The small city of Freiberg, Germany was quiet during the evening. There were few people awake at this hour and even fewer people out on the streets. Freiberg was founded in the 12th century by Duke Konrad of Zähringen as a free market town; hence its name, which translates to "free town". What most muggles didn't know was that the Duke was a wizard, from a long line of wizards and witches, and he founded the town with a secondary, hidden purpose of being a wizard haven. Originally, the town was founded on the outskirts of the Black Forest, but over the next 800 years, the town became a city.
This was fortunate for Harry, because his long distance aparation was never the most silent of appearances, and he appeared behind a building with a loud, echoing crack. Taking a moment to get his bearings, Harry consulted the map he brought with him to confirm just where exactly he was. He was relieved to find that he was only a few hundred feet from the aparation point in Freeburg's Diagon Alley equivalent and he made his way quickly to a nearby hotel. Harry remembered the hotel from when he Ron and Hermione went horcrux hunting three years ago and Harry hoped that they hadn't changed too much. Taking a moment to cast a translation charm on himself, he made his way into the building.
"Welcome to the Marriot in Freiberg!" The desk clerk happily chirped. She was a younger girl, probably seventeen or eighteen and had medium length brown hair and brown eyes. Harry personally thought she was much too cheerful, just like the last time he had been here. "Do you have a reservation or would you like to rent a room?"
"I'll need a room for the night please," he said. Harry only needed the room for the one night and he planned on being out of Germany and back in England by dinner tomorrow. He handed over his information when prompted for it and crossed his fingers, hoping the fake I.D. would work. After all, he didn't technically exist in this world. He waited patiently while the girl ran the info.
"It looks like everything is in order Mr. Dursley." She said as the printer on her desk spat out a receipt. Harry held in his sigh of relief and took the plastic key card when it was offered to him. "Your room is number 504 on the fifth floor. Thank you and have a pleasant night."
Harry nodded his thanks and said a brief good night before heading up to his room. Ironically, it seemed that he had gotten the same room that he had stayed in before. Fate had a strange sense of humor it seemed. Harry pulled his wand from his holster and instinctually scanned the room for bugs, traps and wards but found none. With a sigh of relief, he placed his trunk on the bed and enlarged it. For what seemed like the thousandth time, Harry inventoried what he had and what he needed.
Harry pulled his invisibility cloak out and neatly folded it in the bed. Next, he pulled out his Firebolt and his battle robes. Harry looked at the robes fondly as he folded them next to his cloak. They were made of cured dragon hide; specifically that of the Horntail he had bested during his first task. The dragon had been killed by a larger female and Charley gave a piece of the hide to Remus. Remus had the armor commissioned specifically for Harry and gave it to him as a birthday present on Harry's seventeenth birthday. It was the last thing Remus had given him, before he and Tonks were killed. Harry remembered the prophetic words Remus had told him when he handed the parcel over.
"Harry," Remus started, as he guided Harry out of the Burrow for some privacy. He paused and remained silent for a good three minutes before continuing. Harry patiently waited while Remus gathered his thoughts. "Harry, I'm not going to be around forever."
Harry swallowed the lump that instantly developed in his throat. He had a feeling about what Remus was going to say, but Harry didn't want to hear it. Here, standing before him was his last connection to his parents.
Remus cleared his throat. It seemed that whatever it was that he wanted to say was as hard for him to say as it was for Harry to listen to. "I wanted you to have these," he said, handing the wrapped box to Harry. Harry took it gently, like it was made of the most fragile crystal imaginable. Remus watched as Harry stared at the box with a hesitant look on his face. "Well…open it."
Harry tore off the paper then opened the box and gasped. There, shining as if freshly polished was a full set of dragon hide battle robes. Harry looked up at Remus at a loss for anything to say. "But…I…how?"
Remus smiled at the flustered teen. "I'm glad you like them," he said as Harry pulled the dragon hide robe out of the box. He waited until he had Harry's attention before continuing. "I want you to wear them whenever you go into battle, if you have the foresight to remember. Like I said before, I won't always be around to protect you, and I can only hope that those robes will do a halfway decent job of it."
