Six

Lurking Shadows

  Rose found herself on a slightly chilly day in the warmth of her favourite field. The grass had grown longer since the last moment she had been in it, and she had welcomed the growth happily, finding the green a soft pillow for her head as she lay back on it.

  The book she held above her head today however, was different from the one she had last read. The dark cover was the main attraction of the show, bones and other terrifying symbols littered the front and back of it, giving anyone a good idea of what was inside of the book.

  The lines told her things that no witch or wizard would ever care to hear about in their lifetime. But to Rosalie, it was her interest of every waking moment. She couldn't give an exact reason as to what drew her to the subject so intensely, or why she would read dark runes instructing on how you could kill and torture in different ways and hate against the people that listened and had done it.

  Rose thought she was different to Tom. Reading about doing horrible things, imagining them and learning about them, was vastly different to actually committing these acts.

  Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to turn the tables on him. If she were the one to torture and kill him, use the Cruciatus curse on him like he had her. It was only a dream though, one she would never dear to act on. It was morally wrong.

  The picture of Tom in pain and squirming under her stayed in her mind.

  It was morally wrong, Rosalie.

  She shook her head until the idea left her head. The bitter taste of hatred on her tongue. She would never do that to a person, even a person like Tom. Rose closed the book and threw it to the side of herself, allowing herself to be fully immersed in the nature around her.

  "Rose." A familiar voice called out from behind her. She tilted her head back and looked up at Coriolanus standing above her.

  "Hey. What brings you out here?" Rosalie twisted herself so she lay on her front. Corio squatted down to a closer height to her.

  "I just felt like seeing you." He said sweetly, less needy than he usually was. Rose smiled softly, feeling a bit sorry for him.

  "Well, happy to be of service." Rose shrugged her shoulders. 

  Coriolanus smiled and moved himself so he sat next to her. Rosalie turned again and sat up in the same direction. Corio played with the grass in his hands, admiring the view of the forest, castle and lake.

  "I see why you come here so often." He said without looking at her. Rosalie nodded in response.

  "It's beautiful, like you." He continued, awkwardly. 

  Rose couldn't help but roll her eyes, not going unnoticed by Coriolanus. He admired her closely, uncaring if she didn't feel the same way that he did. Rosalie knew she had to say something about the tragically sad situation.

  "We're not fifteen anymore Corio... that summer we had was a long time ago." Rosalie thought of that very summer fondly, with memories remiss of Coriolanus's true affection for the girl.

  His hand snaked itself off of his own body and onto Rosalie's knee, she looked at it and then back to his boldness. 

  "Don't you remember how we would sneak off after lunch into the maze and run around until we found each other?" Corio spoke romantically, softly caressing Rosalie's skin. She found herself melting under his touch like she had when she was fifteen.

  Their short time of romance came flooding back into Rose's memories.

  "And how when we did find each other, we'd stay in there for hours until it got dark. How we would kiss and hold each other..." Coriolanus's hand drifted further up Rose's leg until he reached her inner thigh. He stopped to see her reaction, a little surprised she hadn't already pushed him away.

  Rosalie stared at him, half of her remained in the moment but the other half remembered what he spoke about. He had made her feel happy in her little trapped world for a couple of months.

  "How you'd bite my bottom lip out of pure desire and hunger-" 

  Rosalie put her hand on Coriolanus's quickly but not harshly. She removed herself from the world of memories, keeping her in the cold harsh reality. 

  "I remember, Corio." She gripped his hand on her thigh comfortingly.

  Something in her face told Coriolanus to change the subject or be harshly rejected. He slid out his hand from under hers and brought it back to himself. He crossed his arms and sighed slightly, tired from her constant rejection.

  But he truly believed nothing would keep her from him forever. All he needed was patience and time, and he had a vast amount of both.

  "How is it going? Has your father contacted you?" Coriolanus did as her expression asked and changed the subject, onto something that seemed far more pressing.

    Rosalie cradled herself in her own arms, looking forward rather than to the side at Coriolanus. "I think I have a plan to get what I need, and yes. He has." Rose spoke rather shortly about the latter, the details made her sick.

  Corio let her lead the conversation.

  "But I have to thank you." She said again, her eyesight still framed to the tree line of the dark forest. Corio wondered what she thought of behind her pretty blue eyes, batting occasionally in the wind.

  "And why's that?" He asked simply, pushing his own hair out of his face.

