Break Time’s Over

Hermione and Sally-Anne were on the Hogwarts Express, returning to another term at the magical school. Both girls agreed that it had been a relaxing winter. No bullies to bother them, no mean professors to assign them unfair amounts of homework, and no dragons, trolls, or psychotic professors trying to kill them.

"I like the ribbon in your hair," Hermione said to her dirty-blonde friend.

The ribbon was emerald green, which complemented Sally-Anne's bright green eyes well. The ribbon was a brighter green than the Slytherin house colors, and was tied neatly into Sally-Anne's hair.

"Thanks," Sally-Anne said. "It was a present from Rose."

"What's it supposed to do?" Hermione asked. Hermione had received several gifts from Rose, and all of them had some sort of magical properties. She had therefore reached the conclusion that there was no way that Rose would give someone an ordinary object.

"She said it will make it easier to talk to people," Sally-Anne said. "Everyone's been complementing me on it, so I guess it also makes people like me more."

"Knowing Rose, it might," Hermione said. "She gave me a hair clip that's making me smarter."

"That's pretty neat," Sally-Anne said. "You know, as sweet as she is, it was nice getting a bit of a break from Rose."

"I'm not sure I'd describe her as 'sweet'."

"But she means well, even if she comes on a bit strong."

"I guess," Hermione said. "It's just… I don't know."

"We'll worry about it when we get back," Sally-Anne said kindly. "We'll be at Hogwarts soon, so let's not worry about it until then."

"Yeah," Hermione said. "That sounds like a good idea."

The girls sat in relaxing silence for the last few minutes of the train ride. As with the start of the previous term, Hagrid greeted them and guided the returning students to the castle.

As they approached the castle, a crimson blur flew out of it and viciously attacked Hermione. The bushy haired girl was almost knocked over as her crimson-haired friend latched onto her like a vice grip.

"Hermione!"

"It's nice to see you too, Rose," Hermione said, awkwardly returning the hug and patting her friend on the back.

After almost exactly six seconds, Rose released Hermione and flew towards Sally-Anne. "Sally-Anne!"

"Thanks for the ribbon, Rose," she said as she hugged her pale friend.

"You're welcome! Thanks for the book!"

"Of course. Did you like it?"

"Loved it! I didn't realize the DM was thorough enough to include minor stories in this plane!"

"Thanks for the hair clip," Hermione added, not wanting Rose to continue on that train of thought. "It's been great!"

"I'm glad you two liked them," Rose said, smiling. "How was your winter?"

"Peaceful," Hermione said.

"Relaxing," added Sally-Anne.

"I'm sorry," Rose said. "Wait, are peaceful and relaxing good things?"

"Yes," Sally-Anne replied.

"Oh. Then that's good!"

"How was your holiday?" Sally-Anne asked her pale friend.

"Let's see," Rose began as the trio started walking toward the castle. "The Twins liked their hats of disguises, although I think Percy may try to kill me. Harry liked the upgrade I made to his glasses and the ring I gave him. Ronald has recovered after binging on the bracelet I gave him, and I don't think Professor Snape has used his pendant yet."

"You gave Professor Snape a present?" asked Sally-Anne.

"Yup! It'll give him a +10 to Intimidation, if he ever decides it's safe enough to use it."

Not five minutes back, and Hermione was already starting to worry. Why had Rose given the Potions Master a pendant that made him more intimidating than he already was? Most days Professor Snape made Hermione nervous about going to Potions class. Not only did the man insist on heavily favoring the Slytherins, but he was overly critical towards the Gryffindors. Hermione wondered if her parents had been right in that she should be keeping a log of all the unfair treatment.

Hermione wanted to ask Rose why she had given Professor Snape a present, but she wasn't sure that she would get a good answer past "Professor Snape and I are best friends!" Why did Rose think that Professor Snape was going to be her friend? Hermione had made the mistake of asking once, and had gotten an extensive answer about how Professor Snape was just like Rose's best friend Shadow. What Hermione had actually taken out of the conversation was that once Rose got an idea in her head, there was no arguing with her about it.

