The brunette and red head entered the snow covered town around midnight. Rosalyn took a minute to take in the surroundings.

It was a nice little town. About forty little houses with snow-coated roofs were in view, and, just in front of them, there was a graveyard and a church.

"I still think we should've used polyjuice potion," Hermione whispered stiffly, bringing Rosie back to life.

"No," Rosalyn said firmly. "This is where I was born, I'm not turning into someone else."

They linked arms and started to walk down the street together. "Rosie... I think it's Christmas Eve," Hermione suddenly said.

She was probably right. Rosalyn had no way of knowing what day it was, so she didn't really keep up with it, but not only were there fairy lights on a few houses and buildings, there were people singing hymns in the church.

Rosalyn turned her head to the graveyard. "D'you think they'd be in there, Hermione? My mum and dad?"

Hermione turned to Rosalyn. "Yeah... yeah, I think they would."

Once they got into the graveyard, they split off. Rosalyn couldn't do this alone, but sometimes she liked to be it.

She wandered round the graveyard, almost too cold to shiver. She looked at many gravestones, wondering when she would finally find them...

Meanwhile, Hermione had found a flat gravestone, covered with a thin layer of snow. However, she could still see a certain symbol on the stone under the snow. The triangle-circle-line symbol.

Hermione was instantly interested, wiping the snow off the symbol to see it properly. She then wiped off the name on the stone. "Ignotus... Peverell," she said quietly, reading the name. "Hey, Rosie?"

But Rosalyn had found what she was looking for, and as Hermione looked over at her, she knew better than to interrupt.

She headed over to the grave that Rosalyn was standing at. She had found them.

𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 • 𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

Died October 31 1981

𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡

Rosalyn was staring at the gravestone, silently uttering every word she wished she could've said to her parents. Hermione soon arrived beside her.

Tears came to Rosalyn's eyes as she thought about Harry. Even though every thought she had had about him recently was filled with bitter resent, she would've wanted him to see this. He didn't deserve not to.

Hermione knelt down on the ground, moving her wand in a circular motion, making a wreath of white roses appear before them, laying against the grave.

She then stood up, resting her head on Rosalyn's shoulder. Rosalyn rested hers on top of her best friend's. She loved Hermione, and not just for staying with her.

"Merry Christmas, Hermione," Rosalyn said, tears in her eyes.

"Merry Christmas, Rosie," Hermione said back, barely whispering.

For a minute, they just rested beside James and Lily, before Hermione leaned up. "Rosie, there's someone watching us, by the church."

Rosalyn turned, and saw a figure, wrapped in black, standing right where Hermione had said. She was limping, and she looked like she was very old. "I think I know who that is," Rosalyn said, remembering what Aunt Muriel had said.

"I'm sure Rita Skeeter thought it was well worth a trip to Godric's Hollow to take a peak into that old bird's rattled cage..."

"Godric's Hollow? Bathilda Bagshot lives in Godric's Hollow?"

"Of course, girl, oh it's where she first met Dumbledore."

"You don't mean to say he lived there too?"

"I don't like this, Rosie," Hermione breathed as they walked down the street, following who Rosalyn thought to be Bathilda Bagshot.

"Hermione, she knew Dumbledore, she might have the sword," Rosalyn reasoned.

She soon stopped, though, seeing a broken, ruined, yet (to Rosalyn) beautiful house. "This is where they died, Hermione. This is where he murdered them."

Rosalyn also thought that Harry should see this. He should've.

She turned, and then jumped. Bathilda Bagshot was right there, her face wrinkled, her black cloak billowing in the slight wind. Rosalyn moved closer to her. "You're Bathilda, aren't you?"

The woman nodded.

For some reason, Rosalyn and Hermione (the latter begrudgingly) soon found themselves in Bathilda Bagshot's house.

"D- d'you want me to do that?" Rosalyn asked, as Bathilda tried and failed to strike a match to light a candle.

She nodded and gave Rosalyn the match and matchbox. Rosalyn struck the match and lit it, but the candle was soon forgotten as she saw a picture on the mantle piece.

She held the match to it, seeing a young man with a buttoned up cloak and slightly long blonde hair.

It was the thief from Gregorovich's wand shop.

"Miss Bagshot... who is this man?" Rosalyn asked.

Bathilda didn't answer. In fact, neither Rosalyn or Hermione had heard her speak yet.

However, Bathilda did do something, she fetched and already lit candle, and lead Rosalyn up the stairs. Hermione tried to go up too, but Bathilda blocked the stairs.

