For a split second, the world around her froze. Time came to a standstill. All of the people around her were frozen solid - rendered motionless by fear. The wind outside of the store stopped blowing. The Earth stopped turning. Rose's eyes were as immobile as the rest of her face. Her eyelids were too paralysed to blink, her irises too stationary. It was as if her brain was suffering from a massive short circuit and was struggling to compute. But whilst the rest of the world was frozen, his scarlet red eyes were still blazing brightly, like incandescent orbs of fire. Garfantell's eyes bored into Rose's - his scorching gaze conveying pure, unadulterated hatred. And then the Dark Wizard disappeared in a sudden burst of vermillion flames.
The black smoke twirled upwards towards the ceiling and assumed the shape of a large snake. The occupants of the store gasped in unison. The snake flicked its forked tongue out into the air, stretched its jaw wide open - revealing all of its fifty razor-sharp teeth -, and hissed. Taking everyone in the emporium - including herself - by surprise, with a sudden surge of boldness and courage, Rose stepped forward and forcefully blew at the smoky apparition. The smoke particles dissipated and then vanished without a trace.
The silence in the store was deafening. No one even dared to breathe. It was only after approximately a minute had passed that pandemonium erupted. The shop became a madhouse - people were shouting, children were crying, a baby was wailing, but the caterwauling of the animals transcended all of these cacophonous noises in terms of volume. Rose was in a state of shocked stupor, her feet were rooted to the ground. She only snapped out of her daze when she felt Ron tugging at her hand and leading her and Hugo towards the exit.
Once they were outside in the fresh air, Rose closed her eyes and drew a deep breath to clear her head. What was Garfantell doing at Diagon Alley? He had been gone for 12 long years... many had believed him to be dead... and now he had made a sudden appearance out of the blue? What was he planning to do...? Thousands of anxious questions cropped up, swirling around in her brain, threatening to engulf the young witch... Why had Garfantell paid particular notice to HER? Why had he been staring straight into HER eyes and nobody else's? Rose shook her head, refusing to accept the notion of Garfantell singling her out. 'I must have imagined it,' she tried to convince herself. But deep down, she knew that this wasn't true.
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Ron hurried his children along the cobblestone street in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. They were walking briskly, taking wide strides, but Ron had cautioned them not to break into a run, so as not to draw attention to themselves. The rest of the shoppers at Diagon Alley were completely oblivious to the fact that Garfantell had made an unexpected appearance after having been in hiding for over a decade, and Ron didn't want to give rise to mass hysteria that would only provoke a non-conducive and undesirable commotion that would be beneficial to no one, and could potentially result in someone getting injured. Instead, Ron had conjured a patronus and sent it off to dispatch a message to the British Ministry of Magic imparting the news of Garfantell's appearance.
As they made their way towards the old wizarding pub, Rose looked up at the previously clear blue sky, now obscured by thick grey clouds obnubilating the sun. Suddenly, a flock of ravens darkened the sky like thunder-clouds. Their ominous cries made her blood run cold, and she let out an audible sigh of relief when they passed over them. They got smaller and smaller until they disappeared into the distance.
The Granger-Weasleys soon arrived at the Leaky Cauldron and hastily made their way inside. As Rose stepped into the roaring emerald green flames in the fireplace, she cast her gaze across Diagon Alley one last time, and called out "Primrose Cottage!"
DISCLAIMER: The entire Harry Potter universe is the creation and property of J. K. Rowling. I make no claim to ownership.
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Rose Granger-Weasley and the Unleashing of Power
FanfictionFollowing Voldemort's death during the Battle of Hogwarts, it seemed as though peace had been restored to the world, and that nothing bad could transpire ever again... until a new dark wizard rose to power and instilled fear in the hearts of witches...
