The Rose Warrior

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or Harry Potter.

"Come on, Rose! Hurry Up or we'll be late," she heard her cousin yell from downstairs. Rose chuckled as she finished getting dressed. She wore an ocean blue T-Shirt with a strange design reminiscent of a dragon's skull on the front, dark blue jeans, brown mid-calf boots, and a black leather jacket with white angel wings on the back. She looked at herself in the mirror and nodded. "That should do it," she commented.

Rose Potter was rather tall for an almost 11 year old. She had pale rose colored hair, mocha skin, almond-shaped, bi-colored eyes (the right, icy blue and the left, emerald green). Although she could not remember her adoptive parents, she knew that she looked nothing like them. She was told by her family that she was adopted when she was old enough to know.

She shook her head from her thoughts as she left her room and headed down the stairs. As she walked down, she spotted her cousin standing in the hall. "It's about time you got down here," her cousin grumbled, "why do girls always take so long?"

Rose chuckled and said with a half smirk, "It's not that girls always take a long time, it's that you have no patience Dudley. Besides girls aren't the only ones who do it, Guys do too." Her cousin never liked waiting.

Dudley was a tall boy only slightly shorter than her. He was very lean and well-muscled for someone his age due to all the boxing he did. He had short sandy-blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a plain blue T-Shirt and jeans as well as he black trainers.

Just as Dudley was about to retort, her aunt walked in. "Alright you two, that's enough. Rose, don't antagonize your cousin. Dudley, she's right. Girls aren't the only ones who take a while," her aunt spoke with slight amusement. "Yes, Aunt Petunia/Mom," they both replied in unison. Petunia smiled and rolled her eyes at them.

Her Aunt Petunia was a thin woman with long sandy-blond hair like her son, and pale blue eyes. "You look very nice, Aunt Petunia," Rose said looking at her aunt's beautiful blue blouse, skirt, and flats. Her aunt smiled and replied "Thank you, Rose."

"Right then, are you two ready to go to the zoo?" she asked. They both grinned and nodded excitedly as her Uncle Vernon came out of the kitchen. "Everybody all set," he asked.

Vernon, like his son, was tall and in shape from years of boxing. He had short greying black hair, a big bushy mustache, and dark brown almost black eyes. He was dressed in a blue shirt, beige pants, and black shoes.

"All set, dear," Petunia replied. He grinned and said "Excellent! Let's be on our way shall we?" Rose and Dudley cheered with happily and raced out to the car. Vernon and Petunia simply shook their head and chuckled with amusement at their antics. They walked to the car as the kids, talking excitedly about the animal they would see at the zoo, got in and buckled up. Once they were in and all buckled up they left for the zoo.

"So kids, what animals are you most excited to see," asked Petunia. Rose and Dudley grinned and open their mouths to answer at the same time. They laugh as they saw the other about to talk as well. "You first Dudley," laughed Rose. He nodded and said "I can't wait to see the alligators and lions!" Everyone laugh at his almost fan-girlish squeal of excitement. "And what about you, Rose," came Vernon's laughing voice from the driver's seat. "I want to see the wolves, wild cats, and pandas," she replied. "And the snakes," Dudley chimed in.

Rose gave a shy smile at that. It was no secret that she had a fondness for snakes. Snakes reminded her of dragons. Well, some of them anyway, she thought as she said "I like snakes but it's mostly because they remind me of the dragons I read about in Mom and Dad's books." Everyone chuckled at her shyness about the subject.

Her family was, to most of the neighborhood, strange which she couldn't argue they were strange but not for what the neighbors thought. The neighborhood thought they were strange because they accepted the fact that she had pink hair and was gay. Sure, her family liked being 'normal' but their opinions on the matter while slightly different added to the same answer, "It's not bothering us."

Dudley's opinion was, "It doesn't matter to me, guy or girl I'll still kick their butts if they hurt me cousin." She couldn't help but laugh when he told her that.

Vernon's opinion was pretty much the same as Dudley's, "I don't care what their gender is. You are and have always been my little girl since the moment we found you on our doorstep. If they break your heart or hurt you in anyway, they'll have me to answer to." She just giggled and kissed his cheek after he said that.

Petunia's opinion was," So long as you bring them over every now and then for dinner, and don't do anything stupid I have no problem with it. Though, I reserve the right to remind them that while the boy's will threaten bodily harm I am one to worry about. Especially since, I know how to leave no evidence behind." Her aunt said with a deadly grin on her face. Rose often wonders if her mother had planned on this happening when she taught her Aunt potions.

It made Rose happy to know her family was fine with it. Though, there was another thing about her that the neighbors didn't know that her family was okay with, her magical heritage. Her aunt and uncle had told her about it the moment they knew she was old enough to understand and even helped her learn how to control it. They put her in meditation classes and even gave her the books parent's left her in their old school trunks, though they always made sure she memorized each one before give her the next.

Hearing her uncle say "Bloody fool, riding a motorcycle like that." Shook Rose from her thoughts and memories. She looked out the window and saw a man riding a motorcycle in jeans, a t-shirt, and trainers. She scowled at the man's lack of a leather or padded jacket. It was a pet peeve she and her uncle shared. That and reckless drivers.

Rose and Vernon were both what her aunt and cousin affectionately called 'Grease monkeys'. They loved working on cars and motorcycles and would often go down to the local junk yard to look for parts and old cars to fix up and sell or keep. They were currently working on an old Harley motorcycle that would be all Rose's when she had her license.

"I had a strange dream last night about a flying motorcycle," Rose said. "Was in the one with the strange people from that place you saw, Cocoon," asked Dudley, her statement having caught her family's attention.

She often had strange dream of other worlds called 'Gran Pulse' and 'Cocoon' as well as people she never knew yet seemed so familiar. People like 'Lightning', 'Fang', 'Serah', and 'Vanille'. The fact that these dreams often left her waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and scared also had her family concerned.

Shaking her head, Rose said "No, this time it was different. This time it was about the night before Aunt Petunia found me. At least, I think it was that night, I don't really remember much of it. All I remember is a giant man on an old motorcycle that was flying." They all nodded and looked a little relieve at that.

TBC.