Rose awoke the next morning looking like a mess. She supposed it was a miracle she had managed to sleep at all.
After quickly using the bathroom, setting her appearance right and getting dressed, Rose went down to the kitchen to face her (as she liked to put it) doom. Remus was already there, drinking tea while reading the Daily Prophet. Rose forced herself to hold back a wince when she saw him. Sirius was there too, sitting silently, apparently deep in thought.
"Good morning," mumbled Rose as she joined then at the table.
Remus put down his paper when he realized she was there and smiled at her.
"Good morning," he replied. There seemed to be some degree of extra politeness in his tone. Rose supposed that like her, he had not forgotten the previous night.
Sirius mumbled a reply that was more or less engulfed by a yawn.
"So, when are we leaving?" Rose asked tentatively.
"Midday, in a few hours, if that's okay with you?" replied Remus.
Rose nodded.
"And where are we going, exactly. I mean, where do these werewolves live?"
"There are a number of places across the country," he replied as he toyed with his tea. "The closest in a remote semi-rural area near the outskirts of London. There's a large abandoned orphanage. Some thirty werewolves live there. That's where we'll be going."
Rose grimaced; it did not sound very pretty.
"It's a muggle village?"
"Yes, but the building and the land around it have a number of muggle repelling charms on it, so we don't need to worry about them."
"Right," she said as she tried to hide her lack of enthusiasm. An abandoned orphanage filled with anti-social werewolves did not sound all that appealing.
"Well," continued Remus, "Albus drafted our official cover story. I meet you a few weeks ago through a friend, we started dating, and when you found out I was a werewolf you were interested in seeing how life was, so I'm taking you with me to the orphanage. You'll be going by your Anabelle Elizabeth Jean cover."
"What as that again?" said Sirius, smirking. "Twenty seven year old Australian tourist, likes to wear daggy clothes?"
"With plain brown hair and a love for muggle glasses," finished Rose, her nose wrinkled in displeasure.
"Actually, Albus seems to think that short, curly black hair is more your thing…" said Remus, betraying a smile.
"What?" asked a confused Rose.
Remus sighed a pulled out a bag from underneath his chair. He emptied its contents on to the table.
"Albus put this little set together for you, you know, for disguise… this" – he held up a small box with a picture of a women in the front – "is magical hair lotion. It makes your hair looks just like this woman's, that is, short, curly and jet black. It even makes your eyebrows black."
"What if I get stuck with horrible, thick black eyebrows?"
"Don't worry – Albus told me to tell you that he assures you that both products have passed the ministry's safety standards and have a completely perfect record so far," Remus assured her. "He also got you some old clothes."
Rose reached out for one of the packages uncertainly. She had a look at the skin lotion one and read the label:
Mrs Cuddleton ensures that this product will give beautiful, clear sun-kissed skin…
The hair lotion made the same shameless promise:
Enjoy healthy, sleek, lustrous hair in seconds!
Rose already had healthy, sleek, lustrous hair.
Rose ate her breakfast slowly. She felt like a little child at the end of a nice long summer holiday, dreading the start of school – except that she was not a little child, she was a mature woman who had put herself knowingly and willingly in to this situation.
When she finally finished eating, she magically cleaned her plate and cup, and banished them into the cupboard by the sink. Both Sirius and Remus looked up at her as she eyed the products in front of her hopelessly.
"Er, let's start with the tanning product first, shall we?" suggested Sirius. "It's probably the easiest."
Rose gave him a strained smile – although he was little immature at time, he could be very sensitive when he wanted to be.
"Good idea," she mumbled.
Sirius reached for the skin product and read the label.
"It's not so bad," he said encouragingly. "You just need to drink it – it's even chocolate flavored! It will take about five minutes for the product to kick in, then for about half an hour, your skin gradually darkens."
He opened the bottle and smelled it.
"Smells alright. Ready?" he asked, as he handed the bottle over to Rose.
She conjured a small cup and poured the contents into it. It looked like extremely thick hot chocolate.
"Ready as I'll ever be," she muttered and raised the cup to her lips, draining it all in one gulp.
She licked her lips contemplatively, "Hmm, well that didn't taste too bad…"
"Do you want to apply the hair lotion, while we wait?" asked Remus, indicating to the contacts on the table.
"Might as well," she said.
The hair lotion had to be left in for about ten minutes, but when Rose washed it out of her hair and dried it magically, she had to say she was very pleased with the jet black elaborate curls that reach just under her chin. It didn't even look fake. Her eyebrows had turned out acceptable too. She even thought she might keep the hair once she was able to drop her disguise. By the time she finished with her hair, her skin colour had stabilized – she now had a soft golden glow to her skin. It was a stark contrast to her normal creamy white veela complexion. She had also changed into the clothes that Dumbledore provided her - old threadbare jeans that were much too big and a turtleneck sweater.
"So, do you recognize me?"
"Well, I do…" said Remus as he studied her face, "You look very different though, I doubt anyone who hasn't known the adult you would recognize you based on the memory of what you used to be."
"I agree," said Sirius.
"So, are you ready to leave, then? Have you packed your bag?" Remus asked her.
Rose nodded and summed her hand bag from upstairs.
"Er, Rose, I didn't mean your hand bag –" started Remus, looking a little confused.
Rose actually managed a laugh.
"No, Lupin, I've charmed my wallet to fit my suitcase. I've got everything I need in here."
"Right. I guess we should be going," he replied, standing up and walking out to the hallway. Rose and Sirius followed him.
Remus and Rose both put on their cloaks – Rose wore her woolen beanie as well (though she had charmed it black so no one would recognize it) – while Sirius watched them sadly. Rose forgot about her own sorrows at that moment and gave him a big hug.
"I'm sorry to be leaving you all alone, Sirius," she said. "But, you know, you did talk me into this. I expect we will see you soon. Er, wait a minute."
She let go of Sirius and turned to Remus, "How long am I going to be doing this for?"
"We aren't sure yet, a few weeks at least for now, but we should be able to visit here once or twice a week in the mean time."
Sirius patted them both on the shoulders.
"You two behave now, I don't want to hear about any mischief you might be getting in to. Remember you're only pretending to be girlfriend and boyfriend."
"Oh, shut up Sirius," Rose said, punching him playfully, but glancing nervously at Remus all the same.
"Shall we?" he said, as he opened the front door.
With one last good bye to Sirius, Rose followed Remus out on to the door step, to the start of what she knew was to be a few very long, very hard weeks.