Primrose had been in the library on her spare, working on her homework with Harry, Hermione and Neville. Harry still seemed 'off' to her, and she could not stop thinking or fretting about it. Rosie had asked Neville (in a whisper) whether he had noticed any changes in Harry, but like Hermione, Neville seemed to think that Harry was pretty normal ("He just pushes himself too hard - it makes him a bit tired, I guess.") Neville's words failed to reassure her, but she wasn't sure what she could do.

If only she could get into the Gryffindor common room - perhaps something there would yield a hint. She looked over at Hermione, then Harry, and then Neville. It couldn't hurt to ask, she supposed.

"What's the Gryffindor common room like?" she asked curiously. Hermione and Neville, looked up from their homework, and and after a pause, began to describe it to her, rather enthusiastically, with lots of hand waving, and gesticulating ("It's round" "with big squashy armchairs" "it's got scarlet and gold hangings" "and plush carpets" "and a huge fireplace" "and a big window.") It was a good thing they kept their voices quiet, or Madam Pince, the librarian would have kicked them out.

"Could I come up and see it? I've always been curious about Gryffindor tower," Rosie said innocently.

Hermione looked shocked by the suggestion. "Rosie! That's against the rules!" Neville looked at her sheepishly, and shrugged. Harry was mostly unresponsive. Ah well, she hadn't expect it to work anyway.

When Rosie returned to the Ravenclaw Nest, her first thought was that something felt wrong, but she decided she was just being paranoid because of Harry's odd behaviour. She went past the common room, up to the dormitories. Luna was lying her her stomach, her head propped on her hands as she read The Quibbler. Edine and Sakiko were sitting cross-legged on Edine's bed, as usual.

"Hi, Luna. Is that a new edition of The Quibbler?" Rosie walked up to the side of Luna's bed, peering at the magazine.

"Oh! The Heliopath conspiracy?" Rosie asked, as she read the headline on the open page. Luna looked up her and nodded.

"The minister's recruiting heavily," Luna murmured.

"How can you believe anything that Loony says!" Edine called out. "Everyone knows that The Quibbler is rubbish!" Sakiko smirked.

"What are you talking about?" Rosie snapped in irritation. She rather thought that Edine and Sakiko were small-minded (academically intelligent yes, but still small-minded). They were what one would describe as textbook smart, or book smart.

"We mean that Loony and her loony magazine are loony," Sakiko replied, with a malicious smile.

"The magazine is not loony, and her name is Luna!" Rosie replied, enunciating each word.

"Oh, sorry," Edine replied, wide-eyed, her voice dripping with fakeness. "I thought that there was only one loony in the room, but I guess there's two."

"What's wrong with you two?" Rosie replied with a mix of anger and confusion. She knew that Edine and Sakiko didn't see eye to eye with Luna, but they had never been outright cruel before.

"She doesn't get it," Sakiko said, looking over at Edine, her lip curled.

Edine snickered. "Of course not, she wasn't even there." Edine's voice was thick with smugness.

"Wasn't there for what?" Rosie snapped.

"Should we tell her?" Sakiko asked Edine.

"Hm. I don't know," Edine gave Rosie a look that suggested that she had mischief in mind. "If you admit that you're a loony, we'll tell you."

"Why would I do that?" Rosie wanted to throw her hands up in frustration. She couldn't help but think that both Edine an Sakiko were being ridiculously childish. Rosie shook her head. "Nevermind, I don't care." Rosie turned away from the pair of girls.

"Loony sat in Toby's chair," Edine called out to her.

"What?" Rosie exclaimed, and then looked at Luna incredulously. She looked back at Edine and Sakiko who seemed intent on Rosie's every expression.

"Luna, you were in the common room today?" Rosie asked, scanning her friend's face with concern.

"Yes," Luna replied. "I was building a tumbling-bouloedinker nest." Edine and Sakiko snickered.

"You sat in Toby's chair?"

"Toby? You mean the one that looks a cat-slyph?" Luna asked.

"Erm - I suppose he does have a rather feline cast, yes," Rosie replied, distracted by the mental image. "So you did sit in his chair?"

"I sat in the best spot to make a nest," Luna responded. Rosie frowned.

