A/N: oh Merlin my poor unicorns. I'm so sorry. Recently I obtained something resembling a life and I've been SO BUSY but that's not really an excuse because this chappy is SO OVERDUE. Also: writer's block. Gotta love that bitch eh *sobs*
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-------Tuesday morning-------

"Well, today's the day!" Lily announced, turning up at Rose's elbow on her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. "Mackenzie's coming over sick, I think. She looked terribly pale when I went down to the common room this morning. But get this: she was all cuddled up with Frey Wilson! And I knew I should feel sorry for her, today being the first task and all, but I just kept feeling sorry for Jeff Thomas. I mean, he was snogging her just last night! He probably doesn't even know she's cuddling with Wilson! That girl's ridiculous! And honestly, Wilson is such a cow. He knows perfectly well that Mackenzie is dating Thomas!" And so on and so forth until Rose became thoroughly bored of Mackenzie Bell's love life, scandalous as it was. Rose kind of tuned out as Lily merged from one target to the next, concluding by ranted on and on about the horrible selfishness of the masculine species.

But, Rose thought vaguely, guys weren't all bad. Scorpius Malfoy was the proof.

Wait, what?

"...and that is why I'd never date Richard Parkinson," Lily finished, blissfully oblivious to the fact that Rose had not been listening and therefore had no idea why Lily wouldn't date Richard Parkinson, though Rose could make a pretty sure guess as to that.

"Mmm-hmm," Rose agreed absently.

Yet after breakfast, when the Head of Gryffindor House came to fetch Mackenzie Bell, Rose felt a twinge of real sympathy for her, regardless of whatever was going on with her and Frey Wilson. And anyway, Rose honestly couldn't care less about that. The girl looked terrified.

Violet Reller leaned towards Rose as the champions filed out of the Great Hall and whispered, "I hear they'll have to fight a - "

But Rose never found out rumour's opinion on the matter, for at that moment an interruption by the name of Lily Potter arrived on the scene.

"Rose Rose Rose Rose oh Merlin oh Merlin oh Merlin," Lily gasped.

"What'd old Merlin do this time?" Rose queried, nonplussed.

"No no no stop it, this isn't a time for jokes!"

"Ok, ok. What's going on?"

Lily lowered her voice so Violet couldn't hear and hissed, "Ryan's disappeared!"

"Oh my god." Rose half stood up, instantly on the alert. "What do you mean she's disappeared?"

"I mean - " Lily pointed over at Beaubaxtons' headmistress, who was going from to table to table in an anxious sort of way " - Madame whatsit can't find her anywhere. She's been looking for the past fifteen minutes."

"If this is a joke you'd better run, Potter. 'Cause I'm not laughing."

"No, I swear! Of course you're not laughing! Neither am I!"

Rose exhaled slowly, rubbing her temple. "Ookay," she muttered. "Come on. Just - lets just get out of here, for starters."

So Rose ditched her breakfast and went with Lily out into the Entrance Hall.

"What're we gonna do?" Lily wondered.

"Well, we don't know for sure that she bumped into Al that night." At least, Lily didn't know for sure. Rose did.

"But you said you were pretty sure it was her."

"Well - this might not mean anything. Maybe she just - I don't know, maybe she's in the washroom or something," Rose suggested lamely.

"You don't believe that."

"Shut up, Potter."

"Since when have you called me 'Potter'?"

"Shut up, Potter," Rose repeated, placing a placating hand on Lily's shoulder. Students were beginning to spill out of the Great Hall in noisy bunches.

"Okay. Okay. How about we just... we just... just... um..."

"Well, what?" Lily prompted, but Rose wasn't listening anymore.

The snake bites only if you bother him.

Oh, Merlin.

"Parseltongue," Rose breathed.

"What?"

"Parseltongue's the answer."

"Be a little more vague, would you?"

"No, come on. I gotta try something."

A few minutes later they stood in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.

"Okay. I'm just gonna try this, alright?" Rose said. "If it doesn't work, then... I don't know. Just give me a sec."

"Okay," Lily agreed dubiously, and Rose took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and silently repeated the familiar request, this time in the language of the serpents.

The wall remained as flat and aloof as ever.

Rose tried again.

Nothing.

Her heart sank. Another false lead.

"So?" Lily said.

"Well, it didn't work."

"Um."

"Come on. Let's go watch the first task."

And that was that. No lead. No Room of Requirement. No Scorpius.

A couple of Lily's friends towed Lily away to sit with them in the bleachers. They asked if Rose would like to sit with them, too, and Rose politely declined, and Lily gave her a What in Merlin's name is going on look which Rose didn't see, because she was occupied with the strenuous task of sorting out her thoughts.

Parseltongue obviously had no effect on the Room. Rose had been foolish to believe it would. But her gut maintained that Parseltongue was the answer. However doubtful it was that Vanessa Ryan had deliberately dropped a cryptic clue, Rose was sure the snake reference held some significance.

At that moment Rose felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around, and found herself face-to-face with none other than "Madame whatsit".

"Excuse me," the Beauxbatons headmistress began in a richly accented voice. "Have you seen Miss Ryan?"

"I'm sorry?"

"She is missing. You have seen her?"

"Oh, um, no. No, I haven't."

"Well. You will tell me if you see her?"

"Er - yes, of course, Madame."

The headmistress disappeared into the crowd to continue her search, but Rose stood stock still, grasping at something in the shadowlands of her mind. All attacks on the Room of Requirement had failed. Vanessa Ryan was missing. And... the snake bites only if you bother him.

The snake... Slytherin's mascot was a serpent. And more than twenty years ago, Uncle Harry had had a run in with Slytherin's serpent.

There was another option, after all.

Rose turned and began travelling upstream in the river of students, a heavy sense of purpose settling over her. What she was about to do could well be the last thing she ever did. But she was headed down a one-way street, and the brakes had malfunctioned.

Forward was the only option. A crash was imminent.
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A/N: short late and shitty af I know I know *flies away*