ROSE WOKE WITH a start and froze seeing two strangers staring down at her. She made to sit up but the man with messy dark brown hair, brown eyes, and square spectacles put up his hands telling her to not move. The tall ginger-haired woman with familiar green eyes gave Rose a soft smile. It comforted Rose to look into those green eyes.

The couple simultaneously sat down on either side of the bed Rose was currently lying in. It was then that Rose remembered the events that lead her here to the Hospital Wing. The Quidditch match. The broom. The three mysterious figures pulling her forward. Then finally, the screech from Ghost and Rose falling to the ground.

Ghost. Rose looked at her feet and saw her Kneazle licking at her paws and staring at the couple who sat beside her. Ghost seemed to see no trouble in this visitation. This also comforted Rose.

"Who are you?"

Nightime showed through the cracks of the white linen curtains that softly rippled in the wind. Only two other patients were in the Hospital Wing, but they were peacefully asleep not having a single clue that intruders were in there midst.

"I'm Lily," the green-eyed woman said with a soft voice. Delicate as her voice may be Rose saw the sharpness in those green orbs. The women named Lily looked at the man across from her and introduced him, "And this is my husband, James. Your Uncle Fred asked us to keep an eye on you tonight to make sure you were safe from the things others couldn't see."

"You're the Potters," Rose gasped. The glasses, the hair, the sharp green eyes. Her Uncle Harry was a perfect mix between the two.

James snickered and nodded his head, "Yes, yes we are."

Rose gazed amazed at the couple in front of them. She heard so many stories of them. So many heroic tellings of how they fought against Voldemort and what they accomplished for the Order of the Pheonix. They were such strong people that were met with an unkind and unfair fate.

She was surprised she hadn't recognized them the first moment she laid eyes on them. Everytime Rose visited Albus's house she was always passed the framed picture upon the mantel showing a scene of Lily and James dancing under the falling leaves of autumn. It was a beautiful and calmly to watch.

"How are you feeling, darling?" Lily asked her leaning forward, but cautious enough to not touch her.

"Confused," Rose honestly answered and James snickered again.

"Well, of course you are. We all are..." He sighed leaning back in the wooden guest chair. "Even us souls only have a faint idea on what's going on. I'm sure Fred had filled you in on everything so far from your first visit with him. But since your fall we now know more, and it's not good."

"James," Lily grumbled, looking delicately at Rose and then back at her husband. "don't scare her."

"Tell me," Rose demanded looking straight into those piercing green eyes. "There's nothing now that you can't tell me that will make me spiral into insanity. I'm being haunted by souls. My fate is somehow connected to Ravana's actions. I've talked to my dead Uncle. I was summoned by three mysterious figures and now I'm talking to my other Uncle's dead parents. Whatever new information you've gathered I can take it."

It was a moment before she got a response from either of them. Lily looked taken aback but eventually nodded in agreement. James grinned at Rose.

"I'm glad we have a strong one on our side," James whispered and leaned up from his chair, his elbows propped on his thighs. "First, let's start with who you saw the day you fell from your broom. Who did you see?"

Rose shrugged, "I don't know. They were covered in black robes and their faces were hidden under a thick hood."

He nodded and continued, "Not knowing their identities is a problem, but what we are all mostly worried about is how they charmed your broom to fly towards them..."

Lily carried on, "In this in-between state we are all in there is no magic. We had no idea how those three charmed your broom until-" she stopped abruptly and looked a James. James gave her the same cautious gaze until he finally broke the eye contact and looked at Rose laying in the white linen bed. "Until we found the body of a dead witch at the edge of the forest..."

Rose's eyes widened wondering if they were joking. If James would start laughing and Lily would yell saying how horrible of a joke it was, but none of that happened. The pair gazed at Rose wondering how she would respond, but she stayed silent. So James kept talking.

"None of us knew why or who would do this, but after your incident we found out. The witch died so the three could take as much magic for themselves to perform that spell. When a person with magic dies their gift flows out of them and travels through the Veil just as a soul does. Unless someone in between the living world and the beyond is there to steal it... and use it to their advantage..."

"Do you- Do you know who it was?" Rose's voice felt so tiny, so small.

Lily nodded, "Fred identified her from his many trips up to the castle. Apparently, she's a teacher here at Hogwarts. A Professor Dierdre?"

"Professor Dierdre? Dead?" Her voice rose and James and Lily immediately looked around to see if anyone had woken up. The other patients were still asleep. Rose continued lowering her voice. "Professor Dierdre was killed? On school grounds?"

"Well," Lily sighed, her eyes filled with sadness, "it's not that hard now is it? No one but you can see us and a simple touch from us can bring you through the Veil..."

Rose laid there in silence. Professor Dierdre died because of her.

