Chương 183: The Girl in Red
A year ago, in an alternate time line
Hermione watched as the last lights of Rose's magic faded. She cried over her friend, but soon, everything faded away. Instead of the Great Hall, she found herself in a corridor in Hogwarts.
Drying her tears, Hermione looked around, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Before she could work it out, Pettigrew came running around the corner. Thinking fast, Hermione stuck out her foot and tripped him. She'd had enough of that black ooze for a lifetime, and it was only Pettigrew.
He fell to the ground. Before he could get up, she stunned him. As he did, Rose came running around the corner.
Seeing Rose, in particular her child guise, brought back a whirl of emotion.
"Thanks, Brain."
Hermione glared at her, not wanting to show weakness around her. She fought back tears, but kept her face neutral. She wasn't sure if she were even allowed to do anything else. Rose had already told her what she'd said. Besides, if she broke down, she'd tell Rose everything.
"Oh. It's you."
It'd come out harsher than she'd intended, but that was just as well. Something about seeing Rose, a child who refused to grow up, irritated her more than anything else she'd done. At least when they'd fought, Rose had assumed an older form, making it seem like she was taking it seriously. This version of Rose had no idea.
"We're just finishing our third year, right?" Hermione asked, making sure she was where she thought she was. The time turner around Pettigrew's neck was a good clue.
"Yeah."
You even sound like a kid.
Her mind slipped back to some of the happy memories she had with Rose.
"I thought you were dead," Rose said.
You are dead.
Hermione recalled everything Rose had told her that night three years ago.
"Tell me to order Taltria and Alavel to return to Gryffindor Tower. Sirius was afraid they'd kill him as soon as he changed back. Then Sirius will change back, and save Ron and I from falling to our deaths."
"It already happened, though."
So has this.
Once again, Hermione dug into her brain to remember the sequence of events.
"When your friend repairs the time turner, it will bring you back to just before you blundered into Professor Dumbledore's office. You'll have one chance to fix everything. Don't waste it."
Maybe kill your friend while you're at it.
Hermione looked at the time turner on Pettigrew's neck again, and remembered what had happened when Luna had touched it.
"I don't know if it's safe for me to touch that, so I'll leave you to it."
She turned around, hoping that was the end of the conversation. She wanted it to be the end; she hadn't said anything bad yet.
"Hold on!"
Hermione closed her eyes, and her spirits sank.
"What did I do?"
You can't just leave it alone, can you?
She rounded on Rose, keeping up her tough exterior.
"Be more honest with me." That was good. Hermione meant that one. "It won't fix everything, but it's a good start." She thought of Rose dragging Ginny across the grounds, of finding out Alavel was dead, of seeing Septima vanish into dust, of Professor Snape dying in front of her.
"I can't tell you your big mistake, nor would it matter if I did. You'd still do it. It's who you are."
Some spoiled little kid.
She held her glare on Rose, hoping she'd take a hint and leave.
"I'll tell you everything," Rose said. "I promise."
No. You won't.
Hermione shook her head.
"I've heard it all before, Rose. I believed it then, but I won't believe it now. You were my best friend once, but now, I hate you."
Shut up already. I know you can't read my mind, but shut up, and stop before I make it worse!
Inside, Hermione was breaking down. She knew if she eased up at all, everything would come pouring out.
"I'm sorry," Rose said in a voice that nearly made Hermione cry. "I didn't… I won't."
"Yes, you will. You always will. It's who you are. You—"
Hermione clenched her fists and closed her eyes to calm herself down. She relaxed before Rose got the impression that she was getting angry, although she realized she'd probably given that impression anyway.
"You'll find out soon enough. When you do, don't come crawling to me for forgiveness. I'm not offering it."
The corridor faded away, leaving her in the Great Hall once more. She saw Rose's body again, and burst into tears. The memories of the other time line faded away like a bad dream.
Rose watched the scene unfold, invisible to all but one person.
"Do you understand?" EL asked her.
