Year 3, Part 2
:: :: :: ::
Previously: The sound around her made no sense. It was just a wash of white noise that Rose couldn't understand. She didn't even struggle when he wrapped an arm over her and pulled her to his chest, and backed them out the portrait hole.
The portrait swung shut, and Black sealed it with a spell.
"Rosie," he said, his voice was scratchy and odd. "Are you all right? Come along with me now."
At that she came to her senses. "No! Get away from me!" she cried. "What did you do to my dog?" She went for her wand, but it wasn't in her pocket.
She looked up, and Black waved his hand, which now held two wands. "You're coming with me, and I really don't want to have to immobilize you."
He dropped the rat into a pocket of his tattered robes, and pushed her lightly. "Walk."
"What happened to Grim?" Rose asked fearfully.
"Rose, Grim is fine," he said impatiently. "I'm Grim, for Merlin's sake. You saw me change."
Rose considered this. "You mean, for all these months I've been playing tug of war, and crying all over the man who killed my parents?"
Black sighed. "Oh, Rosie."
They didn't say anything for a while. Rose was choking on feelings of utter betrayal. Her dog, her most loyal, steadfast friend… was not.
"Where are we going?"
"Dumbledore's office."
"Why?" she asked shrilly. "Do you want to kill him too?"
He chuckled darkly. "Not at all. He's going to help me. Help us, really."
Rose didn't like the sound of this. If she were a murderer who had just taken hostage her victim of choice, she wouldn't have headed right for the most powerful wizard in the vicinity who was likely to stop her, which meant that Black had a plan.
They arrived at the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office without meeting anyone else along the way.
"Start listing off candies," he ordered, and began rattling some off himself.
"Uh, cockroach clusters," she said.
"I already said that one."
"Chocolate Frogs."
"Fizzing Whizzbies."
"Mars Bars."
"Blood Pops."
"Acid Pops."
The gargoyle moved aside, and Black pushed her up onto the moving staircase. "Good job," he said.
"Yeah, thanks, I just got a murderer into the Headmaster's office. They should give me house points."
Black chuckled. "Everything will be fine. You'll see."
Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Professor Lupin were waiting in the office with their wands drawn. Rose whimpered and tried to shrink back, but Black moved her so she presented more of a shield.
"Let her go!" Lupin yelled.
"Wait, Remus!" Black said. "Just wait." He reached into his pocket, and held out Ron's rat in his hand for all to see.
"Clearly, Black is mad, Headmaster," Snape hissed.
But the rat seemed to mean something to Professor Lupin, because he wavered like his knees had gone wobbly. "Is that…" he said slowly.
"Yes," said Black.
There was a long, strained silence in the room, like the situation was teetering on knife's edge.
"Put him on the floor," Lupin said. Black tossed the rat onto the rug. It rolled, limbs flailing. Rose knew it was only stunned, but it looked dead.
Only Snape had kept his attention on Black, for which Rose was grateful. McGonagall and Dumbledore were looking between the rat and Lupin. He cast a spell that Rose had never heard before, and like when Grim had transformed into Black, Ron's rat turned into a man. A rather ugly man, Rose thought. He lay stunned and prone on the carpet.
"Oh, my Lord," McGonagall murmured.
Dumbledore blinked.
Lupin had to sit down.
Snape, though, narrowed his eyes and kept his wand trained on Black. What was a revelation for some changed nothing for Snape.
Rose was feeling a little left out. She turned her head towards Black, as he seemed to be the only person who was able to answer at the moment, and asked, "What's the deal with rat man?"
"That," he said darkly, "is the man who killed your parents."
:: :: :: ::
Rose had the feeling she had acted embarrassingly rapt as she listened to Sirius Black's true tale of what happened twelve years ago. She'd sat beside him on the couch Dumbledore had conjured up, and couldn't take her eyes off him.
