Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. He and anything you recognize is the property of JKR and I claim no rights and am merely borrowing for the evening.

AN: Ha! Not even a week and I'm done with it! It's amazing what one can get done when procrastinating course work! Anyway, it's a little shorter then I had aimed for but it is progressing the plot slightly, even if it's not overtly obvious. I promise the next chapter will have much more answers and even some answers to the questions I know you all have. As always feel free to ask questions and critize when ever you wish, I enjoy it. For those of you who haven't read it yet, I wrote a very short pre-story shot to get over my writers block. It will play a part in the plot it's up to you to read a speculize. It's calle 'How Draco Malfoy lost his heart' and can be found on my author's page. Thanks and please review.

Chapter 9

The Fall of Nim

Rose attempted to avoid Scorpius as much as possible but the cramped quarters of Gabrielle's home made that nearly impossible so she had taken to confining herself to the library on most days. He and Al seemed content to scheme in peace anyway so she left them to it. Though she was slightly happy that they had started to include her in some of what they were discussing, even though there were clearly some topics she was excluded from. Al soon began to join her in the library, sometimes reading and others scribbling away in a notebook.

One night, after about two weeks of this, her curiosity finally got the best of her. Placing her quill to the side she openly stared at him. "What are you writing?" she asked as innocently as possible, hoping he would take it as pure curiosity. Glancing up he smiled slightly, running a hand through his darkening hair.

"I'm trying to figure out what exactly the prophecy could mean." he'd answered honestly. At her confused look he went on to explain. "The original was written in French, right?" At Rose's nod he continued, leaning over the table to point out things in the notebook. "Well, we have the translation, not the exact thing. I'm trying to figure out if there is another meaning from the original. It's just really a theory but I think perhaps we misinterpreted something. The only this I've gotten so far is 'fils' which does mean thread but I thinks we misheard the word."

Nodding along Rose took the paper from him. "French endings aren't as stressed, it could have been slurred slightly." she said, looking up at her cousin for confirmation. Nodding adamantly Al pointed to a section of the page.

"I've found two words that could be it, fille, which means daughter and fils, which means son. It could be the son, not the thread." Al said excitedly, beaming a smile at her. "This could mean we've been thinking about this all wrong, the one to destroy the Dark Lord would technically be a 'thread' of him, he would be his son." Rose's face light up at this. If they knew the identity of the Dark Lord then they could find the one to defeat him, his own flesh and blood.

"That's not all." Rose said, looking over his notes. At Al's confused look she pointed mid way down the page. "Ciel doesn't just mean heaven, it means sky as well. They could fall from the sky. From a broom maybe." Looking over the page again, Rose frowned. "But porte only means gate or door, that can't be right. Another word maybe?"

Walking over to the shelf she pulled out a large tomb. Opening it about halfway through she scanned the page. "Porte, porte." she murmured to herself, eyes looking quickly. Stopping her finger at something in particular she turned towards Al. "Porte, a door or gateway in English. The only word to represent this in the French language. A cognate in Spanish, Italian, and Latin. A similar form found in Portuguese and German." Snapping the book shut she gave a slight 'hmph' sound, before putting back. "So the only option for that is some kind of gateway or door. But doors don't just appear in the sky!"

Al nodded in agreement, "Maybe we're looking at this too literally, maybe it's not from the sky at all? Someplace that's like the sky? A cliff maybe." Rose shook her head at his suggestions, they seemed to be plausible but something just wasn't fitting for her.

They spent another half hour contemplating the possible meaning of it but to no avail. Finally, at close to midnight, they decided to call it a night and climbed the steep stairs back to their rooms. Parting ways at the top of the stairs Rose turned towards her room, leaving Al to enter his. Half way down the hall Rose realized, somewhat embarrassingly, that she still held the notebook they'd been pouring over in her hand. Rolling her eyes at her own thickheadedness, she made her way back down the hall to their room.

Stopping in front of the door, hand raised to knock, the voices from inside slowly drifted out. "So did she help?" Scorpius' voice drifted to her ear. Curiosity winning out for the second time that night she pressed her ear closely to the door.

