January 1998

Rosalee ran for her life, dodging trees and colorful jets of light as she fled from the Snatchers close behind her. Jumping over a fallen tree, Rosalee paused just long enough to levitate the dead tree and swing it at the Snatchers like a cricket bat. It caught several across the chest, knocking them back into the others. Rosalee turned and ran again, not waiting for the Snatchers to get back up again. Her lungs burned, and her legs felt like jelly, but she refused to slow down.

Out of the darkness of the forest ahead of her, a large, gray wolf leaped toward Rosalee. Unwilling to find out if the wolf was a true wolf or a werewolf, she turned to her right, avoiding some sort of thorny bush and sprinted away as the wolf gave chase. By the time the Snatchers caught up and began firing spells at her again, Rosalee could hear the thudding of the wolf's paws on the ground as it ran after her and hear the panting of its breath. Her foot slipped on a patch of ice, and she fell hard on the cold ground. Rolling onto her back, she screamed in terror as the wolf lunged for her throat. As she tried to defend herself, the wolf's teeth missed their mark, its snout hitting the ground hard enough to make the wolf growl, leaving nothing but slobber and its hot breath on her neck. Its paws clawed at her skin, ripping her clothes along with her flesh. Finally aiming her wand at the wolf properly, she shrieked, "Imperio!"

Suddenly, the wolf jumped off Rosalee, docile as a Labrador puppy. As Rosalee caught sight of the Snatchers beginning to surround her, she fought hard to keep control over the wolf — whom she was now certain was actually a werewolf — as she turned her newly gained weapon against her enemies. The wolf quickly tore open one man's throat before attacking the woman beside him. Spells flew at her, and a Cruciatus Curse caught her in the chest, sending the charm on a chain around her neck spinning. She bit her lip until it bled, fighting against the surprisingly brief pain of the Unforgivable Curse until it was over. Obviously, whoever it was who cast the dark spell didn't know what they were doing. The next Cruciatus Curse hit her in the back, sending her to the ground thrashing and screaming in pain, cast by a witch or wizard with some actual skill in the Dark Arts. Her control over the wolf snapped, and it turned once again to Rosalee, drooling as it took its time stalking towards its defenseless prey. The wolf lunged for her throat as the charmed necklace stopped spinning, and Rosalee vanished before the wolf could sink its teeth into her skin.

August 1977

Rosalee's shrieks stopped after the first few minutes as she found herself watching time reverse itself. By the time everything stopped spinning around her, she was laying on the ground of the forest in the early morning light feeling dizzy, nauseated, and weak. When the world began to feel solid again, Rosalee slowly stood up and, not knowing what else to do, she apparated to Hogsmeade. As soon as she reappeared behind the Hog's Head, she regretted her choice, falling to her hands and knees and vomiting on the ground violently. After she finished, she stood back up and raised her wand, ready to defend herself if necessary. Creeping carefully out from behind the Hog's Head, she saw no signs of danger; in fact, the village looked more like itself than it had since the Battle at the Department of Mysteries. Rosalee skirted around the edges of the village until the alluring smell of food proved too much to resist. Rosalee stepped inside the Three Broomsticks, hoping that Madame Rosmerta was feeling particularly charitable at the moment, as Rosalee's small stash of money, both wizarding and Muggle, had run out months ago. Instead, she froze when she saw Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall sitting together at the bar, eating breakfast, and chatting with Madame Rosmerta. Dumbledore's long gray beard wasn't quite as long as usual, though, and there were streaks of auburn in his gray beard. McGonagall had only a streak or two of gray in her dark hair, still pulled into a tight bun as usual. Madame Rosmerta couldn't have been much older than Rosalee, and she fumbled slightly as she poured Dumbledore and McGonagall's pumpkin juice, as if she wasn't used to pouring drinks quite yet. Rosalee squeaked, covering her mouth with her hands as her hazel eyes grew wide. Dumbledore looked at her, his blue eyes concerned as he took in the results of six months on the run from Aurors and Snatchers on Rosalee's appearance. "Can we help you, young lady?" Dumbledore asked softly.