"Luna-" she started, then looked up at Edine and Sakiko who were still watching, wide-eyed. With a scowl, Rosie sat on Luna's bed, and tugged the hangings rather sharply so that they could have privacy.

"Luna, I think Toby is really - dangerous. Just - don't do that again, okay? I don't want anything to happen to you."

"What do you think would happen?" Luna asked, curiously.

"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about that guy. He gives me chills." Rosie ran her hands up and down her arms.

"And ignore Edine and Sakiko. They're just - stupid." Luna's lip quirked upwards.

"I don't think they can help it," Luna said serenely. "Their heads are full of wrackspurts."

"I suppose you're right," Rosie replied, a small smile tugging at her lips.

As the days passed, Primrose felt that she was both getting more hours of sleep (thanks to not being jolted awake by Harry's nightmares), and yet feeling less rested. The empathic link she had with Harry felt continually dark. It felt as though something was looming over her (or inside her) - something foreign and unfamiliar. She didn't like it at all.

The feeling of it had not intensified, thankfully - it was just that it was constant. It did not hurt, and objectively, it wasn't actually unpleasant. It just wasn't Harry. Since it did not appear as though the problem was going to go away on it's own, she decided she needed to do something about it. It was time to put the invisibility cloak to good use. ('Hm - note to self. I still have to research the Hallows' she thought). So, she tucked the cloak in her schoolbag one day, and after supper in the Great Hall, she made her way to an isolated corridor, threw the invisibility cloak over herself and then went back out, following Seamus and his group of Gryffindor friends to their common room. She had worried that with the empathic link, Harry would be able to detect her, and while she had considered following other Gryffindors, she knew these boys were in the same year as Harry, and thus would be in the same dormitory.

"Why does Snape have to be such a git," the red head Ron was whining.

"I told you to to cut the rat tail into smaller slivers," the dark haired, dark skinned boy Dean was saying.

"Well, then why didn't you just do it yourself!" Ron snapped with irritation.

"Yer potion still turned out better than mine," Seamus said mournfully. "When I handed mine in, Snape looked at me like I was a rat infected with Stinkitis."

"That's tough mate." Ron sympathetically patted Seamus on the back.

"I can't believe that Potter never messes up on his potions anymore," Dean said, a note of irritation mingled with disbelief in his voice.

"I know," Seamus replied. "I thought for sure that Potter just had two left hands, and would never be able to get potions right."

"His potions are better than mine now," Ron complained. "And now Snape spends all his time snapping at me."

"Meanwhile fawning all over Malfoy," Dean said darkly.

"He's such a bloody prat. I wish I could just hex boils all over his his stupid smug little ferret face," Ron muttered.

They turned a corner, climbed up a set of stairs, and turned another corner. Rosie listened to their conversation with interest. It was odd. Harry hadn't told her anything about doing better in potions. She was relieved of course - she knew he had the skill and ability. Still, it was strange of him to have not mentioned it. Of course, these days, he didn't mention much. Even Sirius seemed hurt whenever she called him on the two-way mirror without Harry.

They came up to a portrait of a fat lady, wearing flowing feminine garments, and her her hands in a dainty position.

"Dibble-dobble," the boys said. The portrait swung open, and they walked inside, Rosie following.

Rosie looked around the Gryffindor common room with interest. It was much like Hermione and Neville had described. She decided that she preferred the Ravenclaw common room though. The Ravenclaw Nest had windows all around the perimeter, whereas the Gryffindor common room only had a single window. While she was tempted to take more time examining the difference between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor common rooms, the boys were heading up a set of stairs to their dorm. She quickly followed them into the room.

The dorm rooms reminded her very much of the Ravenclaw dorm rooms, if one exchanged blue and bronze for red and gold. There were five beds, for the five second year boys. Ron, Dean and Seamus all threw themselves upon their own beds, which meant that one of the last two beds was Harry's. Luckily, she identified his trunk. While the three boys chatted, she silently explored the area around Harry's bed. His space was very neat - he seemed to have left nothing out. She remembered Neville mentioning that the other boys stole Harry's stuff, so it made sense.

