Hi everyone! I hope you had a great Christmas! Mine was... mixed. Anyway, the poll is still open if you would like to vote but otherwise enjoy! X
Harry and Rose were still stuck at that house three days later. Harry was convinced Snape had turned his back on them- Rose didn't want to believe that was true, but was growing more disheartened by the day. Frustrated, they'd commandeered one of the other bedrooms and cleared it of furniture, turning it into a dojo and/or dance studio, depending on what they were using it for in the hopes of combatting their cabin fever.
They hadn't bothered warding it, only putting up silencing charms when they were in there and it took until the third day for anyone to realise. Although they each had been conjuring up clothes to wear, they both still had the sports outfits they'd been wearing when attacked and days together in an enclosed space meant that they were both eager to work out their frustrations. So eager, that they forgot to set up the charm, and found at the end of a spar that they had an audience.
"Wow… you're both really talented." Hermione gushed. Rose and Harry exchanged a long look, the latter shrugging slightly.
"Rose is the talented one- she just makes me look good." He said tightly, slipping off his shoes.
Mrs Weasley tutted. "Don't put yourself down dear."
"How did you move like that?" Ginny asked shyly. "You looked… weightless."
"Practice and training." Rose answered shortly. "Harry, did you have to kick so hard?" she winced as she pressed her fingers into her shoulder. His eyes snapped up, concerned.
"Did I hurt you?"
"Just bruises. But it's going to be stiff, I can already feel it." She grimaced.
"Go soak it, try to ward the worst off."
"I know- don't forget to dig the knives out of the wall. Excuse me." She pushed past the small crowd at the door, Mrs Weasley paling when she heard 'knives'. He'd just turned to them and Harry heard her yelp. "Hey!"
"Rosie!?"
"Laissez-moi passer!"
"Rose!" he shoved past the group in the doorway, catching sight of her blonde hair down the stairs and rushing after them. Her wrist was being held in the grip of Remus Lupin, who was bent almost double, clutching his abdomen. "Let her go!"
Rose was already twisting, using her body weight to put pressure on Lupin's grip and forcing him to release her. Harry surged forward, kicking down on his kneecap to force him backwards and catching Rose's arm to pull her backwards.
"Remus!" Mrs Weasley shrieked in horror.
"What the hell are you doing?" Harry demanded. Lupin wheezed.
"Just… wanted to… talk…"
"And you do that by forcibly dragging a thirteen year old down the stairs?!" Harry spat. Lupin was leaning heavily against the wall as shrieks rose up from beneath them.
"'Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place!"
Rose rubbed her wrist almost absently as she peered over the banisters. "What is that?"
Curious, they descended the next set of stairs, blinking in surprise when they saw a portrait by the front door which had previously been covered by curtains. She was screaming, waking up the other portraits in the hall who had begun to join in.
"Um… excusez-moi madame?" Rose said tentatively. She peered out at them, still screaming.
"Madame? Are you okay?" Harry asked, wincing at the noise. She trailed off, gaze fixed on Rose.
"I know you… you're the spitting image of your mother."
"You knew my mother, Madame?" she questioned curiously.
"Julianne Reyer." She sniffed. "Went back to France and got married after school."
Rosalie's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, non madame, she was ma grand-mère."
The woman harrumphed. "Grandmother? Didn't know Emmeline was old enough to have a child, let alone one as old as you." Rose exchanged a surprised glance with Harry at this woman's knowledge. "What is your name girl?"
"Rosalie, Madame. Rosalie Vance."
"Vance, eh? So your parents aren't married." She glared at her suspiciously. "Who is your father, or did he abandon his bastard as well as sire it?"
Rose's jaw clenched, but before she or Harry could answer a voice did so for them.
"I am."
Both their heads snapped to the side in surprise as Sirius came stalking in the front door. "Sirius!" exclaimed Harry in relief. The man caught them both in a tight embrace as the portrait snarled.
"YOOOOU!" she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man. "Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!"
Sirius grimaced, pushing Harry and Rose behind him slightly. "'I see you've met my mother."
"Your mother!?" Rose exclaimed.
"Yup. Moony, want to give me a hand here?" he struggled to close the curtains and Lupin limped forward to help him. Together, they forced them shut and the shrieking stopped. Mrs Weasley was still on the stairs, pale, staring at Rose.