While the rest of the world sounded muffled to Rosalee, Dumbledore's voice rang loudly and clearly in her ears. She stuttered, "But – but you —" She couldn't see quite right anymore, and the room seemed to suddenly grow very hot. Everything went black as Rosalee fell to the floor, unconscious.

When Rosalee awoke, she found herself in the familiar setting of Hogwarts' Hospital Wing. She furrowed her brow in confusion, trying to remember how she'd ended up there. Then she remembered the Snatchers and the werewolf in the forest, and her Time-Turner suddenly pulling her back in time, seemingly farther than she would have ever dared to try. She normally only ever used the Time-Turner after the Snatchers had gotten too close to catching her for comfort in order to escape, sending herself back an hour or two to give herself the chance to get away from where she knew the Snatchers would be before they got there. Rosalee groaned as she opened her eyes, still not believing that she had seen Dumbledore in the Three Broomsticks earlier. Surely it was a hallucination… She couldn't remember the last time she'd had something to eat; she was malnourished and dehydrated, so it would have been easy enough for her to imagine.

Rosalee's eyes landed on Dumbledore standing at the foot of the bed next to hers as she sat up slowly and yelped in surprise and fear. She grabbed her ebony wand off the nightstand and pointed it at him, curling up as close to the wall as she possibly could. She snapped, "Who are you, and are you willing to take Veritaserum to prove it?"

Dumbledore looked amused and aloof, but his eyes betrayed his seriousness. "My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and I would certainly be willing to take Veritaserum to prove it. What might your name be, young lady?"

Rosalee shook her head. "I don't think so," she growled. "You're going to have to prove you're really the Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore before you get any information out of me."

Dumbledore nodded, admiring her spunk. "Very well then," Dumbledore replied. "Poppy," Dumbledore called to Madame Pomfrey. "Please go ask Professor Slughorn to bring me a vial of Veritaserum, and have one of the house elves bring me a cup of tea to put it in." Madame Pomfrey nodded and quickly left the Hospital Wing for the dungeons. Upon her return with Professor Slughorn and one of the house elves, Dumbledore combined a few drops of the potion with the tea and drank it. "Now, young lady," Dumbledore said with a small smile. "Ask your questions."

Rosalee's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the people surrounding her, all of them looking so much younger than usual. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," he answered as he moved to sit on the foot of her bed.

Rosalee bit her lip, concerned by what that might mean for her. "What year is it?" she asked softly.

Dumbledore watched Rosalee, a curious spark in his eye. "It is August of 1977. Has the date changed recently for you?"

Rosalee shuddered. "You could say that." She pulled the Time-Turner off her neck. "I'm not sure what happened," she said softly. "But my Time-Turner got hit by something, a weak Cruciatus Curse I'm guessing, and it sent me back way farther than it was ever meant to be able to go."

Dumbledore took the object when Rosalee offered it to him, inspecting it carefully with a critical eye. The hourglass was cracked slightly. Dumbledore looked back up at her and asked, "Where did you get this?"

Rosalee fidgeted nervously. "There was a battle in the Department of Mysteries two years ago. Well, it was two years ago for me. It technically hasn't happened yet I guess. Anyway, the time turners all got destroyed in a sense, but I sort of managed to nick one in the heat of things by accident. I hadn't intended on taking it and considered taking it back, but I figured it'd be useful to have in case things got too bad. Things got too bad, and more than once I barely escaped with my life, but only because of this thing. It saved me earlier from a pretty horrible mess by bringing me back here, but… I'm not sure how it managed to bring me back this far, to be honest."

Dumbledore nodded. "I see," he said thoughtfully as he continued to examine the broken Time-Turner. "I believe that it is safe to say that you will most likely not be returning to your original time. When was that, to be precise?"