"I'll be honest," he said finally. "I had intended to kill him, to finally commit the murder I'd been imprisoned for, but—" he looked at Rose, "—but when I came to see you at the Dursley's you were so miserable, Rosie, and that's my fault. I was supposed to be there for you, and I wasn't. Your mum and dad trusted me to take care of you, and I failed you twice. I wasn't going to do it again."
Rose felt tears sting her eyes.
"And there's all these… boys following you around! Someone has to keep the little buggers away. Like that Draco Malfoy," he said, sounding very stern and godfatherly, "what are you doing with him?"
She snorted, amused. "Nothing. He's a friend. I think."
Sirius shook his head. "That's what you think, but I'll tell you now, Draco Malfoy is thinking something entirely different. And that Diggory boy is way too old for you, so don't even think about it!"
Rose laughed, but made no promises.
:: :: :: ::
Dumbledore suggested Sirius keep up his disguise as Rose's dog until his name was cleared.
It turned out that none of the Gryffindors had seen Grim change into Sirius. They only thought Sirius had appeared in their midst – which rather fitted with the preternatural darkness the wizarding world had ascribed him.
Dumbledore delivered Peter Pettigrew to the Aurors, and the wizarding world was in an uproar. The newspapers reflected the mixed feelings of the population. Many couldn't believe that Sirius Black was innocent. Others were outraged at the Ministry for imprisoning an innocent man. And still others wanted to see Peter Pettigrew receive the Dementor's Kiss.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas break, Rose used the Invisibility Cloak more than she ever had before. Sirius wanted to show her every secret passage he'd ever found at Hogwarts, and they spent hours wandering the castle, hiding from Filch, and Sirius told her story after story about her mum and dad.
Eventually, Sirius reminded her about her intention to ask Professor Lupin for help defending herself against the dementors. They were still on the prowl for Sirius, as his innocence hadn't been officially proven yet, so were still a threat for the time being.
"Are you sure he won't mind?" Rose asked, as they approached Lupin's quarters late one Friday night.
"Remus would have been named your second godfather if such a thing was legal," Sirius said, waving her worries away. "He'd do anything for you."
Remus opened his door and blinked at the seemingly empty corridor. "Why does this seem eerily familiar?" he asked dryly.
Sirius's laugh was like a bark, and Remus smiled wryly and stepped aside to let them in. Sirius whipped the cloak off of himself and Rose.
Remus frowned at Rose. "It's after curfew, young lady."
"Sirius said it was okay," Rose said. Remus snorted.
"She was a sweet, obedient girl before you came along," he said to Sirius.
"I was never!" Rose said in mock outrage, and they laughed.
Sirius explained why they'd made the visit. "I'd teach her myself, but I can't manage the charm anymore." He sounded wounded. Remus grimaced.
"Well, we can give it a shot. The Patronus Charm may be beyond your ability, Rose. It's a NEWT level charm, and some adults never manage it."
"I want to try," she said. "I don't want to fall off my broom again."
They both shuddered. "No, we don't want that."
Rose didn't manage the charm that first night, but she produced some silvery vapor that Remus said was a very good start. And so, anti-dementor lessons began.
:: :: :: ::
Grim, or Padfoot as he was properly called (to this Rose had said, "Sorry, no. You'll always be Grim to me."), was frequently seen around school with Professor Lupin and now lived in his quarters. People were starting to question just who Rose's dog belonged to.
"He likes Professor Lupin," was all Rose would say when asked. "I don't mind." And she didn't. She'd lost her dog, but gained a godfather, so she was happy.
Of course, no one knew that Grim and Sirius Black were one in the same. Rose had only told Ginny and Hermione.
"You mean, I cuddled and cooed over your godfather?" Ginny asked, going red.
"Don't worry, Gin. I cried in his fur, and gave him baths. Which of us should be more embarrassed?"
Ginny laughed at her.
:: :: :: ::
Rose decided that Christmas was the best one she'd ever had.
Grim dragged her out of bed at the crack of dawn, Rose sleepily demanding to know how he'd gotten inside the Tower. He wuffed urgently.
