Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed Twists of Fate. I appreciate all of you who took the time to read my work. You will never know how much it means to me.

If you enjoyed Twists of Fate, be sure to check out the first chapter of my new fiction Gated!

Chapter One: The Fourth Day

The first time someone tried to kill Rose Granger-Weasley was the third-worst day of her life. The second day was reserved for the time her Mum sent her a howler. When the howler announced the name of the boy Rose fancied in front of the whole Great Hall, she nearly died of embarrassment. The absolute worst day of her life had yet to happen. She was saving that spot for the day she got killed or the world ran out of coffee. Whichever came first.

The last time someone tried to kill Rose Granger-Weasley was less than 24 hours ago. At that point, the witch was so used to her life being threatened that it wasn't worth adding to the list. However, the moment Albus showed up on her doorstep with her least favorite Slytherin close behind, Rose knew today was going to be the fourth-worst day of her life.

Albus and the rest of his co-workers had been invading her home for hours. When Al first showed up at her flat, Rose naively assumed it was to comfort her after yet another near-death experience. Then she noticed the ferret behind him. After that, it became apparent Al was determined to ruin her life.

A safe house. He wanted her to go to a safe house. A safe house with Auror Malfoy. Which meant leaving behind her flat, ceasing all un-work related communication, and being trapped in the same house as Malfoy for Merlin knows how long. Rose's stomach felt queasy at the idea.

Currently, Uncle Harry was in the sitting room with her parents, carefully going over the plan Albus concocted to secure Rose's safety. Albus and Malfoy were sitting in her kitchen using every persuasive technique in the books to convince her to follow along with the plan. Or at least Albus was. Malfoy was huddled in the corner looking irritated with the entire situation.

Rose's head dropped back on the kitchen chair. She closed her eyes hoping that the next time they'd open this nightmare would end. If only Albus would shut up.

"I don't need a bodyguard," Rose said for what must have been the millionth time that day. Like the other 999,999 times she tried to interject, Albus talked over her.

"Rosie, this is the fifth time a member of The Reformed has made an attempt on your life. As the lead Auror on this case, it is my job to keep you out of harm's way. The best way to do that is to get you out of the public eye and away from danger. The head of the department agrees with me on this."

"Will you quit with the formalities! Just because your Dad agrees with you doesn't mean I'm going to go along with it."

Albus sighed running his hands down his face. He was getting frustrated with her, but Rose couldn't find the will to care. She hated the idea of being confined, especially when she was in the middle of the most important case of her career.

At only 23-years-old Rose Granger-Weasley was the best lawyer at the Ministry. It wasn't because her last name earned her respect or because her Uncle was head of the department. It was all due to the countless hours stuck behind a desk, meticulously going over files, reading every law book around, and practicing statements with every spare moment. With the amount of time Rose spent doing her job, she barely had a social life. Or so her last boyfriend told her right before he dumped her. Her career was her life and she was not ashamed to admit that.

Her hard work had earned her a spot on the top and she was not going to let a few minor death threats stop her from doing her job. Not when it was so important to her and the rest of the Wizarding World.

When Wendigo Pious first showed his face around the Wizarding World five years ago, nobody took him as a serious threat. He caused minor issues. Tiny explosions in abandoned muggle communities. Petty theft in Knockturn Alley. Things that weren't even worth being printed in the Prophet.

That is until he started Extractions, a magical ceremony that removed a witch or wizard's magical essence. Never before had anyone thought such a feat possible. He began by knocking out key members of the Ministry and subtly replacing them with his followers. It was months before Uncle Harry realized what was going on. He managed to clean out the dirty workers and created a task to track Pious and his followers who began calling themselves The Reformed.

Albus was appointed head of the task force and spent three years tracking Pious until a few months ago when he finally managed to capture the evil wizard. By the time Pious was put behind bars, he had managed to rid 149 witches and wizards of their magic.

Healers at St. Mungo were working tirelessly to attempt to get the victims their magic back. So far they were unsuccessful.

