When Rose and Victoria got home lunch was being made by an obviously annoyed Remus.
"What's up, Remus?" Victoria said as she sat on the counter.
"Sirius," he ground out, his eyes tightened into slits.
"Is this about our mission?" Victoria said, worry filling her eyes.
There was a stiff nod from Remus before Victoria sighed and enlarged the bags of things Sarah had forced onto Rose.
"Put those in your room please, Rose. Remus and I need to talk."
Rose slowly grabbed the bags and walked away looking between Remus and Victoria in confusion. Once out of the kitchen she heard muffled talking and knew they had spelled the room so that she couldn't hear their conversation.
Rose walked into her room and set all of her new clothes down. She frowned and went over to a newly hung calendar. She looked and frowned. Perhaps that was the issue, tomorrow was the next full moon.
"July 14th, 1992…" She hummed, circling the date.
Although Rose would never admit it to her guardians, she used to sleep with her twin every full moon, because she felt as if she were going through the apparently painful transformation too. She had even started researching how to become an animagus because she wanted a chance to be there for Remus.
In actuality, Rose remembered distinctly when she had been forced to start sleeping with Harry on full moons. Although Remus and Sirius were always very careful, one day they weren't careful enough, and Rose had tagged along for half a minute. Then she was forced back by Sirius. Ever since that day when Rose was three Sirius and Remus had watched her like a hawk when it was close to the full moon. She had always contemplated somehow becoming a werewolf so she could be with him, but she knew how foolish that would be.
Sighing, Rose shook her head and moved to get up right as Maple jumped onto her lap and plopped down.
"Was that really necessary?" She asked the cat.
Maple stared up at her, not a care in the world.
Sighing, Rose flopped back into the back bump, ignoring Maple's claws as they dug through her jeans.
Rose started getting tired and before long-
"ROSE! DINNER TIME!" Four voices yelled.
Rose screamed and jumped up, Maple nowhere in sight. She shook herself mentally and quickly headed downstairs, rubbing her face.
"You lot could've told me nicer than that," She grumbled as she sat at her place.
"Yeah, you weren't listening," Harry said.
"Thanks for defending me, Harry."
"Anytime sis."
Rose happily dug into her steak, used to the tradition of steak on days leading up to the Full moon. She hummed happily as she dunked her steak into her mashed potatoes and ate a bite, ignoring the strange look that her twin gave her.
Harry shook his head and muttered, "After years of living with you I still can't handle you eating your steak and potatoes together."
"Well, get used to it," Rose hummed as she repeated the action.
Victoria and Sirius snorted while Remus rolled his eyes. Rose just smiled innocently and drank a small sip of her water.
Dinner was quickly finished and Rose waited for her elders to leave the table before she did. She noticed Sirius was favoring his right side, which meant something had happened to his left. She just sighed and shook her head.
"So, Victoria, do you bake? Sirius and Remus are hopeless at it," Rose said.
"Oh, I guess I bake. I'm more likely to eat the batter than to actually bake it, though."
Rose sighed and shook her head, before pointing to her twin, "You! What type of cake do you want?"
"Chocolate!" Harry immediately exclaimed. "Can I go now?"
Rose ignored him. "And I want vanilla. Sirius!" Rose exclaimed, pointing her finger at him now, ignoring his wince. "Money situation!"
"Anything you want you can have! Just don't hurt me!"
"Great!" Rose clapped her hands. "Four-tiered cake, two chocolate layers, two vanilla layers. We'll figure the rest out after tomorrow."
"Speaking of tomorrow, Victoria will be watching you two tomorrow," Sirius said, looking pointedly at a blushing Rose.
"I will do no such thing. They can watch themselves. I'm participating."
"You can't participate, you'll get-"
"I swear to Merlin if you say I'll get hurt will beat you over the head with a broom."
"I was going to-"
"Say that they can watch themselves? How astute of you."
Sirius sighed and shook his head helplessly, "Kids, I guess you're on your own."
"We'll be fine Sirius. We always are," Harry said, before pausing and looking at his twin, who was obviously thinking rather hard.
"Perhaps some of the Weasley's could come over?" Rose mused.
"No," both Sirius and Remus immediately said.
"Why not?"
