And so Rose recounted - once the Minister for Magic had returned with his Aurors - in painstaking detail, all that she had observed and experienced since the start of the term. Scorpius' unexplained disappearance, bumping into Albus in odd corners of the school, Vanessa Ryan's aura of malice, the Room of Requirement's false lead. Lily pitched in too, albeit tearfully, disclosing her observation of Albus the night of Scorpius' disappearance. And then Rose told of the events in the Chamber of Secrets - and Uncle Harry was right, she did feel as though something poisonous was being extracted from her with every word - but it left a horrible aftertaste.

"But it wasn't Albus' fault," Rose concluded, quietly. "He did all those things because he loved me - as more than a cousin. I'm sorry."

The silence stretched on for an eternity as her words quivered in the air. Her father squeezed her shoulders. Finally the Minister sighed heavily, running his hands down his face.

"Thank you, Rose," he said. "Thank you for us telling us all that."

"That's not the full story." Rose said dully. "You'll have to get it out of with Ryan with a Truth serum, or something." Merlin, was it even possible to feel so empty? Spilling everything hadn't exactly helped.

A murmur of agreement rippled through the teachers, but it seemed like they were too busy watching Rose with a sort of awe to actually say anything. The stares made her uncomfortable. She fidgeted.

"That may be so," Mrs. Weasley piped up. "But Rose, you really must sleep now."

"Wait," McGonagall said. "Let her stay with us for a while. She, more than anyone else, deserves to hear what Miss Ryan has to say."

Rose's family agreed reluctantly, and presently they were all making their way up to the hospital wing, shock hanging over them like a dark cloud. Uncle Harry was still carrying Albus' body. Rose flinched; she couldn't help it. It was her fault he was gone. He'd sacrificed himself for her.

They heard the shrieking as the hospital wing came into view. The source turned out to be Madam Pomfrey - the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor was cowering under her fury - because, as was soon discovered, he'd been too late.

Vanessa Ryan was gone.

Madam Pomfrey had been unable to stop Vanessa, he explained wearily, while Pomfrey collapsed into sobs; Vanessa had simply taken her wand by force and gotten away easy. Panic ensued, and Rose felt an icy chill creep over her. Anything - anything could happen with that girl running wild in the grounds. And none of it would be good.

Cynthia was Rose's first thought, accompanied by a jolt of anxiety. It made sense that Scorpius Malfoy's sister would be Ryan's next target. Rose slipped unnoticed through the tumult, and hastened down to the Slytherin common room - for the stands had been evacuated and the task paused - heart pounding away the emptiness.

"Salazar," Rose gasped upon reaching the hidden door. Slamming it open, she was met with a sudden silence as every head swivelled her way. She stared right back, searching the crowd desperately for Cynthia Malfoy - and as the Slytherins poured forwards, seething with questions, a glint of blonde hair was briefly visible by the fire. Rose fought her way upstream, dodging questions and comments and concerns, and caught her by the shoulders, spinning her around; "Cynthia, thank Merlin - "

But it wasn't Cynthia. Rose let the girl go and stumbled back, the relief vanishing as quickly as it had come. She leapt onto the nearest armchair and yelled, "Quiet!!"

Astonishingly, everyone obeyed and the room filled with a sort of nervous, expectant tension.

"Cynthia," Rose said desperately. "Cynthia Malfoy! Where is she?"

Silence. "Dunno," someone called out.

"We have to find her!" Rose cried. "She's in danger!"

A disgruntled murmur rippled across the gathering. "Why?" Was shouted up from various sources. Rose clenched her fists. They were wasting time.

"She's in danger," Rose repeated angrily. "I have good reason to believe she'll be targeted directly by a Death Eater who is currently running loose in Hogwarts!"

Shocked gasps. Then the door burst open, and there was Cynthia -

Being held at wand point by Vanessa Ryan.

Speak of the devil.

Someone screamed. And then everyone was screaming, fighting to get as far away from the door as possible.

"Enough," Vanessa said sharply, her voice cutting through the confusion like glass through skin. The noise petered out. Fear swelled in the silence like a balloon about to burst.

Vanessa's piercing eyes found Rose, the corner of her mouth curling into and almost-smile. "A trade, Weasley," she said softly, yet carryingly. "You come with me willingly. And your friend here goes free."

