September 3, 2026

Rose calculated the days. She had nothing better to do; she hadn't left the flat all week, too scared that Scorpius was going to corner her in an alley somewhere after the helpful and somewhat disastrous confrontation.

Though, perhaps she was a bit too paranoid. It had been four days since the confrontation and he hadn't come knocking at her door yet. Scorpius did have a job too; it wasn't like he spent all his time obsessing about her. Hopefully.

Each day she had had the intention to leave the flat. She had told herself not to care about Scorpius and attempted thinking of where good places to scout out would be. Each time she chickened out and went back to her bed, crawling under the covers and hating herself for being worried of Scorpius. Of all the people to be scared of! Staying cooped up inside was mentally and physically draining because she wasn't used to it. Even when she was living in London the past few months she was outside as much as possible and always doing something. The fact that she was staying inside for the reasons listed above was pathetic.

So Rose did everything she could think of that was relevant to her situation except leaving the flat. One of them being calculating how much time was left. She definitely wasn't accurate down to the last day, but she was sure she was in the right week. She had signed the contract and gotten the bracelet around the third week of August. In four months, she would lose her hand only if she hadn't found Canwood by approximately the third week of December. Say theoretically she didn't in that time frame, then in six month's time, the third week of February; she would lose her life.

Rose sighed and got off the kitchen chair. She should actually check a calendar and see how accurate she could get. Knowing the days would be way better. Her best estimate was December 15th-16th and February 15th-16th. Rose got shivers just thinking about it. She might not live to be 22 years old - her birthday was the 17th of February! She got more technical and counted up all the days on a calendar. It was about 123 days and 185 days respectively. That seemed like a lot of time, especially when it was calculated in days. From experience though, Rose knew the time would fly by so fast.

I wonder if I should just write my will, Rose thought. She meant it has a morbid joke, but it wasn't that funny. At least if she knew she was going to die then she could live the six months the best she could instead of being miserable.

No. Marta was indignant. That is the stupidest, most ridiculous idea that has crossed your thoughts in a while. You know what you have to do to live, you have a chance.

It's not like I actually would. I just don't want to do this.

Not everyone gets what they want in life. You've just got to make the best of it.

Rose sighed and murmured to herself. "I don't need a bloody counselor. 'Face your fears and stop running.' I know. I know!"

Then actually do it instead of saying it.

Rose had no reply.

The only thing Rose couldn't figure out was the timing of her fingers. Clara Garwhistle had said that she would lose fingers before her hand. So when would her fingers be gone? Would it be in the week leading up to the loss of her hand? Or randomly? Or monthly? Rose supposed she could always go back to the Headquarters and ask, but she didn't want to do that yet. Rose would just have to be aware if anything started to discolour in any way. Nothing would draw more attention within her family and Scorpius than that.

Lucy, Molly, and Dominique were back full swing into school so Rose was home alone during the day and even most nights. They were all in their last year of school and instead of just homework and classes, they had practicums and part-time jobs. It was almost as if Rose had the flat completely to herself.

Listening to Scorpius's advice, Rose tried to assemble some supplies she could use when she went back out into London. She looked in her room. All she really had was a raincoat and shampoo.

This is pointless when I don't have anything! Rose thought.

You know where all your things are love. You know we can take him, said Greg.

She didn't go to her ex's house. Instead she tried putting an undetectable extension charm on her backpack with mixed results. The backpack did get larger, it just wasn't undetectable and she would still feel all the weight of whatever she put into it on her back. Her mum could do it! Why couldn't she? Rose scowled and prodded the backpack with her wand.

When she was younger everyone always thought she would be intelligent and a model student, exactly like her mum. However, she didn't live up to her prodigious name. She was horrible at spells and had disappointed so many people. Rose could just remember the look on the examiners face in fifth year during her OWLS. He had asked her who her parents were and then seemed delighted to be the one to test her. His good mood hadn't lasted very long.

Searching through the drawers in the kitchen, Rose found a pack of matches, some shoelaces, a spork, and a few pens. She put that in her backpack. In the bathroom, she found bandaids, a needle, and a broken comb. That also went in.

The phone rang twice twice during her hunt for things and the both times she answered there was no response on the other end. She had heard breathing in the background but there was no reply. She assumed it was a wrong number.