"Fine, fine," Rose grumbled. "I need to get dressed. Get outta here."
Rose followed Grim out of the Tower, bemused, and knocked when prompted by Grim on Remus's door. Once inside, Sirius changed back and yanked her into a huge hug.
"Happy Christmas!" he bellowed.
Remus, looking as though he'd been dragged from bed as well, smiled and rolled his eyes at Sirius's enthusiasm.
There was a breakfast spread on the coffee table, and Sirius settled her in front of it, and urged her to eat, but before she could even take a sip of tea, he changed his mind.
"No, no, I just can't wait," he said, and pulled out a long wrapped present from behind the sofa. "You have to open it now."
"Sirius, you didn't have to—"
"Yes, I did!" He put it in her lap. "Open it. I can't wait to see your face."
Rose smiled, already beyond pleased that she was spending Christmas morning with family, and began to oh, so slowly to tear the paper.
Sirius moaned in feigned agitation, and she and Remus exchanged smirks.
"All right, all right," she laughed, and ripped enthusiastically. She had only revealed a portion of the gift, but her eyes widened impossibly in recognition, and she tore the rest of the paper away, just as eager as Sirius to get it open. "Oh, my God," she whispered.
Rose reverently ran her hands over the broom, taking in the pale ash handle with such a shiny finish, and the word, 'Firebolt', engraved in gold.
"A Firebolt," she said. "You got me a Firebolt?"
Sirius was grinning at her. "Do you like it?"
"Like it?" Rose threw her arms around Sirius's neck. "I can't believe—It's the most perfect—oh, thank you!"
He laughed, and hugged her tight. "I knew you'd like it. Happy Christmas, Rosie."
:: :: :: ::
Word got out quickly that Rose had gotten a Firebolt for Christmas. Oliver Wood wouldn't stop bragging about how unbeatable Gryffindor would be with Rose Potter on a Firebolt.
Naturally, Draco Malfoy had to investigate. He cornered her after Quidditch practice.
Rose thought he might be choking on jealousy as he looked at nothing but her broom and said, "Well, how is it?"
"It's… it's…" She wanted to say that it was fantastic, and that he would never have a chance of catching her on it – because it was the truth – but couldn't bring herself to be so cruel.
"It's wonderful, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It is."
"How fast is it?"
"It makes me feel like I could out fly the wind," she said baldly. No use sugar coating it, when Draco wanted to feel miserable and left out. His mouth twisted, and Rose thought that if they didn't get along now that he'd be saying some really terrible things to her. Draco was like that.
"Do you want to try it?" she asked.
His face lit up, and he finally looked at her and not the broom. "Can I?"
Rose nodded, biting down on her lip to stop herself from smiling. She handed him the broom, and was pleased that he handled it just as reverently as she did. "Don't crash it."
"Crash it?" he said, appalled. "I would never, Potter."
Rose sat on the grass of the pitch and watched as Draco flew, shouting at the speed and fine handling and quick turns. "It's brilliant!" he yelled joyfully. Rose laughed and lay back on the ground, knowing that it would be a long while before Draco came down.
:: :: :: ::
The Daily Prophet reported that the Ministry had announced the date of Peter Pettigrew's trial. It would not take place until the end of May, four months away.
"Why is it taking so long?" Rose asked that evening in Remus's sitting room.
"It's because of Amelia Bones," Remus said, fixing her a cup of tea. Sirius was still ranting and pacing, but Remus had put him under a silencing charm when he couldn't seem to stop cursing, even though Rose had arrived. "She wasn't Head of the DMLE when the Death Eater's were on trial after the last war. The trials were a joke, really, but not many questioned them because everyone was so certain of their guilt. Sirius didn't even get a trial…" Remus looked far away for a moment, and then shook his head. "I think she wants to be absolutely certain that the Wizengamot doesn't miss anything this time."