All Rose understood was that she'd made yet another mistake. Future Hermione hadn't been angry at her; she'd been trying to mask how sad she was about what she'd done.
Rose didn't answer EL's question; he was omniscient, he already knew the answer.
"What was the point of showing me that? Of letting me hear her thoughts?"
"Because it was a waste to watch you believe that she would hate you one day. I didn't want you to spend all of eternity like that."
Rose looked over at EL, who was still mocking her with the form he'd taken. Instead of his usual old man form, he'd taken the form he'd been borrowing for years.
EL looked back at her with Ellie's face.
Ellie Langley. EL. The silent watcher. Keeping tabs on her to ensure balance was maintained by borrowing a body every so often.
"You didn't send me to this world. I was trapped here entirely by accident, and then, my family died because I was stuck here!"
The most annoying part about talking to EL was that his face never changed. He never looked angry. It was clear that he understood, that he was listening, but he never reacted to it.
"I regret what happened to you, but you never seemed so miserable for being stuck here."
The images of Hogwarts faded away to a moment of her and Hermione sitting in Hogsmeade. Rose could tell it was when Hermione had started coming back to Hogwarts. Hermione was laughing at something Rose had said.
"Stop it. It doesn't matter now. I've always been too old for her, and—"
The scene faded away and showed Hermione and Rose talking about what had happened to them. Just the two of them.
"Stop it!"
Rose turned away. She'd made Hermione kill her, and left her a trail to follow that would lead to her own death. She didn't know for sure that Hogwarts would collapse if they killed Slytherin, but it would certainly try to bring the castle down to stop them. There had been plenty of information about Cruentius, easily enough to destroy it.
"Slytherin will be no more. She stops it."
"And?"
"She dies."
"See? So what's the point of all this?"
Everything faded away, leaving them back inside the train station in which Rose had first found herself after dying.
"I'm offering you something, Rose. You can't go to the other planes, not from here. You have three choices."
Rose looked at the train and knew that was the first choice. She didn't care where it led; it wasn't home.
"Choice two is stay here forever."
"And choice three?"
"I'd like to give you compensation. You've served me well in the past, and you adamantly refused to trap Tom's soul. For that, and for other good deeds, I believe you deserve a reward."
Rose glared at EL. She didn't feel like she deserved anything. She'd found a way to hurt everyone that had ever cared about her. Brain, Moon, Toad, Dumbledore, Snape… she'd betrayed, beaten, or killed most of her friends.
"I don't deserve anything. I helped the Exalted stop De'rok from being destroyed. I made a difference there. But Slytherin is awake because of me, because I did something stupid. If I hadn't used wall of stone in the castle, Slytherin wouldn't have woken up. You said so yourself; without Slytherin being awake, Tom's diary would've been destroyed, and Slytherin would've lost its chance at its body. Everything it did is my fault."
EL stared at her. He gave no reaction, no indication that he'd heard her.
"Perhaps it is. If it is, then I would like to give you the chance to start making up for it. One last gift to you, Rose."
"Let me save Brain."
"You know I can't do that."
"Yes you can! You—"
"Without rules, there would only be chaos."
Rose growled something she knew EL could hear.
"I can't let you save her this time, but I can let you be there for her again."
Rose thought of how scared she'd been walking into Hogwarts knowing that she was going to die. She'd had to face it alone, just like Valignatiejir.
Brain deserved better than that.
"Deal."
Present Day
Ron ran out of Hogwarts into the pouring rain. Dementors swarmed around them, held back by the small force of patronus charms. He glanced behind him, checking the area, then turned to Harry.
<Clear the area.>
Without taking his eyes off the Dementors, Harry stepped back into the rain behind Ron.
<I'm not picking up anything near us.>
That concerned Ron more. Shawx was still lurking around somewhere.
The castle shuddered, and even the Dementors paused.
Ron had a sinking feeling. He'd been hoping he was wrong, that Hermione was thinking of something else, but the castle began to tremble.
<What's happening?> Sally-Anne asked.
