Trouble in Paradise

Septima Vector met the Grangers at Platform 9¾. In honor of Hermione's recent publications, the Arithmancy Professor had offered to buy Hermione and her family dinner. It was the least she could do for her star pupil, not to mention she'd never had the opportunity to meet Hermione's parents.

After agreeing to the plan, the Grangers traveled by car to Diagon Alley, while Septima took the short way and used the flu network.

"Rose is still joining us, isn't she?" Emma asked their daughter.

"She said she wanted to make sure Harry was alright," Hermione said. "She said not to wait for her, but to save her a seat."

They regrouped at the Leaky Cauldron, where Septima greeted them.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet both of you," she said. "It has been my pleasure to teach your daughter these past two years."

"I think we're the ones who should be thanking you," Dan said. "Thanks to you, Hermione's published papers before she graduated."

"That would've happened with or without me," Septima said, smiling at Hermione before turning back to her parents. "I'm just glad everything turned out alright this year." She motioned to one of the tables. "Please, let's sit down."

Just after they sat down, Rose appeared in the open seat beside Hermione.

"Sorry I'm late," she said. "I was making sure Harry was alright."

"Hermione already told us," Emma said.

"We just sat down, so you're not that late," Hermione added.

"How is the young Mr. Potter?" Professor Vector asked.

"Don't know," Rose replied. "His aunt and uncle didn't seem too worried by the idea that Professor McGonagall or I would be stopping by to visit them."

"They might've been trying to hide it," Dan suggested.

"I've heard Professor McGonagall mention his aunt and uncle," Septima said. "Are they really that bad?"

"Probably," Rose said. "They were underfeeding and underequipping him."

The adults turned to Hermione for a translation.

"She means they never buy him clothes of his own, and they kept his school things locked up all summer," Hermione said. "And that's only what we know."

"I don't know about the Wizarding world," Emma said, "but in the Muggle one, that's child abuse."

"It is in ours too," Septima said.

She was starting to understand why Potter's mum had dropped out of contact with her family. If that was how they treated their nephew simply because he was magic, then it didn't surprise her that the young girl hadn't wanted to talk to or about them.

"Thanks for saving me a seat," Rose said to Hermione.

"You're welcome," Hermione replied. "There's still something from this year I don't understand. Why did Luna… er… the book send that Bludger after Harry? Why not just use the Basilisk?"

Rose shook her head. "That wasn't Tommy. Luna said she remembered the entire match, which meant that Tommy couldn't have possessed her during it."

"Then what happened?" Dan asked.

Rose shrugged. "I don't know."

"Do you think it was related to the platform entrance suddenly closing at the start of the year?" Hermione asked.

"The platform entrance closed?" Septima asked.

"Harry and Ron said it was as if the bricks were really bricks," Hermione said. "Luckily Rose teleported them on board, otherwise I don't know what they would've done." Muttering, she added, "Although knowing Ronald, it would've ended poorly."

"Ms. Peta-Lorrum, didn't you mention something about a House-elf in Hogwarts?" Septima asked. "Something about it focusing on Mr. Potter?"

"Dobby," Rose replied. "He might have been involved. He said that he knew something bad was going to happen at Hogwarts, but didn't know what. He was trying to save Harry because Harry stopped Voldie, who of course was terrible to house-elves."

"When did you learn all of this?" Hermione asked, frowning at Rose.

"About two weeks ago when I snuck into Malfoy Manor and read Dobby's mind while he was asleep," Rose replied.

"Need I remind you that you aren't supposed to leave Hogwarts without express permission?" Septima asked.

"You can," Rose said.

"It won't matter," Hermione muttered.

"I needed answers, and Dobby had them," Rose said simply.

"Rose, you should be following the rules," Emma told her.

"What was I supposed to do?" Rose asked. "It was bothering me."

"You could've waited until summer, then snuck out of our house to go see him," Dan suggested.

Rose blinked, an empty look on her face.

"Didn't occur to you, did it?" Hermione asked.

"Actually, I'm not sure I know the rules of Hogwarts," Rose said, tilting her head. "Oh! Other than don't kill any of the students. I know that one."

"That's a good one," Septima said. "Getting off the subject of Hogwarts, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, what do you two do for a living?"

"We're dentists," Dan said, thankful for the normal question. "That's a Muggle profession that focuses on repairing teeth."

"Interesting," Septima said. "Hermione's talked a lot about Muggle technology… electricity, I believe. In the Wizarding world, we've got magic to repair teeth. Is there some electrical tool… I hope I said that right… to help in the Muggle world?"

