Flora And Fawna [HARRY POTTER]

30

Rosie was stroking the cat's- she refused to name the beast when she had no intention of keeping it- back. Its fur wasn't soft by any means but for some reason the action was soothing. Rosie only stopped when she heard a tapping against her bedroom window.

She was still at home, though she would return to Hogwarts the next day by floo.

The cat stood up and leapt off of Rosie's bed at the sound. Unable to continue her task, Rosie's gaze wandered over to her window where there was yet another owl pecking to get in. Since Lily's death, there had been many owls that came to Rosie's window. There were owls wishing Rosie and her family well, there were owls with curse postcards that Rosie had just barely warned Petunia and Vernon away from, and there were hate letters.

The day of Lily and James' funeral, Rosie apparently told off a popular reporter for the Daily Prophet. Honestly, Rosie didn't know what was so impressive about the annoying woman, but apparently many people read her articles.

This had been made abundantly clear when the day after Rosie had denied Rita Skeeter entrance to her sister's funeral, a hateful column featuring Rosie appeared in Rita's portion of the Daily Prophet. It had gone on and on about how Rosie was "a horrible little girl" and how Rosie's parents should "try to reign their little beast in".

From what Rosie had been told, she didn't actually read the article herself, Rita had gone on for several paragraphs about how she had been terribly offended to be denied access to the event, and how Rosie had been very unwelcoming and had gone so far as to threaten her. In that respect, Rita had not been lying.

Rosie wasn't exactly proud of how she treated Rita. If Rosie had had it her way, she wouldn't have allowed her magic to run away from her like that. If it hadn't been during a Hogwarts term, Rosie could have gotten expelled for underage magic. Though Rosie wasn't proud of what she had done, she had to admit that it had been effective. Rita hadn't shown her face around the house yet, hoping for a picture of the boy who lived and his infamous scar.

Back to the matter at hand, Rosie had half a mind to allow the owl to keep pecking at her window until it gave up and left, either depositing the letter it held in its beak on her doorstep to throw away, or taking the letter with it. However the cat had taken to playing with the thing through the window and now that it had been acknowledged, Rosie knew it would never leave. Rosie sighed, rose from her bed, and padded over to her window to let the owl in.

The bird was a little thing, one that hardly looked strong enough to be carrying even the letter it had in its beak. Rosie takes the letter it offers and lets the owl rest on her windowsill, with an owl treat she had leftover from Hera. Somewhere in another room in the house, Rosie can hear Harry cooing at one thing or another and it makes her smile.

Rose

Rosie knew instantly who the letter was from, just by how her name was written on the front. It was the same way her name had been written last year. The same way all her potions assignments had been marked.

Rosie looked back over at the owl that had carried Professor Slughorn's letter and decided he must had hired an owl out, because there was no way a man like Horace Slughorn would settle for something so small normally.

She opened the letter without ceremony.

Dearest Rosie. May I begin this letter by telling you how sorry I am for the recent loss of your sister and brother in law. I am sure you can still feel the sting of their absence and I would like to offer my assistance in any way I can.

I remember the first time I met your sister. She, much like you, was a brilliant little which but you wouldn't have known it the way she came into my classroom on the first day of her first year. She could hardly let go of Severus, who was her fondest companion for many years. Of course she grew into her powers, much like you did.