Chapter 2, Something's Siriusly wrong

Sunday 1st November 1981

It was 8:56 in the morning and Primrose Evans was sat in her modest-sized kitchen pondering. Lily hadn't responded yet and she was getting a bit worried. Despite the approximately 2 hour flight each way between her and Lily's houses, Lily always responded straight away.

She'd sent her last letter off with her owl, Ruby, at 20:00 the night before, knowing that Lily and James didn't go to bed until 22:30 and she'd expected a response just before she'd gone to bed after having stayed up late watching a film on TV. When at 00:30 on Sunday morning she'd not received a response she'd decided to go to bed and she was sure that there would be a response waiting for her when she woke up. Lily must have been distracted by Harry, she thought as she tossed and turned. But no, something just wasn't right, she realised when at 8:06 she registered that there still hadn't been the usual

Tap tap tap

at the window that told her that Lily had responded.

So, 50 minutes later Rose was showered, dressed and sipping her tea whilst trying to convince herself that everything was fine with Lily.

To anyone else, Rose would have seemed paranoid, but Rose knew her sister too well. She knew that Lily always responded immediately. Lily was cooped up, hidden away in a house and not able to leave - what else would there be to do? She and James looked after Harry of course, but Rose knew that whenever a letter came Lily passed Harry to James to respond right away.

Rose was fully aware of the dangerous times that the Wizarding World was in right now, and she was even more aware of the danger to her family. She knew about the prophecy (Lily had told her after a minor disagreement with Professor Dumbledore about keeping things as secret as possible to protect everyone involved. Lily argued that the sisters had never kept secrets and that Rose deserved to know as it concerned her only family - aside from Petunia, who didn't really count given their history).

So that was why Rose was so concerned.

All of a sudden there came a

Tap tap tap

and Rose's heart leapt. 'I was wrong! she thought, 'I was wrong!'

But when she opened the window, her heart froze. For there, tied to her owl, was the same letter she'd sent to Lily the night before. The same letter, untouched, uncrumpled and most certainly with no reply.

At that instant Rose knew her fears were not unfounded.

'Rose' that little voice in her head said, 'Rose you listen to me. You don't know what happened, you don't know that everything's gone wrong, you're just scared. Stop worrying. Be strong until you have proof that something's happened to them. Now's the time to be logical.'

So Rose did the next best thing to writing to Lily and James.

She wrote to Sirius.

Because of course, if something was up he'd know, he knows where they are and he can easily get there, she reasoned to herself. He can apparate and use magic, so he'll know straight away when something's wrong, and of course if he'd already found something he would have let you know immediately. He knows how important they are to you, she thought. So the fact he's not contacted you must mean they're fine! She brightened up at that thought, but still couldn't shake that odd feeling of despair that surrounded her.

She sent her letter off to Sirius, not quite sure how long it might take for it to reach him, but knowing that he'd respond as soon possible cheered her up considerably.

She glanced at the clock.

9:24

Damn! I've got to leave for work soon, I can't be late, she thought. It took her 20 minutes to walk to the café where she worked on weekends and her shift was due to start at 10:00. Oh and she had to be there 10-15 minutes before her shift started.

Rose rushed around the bungalow and hurriedly ran to work. She was in such a rush and so lost in her own thoughts, that she didn't notice the funny cloaked people crossing the road, or the owl that pooed on the woman across the street as it soared across the sky, in broad daylight, to deliver whatever message it had been entrusted with.

No, she didn't notice any of that, and had she, then perhaps she would have been more prepared for what she was about to discover.

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Rose arrived at work at 9:51 with just enough time to get ready before her shift.

Everything went normally until at around 14:10 Rose was asked to serve the 2 people who had just arrived in the petite café.

As Rose looked up, her sky blue eyes widdened as she saw that the strangers were dressed in long, draping robes. Wizarding robes she realised with a start. Right something is definitely up, she decided. I've never seen wizards in their robes in Muggle areas before, let alone in the middle of the day!

At that moment she knew that something had happened in the Wizarding World, something either so good or so bad that the wizards forgot all about the Statue of Secrey Lily had told her about. She hoped that whatever it was was good news, God knows Lily and James could do with some good in their lives after everyone they've lost in this war she thought.

