Hi everyone! Sorry it took so long to get the first chapter up, but here it is! This is the fifth book in a series, so if you haven't read the other books I would suggest that; the other books are on my account, and the first one is called Rose Weasley and the New Order. Thanks so much for reading and please review! -Kelly

CHAPTER 1

THE VISITOR

Rose Weasley waited in the Leaky Cauldron after her shift was over instead of Weasley Wizard Wheezes every day during the summer between her fourth and fifth year and it had nothing to do with Scorpius Malfoy working at the record shop next door. At least, that's what she told herself. It was just easier for James to pick her up this way. Of course.

After working weekday afternoons in her Uncle George's joke shop, Rose sat at the window waiting for her cousin, usually under the pretense of catching up with Roxanne before the latter had to go back to her dad's shop, and occasionally she saw her former best friend walking down Charing Cross road to the Underground Station that would take him back to Grimmauld Place. She had almost dared to speak to him twice, but never had. According to the bartender, he had come in before for a butterbeer or water and sat, usually reading, at the counter for a while, but Rose had never seen it. Apparently it only happened on days he got out of work late, and she had never managed to be in the same place at the same time. She wasn't even sure that she wanted to—she had been completely ignoring his existence all summer long. It was rather annoying for her, as she had barely seen her cousin's daughter except when Victoire and Teddy brought her to the Burrow to meet all of them that June. As of the third week of August, she had only seen Annie Lupin once and it was all his fault—he didn't deserve to live with such a cute baby, she thought bitterly as she sipped her glass of water.

"Is Aidan going over tonight?" Roxanne asked. Rose snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head.

"Er, no, tomorrow," Rose said. "He's going home with me after our shift."

Roxanne grinned. "Wish I could be there to see this."

"No you really don't," Rose mumbled. "My dad's going to be a bloody nightmare. It's not even that serious, I don't know why everyone's getting so worked up about it."

"It's been six months now," Roxanne reminded her. "That's serious for some adults, Rose."

"Well, whatever, I just…"

"Do you not think it's serious?" Roxanne asked. Rose bit her lip.

"Er, I don't know, I've hardly seen him over the summer… I mean he writes and everything…"

"M-hm," Roxanne said, rolling her eyes a little. "But can you honestly say you could see yourself with him later on?"

"No," Rose said hesitantly, "but I don't have to. Just because practically all of our parents only ever had one real relationship…"

"Well, yeah, that's true, I mean, Aunt Ginny…"

"Exactly. That's what I'm trying to avoid."

"I mean, it's worked out pretty well for them," Roxanne said, shrugging. "I'm not saying I don't agree with you, just… some people just click, I think." Rose didn't exactly know what to say and used this time to glance out the window again—no sign of Scorpius. "Anyway, your parents are being reasonable if they want him over for dinner, all I'm saying."

"Right," Rose mumbled, glancing around the pub.

"Hey, Rose, ready to go?" She hadn't even noticed James coming in, and stood up quickly.

"Sure, let's go," she said, smiling despite being a tiny bit disappointed she hadn't seen Scorpius today. "Bye, Roxanne.""See you tomorrow," Roxanne said, waving. She grabbed onto James's arm and noticed a flash of a blond head bobbing through the crowd outside just as they Disapparated.

Back at the Burrow, she walked into the house, said a quick hello to Hugo and Lily at the kitchen table, and continued up the stairs to her room where she laid her bag down on her bed and went straight to her desk situated under her window to wait for her owl. She was expecting a letter from Maggie, but she still had homework to do for the new term starting in less than two weeks. She opened her Arithmancy textbook and began to read intently.

There are some who decide to make many of their choices in regards to the numerical value of everything around them; while this is a cumbersome and restrictive decision-making method, there may be some credibility in the concept of number compatibility. For example, couples with the same Character Number are much more likely to succeed statistically than those who—

Philip tapped his beak on the window then and Rose's head shot up. She let Maggie's owl in, who joined Musetta on her perch, seeming exhausted. Rose pushed Musetta's food dish towards him and he gratefully descended upon it, despite Musetta's clicks in protest. "Oh, I'll get you some more. He just flew over the ocean, have some sympathy." Musetta still seemed indignant when Rose opened the letter.

