"Who's that?" A boy said as he appeared in the doorway to the Dursley's living room. He had circular glasses that reminded Rose of Harry's and had light brown hair, like a mixture of Dudley and Cristina's. It was gone mid afternoon and the boy had only just emerged from his bedroom, he didn't even come down for breakfast or lunch.
"Don't be so rude Benjie" River scolded, as he flicked through the channels on the television
"You can't tell me what to do" groaned Benjie before he stuck his tongue out to his older brother
"Now that is rude" Rose said, looking up from a book "And even I know that, and you mugg- I mean, people who have very different rules to my family"
"Who are you?!?" Benjie repeated, walking up to Rose and pushing her book down to look at her face. Rose was still sitting and the breakfast bar but was leaning against the table with a book in her hand
"My name is Rose Weasley, may I continue reading now or are you going to shove your way in front of me again?" Rose asked, very demanding, when she got into a good book she didn't like being disturbed.
"Alright Rose, I'll leave you" Benjie turned around and walked further into the kitchen towards the fridge.
"Ignore, him, he's a prat" River said, switching the TV off finding nothing he liked
"I guessed" Rose sighed and turned back to her book. She then looked back up at River, who was staring at her "Does he usually get up this late? It's gone uh, four?"
"He has probably been up for ages, on his laptop, watching TV, chatting to his idiot mates, that sort of thing. I'm used to it, if you stay for a while, you will too" River explained, he then looked at the book Rose was reading "What are you reading?"
"A Muggle History" Rose said, lifting the book up so River could see front.
"What's a-a muggel?" River asked, still staring at the weird inscriptions on the front of the book
"You- I mean, it's, um, fiction? Muggle is a, well a muggle is like a different being, like a wizard or a witch, but they do different things." Rose said, not knowing if River knew about magic and her being a witch.
"What's the weird words on the front?" River got up and sat on the seat next to Rose, he peered into the book and tried to make out all the funny squiggles written inside "And what sort of language is written in?"
"The inscription on the front in written in ancient Runes, and so it most of the book" Rose said, snapping the book shut and looking at the weird look on River's face "It's sort of like ancient Egyptian, sorta, I'm studying it at school"
"Woah! That's cool, what year are you in?" River asked
"Fifth year" Rose said, standing up and walking to the stairs, but River followed her
"There is no way you are in year five! You are way too old to be in year five, are you in year 11? I am"
"Oh, yeah, it's year 11, it's just at my school we call it fifth year, don't ask me why, we just do" Rose walked upstairs and into her room to find McKenzie and Clarissa jumping up and down on her bed
"Rissa! Kenzie! This isn't your room!" River shouted pulling them off Rose's bed
"Wew" Clarissa said, still jumping and fighting against River's pulling her off
"Dadda cweaning our woom" McKenzie continued
"River, our woom do not have a bowncy bwed" Clarissa explained
"And Benyie havin hup in 'is woom and wo not lyet us in two jump on 'is bwed" McKenzie replied
"And Mumma not ver wew and 's stew la'in in Mumma and Dadda bwed so we ca not jump were" Clarissa said, getting all upset
"It's okay River" Rose said "I was just coming to put my book in my trunk, I have finished it now anway, carry on girlies, just don't say anything if you get into trouble" Rose laughed and walked back down stairs. Dudley was sitting on the sofa, in deep conversation with two people. Rose recognised them immediately, she gasped and ran back upstairs
"Rose!" River called after her, running behind her, he caught up and slipped into her bedroom just as she was closing the door. "Rose! What's the matter?"
"I need to go" Rose said, flinging any of her objects into her trunk, not caring what the girls or River saw
"Go? Go where?" River asked, standing in front of the door so she couldn't get out.
"I can't be here any more" Rose said trying to push River out of the way "Move River!"
"No! Dad said you came here because you had nowhere else to go" River leant against the door making it harder for Rose to pull it open
"That isn't true, um, yeah, I can, maybe, go to Aofie's, or um, Caia's" Rose pulled the door with all her might. She thought about pulling her wand out and then decided against it, she didn't want to get kicked out of Hogwarts seeing as she was still under age "Please River I need to go before they come up here! Please!"
