A massive thank you to everyone who's reviewed, especially those who have done pretty much every chapter! You're wonderful XX

Minerva had forgotten the exhaustion of a new school year. Ensuring the new muggleborns and half-bloods knew how to get to the platform, sorting them, the excitement of the students, the homesick students, lesson plans and new teachers, old teachers, house elves and the castle itself not to mention a dozen other things that fell to her to complete. Not to mention actually getting Harry and Susan to the platform, which was an experience in itself.

Emmeline had been waiting impatiently by the stairs, Harry's trunk by her side. "Harry! You're going to be late, hurry up!"

"I'm right here Maman. Bye Sirius, bye Rose! We'll see you at Christmas!"

"You have your mirror?" Rose checked.

"Of course."

"Then au revoir." she hugged him tightly, before turning to do the same to Susan.

"Bye pup. Bye Susan!"

"Goodbye Sirius, Rose."

Amelia was frowning at them. "Come along Susie, Harry- we'll be late."

"Coming Madam Bones. Bye! Stay safe!" Harry waved as they rushed out of the door, leaving a strange silence behind.

Rose flopped into a seat in the canteen of the academy, exhausted and watching tiredly as two toddlers raced around the tables while shrieking loudly.

"Tired angel?"

Sirius grinned as he sat down next to her.

"There are so many muggleborns and halfbloods- thank Merlin we have the Abbotts helping or we wouldn't be able to reach half as many as we have."

He patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Look on the bright side- you don't have exams this year."

She frowned. "Maybe not for magic, but I do for muggle school! And the looks the teachers are giving me because I did so badly on the end of year exams last year…"

"Did you give them a reason why?"

"I told them my aunt was very ill, which wasn't a lie. Technically."

"Rose, you're not superwoman. Take a break once in a while."

"Why do you think I have piano lessons?"

"I… have no response to that. Have you heard from Harry?" he changed the subject.

She shook her head. "Not recently. He's busy- very busy, although I think he's finding the others attempts at silent casting amusing."

"You and he can do that already, can't you?"

"Oui. Maman thought it was important we learn. But his classmates have not started yet, so they are struggling. And speaking of Harry…"

She trailed off, looking towards the doorway in confusion. Because Harry had just walked in in, grinning tiredly when he saw them.

"Harry!" exclaimed Sirius in surprise, rising to embrace him. "What are you doing here?"

"I've decided to self-study my NEWTS." He explained. Sirius and Rose exchanged a glance.

"Why?" she questioned.

"Different reasons." He slid into a seat as he shrugged. "Mostly I'm tired of being the bloody boy-who-lived. Last year I was a pariah to half the school, now they're all expecting me to just stand up and defeat Voldemort! Everyone just assumes I'm going to fight him!"

"You… are going to fight him, one way or another." Rose pointed out.

"Well, yes. But they don't have to all assume it, do they? And when I suggested that one of them do something about it, they called me a coward." He growled. "So I give up. Hannah and Ernie won't acknowledge me in public in case anyone turns on them, Hermione isn't talking to me because of that bloody book and Ron is so busy snogging Lavender he doesn't even realise I exist!"

"What book?" she questioned.

"Well, when we arrived at school, all our things were searched."

"I remember, you told us."

"After, some of my things disappeared. Some of my books, some old essays and a few other bits and pieces that I had in my trunk."

"Okay…?"

"Well, one of the books that went missing was my potions book- Slughorn let me borrow this old scabby one from the cupboard. It belonged to someone who called himself 'the half-blood prince' and he's written all over it. Improvements to potions, ideas for antidotes, spells he created himself. He's a genius!"

"… And you know this how?" Rosalie narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well…"

"Merlin, Morgan and Mordred! Harry James, tell me you didn't try these things without having an expert check them!" Sirius bolted upright, gaping at him. Harry wriggled.

"Well…"

"Mon dieu!" groaned Rose, resting her head in her hands. She was muttering in rapid French, and from the bits and pieces Sirius managed to catch he thought she was moaning about ten years and her brother still having a distinct lack of common sense.

"And apart from all of that, I'm getting really tired of having to check everything I eat and drink for love potions." He scowled. Rose snorted at this.

"Really? Girls are slipping you love potions?"

"Hey!" Harry looked indignant.

"There are a few boys too." Minerva teased as she appeared. Harry groaned, smacking his head on the table. "A couple of people are asking after you. I was evasive, but before long people are going to realise. What do you want me to say?"