"You know she did, she's a Ravenclaw through and through. Can't escape the hope of learning something knew." Al laughed, but to Rose's ears the statement did not sound endearing. A moment of silence passed as shuffling sounds were heard. "All I had to do was pretend like I couldn't figure it out and she was on it in a minute."

That had definitely not sounded like the Al she knew. Pressing her ear closer she listened more closely. "You didn't tell her did you?" Scorpius asked, accusation clear in his voice.

Al snorted slightly, and Rose was very certain he was rolling his eyes at his best friend. "Of course I didn't tell her. Give me some credit, I was sorted Slytherin for a reason. I lied through my teeth." Scorpius' chuckle sounded mocking to Rose but with not being able to look at him she didn't know.

"You mean you were placed in Slytherin for a reason other then to out do your golden boy brother?" he asked, a cynical undertone to his voice.

"Wonder Boy," Al spat out. "Can take a flying leap for all I care. I knew that if I was in Gryffindor I'd be living in that prat's shadow for the rest of my life. I had higher aspirations then that." Scorpius merely chuckled again.

"Anyway. You sure you didn't let anything slip?" he asked, a much more serious tone taking over.

"Yes, Scorpius. The precious little Rose Weasley is as much in the dark now as she's been since the start. You know that was the plan anyway. She wouldn't even be here if we didn't need her bookishness." Al replied, his voice sounding cold.

"She shouldn't even be here because of that! She should be home, tucked safe and sound like a good little girl. Why did you insist on her coming? We'd be fine with out her." Rose felt a vice closing around her heart with each passing word. They hadn't wanted her here to begin with, she was useful, apparently, but even that could have been over looked. She was nothing to them.

"If it weren't for her we wouldn't have half the info we have now. Besides, she'd proven useful in the past. Remember that time we broke into Filch's office?" The smile seemed to return to Al's words as he reminisced about old pranks.

Rose felt happy for a moment that they at least had some appreciation for the hard work she'd done from them. "Child's play. We're dealing with a Dark Lord. A few simple spells are going to do us no good here." Scorpius' voice cut through her heart like a piece of clean steal. "She needs to go home, and the sooner the better."

Not being able to listen to another word that they were saying Rose quickly gathered her wits about her. Knocking swiftly she forced a smile as Al opened the door. "I forgot I had this, goodnight." Handing him the notebook she quickly turned and stalked down the hall, barely paying attention to his called, 'Thanks!'.

Swiftly locking herself in her room, she carelessly threw herself to the bed, begging the tears not to come. She'd cried far too often as of late. Not even bothering to change her cloths she extinguished the candle and pulled the blankets around her. With any luck by morning this would all be a distant thought.

The next few days Rose spent confined to her room, not only because of what she had heard Al and Scorpius saying but an unfortunate chill had some how crept up on her. Even with the pepper up potion Gabrielle had given her, the slight cold lasted for a few days. By the fourth day, however, she was feeling back to her usual health and had been pushed rather forcefully by Gabrielle to leave the cottage for a few hours.

The road to Port de chaudron was dirt and uneven to say the least. Bundled up in a sweater and scarf to escape the early October chill from the ocean she stumbled her way behind the boys, sniffling as she went. Thank the Gods the cold was almost over, she wasn't sure she could handle another second of the annoying nasal irritation. Half way up a hill, and after about fifteen minutes of walking, Rose finally saw the roofs of the village.

The village wasn't that large, just a mishmash as small shops and homes but it was clearly a wizarding one as Rose caught sight of the Apothecary. Pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket she looked at the list of monthly supplies Gabrielle had asked for. Waving towards the Apothecary she walked off, not really caring where they meandered to.

Stepping into the shop Rose found it pleasantly vacant and quickly made her purchase, trying her best not to stumble over the new words. 'Have to look natural.' she thought, smiling at the owner and taking her bags. Shrinking them she carefully placed them in her pocket before moving along.