"She- you- she's your daughter?!" she spluttered. "You?"
The commotion had summoned others of the order to the scene and Mundungus, Tonks, Bill and Mr Weasley, Kingsley, Dedalus Diggle, and at least half a dozen others who Harry didn't recognise were all gaping at Sirius in shock.
Sirius simply regarded them coolly. "Yes. Me. And I don't appreciate her or my godson being kidnapped. Rose, Harry, go and get your things."
Obediently, they pushed past the small crowd and ran up the stairs to grab their bags, both having been careful to keep them as packed as possible. Once they were gone, Sirius turned his gaze on the groups in front of him.
"Sirius-" Lupin began uncertainly but Sirius glared at him.
"I don't care. Hermione and Weasley children, go upstairs." He ordered the gritted teeth. When they hesitated, his eyes narrowed. "NOW!"
They scampered off and he spun on the adults. "How dare you keep two teenagers locked up against their will? How dare you think you have any right to dictate their actions whatsoever?!" he shouted. "Harry is still recovering from facing Voldemort- oh, grow up, it's just a name." he snapped when most of them flinched. "He is still recovering from having a friend murdered in front of him! And you think it's okay to abduct him and his sister after putting their lives in danger through your interference, to hold them in this bloody house, of all places? A house full of dark magic? Quite frankly, Rose and Harry have been looking after themselves for years without any help from adults whatsoever and they've been doing a damn better job than any of you have! I don't care that they're my children, I don't care that you didn't know that they are; none of you have any right to interfere in their lives! And that includes Dumbledore, despite his beliefs to the contrary!"
He was so angry his cheeks were red, his eyes wild but when he spotted Rose and Harry redescending the stairs, his expression softened. "Are you ready to go?"
"Merlin yes." Harry nodded his head vigorously, provoking a weak smile from his godfather.
"Kreacher!" Sirius called shortly, and the house elf popped in front of him, eyes going wide before he bowed.
"Blood traitor master has returned for the second time." He muttered. "Kreacher had hoped that once was enough for him. Oh, how Kreacher's poor mistress would despair if she knew…"
"Kreacher, get rid of the ward keeping Harry and Rose here." Sirius ordered, ignoring the mumbling and the dirty look this got him.
"Sirius, be sensible!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed, having apparently recovered somewhat from his rage.
"They're safer here!" Lupin protested.
"They were safer before we caused the dementors to find out they were in France." Tonks pointed out. They all stared at her and she shrugged. "It's true! They've spent the whole summer perfectly safe, and then get attacked less than a week after we finally track them down? You can't tell me you all believe that's coincidence."
Her hair changed from pink to red as Sirius tilted his head at her. "Who are you?"
"Tonks."
He blinked. "Andi's daughter? Nymphadora?"
"Don't call me Nymphadora!" she snapped. He grinned.
"Oh, I like you, little cousin." He laughed. "Tell Andi I say hi, yeah?"
"Will do." She sighed, crossing her arms.
Sirius reached out to take Rose's bag from her. "Kreacher?"
"It is done, Master." The elf bowed, muttering: "Blood traitor dares to order Kreacher around but takes other blood traitors with him… but not the mudblood, the mudblood remains, oh my poor mistress..."
"Let's go." Sirius glared at Kingsley when he stepped forward as if to try to stop them.
"Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, attempting one last time to dissuade his friend from taking the children but he was silenced by the cold glare he received.
"James and Lily would be so disappointed in you." Sirius said lowly. He spun on his heel and swept out, catching Harry and Rose and taking them with them, hustling them away down the street, almost running. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here- it took Snape a while to track down Minerva to tell her and then she had to come all the way back to France in person to tell me…"
"Is she at home?" asked Harry hopefully.
"Yeah- got herself a few scrapes though so she's laid up in bed." Sirius shook his head slightly in amusement. "You should have seen her, trying to get up so she could come with me."
He led them into an alley, peering around and giving a satisfied nod. "Right, this should do. Ready?"
He held out his arms for each of them to take, and with a loud crack, he apparated them away.
Half an hour later, they were home, Sirius having apparated them to the floo point in the hopes that no one would be able to follow them through so many different points of travel. Rose was nestled against Minerva, who was lying in bed battered and bruised with a broken hip while Harry was sprawled across the end of the bed.
