For about ten seconds, Rosalyn and Dumbledore stood either side of the pensive basin, looking at each other. "Sir..." Rosalyn trailed off. Dumbledore held up a hand and led her over to his desk.

"This is beyond anything I had ever imagined," he told her.

"You mean to say he succeeded, Sir? He made a horcrux?"

"Oh yes he succeeded," Dumbledore looked straight at her. "But not just once."

"What are they, exactly?" Rosalyn furrowed her eyebrows.

"Could be anything, from common to extravagant items," Dumbledore looked in his desk and brought out a familiar and an unknown object. "A ring for example-" he showed her a silver ring with a big stone in it. She also noticed the stone had a big crack in it "-or a book." He showed her a familiar book with a big hole in the front, and the recognisable three words Tom Marvolo Riddle embossed in gold on the front.

"Tom Riddle's diary?" Rosalyn asked. "Is that a-?"

"It's a horcrux, yes," Dumbledore nodded along with her. "Four years ago in the chamber of secrets when you and Harry saved Ginny Weasley's life, I knew this was a different kind of magic. Very dark, very powerful, but it wasn't until tonight I realised just what we were dealing with."

"And the ring?" Rosalyn asked again.

"Belonged to Voldemort's mother, difficult to find, even more difficult to destroy," he held up his black and withered hand.

Rosalyn made sure. "So if you could find them all, if you could destroy them-"

"One destroys Voldemort," Dumbledore nodded.

"But how d'you find them?" Rosalyn had hit a roadblock. "They could be hidden anywhere, couldn't they?"

Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "True, but magic, especially dark magic, isn't very forgiving."

After a short pause, Rosalyn asked a much asked question. "Is that where you've been going, Sir, when you leave the school?"

"Yes," Dumbledore told her. "And I think perhaps I've found another, but this time I cannot hope to destroy it alone.

"Once again, I must ask too much of you, Rosalyn." The red haired girl looked into his eyes and nodded. She wanted to do this, whatever it was.

☆☆☆

A lot happened in the week that followed. First, Dean and Ginny had broken up. It was bound to happen eventually, but now they weren't talking and this had torn a huge rift between everyone. Second, Dumbledore had sent Rosalyn a letter, saying that he had found a new horcrux and at midnight on Friday (that day) she was to join him at the Astronomy tower. And third, contrary to the first thing, Harry and Ginny had got together, leaving a jealous Dean and an irate Romilda Vane behind. This had surprised Rosalyn a lot, but seeing how happy her brother and adoptive little sister were together made her smile. It was like what she had found with Neville.

Either way, it was ten to midnight that night, and Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were all in the library, as they had headed there after they had bade goodbye to Rosalyn.

It was only her and Neville in the common room.

"Be safe," Neville told her. "Please, Rosie, I- I know you have a knack for getting into trouble-"

Rosalyn giggled. "I don't have a knack for getting into trouble, trouble has a knack for finding me."

Neville smiled. He loved her more than she would ever know, he decided in that moment. His face softened. "Seriously, though, Rosie. I couldn't bear it if something happened to you. I love you."

Rosalyn smiled. "I love you too."

Neville bent down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. It lasted for about three seconds in all, and then she collapsed into his arms again.

"I'll come back, I promise," she smiled, snuggling into him slightly and wishing she could stay in that moment forever.

She made her way to the Astronomy tower, both worried and excited for what was to come.

She heard the billowing of a cloak before she saw it. Snape, greasy hair blown back, a snide hate on his face when he saw Rosalyn, came back down the steps. He said nothing to Rosalyn, and walked down as the young girl ascended up.

"Ah, Rosalyn!" Dumbledore smiled as she joined him, looking out from the tower at the black lake.

Rosalyn pressed her lips together meekly and there was silence between the two of them until the Headmaster spoke again. "You know, at times, I forget how much you've grown. Sometimes, I still see the small, yet still fiery, redhead who slapped Draco Malfoy's hand away and saved the Philosopher's stone."

Rosalyn smiled, she didn't know how Dumbledore knew that she had slapped Malfoy's hand away, but she didn't really care. Dumbledore was right. Sometimes she didn't remember how much she had actually grown.

"Forgive me," Dumbledore told her. "I'm an old man, and perceiving people has come to be one of the things that I am best at."

"You're still the same to me, Sir," Rosalyn said plainly. He really was.

Dumbledore chuckled. "You're not just your mother by looks, Rosalyn. She too was unwaveringly kind, a trait people never seem to undervalue, I'm afraid."

They walked over to the edge of the tower, and Dumbledore continued. "The place which we venture tonight is extremely dangerous, I hope you understand. However, I promised you would come with me and I stand by that promise, but there's one condition; you must obey every command I give you, without question, d'you understand?"

"Yes, Sir," Rosalyn told him immediately.

"Do you understand what I am saying?" Dumbledore asked her. "Should I tell you to hide, you hide. Should I tell you to run, you run. Should I tell you to abandon me and save yourself, you must do so."

For the first time since she had watched Slughorn's memory, Rosalyn fully understood what she was getting into here. This wasn't some fool around. And there were people she loved behind her. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville...

Despite this, she swallowed and nodded.

She was going to do this.

☆☆☆

They found themselves in a cave in the middle of the sea. Dumbledore muttered to himself and Rosalyn tried to ignore this as she looked around the semi dark cavern.

"So... where's the horcrux?" Rosalyn asked.

Dumbledore replied. "Hidden... hidden somewhere within this cave... but to pass... to pass..."

