A/N: TW - child abuse, religious violence.

Chapter 2: The Demon in the Walls

One good thing came out of the incident, as she started to refer to it as. The next day she'd woken up to the foster home coming to pick her up.

Boris hadn't been anywhere to be seen, but she had seen Tiana. The woman had looked furious, and was looking at her sadly, flinching lightly as she passed. As she went outside she saw a pile of suitcases and realized that Tiana had found out about the incident, and had decided she wasn't okay with it. Rose wondered if he was in jail. She hoped he was.

She came back to the group home. She got a different bedroom, but Rose was okay with that. Miss Farley had looked at her sadly as she returned, with tears in her eyes and Rose grimaced. Did everyone know? She didn't want anyone to know.

After that she had to go to these special meetings with this lady who talked to her about consent and her body and all this stuff that made her want to wrinkle her nose. They had her talk about her feelings and stuff and it made Rose panic. What if they discovered how she was different. She'd never had to talk to anyone before Tom before.

'Lie" Tom whispered in her mind, "I'll show you."

Over the rest of the meeting Tom told her how to act. He told her when to frown, and when to smile. When to look upset and guilty and when to make her eyes tear up a little bit. He told her what to tell the doctor lady, giving her the answers to her questions that she wanted to hear.

Rose overheard the doctor lady talking to a social worker and Miss Farley.

"Yes she seems to be perfectly fine. She's handling it much better than Id expected. Of course keep an eye on her, see how she interacts with the only children and we'll go from there."

"Rose has always been quiet." Miss Farley said sadly, "She doesn't play with the others much, she seems to be fine just playing by had an imaginary friend for a while, but I think that phase may have faded."

"Well keep a close eye on how she interacts with other people, and her school work." The doctor lady smiled, "Children can show trauma and act out in ways much different than adults. If we're lucky Rose will be okay and the whole incident will fade from her memory."

"We can only hope." Miss Farley flinched.

Rose tilted her head. She didn't think the incident would fade from memory. She wanted to remember it. Remember the feeling of pulling magic through her hand to create the light in her hand that blinded him. The look of horror and pain on his face when she snapped his arm without touching it, and his sobbing, half blind form on the floor as she left him there...

She'd felt powerful in that moment. Only afterwards did she cry over her own stupidity at trusting a stupid muggle. But that moment she wanted to remember forever.

"Tom, why don't you have a body?"

Rose wasn't sure why she hadn't asked him this before. He had been talking for a year now and she never thought to ask why he was there. He'd said she was special, and that's why she had a Tom. But he'd also said he used to have a body.

Tom took a second to reply. Rose had noticed that there was always a pause before he replied after he'd been silent for a while. She assumed he went asleep or dormant when she wasn't talking with him.

"The night I killed your parents." He started, "I attempted to kill you too."

Rose tiled her head, "Why?"

"You were a threat."

Rose nodded. That made sense. Corrie Hicks had been a threat. Boris Fulton had been a threat. She knew all about hurting threats. Her parents must've been a threat too.

"When I attempted to kill you, my curse fired back at me. In order to stop myself from dying I latched onto your mind."

"Oh." Rose frowned, "Why didn't the curse work?"

"I've thought long and hard about it. I believe it was the deaths of your mother and Alice Longbottom. They refused to move and in doing so, effectively died to keep you and the other boy safe. I forgot about the power of such sacrifice."

"Other boy?"

"Neville Longbottom." Tom supplied, "He was there as well. Unimportant boy."

Rose hummed, "We're we friends?"

"As much as you could be at a year old." Tom pointed out.

Rose wondered what the other boy was like. Maybe he was like her and Tom. She hoped so. She'd like to have another friend. Most of the other children annoyed her and were rather dull but they couldn't help it, they were just muggles after all.

"Was he magic too?"

"Yes."

Rose beamed, "Maybe I'll see him at Hogwarts then! We could be friends."

Tom seemed uncertain, "Perhaps. But it's unlikely. The Longbottoms are a notoriously light family, and he probably won't be as okay as my murder of his parents."

Rose wrinkled her nose. Well, if this Neville didn't like Tom then he wasn't going to be a friend.

