October 24, 1992.
With double the work of most students along with Wood's continued insistence on Quidditch practice despite the stormy weather, the Harry and Rose being found them self quite busy. They were able to learn at a rate that was actually challenging now, though, which the Harry and Rose being welcomed. It had been rather boring the prior year at Hogwarts despite the work they were given.
At the moment, the Rose half was in the room she and the Harry half used for sleeping or a quiet place to study. While she worked on writing essay's and practicing magic, the Harry half entered the castle after a cold, rainy Quidditch practice. As he walked through the corridors trailing mud and dripping water, he came upon Nearly Headless Nick who was muttering in a preoccupied manner. The Harry half looked a little preoccupied and troubled himself, the Harry and Rose being focusing on the essay the Rose half was writing about a more advanced potion Professor Snape had assigned them to research. They were also thinking about the Slytherins brooms that moved so fast they could hardly be seen.
It had been with a grudging reluctant's that Professor Snape had allowed the Harry and Rose being to learn at an accelerated rate, and with an even greater reluctant's that he allowed them to sign and turn in their work as the single being that they were. He stopped at allowing them to brew their potions together for now, though, stating that they didn't deserve that type of special treatment, and keeping them partnered with others would serve to allow them to learn even more, if such a thing was possible. The Harry and Rose being had accepted the challenge, and along with the rest of their studies, were learning Potions quickly.
The Harry half shook his head a little and blinked, looking at Nearly Headless Nick, who was staring out a window and muttering to himself in a preoccupied manner.
"What do they mean I don't fulfill their requirements... Half an inch, if that..."
"Hello, Nick." The Harry half said.
"Hello, hello." He responded, looking around and settling his gaze on the Harry half. "You look a bit troubled, young Potter, and I notice Rose isn't with you today."
"I'm studying." The Harry half responded. "I'm working on a Potions essay as I talk with you."
As most people were, Nearly Headless Nick looked confused at such a statement as that. To the Harry and Rose being, the statement was natural. To them, they were studying in their room at Gryffindor Tower and talking to Nearly Headless Nick at the same moment.
"You look a little troubled." The Harry half added. "Why?"
"Ah..." Nearly Headless Nick waved a hand in a dismissive manner. "A matter of no importance... It's not as though I really wanted to join... Thought I'd apply, but apparently I don't fulfill the requirements."
A moment of silence passed, then Nearly Headless Nick erupted again, yanking a letter out of his pocket.
"But you would think, wouldn't you, that getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt?"
Since Nearly Headless Nick was so named, the Harry and Rose being had to question the statement, though felt sympathetic for his situation. At the same moment, the Rose half looked carefully at a list of instructions for the Potion and wrote some more on the essay. The Harry half continued watching Nearly Headless Nick, who continued.
"I mean, nobody wishes more than I do that it had all been quick and clean, and my head had come off properly, I mean, it would have saved me a great deal of pain and ridicule. However..." Nearly Headless Nick shook open the letter and furiously read. "'We can only accept huntsmen whose heads have parted company with their bodies. You will appreciate that it would be impossible otherwise for members to participate in hunt activities such as Horseback Head-Juggling and Head Polo. It is with the greatest regret, therefore, that I must inform you that you do not fulfill our requirements. With very best wishes, Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore.'"
Still furious, Nearly Headless Nick shoved the letter back into his pocket and continued on his rant, though as he did so, the Harry and Rose being found them self understanding the regulations. The headless hunt, or whatever the committee was called, would no doubt have such strict guidelines to prevent a ghost such as Nearly Headless Nick, who wasn't actually headless by any means, to join the hunt.
"Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on, Harry! Most people would think that's good and beheaded, but oh, no, it's not enough for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore." After some deep breaths, Nearly Headless Nick asked, "So what's bothering you, anything I can do?"
"Not unless you know where we can get seven free Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones to beat Slytherin." The Harry half stated, then quickly looked down at a high pitched sound.
Mrs. Norris was gazing up at him with her lamp like yellow eyes, skeletal and gray as usual. The Harry half swallowed and the Harry and Rose being's heart pounded. The Rose half's hands remained steady as she continued to write, but the Harry half's legs trembled ever so slightly.
"You'd better get out of here, Harry." Nick said quickly. "Filch isn't in a good mood-he's got the flu and some third years accidentally plastered frog brains all over the ceiling in dungeon five. He's been cleaning all morning, and if he sees you dripping mud all over the place..."
