In this chapter, more questions will arise!

Written quickly, so ignore any mistakes!

Thank you for reading, enjoy! :)

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After Rose's last statement, conversation had stopped and nobody seemed to know what to say. All three of the trio looked troubled by her revelation that Rose didn't know Hermione in the future, but none more so than the man that had raised her. His eyes had always betrayed how he felt and it was clear to her that he was very upset by this information, he looked utterly heartbroken. Although it wasn't a new look on him it pained her to know that her words had been the cause, even if accidentally. Her uncle was glancing between his two best friends, worry etched on his face that was much younger than how she personally knew it. Hermione didn't seem so much upset as she did contemplative, but her daddy had told her before that the older girl had never been as easy to read as he always had been.

Her Uncle Harry quickly changed the subject and started talking about how amazingly helpful she was for knowing and telling them where the horcruxes were. Eventually he got her daddy to join in on the conversation and they soon started making plans on how to get to them, with Rose only answering questions when asked. Hermione however was sitting back, quiet and seemingly deep in thought as she stared at the tent wall not paying any attention to the conversation in front of her.

She noticed that her dad kept on glancing at Hermione with a concerned look on his face, his feelings for her even then very evident, although Rose had never seen it in person. He still seemed to be rather uneasy from the previous conversation, and when his eyes traveled to Rose, she knew that he was trying to figure out what it was that she was hiding.

Rose felt bad for even opening her big mouth and knew that she had probably said too much already, even if it hadn't been close to the full extent of what she could have said. She knew that she shouldn't tell them the truth about Hermione, and she was nervous about any future questions regarding her popping up while she was here.

"How about I take you to get some more appropriate clothing on?" Hermione said softly, abruptly breaking Rose's train of thought. Apparently she was done with staring off into space and was now standing next to the table, waiting for Rose's answer.

Rose looked up at her nervously before giving her an appreciative nod as she climbed down from the top of the table. She looked back at the young men, who were now deep in conversation and not paying any attention to her. Gulping, she followed Hermione, hoping that she wouldn't start asking her any hard questions.

To her surprise and relief though, Hermione said very little as she pulled her own clothes out of a small beaded bag and magically shrunk them down so that they were smaller and closer to Rose's size. "I know that they're not the best, but unfortunately, they are our only option right now." Hermione said apologetically as she handed Rose a jumper, jeans, and a pair of socks.

Rose felt guilty then for how she had initially treated her. Even though the older version of her was the reason that Rose was currently in the mess that she was in right now, she internally knew that it wasn't really Hermione's fault for how things had turned out. She knew that her negativity towards Hermione had everything to do with her own feelings, rather than anything that Hermione had done or not done to her personally. She decided not to be icy anymore, but she wasn't going to be warm and fuzzy towards her either, things were too complicated in her mind to really split the two worlds apart and Rose couldn't help but still somewhat resent her.

"Thank you." Rose said quietly as Hermione then led her to the bathroom. She stepped inside and pulled the curtain shut, quickly changing and feeling instantly warmer, especially with the thick socks on her still-cold feet. Once done, she put her daddy's coat back on and walked out.

Hermione was waiting for her just outside of the bathroom and smiled when she came out. "Do you want anything to eat or drink?" she asked. "Unfortunately we have very limited options, but I'm sure we'll manage."

Rose shook her head. She had literally just gotten back from dinner with her Aunt Ginny before she had made the stupid mistake that she had made to travel back in time. "No, I just ate actually."

"Oh, good." Hermione said, looking slightly relieved before leading her towards a small couch where they both sat on opposite ends.

Rose was quiet, not knowing what to say. What should she even say? She was curious, like anyone would be if they were in her position, but what good would it do to get to know this person in front of her? Especially if she was going to go back to her time soon; the alternative of her being stuck there was something that she wasn't allowing herself to even think about.

"Can I ask you something?" Hermione said suddenly, as if she were nervous to ask.

"Sure." Rose said slowly, preparing herself to lie if the need arose.

"How's Ron? In the future I mean, is he happy?"

Rose thought about the question. Was he happy? Well that depended on the day, especially recently, but she didn't want to tell her that. "He says... that I make him happy." she finally responded.

Hermione smiled. "I'm sure you do. So he's a good dad then?"

"Yes. He's the best." Rose replied truthfully, nodding her head enthusiastically. "Since it's just us two, he's always treated me like I was older, you know? He's not very strict, and I can pretty much do anything as long as I give him a good enough reason for doing it. We have fun debating a lot of things, one of the main ones is the fact that he feels that we should kill any spiders that we find in the house and I feel that we should set them free but.." she trailed off, noticing the way that Hermione was staring at her with a small smile.