She went up to his trunk, and tried opening it, but as expected, it was locked. She even peeked under his bed. Unfortunately, there was nothing down there - not even dust bunnies. It seemed that this particular mission was a waste. Perhaps she needed to look into his schoolbag, though he always carried it with him.

She left the boy's dorm, and walked a circle around the Gryffindor common room, careful to avoid the students. She saw the Weasley twins sitting in a corner, and when she drew near, she could hear them plotting a prank with one of the items that Harry had probably given them. She quirked her lips in amusement, and decided it was time to leave. Of course, she had to wait until someone exited or entered the room, but it wasn't a long wait. She slipped out past the portrait and headed down one of the halls.

Finding the invisibility cloak encumbering, she took it off, and stuffed it back in her bookbag. It was getting late and she needed to make her way back to the Nest. She was about to head in that direction, when she heard a sibilant sound that seemed to come from the walls.

"So hungry…..Hungry…..Come….Let me tear you…. Come to me….." it hissed. She recognized it immediately as parseltongue. 'Oh dear,' Rosie thought. 'a snake from the forbidden forest must have gotten trapped in the castle, poor thing. It's probably lost its way in the maze of corridors. I imagine it's starving.' It certainly spoke like a snake (at least that's how some of the snakes in her experience spoke to their prey. Not all of them - some had more interesting things to say, but others only cared about food and mating). However, the snake also sounded rather - big. Whatever it was, she would have to act with care. If it was big enough, then she would end up being it's prey. Hopefully, it would be willing to listen to her. If not - well - then she'd just have to run.

She decided to follow the hissing sound, unable to resist the call of an animal in need. She climbed down a set of stairs, turned a corner, and as she walked along the stretch of corridor, she noticed a sparkly purple jumper hanging off a decorative sconce on the wall. It looked vaguely familiar. As she got closer to the item, she noticed that the jumper had a big orange kneazle embroidered on the front of it. It was enchanted so that the kneazle's tail waved back and forth. It was Luna's jumper! But how did it get up there? There was no way she would be able to reach it. It was simply too high.

She frowned, as she considered the way the other Ravenclaws treated Luna. It was awful - all because of that horrible, horrible Toby that they all worshiped. She was so distracted by the hissing in the walls and the sight of the jumper that she did not notice Professor Snape until he was almost upon her. When she saw the black form, moving like an immense bat in the corner of her eye, she was glad she didn't flinch.

She turned to face him, her expression well schooled. Knowing that he was no longer picking on Harry made her feel better about him, but she still resented Professor Snape's past treatment of her brother. Her hazel-green eyes were icy as he the Professor stopped in front of her.

"It's nearly curfew, Miss Potter. Shouldn't you be in your room?" He asked in his silky voice.

"I was on my way there, sir," she said, meeting his eyes. "But my sweater." She looked up at the sparkly purple and orange jumper. Snape looked up at the garish, glittering jumper and raised an eyebrow. It certainly was an - ostentatious garment. Without a word, Professor Snape pulled the jumper off the sconce and handed it to her.

"Thank you, sir," she said to him. She walked around him, wanting to return the jumper to Luna. Remembering her manners at the last minute, stopped and turned around.

"Good night Professor," she said, her the iciness gone from her eyes. He inclined his head.

"Good night, Miss Potter."

In the following days, more and more of Luna's things seemed to go missing. She always kept her eye out for Luna's possessions, which showed up in random places (and even enlisted Neville, Hermione and Harry's help). Luna seemed to maintain her equanimity about the whole thing. However, Rosie was furious.

She was sitting in the Great Hall at breakfast one day, shooting daggers with her eyes at Edine and Sakiko. Romulus was, as always, intent on his food, and Luna was stirring her strawberry syrup-pumpkin juice mix placidly. Though Luna seemed oblivious, the air seemed to crackle with tension. Edine and Sakiko never hesitated to insult Luna or even Rosie when they were on their own, but Romulus made them nervous.

As for Rosie, as tempting as it was to berate the two girls for their utter air-headed cruelty, she knew that the rest of the Ravenclaws were on their side. The few that weren't, such as Alec Perriss, had chosen to remain neutral, and were of no help at all.

She was distracted from her rage by an owl, bearing yet another letter from Remus. Seeing it caused much of her anger to dissipate. Excitedly, she opened the letter.

