Rings

September, 1993

"Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts." The headmaster bellowed to the crowd of students before him. Ones who took choir from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw quickly made their way back to their designated tables.

Rosalie took her seat next to Harry as the applause from across the room dulled. She was the only one out of the four who took the choir course but all were supportive of her. "I'd like to say a few words before we all become too enamored with our fine feast. Firstly, I'd like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, R. J. Lupin, we wish you luck, professor." The four clapped slightly amused that the post needed to be filled, again, but Rosalie wished the man could stay for more than a year this time.

"Potter, Potter, is it true you fainted?" A voice from behind the quartet questioned, "I mean, you actually fainted?" Draco Malfoy chuckled a look of amusement on his face while a Slytherin beside him mockingly fainted.

"You seem so welcoming to dementors, Malfoy, did Daddy bring them home to say hi?" Rosalie falsely pouted and squinted at the Slytherins from the right of Harry. The raven-haired boy slightly smirked at the girl before Malfoy bit back.

"They seem to bother you, Dyer, I guess your lunatic of a mother couldn't predict them, not that she could accurately predict anything." He scoffed, muttering, 'Seers, what a joke.' Others at his table laughed dramatically the loudest being his posse that sat right around him.

Humiliation burned at the tips of Rosalie's ears and she hastily swung her legs over the bench of the Gryffindor table ready to get in Malfoy's face before Harry grabbed the crease of her arm shaking his head, "Just let it go, Rae."

She huffed out a breath of frustration as she sat back down next to Harry and crossed her arms on the table. "Care of Magical Creatures teacher for many years has decided to leave with his remaining limbs. Fortunately, I'm delighted to announce that his post will be filled by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid."

The quartet of Gryffindors smiled at one another before breaking into an excited applause. Even the Slytherin table behind them, who remained quiet, couldn't diminish their excitement as they clapped for their friend.

Quickly the applause fell when Dumbledore began again, "And, at the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, for the time being, play host to the dementors of Azkaban until Sirius Black is captured." Students around the hall gasped and gossiped with one another.

"The dementors will reside at every entrance to the grounds. Now, although I have been reassured their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities I offer you all a word of caution. They are vicious creatures that cannot distinguish between those they mean to harm and those who get in their way.

Therefore, I must warn you all against giving them any reason to harm you. It is not in a dementor's nature to be forgiving."

Before their feast began the headmaster gave his usual speech to all of the first years, rules that the quartet already broke over and over again. Rosalie chuckled to herself every time Dumbledore glossed over another thing they'd disrupted. Harry laughed with her until Hermione gave them a look that told them to cut it out.

༻☀︎︎☽

Harry had a small smile on his face as he watched the girl slightly ahead of him bounce excitedly in her seat. It was their first-ever divination class and she was beyond prepared. Harry couldn't help but admire the girl from across the room.

"Welcome to the noble art of Divination, in this room you shall discover if you possess the Sight." The professor began right before she walked into a table. 'I think she needs her lenses checked' Rosalie chuckled to herself as she started to write on her hand with a pen, a muggle gift from Hermione.

"I am Professor Trelawney, and together we shall toss ourselves into the future!" She smiled at the class of third years with her hands cast out in front of her. "Today we will be focusing on Tasseomancy, the art of reading tea leaves so now please take the cup of the person sitting opposite you."

There was a loud slurping throughout the room as all of the teenagers drank their tea before grabbing their partner's cups. Rosalie glanced over at Hermione who had suddenly appeared across from her. She wasn't the only person who noticed her and Ron was going ballistic nodding at Harry as he went on about how she hadn't walked through the door.

Rosalie quickly grasped Hermione's cup and stared deep into the ground-up tea leaves. The girl across from her could swear she saw the brunette's eyes glow before she recited Hermione's reading.

"Well you see over here there's a lamb which means someone will be a victim- uh- then there's a clock so I'd say a victim of someone meddling with time?" She looked uncertain as she continues to read Hermione's cup delving deeper, "You'll be a victim- or a savior by meddling with time."

Rosalie seemed confused but by the expression on Hermione's face, she must've not been that far from the truth. "How'd you-"

A yell echoed from across the room. Professor Trelawney stood in front of Harry grasping the pearls around her neck. "Oh- oh my dear boy," she cooed in a shaking voice. "You have the grim."

Gasps and confused looks varied throughout the class. Rosalie lightly took Hermione's hand in her shaking one as the other students whispered about the grim.

