Rose Potter, The-Girl-Who-Lived

A/N: As the title suggests, this will contain fem!slash, and fem!Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter, etc. etc. etc.

Chapter Seven: Rose Potter and the Mystery of her Godfather

The summer after her second year was one of the best, if not the best, that she'd ever had. That was because she was living at the Longbottom household, instead of with her relatives. Her relatives had injured her quite badly the previous year, and Dumbledore had forced to give them up as a bad cause.

Also, this year, she was mailing her friend, Hermione, a couple of times a week. She'd had to slow down for a while, as the Grangers were taking their usual holiday to the Continent. This year they went to France.

Around Rose's birthday, though, was a troubling story in the newspaper. "BLACK ESCAPES AZKABAN".

'Who is this Black?' she asked Gran Longbottom.

'This may come as a shock, but you have a godfather,' responded Gran. 'While he is accused of many things, I doubt that he did them.'

'What was he accused of?' asked Rose. 'And why was he in Azkaban?'

'He was accused of being the secret keeper for your parents, being You-Know-Who's right-hand man, and for murdering a wizard and twelve Muggles with a single curse.'

'Really?' asked Rose. 'Twelve Muggles with a single curse?'

'And a wizard,' said the older woman. 'Personally, I don't think that he did any of it. Black hated Pureblood Supremacy, so he would've never joined You-Know-Who; the only bit of Pettigrew was a finger, and if a curse blew up the street, how did nothing but a finger survive?—there were bits of the Muggles strewn all over the street.'

'And what is a "Secret-Keeper"? It sounds important.'

'Your parents' house was charmed in such a way that only a person who knew the secret would know about the house. A person who didn't know the secret could be looking directly at the house and not see it.'

'So, if he's not guilty, one, why are you telling me this, and two, why didn't this come out at his trial?'

'I'm telling you so that you can defend yourself against all allegations that might be thrown at you, and just in case I'm wrong, so that you know what I believe to be the truth,' said Gran Longbottom. 'And for his trial—he didn't have one. The Ministry is so corrupt that most of the followers of You-Know-Who got away with fines, despite having murdered people. Black wasn't in favour at the time, having gone against the Pureblood agenda, so he got tossed into Azkaban without trial.'

'Why now?'

'Sources inside the ministry say that Black was given a newspaper, "to do the crossword". I am unsure whether my sources are correct, but apparently it was an article about your acquaintance Ronald.'

She showed Rose the paper from the date of Fudge's last inspection.

MINISTRY WORKER WINS 700-GALLEON DRAW screamed the headline. There was an article that talked about who Arthur and the family were. It also included a picture of the Weasley family. Visible in Ronald's shirt pocket was his rat.

'Gran, what if Peter escaped or rather Peter blew up the street and cut off his finger, and was an illegal Animagus?' asked Rose.

'I have no clue how Peter would've been able to do that,' said Gran. 'From what Frank always said, he was a mediocre wizard hanging around those much more powerful than himself.'

'What if he wasn't the only one?' asked Rose. 'Maybe he had friends, such as the aforementioned Black that also became an Animagus? Maybe you should ask Professor McGonagall to do a pet check?'

'A pet check?'

'The approved animals are an owl, a cat, or a toad,' said Rose. 'Any other pets should be eliminated.'

'I could suggest it to Minerva,' said Gran. 'Deputy Headmistress McGonagall to you, of course. All animals should be check to make sure that they are regulation, and that they aren't an Animagus sneaked in.'

\\/

A couple of weeks later, it was time for Neville and Rose to get their books. Rose had owled with Hermione to co-ordinate when they would go get their books.

When Rose got her book-list, she realised the significance of one of the gifts she'd gotten for her birthday. Hagrid has sent her a book that seemed to be alive that was called The Monster Book of Monsters.

'Rose!' exclaimed Hermione when she saw her friend. This was the first time that they'd actually seen each other since the Hogwarts Express.

'How are you?'

'I'm doing fine,' said Rose. 'I was at Gran Longbottom's this summer, as you know. I had a good time.'

'Why do you call her that?' asked Hermione. 'As far as I know, she isn't related to you.'

