The Hidden One

26. hospital visits

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The next morning the house was tense. Little was said as Remus and Rose got ready as both were preparing themselves for the day ahead of them.

"Rose? You ready?" Remus yelled up the steps, breaking the silence that had coated the house all morning. Rose quickly exited her room and walked down to her godfather. Remus sent her a small smile and reached out his arm for Rose to grab on to. He noted that she was wearing some of her best clothes and the locket that had once belonged to her mother. The pair were quickly whisked away to an alley near St. Mungo's hospital. Remus still held Rose's wrist and kneeled down in front of her.

"Rose, I know that you don't remember your mum at all, but seeing her like how she is is still going to be hard. If you need to leave just let me know and we will go. Ok?" Remus said, his voice soft.

"Ok," Rose whispered. Remus stood up and all his bones popped, causing Rose to giggle. Remus sent her a look.

"You think that's funny? Just wait until you get old," Remus said with a scoff, rubbing his hand on her head and messing up her hair.

"My hair! Moony!" Rose yelled as the pair entered the hospital, making sure that no muggles were watching.

"Just like your dad," Remus said with a shake of his head.

Rose stood back as Remus went up to the counter to check in and find what room her mother was in. The only time Rose had been to St. Mungo's was when she was 5 and had used accidental magic when she was angry and shattered a vase. She ended up having a large cut on her arm and Remus panicked and brought her to the hospital where she was fixed in about 5 minutes. The hospital looked exactly the same as it had then.

"Ro- Lyn, let's go," Remus said, gaining her attention. While her dad had been home, they had decided to only call her Rose around people that knew who she actually was so to not cause any suspicion. She doubted it would matter in a place where no one knew her, but she decided not to comment.

Remus led Rose down many hallways and up many staircases until they finally reached a door that seemed to be more enforced than the others. Remus flashed their visitor badges at a nurse and the doors were opened for them.

"This is where the most severe cases go," Remus explained. "Typically there isn't this much security but a patient tried to escape a few days ago so they added some more just in case."

"Sooooo.... where's mum?" Rose asked. Remus just guided her down a series of beds, all filled with patients that were either talking to themselves or staring off into space.

"Is that Gilderoy Lockhart?" Rose gasped. She remembered Harry and Ron telling her about the Chamber of Secrets and what happened to their ex-professor, but she never imagined that he would be this bad.

"I believe so, but the nurses warned me about him. We need to leave before he sees us or he'll never stop talking," Remus warned. Rose nodded and continued following behind Remus until he suddenly stopped.

"What? What is it?" Rose asked. Remus was stuck staring at two familiar looking people.

"Oh, sorry," Remus said as he left what seemed to be a trance. "That's Alice and Frank Longbottom."

"As in Neville Longbottom?" Rose gasped. Remus just nodded and walked past the couple, knowing that he would break down seeing all of his old friends destroyed. Rose couldn't help but look back at the two people. She knew that Neville lived with his grandmother, but she never imagined that this would be the reason why.

"Moony?" A whisper of a voice said. Remus once again stopped short and Rose once again bumped into him.

"Marlene," Remus whispered back. A woman stood up from her bed and stood in front of Remus and Rose, not yet looking at the girl. Rose immediately saw the resemblance they shared, although Rose looked eerily similar to her father.