Step Five
Rose relived every moment of the past eight months as she spent the day telling Shadow about all of it. Both out loud and over their network, she began with the Dementor on the Hogwarts Express, and ended with her errand for Sally that morning. She talked for hours, ignorant of the exact time of day. Every so often, the Room of Requirement would change its ceiling to reflect the sky outside, helping her keep track of how late it was getting.
Shadow didn't speak a word the entire time, apart from "still listening". Rose didn't know what Shadow was doing back home, but whatever it was must not have needed her direct attention.
Rose collapsed on the floor, emotionally worn out from reliving so much in such a short amount of time.
The ceiling of the room briefly changed to show the sun nearing the horizon, indicating that she'd been inside it all day. She didn't care; Rose wasn't leaving the Room of Requirement until she'd figured out the solution to all their problems. It was up to her to fix it, and that's what she intended to do.
Rose laid on the floor, waiting for someone to tell her it was alright. She needed to hear that it was going to be okay, even after everything that had happened.
Rose faltered for a moment, then sat up and screamed.
Shadow's words hit Rose hard. After waiting for months to hear Shadow's voice again, after working hard for the past week to figure out a way for them to talk, Shadow didn't care.
An unfamiliar sensation came over her: Rose was at a loss for words. She didn't know what to do or say. She wanted Shadow's help, but it was clear that Shadow wasn't willing to give it. After working towards that moment for months, everything had gone wrong, and Rose had never felt more defeated than at that moment.
Rose said.
At that moment, Rose woke up from the nightmare she'd been having for the past eight months. She stopped trying to find someone to fix her problems for her and thought about the problem at hand.
Rose ran through everything she knew about Sirius Black. He'd attended Hogwarts at the same time as Harry's parents, Professor Lupin, and Professor Snape. Harry's dad, Sirius, Lupin, and another boy called Peter Pettigrew were all friends and tormented Snape. Sirius was such good friends with Harry's parents that they'd made him his godfather, which she'd learned was something like a backup parent.
With Sirius's old house sealed off to anyone that tried to access it apart from Sirius Black himself, Rose was out of ideas. Every avenue was cut off to her before she reached it. Rose flipped through her notebook and found something she'd forgotten.
What was special about Cohort? If he'd wanted to go after a member of the Weasley family, there was quite the pick at Hogwarts, so it had to be more than that. It had to be something special about Ron in particular. What made him different from the others?
Rose shouted.
Rose thought back to the time she'd read about Sirius Black breaking out. She thought back to her trip to Azkaban to see Lestrange, and realized she'd overlooked something.
Rose imagined she were Sirius Black reading the news article. Having only that, what was significant about Ron?
Rose turned her attention to Professor Lupin. He was absent from class a lot, so Rose started there. She flipped through her notebook to find the exact times, but when she did, she noticed the pattern as clear as day.
Then Rose saw the last piece of the puzzle. It'd been a note she'd made offhandedly, not paying it much more notice at the time.
Professor Snape gave us a quiz on wolfsbane today. Thanks for keeping us on our toes! You're the best!
Rose's eyes went wide, then she rolled her eyes before bashing her head against a wall.
Then it hit her. Lupin was a lycanthrope; Pettigrew was a rat; Sirius was a dog; and… Harry's dad was probably something.
Rose knew what it felt like to have divine enlightenment suddenly cast on her, and she likened the feeling to it. It was as if a fog had lifted, and she saw what she was missing.
Rose grinned from ear to ear. She could hardly contain her excitement. The nightmare was finally going to be over! All she needed to do was find the Twins and the map, and she could find Sirius Black.
Rose raced for the door, then remembered her friends. Before she found Sirius Black, she needed to resolve the argument between Brain and Cohort.
Ron sat in the common room, staring at his chess set. He wanted to play, but couldn't think for the life of him why. It was fun, wasn't it? Then why did he get upset every time he tried playing? What was wrong with him?
Rose appeared on the other side of the board. Any other day, Ron would've been would've been startled, but today he just didn't care.
"Here's the deal, Cohort," Rose said. "I challenge you to a chess match. If I win, you go talk to Brain. If you win, I'll make you something that will make you super strong, super fast, able to fly, immune to the Unforgivable Curses, and give you looks so good they're literally stunning."
Ron hardly had to think about it. Rose was rubbish at chess, so victory was assured.
"Deal," he said.
