August 19, 2026

The streets were still empty, even in the light of the day. Rose shivered and pulled her coat closer to her as a cool gust of wind blew by. She was leading Louis Weasley down the different streets and alleys towards their destination. Around them, everything seemed to be shut down. Stores were boarded up and almost all windows were broken or had some sort of crack in them.

Louis was in disguise. For his safety of identity, he had very reluctantly allowed his sister and cousins to transfigure his face so he didn't resemble himself anymore. Well, very reluctant was putting it mildly. He was so adamant against the changing of his features that Dominique just petrified him to make it easier to turn his short blonde hair brown and shaggy, angle his cheekbones differently, add a lot of facial hair, and turn his left eye brown.

Louis was one of the law lovers of the family and a major one at that. Rose was thankful that she and Louis were on good terms because even though her mother was a lawyer too, she didn't even want to think of asking her mom to accompany her. Louis had read books thicker than phonebooks and dictionaries; he lived, breathed, and ate complex decrees from the past and compared them to times of the present. He loved the intricate wording of lawyers and their discussions, and he even loved all the arguments and word play associated in the courts of the Ministry. He was currently only in his first year of school but it was his dream to work at the prestigious law firm The Hobbs and Tabasca Office, located in Ireland.

He was very smart but he acted like an annoying brat to his sisters and a vain know-it-all to everyone else. Louis still lived at home at Shell Cottage though he had graduated from Hogwarts the year previously.

Louis was scratching his face, unused to having facial hair. "This amount of hair on any face is indecent. My face is itchy," he complained to Rose while continuously rubbing his hand over his beard.

"Shut up Lou," Rose said back, having heard him complain about the same thing for the past half hour.

He shot her an annoyed look and then cleared his throat quite pompously. "Ahemm." His hand didn't stop scratching his face.

Rose rolled her eyes and sighed, already sick of him and her promise after only a few hours. She had cleaned his room earlier in the afternoon to try to butter him up so he would help her out for a small task. However, his room had been disgusting, to put it lightly. It was almost as if he purposely dug in the garbage and littered it around his room, leaving her in a foul mood and Louis in an smug one.

"I mean, shut up the dashingly intelligent Louis, who is the greatest person in the world. . . as if you don't have enough of an ego already. . . " She punched him hard in the shoulder.

"OW!" He glared at her as he rubbed where she punched. "Okay, there is no need to punch or say anything about my ego. Merlin, you are already abusing me and we have only been out of my house for ten minutes. I'm not Hugo, I am a high class and sophisticated young man. Too old for such fooler – are you mocking me? I just saw you making faces; how very rude. Rose Nymphadora, I will turn around and not accompany you to this barbaric place."

"Oh, cool it wise one. Just keep walking and shut up, we're almost there."

Louis huffed and stayed silent for a moment before: "Why did you have to transfigure a beard? Couldn't I have been in disguise without one, my face feels like ants are crawling on it!"

Rose punched him in the same spot on the shoulder and after he scowled at her, he shut up.

It had been three days since Rose had received the black letter and obtained the bracelet on her wrist. After all her memories had flooded back she remembered how she had so easily signed the contract, was so easily coerced into writing her name and it took no effort at all for her to put a blood thumbprint beside it. They had just asked if she wanted a chance to prove herself, a chance to travel, and a chance to start over. Perhaps what they were saying was complete bullshit, but she signed up all too readily. Her voices of reason had been blocked from her mind right after she put ink down, though she was already not paying attention to them because of the alcohol.

She had disguised Louis so she could bring him to the place she herself had been taken to read the contract. He was the perfect candidate since he was tight-lipped and had amble-knowledge in his field. There had to be a loophole, or some vague and unclear writing that could get her out of the contract. If there was anything, Louis would find it. She didn't want to go find some criminal and bring him in; she was still practicing her magic again after four years of being wandless. She had to figure out her own life before she focused on something like this.

Go over the rules again, just to be safe, Marta said to Rose. She heard Greg sigh in her mind.