"What's a Light family?" She asked instead, wondering why it was bad.

"Well, technically there's no such thing as a 'Light' family." Tom explained, "Generally it's a term used to describe a family that is against dark magic. Families that actively use all dark magics are Dark Families, like the Blacks and Malfoy's. Some families are more neutral, where they use dark magic, but only legal spells and rituals."

Roses frown grew more and more pronounced as he listened to him. She realized she didn't know anything about the wizarding world. She'd wanted to learn about Magic and how to do it, but she knew that she would need to know about the world she would soon live in.

"My family?" She asked.

"The Potters are considered a light family. But that's a recent development. For centuries they were considered more neutral, but after Grindelwald and my wars against the ministry, there was more pressure for neutrals to pick a side. The Potters chose the light."

Rose frowned, "What's Dark magic then?"

Tom snorted, "That's the question, isn't it? What is dark magic? Dark Magic could be the unforgivable curses. Or it could be the Knockback Jinx, a school boy spell usually cast in the halls. Originally Dark Magic was a specific branch of magic steeped in old magic and ritual, with sacrifices and intent to harm. In fact the magic your mother invoked with her own sacrifice would have been considered an ancient form of Dark Magic. But now a days? Pretty much anything that can harm can be labelled as dark."

"That's stupid." Rose muttered, "You can get hurt doing anything. Timothy Jenkins got hit in the head with a ball the other day and it hurt him, doesn't mean balls should be made illegal."

"Well, not all Dark Spells are illegal." Tom countered, "The knockback jinx is considered dark, but it's hardly illegal. However once the ministry classifies a spell as dark a stigma is attacked to it that wasn't there before. The knockback jinx is no longer taught at Hogwarts, most students learn it from parents or books. It means that spells that had once been common place become lost to time."

"So like how we can't go sledding anymore cause the gov-ment said it was too dangerous." Rose stumbled over her words.

Tom was amused, "Yes, like that. Some Wizards, like myself, believe that the current Ministry has become corrupt. Their policies and laws are made in order to appease rather than for the betterment of society. They are easily bought. They need to be replaced."

"Why don't you just run for gov-er-ment then? Celina Oswald's dad is doing that. She says he can make new laws and rules and stuff."

"Yes. That is an option, however the system is already broken. And there are very powerful witches and wizards who want things to stay the same, both Light Wizards and and Dark. A war was not my first idea, but it was the solution I was forced to go with."

Rose frowned as he spoke. There was an emotion that Tom was feeling as he spoke to her. Something she'd felt before but she couldn't quite place. Eagerness, Deviousness, and...

Deceit.

"You're lying." Rose accused, feeling a bit of pride at having caught him.

Tom was startled, "Pardon?"

"I can feel it." Rose hissed, "I can feel your emotions. You're lying. You're mani-pull-ating me!"

Tom was silent and she could feel him as he rushed through various emotions. Surprise, annoyance, anger, pride.

Pride.

She puffed up her chest a bit. She'd made him proud! Nobody was ever proud of her.

"Alright." Tom assented, "Perhaps I wanted a war. Perhaps I wanted to murder and kill every last muggle I can. Maybe I want to rip wizarding children from their parents to save them from being tainted from the filth. Maybe I want to tear away the muggle growth on our society and bring back the culture of our ancestors and I am willing to torture and kill in order to make sure it happens."

He sounded so calm as he spoke, but Rose could feel his emotion. Passion, rage. The same thing really. Excitement as well.

"Do you know what a tyrant is?"

Rose shook her head.

"People think it means a supreme ruler, someone who had absolute power over a population. A dictator if you will. But the term goes back to Ancient Greek - tyrannos, someone who gains power through...well, rather unconventional means. Generally someone who takes power by force. But they're not all bad. What if you're taking power from a cruel and vicious leader? You're still a tyrant but yet a better leader than they had before.

"In Ancient Corinth, the ruling family was called the Bacchiadae, who were severely unpopular. A man called Cypselus overthrew them and became a tyrant of Corinth, but under him the state prospered."

Rose nodded, "If the leader is bad, then you need a new leader, who will do things right."

