Mischief Not-Quite-Managed (Currently being revised and edited to the extreme)

Chapter Two ~ Rosalind Potter

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Chapter Two ~Rosalind Potter

The train pulled out of the station just as Rose, Stella, and Kat made it on, causing all three to breathe out a sigh of relief, despite their carefree behavior moments beforehand.  Rose gathered herself before moving off in the direction she'd spotted Harry and his friends going, knowing that Stella and Kat would follow.  She found the compartment quite easily and rapped on the door with her knuckles gently, smirking with a quirked brow at her younger brother.

He looked up and grinned at her as she opened the door with ease, but then she noticed that they were faced with a bit of a seating issue.  A sleeping man was taking up space on the side opposite the 'Golden Trio', and there was only room for two people.  Harry seemed to notice this as well and frowned, but Rose and Stella grinned at him and took the seats, knowing that Kat - for some strange reason - always loved sitting on the floor anyways, something proven as she plopped down happily at Rose' and Stella's feet.

"So... who's that?"  Kat asked, moving her head around as she tried to get a better look at the man, as Rose watched, highly amused by her friend's antics, ignoring the fact that if she were down there, she'd be doing the same thing.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," Hermione said, and Rose could feel Stella stiffen beside her.

Rose looked at Stella, who had a smile on her face and laughed.  "What a coincidence!"  Rose shared a look with Kat - Stella was a great actress, but she couldn't fool them.  They knew it was bothering her, and Rose knew their thoughts were on the same wavelength - We'll talk about it later, in private.

Rose's attention was drawn back to the others as Ron spoke, "So, Harry, what was it you were going to tell us?"

This peaked her interest, and she began listening raptly as Harry launched into an explanation of how apparently Sirius Black (Rose noticed that Kat winced at her father's name) and James Potter (It was Rose's turn to wince, then) had escaped Azkaban for the sole reason of coming after Harry.  Rose knew she looked sick - she felt sick, too, and sat staring blankly ahead of her.  She had gone white-faced, and her skin was crawling.  Obviously she was taking it worse than Harry - but she had known their father, while he did not - not really, anyway.

Not only did she have this reaction because of that, though.  She felt guilty and sick with herself, because even after all of the evidence against them - against him - she couldn't bring herself to truly believe he was guilty of all charges.  She found herself thinking that after only knowing him for three years, she knew him well enough to determine that he would never betray his family, or anyone.  Especially Rose's mum.  A blind man would've been able to see how much he loved her, the way he worshipped the ground she stood on.

But... Rose felt her heart grow cold as she rid herself of any lasting affection for her father.  But now he's after Harry, and the time for stupid, childish hopes of this all being a nightmare is over.  Harry is the only real family I've got, and I would protect him with my life... or at the cost of our father's.

Rose was brought back from her musings as the train screeched to a halt and everything suddenly went dark.  "Wh-what's going on?" asked Ron nervously.

"OW!  Ronald, I'm on the floor remember?" snarled an irritated Kat, and Rose had to smother her snicker in her hand, and vaguely heard Stella doing the same to her right.

"Do you think we've broken down?" inquired Hermione.

"Dunno..." Rose heard her brother reply distantly as they all watched the outline of Ron noisily wipe a spot on the window clean of all fog that had collected on it in the dropped temperatures.