It was Hogwarts time once again. Rosalyn, as of now, was boarding the Hogwarts Express alone. Harry, Ron and Hermione were already on it.

"Um, Rosalyn?"

Rosie, already late as it was fifty nine past ten, didn't really want another distraction, but that voice was familiar, and she had to honour it.

She turned, seeing Izzy's face only for a second before she was squished into a hug.

"I just had to say goodbye to you," Izzy whispered to Rosie. "I couldn't live with myself otherwise."

Izzy had been away for a few days, as that was why she hadn't come to Diagon Alley. As far as Rosalyn understood, she had been visiting Lupin and a few other order members, but she wasn't sure.

"Thank you," Rosalyn said as she pulled back. "I'll write, okay?"

Izzy smiled, giving Rosalyn's arm a small squeeze. "I know you will."

And with a small wink and a little smirk, her godmother let her go onto the train.

She had to run on, as the clock was chiming right then, announcing eleven o'clock.

The reason why she was so late was because of a certain conversation she had had with Arthur a few minutes previously.

"Arthur, could you come here a sec?"

"Yes, Rosie, what's the problem?"

"It's just, yesterday-"

"Are you about to tell me what you, Harry, Ron and Hermione were doing when you were supposedly in the back room of Fred and George's shop?"

"How did you-"

"Rosie, I raised you, and Ron, and Fred, and George."

"Okay... but, anyway, we basically followed Malfoy into Knockturn Alley. He went into Borgin and Burke's and he was looking at this sort of cabinet? I didn't see much more but could you take a look? See if there's anything suspicious in his house?"

"Yes, Rosie, I think I better."

Arthur was in Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. They had rights to raid houses if anything was deemed suspicious about them. To Rosalyn, this evidence seemed so overwhelming that the problem couldn't be ignored.

Anyway, she got on the train at about ten seconds to eleven after saying goodbye to Molly as well.

"Quibbler?" She heard Luna Lovegood shouting. "Quibbler, anybody like one?"

She stopped at Ginny, who had a new pet. She had bought it in Fred and George's shop, it was called a pigmy puff. Ginny, of course, had gone bizarre on the name and called it Arnold.

"That's nice," Luna remarked. "They've been known to sing on Boxing Day, you know. Quibbler?"

"Oh, yes please," Ginny smiled.

Rosalyn finally found the compartment her three friends were in and entered it. Ron was eating, as usual, and Harry and Hermione were talking slowly.

Soon, however, the four of them were talking heartily about what happened yesterday.

"So what was Malfoy doing with that weird cabinet? And who were all those people?" Harry asked, brows knitted together.

"Don't you see? It was a ceremony, an initiation," Rosalyn was so sure she didn't let anyone tell her otherwise.

Hermione looked at her bestie with eyes that said I-can't-believe-how-thick-you-are. "Stop it, Rosie, I know where you're going with this."

"What?" Harry and Ron asked simultaneously.

Rosalyn looked at Hermione, imploring her to believe. "It's happened, he's one of them."

"One of what, exactly?" Ron asked, mouth full of pumpkin pasty.

"Rosie is under the impression that Draco Malfoy is now a death eater," Hermione answered testily.

Ron chuckled. "You're barking! Malfoy? What would You-Know-Who want with Malfoy? He's only sixteen, Rosie."

"Well then what was he doing in Borgin and Burke's? Browsing for furniture?" Rosalyn asked, sarcasm laced in her tone.

"It's a creepy shop, he's a creepy bloke," was Ron's point of view.

"Thanks, Ron, that's the most compelling argument you've ever made," Rosalyn snapped back.

"R- Rosalyn? H-H-Harry?" Came a voice.

Rosalyn turned to see Nigel, a third year boy who was a part of the DA last year.

"Yes, Nigel?" She asked.

"P-Professor Slughorn would like to see you both, he's in Compartment C," Nigel rushed away after saying this.

"What would Slughorn want with us now?" Rosalyn asked hopelessly.

Nevertheless, soon, the twins were heading down to Compartment C to meet the new teacher. When they got there, they found out they weren't alone. There were several others there.

Dumbledore's voice came back. "Professor Slughorn, as we must now call him, is going to try and collect you two."

And it appeared they weren't the only two he was trying to collect.

Blaise Zabini, Cormac McLaggen, a boy called Marcus Belby, Theodore Nott, Ginny, and, to Rosalyn's surprise, Neville, were all there too.

"Neville!" Rosalyn said, going over to hug him.

