ROSE'S EYES STUNG at the sight of her dead Uncle. She had heard so many stories, saw the pain in her Uncle George's eyes every time his twin was brought up. There was never a family gathering where he wasn't mentioned. There wasn't a morning at Rose's house where she didn't pass the portrait of her Uncle Fred on her way to breakfast. Seeing him in front of her. It broke her heart.

She heard stories of how he died. It was an explosion right outside the Room of Requirements during the Battle of Hogwarts. Her eyes flickered to the bloody gash on his forehead.

"Rose," her Uncle's voice split the silence with his soft voice. His voice sounded so much like her Uncle George's. "Rose, you can see me!"

She nodded. That was all she could do. There were so many things she wanted to say, but her throat felt so tight it was already hard for her to breathe.

Behind her Albus, Scorpius, and Eloise watched as Rose stared into the Forest. Whatever she was seeing they had no idea, but they followed her body language and saw how rigid she went. It was so fast. There Rose was, like expected, reaching out for whatever was in front of her. In a dream-like state. Now her shoulders were stiff and her hands in tight fists.

Fred was just the same that night he died at the Hogwarts castle. He still wore his dark corduroy pants, his white turtle neck, and his brown checkered jacket. All of it was dirty with soot from the crumbling castle. He gave his niece a comforting smile, but all Rose could do was stare at the continuous blood flushing from his forehead and pouring down his face. It was never-ending as if he was stuck in a loop of his death. This didn't' seem to bother him.

"Rose..." he repeated and took a step towards her, "I've been trying to reach you for years now. I was so excited that you saw me that day at the lake with your friend. The fact that you can clearly see me now is thrilling. You're growing in strength faster than we all anticipated."

Rose's stance didn't move in hearing her Uncle's words. She stayed stiff in fright, her eyes still wide and her mouth agape in shock. She managed to take a breath in to say, "This is a trick..."

Scorpius didn't take any time in asking what was happening. Was she safe? What was she seeing? Is everything okay? Albus quickly shushed his friend. Rose needed to continue this.

Fred quickly shook his head and took another step towards his niece, "No! No, no this isn't a trick Rose. I promise you this." He looked behind Rose and saw her friends staring at her. "Rose - I'm real."

"You're dead -"

The three behind her looked at each other in fright.

"I know," Fred quickly explained, "I am dead, but that doesn't mean I'm not real. I'm a soul. I broke free from The Veil."

Rose bit her bottom lip to keep the tears in, "The Veil. We were right?"

Fred's smile became bigger and he nodded in excitement, "Yes! Thank Merlin you got your mum's smarts. Don't know where we'd be if you got my little brother's brains..."

She was supposed to laugh. Rose knew this. That is what would happen in a normal conversation, but this was anything but normal. She was talking to her dead Uncle.

"Why me?" was all she said in return.

There needed to be no further explanation of her question. Fred looked again at the three Slytherins behind her, and then back at his niece. "You already know. Albus and Scorpius were correct..." he sighed deeply as if this conversation hurt his heart. "When the Veil was cracked by Ravana power flowed through it and into him, but he's so old that the power to see through the Veil couldn't be held within him. You see, the people who tried to gain this power forgot one simple fact... death craves life, and what better life than a brand new baby?"

Her birthday. Rose couldn't keep the tears in and a couple slipped out. All of this was just hypothetical, Rose thought, how is this real?

"You were born the day Ravana cracked the Veil," Fred continued, "and so that power they wanted accidentally went to you - the ability to see under the Veil. Since it was better suited for a new life, like you, Ravana was left in shambles. The souls that touched him began to tear him apart from the inside out. They wanted to go to you. They wanted your comfort and for you to bring them home again back to the Veil."

"Is he... dead?" she asked, her voice was so soft she was surprised when Fred answered her.

"No. Unfortunately, he's much worse." Fred's eyes grew sad. "After the souls began to try and tear Ravana apart, everyone that was at the scene got away. They were frightened of what they had just done. Ministry officials quickly came to the scene to see what all the commotion was about. One of them was an up-and-coming Auror... Harry Potter. I was so excited to see him, but like all the other souls I was pulled by your comforting life and vanished before I could see what else happened.

"There are rumors, though. Yes -" Fred saw Rose's eyes flicker and he chuckled, "- we talk to one another. We are stuck in limbo, pulled back from our eternal home of peace. I've been staying in the Forbidden Forest with others for years now. I wanted to be close to keep an eye on you..."