"Is Ron's bracelet the same as mine?" Hermione asked.

"Yup!"

"So he got a massive headache from using it too much?"

"He tried reading all of our textbooks at once."

Hermione knew Ronald was impulsive, but that was just stupid. Having something like a bracelet that let him read textbooks like that would not be good for him.

"Did you warn him it would do that?"

"I did, but he tried anyway. He also tried reading my notebook after I blackmailed Percy, and that ended just as well."

"Isn't your notebook in a different language?" asked Hermione, trying to ignore the part about blackmailing a prefect. "It doesn't translate it, does it?"

"Yup and yup," Rose replied, smiling. "It's also warded by a sepia snake sigil."

"Is he alright?" Sally-Anne asked.

"He'll be fine!" Rose replied casually. "Harry and I also found a magic mirror!"

"Like in Snow White?" asked Sally-Anne.

"It was in a classroom, not outside," Rose replied. "Oh! Right, you mean one of those fairy tales! Sort of. Professor Dumbledore called it the Mirror of Erised. It shows you your heart's desire."

Both girls stopped walking and stared at their crimson-haired friend.

"What?" asked Hermione. "They just shoved something like that in a classroom?!"

"They moved it from the Room of Requirement," Rose explained. "I guess it was being prepared for something, but it's not there anymore."

"I would've liked to have seen it," Sally-Anne said. "I'm not sure what I'd see."

"I saw my parents," Rose said. "Harry saw his. Professor Dumbledore allegedly saw himself holding a pair of woolen socks. Naturally, I made him a pair!"

"'Allegedly'?" asked Hermione.

"I don't believe him," Rose replied. "No one is that content. Not even Uncle Oz is that content, and he's the most mellow person I know. Still, he needed socks, so I knitted him a pair of socks!"

"Of course you can knit," Hermione muttered. She liked Rose well enough, but it got on her nerves how easily everything came to her friend. Hermione had to work hard to excel, while it was as if Rose didn't even have to try at anything. She was clever, outgoing, even athletic.

"It's a Craft check," Rose replied. "However, crafting rules are superseded by magic item crafting rules, so I made Professor Dumbledore's socks magical!"

"Really?" Hermione asked sceptically.

"Really!" Rose exclaimed, beaming. "Woolen Socks of Comfort, so he'll always be comfortable no matter what the weather's like!"

"That was nice of you," Sally-Anne said. "How's Harry doing?"

"He's been a little mopey since the Mirror," Rose replied. "Oh! He got an invisibility cloak!"

"What?!" Hermione shrieked. Upon realizing that she had been so loud, she promptly quieted down. "Who gave him that?!"

"Dunno, the note wasn't signed. I think it was Professor Dumbledore."

"Does an invisibility cloak do what it sounds like?" asked Sally-Anne.

"Yup," replied Rose. "Use activated item of invisibility."

"That means it turns whomever wears it invisible," Hermione translated.

"Oh," Sally-Anne replied. "That's nice, I guess. Why do you think it was Professor Dumbledore that gave it to him?"

"The note said that it was his father's, but then it was left in the giver's possession. Given how friendly Professor Dumbledore is towards Harry, I'm guessing it was him. My second guess is Mr. Hagrid, who seems just as friendly towards Harry. I've never really seen a reason to it, so I'm going with both of them knew Harry's parents. Mr. Hagrid isn't as subtle about his actions, I don't think, so I don't think he would've been able to pass it off so easily."

"I guess that makes sense," Hermione said. She wasn't sure if it was her enhanced intelligence that was making sense of that for her, or if she had just spent so much time around Rose that the strange girl was beginning to make sense. Hermione was really hoping for the former.

"Wait a minute," Hermione said. "How do you know that Hagrid's not subtle?"

