A/N: Alright, I know it's been forever, forgive me. I've found some balance in my life, so, while updates will still be a little bit slow, they won't be years in coming. Here's a chapter!
Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable is mine. Well, no, the plot is mine, even if that is recognizable from somewhere else.
Chapter 4
Booth stood outside the airport scanning the streets. He needed a taxi, a place to stay, and then a contact at the local police station. None of that he was sure how to do.
But this wasn't an option, he needed to get to Bones as quickly as he could and get some answers. So, with a new sense of determination in mind, he set off down the street, set on finding someone that could point him in the right direction.
BONES
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still completely astonished when Brennan and Snape entered the dining room not long after Dumbledore's announcement.
It took Brennan only the merest hint of a second to take in all the expressions, and decide that she didn't want anything to do with whatever it was they had been talking about before her arrival. "What are you doing here, Professor?" she asked Dumbledore instead.
"Ah, Temperance, wonderful timing," Dumbledore smiled at her, "I am actually here to see you, my dear."
Brennan nodded, "Yes, Severus told me. I should have been more specific in wording my question better, what did you want from me?"
"As you know, the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts has the greatest turnover rate at the school. I find that, after this past year, I am once again looking for a Defense Professor."
Again, Brennan nodded, "I don't see what that has to do with me."
Dumbledore bowed his head politely, "I am remiss in my explanation, please forgive me. I was hoping, that you would accept the once again vacant position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."
"I do not know if that would be acceptable to the Ministry," Brennan hardly paused to consider before she was speaking, "As I have never completed a mastery in any subject, nor am I qualified to teach."
"Ah," Dumbledore smiled now, his eyes shining brightly, "There I believe you are wrong Temperance, you did teach at a muggle finishing school, did you not?"
"Regardless—"
"Oh please say you will!" Hermione cried. She blushed suddenly when she realized that she had cut Brennan off, bowing her head when everyone turned to look at her.
"I do not believe your opinion was asked for, Miss Granger," Snape drawled, "Nor was it wanted."
Hermione blushed furiously. Both Harry and Ron opened their mouths to retort, but were cut of by a shout, "Levicorpus! Apologize!"
Instantly, Snape was flipped hanging upside down in midair, his robes flopping down to cover his face. All three students currently present in the room were suddenly very glad that their Potions Master chose to wear pants underneath his robes.
"Sirius!" Molly cried, the pan she was holding falling to the floor with a clang.
"Sirius," Dumbledore's voice was much calmer, "Sirius, release Severus."
"No! Not until he apologizes!" Sirius was still shouting, though his volume had dropped somewhat.
"I will not apologize for speaking the truth, Black," Snape spat with his usual sneer. He had managed, after much flailing about, to pull robes from his face.
"You—!" Though Sirius still opened and closed his mouth, no sound came out after his first, shouted word. A moment later, Snape was on his feet once more, and both his and Sirius' wands were flying through the air.
Each person's eyes followed the wands trajectory, watching in astonishment as they landed in Brennan's open hand. "Severus," her voice was just as calm and cool as usual, "I think it would be best for you to leave." Without a word, Snape stormed over to Brennan, snatched his wand from her hand and vanished into the fireplace with a roar of flame. "I will consider you offer, Professor," she spoke to Dumbledore next, "Now, unless you have any other business…"
"No, no," Dumbledore too, strode towards the fireplace, "I hope to hear from you soon, Temperance," and he was gone.
For a moment, the room stayed in stunned silence. Then Sirius rounded on Brennan.
"You're going to take his side? After everything he's done! That's it then? After everything, everything I've done for you, you take his side!" Sirius stalled suddenly, as though whatever he had been about to say suddenly wouldn't come out.
"I didn't take his side," Brennan's voice had become ice this time, there was no doubt, "You should not have attacked him. You set a bad example for your godson. And yes, I know what Severus has done, everything. Far more than you ever will, just as he knows far more about me."
It looked as if Sirius had been slapped, his eyes were open wide, and his mouth hung so far that it looked as if he could swallow an entire watermelon. His mouth snapped shut abruptly, and he stomped over to where Brennan was standing. His hand came up, and the room tensed, sure that he was going to strike her. But he snatched his wand from her grip, hissed, "Well maybe I don't want to know," and stormed from the room.
