The Bell's Toll

The next morning at breakfast, Neville sat with Hermione. Annoyed at her about Rose or not, he still needed to tell her about Luna.

Hermione, as always, was scribbling in a notebook.

"How was the funeral?" she asked without looking up.

"Moon was there."

"That's—"

Hermione stopped writing. For a second, she stopped moving. Her head darted up to stare at him.

"She was? How was she?"

A smile crept over Neville's face.

"She's still got her eyes."

Hermione frowned.

"That's odd. How'd they remove the curse?"

"Who cares? She can still see. And she's got the telepathy rune on her. We can talk to her."

Hermione stared at him, considering his words.

"Sorry I couldn't make it," she said. "Dumbledore wanted to meet then instead of this Sunday while I'm packing for the winter holiday."

Neville nodded. Part of him wanted to know what it was Hermione and Dumbledore were discussing, but he mostly didn't care. He figured it was some secret someone else was keeping from him.

"It's funny how they keep doing that," Evil Neville said from his seat beside Hermione. "It's like your best friends don't care enough to tell you. Just like everyone else."

"I'm staying here," he said. "With Moon. I want to find her, and then we're going to find Rose."

Hermione stared at him. After nearly a minute of not saying anything (or breaking eye contact), Neville began to worry.

"What is it?"

"It's… erm… you shouldn't go looking for her."

His concern quickly turned to frustration.

"Why not?"

Hermione opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

"Is it another secret you and Dumbledore are keeping from the rest of us?"

"Toad, please, just listen!"

"No! You can't keep us all in the dark! She's our friend! She was my best friend! I'm going to find her."

"She was my best friend, too! She… I…"

Neville glared at her, waiting for her to speak. With every stammer, his patience grew thinner. First Luna ran off and didn't say anything. Then he'd found out Rose had done the same thing, and now Hermione was stopping him from trying to find her.

"I'm starting to get tired of people I care about running off without telling me anything," Neville said.

He didn't wait for Hermione to respond. Deciding he wasn't hungry, he got up and left the Great Hall. As he left, he saw Evil Neville smirking at him. When they made eye contact, Evil Neville mouthed "just like everyone else".

That night, Ron awoke to find someone with a light on in their room.

"Harry, mate, what are you doing?"

Ron rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed.

"Look at this," Harry said, motioning to what Ron could only assume was the Marauder's Map.

His instincts told him to go back to bed, that Harry was probably fine on his own, but his curiosity got the better of him. He climbed out of bed and padded over to Harry. Stooping down, Ron looked where Harry's light was brightest.

It shone over two dots, "Sally-Anne Perks" and "Draco Malfoy".

"So what?" Ron asked. "They've got rounds together tonight. Professor Dumbledore wants all prefects walking in pairs. Probably in case we spot trouble."

Like Rose.

The thought of telling Harry crossed Ron's mind, but like every other time he'd thought about it, he decided against it. If Sally-Anne was right — and it wouldn't have been the first time she was — then there was no point in worrying everyone else about it.

"I saw them leaving Potions together," Harry said.

"How? You don't take potions."

"I checked the map," Harry said matter-of-factly. "They met up with each other after that."

Ron frowned as it dawned on him. That wasn't normal for Malfoy. He certainly wouldn't be meeting up with a Muggle-born if he could help it. Why meet up with Sally-Anne?

"That's… odd."

"I've been watching them when I've got a chance. They're taking a long time to do their rounds."

"You've never done rounds with Sally-Anne. She walks so slowly."

Harry glared at him.

His glare only served to invoke confusion in Ron.

"What?"

"'Sally-Anne'?" Harry mocked. "Are you two friends now?"

Even Ron could pick up the hostility in Harry's voice. What was everyone's problem with Sally-Anne? She'd shouted at him, but that was only once. He didn't know if she had a problem with him, but he didn't have one with her.

In the back of his mind, Ron worried that Harry was beginning to obsess over this.

"What's it matter?"

"She's a traitor! She stabbed us all in the back! Not just me and Hermione, you too! Or did you forget the hours we spent standing still and listening to Umbridge tell us how worthless we all were?"

It wasn't Ron's fondest memory; it'd be a long time before he forgot it. She'd pacified the Twins with that, and that wasn't something easily done. The difference between his brothers and the rest of the school was that they'd eventually bounced back. Not everyone was so lucky.

