Combat Practice

After Hermione was finished with her Arithmancy lesson, Rose assembled her team in an empty classroom. The eight of them pulled some desks together and sat in a circle.

"Welcome to the first lesson of combat training," Rose announced.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Rule One: Don't die," Rose said. "Most important rule of fighting."

"What?" Ron asked again.

"I need to leave the castle soon, and I need to make sure you lot can fend for yourselves before I do. Anyone know why?"

With most of her "students" still confused as to what was happening, no one was sure how to respond.

Ginny slowly raised her hand.

"Firecracker?"

"Because last time you left us, a basilisk attacked?"

"Precisely," Rose said. "Good work."

"So you're going to teach us to fight?" Ron asked.

"Yup!" Rose exclaimed.

"How's that gonna work?" Ron asked.

"Since you asked, I'll start with you," Rose said. "Cohort, you are brilliant with summoning, and you think like my brother. So, with you, I'd say you'll want to do battlefield control. That means moving people around the field, like it's a big game of chess. Throw down some fog, separating opponents, and grouping allies together. Understand?"

Ron nodded, although obviously still didn't understand what was going on.

"Scarface, you've got all the makings of a sniper. You've got good senses, a means of constant invisibility, and you're good in the air. You're good at disarming opponents, and that's always going to be helpful."

"Do you have to keep calling me Scarface?" he asked.

"Yup," Rose replied, turning to Ginny. "Dreda drisi gil."

"Dreda drisi gil," Ginny repeated, grinning.

"Timid Toad, you've got the Sword of Gryffindor–"

"What?!" Ron shouted.

"–so I'll teach you how to use it without cutting off your hand."

"Let me guess: You did that once," Hermione said.

"Not important," Rose replied. "Before anyone starts complaining that I'm only giving Toad things because I like him best, or that I give Brain equipment because she's pretty, remember that I am an Artificer. I will be showering everyone with equipment, because WBL is a conspiracy started by poor people that want better equipment."

There were some hesitant nods from her new trainees, and Ginny raised her hand.

"Wealth by level," Hermione said.

Ginny lowered her hand, just as Sally-Anne raised her hand.

"Yes, Princess?"

"Are you going to keep using those names?"

"That's my plan!"

Rose beamed, then raised her hand to Sally-Anne. A blast of flame was unleashed on the mostly unsuspecting third-year.

"Strada!" Sally-Anne shouted, throwing up a shield to block the blast.

"Still got it," Rose said. "Good work, Princess."

"Not this again," Sally-Anne whined, burying her face in her hands.

"Oh, that again," Rose said. "I'm not always going to announce when I attack you. Why is that, Princess?"

"Because life is unfair," she mumbled into her hands.

"Exactly. We all know that by now, but I'm going to guarantee that you don't forget it. On a related note, can that make a wall?"

Sally-Anne looked up, then looked at her left hand.

"Maybe?"

"It can, but you've got to sweep your hand across to make it," Luna said. "There's not a lot of point to it unless there's a lot of people, since it takes more out of you than the disc does. Also, I forget the incantation."

Except for Rose, everyone turned to stare at Luna in shock. Rose simply beamed at her.

"How do you know that?" Harry asked.

"Mum told me," Luna replied. "She invented the Shield Rune. She always liked it more than the Blast Rune, especially since that one takes so much energy to use, and doesn't give anything back."

Sally-Anne had forgotten that Luna's mum was Pandora Kapisa. Luna had to know all about the Shield Rune, maybe even more than Professor Babbling. Sally-Anne wanted to ask her about it, but it might upset Luna to talk about her mum so much.

"Is that why you know so much about runes?" Ginny asked.

"Mum taught me what she could. Mum often gave me rune puzzles when she and Dad had to work."

"What's a rune puzzle?" Neville asked, hoping that he wasn't the only one that didn't know.

"You can get different effects by combining different runes," Hermione explained. "A rune puzzle is where there's a rune missing, and you've got to figure out which rune to put to complete the rune collection and create a certain effect."

"Those are fun!" Rose exclaimed.

Now her audience turned to stare at her.

"There's always one in the Quibbler."

"Mum used to make them," Luna said. "Then I did after…"

An awkward silence fell over the room.

"After she couldn't," Sally-Anne said.

"After she couldn't," Luna repeated.

"What I'm hearing out of all this, Moon, is that you're good with runes," Rose said, pulling a small box out of her picnic basket. "Catch."

