Rosalyn Potter was sat in her bedroom at The Burrow, finally happy that she was allowed to go back to Hogwarts.

For the past few days, Molly, her adoptive mum, had been seriously rethinking the decision to send her three youngest children, Ron, Rosalyn and Ginny, back to Hogwarts. Arthur, Rosalyn's adoptive dad, had told his wife that she was being stupid. Molly had revolted, saying that she was just caring, but when Rosalyn and Ginny (Ron was staying out of it) started to agree with their dad, she came round.

Anyway, at this moment, Rosalyn was watching out the window, waiting for two letters. One from Harry, her brother, and one from Neville, who had gotten closer to her over the holidays.

That was when she got a massive surprise.

"Hey, kid."

Rosalyn recognised that voice. But it was one she hadn't heard for about two months.

Turning round, she knew what she was going to see. The familiar face, the flaming red hair and the hazel eyes.

Izzy, her aunt and godmother, stood behind her, in the doorway.

After the death of her husband, Rosalyn's godfather, Sirius Black, Izzy hadn't been around. She hadn't spoken or shown herself to anyone in weeks.

Rosalyn hadn't seen her in ages.

"Izzy," she breathed, getting up off her seat and running at her aunt, hugging her tightly.

Izzy gave a soft, rather hollow chuckle, before Rosalyn started to cry, tears forming in her eyes and a few sliding down her cheeks.

She held on tighter as she whispered. "I'm so, so sorry, Izzy... so sorry. Wh-what happened- it was all my fault..."

Izzy pulled back saying. "If I hear you say that again, I'll be angry. Rosie, it was not your fault..."

Rosalyn shook her head. Sirius' death was her fault, after all, and she wasn't going to change the way she thought.

Izzy, however, said. "Rosie, listen... I'm not angry at you, I just..."

She trailed off, but before Rosalyn could say anything else, Izzy continued. "I just knew him a very long time. And falling in love with him... it was the... the best thing that's ever happened to me. And- when he got sent to Azkaban, I-I lost him. And I had just got him back, and..."

She trailed off and Rosalyn sighed, more tears coming as she got hugged again, even tighter.

The two hugged for at least two minutes in silence until Izzy sighed heavily and said. "Molly's insisted that I come here for a few days, and... I tried to get out of it, very hard, but..."

She trailed off, and this time waited until Rosie said softly. "What made you change your mind?"

Izzy sighed again, deciding to be honest. "You. Molly told me you were beating yourself up about it... that you thought it was your fault. And I thought... that's what I've been doing... and to be honest, it hasn't really got me anywhere."

Rosalyn gave a slightly cheery chuckle, pulling back from the hug. "So... you're actually staying?"

Izzy smiled. "Yeah, kid. Partly because of the reason I just told you, but also..."

Rosalyn raised her eyebrows. "Also what?"

Izzy shrugged, a smirk showing through. "Well, I... I still miss him more than ever, of course, but I think...

"I think I'm finally ready to be my old self again."

☆☆☆

Once Izzy left her room and went downstairs, Rosalyn went back to staring out the window, hoping that her letters would arrive soon.

It was about ten minutes later that she heard another voice behind her.

"Waiting for a love note?"

Rosalyn rolled her eyes, crossed her arms and turned round to see Fred and George.

"You know," Fred went on. "From your boyfriend, Neville."

"Neville's NOT my boyfriend!" Rosalyn protested.

"Come on, Rosie, he's liked you since, what? First year?"

Rosalyn rolled her eyes again as George asked. "Besides, did you see that Izzy's reappeared?"

"Yeah, she came through earlier," Rosalyn said offhandedly. "I'm glad she's back."

"Same," said Fred, a smirk on his face. "Things had been getting a bit too quiet round here."

Rosalyn sighed, not wanting to answer, as she knew Izzy would maybe take a bit longer before jumping back into being sarcastic and sassy. Thankfully, she was saved by an owl's call. She turned round and saw Ruby, her owl, tapping at the window, carrying two letters in her beak.

"Oh, so, one from Harry, and hmmm, one from Neville!" George said it like it was a surprise.

"Shut up," Rosalyn advised as she opened the window to let Ruby in. Once her owl was inside, she went to her cage, but not until Rosalyn dislodged the letters. "Don't you need to go back to the shop? Thought you only came for one night."

It was true. Lately, Fred and George had been staying in a flat above their new joke shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Now, the twins had come over last night to stay, and now, they were about to leave.