Harry set the robe back in the box and then pulled the werewolf into a crushing hug. "Thank you Remus,"
It wasn't long after that, that Remus and Tonks went down fighting.
In a way, Harry was happy that Remus was alive and well in this dimension, even though he wasn't technically his Remus. Harry took the moment to renew his vow to make sure that Rose never lost the two parental figures she had left.
Almost as if on queue, Harry felt the twinge in his mind that indicated that Rose was attempting to open the link. He prayed that she wouldn't be so stupid as to open it. He told Rose that he would be in Germany on Thursday and Friday and warned her that if she should open the link, her magic would be drained in a matter of seconds. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the twinge subside. Perhaps she just had Harry in her thoughts. Harry sent a small burst of comfort through the link before turning his thoughts to his plans for the bunker.
Harry pulled a square of parchment from his trunk that he had sketched a map of the bunker from memory on. If he recalled correctly, the entrance to the bunker was heavily charmed and warded to keep both muggles and wizards alike away. The only charm that Harry didn't have to worry about was the muggle repelling charm, but the others; the fidelius charm, the confundus charm and most importantly the concutio (terror) charm he did. Harry hadn't wished his Hermione was with him more than he did right then.
Hermione had been the one to tear down the wards on the bunker the first time. Harry seriously doubted that they would have made it in with out her. He sighed heavily and pushed the thought from his mind. He had work to do. A simple finite incantatum would dispel the confundus charm, and Harry sincerely hoped that his runic equation to counteract the concutio charm was correct or this would be the shortest sortie in history. As for the fidelius; the only reason Harry knew of the bunker in the first place was that Grindelwald, the original caster of the charm, was long dead and the fidelius had decayed so much that it was very unreliable. All he needed to do to bypass it was, wait for a moment of clarity and simply enter the bunker… If only it were that easy.
The bunker was heavily trapped, but fortunately most of them could be bypassed simply by casting a mage sight spell to see the magic itself, the casting a finite on the trap.
Moving on with the plan, Harry checked what to do once inside the bunker. He remembered that Grindelwald kept his personal army of Inferi in the bunker to guard it. Inferi were weak to fire, and couldn't stand the heat and light so a simple incendio or an incendium flagello (Flame Whip) would take care of them. The hard part would be the escape.
While he fended off the zombies, Harry would also have to bring down the aparation wards then make a mad dash for the diadem in the desk. Yet again, Harry missed his friends, if only to have someone to help him with this insane plan. Harry reviewed the plan once more and then turned in for the night. He would need a full nights sleep if he were to tackle the bunker successfully the next day.
(((o)))
Harry pulled his invisibility cloak off and stuffed it into his rucksack as he approached the entrance to the bunker. It seemed that he lucked out. The fidelius charm had fluctuated out and Harry had no trouble seeing the thick, riveted iron door imbedded into a hillside. Harry thanked his good fortune and cast a quick finite incantatum at the door to bring down the confundus charm before he approached it. Harry then began to draw the necessary runes around the door to bring down the concutio charm. The concutio charm would activate on anyone passing though the doorway and send the victim into convulsions as they reenacted their deepest, darkest most horrifying fear. That was the last thing Harry needed.
His fears had changed since his third year at Hogwarts, where he would hear his parent's death. Over the years, everything compounded on itself and Harry's greatest fear became him killing his friends and family. The last time he had encountered a dementor, Harry was nearly killed by the overwhelming depression that settled over him like a wet blanket. He was forced to relive Hermione's death, Sirius' death, Cedric's and then finally his parent's deaths. The concutio charm would force Harry to relive all of those, but a thousand times worse; it would be Harry killing them. Harry didn't want to deal with that.
Finally, sweat pouring down his brow from the concentration, Harry finished the runic equation and the two spells canceled each other out with a zap and a flash of light. Harry took a moment to rest and took a drink of water. He gathered himself and prodded at the door hesitantly. It creaked open on its rusty hinges and Harry was assaulted by a gust of warm air, rife with the stench of decay. "Just like last time…" he muttered.