"Sort of," Emma said. "We've got plenty of tools to help us, but there are a lot of procedures that must be done. For a typical cleaning, it's fairly straight forward, but when you need to pull or fill teeth, it becomes much harder. Technology has only come so far, and it's very precise work."

Rose opened her mouth to add something, but Hermione, anticipating a nonsensical train of thought, caught her before she could start.

"Rose, I've got a question. If I wanted to animate this table, merge it with the chairs, and have it shoot bubbles, how would I do that?"

"That's a good question," Rose replied. "First, you'd want to use animate object, and then…"

Dan, Emma, and Septima watched the girls for a moment.

"That was impressive," Septima said. "That girl… Rose, not Hermione… has been driving the Potions Master mad for the past two years."

"The Potions Master that blatantly favors one house over the other?" Dan asked.

"Yes, well, as the youngest member of our staff, Severus isn't the most professional professor," Septima said. "He's a brilliant man, but he's still working through some issues he encountered when he attended Hogwarts. Actually, his first year as a student was my first year as a professor. He was constantly tormented by a group of Gryffindors who called themselves 'The Marauders'." Septima rolled her eyes at the thought of them. "They were a rotten group of children. It didn't surprise me to learn that one of them was sent to Azkaban about a decade ago."

"Azkaban?" Emma asked.

"Prison," Septima clarified. "It's a high security prison."

"What about the rest of them?" Emma asked.

"Two of them died during the Great Wizarding War, and one of them has taken to academia," Septima said. "Honestly, that doesn't surprise me. I never understood why someone as bright as him fell in with a group like that."

"That was a fear of mine with Hermione," Dan admitted. "Especially after she described her housemates for the first time. I thought there was no way they would challenge or understand her."

"You two, of course, know Hermione far better than I, but from the looks of it, those girls understand each other better than most."

The three looked at the girls, who were still discussing Hermione's bizarre request.

"Fabricate sounds amazing," Hermione said.

"It's one of the best spells ever made," Rose said. "So that's how you'd get the chairs attached to the table. Then you could animate it. Now, the bubbles could be tricky."

"I never would've guessed that they'd be such good friends," Septima said. "They seemed so different when I first saw them together, but they work well together. I'm still worried that so many of the horrible events that have befallen Hogwarts these past two years center around Peta-Lorrum."

"Let's hope this year will be different," Emma said. "I'm not sure how much of this I can take."

"I'm honestly a little surprised that you've allowed Hermione to stay," Septima said. "Not that I'm complaining, of course. Hermione is without a doubt the brightest student I've ever taught."

Dan and Emma smiled with pride.

"She loves it there," Dan said. "I'm not sure any school can challenge her like Hogwarts can, although we hold onto the Beauxbatons paperwork just in case."

"I would hate to see her leave, but I can understand wanting her to be in a safe environment. We all try our best to keep them safe, but we weren't prepared for what happened last month." She took a sip of her drink. "On that subject, I'd like to apologize for not being in the Hospital Wing with them when the Basilisk attacked. Had I not been under direct orders from the acting headmistress, I would've been by her side."

Dan nodded, taking a sip of his own drink.

"I can't say I'm happy about what happened, but I keep telling myself it all turned out for the best," he said.

"Believe me, I feel the same way," Septima said.

Sally-Anne looked up as an owl flew into her house through an open window. It dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet on the kitchen table, along with another envelope, then flew back through the open window and into the morning sky.

"One day," her dad said as he watched it fly away, "I'm going to get used to that."

"I'm still trying to figure out how nobody ever sees them," Sally-Anne said. "Aren't birdwatchers eventually going to notice the owls?"

"Could be that the Ministry of Magic handles that," her mum said.

"Are you saying they cover it up, or that they use magic to hide the birds?" her dad asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Could be either, although it's unlikely that my job involves covering up events the public shouldn't know about."

Sally-Anne and her dad exchanged looks. They frequently made attempts, albeit horrible ones, to discover her mum's profession. All they knew was that it involved the government, and that they would probably be arrested if she told them anything. Still, it was fun to try.

"Foiled again," Sally-Anne said.

"Anything interesting in the world of wizards?" her mum asked.

Sally-Anne looked down at the paper in front of her. On the front page, in big letters, was the title "SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN".

"Oh no," she groaned.

"What?" her dad asked.

"Someone escaped from wizard prison," Sally-Anne said.