"Whatever you think is best." His voice was muffled.

"Very well. Sirius, what was it you needed to see me about?" she looked at the man inquiringly.

"Oh! This." He reached into his pocket, withdrawing a gold locket on a chain.

"Is that a hocrux? Why didn't you tell us?" Rose looked hurt.

"It isn't. it's a fake." He explained, looking sad. "I don't know how Reg did it exactly, but he found it and hopefully destroyed it."

"Reg?"

"My brother, Regulus."

Harry was frowning. "We can't take the chance. We have to find out if he managed it or not."

"Wasn't Regulus rather close with your elf?" mused Minerva. "The thing was wailing during a meeting last summer. He might know something…"

"Good point. Kreacher!"

Several months passed, with Rosalie and Harry attending the academy during the day and training hard at night. Despite their busy schedules, they all noticed one thing- Emmeline was getting worse.

She'd been tired and pale since she'd woken, but rather than regaining her strength she seemed to be losing more of it. She insisted she was fine- her family wasn't so sure and Professor Snape was working overtime to try to heal her completely.

Meanwhile, Harry had realised that Voldemort's snake was probably a horcrux, and progress in destroying the things had stalled while they tried to work out a way to kill it when it rarely left its master's side. By now, it was also public that Harry Potter had left Hogwarts. The Prophet condemned him, calling him a coward and declaring him a traitor but Harry gave Luna's father an exclusive interview for the Quibbler. In it, he himself condemned the people who had slandered him the year before but now expected him to die to save them. Dumbledore was furious, and had resorted to outright threats in an attempt to have Harry return to Britain.

They hadn't worked.

"Why can't we just kill the snake at the same time as Voldemort?" Susan asked in frustration during yet another brain storm session at Easter.

"We can't guarantee that it will be there. And it's much easier for Voldemort to hide as a snake- we have to destroy the horcrux before the body or risk him escaping." Rosalie explained, rubbing her temple.

"Okay, short of all other ideas-" Sirius spoke up. "Why don't we return to the original plan catch it when it's hunting?"

"Because it never strays far from the manor. Never outside the wards." Pointed out Tonks.

"Could we break the wards?"

Minerva shook her head. "Not without alerting the death eaters. And quite frankly, the losses would overwhelm anything we could gain."

"Sorry to interrupt, but Neville and Augusta Longbottom are outside wandering around the outskirts of the wards." Remus poked his head around the door. They all exchanged confused glances.

"Did he mention he was coming, Auntie?" Harry questioned.

"No…"

Wands drawn, they and Rosalie slipped out of the wards and approached the pair. "What did we give you for your last birthday?" Harry challenged.

Neville's face lit up. "A Dendrophylax lindenii."

Rose and Harry exchanged an amused look. "It's him." They chimed together. Minerva had checked Augusta, and they quickly let the two into the fidelius secret and rest of the wards.

"What happened?" Harry questioned.

Augusta sniffed. "Damn death eaters. They attacked our home- we came here, at Neville's request."

"And that was the right thing." Minerva flashed him a rare smile. "But Frank and Alice…"

"I'm already on my way." Sirius was indeed tugging on his boot.

"And I'm coming." Amelia added resolutely. They dashed out.

"What did you buy Neville for his birthday?" asked Minerva curiously. "The… denax thing."

"Dendrophylax lindenii." Neville smiled. "A ghost orchid. They're very rare, and expensive."

At this, he shot a frown at the siblings who smiled innocently.

Rosalie grinned up at her mother from where she lay on the floor, the older woman laughing uncontrollably, eyes dancing with mirth. Rose rolled over onto her back, hitting Harry and resting her head on him, feeling him shake beneath her as he laughed. There was a strange sound in the background, like shouting, but she ignored it, curling up as sun streamed in through the round window of the attic and warmed her. She looked up to her mother, but frowned.

"Maman?" she questioned, raising herself up on her elbows. The noise was getting louder as she looked around, confused. "Harry, did you see where maman wen-?" she cut herself off when she looked back to discover her brother was gone. "Harry?"

The noise was louder, piercing and shrill. Rosalie shot upright, gasping as the attic was gone in a moment and replaced by her room at the academy. "Harry!" the noise was her brother screaming, high and pained and she scrambled out of bed and out of her room, across the hall to his room. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sirius stumbling in the same direction.

