Using the prompt 'patience'

Chapter Thirteen

They stayed in Sunbury for two days after that. It was peaceful, relaxing and got their minds off everything. Part of Rose found herself not wanting to leave, but the other part knew that she had to. The magic world was part of who she was – she wasn't going to abandon it.

Her parents never had and they had probably been given more reason than most to do so.

"Oh, I really don't want you to leave," her grandmother said sadly, pulling both Rose and Hugo into a hug.

"We'll come back and visit all the time, Grandma," Hugo said, his voice sincere.

Rose nodded. "Every weekend if you want us to."

Their grandmother smiled at them. "That would be lovely, but we will understand if you don't. After all, you will have school and..." She studied them for a moment, before continuing. "I know you heard what I said at the funeral a few weeks ago, but... I didn't mean it, okay? I'd never dream of taking you away from your family... or who you are."

Rose hugged her tighter, blinking away some stray tears. "You're our family too," she said.

There was a pop from behind them as Harry Apparated into the house. Although she tried not to show it, Rose felt her grandmother flinch at his sudden appearance.

"Harry," she said, sounding slightly exasperated. "I wasn't expecting you so soon."

"Er... sorry," Harry replied, then mumbled something about how he should have knocked.

Rose pulled away, wiping away more tears. She smiled. "See you, Grandma," she said.

"See you, Rosie, dear. And you too, Hugo."

Rose took her brother's hand and they walked over to Harry's outstretched arms. "You can stay if you want," he told them quietly.

Both shook their heads. No, they were ready to go back to Grimmauld Place.

Rose felt the familiar sensation of Side-along Apparition and seconds later, she was standing in the hallway of Grimmauld Place. Their backpacks they had taken with them to Sunbury appeared beside them.

"It's good to have you back," Harry said.

Rose smiled. "We were only gone for two days," she said.

Harry shrugged. "Still... we missed you."

Hugo was the first to move away from them and picked up his bag, slinging it across his shoulders.

"Being there was good," he announced, "but being here is better." And with that, he disappeared up the staircase, his footsteps echoing all the way along the hallways above until he found his room and closed the door.

"Thanks, Uncle Harry," Rose said, picking up her own backpack. "Thanks for taking us there."

Harry shook his head. "It was nothing, Rosie. And I'm not just saying that. They were so happy to see you again, to have you there."

Rose nodded. "I know. I was happy to see them too. We got to watch TV!"

Harry laughed. "Why am I not surprised that that was the highlight of your time there?"

"Because Mum and Dad refused to buy a TV... ever," Rose complained.

"Did you ever need one?" Harry questioned.

"Well... no, but..."

"When you have magic, Rosie, you don't need a TV. Trust me."

Rose smiled. "Yeah, but it was always exciting for us to go there and get to watch TV, you know. It was like a special treat."

"Well, let's keep it that way, yeah?" Harry walked her towards the staircase. "Take your stuff upstairs and then you and Hugo should come back down. We've got something for you."

Rose gave her uncle a questioning look, but he just shook his head, so she made her way up the flights of stairs until she reached the landing that her bedroom was on. She always liked to keep her room relatively tidy, but upon opening the door, she knew either Harry or Ginny had tidied it up while she was away. Her trunk – the one she hadn't bothered emptying since coming to Grimmauld Place – sat in the corner, locked. All her clothes had been placed into the wardrobe and her bed had been made. On top of her pillow sat a white envelope – one that she had completely forgotten about until now. Her name was staring up at her in her mum's handwriting, just asking to be read.

The last letter her parents had ever sent her.

It had to be there for a reason. Whoever had cleaned her room obviously wanted her to read it. And as much as she didn't want to, part of her was curious.

What would they have said?

Sucking in a deep breath, she picked the envelope up and opened it. She'd have to read it eventually and what better time was there than now? She was as content as she could be.

As she glanced over it, taking in every word, she slowly became more and more disappointed. It wasn't a long letter and there was nothing special inside it at all. It was just like any other letter she had ever gotten from them, unaware it was going to be their last. Still, it was special. It was the last time they would ever send her something and now that she had read it, there was no taking it back. She'd seen it now.

Dear Rosie,

It's good that you're settling back in after Easter, but, of course, we miss you already. We always miss you. Dad and I were just talking about it the other day; how fast time has gone. It wasn't so long ago that we were in our fourth year, but I doubt yours is as eventful as ours was. You certainly don't have a Triwizard Tournament to deal with, or anything like that.

