Rose of Despair

Three weeks have gone by and before they knew it
Lupin's group has finally returned back to Hogwarts
with news that were of disappointment. No one could
believe that it took Lupin's group two months to do
their mission, and unfortunately in the Professor's
eyes, it looks to him that he failed this one.
Professor Lupin and Tori's mother, Linda held a private
meeting in Linda's office to discuss about the forth
Quan who is currently under Voldemort's control.
The odds are even now with two Quansintadors
on each side of the war.
No one knew the reason that would lead Mary to
betray everyone but when the news spread none were
much surprised.
Tori and her friends at the moment were up in
the Gryffindor's common room having their own
private meeting.
Those that were still away on their missions were,
Hermione, Ron, and Alice as they assisted Professor
Magonagal and Professor Sprout. No word from
Dumbledore and his group has reached Hogwarts
yet, which tortured Tori, as she awaited news on the
return of her beloved.

"It is so great to have you three back, I swear
Hogwarts felt so dead with so many gone." Taylor said,
as she hugged Tori for the 13th time since she returned.
"Trust me, it's great to be back." Tori responded as she
hugged her friend back.
Tori missed this. She missed having that "safe" feeling
within the great walls of Hogwarts. She missed having her
friends around her, knowing that they are safe as well.
Although it still bothered her that the rest of the group
has not returned, and she hoped that their missions did
not end up like hers, in deep disappointment.
The one thing that sickened her was the fact of not knowing
if the love of her life, the father of her child, is okay or worse
if he is still alive.
"Wow Tori, you've gotten bigger since the last time we saw you!" Krystal
said with joy. Tori smiled at her friend, no matter what she could always
count on Krystal's loving, bubbly personality to cheer anyone up.
"I can't believe theres a forth Quan." Zack said catching everyone off guard.
Tori quickly turned to him, and as soon as he mentioned about the
other Quan, flashbacks of the dying mother came back into her head.
Through out their whole trip back, Tori couldn't help but think about
that lady and what happened to her children. Innocent children
in the hands of the cruel Dark Lord easily angered Tori, mainly because
Tori would sometimes imagine if she was that helpless mother, and
Voldemort took her child away.
"Tori, you okay?"
The voice of Taylor quickly snapped Tori out of her trance.
"Yeah, of course." she replied a little too fast, making Taylor
look at her suspiciously.
"It pisses me off how we were so close! We could have
helped those innocent people." Harry said, his face turning
red with anger.
Tom also look completely bothered as he too remembered
the horrible scene that unfolded in front of him that night.
Taylor, Krystal, Zack, and Seamus could all tell that this
is a touchy subject for their fellow friends, seeing as how as
soon as it was brought up, each of them instantly changed
their expressions.

Within minutes both Remis Lupin and Linda walked into the
common room, interrupting the group from their little meeting.
"Is everything okay?" Harry asked quickly standing to his feet
as soon as they walked in.
"Yes Harry, no need to worry." Lupin replied calmly.
With a nod, Harry sat back down onto the couch.
"We just got word from Professor Magonagal. They will be returning
within soon, probably within a week." Linda said, with a small smile on her
face.
Immediately everyone else in the room smiled, and the tension disappeared.
It felt good that more of their friends would be returning.
"That is the good news, unfortunately the bad news is there is still no
word from the Headmaster and the others." Lupin said, quickly
looking at Tori, seeing the sadden look upon her face.
"Hopefully soon they will send some news for us." Linda mumbled,
as she look sadly at her daughter who at the moment was staring at the ground.
Linda felt bad for her daughter, it hurt her seeing her precious child go through
so much, especially for her age. The one thing that bothered Linda the most was
that she desperately did not want her daughter to live the life she did, growing up
having to raise a child alone.
Linda teared up as her eyes set upon Tori's belly. Everyone knew that Tori
is now five months along, and her baby is growing big fast. It has been two whole months since everyone left to do their missions. No one knew how long
their missions would be. Tori and her friends expected it to last only
two weeks, but the Professors knew all too well that two weeks was too short
of a time to complete their given missions. The grown ups were used to being
away long periods at a time when it came time to do things for The Order. At times
they would be gone for more than five months, or longer.
It felt good knowing that Hermione, Ron, and Alice would be returning soon,
because for those that stayed back at Hogwarts, two months was already too
long to be away from their close friends.

