Final exams were on the horizon, which was the perfect distraction for Rosie. She quite enjoyed staying busy during that time, not having to worry about anyone else but herself. But did the faces of her Slytherin friends or members of Dumbledore's Army pass her way every now and then, altering the thoughts in her mind for a moment? Of course they did. However, Rosie was determined to continue on studying no matter what. She couldn't lose her focus now, even while Headmistress Umbridge found whatever way that would cause the school to lose its comforting atmosphere.

However, on the day of O.W.L. exams, something felt different.

Rosie first felt the weird feeling while on her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Really, she didn't have much time to think about it as she ate with professors trying to hurry all of the students out so that desks could be set up for the fifth year students who had to take their O.W.L. exams shortly. Once she was out of the Great Hall and heading for her first class of the day, the feeling at the pit of her stomach remained, and it was all she could think about in her lectures as the day dragged out. What the hell could it mean? Was something about to happen? An omen, perhaps? As if any of those needed to come around with everything that was going on in the Wizarding world, whether anyone believed the things that were being said or not.

As the afternoon was slowly passing by, Rosie decided to use her time to study some more, as she had a lot to go over with her History of Magic exam coming up that she was nowhere near ready for. She was making her way to the library, strolling down the quiet corridor (something that didn't happen very often during the day), almost making it to the steps before she heard a rumbling noise. Rosie looked around, unable to figure out which direction it was coming from. The noise only got louder, to which she got nervous as to what the hell was going on. Instead of continuing up the stairs to the first floor, she slowly made her way back down the corridor, heading for the Great Hall this time. Once the Great Hall was within her sight, she stopped when Headmaster Umbridge opened the doors and stepped out, a spark flying around her before heading inside, to which Rosie could hear it go off, along with a flash of blue that left her more puzzled. She watched Headmaster Umbridge take a few more steps, her heels echoing in the being the only sound anyone could hear.

Then, all of a sudden, there was yelling coming down the corridor, followed by the Weasley twins on brooms as they soared into the Great Hall.

Rosie's eyes went wide as she made a dash for the Great Hall, moving past the headmaster while watching the chaos unfold in front of her. Filled with colorful explosions and cheering from all around, she couldn't help but join with the other students, seeing smiles on their faces for the first time in months. She felt her cheeks starting to hurt from the grin she had been holding, though she didn't mind.

And the best part? For once, Umbridge had no bloody idea what to do except stand in complete distress and watch.

However, just when Rosie didn't think it could get better, one of the Weasley twins threw a firework in the air, to which she witnessed it explode into the form of a dragon, seeing its eyes darting right at the headmaster, then letting out a growl. Umbridge's eyes went wide, frantically turning around and running as fast as she could in her pink heels, trying to make it to the doors in time. By the time she made it out of the Great Hall, the dragon engulfed her, with sparks sizzling and smoke clouding the corridor, followed by every decree she ever enforced in the school shattering and falling to the ground.

Through the papers flying around, the Weasley twins shot out of the Great Hall on their brooms and to the open sky, with the other students following suit and watching as more fireworks went off. Rosie was among the crowd, cheering and applauding at the twins, seeing the giant W sparkling in the sky. She hadn't felt such a rush of excitement ever since Dumbledore's Army was caught and disbanded by Umbridge, and she didn't realize how much she had missed that feeling until now.

Rosie was still grinning from ear to ear as she glanced at everyone around her. But when she caught Harry falling to the ground, her smile dropped, immediately rushing to his side. She saw the way he didn't look her in the eye, wondering if it was because he was still mad at her for telling Adam about Dumbledore's Army. Still, it didn't stop her from growing concerned.

"Harry?" Rosie spoke up, raising her eyebrows. "Are you okay?"

He didn't respond, not even attempting to get any words out. Rosie was unsure of what to do next, but thankfully, Hermione came up next to her to see what was going on.

"Is everything all right?" she asked.

"I don't know," Rosie admitted. "I saw him fall and now he won't say anythi--"

"Sirius."

The girls stared at Harry when the name slipped past his lips. Rosie should've been shocked to even hear the name, but she knew that Harry had been in contact with Sirius Black earlier in the school year. But what was going on with Harry that made him say his name? Was he really in trouble this time?

"We've gotta go," Harry said, quickly standing up, though he almost lost his balance doing so.

"What's going on?" Rosie questioned. "Where are we--"

"I was talking to Hermione," he clarified, his tone bitter.

A dumbfounded Rosie took a step back and watched Harry and Hermione hurry off, with Ron not too far behind them once he saw them leaving. Despite feeling hurt, she went to catch up with the trio, anyway, knowing that something was very wrong.

"Hey!" she called out, picking up her pace as they were heading down the corridor. "Guys, wait!"

"Now's not the time, Rosie!" Harry shouted back without turning around.

"I actually think now's the perfect time," she retorted.

It was then Harry spun around, his eyes darting back at Rosie. "Why, so you can go tell your friends what we're up to again?"

Rosie resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his snippy response. "I just want to help. There's something wrong, isn't there? Whatever it is, maybe--"

"We don't need your help," Harry snapped, then glanced back at Ron and Hermione. "Come on." He turned back around and continued on, with Ron and Hermione following suit.

