Warning: This next chapter contains a section that is rated R for sexual content. (nothing big, no actual sex, just suggestions) If sensitive, do not proceed.

Chapter 8

Separated in darkness they shall grow

Of each other they shall not know

Prospering apart, until their ready

Together they will keep the dark steady

Then they will defeat evil with his own way

But not before in darkness they shall lay

The next day the Slytherins' spirits were so high, that they failed to notice the other house's hostility. Apparently no one had forgotten about the quidditch game yet, but the Slytherins were still surprisingly oblivious to the rest of the school's hatred. Normally they would pick a fight with the first person that was rude to them. Not today though, today they were in their own little world. For the Slytherins hadn't beaten the Gryffindors this badly in fifteen years. And never had they injured a Gryffindor as badly as Hennis had.

Part of the reasons that the Slytherins remained ignorant of the their unpopularity was because the Gryffindor's glares were considered normal. So no reaction could have been expected there. But when they completely became unaware of how the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws deliberately ignored them, and insulted them in classes, it was weird. Never had all three houses been against one other without that house being aware of it.

Even though the Slytherins weren't very popular that day, they stayed blissfully unaware, and cheerful. That is, all the Slytherins except for Harry.

Harry, who presently was sitting in the Great Hall, during "Rose's feast", was miserable. He had been ever since last night. And his mood wasn't giving an indication of improving. After replying to Sirius' letter, he had sat in the Astronomy tower for over four hours. Doing absolutely nothing. Just relishing being alone for once. After the four houses of solitary confinement, Draco found him and dragged him unhappily back to the dungeons. There he was subjected to watching the Slytherins party.

As a team member, he was, according to Draco, required to make an appearance. Even if it was brief, and forced. Harry spent most of his time either being hauled onto the dance floor by some girl, or watching Rose. Harry had, as Rose said, become very popular with the females lately. Something that quickly became more of a curse than a blessing.

When Harry managed to come up with an excuse as why he couldn't dance, he talked with his housemates. This was all a pretense; he wasn't actually paying the least bit of attention to the conversations he was in the middle of. He was actually studying Rose. Like a hawk, red eyes followed her every move. Every toss of her hair, every smile, every wiggle against a boy. Harry didn't like it. She was making friends too fast, and too easily. He was going to have to have a serious talk with her. He excused himself from the throng of people who were chatting with him, and made for the dance area.

Determined, Harry stalked toward her, intent on breaking up whatever she was in the middle of doing with a sixth year boy. Harry wasn't sure what exactly they were doing, but it sure as hell wasn't dancing. And Harry sure as hell wasn't going to allow it to continue. Just as Harry was about to reach his twin, an arm snagged around his waist, and turned him around.

Off balance, two feminine arms quickly circled Harry before he could protest. Looking down at his captor, he gazed into the smiling face of a triumphant Morgan. Morgan was a sixth year, who had been stalking him almost as much as Hermione. She was of average height, but quite curvaceous. With blue eyes, and red hair. She wasn't bad to look at, but had one evil temper.

Resignedly Harry continued the song out. Letting the Rose matter wait until they were in private.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Katie Bell remained in the Hospital wing for three more weeks before being released. During this time the other house's animosity had lessened a bit. Their classes continued as usual, Rose got a few more detentions than last month for all her various pranks, and Draco held more practices. Rose had opted to take all the extra classes Harry wasn't in. That way if they managed to teach anything useful, both twins would know it. It was during one of those classes that Rose earned her most recent detention.

Ancient Runes was moving very slowly as the professor droned on about an article in the Daily Prophet about a tomb that had recently been uncovered. Having already read the article about the German Wizards who had removed thousands of artifacts from the humongous temple, Rose wasn't taking notes. Restlessly Rose shifted yet again in her seat. After the rest of the class was done with notes, they were to examine some of the things found in the temple privately with a partner. Then they were to finish a questionnaire on the article.

Rose was paired up with Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw, who at the moment, was scribbling fiercely at the homework. Rose began her own as they waited for their turn to go into the room with the artifacts in it. Their professor had told them they had five minutes to examine everything before having to right an essay on it. He wanted to test them on their observing skills.