Luna missed the box, but Ginny caught it before it hit the floor.

"Those are mystic pigments," Rose explained. "When you draw something with them, it becomes real."

"It looks like chalk," Ron said, looking at the contents of the box as Luna opened it.

"Moon likes to draw with chalk, and it shows up better on stone than paint. It's also easier to use."

"Thank you, Rose," Luna said.

"You're welcome!"

Ginny tried to count out everyone in her head. They had covered her, Ron, Luna, Neville, Harry, Sally-Anne, so that just left…

"What about Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"Wandless casting," Hermione said. "I've been working on it all last month, but I'm still not far with it."

"Not just that," Rose said. "I was thinking that you reminded me of someone I knew, then I thought 'Abjuration!'"

"What's Abjuration?" Harry asked.

"Primarily defensive magic, but it also involves dispel magic and everyone's least favorite spell, antimagic circle!"

"So you think I can dispel people?" Hermione asked.

"Not people, spells. If you can determine the type of spell being cast, you must be able to counterspell it. That's a thing here, right?"

"Yeah, but–"

"That's all I need to know," Rose said. "Wait, what about arcane sight?"

"What's that?" Ginny asked.

"It allows me to see the magic auras of active spells and magic items."

"I'm not sure there's something like that here, but it would be interesting to find out," Hermione said. "In theory, you might be able to replicate it by using your eyes as the focal point of an analysis charm."

Rose grinned, but this one was a little unnerving.

"What about reciprocal gyre?" Without waiting for someone to ask, Rose said, "Fourth-level spell that turns the magical energies of all active spells on the target against them."

"Personal enchantments aren't as common here as they are in your world, but it is possible to pick apart different enchantments on an object. Once you've got control of them, you could throw the energy back at the original target, although it might not be as effective. Before you ask, I have no idea how to do any of that."

That didn't stop Rose from grinning.

"So here's how this is going to work," Rose said. "Having a bunch of people in the Room of Requirement at once seems like it'd defeat the purpose of it, so I'm going to work with one person at a time. If you don't know what that is, you'll find out soon."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Cos if I don't, no one will," Rose said.

"Can't argue with that," Harry muttered.

"Before we go today, I'm going to give you all inherent bonuses for your primary stats."

"She means she's going to make us better at what she thinks we should be doing," Hermione translated.

"Okay," Neville said. "I'll go first."

Starting with Neville, Rose used Serendipity over and over again to give them each a +4 inherent bonus to a single stat. She gave Ginny and Harry a +4 to Dexterity, Neville +4 to strength, Luna and Ron Intelligence, and Sally-Anne Charisma. The only one she passed was Hermione.

"No one's using Wisdom," Rose said. "Brain!"

"Don't even think about it Rose," Hermione said. "I'll probably have an existential crisis if you try."

"That's not a real word!"

"Not so loud," Ron said, holding his head.

"My head feels funny," Luna said, stumbling around the room like an inebriated sailor.

Sally-Anne felt no different, and Neville had little trouble with his new strength. Ginny and Harry were twitchy for the next few minutes, and Hermione watched Ron and Luna suffer through the effects of instantly enhanced Intelligence.

"Ronald," Hermione said. "What's 17 × 22?"

"Erm… 374," he mumbled after a second. His eyes grew wide as the full weight of what he'd just done dawned on him. He wasn't even good at maths. How had he done that so quickly?

"Welcome to my world," Hermione said. "I guess it was nice beating you at chess while it lasted. Come on. A chess match sounds brilliant right now."

Ron slowly climbed to his feet, and followed Hermione out of the classroom. Their friends followed suit as each one recovered.

"Sally-Anne, are you doing something with your hair?" Alex asked at lunch.

"No, why?" Sally-Anne asked.

"I'm not sure what it is, but you seem different. Good different."

"Thanks," Sally-Anne said. She smiled warmly at the complement.

"Definitely something different about you," Alex said. "Whatever it is you're doing, keep doing it."

"I will."

Sally-Anne wasn't the only one with noticeable improvements. Harry and Ginny noticed theirs while practicing Quidditch.

"Remember, the Snitch moves a lot faster than these," Harry said as he tossed a few more balls at Ginny.

She was better than he was expecting, although he knew one that would trip her up. It was the same thing Wood did to him his first time out.

Harry tossed one of the balls below Ginny's broom. He wanted to remind her just how hard it was to catch something below your broom.

