Why am I the only one not getting stronger?

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Title/Thread Inspiration

Rosie had lived a fairly charmed life. She grew up with a family that loved her, had friends that were loyal to her and had professors that respected her. She had never truly felt discomfort. She had never truly felt heartbreak or pain or despair. She had never felt romantic love either. She had lived a fairy basic life up until this point. And even with the attacks and deaths at the school and in the wizarding wold recently, Rosie had felt fear, but she was still a trusting person. If there was ever an event that Rosie would look back on and know it changed her, it was the event in the astronomy tower. Rosie didn't remember all of it, not right away, though her memory would come back to her in time.

Rosie heard footsteps around her and smelled that sterile smell followed by a whiff of something bitter... or sour... she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Her eyes slowly gave a flutter and then she opened them slowly to adjust to the light. She was in a bed, in the hospital wing of Hogwarts Castle. Light flowed in from the windows with white curtains flowing gently in the spring breeze. A nurse rushed over to her when she saw Rosie's eye open. "Hi Miss." the nurse said to her. "I'm sure you're confused. You're gonna be just fine. You had a broken nose, and a few broken bones in your leg, a few bruises and scrapes. And a rather nasty concussion." she explained gently with a sweet smile on her face. "We're working on healing you now, we've given you a few potions and we should only have to keep you until tomorrow morning." she promised. "Let me know if there's anything you need." The nurse walked away.

Rosie took a second to try to piece together the events in her head before glancing around the rest of the room. 

---

@adonia  && @brandon

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Adonia was waiting for Rosie to wake up, and she was talking foreverrrr. Finally, the saw the nurse cross the Hospital Wing to her and Adonia smirked from her seat by the door. She had been sitting there, waiting, feigning worry for her fallen friend. Finally, the nurse walked away and Adonia stood, crossing over to Rosie.

"Rosie!" she said, her voice high with worry and her bro furrowed. "I'm so sorry... I really thought you could block those spells," not to mention the punches and kicks. She reached over and gently placed a hand on Rosies arm, "I hope you'll forgive me!"

rose harriet granger-weasley
(she'll leave once you tell brandon to come in probably i want her to see him mwahahha)

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Rosie felt a little overwhelmed when the girl came up to her. She recognized her as the girl who was with her in the astronomy tower, however, at the moment with her concussion and her memories coming back only slowly, Rosie still didn't remember the full extent of the events of the night before. Rosie remembered clearly as far as packing up her supplies and feeling ready to leave for the night, however, her broken body promised a different story. When Adonia began to insist that she was sorry, Rosie began to slowly remember the feeling that she had experienced. She began to remember the fear and confusion and desperation. But the actual events were still foggy. Rosie, who always tried to see the good in everyone nodded as the girl spoke. However, she felt her skin crawl when Adonia touched her. However, Rosie nodded again, "Yeah, sure. It was an accident..." those words sounded wrong in her mouth. Why would she want to have practiced spells? Rosie hated offensive and defensive magic. She really couldn't think of why she would chose to practice, especially with a girl whom she had just met. And, how did it escalate so far that Rosie could barely remember it? How had she gotten so hurt? She began to remember asking Adonia to stop, begging for her to do so and her chest felt tight and heavy.

@adonia
@brandon can enter now also if he wants

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Brandon was running through the halls as he hurried to the hospital wing. He'd been on a walk, on his way up to the castle from the Durmstrang ship, when he heard a Hogwarts student talking to a friend about how two girls ended up in the hospital wing last night. The student's companion asked if they recognized either of the girls and the response was that one of them was Rosie Williams. Brandon froze in his tracks, even though he hadn't been a part of their conversation, and he felt suddenly cold. 

Rosie Williams. His friend, Rosie, who was so innocent and sweet and beautiful. Wait, beautiful? Where did that come from? Without really realizing what he was doing, Brandon started running toward the castle. Rosie was in the hospital wing and he wanted- no, needed- to know what happened. He also needed to be there for her. 

When he got to the castle he didn't slow to a walk, he kept on running. He ran through the halls until he reached the hospital wing, where he slowed down marginally. He pushed the doors open quickly and scanned the room, freezing at what he saw. What was Adonia doing here. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her. "Adonia, what are you doing here?" he demanded seriously as he strode through the room, hurrying toward both of them.