"Yep, and we're leaving right now, said goodbye to everyone but you," Fred said.

Rosalyn sighed, getting off her chair to hug her brothers. "See you soon," she said. "When I visit your shop."

"You'll love it Rosie," George smiled. "Now, if you don't mind-"

"-We have business to attend to," Fred finished.

Crack.

And with that, they apparated back to Diagon Alley, leaving Rosalyn free to peruse her letters.

She opened Harry's first.

Dear Rosie,

I hope you're having a good summer and that Mrs Weasley's changed her mind by now! The Dursley's are the same as usual, ignoring me, but I like it that way.

Yesterday, Dudley spoke his first words to me since I've been back, I threatened to hex him and he backed up into the trifle Aunt Petunia had made. It was so funny to see his back covered in cream!

I'm looking forward to coming to the Burrow, when somebody comes and collects me. They always do.

How's the Order? I heard Tonks wasn't doing so well from Ron. And how's Izzy? Have you or anyone heard from her since... you know? Have you heard from Lupin or Moody?

Looking forward to seeing you again in a few weeks!

See you soon,

Harry

Rosalyn smiled. She felt sorry for Harry, but she had to admit, the Dudley-trifle story was pretty funny, and she had laughed at it. She scanned the bottom part of the letter. I heard Tonks isn't doing so well.

She wasn't. She came to the Burrow at least twice a week, she looked broken, and she was. Sirius was the main cause of it, hvaing been her cousin, and Rosalyn did not beg to discuss this. However, there were other contributing factors. Her patronus had changed, and although Rosalyn had never seen it, she had heard Molly talk about it, and it didn't seem good. She was also, or used to be, a metamorphagus, meaning she could change her appearance at will. But she was struggling with this too, now, grief having overtaken her.

Izzy, obviously, was doing slightly better, as she had just shown up tonight. However, her period of isolation from everyone was not to be ignored either. It was as if Sirius had been the glue holding everyone together.

Rosalyn sighed, opening Neville's letter.

Dear Rosie,

I hope that your summer's going alright and that you're having a good time, you deserve to.

Gran's going crazy, telling me that I'm great for following in my dad's footsteps, but I don't really want to talk about what happened at the Ministry.

Oh, I forgot to say, when I went to Diagon Alley to collect my school stuff, I saw Fred and George's shop! It's amazing! I can't believe that they've managed to do that whilst the rest of the alley is practically closed down.

I'm looking forward to going back to Hogwarts, but I hope I see you sooner than that. I'm trying to persuade Gran to let me visit the Burrow.

Anyways, see you soon,

Neville

Rosalyn smiled. Neville and her had grown closer over the past year, and however much she denied what Fred and George said, she couldn't help wanting it to be true a little.

"Rosalyn?"

Molly was standing at her door, something that Rosalyn couldn't see was in her hands.

"Yeah?"

"This letter came for you, an owl dropped it off a minute ago," Molly said. "I don't know what it is, but it looked pretty urgent."

Rosalyn sighed, getting up to take the letter. She was smart enough to realise that Molly wasn't going to let her open it in private, so she did it right there.

Ripping open the envelope, Rosalyn saw a neatly written letter. She unfolded it carefully.

"It's from Professor Dumbledore!" She said in an awestruck voice.

Dear Rosalyn,

If it is convenient for you, I shall call at The Burrow this coming Friday at eleven pm to escort you to somewhere that I need your help. Of course, I shall take you back to the Burrow when I have had your assistance.

This matter, which I hope you will help with, will also involve your brother, Harry, so we shall have to call to get him on the way as well. I shall explain this fully when I see you.

Kindly send your answer by return of this owl. Hoping to see you this Friday.

I am, yours most sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Rosalyn gripped the letter in shock, before handing it to Molly. Her mum read it, gasping.

"So that's tomorrow?" Molly asked, pursing her lips.

"Yes, and I don't think even you'll be able to cook up an excuse for Dumbledore," Rosalyn said jokingly.

"I wasn't going to not let you go!" Molly protested. "This sounds very important."

"Yeah, yeah," Rosalyn smiled, sitting back in her chair as her adoptive mother left the room.

☆☆☆

Dumbledore had to apparate outside the protective charms that surrounded the Burrow, but he knew the secret, and was soon knocking on the door.

Rosalyn was the only one awake. Everyone else was in their own rooms except her, so when Dumbledore knocked, she was the one to answer.

"Hello, Rosalyn," Dumbledore said merrily.

