A/N So, two minor spoilers for the next few chapters of Binding Stones, but nothing you can't handle. You asked for it, you got it!

The River and the Rose

Hermione Granger and the Quest for the Binding Stones

Stone Soup

The River and the Rose

Part 1

To: Rose Granger Weasley

CO: Harry Potter

Box Two Hundred Twenty Seven

Westminster, London W21BA

Dear Rose,

I hope this finds you well (that's how dad says you're supposed to start these things). You were right about Australia, it was awesome. We picked up Meadow from Mom and flew to Tahiti where we stayed a few days, and then we went on to Sydney. Dad had some meetings like he did while we were in New York, but most of the time we traveled and dove. Dad chartered an overnight dive boat for a few days, and we cruised up the Great Barrier Reef doing three dives a day.

Meadow is really getting into it. She has this video and camera set she takes down, and she's getting some great stuff. We saw all kinds of fish, and coral, and things, but the neatest were the sharks. I know you should be scared of them, but when they're not feeding they're not really aggressive. We never went down during feeding time, so we were pretty safe. One day a group of dolphins came and played with us for about a half hour. That was really cool.

The second week we went into the bush (that's what our guide called the desert) and we saw all kinds of neat stuff, but the coolest was Kata Joota, you were right about that too. Uluru was really big and interesting, but Kata Joota was special. It just felt… different. It was also deserted compared to Uluru. There were some Australians hiking there, and a German couple, but we were the only Americans. We did hike into the Valley of the Winds like you said. Our guide was a little surprised when I told him I wanted to go there, but he was happy to take us. He said we were the first 'Yanks" to ask him about Kata Joota.

We stayed in Alice Springs for a few days and saw the other stuff around there. There's a neat Australian National Park near there that we hiked in too.

And tell Selene she was right about Meadow.

Rose smiled, as she always did when she read that line. Of course she was. Lavender had spoken with her about her conversation with River, and Rose knew her nanny was correct. However mad at him she was, David Bradley was Meadow's father, and Rose couldn't imagine staying angry with her father forever.

I think about the roof all the time. River wrote.

So do I, Rose thought with a melancholy smile.

Meeting you has been the best thing to happen to me in a long time, and I hope we get to see each other again soon. Dad says the next time he has to go to England he'll ask Mom if he can take me. If he does can we meet up? I'm sure we can get to where ever you live.

Rose laughed to herself. Umm, no, you can't! she thought. But Mum and Lavender will figure it out.

Well, I guess I've caught you up on what we've done for the last few weeks. What have you been doing? Are you back in England? Please write and tell me. Send pics if you can.

Oh, and Merry Christmas.

Love

River Bradley

Rose carefully folded the paper and put it back in the envelope it came in. She tucked it into the corner of the drawer in her nightstand. She'd read it dozens of times now, always planning to write back but not knowing how to begin. Now she knew. He father had talked with her earlier in the afternoon, and he had related some of his trials in finding the correct words and sentiment when he had written to her mother during their school years. "Just say what's in your heart," her father had said. "It'll come out looking stupid and foolish to you, he'll love it." He'd ruffled her hair, sniffed, and retreated to the shed.

Rose dipped her quill.

To: River Bradley

18362 El Angeles

Mazatlán, Mexico, 82110

Dear River,

I am well, thank you.

We've only been back from America for a few days, and I've read your letter over and over trying to find the words to tell you how much it means to me. You were the best thing about our trip, and that's saying a lot. As to what we did after you and I said goodbye, when we left New York we first travelled to Texas and the southwestern area of America.

My mum and I are, as you know, doing a lot of research into the native cultures, and we met with some very impressive people from the Dine, the Navaho and Apache tribes, and they told us some of their stories and legends that were vitally important to our investigations. We also made some great friends among the Dine people. From there we went to our Aunt Luna's cousin's home in Idaho.

He's a famous movie actor, but I just know him as 'Cousin George'. Anyway, he has horses and cattle on his ranch, and Lilly and I got to go out with his hands and round up some of them. That was great fun. I'm getting better at riding, my Mum has got Lilly and me riding lessons for years now, but we always rode English tack. The American saddles are much easier. We rode all over for a full day and I wasn't nearly as sore as I usually am.

The northern tribes are very different, and again much the same, as the people of the south. I was privileged to meet with some of the most respected tribal elders of both communities, and I found them to be kind and helpful, and incredibly knowledgeable. We found what we were looking for shortly after that.