"Grin? What about a grin?"

Rosalie shook her head at Seamus, "The grim, it's an omen of death." Harry whirled his head around to face her and she nodded slightly to herself, "It takes the form of a large hound and can mean anything from death of the beholder to those around them." That didn't seem to make the boy feel any better.

༻☀︎︎☽

Rosalie, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were making their way to their first class of The Care of Magical Creatures of the term. It also happened to be Hagrid's first time ever teaching a class.

"You don't think that grin thing has anything to do with Sirius Black, do you," Ron asked from behind Rosalie.

"Grim, Ron. And it very well could mean anything, it's not a very straightforward omen." Rosalie answered trying to keep her knowledge and opinions to herself so as to not frighten anyone involved. She knew what the omen meant, unlike the other three, and what it could have in store for the four of them if it were to lead to a plausible event.

"Sounded pretty straightforward to me." Ron shook his head at her, not that she could see him anyway.

"Oh, honestly you two. If you ask me divination's a very woolly discipline. Now, ancient runes, that's a fascinating subject." Hermione quirked from below the three. It didn't take a genius to realize she didn't like Divination or any subject she wasn't born with the talent for.

Rosalie scowled from above her, trying not to take what she had said to offense. "In case you forgot, Hermione, my family is known for Divination, and no, we didn't ask you." She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

Harry and Ron looked at each other like they always do when Hermione and Rosalie butt heads. Normally the two lived together in perfect harmony but they could only spend so much time with each other before they began to not see eye-to-eye. Harry shrugged his shoulders before Ron did the same.

Deciding to change the subject off of Divination Ron questioned Hermione, "Ancient runes? Just how many classes are you taking this term?"

"A fair few." That was a lie and Rosalie knew it, they had exchanged schedules before the day began, and Hermione was taking all of them. Rosalie stayed out of the conversation and chose to fall into step with Harry and leave the other two to their own devices.

"Hey." He nudged her in the arm with his elbow.

The girl's bad mood dissipated immediately and she couldn't hide the small smile that appeared on her glossy lips. That was something Harry began to notice about her this year. New shoes, new clothes, new style. During the summer between years two and three, she changed her appearance making her seem different, more mature, and he couldn't help but stare, again.

"You still there, chosen one?" Harry broke out of his head to see Rosalie grinning at him with one eyebrow raised. Only then did he realize he had stopped walking to look at her. His head buzzed with embarrassment and he shook his head to get rid of the pink on his face.

"Oh- yep- right here." He stuttered completely blanking out the fact that she had called him 'chosen one'.

Rosalie let out a laugh of exasperation and playfully rolled her eyes before taking Harry by the hand and dragging him to catch up to Ron and Hermione. He couldn't help but smile at the back of her head letting her lead him. She knew what she did to him, oh she definitely knew.

"Broaden your minds, use your inner eye to see the future!"

༻☀︎︎☽

Harry and Rosalie stood side-by-side before Hagrid. They could say the start of this class had been- interesting to say the least. Rosalie snuck a glance at Malfoy and the other Slytherins whom they had this class with. "I've got a feeling he's gonna pull something, don't fall for it," she whispered over her shoulder.

Harry did a double take, "Wha-"

"Oh yeah, funny, really witty. God, this place has gone to the dumps, just wait until my father hears Dumbledore's got this oaf teaching classes." Malfoy stated leaning against a large tree with his posse to his left and right.

Immediately Harry forgot everything Rosalie had just told him and rushed towards Malfoy with a surge of confidence. "Shut up, Malfoy." The girl internally rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she watched her best friend approach their nemesis.

The Slytherin and his "friends" stepped towards Harry mocking him with an exaggerated 'ooooh.' Malfoy looked Harry up and down before his eyes widened at a figure behind the brunette. Quickly he cowered away and yelled, "Dementor, dementor!" Although there was, in fact, not a dementor in sight.

Harry didn't flinch.

The boy stood still staring at the Slytherins in front of him before turning on his heels and returning to Rosalie's side, "You're always right, huh?" He smirked at her as Malfoy and his group began harshly whispering to one another.

"Typically," She returned his smirk and glanced at him before taking off her school robe, "I was just prepared for you not to listen, this time."

Harry glanced at her, "When have I not listened to you?" He exaggerated knowing very well that most of the time his stubbornness took up the majority.