Neville went slightly red as he hugged back, but held on tightly. He was a lot more relaxed around the red headed girl than he had ever been this year, and he just hoped against hope that something would happen with them this year.

"Rosie! It's good to see you, how's your summer been?" He asked as they pulled back, smiling warmly.

"Great," Rosalyn smiled back at him. "I enjoyed reading your letters."

"It's better to see you in real life, though," Neville beamed. He has a nice smile, Rosalyn hoped no one could see her blushing as this thought ran through her head. It's like the sun just came out.

Soon, Slughorn was there.

"Great!" He said merrily. "I see you all got the message, now, welcome to the Slug Club."

Rosalyn, stood in between Neville and Ginny, felt inclined to laugh, but felt that that would be rude, so she let Slughorn go on.

"All it will be will be a- gathering, an odd party here and there that I'll invite you to, a few dinners..."

From Rosalyn's perspective, it sounded like Slughorn was picking favourites. Either way, she stayed in the compartment for lunch, learning a bit more as Slughorn grilled each of the members on their families and lives.

Blaise Zabini was here because his mother had been one of Slughorn's old favourites, a rich bitch witch (Rosalyn smirked when she thought of that) that had had many husbands, which all had died mysteriously and left huge amount of money behind.

Cormac McLaggen's uncle and father were high up in the ministry, and apparently were friends with Slughorn from the very start.

A boy called Marcus Belby's family was also high up in the Ministry, but apparently Belby had never heard of Slughorn since now.

Neville, of course, was hard. His mother and father had been liked by Slughorn, but now they were insane and shut away in a St Mungo's ward.

As he answered, he inadvertently moved his hand closer to Rosalyn's, which ended up in the two holding hands, fingers interlocked, both feeling a nice sensation of butterflies in their stomachs.

Aftwr Neville, Slughorn came to Ginny, who had apparently been brought along because Slughorn had seen her hex someone and thought she was amazing at spells.

Then it came to Rosalyn and Harry. Slughorn mainly raved about Lily, but he also asked the two some questions, in which their answers were rather forced.

Finally, the party split up and everyone went back to their own compartments. Rosalyn, Ginny, Neville and Harry met up, about to go and meet Ron and Hermione, but then Rosalyn noticed something.

Hermione had denied what she had said about Malfoy. Ron had called her barking, and Harry was unconvinced. Well, now was her moment to prove all of them wrong. In a few minutes, Zabini would enter the Slytherin compartment, and Malfoy would be there, talking freely.

The idea took ahold of Rosalyn immediately.

"I'll see you later," she said hurriedly to them.

"Where are you going?" Neville frowned.

"Doesn't matter," Rosalyn answered quickly, before rushing back to her compartment to get her invisibility cloak. Hermione and Ron weren't in there, so Rosalyn presumed they were talking to someone else. She was glad.

She rushed back to the door of the Slytherin compartment. Damn, she thought, when she saw that Zabini had already entered. Then she remembered something else. The Peruvian instant darkness powder that she had in her hands.

She looked at it for a second, before putting the cloak on. Then she threw it.

And revelled in the pleasure of watching the whole Slytherin compartment become dark.

It was black for about a minute in all, before the powder subsided. But a minute was all Rosalyn needed to climb up to the luggage rack and lie down on it, completely hidden.

"What was that?" Malfoy asked furiously, stalking around the compartment.

"Relax, Draco, it was probably just the first years messing around," Pansy Parkinson said. "Come on, Draco, sit down, we'll be at Hogwarts soon."

He did sit down, spitting out a response along the way. "Hogwarts. What a pathetic excuse for a school. Think I'd pitch myself off the top of the astronomy tower before that had to continue for another two years."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Pansy asked in a hiss.

"Well, let's just say that you won't see me wasting my time in charms class next year," Malfoy said in a drawl. Zabini, who was beside him, sniggered. "Amused, Blaise? We'll see who's laughing in the end..."

Rosalyn then made a crucial mistake, and moved ever so slightly. Draco, unfortunately, saw, and he had an idea who might be up there.

When they got to the station, Rosalyn waited until all the Slytherins were off. Relief coursed through her body, her heart speeding up at the adrenaline all throughout her body. She had got away with it.

But then Draco said something that made her blood run cold.

"You go. I need to check something."

From there, he carefully used magic to put all the blinds down. He stood at the door, back turned to Rosalyn, who was shaking slightly.