Rose couldn't imagine what it'd be like to have her magic taken from her. It was a huge part of her life. To have it stolen would be like losing a piece of herself. She wanted to get justice for all the magic Pious had callously stolen. Those people deserved to have some form of closure and she'd do whatever she could to make it happen.

For four months she slaved away at her office. Only leaving to occasionally grab food and take a mental break. On one of her 'mental breaks' three months ago, Rose was strolling around Diagon Alley looking for new quills when a killing curse was shot her way. Luckily, the curse ricocheted off the side of a building, giving Rose time to disarm her attacker. Since then it's been one incident after another. Just 24 hours ago, Rose had to deal with some idiots' feeble attempt to poison her with a bottle of butterbeer. The minute the bottle was delivered to her office, Rose knew it was tampered with. She sent it straight to Al hoping he'd investigate and call it a day. She never imagined he'd overreact like this.

"It'll only be until after the trial, Rose."

"And how long will that be?" Rose glared at her cousin, "I know better than anyone how long a trial can last. It could be months! I refuse to go to your little 'safe house' all because a few arseholes shot some curses at me."

A small chuckle erupted from across the room. Rose twirled to glare at the blonde boy in the corner. Grey met blue and Rose's arms filled with prickles of annoyance. Scorpius Malfoy met her stare straight on. His famous smirk was on full display. He looked far too amused for a boy who was about to be punched in the face.

"Shut it! You can't be too happy about these circumstances. I doubt you signed up to babysit me."

Malfoy raised a brow and crossed the room to stand next to Albus. "I'm a professional Ms. Weasley. When a superior assigns me a task I do it without question. I don't sit and whine about it like a child."

"First off, it's Granger-Weasley. Second, Albus is not my superior. He may be yours but he is not mine." Rose advanced on the Slytherin until she was close enough to glare at him properly. "And third, you don't have the right to place any judgment until you're the one being forced into this absurd idea of witness protection."

"In case you forgot, Weasley I'll be the one with you in that house. I'm not any more thrilled about it than you are. So why don't you stop this little brat act and let us do our jobs."

"Then let me do mine!" Rose nearly screamed. For a split second, Malfoy's cool exterior crumpled into shock. He recovered quickly and put his mask back on.

"This isn't about my safety." Rose continued, turning back to Albus. "This is about making sure that man is put away for all the horrible things he's done to the Wizarding World. If you pull me away from the office now I won't have all the resources I need to make sure he rots away in Azkaban."

"And if I don't put you under Auror protection now, you might not be around to win the case," Albus said with a fierceness Rose didn't know he was capable of.

Albus had always been protective of Rose. He was her best mate after all. It was his job to look out for her. He did not take kindly to anyone trying to hurt her. He'd do whatever was necessary to make sure she stayed safe. Even if that meant enduring her rage.

Rose studied her cousin. His brows were wrinkled in determination. His green eyes held hers unwavering. He wasn't going to back down.

Rose took a deep breath and stepped away from Al. Pinching her bottom lip between her fingers, she looked to her cousin. "I'll agree to the safe house or whatever it is."

Albus' shoulders slumped in relief, "Thank you, Ro—"

"On one condition."

Malfoy rolled his eyes, unsurprised that the princess couldn't make his life easy.

"I can't let this stop me from doing my job. That means I need to be able to communicate with my office and have complete access to anything I need at a moment's notice."

Albus clasped his hands together, contemplating her requests. Rose leaned forward in anticipation. This was as far as she was willing to compromise.

"I don't know if that's the best idea," Albus said hesitantly. Before Rose could argue he carried on, "The point of relocating you is to make sure that members of The Reform won't have a chance to get to you. If you're constantly sending owls to the office or running around interviewing witnesses you risk exposing your cover."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. I need to be able to do my job."

"You might be willing to take that risk but I am not gambling with your life!" Al stood hotly, running his fingers through his messy black hair.

"Then we need to find another solution."

"I could do those errands for her," Malfoy volunteered, stepping out from his place in the corner. "We're already set to leak it to the press that I'll be taking a leave of absence due to an 'injury.' People won't think twice if they see me doing these things. I could even use polyjuice potion if necessary."

