Rest and Recovery

Everything was black. Hermione couldn't hear or see anything, but she could feel the fire eating through her arm and leg. She tried to move, but the fire just consumed her faster.

How much longer did she have until it reached her heart and killed her? What if she just bled out from the wound?

She tried to call out for help, but no sound came out of her mouth.

"Wake up."

"What?"

"Ms. Granger, wake up!"

Hermione's eyes snapped open and she found Madame Pomfrey standing over her. She couldn't see farther than a few feet from her own bed, but she recognized the beds from the Hospital Wing well enough.

As her eyes adjusted, she spotted the other occupant of the wing. She couldn't tell who it was, but they had the bed next to her.

"You've got a lot of people worried about you. How do you feel?"

"My entire left arm hurts," Hermione said. "My chest hurts on the left side. I'd say it's a six on the pain scale." She tried to move her fingers. "Ah! Eight if I try moving anything."

"I see you've done this before," Madame Pomfrey said as she checked Hermione over.

"Hit in the head with a football," Hermione said as Madame Pomfrey prodded her arm. "I was at a family friend's house, and his kids were playing in the backyard. The ball flew over to me while I was reading, and caught me in the head. Their dad's a medical doctor, and he checked me over, told me to be as specific as possible, then asked me to rate the pain between one and ten."

"Do you remember what happened during class yesterday?" the Mediwitch asked her.

"Yesterday?" she asked.

"It's Wednesday, Dear," Madame Pomfrey told her. "It's about four o'clock in the morning, but still Wednesday."

"I was unconscious the whole time?" Hermione asked.

"You passed out off and on from the pain, then I gave you a small dose of a potion to keep you out," Madame Pomfrey told her. "Can you remember what happened?"

Hermione thought back to the previous day.

"Rose walked up to the wardrobe, then the boggart turned into a dragon. It attacked the students, but Sally-Anne jumped in to try to stop it. I realized that her spell was designed to stop spells, not physical attacks, and that it would shatter, so I shoved her out of the way."

"That was rather foolish," Madame Pomfrey said.

"Sally-Anne already had her stay here last year," Hermione said. "I figured I hadn't gotten a chance to get to know you yet."

Hermione winced as Madame Pomfrey prodded her arm again, although that time Hermione thought might've been on purpose.

"There are better ways of doing that, Ms. Granger," Madame Pomfrey said. "Your arm seems to be healing nicely, but it's still going to take time." She handed Hermione a vial. "Drink this; it'll dull the pain and help you sleep."

"Thank you," Hermione said. She drank the vial, which tasted sweeter than she was expecting.

"Get some rest," Madame Pomfrey said as she returned to her office. "Don't stay up too late, and don't wake up your boyfriend over there."

"My what?"

Madame Pomfrey nodded to the other bed. "I've never seen a young man so stubbornly refuse to leave his friend's side unless that friend was his girlfriend. His brothers were the same way."

"Ron?"

"He refused to leave last night, so I let him sleep here. Unfortunately, I had to sedate him to get him to sleep and stop trying to tell me how to do my job." She sighed. With a hint of exasperation she added, "Again, not unlike his brothers."

"Don't let him hear you say that. He hates being compared to Bill and Charlie."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said. "As I said, get some rest."

Hermione laid back in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She reached into her pocket and found the condition conch.

<Rose?>

No reply.

<Rose, where are you?>

After getting nothing for three more tries, Hermione gave up and went to sleep.

When Hermione woke up, Madame Pomfrey was drawing the curtains in the Hospital Wing, revealing a bright, warm morning sun.

"I knew you'd be alright."

Hermione turned over and saw Ron smirking at her.

"Was there ever doubt?" Hermione asked.

"I was never worried, but… well, you know Ginny."

Madame Pomfrey sneezed, although Hermione was certain she caught a word in the sneeze.

"What did I miss in class?"

"You would ask about that." He paused for a moment. "We all took notes so you and Rose wouldn't miss anything."

Hermione frowned. "Where's Rose?"