"I suppose that's good," Rose said reluctantly. "I just want him to be free." She watched Sirius pace. He wasn't yelling now, but he looked like he could start at any moment. It wasn't fair that Sirius had to live like this: only free to go where he pleased as a dog, and he could only be human when he was safely locked up in Remus's rooms.
"It won't be long, Rose," Remus said. "The wizarding world knows that he's innocent, and it will be made official at Peter's trial. And after that, well," he smiled, "Sirius has been looking at homes for sale in the Prophet, but he wanted your help."
"What?" Rose said blankly.
"He didn't know whether you'd rather live in town or the country. I think he found a few he liked…"
But Rose had gotten up, and planted herself in front of Sirius. She didn't know what she was feeling – sort of cold and warm at the same time – and gestured for Sirius to stop his angry pacing.
"What?" he said, though she couldn't hear him.
"I'm going to… I can live with you?"
He gave her a look that said she was daft, and started to speak. Rose shook her head, and Sirius gestured impatiently at Remus to lift the spell. "Of course you're going to live with me, you silly girl. You think I'd leave you with the Dursleys?"
"Oh! Sirius, thank you! Thank you!" Rose threw her arms around him. "I want to live in town."
Sirius laughed at her and rolled his eyes. "Stupid," he said affectionately. "Whatever you like."
:: :: :: ::
"I thought you lot were meant to be clever," Rose said. She lit on the ground, Snitch in hand, and grinned at the sight the Slytherin Quidditch team made – in a sprawled, sad pile of dark robes – "I think the Sorting Hat must have been confused."
Draco scrambled from the pile, stepping on Flint as he did so. "I told them you wouldn't fall for it," he protested quickly. Rose rolled her eyes.
"What was that thing?" Warrington asked, his voice shrill. "It looked like a ghost deer, but it bowled us right over!"
"Did it?" Rose asked excitedly. She'd never gotten the Patronus spell quite right, and hadn't been able to watch this attempt, as she'd been busy beating Cho Chang to the Snitch.
"It had antlers," Draco said, trembling slightly. "I thought it was going to gore me."
McGonagall bustled forward and began shrieking at the Slytherins, giving detentions and taking fifty points.
Rose smiled. "Ta, boys."
:: :: :: ::
Fred and George's sixteenth birthday fell on a Friday.
Rose tried to get Hermione to come along with her and Ginny to their birthday party, but Hermione was once again buried in books, and very annoyed at Rose for distracting her. "I can't!" she said shrilly. "I've three essays due next week, and a hundred pages to read for History of Magic. I have to study, Rose!"
"Okay, okay. Just breathe, 'Mione." Hermione had teared up. "The common room will be quiet, because all the upper years will be at the party, so it will be fine. You'll get it done. Do you want me to get you some tea?"
"No, no," she said, wiping her eyes. "I'm fine. Just go."
"If you're sure…"
Rose was worried about her friend. She'd been spending far too much time in the library, and paying no attention to anything around her unless it related to class. Rose was sure Hermione was going to crack soon, but she didn't know why. Rose was taking Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes with Hermione, and Rose wasn't buckling under the weight of her homework… far from it. She could only assume that Hermione was spending her time in the library researching something else, but didn't know why her friend hadn't told her anything about it.
"Yes. Have fun." And Hermione bent over her essay once more, completely tuning out the world.
Rose and Ginny used the Invisibility Cloak to get to Myrtle's bathroom. The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was open (Rose had taught the twins how to say 'open' in Parseltongue two weeks prior), and carefully traversed the newly created staircase to the bottom.
"I can't believe they wanted to have their party here," Ginny said. "They're so… morbid."
"I know," Rose agreed, "but the teachers will never find out about it, and everyone can be as loud as they like."
"I just hope they got rid of the basilisk."
Rose shivered. "Me too." But knowing the twins, they might have turned it into a water slide.
