August 24, 2026

Rose had a plan and it was going to be so easy. She was going to end this stupid thing not even a week into the contract. After reading the bio of Randy Canwood multiple times, it became obvious to her that the place he would most likely be would at were the warehouses on the Thames. It was the headquarters of his possy or whatever they were and it seemed to be the most direct way to find Canwood.

She would be leaving under the cover of darkness because the bio hinted that the warehouses were where he could be found most nights. The only problem was that it was warehouses, plural. Rose didn't know which one it would be, but she hoped she could just walk around and snoop and he would show up. She was going to be under the invisibility cloak the whole time and so nobody would see her.

It was going to be that simple: find the place, get inside, find Canwood, knock him out, get bracelet off wrist. Of course, Marta was imploring her not to go; she needed to find more information and needed to safely make a plan. Rose couldn't worry about safety because if she didn't do this, she would die anyway. She had to wing it - since how could you plan the unexpected?

The only thing she prepared for was her attire. Even though she had the invisibility cloak, she wanted to be unseen in case of slipups. She bought black dye at the store and turned one of her two pairs of trousers, one long sleeve shirt, and a pair of socks to Darkest Midnight in the kitchen sink.

Dominique was furious, for the sink hadn't exactly washed clean of the dye.

"ROSE WEASLEY! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING YOU OVERGROWN TURNIP?" had been only one of the many expulsive yells Dominique had shrieked at her. Lucy just gave Rose an "I told you so look," and Molly tried to help out by scrubbing at the sink. In the end, it took Dominique a trip to Diagon Alley to purchase Mrs Gowers Magical Mess Remover to get out the black stains.

Dominique and Lucy were also none too pleased when Rose wouldn't give them the exact reason she needed to dye some of her only clothes an unholy black.

Rose was rather tight-lipped about the whole mission and she was making sure Molly was too. Rose gave Dominique and Lucy the bare minimum (she was helping a friend find someone in London, and no she was doing it and no she wouldn't answer any more questions) and even though it didn't appease them they had to accept it, for Rose could be very stubborn. The only thing she worried about was that Molly wasn't always the best at keeping her mouth shut but there was nothing she could change about that since Molly saw everything happen real-time.

She wrapped a dark brown scarf of Lucy's around her head and hair. Under no circumstances was the scarf to be ripped, torn, discoloured, mutilated, spotted, bloodied, lost, or anything else. It wasn't black, but it covered Rose's obtrusive hair colour in the case that she was parted from the invisibility cloak. Since she was fairly tan from the summer, she didn't worry too much about her skin shining blatantly in the dark. The only footwear she had was her sandals that were luckily dark brown.

In the end on Monday evening before her departure she had on black socks, brown sandals, a black long sleeve shirt, black trousers, and a brown scarf. She was a walking nightmare to people who cared about fashion, but Rose was never really one for fashion and so didn't mind. Besides, it would be nighttime and she wouldn't run into anyone. Dominique almost had a heart attack when she saw Rose in her get-up, refusing to let her leave the apartment dressed like that. Molly just frowned and Lucy raised her eyebrows, questions burning on her tongue.

All dressed, she tied the invisibility cloak to her belt loop so she wouldn't forget it. Her wand was duct taped securely to her right arm, so she could grab it easily with her left when it was needed. Having nothing left to do but wait, she picked up a magazine from the table and started flipping through it. She was too nervous to sleep or read so she just looked at all the pictures in the magazine. She got about halfway through before she finally read the title. Apparation Worthy Endeavors it was called and it had the most amazing photos in it. Rose was able to lose herself in the wildlife and landscape pictures, envisioning herself off in them again. She was able to forget everything for the moment.

But before she knew it, it was one o' clock in the morning. She stood up on protesting legs, suddenly feeling very tired.

I could stay home, just do this tomorrow night.

Good idea, said Marta promptly.

There was a sigh from Greg. You can't keep making excuses, just go and end this tonight.

She needed to go; she wanted desperately to end the contract and have some semblance of normal in her life. Her hair was all wrapped up; she was decked out in her black; invisibility cloak was on her person; wand taped securely to her arm. . . she was ready. She really had no more excuses. She left.

The trouble with apparating blind was that she really didn't know where she would land when she arrived. Rose had picked what she thought to be an inconspicuous alley about two blocks from the warehouses and it was an extremely unlucky chance that she apparated to the exact spot where a large dumpster lie. She promptly lost her footing and fell over fell over in the rubbish.