Two days later we left from Seattle and went back to our friend's home in Australia for a few more days to rest and to check up on her. She's almost ninety. My Grandparents from my father's side were there for a visit, and we went back to Kata Joota. I'm so happy you found it as special as I did.

I think about the roof too.

A lot.

When you come to England give us plenty of warning. I would like to show you some special places, but I need to get permission. It's hard to explain, but much of my life is secret, and getting permission to show you more than a little bit of it is hard and time consuming. Mum is using her influence already to sort of pre-clear you and your father, but we will need advance notice of your arrival.

I want to show you my home, and I want to show you my Grand mum Weasley's home, but that may not come to pass. What I can show you is the village I live in, Feniton, and Otterey St. Catchpool, the village where my dad grew up. You've been to London I suppose, but there are places I bet you haven't been there, and I'd like to show you some.

The rain is turning to snow now, and we may have a white Christmas tomorrow. Look for a package from me under your tree.

Love

Rose

It was by far the strangest letter he had ever received. It wasn't what Rose had written that was strange, he had memorized every word. No, it was the letter and envelope, which were one in the same. The paper was thick and rough, and it had been folded meticulously into a square shape and sealed with wax. The initials RHGW had been impressed into the red wax seal, and he had taken a picture of it before he broke it open.

The letter had arrived yesterday, Christmas day, and he had enjoyed it far more than any of the extravagant presents his mother and father had bought in their competition for his affections. The new DSLR Nikon Camera his father sent had been nearly forgotten when the strange man had delivered the letter in the late morning. The odd man had chuckled when their maid, Betty, opened the door and asked him how he had gotten past the locked gates and security cameras.

"Eh, papa," he had said chuckling, and then he asked for River.

"For you, mi amigo," he had said as he handed the letter to River, and then he just turned and walked away down the drive.

River stared at the envelope for a full minute before dashing back to his camera to take pictures of it.

No present was under the tree though, and he was just slightly disappointed. He'd asked his mom if something had come for him at the post office in Mazatlán, but she hadn't seen anything about a package waiting for them. So he had read the letter, for an hour. Then he had stared at the picture of the two of them for another half an hour. Finally he and Meadow, who was becoming rather human of late, had gone for a walk in the jungle taking pictures and talking. She was very interested in Rose.

It had been a great Christmas, and all because of a few lines written on an odd piece of paper. Meadow had teased for a few minutes, but after she realized it had exactly zero effect on her brother she hugged him and kissed the top of his head. Now it was the day after Christmas. He'd read the letter again, a few times, and was headed down to breakfast. As he walked through the living room he glanced over to the tree. Sitting directly under the front of the tree was a shoebox sized package wrapped in the same rough paper, and sealed with the same wax.

He vaulted over the small table and couch to get to it.

Happy Christmas, River. I hope you like it. Was written on the top.

He held the package in his shaking hands, staring, afraid it would somehow vanish if he closed his eyes.

"What's that?" Meadow's voice said from the stairs.

"Uh," River said.

Meadow walked up behind him and read the inscription over his shoulder. "She has wonderful penmanship, penwomanship, whatever," she said. "Cool seal. I have a wax seal set somewhere. I've never used it. I should start, it's neat." She hugged her brother shoulder to shlouder. "So, what'd your girlfriend send you?"

After dashing back to his room to get his camera, River came back to the living room to find his mother waiting with Meadow. Both had curious smiles on their faces. He took a few pictures of the package and set the camera on the low table.

"That same strange man delivered it this morning to Betty," His mother said quietly. She patted River's head. "Boxing Day. The British open presents today."

"Well?" Meadow asked.

River gently broke the seal and unwrapped the box. It was indeed a shoebox, from someplace called 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions'. He supposed it was some British shop she went to. He lifted the top of and found another tiny wrapped package sitting on top of something that had been knitted. Inside the neatly folded paper (he was getting used to how she folded it now) was a locket hanging from a cord made of braided and woven deep red hair. A picture of Rose, her hair wild in the breeze, and her with giant smile on her face, was inside the locket.

The paper read: I thought you might like a picture of me as I normally appear, and you did seem to like my hair for some odd reason. The scarf my Grand mum helped me with.

The scarf brought snickers from Meadow and his mother. The knitting was fine, but the colors of the yarn were very odd choices. The snickers, however, were for the two interlocking Rs knitted into one end.

"I want to meet this girl," Meadow said, sharing a sidelong look with her mother.

"I hope you get to," River said.