A/N: For the beautiful Bexy, whom I love oh-so-much *hugs* Hope you enjoy this!

-2-

She waved her wrist around with the graceful movements of a dancer as she magically withdrew select belongings from her wardrobe and folded them away neatly into her suitcase. She made sure to keep her clothing confined to the left side as the right would be filled with heavy jackets, dragonhide boots and other special clothing that she would require during her travels. Beneath her feet, she could hear her parents bustle around the house restlessly as they waited for her to walk down the stairs with a desperate and not very convincing speech ready to tumble from their lips.

Rose sighed hard as she plonked herself onto her bed, suddenly exhausted. She didn't want to leave after a parade of waterworks and unnecessarily loud conversations – no, Rose wanted to leave the comfort of the hearth and backpack through the world, creating adventures for herself as she went along.

She looked around her room one last time after packing away her boots and jackets and sealing her suitcase. It was a tiny little box enchanted with the undetectable extension charm, and the only reason it was even as big as it was, was because she didn't want to cause suspicion amongst the muggles she was sure to encounter.

Let's just get it over with, she thought to herself as she levitated her suitcase before her and skipped down the staircase. A delicious shiver crawled up her spine as she imagined a fantastical world unfurling before her.

"Rosie, darling, you're finally here! Are you sure you've gotten everything?" Rose almost bumped into her mother right at the foot of the stairs and grinned despite herself.

"You're subtlety is outstanding, mother darling," she said, laughing. Hermione laughed with her daughter.

"Well, you can't really blame me, I happen to have a rather wild daughter." Her eyes shone with mirth, quickly replacing the immense worry that had been residing in there for over a month.

"Rose, have you packed everything Uncle Charlie asked you to bring?" Ron's voice thundered over the crackle and roar of the fireplace as he walked towards his wife and daughter.

Rose nodded fervently before remembering that her father couldn't see her.

"Uhh, yes dad! I even have extra burn salve and all the basic potions I'd need just in case I fall sick. Not that I plan to get sick," she added hastily as her father's frowning face came into sight.

"That didn't sound to convincing to me," he said. "Hermione, are you sure Rosie's packed everything?"

Rose's temper flared instantaneously. "Dad, please don't tell me that's your way of getting me to not go. You know I have everything, I've literally repacked thrice!"

Hermione put a comforting arm on her daughter's shoulder but she shrugged it away impatiently. "Your father is only concerned for you; there's no need to use that tone, young lady." She was gentle yet firm and Rose sobered down.

"I'm sorry, dad," she mumbled half-halfheartedly. But Ron shook his head reproachfully.

"You know me too well, Rosie-Posie." He walked to his daughter and stroked her hair softly and Rose smiled despite herself at his use of her baby pet name.

"Is my leaving really bothering you, dad? You know I'll be safe, I'm spending the first two months with family, after all."

Rose had plans to stay with her uncle Bill and his family as they were currently in France, and was then going to work with her uncle Charlie at the dragon sanctuary in Romania. She was to join Teddy and Victoire in Switzerland after that and spend Christmas with them, after which she was going to be exploring the great outdoors al on her own.

She couldn't wait to leave,; every minute she felt idling away within the confines of her house felt like a sin.

"I know, and don't think I have no faith in you," Ron added. Rose and Hermione raised their eyebrows in tandem.

"Alright, so maybe I am not the happiest person in the world right now. Who would be, if they were saying goodbye to their daughters for what could possibly be the very last time?" His pitch rose with every syllable he uttered and Rose couldn't help the giggles from escaping her throat.

"Dramatic much, dad? Besides, we're wizards, I'm over seventeen, I can just apparate back home whenever I want to! Of course," she rushed to add as she saw her father's face light up with hope, "this may not happen too frequently, but I promise to visit you once every few months. Please, dad," she beseeches. "This has been my dream for over three years now. Please let me go with the knowledge that you're okay with this?"

She threw her hands around her father just then and hugged him close, reveling in the cosy smell of wood fire and apples and custard and grease that enveloped her father that evening.

"Hey, are you - "

"Shh, dad. I love you."

fin