe he really had no other choice. I mean, people would think he was silly if he made Rome or someone else a prefect." she reasoned, feeling as if that was the best conclusion.

Being able to do magic outside of Hogwarts didn't seem as appealing to Charlotte as it did to Daniel, but she nodded nonetheless. "But it was totally worth it, right?" she said, shoving him slightly. Her demeanor changed however when Dan thought her mother was strict. She quickly corrected him. "No, no! I didn't mean she wouldn't actually kill me, but I'd probably be grounded or something. There's nothing to worry about!" she added, hoping Daniel wasn't scared of her mother now or anything. "How were the rest of your holidays?"

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

Dan chuckled at her statement, which was probably true. "Yeah it would be disastrous, who knows the amount of chaos she would cause for our house. Or our reputation," he rolled his eyes with a smile still on his features. The fifth year had witnessed so much the past few years, from that girl and her twin that he did not even need to reflect on how bad of an example she'd set for younger students. "It's probably best this way," he sent Charlotte a wink to let her know he was on her side on this one and that she was right about them being more suitable because there really weren't other options. Some part of him did like to think he was chosen because he was fit for the role. Daniel nodded once. "Oh yeah it was definitely worth it, it was tons of fun. As long as the guests found it worthwhile then so did I," he grinned when Charlotte tried to correct him about her mother. Of course he was just teasing her. "I'm just messing with you, I'm sure your mother is a good person." And as an afterthought, "I mean, when she's in a good mood." The Slytherin's smile faded slightly when his friend asked about the rest of his holidays. "They were relaxing I guess, Amy and I had to stay over a family friend's for some of them which was nice for a change. I also got to explore the city some days. What about you?" He hoped for her sake that she didn't have anything to worry about back at home. It would be awful to hear her admit to not having a stress free break. ​

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[Rome Savage]

Rome's anger could never really be dealt with in a productive manner and if anything her anger had just gotten so much worse in the passing years, she had attempted to deal with it a little but since the quidditch fiasco she had never felt anger so truly overwhelming, it was in every part of who she now was. The teen was just so angry, she was just unable to release it. Primarily she had a few people who she knew she should begin to target, Charlotte being one of them, and as luck would have it, while Rome had been heading to the lake to do a little spell practice, on Avie's rock was Charlotte and some slytherin boy whom Rome didn't know that well, but that wasn't who she cared about, she much more cared about Charlotte, but not for good reasons. She narrowed her eyes and glanced around her, taking out the wand and twirling it lightly in her hands, neither person had noticed her and Rome was definitely keen to keep it until she had cast her first spell, it was a matter of picking a spell which didn't require her to say anything. Eventually Rome settled on casting the Leek jinx spell, she pointed her wand at Charlotte, and cast. It was time to interrupt this date.
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[Daniel Rosemary]

It had been lucky that Dan was looking in front of him, and then behind him, because if he hadn't he would have missed the figure that was simply standing there watching them. The Slytherin Prefect had a strange feeling about it, a girl by the looks of it and when he saw her lift up her wand towards them - no, not at him specifically but at Charlotte, his first instinct was to pull her behind him. He waited for the hit of the spell and when it did, Daniel closed his eyes as a reflex. He soon found himself staring at the girl having expected something more harmful. However, his relief was short-lived almost as soon as he felt something moving in his ears. When he felt what had happened, he scrambled up, letting the leeks sprout out of his ears (as much as that hurt) and took a step towards the person who'd cast the spell, whoever that had been. She was going to be in so much trouble. Before he knew it, Dan felt sick, so he slowly lowered himself down on the grass and closed his eyes from the pain. And the worst part was, he didn't even know how to reverse it.​

 

[Professor Landon Carter]

Landon was more than ready for another year of teaching. The man had missed Hogwarts more than what he thought he did and so he was not going to miss an opportunity to take a break and get some fresh air during his first week back. As he walked along the Hogwarts grounds and towards the Rosebush he noticed a wave of blonde hair walk by and he couldn't help but wonder where it was going. He recognised the student it belonged to as Rome Savage and he knew that girl was nothing but mischief the first day he saw her. Curiously, Landon began to follow her towards a memorial of a past student and, figuring that she was probably just there to mourn her friend, Landon turned around to walk away. However, just as he did so, out of the corner of his eye he noticed a spell come out of the girl's wand and towards his niece who was sitting in front of the rock. Suddenly, the boy Charlotte was with stood in front of the spell and the Ear Leeks Jinx was cast on him. Furious, Landon walked over to the scene, his arms folded across his chest.

"Rome, please give me a reasonable explanation for this!" Professor Carter exclaimed, his voice rising with anger. There was no need to be sending spells to classmates outside of class time and Landon couldn't help but want to send one back at her. Instead, he knew better than that and proceeded to walk towards the boy who was lying on the grass and who Landon soon recognised to be Daniel Rosemary. With a wave of his wand, the spell's effects had stopped, but that did not mean Daniel was in any fine state. He was still noticeably unwell and Landon shook his head, not quite understanding why someone would do this. "You might have to go to the hospital wing just to get over it. I'm sure the nurse there will help you." Professor Carter told him softly. "Did you need some help getting up?"

 

[Charlotte Owens]

It felt nice talking to Daniel again, especially now that they were both prefects. It took Charlotte's mind off things and she smiled as she listened to Daniel speak and tell her about his holidays. She was just about to tell him about hers before she noticed Daniel become distracted by something. A spell had come their way and by the time Charlotte knew it, Daniel had leeks coming out of his ears. The girl jumped up quickly, reaching for her wand inside her robes as her first instinct. "What was that for!?" she shouted in the direction of where the spell had come from. She knelt beside Daniel who was obviously in immense pain and placed a hand on his forehead which was heating up. She wanted to cast a spell to reverse its effects but her hands were shaking too much for her to point her wand steadily. Instead, she just put it away once she noticed a professor running quickly towards them. It was her uncle and he was looking very distressed with the whole situation. Charlotte should have known it was Rome who did it and she hoped Rome was going to get in a lot of trouble. The prefect nodded as he mentioned Daniel should go to the hospital wing. "I can take him." she said quickly, standing up and putting her hand out for him to take. She promised herself that she would not leave his side, especially since he had done something so generous for her.

 

[Rome Savage]

Rome was more than a little annoyed when the boy pulled some gryffindor heroics and jumped in the way, who knew Slytherins could be brave and save others rather than just their own skin, she twirled the wand in her hand and smiled satisfied to herself about the small amount of chaos that she had done. It was always good to remind some people about their place. She was a little surprised by the professor but she didn't show it, she looked at the herbology professor and smirked at him, "It's just a prank, jinxes are pranks," she replied with all the false sweetness she could lace on to her usual cold tone. She didn't care to give him a reasonable explanation, there was none, she had merely taken advantage of an opportunity, and used a jinx on the boy, though her target had been the girl, but there was no point in saying anything about it. Instead she just watched as the professor and the two other scrambled about, stopping the spell and sending him up, "K," Rome replied, "So if we're done here," she continued before just choosing to turn and begin walking away. She was sure the professor would give her into trouble, maybe lose some points, get a detention but oh man was it worth it. She hated Charlotte, she had nothing technically against the boy who'd been all heroic, but he was just caught in the cross fire, with only his silly girlfriend to blame, and the professor, well, Rome didn't really care what he did, a "prank" wasn't going to get her expelled.
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