Ron shrugged. "No one knows."

"What about Luna?"

"I don't think so."

Hermione sat up in her bed, groaning as pain shot through her bad side.

"Are you–"

"Alright," she said as the pain faded. "It just hurts a little. I'm sure I'll be fine. You didn't have to stay with me."

"Who else is gonna stop Rose from killing me?"

Hermione forced a smile, but she couldn't hide how she felt. She sank lower into her bed as she was consumed by sadness.

"Hermione?"

"Haven't you noticed that Rose has been acting odd lately?"

"Not really," Ron replied. "She's been a little angry, I guess. So what?"

"She won't tell me what it is," Hermione said. "I thought… I thought she was finally starting to tell me everything. Now she's shutting me out, and I don't know why."

Ron's blank stare told her she was wasting her time.

"Thanks for staying with me, Ron," Hermione said, hoping to turn the conversation positive.

"It–"

"Hermione!"

Hermione winced as she turned her head to see her friends entering the Hospital Wing. At the front of their group was Ginny, who ran straight over to Hermione with a bright smile on her face.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Ginny exclaimed, throwing her arms around Hermione.

Hermione groaned as a dull pain radiated through her arm.

"Not quite that okay, Ginny," Hermione said.

"Sorry!" Ginny yelped, pulling away from Hermione.

"How're you feeling?" Sally-Anne asked.

"Your shield isn't designed to stop projectiles, just spells, and I figured that that dragon was strong enough to break through it."

"Same old Hermione," Ron said.

Hermione looked around. "Where are Luna and Neville?"

"Neville ran to Ravenclaw Tower to grab Luna on the way over here," Harry said, sitting down on Ron's bed. "He said he didn't mind if we ran ahead, but said that Rose would've wanted all of her friends together."

"That's probably true," Hermione said. "Rose hates splitting the party."

"Hermione," Ginny whispered. She pointed at Hermione's bed. "Can I…?"

"Go ahead," Hermione said, drawing her legs closer to her chest as the ginger sat down.

"So where is she?" Ron asked, sitting on the edge of his bed next to Harry. "If she hates 'splitting the party' so much, then why isn't she here?"

"Sally-Anne, did you check the Room of Requirement?" Hermione asked.

"First place I thought to look," Sally-Anne replied, sitting down beside Harry. "Nothing. Everyone keeps asking us that question. 'Where is Rose?' It's as if the entire school is looking for her."

"The staff are probably afraid Rose is going to kill someone," Hermione muttered.

"Is she?" Harry asked.

"After all this time, how could even think that?" Hermione demanded. "How many times has she saved our lives?!"

"We don't know that much about her," Harry said, glaring back at her. "Not really."

"She's our friend!" Hermione exclaimed, wincing a little at the pain that emanated from her side.

"She's got strange magic that no one's ever seen before," Ron said.

"Not you too!"

"What if Rose doesn't come back?" Harry asked. "What's gonna happen then?"

"Of course she's coming back," Hermione snapped. "Ginny?"

"I don't… really know her that well," Ginny said. "She seems alright, but she still disappeared last year just before the Basilisk showed up."

Hermione couldn't believe it. Her friends were already giving up on Rose, the girl that had saved their lives nearly half a dozen times.

"Sally-Anne?"

"She must be somewhere," Sally-Anne said.

"Thank you!"

"Although, why did she run off like that?"

"Because she was scared," Hermione said. "We've all seen how she gets just talking about dragons."

"It was just a boggart," Ginny said. "I've seen them around the house sometimes. They're scary, but I get over it."

"But Rose runs away," Ron said. "Miss Not-Afraid-of-Anything Herself. Can't you use that seashell thing to find her?"

"It only works one way," Hermione said.

"That's convenient," Harry muttered.

"What's gotten into all of you?!" Hermione exclaimed. "Rose is our friend!"

"Then why didn't she stop that dragon yesterday?!" Harry shot back.

"What's going on?" Luna asked from the Hospital Wing entrance.

She clutched Intelligencer like a little kid and her stuffed bear.