She fully turned towards him now with her arms crossed in front of her. Openly smiling up at him now she leaned closer, challenging him. "Do you want the list, Potter?"

"I might like to hear a fe-"

"'Arry, Ro'lie, excellent you two!" A voice announced from in front of the two. Behind Hagrid stood a proud hippogriff roughly tossing its front feathers with its beak.

"What?"

"Huh?"

Only then did the two realize they were the only ones standing before Hagrid. The rest of the class, including Ron and Hermione, had stepped a dramatic five feet backward not looking forward to being near the hippogriff.

Hagrid was practically beaming at the two third-years, so excited that some of his closest friends were so, in his mind, eager, to meet another one of his creatures. The quartet had learned through a couple of years with Hagrid that he didn't always have the safest of hobbies, three-headed dogs, dragons, the usual.

"You outta let 'em have eh' first move, it's only polite," Slowly the giant man began to motion for the duo to make their way to the creature. It stood at least nine feet, much taller than Rosalie and Harry, but the girl didn't seem intimidated. In fact, she seemed much more eager than her other half.

"Now, yur' step up and take a bow, and see if ey' bows back. If ey' does you can go on and touch em'." Harry and Rosalie, walking side-by-side, slightly inched towards the hippogriff before taking deep bows out of respect for the creature.

Buckbeak looked at the two questioningly before shaking his head and flapping his wings at them. Harry gripped Rosalie's wrist before she winced and interlocked their fingers instead.

"Keep still, keep still," Hagrid warned and the two teenagers kept their bow even when their backs began to grow uncomfortable from the position. Rosalie had her eyes squeezed shut; Harry kept his open and kept glancing up at the creature unsure but he made sure to be a small step in front of the girl, just in case.

Thankfully, Buckbeak bowed his head back at the two gracefully spreading his wings in his stance. They slowly walked back up to the hippogriff until he finally pressed his beak into their interlocked hands. Rosalie and Harry let out a sigh of relief as Hagrid broke into a round of applause.

Harry looked back at the girl beside him only to see her beaming up at Buckbeak with a bright smile on her face and a light in her eyes Harry hardly saw before. "Well don', you two, well don', I think he may let you ride em' now."

Rosalie and Harry tore their hands away from the hippogriff, "What." They said simultaneously while staring up at their old friend.

The two of them stood there wide-eyed before Hagrid stomped towards them and tugged Harry up by the crevice of his armpits. "Hagrid, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" He yelled as the man set him on the higher part of Buckbeaks back.

The girl on the floor broke into a grin watching Harry struggle uncomfortable on the magical creature. That was until she too was picked up and carefully sat on top of Buckbeak this time behind Harry.

She broke into a panic as Hagrid quickly tapped the back of Buckbeak, "Now, jus' be careful not to pull out any of es' feathers cause' he surely won't thank you for that!"

The winged creature broke into a fast run, "NO- no- Hagrid you know I'm afraid of heig-!" She was cut off by her own scream as Buckbeak blasted off into the air leaving a trail of dust behind him.

Noticing the pale girl's panic Harry reached behind him and pulled one of her hands to wrap around his waist. She wasn't slow about snaking her other arm around him too, interlocking both of her hands in front of his chest.

Taking in shaky breaths she pressed her head into the shell of his back while Buckbeak began to soar around the Hogwarts grounds. She still kept her eyes tightly closed but her shaking slightly lessened when she heard Harry's shouts of excitement.

"Rae- C'mon, open your eyes!" He laughed before unlocking her arms from around his waist. Putting his hands over her manicured ones he interlocked them on his right and left. Rosalie felt the sudden urge to either laugh or throw up when he spread out both of their arms and let go of Buckbeak.

With the feeling of slightly misty water on the tips of her fingers Rosalie slowly peeled opened her hazel eyes. Harry could feel her breath out a gasp of astonishment on the curve of his neck.

The world the two of them were in was beautiful, that was an undeniable fact, but sometimes seeing the same view day-in-day-out gets boring, but this, this was something so unmistakably new to the two of them that Rosalie felt like she should never close her eyes again.

Greenery was vast around them, bright trees adorned the mountainside, a magical contrast to the deep blue of the lake they soared over. Both of them were reflected in the water just two kids tossed into a situation neither one of them wanted to leave again.

The browns, the blues, and the greens couldn't help but remind Harry of his favorite person's eyes. The way they shimmered like how the sun bounced off of the eternally blue water.

He felt like he could get lost in a girl he couldn't even see.