A/N: Many thanks to my beta, Seel'vor.

Also, I inadvertently stated in the last chapter that Gabrielle was a student. I'm not going to change this as it serves no real purpose.

Anyway, read, review, and enjoy.

The next morning, Harry groggily staggered into the kitchen to make breakfast

The next morning, Harry groggily staggered into the kitchen to make breakfast. It seemed that the Draught of Living Death he had taken for the second task still hadn't worn off completely, and he cursed the inventor of said potion.

He could tell by the heated, one-sided conversation in the living room that Sirius was already awake and made the mistake of waking Lily. Just like when she was alive, the portrait of Harry's mother was nota morning person. It seemed that this morning's tirade was Lily reaming Sirius for doing something stupid enough to land himself in Azkaban and leaving Rose with the Dursleys. He knew he would attract his mother's ire if he caught her attention with her in her current mood, so he snuck into the kitchen as silently as possible.

Unfortunately, he wasn't sneaky enough as Sirius noticed him out of the corner of his eye. "Harry!" he called desperately. "Help!"

"And you-" Lily growled, levelling an accusing finger at her son when she noticed him sneaking through the room.

His cover blown, Harry dashed into the kitchen like a madman and made a point of rattling the pots and pans as loudly as possible. "Sorry, Mum, don't have time. I've got to get breakfast made so I can get on with Rose's lessons. Want to give me a hand, Padfoot?"

Sirius took advantage of the distraction and followed his godson into the kitchen. "Merlin, I thought that would never end..." he whined.

Harry just snickered and finished cooking. When it was done, he and Sirius sat down and ate their breakfast in silence. It wasn't long before they finished and Lily called from the living room.

"Harry, Sirius, can you come in here for a bit?"

Harry put his and Sirius' dishes in the sink and cast a quick auto-wash charm. He dried his hands and followed Sirius into the living room. "Sure thing, Mum. What's up?"

Lily motioned for them to sit and waited for them to do so before continuing. "We wanted to talk to you about a few things," she began pensively.

Harry nodded slowly. "Okay..." Usually conversations that began with 'we need to talk,' were never pleasant, and potentially very embarrassing.

James continued where Lily left off. "We'd like to know what your plans are."

"Plans?" Harry asked.

James nodded. "You know... Voldemort, Rose-"

"Wormtail..." Sirius growled.

"Wormtail." James reiterated.

Harry sighed and rubbed the back of his neck wearily. "Where to start?"

"How about your plans for Rose?" Lily offered.

"Like what?" Harry asked reluctantly. He had gone for so long without any kind of supervision that he was loathing to answer or explain his plans to anyone.

"Everything." Lily said simply. "The rune chamber, her training. Your intentions..."

Everyone stared at Harry and he shifted uncomfortably from his seat on the couch. "Well... uh... I think her boost from the rune chamber will be similar to mine... maybe a couple of little differences. I'm just worried that the chamber might reject her."

James blew a raspberry and made a dismissive gesture. "It won't." he said simply.

Harry shook his head bemusedly. "But the Unspeakables told me that if you weren't of-age, it wouldn't work for you. It killed two of them and it only worked for me because of the prophecy."

James laughed. "That may be true, but the Unspeakables had two strikes against them. They weren't Potters, and they didn't have a Potter vouch for them.

"So, Rose should be fine?" Harry asked after thinking for a moment.

James nodded and Lily and Sirius both breathed sighs of relief.

Harry noted that James seemed eager to say something else, but a bit hesitant as well. "What, Dad?"

"You never did tell us what you got from the chamber." James nearly blurted.

Harry frowned. He'd never liked being different, but Fate had deemed that he be the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. He especially disliked telling about his time in the chamber, as it felt like he had cheated to gain his powers. "My magical core was multiplied about ten-fold, and it negated my need for a wand. I used to think it had something to do with one of my Animagus transformations, but now I'm not too sure."

James and Sirius both spoke at the same time. "'One of'?"

"Yeah," Harry said bashfully. "I have two transformations; a phoenix and a basilisk."

The portraits and Sirius were shocked silent.

Finally Sirius spoke up. "Bloody hell, Harry, you don't do anything small..."

Harry glared at him and Lily came to Sirius' rescue.

