I say this with absolute certainty that writing this has given me osteoporosis. My body hurts reading this and revising it. But, development is KEY!
Hope y'all enjoy! :)
I AM NOT PROFITING FROM THIS. ALL RECOGNIZABLE CHARACTERS, PLACES, AND/OR EVENTS BELONG TO J.K. ROWLING
Chapter 20
The newly formed Order of the Phoenix began the arduous search for Rose, starting with residential areas. As the months progressed, they were coming up empty handed. She became another name on the long list of those who had been taken. Dumbledore began to recruit new members to the Order, those who were interested in fighting against Voldemort and his own army. In the summer of 1971, the three Black sisters were once again at Bellatrix's home, drinking tea and discussing the latest events.
"Are you excited for your final year Cissy?" Bellatrix asked, sounding bored as she put several lumps of sugar into her small cup. The blonde, now going to be a seventh year after the summer, heaved a loud and unladylike sigh, leaning back in her chair dramatically. It seemed she was on the end of her rebellious phase. Bellatrix didn't really pay attention to her sister as she remembered how quickly she became more tired in her marriage.
Rodolphus was lazy, unfaithful, and a slob. Things she didn't care about because she didn't feel the faintest bit of attraction to him anyway. But she had become listless, not needing to work, and with nobody to fight, she grew rather sedentary.
"Are you even listening?" Narcissa's crystal blue eyes narrowed dangerously, and Bellatrix fixed her with an equally upset glare.
"No, because I don't care." the wild haired witch answered brutally.
"Then why did you ask? Honestly, you're more childish than you were in school." the youngest witch snorted before drinking her own tea.
"Come now, let's not fight. Bella only lets us see her once every month." Andromeda chided. Narcissa smirked behind her cup.
"Is it a full moon already Bella? Changing into a raging bitch?" Narcissa taunted, and Bellatrix suddenly shrieked like a wild animal and had her hands around her sister's throat, squeezing as hard as she could.
"Bella!" Andromeda pulled out her wand and knocked Bellatrix off Narcissa. As the dark witch slid across the smooth wooden floor, she chuckled darkly. Narcissa was coughing and holding her neck, genuine fear in her eyes as she looked between Andromeda and Bellatrix. Andromeda frowned as she helped her younger sister to her feet. Bellatrix just sat on the floor, staring up at them through her bangs with a mad look in her eyes.
"Cissy, wait outside for a moment, will you? I'll bring you back." Andromeda gently nudged the young witch towards the foyer before looking at the eldest sister.
'I'll apologize later. I just needed to let off some steam." Bellatrix got to her feet and held the back of her head where she hit the floor. The fact that she tried to kill her sister wasn't something that seemed to concern her,
"Bellatrix, you can't do that. Ever again." Andromeda gripped her wand tightly.
"Now you sound like mother." Bellatrix snarked, but Andromeda wasn't having it.
"Shut up." her face morphed into a deadly scowl "You can't relapse into your old ways just because things have gone south. I understand that you miss Rose, and that you're stuck here. But you need to have faith that things will be better. Darkness affects a destructive mind more easily, you should know this." Andromeda lectured, but clearly Bellatrix didn't feel like taking constructive criticism today. Marching towards Andromeda, who faltered a little, she stopped right in her face.
"You don't know what my pain is like. You have your boyfriend. You have your little playdates. But your time is coming Andy. And when it does, I'll be the one laughing." she spat venomously. This struck a painful chord with the brunette. She hadn't told her sisters that she was actually planning on leaving with Ted. He had proposed to her the week before, and she said yes. There wasn't going to be a time for her.
"You don't mean that, not really." Andromeda shot back angrily.
"Oh yes I do. Because what choice do you have? If I hadn't said yes to Rodolphus, you would have been stuck with him." Bellatrix seethed.
"So what, I'm stuck with Lucius? And where would that leave Narcissa?" Andromeda countered, and Bellatrix snarled, pulling out her own wand.
"Maybe she'll like the bastard she marries, who knows. But you know what all of this has taught me, Andy?" her chest was rising and falling rapidly as she spoke with increasing intensity "I've learned that no matter what, we don't get a choice. So I did what I had to, and I said yes. Because otherwise, you'd be stuck marrying a man nearly seven years older than you, forced to try and bear his children." tears were pooling in her eyes, but Bellatrix still carried on.
"I could have been a selfish prick and ran off with Rose. I could have broken things off before the wedding and disappeared, and lived a perfect life somewhere with her, but you know what I did? I told her no. I told the woman I loved that I couldn't just abandon my sisters when there was so much at stake. Merlin I-she was so perfect and wonderful and it was all ruined." Bellatrix withdrew, and seemed to disappear within herself. Andromeda was once again speechless.
"My life was ruined so that maybe, just maybe, things could have been better for you. Have your fun while you can, because soon you'll lose everything. Maybe you'll realize that. Now get the fuck out of my house." Bellatrix turned her back on her sister and waited for a moment before she heard the pop of apparition. Turning back to look at the tea, now cold, she screamed and kicked the delicate table over, shattering the set and spilling sugar and cream on the floor.
