Soldier, Witch, Fairy

Chapter 11

The weekend moves too fast for Rose. She did get her homework done though, so that's something. And she spent most of her time with the children. They seemed more down than usual and Rose had to get the answer out of Saul. Of course he told her that he grounded them until Monday.

Monday passes just like a regular day, but it is Tuesday that Rose is looking forward to. Farah told her that Saul agreed to help train with her. Rose walks down to the maze that Farah has had her train at and waits for Saul and Farah to get there.

To pass the time, she creates images in her fire and after doing animals and plants, moves onto people. She creates a woman with bushy hair and is permantly stuck at the age of seventeen. Hermione stares back at her in the fire and gives Rose a smile and a wave. How ironic that she is happy when Rose last saw her she was dying because of Rose.

Grief hits Rose like a wave and Rose can feel the tears as she extinguishes her flames. She wipes them away, trying to get ahold of herself, but it is pointless. Rose sinks to her knees as she remembers Hermione and all the people that died for her and because of her. Too many lives were spent because they decided to fight with Rose.

Saul and Farah walk to the maze and see Rose on the ground. They send each other concerned glances before rushing over to Rose. The tears are streaming down her face and Saul kneels next to her. He puts his hand on her shoulder and Rose looks at him, but it isn't her eyes looking back at him, but those of a soldier, just like when he comforted her after her nightmare.

"Rose, where are you?" Saul asks, keeping his voice calm and low.

"Hogwarts, so many bodies around me. I can still hear her screams," Rose whispers as her voice cracks.

"No, honey, try again," Saul keeps his voice soft as he keeps one hand on Rose's shoulder while place the other on her cheek.

Rose's eyes clear a bit, but the soldier is still there. "Hogwarts, but now I'm facing Voldemort."

Saul sits down as he tries to connect with Rose, he moves the hand on her shoulder to her face with his other hand. "Try again one more time."

Rose looks into Saul's eyes and they are comforting, she never wants to look away from them. "I'm at Alfea."

"Good, now can you tell me why you went back there?"

"I was creating images in my fire and had gotten bored with animals and plants and so I moved onto people," Rose takes a deep breath before continuing on. "And then I created Hermione. It reminded me of what I had done and then I was suddenly there."

Saul brings Rose into a hug and comforts her the best he can. He doesn't say anything else and lets Rose take comfort from him. She tucks her head in the crook of his neck and takes deep breaths to anchor herself to Saul and in reality.

It takes a couple more minutes before Rose has fully composed herself and she squeezes Saul before moving to stand up. She wipes the tears away from her face and looks at Farah with determination in her eyes. Saul gives her a smile before Farah holds up the gem.

"You two have to work together. I know you can take this down fairly quickly, Rose, but I need to see how well you two work together in a team," Farah says. "Enter."

Saul and Rose enter the maze and before the can get further into the maze, Rose hears the growls and snarls of the Burned One. Rose looks at Saul and jerks her head one way. He nods and they move in that direction. Rose lights her flames for extra protection while she hears Saul draw his sword.

They make a couple more turns before they are face to face with the Burned One. Saul advances instantly and from Farah's teachings, knows Saul is fending off the Burned One. Rose locates it's heart fairly quickly and as Saul ducks underneath a swing, Rose shoots her flames at the Burned One.