AN: After this I will put up the first of the polls for the Template. Also, should I start giving the chapters titles, or stick with what I'm currently doing.
The next day I woke up a bit later than usual, though still early enough to not miss breakfast thanks to [Time Savers], honestly the best two credits I spent. Making my way into the Great Hall I immediately caught sight of something concerning. Rose, looking disheveled and exhausted, was being held up by Lilian at Slytherin's Table. A quick thought that I would draw unnecessary attention to myself passed my mind, before being ignored as I didn't really give a fuck. When I took the seat next to Rose, she didn't react to me, simply staring ahead and mumbling to herself. Placing my hand on her shoulder, she froze for a long moment before tears suddenly fell from her eyes as silent sobs racked her body. People had been giving me glances since I sat down, but now they were staring at the spectacle, some looking to be trying to signal a teacher. Whatever was happening to my sister I knew that it would be better if she didn't experience a breakdown in the middle of the Great Hall. Getting off my seat I slowly managed to get Rose to stand and began to lead her out the Hall, no one stopping me but definitely taking note. Seriously, what the hell had Dumbledore told her yesterday?
I passed the doors and managed to get her to the dungeons, in one of the unused storerooms that was only accessible if you whistle a quick tune. I barely managed to get her to sit down on an old chair and step back when she let out a massive sob, freely crying now. Her arm shot out and grabbed my own and pulled me against her, holding me like a lifeline. I just sat with her, holding her gently while she brokenly whispered, 'just a little longer'.
I had a decision to make in this moment, did I bind her to me, risk being discovered and possibly help her, or did I leave her be, allow whatever was destroying her to do its work and pick up whatever remained. Without even contemplating further I grabbed one of the chokers, a simple silver band with a gleaming emerald carved into a serpent and held it to her.
"Rose, I can help you if you allow me. Just place this around your neck and soon things will be all better. Please, put it on. It will bind you to me, and make whatever is hurting you to stop"
My whispered request seemed to get through to her and she slowly placed it on. With a small snap the latch shut and disappeared, solidifying my claim over her. I got another notice informing me that my binding would be complete in 72 hours. I ignored that and mentally brought up the function that allowed me to program the Collars. Finding the correct setting I numb her emotions, stopping whatever was affecting her from continuing for the moment. This was a temporary measure though, until the binding went through, and my defenses kicked in.
She stopped crying, face going blank and eyes dulling, closer to being dead inside than the glazing common in Imperious victims. Her voice a perfect monotone, she spoke.
"What did you do? You said something about binding and now I no longer feel any emotions."
She sounded like a machine, cold logic all she knows when she is like this. I explain to her what has been done, how she is now bound to me and that for the next three days she will be like this unless she wishes to go back to whatever was happening to her, and then she would gain talents and defenses that will help. She didn't bother asking me how, simply absorbing what I was telling her. When I asked her to explain to me what happened for her to end up like that, she proceeded to tell me a lot I didn't know.
She told me how it was Charlus and Dorea Potter that held off Voldemort, with Dorea casting a ritual of some sort that sacrificed her life to kill the Dark Lord. How when he was defeated a piece of his Soul Latched onto her and was spreading an aura of corruption around her. How I was sent away to keep me safe from her, and how her parents kept her isolated from the outside world. How two years ago she managed to meet with others her age for the first time, due to Dumbledore and Lily putting a patch on her faulty protection that stopped the leaking malevolent energy. How for the past week she had been plagued by nightmares and urges, pushing her to do things that frightened her, and how I made them stop, how she could find peace with my touch.
Hearing all of that I managed to clue together what was probably happening. When Dorea cast the spell, it was most likely split between the two of us, weakening the spell somewhat, so that when Voldemort's Killing Curse rebounded the fragment that attached to Rose was not completely bound like Harrys was. This led to her body pushing the corruption out of her in an attempt to stop her from being possessed, resulting in the aura that she mentioned. When Dumbledore and Lily placed that 'patch' they shut the leak, allowing a buildup of toxic magic within her. While this might not have been much of a problem for a few years, my guess is that the fragment in her shard must have sensed the soul in Quirrell and is now agitated, actively fighting against the protection spell. The reason for her feeling calm when near m is either because the protection on her is drawing power from the one cast on me, or the shard in her head senses some familiarity from me due to my Template and stops struggling, or maybe some mixture of the two.
When Dumbledore told her about the Horcrux, he must not have realized it was aware in some capacity and must have redoubled its efforts once it realized that it was under threat, similar to the Locket. One sleepless night while trying to defend her very soul later and she is a barely functioning mess that I barely managed to get out of the Public's eye before she broke down and killed someone, most likely Danica. This meant that the second I fully bound her I would have to purchase Possession Defense using the Refunds I will get.
I checked the time and winced as I saw that her First Class had already started. Turning back to Rose, I asked her to tell me when it got too much before slowly letting her emotions back in. First her eyes lost that dull gleam, lighting up as all her emotions, though diminished, rushed back. Then she started to look a little twitchy, then she started shaking and then tears started flowing and I moved it back down again. She could barely handle 10% of what she was feeling without suffering a breakdown. Gently pulling the slightly shaking girl into my arms I felt her relax and knew that I was probably going to miss Potions with Snape. Bright side is that Rose will get out of having to spend class with Voldemort too. Pulling out some spare parchment and I pen, I slowly wrote two letters and asked softly if there was an available House Elf nearby. It took a few moments before one appeared, looking nervous. I handed them the two letters and asked him to give them to Professor Flitwick and Dumbledore. With a slight Pop the elf was gone, and I went back to holding my sister close, reigning myself for a long couple of hours.
The Elf returned a couple of hours later with two plates of food, a blanket, and a letter. Thanking the small creature, which resulted in a blush and quick pop, I took a glance at the letter and put it away, before laying the blanket over the two of us as we laid on the floor (softened and made comfortable using a couple of spells), Rose's head resting on my chest as she silently snoozed. I knew that tomorrow will be an absolute pain in the ass when I have to deal with Snape for double Potions after missing his first class, but I should be able to let Rose go on her own for a bit by then so it will all work out. Turning back to my book on Magical History, I shifted a bit and got comfortable, knowing that I wouldn't be moving for another few hours.