  "You could have told Tom everything about me. Who I am, who my father is, why I'm here." She went on, but there was little gratitude in her voice. Coriolanus wasn't perceptive enough to notice this.

  "It wasn't even a question if I should tell Riddle about you. He would've tortured you." Corio shivered at the thought of seeing Rosalie in pain. He would kill any man who tried to touch her- but if it were to be Riddle who did it, he wouldn't know what to do. 

  Rosalie chuckled lowly to herself, an irony that only she could find amusing. Her body still ached slightly from the day prior when Tom had cursed her. Her mind found herself replaying that moment, the way her body contorted. It would be something she couldn't ever forget.

  It wasn't just physical pain that she was forced to endure, no, it was also the mental pain that got her. It was the bare nothingness but pain in her head. Under such an immense amount of pain Rosalie's body told her to turn her mind off, but that was something not even a witch could do.

  Her naturally neutral face turned slightly sad. Rose faced away from Corio, looking back behind them. To her surprise, in the very far distance, she saw Ben, leaning against the foundations of the castle, his eyes trained on them closely. 

  Rose didn't give away that she had spotted him, slowly turning back and facing Coriolanus.

  "I still have to thank you, Coriolanus. Your family will be well looked after because of it." She said, an empty statement that she wouldn't be able to keep. He accepted the gift anyway, looking happily at her.

  The sudden amount of proof that Rosalie had that Ben was following her was enough to make her anger at Tom return. She swallowed stiffly, her plan travelling through her head at an exponential speed. She had already set the idea in Tom's mind yesterday, her only task now was to wait.

  She could only hope that Tom's caution would be his downfall, and he would lash out at Ben, the closest thing he had to a real friend. It was all rather cynical what Rosalie had done, setting a plot in place to turn someone against the person they trusted most. But it was necessary.

  There was only one more thing she could think of to put one last seed of doubt into Tom's mind.

  "Ben has been following me. I suspect because of Riddle." Rosalie said simply, moving closer to Coriolanus.

  Corio knitted his eyebrows together. "Why would he have Ben watch you?" He asked.

  Rose laughed at his simpleness, surprised he hadn't solved that much for himself. "Tom doesn't trust me in the slightest. But I have a feeling he will have to soon." Rosalie forced a smile on her face, a pit of guilt still sinking in her stomach.

  Coriolanus placed a hand on Rosalie's back as some form of comfort.

  "I want to give him something to look at, Corio," Rosalie's voice lowered to a sultry murmur.  She gazed at Coriolanus through the veil of her long lashes, her eyes were a blend of mischief and intent.

  Rosalie was aware of the allure she possessed, that drew the male gaze toward her. It was a power she wielded with consiousness, each glance and gesture calculated to captivate.

  Coriolanus, caught off guard by the unexpected turn in the conversation, found himself stumbling over his words.

 "Really?" He asked, the surprise in his voice was a source of amusement for Rosalie. 

  A soft nod from Rosalie had Coriolanus's mind set ablaze. 

  The air was electrically charged as Coriolanus took the initiative. In a swift and deliberate motion, he pushed her to the ground, the soft grass beneath them becoming the canvas for the heated exchange that followed.

  Their lips met, a collision of desire and purpose, each moment hid behind the energy that characterised their interactions. The kiss ignited them by a shared understanding and the thrill of defiance. 

  Coriolanus's hands travelled around Rose's upper body, a soft murmur leaving her lips as she held her hands in Corio's hair. She pulled at the strands and bit into his bottom lip, just as he had made her so keenly remember just moments ago. His excitement lead him to get ahead of himself, neither took a breath as they wrapped themselves in each other.

  Ben looked from afar, unsure about the situation unfolding in front of him. If he were to tell Riddle, what would be his reaction? Ben had never been an expert on the subject, but he knew feelings when he saw them. However much his lord refused to admit it, somewhere in his heart there was a soft spot for Rosalie. 

  The way he spoke of her was different to how he spoke of anyone else. No one had achieved getting under his skin like Rosalie had, and it wasn't because she was some genius at manipulation. 

  Tom was falling in love with her.

  But he would sooner die than admit that to himself. Ben doubted he even knew what having feelings for someone felt like.

  Uncertainty rose in Ben's breath, disinclined to tell Riddle what he had seen. But he knew it was his duty, Riddle was his lord.