"I remember, but Sally-Anne didn't make her do that."

"No, she just betrayed us, then led us to Umbridge."

Harry jabbed a finger at the map where Sally-Anne and Malfoy were standing.

"And now she's best friends with Malfoy."

A hundred scenarios popped into Ron's head. One of them could've been blackmailing the other. Sally-Anne was getting desperate to put things right. Malfoy had blackmailed her before, so it wasn't a stretch to think he was doing it again. He could've put her under the Imperius Curse, and was checking on her progress with whatever task he'd given her. They also worked together a lot during Potions, since no one would work with either of them. They could've simply been studying.

"You don't know that."

"Of course I do!" Harry snapped. "She's the enemy, Ron. So you've got to pick a side. It's us or them."

He emphasised "them" with another jab at the map.

"Whose side are you on?"

Ron looked at Harry. For a moment, he saw Hermione with crimson hair. He shook his head at his friend.

"Mate, she's just a student."

"She stabbed us in the back! What don't you get about that?"

Ron tried to think of something to calm Harry down. He really was turning into Hermione, and not the good Hermione. The mad one, the one that had tried starting a war against Umbridge, the one that let herself descend into madness. Even if Umbridge had turned out to be the enemy, Sally-Anne wasn't. She certainly wouldn't be friends with Malfoy.

"She's not friends with Malfoy," Ron said. "She's not Umbridge, either. It's Sally-Anne, she doesn't look for advantages on people like Malfoy or Umbridge."

"That's exactly what she did!" Harry snapped. "She took our secrets and gave them to Malfoy and Umbridge!"

Ron looked at the map again and decided it was pointless trying to convince Harry of Sally-Anne's innocence. She had turned them over to Umbridge, but it was Sally-Anne. He knew she'd thought she'd had a good reason for it. But Harry was using her spending time with Malfoy, something they were required to do by Dumbledore, as proof that Sally-Anne was handing over their secrets to Malfoy. It was clear as day to Ron that she wasn't, but he didn't want to lose another friend to some imagined grudge like he had with Hermione.

"Fine. You win."

Ron stood up.

"So you believe me?"

Whatever gets you to let me leave.

"Sure. I'm going to wash up and go sit in the common room."

Ron left Harry to his mad ramblings, focusing on anything other than Hermione. After he'd washed up, he found Harry still staring at the map. He ignored him and went down to the common room.

Hermione had taken over the common room with various papers and books. She'd covered half the common room with them, and currently sat in a corner, scribbling away at something and muttering to herself.

Ron checked the clock. Sally-Anne wouldn't be back for another half an hour, and Lav wouldn't be awake for another few hours. That meant he was clear to talk to Hermione until then.

"Hermione, can I ask you something?"

Hermione stopped muttering and grinned at him.

"Come here and look at this! It's astounding!"

Ron doubted he'd find as much excitement in it as Hermione had, but he obliged nonetheless.

"This" turned out to be a large box thing with numbers and letters inside it.

"What is it?"

"Scholar's touch, like our bracelets! I've worked out a general form for Rose's magic! It's so much more complicated than ours! That's why Wizards can't keep casting spells like we can! They've got to work out the incantations in the morning by studying their spell books. It's too complicated to have a generic version that everyone can cast."

She held up a piece of parchment and grinned as though it was supposed to mean something to him.

"Uh huh," Ron said slowly. "I'm real happy for you, Mad Arithmancer Hermione, but I really need to talk to People Person Hermione right now."

This time, it was Hermione's turn to stare at him as if he were mad.

"What?"

"I think Harry's starting to lose it. He's been watching Sally-Anne on the map after she leaves class."

Hermione set down her parchments.

"He's stalking her with the map?"

Ron nodded. He hadn't thought of it that way, but it was. Thinking of it that way made it so much worse.

"I know she stabbed us in the back, but I've simply been ignoring her," Hermione said. "She's miserable enough without us making it worse."

"She's still my friend," Ron said, ignoring his instincts telling him to do otherwise. "At least, she was. I tried talking to her after the last Quidditch match, but she shouted at me to leave her alone."