"The others are ready to abandon Rose at the first sign of trouble," Hermione said.

Luna began to tremble, affecting poor Intelligencer more than Luna herself.

"How could you?" she asked. "After what that thing did to her."

"You know?!" Hermione exclaimed.

She had no idea what the dragon had done, but until that moment, she'd taken comfort in the fact that no one else knew either.

"At least it's not just us," Harry said.

"Leave her alone," Neville said.

"And here you two are–" Harry began.

"I've never had many friends," Neville said. "I'm not about to turn my back on one of them when she's scared." He glanced at Luna. "Either of them."

"It's just a boggart," Ron said. "Why can't Rose just deal with it like everyone else?"

"If I were to guess," said a wise voice, "I would say she's afraid of the mere memories, Mr. Weasley."

"Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione asked the Headmaster, who was stroding into the Hospital Wing. "What are you doing here?"

"I got word that you were awake, and thought I'd stop by to see how you were doing," the Headmaster replied. "Although, I think I should be more concerned about your friends right now. Show of hands, who's gotten their full eight hours of sleep?"

Hermione and Ron raised their hands.

"So of the seven of you, Ms. Granger, who only requires two hours–"

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked.

"He's Professor Dumbledore," Neville said quickly. "He knows everything."

"And Mr. Weasley, who was sedated by Madame Pomfrey."

"You can't prove that!" Madame Pomfrey called from her office.

"I knew that tea tasted funny!" Ron exclaimed, clenching his fist in triumph.

"It's a good thing it's Wednesday, and we can all relax for a day," Professor Dumbledore said. "As for the reason your friend is missing, I believe she simply needs some time to recover, and let the memories fade back into her subconscious."

"Into her what?" Neville asked.

"Rose probably represses the memories of whatever that thing was," Hermione said. "That means she forces herself to not think about it."

"So seeing it brought all those memories back," Sally-Anne said, her shoulders slumping. "Now I feel horrible."

"Loss of sleep over a few weeks will put everyone on edge," Professor Dumbledore said simply.

Hermione looked at each of her friends, and realized for the first time that everyone looked tired. She had been having bad dreams every night, but she could just go back to sleep after long enough. Hermione could survive on two hours of sleep, and, as she had discovered, it didn't even need to be R.E.M. sleep. That meant that some nights Hermione could get enough sleep before the nightmares came.

Her friends didn't have that benefit. They needed a full eight hours of rest, so if they were interrupted by bad dreams, they couldn't just wait until it passed to fall back asleep, or stay awake because they'd already gotten a good night's sleep.

The worst of them must have been Luna, although her pale skin might have simply exaggerated how bad she looked.

"Is everyone like this?" Ginny asked, looking around at her friends.

"I believe you seven are getting the worst of it," Professor Dumbledore said. "I really am quite sorry that this is happening."

"The boggart or the Dementors?" Harry muttered.

"Both," Professor Dumbledore replied.

No one said anything for a moment. They all looked at one another, but no one wanted to say anything. For the first time, Hermione didn't know if it would be alright in the end. Everything was falling apart, and any shred of control she had once felt seemed lost forever. Despite it being morning, the sun would never truly rise again. A permanent night had fallen, and all was lost.

"It'll be alright," Sally-Anne said confidently.

"Rose will fix it," Neville agreed.

"She can fix anything," Luna whispered, a sad smile creeping over her lips.

"We've just got to find her," Hermione said.

"I wish you the best of luck with that," Professor Dumbledore said. "I'll leave you all to it."

As Professor Dumbledore left the Hospital Wing, Hermione looked to her friends. A thought had just occurred to her, and all at once, she knew what they had to do. She couldn't find Rose on her own, but she knew who could.

Hermione tapped her ear, then waited until she had visual confirmation from everyone that they understood before explaining her plan.

"I need someone to go find the Twins and get them to tell you where Rose is," Hermione said.

"Why would they know?" Ron asked with a hint of disgust that he probably hadn't intended.