To Harry's surprise, Ginny wheeled around on her broom and hung upside down to catch the last ball.

"Ha!" she exclaimed triumphantly. She swung her legs around and righted herself on her broom.

Harry was at a loss for words. He'd never seen anyone try what Ginny just did. He didn't know how she hadn't fallen off her broom.

"How'd you do that?"

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" Ginny asked.

"Promise."

"I've been sneaking out after dark for the past few years to practice flying," Ginny said. "Not here, but at home. I never get the chance if I don't. Mum always wants me doing chores, and the boys won't let their kid sister play with them."

Harry had never seen Ginny like this. For nearly two years, anytime he tried to talk to her, she just squealed and ran off if she could. He had never been able to get anything else out of her. Now she was talking so much it was starting to annoy him.

"I practiced that one a lot over the summer," Ginny said, grinning. "I kept trying to do tricks that popped into my head. Nearly fell off my broom when Rose suggested it."

"Okay," Harry said, no longer interested.

"I guess she doesn't sleep, so she went for a walk one night. She saw me practicing, and I was so startled I fell off my broom." Ginny laughed.

Harry gave an impatient laugh. He didn't care about Ginny's little story. Ginny was his friend, but she was also the person that might take away his place on the Quidditch team. Harry was angry at Wood for giving away his place so quickly, and angry at Ginny for not turning down the position. Didn't she know it was his?!

"She asked what would happen if I tried hanging upside down on my broom, so I tried." Ginny started laughing again. "I… I was… Sorry." Ginny stopped laughing for a moment. "I was lucky she was there to catch me. Merlin, would I have been in trouble then!"

No matter how hard Harry tried to throw Ginny off her game during practice, he couldn't do it. They weren't practicing with the Golden Snitch, and he was sure that would catch her off guard, but anything else he tried didn't work. How was she doing that? He had just as many enhancements from Rose as she did, so why was she so good?

"Remember how I said we're gonna need to do cut your hair?" Rose asked Hermione the next week.

"Is today that day?" Hermione asked.

Hermione had been dreading that conversation ever since Rebecca had mocked her for her looks. She felt like anything after that was just going to validate Rebecca's and Draco's mockery of her. Still, she didn't want to deal with her hair forever.

"Yup," Rose said. "You need to have maneuverability, and that hair's not gonna let you do that. Although, I could always animate it for you!"

"Don't you dare animate my hair!" Hermione exclaimed. "Alicia and Alex both said Angelina could cut it, so I'm just going to talk to her."

"I can do it!"

"Is Crimson Thorn involved in that?"

"Of course. That's how I cut my hair back when it still grew."

"Rose, I'd really rather trust it to someone who knows what they're doing. My hair's a nightmare. It's thick, it's messy, I can never get it straight or curly, it's just this wavy pile of misery."

"I can cut clean through it with Crimson Thorn, and I won't harm you," Rose said. "I've handled finer targets than that."

Hermione thought for a moment.

"Alright, you start it, and then I'll have Angelina and Alicia finish it. Do you mind if they see Crimson Thorn?"

"Not really. Most of the school knows I've got something with me. I'm sure they won't mind."

"Why do you have that?!" Alicia and Angelina screamed as Rose unfolded Crimson Thorn.

"That's not important right now," Rose said, holding Hermione's hair. "Hold still."

Hermione held perfectly still, then felt someone tugging on her hair. In a second, the sensation vanished, and she felt lighter.

"Done," Rose said.

"Wow," Hermione said, turning around to see Rose holding most of her hair.

Alicia and Angelina stared in shock at the girls.

"You're up!" Rose said, as Crimson Thorn folded up and vanished back into her glove. "I'm adding this to my Hermione shrine!"

Angelina stared at Rose, then shook her head and grabbed her supplies.

"Not the first time I've handled hair this thick." As she surveyed Hermione's hair, she added, "Can you remove your hair clip?"

"Right," Hermione said sullenly. "How quickly can you work?"

"Why?"

"I've got you, Hermione," Rose said.

Rose carefully removed the hair clip of intelligence, casting divine enlightenment as she did.

Hermione had been expecting Angelina to use a series of spells, but as it turned out, she went for the Muggle approach and used scissors. While Angelina worked on Hermione's hair, the four girls chatted. Angelina explained that she was a halfblood, and her father was a Muggle hair stylist. She'd picked up a few things from him, and worked on the girls' hair when they didn't want to risk magic.