"Exactly." Tom was pleased.

"So you want to be a...Tyrant, of the Wizarding World?"

"Well, I wouldn't use the word Tyrant. It has a bit of a negative connotation these days. But yes."

Rose tilted her head, trying to think over what he'd said. She didn't really understand all the words he;d used but she thought she understood what he meant. The wizarding world was ruled by bad people, who stayed in power doing bad things. And Tom wanted to fix it, but he had to do bad things to do that.

"I cut open Corrie's arm." Rose finally said, "To make her stop hurting me. I had to do a bad thing, in order to make a good thing happen."

Tom was silent, probably letting her work things out.

"And I hurt Boris. It felt good. He deserved it."

"It made you feel powerful."

Rose shifted uncomfortably. It did, and she didn't feel bad about it. More she felt like she should feel bad, and she didn't. Was she a bad person?

"Maybe we're both bad people." Tom pointed out, "Merlin knows I've chipped away at my humanity until I am little more a piece of soul inside your mind."

"You're not bad." Rose glared at nothing, "You help me. You teach me. If you're bad, then I'm bad."

"Well then, young Briar."Tom chuckled in her mind, feeling bursts of pride and success that filled her with happiness, "It seems that we'll be bad together."

She stayed at the group home up until after her 7th Birthday. They took her to the cinema again, this time to see an old movie that had come out when Tom was in school. He had hummed lightly as they watched the old school animation style and she got flashes of a dark haired little boy, a few years older than her, sitting in a old cinema watching the same movie.

Rose had overheard them talking a few times. They were looking for a suitable home for her without any men present, and had been having some trouble. The issue was she now had a bit of a reputation of a trouble maker, which hadn't been helped when Corrie Hicks had told them she was a problem child.

She had just started year 3 when they finally found a home for her.

Her name was Ellise. She was an older woman, in her late Sixties. Her hair was white and curled back from her face. She had frown lines, but was always smiling which didn't make much sense to Rose, but she seemed friendly enough. She wore ugly sweaters and bunny slippers and her house was pretty big.

Her bedroom was super nice. She had a large bed with a giant chest full of toys and a big bookshelf. She had her own desk in the corner that she could colour on or do her homework. She was getting much better at maths and they were doing a lot about science this year, which Tom told her to pay attention too.

"Physics is useless." He waved it off, "It's based on a muggle understanding of the universe, not a magical one. But Biology, Chemistry, Environmental studies and the like will help you a lot at Hogwarts, especially in Potions and Herbology."

He encouraged her to have good grades in everything, saying that it built good study habits. Every night he made her spend two hours on homework, even if it only took five minutes to finish.

Ellise seemed pleased by her work ethic, and tended to leave her to it. She only had a few rules in her house, and they all seemed fairly easy. Keep your room clean, no swearing, do your school work, take your shoes off at the door etc etc.

She had to say prayer before dinner, which she didn't get, but it was just words. And if it made Ellise happy than who was she to argue? In fact Ellise was very religious compared to other homes she'd been in. Every Sunday Rose would dress up in her best dress and she would go with Ellise to mass. Tom was always oddly silent every time they did this, but she could get flashes of a childhood of similar visits with long lines of children in rows in a dreadful looking place.

It didn't take long for her to memorize the hymns and harmonies and Ellise would always smile at her. She probably thought she was raising a perfect christian little girl. She would read her stories from the bible as bedtime stories, and Rose would always giggle at ones about witches.

"Keep your magic on the down low with her." Tom had suggested, "You never know with these religious types. They tend not to take it as well."

As Ellise read about burning witches in hells fire, she thought that maybe he had a point.

Tom continued her magical education and started to educate her about the different magical families.

"So the Sacred 28 are the Pureblood families?" Rose asked.

"Well, thats some of them, sure. But not all. The list is politically influenced, and many pureblood families were discluded from the list - like the Potters."

"My family is pureblood?"

"The Potters are an old pureblood family, yes. However your mother is muggleborn. Therefore you are considered a Half-Blood - like myself."

Rose smiled. She liked being similar to Tom. She wanted to be like him, confident, powerful, intelligent.

