Enclosed

Chapter Thirty: Maps

Rose was planted in her desk chair, defeat raining heavily down on her. It soaked through her skin, making everything feel heavy. The simplest effort of lifting her head off the desk took a strenuous amount of effort. 

For the first time in her life, Rose felt truly useless. In most situations she could offer something. When Scorpius was injured, she could offer a hand. When Alice faced heartbreak, she could offer a shoulder. When Hugo was sitting in St. Mungo's, she could offer the promise of justice. She always had something to offer. Something to give to make the situation better.

This time she had nothing. She couldn't offer a hand, a shoulder, or even the promise of justice. She had nothing to give but guilt. All of this was her fault. That was the thought that had her glued to the desk since they'd arrived at the manor. She had to find something to offer. Something to fix the gigantic mess she'd caused. She'd exhausted every effort and called in all the favors she'd gathered. It didn't do any good. They were nowhere closer to finding Pious's hide out than they were six months ago.

Every inch of her body was screaming for rest. For her to give-up and let the Auror's handle it. Her heart wouldn't let her. He was out there and she was going to find him. Even if it killed her.

"Where could it be?" Rose groaned, as she scrunched her ratted hair that hadn't seen a brush in far longer than she cared to admit. 

Taking the last of her strength, she stood and walked to the new theories board she'd built in the manor. It hung numbly between two of the bookshelves, looking like an amateur Auror put it together. Photos were bent and curling in. The strings were tangled together, like a cat made the board it's new play toy. 

It was an embarrassing attempt to recreate the board they'd made at the safe house. When trying to put the new board together, memories of Scorpius flashed through her eyes. Rose found it difficult to do it without him, so she'd rushed through it as quickly as possible. 

The one solid addition to the board was the map Marcus had of the extraction locations. She insisted that the house elves retrieve it for her. They were happy to oblige. The map showed points scattered across England. There was no pattern to those attacks. The ones in London, however were a different story. Pious's first 12 attacks took place around the city. The first attacks were in a circular pattern. 

Rose thumbed the edges of the map thoughtfully. Initially, the Auror's theorized that Pious's hideout was somewhere in the center of the comfort zone. They'd search almost every building within the circle for a clue but found none and were forced to scratch the theory. 

"Ouch!" Rose cried, as a sharp stinging began in her index finger. She pulled her finger away from the map to find a small trickle of blood. A paper cut. Brilliant just what she needed.

Rose tried to push the blood out of her mind as she walked to the desk to find her wand. She shuffled around the papers, careful not to dirty any. The wand wasn't there. The blood began to leak down the length of her finger, like a dainty river. The small amount of red liquid was starting to make her queasy.

With slow breaths, Rose bent down to check under her desk. The rose pendant swung with the motion, smacking her in the nose. She grimaced in annoyance. The little frustrations of the day were going to send her over the edge. Without thinking, she reached up with her bloody hand and pulled the necklace away.

The instant her hand wrapped around the pendant, it grew warm. Rose looked down at the flower to find it a glowing blue. With a shaky hand she stood up, trying to put it in a better light to examine it closer.

As she stood, the necklace began to vibrate, and suddenly, an image appeared, floating inches from her face. Rose forgot all about the blood. She gapped at the glowing lights, her mind trying to connect with her eyes to figure out what was right in front of her.