As the match progressed, Ron developed a bad feeling. The impression he'd always got from Rose was that she was awful at chess. He'd played her before, and she couldn't pay attention to save her life. At least, that's how she'd played before.
Now, she was five moves ahead of him, cutting off his strategies at every turn, and had backup plans for her backup plans. The instant he'd figure out what she was doing, her entire strategy would change, or he'd uncover her real plan. It was as if he were playing an entirely different person. The idea that she was getting help from Hermione crossed his mind once or twice, but that couldn't have been it. Hermione wouldn't help Rose win a chess match, nor did she want him to talk to her, so their stakes made that idea make even less sense.
"Check," Rose said, placing her castle in striking range of his king. "Mate next move."
Ron looked at the board. He'd seen it a few turns ago, but now it was inevitable. Rose had backed his king into a corner behind his pawns with her queen, and now his only legal move was to block her castle with his bishop. After that, Rose would take the bishop, and that was the game.
Rose reached her hand across the table.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked.
"I'm offering you a draw," Rose replied. "You go talk to Brain, and I'll tell you what you need to say."
Ron looked down at the board again. Coming to a draw against Rose was better than losing to her.
"I accept," Ron said, shaking Rose's hand. "How'd you do that? I thought you didn't like chess."
"You've already asked me that," Rose said. "Remember how I didn't answer before?"
"Right."
Ron didn't like any part of this. He didn't want to talk to Hermione, because he knew he'd just make things worse. If he didn't talk to Hermione, then things still had a chance of being better, but if he did, then he'd throw it all away.
"Just tell her you're sorry," Rose said. "She'll talk to you again."
Ron couldn't find the strength to stand. It wasn't just that he didn't want to talk to her; he was scared to talk to Hermione.
"Don't worry," another voice said. "She'll forgive you."
Ron looked up and saw Alex standing over the chess table. She smiled at him in a way that made him know he could do it.
"I already talked to her," Alex continued. "She wants you to talk to her."
"Really?" Ron asked.
"Yeah."
"She's on the western edge of the vegetable patch, staring vacantly at the Whomping Willow," Rose said.
Ron couldn't believe it. The fight might finally be over. He'd have his friend back. The thought of Hermione smiling again gave him a warm feeling. Everything would be alright.
"Thanks," Ron said, then raced out of the common room as fast as he could.
The moment he was gone, Rose turned to Alex.
"So that was a lie, right?" Rose asked.
"Yeah, but it had to be done," Alex said. "How'd you really beat him?"
Rose grinned, and Alex knew the answer before Rose said it. Given that "grin" was Rose's default facial expression, Alex had worked out what each grin meant. That one was her "I fixed it" grin. She didn't speak a word before she vanished from sight.
"It's about time," Alex said.
She was so relieved that it didn't occur to her for nearly five minutes that Rose had just sent Sirius Black's target outside, unprotected.
After muttering an impolite word under her breath, Alex bolted out of Gryffindor Tower, pushing students aside to get out as fast as she could.
Neville and Luna were wandering aimlessly about the first floor. Harry, Sally-Anne, and Ginny had gone to talk with Professor Lupin about the Patronus Charm again. The three of them were the best at it, and even Ron and Hermione (although the latter had stopped going to the lessons) got something out of it.
Neville couldn't even get a ball of light to appear. Professor Lupin said he chose good memories, ones of his friends or talking to his parents, but he couldn't get the spell right.
Luna had given up too, although she wouldn't say why. Neville didn't mind so much, since it meant he had someone with whom to wander while waiting for his other friends.
"Guess what?"
Neville felt a hand grab his shoulder, and saw that Rose had her arm around him, and her other arm around Luna. She had the biggest grin he'd ever seen on her face, as her eyes darted between him and Luna.
"What?" Neville asked.
"I'm gonna fix it," Rose said. "Just a few things I wanted to do first, then I'm gonna find Sirius Black."
Neville's eyes grew wide, and he started laughing. He couldn't believe it! He'd been waiting months to hear Rose say that, and the day had finally arrived. She was going to fix it, just like he knew she would.
"That's brilliant!" Neville exclaimed.
"Before I do, I want to let you two know how wonderful you've been doing this year," Rose said. "Not just in practice, but you've kept your heads held high, and even I couldn't do that."
"Thank you, Rose," Luna said. "That's kind of you to say."
Tutela barked her agreement, looking just as excited as Rose was.
"What's the plan now?" Neville asked.
