A/N: So… have any of you ever watched Avatar: The Last Airbender? Well, if you have, then you know why this chapter is so late. Because it just SUCKS YOU IN and won't let you do ANYTHING ELSE! But it's such an amazing show… if you get the opportunity, you should watch it. I'm hoping the movie stands up to the series standards… but we all know how well THAT goes…

Anywhoodle, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 4: The Manor

When Rose arrived home from her thwarted rescue attempt, her mother had kittens. Hermione looked her daughter over quickly, and, after she realized Rose was safe, began a tirade about Rose's newfound irresponsibility, to no shock to Rose. What was shocking, however, was after only a few seconds, her father stopped her mother's ranting and told her to let Rose be. She witnessed as her mother glared at her father intensely, but quickly let the issue go.

The next day, Ron came home from work and told Rose that he had found the Malfoy address through some connections at the Ministry, and asked if she wanted to go with him to have a look around. While her mother was hesitant to let Rose explore on a mini Auror mission, it didn't stop Rose from giving her father a resounding yes.

Moments later Ron and Rose were on their way. Rose side-along Apparated with her father, causing her to lose her breath and stumble when they arrived at their destination. Once Rose found her legs, she looked up to see a large white home behind a tall wrought iron fence. There were trees all over the property—the shadows made the house look more ominous than Rose had imagined.

"Well," Ron said, dusting himself off, "let's go." He began to walk to the fence gate.

"Wait, what?" Rose asked, slightly confused. "Are you just going to go right up and knock on the door?"

Ron looked at her, brow furrowed. "That's generally how we start an investigation, Rosie."

"Well, aren't you supposed to, I don't know, search the grounds? Secure the perimeter? Sneak in somehow?" Rose asked, her tone sounding as if she were stating the most obvious thing in the world.

Ron stared at his daughter for a moment, unblinking. "I'm not letting you watch the television anymore," he said, patting her on the head. Rose swatted his hand away before he walked up to the gate fence and opened it for her.

As they began traveling up the Malfoy's walkway, Ron whispered instructions to Rose.

"I have no idea what we're going to face here. I don't think Draco and Scorpius will be here, so I'm not expecting there to be any need for defense. But just in case things get a bit exciting, I want you to have your wand out and have Stupify on the tip of your tongue," Ron drilled, taking out his own wand as he spoke. "And if things do get a bit hairy, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell your mother. She would kill me if I got you in any sort of danger."

Rose giggled as they reached the door, but gained her seriousness once again as her father knocked. They listened carefully, trying to pick up on any sort of movement inside, but only heard the birds chirping and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees. Rose's anxiety grew as her father knocked again, afraid that nothing would come of this visit, meaning she would be taking one step back from keeping her promise and finding the young man she cared so much for.

They waited a few moments longer. Rose then saw her father look down and shake his head. "I'm sorry, Rose, but-"

Ron was cut off by the sudden and quick movement of the door. They looked up in surprise, both raising their wands in one fluid motion. In the doorway stood a thin woman with dark blond hair and bright blue eyes that were streaming tears. She had a tissue in her hand, which was positioned in front of her chest in a feeble attempt to protect herself from the wands that were directed at her. She looked quickly between the two seemingly assailants standing in front of her. Her alarmed look softened, however, after she quickly examined the young woman before her. She lowered her hands and inhaled a small gasp.

"You must be Rose," she spoke softly.

Rose felt her system become shocked at the instant recognition. "Um… yes, I am."

Astoria nodded and looked to Ron. "Auror Weasley, please, won't you both come in?" she asked as she turned and walked further into her house.

Rose looked to her father, lowering her wand. Ron did the same and smiled at Rose, indicating with his hand that she should follow Scorpius' mother into the home. Rose nodded and walked through the threshold of her boyfriend's most despised location.

Rose noticed as she walked through the home how very pristine it was. There didn't seem to be a speck of dust in the entire manor, and everything was in its correct place. It seemed very cold to her—she realized it was a house, but it didn't feel anything like a home.

As they reached the kitchen, they watched as Astoria grabbed a tea kettle out of a cabinet. "Would either of you like a refreshment?" she asked, fumbling with the kettle, as though making tea was the furthest thing from her mind.

Rose looked on the woman with pity. In less than a moment she lost her husband and her only child to her husband's foolishness. She couldn't imagine living without her parents and her brother. The thought made her chest hurt.

Ron walked to Astoria and took the kettle from her hands. "No thank you, Astoria. Why don't you have a seat?" he asked as he pulled out a chair from the kitchen table. She plopped down absentmindedly, still lost in her thoughts. "Rose, I need to speak with Scorpius' mother for a moment. Would you mind waiting out in the hallway?"

"But-" Rose began to protest.

"Rose," her father said sternly, giving her a look to relay how very serious he was.

Before she could think of a reason to stay, Mrs. Malfoy spoke up. "Why don't you go up to Scorpius' room?" she mumbled. "It's up the stairs, the third door on the right."

Rose looked to her father, who nodded his head in approval. She thanked Mrs. Malfoy and left the kitchen.

When she entered Scorpius' room, she noticed how big it was, and how few belonging were settled into it. She saw a bed located in the middle of the room, with an armoire and a desk to the left of it and a closet to the right. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, realizing that less than 48 hours ago, Scorpius was in this room.