"Why aren't the Potter's in the Sacred 28 then?"

"Multiple reasons. I believe your Great-grandfather, Henry Potter, condemned the Ministry for not supporting the muggles during World War One, which didn't sit well with some blood supremacists. But also there was some suspicion about the origin of the family, since Potter was a common muggle name."

"Oh yes." Rose snorted, "Because Black is such a unique name."

Tom chuckled, "Yes it's all very silly. The list was mostly just a way for certain pureblood families to 'certify' themselves. They could demanded higher dowries for their daughters and higher respect from the community. These days the only people who care about the list are those on it."

"Are you on it?"

"My mothers family, The Gaunts, are on it." He spoke after a while, "But they're an example of why being pureblood doesn't make much of a difference. My mother was barely a squib, and my grandfather and uncle were damned near insane from inbreeding."

"Ew." Rose wrinkled her nose.

"The Crabbes and Goyles are the same, and madness runs in the Black family."

"Why though?" Rose frowned, "I thought you said there was millions of witches and wizards, why marry their family?"

"Remember what I told you about the bucket of water? A lot of pureblood families think this way. Or rather they think the water is blood. The more wizarding blood in have in your family, the more powerful you are. Of course we can prove thats not true, just look at your Mother, a muggleborn powerful enough to disrupt the killing curse..."

"But then why do they follow you?" Rose asked, "If you're a half-blood."

"Well, they don't know that. They make their assumptions and I don't correct them. Throughout your life, Briar Rose, people will make all sorts of assumptions. Learn which ones benefit you, and let those thoughts grow."

"Why do you want them to follow you, if they're mad and dumb and weak?"

"They're rich, politically powerful, and determined. And more so they aren't squeamish about doing what needs to be done."

"They're like...us?"

She didn't need to go further than that. Did they feel bad about things? Or were they like Rose and Tom, who didn't feel bad about anything.

"No. But thinking you're doing the right thing is a powerful motivator to do what you would otherwise not."

"But...you don't think that, right?" Rose confirmed, "You don't think muggleborns are weak and pitiful?"

"They're powerful, but they are still muggle filth." Tom sneered, "They were raised by muggles. Once I take over, they will be wizard raised. We will save them from corruption at a young age, keeping our world pure from muggle contamination."

Rose nodded, "Yes. We should have primary schools too. So they won't have to go to muggle ones."

He beamed in pride. "Yes Rose."

Rose hummed, "I think once I get into the wizarding world, I won't ever leave."

She was with Ellise for a year before the first 'incident' happened.

It wasn't anything big. She'd run home from the park and had forgotten to take off her shoes at the door. Ellise had grabbed her arm as she was running into the house, and there was a big a 'pop', followed by pain.

Rose shrieked and collapsed to the floor, holding her shoulder in pain.

Ellise glared down at her, "I told you to take off your shoes." She said coldly, before turning and vanishing back into the kitchen, leaving Rose laying in the lobby, pain shooting down her arm.

"Tom!" Rose cried into her mind, "It hurts!"

Tom was cursing and hissing and Rose felt white hot rage come through her. But Rose didn't care, her arm hurt so much she just wanted to get the pin to stop.

"Stand up!" Tom growled, "Get to your room!"

Rose grunted, using her unharmed hand to slowly push herself up to her feet, tears flowing down her face. Now that she was standing she was able to get a good look at her arm.

She let out a wet sob at the sight of her arms sticking out at a weird angle.

"Dislocated." Tom spoke, his tone just angry, but he had calmed down.

Rose kicked her shoes off and quickly rushed into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"What do I do?" Rose asked, eyes full of tears and breathing heavily as she struggled to not move her arm.

"Rose, listen to me." Tom's vice was even and calming and Rose felt her breathing eve out as he spoke, "I'm going to take over your body for a few moments, okay? And then I'm going to fix your arm. It's going to hurt, a lot."

Rose whimpered, but looking at her arm now made her feel sick to her stomach.

"O-Okay." She whimpered.

A moment later she felt something pushing on her head. Out of reflex she pushed back against it and her head burst out in pain.

"Relax, Briar. I won't hurt you."