"I need you two to… I can't believe I'm about to ask this, but I need you two to fetch Professor Dumbledore."
Neville frowned. Over the past few months, Rose treated the topic of Professor Dumbledore almost like the topic of dragons. She hated talking about him, but Neville couldn't think why. What had Professor Dumbledore done that made Rose so upset? It wasn't as if the Dementors were his fault. Professor Dumbledore would never do something like that.
"Tutela will lead you to wherever I end up," Rose said, pulling out Serendipity. "Just in case, let's add something."
She waved her wand, but Neville felt no different.
"What happened?" he asked.
Neville jumped, startled by the voice in his head.
came Luna's voice in his head.
"Telepathic bond," Rose explained. "It will last for about three hours, so we can stay in communication until then. It's easy; just concentrate on Luna or I, and think."
Neville nodded, briefly wondering why Rose specifically addressed him and not Luna. Maybe they'd drilled it in training already, and Rose hadn't gotten around to it with him yet.
Rose grinned.
"The Dementors will be gone!" she exclaimed. "The nightmare's over!"
Neville didn't know what else to do, so he hugged Rose. He realized it could've gone horribly wrong, but she hugged him right back. Rose pulled Luna into their group hug, and Tutela nestled up against them.
"I knew you could do it, Rose," Neville whispered.
"Thanks, Toad," Rose said. "Thanks both of you."
"Before you go, there's something important," Neville said, taking a notebook out of his pack. "I tried to tell you on Friday, but you weren't paying attention."
"I've been occupied," Rose said.
"Professor Trelawney said something during Divination. It wasn't like her normal predictions, so I thought it was important."
Neville began to read from his notebook.
The world will shudder so vermin can run
Straight through a scar that cannot be undone
From out of the scar, a snake will rise
Fed by desperation and nested in lies
The snake will poison all it sees
Even the frogs and roses will catch its disease
When they succumb and stain the world red
The Dark Lord will rise from the dead
Neville looked to Rose to interpret it, but she remained silent.
"Crab apples," Rose said. "I hate prophecies. What's the point? They never tell you anything until after it's already happened!"
"What's it mean?" Neville asked. "Frogs and roses is me and you, isn't it?"
"I don't know," Rose replied. "I promise I'll figure it out. When you find Professor Dumbledore, tell him. He'll want to know."
Neville nodded as Rose was replaced by a cloud of rose petals.
Fred and George often lived by the phrase "Expect the unexpected", but neither of them would've guessed what Rose told them.
"Sirius Black is Padfoot?" Fred asked again.
"He was one of the Marauders, so I can use the map to find him," Rose explained again. "I will stab one of you if it gets the other one to hand over the map. I can end all of this madness right now."
Fred and George exchanged glances. It seemed too good to be true, and didn't make a lot of sense. Their instincts told them that this was a trick, most likely intended to rid them of the Marauders' Map.
"How do we know you're not just trying to take the map for yourself?" one of them asked.
A ruby-red baton appeared in Rose's right hand.
"If I wanted the map, I'd just take it," Rose said. "I don't even know that I can use it, and I can just kill you both right now and take it." She extended her left hand to them. "Map."
The boys exchanged glances again, then Fred reached into his robes. He hesitantly handed the Marauders' Map to Rose.
She took the map from him, and the baton disappeared. After switching the map to her right hand, her wand appeared in her left.
"Ready for this?" Rose asked excitedly. "I've been waiting all year to say this."
She held her wand in one hand, and the Marauders' Map in the other.
"Discern Location – Sirius Black!"
The Twins watched as Rose stared into space, her wand held just an inch from her face. After a few seconds, a broad smile formed on her lips.
"I've got him," Rose said.
"You're sure?" Fred asked.
"Positive, but I haven't got the grounds memorized," Rose replied, handing them the map. "Does this show the grounds?"
"Sure," Fred replied, activating and unfolding the map.
Rose scanned the map, muttering something neither boy understood. After a minute, she pointed at a spot on the map. There was nothing there, but not far from it was a dot labeled "Sirius Black". The dot was between the Whomping Willow and the vegetable patch.
"That's brilliant!" George exclaimed. "You've–"
He stopped when he saw Rose's face. She looked horrified.
"What is it?"
Rose's head whipped back and forth between them.
"Why aren't you with Cohort?" she asked.
"He's in the common room, so we took some time off," Fred said. "He'll be–"
"Not anymore," George said when he saw what Rose saw. He pointed to a spot not far from where Sirius Black's dot was.
