A/N: Since FF has decided against allowing me a normal A/N, I apologize. First, I do not own the series or movies in any way, shape, or form. The lyrics in the song are "Phoenix Burn" by Alpha Rev.

Also, a quick thanks to my beta, Dest-TisMyDestiny. Thank you for working so hard on this despite being ill-get better soon!-and for doing such a great job.

Learning to Love:

Chapter One: Normality?

Early, weak rays of sunlight broke through the fog ahead. A light figure bounded swiftly and silently over the boulders at the water's edge. Following the curve of the lake shore, the red-haired girl fairly flew along the path back to the castle.

As she passed through the shafts of light, she briefly looked up and sighed in content before focusing back on the task at hand. As she passed some invisible marker, she lengthened her stride and quickened her pace, pushing on to the finish.

Whipping out into the fields, the school grounds, she slowed, pulling her head up and trotting lightly across the grass towards the large figure waiting for her.

"Good run," Hagrid praised the young girl. "Not many magical folk could pull that time off, especially not fer that distance." Looking at her more seriously, he added "I bet yeh could hold yer own in a figh' wi'ou' magic, couldn' yeh?"

She smiled brightly, her skin glowing a rosy red, her red-gold hair falling across her face and down her back. Sweat dripped off her entire body. "Thanks, Hagrid." With that, she trotted over to a large open space and lay down, stretching various parts of her body in various ways as she gulped an entire bottle of water.

Hagrid knew Rose had grown up with muggles in America, and so wasn't surprised at her quirks. Many students or even staff that wandered out this early for the first time were shocked that she kept her strict routine of exercise. And yet...

She was undoubtedly the strongest, most physically fit human being on the grounds, she had a calm, quiet strength within. Hagrid suspected her patience came from simply being too exhausted from her runs each day to care what people said or thought about her.

And there were whispers. She had transferred mysteriously from overseas for her fourth year, and her strange accent and foreign background and lifestyle would have been enough to cause gossip alone. But then there was the fact that she couldn't use a wand. She was not Muggle, she had magic, but it was not that of a witch or wizard. Albus knew, but never told. She didn't even know, as far as anyone else knew. Why the headmaster hadn't seen fit to tell the teen what species she was was beyond anyone's comprehension.

As things were, she was kind, shy, quiet, and a normal teen in appearance. Long red-tinted hair that seemed a mix of blond, orange, and light brown. Eyes that shifted shades of blue-tinted green, deep chocolate to light brown, or a rare dazzling deep amber color. Pale-skinned, she appeared to have Irish blood, what with all her freckles, and her daily runs had given her a tan. She was short to medium in height, slender, with long limbs, thin arms, well-defined muscular legs, long, thing fingers, wide hips, and an average chest. She was very skinny, with a tiny waist, and Hagrid couldn't help but notice that she never ate much. Even though her metabolism was probably higher than anyone else in the castle's, she most likely ate the least.

Yet she seemed fine, and he knew everything she did was by choice, he saw her often enough and no one ever forced her. Hardly anyone talked to her. They always talked about her. Spreading lies and rumors behind her back. It was a tough existence.

Although she looked perfectly content at the moment, simply lying in the grass and watching the sky. As dawn crept over the lake and castle, she stood, stretched, reaching her entire body up towards the rosy colors in the sky, and turned to wave at Hagrid with a smile before vanishing into the castle.

Rose went straight to the showers, stripping off her disgustingly sweaty workout clothes while the water heated up. She stepped over to the mirror, pulling a small iPod out of her bag. Normally, neither the iPod nor the speakers with it would work, but she had shielded all her muggle electronics against magic before she arrived. She just couldn't survive without her music. Or Internet. She had yet to figure out how to get her damn radio to pick up her favorite station. Sooner or later, she would be forced to accept that seeing as her station was in Chicago, she probably wouldn't be able to receive it here no matter what. That didn't stop her from trying.

Turning on the iPod, she went through her playlists until she found the one marked 'New'. Her playlist names were usually simple. Anyone who borrowed her iPod would be able to find what they were looking for without difficulty.

Selecting her song, "Phoenix Burn" by Alpha Rev, she set the iPod and speakers on a sink and stepped into the shower. Steam filled the bathroom, fogging up the mirror as her voice flowed out of the shower with the steam, filling the room only, never daring to venture into the public hallways.

"I need a love that, will release me, keep me honest, keep me happy, I need a peace with, understanding, trying to find, a softer landing."

The sweet scent of her strawberry shampoo filled her nostrils, and she took the time to enjoy such a simple pleasure as strawberry scent, leaning forward to sniff the pink goo in her hands, before reaching up to gather her hair and massage it in.

"I need to know when, I can change this, or give it up and, just embrace it, I need to find a way of letting go...When everything falls apart, I've taken too much, given up, I am twisted, burning, breaking up, I need to find a way of letting it go...When everything falls apart, I could try, but I'd never take it, yell and I will never be heard, you will be my phoenix burn, I could run, but I'd never make it, leave but I might never return, you will be my phoenix burn"

She tilted her head back, letting the hot water flow through her now silky dark brown, almost black hair, rinsing all he white soap out of it as she ran her fingers through it. Closing her eyes, she reveled in the hot water soothing her sore muscles.