A dog started barking and she heard voices and footsteps in the distance start towards her. It was so dark that she couldn't even see what she was laying on, but by the rank smells emanating from below her she could only guess. Her heart beat picked up as she laid, frozen, listening to the sounds around her. She struggled to control her breathing – but at the same time not breathe in because she felt like gagging. She couldn't pick herself up yet because it would make too much noise as the voices were getting closer. Her heartbeat wouldn't stop racing. What if she was found?

"- think it was farther away. . ." a gruff voice said.

The reply was a nervous sounding voice. "It was a large crack right? Like an apparating crack? Or would you say just a cat knocking something over? What if it's a werewolf or some other. . . animal. . . they keep at the Hatch? Unless you were bullshitting me about everything?"

"It's not a full moon dummy, stop bein' chicken about everything. We're patrolling together for the next two weeks, keep your wits with ya. I don't want to have another Muggle doofus partner like Frog was."

"I. . . I. . . feel like I should take offense to people calling me a Muggle."

"Just git used to it," the voice grunted. "You're one."

A bright wand light and a flashlight beam peeked into the dumpster and Rose saw two faces peer down. One of the men was older with a wide face and a handlebar mustache while the other was considerably younger with large front teeth. Neither were Canwood.

They can't see me, they can't see me, breathe slower, calm down, I'm invisible, please please don't let them see me. . . Rose repeated in her head.

"This place reeks. Don't know when they last cleaned out the rubbish. The whole alley is a mess. I'll have to tell the Boss. We don't need some annoying muggle officials snooping around here."

"I thought the Boss didn't want the. . . err. . . petty stuff being brought to him anymore."

There was the sound of a smack and then an "OW!"

"Petty! We's got to watch out about people askin' too many questions around here. Already have that one pesky Auror snooping around, we don't need more."

The man started coughing and he pounded on his chest a few times. He leant back and hocked a loogie into the dumpster. Rose watched - almost in slow motion - as it came closer and closer. . . but no, it landed beside her head and not on her. Luckily the man coughed a few more times as Rose gagged, throwing up in her mouth a little.

Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting. . . FUCKINGHELL. . .

"Auror. . . that's like police, right? Right?"

"You don't learn quick, do ya?"

The nervous man just sniffed loudly instead of replying back. There was a bang from farther down the alley and the lights left the dumpster. Rose almost – but really didn't because it stunk too bad – breathed a sigh of relief. Finally she heard the footsteps walk past and go farther down the alley. She heard a large bang of metal and a yell of, "crazy old lady, how's life in your hole!" Then a few laughs.

The dog's barking slowly died down and there was finally silence in the alley. Rose slowly sat up and peeked over the edge of the dumpster. No one was there. She took off the invisibility cloak and shook it roughly out; she didn't want to wreck it or have James coming after her. After she got out, she went to the wall and put her hands on her knees, spitting the taste of vomit and rubbish from her mouth. Just thinking about it made her start gagging again, but she didn't throw up. Once she felt a little better she put her invisibility cloak back on and checked her feet. She was way too tall for it and bent down so her feet wouldn't be showing.

As she started walking to the end of the alley, she was very careful where she placed her feet on the ground. The alley seemed to be full of noise-makers; rubbish and sticks and gravel. She got to the end of the alley and peeked out onto the street. It was very dark out, and there were no streetlights anywhere. The moon illuminated the buildings just a tiny bit, but it was only a sliver of its full potential and it wasn't very adequate light.

Luckily enough, Rose had a peaceful walk to where the warehouses were. There were no people around at all that she could see or hear. There weren't even any animals in sight. Everything seemed strangely quiet and for some reason she could smell smoke in the air, though couldn't discern where it was coming from.

Finally she arrived at her destination. She squinted at the large buildings before her. They looked like they had seen better days for they were looking derelict. But there they were: four large warehouses. They all had windows galore on them - some were busted and others were blacked out. At least five of them Rose could discern a faint glow behind the attempt to blot out the light, and they were all off the main floor. Rose stood staring at the four warehouses, trying to decide which one to go into, but each one looking less inviting than the next.

Get a move on, Canwood is waiting, Greg said. You'll find him if you go snooping around.

