I'm pretty close to writing the last chapters, but they still need fine-tuning. Really just trying to provide the best content for you guys. :) By the way, huge thanks to my regular and new reviewers, you kind words are literally the only thing bringing a smile to my face. Hope everybody is doing alright, and that you're keeping busy during all this.

Review if you enjoyed!

I AM NOT PROFITING OFF THIS. ALL RECOGNIZABLE PEOPLE, PLACES, AND/OR EVENTS BELONG TO J.K. ROWLING

Chapter 22

The months passed quickly, and with each day, Rose regained some of her former strength. As Ted's roommate, she now partook in cooking and cleaning the small flat when either Ted or Andromeda were out. For a while, Andromeda had steered her away from using a cauldron, or even a soup pot unsupervised, though Rose could understand why. Instead, she spent her free time writing down the fragments of her worst days that she could remember, like a sort of guidebook.

There were a few things she deduced, and yet hoped were wildly incorrect. Voldemort had taken her to the hidden library in the Ministry so that he could obtain further knowledge on horcruxes, a way for him to split his soul into fragments. Why he would want to live any longer was beyond Rose, his life was total shit from what she could understand. A lot of her understanding of the deranged bald wizard came from their unfortunate bond, which she learned was from him casting a spell incorrectly. It was supposed to be a sort of scrying spell, but instead he created a mental link. Thankfully, drinking the unicorn tears had severed the bond.

"Good freakin' riddance." Rose mumbled to herself as she watered the plants in one of Ted's window boxes. In the middle of her muttering, she noticed how again, the violets seemed to follow her, turning ever so slightly. She stopped, focusing on them. Then she heard the faintest of whispers, like somebody was speaking to her, and it was different from the usual screeching in her brain.

"Hello?" she whispered, crouching low to the plants. Maybe there were fairies there that she had happened to miss. Peppers, who was lounging on the windowsill adjacent to hers, lifted his head in curiosity, as if he could hear it too.

She knows…

She can hear…

Our language, she speaks it now...old knowledge…

Rose straightened from her position and grimaced. She remembered now, the other book Voldemort had forced her to read, although his motives behind that were still unclear to her. She could hear the jingling of keys as the door to the flat was opened and closed.

"I'm home!" Ted called out as he dropped his keys in the bowl.

"Hey Ted...how was your day?" Rose called from her room, not looking away from the plants.

"It was alright. More news of a small attack on a village north of here...sadly nothing we could get to in time. Muggles are probably getting suspicious. How was yours, did you go out today at all?" the Hufflepuff replied easily as he kicked off his shoes and started shuffling things around in the cabinet. Rose sniffed, it smelled like he brought back takeout.

"Unless you count watering the flowers as 'out'. Hey, apparently I can hear plants when they talk now. Isn't that wild?" Rose left her room to see that Ted was setting some Chinese takeout on the cramped table. The wavy haired man looked up briefly in bewilderment before seeing the deadpan look on Rose's face and thought it was best not to ask.

"Well, let me know if you want earplugs or something. My dad's a carpenter, I'm sure he has extras laying around at home." he opened a carton of egg rolls and put two on his plate before passing some to Rose. She poured vegetables into her plate before regarding the empty chair between them.

"Andy not coming tonight?"

"No, family dinner. Which is fine. As long as she's safe for now, I don't mind. Besides, I'm sure she has plenty of damage control to deal with between her sisters nowadays." Ted shrugged before wolfing down a mouthful of fried rice.

"Oh yeah...I wonder how they're doing?" Rose tried not to sound a little downtrodden. Ted looked up from his food, something akin to pity on his face, and made Rose's stomach twist uncomfortably.

"I'm sure that if you asked, Andy wouldn't mind bringing you to see Bellatrix somewhere. Privately of course. I wouldn't trust Rodolphus for one second." Ted finished bitterly.

"That's okay. I feel like that would be a bit of a breach of trust for the rest of the Order, you know? And besides...we were kids when we were close. Andy told me how she convinced you guys to find me. She made it sound like we were star-crossed lovers or something." Rose chuckled hollowly "We told each other we were in love, but at this point I'm ready to say that it was one of those melodramatic teenager things." she pushed at her food, already having lost her appetite. Ted just looked more concerned and sad.