Cynthia widened her eyes at Rose and shook her head almost imperceptibly. Vanessa held her wand at Cynthia's chest. But wait, something about it was wrong... did Madam Pomfrey's wand really look like that? Rose didn't think so. There was something terribly wrong going on here, she was sure of it... where the hell had Ryan gotten that wand?

Oh Merlin. Oh Merlin. Oh Merlin... "Your wand," Rose gasped.

Vanessa smirked at Rose's appalled expression. "Smart one, you are. Yes, this is it! This - this is the Elder Wand."

Stunned silence.

"Is that so?" Queried a new voice, a calmly furious voice. "Well, it won't work for you, I'm afraid."

Vanessa whirled around to face the figure standing in the doorway. She let out a little gasp, loosened her grip on Cynthia for a split second, but didn't seem to care - Cynthia wriggled free and slipped into the crowd, who ignored her, for there were more pressing matters at hand.

"Harry Potter," Vanessa said, and Rose could hear fear in her voice. Rose's own heart just about stopped. What was he doing here?!

"That's me," Uncle Harry agreed. "As I was saying, that wand won't work for you. Because - " he whipped out his own wand " - it only answers - " disarmed Vanessa " - to - " caught the Elder Wand in his free hand " - me."

Vanessa Ryan gaped, seemingly unaware that she was now defenceless and at the mercy of the man who'd defeated the very monster she was attempting to resurrect. Deathly silence reigned supreme as Uncle Harry began to pace in threatening circles around her.

"Don't try anything tricky," he said calmly. "Aurors are on their way. Not to mention that I am an Auror..."

"Harry Potter," Vanessa repeated stupidly, appearing deaf to everything he was saying.

"Yeah," he said, resentfully. "That's my name. This - " he pushed back his unruly black hair to reveal the legendary lightning scar " - doesn't lie, and lately it's been telling me that someone is trying to bring a certain Dark Lord back from the dead. Why are you even trying? He's gone. For real. I watched him die. There're no Horcruxes left - how'd you manage to find that bit of soul? But never mind, you can tell us everything later on..."

"Why don't you kill me?" Vanessa taunted, suddenly recovering from her daze. "Avenge your cowardly little son, Harry Potter - but, too noble, aren't you?"

Uncle Harry stopped dead, clenching his fist around the Elder Wand so hard his knuckles went white. "It'd be pleasure to kill you," he informed Vanessa icily, green eyes flashing, and Rose knew wasn't kidding. "But it would never do to have you take the facts of this business to the grave with you, now, would it?"

Vanessa glared half-heartedly; Rose could tell she was still afraid. The thought gave her a strange sort of morbid pleasure.

Uncle Harry caught her gaze momentarily, and for a split second Rose had a gut-wrenching sense of déjà vu - for she could all too easily recall another set of identical green eyes, backlit with an identical pain, caught like a deer in the headlights in some uncanny corner of Hogwarts School... but the look in Harry Potter's eyes ran deeper, she knew, so much deeper... For an instant she felt almost ashamed of herself, of the crushing sensation in her chest; all that had transpired was nothing, she knew, compared to what Uncle Harry had experienced at her age. Nevertheless, there was no preventing, no arguing with the the dead feeling which had settled in the pit of her stomach, though Merlin knew she would give anything for it to go away.

Rose was shaken back to the present by the arrival of the staff and Aurors. In the scuffling which followed, Rose found herself swept up in the crowd and hurled against -

Cynthia Malfoy.

"Thia!" Rose gasped.

Cynthia stared at her for a long moment, expression unfathomable. Then it changed to a glare.

"You stupid Snake Girl, what in the name of Merlin's pants were you thinking, going down there on your own?! You could have died!!"

Rose blinked. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered, caught off guard by Cynthia's sudden flare of temper. 

"You idiot," Cynthia snapped, and hugged her, and Rose hugged right back, feeling as though part of her had been replaced, a pinprick of light in a swirling void of nothingness.

"I'm sorry, Rose," Cynthia murmured, voice barely audible over the commotion.

"I'm sorry, too. For everything."

~
A/N: yeah so I'm gonna start putting only one author's note per chapter because there are WAY too many stupid unnecessary notes in this stupid unnecessary book. I feel like they're ruining this thing and this thing is probably the best thing I've ever written. So now y'all can celebrate the departure of the before-chapter notes, yay!!! QUESTION: is le story too depressing????? Just wondering, bc I seem to do a rather alarming amount of evil cackling while writing this (yes, I am insane). Anyway comment and vote and have a turtle🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