I am so so sorry for the terribly long wait. I have been trying to cope with depression and a computor that wants to eat my hardrive, not a fab conbination. I also thought I could juggle two stories at once (harder than it seems) But i shall try and keep up as much as I can. Thanks so much for still keeping up with this story despite my appalling updating skills. With no further delay, chapter two.
***
The next morning Harry and Ron were woken up by a flustered looking Hermione
‘Wake up! Mrs Weasley says breakfast is ready!’
Harry rolled over and groaned
‘Get UP!’
Harry rolled over once more and toppled out of bed onto the floor. He stood up to see Ron sat up in bed rubbing his eyes.
‘What’s your hurry?’ Ron asked yawning and falling back onto his pillow
‘You’ll never guess who’s here’
‘Who?’
‘Rose’
‘What?’ Said Harry and Ron at the same time
‘How did they get her back here?’ Ron asked her ‘She looks like she’d fight tooth and nail to leave’
‘Apparently she did’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Get dressed then come and see’
‘Get out then!’
Hermione left the room so they could get changed and it wasn’t long till they arrived downstairs for breakfast. Rose was sat at the table; her head slumped in her arms.
‘Good morning boys!’ Said Mrs Weasley brightly. She was frying eggs in a pan on the stove but her eyes were still glaring at Rose disapprovingly. Rose groaned loudly.
‘Is she ok?’ Harry asked, eyeing her up cautiously
Harry just about heard her mumble headache into her arms. Ron sat down and picked up the daily prophet before scanning the front page then tossing it aside.
‘Hangover’ Lupin corrected her. He was sat at the end of the table next to Sirius. He was trying to stare seriously at her but couldn’t quite shake off the smile playing on his lips. ‘We went back to get her late last night and she was smashed off her face.’
‘I wasn’t that bad’ she cut in, looking up. Harry noticed a large gash on her cheek and a rather impressive black eye. ‘You shouldn’t be drinking anyway’ said Lupin ‘How old are you?’
Her eyes twinkled as she leant back in her chair and took a sip of coffee ‘Old enough. Besides, I would have thought you’d be the last person to lecture me on too young.’ Her eyes flew towards Tonks, who had just entered the room and then back to Lupin. Lupin’s eyes widened.
‘Watcher’ Tonks smiled at the room and took a seat next to Lupin then helped herself to toast.
‘Hi Tonks’ Rose smiled at her
‘Hey there Rose. How are things?’ Tonks nibbled on a corner of her toast
‘Slightly worse since the last time you saw me. How are you?’
‘I’m doing alright thanks. Mainly Auror work... ’ They continued to chatter cheerily to each other and the people around the room stared in amazement. Harry stared at Rose in interest. She was being perfectly pleasant to Tonks. Which came as a revelation to everyone as she had spent quite a bit of the night trying to get out of the house. Talented at magic she may be, but being drunk is not an aid when trying to fight off several fully grown aurors who outnumber you vastly.
‘The meeting’s about to start’ Mrs Weasley turned to face them ‘Sirius, dear could you take Rose, Harry and Ron upstairs to the others for me?’
Harry, Ron and Rose stood up. Only then did Harry notice how pretty she was. Her long honey-blonde hair fell was past her shoulders and her grey eyes twinkles beneath long lashes. She was wearing a black, sequined skirt and a white shirt with a black waistcoat over the top. She drained the rest of her coffee and smiled at Harry and Ron. Apparently Ron had also realized how good-looking she was, as he tripped over before following Sirius out of the kitchen ad into the hall.
‘You’re up the stars. Harry and Ron will show you where you are.’ Sirius smiled at her momentarily and she smiled back ‘So...’ He began ‘What do you think of the place’ He waved his hand airily around the dingy hallway.
‘I hate it’ she said darkly looking around. Ginny glared at her from the stairway. She then looked at Sirius but this time she looked sad. ‘You hate it too’ she said quietly ‘you despise everything about this place.’ Sirius stared hard into her eyes as if he wanted her to stop but couldn’t speak. He stood transfixed, listening to her every word. ‘You don’t think that it’s a decent repayment to Lily and James do you?’
‘Shut up’
‘Not a decent repayment for two friends that died at the hands of Voldemort, Eliza too eventually. They all died because of him and you’re stuck in a house all day whilst Peter runs free, sniffing all over his master’ She began to spit out her words hatefully. She glared at Sirius as if she knew this was getting to him.
