Winter at the Manor

News

I left my class in a cheery mood. It was almost winter break, I was so excited to finally be back with my cousins, playing pranks and laughing all the time, and our annual snowball fight. 

"Rose?" I looked over and saw that my dad was talking to me. "Hi dad, why are you here? Not in a bad way, but why are you here?"

He looked over at my mum, both of them looked sad. "Rose, we're sorry to do this, but it's for your own safety." my mum said. 

"What do you mean?" I was getting nervous. What were they going to do?

"You're not coming to the burrow for Christmas."

I felt like all my hopes shattered. "What?" 

"We are so sorry we had to do this, we know how much you looked forward to it..."

"Why?" my voice was almost at a whisper. If my parents did something like this, it had to be for a good reason. They're not ones to do this for the fun of it. 

"Because of Delphi."

I paused. "Who is Delphi?"

"Remember when Albus went missing a few months ago?" 

Confused, I mumbled, "Yeah... but what does that have anything to do with this Delphi person?"

"Delphi manipulated him into rewriting time, and when Albus tried to stop, she kidnapped him to fulfill a prophecy that spoke of Voldemort returning. Voldemort was her father, in case you are wondering why someone would want something like that. Anyways, she murdered Craig and after we caught her, took her to Azkaban. But she escaped this morning, leaving a message. She said that she would... that she would..." my mum burst into tears. 

"That she would what?" I almost didn't want to know the answer. 

"Take you... away from us." my dad whispered. 

All I remember is getting dizzy and everything going black. 

When I opened my eyes, my parents were standing over me. "I should probably have done a more soft delivery, I've never seen her feint though!" my dad said. 

"She never has, to my knowledge. Should we take her to the hospital wing?" my mum responded. 

I felt my dad put his arms under me and he suddenly realized I was awake. "Sorry Rosie. Do you have a headache? Or anything else that might be worrisome?"

I shook my head, but he still held me in his arms. "So, where will I be going? Will I stay at Hogwarts or somewhere else." I asked cautiously. 

"You're going to be at Malfoy manor for the holidays."

I did the smallest of double takes and sputtered, "D-dad?! YOU of all people, arranged for ME to stay in the home of people you SPECIFICALLY told me to avoid on my first train ride?!"

My dad shrugged. "Well, something happened that proved they are good people, so your mum arranged for you to stay there. If it had been up to me, I'd have you put with Uncle Charlie..."

"Ron, she doesn't need to be in ROMANIA for crying out loud!" my mum countered. "Also, Delphi would be expecting that."

I still felt sick, so despite me insisting I was okay, my dad took me to the hospital wing. 

As Madame Pomfrey was checking me up, I was dead silent. My parents apologized profusely, and I pretended to be okay. 

The truth was, I was anything but.