A.N: This story is going to be regularly updated weekly from now on. Sorry for the LONG delay!

Chapter 2

"What happened that day? Are you really happy now?" he asked the red-haired witch. Rose was moved by the concern that was present in his eyes for her. So, she decided that she would answer his question for real now.

But as much as she wanted to tell James, something was holding her back. Rose fiddled with the spoon with which she had had her lunch, thinking about how she should start. But, before she could gather the courage to open her mouth, the grandfather clock in the corner of the room began chiming. She turned her head to look at the clock. Her eyes widened when she saw the time. Her lunch break was nearly over and she had an important meeting with her boss right after lunch. She quietly cursed under her breathe.

She turned towards James and exclaimed, "I'm so sorry James! But I really should get going now. I should have been back in my office five minutes ago."

"Rose, we just started talking about you and now you have to leave?" he asked her, not able to believe that she wanted to take off, all the sudden.

The look of disbelief on his face made Rose feel guilty. James was after all, her family. Even though he had the ability to get on her nerves, she always felt that James was the elder brother that she had never had. But should anyone ask her such, she would deny it without a second's hesitation. Apart from that, Rose really missed her family.

So, she suddenly made up her mind, took a deep breath, and before she could change her decision, she said, "Look James, I have a very urgent meeting right now. But I would be glad to meet you afterwards."

"Rose, I can understand if you don't want to talk," James started to say, but she cut him off and said in her most sincere voice, "I mean it, James. I do want to meet you later."

James considered her offer for a second and finally said, "I would like that."

Rose gave him a big smile and stood up to leave. "Tomorrow evening's good for you?" she asked him.

"Tomorrow? Why not today?" he asked her with a frown.

"Because I don't know till when I'll have to stay at the office today. I might be running late, especially since I'll definitely be late now."

As an afterthought, Rose asked, "Are you busy tomorrow?"

James ran his hands through his unruly black hair making it even more messy and avoided looking at her. Rose smiled to herself, thinking that a few things never do change. James running his hands through his hair was one of the fool proof ways to guarantee that he was nervous about something. Judging by the sheepish expression on his face, Rose could only guess that he had plans to meet some girl tomorrow and that James was thoroughly smitten by her.

He was still fidgeting in his seat, clearly torn with wanting to meet up with Rose and wanting to go out with that girl. Rose decided to put him out of his misery and asked, "Do you have a date for tomorrow?"

James looked at her and said, "Yeah, I do." And then he hastily added, "But I'm willing to cancel it for you!"

She was entirely shocked with his response. James was never one to cancel a date and that too with a girl that he obviously liked.

"That's so sweet, James, but it's not necessary." She said. Rose quickly grabbed a piece of paper from her bag and scribbled her address on it. She then turned to James, and said, "Owl me about when you're free"

She made her way round the table, handed the parchment to him and hugged him, while saying in a low voice, "It truly was great seeing you again, James."

She pulled out of the hug and said, "I'll be waiting for your owl."

"Me too, Rosie. I'm glad I ran into you." James said in the same low voice as her. "And I'll get back to you on a timing as soon as possible"

Rose gave him a smile and then ran out of the café, murmuring about all kinds of things that her boss would likely yell at her for being late while James sat in his seat, watching her leave.

After she went out of his sight, he sat back in his seat, thinking about how unexpected his afternoon had been. He chuckled to himself thinking of how flustered she was when she saw his face. James knew that it wasn't like Rose to just run away when things got bad. But, she did just that. That morning was still vivid for James in his mind.

James's apartment was situated exactly in the middle of London. Despite of where the apartment was located, James got it for a good deal and he instantly fell in love with the place as soon as he saw it. He knew that everyone thought he was crazy to want to live amid all the craziness and the noise of the city. But James was never one for peace and quite. He loved everything that had to do with noise. Another reason for James to prefer the place was it was quite near to The Leaky Cauldron, and hence very near to Diagon Alley. He was always one to avoid Appariation and it was the last on his list of ways of transport, just above Appariation was using a portkey.

That day was during his off-season. James didn't have to go to work that day and so he woke up quite late that morning. He woke up in a good mood, having been able to have slept for so long. He went about his day as it was any other one. He had a late breakfast and was thinking about what to do for later. He considering going to visit his parents' house as both his siblings were home for the holidays.

Al had asked him, in his recent letter, if he could help him to find a house for Al to live in. James wondered if Al would be up for some house hunting today. With that, he made up his mind to pay Godric's Hallow a visit.

The second he flooed to his childhood home, James knew something was wrong. Instead of the ordinary music that played from the wireless, during that time of the day, courtesy of his mother, or the constant bickering between Albus and Lily, the house had an eerie silence to it. He immediately knew that something was wrong. James made his way to the kitchen, calling out, "Al? Lily? Anyone home?"