Rose didn't like it, but she trusted Tom. With reluctance she stopped pushed back against the force, and instantly it consumed her.

And then they were walking. Rose gasped in shock, because she wasn't controlling it. Tom must've taken control of her.

He walked up to the door and opened it. Rose looked for any sight of Ellise, but the woman seemed to have vanished into the kitchen. She wasn't sure what Tom was doing, but he lined up her shoulder against the door.

Tom didn't give her any warning when he suddenly lunged forward, pressing her shoulder into the wall and forcing it back into place.

Rose screamed, but luckily she didn't have control of her body so it was silent n her mind. She didn't understand how Tom could possibly stay silent through the pain. She was sobbing in her mind as Tom stretched her arm. He walked over to her bed and lay down, and slowly she felt her eyes close.

She wasn't sure what he was doing, but slowly the pain started the vanish. Eventually her sobs defended to sniffles and the pain turned to a low dull throb.

"I can't heal all of it." Tom whispered, and Rose flinched, realizing she had control of her body back, "But it's just badly bruised now."

"I-It hurt." Rose whispered.

Tom hissed, "She should never have laid hands on you. But we'll get our revenge."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do magic in front her." Rose reached up and pushed the tears out of her eyes

She could almost feel Toms smile against her forehead, "Then don't let her know it's magic."

Rose played a silent war on Ellise after that.

It started at dinner. Rose did her prayers and silently ate her dinner. Trying to keep her smirk in place she reached out with her magic and rang the doorbell.

Ellise looked up from her own plate, then silently got up and wandered into the hall and down to the front door. She heard the door open, followed by a 'Hello?" After a few more moments Rose heard Ellise come back to the kitchen, grumbling about 'kids these days'.

Rose continued to eat her peas without question, waiting only two minutes before ringing it again.

And this continued for days. Every time Ellise sat down, rose would ring the doorbell with her magic. The woman grumbled and hissed and cursed the kids. She asked the neighbours if similar things were happening to them, but everyone replied in the negative.

Ellise must've figured the doorbell was faulty because she disconnected it after a few days.

The look on her face when Rose rang it again was priceless. All the blood drained from her face and her hands shook as she shot up from the couch, dropping her knitting she rushed over to the front door opening it and staring outside.

Tom was chuckling, and Rose couldn't help but giggle.

Ellise came back into the living room, narrowing her eyes at Rose, who looked the picture of innocence.

It took two weeks for the rest of her shoulder to heal. Ellise never said anything about it, like it had never happened. It made Rose even more bitter. She made all the food in the house go bad one night. They woke up to moldy fruit and bread, sour milk and curdled yogurt. The next day Ellise had people coming to inspect the house for mold, or contamination or anything that might explain how so much food went bad.

The second incident was a few weeks after the rotten food incident.

Ellise walked into her bedroom after school. Rose was doing a puzzle on her desk - a hundred piece one. It was harder than ones she normally did, but Tom was helping her.

"Have you finished your homework?"

Rose didn't even look up from her puzzle, "I only have one sheet of math questions, I'm going to do it after I'm done this puzzle."

Ellise was silent for a moment.

"I didn't ask you when you were doing your homework." Ellise said calmly, "I asked if you've done it?"

Rose tensed, not liking the tone. Tom had gone silent in her mind.

"Er...No."

"No?" Ellise tilted her head, "No, what?"

Rose furrowed her eyebrows, "No...Ma'am?"

Ellise nodded, then took a few steps forward and slapped Rose across the face.

Rose felt her head go to the side and didn't make a sound. Her cheek was stinging, but she refused to give her the satisfaction of her tears, and it didn't hurt nearly as much as the dislocated shoulder had.

Ellise slapped her a second time.

"Dinner is in ten minutes." Ellise glared at her, "In the future I expect you to have finished your homework before dinner. Get washed up and do something about your hair."

Ellise stormed out of the room, and only once she was gone did Rose raise her hand to her face.

She narrowed her eyes at the door, hatred in her eyes.

There was no way she was going to let a muggle get away with hitting her.