By the time she finished scouring the flat it was nearing lunchtime. Rose sat on the couch fiddling with her bracelet. She had her backpack by the door and was going to set out at exactly 1 o'clock. Today she was going to. She was. She couldn't remain inactive for any longer.

Since she had been to Coffee for Kooks once and didn't mind the neighbourhood, she was planning on going back and hoping for luck there. She was going to ask the baristas about Canwood. See if they knew anything.

The clock was ticking and the flat was quiet, there was only the gentle hum of machines in the background. Rose could feel her eyes slowly close.

She was jolted awake when the telephone rang.

The third time today! In her past few weeks at the flat, she couldn't recall the phone ringing once, but three times in one day now?

Rose walked to the phone, unsure if she should pick it up again. What if it was the person who just breathed loudly in the background? It's not like it would be anyone from her family. Nobody used a telephone. Rose had been the only one back when she had one in the Muggle world because that was how people kept in contact. In the wizarding one, there were other ways.

The phone kept ringing. Rose debated getting it. Realistically, besides her family, nobody really knew she was there. She was kind of doing the 'extended stay' gimmick. In the contract for rent Lucy, Molly, and Dominique were only allowed to have three people living in it legally. Rose was kept on the down low - she was sleeping in a closet! What if someone was phoning about an emergency though?

The ringing was getting rather annoying. Instead of debating to herself and listening to it she decided to just answer it, even if it was just some weirdo again.

"Hello."

". . . . . . shhhh. . . ."

"Pardon? Hello?" repeated Rose. Weirdo again. Rose was just about to hang up when –

"HELLO, IS ANYBODY THERE? CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME? HELLO?"

Rose put the phone back up to her ear.

"Yes! Hello! Someone's here! Uh, are you looking to speak to someone?"

"WHAT? IS SOMEONE THERE?"

What the hell?

"Yes, someone is here," said Rose. "How can I help you."

"OH I CAN JUST BARELY HEAR YOU. YOU'VE GOT TO SPEAK UP HONEY, I AIN'T YOUNG ANYMORE. THESE EARS JUST DON'T WORK VERY WELL."

Rose spoke a little louder. "Sorry. How can I help you?"

"I NEED YOU TO MEET ME AT MY DOOR. I'VE FORGOTTEN MY KEYS AGAIN. BRING YOUR POKER STICK TO OPEN IT."

"Uhhhh. . . Who is this?"

"WHAT? THIS IS ROSE. ROSE DAPHNE. ISN'T THIS THE WEASLEY'S FLAT? DID I PHONE THE WRONG NUMBER?"

"No, no. Sorry. I'm a Weasley, but just visiting my cousins Lucy, Molly, and Dominique right now. I think I could meet you at your door, but where is it?"

"OH IT'S A DIFFERENT WEASLEY? WELL THAT'S PRECIOUS. WHICH ONE?"

Rose hesitated for a moment. This was okay, right? She vaguely remembered the name Rose Daphne from a conversation with her cousins though couldn't remember the context.

"This is Rose. Uh, Rose Weasley."

There was silence on the other end.

"ROSE, ROSE WEASLEY? DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT? THAT'S AMAZING. HOW ARE YOU DEARIES?"

"Yeah. . . it's Rose Weasley. You heard right. And everyone here is good. Do you need to get buzzed up?"

"I MAY BE GOING DEAF BUT I HAVEN'T LOST MY MARBLES YET. OF COURSE I REMEMBER HOW TO GET BUZZED. THE PILLS ARE ALL IN MY HIP PACK."

"Um, okay," said Rose, trying to hold back a snort. "Sorry. Where do you live? I can meet you there then."

"I LIVE RIGHT UNDER YOU. ROOM 513, DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR POKER STICK. I'LL SEE YOU DEARIES SOON."

Rose was just about to say that it was only her when the other Rose hung up the phone. Rose carefully set hers back down on the receiver. That was a weird conversation but it sparked her interest. Rose was kind of curious to meet the lady.

She grabbed her poker stick – er – wand, and stuck it under her shirt sleeve and walked down the stairs to room number 513.