17 August 2021

Hey Rose,

Things are great here, thanks for asking. From what I can tell, by the way, this April girl hasn't heard from Scorpius since he left in June. Must be tough to be her. Might be good for you though. (I know you said you hate him, but there's a little part of me that doesn't believe you. You and Aidan are cute, though, so do what you will.) So you said you see him after work? What does he look like? Does he look different? I've never met the guy, but I don't know, I'm curious. You were right, by the way; Alex asked me out, we're going to a movie next week. Our year's starting on the 6th after Labor Day so I guess you'll start before me. Let me know how the whole Prince and McGonagall thing is playing out. Write back ASAP.

Maggie

Rose wrote back quickly.

21 August 2021

Hi Maggie,

That's interesting about April. I don't really know much about what he's been doing, but you know that from my rant last time about Annie. I just want to see my cousin, does he have to live with her? But I've seen him through the pub window, he's… I don't know, I suppose he's different. He's cut his hair a bit; it's not short, though, just a different style than I've seen. And he's just… I don't know, dressing differently? Plus, he's working at Jimmy Walker Records on Charing Cross, and I know you don't know what that is, but it's sort of… where Teddy would shop? I mean, it's a Muggle shop, but they'd have The Weird Sisters and that other vampire band and things like that if they weren't. I think he's gone punk or something, it's odd. I'll have to find out soon, I suppose. We start on the first (I'll keep you up to date on Prince and the like). I can't believe you start so late, whatever Labour Day is. Anyway, I definitely knew it about Alex. Have fun, though it'll probably have already happened by the time you get this. Write soon, it's getting boring here. There's a finite number of Roxanne pranking schemes I can pretend to be interested in.

Rose

It was odd, she thought to herself, that Scorpius hadn't been visiting the Burrow that summer, if not for her than for Al. She wondered if Al was feeling resentful of him like she had been last year, but she didn't want to bring it up to him. She returned to her homework, a short essay about how her numerology affected her personality, and it wasn't long before she heard Gran calling everyone to dinner. She sat down at her place at the end of the long table, with Hugo next to her and James and Al across, and they all started to eat. "How was work?" Al asked.

"Fine," Rose said. "I was just working the register with Roxanne; Uncle George and Fred were promoting some new product."

"Oh, yeah, Exploding Joke Wands. I was going to go in and get one but you were already at the Leaky Cauldron, didn't seem worth it," James said.

"That seems dangerous," Aunt Ginny said from further down the table. James rolled his eyes.

"It shoots out of your hand and then explodes," he explained, and suddenly an owl tapped on the window behind them, carrying several letters with it.

"That'll be the Hogwarts letters," Uncle Harry said, and stood up to let the owl in. He took the letters and started passing them out, seeming to smile a little. "All three of you have badges, I think," he told them, and Rose and Al looked at each other in surprise.

"That can't be right, we've gotten in far too much trouble," Al said. Uncle Harry shrugged and handed them the letters.

"It says right here, it's yours. Albus Potter, Attic Bedroom and Rose Weasley, Second Floor Room on the Right." Rose grabbed hers and flipped past the usual school supply letter to find, indeed, another letter and a small package.

Dear Ms. Weasley:

We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected for the position of Prefect. You will be representing the fifth year Gryffindor girls. Enclosed is your Prefect badge. When boarding the Hogwarts express, you will report to the Prefects' Carriage at the back of the train for instructions from the Head Girl and Boy, Ava Matthews and James Potter. We hope you will appreciate the opportunity afforded by this position.

"James, you're Head Boy!" Al exclaimed as Rose was finishing reading her letter, and James stared at him in disbelief.

"There's no way that's right," James said. "This is just my prefect badge…" He ripped open his letter and stared blankly at the second letter. "That makes no sense."

"We're very proud of you, James," Aunt Ginny said, though she seemed like she thought it was more funny than impressive. Gran nodded in agreement, though she looked a lot more sincere. "So when do you all want to go get supplies? We can go tomorrow if everyone's free."

"I think so, when are you working, Rose? We can just pick you up from there," her dad suggested.

