Roses were a common flowering shrub, with hundreds or even thousands of varieties. Both wizards and Muggles loved them.
During Harry's fifth year, "Pomona Sprout" had taught the students the Flower-Making Charm so they could give flowers to others on Valentine's Day.
Most normal women liked roses rather than plants like Devil's Snare, which Pomona liked. Whether among wizards or Muggles, visiting a lady with flowers was considered proper etiquette.
When Tom Riddle visited Hepzibah Smith on behalf of Borgin and Burkes, he brought a bouquet of roses. Hepzibah had long since had the House-elf Hokey prepare a vase.
Tom had been handsome then and knew how to flatter people, which delighted Hepzibah. In her good mood, she brought out Hufflepuff's Cup and Slytherin's Locket to show him.
There was an idiom: honey on the lips, a dagger in the heart. In the end, the Ministry of Magic ruled that Hepzibah Smith had died because the House-elf Hokey had put poison, rather than sugar, into her mistress's hot cocoa.
When Harry had first arrived in the Wizarding World, he had known nothing. He only knew that the Quidditch House Cup seemed important, so he had desperately wanted to catch it. Once he caught the Golden Snitch, people had surrounded him as if he were a hero.
At the time, the old bat had gone on and on about how much Harry resembled his father James Potter, whether because Slytherin had lost or because his robes had caught fire.
The Hogwarts Quidditch pitch could not compare to the 1994 Quidditch World Cup in terms of capacity. Viktor Krum, also a Seeker, had "performed" amid the thunderous cheers of such a vast crowd, while Harry had become just another spectator.
Human vision always had all kinds of limitations. More regrettably, many people