Making short work of her task it only took a half hour for Rose to find her pockets full and her list crossed off. Rounding the corner from side of the book shop she heard a shrill scream echo through out the village. Acting on instinct she took off in the direction of the noise.

Spotting a small crowd she rushed forward, looking around frantically for Al and Scorpius. 'Even if they are prats I still don't want to be separated.' Looking over the shoulders of the group of people, Rose saw familiar hair in the center. Pushing her way through the crowd she tried to get closer. "Excusez-moi. Excusez-moi ! C'est mon frère ! Laissez-moi à travers ! Excusez-moi!"

Finally reaching the center of the group she panted, taking in the sight before her. Al was kneeling on the cobbled ground, Scorpius shooting glares at tittering on lookers. It wasn't that, that caught Rose's attention but the dark haired girl that was shakily setting on the ground. "I'm so sorry, I just slipped!" she was explaining to Al, Rose finding her thick Irish accent out of place in France. Taking in her appearance momentarily, long, thick black hair and pale, alabaster skin, Rose felt a sense of familiarity, like she had seen her before but the face alluded her.

"Al!" she finally managed to get out. When his eyes turned towards her, her face softened. "Are you alright?" He nodded, his eyes seeming fixated on the still unidentified girl.

"Fine, Rosie." he said standing up. "Wasn't me that had the accident any way, it was..." His voice trailed off, looking at the girl in hopes that she would supply the answer.

Eyes widening slightly, she smiled at Al. "Nim, Nim Riley." she said, sticking out her hand in greeting. Al returned the smile and the gesture, a look Rose had never seen before in his eyes.

"Al, Albus Potter." he returned in kind. A long moment passed of them looking at each other before Scorpius cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. "Oh! And these are my best friends, Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley." Nodding Nim gave a short 'hello' to both before her gaze returned to Al. This time it was Rose to break their gaze, coughing slightly. Al turned towards her, watching as her eyes flicked towards the clock tower and then her pocket. "Oh! We have to go, places to be, you know."

Rose felt like rolling her eyes at his behavior but kept herself in check. Glancing towards Scorpius she tilted her head towards the end of the street, for the first time noticing that the crowd had long since dispersed. Al, apparently having seen this, began to back away from Nim. "Wait!" she called out as they began to walk away. "I really should repay you. For saving me."

"That really isn't necessary." Al said, feigning embarrassment. Nim brushed off his protests and pulled something out of her pocket. Holding up a ticket of some kind she handed it to Al. Looking it over he raised his head to look at her questioningly. "A voucher for fish?" She nodded adamantly.

"Yes, I'm not overly found of fish but the woman who owns the shop is always giving me these for helping out on my days off." she explained. Nodding Al stuffed it in his pocket and murmured thanks. "Come! I'll show you were it is." Grabbing Al's arm she took off down the street, barely batting an eye at Rose and Scorpius, who shared a mutual shrug and followed.

So it was that they arrived back at the cottage forty-five minutes later, supplies in hand plus one extra fish, and a very interesting tale. After Gabrielle had cleaned and cooked the fish and they had eaten their fill of the meal, Rose stood standing on the front porch, watching the waves crash in. The sky had darkened to a dismal grey, darkening the water and making it look foreboding as it churned just feet away.

"Come inside," Gabrielle said from the door. "A storm is coming." The words sent a chill down Rose's spine but she tried not to show it. She wasn't even sure if Gabrielle knew the other meaning to those words. She simply nodded, and walked towards the door, trying very hard not to look back. That night as Rose tried to sleep she listened to a storm like she had never heard before unleash its furry upon the cottage. Drifting off to sleep she knew very well that what ever was coming would be there soon. Far sooner then she would ever like to admit.

tbc.

Next: A shadow no more(subject to change)- a walk leads to a fearful encounter.

AN: Please review! I only got one for the last chapter and that makes me sad. Anyway, the next chapter title could change, it's change four times already, but it should stay at that. I hope to have it up soon, but I have plans this weekend so we'll see.