"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Rosalyn tapped the Marauder's Map and watched as it transformed from an old, raggedy piece of parchment into a brilliant map, showing everything and everyone.

She was in the dormitory, having no desire to watch Neville and Hannah cuddling all night.

She sighed, scanning the dots on the map, watching the ones labelled Ginny Weasley and Dean Thomas get very close, the same with Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbott.

She rolled her eyes to no one, then simply watched Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini in the Slytherin common room. But where was-

He was on the seventh floor. Malfoy. Rosalyn saw him walking along the corridor and then... then he disappeared.

Completely. Off the map. She didn't know what that meant, but she was going to find out. She was just about to got and ask her best friend about it when she came to her with a different subject to discuss.

"Thought I'd find you up here, skulking."

Hermione stood in the doorway. She walked in. "What did you, Fred and George do today, in Hogsmeade?"

"What?" Rosalyn asked, trying to not let her find out.

"Don't play dumb, Rosie, you three were gone for about ten minutes in total, and though Harry and Ron were oblivious, stocking up on hiccough sweets and dungbombs, I certainly wasn't. What were you three doing?"

Rosalyn sighed, knowing that she couldn't hide any secrets from her best friend. She explained everything.

After she was finished, Hermione looked at her in her eyes and told her the truth. "You're gonna expect me to laugh, to say that you're completely right and they're completely wrong. But I'm going to say it, and it's going to be the only time you hear this pass my lips. Fred and George are right."

Rosalyn looked up. "No, they're not, Neville likes another girl now. Loves, even."

Hermione laughed bitterly. "Rosie, he doesn't. Can't you see? He's doing this to make you jealous! Because he found out that you kissed that French boy, Tristan."

"But I don't like Tristan now- I like him!" Rosalyn finally told her.

Hermione smiled, tears (for some reason) in her eyes. "I'm so, so, sorry Rosie, but your story isn't over. Neville has already fallen for you, and now, you've fallen for him. And I promise, that none of that will go to waste."

Rosalyn sighed, getting up and hugging her best friend. "Thank you," she told her, "thank you so much."

The two of them chatted, and even when Parvati and Lavender came into the dorm, they continued to chat, just the two of them, finding a way to escape reality with the other by their friendship.

☆☆☆

A little invitation had come for Rosalyn, Hermione and Harry in the mail that morning. It spoke of a dinner party for the 'Slug Club' that night.

Ron jealously watched them as they went off to the dinner. Rosalyn said to him in an undertone. "Sorry... you know, about this."

"S'fine," Ron said in an offhand tone. Rosie got the feeling it wasn't fine but she didn't think much of it.

The party was boring, basically, with Slughorn just ranting on about everyone's parents and relatives. Neville was there, Rosalyn saw, and, with a jerk of her heart, she saw that he had brought Hannah.

"Her Aunt's quite influential in the Ministry," Hermione said to Rosalyn in a whisper after the latter had hissed out a "what is she doing here?". "I heard Slughorn earlier, when he saw them together, he told her she could come along as well..."

Rosalyn rolled her eyes.

Now, however, the whole party was now sitting round a round table, Hermione, Rosalyn and Harry sat together 'as far away from Neville as possible' as Rosalyn put it.

"So tell me, Cormac, do you see anything of your Uncle Tiberius these days?" Slughorn was asking McLaggen whilst they all ate ice cream for dessert.

"Yes, Sir, in fact I'm supposed to go hunting with him and the Minister for Magic over the holidays," McLaggen replied smugly.

"Well, be sure to give them both my best," Slughorn said in a jolly tone. He turned to Belby. "And what about your father, Belby? He did invent the wolfsbane potion after all. Is he working on anything new?"

"Don't know," Belby said thickly, as he was eating his dessert. "Me and my dad don't get on. Probably because all my dad's potions are rubbish. His only one worth having is a stiff one at the end of the day."

"Ahh, and what about you, Miss Granger?" Slughorn turned to Hermione. "What exactly do your parents do in the muggle world?"

Hermione swallowed before answering, "my parents are dentists."

Awkward silence. Everyone except Neville, Rosalyn and Harry were looking at Hermione, begging for an answer. "They tend to people's teeth," she said, by way of an explanation.

