The end of the first day

[Wilting Rose]

Rose walked nervously up to the Headmistresses Tower and knocked softly on the door.

She had completed her first day at Magic Horizons School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was returning to the Headmistress Claire to report the day's events as previously planned. It had been a much better day than Rose could have ever anticipated - she hadn't been as useless in her lessons as she had expected, she had talked with a good many people and found they treated her fairly normally, and she had even made a friend in the Ravenclaw Common Room who hadn't even known she had been a Headmistress before!

Rose smiled thinking of her new friend Dara, and waited for Claire to grant her access into the Tower.

[Claire]

Claire's head turned as she heard the rap on the door. She knew who was behind it and rushed to open it.

There, as expected, was Rose. She looked beautiful and alive.

"Come in Rose," Claire beckoned, "how was your day? Did you make alot of friends? How were the classes?" Claire was spilling out questions way too eagerly.

[Wilting Rose]

Rose beamed at Claire, who for some reason seemed as excited and nervous as she herself had been throughout the day.

She walked in and sat down on one of the comfortable chairs opposite Claire. "Well, the classes were all fine, I like most of them - I couldn't work Wingardium Leviosa properly but then a blonde Gryffindor helped me out and I think I'm going to be OK now."

Rose's soft hazel eyes shone as she spoke, the fear of this morning as far away as it could possibly be. "Everyone was really nice to me, they all showed me how to do everything if I didn't understand it and I visited the Common Room like you suggested and they all seem nice. I even made a real, proper friend! Her name is Dara and she's new too and she wanted to know if I'm sleeping with them in the dorms... am I?"

[Claire]

Claire smiled, something inside her felt so relieved to see that rose was doing OK, and so well on her first day!

"I'm so happy for you - it seems like you are really fitting in!" Claire said, beaming back at the girl who once lived in this place. "Of course you can sleep in the dormitories - if you wish. I thought you would return there, but it is up to you. You are happy with being in Ravenclaw?"

[Wilting Rose]

Rose nodded vigorously.

"Of course!" she said, her cheeks glowing with a tinge of pink that showed her excitement of the day gone by. Everything seemed to be falling into place for her, and Claire seemed as though it was making her happy too - Rose had been worried about the Headmistress before, as her sadness seemed almost too deep to be real, but she was seeming a lot happier now.

[Claire]

Claire thought back to her school days with Rose in Ravenclaw. The fun they had together. Rose was now back in that place, in that house, but there was no Claire there this time around.

Claire's smile dropped slightly as she once again realised what Rose had lost; all the memories, all the experiences...

"So," Claire began, "who have you made friends with?"

[Wilting Rose]

Rose smiled, reflecting over her day.

"Well, there's a girl called Dara who is new too, so we're going to go exploring together tomorrow... if that's okay..." she glanced up at Claire, not sure whether she was allowed to wander about just yet. "And a few other Ravenclaws who have gone out of their way to be kind to me... when I went into Hogsmeade I met Adia, Morgan and Wyl - a student from every house!"

She laughed, remembering the yummy drink of Butterbeer she had had. "It's been fun. I like Magic Horizons. It's a great school," she complimented the Headmistress enthusiastically.

[Claire]

"I'm very glad that you like it here, Rose." Claire smiled. "It was actually yourself who create this wonderous castle from an old ruin. You built all of this up. I was just here to assist you."

"Your friends sound nice, I have met a few of them I think..." Claire trailed off, trying to remember. "How do you find the dormitories - do you think you will be fine sleeping in them?"

[Wilting Rose]

Rose blinked in amazement, temporarily astounded. She had built all this? This castle, the grounds... it was all made by her? It was scarcely believable to Rose that such power even existed in the world, let alone that she had once possessed it.

Rose smiled at Claire, thinking how lucky she was to have someone like her to talk to. "Oh, yes, the dormitories are wonderful - I can't believe we all get our own four-poster bed!"

She thought happily of the dormitory, and wondered what mischief she and her friends would get up to there.

[Claire]

"That was your idea, you know?" Claire said. "You have always loved the idea of four-poster beds and so what else would you place in all the dormitories? It also means that the students can get some privacy too, from the other students."

Claire smiled everytime she made eye contact with Rose, though a second would pass and she would feel the pain of losing her, realising that she was now not the Rose she had known.

"So, do you have a busy schedule - classes and things? Oh, and have you tried Quidditch yet?"

[Wilting Rose]

Rose nodded in answer to the first question and then shook her head in answer to the second.

"The lessons fill up a lot of the day, but they've all been alright, though I'm not very good at any of them. And no... I haven't tried Quidditch yet, and I don't much think that I would want to! I feel like my head is in the clouds all day without being on a broomstick... am I always like that?"

Rose looked curiously at Claire, intrigued to find out a little more about who she was... is... whatever. It was still all very confusing.

[Claire]

Claire saw the look of intrigue on Rose's face. "You actually quite enjoyed Quidditch before...." she trailed off. "You always loved to be flying with your hair flying about in the wind - it made you feel free!" Claire said. She didn't mean to keep talking about what Rose was like before, but it was hard not to relive memories with her.

"You did always have your head in the clouds, yes" Claire said in answer to Rose's question. "Sometimes life was a little boring here on Earth, so you would drift off into lands which were more fun and interesting."

Claire smiled, "Do you know the number of conversations that I have had with you that you cannot remember a word of!?" Claire said rhetorically. "I think I must have bored you off into hundreds of different lands, places and times!"

[Wilting Rose]

Rose laughed. She liked the sound of herself.

"I'm sure you're not boring at all," said Rose emphatically, looking admiringly at the Headmistress. "You seem very nice - and we must be pretty good friends to run a school together, so I doubt I'd get bored of you!"

Rose grinned, but then her smile faltered, and she sighed.

"Well... I suppose I should get back to the dormitories, I told Dara I wouldn't be too long."

[Claire]

Claire had enjoyed spending this time with Rose, her heart lifted when she was with her, but it dropped quickly and painfully as she heard that Rose would actually have to leave. She would be sleeping in a different room, on a different floor, in a whole other part of the school.

"Oh, yes, I suppose you should go, Rose." Claire said flatly. "Do you know your way? Or would you like for me to walk with you?"

Claire knew she should be distancing herself and letting Rose find her own way around, but she was finding it hard letting go.