You've already gone over them nine times with the poor kid, don't scare him away yet, he said.

Rose thought about it, but then decided to just go over them again. She didn't want any mistakes to happen.

"Okay, remember rule one?" Rose said.

Louis rolled his eyes. "Good lord, not again."

"Louis," Rose said and then seeing the face he made she wearily added to his name. "I mean the greatest person on Earth."

"Rule one: my name has changed from Louis Weasley to Mark Bridlington and I am not to utter the name Louis Weasley under their roof."

"Very good, rule two?"

"I'm not an imbecile," he groaned.

"I didn't say what that you were. Let's just go through them all one last time."

He growled under his breath before unenthusiastically saying, "don't accept anything that anybody may offer."

Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Possible examples include, coffee, tea, money, books, a frog, new broomstick, yada yada yada. . . just don't accept anything."

Rose nodded. "Okay, rule three?"

"No names mentioned. Mine, my family, any pets, our school. . . "

"Righto," responded Rose.

Don't forget the final rule, Marta whispered helpfully when Rose was about to say they were finished. They had stopped outside a boarded up movie theatre and Rose wanted to finish talking outside before they went in.

Rose winced and asked Louis, "rule four?"

"We do not separate, not even if they offer me vanilla ice-cream with sprinkles, or candy. Unless it's licorice wands, then I can follow without guilt."

Rose furrowed her brows. "I'm serious Lou, we are going in, and going out. I have no idea what is going to happen in there, or who works there. It could be dangerous – I really don't know. You have one job and one job only, but if anything happens, whether it be bad or you feel threatened somehow – you are to apparate away immediately, no jokes, no games, no obnoxiousness. With or without me. Get yourself out."

"You make it sound as if we are breaking into the Ministry. Relax, I'm just reading the contract, you are asking questions and then we are departing. Easy peasy. And you forgot the rest of my name, again."

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea. . . And give me a freaking reprieve about your name. Just until today is over, this is too important to worry about that."

Louis sighed. "Okay, I suppose so, your obligation will resume at midnight tonight then. And it'll be fine with these people, stop worrying excessively."

"Your parents will kill me if anything happens to you, and my parents will too. They will call me foolhardy and young and naive."

"Merlin, you sound like your mom. Since when are you so fussy?"

Rose grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her. "Louis Gideon Weasley. My parents don't know about my stupid decisions and we are keeping it that way. Your parents think you went out book shopping. We can't arouse any suspicion. Molly will do her darndest to keep her trap shut, and your sister and Lucy don't know anything. So if something goes wrong here – well nothing can go wrong here, okay. Just follow the rules."

Louis sighed and loosened Rose's hand from his shirt. "You're wrinkling my shirt, it's brand new. But fine, I'll follow your rules."

"Okay good." Rose pointed to the boarded up door. "Well this is where we go in."

Louis finally noticed exactly where they were standing, and he didn't like it. Unfortunately to add to his first impression, a rat crawled out from under the building. He surveyed the old movie theatre with distaste.

"You aren't serious. No way. This is unsanitary and very dirty. And I just bought new robes!"

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Sometimes you remind me of Dominique. You sound just like her."

Louis sniffed loudly, he hated comparisons between him and Dominique. They butted heads like rams in mating season, always criticising and harsh on one another. "Blimey, I'll go then. You first."

Rose grinned, glad she knew how to tweak his buttons, and then ducked down to enter through the gap in the wood. Her six foot one frame had a little trouble squeaking through but she made it with less grumbling than Louis, who was the exact same height only wearing wizard robes unlike her jeans.

Louis wiped himself off of dust. They both lit their wands.

"How did you manage to take a fugitive through that crack the first time you were here?"

Rose shrugged. "We didn't. The man spelled the door off and put it back on afterwards. But this is quicker and easier.

"Yet dustier and dirtier. . . lovely. I didn't sign up for the crawling."

"Shhhh," whispered Rose.