---

  "She did what?" Tom's voice bit with venom, but his visual concentration looked far off into the distance. 

  Ben shuffled silently in his place, standing to the side of the sofa that Tom sat on, a book on his lap and a cigarette in his hand. He only ever smoked muggle cigarettes when he was stressed. He was also most irritable then.

  "Well, it wasn't really her, my lord. Coriolanus sort of jumped on her." Ben told him what he had seen, or what he could gather from the situation. But what he had said didn't make Riddle any calmer.

  "You should assume Coriolanus is the one who told Evans about your ancestry-" His words delivered with a cautious tone. The implication hung in the air, a suggestion that stirred the embers of Tom's suspicion into a raging inferno.

  A deeper sense of betrayal hung around Tom's heart to his confusion, was he to trust what Rosalie had told him about Ben? Was he the real traitor in this situation, or was it Coriolanus? 

  Tom's mind was a labyrinth of paranoia and strategy, he tried to question to himself which out of the two made the most sense of who would betray him, and give his information over to Grindelwald. But all he could think about was an entangled picture of Evans and Rosier.

  He cursed at himself for thinking of such a disgusting picture, his own curiousity confusing him. He could imagine for himself what Rosalie's small hands would have felt like on his face.

  "But you Avery's do have a connection to Grindelwald too, don't you?" Tom finally asked, his concentration drawn to the man standing next to him. 

  Tom could imagine how soft Rosalie's skin would feel if he were to touch it. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. He swallowed carefully.

  Ben remained quiet for a moment at Tom's rather dangerous question.

  "Perhaps it's you who has been running their mouth?" 

  Tom imagined how pillowy and red Rosalie's lips looked as she spoke, and how anything coming out of them was some twisted concoction that always seemed like the truth.

  The man standing to his side had to be the liar, the betrayer, the traitor. What Rosalie said had made sense to him in some twisted way. His mind was being rewired by her words, and unbeknownst to Tom, he was allowing it.

  Ben could see it for himself. The change in Riddle was something he could not undo, no matter what he said. Suddenly he feared for much more than his life.

"No—no, I swear to you, my lord. I have never given out any of your information. I am loyal to only you; I swear it," Ben pleaded, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and desperation. His words, uttered in earnest, resonated through the room, but the pulsating energy of Tom's rage seemed to drown them out.  

"You swear it, do you?" Tom's voice, cold and calculated, cut through the air like a razor. He stalked himself over to Ben Avery who backed himself against the wall.

  Tom stood a few metres away from him, a maniacal look in his eye as he thought over the betrayal and what it had caused him- and what it would mean for his  cause. 

  "Rosalie was right. You're a pathetic leach out to destroy me. Do you know what happens now, Ben?" Tom's voice dripped with venom as he extracted his wand, twirling it with practiced ease. The atmosphere thickened with impending doom, the gravity of the situation etched on Ben's face.

  Before Avery could gather his thoughts, Tom showed his power. In an instant, Ben found himself on the cold floor, the air knocked out of him as he whimpered in pain. The incantation hung heavily in the air.

  "Crucio."

  His body contorted, writhing on the floor like a puppet at the mercy of an unseen puppeteer. The room echoed with the anguished sounds of a man subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, and Tom, his face an inscrutable mask, watched the unfolding situation with a chilling detachment.

  "Leave immediately. Never return to Hogwarts. If I catch wind of you divulging any information to anyone, consider this solitary act of mercy retracted. Everything you hold dear or love will be destroyed."

  Tom held the curse over his once most trusted follower. Paranoia swirled in Tom's mind as he wondered who he could really trust. The important thought was brushed away by the very person who had caused this entire mess; Rosalie. Tom's mind went soft.

---

  Rose took a bite into her stack of pancakes, drowned in Canadian maple syrup and chopped banana. Her shoulders slumped, she nodded her head in delight as Lily looked at her, laughing.

  "You would think you had never eaten pancakes before in your life." Lily said, cutting into her sunny side up egg. 

  "I haven't." Rosalie spoke as she chewed, not caring about manners at the current moment. 

  Lily paused and looked at her with devout confusion. "Pardon? You've never had pancakes before?" Her eyes were wide.

  Rosalie took another bite of her pancake stack. She shook her head seriously. "Nope never. I lived very remotely in Hungary." Rose added, being rather vague about the meaning 'remote'. 