"Well, how could you know for sure? Mind you, I'm not an expert on women, but surely you maybe felt something deeper than a schoolgirl's crush? You came out of your shelter, daft as hell but you focused immediately when Andy told you that Bella was waiting for you. What happened to that?" he couldn't help but question.

"Let's call it a moment of clarity after the fact. I failed her already, why would she want me to come back into her life?" Rose's bluntness made Ted cease his questioning, and they ate in silence until Rose thanked him for the food and stood from the table, clearing her spot.

"I'm going to go out for a walk." she told Ted as she put on a flannel over her worn, borrowed shirt. Ted looked up from the couch where he was reading transcripts.

"Are you sure? It's a little late." he looked concerned again, but Rose waved her hand to show her silver ring.

"I have Peppers, plus my wand. And this is a No-Maj neighborhood, I'll be fine." she reassured him before taking the spare key and walking out the door.

The cool summer air felt good on her face as she lit up a butt and listened to the sound of her boots on the cracked sidewalk. The occasional buzzing of the streetlamps she passed under was a little annoying, but not to the point where it would make her turn back. In the city, the light pollution made it difficult to see the stars, and she supposed that was the one thing she missed about the forest. When her brain wasn't completely addled, Rose could look out the window and just view a sea of bright beautiful stars in all their majesty. A couple minutes passed before she realized she had walked herself to a dead end, where apartments made a ring around the street. With a sigh, she dropped her cigarette and mushed it out with her heel before turning around.

Then she caught movement in the reflection of a car window. A figure in all black, with a gleaming silver mask shaped like a skull. Somebody had managed to sneak up behind her. Turning around, Rose didn't hesitate to deck the stranger in the face with all of her might before sprinting down the street. The person in the mask grunted, unprepared for the blow before landing on their ass. Just as they stood and pulled out a wand, Rose flung her ring hand outwards, sending the eighteen foot python sailing from her hand and at the face of her stalker. At the same time, she brandished her wand and cast a jelly legs jinx at the cloaked figure. From the scream, she believed that the person was a woman. Peppers had them in a tight bind, fangs sunk deep into their arm as they struggled helplessly.

"Now who is the bitch behind the mask?" Rose grunted as she bent down to rip off the silver mask. There was a flash of blonde hair before she came face to face with somebody vaguely familiar. But she couldn't quite put her thumb on it.

"Fuck...I think I know you?" Rose asked the man, who just whimpered helplessly as he struggled. Peppers had a firm grip.

"Who are you, and why were you following me?" she asked, her tone suddenly poisonous and no longer lax. The man spit in her face, his wild blue eyes showing the angry glint of disdain. Wiping her face off, Rose scowled before popping him right in the nose, the sound of cartilage crushing under her knuckles loud.

"I'll ask you one more time, pretty boy," Rose growled "Who are you? I already figured that you work for that boiled egg-looking ass motherfucker, so spit it out before I have my familiar bite you somewhere else." she threatened.

"I won't tell you a damn thing!" the man spat, and Rose had to give him a little credit for staying strong. However, she was already lining up a spell that would knock his socks off. And maybe the rest of his foot. Just as she was starting to cast, she heard the sound of people apparating, but it was somehow different. The blonde man smiled, blood trickling into his mouth. Rose looked down both sides of the sidewalk to see that two more masked people had appeared, both rather large and intimidating in stature. Standing, she called Peppers back and slipped him back on her hand.

"This isn't over, you rat bastard." she narrowed her eyes at him before apparating the hell out of there. Popping back up in Ted's flat, she tried to be silent as she took off her shoes and tip-toed back to her own room, but the adrenaline from her first real fight in years was positively exhilarating. Sitting on her bed with her hands folded in her lap, Rose nodded her head a few times before rolling her shoulders, a little too full of energy to sleep.

"I gotta start profiling. I can't forget this." she whispered to herself. While it was still fresh, Rose picked up a piece of parchment and a cracked quill, and began to do a rough sketch of what her assailant looked like, then she drew his mask.