They continued walking forwards, Rose leading the way. Louis sqeaked a few times when he saw some rats and walked into a cobweb, but he didn't turn around and leave. After they passed what looked to be the old lobby, Rose led them down a side hallway and into the room that had was labelled 'Film Room One.' Rose stopped in front of a half faded picture of clowns on the side of the wall.

"I hope this works," she said. Louis looked at her, confused. Just as he was about to ask what she meant Rose stuck her finger out and pressed the red center of the clown's nose.

The floor instantly dropped and they were falling through a tunnel: down, down, down.

Their descent slowed the nearer the bottom they got and they came tumbling out onto the dusty floor.

"Welcome to the headquarters," Rose stated blandly, staring around her with distaste. She stood up and frowned. Nothing looked familiar. She recalled the memory of her night here and vividly remembered that there were benches everywhere, not an empty room. There was supposed to be a holding cell to the left of her instead of a desk with a man behind it.

"More dust! This is ridiculous, I'm going to be dry-cleaning for weeks now. Thanks for the heads up!" Louis muttered as he brushed himself off.

The room was brightly lit in contrast to the dim, dark room up above. Rose and Louis extinguished their wands as they approached the desk. The man was sitting there reading a book with his legs resting on the desk. He wore bright blue glasses and was wearing a red plaid shirt and purple corduroy trousers.

The man didn't look up from his book and when Rose and Louis stood there for a few minutes not moving the man finally asked, "how can I help you?" He seemed uninterested in the two and just asked his question because they hadn't moved away from him.

Rose smiled, but then it faded when the man didn't look up. "Well," she stated, "we're here to speak to Robert Cunningham."

Robert Cunningham was the only name she had heard the night she was here for he had personally given her the contract.

Still without lifting his eyes from his book the man said, "identification?"

Rose froze then. "Pardon?"

"What? You think we let just any person who tumbles down head in?"

"Err, no. What do you mean by identification?"

The man finally looked up at her annoyed. "If you don't know you can't pass."

Rose looked at Louis who was looking back at her with a puzzled expression. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I. . . I've got two letters in the mail from here and so I brought my lawyer here to talk -"

The man frantically waved his arms to interrupt her, finally dropping his book on his lap. "Sweet merlin, STOP! I don't want to know. I just need identification. My god, newbies. . . !" he said the word with much exasperation and continued, "did you receive something in one of the letters?"

He was obviously hinting at an obvious object and Rose understood with a widening of her eyes. She pulled out the red bandana and waved it in the air. The man gave a wry smile and nodded her forward.

"Second door on the left is Robert Cunningham."

The door beside the desk opened and Rose and Louis walked through, shutting it softly behind them. The door disappeared.

"That is creepy," Louis said with a worried glance at Rose. Rose made a face at the now empty wall.

"Quite."

The hallway was long and empty. Every door in it was closed without so much as a hint to what lay behind it. They walked forwards and stopped in front of the second door.

Rose knocked on the door and then heard a man say, "come in."

They entered.

There were full boxes littering the floor around a desk and a filing cabinet in the back corner. Rose's eyes went to the man behind the desk. Rose looked at him and asked hesitantly, "Robert Cunningham?"

He nodded and she was instantly confuzzled. This was not the man she remembered. This man was small and had dark skin and absolutely no hair. The man from a few nights ago had a head full of black hair and very broad shoulders. The man set down his quill and looked up at Rose and Louis. He had quick, calculating eyes and took their appearance in before speaking.

"How may I help you two," he asked.

"You're not Robert Cunningham!" Rose blurted out.

The man looked affronted. "I beg your pardon. Of course I am, why would I respond to Robert Cunningham if I was not he?"

"I don't know. But you aren't the man I saw who was using that name," Rose said.

The man stared at her and shrugged. "Perceptions can change. If you don't want my help the exit is the door immediately across from this one. If you do want my help, speak."