She remembered some passages from the Bible about demons and witches. They stuck with her because they made her giggle. Muggles were so scared of what they didn't understand, and Tom had whispered that many of the supposed demons were probably just magical creatures that muggles had spotted.

The first thing Rose did was turn all the crucifixes in the house upside down. She did it as they left in the morning, so that when she came home from school Ellise couldn't place her for it. The woman had looked annoyed, but just just flipped them the right way, double checking all the hooks to make sure they were balanced right.

At dinner that night, while they were giving grace, Rose clenched her fists and all the power in the house went out.

"My goodness." Ellise jumped, clutched at her chest, "That startled me. Seems the breaker's gone again, give me a moment." She gave Rose a warning look, "Don't you dare touch any food until I return, we still have to finish grace."

Rose smirked to herself once she left.

"Be careful Briar." Tom whispered in her mind, "Muggles can lash out when frightened."

Rose tilted her head, thinking about Boris, who had been way bigger and stronger than Ellise, "I could take her."

She repeated it every day for a week. On Sunday, as they were leaving for church, Rose concentrated and twisted her wrist. In three places in the house, the religious pictures Ellise hung on the walls went up in flame. Rose extinguished the fire before they left the driveway, not wanting to burn the house down. Her stuff in was in there after all.

The woman had freaked after that, thinking that people were breaking into her home. But there was no forced entrance and the front door was locked.

She knew she was getting to the old lady when she started to burn sage, whispering cleansing prayers from her Bible as she wandered around the home.

Tom was wary, but she could feel his amusement through their bond. And whenever the woman passed their bedroom, waving her burning sage, he would chuckle.

"What an idiot." Tom said.

Rose shrugged, "She's a Muggle." She said, like that it explained it all. It did.

On the last day of school, Rose brought home her report card. She was very proud of herself. She'd gotten all As, except for Maths which she got a B+.

Tom was proud of her, and told her that they'd practice maths all summer. She didn't really wanna do maths in summer, but it she was doing it with Tom she didn't care much.

"Report card?" Ellise smiled when Rose held up the folder, smiling wide. Ellise took it and opened, reading over it. She looked very pleased, but then paused, tilting her head as she read over the words. "What happened in Maths?"

"Oh." Rose wrinkled her nose, "I have troubles with fractions and decimals."

"Why didn't you practice more?"

Rose had to force herself not to shrink back as Ellise got that dangerous tone again. She gritted her teeth as she glared, almost daring the woman in front of her to hurt her. To give her a reason...

"I...I did." Rose stood up straight, "Two hours every night. "

"Why not three hours?" Ellise closed the folder with a snap, "You obviously needed it."

Rose gritted her teeth, "I still had the second best grades in the class! Everyone has troubles with maths!"

Slap!

"Don't talk back to me young lady!" Ellise yelled at her, "You are grounded for the entire summer and let the Lord help you if you're grades don't improve."

"Screw your lord!" Rose hissed in her face.

Ellise's face went white with horror, and she held a hand to her chest, like Rose had physically struck her.

She reached forward and hit Rose so hard she sent the small child flying into the fall.

"How dare you, you...devil child!" Ellise hissed, "You dare take the Lords name in vain? You dare disrespect the Lord?"

Rose looked up from her place collapsed against the wall and glared with all her might at the old lady practically spitting at her.

Ellise recoiled and then hissed in pain, reaching up to hold her cheek. Rose smirked as she saw blood escaping through her fingers. The woman pulled her hand away from her face, his limbs shaking as she stared at the blood on her hands.

On her cheek were three claw marks, starting at her cheek bone and down to her chin.

Ellise looked at Rose, and for the first time there was fear in the woman's gaze.

As it should be.

"Go to your room!" The woman yelled, her voice shaking, "No supper! How dare- Straight to bed. Don't you dare come out."

Rose climbed to her feet, and without a look back, stormed into her bedroom.

"That was stupid."

"She hit me!" Rose snapped at Tom, growling as she paced back and forth in her bedroom. She was riled up and had been raging as thought about that horrid woman hitting her, yet again.

"Remember what I said!" Tom chided, "Muggles don't do well with fear."

"Then she'll get rid of me." Rose shrugged, "And we'll go back to the group home."

