Hi everyone! This is the sixth book in a series; if you haven't read the other books yet the first one is called Rose Weasley and the New Order and should be easy to find on my profile. If you have read the other books, I hope you like this book and the first chapter! Please review, I love hearing from you! And of course, I don't own Harry Potter-if I did I wouldn't be so concerned about the Cursed Child spoilers. Also, speaking of the Cursed Child, this series is probably going to conflict with it a little and definitely won't be finished by the time it comes out, so I'm going to say now that I'm not going to pay attention to the Cursed Child until I've finished this series. Enjoy! -Kelly :)

CHAPTER 1

THE HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY

Rose Weasley was asleep by the time the dark van Leah Shafiq was driving parked in front of a cottage nearly four hours from the time that the Hogwarts Express had arrived at King's Cross station. Scorpius nudged her gently and she woke quickly, in turn waking up Hugo. "What time is it?" he muttered.

"Around eleven," James said. "Where are we, Leah?"

"Just outside of Leeds," she replied. "Everyone out."

"That's still pretty vague," Rose said, confused, as she, her brother, the three Potters, and Scorpius climbed out of the van.

"At least we've got the music festival going for us," James said. Rose ignored him as Leah led the way up the driveway to the front door of the cottage. She stopped when she reached the door and knocked three times.

"Who's there?" a voice asked from inside. It was muffled, but Rose recognized it.

"Rudomin?" she whispered, confused, as Leah responded.

"Leah Shafiq, with the King's Cross group."

"What was the first lesson you taught as my teaching assistant?"

"Historical origin of curses," Leah said, and the door swung open.

"Sorry about that," Rudomin said. "Had to be sure."

"Professor, what are you doing here?" Al asked.

"Come inside, we'll explain," the professor said, and they followed Leah into the cottage. After they were all inside, Rudomin turned to the door and placed several charms on it. They followed the adults through a corridor into a sitting room, filled with large armchairs and sofas with a roaring fireplace that almost reminded Rose of the Burrow. Inside sat Harry, Alice, and Ariana Longbottom along with their father, who stood up when they entered.

"Thank Merlin, you're all safe. Journey was all right?" he asked Leah.

"No trouble," Leah responded.

"Brilliant. Tea?" he asked. They all nodded and he retreated to a small kitchen area behind the sitting room where a kettle sat on the stove. He flicked his wand and it began pouring itself into seven cups as they sat down in the remaining chairs. James crossed the room and sat next to Alice, whom he tried to kiss before she shook her head at him, turning slightly pink as her father came back in floating the cups of tea with him. They had all sat down by then and Neville turned serious then. "I'm sure you'll all want to know why you're here."

"Er, yeah. Is this your house?" Al asked. "I thought you lived in Hogsmeade."

"We moved a couple years ago," Alice said quietly, and Rose suspected it had been along with the divorce.

"Yes, we live here. This house has been protected with a number of defensive charms; your parents have agreed that you'll be safest here over the summer."

"Okay… but why's Professor Rudomin here?" Rose asked.

Rudomin spoke then. "This isn't just the Longbottoms' house. It's the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix."

"Like in the Wizarding Wars?" Hugo asked, sounding excited.

"Yes," Neville said. "McGonagall felt it was time to restart the Order. Your uncle has connected us to the Auror office, and your mother is helping us from within the Ministry."

"So we'll be seeing them, then?" Hugo asked, sounding a little relieved.

"You should be, eventually," Neville said, nodding. "For now, it's late, though, and you all should rest."

"I'll be going, then," Rudomin said. Leah stood up as well. Neville walked to the door with them and they began to speak in hushed voices.

"Is there enough room for all of us?" Hugo asked hesitantly.

"Should be," Alice said. "You're with Charlie, but he's already asleep. Lily's with Ariana and Rose is with me—"

"You're with me, James," Harry said, grinning, who then added, "Al, you and Scorpius are going to be in Frank's old room."

Neville returned as the door shut, after reinstating the charms, and said, "Need help with trunks?" He followed them into the hallway, where their trunks lay about the floor, and levitated them up the stairs. "Your owls got here about half an hour ago and we got them to the right rooms."