"Harry, wake up! C'est juste un rêve! 'Arry!"

Harry's eyes were wide open, unseeing as he screamed, clutching his forehead.

Sirius touched her shoulder. "Rose, floo Gringotts. Tell them we have to bring the extraction forwards."

"What?!"

"We think we know a way to do it! Floo them now!"

Rose raced through the halls of the school, bare feet slapping against the polished wood floors as she rushed to the floo in the office. "Gringotts Paris! Is anyone there?"

A goblin came into view, looking at her emotionlessly. "The bank is currently closed."

"Je sais, you have my apologies. I'm Rosalie Vance-Black, my father said to tell you that it's necessary to move the extraction forwards."

His eyes narrowed. "Understood. You will need to contact your Aunt and Uncle."

"Jean-Claude and Appolline?"

"Non. Jean-Claude and Minerva McGonagall."

Rose reeled back slightly. "What-?"

"Now!" the goblin ordered, and cut the connection. Bewildered, Rose did as he said and flooed her uncle, who had an almost identical reaction, telling her to contact Gringotts and her aunt.

"Minerva McGonagall's quarters, Hogwarts School, A Leannan." Rose hesitated before she threw the powder into the fire place, knowing that Dumbledore was monitoring the floo system. But there wasn't time to contact her another way, and so she released the handful of powder and called for her aunt, who eventually stumbled sleepily into view.

"What is it, what's wrong?" she demanded. Rosalie relayed the message, growing more irritated when her reaction was much the same.

"Tata, what is going on? What's wrong with Harry, et what extraction?"

"I'll explain later- go back to your father!"

Her aunt vanished from view and Rose ground her teeth, rising from the floor with a wince and rushing back to where she could hear Harry still shrieking. But she hadn't even entered the room when Sirius appeared at the doorway, Harry cradled in his arms.

"With me!" he ordered, striding through the corridors with Rosalie running to catch up. Remus appeared from behind him, clothes in disarray.

"What about Maman?"

"She took dreamless sleep- Minerva will contact her later."

"What's going on?" she asked again but Sirius ignored her, merely gesturing with his chin for her to keep up as he rushed into the garden, into a small courtyard enclosed in layers of wards that trapped anyone entered without being entered into the wards. But it was the only place in the school that didn't have anti-portkey wards on it, and Rosalie barely had time to grab a hold of the length of ribbon before Sirius activated it, the four of them whirring through the air and hitting the floor hard in a whirl of colours and sounds.

"Remus?" Rosalie questioned, frightened now.

He reached out and squeezed her hand.

"It's okay. I promise."

But then he rushed off. Confusion swept through Rosalie as she glanced around- it seemed to be a living room of some sort, albeit it didn't seem lived in; there were no mementos or random books left lying around, simply two sofas, an empty hearth, a coffee table and a generic photo of a landscape on the wall. By the time she had glanced up once again, she was alone.

"Sirius? Remus?" she called softly, peeking out the door. The was an empty hallway beyond that could have been in any house across the world. Fear snaked through her; cautiously she pinched herself, hoping to wake herself up.

No luck.

A thump behind her had her whirring around, only to see her aunt land hard on the floor, Hermione beside her.

"Tata, qu'est-ce qui se passe?" Rose pleaded.

"Hermione, explain!" Minerva called over her shoulder as she rushed out of the room.

Rosalie's eyes narrowed, her jaw clenching. "Hermione, vous expliquer! Maintenant!"

"Rosalie, it's complicated…" Hermione began uncertainly.

Her eyes flashed, magic crackling in the air around her. "Je m'en fou! What iz 'appening?"

"Sit down." Hermione tugged her into a seat. "I had an idea, a few months ago. Harry told me the prophecy, and explained about the horcruxes. And something he said got me thinking- that he was a horcrux because of his scar."

"Alors? So?"

"What if that's more literal than we thought? What if the scar is the Horcrux?"

"I do not understand…"

"How do you destroy a horcrux?" Hermione changed tact. Rose ground her teeth, but played along.

"Destroy the vessel."

"So if the scar is the vessel, but Harry himself isn't…" she trailed off pointedly and Rose's eyes widened.

"Destroy the scar but not Harry, the horcrux will still be gone." She realised, hope sparking within her. "But… how could the scar be destroyed alone?"