James would never forget the sight that greeted him in the kitchen. Both his parents along with his aunt and uncle, Hermione and Ron, sat at the table. The worry in his parents' eyes was evident. But what startled him was the state that Hermione was in. Her hair was all over her face and the tear tracks, which were starting to dry up, clear on her red face. Her eyes were blood-shot and was apparent that she had been crying for a long time.

James tried to think of a time when he saw Hermione in such a state. The Hermione he knew was always collected, strong and ready to fight against the world for what she believed in. Even during her father's funeral, she put her grief aside and maintained a strong front of her mother's sake. She was the one who had taught him and all his cousins to have a cool mind in any situation and especially during the bad times. She was like his role model in that aspect.

And Ron looked as bad as his wife, if not worse. James cleared his throat, making the others aware of his presence. As soon as she saw him, Ginny leapt from her seat and pulled him in for a bone crushing hug which could easily rival her mother's.

James gently pulled out of the hug, and asked, "Mum, what's wrong? What happened?"

But instead of Ginny, a voice beside him answered.

"It's Rose." Harry said. James slightly jumped in surprise. Caught up with his mother, he didn't see his dad come over to him. Fear crept up his spine as he wondered what could have occurred to Rose. He couldn't help but think if the worse had happened to her.

"Wha – what about Rose? What happened to her?" James asked as his voice shook with fear.

As a response, Harry handed him a piece of parchment. James held it up to the light so that he could read it.

"I can't live among people who can't understand me or my intentions. I have made up my mind. I'm sorry if my decisions have hurt you. But I must remind you, it's my life and I'll live it the way I want to. I do want you in my life but not at the expense of me losing the most important piece of it.

Again, I'm sorry for having hurt you.

-Rose."

James took a deep breath as he slow reread the letter, trying to understand what he was reading. He couldn't believe it. Did Rose run away? Did she leave her home and family? That wasn't like Rose. Rose was like a replica of her mother in those matters, just as strong willed and determinate. But, the writing on the parchment was exactly like Rose's curvy and slightly fancy script.

James looked at his dad and opened his mouth, but there wasn't any noise coming out. He had no words to form a sentence. But his thoughts were running a mile a minute.

"Bu-but, how! Is this real?" he finally managed to stutter.

"Hermione found the note this morning, when she woke up. All her things were gone." Ginny replied.

"But why?" James dumbly asked all the adults in the room, but looked directly at his aunt and uncle. "What made her do this? It hasn't been even a week since they finished Hogwarts."

Both Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, unable answer his questions Ron looked highly uncomfortable as he said, "There was a slight misunderstanding between Rose and us,"

But Hermione immediately interrupted and asked in a fierce voice, "Us?!".

And at the same time, Ginny murmured, "Slight is a huge understatement."

Ron sighed as held his hands up in defeat and said, "Alright! Alright!"

"There was a huge misunderstanding between Rose and me. I was going to have apologized in the morning, by which, she would have cooled a bit. But I could have never thought, even in my wildest dreams, she would do something like this." Ron explained.

"But, what was it about?" James asked the couple.

Before either of them could ask, Harry said, "That's none of our business, James. Whatever the reason, it should stay between them."

James simply nodded to show that he understood. The expressions on the Weasleys' faces could show how grateful that James didn't press for more information.

Later that day, the most intense search that the Ministry of Magic had ever seen had begun. The first two weeks were the worst. Everyone searched for Rose, including the Aurors, family, and friends. They all waited with baited breath, waiting for any news of where Rose could be. But it was all in vain. Nobody had the slightest idea of where Rose was. The search extended to the other countries and carried out across the oceans. But there was no news.

Six months later,

The entire family, apart from those who were still in school and obviously Rose, sat in the back yard of the Burrow for their regular Sunday lunch. It was during the lunch, Ron stood up to make an announcement.

"We're calling off the search for Rose" he said.

The statement was met with lots of murmurs from the family, and when they finally calmed down, she said, "Hermione got a letter from Rose, the day before."

The yard became so quite that the only noise was the distance sounds from the birds. Someone broke the silence by asking whether it was because Rose decided to come home.

Instead of replying, Hermione held Ron's hand as it began to shiver and so it was Hermione who continued, "She wrote that she's happy and would like to be left alone. She also said that she would be grateful if she could live her life without having to hide from anyone, lest they inform us of her whereabouts."

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to say. At last, Molly broke the silence.

"When you said that the letter was addressed to Hermione," she broke off, not knowing how to continue.

"Yes Mum, it was addressed to only Hermione." Ron replied.

Tears started to gather in his eyes as he unsuccessfully tried to stop them from rolling down. It was an open secret in the family that the reason that Rose had left was solely Ron. But what had transpired between the father and daughter was a mystery to the rest of the family. Apart from Rose and her parents, the only people who knew everything were Harry and Ginny, who would never betray their friends' trust. Even Hugo didn't know the entire details of it.

Later that night, James wrote a letter to Rose telling her that he would be happy to meet her Friday night.

A.N: What do you think? Please leave a review regarding your views. It would make my day!