When it was their turn, Rose raced Terry to the room. Terry, who had been ignoring Rose after she had told him she wouldn't go out with him, followed her into the room walking. This class was too dull; it needed to be spiced up a bit. And Rose was just the person to do it. Seeing that an old mummy would be perfect for her plan, Rose glanced at Terry to be sure he wasn't watching. Since Terry seemed fascinated by a book, Rose began to work unnoticed.

By the time their five minutes were over with, Rose's work was complete. Terry hurried out of the room, as the next pair entered. Rose was halfway to her seat when she heard, "AHHHHHHH!!!!!" Hannah Abbott came screaming out of the private room followed by a confused, but pale Draco. Hannah ran out the door with tears streaming down her face. Everyone turned to Draco for an explanation, including their professor.

Nobody got to ask Draco what had happened, because they were all to shocked by the thing standing behind him to speak. In the doorway stood a very ugly looking, decayed mummy. Where the moldy bandages had fallen, bone and light reddish green body showed through. There were bugs crawling in and out of the holes of its skeleton. Some girls screamed and raced for the door, which had been magically locked after Hannah had escaped. Others tried the windows, while Ernie just vomited. Dean Thomas tried to hex it, which only made it angry as it charged to the front of the classroom.

There it stood, and waited for a minute before speaking. In a choked, raspy voice it said, "you have disturbed my rest, you shall pay. Hail Voldemort. The only one we shall ever serve faithfully. Be warned." Then it let out a haunting shriek before turning into dust. Nobody moved. The bell rang as the professor told them he'd be seeing the headmaster about this, not to worry.

Holding back laughter, Rose raced to the common room. Unfortunately she couldn't hold back long enough. As she was just about to enter the dungeons, her eyes started tearing as she started shaking. Then she let it loose. After three minutes of hysterics, Rose felt composed enough to continue on.

She got to her feet, and went to get her broom. She had practice in about fifteen minutes. Just as Rose was about to say the password, that would have let her enter her common room, a voice halted her. Turning around, Rose faced a furious Snape.

"Rose Potter! You have managed once again to lose points for your house. You know, I used to thank god every day that the Weasley twins weren't in my house. But now, I'd rather have four of them for all seven years, instead of you for three!"

"Why professor, I can't help to notice that you seem a bit…. Agitated?" Rose drawled sweetly.

"I'm going to ignore you, otherwise I would be forced to take points away from my own house. And if I were to that, we'd be in the negatives."

"Oh, you're too kind Professor." Rose responded as she made a move to enter the common room.

"Wait a minute Miss Potter, I'm not finished with you. Professor McGonagall will be supervising your detention tonight, in the transfiguration room at eight. I'm only thankful that you'll not be serving it with me. I don't deserve that much torture."

"Yes, Professor. I have to go to practice now."

"Oh, and Rose?"

"Yes?"

"Try to show up for this detention. And DON'T do anything else; we can't lose any more points. Though I will admit it was quite clever what you did with the mummy." With that Snape strode away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I got to go now Draco," Rose yelled over the wind, balancing on her broom.

"Fine, but I can't guarantee you'll be starting next game because of this." Draco yelled back, dismissing her. Rose just flew down, not worried in the least. Draco had been threatening her and Harry since the beginning of the season. So far, he had yet to follow through on one of his numerous threats.

Harry didn't even wave bye, he was a bit put out with her at the moment. He was apparently very angry that she had played another prank that had resulted in proclaiming her alliance to the dark side. He had warned her to stop, but Rose didn't. She had tried just pulling pranks, but none appealed to her since no one was actually hurt.

Now Rose didn't enjoy seeing people in pain, but she hated doing things for the benefit of others even more. And that would include making others laugh. Which entertained them, and they then wanted more. Rose only cared what her own housemates thought of her jokes. She only valued the other house's reactions because she wanted to make sure that they did NOT enjoy her little pranks.

So Rose could live with Harry giving her the silent treatment, after all it wasn't the first time. And that had only lasted a couple of days. During the first day of school, Harry received his birthday presents from Ron and Hermione. A box full of Weasley Wizard Wheezes, and a picture of the trio from fourth year. Rose had destroyed the pranks, and had made voodoo dolls of Ron and Hermione after stealing the picture. She never returned the picture, but had given the dolls back to Harry, who had been afraid of what would have happened if Rose had kept them or if they had been destroyed.