"Harry, you have to understand, while it's rare to have a magical form and unusual to have more than one form, it's unheard of to have two magical forms." she explained. "I think the chamber may have had something to do with it. When did you discover your second form?"

"After my experience in the chamber..." Harry said in realisation.

Lily smiled smugly. "There you go."

Harry was pensive for a moment. "So, you think Rose might gain a second form?" he asked.

"I wouldn't discount it." Lily said.

"Did you get anything else?" James asked eagerly.

Harry shook his head. "Not that I know of." he said. "When should we plan on getting her into the chamber anyway?"

Lily thought for a few seconds. "I'd say about a week before the third task. It'll give her time to adjust to her new powers and give her an advantage in the hedge maze."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Now, what else?"

"Your plans for Voldemort..." James said. Harry hoped that they would avoid the topic of his intentions toward Rose. As it was, he was still unsure of them himself, but he did know that he wouldn't mind spending the rest of his life with her. "We've been discussing them, and we think that Rose has to be the one to finish him off."

"Yeah, I know." said Harry. "But, she doesn't have to fight him; just kill him. That's always been my plan."

James, Lily and Sirius stared at Harry confused.

Harry sighed and began to explain his plan. "...So once I've crippled Voldemort, I'll off his snake then have Rose simply cast a cutting curse at his neck or something. Simple really."

"Oh. I thought you were planning on killing him yourself." Lily said.

"I wish I could..." Harry growled darkly. "She shouldn't have to have the burden of taking a life on her shoulders..."

James clapped his hands and said a bit too cheerfully, "Now that that's out of the way-"

Sirius interrupted James. "Speaking of Death Eaters..."

"Wormtail should be... incapacitated." Harry said with a nasty grin. "At least until someone releases him... or I die. And no, you can't kill him."

Sirius pouted and Harry looked at him reproachfully. "Freedom or revenge, Padfoot?" he asked.

Sirius muttered something about 'having his cake and eating it, too', but Harry ignored him. "I'll send someone after the Death Eaters once Voldemort is confirmed dead." he continued. "Someone I trust to not cover anything up or manipulate anything. That way we can get you proven innocent."

Sirius smiled appreciatively. "One more thing," he said, "are you going to tell me the rest of your story?"

"Not till tomorrow." Harry said with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, come on!" whined Sirius. "Please?"

"Oh, would you look at the time? I have to get to the castle to train Rose. Ta-ta!"

"You git!"

(((o)))

As Harry bustled about the dining room setting the table for dinner, he thought back to Rose's training session that morning. She had learned remarkably fast, and Harry didn't have much left to teach her beyond his extensive knowledge of spells. The rest of her training would simply be practice, and her magical maturation in the rune chamber. He had learned that afternoon that the Department of Mysteries had not yet taken the rune chamber from Potter Manor. Harry had no clue how the Ministry had managed to take the entire chamber in his dimension and thus had taken steps to make the lavish house's wards more secure.

Harry suspected that once Rose had entered the chamber, her power would come close to matching Harry's own, but he still had no clue what she would get exactly. He did have his suspicions, however.

Turning back to the task at hand, Harry finished setting the table and brought out dinner. He had cooked Shepherd's Pie for himself and Sirius and frankly couldn't wait to start eating. Dinner was relatively silent between the two of them, before James' portrait spoke up.

"It's not fair. You guys still get to eat!"

Lily smacked James' shoulder. "We don't need to eat! We're not technically alive."

"That doesn't mean I don't want to..." James whined.

Sirius made a big show of savouring his bite of pie and James whimpered at him.

Harry flicked a pea at Sirius to get his attention. "Padfoot, quit it." he chided.

Sirius made ready to throw some potatoes at Harry, but was distracted when James said, "Hey, Sirius? Remember that food fight in fourth year?"

"Oh, Merlin..." Lily grumbled, shaking her head ruefully.

Sirius laughed and put his spoon of potatoes down. "Oh god, how can I forget?" he gasped. "We ended up getting it blamed on Snivellus and he was the first target!"

