• • •
I will do things to your mind
You will wish you had the strength to deny
• • •
Rose went back to the store without raising any suspicions from Fred, George, or Lee. They payed for their fireworks and left the shop to go to Flourish and Blotts, by then Lee had to leave to his parents.
As they headed to the bookshop, they were surprised to see the large crowd jostling outside the doors, trying to get in. Rose quickly saw the reason on banner across the upper window:
GILDEROY LOCKHART
will be signing copies of his autobiography
MAGICAL ME
today 12.30 – 4.30 pm
"What a load of rubbish!" Rose mumbled under her breath. Fred took one of her hands as he and George tried to push through the line to were Molly, Percy, Ginny, Arthur, and the Grangers were standing.
"Mum!" George yelled, getting Molly's attention. She stretched an arm towards them, which they used as an anchor to get to where they were.
A couple of minutes later, Harry, Ron and Hermione came in, each of them were holding a copy of Break with a Banshee.
"Oh, there you are, good," said Molly once she saw them come. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute ..."
Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue which exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair. Rose made a face of disgust as she heard all the witches around her sigh.
A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.
"Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet."
"Big deal," said Ron, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it.
"I'll say again," Rose muttered, "What a load of rubbish."
Gilderoy Lockhart heard them. He looked up. He saw Ron — He saw Rose– and then he saw Harry. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It can't be Harry Potter?"
The crowd parted, whispering excitedly. Lockhart dived forward, seized Harry's arm and pulled him to the front. The crowd burst into applause.
Rose rolled her eyes and coughed as the photographer wafted thick smoke over her face.
"Nice big smile, Harry," said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, you and I are worth the front page."
"Bet you five sickles Harry has to give an interview?" Fred whispered in Rose's and George's ears.
"You're on!" They whispered back, staring as Harry tried to slip away from Lockhart but he kept him in place.
Lockhart talked for a while, Rose tuned everything out until he began to say some very interesting things.
"Yes, ladies and gentlemen," He began to say. "I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that, this September, I will be taking up the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
The crowd cheered and clapped as Harry found himself being presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Rose eyes went wide and she raised up her eyebrows in surprise.
Harry eventually managed to make his way back to the Weasleys.
"You have these," Harry mumbled to Ginny, tipping his books into her cauldron. "I'll buy my own –"
Rose smiled at her brother's kindness and leaned into Fred's ears. "You owe George and I five sickles."
Fred grumbled under his breath but passed five sickles to her hand. Up ahead, Ginny and Harry had walked away and were talking with some blonde kid.
Rose shot looks to Fred and George as she saw Ron trying to have a go at him but being held back by Harry and Hermione.
"Ron!" Arthur said as he struggled over to them with Fred, Rose, and George following behind. Rose glared angrily at who she recognized was the whiny blonde bitch, Draco Malfoy. "What are you doing? It's mad in here, let's go outside."
"Well, well, well – Arthur Weasley."
It was Lucius Malfoy, Rose had never met him but his son looked like his carbon copy. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way.
"Lucius," said Arthur, nodding coldly.
"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr Malfoy. "All those raids ... I hope they're paying you overtime?"
He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amidst the glossy Lockhart books, Rose's old copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration which was in a good condition but you could obviously notice that it wasn't new.
"Obviously not," he said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"
Mr Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.
"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.
"Clearly," said Mr Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr and Mrs Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley ... and I thought your family could sink no lower –"
There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr Weasley had thrown himself at Mr Malfoy, knocking him backwards into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; Mrs Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; Rose was laughing her arse up, her laugh filling the whole store; the crowd stampeded backwards, knocking more shelves over; "Gentlemen, please – please!" cried the assistant and then, louder than all, "Break it up, there, gents, break it up –"
On Rose's side, Molly looked like she was about to cry. Rose reached to Molly's hand with her left, and with her right, she forced Arthur and Mr Malfoy apart with a flick of her wrist. The astound looks on both their faces made Rose almost loose her focus, but soon enough, Hagrid came wading towards the sea of books, stretching his large arms in order to keep both men apart.
Arthur had a cut lip and Mr Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still holding Ginny's transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.
