Aunt Rose

22.

After the party, on Christmas day, the twins opened the gifts they received from their friends. Rose was gifted chocolate from Remus, a luxury broom maintenance kit from James, a box of Honeydukes sweets from Peter, a hand-knit golden snitch sweater from Alice, a luxury quill from her sister, and to go with James' present, Sirius gifted Rose a brand new broom

From Marlene, Rose got enchanted leather gloves which provided better grip on a broom, and a gold plated necklace with the letter "m". She put the necklace on immediately.

Rose got her friends and sister a multitude of different things but the most exciting thing was what she got Marlene. She had found a pair of rings inside of the same shop she found Sirius's pen.

They magically connected the wearers of the rings and could not be seen unless you were looking for them. One wearer could tap the ring to send a slight vibration to the other, you could even send little messages to each other.

When one person took the ring off or... died, the other would feel a very strong vibration and a warm sensation. They were perfect to feel connected and protected in dangerous times.

At 11, Rose felt the warm sensation and the vibration. She tapped the ring once to assure Marlene she had her ring on and received a tap back. It was comforting already.

***

The rest of Christmas break passed by quickly, with reading to do and letters to write, the two weeks blurred together until it was time to return to Hogwarts. Rose and Lily packed up their trunks and loaded them into the car, ready to be taken to the train station.

At the station, the girls bid farewell to their parents and ran through the barrier. They boarded the train and quickly found an empty compartment to wait for their friends in. The twins always seemed to be the first ones there.

Alice arrived in the compartment first, saying hello to the twins and taking her seat. Marlene was last.

Rose looked at her hands and saw the ring. She sent a buzz to Marlene who looked at her and winked, sending one back. She sat in the compartment and chatted before Lily had to go to the prefect compartment.

They were on the back half of their N.E.W.T. classes for year six, having been successful so far. There were no large exams for any classes in sixth year but that was because they would all be happening in year 7.

As well as being on the home stretch of year six, the quidditch team was on the cusp of a cup win. Rose had been working her team tirelessly and before the break they had won their match against Ravenclaw.

Next up was Slytherin. Their team was strong but Rose knew with the amount of practice she was booking they could do it. There was no way the cup was going to another house.

Hufflepuff was extremely beatable. Their team had lost another vital player and the captain was in year 4. It all came down to the match with Slytherin.

But the twins paused their rushed studying to celebrate their birthday at the end of the month. Both girls turned 17, which meant they could finally use magic outside of school and apparate to places they needed to go.

On the day, Rose was shocked and disgusted when Lily was trying to spend it settling an "argument" with James.

"Lily, you can't do this to me on my birthday!" Rose complained. They had planned to sneak out of the castle to retrieve fire whiskey from the hogs head and spend the night with their friends.