"I'm working 1:00-5:00 tomorrow, but Aidan was going to come over," she reminded them, and her mother nodded.

"Well, that's fine, he could come with us, I'm sure he needs to buy his supplies," she said, and Rose agreed quietly, a little miffed they'd found a solution so quickly. She was dreading the next night a little more than she'd thought.

"Oh, that sounds like fun," James said, smirking a little, and Aunt Ginny shot him a look down the table. "I meant that! I did! It sounds like fun!" He smiled sweetly at Rose in a way that only came across as disturbing to anyone who knew James, and Rose rolled her eyes. Soon after they had finished dinner, they heard someone pounding on the door. Rose was playing chess with Al and looked up, the two of them sharing an alarmed glance. Uncle Harry stood up and ran over to the door, throwing it open and speaking in a low voice to someone Rose couldn't see.

"Come in," she heard Uncle Harry say, and Rose's mother stood up.

"Kids, upstairs," she said, her voice even, but Rose heard anxiety in her voice. "Quickly, please." Rose shared another glance with Al and got up, rushing up the stairs with the others while her mother walked towards the door as well and the other adults exchanged worried glances.

"You've got an Extendable Ear in your room, right Hugo?" James asked, and Rose's brother nodded and ran to get it, upstairs to the attic he shared with Al. Hugo returned quickly and lowered the Ear down to the floor. They all huddled around it and listened closely.

"There wasn't a break-in?" Uncle Harry asked.

"No signs of it," the unfamiliar voice said. It was a deep, booming voice, intimidating but very even.

"It has to be someone on the inside, then," her mother said.

"Or someone Apparated inside, but no one can Apparate in there," Uncle Harry said.

"As far as we know," the voice said.

"I can't believe this," Uncle Harry sighed. "It's gone, then?"

"It's gone."

"It must be Nott, right, Harry?" her dad said. "I mean, who else could it be?"

"It could be anyone, Ron," he said. "I don't know."

"But if he's looking for the kids—"

"I know, but we have no idea if it's them or Cobra or someone else we don't know about. All I know is this isn't the first time the Department's been broken into for a prophecy and it won't be the last, and we can't spend all our time trying to find out who it was."

"But if we don't find them—"

"Honestly, Ron, I'm sure they'll show themselves. We're stationed back at the school this year, the kids will be safe."

"So you won't tell them?"

"No. There's no need yet. They shouldn't have to know yet."

James moved forward and tapped Hugo. "Pull it up," he whispered, "I reckon they'll come get us soon."

"Who's talking to Dad?" Lily asked.

"That's Kingsley Shacklebolt," James said, and Rose realized that she knew him, not personally, but she had seen his face before. He had been a big politician when she was very young and she knew he had been one of the most famous Aurors ever. "Old Head of the Auror Department way before Dad. If he's gotten out of retirement…"

"That prophecy must be pretty bad," Al said. James shook his head.

"I don't know if I'm glad we heard that," he said. "I think it's better not to know. If we find that prophecy—it sounds like it's about us, or at least some of us, but I don't want to know." He stood up quickly, almost angrily, and walked up the next flight of stairs up to the second floor, and Rose followed him. "Rosie—" he sighed, but she crossed her arms. She wasn't going to let him brush her off again.

"My room's on this floor, I can be here if I want to be," she said. "And I wanted to make sure you're all right."

"I'm fine, I'm always fine," he muttered.

"Er, no, you're not," she said. Then, more quietly, "Why don't you want to know?" She couldn't imagine not wanting to know what that prophecy said. If it had anything to do with her—or any of them, really—she could never live not knowing.

"I've had enough of my fate decided for me already," he said, looking up at her. "Now will you leave me alone?"

Rose looked at him for another second, realizing he really did need to be alone, and said, "Fine," turning around and walking into her room. When she got inside, she shut the door and dropped down onto her bed. She settled in to wait out Kingsley's stay, staring at the ceiling and thinking about what James had said. At first she couldn't understand it, but more and more she could see why he thought what he did and almost found herself wishing that the prophecy had never existed at all. Now that she knew about it, though, she knew that she had to know what it said.