"Thanks, Neville," James said, and disappeared up the stairs with Harry. Hugo followed them and Lily ran after her cousin. Ariana and Alice came in from the sitting room last and Rose followed Alice up two flights of stairs to where the top three bedrooms were, with Neville, Ariana, and Charlie's rooms on the first floor. James stuck his head out of the door at the end of the hallway and said, "You lot, come here."

Rose, Al, Scorpius and Alice walked into Harry's room, where Harry and James were already sitting on the bed and the cot on the other side of the room, respectively. James jumped up and closed the door behind them. "What's this about?" Alice asked, and James smiled and kissed her.

"I'm happy to see you again," he said quietly. "You're avoiding me, though."

"Well, my dad was right there…"

James frowned and kissed her again. "Still."

"That's enough of that," Harry said, sounding annoyed, and James went back to his cot, grinning.

"If you're quite finished, we'd be interested to know what we're doing here, too," Rose said, sitting on the small sofa shoved in the corner near Harry's desk. Al and Scorpius followed, and Alice sat down next to James as he seemed to grow a little more serious.

"So we're at the Order's headquarters, which obviously means we need even more security. Why are we suddenly in more danger than before? What happened with you three last week?"

Rose looked at Al before saying, "They wanted the Resurrection Stone because they thought that your dad had used it to bring himself back to life."

"What the hell?" Harry muttered.

Rose explained everything that had happened, until she reached the point where they had heard the prophecy and James stopped her. "Hold on. They told you?"

"Yes," Rose said. James shook his head.

"I don't want to know, okay? Do you two?" he asked, looking at Alice and Harry. They looked unsure and he shrugged. "Just… we don't need to know, Rose. But bloody hell, Horcruxes sound messed up. How do you reckon you even do that?"

"I don't really want to know, to be honest," Al said.

"Dad probably knows, he just didn't want to tell you," James said.

"I bet Frank would know," Alice said.

"Yeah, probably," Harry said. "He'll be here tomorrow for the day.""Are the twins coming?" Al asked.

"Er, probably," Alice said. "And Luna, no doubt."

"Well, of course; she hasn't missed an opportunity to see Dad for years," Harry said, smirking a little.

"Are they back together?" Al asked.

"Not technically, but… sort of," Alice said. "Anyway, she's joined the Order and Frank has too, so they'll be around a lot this summer."

"They're all right, you know, just… a bit odd," Harry said. "It's a laugh watching Dad be all awkward, though."

"So Frank's in the order?" James asked. "Are you?"

"Me? No," Harry said. "Dad said he didn't like the idea. I'm going to keep trying, though."

"My dad'll never want me to, but he really can't stop me anymore," James said. "We'll be in Auror training anyway, it's not like it'll be less dangerous. Until then, we'll need more creative ways to get information."

"Hugo's got a full set of Extendable Ears in his trunk," Rose said. James grinned.

"Excellent."

A knock on the door made them all jump. Neville entered a second later and said, "Guys, it's late. I'd like to go to bed before the morning."

"Sorry, Dad, we're going," Alice said. Neville left the door open and went back downstairs. "All right, then, I guess we've got to go."

"I don't see why he can't go to sleep first," James grumbled.

"Sorry, James. I'll see you tomorrow," she said. They kissed again and she left, walking down the hall to her bedroom.

"We'll go, too, then," Al said. "Where's the toilet?"

"End of the hall," Harry said.

"I'm going first," he said quickly and rushed out the door as James swore.

"Fine," James muttered. "Night, Rosie. Malfoy."

"Good night," Rose said, smiling a little. She tried to go into Alice's room, but she'd shut it.

"Sorry, just give me a second!" Alice called in a muffled voice through the door. Rose sighed and leaned against the wall until a second later she saw Scorpius leaning against the doorframe to his and Al's room, looking at her as innocently as he could. She glanced at the bathroom door—still shut—before hurrying across the hall and closing the door behind her. Immediately Scorpius's arms were around her and he was kissing her until they both had to pull back for air.

"Al won't be back too soon?" she asked.