The Harry half was already starting to move off, but not quick enough. Filch, drawn to his cat as usual, burst through a tapestry and looked wildly around, his eyes settling on the Harry half and the mud he'd tracked into the castle.
"Filth!" Filch pointed at the mud and puddles on the floor, his eyes bulging with anger. "Mess and muck everywhere! I've had enough of it, I tell you! Follow me, Potter!"
The Harry half waved to Nearly Headless Nick as he followed Filch down to his office, the Rose half standing and moving to the window, gazing out on the rain soaked grounds with a sigh. As she turned slowly and moved back across the room, pacing to let out the Harry and Rose being's nervousness, the Harry half was led into Filch's office.
It was a dingy room with no window, lit with a single oil lamp, the faint scent of fried fish in the air. Wooden filing cabinets were along the walls, and from their labels, the Harry half noted they contained details of all the students Filch had punished. Fred and George Weasley had a drawer to themselves, unsurprising given their propensity for getting into trouble. Hanging on the wall behind Filch's desk were a highly polished collection of chains and manacles, something Filch threatened to use and begged Professor Dumbledore to allow.
The Harry half watched Filch as he grabbed a Quill and started looking for some type of parchment on his desk, muttering furiously to himself as he did so. As the Harry half watched and listened, the Rose half paced back and forth, their heart pounding.
"Dung, great sizzling dragon bogies ... frog brains... rat intestines... I've had enough of it... make an example... where's the form ... yes..."
Filch unrolled a piece of parchment in front of him on his desk, dipped his Quill into the ink pot, then started to write, saying what he wrote on the paper.
"Name... Harry Potter. Crime... Befouling the castle... Suggested sentence..."
Filch dabbed at his nose as he stared at the Harry half, who waited for their sentence to be stated and written. At least the Rose half hadn't been caught also, the Harry and Rose being thought. If she had, it was likely their punishment would have been doubled. Filch started to lower his Quill, then the Harry half heard a tremendous bang on the ceiling of Filch's office.
"PEEVES!" Filch roared furiously, flinging the Quill down and leaping up in rage. "I'll have you this time, I'll have you!"
As Filch ran from the office, the Harry half sank into a chair next to Filch's desk, the Rose half also sitting behind the desk in their room in the Gryffindor dormitory. The Harry and Rose being were glad for the timing of Peeves, who from the sound of it, had broken something quite valuable. Curiously, the Harry half looked at the desk, and apart from the partly completed form, pot of Quills, and an ink pot, there seemed to be an envelope that was large and glossy, purple with silver letters on its front. The Harry half gazed around the room and sat back in the chair with a sigh, deciding it probably wouldn't be a good idea to pry into Filch's personal items. The Harry and Rose being were rather curious, though, and hesitating a moment, the Harry half leaned forward, grabbed the envelope, then read the letters on its front.
KWIKSPELL A Correspondence Course in Beginner's Magic
The Harry half put the envelope back where he'd found it and sat back, deciding against opening it to find out what was inside. Filch was already angry enough. Satisfying their curiosity any further wouldn't be reasonable and would probably only serve to get them into further trouble. With that thought in mind, the Rose half continued working on the Potions essay, the Harry and Rose being focusing on the work completely until they heard Filch returning. By that point, the Harry and Rose being had finished it and decided to take a break for now, the Rose half sitting back in the chair.
When Filch entered his office, he looked rather triumphant, saying gleefully, "That vanishing cabinet was extremely valuable! We'll have Peeves out this time, my sweet!"
His eyes fell on the Harry half, then looked at the other items on the desk. The envelope was exactly where the Harry half had picked it up, and to his surprise, Filch only turned to him and said, "Out with you, Potter, and don't you let me catch you breaking rules again. I'll get you this time, Peeves!"
The Harry and Rose being couldn't believe their luck. Standing, the Harry half hurried from the office before Filch could change his mind, moving quickly up the stares. The Voice of Nearly Headless Nick stopped him.
"Harry! Harry! Did it work?" He glided out of a class room and the Harry half spotted the wreckage of a large black and gold cabinet. It looked as if it had been dropped from a rather high distance. Nick continued. "I persuaded Peeves to crash it right over Filch's office, thought it might distract him."
