Harry was trying to work on his lessons, he really was, but a while after his sister and Neville left, he started getting an uneasy feeling inside of him. A feeling that just grew instead of dying down.
"What is it Harry?" Ron asked him.
"I don't know, I just have this feeling... Like something bad is happening..." Harry shook his head as he started feeling small pains all over him.
There was nothing around his scar though, and that surprised him because it was usually linked to voldemort. Not this time though.
"You know who?" Ron asked in a whisper.
"No, I don't think so... I don't understand it... When it's Voldemort, my scar hurts, only my scar, and now, it's my entire body that's starting to ache... I mean it's faint, like, I don't know, a whisper of pain?" Harry replied.
"You don't think it could be because of whatever made Rosie so tired, do you?" Fred asked Harry, having overheard the conversation.
"Rose... Maybe, I..." Harry started to say before Nick, the friendly Gryffindor House Ghost, entered the common room looking grave and told Harry in a panicked voice:
"Lady Rose was attacked in Myrtle's Bathroom, you need to go now! Professor Black and the Headmaster are being warned and are on their way as well! Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy helped her and are still with her."
Harry didn't need to know more, he was rushing out of the room, running as fast as he could, followed closely by Fred, George, Ron and what sounded like the entire Gryffindor common room.
Harry kept, in the back of his mind, the uneasy feeling he had felt. He would tell Dumbledore later, maybe their twin bond had allowed him to feel this, maybe, with training, the two of them would be able to use this bond. He'd bring this up once everything was sorted, once his sister was saved.
While Miss Pomfrey was working on Rose Potter, Albus Dumbledore was in the other room with her brother, Remus, Sirius, Draco and Neville. Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George were present also.
Tonks and Alastor Moody were there as well, as representatives of the Ministry of Magic, and they would fill the report and take the attacker away to be judged. He was an adult after all, so there was no doubt that he'd end up in Azkaban in their minds. The only way for him to avoid Azkaban would be for the Ministry of Magic to fall before he arrived, but that wasn't very likely because the Order was very well informed and the Ministry was well protected.
Myrtle was just done telling them what little she saw and heard before she called for help, she felt guilty for not being there, but she had been visiting Luna Lovegood at the time it happened. Of course the Headmaster thanked her, told her that she had done the right thing and that she had no reasons to feel guilty, she couldn't be expected to stay in the same place for all of eternity. She had gotten help and reacted quickly, she had saved Rose's life. Still, the ghost felt bad and she didn't calm down until harry himself thanked her for getting help and assured her that she had nothing to feel guilty about.
Then Draco and Neville told their version of the events, which were pretty shorts. Draco had walked by on his way to the Library where he was supposed to meet Hermione to study together and keep up on their "dating" charade.
Neville felt guilty for not having done more, he thought that maybe he should have come inside with her, even though it was the girl's bathroom. Rose was one of his best friends, he truly cared about her and he hated the vision of her helpless and hurt on the floor. She had helped him so much, been so present by his side in the past year, she was his best friend, like a sister, and he hated seeing her like this. He felt, for the first time in his life, the need to fight someone, to throw curses at people.
Of course Dumbledore, Sirius and Harry reassured him, he did all he could have done and it's a good thing he was there at all. Who knew what would have happened had he not been present?
Fred was too angry to speak and it was obvious that he, too, found ways to blame himself but then again, he wasn't the only one.
"Then she whispered that she was poisoned at breakfast before she fainted again." Neville finished.
"That would explain why she was so pale and tired... I should have forced her to come here earlier. It's my fault." Fred frowned, looking angrier than ever.
"It's not your fault, Fred. Rose is stubborn, like her mother, and her father. If she didn't want to come here, you couldn't have forced her. She wants to be strong..." Remus tried to reassure him, placing a hand over his shoulder in comfort.
"I noticed it too, but I figured that maybe she had stayed up all night for some reason and that she'd be fine with some rest later." Harry shook his head.
"I overheard him talking about her a couple of times in the common room, insulting her, saying how the Dark Lord would probably like to see her dead, that it would weaken Harry Potter and his friends, but I thought it was just empty words, I never thought he'd try to act on it, not here." Draco shook his head, feeling guilty too.
"None of you could know, he probably prepared it well, looked for an opportunity for weeks. Professor Snape is going to bring him here, we'll interrogate him. I usually do it in my office, but I think it would be pointless to ask all of you to wait." Albus declared, looking his age for the first time in a long time.
A student had been attacked under his watch. A good student, kind, well loved, always ready to help others... It took all he had not to avenge Rose Potter here and now, but he had to respect the law and lead by showing a good exemple.
"Malfoy... Draco. I want to thank you. I know she's your friend, and I know about your plan and all but... I never really gave you a chance. I'm sorry. What you did today, I won't forget it." Harry told Draco, taking him by surprise.
"Of course, I couldn't do nothing." Draco shook his head, waving it off.
Harry then offered Draco his hand to shake, a gesture that reminded Draco of the handshake Harry had refused during their first train ride to school. Smiling, Draco took the offered hand and shook it.
"You too Neville, thank you. What you did... You were there for her, both of you, when I wasn't. Thank you." Harry insisted.
Dumbledore promised himself here and there that, as soon as he was able to go back into his office, he'd write to Augusta Longbottom to tell her how brave her grandson had been. She should know that she had reasons to be proud of him. He was more like his parents than she thought.
.