Harry listened intently as they reminisced. He had never had the opportunity to listen to any stories about his parents' time at Hogwarts and truly enjoyed hearing anything he could about them. But even over Sirius and James' raucous laughter, he still heard the slight noise from the living room. Silently, he checked the wards and nearly cursed out loud when they told him that there was someone who was not keyed in the house with them. He waved his hand and conjured glowing letters that said Keep talking, man in living room.

Sirius and the portraits didn't miss a beat. "We even got Minnie in on it." Sirius said with a side-long glance in the living room. "She plastered old Slughorn with that crème pie!"

Harry gestured for Sirius to follow him. "Really? I would kill to see that."

Harry and Sirius snuck silently into the living room after Harry cast wordless disillusionment charms over the two of them. Once in the living room, Harry opened his senses to magic so he could fell as well as see the intruded. But something felt off. It was then that he realised that he couldn't feel the Fidelius charm over his house. For the second time that night, Harry nearly cursed. He had forgotten to cast the charm after the second task. Why the hell am I making all these bloody mistakes? He asked himself.

But Harry didn't have the chance to answer himself as Sirius had spotted something and immediately fired a spell at it. Harry barely had the chance to squint and make out a blurry spot before he had to dodge a spell himself. It was a stunner so Harry fired one in return, but the blur dodged to the side and Harry's spell missed. The next few seconds saw stunners fly all about the living room and Harry realised that they were getting nowhere. Both he and Sirius were disillusioned, as well as the intruder, and they were essentially firing at shadows. They were doing nothing more scoring the walls and furniture with scorch marks.

As Sirius and the intruder continued ruining Harry's living room, Harry waved his wand and cast a wide effect magic dispelling spell he had developed on his travels. There was a muffled concussive boom and a ripple of distorted air blasted outward from Harry. Everything magical in the house ceased; the clock stopped working, a few of his decorations clattered uselessly to the floor, and even portraits of his parents froze. Harry raised an eyebrow at the startled expression on the intruder's face.

The intruder was a man with a medium build and he was swathed in deep maroon robes that would have billowed impressively had he not been standing there gawking at Harry from behind his cloth mask.

Harry held up a hand to forestall Sirius from casting anymore spells. "Well, then," he began, "now that we're all here, how about you tell me what you're doing in my home?"

The man answered with a snarl and a stunner barrage that Harry effortlessly swatted away with his free hand. "All right, then. Sirius, I want him alive."

"Yes, sir!"

The three of them started firing relatively harmless spells back and forth, though the intruder focused mainly on Harry and defending himself by levitating various objects in front of Harry and Sirius' spells. Every time a vase shattered, or a chair broke, Harry winced, but he managed to keep focused. Then, without warning, the man turned toward Sirius and fired a white burst of light that Harry didn't recognise. Sirius raised a shield but the spell passed through it without slowing. "Sirius!" Harry cried.

The spell struck Sirius square in the chest and knocked him backward where he stopped, hovering and suspended in midair, evidently in some sort of stasis. The intruder used Harry's momentary distraction to disarm Harry. Harry cursed colourfully at yet another mistake and turned toward the man and glared.

"Now that I have your attention, Mr. Potter," the man began. His voice was gravelly and deep and Harry didn't recognise it. "I am going to stun you and Obliviate you."

"You're going to try." growled Harry. He made a 'come hither' gesture with his right hand a plucked his wand from the man's grip, and used his other hand to banish him against the wall. "But, you're going to fail. Now," Harry cast a quick anti-apparition ward with his reacquired wand, "you are going to tell me what you were doing here."

"There will be no answers for you tonight, Mr. Potter." The man glowered at Harry and pulled something out of his pocket. Harry made to take it from him but the man muttered, "Activate!" and vanished before Harry could reach for it.

"Damn it!" Harry screamed. He had forgotten Portkey wards. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

Harry blasted the couch to splinters and scraps of cloth before forcing himself to calm down. He cast an over powered Reparo on the ruined couch to fix it before dispelling the stasis on Sirius.

Sirius plummeted to the floor and landed with a muffled, 'Oof.' He clambered to his feet and glanced around the room in a panic. "What the hell?" he asked confusedly.

"He got away." Harry grumbled under his breath. "I forgot about Portkeys."

Sirius just stood there and scratched his head. "Well, we all make mistakes-" he began awkwardly.

"Bah!" Harry interrupted Sirius with a wave of his hand. "Help me clean up and look for clues. I want to know who these people are.