"Here, girl – take your book – it's the best your father can give you –"
Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.
"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that. No Malfoy's worth listenin' ter. Bad blood, that's what it is. Come on now – let's get outta here."
As the group walked away from the shop, the Grangers were shaking with fright and Molly was shaking with fury.
"A fine example to set to your children ... and in front of Rose and Harry... brawling in public ... what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought ..."
"He was pleased," laughed Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report – said it was all publicity."
But it was only the two Potters and the seven Weasleys who headed back to the fireside in the Leaky Cauldron. Rose saw as Harry placed his glasses into his pocket after saying goodbye to the Grangers. Rose grabbed onto Harry's hand.
"You'll be traveling with me, Harry," Rose said, taking a fistfull of floo powder. "I'm not losing you again, Merlin knows where you'll end up this time."
• • •
Rose wasn't at all too pleased to be going back to The Burrow after Diagon Alley, of course, she loved The Burrow, but she deeply wished to be back with the Morgensterns and Adrian.
Molly made sure to make a big dinner once they came back from Diagon Alley, but Ginny was so tired that she fell asleep with some of her fiery hair dipping into her stew.
"I'll take her upstairs," Fred offered, gathering a petite sleeping Ginny into his arms and disappearing into the staircase.
After a couple of minutes, the Weasleys and the Potters heard Fred shout.
"Rose!" He had called. "Would you mind coming up here and helping me with something!"
She received odd looks from everyone at the table.
"Ginny's probably cuddling him like a koala and he wants me to help him let go," Rose explained before going over to Ginny's room.
Rose opened the door to Ginny's room slowly, as to not wake up the small ginger, but what she saw wasn't what she expected. Ginny was peacefully sleeping on her bed with a load of blankets over her, but that wasn't what made Rose gasp. Fred was standing by Ginny's nightstand with a picture frame on his hand and a disbelieving expression on his face. His eyebrows were ceased and his hands were holding onto the frame so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
"What is this?!" He spat as Rose closed the door. He shoved the picture into her face, not throwing it, but showing it to her with so much force she flinched back. It was the picture of Adrian and Rose the day that Adrian had given her a piggyback ride on Diagon Alley.
"Fred, I know what it looks like," Rose said, putting her hands before her and trying to take the picture from Fred but he just held it closer to him.
"Do you, Rose?" Fred asked sarcastically. "Because I am not so sure you do!"
"Fred, keep your voice down! Ginny's sleeping," warned Rose, shooting a look to Ginny.
Fred's jaw tightened as he took ahold of Rose and dragged her over to his and George's room without letting go of the picture.
"Explain this to me, Rose, because I don't understand what in the name of Merlin are you doing with a snake!" Fred thundered.
"I don't have to explain anything to you, Fred!" Rose belted. "You're not my dad! As a matter of fact, I don't have a dad!"
"Yeah? Well guess what? His lot killed your dad!" Fred boomed as he pointed to the laughing Adrian in the picture. "It's his fault you don't have a family!"
Rose's heart missed a beat.
"Take that back," Rose muttered angrily, her voice dangerously low. "Take that back if you want to speak to me ever again."
"What is going on here?" A voice from behind Rose asked. Rose turned around to see George entering the room and closing the door behind him. "Are you both mad? We can hear you all the way down- Rosie, what happened?"
Rose only then did she realise that tears were spilling from her red eyes.
"Do I have a family, George?" Rose asked, looking directly at Fred's eyes.
"What? Rose, what is happening?" George asked in confusion as he looked from Fred to Rose.
"Answer the question please, Georgie," Rose said. "Do I have a family?"
"I- er- Of course you do, Rosie," George said softly, Rose was still staring at Fred's eyes. "You have Harry, and you have us- Fred and I—"
"There you have it," Rose spat at Fred, snatching the picture from his hand. "Don't you dare talk to me again, Fred Weasley."
Rose opened the door and threw it closed, making a big bang echo through the whole house.
"You bloody idiot!" George groaned once Rose was out of earshot. "What did you do?"
"I think— I think we lost her, Georgie," croaked Fred. "For good now."
"No," George snapped. "I think you lost her, Fred."