Hey guys! It's me, B.B. just writing a disclaimer stating:

-I AM NOT PROFITING FROM THIS, ALL RECOGNIZABLE CHARACTERS, PLACES, AND EVENTS ARE THE PROPERTY OF J.K. ROWLING-

Chapter One

"Rose honey, is all of your stuff packed?" her mother called sweetly. Rose groaned and flopped back on her bed. They were moving. From Connecticut, all the way across the pond. She fiddled with her wand. Yew wood, 13 inches with a phoenix feather core. She loved this wand and everything it meant. Up until yesterday, she had been enrolled at Ilvermorny, part of the Pukwudgie house. It was a unique school for wizards and witches in the aspect that it had been founded by both a wizard and a No-Maj. Everything was perfect. She was the top of her class, and she enjoyed the company of a few close friends.

But, her parents had decided to take that away. Unfortunately. Of course, she knew this would happen eventually. Dad wasn't finding too much good work here, and Mom had gotten a good offer at her company's UK branch. So they figured it would be good to get up and go. 1968 happened to be a good financial year, but Dad wasn't "feeling it" as he put it. Rose knew full well he meant the No-mag politics scene. Nothing for her or her mother to really be concerned about, but regardless, they obliged to move. Besides, Mom had said, this would be a neat way to build some character. Rose had rolled her eyes at this, but said nothing. She would miss Ilvermorny, she would miss Katie and Brian, and she hoped that they would miss her too, in her own selfish way. She knew they would, Brian's overly-studious antics fitting together perfectly with Katie's sense of responsibility—or lack thereof. They were the perfect team. Rose rolled over to her stomach and looked at the picture frame on her nightstand that she had avoided packing. It was the three of them on their first day, 11 years old and grinning as wide as possible. Katie had an arm looped around Rose's neck in a kind of headlock, her missing front tooth and unruly blonde hair making her look like an animal. Brian was moving as though to help Rose up, laughing. His eyes were green, and he had very dark hair, slicked back to look like his father's. And then Rose in the middle, smiling and jostling both her friends. At that time, she still had a little chub to her face, and her hazel eyes were squeezed shut.

Rose gently placed the photo face down, and toyed with a strand of long brown hair. It wasn't curly, only slightly wavy. Kind of boring really. It made her look unassuming, which often worked to her advantage in many situations. She could often go unnoticed in a crowd, overlooked, and unthought of. Rose smiled, knowing her plain appearance allowed her to study and train diligently. Unfortunately, she wasn't invited to many parties, so Katie and Brian were her solace when it came to anything social. Frustrated, Rose took the photo out of the frame and silently cast reducio. The photo, now the size of a fingernail, was gently placed into a locket around Rose's neck. She tucked it into her shirt and took one last glance around the room. It was situated at the front of her house, so one wall was sloped inward. There was a blast mark from where she had tried to cast a spell on her own. Mom decided not to remove it.

"It's a good memory." she explained, smiling. Rose did allow a small grin to creep onto her face before turning to her few meager boxes. A lot of her belongings had gone back to the school, books and her cauldron and such. So, it was just her wand, clothes, and her snake. She loved that snake. His name was Peppers. A little grey python who would just sit amicably in her shirt pocket wherever she went. Rose hoped getting him across the ocean wouldn't be a big problem.

"Rose! We're leaving soon! Hurry up and get down here!" it was Dad this time. Rose didn't like him as much as mom. But they were a family. She glanced out her single bedroom window. The sun was setting, and it put a deep orange glow on the simple white walls of the room. It was quiet except for the distant bark of a dog. An uneventful, unassuming end to her time. Rose's face settled into an expressionless mask once again, and with a silent flick of her wand, she moved her boxes downstairs. The picture frames hanging on the walls were gone, and the rugs no longer adorned the floors. The living room still had the larger furniture, now covered in sheets. It felt empty and deserted, as it would be until somebody bought the house. Mom turned to her, grinning. Some sweat was beaded on her forehead, but she looked otherwise as normal and happy. Her hair was done up in a bun, and her glasses rested comfortably just before the end of her nose.