"I'll explain later, I promise, but right now, we've got to find them as soon as we can," Hermione said. "They'll probably be eating right now, so if we can catch them before they leave, we can talk to them now rather than wait for lunch."

"Why don't we all go get them?" Neville asked. "Strength in numbers, right?"

"We don't need strength right now, we need stealth," Hermione said. "If six people go to talk to them, everyone will suspect we're up to something."

"That means we either need Ginny or Ron to go," Sally-Anne said. "Apart from Rose and Hermione, none of us talk to the Twins often enough to have any reason to talk to them now."

"Except me and Ron," Ginny said. "Because they're our brothers."

"Exactly," Hermione said.

"I'm not leaving," Ron said.

"I can't get them to tell me anything," Ginny said.

"Then get them to come here, and I'll make them talk," Hermione said.

"If they know where she is, Professor McGonagall can get it out of them," Sally-Anne suggested. "Don't the teachers want to know where Rose is just as much as we do?"

"But Rose doesn't want them to know," Hermione said.

"She wants to be alone," Luna said.

"Teachers never leave you alone," Ron grumbled.

"So we keep teachers out of it," Harry said. "What else?"

"There's nothing more to say," Hermione said. "Ginny, please?"

"Alright, I'll go," Ginny sighed, getting up off Hermione's bed, "but no one take my spot while I'm gone!"

"Huh?" Ron asked.

"There's nowhere else to sit," Ginny replied.

"Girls are so weird," Ron said.

"Thank you, Ronald," Luna said before Sally-Anne or Hermione could respond. "That's nice of you to notice."

Neville and Ginny both smiled, then Ginny left to fetch her brothers.

"Now, on to phase two," Hermione said. "Harry, I'm going to need your invisibility cloak."

"What for?" he asked.

"Once Fred and George tell us where to find Rose, I'm going to go fetch her," Hermione said. "Madame Pomfrey can't see me out of bed, and the staff can't see me walking around. Besides, I need to intercept the Twins before they get here, so Madame Pomfrey and the portraits don't hear the Twins when they tell me where she is."

"Isn't she going to notice an empty bed?" Neville asked.

"Not if one of the boys takes my place," Hermione said.

"They've got hats of disguise, so they can pretend to be Hermione for an hour or two," Luna said. "That's brilliant."

Ron grinned as he put the pieces of Hermione's plan together.

"So we make a scene while you escape under the cloak," Ron said, "then Ginny brings 'you' back while the real you goes to get Rose."

"Exactly," Hermione said, smiling.

"Why you?" Harry asked.

"Because Rose won't open up to the rest of you," Hermione said. "No offence, but Luna and I are the only two to whom she'll talk, and I don't think she'll want Luna seeing her in whatever state she's in."

Sally-Anne nodded her understanding, and the others simply accepted that Hermione was probably right.

"Are you going to be alright on your own?" Sally-Anne asked.

"I'll get whichever twin doesn't pretend to be me to help me," Hermione said. "Or if they won't, I'll convince them to impersonate Ginny while the real Ginny helps me along."

"As brilliant as this plan is, how do you know Fred and George will help you?" Ron asked. "They aren't exactly the helping type."

"I'm not going to give them a choice," Hermione said. "Now, if we could get moving, I don't know when they're going to be back."

Harry nodded, then reached into his pack and drew his invisibility cloak.

"Thanks," Hermione said, shifting around so she could get out of bed.

She tossed the cloak over herself, then hurried out of the Hospital Wing. Not a minute later, she heard a series of loud popping noises, indicating that her friends were doing their part.

Not a minute later, Hermione spotted Ginny, George, and Fred walking down an otherwise empty hallway.

"Where's Rose?" Hermione demanded, pulling the cloak off her.

"Ah!" Ginny shrieked.

"Hermione, we honestly don't know," one of the Twins said, evidently less startled by Hermione's sudden appearance than their sister was.

"Dürah," replied Hermione. "You know how I know you know?"

The boys shook their heads.