'I think that Neville and I are something like Fourth cousins,' said Rose. 'A common ancestor to both me, the Weasleys, and Neville, is Phineas Black, whose daughters and granddaughters married into the Potter, Weasley, and Longbottom lines. And to answer your question, she told me to. My godmother was her daughter-in-law, Neville's mum. His godmother was my mum.'

They went to the bookshop, where the clerk became visibly nervous at having to retrieve three Monster Book of Monsters. He was relived when Rose told him that she already had one.

'I thought that the Invisible Book of Invisibility was the worst,' said the shopkeeper. 'Things cost a bloody fortune, and we could never find them.'

They spent their time shopping for school supplies (and buying ice-cream at Florean's) and Hermione realised that she still had a couple of galleons left over from the money her parents had exchanged at Gringotts. They went into the pet store, intending to buy an owl for Hermione and owl treats for Hedwig, who'd gotten quite a good workout that summer.

However, when they walked in, they were attacked by an animal that looked like a large cat or small tiger. The animal got farther away, and Rose realised that it was indeed a cat. It was a large cat that had a face that looked as if its face had been squashed.

It's probably at least part Kneazle, thought Rose. The cat saw Hermione and started to purr.

'What a cute kitty!' said Hermione. 'Who's a good cat?' she said, scratching behind the ears.

'How much does the cat cost?' asked Hermione of the shop attendant.

'2 Galleons' said the attendant. 'He's been here a while, since he doesn't seem to like anybody, except for you. That's ₲2 with the carrier, the immunisation card and the cat. Also, you're with Rose Potter, so I knocked off a couple of sickles.'

Hermione quickly paid the attendant, and they left the shop.

\\/

The Weasleys were staying at the Leakey Cauldron for the last couple of days of the summer holidays, having only recently returned from their trip to Egypt. The trip to see her favourite brother had been very therapeutic for Ginny, who'd been Possessed by an evil diary that was a relic of Lord Voldemort.

It quickly turned out that Hermione's new cat, Crookshanks, and Ron did not get along well. Ron disliked cats anyway, and Crookshanks disliked Ron, or most likely, what was in Ron's pocket.

As the cat was part Kneazle, Rose told it not to bother the rat yet, as she had plans for it. The cat looked disappointed, but Rose could tell he understood. Rose gave him an extra cat treat for that.

Crookshanks seemed to like both Rose and Ginny, as well. Ginny loved cats, except for Mrs Norris, who was Mr Filch's cat.

\\/

That night, Hermione convinced her parents to let her stay at the Longbottom house, so she and Rose had a slumber party in Rose's room that Neville declined to attend. Gran Longbottom agreed with his decision, as all three of them were at or close to the point when their bodies would start to change.

The next morning, they Flooed to the platform, and met up with the Weasleys and Luna Lovegood, who was a Gryffindor a year younger than Neville, Ron, Hermione, and Rose. Unusually, there was actually an adult on the train, sitting in the compartment they chose. Usually, the only adults on the train were the driver, and the sweets lady.

If his suitcase, which was tattered beyond belief, was to be believed, this man was Professor Remus J Lupin. Lupin was asleep.

They were talking about the various things they'd done during the summer holidays when the train suddenly stopped.

'We can't be there yet,' said Hermione.

'Maybe we've broken down,' suggested Rose. Hermione was just about to say that the train was magic and that 'breaking down' would be very illogical, when everything got cold.

Everything went cold, and Rose felt like she'd never be happy again. Something opened the door, and the feeling got worse. Rose collapsed.

'Lily, take Rose and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!' said a voice. There was a scream and a thump.

'Step aside, you foolish girl,' said a high pitched voice.

'Never!'

'Avada Kedavra!' there was another scream and Rose could see the wand pointed at her. The green light...

'Rose, Rose,' someone was trying to shake her awake.

'What was that?' asked Rose. 'I think I just relived my parents murder, and my attempted murder.'

'That was a Dementor, one of the prison guards of Azkaban,' said Lupin. 'They are on the train searching for Sirius Black. Eat that chocolate, you'll feel better, Rose. Your mum always did.'

'You knew my mum?'

'She was one of the kindest people I've ever known,' said Lupin. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to have a word with the driver.'

The adult left the compartment. 'Did either of you faint?' asked Rose.