<It must be Slytherin,> Ron said. <Hermione's destroyed Cruentius.>
<She did it?> Ginny asked. <She actually did it!>
Ron kept his focus on that, powering his patronus charm with the joy of victory. They'd done it. The hardest parts, they'd all done it.
Dementors flew up into the cloudy sky, turning the rain cold. Each drop was like a splash of ice hitting him. It was irritating, but his ring kept it from hurting him, freeing his focus to keep an eye on the Dementors.
The castle shook again, and Sally-Anne glanced back.
<Is she going to be alright?> She looked at Ron. <Should we—>
<She doesn't want us going back for her,> he said, reminding himself as much as her. <Remember? She must've known it'd try this.>
<What's it doing?> Ginny asked.
<Never mind that,> Ron said. <Focus on the Dementors.>
Even as he said it, the Dementors weren't worrying about them. They were flying around aimlessly, uncertain about what they should be doing. Every time a patronus got close, they flew back, seeming more irritated than afraid or angry.
A creaking sound caught his attention. The doors to the castle were closing on their own.
Beyond the doors, Ron spotted Luna and Tutela running towards them.
<Get the doors!>
Ron ran towards them, brandishing his wand.
I don't know what we would've done if we hadn't brought spares.
He fired hexes at the doors, trying to slow them down.
"Moon, run!" he shouted.
He didn't have to tell her twice. She leapt forward and changed into a fox. She and Tutela sprinted towards them as fast as they could.
Failing the hexes, Ron put his weight against one of the doors. Beside him, Harry and Ginny did the same to the other door.
His feet slid over the stone floor as he struggled to stop them from closing. He checked Luna's progress, then did some quick math.
The gap was closing too fast.
Why does this feel familiar?
Beside him, another body shoved itself into the door, but it wasn't Sally-Anne; it was her mum.
Sally-Anne was still behind them, being the amazing woman Ron knew she was.
A second before the gap closed, Sally-Anne conjured a bubble in the door with the Shield Rune. The bubble compressed, then pushed back on the doors, holding them open for a moment longer. Long enough for Luna and Tutela to leap through to safety.
Tutela, Luna, and…
"Spektre!"
Unable to hold the door any longer, they released it and faced the newcomer. Unlike the others, it had its hood down. It didn't move to attack them, but folded its arms. When it did, Ron got a good look at its face.
"It can't be," he said, lowering his wand. "Neville?"
They all stared at one another. Something about it couldn't settle in Ron's head. There was no mistaking it, even through the rain. It was Neville. Luna had somehow rescued Neville's soul.
Before he could think any harder about it, the entire world shook, throwing them off their feet. Ron slammed his head on the ground, filling his head with a ringing noise.
That's a bad sound. I'm sure that's a bad sound.
Forcing himself to stay focused, he looked at Luna, hoping she had an answer. Rain ran down her face, but there were clear streaks that were from tears. She'd fallen, like the rest of them, but she wasn't in any hurry to recover. She laid on the ground, curling into a ball.
<What's going on?> Ron asked.
Another tremor shook them again. Ron tucked and rolled onto the grass this time. He tried to ask again, but something caught his attention first.
A chunk of the castle fell over the entrance. Harry pulled Sally-Anne out before she was killed, then Ron summoned them both to him.
"Clear the castle!" Ron shouted, ignoring the splitting headache he had.
They got to their feet as fast as they could. Ron and Sally-Anne grabbed her mum and helped her to safety. Once they were clear, Ron turned back and shouted as loud as he could.
"Dripty!"
As Ron had been hoping, the house-elf hadn't gone far. He appeared next to them, looking as confused as the others were.
"What… what… Dripty is—"
Another tremor shook, and larger sections of the castle began caving in.
"Moon!" Ron shouted, turning back to her. "Where's Hermione?"
"She's trapped!" Luna exclaimed. "She—"
"I know, she's in the Chamber of Secrets, but where? Where exactly is she?"
Luna looked from him to the falling castle. All he saw on her face was despair.
Ron ran over to her.