  "What did you eat for breakfast then?" Lily asked with a genuine curiousity.

  "I don't know, Toast?" Rose had never thought that it was so dire that she should have eaten pancakes before this moment. 

  Lily's face smushed up. "Sounds rather dull." 

  Rosalie thought it over. "You're right, it does." She had thought her life was uneventful and lonely before coming to Hogwarts, but how Lily had explained it was rather perfect: dull.

  Suddenly, the rather loud voice of someone cheering broke through the conversation.

  "WIN WIN SLYTHERIN!" William jumped onto the bench beside Lily, she jumped in shock, but her face quickly turned happy when she saw who had caused the fright.

  "Hi Will." Lily grinned happily, pushing her plate of food away and leaning her head against her arm set on the table. 

  William blushed ever so slightly, looking at Rosalie for support.

  Rose didn't intend for this to go smoothly for him. "I thought he didn't have any nicknames?" She asked, a smirk shadowing her face.

  William coughed. "Lily can call me whatever she wants."

  There was an awkward silence in the group that Rosalie refused to help fill. She wanted both of them to see through their own awkwardness how much they liked each other. Still, William didn't receive the message.

  "Are you guys excited for the game tomorrow?" He asked, bringing more attention to Rose and not just to Lily, who sat looking pretty for him. She swallowed as she watched him talk.

  "Most definitely. Coriolanus hasn't shut up about it." Rose looked down, having another bite of her pancakes as she spoke with dripping sarcasm. She had never really liked quidditch, which had hurt Corio when she told him about it, since he was a chaser on their house team.

  Lily agreed with an over exaggerated nod of her head. "Is Ben going? He always likes to watch Coriolanus play." She added.

  William sent both Lily and Rose a dramatic frown. Rose's eyes slimmed on him as he did the gesture, suggesting something important.

  "Yeah... about that." William spoke slowly, knowing that Lily found Ben quite interesting and sometimes enjoyed his company. He hated being the barer of bad news, especially when the news was to his crush.

  He stalled for too long, something fierce in Rosalie unleashed itself and had her leaning over the table in a heartbeat, a stern look on her face. William held his breath, reluctance was thick in the air.

  "William, tell us." She said quickly, lifting her eyebrows. Lily looked at her in confusion, it was very rare to see Rose so intent on hearing a bit of gossip.

  "He left." He said quietly.

  "Left?" Lily and Rose spoke in unison, not taking their eyes off of William, the attention came crashing down on him.

  "Last night. He just left without a word. I think he and Riddle had some kind of fight." William shrugged his shoulders, something in his head wondering if he should be as worried as both of the girls were around him.

  Internally, a smile spread across Rosalie's face, the oppressive burden lifted from her shoulders the moment the words reached her ears. She had succeeded. Merely planting a tiny seed of doubt in Tom's mind had set in motion the gradual unraveling of his composure. Everything was going according to plan.

  Externally, she maintained a facade of somber vulnerability, concealing the satisfaction within her.

  Rosalie poked at the burning question. "What was the fight about?"

  William seemed to consider if he should tell them both the truth. His lips moved on their own, deciding it couldn't hurt if he kept in minimal.

  "Apparently he betrayed Riddle in some way." He said truthfully, omitting the bloodier side of it.

  "And Riddle threw him out? He can't just do that because he's head boy. That's such bullshit." Lily suddenly burst, standing up with a dramatic flare. She went down the middle the great hall and out of the large wooden doors with a fast, intent-filled walk.

  William and Rosalie both watched her anger filled tantrum. William looked saddened by her reaction, but figured it was better she knew now rather than wondering where he was for days on end. But an unanswered question lingered on his mind

  He still hand't figured out why Lily cared for him so much, his mind forced to wonder the possibility that something was between her and Ben. He hated even the simple thought of it.

  Rose looked at the distressed William with a feeling of guilt, the knowledge that she was the reason for both Ben leaving and the aftermath that it had caused.

  "She's just annoyed. Ben was her friend." Rosalie spoke softly, William looked at her.

  "Just his friend, Will." She smiled solemnly.

  He nodded a short nod, not entirely believing her. William looked back at the doors of the great hall, with some notion in his mind that she might walk back with a smile on her face. 

  "William," Rose attempted once more to capture his attention, a challenging feat when he was preoccupied. However, he turned his gaze towards her, refusing to be impolite.

