Abandonment and Belonging
Rose dragged her trunk onto the train and searched for Luna, her only friend. Rose hoped that she didn’t run into anyone that would curse her. She especially wanted to avoid her brother Harry. He abandoned her at the Dursleys so that she was alone with her tormentors Uncle Vernon, Aunt Marge, and Dudley.
To her relief, Rose quickly found the compartment that Luna was sitting in. When Rose entered, Luna looked up from her upside-down Quibbler and greeted her, “Hello, Rose. It’s great to see you again; however, it looks like the infestation of smonderlaks returned to you over the summer.”
“It’s great to see you too, Luna. I think the smonderlaks returned because I didn’t have that good of a summer,” Rose said accompanied by a weak smile.
“You might be able to scare away some of the smonderlaks if you talk to someone about how bad your summer was,” Luna suggested.
Rose took her time settling into her seat and then began to pour out her feelings to Luna, who was the only person Rose was aware of that cares about her. “You know how my relatives hate Harry and me? Well on top of them, Harry ignored me for most of the summer because I’m a Slytherin. And then after he blew up our Aunt Marge, he left. He just took his stuff, threatened our uncle, and left without me. He abandoned me to be alone with them and –“ Rose swallowed. “My summer got worse after that.”
After a period of silence, Luna dug out of her bag a stack of copies of the Quibbler. “I brought all the copies of the Quibbler that you didn’t receive.”
Rose smiled at Luna, “Thanks, Luna. Let’s see if I can do the crossword puzzles by myself or if I’ll need help from the expert.”
Luna returned the smile as she handed Rose the copies to work on.
After they were on the train for about a few hours, the train suddenly stopped.
Rose looked up from her upside-down Quibbler. “We can’t be there already. What’s going on?” Rose asked befuddled.
Before Luna could reply, the compartment suddenly became cold, and the girls shivered. “The flompers are fleeing from whatever is causing this,” Luna told Rose in an out-of-character serious tone.
Luna and Rose huddled together in the corner of the compartment. As it became colder, Rose started to remember parts of this summer, the loneliness, the abandonment, the pain. Just as sudden as the cold came, it left. However, remnants of the cold remained, including the memories and the accompanying feelings. A man poked his head into their compartment and, seeing the girls’ state, shoved pieces of chocolate at them, saying “Eat.” Then, he left.
The girls were too caught up in their memories and feelings to speak, but they ate the chocolate. As they ate, some warm feeling returned to them. Coming to her senses, Rose turned to look at Luna, who was doing the same thing. Both girls noticed the pained looks and tear tracks on the other’s face.
They sat there in silence even when the train started back up again. Finally, Luna broke the silence. “The coldness made me remember how my mother died,” Luna stated seriously and then nibbled more of the chocolate.
Mouth dry, Rose stated, “The coldness made me remember parts of this summer that I really wanted to forget.”
After another bout of silence, Luna offered her opinion: “I think that the coldness made us think of our worst memories and feelings.”
Rose grunted in affirmative and said disgruntled, “I bet that Harry didn’t feel so bad since he doesn’t have the same memories as I do. In fact, it was him abandoning me which allowed those things to happen.”
Luna sat in silence as she watched her friend sort everything out.
“I don’t even know why I try so hard to be what he envisioned me to be because that obviously hasn’t helped me to be viewed positively by him. Actually, it hasn’t helped me at all.” Rose’s eyes glinted in her sudden epiphany. “I’m a Slytherin for a reason so I need to stop trying to be something I’m not. I need to accept it and stop trying to avoid the unavoidable.”
Rose turned to look Luna in the eyes. “I’m going to embrace being a Slytherin instead of shunning it. I’m tired of failing to live up to the Boy-Who-Lived’s expectations especially when he doesn’t even care about me. What do you think, Luna?”
Luna gave a reassuring smile to her friend and replied, “It looks like there’s a chance that the wrackspurts and smonderlaks may flee and the flompers may return.”
Rose unexpectedly hugged her best friend. As they hugged, Rose whispered, “Thank you so much, Luna, for everything.”
When Rose entered the Great Hall, she sat next to her classmates instead of trying to avoid them. Some of the Slytherins gave her questioning looks, but they only waited to see what she was doing. Rose kept up her cold exterior.
After sitting down, Rose noticed Draco faking fainting then looking in her brother’s direction. Rose asked the girl next to her, “What is Draco doing?”
Before the girl could answer, a boy a year older than Rose, whose name was Blaise (Rose was almost certain), answered, “Potter apparently fainted from the dementors on the train, and Draco finds it funny of how weak Potter is.”
Blaise said this in an aloof manner, but Rose could detect the glint in his eyes, which showed how curious he was of her reaction. Rose knew that almost all the Slytherins nearby were paying attention to her, waiting to see how she will react.
Rose, in a cold manner, replied, “Wow, Potter must be weak to faint since dementors make you relive your worst memories and I don’t think that bloody Potter has that horrible of memories.”
At her response, all the Slytherins in range turned and gave her approving smirks. Rose, with a warm feeling blossoming in her chest, smirked back.
Draco casually leaned over the table to ask Rose, “If you don’t mind me asking, what changed with you?”
“I don’t mind the obvious question. I realized that I was being a fool with trying to do the impossible, which is conforming to how Potter wants me to be, and I realized that Potter didn’t want the best for me. In other words, I was naïve and an idiot, and I was rejecting who I am, a Slytherin.”
Draco smirked, “Welcome to the Slytherin House, Little Potter.”
“Don’t call me that. I don’t want to be associated with Harry Potter anymore. Just call me Rose.”