Harry didn't speak to her again until she got a detention with him. He had then ranted for the whole time they were scrubbing pots in the Hospital Wing. After that they were one happy family again. But now Rose had to serve her detention alone, with no Harry to yell at her. It was going to be a long week.

Rose looked down at her watch and realized she was late. Perfect. As if she wasn't Professor McGonagall's favorite student already.

"You're late Miss Potter." Was the first thing McGonagall told Rose as she ran into the classroom.

"I know, I ran into Peeves." Rose lied, hoping to get onto another subject.

It didn't work. "That's not a good enough reason. And I heard you resurrected an ancient mummy just to terrorize your classmates. And I also heard that he spoke about You-Know-Who as a master. Now I know it was you who did it. And I DON'T want to know why you did it. So as for your detention, you'll be busy cleaning these desks…manually. You have all night, and give me your wand. I'll be in my office when you're finished." After Rose handed McGonagall her wand, the professor left.

Rose turned to the desks, and with a sigh she waved her hand. All the desks were spotless. She knew she couldn't go to the professor now, she'd just giver her more detentions after accusing her of getting someone else to do it. Rose knew she had done it before.

Now bored, Rose decided to read up on Animagus Training. She and Harry had been planning on trying to learn, but just never got around to it last summer. Maybe if she could get him to listen, he'd be interested enough to talk to her again. Determined, Rose sat down and began to read.

Being an animagus would help them a lot, especially if they were able to keep it a secret. So Harry and Rose would have to teach themselves if they wanted to learn. The book said it took an average of two years to learn, that is if the person is capable. If not, they'd never learn. Some wizards were just not powerful enough to become one. Knowing power wasn't a factor; Rose estimated it would take about year and half for them. Maybe less if Harry became obsessed.

After reading the first four chapters, Rose put the book in her bag, and headed to where McGonagall's office was. Knocking twice, Rose entered.

"I'm finished Professor."

Minerva McGonagall examined Rose closely, and seemed to conclude that she wasn't lying and let her go. Once Rose's wand was returned to her, she left as quickly as possible. She didn't exactly like that particular teacher.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rose elbowed her way past the crowd of people huddled around a bulletin posted the next morning. But once she got as far as she could, she was still too short to read it. Angry, Rose hexed people in order to get out of the growing mob. Still fuming, she sat down and stabbed at her French toast.

"Morning sunshine!" Harry said cheerfully, he had begun talking to her after she expressed her idea to start animagus training. Harry had been up for over an hour already, running, and so he was wide awake.

"Bite me." Rose growled back.

"Where? Cause I 'd be more than happy too." Draco interrupted sitting down next to her. Seeing Harry's face, he decided to change the subject. "So what's up with the pack of people?" Draco said pointing towards the bulletin area.

Overlooking Draco's earlier comment, Harry explained. "It's a notice about the next Hogsmeade weekend, I saw it after I went running. When no one else was here. It was just me." Harry said remembering that heaven that had been shattered when the first student had arrived. He truly enjoyed being alone; he just wished he had more time to be so.

Rose proved his point by immediately bombarding him with a question. "Why? Can't they just use the-" Harry clamped his hand over his sister's mouth before she could spill their secret. He wasn't ready for Draco to learn their every secret just yet.

Rose bit down hard on Harry's hand, causing him to whelp and let go immediately. "As I was saying, couldn't they just use the mail in catalogues that deliver everything. Why waste a Saturday going to town when you could sleep in? Idiots!" Rose said, as she looked over the hall at the bundle of students, all shoving to sign up.

"Not everyone posesses your supeirior intellect, and do not resort to that possibility." Draco explained. "But, since everyone is going, why not? How about joining the 'idiots' for a weekend? Please? I'll buy you an ice cream." Draco pleaded with Rose.

"Well…. Okay. But I'm NOT leaving until 11. I need some sleep." Rose agreed.

"Fine, but I need to be back by six." Harry said not looking up from his food.

"As much as I enjoy your company Cobra, I don't want it on Saturday. You'll just have to spend it by yourself." Draco said, hoping that the invitation to spend a day independently would make him forget about him and Rose. It didn't work.