Harry and Sirius started repairing the damage to the living room and cleaning the debris. "People?" Sirius asked. "As in more than one; plural?"

"You heard me." Harry said. "A few days ago, I was headed to a Muggle supermarket to pick up some provisions when I noticed that I was being followed by a bloody powerful wizard. As soon as I could, I ducked into the store and lost him and he left soon after. The only thing I got from him was his description and the sound of his voice; a lot like tonight. These people are reckless but good at covering their tracks."

"What was he dressed in?" Sirius asked.

"Muggle clothes, like me. And he wasn't an eyesore like most magical people either."

Harry righted an end table and repaired its broken leg. He was still furious over making a simple mistake such as forgetting to put up anti-Portkey wards and even more so that he was making so many of the simple mistakes. Now that he thought about it, it had all started back when he was Horcrux hunting and forgot that he could flame through any and all wards. As much as he wanted to find out who these people were, he wanted to find out what was behind his sudden clumsiness more.

He went over to the painting of his parents and reawakened them from the dispel and was busy explaining what happened to them when Sirius said, "Harry, I think you should take a look at this..."

"Did you find something?"

"I think so, but... just come take a look."

Harry approached Sirius who was holding a triangular golden pin gingerly in his hands. He handed it to Harry who examined it carefully. An image of a pyramid with an Eye of Horus at its apex was imprinted on the gold. "What is it?" he asked.

"You don't recognise it?" Sirius asked incredulously. Harry shook his head. "It's the symbol of the Illuminatus."

Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "Sirius, you forget how I grew up."

Sirius grinned bashfully. "Right... the Muggles." he said. "The Illuminatus are a secret society that is rumoured to run the world behind the scenes."

Harry suddenly recalled Dudley reading a comic that dealt with something similar, though he couldn't remember the exact name of it. "Oh! Okay, they're rumoured to dabble in the occult and supernatural in the Muggle world." he said. Sirius nodded. "I thought they were called the Illuminati though."

Sirius laughed. "Muggles. They have no idea how close they were. The Illuminatus are a society of wizards that run the world behind the scenes. I always thought they were just a rumour though... I wonder what they want with you."

Harry just sighed. "I wish I knew."

(((o)))

After the living room was back in one piece, Harry made the mistake of telling Sirius what happened after he was hit with the stasis spell and Sirius wouldn't stop gushing about how powerful Harry was. Eventually, Harry had to transform and lock Sirius in his Animagus form to shut him up.

The next night was their scheduled meeting with Hermione and Rose. At 9pm, Harry flamed the two of them to the seventh floor corridor in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy where Hermione was waiting. She had been leaning against the wall with her Arithmancy book when Sirius and Harry appeared in a ball of flame. Hermione shrieked and fell to the ground in fright.

"Oh, lord!" she hissed, clutching her heart.

Sirius couldn't help himself and cracked up. Harry laughed too, thought not nearly as hard as Sirius. "Sorry, Hermione." Harry apologised.

Hermione waved it off, though she did look curious. Good old Hermione, Harry thought. How I've missed her. "So, are you going to let us in?" Hermione asked.

Sirius looked confused as he glanced around for a door. He even checked behind the tapestry, much to Barnabas' protest. "What? Where?"

Harry chuckled. "That's right, the Marauders never found this room." he muttered to himself. "Didn't Rose tell you how to reveal the room?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione shook her head and Harry paced back and forth thinking about a room to meet with Rose, Hermione and Sirius to have a discussion. The door appeared with the sound of stone and metal grinding and Sirius looked shocked.

"No wonder we didn't know where it was..." he breathed. "I doubt this room is on the map."

Harry opened the door. "It's not." he said simply. "Welcome to the Room of Requirement, Mr. Padfoot."

Sirius went into the room quickly, looking much like a kid in a candy store. He spotted his goddaughter standing in the middle of the room, which looked much like the lounge in a posh mansion, concentrating on something. "Rose!" he called, as he strode up to give her a hug.

"Sirius!" she called back, and she gladly accepted the hug. "You made it!"

"I wouldn't miss you for the world."

Rose looked behind Sirius after pulling away from the hug. "Harry?" she asked. Harry smiled at her and Rose pounced on him and kissed him deeply. "I missed you."