They hadn't. The Chamber was lit with millions of fairy lights, and decorated with streamers and balloons. Someone had painted, 'Happy Birthday Gred and Forge' all across the statue of Salazar Slytherin in flashing purple paint. The floor had been charmed to look like white and black glass, which lit up different colors when the white blocks were stood on. Loud rock music was pulsing from the very walls.
"I guess they did get rid of it," Ginny said.
Rose didn't want to say, but she thought the curving sectional sofa winding along one side of the room looked a bit… snakelike. She made a mental note to avoid it.
"It's kind of… cool in here," Ginny said, beginning to grin.
"It is," Rose agreed, grinning back.
What was really cool was that they were the only two students below fourth year who'd been invited to the party.
Ginny grabbed two bottles of butterbeer from a tray carried by a house elf, and the girls clinked bottles. "Here's to being cool," Ginny said.
"Here, here."
The twins had invited most of the school, it seemed. Rose even saw a few Slytherins, though none from the Quidditch team. She didn't think the twins even got on with any Slytherins. Rose was a bit of an anomaly when it came to Gryffindors – everyone thought it was strange that she was friendly with Draco Malfoy (the most Slytherin of them all), but Rose couldn't help it any longer. Draco was like a fungus; he grew on you so as you wouldn't notice until it was too late to get rid of him.
Rose and Ginny stuck together through the party. They danced and chatted with people they knew, and when a drunk Eddie Carmichael, a fourth year Ravenclaw, tried to grope Rose on the dance floor, George pulled him off, and claimed that dance was his.
"Thanks," she said, shaking off the lingering feeling of Eddie's wandering hands.
"Not a problem," George said. "I should have been keeping a closer eye on you, but Lee was having a problem with the music, and… Well, I'm sorry."
"I could have handled it!" she said.
"You shouldn't have to handle it. That Carmichael git has no idea how to treat a girl."
"Are you and Fred trying to keep the boys away from us?" she demanded. She and Ginny had been talking to Cedric earlier, and hadn't thought much of it when Lee had called him away with a question about something, but now… "I can understand the protective big brother routine with Ginny, but I'm not your sister! And you'd better hope Ginny doesn't realize—"
"Oh, Merlin, please don't tell her!" he said. Rose snorted. The twins were afraid of exactly one thing, and that was Ginny in a strop. She was known to fling hexes. "And I don't think of you as a sister, Rosie Posey."
Rose decided to let it go. It was sort of sweet that they'd decided to look after their sister and her friend. It was the first party she and Ginny had ever been to, after all.
"Are you having a good birthday?" Rose asked.
He grinned. "It's great. Next year will be even bigger, I'd wager, since we'll be coming of age, and all."
"I don't know how you'll top this," she said. "You even have a one-of-a-kind basilisk skin sofa."
He grimaced. "You noticed that?"
"Kind of hard not to."
"We tried to vanish it, but the spells wouldn't take. I think the basilisk has too much magic of its own, so we just transfigured it. I kind of like it. I mean, we slayed that thing, Rose! It's like a trophy sofa."
She laughed. "Hedwig slayed it."
"Fred and I are going to cut it up and sell the bits off to the apothecaries. Basilisk bits are very rare, so we'll be quite rich. You, Gin and Ron will get a cut, of course."
"Brilliant!" Rose was already quite rich, but the Weasleys were not, and she'd always felt that if any family deserved to have a vault full of gold it was them. "What will you do with your pile of gold?"
"Fred and I have a few ideas," he said mysteriously.
:: :: :: ::
:: :: :: ::
Hermione broke the week before Easter hols.
She and Rose were walking down to Hagrid's for Care of Magical Creatures, a knot of Slytherins behind them. Rose didn't mind them much. The only one she really had a problem with was Pansy Parkinson, who was still beating the 'Princess Potter' thing to death.
"So, Princess Potter," she said, coming alongside Rose, "I heard that you were at the Weasley twin's party this weekend."
"I was," Rose said shortly.