This time, it was Brennan that looked as if she'd been slapped. But the expression was gone so quickly, that no one was really sure if they had seen it.
An awkward tension descended upon the kitchen, as everyone stood still, just staring about. They made eye contact sometimes, but it was always accidental, and they would hurriedly look away.
Clearing her throat, Mrs. Weasley repaired the pot she had dropped, catching it as it sprung back into her hand. "Well, let's get some food in us all. Everyone sit down."
Numbly, the room moved to obey. That is, all but Harry and Brennan moved to obey. Brennan was still standing motionless, her eyes trained upon something no one could see, and Harry stood watching her.
"Was he right?" Harry blurted suddenly. Brennan's eyes snapped to the boy's, green meeting green, but she made no further move to acknowledge him. "Was he right?" Harry repeated, "Would you have taken his side?"
Brennan was silent only briefly, "It was not a conversation that should have taken place around children."
"So you are taking his side then?" Harry's voice was suddenly much louder. And he didn't give her a chance to respond; he was storming out of the kitchen a moment later.
Everyone watched him leave in the stunned silence that had become so common in the past few minutes. When the sounds of his footsteps had faded, Brennan turned to Hermione, "Severus should not have spoken to you the way he did. While I do agree with his belief that the conversation should have been kept between Professor Dumbledore and myself, it was Professor Dumbledore's decision to have a private discussion in a public place."
It was an apology of sorts and Hermione nodded, "I understand Temperance. You didn't need to explain anything to me."
Brennan eyed the girl thoughtfully for a moment before nodding, turning to Molly she tilted her head towards the door in gesture, "I think I will be a little late to the meal, Molly."
"Oh, no worries dear," Mrs. Weasley's voice had become a lot more cheerful as she realized that Brennan meant she was going after Harry, "There will still be plenty left when the two of you get back."
With a nod of thanks, Brennan turned and left the kitchen. She closed her eyes as soon as she was out the door and allowed her magic to feel about the space before her. There were two distinct, yet equally familiar trails of angry magic leading from the hall. The first, slightly fainter one, belonged to Sirius and angry though it was, his aura calmed her. The second, belonged to Harry, and that was the one she followed.
It led her to the back of the house, still on the first floor; into one of the small, unused rooms they hadn't yet taken the time to clean. She didn't open her eyes once as she walked, allowing Harry's magic to guide her, feeling it calm as she came nearer to his current location. It was only when she stopped, feeling him mere feet before her, that she opened her eyes. They were standing in, what was essentially, a box. The four walls were bare, dust covered, and dark. There was no window, and the only door was the one she'd entered from.
Brennan didn't ever remember seeing this room, but she left her questions for later seeing Harry sitting cross-legged in the middle of the dusty floor.
He didn't move when she shut the door behind her, nor when she sat down next to him. In fact, it was several minutes before he acknowledged her presence at all.
"How can you be friends with him?" he finally asked.
"I grew up with Severus," Brennan turned to face Harry, meeting his eyes as he looked up at her.
Harry snorted, "Can't imagine it would have been a good childhood, growing up with that git."
"Severus isn't a git."
"Could have fooled me."
At his words, Brennan's eyes narrowed, "I don't know what that means."
"It means that Snape has done everything in his power to make my life miserable since they day we met," Harry spat.
Brennan fell silent immediately, her eyes becoming focused ahead of her once more. Harry watched her, wondering if he'd said something wrong, not sure what that could have been, and unsure if he would be able to fix it. This was, after all, his first chance at having a family, at least a family that he was actually related to.
"It seems there is a lot going on that I don't know about," Brennan said finally. She turned back to Harry, her eyes were a little colder than usual, but he didn't flinch away, understanding that the anger reflected in those eyes wasn't directed at him. "Is there anything else I should know?"
Harry started to shake his head immediately, before suddenly stopping. His immediate reaction had always been to keep everything to himself, to deal with it on his own. But he'd promised himself, first with Sirius entering his life, and again when his aunt showed up, that he'd make an effort to stop that, to let people in more. So he paused a moment, and just thought. She knew about the Dursleys already, and about Snape now. He was pretty sure that she knew about Voldemort, after all, why else would she be here. So, was there anything he needed to tell her?
Not able to think of anything, Harry shook his head. When she nodded and moved to stand, he blurted, "What happened back there, between you and Sirius?"