Rose needed answers and she didn't care who answered them, Robert Cunningham or not. "My name is Rose Weasley, and I was just here last Saturday night when I-"

"Ah, speak no more. This isn't for my ears."

Rose spluttered. "What? You – or someone named Robert Cunningham was there that night and made the contract I -"

"Yes, yes," he interrupted, "but I won't be able to help you."

"Why? Who will then? I'm not leaving this movie theatre unless my questions are answered," she stated.

"Turn left and then six doors farther down on the right-hand side is Clara Garwhistle. She can help you two."

"Thanks," Rose said and then pushed past Louis to get to the door. He gently shut the door behind them and followed Rose.

"Look behind you," he murmured to Rose. She turned and stared at the wall for a few moments before she could comprehend what she was seeing. The wall was only a few feet away, and the office door they just left was nowhere to be seen.

"Uhh, okay, that's weird. Is the wall following us, or is everything disappearing behind us?" Rose asked quietly, not really expecting Louis to know. They continued counting doors as they walked, occasionally looking behind them at the wall that was always only a few feet away, gobbling up the doors. There were no names on any of the doors, or any indication of people inside the rooms. Once they walked forward six doors Rose knocked again.

When met with another 'come in,' they entered.

Clara Garwhistle stared up at them with a small smile on her face and with her hands crossed in front of her on her desk. A middle aged woman, she had some strips of grey in her brown hair and a pair of round glasses perched on her nose. She seemed to be expecting them, with two chairs already in front of her and three coffee mugs on her desk. A kettle of boiling water was beside her.

She nodded at them. "Seat yourselves."

Almost mechanically Rose and Louis sat down in the wooden chairs.

"Can I get you two anything? Coffee, tea, water? Something stronger?"

Rose shook her head. "No thank you. This will just be a short visit."

Clara gave a calculating smile at them. "It's funny," she said thoughtfully as she grabbed one of the mugs in front of her. "Everyone says no to the offers of drinks. Every single person in the past thirty years has turned it down. It's almost if they think we are going to put an end to their lives through poisoned beverages. How silly."

"You sure?" she asked again. When Rose nodded Clara tapped the two remaining mugs with her wand and they disappeared. She put a teabag in the remaining cup and poured in hot water.

"So as you two probably heard, my name is Clara Garwhistle, and I can answer any questions you have pertaining to your assignment and our business here."

"I have a few questions most definitely," Rose replied. "My name is Rose Weasley, and this is my lawyer, Mark Bridlington."

Clara raised her eyes in amusement as Louis nodded at her. Rose had a feeling the disguise fell through as a small smirk appeared on Clara's face, but Clara didn't say anything.

Louis jumped in. "My client would like to see her contract, if you have it on hand here."

"Certainly," Clara said and rummaged in one of the boxes beside her desk. Like the last office they were in, boxes littered the floor and everything looked as if it had been half packed. Clara pulled out a folder and set it on the desk, pressing her hand firmly down on it to prevent it from moving even as Rose tried to grab it.

With her other hand, Clara took a sip of her tea. "You do realize you are the neither the first person who has received a contract in this manner nor the last person who will. The binding is complete. Since you have the bracelet now, there is no way out of it other than to find your target."

"Well, I still would like my lawyer to check it over."

Clara was shaking her head. "This is a business, one that has been around longer than many people think. All loopholes have been covered. It would be a waste of your time to spend hours pouring over something that has been redone and redone over the centuries. It will reveal nothing unknown, new or unprecedented. You may ask any questions you want concerning it and read it if you still want to; however, don't say I didn't warn you."

"We'd still like to look," Rose said.

"Alright, your lawyer may take the contract and go into the room next door to read it over. We have confidential matters to discuss in here."

Clara swept her hand wide and pointed to the door to the left of her.

Louis whispered under his breath into Rose's ear, "I swear that door was not there before."

"This place is freaking me out," Rose said back quietly and then responded to Clara. "Mr. Bridlington can stay here and listen to the matters discussed in the room while reading the contract."

