Rose shook her head and reached back to tuck a stray lock of brown hair behind her ear as she waited with her siblings and Leo for her father and Sirius to finish getting ready to take them to Diagon Alley for a little Christmas Eve outing, though it wasn't quite "eve" as yet. Rose, Leo, Sidra, and John were standing in the hallway of the Black home while their respective fathers were saying goodbye to their wives and receiving last minute shopping requests for dinner.
"Go away, elf!" Sidra barked, addressing Kreacher.
Kreacher had been staring intently at Rose and Leo, but turned his attention to Sidra. Instead of going away, he merely leered at her.
"Maybe if you told him to go away, he'd go," Rose suggested quietly as John, with his messy black hair, laughed at the exchange between his older sister and the crazy house elf.
"It wouldn't do any good," Leo whispered, looking at Rose, but glancing at the elf from the corner of his eyes. "He's been doing it since he got back from delivering our letter. Trust me, it is worse when you know he is watching you but you cannot see him anywhere."
Rose gave the house elf an appraising look. "Good thing this mysterious person isn't hostile to any of us, or we would all be dead by now. Do you think Kreacher has been assigned to watch us?"
"Yeah, pretty sure," Leo said.
"All right! Let's get going!" Sirius called. "I think we can double-apparate-to the Leaky Cauldron, I think."
"Come apparate with me, John," James said.
Rose grabbed Leo's arm before her father could assign someone else to double apparate with her. They were soon on their way and had arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. James issued strict instructions that no one was to go anywhere without a buddy and that under no circumstances was anybody to step foot in Knockturn Alley.
Leo and Rose, already having anticipated these instructions scampered from the Leaky Cauldron and separated themselves from the rest of the group, losing anyone who might have wanted to go to the same stores with them. After a little bit, they doubled back to the Leaky Cauldron and sat down after Rose had ordered a hot cider and Leo had ordered a butterbeer from Tom.
"One of these days, I'll convert you to butterbeer," Leo declared, gazing at Rose with his warm, brown eyes.
"Probably not," Rose said, smiling broadly. "Where do you want to stop after this?"
"The quidditch shop, of course," Leo said. "You?"
"Used bookshop," Rose indicated. "I overheard my dad tell my mum that some of the families running out of money are selling their older books. I'd like to sort through and see if we can find anything that mentions the House of Black."
"Sounds thrilling," Leo commented drily.
"We can make it our last stop," Rose indicated. "Where else did you want to go?"
Before Leo could respond, they were interrupted by a girl who approached their table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "Rose!" the girl exclaimed, "I didn't expect to see you here. How is your holiday going?"
"Who are you?" Leo demanded as the mysterious girl signaled the barkeep for a butterbeer.
"I'm a fellow Hogwarts student," the girl said innocently.
Squinting, Rose studied the girl intently. Her straight, blond hair was slightly longer than shoulder length, and her skin was well tanned. Blue eyes topped a rather ordinary oval face. "What year are you in?" Rose asked once she had ascertained that she did not recognize the girl at all.
The girl smirked as Tom the barkeep set another butterbeer down on the table. "Sixth year," she answered.
"We're sixth years!" Rose retorted. "I think I would remember you. What house are you in in?"
"Slytherin," the girl said, smiling rather oddly.
"You're lying!" Leo declared.
"Only sort of," the girl admitted.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Rose inquired.
The girl smiled. "Call me… Jane."
"All right, Jane," Leo said. "What do you want?"
"Actually," Jane replied, "the question has more to do with what you want." She pulled from inside her coat a parchment envelope, which she tossed on the table.
Slowly, Rose reached out and opened the familiar envelope. Inside it were the Daily Prophet clippings she had sent to the mysterious intruder via Kreacher. She looked across the table at Jane. "Before we speak, we need you to confirm that you're the one who entered the Chamber of Secrets and killed the monster inside," Rose said, sounding very business-like. Leo was impressed.
Jane studied Rose, her face impassionate. "All right," Jane said. "In a matter of speaking, I entered the Chamber and killed the basilisk."
"Prove it," Rose retorted.
"Why would I claim that I did it if I did not do it?" Jane asked, leaning back in her chair.
"Because you want what was stolen from Pettigrew," Leo interjected. "We don't deal unless you can prove you're the one who killed the monster by telling us the precise method by which you did the deed."
Jane looked rather smug. "You yourselves have no way of knowing how the basilisk was killed, seeing as I incinerated its corpse."
Rose and Leo looked at each other and nodded.
"Now, it's your turn," Jane said. "Tell me what it is you are trying to sell."
....
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