Chapter 14 Bulb of A Phaedranassa

Rose sat in the deserted girls' bathroom on the second floor stirring the contents of the cauldron in front of her. As she stirred, the potion began to bubble and emit small flares of light. Rose frowned uncomfortably. The potion smelled fowl, but that wasn't the reason for Rose's discomfort. Any moment now, Rose was expecting the ghost that haunted this very bathroom to appear.

Rose knew that Moaning Myrtle had been killed in this bathroom more than sixty years ago by Voldemort's basilisk. She felt sorry for the girl but wasn't very fond of her. Myrtle was called Moaning Myrtle for a reason. But Rose was thankful for Myrtle because she was the reason no one ever used this bathroom. Most girls avoided it like the plague.

Rose had gotten the idea from one of her father's stories about the good old days. He hadn't been very specific, but he had informed her (after making sure her mother was out of earshot) that this very room had an entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. It seemed like a great place to hide their potion at the time, but that was before Rose met Myrtle. Now, she just wanted the potion to be finished.

"Where is Albus?" She asked the empty room. Her cousin should have been here by now. Come to think of it, so should Emmett. She could only guess that Albus had gotten detained by Slughorn in the process of stealing fresh supplied from his stores in the dungeons.

Just then, she heard a loud crash from outside and the door to the bathroom was pushed open. She jumped up and went to cover her work station. Only to sit back down once she realized that the intruder was Emmett.

"Where is Albus?" She asked, seeing that he was alone.

"It's good to see you too, Rose." The boy replied good-naturedly.

"Oh, sorry." Rose felt her face flush. "It's just that he should have been here by now, and I'm afraid Slughorn may have caught him."

"Relax." Emmett coaxed. "He's fine." He held up a piece of paper folded into the shape of a paper airplane. As she watched, the note flapped its wings trying to get out of Emmett's grasp. "He told me Slughorn wanted help with something and sent me this."

"A note? What about the ingredients?"

In answer to her question, Emmett unfolded the note and laid it on the table. Rose watched in wonder as words began to write themselves across the paper. Leaning forward for a better look, Rose realized that the words weren't words at all. Instead they were symbols. She ran a finger over one and pulled back in surprise when it began to glow.

"What is that?" She asked Emmett curiously.

"Al told me he got it from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes over Christmas. Watch." Emmett leaned forward and pressed his finger to the paper. The hieroglyph-type symbol began to glow again and suddenly where the symbol had been, there was now a unicorn hair.

Rose allowed herself a moment of shock before her usual reasonable self took over. "Well then," she said briskly. "Let's begin."

Albus's POV

"Albus Potter!" A voice boomed loudly in Albus's ear. "Just the man I was hoping to see."

Albus hurriedly stuffed the piece of parchment he was holding into the pocket of his robes. He tried not to grimace at the sound of Slughorn's voice. With every encounter, he liked the man less and less. But some things couldn't be helped. He turned to face the professor, quickly pasting a smile onto his face.

"Hello, Professor." He replied. He wanted to tell the old fat man to buzz off, but this was the whole reason Rose had sent him to gather the ingredients for their potion; on the off chance that he would get caught.

"I was just… er," Albus tried to think of a logical explanation for his presence in the room. "I, uh, needed your help with something." He lied.

"What do you need, Mr. Potter?" Slughorn asked. "Do you need a pass to get out of a lesson, help with potions, special recommendations?" Slughorn winked conspiratorially. "I have quite a bit of pull you know, being the oldest staff member."

"Oh, um, no." Albus said. He was no longer surprised by what people would do to be able to say that they knew him. Or his father. It grated on his nerves, the way people like this slimy man tried to use them. "I only needed help with that last potion."

"Potion?" Slughorn asked sounding disappointed. He was obviously hoping for something more scandalous, such as a get out of detention free slip.

"Yes, professor." Albus replied. He was beginning to get the hang of lying. It required a quick mind and the ability to bluff. No wonder Rose was so good at it. "In class the last potion, Grigorian, I think it was. I wanted curious as to whether we chopped the Baltic root or grated it."

"Oh." Slughorn was definitely disappointed now. Albus watched as he pushed away the frown that came to his wrinkled old face in exchange for an ingratiating smile. "I'm sure that's in your text book, dear boy." The man said. "But if you ever need anything, be sure to remember that I'm here." Albus nodded and watched as the professor disappeared into his office.

As soon as the man was out of sight, he pulled a now crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. He also got out his wand. Tapping the parchment twice with the wand, he muttered a spell under his breath. Without warning, the paper formed itself into a paper airplane and took off down the hall. After stowing his wand in the sleeve of his robes, Albus followed.

Rose's POV

At dinner that evening, Rose sat surrounded by friends. Well, she was sitting by two friends. The rest of the nearby benches were taken up with family members. Melody sat to her right, and she and Rose exchanged polite conversation. Rose felt bad about not telling the girl about Patton and the Videre de Mortis potion, but she knew it was for the best.

The other friend sitting close by was, of course, Emmett. Albus had just gotten a letter delivered by Loki from his parents. Rose pretended not to notice that Emmett was staring moodily at the letter. She realized that she had never seen the boy get a letter of his own, and wondered about the situation behind it. She decided that she would ask Albus later.