"Well if it helps, I agree with you on that one." She paused. "You seem rather intelligent for an eight yea-"

"Eight and a half." Rose cut in.

"For an eight and a half year old." Hermione said, her mouth turned up a bit at the corners.

Rose nodded. "Unusually so...says my family anyway."

She watched as Hermione shifted her legs underneath her on the couch before speaking again. "Your dad, well, he's probably the best person that I've ever known, even if he does upset me sometimes," she said, her hands nervously twisting in her lap.

"Is this about the locket?" Rose asked as Hermione gave her a strange look.

"I'm not sure actually. I know something happened the night that he came back, but he wont tell me anything." She sighed. "So you know?" she asked incredulously.

Rose nodded. "He tells you eventually too, but not until you-" she cut herself off and looked away.

Hermione didn't speak for several long seconds. "I'm right in assuming that there are things that you don't want to tell us aren't I?" she finally asked, but Rose could tell by her face that she already knew the answer to the question.

"There are things that I shouldn't say," she responded.

Hermione nodded. "It's okay," she said in a gentle voice. "I won't try to pry anything out of you that you aren't comfortable with sharing, but I don't think that it's going to be so easy with Ron," she told her as she looked across the tent at her dad.

Rose watched as his eyes lifted up and met Hermione's, giving her a small smile before turning his eyes to look at Rose, his face again giving her that slightly rattled look, as if he couldn't believe that she was actually there. She had noticed that every once in a while when she and Hermione had been talking he would glance over to look at her, his face still a mask of curiosity rather than the look of love that she was used to.

Her eyes watered again at the seriousness of her mistake. She needed to get back to her time, back to the daddy that she knew and loved and who knew and loved her.

"I want to- we all want to help you get back to where you belong Rose," Hermione said sincerely as Rose turned back to her.

"Thank you. I really do need to get back, I can't stay here, I don't belong," she said quietly as she wiped a tear from her eye, internally telling herself not to get emotional yet, this wasn't the time for it.

Hermione started heading back towards the table, gesturing gently with her hand for Rose to follow her. Rose complied and they both walked over and each of them took a seat in an empty chair. She was glad to no longer be sitting on top of the table and stared at like she was some artifact on display at a museum.

"No more horcrux talk." Hermione started out sternly. "We need to figure out how to get Rose back to her own time. I'm certain that future-you is terribly worried about his missing daughter right now." she said pointedly. Rose looked at her dad and he was staring at Hermione guiltily as if he hadn't thought of that until that moment.

"So tell us what you know then. How did you even get here?" Uncle Harry asked her as he leaned forward, his face concentrated on hers.

"It was a time turner...well, not only a time turner, it was also a pensieve, and I think some spells too, and Daddy also found a stone but...I'm sorry, I'm not really sure." she said dejectedly.

"Well we certainly don't have access to any of those things." Hermione said, her voice somewhat panicked.

"Wait. What was I even doing messing with time like that?" her dad asked her, his face scrunched up in confusion.

"For work." she quickly lied.

He bit his lip, thinking. "Why did you have access to something that I was supposedly working on then?" he asked. "What kind of father am I to put you in danger like that?" he said, sounding frustrated.

"It wasn't your fault!" Rose said quickly, even though that wasn't entirely true. Although her getting there had been because of her own foolish mistake, she wouldn't even be there if it weren't for his actions that had driven her to the point where she felt desperate enough to follow him. "I knew the rules but I chose not to listen. This is my fault."

Her dad let out a sigh. "Earlier you said something about a room. So this-thing that sent you back in time was in a room that you weren't allowed in right?"

Rose nodded.

"So why did you go in there then? I mean, when I found you, you said that you had been mad at me. Why would you be mad at me for working?"

Rose felt her cheeks pinken a bit. "You work too much, that's all." she responded, but knew by the way that he was looking at her that her daddy didn't believe her.

"So Ro- so your dad was trying to change something that happened in the past?" Uncle Harry asked her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and curiosity.

Rose shrugged, feeling the weight of her lies stacking up very quickly and not knowing how she would be able to maintain them all. She hoped that she would be able to get back home before she would have to deal with the consequences of her words.

She watched as her daddy's eyes traveled to Hermione, who seemed to again be deep in thought. She watched him as he stared at her, his face softening right before she saw something light up in his eyes as if he had just realized something incredible. His head snapped to Rose, his eyes frantically searching her face, his eyebrows raised in what looked like comprehension. Had he figured it out without her even saying it?

She instantly turned her head down, avoiding his gaze and staring at the hands in her lap as she heard him sigh in frustration.

"What's my job by the way?" he asked, his voice now a little bit demanding, as if ordering her to tell him the truth.