As he arrived at her hospital bed, his attention turned to Rosie almost instinctively. "Hey Rosie," he said with a small smile directed at her. "Are you alright?" He was fairly itching to ask her what happened, but figured he should give her a second first. He didn't want to get kicked out for asking too many questions, after all. 

rose harriet granger-weasley
@adonia

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Rosie didn't seem to believe her, but Adonia had laid the ground work and, for now, that was enough. She didn't say anything else, for she heard someone coming in the door and seemingly rushing over after calling out Adonia from the doorway.

Brandon.

Doni turned around and smiled at him, placing both hands on side of the bed behind her and leaning back. "Awe, well. It's my fault poor Rosie is here, actually," Adonia said, truthfully. He turned his attention to Rosie, shocker there, and Adonia grinned. Oh, where these two something something? She put that thought in her mind as something she could play with later...

"Well, I'll leave you love-puffins," she said softly, pushing off the bed. She gave Brandon a quick nudge of her elbow, "don't get her heart rate up too much there, Brandon. You might make her bleed out," and then she was walking toward the door. Whatever they said as she walked out, she would just wave them off cheerily until she was gone.

@brandon
rose harriet granger-weasley
(adonia out! Have fun XD)

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Rosie was surprised to see that the two knew each other, however, it made since seeing as the went to the same school. Rosie still thought of Brandon as Hufflepuff even though she knew he had transferred years ago. She was also honestly a little surprised to see him, but she was glad when he walked through the door. Not even her best friends had figured out where she was yet, or, if they had noticed that she hadn't come back to the dorm last night, they hadn't figured out why. However, here Brandon was. "Brandon? How did you know I was here?" she asked, but then realized that the Hogwarts Gossip train was probably already going down the track and the rumors must have been flying. Rosie couldn't remember the last time that she had any drama about her for everyone to talk about. She wasn't even sure if there had been a time.

Rosie felt a little relieved when Adonia announced her exit, even if the incident had been just an accident, they weren't friends and Rosie felt strange having her here, especially when she had turned around and leaned back on her bed. She didn't want to be anywhere near her. However, her face twisted a bit when she called them love-puffins, had something happened between her and Brandon that she didn't remember? She knew she had temporarily lost a bit of her memory, but she could remember everything up until... until she had tried to leave and Adonia had blocked her exit... Rosie had tried to get herself out of the situation, she knew she must have had to! "I-I'm okay." Rosie said, slipping back into her stutter that she only had when she was nervous or scared. She remembered stuttering a lot last night also. "Just a handful of broken bones and a concussion." Rosie shrugged, speaking vert carefully to avoid the stutter.

@brandon

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Brandon really wasn't expecting to see Adonia here, but when she said that she was the reason Rosie was in the hospital wing, Brandon stared at her momentarily. He almost asked her what she did, but then decided he'd rather hear it from Rosie. He trusted her more anyway, and why shouldn't he? He barely knew Adonia but Rosie had been a close friend since first year. "Bye Adonia. See you later," he muttered when she said she was leaving and called them ... love-puffins? What was that even supposed to mean? Then she told him to not get Rosie's heart rate up and he paused before shaking his head. She was a tease and he needed to focus on Rosie right now. 

He moved to the side of Rosie's bed, looking down at her in concern. He couldn't hide it, what was the point in trying? From the second he heard that she was in the hospital wing, he lost all sense of decorum. He couldn't pretend like he wasn't worried about her. He gave a soft smile, trying to figure out what was wrong as he answered her questions. "I heard some students talking outside," he commented offhandedly, reaching forward to brush a piece of her hair out of her face. Then, realizing what he was doing, he coughed and slowly pulled his hand back. Why was he being so weird?

He shook his head when Rosie said she was okay, that she broke bones and had a concussion and Brandon's eyebrows puckered as he frowned. "That is not okay, Rosie," he said softly. "What happened? Why did Adonia say that it's her fault you're in here?" He didn't want to bother her, but he had to know. He needed to know why she was in the hospital wing, and that need surprised him. Since when did he care so much? Brandon always cared for his friends, but this was more. He tried to push his thoughts to the back of his mind so he could pay attention to Rosie's answers.

rose harriet granger-weasley

[Deleted]

Rosie was beginning to put more and more together about last night. She remembered trying to leave. She remembered Adonia getting very close to her and then elbowing her in her face, which broke her nose and caused her blood to begin to flow. Rosie remembered the smirk on Adonia's face and how she commanded her to put down her bag and pull out her wand. She remembered stuttering all of her words and asking her to stop. She didn't want to remember. She didn't want to think that anyone would do something like that. She remembered Adonia trying to instruct her, and saying that she was trying to help her. Only Rosie didn't want the help, she never asked for it. She had given away too much information about herself to a stranger that she was getting to know late at night with no one else around. Rosie hadn't meant last night to be so eventful, she expected a quite time alone in the astronomy tower where she was working on her moon chart.

