Gryffindor Princess

Lessons

Rose Weasley grabbed her book bag and wand and strolled down the hallway towards the Charms room. She pulled open the door and stepped inside.

"Rose Weasley!" The ancient Professor Flitwick said, beaming. "I remember both of your parents in this class. The first time I met them must have been what... 28 years ago?"

"Yep," Rose smiled and took her place at one of the tables in the classroom and was joined by Jessica. After all of the students had poured into the classroom and taken a seat, Professor Flitwick stool up on his tower of books and addressed the students.

"Hello, Gryffindors," Flitwick annouced. "Today we will be learning how to levitate objects with magic. If anyone knows from the textbooks, the incantation is 'Wingardium Leviosa.' And you just need to swish and flick."

Professor Flitwick demonstrated with the feather in front of him, which soared through the air.

Rose glanced at her own feather, laying on the table. She lifted up her want and moved it in the demonstrated motion.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The feather floated up, and Rose flicked her wand up to keep it afloat. It soared gracefully through the room before landing on her desk again.

"Good job, Miss Weasley!" Professor Flitwick said excitedly. "10 points to Gryffindor."

Rose beamed and watched the rest of the Gryffindors attempt to lift their feathers off the ground. No one else had much luck. Jessica's feather refused to move, lifting in inch above the table before floating down again. Emilia's feather exploded as soon as she tried the spell.

"I am a Finnigan," Emilia laughed, as everyone knew that her father, Seamus, had exploded his fair share of feathers in his schooling. "I swear, I will never stop hearing the story of my father doing the exact same thing in his first charms lesson."

❖

Rose set her cauldron and books on a table in the potions room. She set her ingredients on the table in a careful line and waited for the Slytherins.

"Albus!" Rose exclaimed, waving Albus over to her table.

"Hey, Rose," Albus smiled, sitting next to his cousin. Unfortunately, sitting with her cousin also meant sitting with another Slytherin.

Scorpius Malfoy strutted towards the table, any proof that yesterday he'd been a quiet, shy boy sitting with Rose in her compartment and offering her chocolate frogs was gone. His one night at Hogwarts had definitely changed him, making him more arrogant.

"Hello, class," the potions master said. "My name is Professor Slughorn. Today you will be learning how to brew the Hiccoughing potion. Flip to page 21."

Rose flipped to page 21 and sorted the ingredients she needed. She started the potion and glanced over at Albus.

"How's Slytherin?" She asked. "I mean, the common room, the people... just being in the house in general."

"It's actually pretty nice. Slughorn's our head of house, and I've made plenty of friends. Scorpius, Alex, Farrah..."

"Scorpius?" Rose asked skeptically.

"Yeah. Turns out he's not as shy and quiet as I thought," Albus laughed. "He's already got Vincent Goyle following him around like he's a king!"

"Oh," Rose replied. She wanted Albus to be happy, but having him so close to all those Slytherins made her feel somewhat resentful.

"Don't worry though," Albus said. "We're still going to do everything together."

"Okay," Rose laughed, but on the inside she was appreciative towards her cousin.

Rose added the finishing touches to her potion and stirred it. The potion became the clear gold color it was supposed to be.

"Excellent," Professor Slughorn said excitedly. "The potion looks perfect. 10 points to Gryffindor!"

Rose smiled and Slughorn moved over to the boys working in their potions.

"Good, good, boys," Slughorn said, glancing at their potions. "10 points to Slytherin as well."

"And also, you three," Slughorn turned to Rose as well this time. "What would you think of being part of something I call the Slug Club. I often invite promising students to join me for lunch or for parties. I've had Gwenog Jones, Ginny and Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Lily Potter... the first one mind you."

"So, what do you say?"

"Sure," Rose said. "It would be an honor."

"I feel the same as Rose," Albus replied.

"I'd love to," said Scorpius, cleaning out his cauldron.

"Excellent," Professor Slughorn announced. "The next Slug Club meeting is next Tuesday at 6."

"Okay, thank you," Rose replied. She hoped she had time for all of this; homework, Slug Club, and the Quidditch that her father was convinced she would be spectacular at.

Rose emptied her cauldron into a vial and cleaned up her workspace. Slughorn dismissed the class and Rose hurried out to her next class.

❖

"Welcome to flying," Professor Bell called out to the first years gathered around a pile of mangled looking broomsticks. "Everyone grab a broomstick!"

Rose grabbed a broomstick and set it next to her like how Professor Bell demonstrated.

"Once you have your broom ready, stretch your hand out like this and say 'up!'" Professor Bell yelled over the racket of Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Rose stretched her arm out and said, "Up!"

The broom moved around restlessly on the ground, but did not reach her hand like Professor Bell's did. Scorpius' broom, however, shot up to his hand on his first try. Rose frowned and tried again.

"Up!"

Nothing happened.

"Up!" The broom floated up to her hand and she got a firm grip on it.

As Professor Bell showed them how to mount the broom and fly lightly above the ground, Rose improved by the minute.

When the class was finally over, Rose was satisfied with how she had done.