'No,' said Hermione.

'But I felt like I'd been infested with Nargles, though,' said Luna. 'They make your brain go all funny.'

\\/

When they got to Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall was waiting for them. 'Potter, a word, please.'

McGonagall wanted Madam Pomfrey to check over Rose to make sure that she was alright. After a couple of minutes, she grudgingly let Rose go to the Feast.

'Oh, you've missed the sorting,' said Hermione.

\\/

That weekend, Professors McGonagall and Lupin came to the Common Room, and told them that all Gryffindors were to be in the Common Room by 7:00 that night, no exceptions. Any Gryffindor not in the Common Room at that time would receive a detention and would lose 100 points from Gryffindor.

'It has come to my attention that there are a number of non-regulation pets,' said McGonagall. 'For our purposes today, that means anything other than a cat, an owl, or a toad. One of the parents is uncomfortable with the fact that non-regulation pets are in the school.'

Everything went well, as all of the Gryffindors had regulation pets, until Lee Jordan and Ronald Weasley. Lee still had his tarantula. This was quickly confiscated.

When Lupin saw Ron's rat, he went into a rage. 'Mr Weasley, where did you get that...thing?'

'My brother Percy gave it to me,' said Ron.

Lupin turned to McGonagall. 'That's not a rat—that's an Animagus.'

'Are you sure?' she asked as Lupin stunned the rat. 'There's no rat Animagus on the Registry.'

'That's because at one point, there were three unregistered Animaguses running around the school,' said Lupin. 'James was a stag, Black was a dog that looked like a Grim, and Peter looked exactly like that.'

He jabbed his finger at the animal.

'Contact Professors Dumbledore and Snape,' said McGonagall. 'Potter, with me. We're taking this rat to the Headmaster.'

\\/

'What can I do for you, Minerva?' asked Dumbledore when they walked into the office. Snape was already there with a bottle of Veritaserum, looking disgruntled at having been summoned by Lupin.

'I have a suspicion that this rat is not what it seems to be,' said Minerva as Lupin shouted, 'That rat's the traitor! He was the spy in the Order. He's the one who got Lily and James killed, and left Rose an orphan!'

Dumbledore walked over to the Floo. 'Auror Office Emergency Line!' he called.

'Please state the nature of your emergency,' came the voice from the other side.

'This is Chief Warlock Dumbledore. We have an unregistered Animagus who might be a criminal,' said Dumbledore.

'I'll send someone through,' said the voice. Less than a minute later, no less than five Aurors and the Head of the DMLE came through.

'Where is this unregistered Animagus?' asked Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE. Dumbledore pointed out the rat. 'Shacklebolt, begin recording.'

'Yes ma'am,' Shacklebolt, who was now in perfect health, said.

'We received a call at 21.05 local that there was an unregistered Animagus at Hogwarts,' said Bones, obviously dictating a report. 'Minerva, please.'

Professor McGonagall cast the Animagus Revelation spell, and the rat was transformed into a man.

'That's impossible,' said Snape, McGonagall, and the Aurors. Dumbledore just looked amused.

'We have a man, appearing to be a short man with grubby skin, small watery eyes, and a pointed nose,' said Bones. 'The man appears to be Peter Pettigrew.'

Bones turned to Snape. 'Severus, please.'

Snape administered the Veritaserum.

'What is your name?' asked Bones.

'Peter Pettigrew,' said the man.

'Are you or were you ever a Death Eater, or otherwise a follower of the Dark Lord known as,' she paused a second here before continuing, 'Voldemort?'

'Proudly,'

'Was Sirius Black the Secret-Keeper for the Potters?'

'Yes,'

Dumbledore asked, 'Was Black the Secret-Keeper when the Potters died. If not, who was it?'

'I was their final Secret-Keeper,' intoned Peter.

'Did you betray the Potter's location to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?'

'Yes,'

'Did you murder 12 innocent Muggles?'

'They were just scum,' said Peter. 'The world is better off without them. But yes, they were part of my trap!'

'Tell us what happened when you had your confrontation with Black on 1 November,' said Bones.