"I've been doing research on the professors to verify that Professor Quirrell is the only evil one."

Nope, there it went. No more sense to be had here. Hermione was starting to wonder if Rose did that on purpose. Several times the girl would say something adequately rational, only to follow it up with something that was completely ludicrous. At least Hermione could take comfort in the fact that she wasn't going mad.

Yet.

Rose brought the girls up to speed about everything else that had happened, including her plans to visit Mr. Hagrid. Ron had been right; Hermione was fulfilling the hesitant heroine role, and therefore wanted no part in any events that involved breaking the rules.

"Why can't we just leave it alone?" Hermione sighed. "Whatever it is, the professors clearly don't want students to interfere. Why not just respect their wishes?"

"We will," Rose said. "We aren't going down there, we're just going to find out what is down there."

"You said a 'dog' in the corridor," Sally-Anne said. "What's that mean?"

"Right!" Rose exclaimed. "You weren't there, were you? There's a giant, three-headed dog called 'Fluffy' in the forbidden corridor. He's protecting a trapdoor."

"Like a Cerberus?"

"Yeah, actually," Hermione said. "You know Greek Mythology?"

"I like fairy tales," Sally-Anne explained. "My parents ran out of fairy tales to read me, so they started reading me different myths and legends."

Rose made a note of that in her notebook. Any seasoned adventurer knew to track her team's skills. Sally-Anne's knowledge of myths could come in handy later.

They arrived at Gryffindor Tower to find the boys in the Common Room. Harry and Ron were sitting at a table with a board and pieces set up on it, while Percy watched them.

Ron was smirking, while Harry just looked bored. Ron moved one of the pieces on the board, and declared "Checkmate."

"Alright, now can we please do something else?" Harry asked.

"Is that chess?" Hermione asked.

The boys turned to see the girls entering the Common Room.

"You're back!" Harry exclaimed.

"I told you they were coming," Rose said, "but you said you wanted to wait up here for them."

"Ron also wanted another game of chess," Harry said, indicating the chessboard. "Which turned into two games."

"The first game didn't count," Ron said.

"Lose too easily?" Hermione asked the ginger.

"Yeah," Harry sighed.

Hermione looked from Harry to Ron. "Wait, Harry lost?"

"Oh yes," Fred said.

"Our little Ronnikins is a chess prodigy," George added.

Hermione shrieked when she realized that the Twins were on either side of her. "Where did you two come from?!"

"I thought I sensed you two," Rose said. "Did you use the hats for camouflage?"

"It was brilliant wasn't it?" George asked. "It was all my idea!"

"Was not!" shouted Fred. "I was the one who said 'If we can change everything about ourselves, why not change into the scenery?'"

"No, that was me!"

"Not only does everyone else get them mixed up," Percy muttered, "so do they."

"Real funny, Percy," the Twins said together. They returned to arguing with one another.

"Children, move!" came a voice from behind them. They turned to see Alex and a few of the other Gryffindor girls. "You're blocking the way!"

Fred and George sidled out of the way to allow the girls to get through, then continued their argument.

"You know chess?" Hermione asked Ron.

"Yeah," he replied. "Just something I started doing when I was younger. My brother Charlie taught me, and I really had fun, so I kept playing."

"Oh," Hermione said. "Wanna play?"

Ron grinned. "Sure."

The Twins hadn't been kidding. Hermione found out that Ron wasn't just good at chess, he was amazing. Hermione wasn't bad at chess, but Ron stayed at least two moves ahead of her throughout the entire match. Even though Ron was easily winning, their match attracted a crowd of people. Hermione wanted to think that she was at least giving Ron a run for his money, but realistically she knew that he wasn't breaking a sweat.

Hermione noticed two things outside of the match: First, Fred and George were quietly taking bets from the spectators, and second, Rose didn't speak a word the entire time. The crimson-haired girl watched the match quietly. Other than her initial note, most likely regarding Ron's chess aptitude, her notebook never came out either.