"He took his stuff in there, I think he's showering," Scorpius said, shaking his head a little, and Rose stood on her toes to kiss him again. "I'm never going to get used to this."

Rose smiled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I can't believe you're really here. It feels like a dream."

"You aren't dreaming," Rose said, blushing a little and he grinned.

"Good. I know this whole situation is strange, but at least we don't have to say goodbye for the summer."

"I don't know how we'll be able to have any time alone," Rose said. "They've got a ton of protective charms on the house, if we snuck out we wouldn't be able to get in again."

"Well, we're alone right now," he said, and was about to kiss her again when there was a knock on the door. Rose's eyes widened and she ducked behind the cot on the other side of the room, hoping the trunk below it hid her legs as James came in, holding a trunk. "Hi, James," Scorpius said, sounding a little confused.

"Er, hi. Sorry, but I think our trunks got switched." Rose almost had a heart attack before realizing Scorpius must have claimed the bed, as the trunk she was hiding behind was stamped with ASP on the side.

"Oh, sorry. Here." Scorpius went over to the bed and pulled the trunk out from underneath it. The two exchanged trunks and James left with an awkward nod. Scorpius shut the door behind him and Rose stood up. "Sorry about that," he said, laughing a little.

"It's okay," Rose said. "But this is my point. There's far too many people in this house."

"Everything will be fine, Rose, don't worry," Scorpius said.

Rose sighed. "I've got to go back out before Alice starts looking for me."

"All right." He kissed her again quickly and said, "Good night."

"Good night." Rose smiled as she opened the door a few inches, checked that no one was in the hallway, and hurried back to where she had been outside Alice's door. It was only a couple moments later when she opened the door, having changed and her makeup gone.

"Sorry," Alice said, "you can come in now. I didn't even think about you being here, and—"

"Oh, no, it's fine," Rose said quickly, and she entered Alice's room, feeling a little awkward. She had never been particularly close with Alice, and being in someone's bedroom seemed like something people really only do when they're better friends than they were. Her room was covered in posters from several different Quidditch teams, though the Holyhead Harpies seemed to be more prominent than some of the others. "We're Harpies fans, too," Rose said. "I mean, with my Aunt Ginny, we'd been going to matches since we were little."

"Oh, yeah, I think she's on some of these posters," Alice said, smiling. "Er, your trunk's underneath the cot, and Musetta's on my dresser with Titania." Rose walked over to where her owl was quietly competing with Alice's small tawny owl over the food pellets in the dish. Rose stroked Musetta's feathers absently as Alice started unpacking her own things. "Sorry, it's a bit of a mess. I would've cleaned up if I'd known."

"They didn't tell you?" Rose asked, surprised.

"No," Alice said, laughing a little. "We got home and Rudomin was in the sitting room with McGonagall."

"McGonagall was here?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. She left before you got there, she had a meeting or something," Alice said.

"Anyway, sorry about this," Rose said.

"Oh, it's fine. I'm actually kind of happy about it," Alice said. "It won't be so boring at least."

"And James is here," Rose said, and Alice smiled a little.

"Yeah, that too." She opened the door and said, "Al's out of the bathroom, you can go if you want."

"Oh, er, sure, thanks," Rose said. She grabbed her things and hurried down the hallway before James noticed the bathroom was empty. She tried to change and get ready as quickly as possible, still feeling a little awkward in a strange house, and went back to Alice's room. Alice turned off the light once she was inside and Rose climbed into the cot.

"Er, Rose?" she asked. "I know James didn't want to know, but if you don't mind… is it true that you all are supposed to defeat Nott?"

Rose hesitated before saying, "Yes, that's what it seems like. But it also said there'd be some kind of… sacrifice. We don't really know exactly what it means." Rose felt like she had made it sound better than she thought it was, but Alice still seemed grim.

"Oh. Well, thanks for telling me," Alice said quietly. "Good night."

"Good night." Rose lied awake for a while that night, despite all the protective charms. The summer had barely started and Rose already felt like her life was in danger. It must be some sort of record, she thought, staring at the moon out the window as she finally drifted off to sleep.