The van taxi pulled up to an enormous Victorian mansion that was bigger than any house Harry or Draco had ever seen. It was at least four floors and had a huge crescent driveway looping through a small part of the massive lawn. The front yard had a large fountain in the middle of a well kept flower garden, and various statues were set in no particular order. The yard looked more like a park, with stone benches and gravel paths. It was spectacular.

The house almost overshadowed the lawn, it was so impressive. It was a large yellow house with white trim, and it had huge French windows everywhere. There were turrets and bay windows as well, and the entire house had light green ivy snaking up parts of it.

"Come on, Harry. You can stare at my house later," Rose said, pointedly ignoring Draco's presence.

Draco was about to say something, but became distracted as he was walking to the door. He was walking through huge white pillars to get to the gigantic hand carved door. He wondered vaguely how they had gotten the money to afford something so grand. This house was almost as grand as Hogwarts, and there were many like it around, but none of them were as huge as this. In fact, this house stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the other little Victorian houses.

As they were led inside, they saw a welcome room with a gigantic chandelier that was at least as big as one of the pumpkins Hagrid had grown one year at Halloween. There were lots of tables lining the walls along with a round table with a bouquet of flowers on it in the middle.

"Harmony, we ought to put their luggage in the elevator and we can go up with it, they can use the stairs," Owen said.

"That sounds like a good idea. Rose, you can lead them to their rooms. Why don't we give Harry the Savannah Room and Draco the Jungle Room. Give them a small tour too, so they get to know the house a bit. We'll leave their luggage in their rooms and be in the parlor if you need us," Mrs. Potter said.

"Okay, Mum. Let's go," Rose said, not looking at Draco.

Rose led them to a set of stairs with a red carpet going up the middle; when they got to the top of those, the stairs split into three different directions: one leading to the left, one leading to the right, and one leading straight. Rose stopped in the middle.

"The one to the left leads to my parent's wing. The one to the right leads to the guest wing. And, the one leading straight leads to my wing," Rose said, pointing to each. "I'm going to show you my wing first, then your wing. There's nothing really in my parents."

Rose walked up the steps, with the two boys following behind her. She went up to the first door in the long hallway and opened it, a sound like running water played in their ears.

"This is my relaxation room," Rose said leading them into it. "It can turn into any relaxing landscape that I need. Right now, it's a stream in the country."

"But it must use magic, right?" Harry asked, since Draco wasn't talking to Rose.

"Well, yes it does, but before I knew about magic I had always thought that it was virtual."

"Virtual? Like computer games?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, but in truth, nothing but magic could do something like this." As she said that, a waterfall erupted out of the wall and the room turned into a rainforest with real trees and plants. "There's never anything dangerous, because dangerous things aren't relaxing, but sometimes it does produce real animals too. Well, let's move on to the next room."

They walked out, and moved over to the next door. Rose walked in.

"This is my study room. I always like to write in here, because it's so quiet and it's easy to concentrate. There's not much else to it, so let's go."

She led them into the room next door.

"This is where I keep all of my instruments for my band. There's a recording studio right there," Rose said pointing to a door and a window that looked like a mirror. "I can play them all, but I prefer the acoustic/electric guitar. Olivia plays the bass, Carolyn plays the keyboard, Gabrielle plays the drums, and Matt plays the lead electric guitar. I'm the lead singer, and we all write our songs together."

"What is your band called?" Harry asked.

"Well…umm…we don't really have a name yet. The only gigs we play so far are like, weddings and birthday parties and stuff. We'll get out of that someday though. Someday people will be paying to see us in concert. Enough about that, let's go, there's only a couple of rooms left."

Rose led them to a door, and she made a motion as if to quiet them. She opened the door a bit and peeked in. Apparently, whatever she was checking on was ok, so she brought them inside.

As soon as they were inside, she shut the door and gave a sharp whistle. All of a sudden, animal noises were coming from everywhere, and dogs, cats, ferrets and birds were coming straight towards them. They all went directly for Rose, and crawled all over her, pulling her down to pet them.

Draco watched all this with amazement. Rose was laughing, and it was the most wonderful sound he had ever heard. It was so filled with joy and love for those animals that one couldn't help but like them too. Wait, what was he thinking?! He didn't like Rose, and he didn't like anything that she liked either. But, still, he picked up a little yellow puppy that had been trying to get his attention.

Harry was pulled down into a group of kittens, and was reminded of when Mrs. Figg had her cats. He had to be careful not to step on any of them, because they were so small. He wondered where she got all of these animals, and how she got them to all get along. He watched Rose with all of her animals, and couldn't help but smile.

Rose looked up from her pets to see both Draco and Harry watching her.

"What?" she asked, wondering what the big deal was.