"But you saw me this morning." Harry said, his voice laced with amusement.

"I can still miss you though, can't I?" Rose asked with wide eyes.

"Of course you can." Harry said softly.

Rose's demeanour went from mushy to excited in the blink of an eye. "Harry! I did it! I did it!"

"You did what?" Harry asked.

Rose let go of Harry and backed into the middle of the room. "I can do a full transformation now!"

Hermione came fully into the room. "Really? Can I see?"

Rose nodded, eager to show off, and transformed in to a crimson phoenix with gold tipped feathers, though her feathers were more gold than crimson now. She seemed to smile at the proud look on Harry's face and the astonished ones on Hermione and Sirius'. Harry transformed into his form and joined her and they both began to sing. Sirius and Hermione looked to be in ecstasy listening to the duet.

Harry and Rose stopped singing and snuggled closer to each other, but broke apart quickly when Hermione went, "Aw, how cute!"

"Merlin, that's amazing..." Sirius gasped. Hermione nodded in agreement.

Harry and Rose transformed back and joined the other two on the couches then Harry told his story to Sirius and Hermione. He also elaborated on his feelings for Rose and their relationship.

"How couldn't I see it before?" Sirius said, smacking his fist into his palm.

"Eh?"

"The two of you being the same person." Sirius explained. Personally, Harry didn't see how anyone could put it together unless told. "It's rather cool... if creepy."

"But you're okay with it?" Harry asked tentatively. Losing Rose would be the worst thing in the world to him right now.

Sirius nodded, and then said, very seriously, "If you hurt her though..."

"I can take care of myself, Sirius." Rose said as she wrapped her arm around Harry's waist. "Besides, Harry wouldn't dream of hurting me."

Harry didn't need to be told twice. He glanced over at Hermione to gauge her reaction and found her to be lost in thought. Still, he didn't expect any less than for Hermione to ponder every possible angle before making her decision. "You don't seem disturbed by this at all."

"I'm not." she said thoughtfully. "Philosophically, you two are the same person, but technically, and I believe genetically, you are different."

Sirius and Rose both listened raptly, though for different reasons.

"Oh?" Harry asked.

Hermione straightened up and smoothed the skirt of her school uniform, entering what both Rose and Harry liked to call 'lecture mode'. It meant that they were going to get answers. "It doesn't seem right to me that there are infinite dimensions with infinite copies of the same person across reality. There has to be some difference between each copy of a person. In Harry's dimension, Rose was born a boy, but in this dimension, Harry was born a girl. In Harry's original dimension, I was most likely slightly different from myself here, since Harry is a boy and Rose is a girl." Harry nodded. "I am willing to theorise that in yet another dimension, I was born a boy and Sirius here may have been a girl. Fundamentally, we are the same people. I believe that their base genetics are different on the molecular level; enough so that they are really two different people from similar parents."

"And it gives you a chance to try out a new spell you discovered." Harry said. Rose laughed.

Hermione blushed. "Am I really that transparent?" she asked meekly.

No," Harry said, "but, I knew my Hermione well enough to know you that well. Go ahead and cast the spell."

But, Hermione being Hermione, she had to explain the spell first. "Now, what should happen is you two will glow different colours based on how closely related you two are. White would mean twins. Going down the spectrum, red would be the next step down from white, meaning a child or parent, followed by orange and so on until we get to Violet, meaning very distantly related; like the Malfoys to the Potters."

Both Harry and Rose winced at the insinuation that they were even distantly related to the ferret, but Hermione ignored them and continued. "Finally, we have grey which would mean not related at all. Now, are you ready?" They nodded and Hermione muttered a Latin phrase while pointing her wand at Rose, then a slightly different one while pointing it at Harry. Harry glowed a light shade of purple.

"See?" Hermione said smugly.

"Never doubted you for a second, 'Mione." Harry said.

Rose squealed as she realised her dream of a family with Harry could become reality. She wrapped him in a rib-cracking hug and showered him with kisses. Hermione waited patiently for Rose to finish before continuing.

"Still, it's rather amazing; you being from another dimension and all." she said.

Sirius nodded and Harry frowned. "I still don't know why I'm here, though."