"Tori, can I have a word with you?" Linda asked her daughter,
in hopes of cheering up.
With a nod, Tori stood up and followed her up the stairs to
Tori's room which she shared with Hermione and Taylor, leaving
the others downstairs to continue their talk.
As soon as the two were in the room, Linda quickly
grabbed her daughter into a hug, which is exactly what Tori needed at
the moment. Linda knew Tori all too well, she is the type to show strength
in front of others, but when it came to something that bothered her, Tori
would do her best to hide it. Unfortunately everyone could see through
her defense mechanism.
"I'm so happy that you are back, safe and sound in my arms." Linda whispered
as she continued to hold her daughter.
"I missed you too mom." Tori said pulling away, to give a smile.
They let go from the hug, and went to sit down on one of the beds.
"I wanted to talk to you, you seemed extremely bothered."
Tori laughed before saying, "Is it that obvious?"
"Tori, no one is expecting you to go through this without being scared. Everyone
is just as scared as you are."
"I know its just, theres so much pressure."
"Sweetie, fate would not do this to you if it knew you couldn't handle it. Fate made
you a Quan, meet the love of your life and have a child. It seems too much because
you are still too young to go through all this but trust me, if you were a weak
hearted person, you would not be the Quan of Air. You are strong enough
to do this, and yes it is hard to go through but I believe in you. Everyone
believes in you." Linda said, embracing her not so little girl in her arms once
again.
"Thanks mom." Tori replied with a big smile. As she stayed in her mothers arms,
she felt safe and knew one day she would hold her own baby in her arms. And all she wanted was to be a great of a mother as hers was.
"I just wish Draco was here to go through this with me, be here to witness
the new life growing." she added.
"Draco will be here Tori, for you and your little baby. Don't give up on
him, if there is anyone that needs to believe in him more, it's you. He will
find his way back to you."
"Mom, you are just saying that. For all I know you probably
still hate him because he's a Malfoy, plus a Malfoy that knocked me up." Tori
said with a small smile, as she pulled away from the hug.
Linda laughed, "Honey, I do not hate him. I was upset the moment I found out
that you were dating him, but I came to realized that if I raised a good daughter, I should learn to trust her judgement. And I know that I never told you this, but
if I could have anyone love you and treat you right, it would be Draco Malfoy. I've seen the things that he would do for you, and strange as it seems, I've never seen
so much love someone can show for another….unless you know they have been
cursed or something."
As she said that, Tori started laughing. It was funny to think that Draco was
one of those sick love puppies that drank a love potion, but she was very happy that it was no potion or spell that got him to love her, it was his heart.
"Now I want you to rest up, you've been gone too long. Get some sleep and
come to my office as soon as you wake so you can have something to eat." Linda
said getting up from the bed, and placing a kiss on her daughter's forehead.
With a nod from Tori, Linda excused herself from the room and went downstairs to join Lupin and the others.

As soon as her mother left the room, Tori laid down and began staring at her ring.
It was the vow ring that Draco gave her for their anniversary along with the return of
her Husky Dog, Phantom. Tori couldn't help but smile as she remembered earlier
in the day as they returned to Hogwarts, Phantom ran up to her and nearly knocked her over, if it wasn't for Harry catching her, he would have succeeded. Phantom missed Tori as much as she missed him, and everyone thought it was cute as they saw Phantom licked Tori's tummy, as if kissing the baby as well.
Tori fell asleep staring at the ring, not knowing that many miles away, Draco Malfoy
was doing the exact same thing, staring at his vow ring from the love of life.
That ring is one the of the things that gave Draco hope, hope that soon he would escape this prison and fulfill his vows to her.