Chapter Six – Rose

Yet Another Conversation In Compartment 12

The moment the platform disappeared, Harry turned to Ron and Hermione and muttered, "I need to talk to you."

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances then all three of them glanced at us. I got the message.

"Ginny, would you do me a favour?" I asked her. When she smiled at me, I carried on with, "As Lily's new this year, I was wondering if you'd help her get settled."

"Of course, Mrs Black," she said. I smiled at that. The last Mrs Black I had known had been Walburga Black and if there was an evil person on earth, it had been her.

"I'm Professor Black in the classroom and Rose everywhere else," I told her. "Mrs Black was my mother-in-law, and Merlin forbid me being like her. Now, Fred, George, would you-?"

"Look after Will and Lizzie?" Fred supplied, grinning.

"It would be our pleasure," George added. "We always wanted-"

"Another set of twins to-"

"Mess around with?" I supplied. "Well, whatever you do, I would advise leaving our offices alone. Hey, Ca, do you remember the time we hexed the toilets?"

She laughed. "Oh, Merlin, and we were almost caught by Dumbledore, and he just told us to carry on."

"It was fabulous," I said, happy to reminisce for the first time in years. "Anyway, let's go and find Remus." He had left the moment we had climbed onto the train to get 'our compartment' as he called it.

Cara smiled. "Compartment 12, here we come," she sang. "Again. Beth, Jamie, Dan, are you guys going to be okay?"

"We'll be fine, Mum," Beth said haughtily. I smirked at my niece. She was obviously nervous.

"I remember the day we first got on this train," I said. "I was terrified."

"Mm," Cara added. "So terrified you told the boys that you weren't a maiden."

I groaned as she burst out laughing. "You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"No!" she said, through her laughter. "Never!"

I sighed then grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away, calling back to the others, "Carry on, kids, I'm just going to go and murder Cara!"

They laughed. "Have fun!" Lizzie yelled back.

I dragged her on and through the train, smiling as the students stared at us. Most of them would never have seen our faces before, but I knew that a lot of the Slytherins (it was always Slytherins) would know our names. I shook it off and opened Compartment 12, to see Remus fast asleep in the corner. I exchanged a smile with my twin, who stepped into the room and curled up next to her husband, who (while still asleep) pulled her into his arms.

She instantly fell asleep.

I rolled my eyes and went for a walk through the train.

I walked by the compartments where groups of students sat (mainly ordered by houses, but there was a couple of compartments with absolutely no house colours, meaning first years) and made my way to a window. I stared out longingly, knowing that I was obsessing over nothing, really. There was no chance Sirius would come back to me. He had run from me, that day. He had gone to avenge his brother and I knew it meant that James meant more to Sirius than I did.

I'd always known it, really, I decided. How could I expect anything different? James was the other half of Sirius' brain, and I was just the girl he loved. I sighed aloud, knowing I was depressing myself.

It doesn't matter anymore, I told myself. What matters now is keeping Harry safe; it doesn't matter if it's Sirius or Peter after him. He has to survive; he has to live.

Harry is all that matters.

With that decided, I continued to stare out of the window.

I don't know how long I stayed there, standing and staring out of the window, before I felt the change. The train slowed and came to a stop, and then there was a chill.

Dementors.

I turned, pulling out my wand (even though I hadn't been able to conjure a patronus since the day Lily and James died); I ran down the train to our compartment. The hallways were filled with students, and I pushed passed in a hurry. People were shaking with fear as the chill from the dementors spread through the train, and I knew the creatures were coming this way.

I sprinted through the last stretch and opened the door to what I knew was compartment 12. I slammed the door shut behind me and stared into that blackness.

"Who's there?" came a familiar voice.

I started. "Harry? Is that you?"

"Rose? I mean, Professor Black?"

"Rose is fine. Is Cara here?"

"Over here," another familiar voice came. It was Hermione, I think.

"Why are we sitting here in the dark?" I asked, amused. "Lumos." My wand lit up and illuminated the compartment, showing me a lot of nervous faces. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and another boy that I hadn't been introduced to yet sat there, staring up at me. I glanced into the corner where Cara and Remus still sat, curled up together, asleep.