Rosalee answered quietly, "Either December 1997 or January 1998. When you're living on the run, it's hard to keep track of the date."

Dumbledore looked over at her. "What were you on the run for, Miss —? "

"Rosalee Winters," Rosalee answered, finally remembering to relax and lower her wand, an action that made Professor Slughorn, who looked on from across the room with interest, look quite relieved. "I'm a Muggle-born, and the Ministry of Magic has been… or will be? I don't know. Anyway, where I'm from, they're locking away Muggle-borns of all ages in Azkaban, calling us dangerous thieves who steal wands and magical powers from real witches and wizards."

Dumbledore frowned. "Does that mean that we failed to defeat Voldemort and that he has taken over Wizarding Britain?"

Rosalee shrugged. "Not exactly," she answered slowly. "Look, I wasn't officially a part of the Order of the Phoenix, but I was close to some of the kids who were, or were close to it, and I fought alongside them. Voldemort was defeated and stayed that way for nearly fifteen years, but at the end of my fourth year, he came back. Two and a half years later, he practically owned the Ministry. I don't have a clue how he came back, all I know is that… well, I honestly don't know anything helpful enough to be worth telling you about. All I know is that my life isn't worth a Knut back in my own time."

Dumbledore patted her foot gently, then said, "Well, that is certainly not the case here. Are you supposed to still be in school at Hogwarts?"

Rosalee nodded, still struggling to believe that any of this was real. "I was supposed to be a seventh year Gryffindor this year," she mumbled.

Dumbledore answered brightly, "Well, then tomorrow, which will be September 1, 1977, you will return to school as a seventh year Gryffindor. Perhaps Rosalee Winters is not the best name to return under, however, considering that your future self, or I suppose to you it would be the past, likely still exists. We cannot risk anyone finding out that you are from the future." Dumbledore thought about the situation for a few moments as Rosalee nodded, then waited expectantly for the headmaster's solution. Dumbledore said, "Perhaps you should pose as Aberforth's granddaughter. Did my future self ever tell you about Aberforth?"

Rosalee turned red, slightly embarrassed. "Well, no, not personally," she muttered. "There was this woman though, she wrote a book about you, and it was pretty popular. I read what I could of it while hiding from Snatchers, when I could stop running long enough to even consider reading, so I sort of already know all about Aberforth and Ariana."

Dumbledore nodded, the expression on his face never changing, but guilt and sadness lingered behind his eyes. "Ah, I see," he said softly. After a moment, he seemed to recover and continued, "Well, no matter. All the better then. I will talk to my brother Aberforth and convince him to claim to the world that you are his granddaughter, making you Rosalee Dumbledore. You'll stay in Gryffindor, of course. If you'd like, you can spend the night in the tower tonight. It's ready for students, seeing as they all return tomorrow."

Rosalee nodded. "Thank you, sir. I'd — I'd like that very much."

A few hours later, after Madame Pomfrey had finally finished healing her last injury — a sprained ankle — Rosalee laid on her bed in the girls' Gryffindor dormitory, listening to a Frank Sinatra record on the wireless, thinking about the insanity of her situation. Even in the wizarding world, such huge leaps of time travel were unheard of, and usually, any who attempted it were severely damaged or killed due to its affects. So far, the only side affect that Rosalee could determine was severe nausea, as though she were having the worst stomach bug of her life. Madame Pomfrey had argued that Rosalee should stay in the Hospital Wing for the night, but Dumbledore had deemed it unnecessary. The house elf who had brought Dumbledore the tea for his Veritaserum, Veeney, had happily attended to Rosalee's every need on Dumbledore's instructions. The house elf had held the girl's hair back as she threw up in the toilet, given her butterbeer and crackers to settle her stomach, then repeated the process more times than Rosalee could count. Now the girl lay in bed, her stomach not quite so upset anymore, listening to the wireless that Veeney had brought her. Rosalee was narrowing her eyes at the way her hands were shaking and the feeling of her head and face being on fire while the rest of her body was cold under the red blankets of her bed.