He cast the mage sight spell and had to squint as his vision was assaulted with color. The spell, cast on the user's eyes, allowed a wizard or witch to literally 'see' magic. Various spells and runes would show up in differing colors based on how dangerous and powerful the magic was. The outside of the bunker glowed a bright sky blue now that the terror charm had been dispelled, telling Harry that while there was a lot of magic there, it was all essentially harmless. Harry stepped through the door and followed the path downward into the ground for a good fifty feet before coming to his first trap.
Harry remembered this trap vividly. It was the first trap Harry, Ron and Hermione had encountered on their quest for the horcruxes and the reason Hermione researched the mage sight spell. It was a dehydration spell that had been cast with a proximity charm weaved into it. Ron had triggered it and it took everything Harry and Hermione had to keep the red haired boy from shriveling into a dry husk. Shuddering with the memory, Harry dispelled the trap and cautiously went down further into the bunker. After about another fifty feet the ramp leveled out and the stench became more pronounced. If he hadn't been down here before, the moaning and screaming of the Inferi would tell him that he was almost there.
He readied an incendium flagello on the tip of his wand before charging headlong into the bunker proper. Harry stopped when he felt like he ran through an icy waterfall. His first thought was that he missed another concutio charm but then realized that the feeling was different. The terror charm didn't make the victim feel cold. Dementors did though…
Suddenly Harry felt like all the happiness was torn from the world. He was cold, so cold. He wanted to lie down and never move again. Then the memories started.
Harry held his wand limply in his hand, unsure of what to do. Ron had one of his arms around Hermione's neck and his want pressed hard against her temple. He had a wild look in his eyes. "What now, Potter?" he sneered. "Take another step closer and I spread the mudblood's brains across the street."
Hermione looked at Harry pleadingly.
"Please Ron," Harry all but begged. "I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt Hermione…"
Ron's face distorted in rage. "No!" he spat. "If I can't have her, then NO one can!" And with that, he cast the killing curse, and Hermione slumped lifelessly to the cobblestones…
Only one couple was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.
And Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place…
From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare!"
A swishing noise, and a second voice, which screeched the words; "Avada Kedavra"
A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him; the pain in his scar reached such a pitch that he retched, and the it diminished; terrified of what he was about to see, he opened his stinging eyes.
Cedric was laying spread eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead…
"No!" Lily shrieked at Voldemort. "Please! Not Harry!"
"Move aside woman!"
"Please, anybody but Harry!"
Then a whooshing sound and a green light…
Unable to control herself, she ran past a few Ministry wizards who were ordered to make sure none of the audience would interfere with the first task. When she reached Harry, Rose flung her arms around his neck and hugged him for all she was worth. "I did it! Did you see me? I got the egg and defeated the dragon!" She shrieked out loud excitedly.
Harry couldn't help but smile at the happiness that the red head was exuding as he wrapped his arms around the bubbly girl.
Neither of them noticed that the crowd was watching the two of them holding each other with abandon.
"Calm down Rose, I think they are going to call out your score." Harry said.
Rose wasn't listening to a word he was saying. She was just so happy that she had completed the first task that she kissed Harry hard and right on the lips, much to the annoyance of the girls who had their eyes on Harry when he was in the stands. When she finally broke the kiss, she blushed prettily and looked quite flustered.
Harry simply smirked. "Did you enjoy that my little flower?" Harry teased.
ROSE! Harry focused on that memory; every feeling of love that Rose elicited in him. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" He bellowed.
A huge silver stag erupted from the end of his wand and began to flay the Dementors in the room apart. The evil creatures began to screech and flee and Harry suddenly felt the warmth return to his limbs. "Keep the Dementors away!" he commanded his Patronus. The stag gave no acknowledgement but simply continued to destroy the wraiths. Harry began to cast incendio after incendio, blasting the approaching Inferi away and lighting them on fire. He did so until he had cleared a path way to the desk where he knew that the diadem had been carelessly stashed.