"Rose never gets caught because she can disappear before anyone spots her. She knows when a person is within 60 feet of her, but you two can't apparate in the castle grounds. Therefore, you've got to have some way of knowing where people are going to be so you can plan an escape route. You can't possibly predict where people are going to be every night, so you've got to have some way of tracking the students and staff. Therefore, you know where she is, right now. I don't need to know how you know; I just need to know where she is."

"As well-thought-out as that is–" Probably George said.

"We still don't know where–" Probably Fred started.

"Tell me where she is, or I will learn how to make veritaserum, poison both of you with it, and gather Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape so you can tell them everything you've ever done!" Hermione paused for a moment. "You know what? Let's add your mum to that! I'm sure she'd be thrilled to know about every crime you've ever committed!"

Hermione looked from George to Fred.

"Think I'm joking?!" she demanded.

Both boys shook their heads.

"You know what I can do. You know I'll figure it out, and if I don't, I'll go to Professor Snape, whom I sure would be ecstatic to leave a book about veritaserum open on his desk for me. My memory borderlines on eidetic, and I can read a book by touching it, so all I need is a few seconds."

Fred and George exchanged looks.

"That's the answer," George said.

"She's with Professor Snape," Fred added.

"In his office."

"We don't know why."

"Thank you," Hermione said in a sickly sweet voice. "See how much easier it is when you two cooperate?"

Both boys nodded, then quickly got away from the girl that was currently terrifying both of them more than their mother or Professor McGonagall ever had.

"Hold it!" Hermione shouted. "I still need your help."

The boys stopped dead in their tracks.

"One of you has got to pretend to be me, preferably in the next five minutes," Hermione said. "And the other one's either going with me to Professor Snape's office, or pretending to be Ginny returning me to the Hospital Wing."

"I'll go with you," one of the boys said. "Two imposters is more likely to get caught than one."

"Which one are you?" Hermione asked.

"Fred," Probably Fred said.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"Promise!" Fred shouted as George began to shrink.

In a matter of seconds, Hermione was staring at a carbon copy of herself.

"That's weird," Hermione said, throwing the cloak back over her head.

"It's just an illusion," George said in Hermione's voice. "We'll have to be careful not to touch people."

"Good," Hermione said. "Ginny, thank you."

"Hermione, you're the best," Ginny said admiringly.

"Thank you!" George said.

"Not you!" Ginny said, punching her brother.

"Ow!" George whined. "That hurt!"

"If I find out you made a fool of me," Hermione said through gritted teeth, "then I'll make you explain yourself to Rose."

With that, Hermione and Fred walked off in one direction, while Ginny and George went in another.

When Hermione and Fred reached Professor Snape's office, Fred turned to Hermione.

"I'm gonna leave," Fred said.

"Go," Hermione said, pulling the cloak off her. "Thanks again, Fred."

"Make sure she's alright," Fred said. "Remember, she's our friend too."

"I will," Hermione said.

Once Fred was clear, Hermione banged on the door with her good hand.

"Professor Snape!"

Professor Snape walked over to his office door and opened it.

"What do you want, Ms. Granger?"

"I know Rose is in your office," she said. "I want to– Did you just call me 'Ms. Granger'?"

"What of it?"

Hermione blinked, then decided she didn't care.

"Never mind that, I want to talk to her, and I know she's here."

"I don't know where you got that idea, but–"

"She won't hide in the Room of Requirement because that was the first place we looked, so she'll be somewhere out of the way. Rose wouldn't pick a random classroom because she wouldn't risk a student finding her on accident. Therefore, she'll pick somewhere where people are least likely to go, which is your office."

Professor Snape glowered at her, but Hermione stood tall. She knew she was right, and nothing Snape could do would change her mind.

"Let her in," came a soft, Scottish voice.

Professor Snape moved aside to allow Hermione access to his office.

As Hermione walked past him, she swore she heard him mutter "Well done."

Sitting in the corner of the dimly lit room was Rose. She stared intently at the floor, and held her legs in her arms.

"Hi," Hermione said.