Veeney popped back into the dorm along with several other house elves, bringing along with them a large trunk, which was deposited at the foot of her bed. The other house elves apparated away, but Veeney remained behind. "Headmaster asked Veeney to bring you this trunk," the little female house elf said cheerily. "Headmaster bought all your school supplies and clothes and such. Everything Missy Rose could want."

Rosalee smiled at the house elf from where she lay and said softly, "Thank you, Veeney. I'll be sure to thank Dumbledore too when I see him tomorrow."

Veeney tilted her head to one side, her large ears flopping comically. "How is Missy Rose feeling?" Veeney asked worriedly. "Is Missy Rose's tummy still giving trouble?"

Rosalee shook her head. "No, but I think I have a fever. I think there's still Pepper-Up Potion in my book bag though from the last few months," Rosalee said thoughtfully. She waved her wand and mumbled, "Accio Pepper-Up Potion."

It took a few moments for the potion to work its way out of Rosalee's bag, but the potion soon flew into her hand. She drank the potion greedily as Veeney asked, "Is there anything else that Missy Rose needs that Veeney could get?"

Rosalee thought for a moment, then answered, "No, I'll be all right. I think I'm just going to get some sleep. It's been far too long since…" She trailed off, then shook her head. "But that's not important I suppose. You're absolutely fine, Veeney. Go, enjoy your night. I'll call you if I really need anything else."

Veeney nodded, then apparated away. Rosalee rested her head on the soft, fluffy pillow, feeling the Pepper-Up Potion beginning to work its magic, and sighed contentedly. She still wasn't sure that any of this was truly real, but even if it wasn't, she was going to enjoy it fully before she woke up surrounded by Snatchers again, or being mauled by a transformed werewolf.

Hours later, Rosalee woke up screaming bloody murder, drenched in sweat. Her blankets were mostly dumped on the floor, and her wand had (fortunately for the bed curtains) fallen on the floor along with the blankets. She fumbled for it blindly, certain that she was about to die at any second, before she suddenly fell out of the bed, hitting her head on the nightstand in the process. "Ouch!" she exclaimed indignantly, but she forgot the pain in her head when she spotted the Gryffindor lion on the blankets that her wand was laying carelessly on top of. Rosalee grabbed up her wand quickly and cried, "Lumos!" The room was instantly illuminated in the blue light of her wand, and she recognized it as the Gryffindor dormitory. Tears sprang to her eyes as she realized that the day she had spent at Hogwarts some twenty years prior to her usual reality had been all too real as well. "Accio Lyle," the girl mumbled through the tears, and a teddy bear sized stuffed elephant flew out of her backpack into Rosalee's waiting arms. She hugged the elephant named Lyle tightly to her chest, taking comfort in the familiarity of the stuffed animal and the way it smelled like home. Though it was four in the morning, Rosalee sat crying like that for two hours, mourning the loss of everything and everyone good she had ever known and worrying endlessly about the new obstacles she would have to face in this First Wizarding War, before she finally calmed herself down. She climbed back into the bed, taking Lyle, her wand, and the blankets with her, settling down and eventually falling back asleep.

Dumbledore had informed her earlier in the day at lunch in the Great Hall that Rosalee's cover story had been secured. She would be Aberforth Dumbledore's recently discovered granddaughter, Albus's great niece, who had grown up in France and been homeschooled, as her parents frequently took her with them on their travels to a dragon reservation in Romania. Rosalee had been sent to live with Aberforth when her parents had both died in a tragic run-in with one of the dragons from the reservation. She had been sorted over the summer into Gryffindor and would be a seventh year. Her O.W.L.s had been entered into her permanent records with the marks that she had told Dumbledore she had received as a fifth year, only bumping up her marks in one class — Arithmancy — from Poor to Acceptable. It was the only class Rosalee hadn't gotten Outstanding or Exceeds Expectations in, and that was only because she didn't spend as much time studying for it as she had every other subject. Having a solid background story to tell people had made Rosalee slightly less nervous about the Welcome Feast that night, but the anxiety returned in full force when she remembered the likelihood of running into the younger versions of many of the adults she had known, known of, or had been attacked by in her time.