When Snape arrived, the attacker was still unconscious and they tied him up to a chair before waking him up. To ensure Draco wouldn't be in trouble, he was hidden.
Not giving the attacker time to speak, Snape forced him to take the truth potion as soon as he was awake.
Unable to resist, he told them the truth, looking proud of what he had done. A few times, George and Remus had to hold back Fred while Harry was comforted by Ginny's calming presence in his arms.
The 7th year Slytherin student, a boy named Montague, explained how he had waited for weeks for an opportunity to act, how he had spied on her anytime he could and how he had tried many times to slip her poison before finally succeeding that morning, explaining how he had fooled the House elves into thinking he was just trying to play a harmless prank to prove that Slytherin could pull pranks as well as any other house could. To make sure they didn't check what he placed in the cup, he had created a little bit of chaos.
He went into great details into what he did to her, what he had planned to do if he hadn't been interrupted. It had "just" been torture, he added that he didn't even consider raping her, because it would "dirty" him with the dirty blood she had inherited from her mother.
"You're disgusting." Hermione whispered with a frown after his comment.
"You do realize that you're going to Azkaban, boy?" Dumbledore declared.
"I'll be a hero in Azkaban when they find out why I'm here! Then My Lord will come and free me and I'll be one of his best Death Eaters!" He replied in a laugh.
"Maybe, but then again, Voldemort doesn't like people acting without his permission and taking initiatives without warning him first, especially when it concerns people he should want to deal with himself." The headmaster replied in a hard voice before Moody and Tonks took him away.
"Remus, I'll come back as soon as I can. Don't worry, she's strong." Tonks told her boyfriend, kissing him tenderly before she grabbed the Attacker by the other arm and helped Moody to carry him back to the Ministry of Magic.
Of course, rumor of what had happened to Rose spread quickly with the help of portraits and ghosts and soon, it seemed like half the school was lined up in front of the infirmary, waiting on news. Minerva McGonagall and Hagrid had joined them and quickly got the students to go back to what they were doing, promising them that they'd have news later. Now they sat with them, waiting on news as well.
Suddenly, Harry was surprised by his mirror vibrating in his pocket.
"Hey Harry, I'm not calling at a bad time, am I? I figured since it's Easter break, I could call. Rose did say that we had our Easter break at the same time. I'm supposed to study for my European History exam, but I need a break." Dudley declared, then he stopped, surprised at the look on his cousin's face.
"Harry? What's wrong?" Dudley asked.
"It's... I'm in the Hospital wing, Dud. At Hogwarts. Someone's attacked Rose. It's bad...She's..." Harry whispered, fighting hard to keep the tears from his eyes.
He hadn't spoken much since he saw his sister and speaking now, saying what had happened, made everything more real. He realized that he wouldn't be able to explain things to his cousin without crying.
"What? Is she okay?" He asked, worried.
"We don't know. She was tortured, she..." Harry stopped speaking once more and Ginny took him in her arms while Sirius took the mirror to explain things to Dudley, though he spared the boy the details.
"I... I wish I could visit... Can you call me when she wakes up? Give me news?" he asked and of course Sirius agreed.
"She'll call you as soon as she can, too." Sirius promised and Dudley hung up, promising to send her a get well card soon.
"Can't Serenity help? Her tears should heal her, right?" Ginny asked in a small voice.
"Serenity and Fawkes are carrying important messages... Rose let me borrow her for Order missions..." Albus shook his head, feeling even worst with this fact.
Suddenly, the door opened and Miss Pomfrey walked in the main room, looking upset.
"Well, I hope he gets to stay in jail a long time. Poor girl... So nice... It will take some time before she's completely healed, and that's just physically. Mentally, she might need to heal as well, because such a brutal attack... She might not feel safe for a while, but she's strong and she'll get through this. The cuts were easy enough to heal, and I gave her a potion to replenish the blood. She'll need to take another one later. A quick analysis told me what poison it was. She got the cure, along with a calming potion for the cruciatus curse... Some potions will have to be taken later, like the one to heal her bones... Broken bones in both legs and arms, along with a few ribs... One of her lungs was pierced. I've never seen so many injuries on someone in this school before... I'll prepare my report for the Auror's office. You can visit her, no more than 6 at the time though, even if she's still unconscious, she needs calm to heal well. And mind what you say around her, she might be able to hear you." Madam Pomfrey spoke before she left the room.
"I'll spread the word that she'll be fine given some time and that they should refrain from visiting until she's completely better. That only her close friends and family can visit for the moment." Minerva declared in a closed voice, needing to keep busy.
"I'll help her." Hagrid decided, thinking he'd visit little Rose Potter later, once her brother and boyfriend had had the time to see her.
Slowly, looking grave, Harry and Fred made their way to Rose, followed closely by Remus and Sirius. Hermione and Neville followed. Ron, George and Draco decided to wait. Dumbledore decided to visit her later and to go and check that everything was happening without problems at the ministry of magic. He, too, needed to prepare a full report on what had happened.
She'll wake up next chapter, but her Easter Break won't be fun.
I hope you didn't hate this too much...
For the future chapters (well past chapter 63), I have at least 3 babies planned, the first ones anyway. Who do you think it will be? If you guess 1 right, you'll get to ask me one question about the story, if you get both, you have 2 questions!
Working on the storyline, I've just decided to kill someone, off... of course in a dramatic way. It won't happen before some time though. Can you guess who it will be?
Review please?
Lorelei Candice Black