"Rose" her colleague Carter brought her back to this world.

"Oh right yeah" she mumbled "I'll go see to them".

She took their orders and as she came back with their drinks she could hear snippets of their conversation.

The first man, a tall man of just under 6ft with black hair ended with "...end of the war."

And the man to his left, a short, bald man responded "Yes, although it's terribly sad about the Potters and their ..." he trailed off when he saw Rose approach them with their drinks.

Rose stopped dead in her tracks, "Excuse me sir, I apologise for interrupting, but may I ask what you were saying about the Potters?"

The 2 men shared a look.

But it didn't exactly take a skilled Legimens to understand their thoughts. Rose could read exactly what was going through their minds:

What should we tell her? Does she know them?

And:

But she's a Muggle working in a Muggle cafe! We can't tell her anything!

"Um... it's nothing my dear... just the conversation of 2 old men. Nothing to worry about at all," the tall man said, uncertainty and fear laced into his eyes.

Rose tried to relax, reassuring herself that Potter was such a common name, and of course, it could be anyone they were talking about. But no. They mentioned a war, she reminded herself, and there was no war anywhere near England. Besides, she chided herself, how could she forget, Lily had told her when James' parents had both died of dragon pox just a couple of years ago that Potter was a very rare name in the Wizarding World, and that James, and now Harry, were the last heirs to the Potter fortune and name.

Her heart dropped at this sudden realisation and her stubbornness kicked in. Something had happened to her family and she would be damned if some stupid wizards wouldn't tell her what it was.

Her resolve on the outside wasn't quite as strong though.

"T-t-they w-weren't called J-James and L-L-Lily were they?" her voice crumbled, her heart already knowing the answer.

She looked up just in time to see the eyes of the two men widden in shock that this Muggle waitress clearly knew who they had been talking about and looked visibly upset.

That one look was enough.

If Rose wasn't sure before, she certainly was now.

Something was siriusly wrong.

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Rose, come on, compose yourself, who knows, maybe they've just had an accident? she thought, desperately trying to squash this depressive, mopey side of hers.

You're in public, at work, get a grip Rose! Pull yourself together! She reprimanded herself.

Sniff

Rose sniffed and looked up at the men.

"So what's happened?" she asked them.

"Well, my dear, we're terribly sorry, but James and Lily were involved in a car accid-"

"WHAT?" Rose all but shouted, "James and Lily don't even have a car! What are you talking about?"

The men's faces paled as they glanced at each other, silently wondering how much this Muggle knew about their world, or in fact, if she even was a Muggle at all.

The tall man leant forward, "I'm sorry dear but we have to ask, have you ever heard of the word Muggle?"

"Of course," Rose huffed, "now what were you saying about James and Lily?"

"So, you know about..., about..."

"All about magic, yes, how could I not with my own sister being a witch?"

The men's faces were shocked, that much was clear to Rose, although she supposed they weren't expecting to have a conversation about magic to a Muggle in a Muggle café.

"So what happened then?" Rose asked impatiently.

"Are ... are you saying that Lily Potter was your sister?" the bald man asked, a look of sadness crossing his eyes.

"Ye- wait WAS my sister. No, no, no you've got to be mistaken, Lily is my sister, she sent me an owl last night, of course she's alive, and well, and with her son and husband. No there's got to be some sort of mix up, she can't be... she can't be... she can't..." her voice broke as tears streamed down her face.

She looked up at the men, as if daring them to tell her she was wrong, that they'd got the wrong person, that this was some sick joke, anything but the truth.

The look of pity softened their eyes and at that moment Rose knew.

Her sister was dead.

There was no denying it, the men's faces said it all.

Lily was dead and all the magic in the world could not reverse her tragic fate.

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Authors Note: Thank you so much to everyone that followed, favourited and reviewed! I can't believe anyone's even read this!

To my reviewers:

E-dett - Thank you.

bluepillfanfic - Thank you! I can't wait to share more! I've got lots of ideas, I just need the time to write them all down!

EmeraldGuardian7 - Thank you for your comments and feedback, they were very useful! How's this for length? I feel like it comes to a natural break here and I think each chapter length will vary slightly but once I get into a routine they should hopefully be much longer than chapter 1.

Constance Fisher - Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it!