The sun woke her up when it angled through her eyes and hit her directly in the eyes. Groaning, she noticed now her fist still had blood on it, and she grimaced in disgust at the dried brown mess.

"Good morning Rose, just thought I would stop by to-why in the name of Merlin's saggy tits do you have a drawing of Lucius Malfoy?" Andromeda's peppy tone was quickly replaced with one of vehement revulsion. Rose picked up the drawing and showed the other witch excitedly.

"Andy! This guy attacked me last night!" she said triumphantly, which only confused Andromeda even more.

"What do you mean? Are you hurt at all?" Andy squawked in horror.

"I'm fantastic, but do you know what this means? This is a guy you can keep tabs on now! There were two others, but I couldn't get a good look at them, I was already risking it by letting the fucker see my face. So write him down! Tell the others!" the taller witch seemed so happy with her discovery, that Andromeda almost couldn't be upset with her for endangering her own life.

"Rose, this is good, but it raises a few questions. Maybe we should hold a meeting later today." She took the drawing gingerly from Rose and placed it on her dresser "Let's get you some food, and maybe you should get cleaned up." she gestured to Rose's disheveled appearance.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," Rose grabbed a towel off of her rickety desk chair "Let me see if there's any takeout left in the fridge and then I'm yours for the day." she smiled at Andy before going into the bathroom.

"Hey Aberforth, how's it going?" Rose sat at the bar with Andy and Ted while they waited for more people to show up. The large man just grunted and set down some butterbeer for Rose. She shrugged before sipping the frothy beverage. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small goat with long ears wandering around the bar, and she raised an eyebrow at it.

"That's Blossom, you leave her be." Aberforth grumbled. Rose was about to ask why there was a farm animal in a bar before the sound of a door slamming open made all four witches and wizards turn with a sour look on their faces. It was the troublesome Gryffindor boys that Andromeda had threatened to kill several times. Rose had never really interacted much with them herself, though their rowdy entrance already grated on her nerves slightly. James Potter was rambunctious and loud, joined by his equally lively friend Sirius Black, who Rose learned was in fact Andy's younger cousin. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were the more composed of the four, although something about Peter nagged at Rose.

"Keep it down or I'll kick you boys out." Aberforth rumbled as he glared at them. This quieted the group down to a low chattering as they made their way towards the back room. The three older witches and wizard gave each other looks before paying Aberforth and following the younger wizards in. Soon everybody had filed into the room, and the meeting began.

"It has come to my attention that Rose has some new information for us today." Moody announced to the group, although Rose didn't particularly care for his tone. Like she was a kid during show and tell. Instead, she stood and slapped down her sketch, smiling triumphantly.

"There's one of your Death Eaters. Andy told me it was Lucius Malfoy." she looked to Andromeda, who nodded reassuringly. Arthur smacked his fist into his palm, like he had remembered something.

"That explains why his face was messed up when I saw him today! So he had a run in with you then?" the excitable ginger wizard asked, and Rose smiled sheepishly.

"I mopped the floor with him before he could cast a single spell." she boasted.

"How did you come across him?" Moody asked suddenly, and Rose turned to the Auror.

"He was following me while I was out for a walk in a No-Maj neighborhood. Down the street from Ted's place."

"Idiot!" Moody barked, making Rose flinch "Do you have any idea how long he had been following you? What if he knows where you live now? And Ted? You have just put both of your lives in danger! You should have killed him while you had the chance." Moody was furious, but Rose's own temper was stoked by his rage, and she snarled at him, her blood curse coming through.

"Oh sure, outright kill the son of a rich and influential potions mogul? How would we have covered that? I should also mention that two more Death Eaters showed up. I could have handled them, but what about the No-Maj's living in the apartments all around me? They would have heard." she growled as her eyes flashed black and gold, and Moody stepped back in surprise "Sure, he's seen my face, and maybe Ted is in danger now, but it's nothing I can't handle dealing with on my own. You've been treating me like I'm so inexperienced child, but I've been in a fight, I can handle it."