"Oh, so it's true?" Pansy said gleefully, "I heard you snogged Eddie Carmichael and George Weasley, while making eyes at Cedric Diggory. I suppose you need a new name…" she mused. "I think I'll just call you 'Slut'."
Rose clenched her jaw, but Hermione lost it. She whirled about Rose, and her hand went flying, and she slapped Pansy right across the face.
"You horrid, jealous bitch," Hermione snarled. "Don't think no one knows why you pick on Rose, Parkinson, because it's so pathetically obvious. He'll never look at you twice, because you're a foul, jealous, pug-nosed hag."
Pansy, hand pressed to her cheek and angry tears in her eyes, turned and ran past her classmates and up to the castle.
Everyone, Rose and the Slytherins, just stared at Hermione. Hermione ignored them all, tossed her hair, and calmly continued walking down to Hagrid's.
Rose realized she was gaping after her friend, and shut her mouth with a click.
"Wow," said Blaise Zabini. "What's with her?"
"I don't know," said Rose. "She swore. Hermione never swears."
"You didn't really snog Carmichael and Weasley, did you?" asked Daphne Greengrass.
"No," Rose said. "I didn't kiss anybody." She had no defense for the Cedric Diggory thing. She couldn't help but look at him.
Draco had been strangely quiet. He was looking towards the castle, frowning after Pansy. "Remind me never to piss Granger off. She's vicious. Daphne, don't you think you'd better go after Pansy?"
Daphne sighed. "Sure, Draco, throw me to the wolves. Thanks. She's going to be a nightmare." But she set off after her friend anyway.
The rest of them began walking again, and Blaise said, "What dangerous creature do you think Hagrid will have today?"
"A Granger," Draco said, and snickered. The rest of them joined in.
Rose sighed. "I forgot for moment who I was with. Thank you for reminding me."
Hermione dropped Divination that day. Or rather, she threw a fit and stalked out, was how Lavender told it. She and Parvati were scandalized by Hermione's treatment of their favorite teacher. Hermione made no apologies.
:: :: :: ::
Gryffindor beat Slytherin in the last match of the year to win the Quidditch Cup. Rose was ecstatic, though it wasn't quite as good as winning Little Miss England.
Oliver Wood was beside himself with joy. He carried the trophy around during the party, and angrily refused the twins when they asked if he'd give it up so they could use it as a punch bowl.
Halfway through the party Draco came to the portrait hole with Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaise, and demanded to be let in. The Gryffindors jeered at the interlopers, and Rose rolled her eyes at her housemates.
"What is so important that you'd brave Gryffindor Tower during our victory party?" she asked.
"I've come to propose a contest," Draco said. He had the attention of the whole room.
She smiled. "What sort of contest?"
"A race," he said.
"Draco, you know I'll win. No one else's broom is as fast as mine—"
"Ah, but you won't be flying the Firebolt," he said. "We'll both be on Nimbus 2001's. I want to know if you're faster than me, or if it's just your broom."
The Gryffindors were yelling out their assurances that Rose was just better, but she held up a hand to quiet them.
"Let's do it properly then. Get Chang and Diggory, and we'll see which Seeker in this school is the fastest."
Draco held out his hand. Rose shook. "Deal. Let's go."
"Now? It's dark."
"Are you a witch or not, Potter?"
Most of the school was gathered again in the Quidditch stands, and Rose and the other Seekers were currently glowing their respective house colors as they waited on the pitch. The team captains were deciding on the race course, and directing the Weasley twins in setting up floating markers in the air.
Lee had taken up the magical microphone again, and was taking advantage of not having McGonagall there to scold him about his language or his house bias.
"Welcome to the first annual Hogwarts Broom Races!" he said with the air of a ring announcer. "Tonight we have for you: the lovely Cho Chang of Ravenclaw, the girl-magnet of Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory, the dastardly Draco Malfoy of Slytherin, and our Quidditch Queen, Little Miss England, Rose Potter of Gryffindor!"
Rose rolled her eyes.