"Okay guys, we're relying on you to help out today." Ted looked at the much younger recruits he had before him. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were four bright eyed Gryffindors that Dumbledore had suggested join the movement.
"I wonder when he'll get real adults to help him with this?" Ted mused before clearing his thoughts and focusing on the task at hand.
"You guys need to sort out these lists, see if you can find any similarities. After that, see if you can figure out if anybody you know may be allied with V-You Know Who." Ted caught himself, remembering how it seemed the very name of the man they were trying to fight knew when they said it. They already had to fight off a group of cloaked men after Hestia said it casually after a meeting.
"I think I may already know somebody." James looked at his friends, and they all nodded. When he left the young wizards at the Three Broomsticks, he caught Shacklebolt outside.
"Ah, Kingsley, good to see you." The chestnut haired man greeted the much taller Ravenclaw, who was dressed impeccably as usual.
"A pleasure as always Ted." They shook hands, and while they did, Kingsley passed Ted a scrap of paper. After some small talk, Ted crossed the street and ducked into an alley to read the slip.
Lovegood, Ottery St. Catchpole
Igniting the scrap, Ted was glad to finally have a lead on a missing person. The Diggory family lived near that location, so he simply apparated there. The weather was fair, and after borrowing a broom from the friendly Amos Diggory, a Hufflepuff wizard who still lived with his parents. As he breezed through vast swathes of seaside meadows, he soon came upon a young wizard with hair like white candy floss, dressed in mustard yellow robes.
"Hallo!" he cried out, and Ted stopped short, dismounting his broom.
"I believe you must be Lovegood. Thank you for sending information to the Order." Ted greeted. Lovegood was a slightly cross-eyed young man with a beak shaped nose, and his accent was heavy.
"I'll send information to anybody if it means the menace can be stopped. I'll tell you where I saw her." the young wizard grabbed his own broom and the two set off. When they came to the edge of the Forest of Dean, this was wear they dismounted and Lovegood took out his wand.
"She doesn't come often, but I've been planting rare plants near her territory, that seems to have been drawing her out. I'll warn you though, she could be dangerous."
"And you think she's a dark witch?" Ted asked as they walked along through the forest. Lovegood nodded tersely.
"Ordinarily I'd give her the benefit of a doubt, but I've seen her talking with a large serpent the color of ash. That's not something I can trust so easily." the blonde man lead Ted downstream and over a fallen tree.
"A snake you say?" Ted suddenly remembered why that sounded so familiar.
"Lovegood, we don't have a dark witch here at all!" Ted practically cheered with excitement. He cast his patronus, a golden retriever, and sent it to Andromeda as well as the other Order members.
"You found Rose Damonne." Ted said proudly.
"Alright everybody, the last time I knew her, Rose was relatively powerful for a witch her age, and who knows how much has changed in three year?" Andromeda was a couple hundred yards from Rose's shelter, crouched in the bushes with Ted, Molly, the twins, and Hestia. Arthur was busy at the Ministry that day, although he promised he would help on the next mission.
"I bet she would have beat Bellatrix herself for top of the class." Molly said aimlessly as she stretched her back and arms. The ginger witch still kept herself in relatively peak physical shape, despite no longer playing Quidditch. Gideon and Fabian were practically buzzing with excitement. Ted patted both of them on the backs, making them jump.
"Calm down now. The way Andy's talking, Rose could probably smell how scared you are right now." he chuckled quietly.
"We're not scared, but this is a lot like those quests in the fantasy books you'd read as a kid. Here we are, just a couple of young wizards-"
"And witches." Fabian amended.
"-and witches, out to find and kill the fearsome beast that lurks in its lair!" Gideon sounded like he was narrating said story, but Andromeda narrowed her eyes dangerously at the brothers.
"This isn't a joke, Rose is a friend of mine, and I want to make sure she's alright. From her last letters to Bella, things weren't good." Andy's tone made the rest of the group get more serious.
"So," Ted peered through the brush, where he could see the clearing "what's the plan? Should we maybe try talking to her first?"
"What if she's become a deranged hermit?" Hestia argued, and the four other members of the team looked at her, as if they forgot she was even there.
"That's a possibility." Molly pointed out.
"It's only been three years, I think she'd be a little more capable." Andromeda argued. Eventually, the group agreed that Andy and Ted would enter the clearing and see if they could find Rose, while the others would take strategic positions in hiding in case Rose actually was dangerous. Andromeda didn't want to think that Rose would hurt her but there was no doubt she was a skilled witch and formidable opponent. Making sure her wand was stowed up her sleeve, Andromeda gave Ted's hand a quick squeeze before walking out into the waning sunlight. She could feel the ward before she saw it, the magic was suffocating.
"Blimey." Ted stumbled a little, and it felt like they were walking through porridge. There was nothing there but the wards and the unusually warped looking tree.
"It's likely a cloaking spell," Andromeda whispered.
"Probably best to get Rose to come out of hiding herself then, just in case this is booby-trapped." Ted whispered back. Andromeda nodded before cupping her hand to her mouth.