  "I think I'm beginning to understand what happens in Tom's inner circle." William's expression morphed into a blend of confusion and sorrow.

  "I can help," she reiterated, and though William remained puzzled about her intentions, the reluctance in his demeanour started to ease.

    If Rosalie were to convince William of something, he was likely to mention it to Riddle, who now had no other option but to find some solace in her knowledge of the dark arts; it was that which he wanted.

  "What do you know?" He inquired, vaguely remembering a previous conversation on the same subject at the Three Broomsticks, where he had told her the kind of people Tom Riddle was looking for in his inner circle.

  Rosalie smiled to herself, she was aware she had everything Tom Riddle could ever want. With Ben gone, he didn't have someone to really rely on, someone who was smart enough to practice everything he wanted but dumb enough to go along blindly. Rosalie would have to act the dumb part.

  "Meet me tonight in the Library; I'll show you. I want to help all of you." With that, Rose got up from her seat and left, leaving William both more perplexed and intrigued.

---

  The library lay hushed in the stillness of the late hour. The room was dimly lit by the glow of scattered candles, and the vast expanse of knowledge seemed to echo around in the whispers of ancient texts. 

  Rosalie, cloaked in her robes, navigated through the tall aisles of the towering bookshelves until she made it to a certain corner of the room, one out of sight by any passing teachers. Tonight she intended to share secrets that could either help her in her mission, or completely destroy everything she worked for

  It all depended on how Tom Riddle was feeling, as it usually did. When she had made it to the agreed-upon spot, Rosalie found William waiting among the sea of books. The candle he held flickered around the walls, casting a glow and a sub-sequential shadow across his face.

  She greeted him with a Nod.

  "William." She spoke, her voice, though deathly quiet, seemed loud in the nothingness of the library. 

  "Like I told you this morning, I've been wondering what you were all up to, what were the real ambitions that Riddle had. And I think I've pieced together what he wants that none of you can tell me, because of your pact." 

  William's eyes were a reflection of curiousity and awareness, he held a still face.

  "How do you know about the pact?" He asked, cautiously. In his mind, no one was meant to know about that. Tom had a certain way of doing things that kept everything orderly and to his control, just the way he liked it, and how the dark lord should keep it.

  William agreed with some of the things Riddle wanted, others he went along with because he was in the pact for life. He supposed it was like that for all of them, they had all joined willingly, but perhaps they were never fully aware of what being involved with the dark lord entailed.

  Rosalie found herself stuck. She wasn't meant to know about the pact, it was something Coriolanus, a traitor to Tom and Grindelwald, had told her. But as keen as she was, she quickly found a way to snake herself out of the trap.

  "Why else couldn't you speak about anything that happened in your meetings?" She lied easily, the sentence made sense to William, and he dropped it.

  "Go on then." He asked of her.

  Rosalie, under the muted lights, leaned in, her features bathed in an ethereal glow.

    "Tom wants to follow in Grindelwalds footsteps, but in a way of his own. He wants to start a war for power, he wants immortality, he wants the world, doesn't he?"

  William was silent at he presumption. Rosalie had no clear evidence of what Tom wanted, but she could only guess. His thirst for power was something that couldn't be overlooked from where Rose stood, and she knew his love for the dark arts would lead him down a path that she knew well.

  Rosalie was almost positive Tom would know what a Horcrux was. Any dark wizard in the search for immortal power had read about it in the darkest tombs, but very few would ever actually accomplish something so sinister. There were very few books in the world that held the incantation and spell for such a curse, and it just so happened that Rosalie was the owner of one.

  ---

  It was late in the day, the sun began hiding behind the trees and the light only just shone through the windows of Rosalie's large home. Hand in hand, Gallert Grindelwald and Rosalie Grindelwald, a girl of fourteen, strode through the library of their home.

  "Can we look in the dark arts section today father?" There was a glimmer of light behind the girl's eyes, her father looked down on her dotingly.

  Rosalie couldn't deny she had grown up being loved when her father was around. The rest of the time it was lonely. She had no true idea what her father did, he told her she was too young to be involved in his world yet, but the moment she were to turn sixteen she would find out.

  Gallert chuckled lightly, "my dear, you always want to look in there." He said knowingly.

  Rose rolled her eyes. "I know, but It's so interesting!" She exclaimed.

  Gallert chuckled again, walking her over to the section of her choice, dust lay on each shelf, but heavily used books looked new compared to the old ones. 