"The winner will take home this lovely… crown." Lee held up a glowing white crown, which looked terribly familiar, if lit up with illuminating charms.
"Oi!" Rose yelled. "That's my crown!"
"Yes, ladies and gents, this is the crown Little Miss Rose won back in October. We thought it would give her a bit more incentive to win."
"You bastards!" she yelled.
Fred and George laughed at her from above. "We knew you weren't very motivated to win this one, Rosie. No slacking off now!"
Rose fumed, and gripped the Nimbus she had borrowed from Warrington tight between her fingers. They thought Ginny was scary when she was in a strop? They'd never seen Rose have one, then.
She glared and caught Draco smirking. Oh, there was no way she was going to let him win her crown.
The next morning at breakfast, Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table, holding court as usual, but he was wearing a sparkling rhinestone tiara on his head.
"You look like a prat," said Rose.
"I'm sorry," he smirked, "but I've asked my subjects to refer to me as 'Your Highness' today. You'll want to abide by the customs, lest you be put in the stocks."
"Bugger off, Your Highness."
Rose forgave him when he came by Gryffindor Tower that evening to return her crown, unharmed. He set it carefully on her head. "There you are. Your Highness."
:: :: :: ::
Peter Pettigrew's trial finally began. Rose wanted to go, but Sirius and Remus were against it.
"It's a zoo, Rose," Sirius said. "Reporters and ex-Death Eaters, and Merlin knows what else. I don't want you to have to deal with that."
"And the trial will be ugly in itself," Remus added, with a significant look at Sirius. "The war was very… well, terrible things happened, Rose, and a lot of that will come up during the trial."
"Right," Sirius agreed.
So Rose had to read about Pettigrew's trial in the Daily Prophet just like everyone else.
Hermione was fascinated by it. She and Rose had little idea of how the wizarding legal system worked, and what Rose knew about the Muggle one was gleaned from television.
On the first day of the trial, the Daily Prophet reported that the Wizengamot had read out the list of charges compiled against Pettigrew, which the Auror department had filed through months and months of questioning. By this time, most of the wizarding world knew what he had done to Rose's family, and what he'd done to Sirius the following day, but his crimes prior to that were a mystery. Now they were all coming out.
He hadn't been as bad as most Death Eaters, they reported, having no kills to his name and few incidents of torture. Pettigrew had spent the last two years of the war playing both sides. He would definitely be going to Azkaban for the deaths of twelve Muggles, it was only a question of what his sentence would be: life in Azkaban or the Dementor's Kiss.
Rose thought they both sounded awful, but the Kiss… it was sick. She shuddered every time she thought about it.
There were no witnesses to Peter Pettigrew's crimes, aside from the last, because he'd been hooded and masked like every other Death Eater when they'd occurred. So the second day of the trial was a recitation of the incidents that Pettigrew had confessed to while in Auror custody.
This part of the trial went on for days.
Rose and the other students read the papers with their in depth articles, and often couldn't finish their breakfasts.
Peter Pettigrew had been responsible for giving Voldemort information that led to the torture and murder of the McKinnon family. He'd also participated in the attack. The Daily Prophet reported every gruesome detail, almost like they were gleeful about re-hashing the events of the war. It was almost as if now that the sting had gone out of it the wizarding world was entertained by the horror of it all.
Rose couldn't stomach it. When she spent the evenings with Sirius and Remus, her godfather was torn between cursing Pettigrew and cursing the Prophet. They, at least, were not entertained.
End of term exams came, and Rose threw herself into them, badly needing a distraction from the trial.
That Thursday at lunch, while Rose was frantically cramming for her Ancient Runes exam, something very wonderful happened.
"It's Black!" someone at the Hufflepuff table shrieked.
"Shut up," Rose heard Draco say, "He's innocent, you idiot."
Rose stood up, and looked at Sirius who was standing in the doorway, absolutely beaming, and holding a scroll in his fist. His eyes met Rose's, and he bounded over to her, pulled her into his arms, and whirled her in a circle.