Rose smiled. Her mum's letters were always longer than the ones her dad sent her. Her mum liked to try and get everything she could think of onto parchment, whereas her dad only wrote what he thought was relevant (which was mostly making sure she wasn't getting into trouble and asking if she was interested in any boys).

So, how's school? You didn't really talk much about it when you were home. Is everything going well? We got a letter from the headmaster just before Easter and he told us that all your work is up to standard, which is good, and that all the teachers were happy with you. I'm pleased you're putting in a lot of effort, Rosie, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. You're allowed to have fun too (I'm saying that because Hugo mentioned that even on weekends you spend a lot of your time in the library). If you get all your work done during the week, then you will have your weekends free, which is always good (especially when the Hogsmeade weekends come around).

Oh, and your dad has asked me to remind you to write more frequently. Apparently three weeks is too long for him to wait to hear from you again. I know you have school to think about, but if you could write home once a week, that would be really good. We like hearing from you. And he'd probably never forgive me if he knew I was telling you this, but Hugo writes to us twice a week.

Well, that's really all I have to say this time. I guess not much has happened in the three weeks since we saw you. I suppose that's a good thing. No news is good news as far as I'm concerned.

Good luck and please reply soon. Love you.

Love Mum & Dad.

"Didn't even know, did she?"

Rose glanced up from her letter, startled. She hadn't even realised Hugo had come into her room. "She had no idea," she whispered. "That, or she knew, but she didn't want to worry us."

Hugo shook his head, looking a lot older than he actually was in that moment. Rose was never going to admit it, but she often admired the maturity of her brother. Sometimes, he acted as if was the older one, the more sensible one.

More like their mum.

"She didn't know," he said confidently. "Anyway, apparently Aunty Ginny and Uncle Harry want us to come downstairs."

Rose nodded, folding up the letter and returning it to its envelope. She tucked it safely under her pillow, making her way silently back down the stairs to where Harry and Ginny were waiting for them in the living room. Her heart filled with a hope she hadn't felt since getting the news about her parents' deaths. Perhaps they had some news, perhaps they had found who had done it.

"Sit down, please," Harry requested calmly.

Rose and Hugo both obliged, sitting beside each other on the spare couch. Rose watched Harry and Ginny intently. They both seemed... happy.

Please tell me you found her, she silently begged. That would be the best thing they could give them.

But it seemed that what they had to give them really was something. It wasn't just news. There was a piece of fabric sitting on the coffee table between them, and as Harry unwrapped it, Rose saw her dad's watch, both her parents' wedding rings, and some kind of necklace she had never seen before.

"I've been pushing for weeks for the department to give these back, and yesterday, they finally did. They are what they had on when... well, they're yours now to do what you want with them."

There was a long moment where both Rose and Hugo just sat there, looking shocked. Rose didn't know about Hugo, but she had had no idea she would ever be seeing any of her parents' belongings again. She thought they had vanished along with her mum and dad.

It was Hugo who was the first to respond, leaning forward and picking up the watch. "I always wanted one like this," he said, putting it around his wrist. "Cool."

"What about their wands?" Rose asked. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that that was all Harry had to give her. Sure, having something that had belonged to them was nice, but it still meant her parents' killer was out there.

"It's tradition for a witch or wizard to be buried with their wands," Harry explained. He picked up the cloth that the rings and necklace were resting on and placed it in her lap. "I'm sure Hugo won't complain if you have these," he said.

Hugo shook his head, continuing to admire their dad's watch.

Rose accepted Harry's offer, picking up one of the rings so it rested in the palm of her hand. Well, at least they had still worn them. That was something, she decided. And the necklace was beautiful; she'd never seen anything quite like it before. She hadn't even seen her mum wear it.

"Anniversary gift," Ginny said to her. "First thing your dad chose without consulting anyone else first... only took him eighteen odd years to do it." She smiled slightly as if it was some kind of joke only she understood.

"It's lovely," Rose replied in awe. She ran her finger over the small talisman. It was made from gold with a red ruby in the centre. Her mum never had been a jewellery person, but no wonder she had worn that. It was stunning.

