• • •
We are unusual,
And tragic
And alive
• • •
When Rose awoke, she thought her head was going to kill her. It was hammering within her skull, and all her muscles hurt. She couldn't believe the Death Eaters had tracked her out, despite her best efforts to hide her traces. She had even given a different name at the Leaky Cauldron; Marlene Evans, Rose thought it was cleaver.
The last thing she remembered before apparating to Avalon and Adrian's flat was being attacked by a Death Eater who was trying to steal the charm bracelet right off her hand. Even if the man did manage to cut open the back of her head with a nasty knockback jinx, she at least burned one side of his face with her bare hands so she would say they were even.
Her eyes gently fluttered open; the light in the room was dark and ideal for the headache that was growing behind her eyelids. Every inch of her body ached and begged her to sleep again. However, her eyes fell on Adrian at the edge of the bed.
He was fast asleep with his head near Rose's legs; his chest was falling up and down slowly in a way that made Rose want to curl up beside him and sleep until her bones stopped hurting. She raised her right hand slowly to caress his hair when she froze at the sight of her bare hand.
At that instant, Cassius Warrington walked into the room with a glass of clear water in hand and Rose nearly lost it. She dragged herself off the bed and pushed Cassius against the wall before he had a chance to register what was happening, shattering the glass.
"Where's the bracelet, Cass?!" Rose sneered, keeping her forearm tight against his windpipe. Cass frowned, his eyes confused as he struggled to push the small girl from him. "WHERE IS IT?! GIVE IT BACK!?"
"Get off me, Potter," Cassius said, finally shoving her off him and making her stumble backward. "I just saved your fucking life and you repay me by cutting off my air supply?!"
"Oi!" Adrian, who had woken up at some point between Rose throwing Cass against the wall and him shoving her to the floor, screamed as he hurried to pick up a weak and injured Rose off the floor. "The bloody hell is going on?!"
"Potter is a fucking psychopath who almost choked me to death!" Cassius said, massaging the part of his neck where Rose had tried to choke him.
"Because you stole my bracelet, you death eater thief!" Rose screamed back, trying to launch herself at him again but was forcefully stopped by Adrian as he settled his arms on her waist and pulled her backwards into him. "You promised he wouldn't get my bracelet!"
"Rose, calm down," Adrian tried to soothe her, spinning her around so she could see his eyes. They were full of concern, dark green clashed with an even darker shade of brown in his irises; Rose didn't think she'd ever love a color more. "I have your bracelet. You gave it to me, remember?"
"What?"
"Why don't you sit down?" Adrian asked as he guided her towards the bed again. "You lost a lot of blood; it took ages for us to get it off."
"Ages?" Rose wondered, her mind already going to other questions. "What do you mean ages? How long have I been here?"
"A day," Cassius shrugged, fixing the broken glass with his wand and handing it to her. "You had a concussion and a broken rib."
"Rose, what happened?" Adrian asked, placing his hand on Rose's thigh with a worried look in his eyes. "You almost died."
Rose's palm reflexively went to the back of her skull as her eyes widened in surprise. She blurted out, not quite believing Cass was on her side, "I was attacked." After all, she knew from her attendance at the social party that she had seen his father the night Voldemort killed Cedric.
"Attacked?" Cassius asked, motioning for her to drink her water. "By whom?"
'As if you don't know', Rose thought but kept her mouth shut as she chugged the water in her hand.
"Rosie, what's going on?" Adrian wondered, his eyes going from Cass to Rose in a way that made the ginger unsettled. "Why won't you answer Cass's question?"
Rose turned her eyes to Cass and then to Adrian as she bit her lip to avoid the truth from spilling from her mouth. She wanted to trust Cass, she really wanted to, but she couldn't afford to trust a person who would most likely fight in another side of the war; not now. "I can't."
After a small silence, in which Rose stared at Cass with heartbreak in his eyes, he spoke quietly, "It's my father, isn't it?"
"I can't-"
"Give it up," Cass scoffed, slipping into the wall behind him and rubbing his eyes desperately. "I know that he used to work for You-Know-Who; Now that He's back, I reckon my father is eager to crawl back into his slimy feet."
Rose didn't say anything, but the blood spilling from her bitten lip answered the boy's question. It was, in fact, all his father's fault. She continued to glare at the floor with unshed tears. She didn't want to hurt Cassius, but she knew that the fact that his father was a death eater wasn't his fault and it didn't mean he would end up like him. Not the Cass she knew, at least; the one who was always there to heal her wounds, even when she did act like a psychopath half the time.
"He's the one who held me in place when You-Know-Who dueled Harry," Rose sighed as she rubbed her eyes the same way Cass had. "I'm sure it was him."
"I knew it," Cass said with a tired voice. "He wouldn't tell me where he was the night of the tournament; reckoned he was there with you."
"I'm sorry, Cass," Rose sighed, standing and slowly walking towards him. "I never meant for you to find out."
"You meant to keep it a secret?" he scoffed, his eyes darkening.
"No!" Rose yelped instantly, holding out her hand for him. "I just meant that I know what it feels like to have a father who does wrong things, I was trying to protect you."
"And you don't trust me," Cass said in a soft voice, holding the hand she had offered. "I understand."
"I want to, Cass, I really do," Rose sniffed, whipping a few tears from her eyes with her other arm. "But your father-"
"I'm not him, Rosie," Cass snapped, letting her hand drop. "I am a healer. I don't choose a side; I just heal the injured."
"Cass, when the time comes-"
"I won't choose a side!" Cassius yelled so loud Adrian rushed towards Rose and placed an arm around her waist in protection. "I refuse!"
"Mate, things don't work that way," Adrian said, pushing Rose a little behind him to shield her from Cassius's outbreak. But Adrian's words didn't help Cassius; he kept repeating his words like a mantra as if he was not only trying to convince them but himself as well.
"You know what," Rose sighed, grabbing onto Adrian's hand. "They should work that way. We're kids; we shouldn't be dragged into this war!"
"Rosie," Adrian breathed, his eyes sad as he looked down at her knowing damn well, she was already dragged into the war. "Love-"
"No," she stopped him, her eyes fierce. "I refuse to be dragged into it too. This is a war adults should fight, not us."
"You're right," Adrian gave up, gathering her close to hug her tightly. "We won't choose a side."
But the three of them knew, even if they tried to refuse, the sides of the war had already chosen them; and there was nothing any of them could do to stop it.