DISCLAIMER: HARRY POTTER IS THE PROPERTY OF JKR. I DO NOT OWN IT...

A very special thank you to wisecrackerme for editing this chapter.

"Family is where people choose to love one another even the days you struggle to like each other"

CHAPTER 01

Platform 9 and 3/4 was busy like any other September 1st. Every inch of it jam-packed with laughing, talking and moving people. With families saying goodbyes and children greeting and chatting with their friends made the whole area buzzing like a beehive.

Among them was Rose Weasley, the only daughter of The Minister of Magic. She was impatiently eyeing her brother and mother from the corner of her eye while tapping her foot on the ground restlessly. The mother and the son was engaged in a deep conversation and hardly paying any attention to her. Rose rolled her eyes in exasperation. Hermione and Hugo shared a very special bond. It didn't mean that her mother neglected her or loved her any less. She treated both her children equally and loved them equally, but there was something special between her son and her.

Without even using an extendable ear, Rose knew her mother was asking him to stay out of trouble and keep an eye on his sister. Rose scrunched her face in annoyance. She couldn't see her brother's face, but could imagine he was looking at their mum and patiently listening until she finishes. Hugo was always the patient one. He didn't inherit the famous Weasley temper or their mother's bossiness like Rose. He was very calm and quiet and never lost his cool and never got into arguments or fights. A pleasant smile was always plastered permanently on his face regardless of anything. That was the main reason Rose couldn't be mad at him for too long any time.

Rose sighed. It seemed like her mother and Hugo were going to continue their conversation for another hour if they could. With increased boredom, she looked around to find her friends or Al, but there none of them were in the near vicinity. Her friends probably were already on the train and Albus might be late as usual. Suddenly she had an urge to get on the train before Albus arrived. It was not that being late, she would end up in a shabby compartment. There was no doubt that her friends had secured a better one by now but the fact that Albus wouldn't come alone gave her a reason to avoid him. Hugo might want to wait for Lily, but to hang around and tolerate young Malfoy's company until the end of their journey seemed impossible for Rose.

She used to hate Scorpius with a passion until the end of their fourth year. Her hatred had nothing to do with his father's involvement in the second wizarding war, although Rose used that as an excuse for her animosity. Deep down she was angry with him for stealing her childhood best friend from her on the very first day they met. Albus was her best cousin and her best friend since their birth. Rose used to spend most of her time with him before Scorpius took him away from her. She couldn't forgive him for that. However, in their fourth year when Al became a magnet of attracting misfortune and problems, she mended their relationship by offering an olive branch solely to keep him away from more trouble. Al didn't come alone. He came with his best friend, and she learned to tolerate him in their fifth year. Scorpius was not an impossible person to get along, he was surprisingly friendly and caring, but Rose kept her distance from him because she didn't feel comfortable around him after knowing he fancied her. She didn't completely ignore him or argue with him like before, but whenever possible, she never missed a chance to avoid him.

Suddenly her eyes caught a glimpse of a young witch in the same year as her. She stood very far end of the platform away from the crowd. Her shabby little trunk was at her feet, and she was happily talking the tall, middle-aged man who stood next to her. Seeing those two together made Rose's blood boil from anger and hatred. Although the young witch and Rose had the same fiery red hair, freckled complexion, blue eyes and long nose, they looked slightly different from each other as a result of both of them mostly taking after their mothers.

Feeling someone's eyes on them, the girl turned her head and looked at the direction of Rose. Her lips curved into a timid smile when her eyes met Rose's, but her face fell when Rose treated her with a venomous scowl. Noticing the sudden change in the girl's cheerfulness, the wizard followed her eyes to find the reason for the change. When he saw Rose, his face turned white as a sheet but hiding his discomfort he gave her a weak nervous smile which was indeed returned by another angry glare.

"Rose!"

She heard her mother's gentle but warning voice when her fingers unintentionally wrapped around her wand tightly.

"Yes, mum." She said without taking her eyes off of the target.