For now, she focused on the contents of Albus's letter. He had shown it to both she and Emmett, making sure to keep it out of the rest of their family's line of sight because it mentioned Patton, or as Rose still sometimes referred to him in her head, the cat. The letter was from Harry Potter himself, and it only confirmed everything that the cat told them.

Rose had begun to wonder if the ghost was correct about someone being after the Potters. About the same time her dire warnings began, the death eaters had broken out of Azkaban. She also just so happened to warn a Potter, whom it was likely they were after. Rose felt that the ghost's warning and the appearance of Patton might somehow be connected.

The cat in question was sitting under Albus's feet at the moment being teased by Fred with scraps of cheese. Rose was waiting for Patton to bite the boy's hand to teach him a lesson. But alas, that was not to happen. So she turned back to her meal and the friendly conversations.

"What have you been up to, Rosie?" Her cousin Molly asked curiously. "I've hardly seen you since school started."

"It's great here. I love all of my classes." Rose told her. "Except for charms. I stink at charms."

From her seat beside Molly, Andromeda rolled her eyes. "And when Rose says she stinks at something, what she means is, she isn't highly proficient in it." She reached for a buttered roll. "Only normally proficient."

"I don-" Rose began to defend herself only to realize that the accusation was true.

"Yes, you do." Andromeda countered. "But that's okay. Everyone has to have something they're bad at. It's only human."

"And here I was thinking that little Rose was a werewolf." Fred interjected dryly. He had given up on teasing the cat and was now moving onto teasing his cousins.

"At least she's not a troll, like you." James told his cousin with a grin.

"I'm a fair wondrous troll at that." Fred agreed with a flippant smile. "What with my amazing looks and all." This comment was met with silence as those around the table pondered the best way to disillusion him. "I know what you're all thinking," He continued. "If only you were as fit as me."

"Yes, Fred." Andromeda agreed sarcastically, "that's exactly what we were thinking."

"Actually," Albus put in, "I was thinking that James was a troll too."

This statement elicited a smile from everyone at the table. "A much better looking troll than Fred," Roxanne called from a few seats away.

"Watch it, Roxy." Her brother warned. "My father owns a whole shop full of practical jokes. And I know where you live." Coming from Fred, the entire table knew that that was not a threat, but a promise.

"Of course you know where I live, you bugger." Roxanne's smirk belied her words. "You live there too." Not giving Fred a chance to reply, she turned back to the person sitting in front of her.

"Girls." Fred muttered under his breath. "They're so…"

He looked up to find four girls watching him. "Aren't you going to finish that sentence?" Andromeda asked sweetly.

"I may be an idiot," Fred sent a glance to James, Al, and Emmett for help. They all turned studiously back to their plates. Rose waited for him to realize that he wasn't going to get any help. "But I'm not stupid."

"That is a point that some would beg to differ." James pointed out.

Rose had been so focused on her cousins that she hadn't been paying attention to the rest of the Great Hall. Now, however, her attention was drawn a further down the Gryffindor table when there was a loud crash. Someone's plate of plum pudding had fallen to the floor. Almost as soon as it hit the ground, it disappeared. Rose had always assumed there was a cleaning charm that kept the floor clean.

But this was not what drew Rose's attention. Her attention was drawn by a fifth year in Gryffindor robes. He had messy blonde hair and a strange look about him. It was the same fifth year that had dropped his plum pudding and now, he was attempting to fit both more pudding and a generous amount of treacle tart onto a new plate. Sitting beside the boy was a person who could only be his identical twin.

Seated on the table, in between the two blondes was a flower pot. The flower it held drooped down a little and was bright pink in color. It was an odd thing to be in possession of two fifteen or sixteen year old boys, but Rose wasn't concerned about that.

She recognized the flower. "Albus!" She whispered excitedly to the boy next to her. "Albus!"

"What?" Albus asked loudly. "What is it?"

"Keep your voice down." Rose chided. She checked to make sure no one had noticed. "And look down there."

She pointed out the flower sitting between the twins. "What?" Albus asked confusedly. "Is so important about watching Lorcan Scamander shove food into his mouth?"

"Scamander?" Rose asked. The name sounded familiar.

"Yes, Scamander." Albus agreed. "Those are Aunt Luna's children. But that doesn't mean I want to watch them eat. It's disgusting enough to watch James eat."

"No. That's not it." Rose said affably. "Look on the table. Between them."

Albus did as she asked. "It's a flower." He pointed out. "A bright pink flower." He looked at Rose as if to see if this was what all the fuss was about.

"That's not just any flower, Al." She corrected excitedly. "That is a Phaedranassa."

Albus frowned. Rose could tell he recognized the word but couldn't remember why it was important. "Phaedranassa?" He repeated.

"The bulb of a phaedranassa." Rose recited. "It's the last ingredient in the potion."

"Oh!" she could tell the he got it now.

"That's great, Rose." Albus said. There was something in his voice that told Rose a but was coming. She frowned. Despite the fact that she was one of the smartest witches her age, she had a tendency to overlook small issues. Albus, on the other hand, had a tendency to look over the whole plan carefully before acting. She figured it was this tendency that caused him to say what he did next. "There's just one problem."

"What?"

Albus sent a last glance at the pretty flower before saying, "How are we supposed to get the bulb?"