"Wow, thanks." The Harry half responded gratefully. "I didn't even get detention, so I guess it worked." As they headed up the corridor together, the Harry half turned to glance at him. "I wish I could do something for you regarding your Headless Hunt troubles."
Nick stopped and the Harry half was quick to stop before he walked through him.
"But there is something you could do for me." Nick began in an excited tone. "Harry, would I be asking too much, but no, you wouldn't want..."
"What is it?" The Harry half asked.
"Well, this Halloween will be my five hundredth deathday." Nick said as he drew himself into a dignified position.
"Oh." The Harry half replied, the Harry and Rose being not sure weather to be happy or sad about the prospect.
"I'm holding a party down in one of the roomier dungeons. Friends will be coming from all over the country. It would be such an honor if you would attend. Mrs. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger would be most welcome, too, of course-but I daresay you'd rather go to the school feast?" Nick watched the Harry half eagerly.
"No, I'll come. It should be interesting, I've never been to one before." The Harry half replied, trying to look understanding.
"My dear boy! Harry Potter, at my deathday party!" Nick looked excited. "And..." He trailed off. "Do you think you could possibly mention to Sir Patrick how very frightening and impressive you find me?"
"Sure." The Harry half responded, the Harry and Rose being concealing their surprise at what Nick had asked of them.
"Hey, Harry!" Ron said excitedly as the Harry half clambered through the portrait hole.
"Hi Ron." He responded as the Rose half stood and moved to get the Harry half's clothes.
"Finished Quidditch practice?" Ron asked, then looked out the window. "I'm glad I'm not on the team. Weather looks dead depressing if you ask me."
"Yeah, it does." The Harry half responded as he and the Rose half gazed out their appropriate windows. The rain had only gotten harder and they couldn't see anything outside. "I'll go change, then I've got something to tell both of you."
Ron and Hermione, who were both sitting together and working on their assignments, nodded. The Harry half entered their room and the Rose half turned toward him, the Harry half's clothes resting on the bed. As the Harry half pulled off his muddy and wet Quidditch uniform, the Rose half helped him, taking it as he changed into more comfortable clothes. He then exited the room with the Rose half behind him, both looking at the bright fire, grinning. Other people were arrayed around the room, talking, reading or working on assignments. Fred, George, and several other curious people were crowded around a table, feeding a Filibuster firework to a salamander. The Harry and Rose being looked at Ron and Hermione as they moved to them and sat down. Ron was working on a Potions assignment and looked to be about half way through it.
"I talked with Nearly Headless Nick earlier after I got inside from Quidditch. Apparently, he tried to join something called a Headless Hunt and was rejected since he's not actually headless." The Harry and Rose being said.
"That's understandable, I suppose." Hermione responded.
"But he actually got me out of Filch's office." The Harry and Rose being continued. "He persuaded Peeves to cause a little racket. I wanted to do something for him and ended up promising I'd go to his deathday party. You're both invited, too."
"A deathday party? I bet there aren't many living people who can say they've been to one of those, it'll be fascinating!" Hermione responded keenly.
"Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died?" Ron asked in a grumpy tone. "Sounds like this weather to me, dead depressing..."
"I haven't any idea." The Harry and Rose being responded.
"So what happened with Filch?" Hermione asked.
"Well, as you can imagine, he didn't like me tracking mud and water through the castle despite the obvious fact that magic is perfectly capable of cleaning it up." The Harry and Rose being said, glancing over at the smoldering salamander for a moment. "He brought me to his office and..."
The salamander rocketed into the air with sparks and loud bangs, whirling around the Gryffindor common room. Percy Weasley was shouting at Fred and George as tangerine stars poured from the salamander's mouth. It took about a minute before it managed to escape into the fire with some more spectacular explosions and the Harry and Rose being gazed on, finding the treatment of the poor creature to have been rather cruel. It wasn't something they would have done, but given that it was Fred and George Weasley, they weren't surprised. Filch was forgotten in the chaos, though the Harry and Rose being didn't mind that much. Eventually, they brought some of their work out and studied with Ron and Hermione.
October 31, 1992.
Halloween was an exciting time for the students, as they were looking forward to the feast. Live bats decorated the great hall, Hagrid's pumpkins were carved into lanterns large enough for three men to sit in, and according to the roomers, dancing skeletons were going to be the entertainment for the night. The Harry and Rose being sighed at hearing all of this, though they weren't going to go back on their word.