"That must've happened before," her mum said.

"I don't think so," Sally-Anne replied.

She read the article, growing more discouraged as she progressed.

"Well, the bad news is that he's probably going after someone at Hogwarts," Sally-Anne said. "So much for a relaxing year."

"How do they know?" her mum asked.

"The article says he was muttering something like 'He's at Hogwarts' in his sleep a few weeks ago."

"Who's this man?" her dad asked.

"He was one of Voldemort's worst followers," Sally-Anne said.

"He wasn't good at it?" her mum asked.

"No, sorry!" Sally-Anne said. "I mean he was a horrible person. It says here… the night he was captured, he killed a bunch of people with one spell. Some sort of explosion."

"And of all the places he could be going, he's going to Hogwarts," her dad said. "One day, they're going to make a film about you and your friends, and no one's going to believe it. Not because there's magic, but because no one believes that people can be that unlucky."

"Well, I guess it wouldn't be a normal year at Hogwarts without someone out to get us," Sally-Anne said, trying to lighten the mood. "With our luck, he'll end up as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor."

"I hope Professor Dumbledore's a little more responsible than that," her dad said.

"I just hope he's not after Harry," Sally-Anne said.

"I'm sure he'll be alright," her mum said. "Professor Dumbledore seems alright, and the way you talk about Rose, nothing gets by her."

"Except a giant snake at the Hospital Wing," her dad added.

"That wasn't Rose's fault," Sally-Anne said. "She had to go after Luna, otherwise she'd have died."

"I can't imagine the staff will be that clueless enough to allow someone onto the grounds that shouldn't be there," her mum said. She paused, then added, "Although, they did allow a troll and dragon to find their way in."

"I'm still confused about the dragon," Sally-Anne said. "The troll was intentionally allowed in by Professor Quirrell, but no one's explained the dragon yet."

It was true. Sally-Anne had asked Rose if she knew, but Rose avoided the topic of dragons more than the Twins avoided following the rules. Professor Babbling didn't know anything about it either, or if she did, she never answered Sally-Anne when she asked about it.

"There was a giant snake monster in the school," her dad said. "When you think about it, the staff haven't got a great track record when it comes to keeping the school safe."

"Rose does," Sally-Anne said. "She'll keep us safe. And if she can't, then I can."

To demonstrate this, and because she couldn't get enough of it, Sally-Anne splayed her fingers and created a small disc above her hand.

"Sally-Anne, don't do that in the house," her mum snapped as the disc vanished. "Changing the subject, what's that other letter?"

Sally-Anne picked it up and quickly opened it.

"It's the form about Hogsmeade," Sally-Anne said. "Professor McGonagall mentioned them just before we left. There's a village not too far from Hogwarts, and every so often, the students are allowed to go and explore for the day."

"Unsupervised?" her dad asked.

"I think so," Sally-Anne replied.

Over the past several months, Sally-Anne had developed the habit of concentrating on the people with whom she spoke. She didn't constantly read everyone's mind, but she liked to be ready in case she needed to read their minds.

When her parents exchanged looks, and her mum nodded, Sally-Anne lifted their thoughts from their minds, and got a phrase that made her skin crawl: "The Talk".

Oh no, she thought. Calm down. That might not be what they meant.

"Wait, why?"

Wilfred folded up his paper, picked up his plate, and stood up.

"I'll be in the other room, not so much as thinking of eavesdropping," he said.

"I believe you, Dear," her mum said, turning to Sally-Anne.

"Please no," Sally-Anne said. "I don't–"

"Don't do anything stupid, talk to us first, and if you're ever in trouble, shout 'Fire'. It gets attention quickly."

Still bracing herself for the worst, Sally-Anne asked, "Is that it?"

"No, but those are what I feel are the important lessons from my childhood."

Sally-Anne stared at her mum, not sure what to make of that.

"I think I've got a few questions for grandma and grandpa next time I see them," Sally-Anne said.

"I'll clear that up now," her mum said. "When I was your age, there was this boy in my class. Let's call him John. He was the football star, very popular, and as hard as it might be to believe, I was shy."

Sally-Anne nodded autonomously, still not sure what to make of her situation.

"To my surprise, he asked me out one day. I couldn't believe it at the time; there I was, small, timid, not unlike you two years ago, and this was the most handsome boy I'd ever laid eyes on."

"Apart from Dad?" Sally-Anne asked.

Her mum made a face, then said, "Sure. Why not?"