Harry dashed to the desk and quickly located the drawer. Ripping it open, Harry only had enough time to widen his eyes in fear as the blast of white light nearly tore his left arm from his body. Harry screamed and slumped against the far wall, clutching his ruined shoulder. He swore he could feel the bone beneath his hand as his blood gushed between his fingers. "Dammit!" he swore. "Forgot the trap on the desk…"
The entire bunker began to shake as the self-destruct kicked in. Harry pulled himself shakily to his feet and retrieved Ravenclaw's diadem from the drawer and glared at it… Stupid thing. He glanced at Prongs who was prancing between Dementors and looked like he was genuinely enjoying tormenting the dark creatures and willed him to keep going. Harry then concentrated on his hotel room and apparated away… or tried to. He forgot completely about the anti-aparation wards, and slammed into them, agitating his shoulder and collapsing to the ground in pain. The bunker gave a huge lurch and a huge chunk of concrete crashed to the floor, narrowly missing crushing his head.
Harry slumped against the concrete wall and began to laugh madly. After all he had been through, Harry Potter; the boy who lived and defeated the greatest dark lord in recorded history was going to die in a collapsing bunker. It was too bad that he wasn't a…
Harry mentally slapped himself. He did have a way out. He also had a way in, but he and his stupid Gryffindor attitude had to jump in feet first with out thinking… He completely forgot that he was a phoenix animagus and could flame through any and all wards. With a rueful sigh, Harry concentrated hard on his hotel room and vanished in a burst of blue flame.
(((o)))
Rose gritted her teeth in frustration and it took everything she had to not hex the poor boy standing nervously before her. Since she had woken up this morning it seemed there was an endless stream of boys waiting to ask her to the Yule Ball. She had started out politely, telling the boys, "No, but thank you for asking me." Eventually, the politeness began to wane, and the last boy who asked her, Zacharias Smith, received a curt and short reply. Rose had even been asked by some boys twice now! And Colin Creevey wouldn't leave her be, dropping hints such as, "If you need a date…" or "I have nothing to do that night…" She was fast tiring of it.
Rose took a deep breath and tried her best to muster a kind face. Instead, her smile showed too many teeth and the boy who was currently asking her to the ball, Anthony Goldstein of Ravenclaw, shied away nervously. "I'm, sorry, but I already have a date." She tried not to snarl but was pretty sure there was a growling undertone to her voice.
Anthony scurried away hurriedly without as much as a 'goodbye', and Rose was glad to see him go. She was fast becoming tired of the day and its endless suitors. She began to wonder what exactly happened to the Hogwarts rumor mill. Normally, the news that she had a date would have already been spread across the school and most likely into Hogsmeade. Then again, she hadn't been seen asking anyone either, so there was nothing to bas the rumor off of. Indeed, she hadn't even thought to ask Harry to take her.
Perhaps the worst of the lot had to be Ron. He had been among the first of the boys to ask her out, having ambushed her in the common room as she descended from the girl's dorms. His proposal hadn't been the smoothest, or the most appealing and Rose had to keep herself from socking the poor boy. As it was, she merely hexed his mouth from his face after he threw his arm over her shoulder and pulled her off to a corner.
"So, when are you gonna ask me to the ball?" he asked her.
Rose simply blinked in confusion. Her mind was still waking up and she was still groggy. "What?"
"You know? The Yule Ball." Ron said with a hopeful expression on his face. "I've been waiting for you to ask since McGonagall told us about it."
It took a few seconds for this to process in Rose's head. Did Ron really expect her to ask him simply because they had been friends? Almost as to confirm what she just thought, Ron piped in, "After all, I am your best friend."
The edges of Rose's vision tinged red. What that slimy, no good…She whipped her wand from her arm holster and pointed it squarely between the redhead's eyes. "You think, after how you've been treating me for the entire year, that I'd ask YOU to the Ball?" she spat.
Ron held his hands up defensively and backed further into the corner.
"You've been nothing but a huge GIT ever since my name was pulled from the goblet. Maybe if you could have gotten over your misplaced jealousy, MAYBE then I would have thought about asking you! But as it stands now, Ronald Weasley, you're no friend of mine,"
With that, Rose turned her back on the red faced boy and made for the portrait hole, but Ron grabbed her shoulder. "Wait just a second," he spluttered.
Rose whirled around, her face furious. "Shut. UP!" she shouted, and with a wave of her wand, Ron's mouth vanished. He staggered away from her in a panic and Rose stormed out the portrait hole. Everyone in the common room was silent, save the twins who were laughing their heads off.
