Winter's Rose ▫️T. Lupin

▫️ Sixteen

"What exactly is wrong with my hair?"

Rose took a calm sip from her cup of tea, eyebrows raised as she looked between Brenda and Angela who seemed to be bickering back and forth, Beatrice's body in between them doing nothing to deter them from continuing their petty argument about Angela's hair.

"I told you five times now," Brenda huffed as she leaned forward to meet her eyes. "I told you this morning but you didn't listen, I mentioned it during breakfast but you ignored me, I told you when I saw you again after classes when we gathered to have lunch together and I've mentioned it two more times since then. Keeping your hair in a ponytail makes your ears look huge!"

"Well, I don't see how that's revelant to you, really," she glowered at her as Beatrice let out a sigh. Instantly, Angela rounded on her. "You agree with her?"

"I didn't say anything!" she exclaimed as she turned to Rose for support, but she only raised her cup of tea to her lips and took a small sip in an effort to hide her smile. Beatrice, realising she was on her own, rolled her eyes slightly.

"You didn't need to say anything, it was written all over your face!"

"Leave my girlfriend alone," Brenda pursed her lips as Angela glared at her.

Rose set her cup of tea on the table, a pleasant smile forming on her lips as her three friends turned to face her. "If you want to be in the Arithmacy classroom on time, I think you should go now."

"And I thought you'd pick a side," Angela huffed as she stood up. Brenda nodded simply as she placed a kiss on Beatrice's cheek and left the Gryffindor table. Both Beatrice and Rose could hear them bicker once more as they left.

"Her ears do look huge with her hair up," Beatrice admitted as Rose shrugged.

"She loves it though."

"That's unfortunately true. And nobody could ever convince Brenda to let this go."

"Maybe you could," Rose mumbled with a teasing smirk. "If you put your mind to it, that is."

"Now that definitely sounds interesting." The next second, Rose was trapped in the bench by a company of three boys dressed in Hufflepuff clothes. Bill that had spoken up before sent her a wide smile. "What did we lose?"

"Nothing you should know," Beatrice's eyebrows shot up as she looked over at him with Thomas sitting on Rose's other side laughed.

Bill shared a smirk with him. "Defensive much?"

"What are you doing here?" Rose asked, noticing that Beatrice was getting kind of impatient. Her eyes moved past Thomas and to the last boy of the group who sent her a slight smile but didn't reply. Once more, Bill did the talking.

"We wouldn't have come if it weren't for Teddy," he said, and instantly, Teddy's eyes widened as Rose tried to stop herself from smiling. "He said he noticed you sitting here and then he said how you have Potions next together and then he said how Thomas and I share our next class with Beatrice and then he said we should head over here so we could go to our next class together and then Thomas and I said that wasn't a bad idea and now we're here."

Rose was unable to hide her smile as she turned to Bill who wore a proud grin on his lips. "Since you're clearly Lupin's messenger, you can tell him that was very sweet of him."

Thomas's loud laughter brought Rose's smile to widen as she ignored Beatrice's smirk and turned to Teddy, whose face had grown as red as the colour he had decided to wear his hair today. Bill chuckled as well as she turned to face him once again.

"Sure thing." He leaned forward to meet Teddy's eyes. "Teddy, Rosie here thinks that was awfully sweet of you."

Teddy cleared his throat as she raised her cup of tea to her lips. "You should go and so should we."