"Where did you get all these? How do you get them to all get along like that?" Harry questioned.

"Oh, well…," she blushed, "I don't have that many friends, really, and well, I went to the shelter one day and saw these poor things about to be euthanized, because they hadn't been adopted for such a long time," she said pointing to a clump of older looking dogs and cats. "And, well, I guess I understood them, and I adopted them and brought them here. My parents let me keep them, because I got so lonely when Olivia left for school. But then, I started to work at the shelter, and whenever an animal was going to be put down, I'd adopt it. That's how I got most of them, but some of them I got from the pet store. There's only one that doesn't live in here with the rest; she lives in my room. There's some more pets that I have to keep in tanks in the back: geckos, snakes, frogs, lizards, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, and some gerbils. They are too small and fragile to let them play with the other animals. I never figured out why they all get along the way they do, but none of them ever get into fights, and they never try to hurt each other. We'll have to feed them in a minute, but that can wait until later. My room is the only one left. You can bring the animals that you've got in your arms, but the rest have to stay here. Let's go."

They left the room, Draco holding the puppy and Harry carrying a kitten. Rose brought them to the last room and opened the door. Her walls each had a different colored rose on them. On one wall, there was a pink rose, on another, a yellow, on a third, a black, and on a fourth, a white. It took them a second to realize that the roses weren't just that. There were thousands of pictures, drawings, and magazine clippings making up each rose, and the backround was comprised of various other pictures of almost everything you could imagine. But this amazing display wasn't the only evidence in the room that Rose loved her name. When they looked up at the ceiling, they saw a gigantic blood red rose painted all by itself. This was obviously painted by a very good artist.

"Who painted that?" Harry asked, prompted by a look from Draco.

Rose blushed brilliantly and stuttered, "Well…I…I…I painted that…in my spare time…I know that it's not very good, but I was bored, and I…"

"Are you kidding?! That is a great painting! It's gorgeous! How did you do it? Did you have to paint it from a ladder?" Harry questioned, amazed.

"Well, actually, I painted it laying on my back. I set up four ladders and put a sturdy piece of wood on it and just started painting. It was going to be small at first, but I guess I got carried away," Rose replied, still blushing.

Draco looked around. On one side of the room, there was a large canopy bed with curtains around it, rather similar to those at Hogwarts, except for one thing. There was something large laying across it. Draco nudged Harry, silently telling him to ask what it was.

"Uh…Rose? What is that thing on your bed?" queried Harry.

"Oh, you mean Aspasia? That's my special girl. She's a greyhound. She is my newest pet. Last week, we went to the greyhound races, and Aspasia was being raced that day. They started the race, and Aspasia was in the lead, but apparently someone didn't want her to win, so they threw a glass bottle straight at her head. But it didn't hit her. Instead, it turned around and exploded at the feet of the person who had thrown it. Mum and Dad brought me home right away, knowing that I had used magic. However, they didn't know that the dog had escaped in all the mayhem, and that she was following me. So, when we got in the car, I noticed her following us and secretly let her into the back seat. We drove home, and when they went in the house, I brought her up to my room. I haven't told them yet, because they would want to bring her back. So you've got to promise me you won't tell. Both of you," she said desperately, looking them both in the eyes.

"Of course we won't," Harry said. "You can trust us. But, I do think you should tell your parents soon."

"I can't! They wouldn't understand. She has been through so much, and they would want to bring her back to that awful place!"

"How do you know if you don't ask?"

"I…well…I…fine, maybe I'll tell them, but now I have to show you to your rooms."

Draco and Harry followed her through a hallway that isn't visible from the downstairs to another wing of the house. Rose walked along until she got to the first door.

"Harry, would you be so kind as to tell Draco that this is his room?" Rose asked.

"Uh…sure. Draco, this is your room." They all walked in to find a room decorated to look exactly like a jungle. There was a big bed, a desk, and lots of places to put clothes and other belongings. His trunk was already there. There was a door on the right side of the room, and Rose was already walking towards it.

They followed, and she said, "This is the bathroom. There's a shower, a hot tub, and a sauna. Everything you need is already in here. The bathroom connects your two rooms."

She walked through the door and led them through an identical bathroom into a room with the savannah theme. There were even patches of dune grass in places on the ground.

"Thanks, Rose. This is great," Harry said.

"You're welcome. The other rooms are set up exactly like my wing, except there is no pet room, and there are four other bedrooms. Feel free to look around. I'm going to leave you to get unpacked; I have to go feed the pets, so if you need me, I'll be in the pet room. I'll come back and get you for dinner."

"Okay. We'll see you in a bit."

Rose went back to her rooms taking the puppy and kitten from them, and Harry turned to Draco.