"No, it doesn't work like that. This is my office and my rules. If you want to know more about the circumstances that have befallen you then I really suggest that you let your lawyer leave the room. If you do not agree to those terms you will be removed from the premises. I highly suggest you go with option one. "

Rose looked at Louis and fiddled with the hem of her shirt. She really needed answers but she couldn't just let her eighteen year old cousin out of her sight, he was under her responsibility! She looked at Clara and knew that it would be useless to argue the matter. She was very strong-willed.

"I assure you it is completely safe and he will be alone in the room without interruptions."

"Well, Mark. . . " Rose shrugged her shoulders at Louis and he raised his eyebrows, astounded.

Rule four, rule four! Marta exclaimed. You can't let him out of your sight.

I have to, or I will get no questions answered, Rose thought back.

Louis put his hand on the folder and pulled it towards him from under Clara's hand. "I'll just take this and be off to read it then." He stood up abruptly and left through the door. Thankfully the door didn't disappear and Rose breathed a sigh of relief. It was just her and Clara alone in the room. Clara put her mug of tea down and calmly looked at Rose.

"So, you come here because you have questions about why you are in this contract, yes?"

Rose nodded.

"I would like to first point out that we do not make contracts to the unwilling. You gladly came here the Saturday night and all too readily signed up, free of will."

"But I was intoxicated! I didn't know what I was doing. . . "

"The point isn't that you didn't know what you were doing. The point is that you signed up and now you have to deal with the consequences. These are the consequences, blunt and simple: Find Randy Canwood in six months or less or you will lose your life."

Rose choked on her intake of breath and started coughing. She must not have heard that right.

"Wh - what?" she said between coughs.

Clara waited until Rose had stopped coughing before replying. "You heard right. You have six months."

Looking like a fish, Rose opened her mouth but no words came out. Clara gave a twisted grin at her.

"Of course you only have four months before you lose your hand. The blood bracelet is slowly poisoning your body with your own blood as we speak. That is the first action. This poisoning is what kills you after six months are up. Before that happens however, the bracelet tightens on your skin until it cuts through your wrist around four months from now. The second action. Then your hand is gone."

"You – you're joking?" Rose spit out, she could feel all the blood drain from her face, ironically. She looked at the bracelet on her hand and was repulsed by it. What Clara said was ridiculous and inhumane. She should be angry right now, but all she could feel was numbness. As if she was detached from her body.

She must be tampering with your emotions; the Rose I know would have thrown that coffee mug at the woman, Greg stated.

That thought didn't freak Rose out as much as it probably should of. She couldn't muster up the energy to do anything, didn't even feel like moving from the chair.

Clara began speaking. "Not at all. We are a business, and need results. We find that the incentive of your life has been effective for a quick takedown of your target. Nonetheless if you are slow about it you lose your hand, and perhaps a few fingers in the weeks before. Nobody likes to be disfigured. Even when your hand starts turning purple and black in the one month prior to when you will lose it seems to be incentive for many people. You have ample time. . . Six months is more than you need actually, but if you can't bring in your target in the time limit the poison will stop your heart. You failed, simple as that. No mess, no pain; it's quiet and painless."

"Am I supposed to be relieved about that?" Rose said. She pulled her bracelet around her thumb, just barely getting it over. It was already tight enough that she had to tightly squeeze her hand closed. She was about to pull it off when she was interrupted.

"I wouldn't do that," said Clara. She was eyeing Rose's hand with almost a secret glee. "You will experience a tingling in your wrist. Then the tingling will travel down your arm to your stomach where you will feel sharp stabbing pains. Holes are appearing in the lining of your stomach at that moment. And when your lining is gone, acid will consume your body and disintegrate."

"That is ridiculous. What if someone forcefully takes it off my wrist? I have no control over that!"

"Well I suggest you never let yourself get into a situation where someone else is taking it off. Otherwise, you do have a half hour before everything is irreversible. If it ever happened, use you your time wisely to get the bracelet back as soon as possible."