‘Shut up’
‘You spent thirteen years in Azkaban for something you didn’t even do. You managed to convince yourself though didn’t you? Even you had yourself convinced that it was your fault’
‘How are you doing this?’
‘Not just you, Remus thought it was you too, Minerva, Dumbledore...’
‘Stop it’
‘Harry... But it wasn’t your fault was it? You didn’t give Voldemort that information, Peter did. It’s his fault you were in that cell. It’s his fault Lily and James are dead. It’s his fault that out of six best friends three are worm food and one’s a traitor. Who does that leave? The werewolf and a convict. It’s Peter bloody Pettigrew’s fault that you were in a prison cell whilst my mother spent her entire life looking for you’
‘SHUT UP’ Sirius had lost control he shook his head as if to try and get her out of his mind ‘SHUT UP’
‘SHE COULDN’T FIND YOU. SHE SPENT YEARS LOOKING! SHE WENT MAD WHEN SHE FOUND OUT ABOUT LILY AND JAMES. SHE FORGOT WHO I WAS! SHE LOST HER MIND TRYING TO FIND YOU. AND HERE YOU ARE AS CLEAR AS DAY AND YOU WON’T EVEN LET ME LEAVE SO I CAN KILL THE MAN WHO RUINED EVERYTHING’ She was screaming at him. All of her composure was lost. It seemed like she was yelling out things she had held inside for years. A strange sense of power radiated from her.
‘I AM NOT LETTING YOU LEAVE HERE SO YOU CAN CHASE AFTER DEATH EATERS’ Sirius raised his voice too. But he was not out of control. He shouted as an authority, as if to say his word was final. Harry, Ron and Ginny remained rooted to the spot. Unsure of what to do.
‘WHY NOT’
‘BECAUSE I KNEW YOUR MOTHER WELL ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT SHE WOULD WANT YOU TO BE SAFE’
‘IF SHE WANTED ME TO BE SAFE, SHE WOULD HAVE COME BACK. SHE WOULD HAVE STOPPED LOOKING FOR YOU LONG ENOUGH TO EXPLAIN WHAT I WAS’ this seemed to make everyone in the room fall silent instantly. ‘I’m not here to be safe.’ She seemed to spit out her words quietly ‘I’m here for a purpose that’s it. Just like her. Except this time I’m going to do my job and it shouldn’t matter if I die. You sure as hell shouldn’t care if I die. I certainly don’t. But I know what I have to do and I’m not dragging the order into it. I’m doing it alone.’
‘Well good luck doing it if you can’t leave the house.’ Sirius glared at her and she glared back before they were interrupted. Lupin, Tonks and Molly had arrived at the door to see what all the noise was about.
Lupin was the first to speak. He turned to Harry and the others. ‘Ron, Harry, Ginny take her upstairs, keep her there and for merlin’s sake don’t let her near a wand’
Harry, Ron and Ginny turned to look at her but she seemed to have no intention of moving. She remained standing still, breathing heavily and glaring at Sirius. Finally Ginny had enough. She grabbed hold of her arm and steered her upstairs with Harry and Ron bringing up the rear. The girl shook off her grip angrily but let Ginny lead the way upstairs. Once they were upstairs Ginny lead her into her and Hermione’s room. Harry and Ron followed.
Hermione was sat on her bed reading a book she looked up and saw Ron and Harry ‘Oh good you’re up. I was beginning to wonder when...’ She broke off when she saw who else has entered. ‘Um, Hi’
‘Hey’ Rose smiled weakly before collapsing on the third empty bed nearest to the wall. Just then Fred and George apperated into the room with a loud crack.
‘Hello’ Fred said confidently right to Rose
‘I don’t believe we’ve met properly’ said George cheerily
‘I would think introductions are in order’ added Fred, flashing her a smile
Fred held out his hand for her to shake ‘You must be Fred’ She smiled at him and then shook hands with George ‘And that means you’re George’
‘Excellent’ George grinned. ‘Not many people get it right on the first guess’
‘You’re obviously Hermione’ She smiled across the room at Hermione. ‘Ron’ She said as she shook Ron’s hand. ‘Ginny’ She smiled at Ginny and Ginny tried hard to return it. She managed to look convincing enough before the girl turned to Harry. ‘And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you’re Harry Potter’ Harry smiled back wearily. He felt uncomfortable around her; she seemed to know far too much.
They sat in silence for a while even the twins. ‘So, how long do these order meetings last then?’ She asked drumming her fingers together.