"Didn't mummy ever tell you it was rude to eavesdrop, Potter? Petrificus totalus!" He turned round and fired the spell at Rosalyn, who suddenly went rigid, falling from the luggage rack, invisibility cloak still covering her.

He walked towards her, taking the cloak off her.

Rosalyn was paralysed, not able to move or speak, but she could think.

And she could be angry, seething, even, when Malfoy snarled. "Oh yeah, she was dead before you could wipe the drool off your chin."

He stamped on her nose with his boot. Rosalyn felt a crack and was suddenly in intense pain, blood spattering her shirt.

"That was for my father," Draco assured her, chucking the cloak back over her. "Enjoy your ride back to London."

He exited the train, leaving nothing behind.

Rosalyn lay there, mulling over her chances. She couldn't move, so the chance she could attract attention before the train started it's journey back to Kings Cross was unlikely. She cursed herself for moving, for even having the stupidity to follow Malfoy.

"Finite!"

Suddenly she unfroze, and the cloak flew off her. Rosalyn saw Luna Lovegood above her, she had a Quibbler in her hand and had some funny pink and blue glasses on.

"Oh, hello Rosie," she said as though it was some sort of surprise.

"Luna," Rosalyn said as she got up, not caring about the dried blood on her face at the moment. "How d'you know where I was."

"Wrackspurts," Luna explained. "Your head's full of them. My spectrospecs can pick up signs of them, you see."

Rosalyn thanked the girl, and the two of them walked out the train, heading up to the place where the carriages would be going. Well, if they hadn't missed them altogether.

"Sorry I made you miss the carriages by the way, Luna," Rosalyn apologised wholeheartedly.

"That's alright, it's like being with a friend," Luna commented.

"Well, I am your friend, Luna," Rosalyn said, smiling at the girl.

"That's nice."

"Oh, there you are! I've been looking all over for you two!" Flitwick, who was on security, scolded them. He then pulled out a long piece of parchment. "Names?"

"Professor Flitwick you've known me for five years," Rosalyn pointed out.

"No exceptions, Potter!" Flitwick said.

"Who're those people?" Luna asked, pointing ahead of them.

Snape, Malfoy and Filch were arguing up ahead. Rosalyn looked at them as Snape said. "It's alright, Filch, I can vouch for Mr Malfoy."

The three of them eventually realised that they were being watched, and the look on Malfoy's face when he saw Rosalyn standing there was priceless. "Nice face, Potter," he said sourly. "I want to send whoever roughed it up flowers."

That would be hard, as you did it, you bloody liar, Rosalyn thought savagely, as they went up to the castle. Luna then turned to her, raising her wand. "Would you like me to fix it for you?"

"Have you ever fixed a nose before?" Rosalyn asked.

"No, but I've done several toes, and how different are they really?" Luna asked. Rosalyn smiled, as that was something only Luna Lovegood would say.

"Erm, okay, then," Rosalyn said.

Luna put her wand up. "Episky!"

A crack, and the nose felt good as new again. Rosalyn yelped, but quickly realised that this was much better than having it broken. "How do I look?"

"Exceptionally ordinary," Luna smiled, putting her wand back in her pocket.

Meanwhile, when Rosalyn hadn't turned up at the feast, Harry, Hermione and Ron had started to worry.

"Calm down, she'll be here in a minute," Ron said, stuffing his mouth full of food.

Eventually Hermione had had enough. Hitting Ron with a book, punctuating every word with a blow, she started to shout. "Will. You. Stop. Eating?! Our best friend is missing!"

"Oi! Turn around you lunatic!" Ron exclaimed, pointing to Rosalyn, who was walking into the hall with Luna.

"She's covered in blood again," Neville said worriedly. "Why is it that she's always covered in blood?"

Rosalyn sat down, listening to Hermione hiss. "Where have you been?"

"Long story," she answered quickly. "What have I missed?"

"We've been warned to stay brave and strong in these dark times," Ron rolled his eyes. "But Dumbledore'll do a proper speech soon."

"Well, see you," Ginny said, swinging herself off the bench. "I'm off to go sit with Dean."

It was true, she and Dean Thomas in Rosalyn's year had been dating since the end of last year. Rosalyn smirked and made kissing noises, as she knew they had snogged before.

"Shut up," Ginny advised. "Anyway, you kissed Tristan, it's not just me."

She had no idea what kind of damage this would cause. Especially since Neville was in earshot. Rosalyn looked at him warily, seeing as his face contorted to one of jealousy and he stared at Rosalyn with anger.