Harry Potter: 19 Years Later

Chapter 15: Breakfast Shocker

"Rosie, wake up!"

It was the morning of the last day of the Christmas holidays before they went back to Hogwarts. Rose was shaken awake by small hands. She opened her eyes and saw red hair and freckles very similar to hers. Sighing and rolling her eyes, Rose shoved Hugo off of her bed and he landed with a thump on the floor.

"Ow!" He yelped in his squeaky voice. Rose couldn't help but chuckle.

"What do you want, Hugo? What time is it?" Rose asked.

Hugo got up off the floor and brushed the dust off his pajamas. "Everyone else is already awake and eating breakfast. Scorpius's mum asked me to come wake you up. And it's 9:30 a.m."

Rose's eyes widened. "Why didn't anyone wake me?!" Then she quickly hopped out of bed, put on her slippers and robe and combed her hair a bit with her fingers, and dashed out of the bedroom.

Speeding down the hallway, her footsteps pounding on the hard flooring, Rose hurried through the confusing and very large mansion. She kept running into dead ends at nearly every turn. I should've waited for Hugo to catch up to show me to the kitchen, Rose thought. She must've looked pretty distressed from being lost in a HOUSE for Merlin's sake, she could've sworn she heard the portraits around her snorting and chortling. Rose would've laughed at herself too.

"Do you need help, Miss Weasley?" A familiar monotonous voice asked from behind Rose.

She quickly spun around and gasped in surprise. "Professor Snape, what is your portrait doing here? I thought you were at Hogwarts?"

Snape chuckled, which was really odd considering Rose always hearing about how mean Snape was from her father.

"Oh please, call me Severus, child. And my portrait is located in both Hogwarts and Malfoy Manor. I usually like spending more time here since it's more peaceful than a noisy school," Snape explained.

Rose nodded and replied, "I don't blame you. It is a lot quieter here. Maybe a little too quiet, actually."

Snape shrugged. Then he said, "So I suppose you're lost, am I correct?"

Turning pink from embarrassment, Rose nodded sheepishly. "Yes, I need to get to the dining room. Why must it be so hard to navigate around this mansion?"

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy like to enchant the place for security measures. Now's especially a good time for the enchantment since the Death Eaters escaped Azkaban," Snape explained. "But you're seeking the dining room? Here, I'll help you. Just follow the lights down that way and they'll show you downstairs."

Just as Snape pointed down the corridor behind Rose, she turned around and was amazed to see tiny blue lights glowing on the floor, blinking and signaling for her to follow.

"Thank you, Professor Snape! I'll talk to you when I return to Hogwarts!" Rose bid Snape a kind goodbye and then started following the blue lights. Just as she turned the first corner, she heard Snape about down the hall, barely enough for Rose to hear.

"Be careful, Miss Weasley! You, your brother, and cousins are in grave danger!"

Rose didn't know what to think about that. But it immediately made her appetite go away. The Death Eaters were after her, Hugo, Albus, and Lily, which is probably what Snape was talking about. Did Snape know about the Death Eaters' plans? Rose wanted to go back and get more information, but she was afraid of what she might hear. So, she continued following the blue lights to the dining room.

* *

Albus couldn't eat. He stared at his breakfast like it'd start talking to him, expecting it to say something ridiculous like, Your girlfriend will be alright, buddy.