Rose received a detention from McGonagall for using a wand against a classmate but she felt it was more than worth it. Fortunately for Rose, her display with Ron had dissuaded the other Gryffindor boys from asking her, lest she hex off something of theirs.
So far ten different boys had asked her to the Ball since she had woken this morning, and she hadn't even had breakfast yet! But she considered herself lucky that neither Cedric nor Draco were among them.
"Hello Rose."
Speak of the devil…
"Yes, Diggory?" Rose asked levelly, with her back turned to the Hufflepuff. Had any of Rose's former friends been around, they could have warned Cedric that that tone of voice coming from Rose usually meant an explosion was looming.
Cedric cleared his throat, obviously preparing to say something he had practiced. "I was thinking," (Big surprise there, Rose thought.) "Since the two of us are the Hogwarts champions perhaps we could…"
Rose didn't let him finish as she turned to face him. "No, Diggory," she said, short and to the point. Cedric looked affronted but Rose plowed on. "I already told you how I felt about you before the first task. I meant it then, and I mean it now. Leave me alone unless you want to lose something." And with that, Rose turned her back on him and headed toward the library. But for the second time that day, someone grabbed her shoulder. Rose was really becoming tired of this.
"Now wait just a second…" Cedric blurted. Twice in one day…
Rose had had enough. She spun around; slapping Cedric's arm from her shoulder and in an instant had her wand stuck under his chin. "I warned you, Diggory!" she seethed.
Cedric backed away, a stubborn expression on his face. "If you won't go with me willingly then," he said, drawing his wand. "Then I'll force you." By this time most of the students in the great hall and in the passageways had gathered to watch the confrontation.
The resulting duel was short but intense. Cedric fired some kind of silver light at Rose, but she parried it with the tip of her wand and retaliated with a stunner. Cedric was no slouch and instantly had a protego shield up, blocking the stunner, but he failed to see the petrificus totalis that clipped his left thigh. It was enough contact for the jinx to take effect and Cedric stiffened and toppled to the stone floor.
The audience was silent as Rose stalked over to the fallen Hufflepuff and glowered down at him. "I warned you…" she whispered. Cedric's eyes showed a hint of fear as Rose brandished her wand. She silently cast the charm that made a spell permanent, the same one she used on the sticking charms she used to pin Malfoy and his cronies to the wall, on the petrifying jinx binding Cedric. Then she silently transfigured his robes into a frilly yellow dress. "And you can stay that way for all I care," She added to the laughs of the crowd.
Satisfied with her work, Rose turned to leave and bumped directly into an angry Professor McGonagall. "Ms. Potter!" the teacher nearly shrieked. "Did we or did we not have a talk about using your wand against your fellow students?"
Rose suddenly found the stone floor very interesting. She mumbled something vaguely affirmative. McGonagall told one of the watching prefects to do something about Diggory and then seized one of Rose's arms and dragged her off. She dragged Rose all the way to her office and shut the door behind them. Pointing to a seat; a stiff-backed wooden chair, McGonagall took a seat behind her desk. "Well?" she asked in exasperation.
Rose put her best innocent expression on her face. She knew that she was going to be punished and hoped that she would weasel her way out of anything too severe. "What?"
"Do not 'what' me, young lady," McGonagall snapped. "You know very well what you did; twice in one day even and AFTER a talk and reprimand. Did you or did you not listen to me this morning?"
"I had a very good reason…" Rose began.
McGonagall raised her eyebrows expectantly. "What on earth could be reason enough for jinxing and embarrassing a fellow student?"
Rose proceeded to tell her teacher everything about the fight from her perspective. When she finished, McGonagall looked less severe than she had when she brought Rose into the office. "Are there any witnesses that could possibly vouch for you?" she asked.
Rose nodded. "Most of the people watching when you showed up were there from the beginning," she said. A small smile formed on her face; perhaps she wouldn't get in trouble after all.
McGonagall looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. She nodded to herself. "Very well," she began. "I will investigate this. But I am adding another four days onto your existing detention with Mr. Filch."