"Rose, we said no," Remus said with a sigh.
Rose sighed and nodded her head, shrugging her shoulders helplessly at her brother.
The next day Rose was very active. Sirius had once joked that the energy Remus lost on the days of the full moon Rose gained, and on days like this Rose almost believed him.
Rose, in all of her activity, cleaned Maple's litter box, fed the owls, cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner, cleaned her already almost spotless room, cleaned the bathroom, and started organizing the bookcases in the living room.
Victoria had watched in amusement, and when asked why she admitted that when she was younger once she got cleaning there was nothing that could stop her. She had almost started helping with the cleaning frenzy, but Sirius distracted her with an intense game of chess instead.
Victoria saw why when Harry picked up a book from one of the piles and Rose looked as if she were going to murder him in his sleep.
Rose, to her credit, stopped for each meal. She acted as if nothing were happening as if she hadn't been going crazy cleaning. And to everyone else's credit, they followed her lead. But when the clock got closer to nightfall, cleaning fell to the wayside. Rose rarely left Remus's side and did everything he wanted before he knew he wanted it. Harry simply hid in his room, knowing that Rose had everything covered.
"Well, it's time for us to go," Sirius said, looking at his watch.
"Yeah, let's get this show on the road!" Victoria said, rubbing her hands together.
Sirius shook his head and tussled Rose's hair when he noted her strained expression, "Don't worry, Cubette, we'll be fine. We always are."
Rose nodded and hugged Remus tightly, and just watched as they left through floo, each one muttering the location so Rose couldn't pick up on it. Rose shook her head and went into her bedroom, knowing it would be another sleepless night.
That same night, in the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole, two redhead's were laying on their beds, staring out the window at the full moon outside.
"Think she's okay Gred?" Fred inquired.
"I think she can handle herself," came George's sighed response.
They both sighed and rolled off their beds, pulling up the loose floorboard to look at the items before them. They had worked tirelessly on these inventions. One, that they had tested vigorously, was going to be Rose's for her birthday. They just didn't know how to give her it.
Their mother was going to take the Weasley clan to go shopping for the Potter twins soon, and Fred and George knew what to get Rose beyond their little creation. There was a bracelet, a cheap one at that, that they had had their eye on. It would have to be a collective gift, but they could swing it.
"Do you think mum'll go for it?" Fred said with a sigh, thinking of the bracelet.
"I think she would. I mean, it's not even a Galleon, and you and I both know Rose and Harry 'lose' money here all the time."
They shared a meaningful look and went back to their beds their thoughts with another red head.
Rose awoke from what she could only call a stress-induced nap and zombie-walked her way into the kitchen, only to see her twin asleep on the table. Rose shook her head and set about to cooking, ignoring his occasionally not so gentle snores.
She nervously tapped her hand on her thigh as she cooked, and continuously checked to see if the floo had been activated yet. She had built the fire up to the perfect height for flooing, and her mind was constantly flitting about, worrying that perhaps this would be the time they didn't come back to her.
Her concerns were proven to be unfounded when Remus practically fell through the floo. Sirius came tumbling in next, and Victoria practically bounded into the house.
"Food!" She called as she slipped into her seat, waking Harry from his slumber.
"What's for food, Cubette?" Sirius asked as he helped Remus into his seat. "The old man here would like to suggest potatoes."
Remus glared at Sirius and swatted his arm, "I'm younger than you."
"I could tell last night!" Victoria said cheerfully, ignoring Sirius as he choked on his coffee.
Rose just shook her head and hummed quietly as she turned off the heat under the spitting bacon, and took the hash browns off the heat too.
"You're lucky I can anticipate cravings," She mused as she got Remus his plate first.
Remus nodded his thanks to her as she got everyone else their plates and they all tucked into their food.
"So, how was last night?" Rose questioned finally.
"Fantastic! I haven't had that much fun in who knows how long! Probably the last time Sarah and I sat in the trunk of a car with my grandma driving and pretended to be casting spells at this invisible thing we were sure was chasing us."
Everyone stared at Victoria until she blushed, "What?"
Sirius shook his head and kissed her cheek, "Nothing dear."
