CHAPTER THREE
❝phoenix❞

⋆

SELF-PRESERVATION.

Rosalie Allen sat at the table along with the Order members, enjoying a nice dinner with them prepared by Molly Weasley, who was always coming in and out of the kitchen at all hours of the day. She would admit that the woman made nice meals that filled her with warmth when their looks at her did not.

She knew what they thought of her; she was the girl with no business to be sitting with them, an enigma who would not reveal the answers to their every question they asked. She was the puzzle that would not be solved because she did not want to be. Dumbledore said to play nice with the Order of the Phoenix, but Rosalie saw no need for niceties.

Unlike with the Death Eaters, she was not trying to pry information from them. She was not going in to gain their trust and mold herself into being what they want to see so that she can hear everything that she needs to defeat them. No, every piece of information she needed she would gain from Dumbledore, who told her everything that she had to trade with the Death Eaters to keep herself in good standing with them.

And Rosalie Allen clad herself in red, staying away from any cool color that they would associate with a snake, making herself a wolf in sheep's clothing as to play nice as Dumbledore asked of her. She smiled and thanked Molly for the meals and she stayed with her uncle when he was around but retreated back to her room when he was not.

It was clear that they did not want her there and it was clear that she did not care. She did not have to gain their friendship, she just had to be complete her task. Her mission.

But she could not be outed. Being outed meant that they would tell everyone, either the world would know or they would kill her – do something so that she could never tell the Death Eaters anything or return to them. It would be the end to her life as a double agent for Dumbledore, it would be the end to her road towards glory.

So, she stayed in red and she played nice. Self-preservation, everything she had done before.

It was different. There were different adaptions she had to accommodate to. The Order was different than her father. Where she could avoid him most nights until three in the morning, always allowed to leave and go wherever she wanted, there was always someone at the house and escaping it was a challenge. Whenever she leaved there were questions and suspicious gazes. As she did not trust them, they did not trust her.

So she had to lie. Lied that she had a job, lied that she needed to go the store for personal hygiene reasons (though that could only be used once a month, so it was not very effective). She lied and she adapted, as she did at home when her father changed and forced her to as well.

Adapted as she needed to with Death Eaters. Like a chameleon, she would blend in with whoever she needed to. Not only for the betterment of the world, but for herself and her own want to leave.

And she pretended not to hear their whispers, pretended not to hear their plans and their yelling about where Harry was supposed to go and what he was supposed to know. She kept it to herself, only leaking a little to Voldemort when pushed. She would keep all the secrets she needed to and she would survive, as she always did.

She took what she could, whatever Dumbledore told her, even if they tried to gain an ear on their conversations when Dumbledore visited her in the study.

"They like to talk, you know?" Rosalie brought up to him when she entered the room, "Like to whisper about why you're talking to me and why I'm even here."

"You're Kingsley's niece, which should be reason enough for them," Dumbledore told her, as if she hadn't already told them that and only received a hum.

"Just because it should, doesn't mean it is," she counted, sitting down in the seat opposite to him. "So, what do you want to tell me?"

"You said that it was successful, you had gotten the mark," Dumbledore brought up.

Rosalie nodded, rolling up the sleeve of her left arm and bringing it out to show him. "It only took a few of the memories we talked about and I got it. I expected more tests, if I'm being honest."

"They're desperate to recruit, they'll take anyone," Dumbledore explained to her, "The only new people coming in are Ministry workers wanting more power and the children of those who were recruited beforehand. You coming along, with information into the Order, is everything that they need. Of course they would not investigate further after initial contact."

She nodded at the information. "Still, with how private they're trying to be, you would think they would be better at security. Wouldn't even let a teenage girl like me anywhere near the property."

"Are you getting along well with the others here?" Dumbledore asked her, changing the topic of the conversation, already gaining everything he needed about her placement in the ranks. Not that she had much, she had just gotten initiated.

She paused for a moment before saying anything. "We've talked."

"Didn't I say that friendships were valuable?" Dumbledore questioned her and she couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"I see no reason for friendships," Rosalie told him again, as they had had this conversation many times, "Any information I need you tell me, and it's not like they enjoy my company. They find me suspicious and don't ever want me around and I don't want to try and change their opinion about me."

