There was no need to ask for directions to enter the train station. There was one wall between station nine ands station ten, one that was conveniently near the redhead who was talking about station nine and three-fourths. It was a simple matter to test if the wall was solid with one finger. It turned out not to be solid, so Rose dragged Dudley through it. The other side actually managed to make Roses doubt the sensibility of this world. The truly hidden parts of this world seemed to be just as ostientious as the visible ones. Everything was brightly colored, from the train to the station walls and even some of the parent's clothing. Everything looked bright and cheerful. It would be sickening if it wasn't so amusing! No wonder this world was still a secret! No one would take this seriously if someone told them it!
It wasn't hard to find an empty compartment to sit in. The more that Rose looked, the more compartments there seemed to be. With the time available, Rose got out her textbook, the potions one this time, to read as the train went. Drawing from her example, Dudley looked over the Transfiguration book. It was pleasant for a while. As the train started moving, Rose looked out the window for a bit. It still didn't take long for her to tire of the sheep pastures, so Rose went back to her book. The boredom was interrupted when a boy entered the compartment.
"Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full" the boy said. It was one of those redheads that Rose had seen at the station. Before Rose could answer, Dudley spoke up.
"Sure, I don't think that either of us mind. Do you mind Rose?"
The boy seemed to be waiting for the name, because as soon as she heard it he spoke again. "Are you really Rose? As in Rose Potter, the girl who lived?"
"Yes, my name is Rose Potter" Rose said. This was odd, why was this boy so obsessed with that?
"Can I see the scar?" He asked, "My name's Ron"
"It is rather rude to ask something like that of someone that you just met, Ron" Rose said frowning. Why was this bothersome stranger care? Perhaps there was a downside to positive attention in addition to negative attention. "And I highly doubt your statement about the train being full. This empty compartment showed up when my cousin and I were looking for an empty one, and now it is no emptier than any other occupied compartment"
"But can I see it?" Ron asked. He seemed a bit slow to understand things. Rose didn't like him at all.
"I would think that it is already visible with my current hairstyle, no matter which one of the scars you are interested in seeing" Rose said truthfully. The whisker marks on her cheeks were visible so long as she didn't have a mask on, even if their subtle grey was much more discreate than her brother's stark black lines. She also did have a small half lightning bolt on her forehead. It, contrasting with the faded accents on her cheeks, was a dark blackish blown, the very same shade as her hair. It started right at the root of a black stripe in her hair, and that also made it easy to pass of as an oddly placed lock. It Rose had twisted her hair into a ponytail, braid, bun, or even her favored pigtails, the mark might be unnoticeable, depending on the location that the hair bunched together. With her hair lose, the mark could be noticed, as long as you didn't dismiss it as an odd haircut.
"So that's it" Ron said, disappointed. He had expected it to be more obvious, somehow. This was easily dismissed. "Let's be friends" he said suddenly, remembering why he was here. This was his chance to be associated with the girl who lived.
"No" Rose quickly responded. "I have no desire to surround myself with liars or rude people. Claiming to be looking for an empty compartment was a lie, and asking about the scar was rude"
Ron huffed up and turned red as his hair. He would have said something, but someone else entered the compartment just then.
"Have any of you seen a toad?", a bushy haired girl asked. Her hair was very bristly, almost unnervingly so. As a matter of fact, it was so distractingly bushy that Rose couldn't think of anything else for a few seconds.
"No, I haven't" Dudley said, just as Rose's attention came back. "Have you Rose?"
"I'm sorry, I wasn't listening, that was very rude of me" Rose was quick to apologize for her blunder. "My names Rose, Rose Potter to be precise. Could you please repeat the question?"
"I was asking if you had seen a toad. A boy named Neville lost one, and I am trying to help him find it- wait, Rose Potter, the girl who lived?" Hermione exclaimed. "I have read about you!"
Rose wasn't sure what to do about the strange inclination to be nice to her that everyone here seemed to have. Politeness seemed like the best response, however, so, "As far as your question goes, I haven't seen a toad in this compartment, but I admit that I was too busy reading over our potion textbook to notice of a toad came in here. Still, now that I am looking, is that it?" Rose asked, leaning on her shinobi training to spot the odd coloration amongst the compartment's bright colors. Leaning over and suddenly snatching the toad up with a grace that left the train's occupants speechless, whether in awe or fear, Rose held out the captured animal. "Is this it. This is my second time asking that, you know" Rose scolded. No one got to answer, because another unexpected occupant popped in.
"Has anyone seen a toad?" was called a third time that hour in the compartment. This time, the speaker was somewhat chubby, a boy from Naruto's class, one that Rose had taught last time he was in her other as a matter of fact. Turning to face them, it was obvious that he recognized Rose.
"I found a toad" Rose said, facing the newcomer, "but I have no way of knowing if it's yours. Tell me, are you the Neville whose toad she was asking about?"
"Yes, miss Uzumaki" slipped out of Neville's mouth before he could regulate himself.
Rose starred at him a moment longer, making Neville squirm, before answering. "I guess that it's a good thing that I didn't imagine your familiarity. I do not teach here, Choji"
"Wait, do you know him?" Dudley asked. This was starting to get weird.
"Not really" Neville admitted. "I am part of the class that she teaches in her other"
"A teacher, at our age?" Hermione gasped.
"I managed to pass the graduating requirements early there" Rose tried to downplay the achievement. Choji immediately invalidated her efforts.
"The head of the village gave her the job himself" He gossiped. Before rumors about that could start, Rose tried to cut them down again.