Tom sighed, "Just go to sleep Briar...we'll figure this out in the mourning."

But all morning would bring was a breaking point.

Rose woke up to er bedroom door opening.

The light from the hallway hit her in the way and she blinked wearily. Se lifted her head and blinked as she looked at the doorway, her eyes out of focus.

"Ellise?" Rose asked, frowning. She blinked, trying to figure out what she was seeing.

"No child." A man walked closer. He wore long clothes and for a moment Rose thought he might be a wizard. He looked like he was wearing the clothes Tom explained.

"Who are you?" Rose mumbled, trying to sit up.

"It's okay." He held out his hands, smiling kindly. Now that he was closer Rose saw that he was a middle aged man, with thinning brown hair and wrinkled. His robes were bitch black, and he had a strange collar on his neck. He reached into his robe and pulled out a white handkerchief, "Here, wash your face child, you have saliva."

Rose winced. She must've drooled in her sleep. She didn't know exactly who the man was, but she took the handkerchief and wiped around her mouth and nose. There was a sweet smell on it and she lifted it to her nose to smell some more.

Her eyes started to get fuzzy and her mind felt numb.

"What...?" Rose frowned, "What's...

"It's okay, child." The man gave her a kind look, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a pair of glasses, "I'm here to help."

The last thin Rose remembered before loosing consciousness was calling out for Tom.

She was tied to a chair.

Rose opened her eyes rapidly as looked down whimpering a she saw the leather straps keeping her tied to a simple leather chair. Another leather strapped was in her mouth, keeping her from talking.

She looked around. She was in a bathroom, sitting in front of a bathtub that was filled with water. She looked around and saw a plethora of candles, crucifixes and other religious crap that Ellise liked to keep around.

The man was standing near the sink, flipping through a leather bound book.

"Tom?" She called out desperately, "Tom what's happening?"

But he didn't respond.

"Our Father, who art in heaven.."

Rose jumped as the man started to speak. In the well lit bathroom she could now easily see that the man was a priest. He was standing near her and saying the lords prayer over her.

Was this her punishment? Being tied up and read the Bible? Well Rose certainly wasn't going to be staying here.

She reached for her magic, looking for just enough to break the leather straps.

And she hit a giant barrier.

She frowned, opening her eyes. What was that?

She reached into her mind again, but the same barrier was there. Like a giant, solid brick wall keeping her from getting her magic.

"Tom!" She cried, fear filling her, "My Magic!"

Tears were filling her eyes, leaking over her cheeks and the leather strap. What was happening?

The priest finished speaking and walked over until he was standing next to her. A moment later he flicked water at her and she flinched at how cold it was.

"Hello Rose." He spoke quietly, "I was wondering if I could speak to your other occupant?"

Rose blinked at him. Did he man know about Tom? How the hell had he found out? She never spoke to him out loud or mentioned him to anyone. She hadn't in years. When she was younger they thought he was just an imaginary friend, but now she was too old for such things.

She closed her eyes and reached into her mind, "Tom, he knows about you."

But there was still no response.

She sobbed around the leather strap in her mouth. She looked at the priest and shook her head.

"No?" He frowned, "Hmm, Alright. Let's see if we can get them to come out and play, okay?"

Rose was confused, still not entirely sure what was happening. Did this man know about wizards? Did he know about Tom?

A thought filled her with horror. Was this man from the Ministry? Had he discovered Tom was hiding away inside her and had come in order to 'save' her from him, and kill the dark wizard inside of her?

Well that sure wasn't going to happen.

She reached inside for her magic again. She needed to do something. Knock the man out, untie herself, just break a god damned window! Anything!

But her magic wasn't working.

Had it vanished? Had this strange man taken her magic, and Tom with it. The thought of it filled her with horror and she felt for a moment like she had lost a limb, or a piece of her soul.

"Tom, please." She begged in her mind, "Please."

But there was nothing but a large brick wall, and silence.

The man walked over to her and placed a hand on her forehead. In his other hand he held a beaded necklace. He gripped a single bead and started to pray, "Hail Mary, full of grace.."