Dear Rosie,

Does it really make you that happy to hear from me? I'm happy that it makes you happy, but surely, you don't actually remember anything about me. I don't want you to get your hopes up, thinking that I am something that I'm not. I'm not Sirius and I'm not James. We were friends, but we were also very different people.

Yes, I agree that it can be unfair that people are so prejudiced against werewolves. But you must remember that not all of them are like me or like Rom. Some of them are incredibly cruel. The one that bit me certainly was.

I adopted Rom when he was two. But he's like my own son to me. I wouldn't trade him for the world.

Yes, I did help Sirius and James to create the two-way mirror, but no, I don't have one of my own.

No, I don't have very many friends. It's strange to even have you writing me. I really don't deserve your kindness. You ask me why? You would probably hate me if I told you.

You're a very sweet girl, but there's a lot you don't understand about me. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.

I'm sorry,

Remus Lupin

Rosie frowned as she read the letter. Remus certainly seemed to suffer under a lot of guilt. And didn't he know that saying something like 'you would probably hate me if I told you,' would just make her more curious than ever? She already knew how she would reply to him. There was no way she was going to give up on Remus Lupin.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was the last Sunday in the month of October, and Romulus had his meeting with Professor Snape that evening. He had been looking forward to this day all month. He even reviewed the wolfsbane recipe again, even though he knew it by heart.

He had finished most of his assignments, so he decided he would spend the day exploring more of Hogwarts. Primrose was with Luna in the library - both of them were working on essays for History of Magic. Romulus was used to exploring with Primrose, and it almost seemed odd to not hear her footsteps behind him or smell her rain-like scent. At the same time, her presence could also be a bit of a distraction - his senses almost seemed more alert when she wasn't around.

Romulus was determined to discover as many of Hogwarts' secrets as possible. Though he was not particularly social, he forced himself to speak to the portraits or to the ghosts, who were willing to give hints to polite and friendly students. From one of the portraits (a garrulous old man dressed in Elizabethan hunting clothes) he had learned about the location of the Hogwarts Kitchen. This, of course, was a delight. During the period before and after the full moon, he tended to be extremely ravenous. Knowing that he could go down to the kitchens and gorge on all sorts of meat meant his stay at Hogwarts could be much more enjoyable.

He had uncovered a secret tunnel by twisting one of the decorative swirls in the stonework, but the tunnel only led to more corridors. Many of the tapestries hid passage ways, and he had checked behind almost all of them already. Some of the tapestries were even booby trapped, but his quick reflexes had enabled him to avoid most of the more bothersome traps. Romulus usually made an effort to avoid people as much as possible, but every so often, he would observe the other students if he thought he could discover something that would be to his advantage. It could be interesting to learn what people got into when they didn't think they were being watched.

Romulus was fairly sure that he knew almost all the common snogging spots in the school. He had seen several students blackmailing other students (and had learned some interesting secrets in the process). He knew that numerous students were keeping pets against the school rules. One or two students had little boas (he had no idea what those students would do when the snakes were full grown). At least one student had a crup. Another student kept a little bluebird. How the student managed to keep a little bluebird alive in a castle full of cats was beyond him.

He also witnessed a fair number of fights, which had introduced him to a good number of hexes and jinxes. These he usually practiced on his own in empty classrooms, or sometimes in the Forest. He did have a few books on Hexes and Jinxes of course (his own, since the school's books were in the restricted section), but it helped to see them in action. He never interfered with the fights - in fact, he rarely interfered with anything he saw. He didn't really see it as being any of his business.

Romulus also came across many of Luna's possessions. It wasn't always obvious of course - at least if it were based only on sight. However, her belongings carried her distinctive odor. Whenever he came across these, he always collected them and gave them to Primrose. He knew she would appreciate it.

He also knew who the culprits were, who stole Luna's belongings and scattered them throughout the school. Unfortunately, the culprits covered a large number of Ravenclaw House from first to fifth years, so exposing them would do no good. At least the sixth and seventh years seemed to think that picking on a first year was too petty to indulge.