Brandon told her how he knew where she was and she gave a little nod. "I was wondering if people would be talking." she admitted. It was weird to think that she was the talk of some of the students. She who always kept a low profile and actively tried to avoid drama. She who's Flight sense always took over vs. Fight. He reached his hand towards her a bit and she began to wonder why. He was a fried and if he tried to hug or touch her, she wouldn't complain, but he pulled it back quickly and coughed instead so she tried not to linger on it. "Um, we were just practicing some dueling skills." Rosie decided, "and it got a little out of control I guess." Adonia had been telling people that it was an accident, and while she was honestly stating to believe otherwise, she feared what would happen if Adonia found out Rosie was telling people that she thought it was all done on purpose. That she had begged her to stop and let her go. "I'm dreadful at that sort of thing." she added with a weak shrug. 

@brandon

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She nodded, starting to talk about how people would be talking about her now and Brandon shook his head, grabbing a chair nearby and pulling it next to her bed so he could talk with her comfortably. "Rosie, don't you worry about what anyone else might be saying," he told her firmly. "I want you to focus on feeling better." That was what was most important, her health. He knew that the healers could take care of her and that they would, but she had to relax, let the healing do its job and follow the instructions given her. 

She started explaining and Brandon scoffed after her first two sentences, shaking his head in obvious frustration. He knew she wasn't telling him something. Her story made no sense. Then she shrugged, saying that she was dreadful at this and Brandon wasn't going to take that as her answer. He looked at her seriously. "Rosie, come on. I know you. I know how you hate dueling and everything like it. Why would you be practicing with a stranger? And how in the world would it get this out of control before you stopped?" His eyes narrowed as he looked at her. "Tell me what happened. Now." He paused for a second, reaching forward and taking her hand in his. "Rose, if you trust me at all as your friend, please tell me," he asked softly.

rose harriet granger-weasley

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Rose, if you trust me at all as your friend, please tell me, he had a point. Anyone who knew her would know why she dropped Defense Against the Dark Arts. She had literally gotten a Troll on her OWL in the subject. She was good at magic, at charms and transmigration and decent at potions even if she hated the subject. But Defense against the dark arts made her anxious. She could never successfully cast the spells. She could never get the motions or the feeling behind the spells. She could never focus and mean what she was trying to accomplish. She was at the bottom of the class and no one wanted to partner with her because she never gave anyone a challenge or any practice. The professor had given up on her and she was okay with that. She had accepted long ago that she couldn't be good at everything and she would rather put her attention and focus into divination, astronomy and care of magical creatures.

"I was up in the Astronomy tower finishing my moon chart... which is due today, but I don't even know where my bag is." she sighed. Perhaps it had been left up in the tower. Hopefully her ink hadn't spilled. "And Adonia came up and we just talked for a while, and she was actually really nice and I felt like we were having a good conversation, until I mentioned that I wasn't too good at defensive magic." she sighed feeling how stupid she was. "I just said it as part of the conversation. I said I didn't enter for the tournament because I was awful at that type of magic, we were talking about her... and then it turned around. And I tried to leave, I packed everything up and asked her to move because she was blocking the door, but she got close to me and, and she touched my hair and then elbowed me in the face and broke my nose and she told me to put my bag down and pick up my wand. She locked the door and I asked her to let me go." she paused as her memory hadn't quite caught up with everything that happened after that. "I think she kissed me too at some point and I didn't want her to? And I was hanging upside down, or dancing? And my leg felt like it was burning?" she hated recalling the events, but she figured he was right. He had called her out. He had known her too well for too long to believe her. "I'm not entirely sure, my head still hurts." she admitted.