"You know Jesse has been working his ass off to help us out." she laughed a little. Rose put her boxes in a pile with the rest in the living room, before sitting on one in a huff. She rested her chin in her hand, gripping her wand tightly with the other. Her mother's brother, Jesse, had graduated a few years before. He was excited when Rose was born, because he wasn't the baby of the family anymore.

"Heya kiddo!" he called gleefully as he walked into the living room. A procession of miniaturized boxes followed. Jesse had the same plain brown hair as Rose and Mom, but his eyes were a very dark brown.

"That's the last of them, sis! I'll say bye to John, but after that I'm out." he ruffled Rose's hair as he walked out the door. She could hear a quick exchange of words before Dad walked in. He wasn't a wizard, rather he was a No-mag. But he loved his wife and daughter regardless.

"Ready, Rosie?" he smiled at her, but his brow was a little furrowed. Despite being the one to suggest a move, he seemed unsure. Rose nodded and slipped her wand into the pocket of her overalls. Making sure Peppers was still sitting snugly in her front pocket, she stood in the center of the room with her mother and father. She took one last look around. She would miss the little house. Dad squeezed her hand.

"Don't worry kiddo, this will be good, I promise." but again, he sounded a tad unsure. Rose sighed again. Her mother produced a small object from her purse, a modified portkey.

"If I'm correct, this should work without killing us." she said jokingly, but her husband gulped at the thought of this. Rose struggled to hold back a quiet sob. A tear rolled down her cheek. And then, at the same time, they all grasped the object her mother held. Rose realized it was a tiny porcelain pig.

The portkey did work, but it made an absolute mess. They popped out the other end in a jumble of bodies and boxes, scaring the living daylights of a man standing in the room. He glanced down, almost distastefully, at the family before him. They were laughing as they dusted themselves off.

"Yes, well. Good to see that worked." he snipped. Rose shot a glare at him quickly. This must have been the guy from the Ministry of Magic to help them settle in. Rose vaguely remembered a mention of his name, but she couldn't seem to grasp it quite then. Her mother nodded in a jolly and breezy manner.

"Yeah, it sure seems that way. Anyhoo, I'm Barbara Damonne. You can call me Barb. This here is my husband John, and my daughter Rose." she hugged them close. Rose made sure to shield Peppers from an accidental squashing. The snake tasted the air calmly before settling back into the pocket.

"I know your names. We've had correspondence, madame." the man almost rolled his eyes. Her mother nodded again, ignoring the man while getting boxes back in order. Her dad was already stacking them again, looking at the labels and putting them in different piles. Rose prepared to do the same when her mother held up a hand.

"Uh-uh missy. Go and explore. Get feel for this place. You know, since we live here now." she chuckled and shooed her daughter away from the nightmare that was unpacking. Ministry Man, as Rose had deigned to call him, seemed positively flustered, and he worked to get her mother's attention. Rose smiled in spite of herself and allowed Peppers to loop himself around her hand as she took in her surroundings.

They were in a new living room, this one with wooden floors, not carpeting. The walls were also a dark wood, and a stone fireplace sat against a wall. There wasn't any furniture here. Rose walked to the kitchen. There was a wooden table with four chairs, and an adequate kitchen. The curtains were drawn on the windows, but Rose knew that all she would see is darkness anyway. It was about 10 or 10:30 here in Glasgow, so people were asleep.

"Come on Peppers, let's see if I can snag a good room." she cooed to the reptile, who flickered its tongue in response. The stairs were through a short hallway on the right side of the kitchen, where they wound back to face the opposite wall. As she climbed, Rose cast reparo on every creaky step she came across. If she wanted to sneak out, she didn't need this nonsense getting in her way. The upstairs was...underwhelming. It was another short hallway, with a room on the right, and two on the left. The one at the end on the left turned out to be a bathroom. Thankfully, it had a working shower. But it needed to be cleaned. Rose chose the room opposite the bathroom. It was about the same size as her room back home, but all the walls were vertical. There was no scorch mark, and Rose seriously considered making one before deciding that she could make a new memory here. Also, the house was made of wood, so that was a second factor.