Rose sat extremely still in the chair and stared at Clara, shocked. Clara seemed ruthless. Rose was afraid of her and she was afraid of the fact that she didn't have the upper hand in this conversation like she thought she would.

Clara continued, "of course that is only one side. There is a large recompense for bringing in Canwood. You will receive 450 galleons for your work when he is safely behind our bars."

"Oh? Well. . . 450 galleons for my life? That makes me feel so much better."

"Sarcasm doesn't help you here. Maybe you should of thought more about what you were doing when you wrote your name down. Randy Canwood is an average criminal to bring in. He's not the worst out there and he's not the easiest. Depending on who it is, the price can range from 300 to 600 galleons for middlemen like him."

Rose inhaled sharply. "Are you sure this isn't some sort of prank? This isn't – doesn't seem. . . humane!"

"Oh I assure you I am not joking. This is serious and I am doing my best to answer your questions so you have no doubts about your task and can understand the full implications of everything. We do not like needless deaths, which have happened in the past when people don't take this seriously. The curse on the bracelet? Perhaps it isn't quite 'humane' like you say, but there are worse curses out there and this one is reversible with no future harmful effects when you bring your target in."

"But - the ministry – I could bring. . . there has to be something that prevents – a law or. . . "

A hard glint appeared in Clara's eyes. "You can try. Bring the Ministry, go find Aurors, go to the Magical Law Enforcement and appeal your case to them. Some might even come rushing to the aid of a pretty, young woman. Bring them to our doorstep and take them to the clown picture. Press the red nose. . . but nothing happens. Blast a hole through the ground to access the sub-basement, but nobody is here. You swear there was someone there before, you show them the bracelet, but they start to doubt you. There is no trace that anybody has been in the building for years. Look at the layer of dust, look at the rotten floorboards. They leave you in disgrace and now you are all alone. Nobody believes you, you cannot find headquarters anymore because nobody will tell you where it has moved. You then die, because even if you did find your target, well, where are you going to take him to get the curse removed and your contract voided? You see Rose, you can bring the Ministry if you would like. By all means go for it, but you can't say you weren't warned."

"Well, I'm not going to, it was just a question."

"Do you think Rose, that the Red Inconnus, a business that has been around for a few hundred years has not thought of everything? Countless contracts, countless lawyers, and countless criminals. This is nothing new, your questions are nothing new. I say it again, it is you that signed the contract and gave your blood. You now have to deal with the consequences of that action. It makes all the difference. Very, very few in the Ministry know we exist. They know there are organizations out there like us, but we aren't regulated. We are out of their jurisdiction; they can't threaten us. Even if they did, well it's very easy to change locations, change identities, change lives. ¸You have a task before you now and you are stuck with it. I suggest you figure out what you need to do, and quick."

Clara put down her empty mug with a bang and Rose jumped. She still felt numb. She felt like she needed time to think and to process what she was told.

You should leave soon, this place isn't healthy, Marta suggested.

"I brought a lawyer today?"

"Please, your 18 year old cousin doesn't count. We do permit it just one time, because even though there is no way out of the binding, it quiets the person complaining when someone they know and trust tells them the same thing."

There was a knocking on the door and Clara flicked her wand to open it. Louis was standing there with a worried face and the stack of papers in his hand. He took a step in the room and put the papers on the desk and dropped into his chair beside Rose.

He cleared his throat. "I – I have read the contract. And while it is very, very thoroughly written I do have two questions pertaining to small matters I found rather. . . brutal."

"Mark, there's no need, it's useless. Let's just get out of here," muttered Rose as she rubbed her eyes and leaned back in the chair. They needed to leave, to get out of the small office. She needed a clear head and nothing was clear in the office.

"There are a few important things that are very morbid written down on that paper. This can't be for real?" he whispered back at her.

"This whole thing is a horrible dream," she said to him and then turned to Clara. "Thanks for your time and for answering my questions. We'll leave now."