@brandon

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Brandon felt simultaneously relieved that Rosie was going to tell him and nervous about what he was going to hear. If she didn't want to tell him that badly, it probably was't going to be a very good thing. She started, talking about her homework and how she didn't know where her bag was. Brandon shook his head fondly, a hint of a smile on his face. "I'll go find your bag later," he told her calmly, nodding for her to continue. She did, explaining how they were having a nice conversation when she mentioned that she wasn't good at defensive magic. Brandon's eyebrows puckered. That wasn't necessarily the smartest thing to say to someone, but it also shouldn't mean you find yourself in danger. He didn't say anything, listening to her story. His eyes grew hard as she explained what Adonia had done, breaking her nose and locking her up there. Then Rosie seemed to get confused, only giving limited details, saying she wasn't quite sure what happened. He closed his eyes, sighing, "Rosie, I'm sorry," his hand squeezed hers. He almost forgot that he'd taken it as he tried to convince her to tell him what happened. "That never should have happened." He was trying to hide his anger, but he didn't think he was doing a good job. "Are you alright? I mean, how- how are you feeling?" Emotionally was what he was talking about, but she might not understand that. He wished he could have been there, that she didn't have to go through something like that on her own. But she had.

rose harriet granger-weasley

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She almost hadn't noticed that he had taken her hand until he squeezed it. She supposed that must have meant that the numbing potion was doing it's job. However, once she noticed she felt her heart flutter again. Oh gosh, she had momentarily forgot about the butterflies in her stomach that she had felt when she first saw him again and the caught up in Madam Puddifoots a few days ago. It was surely a crush. But how could her like her? She was stupid and got herself into a stupid situation that she easily could have avoided. They were just friends, but she really appreciated how much he seemed to care about her, even just as a friend.

"I feel kind of gross, not to mentioned embarrassed. And, well, please don't tell anyone." she decided. "If Adonia did this just to try and "teach me, she kept saying she was trying to help me." she shuttered. "I just don't want to think of what she would do if I told anyone or got her in trouble. It could have been a lot worse and it still could be." she didn't want to think about it. She didn't know whether it had just been Adonia acting alone of if it was connected to the other attacks somehow. There was no way she could know. She wasn't muggle born, but she was very open about having a muggle parent.

@brandon

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Brandon shook his head again. "Rosie, this was not your fault. Really, you had nothing to do with this. Not being good at defensive magic isn't a reason for someone to ..." he choked up and shook his head, unable to finish his sentence. No one should have to go through what Rosie did. There was no reason to break someone like that and call it "helping." He shook his head again, wondering if he'd ever stop doing that in this conversation. "If that was an effective way of teaching, don't you think it's how they'd do it normally in the schools," he argued. "What she did was wrong, but I won't tell her you told me." Brandon paused a moment as he thought. "Just ... don't go anywhere on your own. Stay with your friends, Rosie. I don't want this to happen to you again." Brandon would do almost anything to make sure it didn't. "Please? Promise me you won't be alone with her?"

rose harriet granger-weasley

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Rosie nodded. She knew this wasn't her fault, but she still felt stupid about getting involved and getting herself caught up in the whole thing. She knew she was too kind, almost to a fault. She liked to believe that everyone was good so badly that she had backed herself into a corner and look what happened. "I promise never to be alone with her again, you don't have to ask me twice." she insisted. "And I'll try to take someone with me wherever I go but it's not that easy seeing as no one else knows exactly what happened." she admitted. she took a second to just look at him, and even though she could see that he was visibly upset and angry, just seeing him sitting next to her made her smile. "I'm really glad you're here. It means a lot to me that you care so much." she really meant it.

@brandon

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Brandon could tell that Rosie still felt bad about what was happened, she was probably still blaming herself for it, and he was trying to think of something to make her feel better. He didn't like seeing her in the hospital wing, hurt and broken, but seeing her sad was even worse. Rosie was normally so cheerful. He nodded when she promised not to be alone with Adonia. "Good." His expression grew serious as he tried to think of a reason for her to ask her friends not to leave her alone. "Just do what they're doing then and if you ever need to do something that your friends don't want to, tell me and I'll go with you." That might be a bit much, but he would much rather be with her inconveniently than let this happen again. Then she gave a small smile, saying she was glad that he was there. He smiled back at her. "Of course I'm here, Rosie. You're ..." he paused, swallowing thickly. "You're important to me." His heart started racing as he tried to decide what to do. He wanted to- no, he shouldn't. But he wanted, what the heck, why not? "I was thinking ... I mean, before this happened, I was going to look for you today because I was hoping that you might possibly want to go on a ... date with me. Maybe?" He started looking at the wall, nervous about her answer but relieved that he asked it at the same time. Now he just had to wait for her response.

rose harriet granger-weasley