Sally-Anne pressed her lips together to stop from laughing.

"We went out a few times, and he seemed a perfect gentleman. Nice, polite, chivalrous… but it was an act. The signs were there, and in hindsight, I should've seen it sooner, but I was blinded."

"What happened?" Sally-Anne asked, fearing the worst.

"He was walking me home one night, and pulled me off into the woods. Said I owed him."

Sally-Anne gasped.

"If it were a fairy tale, your father would've shown up, thrown a few punches, won my hand in marriage, and we'd all live happily ever after."

Sally-Anne opened her mouth to ask what happened, but she found that she didn't want to know.

"Instead, I learned that screaming 'fire' as loud as you can draws a crowd. He broke it off the next day, spread rumors about what really happened, because as it turned out, he was only ever with me because he lost a bet." She shrugged. "If it hadn't happened, one of the nice boys in the theatre department might not have stood up for me, I might not have started attending plays regularly, and I might not have met your father."

"But…" Sally-Anne breathed. "He nearly–"

"He did nearly, but he didn't," her mum said. "I can't take it back, but I can pass on what I've learned to you." She leaned in close and whispered, "I know you like Harry,"

"No, I–"

"Don't deny it, I saw that look a few minutes ago when you talked about him. He seems like a sweet boy, but sometimes people aren't what they seem. If you're going to fall in love, make sure you're in love with who a person is, and not who you want them to be. And if something ever feels wrong, talk to us, or even to Professor Babbling or McGonagall."

Sally-Anne nodded.

"One of the worst mistakes I made as a teenager was never listening to my parents," her mum explained. "When you're a teenager, it can seem like adults just want to control you, but we're here to help you. All the rules that make no sense will make perfect sense when you're an adult. I promise."

Sally-Anne nodded again, then said, "Thanks, Mum."

Her mum grinned, then said, "Don't thank me yet. The real talk starts now. Come along; my room."

"Do we have to?" Sally-Anne complained.

"I'm not signing the form until we do."

Sally-Anne groaned as she followed her mum.

Neville and his gran walked into St. Mungo's Hospital. The staff there were always happy to see him when he wasn't being admitted. Especially since they knew who he was visiting.

He and his gran were escorted down the hallway by a male nurse, who led them to the Janus Thickey Ward for Spell Damage.

"They aren't awake today," the nurse informed them. "Conscious, just not awake."

"There's no need to tell him that!" hissed Augusta Longbottom.

"I just want him to be prepared, Ma'am," the nurse whispered.

Neville and his gran arrived in the ward, and they were lead to a room with two occupants.

As his gran and the nurse watched, Neville walked over to the space between his parents' beds. He pulled up the single chair, left there for him by the staff, and sat down as his gran and the nurse gave them some time alone.

"Hey Mum," he said. "Hey Dad."

As always, they didn't respond. The pair of them stared up at the ceiling, hardly blinking or moving. They didn't seem aware of their son's presence in the room, nor of anything else for that matter.

"I don't know if you heard, but I fought a basilisk last month," Neville said. "It was in the Daily Prophet and everything! I even got an award for services to Hogwarts. Me and my friends, we all worked together to kill it."

He smiled, looking from his mum to his dad. "You should've seen it. Hermione came up with two spells, right there on the spot! Then Harry ran out and got it in the eye with this sword I pulled out of the Sorting Hat, and Sally-Anne rushed out to save him when things looked bad. Then I took the sword and tried to get its other eye, but I got thrown off. But I thought fast and threw the sword at it. It was amazing! I can't remember anything after that, but they told me that Ron summoned Hermione to save her, and Ginny lit the Basilisk on fire after Professor McGonagall made it more flammable!"

At the time, Neville wouldn't have thought that that day would've been a fond memory, but he couldn't remember it enough. Everyone at school had asked them about it, and he was congratulated by just about everyone. He had never felt so special in his entire life.

"Everyone was there except Rose," he continued. "Rose Peta-Lorrum. I've told you about her before. She's got to be the bravest girl I've ever met. She went down into the Chamber of Secrets. All by herself! She's been helping me get through Potions class. It's not so bad with her fending off Professor Snape." He laughed. "I think she bothers him so much that he avoids her during class. She's one of the brightest girls in class, and she can fight, and her hair's this brilliant shade of crimson."

The smile on Neville's face vanished.

"Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban. It was in the Daily Prophet yesterday. It was supposed to be impossible, but he did it. People say he's going to Hogwarts, but if he does, he won't get far. Professor Dumbledore will stop him, or just send Rose after him. They'll catch him. I'm not worried about him; I'm worried about Bellatrix Lestrange." Neville took a deep breath. "If Sirius Black can break out, then she can break out, and if she can break out… then I'm gonna be there to stop her. That's why I'm going to ask Rose to teach me how to fight. She did wonders with Sally-Anne, so I'm sure she'll figure out something for me, even if I'm not good at anything."

Neville looked down. "I'm hardly passing Transfiguration, Charms, or Defence, but I'm good at Herbology. It's mostly because Professor Sprout takes the time to help everyone. It makes so much sense when she explains it, I guess. She even told me to think about Potions in terms of Herbology, and it would be easier. It is a little, I guess, but Rose helps me through the rest."

After that, Neville sat in silence with his parents. There was always a part of him that wished that they would talk back to him, but he knew that they never would. His parents were empty shells, and they'd stay that way forever, all thanks to Bellatrix Lestrange.

"I'm going to make sure she never hurts anyone ever again," Neville whispered.

Hermione opened the letter and quickly scanned it. As she read it, she grew more and more concerned.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"Sally-Anne's found the problem for this year," Hermione said, handing her friend the letter. "Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban. That's supposed to be impossible."

"So?" Rose asked, using scholar's touch on the letter. Fortunately for her, the rules weren't clear on what constituted a "book". "I broke into Thedo Minor, and that was supposed to be impossible too."

"Alright, I'll give you that," Hermione said. "But Black's supposedly trying to get to Hogwarts."

"Who's Sirius Black?" asked Hermione's mum.

"A convicted murderer," Hermione said. "A mass murderer is going to be attempting to break into Hogwarts to find a boy."

"Probably Harry," Rose said.

"It might not–" Hermione's mum started.

"Harry supposedly stopped Voldemort, so it makes sense that his most loyal followers would try to get revenge on Harry," Rose said.

"I guess that makes sense," Hermione said sullenly.

Later that summer, Hermione and Rose received a letter from the Weasleys informing them that the family had won a lottery drawing from the Daily Prophet, and were using the money for a Weasley family holiday in Egypt.

"Why are you so sour?" Hermione asked Rose after the girls read the letter.

"It makes it harder to go visit Luna," Rose replied.

"So?" Hermione asked. "Just teleport like you always do."

"Can't," Rose replied. "My staff of passage is out of charges."

"Why not just use Serendipity?" Hermione asked.

"I've got something in mind for this summer," Rose said. "I'm getting started on it tomorrow, but I've got to save XP until then."

"Why not use your thought bottle for it?" Hermione asked.

"The thought bottle doesn't help Serendipity," Rose replied. "Not unless I'm going to be power surging her 12 or more times."

"What's a thought bottle do?" Hermione asked. "I've just been assuming it cuts your XP use."

"Sort of," Rose replied. "When I use it, I store part of myself inside the bottle. It costs 500 XP to store my current XP total, so when I restore it, I'll have used only 500 XP. Even then, I try not to burn too much XP at once."

"Okay, so it's only worth it when you use more than 500 XP."

"Precisely," Rose replied.

"So just use it for your project, and use your XP to go visit Luna," Hermione suggested. "Or better yet, just make another staff. How much XP have you got?"

"Over 8,000."

"Wait, what?" Hermione asked. "Eight thousand? When did that happen? Just a few months ago you only had around one thousand."

"I got XP from defeating the Heir of Slytherin," Rose replied.

"Seven thousand?" Hermione asked.

Rose hesitated. She got most of the XP in her current reserve from defeating Cruentius, about whom Hermione wasn't supposed to know. Fortunately for Rose, Rose hadn't explained the XP rules or how XP was distributed per encounter.

"Yes," Rose lied. "Rewards are higher for bigger bosses."

"Okay," Hermione said. "Well, you have fun crafting, just don't take all Dad's duct tape this time."

"No promises!"

For the next month, Rose kept mostly to herself in her room. She came out now and then for meals, but wouldn't say anything about her current project.

"It's not another golem, is it?" Hermione's mum asked.

"Of course not," Rose replied, looking at Ana. "Unless you need another one."

"No, I think we're fine," Hermione's dad said.

The day they were set to go camping, Hermione found Rose at the breakfast table, something that, up to that point, rarely happened.

"Are you finished, or did you just remember that we're going camping?" Hermione asked.

Rose nodded, the grin of a little girl that got everything she wanted for Christmas on her face.