"I need to know exactly where she is, and you're the only one who will be able to—"
"Move!"
A shield formed between Ron and an incoming curse, just as Sally-Anne's mum tackled both he and Luna out of the way.
"No one's going anywhere," Shawx said, creeping out of the shadows. "Granger's not making it out of this one."
"The Hell she's not!" Ron shouted. He was on his feet, wand ready. No one was stopping him this time.
Luna started running before she'd gotten to her feet.
"Go save Hermione," Harry said. "Shawx is ours."
He and Ginny, both with wands ready, stared down Shawx. Ron spared them one more glance before grabbing Sally-Anne's hand and running after Luna.
"We're doing damage control," he said as spell flashes lit up the area behind him.
"I don't—"
They nearly tripped over Luna, who'd stopped near the castle. She was laying flat, her ear pressed to the ground.
"Nice place for a nap," Ron muttered, keeping his eye on the collapsing castle.
"It's rather soft," Luna said. "It's also easier to find her when I can hear properly."
A spell flew towards them, but Neville was on it. He flicked his sword up, blocking the curse.
"Oh good," Ron said, deflecting a piece of the castle. "That still works."
Sally-Anne blocked another falling chunk before it hit Luna. Ron's heart pounded in his ears, his head was still on fire, but adrenaline had taken hold of him. He wasn't going to lose anyone, not this time.
"Got them," Luna said. "What now?"
"Dripty!"
Ron whipped his head around and saw the little elf running towards them. Harry and Ginny stayed between he and Shawx, hurling spells to keep Shawx away. The two of them had worked out a rhythm, putting pressure on Shawx to stop him from casting.
It won't be long before he figures that out, Ron thought as Dripty reached them.
"Yes, Mr. Wheezy?"
Ron turned to Luna.
"Tell him where to find Hermione."
In one fluid movement, Luna got up from the ground and whirled around to put herself in front of Dripty. She pressed her fingers to his head as the runes on her body shifted. They created a clear flow, down her head, along her arms, straight to her fingertips.
Ron stood and watched, then remembered there was still a castle falling on them when Sally-Anne shouted at him.
He deflected a boulder heading towards them, then looked back at Dripty.
"Can you do it?" Luna asked.
Dripty nodded.
"Meet us at the Whomping Willow," Ron said.
Dripty vanished, then they ran towards the tree. Looking back, Ron saw Gryffindor Tower falling. All the memories he'd had there, all the times he'd sat around laughing with his friends, it was all gone.
I've still got my friends.
Ginny and Harry had pushed Shawx back towards Hagrid's Hut. Shawx ran behind it for cover, forcing Harry and Ginny to stop their barrage.
<Stay alert,> Harry said.
Ron nodded, then moved towards one side of the hut, as Harry moved towards the other. Fatigue was catching up with him, but he wouldn't back down. Not now.
<Dementors are gone,> Ginny said, creeping up alongside Ron. <Must not be worth it.>
<The most likely place they'd go is Hogsmeade,> Harry said, <but there are people covering the students.>
Shawx leapt out, but Ginny was faster. She blasted his arm with a bolt of fire. He recoiled in pain, clutching the burns, as what was left of his wand fell to the ground.
Ginny stormed up to him and held her wand at the ready. Her fist was clenched, drawn back, the tip of her wand glowing with waiting flames.
Ron looked from her to Harry. She wouldn't.
"Go ahead, Weasley," Shawx said, smirking. "Do it."
A crack sounded behind them. Ron looked at it for a moment in which everything happened at once.
Shawx leapt at Ginny. Ginny, distracted by the sound, lashed out at Shawx. Harry fired a Stunner into the fray. Ron turned back and tried to intervene.
Ginny's clenched fist struck Shawx, but there was no fire. She knocked him straight into Harry's Stunner, and he collapsed. Ron didn't have a chance to fire a spell, but he turned back again, then realized he'd missed something obvious.
Hermione was there, with Dripty. She was bloody, but breathing.
So was Rose, sitting next to both of them.