As he wandered along a passageway, he heard a group of girls chatting. They were Ravenclaw third years: Marietta Edgecombe, Sarah Kempston, and Cho Chang - the Triad's little groupies. He had a strong dislike for the girls. Cho wasn't too bad, but the other two were extremely vindictive, and represented the some of the aspects of humanity that he hated most. He could hear them talking to one another and they sounded excited.

"I just saw them come out of the library," Sarah the brunette was saying.

"Come on! Let's follow them," Marietta said, with malicious glee in her voice. Marietta had reddish-blonde hair in corkscrew curls, and was very pretty. Unfortunately, her prettiness was marred by her conceit and her petty personality.

"Shh!" one of the girls said, and they tip toed along in a tight group. Romulus knew, almost immediately, who their target was. After all, the girls followed whatever direction Toby gave them. At the moment, the focus of all their attacks were Luna, and by extension Primrose.

"They're heading up the stairs! Come on," Marietta hissed.

"What are you planning, Mari?" Cho asked. "They're just first years. This seems like a waste of effort."

"Shut up, Cho," said Sarah. "It's fun."

Romulus followed the girls as they in turn followed Primrose and Luna.

"There's a set of stairs up ahead, going downwards," Marietta whispered. "I'm going to hit them with the Trip Jinx." Sarah's eyes were sparkling, but Cho's expression was dismayed.

"They could seriously get hurt!" Cho exclaimed. "Ugh, leave me out of this. I'm going."

"Coward," Sarah hissed. "Are you going to cry to Cedric?"

"Shut up," Cho said, before stalking off.

Sarah and Marietta crept along silently, waiting for the moment when Luna and Primrose were close enough to the stairs. They had their wands out and pointed. However, there was no way that Romulus would let anyone hurt Primrose (and by extension Luna). Though he did not voice it (even to himself), Primrose almost felt like part of his pack, and wolves protected their pack.

Pulling his wand out, he cast one of the newest hexes he had learned at the two girls: the Jelly-Brain Jinx. He cast the jinx twice in quick succession at each of them. The wands in their hands were dropped, and they their faces became slack-jawed. Afterall, he didn't want the girl's remembering or identifying his voice - the girls would be completely befuddled, and wouldn't know what hit them.

Though Romulus knew he should have let it go, he couldn't resist doing a little extra damage. He pointed his wand and cast the instant scalping hex, leaving them both as bald as cue balls. With a dark laugh, he disappeared back into the shadows, leaving Primrose and Luna to go on their way, safely back to the tower.

At about 6:55pm, Romulus found himself in front of the Snape's office in the dungeons. Though he was tempted to knock on the door early, he knew that Professor Snape could be very particular, so he waited until 7o'clock exactly before he knocked.

"Come in," the Professor called out. Romulus opened the door, and entered Professor Snape's office. The office was dimly lit and rather gloomy. The walls were lined with jars and jars of various interesting specimens. Romulus wished that he could examine each one closely, but he kept his attention on the Professor.

"This way," the Professor said. Snape led him through a door into what appeared the be the Professor's private lab. It was a spacious room, slightly chilled (which Romulus knew was better for storing potion ingredients), and meticulously clean. The walls here were also lined with jars, however these jars contained potion ingredients, all neatly labelled and dated. Romulus found himself feeling impressed. He was also incredibly excited - after all, these ingredients were a treasure trove of potential. Many of the labels listed familiar items, but there were just as many ingredients that Romulus had read about, but had never before seen. Some of the ingredients were worth a veritable fortune. Through sheer discipline, he kept his emotions well hidden.

The lab was set up slightly differently than it was in the classrooms. Clearly the professor had his own special system. Romulus examined the set-up carefully, and could already mentally imagine ways that the Professor's system would make brewing more efficient.

"What is your knowledge of wolfsbane potion?" the professor asked, his voice neutral, rather than dangerous. 'Straight to the point,' Romulus thought. Even out of classes, Snape wasn't one for small talk.

"Only the recipe, sir," Romulus replied. "I know it by heart, but I've never attempted it."

"Nor should you, at your experience level," Snape replied. The potion was, after all, extremely dangerous to brew. If the child were to try, he'd likely be seriously hurt.

