Hello again, dear readers!

Please understand that I am very sorry for not having posted since (pretty much) eternity... I know, I know... I'm a terrible human being... But I had a lot to do and exams and stuff! I can't garantee that this will never happen again though so... I'm really sorry ^^

However, I can hope that you enjoy this new chapter ^^

I don't know how good it is but I can tell you that this character came into my mind way before this fanfiction ever did so she kind holds a special place in my heart ^^ Also, she wasn't supposed to be my third chapter but a lot of things happen (inside my head) that lead to this so now I'm not really sure about anything anymore... Well, you don't need to know that anyways!

This being said, have fun and enjoy the read ^^

PS: If I don't post the next chapter soon enough, I might instead tried to publish some kind of Bonus Chapters to explain better the Magical and the muggle worlds at this point (hopefully I'll stuck to this).

ROSE

PART 1— The Departement of Mysteries

The Department of Mysteries. Probably the most depressing place on earth after Azkaban, thought Rose. She had been working there for five good years, and for five good years she had hated that place. Yet, there was nowhere else she could go. Nowhere else she could be safe. She was a freak after all, and what better place for a freak than the Department of-freak-studies, as she liked to call it. Most of her fellow workers agreed with her on that point. Ferdinant particularly. The fool thought that laughing at every word she said was an effective seducing technique. He was wrong. Her past seemed to indicate that she was only attracted to evil plotters unable to feel love. Ferdinant was not her type.

As she walked like a shadow between the great rows of prophecies, her black robes swirling behind her, the sound of footsteps made her twirl on her feet. She raised her wand to better see in the darkness. The light was dim, but her trained eyes managed to distinguish the silhouette of another hooded figure, coming towards her in large steps.

'Balcrod.' she said.

Under his large hood, the man smirked. 'Hello, beautiful.'

Rose repressed a snort. Everything in him disgusted her. 'Well?'

'My turn to watch,' he said in his deep voice. 'Unless you want to keep me company.'

'I'll pass, thanks.' she replied coldly. Without giving him another look, she walked away, his snickering laugh following her all the way to the end of the corridor.

When finally she passed the door, she allowed herself to release a long sigh of profound fatigue and exasperation. Was she destined to endure this life until the end of time? A familiar wave of darkness started crawling up her stomach, drowning with its ascension all the memories of happy feelings she once had as the darkest of ideas started to form at the back of her mind. But Rose was determined not to succumb to despair. With a sudden burning will-strength, she stood straighter, and inhaled deeply, trying to fill her lungs with as much air and courage as possible.

She continued her walk, navigating in the maze of corridors that was the Department of Mysteries with ease, driven by habits and experience. Unconsciously, she took out her wand from her pocket and started playing with it between her fingers, finding comfort in the familiar warmth of the wood in her hand.

At this point, like often, her mind was already far, traveling to the darkest pits of her consciousness and memories, trying to hold on to something clear and steady. Unfortunately, the holds were scarce and fragile in those dark lands, and Rose would often find herself surprised by how fast time flew by, before realizing she had only been daydreaming.

A sudden crack brought her back to reality. Alert, she stopped and waited. Soon enough the sound of footsteps echoing on the walls made its way to her attentive ears. Intrigued and confused, Rose stuck to the nearest wall, just across the crossroad, and waited for whoever the intruder was to walk past her.

Her heart was pounding like mad when she saw the silhouette of a man appearing from behind the stones. As quick as lighting she threw a bounding spell and watched with satisfaction as the man fell with a cry, desperately trying to soften the grip of the magical rope tightening around him.

'Let me go!' he yelled. 'Get that off me!'

Rose brought her hood up to hide her face before speaking. 'Who are you?'

The man was too busy trying to free himself to answer. Rose sighed and cast a spell to silence him. As soon as he realized no sound was coming out of his mouth, the man stopped wriggling. 'Are you listening now?' she asked. The man nodded, his eyes wide open. 'Good,' said Rose. 'Now I am going to repeat my question, and you will answer it without any tricks. Alright?' Once more, the man agreed. Satisfied, Rose said as softly as possible: 'Who are you?'

A few seconds after she released her prisoner from the silencing spell, he answered in a melodious voice: 'Silvius Narus.'

Rose scowled: the name was not familiar. "What are you doing here?"

The man took a few seconds to answer, but when he did, his voice was steady and his eyes confident. "I am here to talk to your Head of Department."

"He is not here." Answered Rose in a cutting tone.

"Then I shall go." Said the man as his confidence changed to self-importance.

Rose let out a sigh: she really did not want to handle this stranger for the rest of the day but her job was her job and the stranger an intruder. She could not let him go that easily. "You stay here." She said finally.

"I do not." He responded with force. "You seem to not know who I am."

"Silvius Narus."

"Sil— wait… Yes. Yes, that's my name!" he blustered, taken aback for a moment. "Do you understand who you're talking to now?"

"Silvius Narus."

The man seemed particularly irritated when he spoke next. "Yes! That is my name. But what you apparently do not know is that I am the first secretary of the Head of External Affairs Department and the minister's friend! Now release me from these ropes!"

Rose stared at him for a moment. His face was familiar, yet she was convinced to have never seen him before. But these almond eyes, the proud nose, those full lips so soft and red, and above all, the hair… An ancient memory seemed to be desperately trying to make its way to the forefront of her mind but for some reason, she could not remember.

She came back to her senses when Silvius repeated his question with annoyance. Rose looked at him, said "no", and used a spell to knock him out. She then proceeded to have him levitate behind her as she walked her way to the Department's reunion room where most of her colleagues would probably be by now.