But Rosalyn wasn't paying attention to him, she was looking at the raven haired boy beside the headmaster. "Harry!" She yelled, crushing her brother into a hug.

"Hey Rosie," Harry smiled after his sister had released him. He looked at his sister. The protective side of him was definitely coming out, as Rosalyn had grown even more beautiful over the summer.

"Well, I think we should get going," Dumbledore said, smiling at the siblings. "Both grab onto this arm, if you please."

He raised his left arm.

"But sir- if Harry grabs your left and I grab your right-" Rosalyn started, but cut herself off at getting a glimpses of his right hand.

It was black, shrivelled, and looked like it would never work again. Rosalyn suspected it was painful too.

Looking at Rosalyn, and Harry, who was craning his neck to get a look, Dumbledore said. "Such a thrilling story, Rosalyn, Harry, but I'm afraid now is not the time."

Rosalyn sighed, taking hold of Dumbledore's left arm along with her brother.

She remembered Fred and George telling her that apparition felt quite easy, no stress. They were either naturals or were playing cool, because apparition, be it side-along, felt horrible.

It was like being sucked up into a hosepipe, and it made Rosalyn dizzy, nauseous and scared. And it was funny, because she could still feel herself holding onto Dumbledore's arm, but Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen.

Anyway, the whole thing took about three seconds, and next thing she knew, Rosalyn was on a small, dark street, with houses that had no signs of life in them.

"We just apparated, didn't we?" Rosalyn asked, feeling extremely dizzy.

"Yes, I'm sorry to give you such a shock, but I needed a fast way of getting us here," Dumbledore said as they walked up a street. "Thankfully, the Ministry isn't so careful with side apparition as they used to be, so no one will know who my passengers were on this night."

Rosalyn and Harry nodded as Dumbledore led them into a garden through a gate which had peeling off paint on it. "Now, I'm assuming that you will now be wondering why I brought you here."

"Actually, Professor after all these years I just sort of go with it," Harry answered before Rosalyn.

"Well, Harry, and you too, Rosalyn, welcome to the charming village of Budleigh Babberton," Dumbledore said, reaching the door of the house. It was open.

"Come on in," Dumbledore said, holding it open of them. He lit his wand, as the house was dark, and followed them in.

The house was a mess. Books had been taken from the shelves, bits of broken glass and chandelier littered the floor. Pictures hung on the wall, glass smashed, frames dented. And a grand piano in the corner was missing half its keys.

"Horace?" Dumbledore whispered slowly.

Who the hell is Horace? Rosalyn wondered. Then she saw another stupid newspaper on the floor.

It was something she had been getting used to. The Ministry had had the press on her since last June, when she and six others had fought off Voldemort's death eaters. They had also given her another crappy nickname, The Chosen One. As if The Girl Who Lived wasn't enough!

Anyway, Rosalyn hated it, and she didn't like to see others reading it as well.

Suddenly, however, a drop of blood splattered the news article. It wasn't like Rosalyn minded, but she did want to know where the blood was coming from. She looked up, seeing a small grate in the ceiling, blood dripping from it slowly.

A drop dripped on her forehead, and then suddenly Dumbledore was there, wiping the blood off her forehead with a finger and licking it. Rosalyn thought that this was disgusting, but she didn't know any better.

Dumbledore nodded, turning round. Rosalyn looked in the same direction as him and saw the only thing that was still in one piece in the house. A white and pink stripy armchair.

Dumbledore walked towards it warily, wand outstretched. Rosalyn sighed. She hadn't brought her wand, she wouldn't have been able to do anything with it anyway, but she wished she could.

Meanwhile, when Dumbledore was near enough the armchair, he gave the top of it a sharp jab.

"Merlin's beard!"

A man, or a man's head, had just popped out from the top of the chair. Suddenly, he stood up, showing the whole chair thing to be a hoax in the first place. He shook his arms and legs to get them to go down, and then he was just in his white and pink stripy dressing gown.

"No need to disfigure me, Albus," the man coughed.

"Well, I must say you make a very convincing armchair, Horace," Dumbledore said, smiling gently. Rosalyn and Harry stayed behind him, looking at each other with confused faces.

"Ahh, it's all in the upholstery, I come by the stuffing naturally," Horace patted his, Rosalyn presumed quite plump, belly. "What gave me away?"

"Dragon's blood," Dumbledore answered, pointing at the grate behind him. Slughorn looked politely surprised as Dumbledore continued. "Ah, yes, introductions, Harry, Rosalyn, I'd like you to meet an old friend and colleague of mine, Horace Slughorn. Horace- well, you know who these two are."