"It's goblin made," Ginny continued. "And there is something magical about it, but no one could work out what it was. Here, let me put it on you." She sidled in between Rose and Hugo and put the necklace around her niece's neck. "It suits you," she said. "Your mum loved that necklace, but she only wore it on special occasions. I'm sure she would love for you to have it."

Rose looked down at the ruby resting on her chest. It sat there limply, giving no indication that it was magical in any shape or form. "It obviously doesn't protect you," she said quietly. It did nothing.

When Ginny had moved away from her, she looked to her uncle. "You still haven't found her?" she asked.

Harry shook his head. "That's another thing that came to light yesterday... the woman in question is nowhere to be found. She was difficult to locate before all of this, but we had some Aurors watching her. But she somehow managed to escape them... on the day it happened."

"How come you're only telling us this now?"

That was Hugo, and Harry seemed just as surprised as Rose was to hear a little bit of anger in his voice. Hugo only ever yelled when he was really upset.

"They've kept me out of the loop," Harry said. His voice was sincere – Rose believed him. "They think I'm too close to the case and won't tell me anything. I only found out because I overheard a conversation yesterday."

"So you have no idea where she is? No idea at all?" On a whim, Rose slid the two rings onto her finger. Both were too big for her, but she didn't care. It felt good to be wearing them.

"We're doing everything we can to find her," Harry promised. "It's the Auror's number one priority. No one goes after two Ministry members and gets away with it."

"So, you do think it's her, then?"

Harry had spent the past weeks telling them over and over again they had no proof of who had done it. It seemed his thoughts had taken a different turn over the last few days.

"I do," Harry said. "She can't be found and the Aurors lost her on the day they died. It's the only thing that makes sense right now, and it's what they're going with."

Rose nodded, her attention turning to Ginny, who had just got up from the couch. She always seemed to do that when Rose could feel herself getting frustrated. Perhaps she sensed it too.

"Please find her," Rose begged, turning back to Harry as Ginny left the room. "For everyone's sake."

Harry shook his head. "Rosie, you have to believe me when I say I am doing everything I can. But my wand is tied. They won't let me near the case because I was too close to your parents. They were family."

"Then do it without them!" Rose argued. "You knew them better than any of those lousy people at the Ministry, anyway. You know what happened and you know who did it. If they have to do it by the book, let them, but you don't have to."

Harry opened his mouth, but closed it again. He seemed to see the desperation in Rose's eyes – and probably Hugo's too. It had been weeks and all they had was a watch, a necklace and their parents' wedding rings. It wasn't enough. Rose knew it and it seemed Hugo and Harry did too.

"You're their boss, aren't you?" she added.

Once again, Harry shook his head, his eyes burning with regret. "Rose, I can't do anything. I'm sorry. I know you want answers – we all do – but things have to be done in the right way. How do you think it will look if the Aurors break the law in the process of trying to find someone who also broke the law? It wouldn't look good, and it will be less likely that she will be punished for what she did. I know it's hard for you to understand, but it really is the number one priority for the Aurors right now. She's out there, Rose, and we will find her. I promise you. You just have to have some patience."

Rose sucked in a deep breath before getting to her feet. She had nothing else to say. It seemed Harry was too concerned about his own reputation to care about her parents, and Ginny seemed to want to stay out of trouble. If they weren't going to do anything about it, then she would have to figure out a way to do it herself. She was just a kid, wasn't she? They couldn't send her to Azkaban for wanting to know what happened to her mum and dad. Well, at least she didn't think they would.

"Fine," she said after a long time. "But just so you know; if the situation was reversed and it had been you, then Dad would have definitely done everything he could to try and find the person who did it. He'd never use a stupid law as an excuse for being too lazy and not caring enough to find out. He'd do anything for you."

She didn't wait for Harry to respond before she marched back down the hall and to the staircase. She felt Hugo behind her – silent – as she destroyed one of the many photos along the wall with her wand. It was conveniently one of Harry.

"It makes me so angry," she said to her brother, "that he can't and won't do anything. Who cares about the stupid law? Somebody killed them, and they should be able to do everything they possibly can to find that somebody. It's not fair!"

Hugo's only response was to nod, looking quite fearful of the anger Rose could feel bubbling inside of her. She saw him look cautiously at the smashed photo on the floor.

"They wouldn't want this," she said. "They'd want her punished."

Another chapter here! I hope you like, and your reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to DobbyLovesSocks for beta-ing, and thanks for everyone's lovely reviews so far. They mean a lot.