Harry still didn't bother to meet Draco's eyes as he talked back. "No, that's quite alright. Hogsmeade is part of the whole Hogwarts experience, I wouldn't dream of not spending it with you two." Rose listened to the exchange, annoyed a bit by Harry's overprotectiveness. But she didn't dare to interrupt. She would likely be ignored if she even attempted to. So, silently she ate her food, while still listening to the boys' conversation.

"Yes, but then my dream shall turn into a nightmare if you are there."

"I'm full. See you in Potions." Harry swung his backpack onto his back and left the table. Rose didn't acknowledge his departure in any way; she just kept scanning through the Daily Prophet. She was looking for an article about either herself or Harry. There had to be one. There always was one.

Every day since school had started there had been at least one editorial on them. First it had been about the sudden change in Harry, his switch in houses, and his appearence. Then finally they had somehow managed to dig up enough dirt to write some stories about the mysterious twin sister. Who they suspected, according to Fudge, as being a Death Eater. Rose loved it. The Potter's had even had their own column for all of October, but it was discontinued when Dumbledore had intervened on behalf of Sirius. This week Rose was sadly disappointed to find no article on her or her brother.

Gloomily, Rose put the paper down before leaving the table. If she didn't hurry, she'd be late for Potions. Draco turned to speak to her about Harry, when he found her leaving the hall. Hurridly, he grabbed his bag and followed. He finally caught up with her outside the Great Hall, and halted her.

"Thanks for waiting, darling." Rose stopped, surprised at Draco's sarcasm, and waited for him before running to class. "Don't worry, we won't be late." Draco assured her as he calmly walked after her.

"Oh really? Cause my watch says we have one minute until we are, and it takes a lot more than that to get to Snape's room." Rose said to Draco, not really caring if they were late, she just preferred to be right.

"We need to talk about this weekend." Draco said, grabbing her arm, causing her to face him.

Rose looked up into his eyes and smiled mischievously. "Harry doesn't change our plans at all, why would he? I certainly don't mind his company."

"I'm not sure about you two, but I don't like threesomes, especially between sisters and brothers. I'll pass."

Rose laughed up at him, amused by his assumptions even if they weren't entirely serious. "That, is not what I meant," Rose said in between giggles. "Don't worry about Harry, I doubt he'll stay any longer than five minutes." She finished smugly.

Draco wasn't sure exactly what she meant by that, but didn't question her as the reached the potion classroom. He swung the door open and strode arrogantly to his seat, and was followed by Rose, who was busy imitating his swagger. This caused the class to snigger as they copied their ingredients from the board.

Draco oblivious to it all sat down in an empty seat next to Harry. As Rose sat down on his other side, Sanpe finally turned around from writing the rest of the instructions on the board.

"Today we'll be making the Cembre potion. Does anyone know what it is?" Snape asked the class.

Hermione's hand shot up first, but nobody else's did. "Potter." Snape barked, causing Harry to jump. "What is its purpose?" Harry knew that Snape had meant him and not Rose because he usually refered to her as Miss Potter. Whereas Harry just got Potter.

Sighing, Harry answered. "It's a flame freezing potion which allows the drinker to walk through fire." Hermione's hand sank back down as Snape nodded approvingly.

"Correct, and we will be brewing it today, so split up into pairs. You have forty minutes before I will inspect it, then you shall be testing them yourselves." Neville started shaking, while the rest of the class began pairing up. He was saved from working by himself when Hermione approached him.

Rose was working with Blaise while Harry worked with Draco. The two boys were both expert potion brewers, but this was one neither had previously made. Though Harry had tasted it before. Neither talked as they concentrated on getting the potion right. Draco chopped as Harry mixed. After about half an hour, they sat back to watch their potion simmer before bottling it.

Harry looked over to see how his twin was fairing; she was only average at potions. She continuely chopped things too fine, or stirred too much. But as long as Blaise did that, theirs should turn out drinkable.