Rose opened her mouth to protest, but the teacher interrupted. "You're lucky I'm not bringing this to the Headmaster, Ms. Potter." At the mention of Dumbledore, Rose realized that she was indeed lucky, so she nodded her consent.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," she added weakly. McGonagall simply nodded back and dismissed her.
Rose realized that she was going to be late for potions and hurried back to her dorm to get her bag. She passed Cedric along the way, and noticed with a smirk that while someone had managed to cancel the petrifying charm, they hadn't been able to change his robes back. She snickered all the way into the dungeons.
Rose sat at her usual table and began to pull her supplies out when Hermione sat down heavily next to her. Rose paused and glanced warily at her former friend. Hermione seemed to be nervous about something and couldn't stop fidgeting. "Yes?" Rose prompted. Hermione seemed to need to say something.
"I'm sorry," Hermione blurted out. Rose blinked bemusedly. Hermione looked pleadingly at Rose and continued. "I'm so sorry for treating you the way I have been and letting our friendship go as far as it did."
Rose couldn't help herself and smiled at the bushy haired witch. "Well, it's about time," she said with a chuckle. She vaguely noticed Ron storm into the room and sit at a table with Neville. He was casting nasty glares in the girls' direction.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked.
"It looked like it was tearing you apart," Rose explained as she resumed setting her equipment up. "I was simply wondering when you'd finally crack."
Hermione smiled ruefully. "Yes, well… I missed you but…" she trailed off with an embarrassed blush.
"…You didn't know how to go about apologizing," Rose finished. Hermione nodded gratefully. "Well, I'm glad you finally did. I missed you too."
Hermione gave Rose a tight hug and began to pull her own potions equipment out. The two of them shared a companionable silence before Hermione finally asked, "So what happened with you and Cedric?"
There was the Hogwarts rumor mill she remembered oh so fondly. It had taken less than ten minutes for the tale of her confrontation with Cedric to be passed around the castle. "You heard?" Rose asked. Hermione nodded and waited for Rose to explain. "He tried to force me to go to the ball with him at wand point."
Hermione looked affronted, but Rose continued. "But I may have pulled my wand on him first…"
"That still doesn't give him an excuse!" Hermione blurted. "Wand point, honestly. So…"
"So what?"
"So who are you going with?"
"Harry," Rose said, as if that fact was common. Gravity kept you attached to the earth, the forbidden forest was forbidden, the Slytherins were gits, and she was going to the Ball with Harry. The fact that she hadn't asked Harry yet completely skipped her mind. She had yet to even ask if he wanted to go, and hoped that he would. Rose noticed Hermione's pensive look. "What?"
"He doesn't go to Hogwarts, right?" Hermione asked. Rose nodded hesitantly. "I don't know if he'll be able to attend. Remember, the ball is for students and faculty only."
A panicked expression settled on Rose's face. She hadn't thought about that. What if Harry couldn't go? Who would go with her then? She decided to ask McGonagall after potions class and hoped her recent skirmish with Cedric wouldn't put a damper on her decision. "I'll just have to find out then, won't I?" she voiced. Hermione simply nodded.
There was about five minutes before class started and Snape would burst into the class room. "So…" Rose said.
"So what?" Hermione asked nervously. She knew the question that was coming.
"Who are you going with?" Rose asked with an impish grin.
"Who says I'm going with anyone?" Hermione said meekly. Her blush told Rose everything she wanted to know but 'who'.
Rose's impish grin went up a few notches. "Well, I'm not as uninformed as you'd like to think, for one," Rose said. "And two, your blush says it all."
Hermione giggle uncharacteristically. "It's a secret," she said quietly. Rose already had a good idea as to whom Hermione was going with. Harry told her all about his ball, and figured that nothing would change here. She hoped that Krum made her happy.
With a cheeky grin, Rose couldn't help but say, "I bet he's not half as good with his broom as Harry is…"
Hermione gasped in astonishment and cuffed Rose on the arm. Neither of them noticed when Snape swooped into the room and took ten points from Gryffindor for 'disrupting the class'. But then, neither of them really cared.
(((o)))
Potions had been oddly subdued. Just like Snape had promised, they had reviewed and examined their antidotes in class but he hadn't actually poisoned anyone. Rose guessed that it had something to do with Dumbledore's new arrangement with the potions master. She was pretty sure that if it were up to him, Snape would have poisoned the students, just to spite her. Either way, Rose was relieved when class ended.