"You're an auror." she quickly replied, glad to not have to lie about that one.

He looked impressed for just a second before continuing on. "If an auror's job is to catch dark wizards, why would I be traveling to the past?" he asked, looking intently at her.

"That's classified." she answered sharply, earning a small smile from Hermione as Ron frowned.

"Anyway, it doesn't really matter why," she said defensively. "I just need to get back."

They nodded their heads, all of them looking at each other in a way that she didn't like and made her feel incredibly uneasy. She gulped and tried to keep her tears at bay, no matter how mature she was for her age she was still just a child, a child who depended on adults. Now instead of adults, she was stuck with three teenagers who obviously had no clue how to help her.

Her daddy must have sensed that she was about to lose it. "Rose. Do you want to go on a little walk outside with me?" he asked her.

She could tell from the way that he asked that taking her mind off of things wasn't the only reason he wanted to be alone with her. She could tell that he was itching to ask her more questions about the future, questions that she would refuse to answer.

She didn't respond but she shook her head no.

She saw his shoulders sag as he sat back in the chair, giving Hermione a shrug as if to tell her, 'Hey, I tried.'

She had started to notice the way that he held himself was different to the way that he held himself in the future. There was a confidence in himself that he had apparently not found yet.

She remembered the time when he had told her that he had only truly become confident the day that Hermione had told him that she loved him back, shortly after the end of the war. Although she had found the story a bit ridiculous, something in her had thought it was a little bit sweet as well. He was also a war hero when she knew him and was sure that it helped his confidence as well, even though she knew that he hated the attention that he got from it.

"I should go to the village," Her Uncle Harry cut the silence. She saw as Hermione opened her mouth to retort but her daddy cut in before she could.

"Someone does need to go, Hermione. We already were low supplies, but now-" he gestured towards her.

Hermione nodded her head. "Fine. I'll go."

"No," her dad said, looking at Hermione in that way again. "I'll go."

"I think you need to stay Ron," and Rose didn't miss how Hermione gestured to her with her eyes, letting him know that Rose was the reason that he should stay.

That whole 'speaking in front of kids while trying not to be obvious that you're talking about them' act usually highly irritated her, but she couldn't help but feel grateful. Her daddy might not know her, but she knew him and she didn't want him to leave her at all.

She also didn't want to be left alone with him, and she figured that if Hermione was the one to leave, then the other two would try and talk to her and grill her for answers and she certainly didn't want that either, Hermione was safest.

"I think Uncle Harry should go," she piped up, all eyes now on her. "He has the invisibility cloak and he's fast. It just makes sense." she shrugged.

"He's also the bloody chosen one though," her daddy told her.

"I'll be quick. It will be fine, I'm sure." her uncle said, obviously wanting the conversation to end before an argument broke out.

No one said anything else and he was quickly gone, slipping under the invisibility cloak right before he disapparated to the nearest muggle village.

"Hermione, can I talk to Rose alone?" her daddy asked once Harry had gone.

Hermione looked at Rose then, hesitant to agree. "I'm- I have laundry to do…" she said slowly.

"I want to help Hermione with the laundry!" Rose said excitedly, as if doing laundry was the most exciting thing in the world to do.

She could tell by her dad's furrowed eyebrows that he wasn't buying her act but she was happy to have a reason not to be left alone with him.

It was ironic that she was choosing to spend time with the person that she had come to resent, rather than the person that she loved the most in the world. But she knew that this was a different place, a different circumstance, and it was what was better for her at the moment.

She followed Hermione outside as Hermione levitated the dirty clothes in front of them. Conversation was light as she showed Rose how to wash their clothes using a bucket, her wand and a small amount of soap.

It was pretty boring actually and Rose found herself studying Hermione rather than the laundry. She watched the way that she moved, the way that her face looked as she patiently explained how not to use too much soap, and how not to fully dry them with the wand as it might shrink the fabric.

Rose couldn't help but feel even more like a tomboy around her, the way that Hermione moved was very feminine and Rose knew that she herself wasn't feminine at all. Not that Hermione herself was girly by any means, but she did have a soft, prim and proper way about her that she sort of envied.

Rose had always done things more like her daddy. Her table manners were just as bad as his, and she had always hated anything girly in every sense. She preferred t-shirts and jeans to dresses and frills, and was thankful that her daddy had never forced her into any of that and had always let her choose what she wanted to wear. Her Aunt Fleur had tried, on numerous occasions, to show her how to be more 'lady-like' as she called it, but Rose never would have any of it.

Her dad stayed in the tent the whole time they were out and didn't disturb them at all. By the time that they were finished, her uncle had come back with food that he had gotten from the grocery store and they all went inside to make sandwiches for lunch.