When Ron finally ended the game, there were groans from several members of the audience, although Hermione noticed some of them exchanging money with Fred and George.

"Better luck next time, Hermione," Alex said, patting the girl on the shoulder.

Ron and Hermione shook hands after the match.

"You're not bad," Ron said a little smugly. "With a bit of practice, you might even make a challenging opponent."

"Thanks, I guess," Hermione replied. "The Twins weren't kidding, you're really good at that."

"I guess I've just got a gift."

"Uncle Oz and Sk'lar said you both did well," Rose said.

"Was that why you weren't talking out loud?" Hermione asked.

"Yup," Rose replied. "I was telling your moves to Sk'lar and Uncle Oz. They like chess. Sk'lar tried teaching me once, but I always get bored and zone out."

"Er, okay?" Ron said, looking to Hermione for help. The bushy-haired girl shrugged, so Ron added, "I guess tell them I say 'thanks'."

Rose paused for a moment, then said, "'You're welcome'."

That was weird, even for Rose. Were there just a bunch of people that lived inside her head? Ron looked at Hermione again, hoping that she would provide the answer, but Hermione just shook her head and mouthed, "Don't ask."

The rest of the week was spent returning to the routine of school. They weren't required to do flight lessons anymore, a fact in which Hermione took comfort. She didn't exactly enjoy them, and not being forced to be suspended in the air on a broom was a nice change of pace.

Friday rolled around, and Severus was prepared. He had confidence that his plan to get Peta-Lorrum to leave him alone would work.

"Salutations, Professor Snape!"

Alright, time to test out his master plan. Without acknowledging the girl's presence, Severus looked up from his desk at Granger, who was accompanying the Crimson Terror. "Granger: Five points from Gryffindor."

Peta-Lorrum actually looked confused by his new tactics, but it wasn't her immediate reaction he needed; it was Granger's. She looked devastated, as she, being a model student, never did anything wrong. Adding to the effect was Lucius Jr. snickering in the back.

"What for?!" demanded Weasley.

Severus looked directly at the boy. "Are you questioning me?"

"How is that–" Weasley began, but Peta-Lorrum put her hand over his mouth.

"It's alright," she said without taking her eyes off of Severus.

Severus knew that Peta-Lorrum was smart. Indeed, she picked up on it immediately and took her seat. She was quiet for the rest of the class. It was the best class ever.

Severus had seen it before when Little Lucius was harassing Granger. Peta-Lorrum was always right there, ready to step in to defend her friends. She was loyal like a Hufflepuff, but with the courage and arrogance of a Gryffindor.

Unfortunately for Severus, the girl approached him after class.

"What?" he asked in his monotone voice.

"My best friend back home is called 'Shadow Black'," Peta-Lorrum said. "She looks and acts a lot like you, so I know why you're punishing Hermione for what I do. You don't trust me, so you assume that I've got an ulterior motive for being nice to you. You also don't like when people bother you. I'm not going to stop trying to be your friend, but I will ease up so long as you ease up on Hermione, Sally-Anne, and Harry." She counted off on her fingers. "Yeah, just them. Ronald's an irrelevant NPC, so do as you will."

"This isn't a negotiation, Peta-Lorrum."

"I know. This is me informing you of the terms of my surrender. I gave you that pendant as a sort of peace offering, but I can see you still don't trust me." She unfastened the clasp that held her cloak together. Beneath it were a few strings that served as additional support.

"This is Reflectesalon," Peta-Lorrum said, holding up the clasp. "He was my mother's clasp, and he's all I've got left of her. He is my most prized possession." She placed the reflective clasp on his desk. "I'll make you a deal: Try the pendant I gave you, and until you are confident that all it's doing is giving you a bonus to Intimidation Checks, you hold onto Reflectesalon."