After Rose mentioned Rebecca giving Hermione grief about her hair, Angelina suggested going to Professor Vector's office before her next class. She reasoned that Rebecca wouldn't want to try anything when a professor was within earshot.

"Most Ravenclaws are like that," Alicia said. "They're all so obsessed about getting good marks that they won't cross a teacher."

"What about Luna?" Rose asked.

"Lovegood's alright," Alicia said. "Chang said Price doesn't like her because she thinks someone like her doesn't belong in Ravenclaw."

"Why not?" Hermione asked.

"If you're at the top of the class, you don't want to be bumped down by anyone," Rose said. "When you're bumped down by someone that doesn't take your work seriously, you get angry because you can't figure how someone that tries half as hard as you is doing better."

"Sort of, but that's not all of it," Alicia said. "It's that they think Lovegood ruins the… erm… what's the word?"

"The image of Ravenclaw?" Hermione offered.

"Yeah."

"That's a horrible way to think about it," Hermione said. "The Sorting Hat said it puts the smartest people into Ravenclaw. It almost put me into Ravenclaw, but thought Gryffindor would fit better. Then there's Rose; she's cleverer than I am, she just doesn't care what people think about her."

Rose beamed at this.

"Ron's another good example. He's just as clever as I am, but he doesn't care about academics."

"I heard he was doing good in his classes," Angelina said as she continued to move around Hermione. "The Destructive Duo have been trying to figure out how he's been cheating."

"He doesn't cheat," Rose said, apparently testing one of the beds to see how bouncy it was. "I made him a bracelet of scholar's touch, like Hermione's got."

Angelina and Alicia exchanged looks, then turned to Hermione for an explanation.

"Scholar's touch is Rose's name for a spell she knows that lets you read a book instantly just by touching it. Rose made bracelets for Ron and I our first year, and Ron uses his to memorize textbooks. You can just about memorize something if you read it three times, and Ron can read it ten times in a minute."

Alicia turned to Rose.

"I don't suppose–"

"I am no longer taking orders for crafts," Rose said as if reciting something she'd said a hundred times. "Please try again at a later date."

Hermione stared at Rose.

"That's new," she said.

"I'm backed up on Snowy Time presents, and I don't know that I'll have them done in time."

"It's halfway through November," Hermione said.

"And it's taking me a while to work on one in particular."

Hermione decided against asking, not wanting to know what Rose had in store for them this year. Last year hadn't been bad, but only because Rose decided it was too difficult to animate their knapsacks.

"Alicia said you haven't been to Hogsmeade yet," Angelina said. "You girls should go. It's a lot of fun."

"Dementors," Hermione and Rose said.

"Ugh, that Quidditch match was the worst," Angelina said.

"You should still give it a go," Alicia said. "Christmas is always great, since they've got decorations all over the town. St. Valentine's Day is the best, though. Madam Puddifoot's always goes all out, and couples get a special discount."

"I'll keep that in mind," Hermione said.

Angelina continued to work on Hermione's hair, while Rose cast divine enlightenment every two minutes so Hermione's head wouldn't feel murky while she did.

"There you are," Angelina said when she finished, handing Hermione a mirror. "All set."

Hermione looked at her hair. Angelina had thinned it out for her, and between her and Rose, it just reached her shoulders.

"Thanks," Hermione said as Rose handed her hair clip back to her.

"Don't mention it," Angelina said. "Unfortunately, I don't know any charms to straighten hair, if that's what you want."

"I'll survive," Hermione said, running her hand through her hair. "Probably."

"You could just make it yourself," Alicia said as she banished the scraps of hair on the floor.

"I think she looks fine just the way she is," Rose said.

"Thanks, but some of us want to be able to run a brush through our hair," Hermione said.

"What's a brush?" Rose asked.

"Exactly."

"Keeping it thin isn't a matter of magic, it's just a matter of keeping up with it," Angelina said as she put her things away.

"You did great, Angelina," Hermione said. "Thanks."

<Stand up,> Rose instructed her.

Hermione obediently stood up, then figured out why Rose wanted her to do it then. She felt the effects of divine enlightenment wear off, and immediately felt dizzy.

"You alright, Granger?" Alicia asked.

"Just stood up too fast," Hermione said, sitting back down in the chair.

"Your head might feel a little lighter now," Alicia said, laughing.