"I'm free!" he yelled.
"You're free?"
"I'm free!"
Rose screamed happily, and hugged him. "I'm so happy!"
"Me too!"
Rose got the feeling they were making a spectacle of themselves, but did not care. She looked around for Remus, and found he had come down from the head table to join them. Sirius dropped her, and pulled Remus into an enthusiastic bear hug. And then hugged both of them at once.
"We'll go house hunting this weekend, yeah?" Sirius said, babbling. "You, me, and Remmy, because he's very particular about his books, and needs a proper library, and Merlin only knows what you want, Rosie, but I'm feeling very up to spoiling you rotten, so you'd best take advantage of it—"
Rose was so happy she couldn't speak.
She knew she'd done terribly on her Ancient Runes exam afterward, but couldn't bring herself to care.
:: :: :: ::
After Rose had processed it, she supposed she was due for some bad news.
The Daily Prophet reported that as the Wizengamot was reading Peter Pettigrew's sentence of life in Azkaban, he transformed into his Animagus form and escaped.
It was a scandal. The wards that were meant to prevent Pettigrew from turning into a rat had been dismantled, and no one knew who had done it. The wizarding world spun into a tizzy of outrage and panic, not unlike what had occurred when Sirius escaped from Azkaban.
House hunting was put on hold for the moment, because Sirius wanted to go out and look for the traitorous rat, and Rose and Remus were having a hard time convincing him not to. Eventually he listened to reason, but was then hesitant about taking Rose out to look for houses in London.
"I won't let anything happen to you," he said.
"I really don't think Peter will be coming after Rose," Remus said to Sirius. "He's terrified of you, and certainly knows that you'd like nothing more than to kill him."
"I suppose you're right, Remus," he said with a feral grin.
"But you won't," Rose snapped. "I only just got you back, so don't you do anything to get yourself in trouble!"
Sirius softened. "Of course I won't, Rose. Who cares about that stupid rat, anyway?"
She snorted, knowing that he didn't really mean it, but allowed him to pull her into a hug.
Sirius and Remus went house hunting every day of Rose's last week of third year, and came back one day with pictures of their newly purchased house.
Rose gaped at the photos. If she hadn't already known that Sirius's family was filthy, stinking rich, this would have clinched it. "It's… huge."
Sirius grinned. "It's enormous, and this isn't even with wizard space. This is all Muggle."
"You're going to make it bigger?"
"Do you think we need to?" he asked worriedly.
"It's only the three of us, Sirius."
"Well, sure, but I thought you might want to invite Ginny and Hermione to visit over the summers, and this way everybody can have their own room."
Rose grinned. He really was a great godfather.
The house was lovely. The exterior was a traditional row house in a pale cream with white pillars bordering the front door, and balconies jutted from the first floor windows in elegant black iron. The interior was just as nice. It had large fireplaces and elaborate crown molding, and everything was airy and bright.
Rose loved it. They even had a garden.
"It's wonderful," she said, looking through the photos. To her dismay, she began to cry.
"What's wrong? Don't you like it?"
"I love it! I'm just… really happy," she finished lamely. She didn't know how to explain how she felt about finally having a real family. To have Sirius and Remus who loved her like she was their own daughter, and not like Aunt Petunia at all, who always made Rose feel stupid and worthless, and yet still left Rose grasping for her affection.
"We'll have a good summer, yeah?" Sirius said.
"The best."
:: :: :: ::
Author's Note: The house Sirius bought is located in the famous Royal Crescent, Holland Park, London. I've never been to London, but with Google Maps and their street view feature, I can pretend I have. (I love Google!) The actual house is for sale as of July '09 (at 5 million pounds!). I went looking for expensive real estate in the more fashionable neighborhoods of London, and voila! I'm going to try to keep Rose's summer in London as realistic as I can, without having any first hand knowledge of what it's like to live there. If any natives find problems, please point them out to me.
:: :: :: ::