That thought didn't appeal to Rose. Everything seemed so. . . dark, and even scary, she was loathe to admit. Maybe her plan wasn't such a great idea.

Come back in the day if you're so interested to explore them. And bring someone with you, was Marta's advice.

Rose peeked at the bracelet on her wrist. She couldn't afford to be scared. Whatever was out there, well she could face it.

She picked the one closest to the river Thames; the farthest to the right. She could just make out the water glittering in the distance.

Still watching her ground, she slunk forward and reached the side. She followed the wall around to the left, tracing it with her hand and stepping though the scraggy weeds until she finally found the door.

This is easy, what was I worried about! she thought. Fucking hell! I'm going to jinx it now.

And right she did. The door opened with a squeak and two people fell out in front of her, falling over themselves and laughing hysterically.

"Sooooooooo rad-iculious!" There was more laughing and the guy continued, "didja see his bunny! With the five ears and one big eye! It was turning blue and brown and blue and blue and blue and blue, blue. Haawwwww!"

"Heeee. . . hee. . . haeeewww. . ." the other person snorted or sneezed or said. Rose couldn't even tell. One of them tripped and fell on his face about five feet from Rose.

"Mate-o, how're we getting home from here here here here. Home! Come to us! Hoooommee! Look! A brontosaurus!"

The reply was more hee's and haww's and the guy ran with his arms stretched out wide to the middle of the road with the other one trailing as he ran backwards.

Rose was a bit disturbed, and watched in morbid fascination at the two for a few moments. Their behaviour was utterly bizarre as they laid on the road and rolled around, still laughing. She turned her attention back to the warehouse when the boys' rolling slowed down and they quieted down.

The wooden door was still slightly ajar but she couldn't see anything inside: only more darkness. She pushed against the door from the side and it slowly creaked open. There were no sounds from inside the building and so Rose hesitantly took a step forward onto the wood panels. They creaked loudly under her foot and she rested there, with one foot inside the building and one out, listening again – all her senses alert in case someone heard and came running.

Leave, whispered Marta.

Prove yourself. If you can't do this, you won't be able to do anything else, counteracted Greg.

She took another step inside. The floor didn't creak, but it was more of a low sounding groan that came up from it. There were stairs going up to her left but when she tuned in her hearing to above her; she heard some footsteps walking around on the top floor. Eventually she would make her way up there, but she was going to check the main floor first to see if anything was there.

Rose continued walking forwards in the dark. The floor seemed to be very empty; even though she couldn't see very well; there was no furniture or anything in sight. She continued to walk in the middle of the floor, stepping down carefully with her feet, but still unable to stop the floor from moaning and groaning underneath her. She really hoped she would find something on the floor that would direct her to Canwood. She wouldn't say no to a map where X marked Canwood. If this floor was completely empty, Rose wasn't sure if she should check a different warehouse or venture upstairs. Now that she was inside the headquarters, she was a little more scared of running into someone.

If she wasn't mistaken, the floor seemed to be slanted downwards and it almost seemed gushy under her feet, but the little amount of light coming into the window didn't answer her question of why it would be. She could perhaps make out some spots that were darker on the floor, but she didn't think anything of it, because the floor was a dark colour to begin with.

Rose, there is nothing here, turn around, Marta said.

We haven't even reached the other side, Rose said back absentmindedly.

Perhaps there would be something along the walls?

The warehouse seemed bigger on the inside than the outside for the walk across was taking longer than she thought, she didn't even think she was at the middle yet.

And either her hearing was getting better, or the sounds from the floor above were getting louder. Though they were muffled, she could distinguish a few different voices speaking.

You should shout or make noise to get everyone running down here, Greg said. You have the invisibility cloak. It would be a chance to see who is upstairs.

Absolutely not! That's irresponsible and dangerous and you could -

Marta's voice was drowned out by a large groan from the floor - the loudest sound yet. If she wasn't mistaken, Rose would say the floor was. . . sinking. Sudden realization struck her and she turned quickly, preparing to jump away, but the floor collapsed before she could move. The wood splintered, crunched, and cracked under her. She found herself falling, arms flying around in the air as she tried to grab onto something besides the falling debris around her. Her mind was working frantically; screaming didn't even register as an option.

She landed with a large smack on the ground, pain ripping up her leg as she felt something drive into it.