Rose didn't say anything, but smiled softly at Hermione.

"I'm sorry," Rose said. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

"It's alright," Hermione replied. "It wasn't your fault."

"How's your arm?"

"Arm, chest, shoulder, and thigh," Hermione said, sitting down beside Rose. "It's not so bad, really."

"Still my fault," Rose mumbled.

"None of us could've known that the one thing that affects you is a boggart," Hermione said. "Rose, we need you. There are Dementors running rampant outside, and I'm honestly afraid to go to Care for Magical Creatures tomorrow. The second we go out there, I'm worried that those things are gonna flock to us like flies to honey."

"What would you have done if I had run away?" Rose asked.

"You wouldn't," Hermione replied. "There's no way that Rose Peta-Lorrum leaves her friends behind, nor does she give up."

"Yeah, I do," Rose replied, her voice catching. "There's no point in fighting that thing. All it does is take and take until everything you care about is gone."

"Rose, you're starting to scare me," Hermione said, tears in her eyes. "You're supposed to tell me that everything's going to be okay. You're supposed to tell me about some mad idea you've got that will save us all."

"Is that how you see me?" Rose asked. "I'm not a hero, Hermione. I'm just a girl. I never have ideas; that's Ron's job."

Ignoring the shooting pain in her arm, Hermione wrapped her arms around Rose.

"Rose, you're the bravest person I've ever met. I can't begin to imagine what sort of monster hurt you this badly, but I know this: Whatever it is, you don't have to be afraid of it anymore. That was a long time ago, and–"

"Three years," Rose said. "It's been about three years since it died."

"Wait, that means it was only a year before you met me!" Hermione gasped. "Rose, I'm so sorry! If I had known–"

"That's why I don't tell anyone about him," Rose said. "He tortured me, he… I don't want to talk about it."

"You don't have to," Hermione said. "This is too weird without going into detail."

Rose stared at her, and Hermione began to worry that Rose couldn't make facial expressions anymore.

"I'm comforting you," Hermione said. "It's backwards. You're supposed to be comforting me."

"Maybe I'm broken," Rose said.

"No, you're pathetic."

Both girls looked up to see that Professor Snape was still in the room.

"Wallowing in self-pity, Peta-Lorrum?" he sneered. "After turning a man to stone, and beating a basilisk nearly to death, it's a boggart that beats you?"

"It's not that simple," Hermione said.

"Was I talking to you, Granger?"

"No, Professor," Hermione replied quickly, turning her head down to stare at the ground.

"These things are household pests. Everyone sees them, and everyone deals with them. It's just you that hides in a corner and cries about it."

"You don't understand," Rose said softly.

"You think you're the only one who's ever had something bad happen to them, Peta-Lorrum?" Professor Snape asked.

"No, I don't," Rose replied. "What I do know is what happened to you."

Professor Snape towered over them, glaring at Rose.

"Do you know what I did about it?" Professor Snape asked.

"No."

"I hid in a corner and cried about it. I learned a very important lesson when I did that."

"What?"

"That it gets you nowhere," the Potions Master said. "Stop crying, and go fix it. It is what you're best at, isn't it?"

Without another word, Professor Snape turned and left his office, his cloak billowing in his wake.

"Have you talked to Sk'lar?" Hermione asked. "He'll want to know if you haven't."

For almost a minute, Rose didn't say anything. She stared at the ground, and Hermione began to worry.

"He's not…"

"There's a ward around Hogwarts that blocks my telepathic network," Rose said. "I don't know the bounds of it. I haven't talked with Sk'lar since we arrived."

Hermione would never know why she did what she did next. She didn't know where she found the strength to stand up, but next thing she knew, she was on her feet, offering her good hand to Rose.

"So let's go find out," she said. "Together."

Rose stared at Hermione, then at her hand.

"I'm always here for you, Rose," Hermione said, smiling.

"I see what you did there," Rose said, taking Hermione's hand. "Where to, Brain?"

"The edge of the apparition ward," Hermione said. "Do you know where that is?"