No ... Rose thought, it wasn't her fault. It was Ravana's for cracking The Veil... but she could see the souls... she could've been there to warn her DADA Professor... her Professor who died so they could steal her magic... to get to Rose...

Rose shook her head. No... this wasn't on her...

"Rose, darling - " Lily went to put a comforting hand on Rose but quickly pulled back. "I - I know this is all so much to deal with. Just know this is soon coming to an end. We will get back behind the Veil, Ravana will be brought to justice, and you will live a simple life once more..."

Rose nodded, but her chest felt heavy and her lungs tight and her throat dry. She looked around the Hospital Wing with wide eyes wondering if more souls would come to visit her in the Hospital Wing. If she would see the people murdered at the Battle of Hogwarts. If she would see people that died during Voldemort's first reign to power. More dead family members. The three mysterious figures in the cloaks...

"I think you need more rest," James stood up and took a bottle from the cabinet next to Rose's bed. He opened up the long crystal tube and splashed the liquid onto Rose's face.

Whatever was is in the bottle had Rose fall right to sleep once more.

+++

Rose once again woke with a start. This time sunlight poured out of the windows, the curtains were pulled back, the fellow patients were awake and eating porridge, Ghost was laying on the sunny window sill still licking his paws and instead of James and Lily looking down at her there was a small blonde hair girl instead.

"Oh thank Merlin you're awake!" Eloise let out a deep breath of relief and collapsed on the chair where the dead James Potter had just been not too long ago. This thought disturbed Rose. "I was hoping I would catch you before you were bombarded by your family."

"My family?" Rose grumbled rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. "What are they doing here?"

"Well, after purposely falling off of your broomstick Albus went berzerk and told McGonagall about what's been going on. They sent out an emergency message through her Patronus and they should be here any - "

The double wooden doors of the Hosptial Wing sprung open. Eloise jumped out of the chair.

Headmistress McGonagall lead the group with her billowing green robes, followed closely by her Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, and Rose's parents Hermione and Ron. Albus confidently followed suit while Scorpius looked at his fellow Slytherin with worrt and fear. The other two students staying in the Hospital Wing looked at the group in confusion.

They stopped in front of Rose's bed and while Professor McGonagall magicked some private curtains and, what Rose assumed, a sound charm so no one outside the area could hear, Rose's parents bombarded her with hugs.

"You're okay," her mother whispered in her ear as if finally seeing her was the reassurance she desperately needed. "Oh thank Merlin you're okay."

Her Mum and Dad both gave her a kiss on the top of her head and stepped back to give their daughter space. They, however, continued to stand by her head, placing a comforting hand on each side of their daughter's shoulder and continued to look down at their first-born as if the moment they looked away she would break into a shattered mess of glass.

"Rose..." she looked away from her parents and watched as Uncle Harry sat at the end of her bed. His eyes pierced into hers, just as his Mother's did just a few hours ago. His dead Mother's eyes.

Behind Uncle Harry, both Headmistress McGonagall and Aunt Ginny stood behind Scorpius and Albus. Scorpius looked at Rose just as he was looking at Albus when they walked in. Worried and frightened. Albus looked at his cousin with both frustration and fear.

"How long has this been going on?" Harry asked, his voice soft with a sense of urgency. Rose looked at her parents again. They looked as if they were on the brink of tears. Her Mum kept fidgeting her fingers. Her Dad bit the inside of his cheek, the surrounding area of his eye growing red as if he had been rubbing then. She slowly turned back to look at her Uncle once again and began to talk.

She told him everything. Her first sighting in the forest with Eloise. The way the figure made her feel. The second sighting with Ghost protecting her. She then got to the story of meeting her dead Uncle and talking to him about the cracked arch of the Veil and of Harry's presence there. She admitted she should've reached out sooner, but Rose didn't want to worry anyone. She was afraid of what would happen when she brought more people into the situation. About how real it would be. It wouldn't be just Rose, Eloise, Scorpius, and Albus. Her life... the situation she is in... the ability she has... it would all become so real.

She knew how having your every move surveyed affected her Uncle Harry. The pressure he was under. The immense responsibility he held. She didn't want any of that.

When she reached the part of talking to Uncle Fred she heard her Mum gasp and her Dad's hand on her shoulder tighten, but she continued to look directly at her Uncle determined to finish the story. Yet, her voice hitched as she had gotten to the events that happened only moments ago.

"I saw... I saw y-you're parents last night," Rose managed to say. "James and Lily. I woke up and saw them standing over me. Uncle Fred sent them to look after me through the night."She felt the room tense up. Even Ghost stopped licking his paws to look around.

At that moment Rose watched as her Uncle Harry shifted from an adult and into a vulnerable and lost looking boy. The boy before Hogwarts who wore hand-me-downs that were too big for him and was unloved by his family. The boy who dreamed of a world to take him away from the abuse. The boy who yearned for his parents...