"Rosie- no!" Hermione hissed quietly, but Rosalyn couldn't hear. She was too focused about dreaming of the sword that Bathilda was sure to give her, it must be here...

"Lumos," she whispered to her wand, and it lit up immediately.

The room was dark, bleak, and obviously used for storage. Rosalyn had no idea why she was up here until she felt Bathilda caress the locket on her chest. She looked up, and found herself staring straight into Bathilda's dead eyes.

She started to speak to her, in parseltongue. Rosalyn didn't know this, however, because she never knew she could speak in snake language. To her, Bathilda was speaking normally.

But if she did know, she would be wondering how Bathilda could speak Parseltongue.

Meanwhile, Hermione had spotted a book, abandoned on the sideboard. She lifted it up, and saw a note attached to it.

Dear Batty,

Here's a copy of the book. You said every word, even if you don't remember it.

Thanks, once again,

Rita

And the book the note was attached to was The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. The biography by Skeeter that was a little less than pleasant.

She looked upstairs, desperately wanting to join Rosalyn up there.

"O-over there," Bathilda pointed to a desk in the corner of the room. Rosalyn walked over to find a photo album. She opened its dusty pages to find pictures of a young Dumbledore. She flipped through it to find pictures of her parents, and ones of a very young Harry and her...

"What's this, didn't you want to give me the swo-" Rosalyn turned round just in time to see the possessed body of Bathilda fall to the ground and the snake, Nagini, to slither out of it.

It struck almost immediately and Rosalyn screamed, holding up a chair just in time to block it. She heard Hermione scream, "Rosie!" from below, and cursed herself for not listening to her-

The snake reared and went to attack again, this time knocking through the wall and into the Potter's house, into the room that Rosalyn had almost died in.

The same thing was happening again.

The snake decided to chase her this time, and she had to crawl rapidly to stop it attacking her. She tripped over toys and rocking chairs and fell into the crib-

Finally, she managed to get back into Bathilda's house through the huge hole in the wall. She scampered backwards, accidentally dropping her wand, just before Hermione hit the snake with a spell and it fell backwards down through a hole in the floor-

Hermione and Rosalyn looked at each other for a second, eyes wide. Hermione grabbed Rosalyn's wand off the floor before-

BANG! Rosalyn jumped violently as the snake jumped back upstairs.

"Confringo!" Rosalyn yelled, showering the snake in flames that had no effect.

Hermione hit it with another non verbal spell, shattering the glass in the window but again, not having any effect on the snake.

"Let's go, Rosie!" Hermione outstretched her hand, which Rosalyn took. "Let's just go-"

Then the darkness reigned again.

☆☆☆

Rosalyn woke up in the tent, suddenly remembering what had happened in the past few hours.

She groggily got up and walked outside to where Hermione was, wrapped in a blanket, sitting on a picnic one, back rested on a tree. Rosalyn sat on it as well, sharing the blanket and resting her head against the tree. "You've outdone yourself this time, Hermione, where are we?"

"The Forest of Dean," Hermione answered through chapped lips. "I came here once with mum and dad, years ago. It's just how I remember it, the trees... the river... everything. Like... nothings changed. Not true, of course, everything's changed, if I brought them back here they wouldn't recognise anything... not the trees... not the river... not even me."

Rosalyn sighed, her sorry feelings seeming to pass through her to her best friend, who continued to speak. "Maybe we should just stay here, Rosie. Grow old."

Rosalyn still didn't speak, but that idea seemed very tempting.

"You wanted to know who the boy in the photograph was," Hermione looked at her. "I know. Gellert... Grindelwald."

She handed Rosalyn The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, which she had unblushingly stolen from the dead, possessed Bathilda (so it didn't really matter). Rosie looked inside the book, seeing a photograph of Gindewald.

"That's the thief I saw in Gregorovich's wand shop," Rosalyn said quietly. "Speaking of which, where is my wand?" Hermione's face fell. "Where's my wand, Hermione?"

Hermione shifted off the picnic blanket and lifted it up to reveal Rosalyn's wand. Broken in two pieces. "As we were leaving Godric's Hollow I cast a curse and it rebounded."

Rosalyn looked at her wand and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm sorry," Hermione was almost crying. "I tried to mend it but wands are different-"

"It's done," Rosalyn got up, trying desperately to appear fine. "Leave me yours. Go inside and get warm, I'll take first watch, and the locket, as well."

Hermione walked past her after she had given her the stuff. Rosalyn heard her start to sob before the tent closed.