"I've got an idea," Rose replied.

Still holding Hermione's hand, Rose activated her cloak and brought the two of them to a clearing in the Forbidden Forest.

"Alright, this seems about right," Hermione said, gauging the distance from the castle that she could just barely see off in the distance. "Try now."

<Sk'lar?> Rose pathed.

"You included me," Hermione said.

"I know," Rose replied. "I meant to."

<Rose! Thank the Paragons you're alright!>

"Ah!" Hermione yelped as she heard a soft British voice in her head. "What was that?"

<Where the Hells have you been, Rosie?!> roared another voice, this time a rough, female voice.

<I'm sorry,> Rose pathed. <There's a ward around Hogwarts. I couldn't talk to you, and I couldn't leave my friends defenceless.>

<Where are you now?> the first voice, presumably her brother, asked.

<We're outside the wards,> Rose pathed. <Hermione and I found the edge of the ward so I could talk to all of you.>

<Can she hear us?> the second voice asked.

<Yeah,> Rose replied.

"Who are they?" Hermione asked.

"Elven accent is Sk'lar, the girl's Alice," Rose replied.

"Elven equals British, got it."

<Hold on a few rounds,> Sk'lar pathed. <I'll get Uncle Oz and Shadow.>

<Why don't you just–> Rose asked.

<You'll understand in a moment,> Sk'lar replied.

Rose's eyes widened.

"Please be doing what I think you're doing," she whispered.

"What is he doing?" Hermione asked.

"Something clever," Rose said. "Something my big brother would do."

Before their eyes, a crack formed in the air. It grew wider, revealing a man on the other side. The man had dark gray skin, perfectly combed black hair, and robes of blue and indigo that fell perfectly on his form. Above his head floated a bright blue, glowing halo, and his robes bore a crest of a circle flanked by a pair of triangles that pointed outward.

As Hermione took in the scene before her, she realized that she recognized the man: it was Rose's brother.

"We've got four minutes until the gate closes and I've got to recast it," Sk'lar said.

"Can I…" Rose asked, approaching the gate.

She reached out her hand, but to her dismay, it was blocked before reaching the other side.

"I'm sorry, Rose," came another British voice.

As the gate was completely opened, Hermione saw that Sk'lar was standing in a room filled with bookshelves. Three more people occupied the room.

The first looked similar to Sk'lar, pointed ears and all, but his hair was silver, and his robes were black. In place of the circle and triangles, which Hermione realized were supposed to be an eye, this man's clothes had an anvil and hammer imprinted on them. Hermione recognized the insignia as that of Arcrel, Rose's old school, which made the other Elf her Uncle, Ozerl.

Standing on the other side of Sk'lar was a woman with pink hair arranged in a pair of pigtails. She wore a blue dress with white clouds on it, and strapped to her thigh was a long, metal box.

Standing off to the side, just barely in view, was a person that couldn't have been more than three feet tall. She wore a black cloak, black boots, black gloves, and a black mask with blue markings on it. Seeing it properly for the first time, it looked familiar, although Hermione couldn't place it aside from Rose's drawings.

"Sk'lar," Hermione said, pointing at Rose's brother. "Ozerl, Alice, and Shadow."

"Well done, Hermione," Ozerl said. "I regrettably find myself unable to shake your hand, but I assure you it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Likewise," Hermione said, still getting over the shock of seeing Rose's family for the first time.

"What happened to you?" Alice asked Hermione. "Did you set off an acid trap? I did that once. Let me tell you, it–"

"The Abomination," Rose said.

Alice stopped talking the moment Rose said the name, and they all turned to stare at Rose.

"There's this creature in this world called a boggart," Hermione explained. "It turns into a person's worst fear."

"How?" Shadow asked.

Hermione jumped at hearing the woman's voice for the first time. It was bizarre, like three different voices mixed into one.

"It reads the surface thoughts of the person facing it," Hermione replied. "So it–"

"Impossible," Shadow interrupted.

