Aunt Rose

35.

As soon as the Fidelius charm was set in place for Lily and James, visits became much less frequent. Only one person or couple could see them every other week, outings were scarce, and both Lily and James felt cooped up.

James at least had his invisibility cloak until April, when Dumbledore stopped by and said he needed it for an order mission. That meant James couldn't do any more excursions.

Rose and Marlene cherished the visits they got to have with Harry, the small boy was growing so fast.

Everything seemed fine until June. Dumbledore ordered a stop to all order missions and meetings once more. He said that the death eaters were on full alert now, that they were getting more violent and it wasn't safe anymore.

And that meant that Marlene's parents requested her home. With Marvin home from Hogwarts they had one more liability if they were attacked, they needed the extra support.

Rose pushed her to go back with her parents. "I've got the ring and we can still write, Mar. I'll be fine. Your family needs you right now. And besides, I'm a threat to them. Voldemort might come after me to get to Lily and James and I need you to be safe," she explained as Marlene packed her bags to temporarily move back in with her family.

"I know. I'm just worried for you. And Lily. I just want to be with you," Marlene complained, kissing Rose.

"It'll be fine Mar. This war will end soon, it can't go on forever," Rose said with a sad smile, hugging Marlene one last time as she walked out of the flat and to her parent's house.

The house was lonely, Rose had to admit. Without Marlene to talk about her day or some new food she had heard about. Rose was alone.

But she wrote to Marlene almost every day, Apollo getting his exercise in. And Rose wrote to Sirius and Lily and Remus and Alice.

She spent most of her days writing letters and it kept her busy. But she just missed Marlene. Mar had her family. What could go wrong?

***

"We found her. The little rat told us exactly where they're hiding," Travers said to Snape. He looked genuinely interested.

"McKinnon?"

"Yes."

"Tell the dark lord and if he should approve, send them."

If Marlene was taken out of the picture there would be no more competition. Severus could have Rose for himself. And with Rose, he could convince Lily.

***

It was the middle of July when Rose received a giant panda Patronus. She smiled when she saw the animal start to take shape, it wasn't uncommon for her and Marlene to send each other messages.

But what it said made Rose's blood run cold.

"They found us! Rose, they found us! Send help, please! Marvin, upstairs—" the panda was yelling in Marlene's voice. It dissipated before saying anything else.

Without thinking, Rose took her wand and ran. She jumped out of the flat window and apparated to the McKinnon house mid-air. No backup.