Unexpected Similarities Private R. Delarose

The boy seemed to daydream even as she addressed him before, stuck in a world so far away. A world where they all could be free of responsibilities, she wondered how that would feel.

After she had offered her nickname to him, he seemed pleased with himself. This made her wonder, did he already appreciate the little thing they had? The growing friendship, the riddles, the teasing? Well, begrudgingly she felt she might like it to. Rose eyes shone with possibilities. Friends and allies to a greater cause. She quite liked that idea. That ideal, that others could appreciate her for more than her beauty, it made her shiver too. But She felt couldn’t ponder it much, it would probably make her upset otherwise.

When she had leaned forward on her desk and changed her demeanour to interrogate him, he had gotten visibly nervous of her. She could even see some goose bumps appearing on his skin. This made her grin a little, her charm was visibly working. They always got dreamy or nervous around her when it did.

She slightly frowned and leaned back again. Creating some distance between them. But maybe she didn’t want that for them. She should try to reign her charm in. She wouldn’t feel right if she manipulated him, even if that contradicted her actions. The part-veela was always in war with herself. Sometimes grateful for her veela ways and other times bothered by them.

After Erik called her housemates Gryffindorks, Rosalind grinned. She quite liked his humour and that he dared to call her house out in front of her. Most Hogwarts student would defend their house to their dead, but Rose wasn’t as most students, and she felt that respect needed to be earnt.

Rose had opened her heart with al the talk about her ‘crew’ and what characteristics she liked in people. But when he assured her that he knew those type of people, she felt relieved. There was hope. Then finally the boy answered her question on how he found her little sanctuary. Rose nodded when she found he accidentally found it and blushed that he had caught her in that position. She smiled at him and thanked him for his honest answer. “Well, thank you for answering my question.” Then she wondered out loud. “And maybe you could…” She took a new breath and hurried on. “Introduce me to some of them?”

The veela looked around once more, partly to locate her trinket again and partly to avoid his venomous eyes. Could her trinket have rolled under the desk? Or something else entirely?

As Rosalind was still observing her little sanctuary for her new found treasure, she could feel his burning stare. ‘Venomous eyes indeed.’ She thought. After one more sweep of the room, she focused her attention once more on the boy. When her gaze focused on his face, his demeanour had changed ‘Did something happen? Had she acted out of place’ Then she saw his dubious expression.

“What are you thinking? What could possibly trouble you so much? Did I say something to offend you in any way?” The boy looked as if he wanted to prance on, but had clearly reigned himself in. ‘Oh, he thought he had done something wrong…’ She felt relieved at this. If he felt he did something wrong, then she probably hadn’t. His question expressed he genuinely cared about her feelings and wondered what was on her mind. That was actually surprising for her. She felt as if this was truly the first time in her Hogwarts career that she connected with someone. This thought made her feel warm inside. An ally, the first in many, maybe.

Rose wondered how to answer his question. If she outrightly told him about her inner veela war, he might think differently about her, but if she adapted her answer with half-truths and distract him from the real problem... Her heart could be as steady as can be.

“Well, as you might have noticed my fellow housemates and I aren’t exactly chummy. So that makes me kind of a black sheep in the Lion community.” In a higher mocking tone she added. “Because there all such a good friends with each other.” She brought her hands together next to her face, her palms firmly against each other and dreamily looked up. With a straight face she continued her monologue. “The Lion pride is a tight knit community were most of them seem to value the same norms and standards. And well, lets just conclude that some norms weren’t my cup of tea." Rose felt as if she had put in a lot of truths, more than she had wanted. Trusting was a hard aspect, one that she had not yet mastered.

Rose smirked when she was done. “Lion pride, please” She huffed. “I’m more of a free spirit kind of bird.” She laughed at her little joke and looked him in the eyes again.

When he said he would introduce her later this week to some of his friends, she felt a lighter feeling inside her chest, a feeling of belonging. She wondered if it could last.

As she her mind wandered off again, looking for her necklace, the boy suddenly sprang up. A startled expression seemed to cover his face as he picked something shiny up and let it drop with a hiss. ‘Was that her treasure?’ Rosalind looked at the boy again. Had he hurt himself? She certainly thought he did. As he now carried himself as she had seen many do before him. They all tried to hide their injury and thus making changes of being helped slimmer.

When he held her necklace up again, she could clearly see the shimmering house emblems. ‘He really did find her trinket. I hope he gives it back…’ Rosalind eyes shined, she felt so delighted.

“What the-.” His cry was cut of as he seemed to realise something. As he looked at her pendant down below, the atmosphere seemed to change and his attitude with it. When he looked at her it seemed to be with distrust and almost loathing. Rose took a step back, as he dangled her treasure almost aggressively before her.

“Yours, I take it?” His eyes stared her down, almost as if all of this was her fault.

Rose felt disbelief at the change. What the bloody hell happened? No one reacted that harshly for a silver necklace. Rose frowned, as she felt her own inner flame flutter awake. Challenging a veela was not a bright idea, especially if the challenge involved something the veela felt connected to. The red specs inside the veela’s eyes glowed brighter, as if her inner fire could burst every moment. Rose’s eyes burned with passion for her trinket. Her mother had always had a devotion to special things and it seemed that Rose had inherited that trait. As her anger rose, her grip on her veela charm loosened. She could almost feel the wave of power the sent forward herself, filling the atmosphere with it. Quickly she reigned herself in, shocked at her loss of control. Her temper was one of the many things her veela inheritance had cursed her with.

No, she would not lose her temper in vain. She could control her instincts. It wouldn’t matter that they wanted to hurt the boy for the disrespect. A brief flicker a fire could be seen again inside her eyes, almost to briefly to be noticed. Her mind quickly wandering back to steps on how she could defend herself if this situation escalated.

This all had happened in the span of milliseconds. To fast to be noticed by a human eye. To any supernatural onlookers however, the demeanour of a veela ready to defend herself and her prey could be seen. It was hers.

But for now she would be calm, as calm as one could be before a great storm. She relaxed her posture and with a steadying breath she held out her hand, palm open, as if not to pose a threat. Then she looked him in the eye, trying to steady the aggressiveness in the room.

“Yes, it’s mine.” Putting extra emphasis on hers. “I found it earlier while climbing the bookcase.” She nodded her head towards the spot. “I noticed something shiny and wanted to know what it was. I quite like shiny things.” Rosalind shrugged a little trying to downplay her feelings. “Can I have it back now? I want to look some things up about it.”

Still patiently waiting she held out her hand, underneath his, half expecting the boy to not give it back. Then she waited.