"If you know the recipe, then bring me all the ingredients," the professor said, indicating towards the shelves. "They are all alphabetically arranged." Romulus nodded, and did as the Professor commanded.

Snape worked silently, and with obvious skill, and, Romulus watched the process with fascination. He didn't make a single sound, and (to Snape's approval), he did not hover over him as Snape worked. He sat on a stool, a respectful distance away, not asking any questions, or making any distracting movements, like fidgeting.

When Professor Snape was half way through the potion (after two and a half hours of continuous brewing), the Professor put a stasis on the potion.

"I will finish the rest of the potion tomorrow evening," he told Romulus. "If you wish to see the rest, be here at 7o'clock tomorrow."

"Thank you sir," Romulus replied, genuinely grateful. He remained in his seat, and Snape gave him an odd look.

"Was there anything else you wanted, Mr. Lupin?" the professor asked, but this time, there was a dangerous edge in his voice.

"Yes, Professor. I was wondering if you'd be willing to take the time assign me extra projects."

"Why should I make the effort to do that for a first year?" Snape sneered.

"I can already brew all the first year potions, sir," Romulus said. "I can brew the second year potions as well."

Snape's expression was inscrutable as he examined Romulus.

"I will have a recipe for you to brew tomorrow evening. If you can create it flawlessly, then I shall consider your request."

"Thank you sir."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

By the end of October, the Ravenclaws were excited to be told that they would finally be doing the practical component of the levitation charm in Professor Flitwick's class. While the theory had continued to be very engrossing, the Ravenclaws were eager to learn actual wand work. Of course, many of the Ravenclaws were rather smug because their parents had allowed them to practice with their own wands, and they already knew a number of charms. Rosie herself was certainly experienced.

The Ravenclaws had charms with the Gryffindors, and Professor Flitwick had put them into pairs that day. Knowing (rather proudly) that his intelligent Ravenclaws would likely be more experienced and skilled, he paired the Ravenclaws with Gryffindors. Thus, Rosie found herself paired with Ginerva Weasley, or Ginny as she preferred to be called. They stood at their desks, with large fluffy feathers in front of them.

"Swish and flick!" Professor Flitwick was saying. "And pay attention to your enunciation!" The Ravenclaws had trouble hiding their smugness when many of them were able to do it on either their first or second try. For the Gryffindors, it was a bit more challenging.

Rosie had managed to get the feather floating on the second try, and Ginny had managed by her seventh attempt. The redhead beamed, once the feather trembled, before lifting off the table.

"Good work, Miss Weasley!" Flitwick said with a wide smile. Rosie and Ginny grinned at each other. It was impossible not to like Professor Flitwick - he had a way of making his classes a lot of fun.

"So," said Ginny, "You're Harry's sister?"

"Yeah," Rosie replied. "Is it that obvious?"

"Well, I've seen you two together. You seem really close." Rosie smiled, but she felt a twinge of sadness. She did not feel very close to Harry these days.

"I'm surprised you didn't get sorted into Gryffindor," Ginny continued. "Harry mentioned that both your parents were Gryffindors."

"The hat considered it," Rosie confessed. "That or Hufflepuff."

"Hufflepuff?" Ginny snorted.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," Rosie said with a laugh.

"Uh, Sure, if you say so," Ginny replied. They were silent for a moment, and decided to practice the levitation charm a couple more times.

"Harry's pretty amazing, isn't he?" Ginny said, once her feather floated back down onto the desk.

"Harry? Yeah, he's brilliant."

"He is, isn't he?" Ginny said happily, before proceeding to list Harry's numerous virtues. The girl's brown eyes were practically glowing, as she discussed one of her favourite topics. Rosie looked over at the girl speculatively. It seemed as though she had a pretty bad case of hero-worship. Still, it made her happy that people thought positively of Harry. All in all, the Weasleys (aside from Ron) seemed like a really likeable bunch.

The day before Halloween, Rosie received another letter from Remus. While she was happy to receive it, her mood had been low in the past few days. Halloween was far from being Rosie's favourite holiday. If anything, considering her history and Harry's history, Halloween was seen as more of a period of sadness and remembrance. After all, it was the day that their grandparents were killed, and also the day their parents went missing and were driven insane by torture. When Harry and Rosie had still been living with Sirius, they usually made a trip out to St. Mungo's to visit their parents. The visits often left her feeling terribly conflicted. On one hand, she wanted her parents to know that she loved them. On the other hand, she dreaded seeing them, the way they were. It was horrible - always horrible.

