Several hours later, Rose apparated into the Potter's back garden. Lily and Hugo were sitting over a chessboard, shouting at their pieces. Neither acknowledged Rose until she stopped in front of them. "Are you two completely mental? It's freezing out here."

"Albus is in the basement," Lily said, pausing to watch her knight take down Hugo's rook. The savage glee in her cousin's eyes was unnerving.

"You know he hates it when you call him that."

"Of course," Lily said brightly. "Come on, Hugo. I haven't got all day."

"You done rowing with mum and dad yet?" Hugo asked, prodding his bishop forward.

"We weren't rowing," Rose replied indignantly.

"It sounded like rowing. Soon as I heard dad I popped straight into the fireplace."

"Well, he's just sulking now. So not a real row. He'll be at Gran's later."

"Whatever you say," he said, waving her off and staring at the board.

Rose let herself in the back door of Grimmauld place, wandering past the kitchen and into her Uncle's study.

"Rose!" he said, crossing the room to pull her into a hug. "Your father stopped being a pig-headed git, yet?"

"For now. I'm sure he's sitting at home researching the best hex he can put on you tonight, though."

"He can try," Uncle Harry said, green eyes twinkling. "Al's in the basement."

"Lily and Hugo told me. But actually…"

He gestured her to a chair. "Rose, you know that I can't tell you anything. I don't know much, but until you've done your training, well, they're Unspeakables for a reason."

"That's what Al said."

"Al's a know-it-all," he replied, and she grinned at him.

"The worst," she agreed.

"He's just like your mum, sometimes, I swear."

"Mum said I was just like you," Rose said without thinking and immediately felt a blush heat her cheeks.

"That," he said, leaning back in his chair, "just might be the nicest thing your mum has ever said about me."

"Uncle Harry? Do you think…I'd be doing something good, right? I'd be making a difference?"

"If all you want to do is make a difference, Rose, you could be an auror. Or work with your mum. Or be a healer. Or teach. Any number of things that would be safe and easy and wouldn't mean eighteen months away from the people who love you. Is that all you want?"

"No," she said, shaking her head slowly. "No, it isn't."

"I think that's all you need to know then."

"Is it worth it?"

"Blimey, Rose. I couldn't tell you. My job? My department? We work closely with the Unspeakables, but I don't understand what they do. Hell, your mum, dad, and I just about tore the place to pieces and I still don't get what goes on in there."

"It's just…eighteen months. And then, the rest of my life…"

"Sometimes, Rose, you have to leave behind people you care about so you can do the hard job," Uncle Harry said quietly.

"Really?"

"Really. Ask your Aunt Ginny. Well, no. Don't ask your Aunt Ginny. I don't think she'll ever let me live that down."

Rose laughed, and some of the strange weight she'd been carrying seemed to lift.

"Rose," Uncle Harry said slowly as she got up to head to the basement. "This person you care about, it's not…is it…"

"Like I'm going to tell you," she said, sticking her tongue out and slipping out the door before he could respond. She rounded the corner and saw Aunt Ginny sitting on the sofa, the Daily Prophet spread out in front of her and a stack of what could only be Quidditch stats at her side. The room was warm from the fire and everything was bright and clean, the Christmas tree sitting in the corner covered with delicate fairy lights. Her mum had told her what Grimmauld place had been like when it had belonged to the Black family, but looking at it now it was hard to believe it had ever been anything but cozy.

"Al's in the basement," Aunt Ginny said, smiling up at her.

"I can't visit the rest of my family?" Rose asked in mock indignation.

"You two have been freakily attached since birth. It's not natural," Aunt Ginny said with an airy wave of her hand.

Rose just smiled at the gesture and headed down to the basement. As soon as she opened the door, a cloud of noxious purple smoke bellowed out. "What the hell, Al?" she asked, coughing.

"Right, right. Sorry!" he shouted and the smoke suddenly cleared.

"What are you doing?"

"Fiddling," he said, eyeing a revolting looking black potion that was gurgling strangely over a very high flame.

"Do I want to know?"

"Probably not," he said cheerfully. "What are you doing here? I thought we were seeing each other tonight?"

"I told mum and dad about the Unspeakables," she said.

Al let out a low whistle. "And?"

"Mum took it fine, though she lost her temper thinking your dad had kept it from her. And then my dad blundered in and lost it. But we talked and he said he's proud and that he always knew I was going to do something important. Like saving the bloody world is just no big deal."

"They're all ridiculous," Al agreed.

This was one of her favorite things about Albus. James hated talking about his dad's fame ("Because James can't stand anyone else being the center of attention," Al always said) and Lily and Hugo barely even seemed aware. But Rose and Al had realized early on what their parents had done and neither saw any reason to pretend it hadn't happened.

She sank down onto a stool across from his cauldron and sat quietly, watching him work. Al, like his grandmother and both of his namesakes, was freakishly adept at potions. She and Scorpius were good, but Al just got it. Not that he seemed to be getting it particularly well at the moment.

"Whatever that is," she said, pinching her nose closed, "cannot possibly be what you intended."

Al ignored her. "Heard from Scorpius?"

"I've owled him three times. He finally owled me back two days ago, turning down a trip to Diagon Alley."

"How come you didn't invite me to Diagon Alley?" Al grumbled, shaking a generous amount of lacewing flies into his cauldron. It made a large burp and he did a gleeful little shimmy that Rose pretended not to see.

"If he'd said yes, I would have. He's avoiding me."

"Maybe."

"Mum says I should be more like your mum and take the lion by the mane."

"Oh, God," Al groaned. "Stop. That's bloody disgusting on so many levels."

"And how long have you known, by the way?"

"Known? Oh. I didn't know. Not until I cracked open the common room to see you two clutching each other like you'd never let go."

"I didn't hear you come in," she accused.

"Exactly."

"And it was just a hug! Friends can hug."

"Oh yes. It looked very friendly, the way you two were standing there shattering your hearts into a million tiny pieces."

"Your dad's right. You're a know-it-all."

"Scorpius's term is usually smug bastard, so know-it-all works just fine for me."

"What am I supposed to do, Al?"

"Anything that doesn't involve the phrase 'taking the lion by the mane.' Please, I beg you, as your cousin and your best friend."

"Can you be serious for once!"

"What do you want me to say, Rose? That your life is complicated? That his life is complicated? We've only just gotten our parents used to all of us being friends. And you're about to run off to be an Unspeakable and he's going to be an auror…" Albus trailed off. "For the record, I hate that you'll both be doing things that have me sitting at home wringing my hands and hoping you come back from whatever stupid assignment you're on in one piece."

"I didn't mean for this to happen," she said, and her tone was almost pleading. "I don't even know if I want it to. But it did and I can't bloody help it!"

"Real romantic. Definitely put it to him like that."

"Stuff it, Potter."

"Look, Weasley. I only have so much advice to give and all I can think to tell you is that the three of us have never kept secrets from each other, not about things that matter. This matters. Now get the hell out of here or you'll not make it back in time for dinner."