Hermione frowned, making Ron concerned. Hermione was the closest thing he had to a people person outside of Sally-Anne. He began to wonder if he should ask one of the professors. He didn't want to, but as much as he didn't want to, he wanted more to know his friend was okay.

"That's… unlike her."

"And now Harry says she's sneaking off with Malfoy."

"That one makes sense."

"What? No it doesn't! Sally-Anne wouldn't be friends with him."

"Of course, she would. You heard how she was talking about him. After all the horrible things he's done to her in particular, and she was defending him."

Ron chewed on her words. Sally-Anne wouldn't really be friends with Malfoy, would she? She was so nice, so sweet, and Malfoy… was Malfoy. There wasn't a good bone in his body.

He turned back to Hermione. She'd returned to her work. He rolled his eyes, then sat down in front of the fire.

<Perks is on her way to the common room. Both of you, get out.>

Ron glanced at Hermione. Her papers flew at her, assembling themselves into an organized collection. She spared him a glance before heading up to her room.

<Get out of the common room!> Harry said.

<I'll take my chances.>

He stayed where he was until Sally-Anne walked into the common room.

"Ron!" she gasped.

She stood there, frozen in place.

"Sit down," he said. "I won't bite."

She stared at him as though he would. She crept over to the other armchair and sat down.

"Whatever I did to make you so mad at me, I'm sorry."

Sally-Anne stared at him, trembling in her chair.

Ron didn't back down. His stomach churned. Every instinct told him he was doing something wrong.

"After the match," she said, "I… I wanted to talk to you. I knew if I let you, you'd sit and listen. And… And I'd probably feel better afterward. But… if I did, Lavender would see us, think there was something going on, and dump you."

Tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"You've been so kind to me, Ron. I won't let myself be the reason you and Lavender break up."

Ron didn't know what to say. Sally-Anne had been trying to protect him? For a month, he thought he'd done something horrible. All that time, she'd been trying to protect him.

"Thank you," Ron said, for lack of anything else to say.

Sally-Anne smiled and dabbed at her eyes.

"You're welcome."

They sat in silence. Sally-Anne smiled at him every time she noticed him looking at her. Otherwise, he stared at the fire. Harry was wrong. Sally-Anne was still their friend. She'd only been trying to protect him.

Just like last year.

"Harry's gone mad," Ron said.

"What do you mean?"

"He thinks you're plotting something with Malfoy. He's been using the map to spy on you."

Sally-Anne shifted in her chair.

"Oh. I see."

Ron smiled, hoping it would cheer her up.

"How ridiculous, right? You being friends with Malfoy."

"Ron… I am friends with Draco."

The smile left Ron's face. He scowled at her. He must've heard that wrong.

"What?"

"You and he are the only two people that have been kind to me at all this year. The only two people that haven't treated me like filth. Harry and Hermione used to be my best friends, and they both hate me. You and Draco—"

"But it's Malfoy!"

"I find it odd too, but—"

"He hates me just because my family's less wealthy than his! He hates you because—"

"No, he doesn't hate me, Ron!"

"So he doesn't call you an insult to your face anymore?"

"No, he doesn't, he calls me Sally-Anne."

"But he—"

"He's changed!"

"But his father works for you-know-who!"

"That doesn't mean Draco does."

"I'll bet he joined the Death Eaters the first chance he got!"

"No, he didn't!"

She stood up and straightened her dress. Her face was red, but as she calmed down, she returned to normal.

"I'm going to get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

Without another word, Sally-Anne walked up the girls' staircase and out of sight.

Ron watched her walk off, then threw a scattering hex at the center of the common room. Chairs, couches, and books flew around the room, but he charmed them all to return to their original places.

"Told you she was up to no good."

It didn't surprise Ron one bit that Harry had been eavesdropping.

"Grahk d'ka," Ron hissed.

After Harry went back up to their room, Ron slumped into his chair.

At least Lav talks too much for me to get a word in.

The day before the winter holiday, Sally-Anne snuck out of Gryffindor Tower and away from prying eyes. She knew Harry would be watching her, and she hated it. It'd crossed her mind to tell Professor McGonagall, but Harry would only hate her more if she did. Besides, McGonagall probably thought it best that someone kept an eye on Sally-Anne. After what she and Umbridge did, it served her right.

She wandered down to the Room of Requirement, where he couldn't see inside, and hoped her friend had already arrived.

