To say that Rosie was a bit overwhelmed when she left the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was an understatement.

For the rest of the morning, she found herself anxious. She did her best to pay attention, trying to drown out the thought of Harry's outburst and Professor Umbridge's defensive tone towards him. With every professor, she walked around them cautiously, just to stay on the safe side, especially after she received a stern talk from Professor Flitwick for being late.

By lunchtime, Rosie felt like she could relax, even if it was going to be for a brief amount of time. When she arrived in the Great Hall, there was a crowd of students already there. She headed for the Gryffindor table, not even sitting down as she quickly made a sandwich, wrapping it up in a napkin. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed some Gryffindors staring at her, which was not a surprise to her. While they expected her to go sit at the Slytherin table, she walked towards the big doors and exited out of the Great Hall instead. It was best that she was alone with her thoughts without everyone eyeing her.

Rosie strolled down the corridor and went to the courtyard, letting the sun hit her hard. She went on finding an area of grass away from other students that were either strolling by or sitting down. Once she got into the right position to sit without her skirt being a problem, she began to eat her sandwich, trying to process everything that went on this morning.

First, she thought about her classes so far and how there was already a good amount of reading she had to do. She had a feeling she would spend a good amount of time in the library and common room this year, especially with N.E.W.T.s being a priority next year.

The next thing that popped into her mind was the new professor again. Rosie found her teaching method to be unusual. Of course, she was skeptical at her approach on defensive spells, or even the class in general. She was different from the last four professors, where they were more hands-on with their lessons. It worried her, she admitted to herself, and she was concerned that things would only get worse.

Finally, the last thing that came into her head was her friends. She looked back at their conversation this morning after breakfast, remembering how they were acting. While Gavin was relaxed, like he usually was, Adam and Greer's body language said otherwise. Despite the two holding hands, she couldn't help but wonder if something was off. That wouldn't totally surprise Rosie, knowing what their relationship was like. But they were her friends and she hated to find out they were in rough waters. Of course, another thing Rosie was aware of was how good the two were at putting on an act for others to make it seem like everything was okay between them.

Rosie was just about halfway done with her sandwich when she spotted Adam strolling towards her, his bag slung over one shoulder, hand gripped on the strap, while the other hung freely by his side. He shot her a smile, to which she did the same.

"Hey, Adam," she greeted him.

"Hey," he replied, sitting down beside her. "Nice day to have lunch out here, isn't it?"

She nodded in response. "It is, yet you didn't bring anything to eat."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a green apple, grinning her way. "Sure I did."

"An apple is hardly enough," she said, giggling. Looking down at her sandwich, she offered the other half to him. "I know you can't resist a tuna and sweetcorn sandwich."

The boy chuckled, taking the sandwich from her. "Thank you, Rosebud." He took a bite, giving her a nod of approval. "Merlin, this is good."

"And it'll fill you up, along with the apple," she pointed out.

"You have a point there," he said. There was a brief moment where Rosie let Adam eat his food, resulting in the two sitting in silence. Once he was done, he licked his fingers, then huffed a sigh. "Well, I certainly enjoyed that."

"I can tell," she replied. "So, how's your day going?"

He shrugged. "It's been alright. This morning was a bit rough, though."

Rosie chuckled. "Same for me. I got a lecture for being late today."

"On the first day?" A smirk came across his face. "I must say, you should never be late on the first day of classes."

Rosie grinned. "I won't let it happen again. I just need to remember to grab all of my books next time. So, what's going on with you?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

Adam eyed her. "Greer and I got into an argument."

No surprise there. "Over what this time?"

He shook his head. "Just something stupid, as usual." He let out a scoff in annoyance. "She's worried about this year and how it'll affect our relationship, especially with everything going on in the Wizarding world."

Rosie studied his expression, frustrated and worried all at once. "Well, does she have anything to worry about?"

Adam took his apple and bit into it, chewing for a moment before swallowing and licking his lips. "No, she doesn't. She overthinks everything, that's all. Maybe Gav will talk some sense into her, because I obviously couldn't."

The girl bit her lip. "I could talk to her, if you want."

He turned his head as he ate more from his apple, raising his eyebrows as he let out a scoff. "We're talking about Greer here."

"I know, and she's one of my best friends," she retorted. "It sounds like you don't have a lot of faith in me."

Adam's face fell. "No, it's not that. You and I both know how stubborn Greer can be. She never wants to admit when she's wrong, and even if she does, she'll pout about it for a while." He paused, leaning on his side. "You can never please her."

Rosie chuckled, knowing he had a fair point. "She's always been that way. But seriously, if Gavin doesn't come through, then I'll give it a shot. She might actually come to me for advice."

He poked his tongue to his cheek, twirling the apple in his hand. "You don't have to get involved, Rosie."

"I'm already involved with you telling me about it," she pointed out. "Besides, I don't mind helping you two out. I want your relationship to work, and if that means giving some advice, then I'll do it."

Adam went on to finish his fruit, then threw the core in the grass. "Well, thank you for your support. I appreciate it." He exhaled loudly, his fingers locking. "So, where are you going next?"

"Probably back to the Great Hall for a quick drink of water," Rosie answered, feeling her mouth and throat get dry.

"I can fix that. Open your mouth." He took his wand out of his pocket and pointed it towards her. "Aguamenti," he said, letting the water from his wand fly into her mouth. "Better?"

She swallowed the water, nodding as she felt satisfied with the cool drink. "Yeah, thanks."

The two stood up, wiping off any grass that was on their robes, along with smoothing them out before looking up at each other.

"Well, we better get going," Adam spoke up. "And thank you again for talking with Greer."

"Of course," she replied, nodding.

"I'll see you later, Rosebud."

"Bye, Adam," she replied, waving at him and shooting a smile.

He did the same to her before turning around and heading towards the corridor.

Rosie was on her way to her next class, thinking about what to say to Greer. While she was going to talk to her about the situation with Adam, little did he know that she had other reasons to converse with Greer, and they were reasons that for now, he didn't need to be aware of.

A/N: Well, well, here is the next chapter. Now we're really getting into it, lmao.

Anyway, comment, vote, more to come soon!

-A