"It's getting late. Get on the train love." Hermione said gently placing her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

Rose looked at her mum and saw her looking at the same people she was frowning at before. But Hermione was not glaring or showing any kind of anger or hatred towards them. Her mother's facial expression was blank, but her eyes was filled with something that Rose couldn't understand. She heard her mother letting go a deep sigh when the man looked away nervously after meeting her eyes. He looked guilty and miserable, but Rose didn't feel sorry for him at all.

Without making a fuss, Rose pretended to be listening to her mother's long lecture of well-meant advice and finally got on the train after bidding her goodbye. She didn't argue with her or roll her eyes as usual because deep down, she knew her mother was emotionally hurt and miserable although, she successfully managed to hide it and stayed strong for the sake of her children.

Without looking for her friends Rose went ahead and found an empty compartment at the far end of the train. As soon as she got in, she collapsed into the nearest seat and closed her eyes firmly after shutting the door with a quick spell.

Yes, there was no doubt, her sixth year would be a miserable one just like her last year, all thanks to that stupid Hufflepuff. Rose scrunched up her face in hatred. She spent four wonderful years in Hogwarts. Basically, she lived like a queen in her kingdom. She made lots of new friends, enjoyed her studies, did her assignments very well, achieved highest marks for every subject, became an excellent Quidditch player, but all of a sudden in the last year her whole empire shattered into tiny pieces.

Rose could very well remember the first day she saw the pesky witch. She was just a nervous teenager who stood in the great hall among first years waiting to be sorted. Ignoring her cousin James remarks on her high resemblance with the new girl, Rose impatiently waited till the transfer student from the Castelobruxo got sorted into a house. The main hall started to buzz with murmurs and whispers when Professor Longbottom called out Dahlia Weasely to come forward for sorting. People even forgot to applause when she got sorted to Hufflepuff as they were busy jabbering in a huge shock. The Weasley and Potter children looked at each other in a state of bewilderment from their respective house tables. They never knew any other Weasleys who had school-age children and Dhalia Weasley was a huge mystery to them.

Dahlia was a timid and very reserved girl and never showed any interest in making friends. Most of the time she was found alone and rarely seen with her other dorm mates. She was an average student who didn't obtain flying colours in her studies like Rose and on top of everything, she deliberately avoided the Potter-Weasley clan.

A month into their new study year, the Potters and Weasleys decided to solve the mystery of the new Weasley girl. Other than her surname being Weasley and the previous school being Castelobruxo, no one knew anything about her. Out of curiosity Fred and James plotted a plan to steal her information from the student records, and after many failed attempts and months' worth of detentions, one day they successfully managed to snatch it under the very nose of the caretaker without getting caught.

A quick family meeting had been called to unveil the truth about the new girl. As soon as James unfold the parchment, his facial expression went into a shocked mode and not only him, but even Fred who was looking over his shoulders glared at the parchment as he had seen a ghost.

"What is it?" Lily asked impatiently.

Without saying anything, two older cousins looked at each other in horror.

"Give it to me!" Rose demanded in her bossy voice and snatched the parchment from James without listening to Fred's protest, then quickly skimmed through it.

Name: Dhalia Ruth Weasley

Date of Birth: 05/09/2005

Parents: Ronald Billius Weasley and Lavender Brown (Deceased)

Rose couldn't continue anymore, she felt lightheaded, and everything started to spin around her.

When she gained her consciousness, Rose was in the school infirmary. She was depressed, lost and broken. She cried for almost a day without talking to anyone. Her cousins and her brother visited her. They brought her various sweets, books and loads of little gifts but everything was left untouched. She didn't even bother to have a look or exchange pleasantries with her visitors. Her expression was empty, and her eyes had focused on the ceiling blankly.