When Shadow had been cast out by the Exalted, she went straight to Rose. Rose opened her home to Shadow, gave her hot cocoa, and told the Halfling about her parents, something she had avoided doing up until that point. Realizing just how much faith Rose had put in her, the Halfling had responded in kind.

Rose knew that she would need to make some sort of gesture to prove that she could be trusted. She also knew it would take more than this to convince Professor Snape, but it was a start.

"Have a good day, Professor," she said, and left the classroom.

Severus looked down at the clasp on his desk. For all he knew, this was a small trinket she had picked up at a market somewhere, but there was something in her eyes that said differently.

Reflectesalon! He's my imaginary friend!

Severus had heard Peta-Lorrum say this on several occasions, even when she shouldn't have known that he was within earshot. If she was to be believed, then it was this clasp that she considered her imaginary friend.

Severus reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the box in which the pendant still remained. He fastened it around his neck, and looked up as the Weasley Twins entered his classroom for detention.

In most detentions with Severus, the Destructive Duo would leave a trap for him to find after cleaning cauldrons. If Peta-Lorrum was correct, then the pendant had the potential to make the boys too afraid of Severus to try anything.

Of course, she could have simply enchanted the pendant to explode after being worn for some amount of time. Months, perhaps, or maybe even years. It wouldn't be the first time someone had tried to play a trick on Severus, and it wouldn't be the last.

There were plenty of ways that this could go wrong, but with any luck, this could make this detention bearable.

"You!"

Rose looked up from her book as the Twins approached her during lunch.

"Don't deny it!" shouted Fred.

"It's got your fingerprints all over it!" added George.

"What did I do?" she asked.

"Professor Snape!" they shouted together.

Hermione looked up in shock. This couldn't be happening. It must be a sign of the apocalypse. They were all doomed! It was the end of days! Armageddon! There was nothing left now but to seek out shelter and wait for the end to come!

The Weasley Twins had just referred to the Potions Master as Professor Snape.

Rose simply grinned.

"Not even McGonagall is that terrifying," George said.

"It's like he's been practicing the entire winter to scare people," Fred added.

"But then we realized–"

"–You told us not to use the hats–"

"–So you must have known about this!"

"You're just being paranoid," Rose replied.

"He didn't sheem sharier than usuah in cwash today," Ron said with a mouthful of food.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to talk with food in your mouth, Weasley?" a monotone voice said from behind them.

Rose grinned and turned to face Professor Snape.

"Salutations, Professor Snape!"

"Peta-Lorrum," he replied. From his robes, he produced a small clasp. "I believe this ridiculous trinket belongs to you. Don't leave your jewelry in my classroom again. Next time, I may not be in such a good mood."

He handed Reflectesalon back to her.

"Won't happen again, Sir," she replied, fastening Reflectesalon back onto her cloak.

"It was you!" exclaimed the Twins.

Professor Snape shot them a glare that made the boys shrink in their seats.

Hermione immediately regretted allowing them on either side of her. Not only did she have the Twins flanking her, but she was also directly in the line of fire, and the boys were right; Professor Snape was more intimidating than usual. Something about his glare made her want to run away and hide. Hermione wasn't fond of receiving direct, negative attention from a teacher in an ordinary situation, but this was so much worse.

The Potions Master walked off, his cloak billowing behind him.

The Twins turned back to Rose.

"That wasn't even the worst thing that happened today," Fred said.

"McGonagall knew about the hats!" exclaimed George.

"And she could tell us apart!"

"She couldn't do that before!"

"Why do you assume it's my fault?" Rose asked.

"You told her about them, didn't you?!" Fred exclaimed.

"How do you know Percy didn't?" Sally-Anne asked. "Don't prefects report directly to their head of house?"

"Well, yes," George said.

"And Rose said you were harassing him with them," Hermione added. "So it would make sense that he would try to warn her."

"Let's say our dear brother did inform McGonagall about the hats," Fred began.