"What injury?" Rose demanded, doing a quick sweep of Malfoy. He looked uninjured and perfectly healthy.

Malfoy rolled his eyes in annoyance, "If you were listening to Al earlier you would have heard him say that tomorrow the department will be staging an attack where I will obtain an injury and be placed on medical leave."

"When did he say that?"

Albus groaned, "Did you listen to a thing I said when I was explaining the plan?"

Rose glanced guiltily down at her hands. As soon as she heard the words 'safe house' her stubborn trousers were on and she didn't hear a word Albus had to say.

Gesturing to the table, Albus silently commanded Rose to take a seat. For once, she obliged. Albus nodded at Malfoy and the two shared a silent understanding, that didn't go unnoticed by Rose.

Malfoy and Albus became best mates from their first train ride to Hogwarts. From that moment on the two were inseparable. Slytherin housemates, quidditch teammates, and now co-workers. It was unlikely to see one without the other. One would think with their best mate in common Rose and Malfoy would have gotten along. That was far from the truth.

Rose didn't hate Malfoy. Hate was a strong emotion and while she certainly didn't like Malfoy, she did not hate him. The blonde Slytherin was a pain in her side. During school, he used to drive her crazy. He teased her relentlessly and never let her sit comfortably at the number one slot in their year. Now that they were well out of Hogwarts, she, fortunately, didn't have to endure Malfoy very often. On the rare occasion they worked together he was still his annoying and cocky self. Knowing that Rose would be sentenced to spending the next few months with him was going to be absolute torture.

"Could you please go over the plan one more time?" Rose asked kindly.

"It is simple really," Albus explained. "Tomorrow afternoon my task force has a scheduled raid on Pious' followers. During the raid, we'll stage a fake explosion that will supposedly be the cause of Scorp's medical leave. We'll get the word out and by the end of the day, the Prophet will have reported it. That way nobody will question it when Scorp disappears for a few months.

Tonight, Scorp and I will be moving all your necessary items to the safe house. Only he, Dad, and I will know its location. Then tomorrow, while we are handling Scorp's situation, Dad will take you to the safe house. I have a decoy posing as you who will board a train to Paris where they will then catch a portkey to Bulgaria. Once you're settled, I'll stop by to drop Scorp off and you'll be able to work on the case without having to worry about drinking a bad batch of butterbeer."

"Why Bulgaria?" Rose asked.

"Oh right. We'll be telling people you're in Bulgaria visiting the Krums. Viktor and Dimitar are already on board with the plan. The gossip columns already suspected you and Dimitar were back together, so this won't be a hard sell."

Rose blushed scarlet. "Dimitar agreed to this?"

"Without hesitation. He and his Dad are happy to help out any way they can."

Rose let the information sink in. She and Dimitar Krum have dated on and off for the last five years. They were currently in one of their off-periods after Rose ended things almost a year ago. She was a little surprised to hear Dimitar offer to help.

Desperately needing to change the topic, Rose asked, "And when do I get to leave and go back to civilization?"

"As soon as the trial begins," Malfoy inputted. "At that point, we won't be able to hide the fact that you never stopped working the case. We'll have to double security detail but at least this way the Ministry will be able to keep you out of harm's way for the time being."

"That sounds great and all but what about you? You actually caught the guy. What's to say The Reformed won't come after you next?"

Albus laughed like the whole situation was hysterical. "Rose, we're Aurors. Our lives are constantly in danger. Besides my task force may have caught Pious but you're the only one that can put him in Azkaban. Without you, Pious has a real shot at walking."

Rose tapped the table rhythmically, "Alright, but there better be coffee at that safe house, Albus. I swear if I have to be trapped in that place with him for the next few months without my coffee, I'm going to lose it."

"Coffee?" Malfoy asked, looking at Al for an answer.

"It's this muggle drink that Rose is obsessed with. Personally, I think it's bitter but she can't seem to function without it."

"It is not bitter. It's a lifesaver and delicious." Rose widened her eyes innocently, "So will I have some?"

Albus rolled his eyes, "I'll make sure you have electricity so that machine thing works and that you have enough coffee to last you a year."