Hermione laughed, then stood back up again. She brushed her hair behind her ear, something she hadn't been able to do in years.

"Do I owe you anything?" Hermione asked.

"Don't worry about it," Angelina said. "I do this all the time, and it's not like there's anything better to do around here."

Hermione began wondering what her friends would say when they saw her hair. She started worrying about what the other students would say. What if they started making fun of her for trying to fix her hair?

"Don't worry about it," Rose said after Hermione expressed this later.

Hermione kept worrying about it, despite Rose's nonchalant attitude toward it. She suddenly found herself wanting to put a bag over her head. No one was around, but it already felt like people were staring at her. It'd be just like primary school, with everyone picking on her about anything she did.

"If they give you grief about it, I'll punch them in the throat," Rose said as they reached the common room.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was empty.

December approached, and a chill crept into the air. Still, practice continued. Rose worked with them throughout the week, making sure no two of them were ever near the Room of Requirement at the same time.

"I'm surprised how thoroughly you thought this through, Rose," Hermione said one day.

"It's what Shadow would do if she were here," Rose replied.

That particular day, Rose was sitting atop a table in the Room of Requirement. It was Hermione's job to levitate the table without using her wand. It was a particularly dull lesson, but Rose wanted to know that Hermione could perform a Levitation Charm without her wand before forcing her to do it under stress.

Rose had picked up on a problem with Hermione shortly after training had started. She was giving Hermione easy tasks for the day, to try to coerce Hermione into telling Rose what was wrong.

"Is it about Cedric?" Rose asked.

"No, Rose."

"Did someone laugh at your hair?"

"No, Rose."

"Do I need to chat with Rebecca?"

"I'm fine, Rose."

"What about Draco? I haven't heard from him in a while."

"I said I'm fine!" Hermione snapped. "It's hard to concentrate with you talking."

"Don't worry. During a battle, people will be completely silent so you can concentrate. I'm sure if you ask nicely, they'll even stop trying to kill you, just so you can concentrate."

Rose watched as her friend got angrier at every comment. Working with the others had taught Rose one thing: everyone was keeping to themselves. Something was bothering everyone, and even though Rose already knew what was wrong with most of them, she also knew the value of communication on the battlefield.

Rose's entire training plan was based on what she remembered of Alice training her, and stories from Shadow about Harold Strant training the Exalted. Unfortunately, there was a big difference in the Exalted's training and Rose training her friends: the Exalted had all been adults. Despite Bowie's refusal to act like one or the group's naivety, each of them had been willing to listen when they'd learned.

Sally-Anne was great; she knew the drill, so she was willing to listen. She remembered everything from their previous string of training sessions, and her reflexes were improving. Sally-Anne also had new uses for the Shield Rune, including throwing up the shield at a distance and creating a bubble to soften someone's landing (Rose liked playing with that one).

Ginny got bored quickly, but so did Rose. Rose figured Ginny needed to think creatively in order to find a way to use fire to solve her problems. Both girls were firm believers that the solution to any problem was to apply fire, and Rose was teaching Ginny how to apply fire correctly. Most of Rose's training for Ginny revolved around her reflexes, so Rose often threw things at Ginny while she was supposedly spacing out. As it turned out, Ginny had been honing her reflexes her entire life dealing with Fred and George.

Neville was possibly the best of them. He attentively listened to nearly everything she said, spacing out only once or twice. When Rose caught Neville not paying attention, he'd turn red and not miss a word Rose said for a week. Even though Rose wasn't as good with a longsword as she was with a double-sword, they were making it work. It helped that Neville was left-handed like her.

Luna wasn't quite as attentive as Neville, but she was up there. Rose admitted to herself that she was going easy on Luna, but even then, Luna was great. They grabbed books on runes from the library, and Rose was considering making Luna a bracelet of scholar's touch like Hermione's or Ron's so she could learn faster. They did run into problems during combat, since drawing runes in a hurry wasn't easy. Rose, being Rose, had a "brilliant and insightful" plan to fix that problem.

It was the other three that were giving her problems. Harry hardly talked, although his aim was improving. Rose figured out that she could get Harry to respond by insulting or ignoring him. He also refused to accept that anyone would be able to hit him while was invisible, a delusion that Rose thought she dispelled with glitterdust. When that still didn't convince Harry that people were smart enough to pick up on his footsteps or look for movements in the ground, Rose made a plan to coat the room in flour.

