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"What?" Sirius stared at Rose with disbelief.

"I said that it is enough. I appreciate your help, but I can manage by myself. I can't let you all decide what is best for me or what is not."

Sirius looked as if he had been struck by lightning. Dumbledore looked at the girl with unreadable expression on his face.

"Are you kidding? You are young and naïve, you have no idea what these people are capable of," stated Sirius when he regained his composure. "We took part in the first war, when you were couple years old. We saw our friends being tortured and murdered. Death Eaters show no compassion nor mercy. If they are after you, they will do everything in their power to force you to cooperate." He looked at her with stern eyes. "And if you refuse to aid them, they will kill you, but not right away. You heard about my sweet cousin, Bellatrix?"

Rose shuddered unwillingly. She heard about Death Eaters who had escaped this summer from Azkaban. Lestrange, Dolohov, Avery, they were all cold-blooded murderers. Bellatrix was the worst of them. She, alongside her husband Rodolphus and his brother Rabastan tortured Alice and Frank Longbottom to insanity.

Moreover, the son of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemius Crouch Jr., also took part in that crime and had escaped from Azkaban long before Voldemort's revival. He killed his own father in the last year's time and helped his master in abducting Harry Potter. The boy survived, but Voldemort had returned and begun gathering an army of Death Eaters, dementors and other dark creatures. Crouch had been caught by Dumbledore but managed to flee. Of course, Voldemort wouldn't let his most faithful servant be imprisoned in Azkaban for a second time...

Rose had no idea how Crouch had done this, giving that one couldn't apparate at Hogwarts, but she suspected that he must have used some dirty trick to escape from his guards. Dark magic, for sure.

"I am a member of the Order after all. It'll be fine..."

"You're too young!" said Sirius.

"Oh yeah? That wasn't the thing you said to Harry when he wanted to fight and he's far younger than I am!" Rose replied angrily.

He wasn't her father and shouldn't tell her what to do. Sirius opened his mouth as if to argue but seemed to think better of it and fell silent. He gave Rose a disappointed look but said nothing more. She felt a pang of guilt and regretted her decision for a minute.

He just wants to have a companion here. But I can't give up. I like him, but I can't let him keep me here like some kind of prisoner.

"Thank you for worrying but really, I'll be fine," the girl said, trying not to look at Sirius who still appeared wounded. "Besides, there's a possibility that Death Eaters won't even think of looking after me. I'm not that important."

Sirius snarled at her words with irritation but she ignored him. Dumbledore shook his head and spoke,

"Do not underestimate yourself, Miss Clifton. Every man has great importance to the world and soon you will see that sometimes those who consider themselves small, later turn out to be essential to the cause."

He looked at her from over his spectacles and she had this odd feeling of being stripped from all of her barriers, it was as if her soul was exposed to him entirely. Rose shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

The headmaster continued,

"I am ready to agree with you, but I'll personally put every protecting charm that I know on your flat and take every action to ensure your safety."

"Thank you, professor," Rose smiled at him genuinely.

She felt great relief, he understood her need to prove herself useful and self-sustained. Maybe she could trust him after all. Sirius was still silent, but Rose didn't dare to look at him. She didn't want to see his angry face. She felt pity for him but it wasn't really her fault that he had to sit at Grimmauld Place doing nothing, it was for his own safety.

Unfortunately, he wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Dumbledore, it is madness! You can't let her do this!"

Oh crap. Here we go again.

"Sirius, Miss Clifton is an adult and she can make her own decisions," said Dumbledore with tone that ended discussion.

Rose felt awkward. She liked Sirius, she didn't want to ruin their friendship but she had to show him that she wasn't as helpless as everyone seemed to think. The younger man spoke nothing more, sitting and staring at his hands. Rose knew that he was angry. It was getting dark, so the girl decided that is was the best time to leave.

Before Dumbledore changes his mind.

"I should be going now," she told them, hoping that they wouldn't try to stop her.

It had been a hard day and everyone needed rest, maybe on the following day Sirius would look at the case differently. Rose made a promise in her mind that she'll come by more often to spend some time with him. He was kind to her, she shouldn't be ungrateful.

"Of course. Tomorrow I will come to your place to put my spells on it. Tonight you have to cast basic protecting charms, it should be enough." Dumbledore smiled at her with one of these smiles that reminded Rose her late grandfather.

She stood up, thanked Sirius for the tea and quickly left the house followed by his gaze.

He's acting very oddly today, she thought on her way back home. He has never been so overprotective towards people, especially strangers. We barely know each other, after all.

He had to be awfully lonely and she was his last hope for some other company than Kreacher. Besides, they liked each other's company, Rose often talked and joked with him at the Order's meetings. It pained her that he was upset with her.

The rain had stopped but it was a very cold evening. People on the streets were hurrying to their destinations, not paying attention to their surroundings.

Finally Rose reached her flat. It was small but comfortable, the only thing that she inherited from her parents. On the walls hung paintings, all of them put into wooden frames. They depicted various things: country landscape, small cottage near a forest, a fox hiding in the woods. There was only one painting of people. It presented a tall blonde man who was embracing his wife, her long brown hair fell loosely on her shoulders. Both were smiling. Rose glanced at them before going to the kitchen.

She decided that she'd paint something new on the next day, it helped her relax and forget about all problems. Her father always praised her work... No, she shouldn't think of her parents now. She had tried to come to terms with their death and pondering over the past wouldn't help her.

After eating supper she went straight to bed but not before placing wards around the place.

It's not as if they're going to attack me on this very night. Still, better safe than sorry, Rose thought as she slowly drifted to sleep.

How naïve she was to think so.

And how naïve she was to expect that her protecting charms would stop the most dangerous Death Eaters of all time. Bellatrix Lestrange was standing right in front of Rose Clifton's flat, scanning the door with her eyes, smiling widely. The whole building was silent and the only light came from intruders' wands.

"What a clever little girl! She put wards here!" The woman giggled.

"It won't help her," growled a tall man who was standing next to Bellatrix.

He had brown, messy hair and eyes which burned with insanity.

With one flick of his wand the lock was broken, no trace of Rose's charms left. Bellatrix headed straight towards the girl's bedroom, her companion following her closely. The woman approached the bed, bent down and brushed a lock of hair from Rose's forehead.

"Tsk, tsk," she whispered. "Such a lovely, defenceless creature, lying here, unaware of dangers lurking in the darkness..."

The wizard who was with her stood in silence, watched the girl's sleeping form like a wolf watched its prey.

Rose's eyes snapped open, wide from fear. Instinctively, she reached for her wand which lied on bedside table but at that very moment the room was filled with red light and she fell back on her pillow, stunned.

"Now, now Barty, you didn't have to do that! She just wanted to play!" sneered Bellatrix, looking like a little girl in a candy shop.

"There will be plenty of time for that later, during the interrogation," the man grinned widely, stepped forward and took Rose in his arms.

Without another word, he walked towards the door. The witch followed him, beaming at the prospect of torturing the unconscious girl.


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