'I gave My Lord the Potter's secrets, and then Black came to me and tried to murder me,' said Wormtail. 'I told him he betrayed the Potters, which he did by switching Secret-Keepers. I then framed Black for my murder, and the murder of those 12 filthy Muggles, but changing into my rat Animagus form and ran off into a sewer. A couple of days later, I found the house of the Blood-Traitors, the Weasleys, where their stupid child took me in.'

'Why the Weasleys?'

'They were too close to the blood-traitor Dumbledore,' said Peter. 'I figured that when My Lord returned, they'd have the best information.'

\\/

Amelia Bones and the Aurors took Peter Pettigrew after casting a spell to prevent him transforming, and he was quickly convicted of treason, accessory to murder (2 counts—James and Lily), accessory to attempted murder (Voldemort's attempt to kill Rose, Sirius Black's attempt to kill Peter), and murder of a Muggle (12 counts), and sentenced to a life sentence in Azkaban plus 400 years (just in case some idiot tried to parole him).

\\/

Everybody at the school was excited to have Defence class with their fourth teacher in three years, to see whether Lupin would be good like Shacklebolt (who had just taught until the end of the year, as his injury was healed and he could resume Regular Duty at the Aurors) or lousy like Lockhart (a fraud and rapist, now in prison) or Quirrell (a stutterer and follower of Lord Voldemort, now dead).

When they got to class, Lupin told them to put their books away and to follow him, as he had something to show them that he just found the previous night. While they were walking to the Faculty Room, they came across Peeves stuffing some chewing gum into a keyhole in a door.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' said Lupin. 'Filch will not be happy at all.'

'Ooh, It's loony, loony Lupin!' said the poltergeist as he continued to stuff the gum in the hole. He also continued to sing 'Loony, loony, Lupin!'

'Watch this," Lupin told the class as he pulled out his wand. 'Wadiwasi!'

The gum shot up into Peeves' nose, and he sped off.

'Cool!" said one of the Gryffindors in the class, a black boy named Dean Thomas.

'Thank you, Dean" said the professor as they walked. Lupin went to the faculty room and whispered the password, and the door swung open.

Snape was just about to walk out. 'Don't bother closing the door, Lupin," he said. 'I'm not sure if anyone has told you, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I'd advise you not to trust him with anything important, unless one of the Golden Trio' he sneered the title, 'Is whispering instructions in his ear.'

'I was rather hoping that Mr Longbottom would help me with the first part of my lesson, and I'm sure that he'll do it admirably,' said Lupin as Snape's lip curled in disgust. Snape walked out the door.

There was a wardrobe at the end of the room, where the teachers kept their spare robes, Rose noticed. Professor Lupin noticed his students looking with curiosity at the box, as if there was something in it. There must have been something in it, as it kept shaking around.

'No need to worry, it's just a boggart' he said. 'Now, can anyone tell me what a boggart looks like?'

Naturally, Hermione had her hand up. 'Yes, Miss Granger?'

'It takes the shape of whatever we fear the most,' she responded.

'Mr Longbottom,' called the professor. 'Come here, please. Now, what scares you the most?'

Neville mumbled something that the class couldn't hear, and apparently, neither could Lupin.

'Could you speak up, as I couldn't hear you,' asked the professor.

'Professor Snape,' answered Neville timidly. Despite the fact that his association with Hermione and Rose made him more confident, he was still scared out of his wits by Snape.

'Yes, he scares us all,' commented Lupin. 'Now, how to make Snape funny?'

Lupin got a grin that quickly disappeared, Rose noticed. She'd seen that same smile on the Weasley Twins right before they pranked someone. He probably thought it was unprofessional to have that grin and thoughts of pranking Snape she thought.

'I believe that you live with your grandmother?' asked Lupin kindly. Neville nodded, and Lupin whispered something in his ear before standing up and addressing the class.

'What finishes off a boggart is laughter. You have to make it assume a funny form. There is a simple spell to make it change it's shape, but it requires concentration on something funny, as Mr Longbottom will demonstrate in a minute. The charm is Riddikulus!'

Lupin turned his wand on the wardrobe and the doors opened. Out stepped Professor Snape. 'Remember what I told you,' encouraged Lupin.

'Riddikulus!' shouted Neville. The boggart changed from Professor Snape to Professor Snape with Neville's Grandmother's hat, her handbag, and dress. Nearly everyone in the room started to laugh.

