For life and death are one

“What?” Cora asked in simple confusion, worry plain on her features as he hands tried to look for if there was any physically wrong with her sister. “Rosie, I’m here. I’m not leaving. What are you talking about?” Her voice was earnest, but she was trying her best to be calm. “Rosie, please— are you hurt?” she asked again, realizing Rosie hadn’t answered her the first time.

“You left with him!” She said, the raw betrayal clear in her voice. “You picked dad over me.” She knew it was her dreams that had spurred Cora into her decision, but they were coming from the man that had left them both. “I saw you... I heard you. Stop pretending, you can’t take it back.”

He’d never seen Rosie even near anything like this, and that only worried him more. The girl had seemed entirely fearless, so what could have possibly rendered her into this state? Gunnarr followed her over, crouching down to her level with deep concern on his features. “Who left?” he asked softly in a voice that was often reserved for when Ingrid came scampering into his room after a nightmare. Tentatively, he reached out a hand to try and wipe the tears tracks from her face, moving slow. 

Rosie had always been someone who knew her fears. She could look at herself and know what could make her crumble, yet she had never seen this coming. She had never seen Cora leaving her or Salazar hating her. “Cora, she left with him,” She croaked out. Had she been more aware of herself, she would have never let him brush away her tears, he wouldn’t have even seen them, but she let him this time.

The wolf growled, trying to leap forward at the girl, but Cass already knew what her fear was. She’d faced it in real life. A couple spells later, and the smoke was gone, no flames crackled, and the only wolf in the room was her. Walking back outside, she crouched beside Rosie. “Hey.” Her voice was soft. Dealing with fears was worse than anything else, she knew that. “You need to breath. Whatever it was, it can’t hurt you right now.”

Rosie had never thought that her fears would effect her as they did. She wasn’t fearless, she wasn’t even close to fearless, but she knew her own fears as well as she could. She knew them as to learn how to deal with them and be better than them. Yet, they had gotten the best of her. It didn’t hurt her, it didn’t even thought her. “M-my wand,” She muttered breathlessly,”He broke my wand.”

Salazar had been aware that there was a boggart loose in the castle, it was the ideal time for a crisis of this nature really. Especially due to the fact that there were fewer students than before. However in the process of tracking it down. Stood outside the room, he used his wand to open the lock and stepped inside. The sight of Rosemarie Heap, a beginner in his own house. “Riddikulus!” he growled at the boggart, dispelling it with ease. Before turning to his student. “Miss Heap?” he said quietly, crouching down beside her and placing a firm hand upon her shoulder, “Are you okay?” he asked quietly, “I know whatever you experienced must’ve been terrified, I’m afraid a boggart is a little beyond your current skill levels right now, next time please allow one of the founders to deal with the problem.” 

Rosie had no idea what the boggart had been. She hadn’t seen it as anything but people she had known. As Salazar crouched down and placed his hand on her shoulder, Rosie flinched away from him. Was he here to make sure she got out of the castle? His words took a second to catch up in her brain,”Boggart? What?” She knew what the creature was, but she had never seen her own before. 

Gunnarr had gone looking for his little training protégé when she didn’t show up to their appointed practice time which was…admittedly rather unlike her. He’d checked all the usual places, but hadn’t found her in any of the usual haunts, and finally he’d gotten to checking currently disused classrooms. Perhaps she’d got caught up with practicing her magic. Then he came upon the strangest thing. A doorknob that seemed to be…rattling on its own? Hoping he wasn’t in for falling prey to a trick from Peeves, he managed to get the door open, though charms wasn’t his strongest suit. Though he’d been looking for Rosie he hadn’t expected to find her behind this door, and certainly not like this. In a moment, concern took him over and he was trying to dip his face to see into Rosie’s eyes, a comforting hand going to her arm. “Hey- hey- what is it? What happened?” He looked around the room with a hard gaze, searching for something that might have hurt her.

Rosie needed to get out of the room. She couldn’t stand the sound of those crickets anymore, she was losing her mind hearing them. She crawled away from Gunnarr as he asked her his questions, making it to the hall ways opposite wall. “They left me,” She whispered. She couldn’t tell him that Salazar snapped her wand or that he had expelled her. She couldn’t admit that just yet.

Daisy had been mewing at her for two floors, tangling around her ankles and batting at the hem of her loose breeches. It wasn’t until she reached a door, that she noted another kitten, scratching at it, while Daisy looked beseechingly up at her. So Phoebe quirked her brow up, “You dragged me up two flights of stairs to open a door for a cat friend?” she was bemused by her newfound companion, but decided to indulge the felines and turned it. There was resistance as she frowned and tugged hard, and a figure came sprawling out while both cats hissed at the room but Phoebe was already kneeling down, “Hey, are you alright?” her fingers went to the girl’s tear-streaked cheeks as she pulled her wand out to try and aid. The room was empty, seemingly, but there was a sharp distasteful aura in the air. She hissed at the feeling before returning her glace, “I’m Phoebe Pyrite, I’m a Healer, what’s your name and House?” if the girl couldn’t answer Phoebe was already making contingency plans to move them.

Rosie fell when the door opened, her palms scraping against the floor as they moved to support her. She ignored the question as she crawled out of the room, to the outside wall of the hallway. She took in shuddering breaths, finally feeling cool air in her lungs. After a moment, she could answer. “Rosie. Slytherin.”