"Time's up! We'll test them next class, write an essay on it for homework. Twenty-five inches on the history of the Cembre potions to be handed in tomorrow. Dismissed." The class grumbled as they packed up their things and headed for their next lessons.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Do you think if I set Neville on fire, we can test his potion first?" Rose asked hopefully as she walked along the dirt path to Hogsmeade with Harry and Draco. After a half an hour of trying, they finally managed to get her out of bed. So by noon they were on their way. Groups of students kept passing them going in the opposite direction, heading towards the free lunch at Hogwarts. "See, they didn't even like it! " Rose said indicating all the students running towards the castle.

Harry grabbed her arm and lowered it to her side. "Stop that. It's rude to point." Sighing, Rose obeyed. Then she opened her mouth, and took a few deep breaths in and out. Little white puffs of smoke came out and Rose grinned triumphantly.

"Look, it's finally cold enough to see your own breath," Rose said excitedly. "Soon it'll be snowing, think of all the fun we're going to have with that!" She finished, elbowing Harry who hadn't been paying the least bit of attention to her ramblings.

"Will you please make an attempt to be more mature?" Harry pleaded clearly exasperated with his twin. Draco smiled; Rose really could get on someone's nerves if she tried hard enough. Hopefully Harry would become so frustrated with her he would head back to the castle, alone.

"How about we go to the three broomsticks first?" Draco asked the other two as they reached the village. He saw that Harry looked a bit reluctant to go there, so he pressed on. "Come on, my treat. I'm freezing, and you to probably are too." Rose nodded, so Harry was forced to follow.

When the entered the pub, they saw it was packed with students. After about a five minute search, they were finally able to secure a table in the back. As Harry made a move to sit down after Rose and Draco, he felt a hand on his back. " Do you mind if I join you three, there's no where else to sit." Blaise said sweetly.

"Y-," Harry began, but was cut off by both Rose and Draco.

In unison they said, "No, sit." After Blaise had sat down after Harry, Draco went for the drinks. While Rose sat on the other side of Harry grinning smugly. Harry knew she was up to something, but what? For now, he'd just be contented to glare her.

"Oh, looks like Draco needs help with the drinks. You two stay, I'll go help him." Rose said as she slipped away. Harry now was positive she was up to something; she would never willingly help anyone unless there was something in it for her. And a drink wouldn't be enough of a motivation for her.

Harry was so busy thinking about his twin that he didn't even realize that Blaise had an arm around him, until it was too late. "So Cobra, what are you doing today? I'm not busy; we could head up to the castle while everyone else is gone. What do you think?" Blaise drawled seductively.

Harry didn't think, he couldn't what with Blaise's hand where it was. In a hoarse voice he managed, "no, I don't think so." Holding back a groan, Harry closed his eyes as Blaise's hands began to travel. "I..I need a drink." Harry rasped out.

"Here." Blaise whispered into his ear before placing a steaming cup of liquid into his hands. She let her hands slide over his suggestively. Harry couldn't even think to question where the drink came from, or what exactly was in it. All of his thoughts at that moment were centered on Blaise, or rather what her body was doing to his.

Unable to contain himself any longer, Harry grabbed Blaise's arm and practically dragged her out of the pub. Totally ignorant to the looks on the other customers' faces. For if he had, he would have seen Hermione's. Hermione had followed Padma and Parvati to the Three Broomsticks, and had just sat down when she spotted Harry and Blaise in a corner. She knew instantly what they were doing, and it shocked her. Harry had always been a gentleman, as far as she knew he hadn't had a girlfriend, or hadn't even kissed a girl yet.

Once she got over her initial shock, Harry and Blaise ran out of the pub leaving no guess as to what they were about to do. Suddenly feeling sick, Hermione left. Once outside, the cold wind hit her like a bucket of ice water. Her eyes started to water. Not wanting to be embarrassed in public, Hermione went behind the building into the alley. Leaning against the brick wall she closed her eyes. Slowly, little tears began to trickle down her face. Sniffling, Hermione ignored them and just let them dry with the wind. Then her legs gave out as she gradually sank to her knees. The ground was cold, but Hermione didn't even feel it.

"Hermione?"

A/N: REVIEW!! Should Ron get w Hermione? Morgan is not going 2 be Harry's girlfriend. I need more input on whom to pair Harry up with. Should he be a player with a couple of people before setteling down? Can he experiment with slash too? Please remember to review!