‘It depends.’ George answered ‘We usually listen in but...’
‘...but Mum put a charm on the door. Nothing can get under it’ Finished Fred
‘I would have thought that with a reputation like yours the Weasley twins wouldn’t give up so easily’ She grinned at them
‘What are you suggesting’ George asked, raising his eyebrows
‘I’m just suggesting that we eavesdrop in the good old fashioned way’ She replied, and with that she stood up and left the room. Fred and George followed immediately, just after them were Harry and Ron. Hermione and Ginny came last mostly out of curiosity.
She walked into Harry and Ron’s room and knelt down. ‘You can’t go through the door so just come down from above’ She prised open a faulty floorboard and then pulled out a bit of the flooring underneath. This didn’t require incredible strength as the house was very old. Soon there was a small fist sized window large enough for them to gather round and look directly down into the kitchen below.
‘Genius’ Grinned Fred, clapping her on the back
‘I’ll get the extendable ears’ Added George
As soon as George had left the room Rose sat up straight and stared at the wall in front of her.
‘Urrrmm... what are you doing?’ Harry asked
‘Moody’s looking’
‘Oh!’ Said Ron. Everyone sat up and pretended to talk to each other. They amused themselves for a while, miming a heated discussion and using very exaggerated hand gestures. George walked in.
‘Do my ears still work?’ He asked
‘For now, Now hurry up we’re missing the meeting’ Rose told him
Once the ears were handed out they dangled the ends through the hole and inserted the other end into their ears.
‘It’s becoming to dangerous now, we can’t leave the weapon unguarded’
‘I’m telling you we can’t draw attention to it. If we make it to obvious it will be easy to find, he may not even know what he’s looking for at the moment’
‘He knows exactly what he’s looking for. That kind of weapon in the hands of Voldemort is unthinkable’
They could hear the voices from down below, they could make out Kingsly Shacklebolt’s deep voice. Sirius’ was also recognisable. Then Moody interrupted, he was speaking perhaps a little louder than was necessary.
‘Arthur, where’s Molly?’
‘She’s gone to check on the kids’ Arthur answered
‘Check on the kids? Upstairs?’ Moody repeated rising his voice even more
‘Yes ‘Said Arthur looking thoroughly bewildered. ‘Why?’
‘No reason’ Moody’s mad eye swivelled upwards meaningfully. They heard footsteps outside the door.
‘Mum’s coming! Quick!’ They pulled in the extendable ears and Rose slotted the floorboard back in place. Fred just managed to stuff the extendable ears out of sight when Mrs Weasley walked in.
‘Ah Good you’re in here. The meeting’s just finishing so you guys can clear up the attic before lunch’ George groaned but shut up quickly at one glance from his mother. They began to head outside the room and up a flight of stairs to the attic. Mrs Weasley called Rose back
‘Rose you’re coming downstairs. The order want a word with you before they leave’ Rose didn’t looked thrilled at this but she followed her down without complaints.
She followed Mrs Weasley into the kitchen, the whole order were waiting expectantly for her. ‘Have a seat Rose’ Lupin indicated to a seat next to him, Rose took it.
‘As you probably know, we are going to need to ask you some questions’ Rose remained silent. ‘As you’ve been... how can I put this? A little uncooperative, we are going to need to know you’re telling the truth.’
‘Where are you going with this?’ She asked, looking around at everyone in the room
‘We want you to drink Veritiseirum’ Snape said
‘What?’ Rose looked angry ‘You want me to drink Veritiseirum? Why?’
‘Because we need to know if you’re telling the truth’ Lupin repeated
‘I have no intention to tell you anything’
‘Look here Rose’ Moody said ‘I know you don’t want to, but we are telling you because you can trust us. We’ve written down the questions we think are ok for us to ask and we will ask those questions only’
‘And then will you let me leave?’
‘Yes’
‘Ok deal. Can I see the questions first?’
‘Here’ Molly slid a piece of parchment across the table, looking rather worried. Roses’ eyes scanned the page and then she nodded.
‘Ok fine’ She said ‘I’ll answer these questions and these questions alone’
Lupin handed her a glass of pumpkin juice containing the Veritiseirum. Rose downed the glass and Sirius watched her apprehensively.
‘Alright then, let’s begin.’ Moody picked up the parchment then tossed it aside. He looked Rose right in the eye and then asked ‘Is your mother still alive?’
‘That’s not on the parchment’ She glared at him ‘You said you’d only ask questions from the list.’
