Rosemary was too distraught to even be surprised that it was Jesse who opened the door. Tears streamed down her face, and she skidded to a stop just before crashing into him. In her arms, Frisco meowed pathetically. "J-Jesse...they stunned him, a-and...words...above my b-bed..." She could barely speak.

"Calm down," Jesse said, herding the distraught girl into Hagrid's hut. The giant moved to take the cat from Rosemary's arms. "What words? Have you told a teacher?" Jesse started rattling off questions, but then stopped himself. The girl clearly wasn't calm enough yet to speak coherently.

It took Rosemary a good five minutes to calm down. "I'm s-sorry for interrupting like that...I j-just didn't know where else to go..." She said, sniffling. "I w-went back to my dorm to drop a f-few things off, and when I g-got there, I found such a m-mess..." She continued to explain what she had found, while Frisco went over by the fire to warm himself up.

Jesse felt his blood boil as Rosemary's tale unfolded. How could someone be so cruel to such an apparently kind girl? He barely noticed the growl he emitted when she mentioned the word mudblood.

"Now who would do such a thing ta yeh?" Hagrid wondered out loud.

Jesse rose and passed agitatedly back and forth in the confined space of Hagrid's hut. Who was exactly the question. A fellow Slytherian perhaps?

"Th-the other Slytherin girls. They all hate me, and they think I d-don't belong in Slytherin, because I don't act like one, and I'm muggle-born." Rosemary replied. "The problem is that there's a lot of them, and they work in groups, so I can't ever figure out who did it. And if I told on them, they would only come back and make things ten times worse." She said, her accent once again thickening in her misery.

"Well now that ain't nice of them," Hagrid muttered. "It don't matter if you are muggle born or not, yer still a witch and a thumpin' good one I'd wager. Besides there isn't a wizard alive today that's not half blood or less."

Jesse paced back and forth across the cottage, not sure what to do with all the pent up anger. He was too angry to even think about and wonder why he was so angry at this treatment of a girl he hardly knew. He punched the wall with his fist, rattling the windows. He hadn't had to deal with that as both his parents had been wizards but his father had been a muggle born wizard.

Rosemary and Frisco both jumped slightly when Jesse punched the wall, and Frisco jumped up on Rosemary's lap. "It doesn't matter either way. They all have parents who are both wizards, so they consider me less than them. It doesn't help that I can't prove them wrong." She said bitterly. It was the first time either of them would have heard any kind of bitterness or anger in her voice, ever. But her tone was back to normal again in the next sentence. "Thank you both for being here for me. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have anyone to talk to."

A big grin spread across Hagrid's face. "Its always nice to have a friends in my home." He rose and begin making tea and searching for food to offer.

Jesse nodded in response to Rosemary's comment but his mind was stuck on something else. What does she mean that she can't prove them wrong? He wondered to himself. He moved to sit down after Hagrid nearly knocked him over. "What do you mean you can't prove them wrong?" He asked and then mentally kicked himself. She doesn't need you preying into her life you idiot.

Rosemary smiled slightly, though her heart clearly wasn't in it. She just wanted to show that she was grateful. When Jesse sat down and asked her a question, she startled. Had she said that out loud? "Ah...well, what I mean is...I can only assume that I'm muggle-born. I live in an orphanage, you see, and no one there ever saw either of my parents. And since there's no way to find records of them in the wizarding world, I can't prove that either parent was magical. So it's just assumed that I'm fully muggle-born." She said, seeing no reason to lie about it. It explained why she had no money, and no vault at Gringotts, and why all the rich, supposedly full-blood Slytherins hated her.

"I'm sorry you never knew your parents," Jesse said, his voice soft and filled with sadness. "At least you never had to endure the pain of loosing them," he muttered softly not even aware that he had spoken his thoughts.

Hagrid moved around the cabin, pouring cups of tea and getting a tin of treacle fudge to offer the two children. Fang had settled out of the way, and his big head laying on his paws.

Rosemary caught the last words that Jesse said, through sheer luck only. "I' sorry. Did you lose your parents, Jesse? Ah...s-sorry. You don't have to answer that. Sorry." She stammered, cursing her curiosity and big mouth.

Jesse shrugged, trying to play off the pain that still knifed his heart when he thought of them or the nightmares that he would wake up screaming from and alone, always alone. "I lost them when I was nine," he answered, doing his best to sound casual about it.

Rosemary's hand flew over her mouth, her eyes widening. She couldn't imagine losing family that young..or ever, for that matter. Part of her wondered which was worse, to know a parent and lose them, or to lose them before you ever got to know them. "I...I'm sorry." She said, not knowing what else to say. What else could she say?

"It is what it is," Jesse said with a shrug. His gaze moved to the flames dancing in Hagrid's fireplace. He wasn't seeing the flames though, he mind was else where, causing him to jump when Hagrid spoke.

"Blimey, you two had best get back to the castle, Hagrid said with a hint of urgency in his voice. "Its late and we don't want yeh two getting detention."

Rosemary started, realizing that Hagrid was right. They had been there longer than she thought, and detention was a definite possibility at that point. Though she probably wouldn't go back to her dorm until a bit later, just to make sure that the others were asleep before she did, she still had to be in the common room at least. "Right...thank you for being here for me. Both of you. I appreciate it." She said, standing up. Frisco meowed, and Rosemary smiled. "Frisco thanks you both, as well."

Hagrid grinned at Rosemary. "Its always good to have friends in my house," he said. He turned to Jesse. "Make sure she makes it back to the castle okay."

Jesse nodded to Hagrid and held open the door for Rosemary, following her out into the dark night. He took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark and then struck out up the path to the castle. Periodically he would look back, checking on Rosemary. They reached the castle door finally with out being spotted and he paused at the castle doors, wondering if their luck would hold out. Even if they missed all the teachers, there were still the ghost. Most wouldn't cause problems, but if they ran in Peeves he would gleefully draw attention to them.

Rosemary stayed quiet on the walk back to the castle, half afraid that any noise she made would call attention to them. Once they got to the castle doors, she felt herself tense up. She hoped they didn't come across Peeves or- she shuddered at the thought- the Bloody Barron. That ghost truly scared the living daylights out of her. "Thank you for walking me back." She whispered as they entered. This was the part where they'd have to part ways. "I guess I'll see you in classes tomorrow."

"Yeah no problem," Jesse said. He wanted to make sure she made it back to her dorm okay but also wasn't sure if him accompanying her might make them more apt to get caught, one person sneaking instead of two. But the again, he could try and get her out of sight so that only he was seen. "Look I will walk you as far as the entrance to Slytherin common room." The words were out of his mouth before he even realized that he had reached a decision. "If we hear ANYONE, duck out of sight. No need for both of us to get detention."