Remus shrugged his shoulders, "Well, It wasn't all that bad. Victoria here probably took the brunt of the force of it, being new and all. I can never really remember."
"Oh, she did. But for everything you did she did back. I wouldn't be surprised if Moony worships the ground she walks on now."
Victoria's blush got worse and she grumbled into her coffee while everyone laughed at her expression.
"Oh, by the way, we need more food soon. Our stores are running low. I can scour about 2 more days out of all of this, but after that, we need more."
Remus nodded his head, "I'll take you shopping this time."
Rose hid her excitement well, but she had always loved shopping with Remus. Although he was intrinsically shy he also was used to making a scene, so they always had so much fun.
Two days later, after Rose's and Remus's shopping trip, they both toppled in through the front door laughing maniacally.
"Did you- her- oh Merlin!" Rose gasped out, putting the bags on the kitchen table.
"She seemed quite confused," Remus offered as he started putting away the frozen goods they had gotten.
"What happened?" Harry asked as he came into the room.
"Rose found a rather... peculiar purse."
Rose started laughing maniacally, "It was in the shape of a chicken! It had a beak, feathers, and everything! And when I pointed it out, he picked it up and started carrying it like it was his! It was perfect!"
They all laughed and Rose wiped away her tears as she was putting away some eggs which simply made her laugh harder.
"I'll never look at chicken products the same way again," Rose solemnly vowed.
"I would be insulted if you did," Remus assured her.
"You should've kept the purse," Rose said with a giggle.
"Perhaps I should go back and retrieve it?"
"Perhaps you should."
They both laughed and Rose left the room as Sirius and Victoria entered it, hearing them planning Harry's and her's birthday party as usual.
In the fifteen days leading up to her birthday after that (yes Rose had counted) Rose was busy preparing the house with Victoria. None of the males were really concerned with the cleanliness of the house, but Rose and Victoria would have had their heads if they messed up any part of their now cleaned household up.
"So," Victoria said one day as they were working on the study, where they adults often went. "Tell me about the Weasley's."
"There's a whole hoard of them," Rose said with a laugh. "They all have red hair, and they all manage to get tan somehow. I think it's very unfair. There 9 in total, Molly, the mum, Arthur, the dad, and then in order of age is Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. Ginny is the first girl to be born to the Weasley's in generations, so she's rather special to them."
"Why are there so many? Why couldn't it be a small family?" Victoria groaned.
"Because it's hard to tell people to stop having children. 'Least, that's what Sirius is always saying."
"That sounds like my idiot, doesn't it?" Victoria said with a self-satisfied smirk.
Rose simply shrugged her shoulders and continued discussing the Weasley family, "Molly is a stay-at-home mum, and Arthur works in The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, which is sorta funny because he's obsessed with muggles and how they cope without magic. Bill is a curse breaker for Gringotts, I think he's currently in Egypt, it's hard to keep track of him. Charlie works on a Dragon Preserve in Romania. Percy is a fifth year this year, he was a prefect last year. Fred and George, they're twins, so they always get grouped together even though they're different people, they're prankster's extraordinaire's, and they're beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Ron is… Well, he's Quidditch obsessed, doesn't people well. Ginny is a spitfire, she's also good at Quidditch but her brother's don't like it when she plays."
Victoria's eyes were wide with the swirl of information coming her way, "So, what are all of their Hogwarts years like?"
"Oh, Bill was Head boy and a prefect. Charlie was a prefect, and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Percy is a Prefect, probably on his way to being head boy. Fred and George are trouble makers, but really intelligent when you get to know them. Ron struggles in school, and Ginny is starting this year."
Victoria shook her head and claimed a headache as she went to go lay down with Sirius.
Rose started cooking her cake the day before her birthday, with Remus occasionally trying to help.
Rose had to shoo him out, though, he double salted one batch, burnt the next, made the next one explode and managed to get a cockroach into her frosting. With him out of the kitchen, Rose managed to finish the cake at 10 o'clock at night. Rose laid down in her bed, with Maple curled up on her chest, never noticing the wide, green eyes that stared into her window.
The next morning, Rose was cooking wildly, having almost forgotten about all of the food they would need for the day. She missed when the Weasley's entered the house, but didn't miss the feeling of the Weasley matriarch hand on her shoulder.