She shook her head, trying to not let the overwhelming sadness take her over entirely. She began to randomly walk around the room, not paying attention to where she was as she went. After a few steps, Rose heard a crunch under her foot. She looked down saw a frame with chattered glass surrounding it. She picked it up and saw a photo of the two of them in the Ravenclaw common room taken late last year. Rose smiled as she glanced at the picture through the shards of glass still remaining in the frame. She placed the photo gently on his desk, letting the day the picture was taken run through her thoughts. Before her friendship with Scorpius, she had never really allowed herself to imagine finding someone she could care for and would in return care for her as well, what with her school studies and attention to her family. With Scorpius, though, she found herself caring more than she thought possible, and was more than ecstatic to know that the feelings were reciprocated by the blond gentleman. As she sat there, gazing upon the picture, she began to realize just how deeply she felt for Scorpius—as if running away from her family in a hopeless attempt to find him on her own wasn't any sort of indication.

Rose shook her head as she thought of her own foolishness. She didn't fool herself into believing that picking up her life to run after a boy she might not find was the smartest thing to do. But the thought of never seeing his warm smile or laugh at his jokes or feel his arms around her again was completely unbearable, causing her to throw logic out the window.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath-she had to clear her head. She searched the room, attempting to find anything to take her mind off her depressing thoughts. She began to reach for books on Scorpius' desk, randomly flipping through them, hoping the sounds of the pages would clear her mind. She looked through several, never really paying attention to the title or content, until a page fell out of the newest book that was in her hand. She looked at the cover and saw that it was Quidditch Through the Ages, a book she knew Scorpius had read on several occasions. She bent down to pick up the loose page that had fallen on the floor. She saw that it was a page that talked briefly about European teams and noticed that the words "Bulgarian Vratsa Vultures" had been circled.

"That's odd," Rose mumbled to herself. "His favorite team is the Appleby Arr-" Rose dropped the book as the relevance of the circle words hit her. "Thank you, Scorpius!" she whispered as she ran out of the room, down the stairs, and through the hallway.

She burst through the kitchen door, waving the page from the book in the air. "I found-"

She stopped her exciting news quickly as she saw Scorpius' mother sobbing into her hands on one side of the table and her father awkwardly trying to offer comforting words while sitting on the other side.

"I'm sorry," Rose muttered quietly, slowly backing out of the kitchen.

"No, Rose, it's okay," her father rushed, almost looking relieved that he was momentarily off of comforting duty. "What is that?"

Rose looked to her hand, nearly forgetting that she was holding the clue to Scorpius' whereabouts.

"Oh, um… I found this is Scorpius' room," she began nervously. "It's a page out of Quidditch Through the Ages. I saw that he circled the Vratsa Vultures, which I found weird because his favorite team is the Appleby Arrows."

Rose heard Scorpius' mother take a deep, shuddering breath, and looked to see her staring at the page in her hand. "I never knew that was his favorite team," she scoffed at herself, shaking her head.

"Right…" Rose continued, uneasily. "Dad, I think that he was trying to leave a clue as to where he was by circling the team. His dad cast a spell on him so he couldn't say where he was going, but he found a way around that! I think he's in Vratsa!" she finished, excited.

Rose's father smiled at her. "Fantastic, Rose. We'll make an Auror out of you yet." Ron stood up and looked to Astoria. "If Rose is right, we'll find your son soon." He walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "We'll bring him home, Astoria."

Mrs. Malfoy lost control of her emotions once again and could only sob into her hands and nod. With a final pat on the shoulder, Ron and Rose walked out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and out the front door.

"You did amazingly in there, Rosie," her father said as he looked onto her with pride beaming from his eyes.

Rose smiled. "Thank you. I really just got lucky by flipping randomly through books."

Ron laughed. "Luck is about ninety five percent of the job, kiddo." He touched her shoulder, causing her to stop and look at him. "I'm going to get your Uncle Harry and we're going to go Vratsa first thing in the morning. We're not coming back without him, don't you worry."

"I won't be worrying, because I'll be there as well," Rose said quickly as she began walking again.

Rose took several steps and heard much sputtering before her father recovered enough to talk. "Rose, you're not going," he exclaimed, matter-of-factly.

Rose turned around. "Dad, yes I am," she said in the same tone of voice.

Ron walked to his daughter and stopped right before reaching her, allowing his height to tower over her. "I'm not letting you go on a full blown Auror mission with me, Rose. It's too dangerous."

"I'm sure I'll be perfectly safe, being surrounded by two Aurors," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

Ron glared at her, angered by her stubbornness. "Do you honestly think that your mother is going to let you come to Bulgaria with your uncle and me?"

Rose sighed and looked into her father's eyes. "Dad, I think you're forgetting that I'm going to be of age in three days. You don't have to let me come with you tomorrow, but the second I turn seventeen, I'm going to Bulgaria to find Scorpius. No amount of speeches by Mom or glares by you is going to keep me from going." Rose looked down at her feet so she didn't have to see the displeased look her father as giving her. "I'm sorry I'm being so bullheaded about this, but I-"

"Have to find him, I know," Ron grumbled as he rubbed his eyes. "You know, you're becoming more and more like your mother every day."

"That's funny, she said the same thing about you just a few days ago," Rose laughed.

"Haha," Ron laughed sardonically. He shook his head and took a deep breath. "If you convince your mother to let you go, then you can go. But you listen to me, and you listen well," he spoke, seriously. "This isn't going to be a vacation—it is a mission. When we're in Vratsa, you will do what I say when I say it. There will be no arguing, no protesting, only complete acceptance of what I tell you to do. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Rose said, just as seriously. She wasn't going to screw up her only chance of finding Scorpius.

"All right," Ron nodded, taking hold of her arm. "Now let's go home and see how good your elocution skills are with your mother." He then turned on the spot and they both vanished.