"My... parents?"

Rose nodded slowly, "They wanted to make sure I was okay."

Harry stayed silent just staring at his niece in awe and envy. For a moment he forgot why they were here or the story Rose had just told them all.

Hermione looked at Harry and saw his shock. "Did they say anything to do you?" She asked, with a softy tremble in her voice that Rose barely made out.

"They wanted to know who the three figures were that had me fall off my broom, but I couldn't remember. They were telling me about how it was living in the in-between. They can't use magic, but there's a way, apparently, on how to get magic back in the in-between."

The room stayed silent allowing Rose to continue. Harry still had innocent sadness in his eyes.

"They kill. A simple touch can do it for these souls as they are still connected to the Veil."

Silence. Such eery silence filled the room that all Rose wanted to do was shake her Uncle and to get him out of this trance-like state he was in. To yell at Albus for telling them all. To grab Eloise and run out of the room in which the sadness and fear seemed to be suffocating her. She looked at Scorpius standing there. His gray eyes seemed so warm and they swirled around like clouds slowly moving across the sky and suddenly Rose felt calm. She continued what she had to do. She continued the story. "Because they are in the in-between if they kill a person with magic they can catch the magic and use it before it disappears forever. That's what the three hooded figures did in order to use magic to lure me towards them... to make my broom gravitate towards them."

"Professor Deirdre," McGonagall gasped and had to place a hand on Albus's shoulder to steady herself. "Merlin... it's all happening again..."

No one asked what McGonagal meant by "again". They all knew.

"All they have to do is touch us to kill us?" Rose looked over at her friend Eloise and found that she too looked different. No longer stood her rock-solid best friend with daggers in her eyes and a sharp tongue to belittle any nuisance that came her way. Now, a scared little girl stood in Eloise's place. Ghost sensed this too and jumped into Eloise's arms allowing her to hold and cuddle him for comfort.

Uncle Harry finally moved and pulled out a long black necklace made of string that was hiding under his shirt. At the end of it was a small circular gem with white and grey swirls that seemed to be moving around. It reminded Rose of Scorpius's eyes.

"Ever since I can back to life at the Battle of Hogwarts I could hear whispers of the dead," he said dauntingly. Rose watched behind Uncle Harry as Albus quickly turned his head towards Scorpius. The two boys had heard this at the Three Broomsticks when Uncle Harry has that secret meeting. "I always thought it was the wind or my imagination, but after Ravana broke the Veil I could hear full conversations and knew they were the souls that escaped.

"I never saw them and they posed no threat to me. Or so I assumed But the voices were too much and I needed them to stop. Kingsley told me about a gem that wards of the dead and I had Bill, your Uncle Bill, keep a lookout for the gem. Once he got it I held it and instantly felt peace. The voices quieted down..."

He slipped the necklace off his neck and looked at the gem as he continued to talk.

"I don't know how it will affect you when you put it on... but you need this more than I do," He reached over and took his niece's hand in his and placed the gem on her palm.

The moment the gem touched her skin she felt an odd sensation pass through her body. It was a sense of peace and she let her lips curl into a soft smile as the presence of the gem gave her a solid feeling of protection. Her Uncle Harry returned the smile knowing how the gem made him feel the first time.

Rose shook her head and tried to push the gem back to Uncle Harry, "What about the voices?"Harry took his hand away from Rose's allowing her to hold it by herself. "I'll be okay Rose. I'll find another gem. I can wait. You need this more than anyone. You can see the souls. You can warn those if danger is coming-"

"I couldn't save Professor Dierdre-"

"That's not your fault," Rose's father quickly chimes in. "Restrictions on where those can wonder can be made. Precautions can be taken. But Rose, you're a magnet for these souls. You need to take that gem and keep safe. Because if anything happened to you... then there's no chance for anything to go back to normal..."

She nodded at her father and looked back at the gem in her hands. Rose put the necklace around her neck and smiled at her parents.

"That looks beautiful on you."

Everyone's attention shifted from Rose to Scorpius.

"Well, not that it didn't look beautiful on you Mr. Harry," Scorpius said, his face turning bright red on his pale white skin. "N-not that I think you're beautiful. Well not that I don't think you aren't...  I... I'm just saying... beautiful gem."

"What a weird fucking day," Albus chimed in and then quickly cursed at himself. "Shirt sorry I didn't mean to say fucking. Wait, dammit  -well Scorpius at least now you're not the only stupid one here."

Eloise barked out a laugh, "Nothing can distract us from the fact that Malfoy called Mr. Harry beautiful." The tense and quiet room busted out in laughter at the two boys.

And this made Rose feel hopeful for the first time in a while.