When the Welcome Feast arrived, Rosalee managed to blend easily into the crowd of students, dressed for the first time in what felt like ages in a Gryffindor uniform. She slipped in to sit at the Gryffindor table, seemingly unnoticed. It wasn't until people began to sit around her that Rosalee realized that a few Gryffindors had definitely noticed her. A boy with black curls and stunning gray eyes slid into the seat across from Rosalee, and she nearly choked on her own breath when she recognized it to be young Sirius Black. The Gryffindor boy leaned forward and said flirtatiously, "Well, hello, there, you pretty little witch. How is it that I've never noticed a bird as pretty as you sitting at our house's table before?"

Rosalee blushed bright red and couldn't help but gape at Sirius. It wasn't as though it was the first time a guy had ever flirted with her — in fact, she and Seamus Finnigan had developed quite the flirtation by sixth year, even snogging a few times, the first of which being when they were caught together under the mistletoe at Slughorn's Christmas party (which Rosalee still firmly believed had not been the accident Seamus would like her to believe it was), and she and George Weasley had dated in fifth year before he left school to open Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Sirius's flirting had barely even phased her; it was the fact that it was Sirius Black, young, healthy, and happy, that had Rosalee staring open-mouthed at the boy across from her. She felt someone slide into the seat on her left and could feel their laughter. Another familiar voice teased, "Padfoot, ease up on the poor girl. Look at her, she's so stunned by your charm that she can't even speak."

Rosalee turned to stare at the brown-haired boy beside her and saw the green eyes of a young Remus Lupin staring back at her, also looking far younger and healthier than Rosalee had ever seen him. She continued to stare at Remus, her jaw still dropped, for another moment until she felt a large, gentle hand from behind her push her mouth closed and felt hot breath on her right ear as the boy who had taken the seat on her right side whispered in her ear in his most seductive voice, "It's not polite to stare, kitten."

Rosalee frowned, not recognizing this voice, and turned quickly to see Harry Potter staring back at her smugly, his fingers still under her chin. Closer inspection made her realize that it wasn't Harry, but rather his father, James. Suddenly, she realized that she was slowly leaning towards James, her chin still captured in his grip, as though she were about to kiss him. As her mind processed the new information, she pulled back suddenly, yanking her face away from James's hold, but overcorrecting and falling backward against Remus's strong shoulder. The boys laughed as Peter Pettigrew sat down on Sirius's right, Rosalee's left. Sirius drawled, "I think we're just a little too sexy for this little witch to handle."

Rosalee huffed as she sat back up straight with a helpful push from Remus, and replied to Sirius coolly, "Oh, that's not it at all. It's more that I'm stunned that with inflated egos such as yours that you haven't floated up to the ceiling by now."

Remus and James howled with laughter, delighted with the change in Rosalee as she adjusted to dealing with the Marauders. Not that it was much different than handling Fred and George, especially if Sirius got around the twins. Sirius chuckled less heartily than the others but recovered from the blow to his ego easily enough. "Oh, love, if only you could see what that huge ego is being weighed down by, then you'd understand," he replied easily, winking at her.

Rosalee laughed. "Oh, is that so?" she replied. "Because it's always been my experience that large egos are typically overcompensating for something very important being, well, less than satisfying."