Rose quickly realized she shouldn't have left so fast. She was waiting. And waiting. Where the hell was Daphne? Right when Rose was thinking she should go check in case she had had a heart attack on the stairs, there was the sound of wheezing heard and the clack on a cane. This old, fat lady came around the corner a few seconds later going so slow a dried up slug could have beaten her in a race. She had on the most ridiculous pair of glasses that managed to make her eyes seem like black pinpricks and she was swathed in bundles of clothes, layers and layers of grey and black. Then of course she was wearing a large hip pack over it all that was bulging with something.

By the time she got to Rose, she was beaming ear to ear. "Well, you look none the worse for wear. I must say I didn't anticipate your height. I thought you would be shorter than Ms. Lucy and Ms. Molly. I didn't account for that. . ." the lady frowned. "But the lilacs. The smell is wonderful. And my goodness do you ever have a bad case of spattergroit. I haven't seen it that bad in quite some years. You might not be old enough to remember when that was the big epidemic around. I remember it like it was yesterday, I was diagnosed with it myself for a bit but I came through alright. It's rather boring now without the speckly beings everywhere."

"They – they're freckles," said Rose faintly.

"Well, that's what we all said back then too. But then a full moon would come around and we'd all be naked in a barrel of toads on the hill, hoping nobody unspeckled would see us." She leaned closer to Rose. "Don't worry though, I'll keep your secret. If you need a remedy I've got some in my rooms, Mungos never seemed to quite measure up. I tried to sell it to them years ago when that dinglebat character was the Head Healer and they turned it back in my face. I also have some frog hearts for your cousins so they don't catch your disease; very contagious it is. I've already eaten three this morning so I'm safe. They ward off the speckles very well."

"Heh. . . do you want your door open?" Rose asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

Daphne nodded and turned around, leaning against the wall. She put her hands and cane up in the air and stood there. Rose could easily stare over her head, she was very short.

What the hell is she doing? Rose thought.

My God, she's nuts, remarked Greg.

"Well hurry up will you? My arms aren't quite as young and as light as they used to be." The lady looked over her shoulder at Rose. "Well, what are you standing there looking like a dumpling for? We can't let these Muggles see your poker stick now. It's just the simple unlocking –" she paused and looked around her to make sure nobody was there. She then whispered, "spell."

There was absolutely no one in the hallway, but cautiously Rose pulled out her wand and cast Alohomora. The door clicked softly.

The old woman rapidly turned around and grabbed Rose's wrist before she could put her wand back up her sleeve. She brought Rose's wrist up to her nose and sniffed it loudly. Rose froze and stared in disbelief.

Thank goodness her bracelet was on the other wrist but what the fuck was the other lady doing? Rose lightly tugged her wrist but Daphne just held on tighter.

Rose's wrist was pinched and then sniffed again. The woman was inspecting her arm, turning it this way and that. Just as her wrist was being brought to the woman's mouth Rose finally acted and vigorously yanked her wrist away.

"I should get going. Bye."

She ran past the old woman and didn't look back as she could hear the woman call, "Thanks for unlocking the door dearies. I'm sure I'll see you again." Rose could hear the woman cackling as she turned the corner and sprinted up the stairs. Rose rushed all the way back to her flat and practically threw the door open, violently shut it and then locked it. Holy crap. She was just about bitten!

"Hello? Who's here?" Rose heard a voice call from the kitchen.

Heart still racing, Rose peeked around the corner. To her relief it was just Dominique sitting at the kitchen table and eating lunch. There was an interesting assortment of smells coming from around her.

"Were you just running?" she inquired.

"No! Well, yes. I just met Rose Daphne."

Dominiques eyes widened. "Eeeeh. That sucks. She's such a creepy old bat."

"Yeah. She really was. Seriously!"

"She sort of fancies herself as a potioneer. And to make her even lovlier, she's one of those potioneers."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she's old. Very old. And let's just say she grew up around a time that potion experimentation on humans wasn't really regulated; especially on unsuspecting witches, wizards, and muggles."

"What! That doesn't seem very safe! Why is she living in a Muggle area?"