After activating the room, she slipped inside.

Draco sat on an emerald green couch. He smiled at her when she walked inside, but the smile quickly disappeared.

"You look miserable," Sally-Anne said.

"Only because I'm spending my last day at Hogwarts with a Muggle-born," Draco said.

Sally-Anne decided she wouldn't dignify that.

"Will they be upset that you haven't got anywhere with your task to find your one true love at Hogwarts?"

Draco started laughing, but quickly cleared his throat and composed himself.

"It still surprises me to see you express emotion," Sally-Anne said.

"To answer your question, they'll be livid."

Sally-Anne smiled at him, then an odd sensation came over her. With anyone else, the urge to hold hands would've seemed normal, but with Draco it felt forbidden. She wasn't supposed to have feelings for him, yet it was not the first time she'd felt them.

If she said anything, he'd be disgusted and never speak to her again. Last time she'd had feelings for a boy and said nothing, it'd all blown up in her face.

She rubbed her wrist and smiled.

"You've always got me."

Draco frowned at her.

She kept her hands in her lap and started fidgeting. She shouldn't have said anything He was going to think she was saying something else.

Aren't you?

"You're the best friend I've ever had," he said.

Sally-Anne froze, her heart stopped.

"That means so much to hear you say," she said. "You're my best friend too."

She looked away and rubbed her wrist again. Every part of her wanted to tell him, but if she did… she'd be alone. There'd be no one.

That's what you thought about Harry, and it blew up in your face. His parents are pressuring him to find someone, so if you don't say anything now, you won't have another chance.

"Would it be so bad… to be with a Muggle-born."

"My parents would—"

"I'm not asking about your parents, Draco, I'm asking about you."

He scowled at her, but she refused to back down.

"Depends on she Muggle-born. As much as father would like me to think, they're not all the same."

She smile felt genuine for the first time in months.

"That's good."

Say it!

"Why's that good?"

Say it!

"Because I like you."

Woohoo! Good work, Princess!

Sally-Anne spared a thought to wonder why her internal voice sounded so much like Alex.

"You can just say it?" he asked.

"Of course. I'm working class, we've got different rules. Besides, last time I didn't tell a boy I liked him, some pompous little jerk used it to blackmail me."

Draco smirked.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, but it's your own fault for having feelings."

She held out her hand.

"Are they that bad?"

He looked down an her hand, then at her.

"They've got their uses."

He took her hand.

She flew away from that couch, Draco's hand in hers. They rose above the school, above their lives, above the war. It was just the two of them, drifting through the sky.

Sally-Anne shifted closer to him on the couch. Her common sense told her to hold off on kissing him. He must've been nervous. Whatever they were doing, it wouldn't last two seconds once his parents found out.

They don't have to find out.

They will. And he'll be gone, if they don't get rid of you themselves.

He's not like that anymore. I don't care what Ron says, Draco's changed.

At that moment, Ron was getting into trouble with different authority figures.

Lavender pulled Ron down a corridor, giggling uncontrollably.

Ron hated being maneuvered like that, but if it got her to stop being so public about their relationship, he didn't mind. In private, snogging her was the best, but when she started doing it in public, he felt… judged.

She pulled him inside an empty classroom and shut the door behind them. She grabbed him, held him closer. Their bodies were pressed against one another, and he became aware of everything about her.

"Way to clear the room, Cohort."

They jumped and pulled apart. Ron's heart was racing, not just because they'd been caught, but because of the extra occupant of the room.

Rose smirked at him, her arms crossed as she stood between them and the door.

"Rose?" Lavender asked. "But… but you're dead!"

Rose tilted her head, still smirking. Then she held up her hand to inspect it.

"No, I don't think so. Let's see."

Rose turned her hand outward, and Ron moved in front of Lavender to keep himself between her and Rose. He didn't know what was going on, but it couldn't have been good.

To his fortune, Rose didn't try to kill them. A burst of flame sprang from her hand, scorching some nearby desks. Ron shifted himself and Lavender away. The flames were close enough that he could feel the heat on his skin.

"But… but how?" Lavender asked.

"Doesn't matter how," Ron said. "She���s here, that's what matters."

