At dawn, Rose was woken by loud hooting of an owl. The one, sat on ground, returning a blank glare at her. It hopped twice before flying out of the window. She saw it glide away and decided to go back in her room.

She pulled herself on her feet when she noticed a wooden case on the floor beside her. She bend to pick it up and opened it.

Inside it, was a slim and long black wand. It took it. There was a sudden surge of warmth in her fingers. She felt young, like girl of 11 who received her first wand.

She raised the wand above her head, brought it swishing down through the air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework. She laughed heartily. It reminded why she still loved magic.

But she wondered who might remember her birthday. She hardly celebrated her birthday since she was two.

Rose looked back into the case. There was a folded parchment. She unfolded it. It said, in a small, crampy writing:

Happy Birthday, Rose

-S.S.

She immediately understood who it could be. Grabbing her new wand tightly, she ran towards hospital wind.

"Where is he?" Rose asked, gasping for breath as she rush into the seemingly empty wing. Pomfrey, who stood there folding sheets, was shocked at this.

"For the sake of Merlin, learn some manners, Rose. I believe there is something called knocking."

"Where is Severus?" Her voice strained.

"Oh, he has gone back to his rooms. Why?" She looked up from her work. Rose had left.

She walked down to the dungeons. It was becoming cold and dark. "Lumos".

The tip of her wand glowed. She noticed that the torches on either sides of corridors were unlit.

"Incendio" she whispered. The torches lit up instantly. They casted a long shadow on ground which wasn't the witch's.

She gasped and dropped her wand with a grand deal of clatter. Blood drained out of her face as the figure returned her a cold look.

"V-V-Vold-demort" she mumbled, feeling his eyes piercing straight into hers.

"Yesss" he hissed, sending shiver down Rose's spine.

"B-But h-h-how?"

"Forrr you" he murmured, pointing his wand at her. She took a few steps back as the Dark Lord trod forward. She open her mouth to ask but words stuck in her throat.

"Yesss. You are a really powerful witch. If you would have joined my army, you would have got the power you wanted. More than anyone else."

"Y-You tried to destroy t-the f-f-family I never kn-new. W-what made you t-think I might want to j-join y-you in first p-place?" she said, managing to gather enough courage.

"Who needsss a famillly when you can have powersss that one can only dream offff? Even though yoou wouldn't want to use them in wrong way, you did kill someone with your power."

Rose's eyes bulged. How did Voldemort know she killed someone in fit of anger? He wasn't there and if so, no Death Eater would have seen her that time. For sure, it wasn't the Dark Lord. But her fear prevented her from thinking properly.

"If you ressspected a life, you wouldn't have killed that Death Eater."

"H-He would have killed ten more if I wouldn't have stopped him then."

A sly smile spread across the Dark Lord's face and the young witch realised he was upto no good. "He wasss doing hiss work. They are merciless and you arrre too."

"I am not one of them-" she shouted when a thought occurred to her.

She could have just 'stupefied' the enemy. Why was that she thought he must be killed to stop? It was beyond her control to end someone's life but she did it. She was a Death Eater in her traits.

"I nowww that accepted it…" He said, snapping Rose out of her thoughts. "…you must paaay for it."

He pointed his wand at her. She stepped back, searching for hers. It was seconds later she realised that it was fallen a little behind Voldemort. Blood drained out her face. Her legs froze, rooting her to the floor.

"Time to die. Avada K-"

Rose snapped her eyes shut and raised arms reflexively. She heard her mind scream into her ears when there was a crack of whip.

Nothing happened. She was still there, fixed in her place. Slowly, she opened her eyes and lowered her hands to see a shapeless shadow running away from her.

She took a deep breath and staggered sideway till she rested her shoulder against cold dungeon wall. She was downright terrified by whatever happened and very thought of it caused her to slide down against wall. She closed her eyes, trying to forget it.

Breath stuck it her throat when she thought someone called her. Opening her eyes by a chink, she peered into a pair of dark eyes. It was saying something, but she hardly heard it.

She gave a smile to those eyes before passing out.