When she entered the room, all stares turned to her and a few smiles appeared amidst the crowd. She took her time to watch the room: twelve people where there, only three missing. Her eyes met those of her only female colleague. Irene Catspeas' eyes were tired and deprived of emotion. Rose sighed as she remembered that this woman was her only friend.

"Natasha!" exclaimed a little man facing her. "What did you bring to us today?"

Rose, once again, sighed as Ferdinant's high pitched voice made its way to her ears. She would have ignored him but she had come here to bring the answer anyways. "This man apparated inside the Department. I don't know how he did it but he said he wanted to see Zabini."

"Who's he?" asked someone.

"He said his name was Silvius Narus. Main secretary for the Head of the External Affairs Department."

"Never heard of him."

"Me neither." Answered Rose. 'That's why I brought him here."

'Fair enough.' Said Ferdinant. 'He probably came for your beautiful eyes anyways.'

Rose ignored him. 'I think we should put him through questioning.' She said.

'I'll help.' Said Ferdinant, nearly jumping on his seat.

Rose ignored him again. 'Irene?'

The woman looked at him for a few seconds before answering with a sigh. 'Impossible, I'm sorry. I'm supposed to meet that crazy "scientist" in an hour. He has experiences for us.'

Rose tried to hide her disappointment with a simple nod as her eyes roamed the table questioningly. As no one answered expected Ferdinant who, for some reason, still had one arm raised, she asked if anyone was ready to help. Everyone was too busy apparently. Ferdinant let out a joyful exclamation. She ignored him and left the room, his footsteps echoing behind her.

'Who are you?'

Silvius sighed. "I told you that.'

'Who are you really?'

'I told you that, too.'

'What do you want?'

'Look—'

'What do you really want?'

'To be honest, this is getting ridiculous…'

'Ferdinant, for Merlin's sake, step aside.' Grunted Rose. Obediently, the man did as was bid of him. Calmly sitting opposite her prisoner, Rose spoke. 'How did you apparate in here.' She asked.

'I didn't.' answered the man.

'I heard you.'

'You heard wrong?'

'I didn't.'

'Then one of us is lying.'

Rose smiled at that. Silvius had just given her an idea. 'You're right.' She said. 'Let us see if that is you. Ferdinant, bring us some Veritaserum.'

Ferdinant nearly ran out the door whilst Silvius vainly tried to put on a composed face. 'This potion has been considered illegal and banned by the Ministry years ago.' He said, frowning. 'Only a handful of these are left in the country and they are all well-guarded by the Aurors.'

'You are in the Department of Mysteries, Mr. Narus. You should have known what you would be facing before trying to break in.' answered Rose.

Silvius kept his thoughts for himself whilst his eyes, defiant at first, slowly started roaming around the room, studying its every corners as they both waited silently for Ferdinant's return.

'Are you looking for a way out?' asked Rose, breaking the silence.

Silvius looked at her with surprise in his eyes. Rose herself had not expected the words to flow out of her mouth. She was usually the kind of person who enjoyed silence better than talk. Particularly with strangers. Or at least, she had grown to be that kind of person, for once upon a life… No, she would not think of her old life now! She had to stay focused.

'I am neither stupid nor desperate.' Answered Silvius with pride.

'Well, it was stupid of you to apparate here without permission.' Said Rose.

Silvius did not respond. Instead, he smiled. Rose felt herself blush, not knowing why. Could it be that his smile brought back memories that she thought she had gotten rid of many years ago? Terrible memories they were… And yet, her heart started beating faster.

To her greatest relief, Ferdinant entered the room at that very moment, bringing her back to reality.

'There it is!' He said, raising higher the small flask he was holding.

Rose nodded and stepped aside as Ferdinant approached Silvius. The prisoner's eyes were wide open though and kept going back to the door. 'Wait!' he exclaimed just before Ferdinant had time to put the liquid in his mouth. 'This is illegal!'

Ferdinant smiled. 'Without any one around, everything is legal…' And he proceeded on introducing the potion into Silvius' mouth whilst Rose held her breath, a terrible feeling making her heart beat faster.

But just as the first drop appeared at the tip of the flask, the door went flying wide open. 'Stop that now!' yelled a woman, casting a spell to send the Veritaserum jumping out of Ferdinant's hand to break against a wall on the opposite side of the room.

Rose's first reflex was to put on her hood so as to hide her face whilst with her other hand, she silently casted a protective spell around herself.

The woman looked at her before going back to Ferdinant. 'Step back, by order of the Ministry.' As she said those words, she took out a small piece of paper and send it slowly flying to Ferdinant with the help of a spell.

Ferdinant took it, read it, and after having checked with his wand the authenticity of the document, turned to Rose. The woman only nodded, trusting her comrade. Throwing a disgusted stare to Silvius, Ferdinant freed him from the ropes that maintained him and helped him up. Smiling, the prisoner joined his friend in proud steps. However, just as he was about to leave the room, Rose pointed her wand and thought 'Oblivious!' Silvius fell with a thud, knocking his head hard on the floor.

'What have you done?' exclaimed the woman at the door.

'He shall not remember what happened today in this Department.' Answered Rose simply.

The woman stared at her with doubtful eyes, but said nothing. Slowly, she left the room, Silvius levitating behind her. As she left, Rose felt a growing feeling of worry take hold of her. Since when did the Minister interfere with the Department of Mysteries' affairs?

Something was off. Something was definitely off. And Silvius Narus was the problem.

Aaaand there you go!

Hope you enjoyed ^^

Don't have anything more to say

soooooo

Bye Bye ^^