DON'T SAY ANYTHING, her instincts yelled, and she didn't. She huddled into herself, biting her tongue to stem noise, tears, and cries of pain. She must have hit her head too, for she was seeing stars; her vision was all fuzzy with white dots dancing in her eyes. She managed to sit half up and saw a chunk of rotted wood stuck in her calf with blood oozing freely out. Her nails were cutting into her palm as she tried to keep herself quiet. Her calf felt like it was on fire.

One part of her mind remained cool and collected. She dimly noted that footsteps rushed down the stairs and she managed to pull the invisibility cloak over her from where it had fallen off. The most dangerous part was still coming. Her nails dug deeper into her palm.

"Stop! Don't walk any farther – the floor is all rotted," a voice commanded.

"Shit, what the hell happened!" a different voice said.

"The floor collapsed dummy, I's been sayin' it for the past few weeks, someone needed to - OUCH!" There was a thumping sound.

"Shut up! Shut up! We know what you've been saying. How the hell did it happen though? Those two boys, they left didn't they? I heard the door open."

"Yo! Is anybody down there?"

The people went silent for a moment. There was a new sensation Rose was feeling in the hole besides the pain in her body; wetness. The ground was very damp. She pushed on the ground with her hand and water from the Thames slowly engulfed it. The ground was supersaturated and it was leaking into the hole.

"You don' think it was anyone else who was spiffed? Like Ratgar or Flamesy? They probably don' know as well as we about them bottom floors in all them buildin's."

A very faint light appeared over the hole, illuminating the upper area of Rose's surroundings slightly. Instead of investigating after she got a peek around her she curled up more, tucking her head into her arms. It was a large hole, perhaps five metres deep and it was fairly round. The sides of the hole were smooth other than the odd roots or rocks sticking out.

"Shit, that looks deeper than I thought. I can't see any farther down. Jimmy, you're taller than me. How far can you see?"

"Can't see the bottom either. Who wants to get levitated over?"

"I think Anderson wants to."

"Hell no I don'!"

"Suck it up Anderson. Levicorpus!"

Admist swearing, a figure was raised by his ankle and brought over to the hole. Rose could just make out the body above her when she peeked upwards. Thankfully he wasn't dropped in.

"Holy hell! This ain' just no rotten floorboards! This is a big ol' sinkhole. No wonder the floor was so rotted! Told you all that being by the Thames was bad luck! Told you all that -"

"Oi! Shut up! Is anyone down there?"

"Nope ain't a person in sight, just a big ol' hole in the middle o' the floor."

"Ah whatever. Let's just get back up. We're still supposed to be waiting for the signal! Fires should be contained quick enough."

There was a thump as Anderson was dropped and they all headed upstairs, the faint light slowly leaving Rose.

It was dark again in the hole, and quiet. Rose was feeling very wet now, there must have been a few centimetres of water in the hole. She was scared, and cold. . .

Rose, get up, a soothing voice said.

Why is life so hard for me?

Rose, get up now, the voice repeated.

I don't want to. . .

But she sat up slowly, letting the invisibility cloak fall off her into the water. She felt as if she was separate from her body, and she felt utterly alone. A few tears trickled down her face before she wiped them away. She carefully looked at her calf, fearing the worst. She knew she should be more worried about it but she didn't really care at the moment. Shakily she stood up, putting almost no weight on her bad leg.

Your wand, the voice encouraged.

The wand was still duct taped onto her arm and she pulled it out and lit it, quite thankful to have it with her in this crisis. The light offered some comfort.

Her head was spinning as she stood there. She reached out her hands and she could just touch both sides of the hole. As she took a step, the water splashed under her. The right side of her body was drenched and she started to shiver.

Rose began to get worried about her leg as it was still bleeding down her leg into the water. She didn't know how much blood she had lost but she was sure she needed medical attention right away. The only thing she really knew about embedded objects was that they should not be taken out unless by a doctor, or Healer. The only thing she could do was wrap it and try to hold it in place to prevent more blood loss.

Lucy was going to kill her.

She unwrapped the scarf from her head and wrapped it around and around her calf, tying it was it a knot afterwards. She didn't really have anything else to make a tourniquet around the upper part of her leg except perhaps the duct tape on her arm, but the thought of ripping it off was more than she could bare at the moment so she left it, hoping she wouldn't bleed to death before she got help. Her leg hurt so much, but she couldn't afford to waste time pitying herself. She needed to get out before she became too weak. Yet she didn't want to climb out. It would be the first time she climbed since the accident that caused her return to London. It was much too soon for that.