I shook my head in exasperation and hurried to their sides. "Cara, Remus," I called, shaking them. "Wake up right now! I need you!"

"Rose?" Remus asked, sitting upright. "What is it?"

"Dementors," I explained in a whisper. I cast a fearful glance over my shoulder and said, "Remus, Ca, you know I-"

Cara put her hand on my arm and nodded. "It's fine. We'll take care of it."

I swallowed and Remus stood up, making his way to the door. Before he could get to it, the door slid open.

Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the light from my wand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. I slowly looked down to see there was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grey-ish, slimy-looking and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in the water…

It was visible only for a second, and the creature withdrew it into the folds of its cloak. The dementor turned and stared through the room, drawing in a long, slow, rattling breath – almost as if it was trying to draw in something more than air from the room.

The cold that had followed me from the hall intensified and I cringed back. It pierced me deeply and I was only conscious long enough to see Harry go ridged in his seat and fall back into unconsciousness…

And then I saw their faces swim across my mind and I lost my footing from beneath me, falling back and hitting against the wall. The bloodless face of my best friend appeared in front of my eyes and I felt like screaming.

A voice came swimming through my fear and I heard my brother-in-law say, "None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go." When the chill didn't recede, I heard him whisper something more and I knew it was gone.

A hand on my arm and I managed to open my eyes. I stared into Cara's pale face and looked passed her to Harry, where he was lying on the floor.

"Harry," I gasped and pushed my way to a stand, staggering across the compartment to his side. "Harry, wake up."

He opened his eyes and stared up into my frantic ones. "Rose," he muttered. "What happened?"

I looked down in relief and let out a sigh. "Dementors, Harry. The guards of the wizard prison, Azkaban."

"I…" he stared at me for a moment. "Who was screaming?"

I blinked and frowned as I pulled him up into his seat. I glanced over at Cara as Hermione said softly, "No one was screaming, Harry."

"I heard screaming," he said blankly. "Someone was screaming."

"What else did you see, Harry?" Cara asked softly as the tension was broken by a crack. Remus was breaking up a large slab of chocolate and I grinned at my brother-in-law. He always had chocolate.

"I… Nothing," he answered. "There was someone – a woman – she was screaming…"

I looked down and then took the chocolate from Remus and handed it to Harry, saying softly, "Eat up, Harry. It'll make you feel better."

"If you'll excuse me," Remus said, "I need a word with the driver."

"I need to go and see the kids," Cara muttered. "I'll check on your brood for you, Rose."

I nodded my thanks to her as I climbed back onto the bench and sat down, leaning against the wall and closing my eyes briefly. They muttered between themselves briefly, and Harry asked, "What was that?"

"I dunno," Ron muttered. "But did you feel how cold it was when they came in?"

"It was like I'd never be happy again," the boy I hadn't been introduced to said, sounding miserable.

"But didn't any of you… fall off your seats?" That was Harry again.

"No," Ron said, "But Ginny was shaking like mad."

They fell silent and I opened my eyes. They seemed to be having a silent conversation and kept shooting nervous glances at me. I smiled weakly.

"You can talk in front of me, you know. And I haven't met you yet," I added to the boy.

He smiled nervously and Ron said, "This is Neville-"

"Longbottom," I finished, staring into his eyes. "Oh, I should have recognised you. I was there when you were born, you know."

He blinked at me in shock and asked, "You were?"

I smiled. "I was. Eat your chocolate and I'll explain a few things, shall I?" They all looked down as Remus came back in, then started to eat the chocolate. I smiled. "It really does make you feel better. Remus had it, not because of the dementors, but because of his unfortunate addiction to the stuff." I hesitated as he sat down. "Dementors are the guards of the wizarding prison, Azkaban. They are… Well, they feed on happiness, you see. And if they want to, they can suck out your soul."

They exchanged horrified looks and I smiled. "Don't worry; they won't unless they are allowed to. They only ever do it to-" Here I hesitated and looked at Remus, before finishing, "They only ever do it to prisoners. Prisoners who… are too high risk to let survive."

"It's worse than a death sentence," Remus muttered, shuddering.