"How did she tell us apart?" George finished.

"You two only look identical," Rose said. "You don't act identical. She's been teaching here for some thirty years, right? She's been your head of house for two years already, and given the difficulty you give everyone here, she's probably been putting actual effort into telling the difference between the two of you."

"Yeah!" Ron added, wanting to be a part of the conversation. "What she said!"

"Thank you, Ronald," Rose said cheerfully.

Ron was almost positive that she was being honestly cheerful this time, and not about to encase him in amber again. He confirmed this by glancing at Harry, who wasn't giving him a look of warning. Ron decided that that was a good sign.

Both Twins glared at Rose suspiciously, then began to eat their lunch.

<Rose, please don't gamble with me again,> Reflectesalon requested.

<Don't worry, I won't,> Rose replied. <Also, 'gamble' implies that there was a possibility that I'd lose. That turned out better than I expected, actually.>

<Regardless, please don't do that again without at least notifying me beforehand.>

<I'm sorry, Ref. I knew he'd give you back eventually, and I wouldn't risk losing you nor the benefits that you provide without a fallback plan.>

<What was your fallback plan, Rose?>

<Taking you back myself, and deciding that I could live without Professor Snape's approval.>

With that, Rose returned to reading her new book as the Twins continued to eye her suspiciously.

The next morning, the five first-years set out to visit Hagrid. Being winter, it was cold outside, and there was a fresh coat of snow on the ground.

It didn't surprise anyone that Rose wasn't bothered at all by the cold. She was still wearing her dress and stockings, which wouldn't have been comfortable to anyone else.

The other four Gryffindors were wearing their robes, which, while the wool was uncomfortable in the fall, was perfect for the winter. They also each wore long, red and gold scarfs.

They reached Hagrid's Hut, and Harry knocked on the door.

The large groundskeeper opened the door.

"Ah, 'arry! Come in! I just put the kettle on!"

Four of the five students sat down around the table in Hagrid's small hut. Harry and Sally-Anne sat on either side of the groundskeeper, whose back was to his fire. He offered tea to each student, which all but one of them accepted.

Rose, having politely declined the tea, was sitting in the corner to Mr. Hagrid's left. Hermione noticed that the girl had been particular about where she sat. Rose had a direct, unblocked line to where Mr. Hagrid was sitting.

"So what brings yer 'round here?" Hagrid asked.

"We were… er," Harry stammered.

"We wanted to know about the dog on the third floor," Sally-Anne said without so much as batting an eyelash.

Harry glanced over at his friend. Since she had got back, Harry had noticed that Sally-Anne was speaking out more than she had in the fall. He also noticed that she was constantly wearing a green ribbon in her hair.

Hagrid glared at Sally-Anne. "You kids should be stayin' outta that! That's forbidden."

"You're the one who put Fluffy there," Rose said simply. "Why?"

<To keep the Package safe,> Reflectesalon informed her.

"That's none of–"

"What's the Package?" she asked.

<How does she know about that?> Reflectesalon relayed.

Rubeus stared at the crimson-haired girl. "Who told yer 'bout that?" he asked in a low voice.

Rose had to actually think about that one. If she told Mr. Hagrid that he had, then he would either shut out Reflectesalon or kick them out to stop her clasp from reading the groundskeeper's mind. But Alice had taught Rose to never be specific when telling the truth, and just let other people reach conclusions on their own.

"No one," Rose replied. "I don't know what it means, but I know that Fluffy's protecting it."

<That's between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel.>

"Yer shouldn't be worryin' 'bout that," Mr. Hagrid said. "It's safe, that's all yer need ta know."

The first-years nodded, and Rose jotted down the name "Nicholas Flamel".

"That's what we thought," Hermione said, indicating herself and Sally-Anne.

"So long as it can't just be put to sleep by playing a harp or something," Sally-Anne joked.