"A real fight, or one you hallucinated while you tripped shit in the woods?" Moody spat back, and the tension in the room thickened as Andromeda pulled Rose back into her seat and Shacklebolt patted Moody on the shoulder.

"Now let's simmer down, the werewolf and the guy with a bum leg both prove good points." Fabian nudged his brother with a snicker.

"I'm not a werewolf, carrot top." Rose snarled. Lupin made a face, which Rose assumed was disgust towards her behavior, and she glared at the young wizard.

"The question again is what do we do with this information? He is an awfully high profile target, and accusing him of this would prove to be fruitless. While the papers would love to have scandal like this, I'm sure Malfoy has his bases covered when it comes to repelling bad press." Hestia spoke up as she cleaned her glasses.

"She's got a point. We should hold on to this for now. A mass exposure after the ball will definitely prove to be the wiser option. We can have Aurors drop in and storm the place, I'll make sure of it." Shacklebolt made sure Moody wasn't going to start shouting again as he continued. He looked to Andromeda expectantly, and she removed a roll of parchment from her bad and unrolled it across the table.

"This is the complete layout of my family mansion. I've marked the best entrances and exits, although I believe entering disguised as guests would be the easiest way in without tripping alarms. If this goes as planned, you won't have to worry about a hasty escape." she informed the group, who momentarily put aside their bitterness to inspect the map more closely. A thimble was placed next to a thumbtack in the center of a large room.

"I was thinking we keep Molly and Arthur in the ballroom for recon, considering that they're already invited, being purebloods. That way, they can mingle and get information for us from party-goers that may be a little more loose-lipped after drinking too much. Theirs will be the long game, and they'll also be in charge of notifying the team if anything goes south from the ballroom." Andromeda looked at the couple, and they nodded affirmatively. Next, Andromeda laid out some more pieces. The twins both snatched up a bottle cap.

"Where would we be Andy?" they asked in unison, and she thought for a moment as she regarded them, then Ted raised his hand for a suggestion.

"They could be a distraction. Fake an illness, plant a dungbomb, anything to draw away a crowd if we need something done. They're theatrical enough for it." he offered, and both twins' eyes lit up at this suggestion. The group agreed as Gideon and Fabian placed their pieces on the map.

"Moody, I know you don't care much for parties, so we'd be counting on you to be the guy who comes in with reinforcements when Shacklebolt gives you the signal." Andromeda looked to the slightly grizzled man who just nodded gruffly.

"What about you and Ted?" Molly asked, and Andromeda looked a little uncomfortable.

"Ted...won't be allowed to access the grounds to the mansion, literally. It's warded against anybody who doesn't have pureblood heritage. We tried testing it a few years ago, and he was cursed with boils for a week. He'll have to stay out until we can find a way to drop the wards...which is why I'm having Rose be in charge of that." she looked to Rose, whose face screwed in confusion.

"Andy, dude my dad was a No-Maj. My mom might be pureblood, but I'm half. I'd still get my ass cursed, wouldn't I?" she couldn't imagine how this was supposed to work. Andromeda tutted and wagged her finger.

"True, there may be a barrier preventing unauthorized people of impure blood, but it's essentially a giant fence; once you're through, you'll be fine. And it doesn't take the purity of animal blood into account." she smirked deviously, and Rose suddenly became very worried.

"I'm not sending Peppers through, he doesn't even know how to use a wand!" she insisted frantically.

"What? No, I'm not sending your bloody pet to a ball, you're going through as your animagus form." she explained, and Rose blushed with embarrassment before shaking her head.

"I can't control my animagus form anymore. On account of the dark magic fucking with my head." she pointed to her head for emphasis "Even if you wanted to, I don't think you'd be able to get me in without a fight, and then I would need Peppers to come with me. He's my support familiar." Rose explained, but Andromeda's smile only became more sinister.

"I took that into account."she reassured Rose.

"You're not going to walk her in on a leash, are you? That would be mad." Shacklebolt looked concerned. Andromeda shook her head.

"Not a chance, I don't want to lose a leg. James, this is where you come in." she looked at the young dark haired man. He squeaked in surprise.