Rose wasn't sure what he was going, but it didn't hurt, so she just let him continue. He travelled from bead to bead, saying the same prayer over and over, broken by the occasional Lord's Prayer.

It was obvious that the Priest was annoyed by the fact that nothing was happening.

"Devious little bugger isn't he." The Priest acted friendly. Rose swallowed nervously. The priest looked at her sadly before he sighed, and closed his bible, gripping the beaded necklace firmly in one hand. "Well, there's nothing for it then."

He walked behind her chair. He put his hands on the back and started to push, moving the chair until it was right up against the edge of the bath. It was a deep bath, and sitting the edge of the tub came up to her stomach.

He reached down and undid the belts holding her to the back of the chair. She let out a breathe of relief as she leaned forward, but her hands her still tied behind her back.

"Tom, please. I'm scared." She whispered in her mind, "I'm scared, Tom."

But he didn't response. She just hoped he was okay, and that the mean man hadn't hurt him in any way.

"I'm sorry about this." The man whispered, seemingly talking to himself more than her, "But it'll be better after, I promise."

What? What was he planning?"

The priest came over to her, standing behind her and placing a hand on her back. He took several deep breathes and Rose stared at him with a furrowed brow, the straps on her mouth cutting into her cheeks as she struggled to breathe.

"Father, please bless this child," The Priest started, "Help purge her of the evil that has overtaken her. Purge her of the powers of the devil that corrupt her."

Then he pushed on her back, pressing her entire upper body into the bath, forcing her head under water.

Rose screamed, water rushing into her mouth and she coughed as she struggled to breath. It stung her eyes and burned her skin with it's cold. As she struggled and screamed she realized there was ice in the bath, and the sharp edges cut her skin.

He pulled her back, and Rose screamed, her voice becoming audible. It was muffled by the belt in her mouth, but she pulled away, trying to get away from the man.

"Tom!' She sobbed, feeling all her anger leave way to horror and terror, "Tom please!"

"Cleanse her soul of the devils influence." The priest ignored her screams and struggles and sobs, but the hand holding his beaded necklace was shaking, "Help her fight against the evil!"

He pushed her again, she fought harder this time, not as surprised as she held er breathe before her face was plunged into the water.

She tried not to panic, her lungs burning for hair and she thought she might be crying but she couldn't feel her tears with all the water.

He pulled her back and Rose begged for the first tie in her life.

"Please, Stop." She cried, "Please."

"I'm sorry child, " The priest grabbed her long dark hair into his fist, "It's for the best."

She didn't know how long it lasted. Minutes, hours? She never stopped trying to pull for her magic, but no matter how much she struggled it never came to her.

"Tom..." She whispered, her voice barely there. "Please."

He was killing her. She was exhausted, and she felt like she would pass out soon. She would drown. A relatively painless way to die.

She tried everything. Snap the buckled, drain the water, rip the beating heart out of the man who kept pushing her, over and over into the water, whispering prayers and hymns and harmonies and all of the crap that she'd made fun of Ellise for.

She would kill him, and Ellise, as painfully as possible. She would cut his hands that held her underwater from his body. She would cut out his tongue so he could never pray again. She would strangle him with his beads..

She took in a gasp and water filled her lungs. He brought her up and barely gave her time to spit up the water before pushing her down again. Her eyes widened in panic. She couldn't breathe! More and more water poured into her mouth, filling her lungs. She struggled, coughing and sputtering, but the belt in her mouth kept the water lodged in her mouth.

Her vision was going black. She screamed and struggled and tried to get as much of the water from her lungs as possible.

"Please Tom. I'm dying..."

She thought she felt a tingle in the back of her mind, and a familiar pressure. But it didn't matter, because the priest pushed her once more into the water, and she felt herself stop struggling as her vision faded to black.

The last thing she heard was a loud bang! followed by shouting and yelling, before she felt herself slump over the side of the tub, falling unconscious.

A/N: Alright this is the last chapter this week, I had a lot of days off so I had the time, don't expect this all the time.

FFN went weird during my last update and it never showed up on the front of the updated fics list, which sucks. I hope it doesn't so that this time.

Thank you to everyone for the feedback last week.

Until Next Time,

Amary.