Huffing a sigh, Rosie folded her arms and leaned against the wall, the frustration rising inside her. She couldn't just turn away and ignore the matter, even after Harry told her that he didn't need her help. Because of that, Rosie went after Harry, Ron, and Hermione before they got too far, hurrying to get to the staircase, where she could hear Harry's voice echoing above her, along with their feet hitting against the stone.

"Sirius said Voldemort was after something. Something he didn't have the last time and it's in the Department of Mysteries."

The Department of Mysteries? What the hell does You-Know-Who want from there?

"Harry, please, just listen," Hermione told him, the running coming to a stop from what Rosie could hear. "What if Voldemort meant for you to see this? What if he's only hurting Sirius because he's trying to get to you?"

"What if he is?" Harry retorted. "I'm supposed to just let him die? Hermione, he's the only family I've got left."

There was an intense pause before Ron spoke up and asked, "What do we do?"

"We'll have to use the Floo Network," Harry stated.

"But Umbridge has the chimneys under surveillance," Hermione pointed out.

"Not all of them."

Rosie waited until the trio were finally gone before she turned back around, trying to figure out what to do next. She thought about telling her father what was going on, but she knew there was no way it'd reach him in time before something awful happened to Sirius. Speaking of which, what would happen to him once the Aurors came and saved him? Would he be sent back to Azkaban? Harry would surely never forgive Rosie for that.

Which was why when Rosie started heading back down the corridor she only had one person on her mind that she could go to, despite the small rough patch they were going through at the moment. Nevertheless, she had to put it aside for the sake of Sirius Black. If this was how she could make it up to Harry, then so be it. Maybe he'd thank her once it was all over and everyone was safe.

While walking, Rosie realized that she couldn't just go down to the Slytherin Dungeon and ask for Adam. It would be her luck that Greer, of all the Slytherin students, was the one to answer the door. So she thought of anywhere else in the castle that he could be at right now, and it didn't take her long to come up with one place in particular.

Rosie hurried out of the castle, hearing the sounds of cheering and applauding still going on in the courtyard. She did her best not to trip going down the hill while glancing up at the sky, not seeing either one of the Weasley twins flying around like before. Although she noticed the sun was setting and the clouds were moving rather slowly. Her eyes went down to the shore once she was at the bottom of the hill. Sure enough, Adam was sitting by the treeline, fixated on the small ripples created by the wind slightly blowing. She couldn't help but admire the way he was looking out at the water in such deep thought, wondering what exactly was on his mind. The first thing that came to her was the fact that he would be graduating from Hogwarts in a few weeks. What was he going to do next? Did he even have any plans? Rosie had spent so much time away from him recently that she really didn't know what was going on in his life now, and it seemed like she missed so much in a short amount of time. It wouldn't be long before Rosie had to adjust to the idea of not seeing Adam around the castle anymore--or really--not seeing him ever again.

Oh, bloody hell, I hope that doesn't happen, Rosie thought. Merlin, please don't let that happen.

After a moment of staring, Rosie finally made her way down the shore and to Adam, who turned his head when he heard the sand and rocks being crushed by her feet, a surprised look coming across his face.

"Rosie?" he called out, standing up.

She continued walking his way, taking a deep breath once she was right in front of him. "Hi, Adam."

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his expression growing puzzled.

Rosie inhaled once again as she tried to come up with the words to tell him what she was here for. "I...I didn't know who else to go to for this..."

"For what?" Adam's face turned more concerned with each step he took toward his friend. "Rosie, what's wrong?"

"It's Harry," she said. "I overheard him saying something about You-Know-Who. I think something bad is about to happen at the Ministry and he's going to try and stop it."

"What do you mean? You're kind of scaring me, Rosie."

"I need your help," she blurted. "I need your help with going after him."

Adam's eyes went wide in response. "You want to go after him? Are you mad?"

"Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but..." Rosie trailed off for a moment, shaking her head and letting out a sigh. "When I joined Dumbledore's Army, I learned new things and actually felt like I was doing the right thing by going against everything Umbridge wanted us to do and be. All of us involved were all making a difference by being a part of something great and real. I believe we can still fight back when we get the chance to do so, whether there is Dumbledore's Army or not." She paused for a moment, a more determined expression plastered on her face, the confidence slowly rising inside her. "Harry can't fight this battle alone."

"And you think he'll want our help after all that happened with Dumbledore's Army?"

Rosie bit her lip, where the desperation was beginning to show. "No, but he's going to need all the help he can get."

Adam folded his arms and gave another lingering stare at Rosie, looking as if he was already starting to shut down the idea of what she was asking of him. Rosie began to prepare for the disappointment that would hit her in the face, though at least she gave it a shot.

"There's no way of changing your mind about this, is there?" he finally spoke up, raising his eyebrows.

"Not a chance," she answered.

He sighed in defeat, shaking his head. "You're one stubborn girl, Rosebud."

When a small grin came across his lips, she gave him one back in return, and it seemed as if hope was finally making its way back into the atmosphere.

Well, at least for now.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Hi, it's been a while. Sorry about that.

So originally I was going to include the Department of Mysteries battle in this chapter. However, this chapter was getting way too long and I wasn't even at the action yet. Fortunately, I had enough that I could make this into one chapter, so here it is!

Comment, vote, more to come soon!

-A