Hermione frowned in thought again and Rose said, "Well, she and I can look into it. The Hogwarts library might have something on dimensional travel."

Harry thought about it then nodded before turning to Sirius. "Padfoot, can you do me a favour?"

Sirius nodded. "Anything."

"Stay with the Order and let Dumbledore know you have my trust. He already knows that I'm from an alternate dimension and is most likely looking into it himself. He might let something slip that I don't know. I need you to tell me everything he tells you."

Sirius saluted Harry.

"Cute... Anyway, I need to do one last thing before I quit monopolising your time." Harry said. "Do either of you know Occlumency?"

Sirius nodded happily.

"I've heard of it," said Hermione, "but never attempted it. Is that what you've been teaching Rose?

Harry nodded. "Amongst other things. Okay, Hermione, I'm going to cast a charm on you that will obscure the memory of this meeting. You'll only be able to talk about it with the three of us. Anyone who looks through your mind won't be able to find it."

Hermione's face looked a mixture between apprehension and excitement. Harry knew that she wanted to know what spell he was going to use.

Harry sighed knowing why she looked apprehensive as well. "It won't hurt. I promise. And I'll teach the spell to you afterward, okay?"

Hermione perked up happily and Harry cast the spell. Hermione winced and clutched her brow. "You said it wouldn't hurt!" she said accusingly. "It feels like a brain freeze..."

Harry laughed. "It'll pass. I guess my definition of painful is a bit different from yours." The pain passed and Hermione glowered at Harry. "I'm sorry." he offered. "Anyway, Hermione, if you want, you can join Rose and me for our morning training and I'll teach you that spell."

Hermione nodded excitedly and they all get up to leave.

"One more thing;" Harry said. "Be careful..."

(((o)))

When Sirius and Harry got home, Harry found an owl resting on his dining room table with a letter addressed to him from Dumbledore. The owl glowered him and hooted reproachfully as if to say, 'How dare you not be home!'

"What is it with people glaring at me tonight?" he asked no one in particular as he removed the letter from the bird's leg. The owl rewarded him by nipping a hole in his finger before it flew to wait at the window. "Git!"

Harry opened the letter and sucked his finger while he read.

Dear Mr. Potter,

It has come to my attention that you will be as important in the coming war against Voldemort as Rose will be. I would like to schedule a meeting with you to discuss your involvement with Rose at your earliest convenience. Please respond post haste.

Sincerely,

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Harry frowned at the letter as Sirius returned from the toilet. "What's that?" Sirius asked.

Harry handed Sirius the letter and inspected his finger. It had stopped bleeding. "It's Dumbledore's not-so-subtle way of telling me that he wants to meddle again."

Sirius read over the letter and frowned thoughtfully. He was silent a moment before he spoke. "I think you should meet with him." he said.

Harry blinked in shock. "What?" he blurted.

"You heard me." Sirius repeated. Harry just blinked at him in confusion and Sirius hastened to elaborate. "First of all, you said it yourself; he might have some information you can glean from him."

Harry gawked at him incredulously. "What?" he asked for the second time. "Glean? Dumbledore is-"

"Not as smart or covert as he was in your dimension."

Harry's lips pressed into a thin line with his agitation. He didn't think Sirius had it in him to be this perceptive, and he hadn't been one-upped by anyone since his sixth year at Hogwarts. "Still, I don't trust him. I may respect him, but I stopped trusting him after my fifth year."

"Harry," Sirius said with an exasperated sigh, "Dumbledore is best as an ally rather than an enemy."

Harry sighed. Sirius was right and he told his godfather as much. "When should I set up the meeting for?"

A devious smile spread across Sirius' face. One Harry recognised from the Weasley twins, just before they pulled a prank. "Well, I was thinking... how about right after you've beaten the dark tosser?"

Harry couldn't help himself and he laughed. He could imagine the look on Dumbledore's face when he and Rose entered the headmaster's office and told him that Voldemort was dead. Harry penned a quick letter, requesting to schedule the meeting the day after the third task at 9pm. He carefully reattached it to the owl's leg, being careful not to get bitten, and sent the bird on its way laughing all the while.