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Dudley's voice was heard "Rose, are you on there?" Rose gave River the evils "Now look what you've done, I could have been half a mile away by now if you had let me go at first, I hate you" Rose whispered
"Don't say that, look, I'll get you out of it" River whispered, then he raised his voice so Dudley could hear "No Dad, Rose isn't in here, I just came in here to tell the twins off, I don't know where Rose is" he then started whispering again "See? It's fine"
"Yeah, like he's going to believe th-" Rose was interrupted by a yell from outside the door
"ROSE WEASLEY I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE! YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM US FOREVER, COME OUT OR I WILL PERSONALLY BREAK YOU OUT!" Ron bellowed
"Who's that?" River whispered
"My Dad idiot, he's who I ran from when we went downstairs a minute ago, he's going to kill me and it's all your fault because you wouldn't let me out the bloody door" Rose whisper-yelled.
"ROSE WEASLEY YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO COME OUT OR I AM BREAKING THE DOOR AND YOU WILL PAY DUDLEY BACK THE AMOUNT FOR REPAIRS!" Ron screamed
"I have an idea" River said. He opened the door slightly and slipped out. Before Ron even saw who it was he grabbed River by his collar and lifted him off the floor
"Please! Sir! Put me down!" River screamed thrashing about
"Ron! Don't hurt him! He hasn't done anything, we are here for Rose, and that is it!" Hermione pleaded. Ron put River and and River shut the door before Ron could see Rose inside.
"WHERE IS SHE?" Ron yelled right in River's face
"Sir, I really don't know, I went in there to tell my little sisters off for jumping on the bed and the door slammed shut, it was Benjie probably, I was busy telling Rissa and Kenzie off to notice Rose or anyone go past the door and I didn't see anybody shut it, but I know for a fact that Rose isn't in there Sir" River explained and leaned against the door
"I want to see your little sisters, so I know your telling the truth" Ron demanded
"Clarissa, Mckenzie, come out please" River said, knocking on the door. Rose gasped quietly and looked at Mckenzie and Clarissa who were still jumping on the bed. She picked McKenzie up off the bed and opened the door and pushed her out, she then did the same with Clarissa and River closed the door on her "See sir, this is McKenzie and Clarissa, my little sisters
"Okay, then were is Rose?" Ron said sternly
"I honestly don't know sir" River said, with a very bad lie
"But the Ministry said that she would be here! She was on there map and everything! We saw!" Hermione said, starting to cry. Ron put an arm round his upset wife and rubbed her arm with his free hand, trying to comfort her. Rose heard her mothers sobs and couldn't bear it, she hated what her father was doing but couldn't stand to know that her mother was crying so. She took a deep breathe in and opened the door and stepped out
"Rose?" River said, with a forced shocked expression, "I uh, I didn't see you in there!"
"It's okay" Rose muttered, looking at the floor, knowing how angry her father would be
"Rose!" Hermione exclaimed pulling her daughter in for a hug. She started to cry of happiness into her daughters shoulder "Rose where have you been? I have been so upset! Don't do that again, you don't understand how it was for me, for everyone! Everyday we were all trying to find ways to find you! We were out for three days looking for you!" Hermione squeezed Rose until she went red. Rose still didn't look up at her father
"Rose Jane Nymphadora Weasley" Ron said sternly. Rose still didn't look up at her father, knowing he is going to yell, she looked at her feet. "Where have you been?" he said stepping forward
"I uh, I started off at Scorp's and then I had to leave, and Dudley said I could come here, he was really nice and I made friends with River, he's really nice and um, yeah" Rose moved her feet around still staring at them
"He's your boyfriend isn't he?" Ron said, grabbing Rose's arm so she would look up at him. Looking at his eyes Rose knew he meant Scorpius, but she just pretend she didn't.
"What? River? No!" Rose said, fear in her eyes as he gripped her arm tighter
"You know perfectly well I didn't mean River, you don't even know him, you know perfectly well that I meant Scorpius"
"Yes Dad!" Rose started to shout as Ron pulled on her arm "And I don't care what you think! You don't control me! I can choose what I want to do! You don't choose my life" Ron pulled on her arm harder and she screamed "YOU ARE HURTING ME! LET GO OF ME OR I WILL NEVER SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN!" she yelled. Ron let go of her arm and she fell backwards into the door and was knocked out