He pulled out a knife, and Rosalyn's eyes widened. "Sir-"

"In order to gain passage, payment must be made, payment intended to weaken any intruder," Dumbledore said staring to puncture his hand with the knife.

"N-no, Sir, let me!" Rosalyn jumped over, trying to grab the knife. But the job was already done.

"Oh no, Rosalyn," Dumbledore told her, raising his cut hand. "Your blood's much more precious than mine."

He wiped his blood on the stone nearest to him, and then the whole wall began to move, turning to dust in front of their eyes. "Now, Voldemort will not have made it easy to discover his hiding place, and will have put certain defences in position."

"Lumos," Rosalyn whispered, and all of a sudden she could see again.

She and Dumbledore were standing on a bank of crystal like rocks. A small pool of water was between them and another embankment.

"Careful," Dumbledore told her, as she walked right to the water's edge. Rosalyn was sure she saw something move under there.

Dumbledore, meanwhile, raised his hand above the water, and it started to bubble. It bubbled and frothed more rapidly then a small boat rose out of the water.

"If you would, Rosalyn," Dumbledore said, climbing in. Rosalyn warily climbed in.

There was a small paddle in the boat, and Dumbledore used it so that they crossed the lake quickly. Rosalyn took this chance to look around the cavern, and what dangers could be hiding there.

A minute later, they reached the opposite bank of crystal rocks. Dumbledore clambered onto the rocks and Rosalyn followed. The Headmaster walked up to something that, until then, Rosalyn hadn't realised was there.

Coming closer, she saw it was a basin, filled with about five centimetres of liquid. Rosalyn knew Voldemort enough to know this wasn't water.

Dumbledore also. He ran a hand over the basin, noticing a stone cup on the edge of it. "It has to be drunk," he said quietly, then he looked imploringly into the girl before his eyes. "Rosalyn, you remember the conditions on which I brought you with me? This potion may paralyse me, might make me forget why I'm here, may cause me so much pain that I beg for relief. You are not to indulge these requests. It is your job, Rosalyn, to make sure I keep drinking until this basin is empty and the horcrux is revealed, understand?"

"Why can't I drink it, Sir?" Rosalyn asked, begging him not to.

"Because I am much older, much wiser and much less valuable. You're in good health, Rosalyn."

And with that, he took the stone cup, filled it, and began to drink, raising the cup with a shaking hand to his lips. It took just one sip for him to transform.

He gagged and began to shake. "Professor!" Rosalyn shouted, but it was to no ears that were listening.

Dumbledore fell down, writhing, panting. "Professor, can you hear me?" Rosalyn shouted, but it became quite clear that he couldn't.

But she had to keep her promise. She had to. Running back up to the basin, grabbing the stone cup on the way, she refilled it, then went back to a struggling Dumbledore and forced more down his throat.

"You have to keep drinking!" Rosalyn yelled on the third round, when Dumbledore started to splutter and choke and utter incoherent words.

On the fourth, the words were no longer incoherent. "Stop!" He shouted, and Rosalyn promised it would when the basin was empty...

"KILL ME!" Was what he yelled when Rosalyn delivered the tenth cup of water to his throat.

On the twelfth, he refused, uttering. "No more, no more..." But Rosalyn struggled. "Just one more, one more Sir, I promise!"

She was almost crying now as she headed up to get the last portion of the potion. She filled the cup for the last time, heading back down to Dumbledore. "I promise this is the last one Sir, but you have to keep drinking... please..."

Rosalyn forced it down him, he choking on potion and her choking on tears. She closed her eyes for a second, clutching the stone cup, before she heard. "Rosalyn..."

She opened them and saw Dumbledore, his eyes open, seeing her again. "Water..."

Rosalyn nodded, but first went to the basin, and sure enough, there it was. A hexagonal locket of pale green, the letter S sat proudly in the middle. The chain rattled against the side of the basin. "We did it, Sir!" Rosalyn told him, pocketing the locket.

"W-water..." Dumbledore repeated.

"I know, I know, Sir," Rosalyn assured him, taking the stone cup down to the water's edge. She dipped the cup on the water.

And then a scaly, bony, white, hand grabbed her wrist.

Scrambling up the rocks, Rosalyn's priority was not to get water anymore. "Lumos maxima!" She shouted, flooding the cave with light.

And then she saw them.

About twenty enchanted dead bodies (Rosalyn recognised them as inferi) were surfacing out of the lake. "Stupefy!" Rosalyn shouted, but this was rather feeble. It only got rid of one, and more were surfacing by the second.

Now Rosalyn and Dumbledore were surrounded, about a hundred inferi were now on the rocks, their aim to turn two more humans into them.

"Stupefy! Sectumsempra! Reducto! Diffindo!" Rosalyn fired spell after spell into the crowd of inferi, but their number just seemed to increase, not decrease.

And then one of them grabbed her and threw her into the water. She choked and spluttered as one of the inferi under the water throttled her.

And then she heard a loud noise, audible, even, from under the water, and the inferius holding her loosened his grip. Then Rosalyn looked up before surfacing.

The water was on fire.

Dumbledore. Of course. As Rosalyn threw herself onto the rocks, her Headmaster raised his wand, and fire came out of its tip. The fire circled the rocks and all the inferi fell victim to it.

Once the rocks were completely cleared of inferi, Dumbledore's fire stopped. "R-Rosalyn..."

"Sir-" Rosalyn started. "Sir- we need to- to apparate-"

"Take my arm," Dumbledore said weakly, hunched over like a drunk man.

Rosalyn did, and, sopping wet, with terrible experiences behind her belt, she felt herself apparating back to Hogwarts.