"He didn't want me doing any of the other jobs available"
"Was it because of the temper" Dudley asked, obliviously.
"What temper?" Ron asked.
Unable to keep his mouth shut in face of such an under exaggeration, Neville said dubiously, "There is a temper issue, and then there's her". The instant it left his mouth, Choji knew that he would be paying for that later. Rose's glower was very helpful in reaching the conclusion. Still, Hermione craved to know more.
"What sort of temper?"
"Nothing that I am willing to suffer under" Choji mumbled. When Rose lightly smiled, teeth lightly showing, Neville buried all hopes he pinned on her in favor of trying not to get killed by her.
Hermione's curiosity was disrupted by another intrusion. "They say that Rose Potter is in this car" said an elegant looking blond. "Is it true?" two other boys were flanking him, managing to make a fairly good impression on Rose. He seemed to have a clear goal. He was direct in attempts to achieve that goal. He seemed to be polite enough.
"Yes, I am here" Rose said, looking strait at him. "Who are you?"
Draco was conflicted. On one hand, he had managed to find the correct compartment. On the other, there were so many people here. "Do you mind telling me who your current… companions are. It seems quite rude of them not to introduce themselves.
"Of course" Rose agreed. that seemed a reasonable request. "Do you think that a should include why they are here in my explanation? I still don't who you are."
"My names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy" Draco started. Why didn't she know his name? "An explanation would be nice. Some types are better than others" Draco continued, looking pointedly at Ron.
In another world, such an insinuation would have upset her, but Rose wasn't impressed by Ron either and was very desensitized to rumors and name calling. "This is my cousin, Dudley. I have lived with his parents ever sense mine died, and I promised his father that I would protect him" That was all true, and personal connections had no place in mission reports. "This is Ron, and he is only here because I haven't bothered to kick him out yet" That was also true. Whatever opinions she had of him were negative, and annoyances didn't deserve more of an interdiction hat that. "These are Hermione and Neville, and they are here because this toad, Treavor, escaped from Neville"
Draco wasn't sure what to make of her. Rose had left out all of the last names, but gave a good explanation for each's presence. It almost sounded like she was a proper pureblood, if you ignored that. What sort of family would teach you how to introduce someone like that but forget everyone's last names? "And the last names are?"
"I'm not sure for most. Dudley's last name is Dursley, you already know mine, but I don't actually know the other's last names" Rose admitted easily. Accuracy was of utmost importance.
"These are Crabbe and Gargole" Draco intridused his own companions. If she was polite, he had to return the favor. "They were raised in the same social circles as me, and we are continuing our family's alience. I don't mean to offend, but Dursley isn't a wissarding last name to my knowlage"
"It isn't" Rose was quick to conferm. "Dudley is my mother's sister's son. She was married to a person with as little magic as her, a man named Vernon Dursley"
"But why would the Girl-who-lived be raised amongst Muggles?" Draco sneered, bias clouding politeness, and his own father's breaks in decorum taking priority.
"I don't know that" Rose admitted uncomfortably. "My aunt might have known, but she was murdured a few months ago and never said anything about them, not anything pertaining to this world at least" Rose amended.
Evreyone reacted to that news. Dudley lowered his face and silently started crying at the mention of his loss, one that he hadn't had a chance to grieve yet. Rose would protect him here, he could afford to be upset now. Hermione was horrified to learn of the loss. Sure, one other of her's constantly made light of the ways that they could get killed and weren't raised with any fear of the possibility. Still, it never actually happened. Neville was shocked to learn about the recent loss his god sister had suffered. Draco was the most conflicted. On one hand, muggle. On the other hand, the woman who raised her was dead. He settled for the polite "I am sorry for your loss"
"Thank you for your sympathy" Rose replied.
"How did she die?" Hermorine asked curiously, if a bit callously. She was very much interested in those sorts of things, she had been raised to survive them.
"Was it some dark wizard?" Ron asked, butting in to the conversation. "They often go on raids to kill muggles, as a matter of fact, Malfoy's father was one of them"
"No," Rose said soundly, interrupting a fight. "My uncle upset a dangerous muggle- if that word means not magic person. There is really no way of knowing who it was, not even my uncle knows who it was. The person sent attackers, tried to kill his whole family before dawn" Rose recounted, reliving the attack.
"What happened" Nevile asked horrified.
Rose refused to answer.
Dudley, not having any time to prosses the implications, was just to relieved by the opertunity to tell someone what happened. Rose had blown off any opportunity that he gave her to ask about it. She already knew what happened, even more than Dudley knew. She was upset that her Aunt was dead, and very traumatized that Vernon refused to let Rose help Petunia. Rose honestly barly cared about the men who invaded her house beyond getting rid of the threat and being prepared to deal with future attempts. Dudley, however, was just frightened at the death, and the risk his father was in. He was already somewhat used to his mom not being there from their tragic wreak. He already knew how to move on, but couldn't deal with the danger as well as his cousin could. Rose had always known about the possibility of death. She wasn't phased by the attack, but was upset at the actual loss. There was nothing that the two of them could help each other with. Dudley didn't heasitate given the oppertunety to spill.
"Rose saved me. There was this person dressed in black, and he had a gun, he was right in my bedroom! I was half asleap, but I woke up after he came in. I had heard a noice, and was getting up to investigate, but there was this person right at my bedside. His gun was aimed, but before he could kill me, there was a knife in him. Then I turned, and Rose was there, a whole bunch of knives held in an apron. She told he to hide, and I didn't see the rest.