James and Remus could have died laughing, while Peter looked scandalized and Sirius turned bright red, sputtering in his attempts to invent a proper come-back. James had to lay his head in his arms on top of his empty plate to calm himself down as the Sorting Hat began his song and the first years were sorted. Dumbledore stood and gave a short speech, introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Cahal Artemyn, then released the students to dig into the feast. Remus asked, "So, mysterious Gryffindor girl, would you please tell us your name and explain why we've never seen you until today before Sirius has an aneurism?"

James laughed. "Honestly, Padfoot, calm down. It's just a bird; you're panting like a bloody dog," he ribbed.

Rosalee laughed as Sirius made a barking noise, then suddenly turned and licked Peter's face, making the chubby boy blanch. Rosalee wrinkled her nose, turning her attention to the amused face of Remus Lupin. "My name is Rosalee Dumbledore," she answered.

"Like Professor Dumbledore?" Peter asked curiously.

Rosalee smiled softly, which turned into laughing as Sirius exclaimed, "Good old Dumbly! Who knew the old man had it in him? So, what, are you like his granddaughter or something?"

Rosalee shook her head. "No, his great niece," she replied. "I'm his brother's granddaughter."

James asked as he piled his fork with pot roast, "So why haven't you gone to Hogwarts before if you're related to our delightful headmaster?"

As James stuffed his mouth, Rosalee answered, the lie leaving her stomach churning, "My parents lived in France; my mother was French. I was homeschooled because they so often commuted to Romania."

Sirius asked curiously, "So why are you here now then?"

Sirius stuffed his face with shepherd's pie, Rosalee shifted uncomfortably as she lied, "They died over the summer. A dragon got loose at the dragon reservation they worked at, and they were killed."

The boys surrounding Rosalee grew solemn. Remus placed a comforting hand on Rosalee's shoulder, saying softly, "I'm sorry, Rosalee. That's awful."

Rosalee shrugged, unshed tears stinging her eyes as she thought about her true parents that she had been forced to leave behind as she fled for her life, defenseless Muggles that for all she knew may have been murdered in their efforts to protect her, or simply because of a lack of knowledge of where she had hidden herself. Rosalee mumbled, "It's all right."

Sirius tilted his head to the left slightly, reminding Rosalee slightly of a curious dog, which made her smile a little as she thought of the Animagus's fitting animal form. Sirius suggested, "Well, we were planning on throwing a party in the common room for some of the older Gryffindors, and between Moony the prefect and Prongs the Head Boy we know it won't get shut down early unless McGonagall stumbles upon it, so how about you join us? There's going to be plenty of junk food and firewhiskey to go around."

Rosalee paused, remembering the last party she had been to. It had been to celebrate Gryffindor's win of the Quidditch Cup. She and Seamus had ended up on one of the couch's together snogging their brains out, the night she had finally realized that she was falling in love with the Irishman. Her heart ached as she realized that she would most likely never see or kiss Seamus again, and she had never gotten the chance to tell him how she felt, despite the fact that she was fairly certain he felt the same way. She shook her head, snapping herself out of her reverie, then answered quietly, "Sure, sounds great."

Three hours later, the party in the Gryffindor common room was in full swing. Rosalee found herself sitting alone in a corner of the room, her back to the wall so she could see the entire room, including the entrance to the tower, nursing a bottle of firewhiskey. Her hands shook slightly as the loudness of the crowd and the booming of the music that played increased her nerves. Rosalee hadn't been around other people, much less a large crowd like this, who hadn't been trying to kill her in ages, and she wasn't quite sure how to conduct herself in this strange new reality, so she instead chose to place herself in the most strategically optimal corner of the room out of habit and let herself drink alone. She had sat in that spot for around an hour when Remus came over and sat down beside her. He smiled at her as he sat down, and Rosalee couldn't help but find his younger, but still familiar, face comforting. Rosalee nodded at him, and his smile broadened. "Hey, Rosalee," he called above the music. "Why so alone?"

Rosalee shrugged. "Large crowds make me nervous. Not being able to hear myself think makes me even more nervous," she answered honestly.