"I've got it from here, dear." Mrs. Weasley said with a kind smile.
Rose almost shouted with joy and hugged the older woman before she ran to go find the Weasley twins.
They found her first.
"Look, Georgie, it's a wild Rose!" George said to Fred, trying to throw off the scent of who they are.
"I know, Freddie, and what a beautiful Rose it is," George said with a wink in Rose's direction.
Rose laughed and blushed lightly before hugging the twins, "How are you two? I've missed your pranks so much!"
"Oh, she's missed our pranks, Georgie!" George said again.
"Guys, you realize that's totally unnecessary. I know that you," she pointed at George. "Are George, and that you," she pointed at Fred. "Are Fred."
"She knows us so well," they sighed together.
Rose shrugged her shoulders and smiled, "Well, that is what I aim to do. You two are so interesting, it's hard not to pay attention to you."
Fred and George shared a look before looping her arms into theirs, "So! We were wondering if you would like to come to The Burrow for a couple of weeks-" Fred started, no one noticing that they now had the attention of all of the adults.
"You'd be sleeping with Ginny, of course, but you're probably used to that by now." George continued.
"And when would I go to The Burrow?" Rose asked.
"Maybe the next full moon?" George offered.
"August 12th, I believe," Fred said with a shrug.
"Well, you'd have to discuss it with your parents, and I'd have to ask Remus and Sirius."
"Do you think you could stay until school started?" They both eagerly asked.
Rose then noticed the adults listening in and bent all of their heads together, "Do you two have an idea of some sort?"
"We need to do research, but we want to recreate the Marauder's map," they whispered feverishly to her.
"And seeing as you live with a bookworm," Fred started, glancing at Remus who was focusing very hard on a wall.
"And you are a bookworm," George offered.
"Who better to help us research than you?" they finished together.
Rose hummed and smiled at her two friends, "Deal. But, first, we're going to start doing something I've always wanted to do."
"What?" they asked eagerly.
"We'll discuss it at The Burrow."
They split away when Mrs. Weasley bustled over, "Lunch is ready dears! Let's all go outside!"
As all of the children walked outside, Remus frowned at Rose. He understood what she wanted to do, and he was sure that he would be hearing her and the twins call each other different names by the end of her third year.
After a delicious lunch, (that Rose thanked Mrs. Weasley profusely for cooking, knowing that if she hadn't she would've been busy all day) all of the presents for the Potter twins levitated onto the table. Rose ignored what her brother had gotten and just opened hers.
Magical Maps and you! By Johnathan Merrow was the first gift that Rose had opened. She shared a look with Fred and George and asked Mrs. Weasley to thank Bill for her.
Animagus or Not? By Katherine Dashful was her gift from Charlie, and Rose was trying hard not to show how nervous she was about retrieving these books at such a strange time. She asked Mrs. Weasley to thank Charlie for her too, much to the Weasley's Matriarch's delight.
Hairy Snout, Human Heart was the book she received from Percy. Tears glimmered in her eyes as she launched herself at the older boy, his face delightfully pink, "Oh, thank you, Percy! I've been trying to find a copy!"
"Yes, well, without an author to claim it it was rather difficult," Percy said with a sniff as he awkwardly patted the younger girl on the back. "But worth it to make you happy."
Rose kissed Percy on the cheek before going back to opening her presents.
Sirius had gotten her a new trunk for school, "Top of the line," he explained at her confused look. "Here, look, it has 10 compartments, an area for books, and you could easily turn one of the compartments into a little study area like I know you'd want to. I asked specifically."
Rose giggled and she hugged her godfather, happy that he had been so thoughtful, "Thank you, Sirius."
Remus had gotten her the chicken purse. Rose thought she was going to die of laughter, but not before she flung it at his head.
Harry hadn't really tried with his, but he had gotten her at least 5 different types of brushes. At her confused look, he shrugged his shoulders and smirked, "In case you actually try to do something different with your hair."
Rose gasped and held her hair close to her, "Don't worry baby, he won't hurt you." she stroked her hair as she held it close much to the amusement of the others at the table.