‘Funny thing that’ Moody said ‘I lied’
‘bastards’ Rose looked furious
‘Is your mother still alive?’ It was Sirius who asked this time. He didn’t ask as aggressively as Moody did but his voice was still firm.
‘No. I don’t think she is. I haven’t heard from her in years. You knew her too. You knew that she wouldn’t just abandon her daughter. She would have found you anyway. That’s what I was hoping for. I hoped that she’d found you and that she was so happy she’d forgotten about me. I hoped she was with you. That’s part of the reason why I turned up. I knew you were with the order of the phoenix but when I saw she wasn’t there... ’ She trailed off, a mixed look of fury and sadness in her eyes.
Sirius looked hopeful ‘So she could still be alive?’
‘Yes’
That was enough for Sirius. He felt as if some light had just been shed over his life. This was how he felt all those years ago when he thought they were going to turn Peter in. When he thought Harry was coming to live with him. This news didn’t make him free but it did mean he had something to live for.
‘When was the last time you saw her?’
‘When I was nine. She said she’d had enough, she said she needed to talk to Sirius. She was insane. She went mad as soon as she found out about Lily and James.’
‘What happened?’
‘She spent her whole life refusing it could have happened. She knew it was coming though. She must have done. Maybe it was just something she missed I don’t know. But she never believed you did it you know.’ She looked at Sirius ‘Not for one second. She never believed that it was you who turned them in. She wanted to find you but she couldn’t. She was still being hunted down by some and believed dead by everyone else. She had a daughter to look after.’
‘Why did she leave then?’
‘It was the thirty first of October. Eight years after Lily and James Potter were murdered. She left to visit their grave. She did it often but this time it was different. She took a single red rose with her. She left a second with me. She tucked it in my hair and said goodbye. She told me she’d be back as soon as she could. And that was the last time I ever saw her’
‘What did you do?’
‘I waited to start off with. I waited weeks, months. To be honest I didn’t do a great job at looking after myself. One day I decided I would go out and find her. I left the house all ready to do it. I only made it down the street then I stopped. I was too scared to go any further. It was an old muggle lady who found me. I was sent to a muggle orphanage.’
‘What happened after that?’
‘Well I kept myself to myself most of the time. That was until I got a letter from Hogwarts. Dumbledore was going to come and visit me. I was terrified, so I ran off. And this time I kept on going. I’ve looked after myself ever since.’
‘Why did you run off?’
‘Because I hated it. I hated Magic ever since I was old enough to know what it had done to the world. ‘
‘You hate Magic?’
‘Of course I do. It’s destroyed so much. I would have avoided it completely but then I started getting their visions. These snips from the future. And I knew what I had to do. I had to learn magic. I had to do it myself. So I did. I knew I had this purpose so I was going to fulfil it.’
‘What was your plan?’
‘Well I knew I had to help save you from those Death Eaters. But I didn’t want any more than that... I would have given up ages ago if I didn’t think I owed it to my mother. I learnt magic and then when it was time, flew to your rescue. I wasn’t planning to live past that night but it’s just my luck that I did’
‘Do you know why you didn’t die?’
‘Not the Foggiest’
‘How much do you know? Do you know as much as your mother did? How much do you know about the Order and Voldemort?’
‘A lot’
‘Everything?’
‘No idea’
‘Prove it’
‘Oh you really don’t want me to do that’
‘Why not?’
‘Because the only way you can be sure is if I say something you’ve never told anyone which means It has to be a secret about one of you. And because I’m up to my eyeballs in Veritiseirum, thank you very much, I won’t hold back. So If you want me to prove it I will, just don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
Moody glared into her eyes. He wasn’t going to let a child Intimidate him. His eyes glinted as he said, very, very quietly ‘Prove it.’
‘Well Remus and Tonks are sleeping together if that interests you.’
Moody’s face fell, Molly gasped and Sirius head turned quickly to face his best friend and his cousin. ‘What?’
Everyone in the room was staring at them, completely unprofessionally. Nobody spoke. You could have heard a pin drop if it wasn’t for Roses’ faint ‘I hate to say I told you so...’
Sorry again for the wait. If you want I can make smaller chapters and update them more frequently, what do you think? Are my chapters too big? too small? Leave a comment letting me know so I can adjust it. Thanks for reading, Elle x
oooh and also check out my Next Generation fan fic 'Operation Grown Up' I think you'll really like it. :)
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