Ron and Hermione were going with them, something they hadn't expected, though perhaps should have. They walked straight past the great hall that evening, which glittered invitingly with plates and its decorations, heading straight for the dungeons. Unlike the great hall, the candles lining the passage to Nearly Headless Nick's party were depressingly black, long, thin, and were burning bright blue. The light they cast was a dim, ghostly light. As they drew closer, the temperature dropped and the Harry half shivered, the Rose half drawing his robes around him and hugging him close in an effort to help him.
"What is that sound?" The Harry and Rose being asked, hearing what sounded like thousands of fingernails being drawn across a chock board. It was unpleasant to say the least.
"Is that supposed to be music?" Ron asked in a whisper.
They rounded a corner and saw Nearly Headless Nick standing in a doorway with black velvet drapes.
"My dear friends, welcome, welcome... So pleased you could come..." Nick said in a mournful tone, then swept his hat off and bowed them in.
It was unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Translucent, white people drifted around what looked to be a dance floor to the sound they'd heard before, which was apparently some sort of ghostly music. It was a dreadful sound, played by about thirty musical saws, the orchestra on a raised black-draped platform. A chandelier overhead blazed with a midnight blue light, several black candles also in the room. Their breath rose in a mist and it felt like stepping into a freezer, which made sense considering how cold a ghost was if you touched them.
"Let's look around." The Harry and Rose being said, staying close to one another.
"Careful not to walk through anyone." Ron said in a nervous voice.
They passed a group of gloomy nuns, a ragged man who wore chains, and the Fat Friar, a cheerful Hufflepuff ghost who was talking with a knight who had an arrow sticking out of his forehead. The Bloody Baron was there as well, the gaunt, staring ghost of Slytherin. The other ghosts were staying well away from him and the Harry and Rose being decided to do the same.
"Oh, no." Hermione said abruptly, stopping in her tracks. "Turn back, turn back, I don't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle."
"Who's that?" The Harry and Rose being asked as they did as she said.
"She haunts one of the toilets in the girls' bathroom on the second floor." Hermione responded.
"She haunts a toilet?" An incredulous Ron asked.
"Yes. It's been out-of-order all year because she keeps having tantrums and flooding the place. I never went in there anyway if I could avoid it; it's awful trying to have a pee with her wailing at you." Hermione replied.
"Look, food." Ron said eagerly.
They started to move toward a table covered in black velvet, but before they got too close, the Harry and Rose being stopped, smelling the scent of rotting, molding food, as if someone had left many items sitting out in the open for several months. The Rose half grabbed Hermione and the Harry half grabbed Ron. In response, they stopped and Hermione moved into the Rose half's arms.
"Oo, you're warm." She said.
"Thanks." The Rose half responded, adding, "We really don't want to go over there, nothing on that table is editable."
"How d'you know?" Ron asked.
"I can smell it." The Harry and Rose being replied. "Through the Rose half."
They watched as a ghost opened his mouth wide and passed through one of the food items. Even from this distance, the Harry half could smell it a little. The Harry and Rose being stepped back from their friends, both turning to face them.
"Hey, I was enjoying that." Hermione said.
"Sorry, Hermione, but I'm just too hot for you." The Rose half responded, the Harry and Rose being grinning and chuckling a little.
Before they could continue their conversation, Peeves swooped quickly over to them. He wore a bright orange party hat, a revolving bow tie, and a broad grin on his face. He also held a bowl of peanuts covered in fungus.
"Nibbles?" He offered sweetly.
"No thanks." Hermione replied.
"Heard you talking about poor Myrtle." Peeves said, eyes dancing. "Rude you was about poor Myrtle." He then took a deep breath and called loudly, "OY! MYRTLE!"
"Oh, no, Peeves, don't tell her what I said, she'll be really upset." Hermione said frantically. "I didn't mean it, I don't mind her... Er, hello, Myrtle."
A squat, ghostly girl glided over to them. Her face looked more depressing than any the Harry and Rose being had ever seen. Her hair was lank and half hid her face along with thick, pearly spectacles.
"What?" She asked in a sulky tone.
"How are you, Myrtle? It's nice to see you out of the toilet." Hermione said in a voice that sounded falsely bright.