"That's not helping," Hermione said.

"Both," Rose replied.

"I'm not asking what you did," Hermione said, sighing. "I'm sure I'll find out."

The grin was replaced by a pout. "You're no fun."

"If you need to gloat about it, just talk to Shadow."

"I did," Rose replied. "She thought it was kethé too."

"Did you at least add more charges to your staff?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I did that too," Rose said. "I might make another homunculus."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Just thinking about it," she replied. "Are we still going camping?"

"Yup," Hermione replied. "Thanks for not waking us up so early."

"Sure," Rose grumbled. "You've got to be the slowest group of adventurers ever. Who takes so long to get moving?"

"Still not an adventuring party," Hermione said.

Before long, the Grangers and Rose were on their way to the camping grounds.

When the reached the campsite, Rose stopped and looked around. Hermione knew that look. Rose wasn't just surveying the surrounding landscape; she was focused on something.

"Something wrong, Rose?" her dad asked, picking up on Rose's suspicion.

"Sh!" Rose said, holding up her hand. "Yup."

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Something's been following us," Rose said. "And its hearing's good; it just bolted." Her head whipped around, but she couldn't see anything moving.

"You don't think it's him, do you?" Hermione asked. "Sirius Black, I mean. He wouldn't come after us, would he?"

"I don't see how he could've followed us, or why he'd follow us," Rose replied, pulling her goggles over her eyes. "If he's after Harry, there's better ways of finding him. Not to mention, Professor Dumbledore's not an idiot. He'll have Harry defended somehow."

"We are his friends," Hermione said.

"We are, but even if he knew that, he'd have trouble keeping up with the fast moving construct that brought us here," Rose said.

"A mass murderer might be after you girls," Hermione's mum said. "Rose, for curiosity's sake, how often does this happen to you?"

"That's a good question," Rose said. "Let's see… Sk'lar's parents… the Abomination… Mal'rah… I've got a lot of people that come after me. Oh! That vengeful jato!"

"What's 'jato' mean?" Hermione's dad asked.

"So far as I can tell, it's another word for a female dog," Hermione replied.

"Ah."

"Funny thing is, I don't usually travel with the Exalted, but somehow, their enemies always come after me."

"So not that different from Hermione," her mum said.

"I guess."

While her parents were processing Rose's words, Hermione was mentally checking off each enemy Rose listed. She had picked up odds and ends from what Rose had told her, but Sk'lar's parents were the only one she could really confirm that she knew. The name Mal'rah was new on her, but she was guessing the Abomination referred to the dragon that had killed Rose. Hermione had heard Rose mention a woman whose name was never given, but from what Hermione had picked up, said woman had done something awful to Shadow.

All of this served to remind Hermione just how little she knew about Rose.

"Did you see him through the trees?" Mr. Hermione's Dad asked.

"No, it looked like a wild animal," Rose replied. "But the same one has been following us, so he could just be using it as a messenger." She tilted her head. "Hermione, shapechange isn't a thing here, right?"

"Closest there is to shapechange here is an Animagus."

"That's not a real word," Rose said.

"Neither is jato," Hermione shot back.

"Yes it is!" Rose exclaimed. "It's Draconic! You're… I was going to say 'racist', but then I remembered we were talking about dragons. They don't count."

"Maybe we should just turn back," Emma said. "If there's something following us, we should stay where we can get help."

"He can't get near us so long as I'm here," Rose said. "I don't sleep, and my blindsight will be tripped the second he comes within 60 feet of me. We're safe. I'm more worried about Princess and Scarface. Cohort and Firecracker have got their family, which currently involves a trained curse breaker and professional monster handler."

"What about Luna and Neville?" Hermione asked.

"Int's with Little Moon, but Timid Toad might be in trouble," Rose said. "I'll have to check in on him soon."

After they set up camp, Hermione walked over to Rose, who was admiring the scenery.

"Rose, who's Mal'rah?" Hermione whispered.

Rose hesitated, then replied, "The man who killed my parents and Shadow."

Hermione's eyes grew wide. "What?! Shadow?!"

"She held on long enough for us to get to her," Rose explained. "A quick revivify brought her back."

"Rose, there's something I've been wondering," Hermione said. "If death isn't a big deal in your world, why…"

"Mal'rah disintegrated my parents," Rose replied bitterly. "There was nothing left to bring back."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Rose said. "I'll be okay. Shadow got him for me."

Hermione smiled. "I'm glad."