"And is that a dangerous profession?" Slughorn asked.

"No," Hermione answered, before laughing. "Although there was one time, this boy Robbie Fenwick did bite my father once!"

She nervously laughed. Thankfully, Ginny saved her from all the awkwardness by coming in the room. I'd forgotten she was supposed to be here, Rosalyn thought to herself.

"Ahh, Miss Weasley, come in, come in!" And Ginny walked in the room fully.

"Look at her eyes," Hermione whispered to Rosalyn and Harry. Rosalyn looked, and sure enough, Ginny's eyes were red and puffy. "They've been fighting again, her and Dean."

This seemed to perk Harry up a bit, and Rosalyn had an idea why.

"Sorry, I'm not usually late," Ginny said, sitting down.

"Ahh, no matter," Slughorn said jovially. "You're just in time for dessert, that is if Belby's left you any!"

He laughed at his own joke, but nobody joined him.

Eventually, it was time to go, but Rosalyn didn't leave straight away, she stayed, again hoping to get to know Slughorn better, to gain his trust.

"Potter!" Slughorn exclaimed when he saw her.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I was just admiring your hourglass," Rosalyn pointed to the thing. It did indeed look interesting, with the sand suspended in the top and bottom, but it was just a simple excuse.

"Ah yes," thankfully Slughorn fell for it. "It's an intriguing little thing... it runs in accordance to the quality of the conversation. If it is stimulating, the sand runs slowly, if it is not-"

"Well I think I'll be going now," Rosalyn said quickly.

"No, nonsense, m'girl, you have nothing to fear!" Slughorn said happily. "But let's just say that some of your classmates... let's just say that they're unlikely to make the shelf."

"The shelf, Sir?" Rosalyn asked.

Slughorn laughed. "Anyone who aspires to be anyone ends up here!" He showed her about five shelves of pictures with different students on them. Rosalyn suspected that her mother was there somewhere. Slughorn went on. "But then again you already are someone, aren't you, Rosalyn?"

But Rosalyn wasn't listening. She didn't know what made her say it, but she needed to know. "Did Voldemort ever make the shelf, Sir?"

Slughorn's eyes suddenly went very wide. "You knew him, Sir, didn't you? Tom Riddle?" Rosalyn pressed on.

"Well, Mr Riddle had a number of teachers whilst here at Hogwarts..." He trailed off.

"I'm sorry, Sir, forgive me. He killed my parents," Rosalyn backtracked quickly.

"Of course..." Slughorn sighed. "It's- it's only natural you should want to know more, but I'm afraid I must disappoint you, Rosalyn. When I first met young Mr Riddle he was a studious, quiet all be it brilliant boy commited to becoming a first rate wizard. Not unlike yourself, in fact. So if a monster existed, it was buried deep within."

Rosalyn sighed, biting her tongue. Neither of them payed attention to the fact that the hourglass was running a lot quicker than it had been when the conversation had started.

☆☆☆

It was the eve of the first Quidditch match of the season. Ron looked a pale green and the players that hadn't played before were also quite nervous.

Harry eventually got up and said, "Rosie? Can you come with me, I need to speak to you?"

Rosalyn nodded. "Okay..."

They walked outside the portrait hole and Harry said. "Rosie... listen. We need to boost Ron's confidence. He thinks that he's gonna fail and that he's not going to be able to save anything."

Rosalyn bit her lip. "I know what you're talking about... but what can we do? He'll get lucky on the match and we'll win. It'll be fine."

"Lucky!" Harry said. "He can get lucky with your potion!"

Rosalyn looked at him. "Listen... when McGonagall learned that I had got some felix felicis from Slughorn, she warned me the places that it cannot be used. Sporting events were one of them. It's against wizarding law-"

"No," Harry said. "No, you're misunderstanding me. We're not going to give Ron lucky potion, we're going to fake it. At breakfast tomorrow, when Hermione's looking, pretend to put the potion in Ron's drink. She'll make a big fuss about him drinking it so he'll think that it's in his drink. He'll think that he's going to be lucky so he'll actually be lucky."

Rosalyn smirked. "Harry that's- that's it! That's amazing!"

He smiled back at her. "Thanks Rosie. Now, just bring the potion to breakfast tomorrow and the rest will be easy."