Myrtle sniffed and Peeves whispered into her ear, "Miss Granger was just talking about you..."
"Just saying, saying, how nice you look tonight." Hermione added, glaring at Peeves.
Myrtle eyed Hermione suspiciously, tears forming in her small, transparent eyes.
"You're making fun of me." She said, sounding rather depressed.
"No, honestly, didn't I just say how nice Myrtle's looking?" Hermione asked, nudging Ron painfully in the ribs and giving the Harry and Rose being a sharp, significant glance.
"Oh, yeah." Ron responded.
"She didn't make fun of you." The Harry and Rose being added in a calm, understanding tone.
"Don't lie to me!" Myrtle gasped with tears pouring down her face, Peeves chuckling happily over her shoulder. "D'you think I don't know what people call me behind my back? Fat Myrtle! Ugly Myrtle! Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle!"
"You've forgotten pimply." Peeves hissed in her ear.
Myrtle burst into anguished sobs and fled from the dungeon. Peeves followed her and pelted her with the peanuts he'd previously offered them, shouting, "Pimply! Pimply!"
"Oh, dear." Hermione said sadly.
"She's got serious emotional problems." The Harry and Rose being said as Nearly Headless Nick drifted toward them through the crowd.
"Enjoying yourselves?" He asked.
"It's certainly interesting." The Harry and Rose being responded as Ron and Hermione said, "Oh, yes."
"Not a bad turnout." Nick said proudly. "The Wailing Widow came all the way up from Kent... It's nearly time for my speech, I'd better go and warn the orchestra..."
As it turned out, warning them wasn't needed. They stopped playing and everyone fell silent, looking around in excitement. A hunting horn sounded and Nick stated bitterly, "Oh, here we go."
About a dozen ghost horses burst through the wall, a headless horsemen riding each one. Everyone started to clap and the Harry and Rose being joined in until they caught sight of Nick's face. The horses stopped in the middle of the dance floor and the leader, who held his bearded head under an arm, leapt down and held his head high above him. The crowd laughed and the man strode over to Nick, putting his head back on his neck.
"Nick! How are you? Head still hanging in there?" He clapped Nick on the shoulder.
"Welcome, Patrick." Nick stated stiffly.
"Live 'uns!" He said as he spotted the Harry and Rose being, Ron, and Hermione. He gave a fake jump of astonishment so his head fell off, the crowd howling with laughter.
"Very amusing." Nick stated darkly.
"Don't mind Nick!" Patrick's head shouted from the floor. "Still upset we won't let him join the Hunt! But I mean to say-look at the fellow..."
Nick gave the Harry and Rose being a meaningful look. They then stated hurriedly, "I think Nick's very frightening and, well..."
"Ha!" Patrick's head shouted. "Bet he asked you to say that!"
"If I could have everyone's attention, it's time for my speech!" Nick said loudly as he moved to the podium and stood under an icy blue spotlight. He cleared his throat, then began.
"My late lamented lords, ladies, and gentlemen, it is my great sorrow..."
No one heard much more than that, as Patrick and the rest of his men started a game of head hockey. Nick tried in vane to get everyone's attention again, but gave up as Patrick's head sailed past him, nearly everyone cheering loudly. The Harry half rubbed his hands together and shivered before the Rose half, shivering a little herself, clutched his hands and pushed her body against his.
"I can't stand much more of this." Ron said through chattering teeth as the Harry and Rose being's stomachs growled in hunger, the orchestra resuming their music and the ghosts sweeping back on the dance floor.
"Let's go." The Harry and Rose being agreed.
They moved toward the door, nodding and beaming at everyone who looked at them. When they entered the passage way, they hurried back into the warmth and away from the dungeon full of ghosts.
"Pudding might not be finished yet." Ron said hopefully, leading them toward the entrance hall.
The Harry and Rose being felt their blood freeze, hearing a voice that was more cold and chilling than they could have imagined.
"Rip... Tear... Kill..."
The Rose half didn't hesitate. She ran quickly, the Harry and Rose being's heart pounding quickly in their chest. Ron shouted, "Rose!" The Rose half was well ahead of them now, sprinting at the full speed given to her due to her condition.
"A voice, I heard a voice." The Harry half said as the Rose half ran as quickly as she could, entering the entrance hall and sprinting to the first floor, then stopped to listen again.
"Kill... Time to kill... I smell blood..."