"Miss Allen, while you think that, you being a friend to them will be important in the future," Dumbledore said.

"How? Why?" she asked him, only to receive silence. "If you won't tell me why, I'm not going to try."

Dumbledore looked at her for a moment before saying, "It's too early to say anything, but I do hope that you will try and make nice with them."

"I am," Rosalie shot back, "I say thank you for my food, I don't cause trouble, I make small talk when they start it. That is playing nice."

"Well, I suppose that is all that I will be getting out of you for now," Dumbledore decided and she nodded, agreeing with the assumption. He stood up, "Very well, I must be off. More work lies ahead of me."

"I'll see you next time," Rosalie said back, watching him leave before taking one last look of the study and walking back to her room.

Maybe it wasn't exactly blending in, but she still wore her red cardigans and sweaters and still played nice, so she still pretended to be a hero along with them.

°°°

WHEN HER compartment door opened, she stopped reading her book immediately and looked up, eye twitching at the sight of Draco Malfoy there. He looked frantic and quickly closed the door behind him, entering her cart, and shutting the blinds so that the others on the Hogwarts Express wouldn't see them together.

"You're being reckless," she commented, keeping her tone without any indication of anger even though that's how she felt, "We're not supposed to be seen together."

"Yes, I know," Draco agreed, sitting down across from her, nodding his head, "But we need to talk. We need a plan."

"What we need is for no one to know that we even talk at all," Rosalie snapped back at him, "To everyone else, we don't know each other and any contact will be suspicious. I thought you would be competent enough to understand that."

Draco rolled his eyes at her bemeaning comment, giving no indication that he was hurt by her assessment which lessened her guilt. Even though she had every right to snap at him for his foolishness, she still felt bad, but at least he didn't seem to take it to heart.

"I do understand that, but I also understand that we need to talk and create a plan and we can't do that unless we have contact with each other," Draco bit back at her and she almost smirked. Finally, he was speaking her language. "That's why I'm here. We don't need to discuss everything but we do need to make a plan to meet again and talk about all of this."

Rosalie scoffed and rolled her eyes at that, looking away from him. "There's one flaw in your plan; anyone can hear us and then they'll know where to go to get the rest of the details," she pointed out.

"You're too neurotic," Draco told her.

"I'm cautious," she corrected him.

"For no reason. I already placed Muffliato around us to make sure no one can hear," Draco explained to her.

Rosalie pursed her lips, leaning back into her seat and closing the book that she was reading. "Alright," she agreed, "We do need a plan if we want this to work."

"But not quickly," Draco interjected and she raised an eyebrow, "We want this to be perfect, right? Going quickly means missing details, being rash, and we can't have that."

She looked at him for a moment before nodding slowly, accepting that. "Slow and steady wins the race," she agreed, looking at him up and down and cataloging the information; Draco didn't want them to win either.

It supported her previous reports, the way his eyes pleaded with her to say no when Bellatrix performed the Unbreakable Vow between them. His sinking posture when Voldemort gave them to task...just like her, he didn't want this but he was completing it because of the self-preservation running inside him.

Neither could run away now, but the difference was, Rosalie had a choice before. She had the choice a year ago when Dumbledore asked her to do this, she had the choice to say no and walk away. Rosalie Allen could be an innocent girl, not a wolf in sheep's clothing but just a sheep.

Draco never had that choice; this was decided for him since birth, since Voldemort came back and his parents were supporters before, called back again in fear of death if they did not serve again. But Draco did not want this, yet this is what he had. What they both had.

She could understand his need to draw it out, it was probably what Dumbledore wanted as well, and she would comply.

"I have never heard that saying before," Draco told her and she just gave him a smile, only a little cynical and full of mystery.

"It's a muggle one, I wouldn't expect you to have heard it before," Rosalie replied, looking back down at the cover of her book, "I'll see you Monday night in the Astronomy tower. We can go from there."

Draco nodded and stood up, leaving the cart and Rosalie as he had opened up; as a stranger. Because to the rest of the world, Draco Malfoy and Rosalie Allen did not know each other. And to them, they were still strangers even if they were together in this mission. Partners, maybe, but still only as close as strangers.