"I need to push through, be undiscovered, find my answers, leave them uncovered, I wanna speak out, what I believe in, That love will heal us, give us our freedom, I need to know what's on the horizon, change direction, stop the fightin', I need to find a way of letting it go...When everything falls apart, I've taken too much, given up, I am twisted, burning, breaking up, I need to find a way of letting it go, When everything falls apart, I could try, but I'd never take it, yell and I will never be heard, you will be my phoenix, burn, Let me, burn,"

She let her voice flow, filling the tiny stall, filling the little bathroom, hidden in an almost-forgotten part of the castle, letting herself enjoy the privacy that gave her the courage and the confidence to sing out loud.

"Let me, burn, I've taken too much, given up, I am twisted, burning, breaking up, I need to find a way of letting it go, when everything falls apart, I could try, but I'd never take it, yell and I will never be heard, you will be my phoenix, burn,You will be my phoenix, burn..."

She stepped out reluctantly, wrapping a red fluffy towel around herself and going to the mirror. Murmuring softly to it until the fog cleared away. She quickly dried herself and dressed before going to her dorm and exchanging her smelly running clothes for her school books and rushing down to breakfast. Her shower had been a little longer than normal today, and she was slightly late.

The day already being off to a bad start, what with her being late and all, she should have known it would only get worse.

Just as she stepped off the staircase in the Entrance Hall, none other than Draco Malfoy, the biggest "git" in the school (Americans had a much better word for people like him, but she didn't dare use it), and the most foolish in 'love', stepped out of the door to the dungeons.

He had a major crush on her. It didn't even matter to him that she wasn't pureblood anything, not a witch, or even purely magical, as she did have muggle blood in relevantly recent generations-Dumbledore's estimate from whatever crazy tests he'd run on her blood-or that she was in Gryffindor. According to him, she had powerful blood-like he could sense that-and everyone had heard the Hat's difficult decision. According to Malfoy, she should be in Slytherin. The hat had thought so too, but she had been so adamant about Gryffindor...

Not that she was prejudiced. She got along with just about anybody, regardless of anything different about them. She was so different herself it just didn't matter to her. But she had heard of the 'Dark Lord' and where he came from. She also heard things about the Slytherins' Head of House. She didn't like what she heard. She did not want to be that kind of person. At all.

Now, since the Sorting was over, she learned Slytherin qualities could be good, but were generally looked upon as evil tendencies. Oh, well. She would be having a harder time getting rid of Malfoy if she was in Slytherin, so it was a good thing after all.

She tried to duck into the throng of students headed for the Great Hall and breakfast, but Malfoy easily found her. She silently cursed her bright, distinctive hair that she normally loved as one of the few good things about herself as he grabbed her arm.

"Hello, love," he cooed disgustingly. What personality was he trying on today? Just the fact that he insisted on changing how he approached each day was a major turn-off. She wanted someone who could be himself around her and still fit with her personality.

"You know," she said, tossing her hair behind her shoulder, "You seem to change with every day that goes by. Why don't you try figuring out who you want to be before you start hitting on someone? With all the changing you do, how can you know that you and/or the girl will still like each other the next day? It's kind of cruel to just go around breaking hearts that way." she said snappily.

"The only heart that is broken is mine, because..." he trailed off, not having completed the thought process yet. She used that moment to duck away to the Gryffindor table.

Somehow she ended up in a seat with a group of second-years. She recognized the middle one as the other celebrity of the school. Harry Potter.

"Hey," she chirped brightly. "Malfoy's right annoying today. Mind if I sit with you?"

"He's always that way." Harry and the redhead-Weasley, if she remembered correctly-chimed together.

"Of course not. Pick a seat." Hermione invited, rolling her eyes at the older girl. "Boys," she whispered behind her hand. "They're all the same."

"That kind of thinking will save you a lot of pain and heartbreak some day, Hermione. Good job, and keep it up!" Rose encouraged, laughing. She sat and quickly grabbed some toast and fuit, mainly apples and strawberries. Where were the pineapples when she needed them? She wondered briefly before rummaging around her bag for her schedule. Checking it, she sighed in defeat.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"Kill me now," Rose moaned.

"History of Magic?" Harry guessed.

"Yep. Double History first thing in the morning. At least Muggle history was interesting!" Rose shook her head, sighing.

"At least there's the Dueling Club later." Ron pointed out. "You can kill Malfoy. I'll be decoy for the students. Hermione and Harry will distract the teachers with their 'breakup', which will get very violent to cover any struggle Malfoy puts up..." he went on in this vein, coming up with a completely ludicrous plan, or rather, plot, to kill Malfoy during the Dueling Club. Each new idea out of his mouth grew more and more ridiculous, until Hermione whacked him in the head with a book.

"You know that's never going to work! And honestly, Ronald..."

"Actually, it would. If I had any intention of playing along. Which I don't want to get kicked out of school. However, it did succeed in making me feel better." Rose broke in. She flashed them all a quick smile.

"I'd better get going, you know how far it is. See ya around!" she called.

"Her accent is so cuuuuute!" Several boys up and down the hall moaned. Rose rolled her eyes and waved over her shoulder at her three friends before rushing off to class.

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