Rose allowed herself a small victory dance before focusing on the task at hand.

"What did you tell our families? Am I allowed to tell my parents where I'm going?"

"She didn't listen when you explained anything," Malfoy yawned, looking completely bored with the conversation. "Want me to draw you a picture, Weasley? Maybe then you'd be able to remember it."

"It's Granger-Weasley, you toad and I don't need a picture drawn. I just want to make sure everything is in order so I'm not worrying while I'm gone."

"Toad? That's not original." Malfoy tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Although I suppose it's slightly better than Ferret."

"Will you two knock it off?" Albus snapped, sending them both harsh glares. "I know this is not the ideal situation but like it or not you are going to be stuck with one another for a while so I suggest you make the best of it."

Rose huffed, crossing her arms sternly across her chest. She could feel Malfoy's glare on her. She refused to turn his way.

"Now, Rose." Albus began patiently, "Our family thinks that you'll be in Bulgaria like everyone else. Your parents and Hugo are the only ones who know the truth, but like I already said they won't know your exact location."

"Bet Dad's not too happy about that."

Albus quirked an eyebrow, "Think he 'bout hexed Dad when he told him. Uncle Ron insisted on coming with you. Your Mum had to convince him that he'd give up your story if he did that."

Despite how annoyed she felt, Rose laughed for what felt like the first time in weeks. "Of course Dad did. I can always count on him to have my back."

"My Dad's in your sitting room now, still trying to calm him down. If your Mum wasn't so level-headed we'd have lost that battle by now."

"That surprises you?" Rose teased, nudging Albus' foot. "How'd he feel when you told him Malfoy was the Auror assigned to my protection detail?"

Albus flinched, "I haven't yet. Dad should be doing that any minute now."

At his confession, Malfoy jumped out of his chair. "What?" He whispered harshly, his eyes crazily darting toward the sitting room. "I thought you agreed to tell him when we were already at the safe house."

"We did but Dad said he couldn't very well let his best mate's daughter go off to a safe house with his worst enemies' child without letting his best mate at least know about it."

"He very well could." Malfoy insisted, not missing a beat.

Rose had never seen Malfoy look so disoriented before. His eyes were twitching, his hands shaking. If Rose didn't know any better she might say he was frightened of her father.

"It'll be fine," Albus insisted, waving a hand. "Uncle Ron is a hot-headed man but he isn't unreasonable. Once he realizes that Scorp's the best man to protect his daughter, he won't be able to argue."

"He will," Rose argued. Just moments ago she was irritated with everything but she couldn't help but be amused that these two tough Aurors were scared of her father. "Albus, you know my father. He'll go ballistic. You did have your Dad take his wand away, right? Cause if you didn't I suspect he'll be in here within the next few minutes to hex you both."

At that both Albus and Malfoy's bodies tensed. Rose's grin could only grow.

"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU'RE SENDING MY LITTLE GIRL OFF ALONE WITH THAT MALFOY BOY!"

Rose had never loved her father more than at that moment. His timing could not have been any more perfect.

Rose smirked and winked at the two boys. "This should be fun."

The sitting room door flew open, banging against the walls. Rose was surprised that it didn't come off the hinges. Ronald Weasley stormed into the kitchen. His blue eyes were wild as they sought out the target of their anger. They settled first on Albus before moving on to Malfoy. His eyes turned into slits. His hand wrapped around his wand, as he raised it in the direction of Malfoy.

Albus and Malfoy jumped out of their seats, wands raised in a defensive position.

Before any real fun could happen, Hermione appeared behind her husband, forcing his hand down just as sparks shot out of the end. Rose yelped as the sparks connected with her floor leaving burn marks in their place.

"Ronald, calm down," Hermione said soothingly.

Ron's freckled face turned back to its normal color. His chest rose and fell rapidly, as Hermione's arms wrapped around them.

Albus and Malfoy relaxed. Al lowered his wand, but Malfoy seemed more hesitant. He eyed her father warily. Seeing as the threat was over, Rose reached over and forced Malfoy's arm down. He shot her a look of disgust and shoved his wand back in