Ginny had gotten her a whole bunch of hair accessories and hair care products, hair bands, bandanas, ponytails, bobby pins, mousse, shampoo, conditioner, and the girl seemed to glow under the praise Rose gave her.
Victoria had shrugged when Rose unwrapped Practical Household Magic by Zamira Gulch and blushed lightly, "It seems you've done all the work here this summer. Perhaps you can keep your friends in check at school with all of this, too."
Ron, as always, had simply gotten Rose Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and more than a couple of Chocolate frogs.
Mrs. and Mr. Weasley had gotten her clothes for when she inevitably came to visit them for the summer, claiming that it was much more hot in Otter St. Catchpole.
Finally, the last box sat in front of her, "You two went in on it together, yeah?"
"I didn't want to overshadow poor Fred here, I mean, I'm already better looking than him, I don't need to embarrass him more," George said to explain.
Rose laughed and opened the small box, looking inside and gasping quietly. Inside there was a small charm bracelet that already had the sorting hat, a cat, an owl, a book, the full moon, and a cauldron on it.
"This is beautiful! Where did you find it?" She said, gently taking it from the box.
"For us to know," Fred said, grabbing her hand and holding her wrist steady.
"And you to never find out," George said, clasping the bracelet around her wrist.
She hugged them both happily, "Thank you so much! It didn't cost too much did it?"
"Absolutely not," they said with large smiles.
Rose laughed and turned to see the pile in front of Harry. He had received clothes from Victoria and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Ron had gotten him a Quidditch kit along with Ginny, who was blushing furiously. Fred and George had gotten him Screaming Shoelaces, "Use 'em on Ron." Charlie had gotten him a book about men who were obsessed with Dragons. Bill had gotten him 5 Galleons. Sirius had gotten him a trunk just like he had gotten Rose, and Remus got him a small pile of books, claiming that he really needed to start reading. Percy had helped with that, having gotten him books of the History of the Wizarding world.
Rose shook her head and placed all of her items into her trunk so she could haul them up to her room. Once there she tore open the awaiting packages on her bed.
One, from Hermione, was a book on French, with a letter detailing how excited she was to learn it with Rose.
Another was from Hagrid. The box that she slowly opened held a simple and delicate wooden rose, that it was obvious the giant man had whittled by himself.
The last box, she knew, was from Draco, as she had seen his Eagle owl fly by when they were outside. She hummed thoughtfully, rubbing her finger against the expensive wrapping paper. She slowly opened it and smiled when she saw the Slytherin green everlasting candle. She laughed and put it on her desk before running back to her friends and family.
She knew, also, that later that night there would be more presents from her guardians, and she couldn't wait to get everyone out of the house so that she could indulge herself in selfishness.
The rest of the day with the Weasley's was spent in laughter for the children, and many drinks for the adults. Percy had inquired whether or not her Guardian's had informed her what Hardy had meant, and Rose informed him that they most definitely had, and she didn't need that speech a second time, thank you very much.
Rose had sat on the floor in front of Ginny, who sat on the couch, and let the younger girl mess with her hair to her heart's content. She battled Fred in Wizard's Chess and lost a very close game. Ron and Harry had quickly retreated to Harry's room, but no one commented on the matter.
Percy read passages of Hairy Snout, Human Heart to her on occasion and would discuss what it meant, and if it was correct in their opinions. The twins never outwardly reacted to their older brother's intrusion, but they did vow revenge on the unsuspecting Prefect.
After Mr. and Mrs. Weasley emerged from the study with the other three adults they ushered all of the Weasley's home and promised they would come retrieve the Potter twins mid-day on August 12th.
Once they were gone, the rest of the presents were summoned, and Rose tore into them excitedly, knowing none of the packages would be marked.
In the end, she had received even more clothes, tons of shoes (Victoria had made a small face at the fact that none of them were what she called 'converse'), more hair supplies (more than enough to get her through school), and notes on how to make the process of becoming an animagus more bearable. When she looked up at confusion for the last one Sirius sighed, "You have more patience than Harry ever will, so you're the only candidate to pass these down to."
Rose completely missed Remus's look.
There were also tons of basic school supplies, and many, many more books. She sighed contentedly and hugged the three adults, and went up to her room to sleep and organize all of her new goods into the magical trunk she had received.