"Well, she doesn't do it anymore and she doesn't have a wand - she hasn't had one for quite some time. In my opinion, it isn't safe, but she's been Ministry cleared so not much we can do about it. Molly, Lucy, and I keep an eye on her doings and check up on her here and there. But you know what she looks like now so if you ever see her around our floor or rooms here make sure to scare her off. . . I've caught her a few times hanging around, trying to get to the roof. I think Molly let something slip about my workstation. It wouldn't be safe for everyone and for her if she somehow got to the roof and dabbled in my potions stuff. She's barmy. And I do not want her going through my stuff. Ever."

"Not going to lie, I don't really want to encounter her again!"

Dominique shrugged. "Well, she phones quite a bit and it's hard to say no if you've already answered the phone. There is one other wizarding family in this building, but we've bewitched the phone so her calls get rerouted here. They have kids and just don't need to deal with Daphne."

What was the Ministry's definition of safe?

Dominique continued. "Daphne always calls for someone to come unlock her doors even though she could easily ask the front desk for a key. If you do happen to answer one time and don't want to deal with her you can always hang up. The phone might ring again but she will eventually go to the front desk. You would think it would be easier to just do that in the first place but. . . whatever."

"I just won't pick up the phone if it rings from now on."

"Suit yourself. That's Lucy's tactic too." Domnique took a large bite of her neglected sandwich.

"Umm, what are you eating?" Rose asked curiously.

"It's a sandwich with lettuce, sautéed onions, peanut butter, jam and pickles. Everything is still on the counter if you want to make something similar. There are still onions in the frying pan too."

Rose made a face.

"I know it sounds weird. Until I took a bite I thought I was going crazy. I'll probably have another one though, it's that good."

"I think I'm alright!" Rose said. She made a regular peanut butter sandwich and sat down across from Dominique.

Dominique raised her eyebrows at Rose. "Get a plate, you're dropping crumbs everywhere."

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" asked Rose as she quickly grabbed a plate and sat back down.

Dominique shrugged. "I skipped today."

She laughed at Rose's shocked expression.

"Oh come on, it's healthy to skip here and there. Besides, since it's the first week of classes it's pretty much all a review. I don't need really need a review."

"Do Molly and Lucy know you've skipped?"

"Oh Merlin no! Don't tell them. Well, Molly especially. She doesn't approve of skipping. I'm glad that all of us study different things and so we never really see each other in the day."

"Oh, alright," Rose said. Whatever Dominique did with her life was up to her. She had never really thought that Dominique was the skipping type. She always obsessed over organization and had never missed a class at Hogwarts because she didn't like copying others notes, claiming they weren't up to par. She could see Lucy skipping no problem, but never Dominique and never Molly.

Dominique narrowed her eyes at Rose. "You're judging me."

"What? No. If you want to skip, then you can skip. It's up to you! I don't really care. It's only one day anyway."

"It's not like I'm skipping for a bad reason. Do you remember that unidentifiable potion we found in the broom cupboard the night you showed up a few weeks ago?"

Could she remember it? It was all rather vague and she really only remembered the morning, being tired and exhausted, drinking chocolate milk, flooing, and then Scorpius.

"Not specifically. . ."

Dominique got a gleam in her eyes. "Not surprised. But Molly found the potion in the back of our broom cupboard, and there was no label on it. I started looking at it last night and I thought that I'd be able to figure it out when I did a few simple tests. But he's not revealing his secrets to me. . . Anyway I still don't know what potion it is and so that's what I'm doing right now. It has to be something! But for some reason I can't name what it is - it's something I've never seen before so I'm trying to determine the properties."

"The potion is a he?"

Dominique looked confused at her. "What? No. I didn't say that. Potions are inanimate liquids. Potions 101. Seriously. First thing we learned in class."

Rose raised her eyebrows. She thought she heard it. . . but perhaps not. "Okay."

"So if I'm not around in the next few weeks, don't worry about it. I'm just on the roof trying to unveil the potions secrets! Lucy and Molly can explain. It's not very weird."

"Sure."

Dominique finished her sandwich and sighed. "Holy stilettos, I can't believe how hungry I am. I'm heading back up though, that potion is calling my name!"

Dominqiue quickly made two more sandwichs, almost exactly the same but this time with some horseradish in one and salad dressing in the other. She put away the lettuce and bread and then she left with her sandwiches, announcing she was going to eat it up in her lab.

