He With The Jewel Eyes // A Grey Harry Potter - Time Travel AU

Rose's POV

Rose hated her brother. He had always been better than her, hogging others' attention. How her family gravitated towards him, eyes always on him, leaving her away in the dark.

Her parents, uncles, even her friends only ever thought of him as 'perfect'. Perfect features, perfect personality, perfect talent, perfect mind...

The only inferiority he had was that he wasn't the Chosen One. The bloody Chosen One. Some title she gained by doing something she didn't even remember about as a baby.

A title apparently more remember than any other qualities she had. She wasn't noted for her social skills, or her talent in flying, just that she had done something nobody was quite sure how so, including Rose herself.

But that was better than not being liked at all.

And so Rose embraced that small superiority completely. She hated how Harry was so smart, talented, mature. How he was praised for doing nothing special, but doing it perfectly even if it was something normal, like his pronunciation or his helpful attitude.

How he was so likeable to others around them, with that plastic smile of his, the calculating eyes under his childish mask.

Contrary to popular belief, Rose wasn't a complete Gryffindor. She could easily see through the masks people put on, so she had a sufficient judge of character.

Also, from a young age, she had realised that her parents reacted better to certain behaviour, and worse to others. Following her assessment, she quickly became better liked and gained more recognition.

Manipulation came easy to her. Subtle probing, false innocence, and she held her parents' attention almost completely. After that, she loosened up, mask cracking and her inferiority complex turning apparent.

Then, years later, Harry salvaged most of the attention. It came as a shock, hitting her hard.

How had he accomplished it? It had taken her years of manipulation to succeed in what had only taken him a mere ten minutes!

Rose didn't want to accept it: Harry couldn't be better than her in even this! Why was he so gifted, and herself so unlucky?

At least her father was still on her side.

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Rose woke up to loud voices and groaned in annoyance. Couldn't they keep it down? After so little sleep at Hogwarts due to her bitch of roommates gossiping all night long and the need to gain information from them for the future, she deserved a bit of sleep, okay?

The chatter continued for a while, and Rose finally resigned with a sigh and got up, getting ready for the day.

Choosing her comfortable indigo dress, she slipped on her slippers and opened the door, heading downstairs.

There, the voices led her to the kitchen, and she was dumbfounded by the scene in front of her:

Her father, chatting happily with her mother and brother, like they were a complete family, even without her.

Her chest throbbed in discomfort but she ignored it, walking inside with a scowl on her face.

"Could you not keep it down? You're so loud I woke up early!"

She expected her father to defend him as he did always, a sickening gesture but still enough to ruffle her feathers, but instead got a disappointed look, freezing her where she stood, thoughts running wild.

What had happened? Why was he behaving differently?

As her mind raced, his father spoke up, tone a complete reversal than his usual gushing, face stern.