"I think that is quite enough of this morbid stuff," Cara announced, coming into the carriage. "Everyone's fine, Rose, but the kids were asking after you."

I looked away, knowing why…

"Why?" Hermione asked quickly. "Why did it affect you and Harry worse than us?"

Remus answered for me. "Dementors make you relive your worst experiences. Harry's was his parents' death-"

"That was my mum?" he asked, horrified.

I looked at him sadly and said, "She died quickly, Harry. You don't need to worry. It was painless."

"How do you know?" he snapped, suddenly angry. I knew he was afraid; I knew that he was hurting.

I just didn't know what to do to make it all better.

"Because… The killing curse is quick. Painless. But there's no way to survive it… Except, that is, for however you managed to." They all looked at me and I sighed. "He has the cruciatus curse for pain. There is no need to have Avada Kedavra be painful too."

"And how would you know that?"

For a moment, I knew my features turned haunted and the memories seemed to swarm to the front of my mind, as they always did when people asked me questions like that. But I pushed them aside and answered them softly, "It really doesn't matter how I know. It's safe to say that I've seen both performed and had one performed on me." Then I shook my head and said, "You lot should probably get changed. We'll be there soon."

With that, I got up and left the carriage, searching for quiet from curiosity. I didn't get far before I ran into my children, who instinctively hurried to my side.

"Mum," Lily said, throwing her arms around my waist. "Mum, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Lily, honey," I said softly, prising her off of me. "You know me; I'm always fine." Glanced away from my youngest daughter to where my older children stood, side by side. The Weasley twins stood behind them, watching us, and I managed a smile. I didn't doubt I looked overly pale. I looked them up and down and smiled.

"Well, don't you lot look ravishing in your new robes," I said cheekily. "Absolutely stunning."

"Mum," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes. "That's so typical of you, teasing us like that."

I grinned. "Darling, I'm your mother. I have to tease you."

"Do you remember the time you taught us to enchant the cutlery to jump around the table whenever you tried to use it? I thought Aunt Cara was going to have a heart attack, the colour of her face," Will said with a grin. I smiled too, remembering the exact shade of my sister's face.

"That was a good day," I said softly. Then I looked out the window and grinned. "We're here." They crowded around the window and, together, we watched as the train rolled into Hogsmeade station. A swirling sense of relief encased me and I smiled, truly happy to be back at the place that I had called home all those years ago.

We climbed off the train, and I left my children back with their friends to hurry up to the carriages. I smiled at the thestrals and patted one on the nose, then climbed up into one of the carriages. Remus and Cara joined me and we settled back as it pulled us off.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Cara asked me softly. "Being back here, in these carriages, especially after so long."

"I suppose," I agreed softly. "It's nice, I think. Kind of a relief. At least I know where I stand with Hogwarts. At least I know I'm home."

"Yes," Remus agreed, just as softly. "Home."

The three of us smiled as we stared at the castle as we came around the bend. The first sight of our beloved castle had us sighing, and we exchanged rueful looks. "Typical," I muttered. "One look at the school turns us into saps."

Cara laughed and said, "You've always been a sap, Rosie."

"Oh, yeah, like you haven't," I teased back. We passed the gates and the chill of dementors swept over us, but we were soon passed it and it no longer mattered. The carriage pulled to a stop and we climbed out together.

Voices ahead of us pulled us to a stop, and we heard a boy saying loudly, "Did you faint as well, Weasley? Did the scary old dementor frighten you, too, Weasley?"

"Is there a problem here?" Remus asked mildly.

The blonde boy – who was undoubtedly Lucius Malfoy's son, Draco (I was at his birth too) – stared at him insolently and said with a tiny hint of sarcasm, "Oh, no – er – Professor." He then smirked and turned away, leading the two hulking lads behind him up into the castle. I rolled my eyes as Cara and followed Remus into the Entrance Hall, smiling at the marble staircase that the Marauders had once turned into a slide every time a Slytherin had stepped onto it.

I heard Professor McGonagall's voice and looked over at her as she led Hermione and Harry away from Ron, up the marble staircase, and glanced over at Remus questioningly. He smiled and gestured for us to enter the Great Hall.