Although Rose couldn't even remember her father well, she couldn't handle his betrayal at all. She was a little bit over two years old when he suddenly disappeared during an important mission in South America and never returned. Everybody thought he was dead, but her mother believed he was alive. Her aunt Ginny said her mother cried for two months and finally became strong when she found out that she was four months pregnant with Hugo. But her mother never recovered from the pain. She never got back to her old bubbly cheerful self or fell in love with another man. To forget her loss, she became a workaholic and divided her time only between her children and work. Needless to say, she was an excellent, very loving and caring mother, but there was a strange emptiness in her life. When they became bit older, Rose and Hugo begged their mother to find love again, but Hermione refused to open her heart to another man because she firmly believed she couldn't love another the way she loved their father.

Since she was small, Ron Weasley was Rose's favourite hero. She used to be very proud of all the traits and features she inherited from him, and she used to speak highly of him all the time. Now she was regretting everything feature she inherited from him and considered him as nothing but a cheater. Dhalia was born a month before her parents' wedding and nearly a year before Rose's birth, that made Rose furious as it was obvious that her father cheated on her mother during the period they had been engaged. The parchment James stole stated that girl's mother was the only parent who was dead, so there was no doubt that her unfaithful father was alive as her mother always believed.

After spending days in the hospital wing, Rose got back to her routine, but she never became the person she was before. She avoided Dahlia like the plague. Apart from a scowl or a sneer, she didn't interact with her at all. The situation got worst by Christmas. Rose got the news that Ron Weasley was indeed back in the country, not alone but with a daughter and working in her uncle George's shop as an assistant. She had shattered into tiny pieces again and worried that she might have to tolerate their presence at The Burrow during Christmas time, but they never visited The Burrow. Not even a single time when Rose, Hugo and Hermione was there. Through her cousins, she got to know that Ron had visited her uncle Harry's place a couple of times and Uncle George's place few times all by himself without Dhalia. Nobody talked about him or Dhalia in front of her or her brother. Her mother didn't mention anything about him or showed any signs that she knew about him or his other child, but Rose knew being the Minister of Magic, nothing stayed a secret to her mother ever.

It didn't help at all when the press found out about the news. Hermione and the other Weasleys refrained from giving them interviews on the specific topic, but journalists didn't give up a chance of publishing a hot story on a celebrity scandal. Rose burnt several copies of the Daily Prophet on the day they printed a disgusting article on the front page of the paper. Her mother ignored the false accusations and insults and faced the public bravely, yet she never discussed a single word that appeared in that article with her children. Rose and Hugo didn't even attempt to question her, but along with their other cousins, they spent the rest of their Christmas and New Year break away from the public eye.

There was a noticeable change after the Christmas break. Roxanne, Fred and James started to exchange pleasantries with Dhalia when they were back at school. Apart from them, no other Weasley or Potter child associated with her. No one wanted to hurt or upset Rose, so they never invited Dhalia to their family gatherings and meetings at school although they didn't hold a grudge against her.

Albus had stood by Rose all the time during their fifth year, but he didn't come alone. Just like a package deal, Scorpius was always there with him. Her days at Hogwarts became miserable by seeing her father's love child every day, and on top of everything, the fact that her father left their family to be with his lover and their child made everything bitter and worse for Rose. She became more dependent on Albus' friendship than before, and started to tolerate Scorpius' company as she had no other option left.

By the noise of someone opening the door to her compartment brought Rose back to the reality from her deep thoughts. In milliseconds she was face to face with the person she loathed, hated and despised most in her life.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know that someone was here." Dahlia muttered apologetically.

"Now you know. So go away!" Rose hissed venomously.

"I already apologised. I didn't do it purposely, and there is no need to be angry."

"I don't need your apology!" Rose gritted her teeth. "If you are not leaving now, I'm leaving!" She stomped her feet stubbornly.

"What's your problem? Other than opening this door, I haven't done anything." Dahlia said baffled by Rose's reaction.

Without answering her Rose swiftly got up from the seat and stormed out of the compartment by rudely pushing the other girl aside.

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Thank you very much for reading. Please review and let me know whether I should continue.