(((o)))

Rose shouldered her heavy pack with a very unfeminine grunt as she left the charms classroom and set off for her next class. She wasn't looking forward to it, as it was potions and since the incident in October, when Harry had told Snape off using her body, the greasy professor had used every excuse to make her life miserable. He had even tried give her a detention for doing too well on a potion and accused her of cheating.

As she walked down into the dungeon, the small hairs on the back of her neck began to tickle and she felt like she was being watched. But the few times the feeling got to her and she whirled around the check, there was nothing there. Though she did think she saw the hem of a robe disappear once or twice. By the time she reached the classroom she felt as paranoid as the fake Moody, and scurried inside as quickly as possible.

Potions, however, was no respite for her today either. They were finishing up the antidotes they had been working on all term, and with the way Snape was hovering over her shoulder, she was sure he was waiting for a moment to make good on his threat earlier during the year and poison her. The pressure got to her so much so that, instead of being a lightish blue per the instructions, her antidote was a deep blackcurrant colour and smelled of boiled mushrooms. Snape made sure to dock Gryffindor 25 points for 'wasting his valuable supplies'.

It didn't help either that she kept seeing a blurry and indistinct form in the corner of her vision. Finally, the stress getting to her, she bolted from the room as soon as the bell rang for lunch. Instead of heading to the great hall for lunch, she went to the kitchens and ate with the elves. She sincerely hoped that her day would improve from there but it wasn't to be.

When she emerged from the kitchens she was dismayed to find Draco Malfoy waiting for her on the other side of the hallway with his two goons. She sighed and rubbed her temples wearily. She knew that with the way Malfoy was smirking at her, he would be no end of irritating. "What, Malfoy?" she hissed.

"Bit tetchy there, are we?" Draco drawled.

"What do you want, Malfoy?"

With a serious expression on his face, Draco pushed off the wall and took a few steps toward Rose. "I just wanted to tell you that I think Professor Snape was wrong."

Rose nearly staggered backward in shock. "What?" Is Malfoy sympathising with me? Has the world gone loopy? She was about to say something to the effect of 'thank you', when Malfoy continued.

"I think he should have poisoned you when he had the chance." he sneered.

Good old Malfoy, thought Rose. I can always count on him to piss me off. She turned to leave and tried to block Malfoy's grating voice as he simpered on, but his last phrase broke something in her.

"The world would be better off with out yet another Mudblood bollocking things up."

Rose stopped as if she had walked into an invisible wall. She stood there, her shoulders quivering with a nearly uncontrollable rage, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides as she worked to control it. Inevitably, she lost the battle and she whirled on the Slytherins, her eyes glowing the same colour as her irises.

Crabbe and Goyle quickly went for their wands, but Rose was quicker and with a simple flick of her wand, she banished the two ogres down the corridor all the way into the entrance hall. She couldn't see if they got back up, and honestly didn't care. All of her ire was focused on the snivelling little ferret before her.

As Draco stumbled getting his wand out of his pocket, Rose twisted and flicked her wand, simultaneously disarming him and suspending him in mid-air in a spread eagle position. She evidently silenced him as well, as his mouth was working furiously and fearfully though no sound was coming out.

"You have gone too far this time, Malfoy!" Rose snarled. She wanted, needed to hurt him at this point and she ignored the small voice in the back of her mind that must have been her conscience. "I've wanted to do this for so very long."

Rose flicked her wand to the left and Malfoy's eyes momentarily widened before he was smashed bodily into the wall of the corridor with a tooth jarring crunch. He screamed silently but was still unable to move and Rose was sure she had broken his shoulder or maybe a few ribs. The niggling little voice in the back of her head got louder and more insistent, but still she ignored it as she smashed Draco into the opposite wall. She heard his other shoulder break. "Ooh, bet that hurts, doesn't it?"

She let Draco dangle, still ignoring the voice, then decided to finish it and prepared to send the Slytherin head first into the ceiling. But she was startled when someone shouted from behind her, "Potter!" and lost concentration on the spell. Draco landed in a crumpled, whimpering heap on the stone floor.

Rose turned around, ready to curse whoever had interrupted her when her conscience finally broke through her haze of rage and flooded her with guilt. She collapsed bonelessly to her knees and buried her face in her hand and began to sob. "Oh god, what have I done?"