"What are you doing?! Why aren't you talking to Rose? You're being a complete prat. You're not going to win her over by being a jerk," Harry said, sounding a little peeved.

"Well she started it!" Draco whined, sounding immature.

"You're the one who started it and either way, you should go and apologize immediately. You are a guest in her house, so you could at least be civil to her," Harry shot back in a commanding tone.

"Fine, but it's only because I think that we should be civil if we're going to tutor her."

"Okay, whatever you say," Harry replied, sounding amused now.

Draco stalked off toward Rose's wing. When he approached her pet room's door, he heard a voice singing from inside. He quietly slipped inside, and there was Rose. She had headphones on and was singing along with the music. She was in the middle of a song.

I cried out heaven save me, but I'm down to one last breath. And will they let me stay, let me stay.

I'm holding on. I'm six feet from the edge. And I'm thinking, maybe six feet is so far down. I'm holding on. I'm six feet from the edge. And I'm thinking, maybe six feet is so far down. I'm so far down.

Said I follow me, but I still believe there's something left for me. So please come and stay with me, cause I still believe there's something left for you and me for you and me for you and me.

Holding on I'm six feet from the edge and I'm thinking, I'm holding on. I'm six feet from the edge. And I'm thinking, maybe six feet is so far down. I'm holding on. I'm six feet from the edge. And I'm thinking, maybe six feet is so far down.

Her voice was beautiful. It was better than anything Draco had ever heard. He immediately forgot their argument and came up behind her. He tapped her on the shoulder. She almost dropped the bag of dog food she was holding.

"What are you doing here?" she asked icily, still mad about their fight.

"I…well…I came to apologize. I'm sorry," he said, sounding slightly abashed.

Rose was taken by surprise. She felt ashamed at how she'd snapped at him now. She didn't really want to be alienated from Draco. She liked him a lot.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that either."

"You know," Draco said hesitantly, "You have a beautiful voice. What were you singing?"

Rose blushed much more than when Harry had commented on her rose and said, "I…uh…thank you…I…I was singing One Last Breath by Creed. It's my favorite song."

"I…don't really know any muggle bands…" Draco said uncomfortably.

"Um…would…you like to…help? Feed the animals I mean," Rose asked hesitantly.

"Yeah! I mean…sure," he replied, almost too eagerly.

"Okay, you can get started on the dog food," she said, thrusting the bag into his hands, "and I'll get started on the cat food. Then, we have to feed the reptiles, small mammals, and the birds. We can feed Aspasia last."

"Okay, I'll---Ouch!" Draco shouted, grabbing his hand in pain.

"Oh no, are you ok?! I'm so sorry! I forgot to warn you, I have hedgehogs, and well, they like to sleep on the cat tower that you were setting your hand on."

"It's ok, but…do you have anything for this?" Draco asked, holding out his hand. There were some jagged nasty looking cuts on his palm.

"Oh, that doesn't look so good. Come on." After they had both set down their bags, Rose led him back to her room and through a door he hadn't seen, because it had been covered in pictures that were making up the stem of a white rose. He walked into a bathroom unlike any he had ever seen before. It was at least three times bigger than both of the enormous guest bathrooms out together. It had all the same things and more, and everything was in a rose theme. The walls were covered in a real looking wall paper depicting a rose garden with a bunch of trellises and roses of all colors; there were vases full of blood red roses and baby's breath on every free space and the ceiling had strings of roses hanging from the chandelier and looping over to the walls, all of them delicately woven together to form a shape that also looked like a rose. There were a lot of rose decorations, yet it didn't seem to be too much.

"You like your name a lot I guess," Draco said bemused.

Rose answered without blushing, "I love roses, and my parents let me do my own decorations. My favorite are the blood red ones, as you might be able to tell. I find the deep color fascinating.

"Here we are. Give me your hand," she demanded, gently putting it under the running water.

Draco admired her as she examined his cut. She was very deft at wrapping the bandage as well. He asked wonderingly, "Why do I still feel my cut?"

"Well, of course you still feel your cut. It's not as if it's just going to magically stop hurting…" she stopped and hit herself one the head.

"Of course! How could I forget?! You probably have magical bandages or a potion or some sort of spell to take the pain away, right? Well, the best I have is an aspirin," she scolded herself, but handed Draco a small red pill.

"What's this?" he asked warily. It didn't look safe to him. How could something like that help him? But he took it in his hand and looked it over.

"It's an aspirin. You're supposed to swallow it."

He put it in his mouth and swallowed it quickly. It didn't taste like anything, and he didn't die within seconds, so he assumed that they weren't poisonous.

"Come on, we've got to go finish feeding the animals," Rose said.

They finished feeding the animals with Draco being careful not to put his hand down on anything again, and they fed Aspasia before going to get Harry for dinner. The three of them then headed down for supper.