Rose was left alone. She felt like going back to bed, but the backpack beside her door couldn't be ignored. She had to go out and do something productive for the day. She had done basically nothing all week. She cleaned up the rest of the food Dominique left out and checked the clock. It was after one, but better late than never.

One black coffee later Rose sat herself down at one of the tables in the café. She didn't take her backpack off and so sat uncomfortably in the chair, half off of it.

Her fingers were tapping nervously on the cup as she stared at the wall. There were two baristas working today. Rose already knew who she was going to ask, she just needed the coffee house to clear of a few more people. The barista she was looking at asking was a small blonde woman named Courtney who wore feathers in her hair and had bright red lipstick on.

Rose knew she was completely basing her choice off of looks because the other barista hadn't smiled once in the time Rose had been there. Rose also just felt that the blonde woman would be more helpful to her. When Rose had ordered the black coffee Courtney had given her a somewhat shy smile and seemed pleasant in general. She also seemed closer to Rose's age than the brunette. The brunette who was working seemed more like, well, a bitch.

Rose had well finished her coffee when she had her chance. Besides the two ladies working, there was only a man reading a paper in the corner and a woman who was talking loudly on her cellphone. It was cleared of all other customers.

Rose waited until the brunette barista went to the back and then she walked up to the till.

Courtney smiled at her. "Hi, what can I get you? Another coffee?"

Oh shit. Rose had brought her empty cup up to the till.

"Err. . . No. . . I'm good." Rose stopped. She changed her mind. She couldn't just ask. This was so awkward!

"Would you like anything else then? Some baked goods?"

Just ask!

Rose took a deep breath. "Do you know where. . . I'd like a cookie please."

No! Idiot! Rose didn't want to spend money on a cookie! What a waste of her precious resources.

"Okay then, what kind would you like?"

She wasn't going to leave without asking. Rose could feel a blush coming onto her cheeks. Why was this so hard? "I've changed my mind. I don't want a cookie."

Courtney shuffled her hands together. "Oh. . . alright. Uh, do you want. . . anything?"

Just blurt it out. Say it. Do it!

"Randy Canwood! Do you know where I could find Randy Canwood?"

Rose was met by silence. How loud did she just say that? She either said it really loud or the she was just noticing the silence in the shop. When did the woman stop talking on her cellphone?

Courtney stood frozen. She widened her eyes and keeping her head straight at Rose she moved her eyes quickly to the left a few times.

Rose looked just in time to see the cell phone woman leave the shop in a hurry.

Courtney still looked at Rose, not moving, but seemed about to speak when the brunette barista came out of the back at that moment. "Are you okay Courtney?" she asked her co-worker. She looked at Rose and narrowed her eyes.

Rose felt that was a good time to leave.

She high-tailed it out of there, walking away with burning cheeks.

Shit, shit, shit, shit!

God she was so stupid. She replayed it in her head a few times trying to figure out what she could have done differently. Maybe she should have visited the shop a few more times to become more familiar to the workers? Maybe she should have had a casual conversation first instead of blurting it out randomly? Maybe she should have asked when there was absolutely no one in the shop, or perhaps when it was busy that nobody could overhear? Maybe she shouldn't have asked so goddam loud!

Rose felt she really messed up. Scorpius did say to not ask right away! Why couldn't she just be more patient? How long was the right amount of time to wait? It wasn't like she could just invite Courtney to the pub to chat her up. Why the hell would Courtney take a drink from a complete stranger, or what if she got mixed signals from her? There was so much Rose didn't know.

Coffee for Kooks was the only place on Canwoods bio that Rose was comfortable going to. It was completely out of the wizarding world and Rose liked it that way. The only other muggle places on the list were a strip mall, a bank, and a sports bar. She didn't want to hang around a strip mall - or the bank. And a sports bar? That really wasn't on her top ten places to go, not even top 100. Especially if it was in this part of London. She did spend the night in the tree outside Pemty Tavern, but that was a waste of a night when she fell asleep. She sure as hell wasn't going inside the wizard tavern.

Why did she have to mess up at the only public muggle place she could go to with ease to?

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