The Rose half turned in the direction of the voice and sprinted faster, the Harry half running after her with Ron and Hermione following.
"It's going to kill, whatever it is, it's going to kill!" The Harry half called frantically as the Rose half hurtled in to the second floor and around a corner, then entered a passage way. She slipped on some water on the floor as she heard the meow of Filch's cat, throwing her arms out to break her fall. At that moment, she heard a slithering sound and saw a flash of yellow. Instantly, the Harry and Rose being was no more, ripped in half.
The Harry half stumbled, tripped, flailing as he fell to the floor, staring without comprehension at the ceiling and the flat, dull faces of Ron and Hermione, both of whom stared down at him in concern.
"Harry! Harry!" They shouted, the sound flat, dull, thoughts unfocused and slow. The Harry half opened his mouth.
"No..." He whispered weakly, feeling only one body, one mind, everything dulled to something flat and unimportant. "Help me... Rose half... No Rose half..."
Hermione put out a shaking hand and the Harry half took it, stumbling to his feet before he turned and started to run again, movements jerky, robotic. Ron and Hermione followed and tried to get him to slow down, to explain, but he couldn't explain that he was just Harry, not the Harry and Rose being anymore. Even he couldn't explain it, and while it was true, he felt nothing, as if everything where his feelings had been was a hollow pit of emptiness. He ran past the entrance hall and up the stairs to the second floor, sprinting through the passage ways to find what had happened to the Rose half, find where Rose was. There was no more Rose half, no more Harry and Rose being, only half a being, half a person. Harry and Rose, no Harry and Rose being, but Rose was no more, gone, ripped away as if something tragic had happened. Harry didn't feel hungry anymore, was hardly aware of his hard breathing and pounding heart. The rout the Rose half had taken was on his mind with absolute clarity and he followed it, sliding into the passage with water on the floor, wildly staring around.
The Rose half, Rose, was on the floor, arms supporting her after her fall had been broken. The Harry half, Harry, stared at her in a rigid pose, her body unnaturally stiff. He knelt next to her and stared down at her, touching her cold skin. As Ron and Hermione came upon Harry, he only continued to stare, hardly aware of anything else happening around him. It was as if everything was vague and indistinct. Slowly, Harry started to move Rose and Hermione clutched his wrist.
"Harry, no!" She said frantically. "We should contact a professor and get them here to look at everything before you..."
"Let, go." The Harry half stated in a flat, robotic tone.
Hermione only clung on tighter and the Harry half pried her hand loose before flipping Rose over. Her arms and hands were extended above her and the Harry half grabbed them, touched her cold, rigid skin, stared into her glassy blue eyes, open and staring on and on at nothing, nothing because she was dead. But if she was dead, why would she be so rigid? Harry didn't understand and he stared, vaguely aware of a crowd of voices, people flooding into the passage, screams, shouts. None of it seemed to matter. He only clutched Rose's cold, stiff hands and stared into her eyes, willing something, anything to happen. Gradually, it seemed, the students cleared away, the vague background voices faded, and Harry stared on. A hand gently rested on his shoulder and the Harry half slowly turned his head, staring at the vague, indistinct face of Professor Dumbledore.
"Harry." He said gravely. His blue eyes did not twinkle and he looked grieved. "You must let Rose go. We need to determine what happened to her."
Harry didn't release Rose. Gently, Professor Dumbledore tried to pry Harry's hands from hers but he only clung on tighter, climbing on her cold body and paying little attention as she was levitated with him on top of her. He only stared at her face, seeming to be carved from stone, the expression of desperate concentration frozen forever and ever on her face that looked so pretty. It was then, as Harry stared at Rose and realized just how beautiful she was, that he began to feel again, a deep sadness welling up within him. He was vaguely aware of sobs as he cried and clutched Rose's hands desperately, tears dripping from his eyes on to her beautiful face, a face that would forever be pretty, staring at her statue body and desperately wishing she would come back to him, would become a part of him again as it was meant to be. Soon, however, the sadness started to fade, replaced with a terrible emptiness he knew he'd live with forever. He felt as if he was broken, as if he was only a shell of someone that used to be, and nothing could make him feel again. Nothing but Rose, who was dead, never coming back, would always remain a statue, and he would always visit her. He desperately clung to what was left of Rose, staring on with a hollow emptiness, emotionless.