The Hidden One

new students

"You really have to stop ending up in hospitals," a familiar voice chastised as Rose woke up. She was exhausted still, but it was better than before. She turned her head and groaned when she saw her godfather sitting next to her.

"What happened?" Rose groaned, accepting his help to sit up.

"You hadn't eaten enough food or gotten enough sleep. Your body couldn't handle it so you passed out," Moony explained, his eyes holding concern.

"Oh," Rose whispered. "How long have I been asleep?"

"A few hours. It's 3 am now," Moony said, checking his watch. He looked up at her with a look that made her want to change subjects before he could even start talking.

"Where's mum?" Rose asked.

"Well...we figured it would be too suspicious if both of us came. She's supposed to be a family friend, but not that close," Moony explained. Rose nodded and went to ask about her dad when Moony interrupted her.

"Don't try to distract me. You passed out because you haven't been eating or sleeping. If it weren't for...you know, you could be even sicker. Madam Pomfrey said that you were lucky you didn't pass out sooner," Moony informed the girl. She curled her knees to her chest and laid her head on them, looking in the opposite direction of her godfather.

"Look, I know that a lot is happening right now but you can't do this to yourself. I understand-"

"No, you don't understand," Rose interrupted, turning to look at her godfather. "You don't understand and you never will. My whole life was a lie because of you and then all of a sudden my parents are no longer muggles but wizards, and pretty famous ones at that. I have to hide who I am because everyone thinks my dad is a mass murderer and, oh, right, there's a whole prophecy about me and Voldemort will want me if he ever comes back to life! Oh, and after years of not having a mum, I somehow make my mum sane again. So within a year I went from not having any parents to having both of them. And on top of that I've had to lie to my friends and I lost Cedric because of it and I feel like I might lose the rest soon. I can't lose my friends, especially not Harry cause he means more to me than I know how to understand and that's stressful especially cause I kinda like-liked- I dont know, Cedric. All of the teachers are adding piles of homework onto us which doesnt help and I can't keep up. And there's going to be a whole tournament where people will probably get hurt and die. That's more than I know how to balance, Moony. So I'm sorry, ok, I'm sorry, but I'm 13 years old and it's too much. And I don't know what to do."

By the time Rose was finished explaining she had tears running down her face. Remus pulled her into a tight hug.

"I don't know what to do," Rose sobbed into her shoulder. Remus just held her tighter and started rocking her a little.

"I don't either," Remus admitted. He pulled away from the hug but held her face in his hands, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears.

"That's not helping," Rose whined, staring up at Remus with puppy dog eyes that he knew she inherited from her dad. Remus let out a slight chuckle at her words.

"I know, I know. What I meant is that I don't know what to do now, but I will find a way to help you. And I can ask Marlene to send less letters if that will help and there's a thing muggles have...a therapist, I believe. I bet Dumbledore will let you leave the castle to go to one. They help people deal with their emotions, among other things. We will get through this no matter what we do. But, you have to take care of yourself, ok?"

Rose nodded her head and let out one last shuddering breath, signaling the end of her tears. Remus pulled her into another hug.

"Can you stay the rest of the night? Until I have to go back to classes?" Rose whispered to the man.