"Harry and Rosalyn Potter," Slughorn said under his breath, heading over to close the door.

"So what's with all the theatrics, Horace?" Dumbledore asked. "You weren't, by any chance, waiting for someone else, were you?"

"Someone else, I'm sure I don't have any idea what you're talking about," Slughorn headed back over to Dumbledore, Harry and Rosalyn. One look at Dumbledore and he crumbled. "Oh all right, the Death Eaters have been trying to recruit me for over a year, do you know how hard that is? You can only say no to these people so many times so I never stay anywhere more than a week! The muggles who own this place are in the Canary Islands."

"Well I think we should put it back into order for them, don't you?" Dumbledore asked.

With a flick of his wand, everything fell back into place again. Books flew back on shelves, records back to the player, the chandelier put itself back together, fixing back to the ceiling, flooding the room with light.

Rosalyn was so in awe of what was happening, she didn't notice that a stray piece of chandelier was under her shoe. She lifted her foot and watched it zoom back into place.

"That was fun," Dumbledore remarked. Rosalyn felt like laughing at the look on Slughorn's face. "D'you mind if I use the loo?"

"No, not at all, of course," Slughorn replied. Then, when Dumbledore had started to move, he shouted after him. "Don't think I don't know why you're here Albus! The answer's still no! Absolutely and unequivocally no!"

The silence that hung in the air after that seemed endless until Slughorn said to Harry, "You look very much like your father, James."

"I know," Harry smiled, "I've been told."

"And I expect you're bored of hearing it," Slughorn laughed, looking at Rosalyn. "And you... you look just like her. Lily, lovely Lily. She was exceedingly bright, your mother, even more impressive considering she was muggle born!"

Harry said nothing, but Rosalyn did. "Hey! My best friend is muggle born and she's the best in our year."

Slughorn just laughed. "You've got her fire as well, she would always stick up for..." But then he realised what she had said. "Oh please don't think I'm prejudice, no! Your mother was one of my absolute favourites! Look, there she is, right at the front!"

He showed Rosalyn and Harry over to a sideboard that had lots and lots of picture frames on it. The one Slughorn had pointed Rosalyn to was a picture with several people Rosalyn didn't recognise in it, and one she did. One that looked just like her. Her mother.

"And you look so like young Izzy Potter as well," commented Slughorn further, pointing to another girl, also with flaming red hair, and an easy smirk on her face. "No doubt you know of her..."

Rosalyn nodded silently, looking further into the photographs.

"All mine," Slughorn said behind her. "Each and every one of them. Ex students, I mean."

He pointed to one photo, it was signed. "You'd recognise Barnabas Cuffe, editor of the Daily Prophet. Always takes my owl if I wish to give an opinion on the day's news."

"And that's Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies!" He pointed to a picture (signed again) of a woman on a broom. "Free tickets whenever I want them! Of course I... haven't been to a game in a long time..."

Meanwhile, Rosalyn was looking at a photo of her own. A boy she thought looked like a bit like Sirius when he was younger was sat the fore of it. But he was wearing Slytherin robes. Rosalyn soon learned why.

"That's Regulus Black, no doubt you've heard of his brother Sirius' death a few months ago. I got the whole Black family except Sirius, I got Regulus when he came along, but it would've been nice to get the whole set..."

The fact that he was talking about people like collector toys made Rosalyn a bit shocked. She looked at Harry for support but he shrugged. Thankfully, she was saved by Dumbledore holding up a woman's muggle magazine. "Horace? D'you mind if I take this? I do love knitting patterns."

"Yes, yes of course," Slughorn said, quite surprised. "But you're not leaving are you?"

"Oh I think I know a lost cause when I see one," Dumbledore said, but he was still smiling. "Regrettable, you see, I would've counted it as a great personal triumph if you'd consented to return to Hogwarts. Ah, well, you're like my friends Miss and Mr Potter here, one of a kind."

What? Rosalyn thought, we're here to help Dumbledore hire a teacher?

But nevertheless, they turned to go.

However, they were only about ten metres away from the front door when it burst open and Slughorn burst out of it.

"Alright! Alright, I'll do it!" He yelled. "But I want Professor Merrythought's old office, not the water closet I had last time! And I'll expect a raise! These are mad times we live in! Mad!"

As he walked inside, Dumbledore sighed.

"They are indeed."