Two dots labeled "Ronald Weasley" and "Hermione Granger" were moving quickly around the dot labeled "Sirius Black".
"Sirius Black is after him, and I sent him outside!" Rose exclaimed.
"What?!" both boys exclaimed.
"Mum's gonna kill us if she finds out we're not with him!" George exclaimed.
"Telepathic bond!" Rose exclaimed, jabbing each of them in the forehead with a finger. "Run to Gryffindor Tower, grab Alex, and get down to the first floor."
"Why?" Fred asked as Rose pulled a charm off her bracelet.
"Because if anything goes wrong, she'll know what to do next," Rose said, taking a staff from the quiver charm. "Dimension Door!"
Rose disappeared, and the Twins raced back to Gryffindor Tower. They ran right into Alex not 30 seconds later.
"Sirius Black," one of them panted.
"Outside," added the other. "Ronniekins."
"Show me!" Alex ordered.
Ron ran as fast as he could. He nearly ran into Professor McGonagall, and lost five house points for running in the corridors, but he didn't care. Everything was going to be alright.
He ran outside as the sun was starting to reach the horizon, and ran along the outside of the vegetable patch. His lungs were on fire, but still Ron ran as fast as he could, eager to reach Hermione.
Sitting with her back up against the wall on the western edge of the patch was Hermione. As Rose had said, she was staring vacantly off into the distance.
"Hermione?" he asked.
Her head whipped around to face him, and he saw that she was crying.
Ron got a sinking feeling. Hermione was already upset, which didn't bode well for him. Maybe he should just leave.
No, Ron ordered himself. I've got to do this.
"I'm… I should've said… I'm sorry," Ron stumbled out.
Hermione wiped tears out of her eyes.
"You don't have to apologize," Hermione said. "I was wrong."
Now Ron was confused. Hermione was never wrong about anything. He didn't remember calling her a mudblood, but if Hermione said it happened, then he must've forgotten, no matter how unlikely that was.
Hermione patted the ground next to her, and Ron slowly joined her.
"Luna told me months ago, just after those trolls were set up outside Gryffindor Tower, but I didn't believe her," Hermione said. "She told me that my ring of sustenance doesn't work if I don't get at least two hours of sleep, and the nightmares got so bad that I wasn't."
Hermione had hardly looked at Ron in the past several months, so he hadn't seen it. Now he saw the dark circles under Hermione's eyes. Her skin was pale, her eyes were half open, but still she looked… something. Ron didn't have the word for it, but something about the way the light hit her looked right, even if she looked like she was about to fall asleep any second.
"She told me that sometimes stress could make you remember things that didn't happen," Hermione said. "I didn't believe her because I was so sure about what had happened that I didn't think I was wrong."
"Of course not," Ron said. "You're Hermione Granger. You're never wrong about anything. I must've… I don't know, forgotten or something."
Hermione shot him a crooked smile.
"You're insensitive, impulsive, hotheaded, and arrogant, but you're not nasty. You've got a good heart, Ron, and you believed in us when we needed it. I should've realized that you would never have called me such a horrible name. I…" Hermione paused for a moment to wipe the tears out of her eyes. "I'm sorry."
Ron couldn't believe it. Hermione was apologizing to him.
"It's okay," Ron said.
For a time, they both stared at the setting sun. A bird flew into the Whomping Willow and vanished with a loud chirp.
"Why'd you come out here?" Hermione asked. "How'd you know where to find me?"
"Rose," Ron said. "You'll never believe it, but she nearly beat me at chess."
Hermione turned and stared at him in shock.
"You're kidding."
"She offered me a draw and I took it. She had me beat."
"But she can't… I mean, she hasn't got the attention span for–"
Hermione's eyes grew wide, and she clapped her hands to her mouth.
"What?" Ron asked.
"She fixed it!"
"Fixed what?"
"The ward! It's been stopping her from talking with her family all year! Without it, she could just have Shadow or Sk'lar tell her what to do!"
Ron couldn't believe it. Even as tired as she was, Hermione was still amazing. It had occurred to Ron that someone could've been helping Rose, but he never considered it was her family. If he hadn't just lost to Rose, he still wouldn't believe they existed, but there was no way Rose beat him on her own. It was like Hermione said; Rose had no attention span.
"But how'd you know where to find me? I haven't got the condition conch on me."