"Me? What am I doing? I wasn't paying attention, sorry."

"I haven't even told you what you were doing." Andromeda deadpanned.

"Right, sorry. Go on."

"Your part is fairly simple. You'll be disguised as an animal trainer. Wheel Rose in, show her off, wheel her back outside, she transforms back, shuts down the wards, and boom, we have everything we need. Intel, a surprise attack, and a flawless plan. With a neat little bow." Andromeda looked proud, but James looked like her was about to shit himself.

"Um, miss Andromeda? I'm still a kid. I can't just waltz in there like that…" he seemed unreasonably nervous.

"Oh! Oh! I could do it! I won't be rejected by the wards!" Sirius waved his arms around, but Andromeda rolled her eyes.

"You'll already be at the party, idiot. You're supposed to keep Narcissa and the other younger ones distracted. Including your brother." she sounded fed up with young man. The rest of the group paused...seeming like they were at an impasse before Rose gasped.

"Andy I have the best idea." her eyes were wide, and she practically shook the woman half to death as she gripped her by the arms.

"What is it?" Andromeda asked, now worried herself.

"My Uncle Jesse." Rose sputtered, like it was obvious.

"I'm sorry?"

"My Uncle Jesse. His entire job is familiars, magical animals, you name it. Trust me, he's capable of being an ample distraction while we get this done. And since he's pureblood, he'll have no trouble getting through the wards. This way, you're not having a literal child do an adult's job." Rose watched James out of the corner of her eye. He looked embarrassed, but otherwise thankful. Andromeda mulled it over.

"I'm sorry...I don't think I've heard of anybody named Jesse Damonne. He won't be allowed in if he's not even a common name here. You need social standing, it won't work." Hestia argued, and Rose snorted.

"Damonne was my dad's last name. Sauer is my mother's maiden name, and Jesse's full name is actually James. So I'm going to assume some of you have heard of a James Sauer?" she looked smug as recognition dawned on a few faces.

"That's the animal trainer bloke from America? Big fancy mansion, and any pet you can imagine?" Gideon looked at Rose incredulously.

"I heard he once tamed a basilisk and let it roam his estate like a guard dog, he must be scary as all hell!" Fabian whistled in surprise. Rose stopped looking so smug and tilted her head.

"Well he's...a guy."

"Rose Amelia Damonne, I don't hear from you in years, especially after your own mother lost touch with you, and this is how you contact me? Saying you have a highly covert operation you want me to take part in, on foreign soil with nothing but my wits and perfectly toned muscles?" Jesse Sauer shouted through the floo, and Rose winced at the volume.

"I...I didn't add that last part, but sure, Essentially that 's what I'm asking." she muttered. She heard a deep sigh from her uncle before he continued talking.

"Well kiddo, I can't say no my favorite niece. I guess I'll just have to come over for a little visit. Tell me, does The Dorchester have any open reservations?" he sounded nonchalant, and Rose could hear the shuffling of papers.

"I'm your only niece, and I don't know what that is."

"Nevermind then, I'll sort out my own lodging. Should I bring anything besides my signature suits?"

"Please bring normal suits."

"No fuckin way, hoss. It's all or nothing. So suits, toiletries...are we going to go sightseeing?"

"Please take this seriously," Rose practically pleaded "There's a lot riding on this."

"Fine fine, I'll keep it tame. Haha, get it?"

"You're going to need something large enough to fit...something the size of an African lion. I'll discuss the rest of the details with you when you get here. I sent the address to you earlier, we can talk somewhere more secure. I have to go." Rose finished quickly before her uncle could embarrass her further. Groaning as the call ended, she ignored the snickers from Ted and Andy as she sat on the floor in front of Ted's fireplace.

"So, I guess that's settled then. We can do some practice runs when our schedules line up. Maybe your uncle can drum up some business and increase his social standing here, it will make things look less suspicious. This way, he can get an invite himself instead of me just making him my plus one." Andromeda decided. Rose looked up at her friend from the floor and chuckled.

"You know, it's times like this where I remember why you're a Slytherin."