"Who else is with you?"

"The Potters. James and Lily are truly wonderful, shame Harry never got the chance to be raised by them," said Fred. "Remus Lupin, Andromeda Tonks, and Sirius Black. Loads of the people who died fighting for Harry during the war are stationed at this Forest."

This was all too much for Rose. There was a whole colony of souls living in the Forest behind her school. All of them sought comfort from her, wanting Rose to bring them back home to the Veil. They were all stuck between the life they could never go back to and the peace in death they so desperately wanted to feel again. They were stuck.

"What happened to Ravana?" Rose asked she felt a new sense of determination in her heart.

Fred just shrugged, "We don't' know. It's all rumors. At least, to us in limbo they're rumors. There's only one person that you can go to tell you what happened to Ravana after the Veil cracked."

"Uncle Harry..."

He nodded.

But Rose still didn't understand, "What was the purpose of all this? Why did Ravana and his colleagues even bother with this? Why did they want the power to see under the Veil?"

"These are rumors as well, Fred sadly noted, "but there's only one explanation that we can come to terms with. Rose, what kind of person would want to disturb death? Why would someone travel through the world of the Veil? And who are they after?"

Rose felt her whole body freeze. She shook her head. She didn't want to believe it was true. She did not want to believe it could be possible. "Not him..."

"It very much could be..." her Uncle sighed. He didn't need to know who she was suggesting, he just knew. He and others have been going over this for years. It was all they could think about. The obvious answer was Voldemort. "They could be after Voldemort. Why? Perhaps to get advice? Power? Bring him back? We aren't sure. We fear though that perhaps it's not just Voldemort..."

This was too much. It was all too much.

"Can I see the others?" That was all Rose asked. "I want to meet them."

He smiled sadly at her, "They would love that Rose, but unfortunately not now." He began to fidget. "I don't want to frighten you, but we all have jobs to uphold while we are stuck in this limbo. Right now the Potters and the others are trying to protect this Forest that we have made into a refugee for ourselves. You see Rose, we are all itching go back into under the Veil, but some less patient than others..."

"What are they trying to do?" She asked, but she didn't know if she wanted the answer.

"The answer to bringing us back home is easy. The one that can see us can mend the arch so that we can happily walk through. There's only one issue. Although Ravana was not meant to possess these powers, he still holds a fraction of it." Fred looked behind his shoulder as if he heard a noise but then turned back to Rose. "No one knows where Ravana is, not even us, and without him, there's no way that you can successfully bring us back home. Some are so impatient that they believe if they kill the strongest tether to what's keeping them here they can go home again."

"Me?"

Fred nodded slowly. "I'm not a hundred percent sure if they are correct, but they are desperate. We want to go home, but a lot of us want to go home the correct way - with you safely fixing the arch and guiding us through. There's a lot of people on your side, Rose. There's no need to worry."

Fred looked behind him again. There was a new worry plastered across his face, but he said nothing.

"How do I find Ravana? And when I find him how do I take the fraction of his power away?" Her fear seemed to intertwine with her determination. Rose felt like crumbling into the ground and curling into a ball. She didn't ask for any of this. To be perfectly honest, she didn't feel strong enough to deal with this. Yet, the other part of her wanted to march into the Forest and fight alongside them to help take them home.

"No one knows where he is but, when we do find him we'll come to that bridge when we get there —" Fred snapped his head behind him once again. "Rose I'm sorry but I have to go. They need me. If you ever need to talk just call out my name and I'll show up."

Rose nodded, she didn't want him to leave and was half tempted to call him back the moment he leaves, wanting proof he would actually show. But whoever needed him, or whatever, had to be taken care of. 

"Talk to Harry and find out what happened that night. Learn more about Ravana to see what he's after and where he is. Most importantly, Rose, be safe, and don't do this alone," he gave a quick glance to his nephew Albus and smiled at him. His eyes looked full of sadness. "I'll see you again, Rose."

With that that he disappeared into the trees once again.

Rose stood there for a while just staring into the trees. She kept her temptation to run into the Forest at bay, but there seemed to be something missing within her heart. It was as if her Uncle Fred took a piece of her and ran with it into the Forest. That's what the pull felt like.

She managed to gain feeling within her body again and turned to look at her friends. They all stared at her in fright, and it dawned on her that they could onto hear the side Rose was saying.

Rose took in a deep breath, "We have to go somewhere private."