Hermione grimaced. "That was the problem- Sirius contacted the goblins who put us in contact with Dr Blanc. She's a doctor in the muggle world and a healer in the magical one. She's been researching on whether or not simply cutting the scar out would work."

"And that is where we are now?"

"Yes." She confirmed. Rose swallowed.

"But… the horcrux… with the locket it tried to protect itself. What if it chooses to do that with Harry?"

Hermione ducked her head. "Which is why we haven't brought this up before." She admitted. Rose crossed her arms over herself, looking around the plain room. It wasn't cold, but the night air brought a chill to the house that made her shiver, dressed as she was in shorts and a loose top. Hermione had on thicker pyjamas, and huddled closer to her.

"This could backfire horribly." Rose said softly.

Hermione grasped her hand. "Sirius wouldn't have brought it forward if he didn't have really good reason."

"I know that!" Rose snapped, pulling her hand away. "The point remains! How long have you known about this?" Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "HOW LONG?"

"Since before Harry left Hogwarts." She admitted quietly.

"That was months ago!" Rosalie shot straight, anger flashing through her. "'Ow could you not tell us?! Tell 'im?!"

"Rosalie…"

"Va te faire foutre!" she was on her feet, pacing, hands running through her long hair. "Mon dieu, 'Arry 'as 'ad nightmares every night- 'e wakes up screaming! 'E no longer believes that 'e will live to adulthood! 'Do you 'ave any idea what even a little espoir would 'ave meant to 'im? Fils de putain, and you call yourself 'is friend?"

She sank into the other sofa, her head in her hands.

"I'm sorry." Hermione whispered. "But I promised…"

"Promised who?!" she demanded. "Dumbledore? Pah, quel salaud."

"Dumbledore is a great man!"

"Dumbledore is a senile old fool!" Rose snapped. "'E makes assumptions that are wrong, keeps secrets to 'imself which cause 'arm to ozzers and generalment makes a nuisance of 'imself! Voldemort would never 'ave 'ad ze chance to return if 'e 'ad confided in anozzer person; because 'e did not, 'e 'as returned and a dozen personnes are dead!"

Hermione stuttered, but Rose had risen to her feet and was pacing, muttering in rapid French. This carried on for several hours, with Hermione eventually falling into an uneasy sleep while Rosalie continued to pace, until she was awoken suddenly when a hand shook her.

"What's wrong?" she shot upright. Rose looked at her coolly.

"I am going home- tell someone if they ask, oui?"

And with that she grabbed a handful of floo powder and vanished, muttering her destination under her breath and leaving Hermione blinking, peering outside to guess what time it was. Judging by the faint sunlight, she guessed it wasn't long after dawn. With a sigh, she wrapped her arms around herself and sat back on the sofa.

Meanwhile Rosalie stalked through the empty halls of the academy, limping slightly, the early hour meaning everyone was still tucked up in bed. She crossed into her room, grabbing her suitcase from where it lay open on the floor and quickly throwing the few things that had made their way out of it back in, zipping it up and shrinking it with a wave of her hand.

"Neville, wake up." She gently shook the older boy, and he blinked blearily at her. "It's okay, nothing is wrong. But I am going home- make sure no one worries or comes after me, okay?"

"You're leaving? But why?"

"Because I am not needed here. I came because Harry asked me to- but I am tired and homesick and want to get back to my life. I am not a part of this world- of your world."

He sat up, frowning at her. "You have magic Rosalie, I don't understand why you deny it."

"I do not deny it." She smiled humourlessly. "I deny the magical world. It is… antiquated and out of date. And I have no wish to inhabit it. Plus, I am French. I can count on one hand the number of times I have been to Britain- this is not my war."

"So you're running away?"

"Technically I am flooing." Rosalie shrugged, rising to her feet. "I am tired of caring for people who clearly do not feel the same way about me. I will return to my life and they will have theirs. It is best. I am sorry."

He scrambled out of bed after her as she turned to leave. "Rose, don't go! Harry needs you, we need you! Your mother will be devastated!"

But she shook her head at him. "Au revoir, mon ami."

And with that, she walked out.

C'est juste un rêve!- It's just a dream

Qu'est-ce qui se passe?- What is happening?

vous expliquer! Maintenant!- Explain! Now!

Je m'en fou- I don't care

Va te faire foutre- Go… 'you know what' yourself

espoir- Hope

quel salaud- what a bastard

generalment- generally