Cora had been searching for her little sister so she could thank her in person for the beautiful flower crown she’d gotten her for Christmas. Even now it was perched on her head as she traded happily through the hallways, asking everyone if they’d seen Rosie. After someone told her they’d seen the girl going through a door a while ago, Cora tried to open said door. Only to find it…locked? An Alohamora later and she was bursting into the room, a bright smile on her lips. “Rosie, I—” But then she looked down to her little sister, looking positively broken on the floor. Instantly she dropped to the floor next to her sister, hands going to her tear stained cheeks. “Rosie, what’s wrong? What’s happened? Are you hurt?”

As her brain registered that Cora was in her sights again, Rosie startled backward. She didn’t want to be left again. Why was her sister there? “Why are you back?” She asked in a broken whisper. “Just leave if you’re going to leave!” She yelled, feeling betrayed by her for coming back, the tears racing down her cheeks faster.

Cass had heard there was a Boggart in the castle, and it just so happened, there was a market for those amongst the seedier parts of the world. Finding the room hadn’t been easy, but when she heard the doorknob rattling, she realised she’d found the right room. Her wand at the ready, she opened the door. “Rosie?” Cass frowned, stepping into the room. The boggart whirled through the air, flames starting to spread over every inch of the room. Monster. Through the thick smoke, two yellow eyes could been seen staring at the girl that Cass had been tutoring, as such. Instinctively, she stepped in front of her to protect her from the wolf. 

Rosie looked up at Cass, her numb brain finally registering that something was different when the woman said her name. When the door opened fully enough, she scrambled out of the room into the hallway where she slumped against the wall, ignoring the flames. The crickets had finally stopped. She could hear everything else. She could hear herself think. She let out gasping breaths as she tried to center herself.

A little Rosie wanders into the wrong room in the castle and meets her biggest fears.

Dear Rosie—

     Happy Christmas, little shrimp. I couldn’t decide between these two daggers so I got both. They both seemed like you, but in different ways so I’m gonna say one is for nighttime stabbing, and one is for daytime stabbing. Don’t use them until I show you how to, but feel free to open letters with them until then. 

     Also if you look closely you can see the words “World’s Smartest Witch” engraved on this cup. Is it a cup? It might be a trophy. Possibly both. I liked both. Either way I figured you could put your water spells in it, and also the crown comes off so I’m just saying— if you want to wear that around as just a crown…I definitely didn’t try it out. Don’t be too sad that classes are on break right now, we can train more to make up for it. Have a good holiday!

Dear Rosie, 

I know we do not know each other well, but I feel like I do. You mean so much to Cora, and she talks about you so often. The shawl is charmed to never get dirty and to repel water. 

Merry Christmas. 

“You had better like him, because after making this I can’t sleep without his face haunting my dreams. Merry Christmas!

Dearest little Rosebud,

     You’re another year older! And it’s another year of knowing one another. Truly, the best gift I have even been given was the gift of my sister, and nothing could ever match that. But I’m hoping that this helps to close the gap a little. I know you were disappointed about not being able to get a pet when we first got here, but I’m glad I can also rectify that. This is the fluffiest kitten I could find, and I hope they bring you as much joy as you bring me.

I’m so proud of you, Rosie. To get to see you thriving here at Hogwarts has been yet another gift, and I know you’ll only continue to reach heights others couldn’t even begin to dream of as you become more beautiful and brighter every single day. I love you, little sister.

[Delivered during breakfast on the morning of the feast, a black box with a silver serpent broach, a leather bound journal, a quill and a bottle of ink. At the bottom of the box is a small vial filled with a silver blue potion. The box is delivered with a note attached]

Rosemarie,

Merry Christmas, welcome to Slytherin House. I hope you enjoy your first Christmas as a member of the best house in Hogwarts. In the box you’ll find a number of gifts that I hope you will have use for in the coming year. It is not much, but consider it a token of my affection.

Sincerely,

Salazar Slytherin.

P.S. 

Gunnarr pretended as if he were taking her question seriously for a moment, considering it before simply saying. “Yes.” Then he stood still as she moved his grip. “How does you hand just barely even cover mine? Also if you wanted to hold hands you could have just asked.” Generally, he tried to avoid anything that was close to a flirt with Rosie, but it was too amusing of one to pass up. Besides, this was more in the teasing department. But then he did as she asked, closer to what she’d done. “How was that Mistress Heap?” he said with a crooked grin.

“Hands tend to be proportionate to bodies, so my hand is small and your’s is larger. Does that answer your question?” She said drily, with a raised eyebrow. Before now she had been rather tentative to be so dry with him, but he was asking for it with that comment. “You’ve caught me, this was all a clever rouse to get you to hold my hand. I am hopelessly in love with you, Gunnarr, please hold my hand.” She nodded at him to go again,”It’s getting better, but there is a moment between your upward and downward moment where you aren’t as fluid as you are otherwise.”

Eleonora nodded, beginning to form a bit of a path when it came to the route Rosie’s journey through healing might take. “Alright— well then we’ll probably mostly start with simply anatomy and the like. Parts of the bodies and their functions and things like that. But we can also mix some little healing charms in to begin with.”

Rosie hummed, trying to decide whether or not she should mention that books without pictures or smaller words would be rather useless to her. “Sounds perfect to me. I hope that this will not change the course of action, but I can not read. So books without diagrams will be of no help to me.”