It was with these melancholic thoughts in mind that Rosie opened Remus's letter.

Dear Rosie,

I imagine that this is a difficult time of month for you. It is a very difficult time of month for me. You asked why I don't deserve your kindness. Well, one of the reasons is what makes Halloween such a difficult time for both of us.

The truth is, on the day after Halloween, in 1982, it was a full moon. Sirius and I should have been at Grimmauld Place that night. If we were, things may have been completely different. As it was, I had wanted to run in the forest, and Sirius had agreed, and when we returned on November 2nd, we were greeted by an owl, informing us that something had gone wrong, and your parents were missing.

If I had stayed at Grimmauld Place that night, if we hadn't been running in the woods, then Sirius would have gotten the message sooner and we might have saved your parents. It's my fault that they are the way they are. I can never forgive myself, and I do not deserve your kindness because I am the one who took away your parents.

I am truly, deeply sorry Rosie.

Remus Lupin

Rosie's feelings were a tumultuous mess as she looked over Remus's letter. She knew that he had feelings of guilt, but she did not realize that he blamed himself for what happened to her parents. She felt a mix of pain, sadness and anger. Forgetting about the food in front of her, she stood up from the Ravenclaw table, and quickly left the Great Hall. Romulus and Luna watched her stalk off with bewilderment. They had noticed that her mood had been dark in the past few days, but she had been unwilling to discuss anything with them.

Making her way back to her dorm room, Rosie took out a piece of parchment, and immediately began composing a letter, writing with her emotions more than she was writing with her mind.

Dear Remus, she wrote, her quill flying over the page,

How could you? How could you blame yourself for something you didn't even do? You weren't the one who kidnaped my parents. You weren't the one who cast the cruciatus curse that drove them to madness.

How could you use such a flimsy excuse for leaving me and Harry and Sirius? How could you just walk out of our lives? We already lost so many people. Why did we have to lose you too?

It wasn't fair. It isn't fair. It isn't fair for you to just decide to cut yourself off, just because you happened to feel guilty for something that someone else did. You at least owed us an explanation. How could you just disappear like that? Don't you think Sirius misses you? And Harry? And what about me? I didn't even get a chance to know you.

I don't know if I can forgive you for doing this to us. And I definitely cannot will not accept you running away again.

Come back into our lives.

Rosie.

She dusted and folded the letter, and just as she was about to dash off to the owlry, she met Luna and Romulus at the exit of the dorm room, looking at her with concern.

"I'm going to the owlry," she told them, her voice subdued. They nodded, and silently followed along.

That night, Rosie had dreams about red eyes and a high sibilant laugh all around her. She was in a dark, dark place, and all she could see was the checkered black and white floor beneath her. She tried to move from her square, and found that she was immobilized. She gazed into the darkness, and was surprised to see her family and friends, all of them on different squares - some on black squares, some on white. There was Harry across from her. She could also see Sirius, next to her. On her other side was Luna and a little further, Romulus. Hermione and and Neville were behind her, and curiously, so was Professor Snape. Across from her, a little behind Harry on his right side was Toby, flanked by Samir and Christopher. On Harry's other side was Astrid and her friends.

Disturbingly, further in the shadowy distance, she could see her parents, lying on their sides in the darkness, writhing and twitching. A giant white hand with long pointed nails suddenly reached out from the darkness, and Rosie knelt down, cowering in fear. However, the hand was not reaching for her - it was reaching for Harry, and placing him in the square in front of her. Harry smiled blankly, and pulled out a curved dagger - no, wait - it looked more like an immense fang. He twisted his body, ready to strike her. Before he did, she woke, gasping and horrified.

As the sharp edge of the nightmare began to fade, Rosie realized that it was Hallowe'en and a small moan of dismay escaped her lips. Mum….Dad… she thought. She would need to call Sirius on the mirror later. Of all days, Hallowe'en was a particularly important one to speak to him.


A/N: Please Review! I really appreciate input :)