"Rose? Rose are you there? It's me, Andromeda!" she waited, but nothing happened. She looked to Ted, who looked a little sheepish.
"To be fair, I didn't actually fact check Lovegood. But he seemed like the smart sort. Besides, how many people can say they saw a giant snake in the south?" he reasoned. Andromeda huffed but tried to call again.
"Come on out Rose, I'm not with the Ministry, I promise! Bella was worried, and she's asked me to come get you." she pursed her lips, wondering if she should play the emotional card "It's bad Rose, she needs you." the brunette witch added as an afterthought, the sound quiet. The silence in the clearing was eerie, until they could hear it. A noise like something heavy being dragged, steadily through the tall grass. Slow footsteps, staggered and jilting. Nervously, Andromeda gripped her wand in her hand. Then, ragged breathing. It felt like the temperature dropped, like the sun had gone behind the clouds even though it was still bright out.
"And...Andy. Andy? Is that you?" a croaking voice resonated, and it made the pair of them jump. Andy cast a nervous glance to the brush, where she knew the others were prepared if things went bad.
"Yes, yes it's me Rose. You can disillusion yourself now, it's just me and some friends. You remember Ted?" the Slytherin witch tried to make her voice stop shaking, but she was finding it difficult. Something was wrong.
"Andy how do I know it's you? Say something only Andromeda would only know?" Rose sounded frantic, and now Andromeda could see how the plants in the clearing were reacting. They grew slowly, creeping closer to their ankles. Andromeda's mind whirled as she tried to remember something, before she grabbed Ted by the arm.
"Do you remember when you spoke to me in the courtyard in school? About being with Ted and staying true to myself? I followed your advice Rose, we're going to get married soon." Andromeda insisted, still trying to see where the former Gryffindor might be. There was another moment of silence before the air lightened considerably and Andromeda sucked in a lungful of air. About ten feet away, stood Rose Damonne. Or whatever pallid shell of the former witch was left. The lanky, impossibly thin witch clung to an enormous python with all of her strength, her papery white skin stretched thin over bony knuckles. Her clothes were frayed and soiled beyond repair, and hung from her shoulders like drapes. What was most haunting was her face.
"Merlin…" Andromeda took a hesitant step towards Rose, but the older witch flinched away, wincing. Her face was haggard and sunken, dotted in picks and scars, old scabs like she had scratched at her eyes and mouth. Dark bags hung below hollow, bloodshot eyes that couldn't seem to focus on Andromeda or Ted for very long.
"Where's...Bella?" Rose struggled, her speech slurred. The python watched Andromeda for a moment before tasting the air with his tongue and leading Rose over to the pair of them, uncoiling from around Rose. The witch whimpered a little and followed the reptile closely. Ted didn't know what to think, having never really met Rose before this.
"She's not here right now Rose. We can take you to see her though. Are you well enough to ride a broom?" Andromeda reached her hand out, ignoring the violent smell coming from the other witch. Rose flinched back from the contact at first, but then her hazy eyes locked with Andromeda's.
"Wow. You're older." Rose noted softly, and the Slytherin witch just nodded. She slowly took Rose into her arms and hugged her, something that made Rose stiffen, but she didn't pull away.
"Oh, you're a real person too. I can feel you." Rose mumbled, the noise muffled by Andromeda's traveling cloak.
"Yes, I'm real. I'm going to send Ted to get your things for you, we're going to get on my broom and I'll bring you some place where you can have some nice broth and a warm bed. Does that sound nice?" she looked at Ted and nodded her head towards the hovel built into the large tree that had revealed itself. Nodding in agreement, he waited until his girlfriend led Rose through the woods towards their broom before waving to the other Order members in the bushes. They were quiet as the five of them advanced upon the tree. The smell of decay was the first thing that hit them, and Ted covered his nose with his shirt when they found several small half-decayed animals laying around the floor of the shack.
"Bloody hell...what happened here?" Molly gagged as she kicked a pile of ruined clothes over. Ted lifted a stack of mildew ruined parchment with his wand. Most of it was covered in completely illegible writing, difficult to see as the ragged curtains covered the only window towards the front of the room. Gideon lit up his wand and moved farther back before the sound of clattering alerted the group to something.
"It's a kid's potion kit, something they'd have us get before school. Broken glass and other bits." he told them when Fabian gave his brother a questioning look. He bent to pick up a sheet covered in neat scribbles of ingredients. The burnt out bottom of the cauldron said enough to him.
"She's probably been cabbaged out on this stuff for...months maybe, who knows." Gideon rifled through the debris to get a better idea of what was happening. Molly slowly stepped around more refuse before entering Rose's bedroom, where it was just as filthy and squalid as the rest of the shack. That was until she saw something glimmering in a far corner, on top of a moth eaten book.
"Ted, get a look at this." she motioned for the young man to come in the room, and they stared at the cracked vial together.
"What do you suppose it is?" she asked, picking it up gingerly. The liquid inside was slightly viscous, and shimmered like a million diamonds in the faint light.
"No clue. But save it, maybe Rose can tell us later once she's better." Ted patted Molly on the arm as they searched through the rest of the house.