"Rose knew where you were," Ron said, shrugging. "I don't know."
They sat in silence for a few minutes until Hermione broke it again with yet another question.
"Ron, you remember back in September when I got hurt by that boggart?" Hermione asked.
Ron nodded. He'd never forget that day. The dragon looming over a terrified Rose, and Hermione taking the hit because Sally-Anne and Rose couldn't. Ron hated that day, because it had reminded him that he couldn't think fast enough. He longed to go back and change what happened, to get it right. He could've pulled Hermione out of the way, but he'd been too slow.
"Why'd you stay with me that night in the Hospital Wing?" Hermione asked.
"You really want to know?" Ron asked.
"That's sort of why I asked."
"I was afraid that if Rose came back, found out that you were hurt, and that I could've saved you, she'd kill me. So I thought I'd make sure you were alright, so she at least saw that I was doing something."
"Oh," Hermione said.
Ron thought about it. That was the reason, wasn't it? It must've been. Hermione was his friend, but she wasn't worth staying the night in the Hospital Wing. Ron had wanted Hermione to receive proper care, and arguing with Madame Pomfrey about it hadn't gotten him anywhere.
She suddenly burst into laughter, which made Ron curious and happy at the same time.
"What?" he asked, a smile forming on his lips.
"I'd completely forgotten that Madame Pomfrey called you my boyfriend, since she's only seen boys so stubborn about their girlfriends before."
Ron started laughing.
"When Charlie sent me that book, he told me that we could thank him by naming our– as in you and me– first-born child after him."
The two of them kept on laughing for what felt like hours. It felt great to laugh again. Ron never wanted to stop laughing.
"Have you still got that book?" Hermione asked.
"Right here," Ron said, reaching into his pack.
He handed the book to Hermione, who looked at it for a few moments after accepting it.
"How'd you get this?" Hermione asked. "I mean, how'd you even know about it?"
"I asked Sally-Anne what I should get you, and she told me to ask Professor Vector. I did, and she told me that Christine Borrell's husband worked at the Romanian Dragon Preserve. He owed Charlie a favor, and now so do I."
Hermione stared down at the book, and Ron remembered something else he wanted to tell her.
"I didn't just get it because you were upset," Ron said. "I didn't know what I did, and I couldn't figure out how to make you happy again. I just wanted to make you happy."
Hermione flipped through the book, finally noticing the inscription Ron wrote in the back. When she read it, she started laughing again.
"'For the next time we find ourselves fighting a basilisk in the Hospital Wing. Happy Christmas, Ron.'" she read.
Ron blushed and hoped that Hermione wasn't laughing at what he'd written. Maybe he should've ignored Sally-Anne and gone with one of his original ideas.
"Sally-Anne wouldn't let me do any of my other ideas," Ron said. "Is that alright?"
"I love it!" Hermione exclaimed. "I haven't laughed this much in months!"
"Me either," Ron said as he began to laugh again.
After they settled down, Hermione reached over and put her arms around Ron.
"Thanks, Ron," she said.
Ron slowly hugged Hermione, and suddenly everything wasn't so bad anymore. They were friends again, and it was the best feeling in the world. It was as if he'd woken up from a bad dream, and found that everything was even better than it had been when he'd gone to sleep.
Ron was happy, until he asked himself why. Why was he so happy? Well that was easy: He'd been forgiven. All he'd wanted for months was to hear Hermione say "I forgive you". He'd finally been forgiven, and they were friends again.
No matter how hard he tried, Ron couldn't shake the feeling that something was different. As he sat in the grass, holding Hermione (whom he suspected had fallen asleep), something felt different.
He liked Hermione well enough, but he didn't… like her, did he?
Ron pulled away from Hermione, brutally murdering the thought before it got any farther than that.
"What?" Hermione asked, looking around. "I wasn't sleeping. I'm awake."
"It's just… We should get back inside," Ron said. "Before curfew."
"Right."
Ron and Hermione stood up to leave.
"Sorry… if I fell asleep just now," Hermione said.
"It's fine," Ron said quickly. "Rose can fix that."
"Of course she can," Hermione said, laughing. "Come on. Let's go home."
As they started off towards the castle, Ron heard something crunch a twig from behind them. Ron and Hermione whirled around, Ron drawing his wand as they did.
In front of them stood a scraggly black dog. His eyes twinkled as they reflected the setting sun, and he bared his teeth at them as they stared one another down.
Sirius Black, Ron thought.