'OK, everyone! Form a line' said the professor.

Parvati was next. The boggart turned into a bloodstained, bandaged mummy, which she made trip over its bandages. It turned into a banshee for Seamus, who simply silenced it. It turned into a Professor McGonagall telling her she'd failed everything for Hermione, who made the boggart say the same thing in iambic pentameter, which she found to be amusing.

It went through most of the class, and it was getting confused before it was Rose's turn.

As soon as Rose stepped in front of the Boggart, Professor Lupin forced her out of the way, and the Boggart changed into a full moon. Almost nobody in the class noticed what the Boggart was, however, and he dismissed the class, saying that they'd run out of time, and giving points to everyone who'd faced the Boggart plus another ten to Hermione for answering the questions.

\\/

According to Parvati, in their first day of Divination, the professor had already predicted Rose's death ten times. Fortunately, Rose was taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy instead.

The next day, they had Care of Magical Creatures. According to their timetables, the class was to take place at Hagrid's house, so they went down. Once everyone had gotten to the class, Hagrid shepherded them near a paddock where Rose could see Hippogriffs.

'Open your books to page 64,' said Hagrid to the class.

'How exactly do we do that?' asked Malfoy. He then continued in a lower voice, 'Wait until my father hears that this oaf is teaching here.'

'Better Hagrid than your father,' said Rose. 'He'd refuse to teach anyone who wasn't pureblood.'

'You filthy Mudblood!'

'There's no need for that type of language in my class, Malfoy, five points from Slytherin,' said Hagrid. 'And the answer to your question is that you rub the spine, of course.'

Hagrid then taught the class about Hippogriffs, making sure to stress that it would be a Very Bad Thing to insult a hippogriff or otherwise make a hippogriff mad. Needless to say, Malfoy was either not paying attention to the 'oaf' or was deliberately trying to get Hagrid fired, as he insulted a Hippogriff known as Buckbeak, and got a minor cut to his arm, which Rose was able to mend in a second.

'I'll have your job for this,' Malfoy said to Hagrid. 'And your Hippogriff's head, as well. When I'm done with you, I'll have its bloody head in the Formal Dining Room of Malfoy Manor!'

\\/

Almost as soon as he could book the pitch, Wood started to schedule practises. This was his last year, and, due to circumstances out of his control, hadn't won the Quidditch Cup yet. Her first year, Rose was in hospital when the final match was played, and second year, the matches had been cancelled.

This year, however, nothing was going to stop them winning the cup. They were practising as much time as he could schedule, 4 or 5 hours a time, 3 to 4 days a week. Soon, McGonagall put her foot down.

'I want to win as much as you do, Wood,' McGonagall said. 'But you can't let this Quidditch fixation adversely affect your studies or your team's studies.'

\\/

Slytherin almost had their game with Gryffindor postponed, due to an 'injury' to their Seeker. The Malfoys had brought suit against Hagrid and his Hippogriff, but the case was thrown out of court when Pureblood eyewitness testimony showed that Malfoy had been in the wrong.

So therefore, it was a rainy day when Gryffindor played Slytherin (although 'rainy' was quite the understatement). Rose could barely see where she was going, but fortunately, neither could the Slytherins.

By the time the game was an hour old, Rose was soaked to the skin with rain, and the score was a pitiful 50-50. It was then that she caught a glimpse of something gold. She dove towards it, and just barely caught it before Malfoy, winning the game 200-50.

\\/

Rose's friendship with the Weasley twins paid off when they gave her a piece of parchment that revealed itself as 'The Marauder's Map', and was a complete map of the school. Also, it gave most of the passwords.

It showed everyone in the castle, no matter what form they were in (McGonagall always showed as such, even when Rose knew that she was in her Animagus form).

\\/

A/N: There are no pairings with Ginny nor Luna yet, at this point Hermione and Rose are just close friends (but romance for them will be down the line)

Also, while I realise that during the first four years of Hogwarts, a witch's body begins to change, just figure that there are potions for everything.

First Elizabethan Era was 1558-1603

Second Elizabethan Era is 1952-? (although who knows if historians will actually call it that)