Remus nodded. "Yeah, I get that," he replied easily. "These parties are fun, but usually a bit too loud for me." Rosalee smirked to herself as she imagined that the young werewolf's sense of hearing was probably heightened due to his lycanthropy; Remus probably wasn't much more comfortable at the party than she was. She drank a generous amount of the remaining firewhiskey, and Remus asked, "Do you want to get away from this? Sirius likes to think that anything can be fixed by copious amounts of alcohol and large groups of people, but I've always found a friend or two and some peace and quiet suit me better."

Rosalee thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Sounds great," she said loudly. She stood up to follow Remus wherever he led her, surprised when she felt a rush of heat run down her spine and stumbled slightly, Remus easily catching her by the elbow and setting her on her feet properly. He smiled in amusement as her face turned red. "Sorry, guess I've had a little more firewhiskey than I thought," Rosalee apologized.

Remus laughed softly, and Rosalee more felt his laughter vibrating through his hold on her elbow than heard it as he gently led her to the stairs up to the boys' dormitories. He answered easily as they climbed the stairs, "It's all right. Sirius and James get much worse. I doubt you'll want to go to your dorm tonight; Lily will be up there complaining and throwing an absolute fit over this, but James is Head Boy, so the fact that she's Head Girl doesn't hold as much sway over him and his antics as she probably hoped. I'll happily let you stay in my bed tonight and take one of the couches in the common room after things quiet down though."

As Remus talked, the volume of his voice gradually decreased as the music in the common room slowly grew quieter as they climbed up to the top of the stairs, where the Marauders' dorm awaited their arrival. Rosalee let herself lean lightly against Remus's shoulder as he paused to open the door. "Yeah, I don't think I'm ready to face Lily Potter just yet if she's going to be like that," Rosalee mumbled.

Remus laughed. "James's last name is Potter," he corrected. "Lily's is Evans, although I'm sure James would probably die of happiness to hear his name attached to her."

Rosalee's mouth fell open, horrified at her slip of the tongue. "Oops," she said softly, unable to think of anything else to say.

Remus smiled as he directed her to sit down on his bed. "It's all right," he said as he gently took the nearly empty bottle of firewhiskey from Rosalee's hand. Rosalee frowned at the loss of her drink but didn't comment. Remus set it on the nightstand and sat down on the bed beside her. "How are you doing?" he asked.

Rosalee shrugged. "Everything's different," she began slowly. "Everyone I ever knew is gone, or…" she paused, managing to stop herself from revealing too much this time. "It's just different," she sniffed, holding back a sudden onslaught of tears. She knew that Professor Dumbledore had told her not to worry about whether or not she changed things, that most likely things were already so different that the world she grew up in was gone and would never be, so she should just live her life and be happy. It was hard to think that things would never happen the way they had in her life to the people she knew and loved, though. Some things she was grateful could be different, but others worried her.

Remus nodded as though he understood what she meant. "How long has it been since they died?" he asked, tenderly placing a hand on her knee.

Rosalee answered, "I don't know. Feels like it was just yesterday. This is just…" She shook her head. "Everything's new, but it all still feels the same. Everything's just messed up."

Remus patted her knee, unsure of how to comfort the girl with chin length hair the color of wheat. "I'm sorry," he said as reassuringly as he could. "Is there anything my friends or I can do to help?"

Rosalee thought for a moment. "Sirius is a huge flirt, isn't he?" she asked curiously.

Remus laughed softly. "He's an odd one, but yeah, you could say that," he answered. "He flirts with everyone, including James and me sometimes, but he never means it. He gets very, well, serious, when he's actually interested in someone. Sure, there's still flirting, but there's just a different tone to it. If he ever means it, you'll know."

Rosalee nodded. "Ok," she breathed. "Can you just convince him to keep the play flirting to a minimum? I'd hate to have to hex him."

"I think I can manage that," Remus replied when he finished laughing before giving Rosalee a hug.

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