"Embrace the glorious mess you are." -Elizabeth Gilbert

"Is it gone? Please tell me it is..." she whispered pleadingly as she hugged him tighter.

He huffed, "Open you're eyes for Merlin's sake! She is just a snake, not a basilisk."

That apparently was the wrong thing to say as she hugged him tighter and buried her head deeper into his shoulder.

If anybody would have seen their position, they would have assumed that they were passionate lovers.

The Saviour of the Wizarding world and the Man who murdered her parents.

How pathetically funny!

"Basilisks are real?" she asked frightfully.

"Yes, they are. They are noble creatures, more deserving than a third of the wizarding population." said Tom.

"Master, who is the hatchling?" asked Nagini curiously as she looked at the beautiful girl clinging to her Master. It made an odd sight, as she was mainly used to them growling at his feet begging for mercy.

"Hatchling? Like a baby snake?" questioned Rose before pouting, "Hey! I am not a baby!"

The great and powerful Dark Lord Voldemort looked at her with curious, disbelieving eyes, "You can understand her?"

The girl-who-lived looked at him confused, "Of course I can... She is a magical snake, is she not? Shouldn't everybody be able to understand her?"

Tom looked at her with a blank face, "While she is a magical snake, there are very few who can speak the ancient language of Parseltongue."

Rose looked at him questioningly, "What is Parseltongue?"

"Parseltongue," started Tom, "is the language of snakes. A person who can speak Parseltongue is called a Parselmouth. It in an inherited ability. Salazar Slytherin was known for his ability to speak to snakes."

Rose could feel her brain connecting information together, "Salazar Slytherin. Marvolo Slytherin. He is your ancestor. He can speak to snakes. So, you can speak to snakes. You said it is an inherited ability. So why can I speak to snakes?"

"That is precisely what I intend to find out." he replied.

There was silence in the room before Rose suddenly stood up on the bed, her face pale and horror in her eyes.

"What now?" asked Tom.

She looked at him slowly, "You said it's inheritable. I can speak it, you can speak it. Oh my god! We are related!"

He raised an eyebrow lazily at her, "All progeny of ancient families are related. So, yes. Yes we are."

A moment before Rose opened her pretty mouth, Tom knew that she was going to ramble,"How are you not freaking out! Don't you realise? I kissed you. I kissed my cousin. On the lips! I committed incest! Oh my goodness, I'm going to hell. I did not resist temptation, I committed the Sin of Lust! The priest is going to be so disappointed in me! Could you take me to the church now, please? I must confess. They said in Sunday school that God forgives everyone who-"

"I am not aware about the matrimonial details of Muggles." said Lord Voldemort, interrupting the younger girl mid-rant. "But in the wizarding world, it is quite common to marry your cousin, if not encouraged, in order to preserve pure blood and not letting it get dirty. Marriages with second cousins are common. I assure you, Rose, that if we are cousins, we are extremely distant, many times removed."

This seemed to calm the girl down a bit, allowing her to give a small smile.

Nagini was watching this human girl and her Master with barely concealed mirth and amusement. She slithered near the hatchling, who stepped closer to her Master's imposing form with scared eyes.

"She will not bite, not unless I ask her to." stated her Master as he looked at the hatchling.

"Yes," said the human girl. "because that is so reassuring."

"It was not meant to be." replied her Master, before offering his hand to Nagini.

Nagini slithered to her Master's hand before eventually wrapping herself around his neck like an expensive scarf.

Her Master petted her gently, with the level of affection that he only reserved for his horcruxes.

The human girl hesitated a bit, before following her Master's move by bringing her petite hand to Nagini and petting her softly.

The fear in her emerald eyes instantly turned to awe as Nagini hissed encouragingly.

"She's beautiful." the girl breathed out.

Nagini hissed pleasantly in reply.

"Whats her name?" she asked.

"Nagini." replied Tom.

"Snake in Hindi, right?" she asked still in awe.

Tom nodded in reply.

He was confused as to why Nagini felt so comfortable with her, and more importantly, why she did not attempt to bite Rose's hand off.

"She smells like you, Master." hissed Nagini as she left Tom's shoulder to sleep on Rose's, who while still a bit scared, was taking it all in with courage like a true Gryffindor.

"You know, although I have happy memories of my childhood, I have always had a mild case of samhainophobia. Could it be because of the anniversary of my parents death day?" asked Rose randomly.