Hermione and Rose ran through every spell they'd learned in the past two years and had Hermione perform them wandlessly. Rose gave special attention to any spells she thought would prove useful for defence, and drilled them more frequently than the others. Until a few weeks ago, just after Hermione had cut her hair, she'd had been alright. Rose knew what the problem was, but she wanted to hear Hermione say it first before fixing it.

Then there was Ronald. Rose had grown frustrated with him almost immediately, because the boy refused to listen. He was worse than Harry when it came to arrogantly ignoring Rose. She worked out entire setups for him to test his ability to move objects around and keep his friends out of danger, but he couldn't get one right. Like the others, Ron needed to understand that combat was a lot of judgement calls, but in his case, he needed to out think his opponent. There was a lot of pressure on Ron, but he refused to accept it.

After every failure, Ron exploded at Rose for making them too difficult. He often accused her of singling him out, or treating the others better. In spite of this, Rose carried on training him, because if he didn't learn, he would fall behind the others, and then he really would be worse at it.

"I can't do it today!" Hermione declared, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "I quit!"

"That's it, then?" Rose asked.

"I'm done for the day, Rose."

"So if Cedric were to walk through that door, he'd see you quitting?"

"For the last time, I–"

"But would you really want him to see you giving up?" Rose asked.

"Stop it!" Hermione shouted. "I–"

Hermione was interrupted by the door opening.

If that's Cedric, I'm going to kill her, Hermione thought.

In the threshold was not Cedric, but Ron. He stormed inside the Room of Requirement, allowing the door to slam shut behind him.

"Where is he?!" Ron demanded.

"Who?" Rose asked.

"Scabbers!" Ron shouted. "What did your stupid cat do with him?!"

"Maybe he just got out again!" Hermione shouted back. "Crookshanks isn't the only cat in the castle, Ronald!"

"But he's always watching Scabbers! Your bloody cat's been trying to eat him since you got him!"

"Maybe if you took better care of your rat, he wouldn't always run off!"

"So it's my fault?"

"Yes, it is! Don't blame me because you can't care for a single living thing other than yourself!"

Hermione regretted the words the second they left her mouth. Ron had risked his life to save her, so she knew he cared, but she was so frustrated at everyone that she didn't care.

Ron pulled his wand, but Hermione was ready for him. She held up her hand before Ron had a chance to act.

"Expulsa!"

Ron's wand flew out of his hand, but it didn't go far. As it left his hand, Hermione caught a glimpse of the strap that held it to his wrist. Ron grabbed his wand again, and aimed it at Hermione's feet.

"Scotoro!"

Hermione was thrown back by Ron's Scattering Hex, hitting the stone floor hard.

"Brilliant, isn't it?" Ron asked. "Got the idea from Colin's camera. I did. No one else; me. And look at that; it was good enough to beat you. I guess you're not so clever after all, Mudblood."

Hermione couldn't believe it; Ron was her friend. He didn't always say or do smart things, but he was clever, and he wasn't that insensitive. Ron flipped out at Malfoy whenever the Slytherin called her "Mudblood", so why was he using it?

Hermione looked up, and for a second, it wasn't Ron standing over her, but Draco Malfoy. For that second, she was back in first year, trembling in fear as he loomed over her after hitting her with a Leg-Locker Curse. She couldn't run, and she was about to die.

Hermione began to cry. Her head was murky and she couldn't think straight, so she did the only thing of which she could think. Hermione tripped over herself as she climbed to her feet, then started running. She hated herself for running away when things got bad, but she needed to clear her head, and she couldn't do that there. She pushed past Ron, who looked ready for another round, then ran straight out of the Room of Requirement.

Ron looked at Rose, who wasn't mad, but wasn't happy either.

"She'll be fine," Ron said, more for himself than Rose.

Rose continued to say nothing.

"That's what everyone keeps saying about me!"

Still no response from Rose.

"I'm not apologizing! I didn't do anything wrong! I shouldn't have to apologize!"

"Your training is over," Rose said. "You can leave."

"What?" Ron asked.

"I'm done training you."

"Why? Just because I beat Hermione?"

"No."

The table on which Rose sat was lifted into the air, then floated over to Ron. When it stopped, Rose was right next to his ear.

"You're just Scarface's cohort, which makes you an NPC," Rose whispered, "and I don't train NPCs."

With that, Rose hopped off the table and left the Room of Requirement.