Her other options were limited though. Rose didn't think she could apparate, not with her current mental state. She felt she would most likely splinch herself and not to mention the warehouse probably had some sort of anti-apparation wards, or apparition detection wards. If she tried apparating from the hole and wasn't able to get out. There would be no way she would escape unnoticed a second time. Other than climbing, her best bet would be to levitate herself, and then try apparating outside the warehouses, or back in the alley.

Was it possible to levitate herself out?

With whisperings of 'be careful' in her mind, she cast wingardium leviosa on herself. She slowly rose in the air, but it was very wobbly. She got a few feet up when her spell gave out and she crashed back down. Her leg gave out under her and she fell down in the water with a splash. She rolled ninety degrees to lie on her back, breathing heavily as she struggled to not cry out.

It was a few more minutes before she stood up again. She had to get out and the only way she could think of was to climb out, the muggle way. Just how she used to.

Rose thought back to all the mountains she had climbed when she traveled. What was the difference between rock and roots, open air and a pit? The walls around her were almost completely vertical, but doable, totally doable. Rose had an iron will when she needed it and she started preparing herself, stretching out her hands and arms. Mentally she focused on what was at hand and to not let her mind drift. The throbbing in her calf helped her keep her thoughts to the present. She readjusted the invisibility cloak so it hung loosely around her; she didn't need it impeding her as she climbed.

As soon as she stuck her foot in a small groove on the wall, adrenaline kicked in. She hoisted herself up, reaching above her for a large root to grab.

It was tricky and Rose was out of shape from her months of sedentary activity in England. She also had limited ability with her left leg, but somehow she was able to work through the pain and climb steadily upwards.

About ten minutes later, Rose reached the surface. She was breathing hard, her left leg was shaking badly and almost wouldn't support her weight anymore, but she was so close to being out. This was going to be the hardest part now; trying to get herself on top of the broken floorboards without falling back in. There were no more handles. She swung her right leg over, and she cried out wordlessly as her weight was briefly on her bad leg before she transferred her weight to her arms. She used her leg as a hook on the floor, trying to find purchase on some groove. Her foot found a small knot in the wood and then she lifted herself. Her body weight was completely on one arm as she slowly inched her body backwards, her head and arms being the last to leave the blasted pit.

She was sweating hard as she turned the light off in her wand and was encompassed in the darkness again. She was exhausted, cold, wet, and hurt. But she made it. Regardless of the dark thoughts she had been having while living with Danny, she could climb still. She now knew she wouldn't stop halfway up and be scared and shaking. Memories of an injury and a death wouldn't hold her back.

Rose needed to leave quickly in case someone had heard her climbing.

She made a half-hearted attempt to put the invisibility cloak on as she crawled over the rotten floor to the door, but it kept falling off so she left it off. She was too exhausted to worry.

When Rose got to the door, she used it to stand up and readjusted the cloak. Not even being careful, she opened the door and stepped out.

She wasn't sure how she made it back to the alley, it was almost as if she closed her eyes and when they were open again she was there. She again encountered nobody on the way. There was almost no light guiding her this time; the moon was covered by some very grey clouds that Rose had a funny feeling were smoke when she looked up at the sky.

Rose started concentrating on apparition. Even now, she was in no state to apparate. Shivers wracked her body and she was unbelievably tired, but she didn't know how else to get home. She concentrated for what she thought to be about ten minutes - unless she fell asleep for a few moments leaning against the wall - before she apparated straight into the living room of her flat. She knocked on Lucy's door without hesitation, almost completely done for. Lucy immediately assessed the situation and started working on her leg, cutting off Rose's pant leg about mid thigh. Lucy didn't even say anything about the scarf that was bloodied.

It wasn't long before Dominique was awake to find a Blood-Replenishing Potion, and Molly to go find dry warm clothes for her and get blankets.

No longer in pain and finally warm, she drank the potion. She didn't even notice the bitter taste before she was out cold on the couch. She didn't notice her cousins eyeing her in concern and talking quietly amongst themselves. She didn't notice the scared look in Molly's eyes as she covered Rose up with a few more blankets, tucking her in tight. She didn't notice anything as she curled up into a dreamless sleep.

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