Every Rose Has Its Thorns

Double-cross

"Are you spying on me, princess?"

"What happened wasn't your fault. It was an accident."

"You're in no danger here. This is the best place for you until we find a solution."

Feeling  like she had been struck by multiple speeding trains in succession, it  required extreme effort for Rosalie to just open her eyes. Stretching  her hand, she used the nearest surface to heave herself up from the  floor. Finding herself in her dormitory, her first thought was that she  had experienced another blackout in the midst of her tense moment with  Alec in the rose garden. The room was oddly clean, none of the usual  clutter of makeup and haircare products on Daphne's bed or the latest  edition of Witch Weekly on the floor. Spotting The Hobgoblins poster on the wall, she realized that she was in Celeste's old room.

Rosalie  cautiously walked down to the common room, tuning out the clamor of  indistinct voices. As she bumped against the familiar couch, the  darkened space suddenly brightened and filled with people in Slytherin  uniforms, sitting by the windows with their noses in books or joking  around while laying on the couches around the fireplace. It was a scene  she had been part of many times after meals or between lessons. Her hand  passed through an older boy on the couch, much like what happened with  ghosts around the castle.

Celeste was beside him with the red  Ancient Runes book. The boy lifted up her legs, placing them over his  lap, and as he did so, Rosalie noticed a phoenix tattoo on his wrist.  Tracing tiny circles on one of her knees, he asked if she was ready to  take the next step.

"Ugh, can you not talk about your  vomit-inducing relationship out loud?" asked a redheaded girl in an  armchair, scrunching her nose.

"Ignore her, Elijah. Farley's  virgin ears can't handle such dirty talk." Hiding her face behind a  quidditch magazine, she flipped off the teasing Celeste, who leaned over  to the sniggering boy. "I'm definitely ready. We just need some  volunteers."

"Rosie." The real Celeste was standing in the archway. "You did it. You're—I can't believe you're actually here."

All  of the ghosts disappeared, the common room returning to its bleak  state. Celeste pulled her into a hug, surprising Rosalie. The fact that  she could feel every part of her confirmed that she was inside the  prism. Sensing her confusion, Celeste apologized for the potion's  effects. Having never made it herself, she was unaware of how it would  guide Rosalie to the prism, which it had done by putting her in a  hypnotized state to control her body. Getting in was tough in its own  right but getting out of the prism, with Celeste being magically bound  to it, was another issue.

She brought Rosalie to Snape's office.  It was usually locked with several charms, the surly professor not much  for one on one time with students. Mirroring his gloomy demeanor, the  office was lined with shelves of glass jars containing animal parts,  plants, and various potions. The sole source of light was the burning  fireplace in the corner.

"What are you looking for?" Rosalie  asked, as Celeste perused the shelves. "I thought unlinking the rope  broke through the prism's enchantments."

"It only broke the  enchantment to get in," explained Celeste, picking up a jar of dark  yellow powder. "Once it senses more than one person, the prism fortifies  itself to trap intruders. Severus kept his best stuff in his office. It  could help us pinpoint the prism's weak spots and we can use that as an  escape. If it's not here, we'll have to make the potion ourselves. Go  to his private stores and get boomslang skin and niffler snout."

On  her way to the storeroom, she saw that boy Elijah again, at the end of  the corridor. He was accompanied by two young Hufflepuff boys, both  looking about eleven. He shushed the impatient boys as Celeste walked  towards them, passing through Rosalie, with four more first years, three  girls and another boy. A fourth boy, the same age as her and Elijah,  rounded the corner, looking irate.