"Samhainophobia?" asked Tom.

"Samhainophobia. It is the fear or 'phobia' of Halloween or the fear of the festival of the dead, you know, the 31st of October. In fact, did you know that the term Samhainophobia originates from 'Samhuin' meaning summer's end? The Samhain festival was celebrated by the Celts for marking the transition between summer and winter. The word 'Samhuin' has Irish-Scottish-Gaelic roots generally meaning 'All Hallows Eve'." she mused, which Tom had understood was something she did when she was confused, nervous or uncomfortable.

After saying that, she returned to lightly petting Nagini's head and humming a tune softly.

He thought back to what Nagini had said,'She smells like me?'

He replayed the events of that fateful night of the last day of the tenth month, that had apparently led to Rose having a mild fear of the judgement day of her parents.

His though process came to a screeching halt when he remembered one thing- his horcruxs.

Could it be? Perhaps?

Could it really be that the Saviour of the wizarding world, the Chosen One, the famed girl-who-lived, was actually his horcrux?

How else would you explain her ability to speak the Nobel tongue of Snakes when the Potter family would rather be caught dead coming within 50 feet of a Gaunt?

He wasn't lying when he had told Rose that they were extremely distant cousins.

Iolanthe Peverell was the granddaughter of Ignotus Peverell, and was the ancestor of Rose Potter upon her marriage to Lord Hardwin Potter.

Tom Riddle, himself, was descendent from Cadmus Peverell, the older brother of Ignotus Peverell, whose descendent would marry into the Slytherin line.

It was impossible for Rose Potter to be a parselmouth, unless she was a horcrux.

She was a living horcrux, just like Nagini. No wonder Nagini felt so free and comfortable around her! Even, Rose Potter herself, who seemed to be afraid of and disliked snakes, was clinging on to him like her life depended on it (it did, but he wasn't going to tell her that), had warmed up to Nagini quickly.

She was definitely his horcrux.

There were seven horcruxes in total, meaning his soul got split so that it was in eight pieces. He had originally intended to make exactly six, so that his soul would be seven pieces, one each within the six horcruxes and the seventh piece in his body. His first five horcruxes were his diary, Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's ring, Slytherin's locket and Ravenclaw's diadem.

All of those were created before he had tried to kill Rosale. That murder, the killing of Rose Potter, was intended to fuel the creation of the sixth and final horcrux. Instead, the attempt to murder Rose rebounded, killing his own body instead!

Unbeknownst to him at that time, (as he was too busy being newly dead,) it still counted as a murder for purposes of breaking off a piece of his soul to make a horcrux. The problem was that he wasn't alive any longer to control the horcrux creation process, so that piece of soul just latched on to what it could: Rosalie Dorea Potter herself. So Rose became the sixth horcrux, but without him even realizing it had even happened, until now that is.

Later, while hiding out in the forests of Albania after his ejection from Quirrell's dying body, -he really hated Albus Dumbledore- he had been accidentally discovered by Bertha Jorkins, a low level ministry witch vacationing there. He murdered her and used that murder to create what he thought was his sixth horcrux but was in fact his seventh, his beloved snake Nagini.

He thanked Morgana that he did not kill the girl. (no matter how much he wanted to because Salazar, she was annoying.)

Because now, everything had changed.

Prophecy be damned, he wasn't going to kill his horcrux.

Lord Voldemort knew that he was very possessive, ever since he was an orphan at Wool's.

Rosalie Dorea Potter was HIS horcrux.

She was important to him.

He was going to protect her. (because he already knew that she was going to accidentally almost get killed many times in the near future)

He valued and treasured his horcruxs, as seen in his treatment with Nagini.

He was going to make her happy, for the sole reason that she was his horcrux.

Lord Voldemort sighed tiredly as he looked at the beautiful girl humming to herself and the snake that was protectively wrapped around her neck.

So many plans were now going to have to be changed.

The war had swiftly changed because of this shocking revelation.

Albus Dumbledore best be prepared.

He was going to have a heart attack or a 'myocardial infraction'-as Rose would have called it- when he realises just how much surprising surprises he was going to have in the future; because honestly, Rosalie Dorea Potter had the innocence of a cuddly bunny being held by a baby eating pink cotton candy.

However, she was a Potter, and had sadly inherited the horrible luck and the ability to always get almost accidentally killed,-as seen many, MANY times in the future- but always come out smiling widely and making even the most frozen hearts thaw a little.