  "Have you read all of the books in here, father?"  Rosalie asked with interest. She knew she wanted to read each and every one of them.

  "No, my Rosie. I haven't. The ones with the large piles of dust on them I doubt anyone has touched in years." He smiled, letting go of Rosalie's hand and letting her roam free in the section. 

  Grindelwald had a hope, that since his daughter had such a love for the dark arts that she would grow up to be just like him. Rosie was his secret that he would keep safe by any means, he wanted to control her, to use her and her keen mind. She was his ultimate creation.

  But to Rosalie, he was just her father. All she ever wanted was a father.

  Grindelwald took one last look at his daughter before leaving her alone in the section, he exited the library quietly. Rosalie took no notice to it and scoured the shelves for a book she hadn't read before. She took her index finger and caressed every book she could find.

  Until she found a rather peculiar looking one, it was brown and torn up, obviously the previous owner hadn't taken much love for it. Almost feeling bad for the book, Rose plucked it from the shelf. She sat down where she stood and read over the words.

  "Secrets of the Darkest Arts" It read, the ink barely visible over the tattered cover. Rosalie flicked through the pages until she came to one that was bookmarked with a red ribbon. She took the ribbon and looked at it, without thought, tying it around her wrist. 

  She read across the page, not really understanding any of the words at a first glance, the ink, again, barely visible. The word Horcrux came up a lot, and Rosalie worked to find what it meant.

  To tear ones soul.

  To commit the worst sin.

  To become powerful.

  To be immortal. 

  Rosalie read the book page to page, noting the dustiness of it. She could only assume her father had never read such a book, one that gave you intimate instructions on how to tear yourself apart for the sake of immortality. The thought of it made her shake.

  Once finished, she shut the book quickly, holding it to her chest. Deep in her mind she knew it was best if she keep this book a secret. The red ribbon on her wrist stayed as a reminder after that day.

---

  Rose looked down at the ribbon still on her wrist, usually hidden under her robes. It was just as fresh as the day she had found it, and she took pride in taking care of it. It was forever a reminder to her of the dark magic she had found that day, and the impact it had on her.

  The weight of it all seemed to crash down on Rosalie, was she really offering Tom, her enemy, the one thing in the world she was most afraid of? She needed to, she would never actually go through with offering to tell him how to make one. 

  If she did it could mean the end of the world as they new it. Someone as powerful as Tom Riddle with the power of immortality and an army behind him could bring an age of darkness.

  William looked at her. "You know I cant answer that." He looked to the floor.

  "But I can say that Riddle thirsts for power," William shook slightly. "And he will do anything  to get it."

  Something in him trusted Rosalie enough to tell her this much, it felt like she really just wanted to help them.

  Rosalie leant herself against the stone wall, lifting her arms to cover her chest. She looked at William nervously before speaking, each word a part of her thought out and calculated plan.

  "Does he know about horcruxes?"  Rose asked quietly, her voice trailing off into nothingness. Williams immediate second of silence had already answered the question for her, but he nodded nevertheless.

   Rose gave a criminally short smile. 

  "Is he having a hard time trying to make one?" 

  William opened his mouth to answer, but the short sound of footsteps approaching them broke through the atmosphere. Both of them zipped their lips shut and watched vulnerably as Coriolanus walked into the picture, the illuminance of the candle now shining on his handsome face as well.

  He looked between Rose and William, the latter more afraid of Coriolanus's sudden appearance than the former.

  "Riddle is having a hard time getting anywhere." Coriolanus said, more confident than his partner in the inner circle. William looked at Rosalie with wide eyes, then back at Corio with a certain realisation.

  "He knows about your interest as well?" He figured for himself. Both Coriolanus and Rosalie nodded, it being old news to them.

  Rose walked in closer to them both, she pushed her hair from her face and webbed her plan further into action, a knowing Coriolanus stood close with a look of understanding on his face, his arms crossed tightly.

  Rosalie steered them all back to the root of the conversation. "Luckily for all of you, I'm one of the few people in Britain that know how to make a horcrux." 

  Williams eyes glimmered, a look of fear flashing over his face. Corio raised an eyebrow, who hadn't yet known that Rose's plan was to be turned to such a dark road as this.

  "I'm more than willing to help Riddle, if he will allow it."

  "I'm entrusting you boys to get the message to him."