"Neither of you noticed someone following you?" their aunt asked, wincing as the skelegrow did its work.
"No." sighed Harry. "But… we were looking for death eaters and such, who tend to stand out in a certain way."
"I think… when nothing happened for weeks on end, we dropped out guard a bit." Rose admitted. "We're always on alert- Gideon would have a meltdown if we were not, but we stopped taking extra precautions to the ones that we take usually."
Minerva sighed. "Well, there's not much we can do about it now. Did anything important happen while you were at Grimmauld Place?"
"Grimmauld Place?" questioned Harry, puzzled.
"That's where the headquarters is." Sirius supplied from the doorway. He came in, four ice cream floats bobbing in front of him and dispersing themselves to each person.
"Oh."
"Lupin seemed to be under the impression that Harry was going to have to go to court." Rose remembered. Harry looked surprised.
"When was that?"
"While you were still unconscious- it's what sparked the argument you overheard when you woke up." She explained. "He kept saying we'd used underage magic, and that I had to tell him everything I could if I wanted him and Dumbledore to help us."
"You didn't perform any magic in England did you?" asked Minerva in alarm.
"Yes, but the headquarters is under all sorts of wards." Harry assured her.
"My brother and I used to perform magic all the time." Sirius confirmed.
Rose patted her hand. "Besides tata, we have been doing it for over a week. If anything was going to happen, it would have already done so."
She sighed. "I supposed so." She accepted. "Now I'm more worried about why there seem to dementors after you two."
"They were probably after Harry; I just happened to be there." Rose pointed out.
Minerva narrowed her eyes. "That doesn't make me feel better."
Just then, Missy popped into view and handed both Sirius and Minerva letters. "Some owlies are delivering these for yous!"
"Thanks Missy." She opened it, and groaned. "Bugger."
"What is it?" Sirius frowned.
"Dumbledore was unable to find a defence teacher, so the ministry has appointed one."
Harry looked up from his breakfast. "Can they do that?"
"They can now." She said grimly. "Delores Umbridge... She works directly for Fudge, I believe."
"That's bad. The ministry interfering at Hogwarts is going to cause no end of trouble." Rose lowered her glass, appetite gone.
"Wait, I thought that Hogwarts was founded to be separate from the ministry?" Sirius interjected.
"It was, but they've passed a new decree stating that in the event that the headmaster is unable to fill a teaching position, the ministry will appoint a teacher."
"What do we do?" Asked Harry.
"Contact everyone." Rose answered. He looked questioningly at her. "Every student in the school, Harry, get a message to. Warn them what the ministry is trying to do, what the consequences will be and remind them of Cedric. Tell them to be on their best behaviour- we might not like him, but Dumbledore's presence is protecting the school at the moment- if the ministry ousts him, it will get worse."
"How am I supposed to send letters to everyone student on the school?" He demanded. She sent him a withering look.
"Just send them to the most popular people in each house and tell them to pass it on. It will reach almost everyone, and the people left over will hear about it on the train."
Harry sighed but nodded, rubbing his scar and flopping backwards.
"This year is going to be complicated, isn't it?"
"It may be more so." Sirius said, staring at his open letter. Harry tilted his head.
"What is it?"
Sirius had an amazed look on his face. "I'm being given a trial."
"Really?"
"That's brilliant!"
"Sirius, that's wonderful." Smiled Minerva warmly. The man let out an incredulous laugh, still gazing at the letter.
"I'm getting a trial- I'm going to be free!" he laughed. He scrambled off of the bed and plucked Rose from where she sat, causing the girl to yelp as she was swung around the room as Sirius chanted "I'm getting a trial, I'm getting a trial."
"Put me down, you loon!" she giggled and was placed on her feet, though that didn't stop Sirius from dancing around the room, almost yanking her off balance. Harry chuckled, rescuing her now half-empty glass and placing it on the side. He found himself being pulled towards the pair, and the three of them continued to dance around the room while Minerva laughed at them and Missy stood in the doorway and stared.
Laissez-moi passer!- Let me go!
Excusez-moi madame- Excuse me ma'am
ma grand-mère- my grandmother