Sally-Anne had honestly meant it to be a joke, but Mr. Hagrid didn't treat it as one.

<How does she know that music will put Fluffy to sleep?!>

The large man jumped out of his seat and grabbed Sally-Anne's arms.

"Who told yer that?!" he shouted. "No one but Professor Dumbledore and me knows that!"

Rubeus felt a sudden pain in his right arm. If he hadn't known better, the half-giant would've thought that a constrictor snake had latched onto his arm and was threatening to crush his bones.

He looked down and saw Rose's gloved hand around his arm. Her face was serious, almost menacing. Rubeus wasn't sure how she had gotten over to him so fast. She had been sitting in the corner until he had gotten up, but she was suddenly right there.

Harry noticed that there were rose petals fluttering to the ground in the corner where Rose had been sitting just a moment ago.

"Let go of her, Mr. Hagrid," she ordered.

Rubeus released the terrified Gryffindor and eased back into his chair.

"I just… I just thought," Sally-Anne stammered. "F-fluffy's like the Cerberus that g-guarded the gates of the Underworld in Greek Mythology. O-orpheus… he played his harp and put it to sleep."

"It sounds like music will put Fluffy to sleep," Rose said, still eyeing Mr. Hagrid, who returned the look. "Don't worry, Mr. Hagrid," she said, grinning. "We won't tell anyone!"

The rest of the morning was spent with each of them talking about classes, or their respective winter breaks. Sally-Anne was far less talkative than she had been before, even after Hagrid apologized for reacting the way he did.

Hermione noticed that Rose was sitting in the corner drawing quietly. She had looked at Rose's drawings several times before, and like everything else (except apparently chess), drawing came naturally to the crimson-haired girl. Hermione had never asked what exactly it was that Rose was drawing, but it usually varied between different creatures or people. Hermione had seen Rose draw unicorns, but those were the most normal of anything Rose had ever drawn. Among other drawings, Hermione had seen two different men with gray skin and pointed ears; a man (or possibly woman) in a black cloak and a black mask; a woman in green clothing and dark orange hair with golden angel wings; a man covered in scales with wings; and a woman with pink pigtails and a battleaxe.

Glancing over, Hermione saw Rose drawing two new people. One was a woman with lovely dark hair. It looked silky, and disappeared past the woman's shoulders. The other person was a man with dark orange, almost red, wavy hair. Rose was still coloring the rest of them, but both people had warm smiles on their faces.

It occurred to Hermione who those people probably were. She got up from her chair and quietly walked over to where Rose was sitting.

"Are those your parents?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Rose said.

"Who are the other people you draw?"

"My friends and family."

"Really?"

Rose flipped through her sketchbook. She stopped on one of the men with pointed ears. "That's Sk'lar." She flipped to the next page, which had the masked person. "That's Shadow."

Rose continued flipping through her book, identifying each of her drawings. Her sister Alice was the one with pink hair, and her uncle was the other one with pointed ears. The woman with red hair was Carolina, and the man with scales was Bowie. Rose reminded Hermione who these people were while the other students talked with Hagrid.

Around lunch time, the Gryffindors bid farewell to Hagrid and started back towards the castle.

"What was the point of that again?" asked Ron.

"Nicholas Flamel," Rose said. "Ref told me that Mr. Hagrid was thinking that the Package is between Professor Dumbledore and someone called Nicholas Flamel. I'm going to go through the Library to see if I can find that name."

"I can't help," Hermione said. "I've got Arithmancy lessons this afternoon."

"I still don't see why you'd want to do the extra work," Ron said.

"Think of it this way," Sally-Anne said. "It'd be like having a class where you just played chess, all the time. That's what Arithmancy's like for Hermione."

"That's… a brilliant way of putting it," Hermione said.

Rose grinned and raised her hand beside Sally-Anne. "Diplomacy Check!"

Sally-Anne wasn't sure what the pale girl meant, but she gladly accepted the high-five nonetheless.