"Occlumency doesn't stop it either," Hermione said. After an awkward silence, she added, "It's like our form of mind blank."

"It sounds as if a boggart uses some other technique to determine a person's worst fear," Ozerl said. "Don't you think?"

"There's a theory that witches and wizards actually project their worst fear onto it using accidental magic," Hermione offered.

"I can't use your magic, Hermione," Rose reminded her.

"But no one really knows where boggarts come from, so that theory actually explains–"

"As much as I would love to hear the rest of this, we haven't got a lot of time," Ozerl said calmly. "Rose, are you alright?"

"Not really," Rose said. "I was so sure I could handle it myself."

Hermione wasn't sure what to make of what she was seeing. Rose was unstoppable and never faltered for a second. Now, she looked like a puppy that wanted to return to the warmth of its owner's home during a rainstorm. Except that the door was shut, and no one could open it.

Shadow walked up to the opening, then pressed her hand against the barrier.

"It'll be alright, Rose," Shadow said. "That thing's soul is trapped in Celestia. It'll have to go through us to get to you."

Rose approached the barrier and placed her hand against Shadow's.

Most of her life, nearly anything Rose wanted, she simply had to make. She could craft anything her heart desired, but at that very moment, she wanted nothing more than for her hand to fall through and touch Shadow's. Rose didn't care if she never did anything else, so long as she could feel Shadow's hand in hers again, even knowing how much complaining Shadow would do about it.

"Thank you, Sweety," Rose said.

"Don't call me 'Sweety'."

"Worse than that," Hermione said. "Once it gets here, it'll have to go through Professors McGonagall, Snape, Vector, and Dumbledore to get close to you. And then, it'll have to go through me."

Alice flashed a smile that was almost identical to Rose's.

"I like her."

Hermione smiled back at Alice.

"We've got 30 seconds left," Sk'lar said. "Rose, are you going to be alright?"

Rose looked from her brother, to her sister, to her uncle, then to Shadow.

Stop crying, and go fix it. It is what you're best at, isn't it?

She glanced back at Hermione, then grinned.

"Yeah," she said, taking her hand down. "I'll be alright. Thank you."

"You're family, Rose," Ozerl said, "and we're always here if you need us."

The portal began to shrink.

"Goodbye," Rose said sadly.

"Don't think of it as goodbye," Alice said. "Think of it as looking forward to the next time you get to see us."

Rose smiled.

"I'll see you all later, then."

"It was nice meeting you all!" Hermione said.

"Likewise!" Sk'lar said.

"Take care of our little girl for us!" Alice called out.

"Erm… Okay," Hermione said hesitantly.

She usually takes care of me, Hermione thought, glancing at Rose.

"Best of luck, girls," Ozerl said.

Shadow didn't say anything, but instead nodded her head as the portal closed.

Hermione wasn't sure what to make of the whole experience. Rose's family were just as strange as she was. Sk'lar and Ozerl seemed nice, and she could certainly see the resemblance between Shadow and Professor Snape. On top of that, Alice acted so much like Rose. Their faces weren't that similar, so Hermione might not suspect they were blood relatives, but their personalities and facial expressions were nearly identical.

A chill ran through the air, and Hermione looked around for the monsters she knew were coming. Sure enough, she saw the grass freezing over and Dementors flying overhead.

"We should get going," Rose said. "We've got work to do."

"Good to have you back, Rose," Hermione said, smiling.

"Glad to feel like my normal self, Brain," Rose replied, grinning.

Hermione hesitated. She had a question she wanted to ask, but wasn't sure if she should. After everything Rose had gone through, the last thing she wanted to do was to bring up more of the pain Rose had gone through with that dragon. Despite this, there was a part of Hermione that just had to know the answer. It wasn't asking much, really.

"You want to know its name, right?" Rose asked, startling Hermione out of her thoughts.

Hermione paused for a moment.

"Yeah," Hermione said. "That's it. You don't have to if you don't want to."

Rose nodded. After everything that had transpired in the past few days, her friend had earned that much.

"Valignatiejir."