The Forsaken Keeper

Chapter 31

"somewhere in the haze got a sense i've been betrayed...soldier down on that icy ground...that was the night i nearly lost you" ~ the great war by taylor swift

—

"Oh no my dear. We have not done anything to them. It's what you will do to them."

Rosalind's head whipped up to him.

"Whatever you think you can force me to do, you're wrong," Rosalind snarled back at him.

Harris let out a humorless laugh.

"Bold of you to assume we would have to force you to do anything. You'll do all of it. Willingly."

Rosalind opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off with Harris raising his wand to her.

"Obliviate"

Rosalind felt pain in her head as she tried to fight the spell. She felt the stinging as he dug further and further into her head. Despite her best efforts, she felt her mind leaving her.

—

Rosalind walked into the Great Hall. Despite how much her father talked up the place, it felt cold. She looked around the room. She saw four long tables, each draped in their signature color. Despite the warm lighting in the room, it felt anything but.

She strode her way down the center aisle, a few paces behind Professor Black. She glanced around the faces within the hall. Whispers filtered around her. Who she was, where she had come from to look so beat up.

Of the hundreds of faces in the hall, not a single one appeared pleasant.

No matter.

She'd get through this school year on her own. Nothing she hadn't done before.

—

"But professor, do I have to escort the new fifth year?" Rosalind heard a male voice drift out from Professor Weasley's office. She froze, unsure if she should interrupt the conversation or not.

"If you want to get out of detention, as you claim you did not deserve it, I suggest you do as I say Mister Sallow. She should be here any minute now. Do please make her visit welcome."

Rosalind took that as a cue to enter. In front of her stood the brown haired Slytherin from her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He had a scowl on his face, that didn't disappear until a nudge from Professor Weasley.

"Alright fifth year, to Hogmeade."

Despite making the trip with Sebastian, she never felt so alone.

—

After saving Sebastian from a troll in Hogsmeade, they maintained a rocky friendship. He helped her sneak into the restricted section, however when they were caught he ratted her out. She couldn't blame him, it saved him from expulsion and being her father's daughter she got off with only a single detention.

She had accidentally stumbled upon a room in the castle, the "Undercroft" as he called it, one day when she was exploring. Apparently it was a place only him and his friend, Ominis, knew about. How no one else had stumbled upon it yet was lost to her.

It was known to Rosalind that Ominis Gaunt came from a family infamous for the dark arts. She attempted to befriend him anyway, but she quickly found he lived up to his family's reputation.

She stopped attempting to make friends.

—

The pain was excruciating.