<Confirmed Rose is alive. She's in front of me in Hogwarts.>

A volley of voices filled his head. He remained calm, forcing himself to keep thinking. No one else was going to do this for him; it was up to him to find a way out. Failing that, stalling for time until someone else arrived to deal with Rose… which meant Dumbledore.

Rose's smile grew wider, but her look still said she was planning to kill them.

"See, Cohort? You understand, don't you? You could see that I was always going to become this."

"I don't know what you mean."

<Lavender's with me. Priority is keeping her alive.>

"Yes, you do, because you're clever. You got back this year, and suddenly, Brain and the Old Man told you to work on Occlumency. Brain keeps telling Toad not to go looking for me. The Old Man told you to report any sightings of me immediately, which means you probably already have, because you're not naive like Brain or Toad."

Ron tried to think of a way out, but any movement, any assessment of their situation, and Rose would catch on. Once that happened, she'd kill one or both of them to make a point that they couldn't escape. Assuming she didn't kill them for fun, which was most likely her plan anyway.

"Now, why would they tell you all of that?" Rose asked. "Why would they give you so many warnings about me if I weren't out to get you all? If I hadn't turned on you?"

Ron knew she had him pegged. It was true. All the warnings, they made it so obvious that Rose was against them. Which begged the question, how did she get inside Hogwarts? That was her big trick, that she could move around anywhere. With all their warnings, why hadn't Hermione or Dumbledore stopped her?

"And yet, they can't stop me from getting inside," Rose continued. He hoped she wasn't in his head, that he'd mastered Occlumency as well as he thought he had. "They've been experimenting with my magic. They can stop me, Cohort, but they haven't. They've been squandering their time."

If he stalled for time, Rose would get bored and kill one of them for fun. If he moved too quickly, she'd get bored and kill one of them for fun. Say the wrong thing, and she'd kill one of them to make a point.

She's got us cut off from the only exit. No way out. I'd have to make another exit, and I can't do that fast enough. If I could draw her away from the exit, we'd have a shot.

Ron decided that was his plan. It had to be; there were no alternatives. He'd been too preoccupied with Lavender to assess the room when they'd entered, so he had no idea how many desks were there. He didn't need many of them, just a few to animate to create a diversion. Rose wasn't an idiot; she'd probably worked out his plan, but with luck, she'd be too arrogant to care.

Rose likes to talk. Just keep her talking, and hit as hard as you can as fast as you can.

"As much as I appreciate you telling me all this, I still don't see the point."

As he spoke, he backed himself and Lavender away from the exit. Rose didn't have a strategic mind, so there was a chance she didn't see the value in her position. Or her arrogance would come into it, and she'd decide she didn't care.

"Don't worry, Cohort, I'm not going to kill you. I'm just here to deliver a message."

Her hearing! She's sensitive to loud noises.

Ron's heart sped up as he realized he had a chance. It wasn't hard to transfigure the desks into a giant metal bell. It'd incapacitate Rose long enough for him to run and fetch help.

He had a plan. All that was left was the right time to execute it.

"What's the message?" he asked, moving his hand to his wand inside his sleeve.

That smile never left Rose's face. If anything, it grew.

"Tell Brain and the Old Man that if they'd taken me seriously, then Lavender would still be alive."

Ron's heart stopped. He swore time did with it. No one moved.

He went for it. He transfigured two of the desks into a metal bell that started ringing. A loud, deep booming sound filled the room.

By then, it was too late.

Rose had her wand out a split second before the bell rang. She'd just been standing there, waiting for him to finish. When he did, by the time he'd looked back to her, he'd realized something. Something Harry wouldn't have missed.

Every time he'd spoken to Rose, he'd thought. Or he'd used the time she'd been speaking to relay a message. Or some other action that he hadn't thought took time. But they had. Which meant each of Rose's responses had been delayed, just the way they had one time in second year when Rose had started hearing voices again.

Rose was deaf.

"Disintegrate."

Ron had no time to react. His bell appeared, then a green ray sprang out of Rose's wand. It came within centimeters of him, but he wasn't its target.

He whirled around and saw Lavender turn to dust. Her remains fell to the ground in a neat pile.

His whole body shook. His heart hammered his chest so hard, anyone could��ve seen it.

Rose only smiled.

"Message sent."

In a burst of petals, she was gone, leaving Ron alone in the classroom with a bell, tolling for the death of Lavender Brown.