"Of course. You are free to share this information with whomever you would like during the running course of your contract, but beware of people's reactions. They are always more harmful than helpful, and you do have certain. . . boundaries I'm sure you will discover. Remember this is your task, and your task alone. Your lawyer can answer any other questions you have as he now understands some other aspects of your contract we didn't touch today. You are also welcome back anytime. However, your lawyer is not. There are stairs that lead outside directly across from this room. You can lead yourselves out."

Rose stood up and grabbed Louis's hand, quickly pulling him to his feet and dragging him out the door. They barely took note of the fact that they were enclosed between two walls, instead of the one. There was no long stretch of hallway on either side of them. It was a one way path to the exit. They raced up the stairs, back to the streets of London.

Rose took a few deep breaths of fresh air and looked at Louis. She could feel her emotions on the fritz, everything was haywire.

Louis looked at her critically. "You broke rule four."

Rose snorted loudly and put her face in her hands, rubbing her temples. She could always count on Louis to be Louis no matter the crisis.

He managed to put on a small smile but he turned serious quick.

"That contract. . . I have never read anything so complete and comprehensive. I wonder how many times it has been rewritten, because wow, it is a piece of art; even though it is sick and disgusting. One horrible thing I read was that you couldn't get rid of the bracelet, or the spirit of the bracelet - if that makes sense. You will never be out of the contract until action one is complete, whatever that means. Even if you commit suicide, your contract gets passed onto the nearest living relative who has the closest blood type to you, willing or not."

"That's bloody horrible. . . " Rose started walking away and Louis ran to catch up while he continued talking.

"The other major thing worth noting was that you could technically transfer your contract to another willing person to get yourself out of your responsibility. Only the consequences would impact him or her by the time shortening by half, and the first action would still take place with you if this person were to not succeed. I don't understand some of what I said because I wasn't present for your conversation with Clara, but I hope it helps. There are really no loopholes, unfortunately."

The two things he mentioned didn't help her situation at all, but it was good to know all the same."Yeah, Clara made it quite clear that there was no way out. Thanks for coming with me Louis, even though we did break one of the rules, it was nice to have someone I know and trust."

"You should probably sit down, you look like you're going to faint."

"Oh I'm not going to, I just need to think, but sitting is good. Let's get off these deserted streets first. I need people and happiness around me right now."

Louis reached for Rose's hand and apparated to the safe spot in the alley beside Dominique's, Molly's, and Lucy's flat. They went to the small park nearby to find a bench.

Rose sat staring at the playground, hunched over, with her head resting on her hands while Louis sat with perfect posture. He was fiddling with his fingers in silence.

There is really no choice now, you have to commit to your task, said Marta.

Don't worry love, we're here with you the whole way.

This would be something she would have to do by herself, she decided. She had next to no experience with law enforcement or any tricks of the trade to being an Auror even though it was the careers for a few members of her family. Rose couldn't let Molly spell her bracelet to find out its properties, even though she had been asking the past few days. She couldn't consult anybody though, no friends or family. No hints or questions about anything that could give this away. It was too dangerous for them and definitely too dangerous for her. She could worry about herself later after this was all finished one way or another.

It was surreal to think about the fact that just this morning she was wanting to leave England to go travelling again. Now she couldn't. Not for half a year. She had to go find Canwood, wherever he may be, and essentially capture him by herself. Even though she half thought she might be insane from the voices, it was nice to have them in her head guiding and helping her. Knowing everything.

"The man and the contract," Louis asked after a good twenty minutes of silence, "what does it all mean?"

She really had no choice. Four months before she would lose a hand and six for her life. She lifted her head off her hands and looked at them closely. She had large, freckled hands and had always been embarrased about them before. But she would never want to lose one; they were hers, uniquely hers. It was all a matter of perspective.

She had been independent her whole life, how would this be anything different? It was another challenge. This was her task alone and she could do it.

Rose decided one thing right then.

She would figure it out, take the bad with the good. Stay positive.

Four months.

"It means I'm going bounty hunting."

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