As she stared at the floor a pair of buckled black booted entered her vision and she looked up through blurry eyes into the face of a livid Severus Snape. "Take yourself to the headmaster's office, Potter, while I deal with Mr. Malfoy." he said silkily. No insults or names. Rose knew she was in deep, deep trouble.

She picked herself up and shambled mindlessly toward Dumbledore's office, the only thought in her head being how fast she would be expelled. She had nearly killed a student while in a blind rage. Briefly she wondered if she would still have to compete in the tournament, but she dismissed that thought as another, more sinister one entered her head. Are they gonna send me to Azkaban?

Suddenly, Rose found herself at the gargoyle and realised that she didn't know that password. She began to absentmindedly list off various sweets before the statue slid to the side when she mentioned gummi-worms. Rose trudged up the stairs and knocked on the wooden door at the top. The headmaster beckoned her to enter and she did, suddenly at a loss for words.

"Ah, Miss Potter," Dumbledore began amiably, "to what do I owe this visit?"

Rose simply stood there, her eyes wide like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an on coming lorry. What was she supposed to say? "Oh, nothing really, professor. I just nearly killed Draco Malfoy in the hall." Yeah, that would go over well. She began to fiddle with the ring on her right hand, the matching one the present she gave Harry for Christmas.

Snape took that moment to storm in to the office like a great bat. "Headmaster," he seethed. "I want Potter expelled for attacking, and nearly killing a student."

Dumbledore looked from Rose to Snape and back again. "Is this true, Rose?" he asked. Despite her new feelings for the aged professor, the disappointment in his voice opened the dam of guilt again. Still at a loss for words, she continued twisting the ring on her finger. Suddenly, she could hear Harry in her mind.

Rose? he asked. Rose, what's wrong? Rose had never been so relieved to hear her love's voice. She quickly related the afternoon's events to Harry as Snape became more impatient. There was a moments silence in her head, and when Harry finally spoke, Rose could have sworn he sounded amused and concerned at the same time. Play apologetic and blame the stress from the upcoming third task. he told her.

Rose didn't need to be told twice and didn't need to fake the tears coming to her eyes. She nodded to the professors and hung her head with un-faked shame. It may have been Malfoy, but she shouldn't have lost her temper to that extent. "I guess… I was just overstressed from my day, and with the third task only a week a way and all..." She trailed off, making sure her memories of the stress of the day were at the forefront of her mind. Snape and Dumbledore were master Legilimens, after all.

She must have been successful with her half-lie, when Snape's eyes narrowed and he 'humph'ed. Still, he was nothing if not argumentative. "I do not believe her, headmaster." he said with an oily voice. Normally, Rose would have glared at the man, but for the sake of her half-act, she kept her head down and eyes on the floor.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment as he considered things. "I do." he said softly. Snape made to argue, but Dumbledore cut him off and continued. "Greater witches and wizards than ourselves have killed themselves with the stress of this tournament. It was for that reason, more so than the actual deaths during the tasks, that the tournament was disbanded."

Snape's face turned red and he seemed fit to explode before Dumbledore said. "Still, her actions do deserve punishment."

Rose was slightly shocked at how fast Snape's attitude changed. He went from livid to pleasantly smug in the blink of an eye.

"One hundred points from Gryffindor and a week's detention with Professor Snape. I also want you to apologise to Mr. Malfoy."

Rose winced but realised that in the scheme of things, she got off easy. Snape seemed to be satiated as well. "Very well," he said. "The detentions will begin the day after the third task. 8pm sharp." And with that he left the office.

Rose bid good-night to the headmaster and followed the potions professor out. As she headed up to the tower, she heard Harry again. Did it work? he asked.

Yeah... Rose replied in a small voice.

What's wrong, hun?

Rose stopped in the hallway and leaned against the wall wearily. The adrenaline was wearing off and she felt like a nap. Fortunately she had an off period after lunch. I nearly killed someone, Harry... she said weakly.

There was a lengthy pause before Harry said, Meet me in the Room of Requirement.

Rose immediately felt better, knowing that Harry was going to visit and give her a shoulder to cry on. She didn't know how she knew he wasn't going to be angry with her, but she was certain of it. So it was with a light heart that she made her way to the come-and-go-room.