Everyone converged on them. Luna got there first, her disgust apparent on her face.
"What?" Ron asked, offering the question to anyone that would answer.
Rose looked at all of them, just as confused as he was.
"Never mind that," Sally-Anne's mum said. "Hermione's bleeding too badly. At least three wounds to her head, another in her side that couldn't be from the castle." She looked up at Rose. "Can you heal her?"
Ron struggled to remember any spell that could heal wounds. All he could recall was how he'd felt watching Rose drag Ginny towards the castle, and the hours waiting for Madame Pomfrey to fix her.
"I…" Rose stammered. "I'm not…"
"You're Rose Peta-Lorrum!" Ron shouted. "Saving Hermione is what you do!"
She looked at Luna and Neville, then back at Hermione.
"Right." Her wand appeared in her hand.
"You just came back," Luna said. "You can't have any XP. Serendipity will—"
"I know," Rose said. She closed her eyes and pressed her wand to Hermione. "I wish she were healed."
Rose's wand glowed with a familiar white light. It passed from her to Hermione, glowing brighter as it healed Hermione's wounds.
The rain washed away what little blood was left as the light began to fade.
Ron stared, not believing that they could've succeeded. They'd stopped Umbridge, stopped Slytherin, and not one of them had died. His first instinct was to wonder what the catch was, but he had an answer to that: Rose was alive too.
Hermione stirred, and Rose stood up and backed away from them. Ron kept his focus on her. There was no telling what she was going to do. It'd always been impossible to know what Rose was thinking.
Ron stood up and gripped his wand tighter. He wouldn't let her hurt anyone else, not while he could stop it. Even if it killed him, he was going to stop her too.
"Hermione said you were dead," Ron said.
She looked lost, confused, almost helpless. None of her usual arrogance was there. She kept backing away from them, her eyes darting from one to another.
"I should be. I didn't want to come back, but I didn't want Brain to die alone."
"She didn't die. You can go now."
"No!"
Hermione leaped up and started towards Rose, but Rose backed away from her too.
"Don't go. Rose, please, don't go."
Rose's gaze moved between the two of them, then fell on her own wand. It vanished, then she looked up at them.
"I… I wasn't allowed to save you. EL told me I couldn't save you."
Ron clenched his free hand. Typical Rose.
"Naturally, you decided the rules didn't apply to you!" he spat. He didn't know who EL was, but it was another person who Rose had ignored.
"Stop it!" Luna exclaimed, joining them. She turned towards Rose, then smelled the air. "I can smell you. You've never smelled like anything."
Ron scrunched his face and glared at Luna. Of all the information they had, that wasn't remotely important.
"Who cares?" He glared at Rose again. "You're not killing anyone else, Rose. Get out of here!"
He aimed his wand at her. Nothing had stopped her before, but he wasn't going to sit by while she turned another of his friends to dust. The image of Lavender staring at him before she died was still in his head. The clear look of terror on her face still haunted his dreams.
Never again.
Before he could cast a spell, Hermione ran in front of them.
"Put your wand down."
"Get out of the way!"
"If you're going to attack Rose, you'll have to kill me first!"
Ron lowered his wand, but didn't back down.
"She killed Professor Vector right in front of us! Professor Snape bled out in front of you! Lavender turned to dust next to me! All because of Rose!"
"Slytherin made her do it! It was them or us! That was the choice it gave her! If she didn't kill them, if she didn't prove that she was against us, then Slytherin would've tortured us far worse than anything Rose or Umbridge ever did!"
Hermione walked over to a stunned Rose, then took her hand.
"I watched her die once. I'm never doing that again." She held up her hand and Rose's. "Rose Peta-Lorrum is under my protection. Anyone that has a problem with her has got a problem with me."
Luna ran over to them, Neville in her wake, and took Rose's other hand.
"And us. I broke Lestrange's spine and tore out someone's throat. That'd be the nicest thing I've done if anyone tries hurting my sister."