Rose and Hermione parted ways when they came to the transfiguration classroom, and Hermione promised to talk more, later that evening. With a wave goodbye, Rose knocked on McGonagall's office door.
"Enter," she heard from the other side.
Rose opened the door and stuck her head in the room. "Professor, do you have time for a couple of questions?" she asked.
McGonagall beckoned her in and Rose took a seat in the same chair that she had been reprimanded in just a few hours earlier. "Um…" Rose began hesitantly. "Firstly, about the Yule Ball. Are we allowed to have dates from outside the castle?" she asked.
The Professor smiled knowingly. She knew as much as there was about Rose's boyfriend and expected this question. There was nothing in the rules that forbade anyone from outside the school from attending the ball. Dumbledore had even encouraged it, as he was most curious about the Evans boy. "Of course," she said. "You're hoping to invite your boyfriend…Harry was it?"
Rose nodded.
"Then by all means, invite him," McGonagall said, perhaps a bit more cheerfully than necessary. "So, long as he knows the rules, then I see no problem."
It was Rose's turn to smile knowingly. Harry knew the rules, perhaps better than Rose herself did. He may have not followed them when he attended Hogwarts, but he definitely knew the rules. "I'll ask him straight away," she said. "My other question; what about me staying in Hogsmeade?"
McGonagall's lips thinned disapprovingly. Rose's request was transparent at this point. She assumed that the girl wanted to stay with her boyfriend. Little did she know just how correct she was. "Unfortunately, the Headmaster said no," She said. "He would rather have you here at the castle."
A cloud passed in front of Rose's face. Once again, the meddlesome old man had interfered with her life. She forcefully restrained the urge to scream at McGonagall and focused on her Occlumency exercises. It wasn't the old woman's fault. She took a deep breath and resolved to talk to Harry about it. She was sure that he could manage something. "Ok, well, thank you Professor."
Rose left the transfiguration classroom and headed up to Gryffindor tower to get some revising in. Harry had given her a book of advanced Auror tactics and spells and she really wanted to page through it. Reaching the tower, she retrieved the book from her trunk and plopped down in her favorite armchair and began to skim it. Rose could see where Harry got a lot of his spells from. The book was packed with shields, restraining hexes and tactics that would come in handy for any Auror.
She perused the book for most of the afternoon and into the evening before she was startled by a tapping on the window. Looking up, she saw a brown owl on the ledge with a letter tied to its leg. She recognized the bird as the one Sirius used to send letters to her. Hurrying over to the window, she let the owl in and took the letter from its leg. "Sorry, I don't have anything for you."
The bird hooted and glared at her sullenly before lighting back on the window sill. It seemed that Sirius expected a reply. Since she had met him, Rose always anticipated letters from her godfather. She was always pleased to hear what he had to say. After all, he was the closest thing she had to family, next to Harry of course. But now, she was certain that Dumbledore had Sirius in his pocket, and she was pretty sure about what the letter was going to say.
Opening it, she began to read…
Dear Rosie,
Congratulations on getting past the Horntail. Who ever put your name in that goblet shouldn't be feeling too happy about now! I was going to suggest the Conjunctivitus Curse as a dragon's eyes are its weakest point – So that's what Krum did, Rose mused. – but your way was better. I'm impressed. Don't go getting complacent now. You still have two more tasks to go.
Now to play the godfather part… What's this I hear about you dating some guy? You really need to be more careful, after all, he could be a death eater or something. Rose rolled her eyes. I'd like to get to know this bloke. Maybe we should meet. When's your next Hogsmeade weekend? I'll meet with the two of you then. Anyway, take care and don't do anything I wouldn't do. And make sure to let me know about any strange happenings, okay?
Sirius
Rose scoffed. That was rather blatant, she thought. Still, she didn't like keeping secrets from her godfather. She loved him, and looked forward to seeing him again. She added another thing to her list of requests of Harry. She needed to ask if she could reveal Harry to Hermione and now Sirius. She only hoped that he would say yes.