"Accio boxes," Rose said with a wave of her wand, and her belongings found their way to her room. She unpacked, first setting up Peppers' terrarium and a lamp. He gratefully went into his little overturned flower pot for some peace as Rose put clothes into a closet and stacked some books in the corner of the room. After thoroughly cleaning the mattress and putting clean sheets on it, Rose flopped onto her back and felt very tired. Not physically, but emotionally. She hadn't wanted to spend her last year at a new school. It was pointless, she knew that much. People had friends there...she didn't. And she really didn't feel like putting in the effort to make new ones. When she graduated, she would just go back to the United States, meet back up with Katie and Brian, and figure it out from there. Rose remembered exactly how they had reacted when she told them she was moving. Brian had actually cried, and Katie tried very hard console the group, saying they could all visit over Christmas break, and maybe the summer between their last year. Rose's breathing stuttered as she began to cry, but she made no other discernible noise as she lay there, tears rolling down the sides of her face. The quiet sobbing hurt her throat and her chest, and she gripped the bed sheets as she tried desperately to not make a sound. She hated it when her parents poked around in her business, so she had learned long ago to cry silently and to bottle up her feelings for a proverbial rainy day. She just really wished that she had somebody to talk to, anybody excluding her parents.

Soon, she thought, I'll be back at home. I can put this behind me. It's just a year. I can do it. Rose sniffled and wiped her face. Her face scrunched up when she thought of her timing. School ended yesterday, which meant she had a whole summer in a new country. Awesome.

"Knock knock, kiddo." her dad found her just sitting on her bed staring into space. She had been doing that a lot lately. He blamed himself, of course. Moving couldn't have been what she wanted. What kid wanted to leave their friends after all? He sat down on the bed next to her and cleaned his glasses on a small cloth.

"So," he began awkwardly "you like the new place?" and he heard a quiet snort from his daughter.

"It's alright." was all she said. John worried about her. She never used to be so quiet and reserved. He thought it was his fault again, maybe he wasn't accepting enough of all this magic business. Barb reassured him that she was just being a teenager, but he wasn't convinced. Still, he never wanted to push her out of her shell, he feared the consequences. So, for now, he just gave her a small pat on the shoulder and left, closing the door after him.

Rose let out her breath that she was holding in and got up. Walking over to Peppers' terrarium, she got down on her knees to be eye level with her python.

"This summer is going to suck, buddy." she whispered to him. He stared back, his green eyes unyielding. Rose smiled, she loved this snake. She'd had him ever since she started at Ilvermorny, but he never seemed to get any bigger. Currently, he fit in the palm of her hand when he was curled up, but was only about half as long as her arm. Rose had brought Peppers to see a reptile specialist (magical of course), and the man said that Peppers was, in theory, happy and healthy. So she didn't think too much about it. In the middle of this reminiscing, Rose yawned loudly. She was indeed also physically tired now.

"Night, Peppers." she whispered before taking off her tennis shoes and sliding under the covers of her bed.

The room was dark when she woke up. Very dark. And it was freezing. Rose shivered and pulled out her wand, casting lumos. Nothing but dust filtered around her, and Rose realized there was no bed, she was just standing in an empty dark space.

"Mom? Dad?" she called out tentatively. There was no answer, and it only got colder. He fingers were numb, but she gripped her wand tighter and stepped forward.

"WAIT!" somebody else called out, but Rose couldn't see them as she seemed to tumble endlessly into the inky blackness. She jolted up and she was back in her room, sunlight filtering onto the floor. Panting, Rose got out of bed and shook herself. Her face was slick with sweat and she had dropped her wand on the floor. When she bent to pick it up, she almost dropped it again. It was ice cold.