Ron glanced at the ruins of Hogwarts, then at his friends, then at Rose and her friends. To Rose's credit, she didn't look like she deserved their affection either.
None of this made sense. How was Rose alive? Who was EL? Could he or she bring people back at random? Why Rose and not Professor Dumbledore, or anyone else? Anyone would've been better than that monster.
"Alavel understood."
Once again, Harry had snuck up on him. It was a good thing Harry hadn't turned out like Rose. Ginny almost had, and it'd nearly killed all of them.
"That's why he forgave you," Harry said. "He knew you wouldn't be doing what you did unless someone had threatened your friends. You're mad, but you've always taken care of us." He glanced at Ginny. "I'm guessing someone you cared about literally beat some sense into you once."
Hermione turned to Rose.
"Alice?"
Rose nodded.
"Alice." Tears trickled down Rose's face again. "I'm sorry… I… I didn't want to see her… you, Ginny, end up like me."
"Don't you dare!" Ron snapped. "Don't you dare try to justify what you did!"
Rose visibly shrank towards Hermione, who built herself up.
Ron liked seeing Rose weak and miserable. After everything she'd done to them, it served her right.
"Stop," Sally-Anne whispered, touching his arm. "This is a lot to process. We should rest."
Her mum had the same idea and stepped between the two groups.
"We've got a lot to explain. First question, though: Rose, how are you alive?"
Rose looked at the ground.
"I shouldn't be."
The moment she spoke, the rain stopped. At first, Ron thought it had stopped raining, but the drops were still there, suspended.
Ron held his wand ready, but nothing was happening.
"Perhaps I can explain."
Ron looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but it seemed to come from every raindrop at once.
"Ellie?"
Ron followed Harry's gaze. Sure enough, Ellie stood there, her facial expression looking an awful lot like Dumbledore did whenever he'd asked them for an explanation: pleased by the state of things, but curious about what was going on.
Ellie shook her head.
"Not exactly," the rain voice said. "I can only see into a world when I've got an anchor into it, one that has minimal interference. A silent watcher."
"It used Ellie," Rose said. "Mocked us with her initials, EL."
Ron glared at Ellie, or EL. This was what had brought Rose back to life?
"Why'd you bring her back?" he asked.
"As I told her," EL said, ���I brought her back to be there for Brain again, as she wanted, but reminded her that she couldn't save Brain from the castle. The dimension lock was still active." It looked at Ron with that same pleased look. "I couldn't have known what you would all do. Or that she'd use the only real charge on Serendipity, rendering her useless, to heal Brain and get rid of the problematic ability of hers to restore the dead."
Judging by EL's tone, it'd known exactly what they would do. This had been part of its plan.
"But…" Rose said.
EL turned back to Rose, who still stared at it, not believing what she was hearing.
"I've given you your life back, Rose. Try not to throw it away this time."
With that, EL vanished, and the rain started again.
Ron tried to make sense of everything. Rose had killed many people, beaten his sister nearly to death, bullied him on multiple occasions, and lied to them countless times. But if she hadn't left her notebook for Hermione and Luna to find, they wouldn't have known how to stop Slytherin, who had been the reason for most of Rose's more drastic actions.
Then there was the current situation. Rose couldn't use her wand anymore, according to her, EL, and likely Luna. She'd sacrificed her ability to use most of her magic — Ron knew she had other tricks — to save Hermione. When they'd first met, Rose would've let Hermione die, then brought her back to life later. Even the look on her face said that she was different. This wasn't the same person that had lied to them hundreds of times.
Ron stepped forward towards Rose.
"I'm never going to forgive you for what you did to me, to my friends, and to my family."
Rose looked down and nodded, looking like she wasn't about to forgive herself either.
"You used to say that you could fix anything. Well, now the world's broken. Part of that's your fault. If you want to start making up for it, then help us fix it."
For the first time since she'd come back, Rose looked him in the eye.
"I'm sorry for calling you an NPC. I don't know anyone that could've done what you have."
Ron nodded. It wasn't enough — it would never be enough — but it was a good start.
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