Brennan's eyes widened in shock briefly before she took her seat once more with a sigh. "Sirius hasn't told you much of his past." It wasn't a question, but Harry nodded anyway. She sighed again, "We were engaged, Harry." The boy's mouth fell open and he gaped at her; that had been the very last thing he had been expecting. Taking no notice of Harry's expression, Brennan continued softly, "We still are, actually."
She turned to smile sadly at Harry, and he managed to shut his mouth. Reaching up, she undid the clasp of her necklace, pulling the chain out from under her shirt. Harry's mouth fell open once more, seeing the ring there. It was gold in color, and slim. There were several diamonds set into the metal at equal intervals, and small, swirling designs occupied the space between them.
Still smiling sadly, Brennan took the ring from the chain and handed it over to Harry, "He gave me this, on my eighteenth birthday, two months after we graduated from Hogwarts. I had already made my decision to complete University in the non-magical world, and the war was just reaching its height. We made the decision that we wouldn't marry until after I had graduated University, and after the war. It was a strange decision in those days, since life could be taken from you so easily, and unexpectedly. But we were determined that we would make it through the war and to our wedding day."
"Then why didn't you?" Harry asked quietly, "Why didn't you tell everyone about Sirius, that he wasn't a Death Eater? That he didn't kill those people?"
"Because I didn't know," she paused, and reached for the ring. Harry handed it over without a word, watching as she turned it over and over in her hands. "I knew the moment your mother died. She was my sister; I have no doubt that I would have known even without my extraordinary connection to magic. I was surrounded by Death Eaters when it happened, they had ambushed me on my way home from school. That one moment of distraction was what allowed them to—" she cut herself off.
"Allowed them to what?" Harry asked and when she lifted her eyes up to meet his, wished he hadn't. "I—You don't have to answer," he told her quickly.
"You are an incredible boy," she reached out to catch his chin in her hand, eyes brimming with tears. "You and I both know that Sirius is very capable of murder if he is angry enough, if he is pushed far enough. While I loved Sirius with everything that I am, and while I trusted and believed that he was not, and never would become, a Death Eater, I couldn't say with the same certainty that he hadn't committed murder. Knowing that it was Pettigrew that had been the Secret Keeper for your mother and father, and knowing that it was Pettigrew Sirius had supposedly murdered, I believed it.
"When Dumbledore sent me to America, I was completely grief-stricken. Mourning my sister. Mourning my brother-in-law. Mourning the loss of my fiancé. And mourning my child."
"You, you were pregnant?" Harry whispered. The horror that enveloped him in uttering such a simple statement was nothing compared to the pain that welled inside Brennan once more.
"I had found out that morning," she whispered back. The tears that had been welling in her eyes were now dripping down her face. For a moment, Harry was at a loss for what to do, and then he remembered what Hermione would do whenever he was feeling upset or lost, and launched himself into her arms. Brennan held him tight, curling up around him, and rocking them both, tears still leaking down her cheeks.
When she had calmed some, and buried her face into Harry's hair, he shifted a little, "I love you Aunt Bones," he whispered.
A small sob tore itself from Brennan's mouth, but she couldn't help the smile. "I love you too, Harry."
"Have, have you told him?" Harry asked, just as quiet as before.
Brennan shook her head, "Only you, myself, Remus, and Severus know everything that happened that night. I'm not sure how to tell Sirius just yet. I'm not sure that he needs to know."
"How could you say that?" Harry jerked his head away from her, but kept his arms where they were. He was mad, yes, but this felt wonderful. "Of course he needs to know, he's supposed to marry you. He has every right to know."
"Harry, he's just been released from Azkaban…" But Harry just continued to stare at her. With a sigh, she ran her fingers through his hair, "You've mastered your mother's stare. I will tell him." Harry's face broke into a grin. "But it won't be right now. I'm not ready for that. And neither is he."
"Alright," Harry agreed.
"Is there anything else?" Brennan asked.
Harry was silent again, then he started nodding fervently, "Yeah. Will you come to Hogwarts as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor?"
A/N: I'm sorry if any of this feels awkward (if it does, let me know). I've been doing something a little different with this fic, I don't change it. Whatever comes out the first time I write it is what stays. Of course, I go back and check for spelling and grammar errors, and try to make sure that there are no missing sentences or anything, but this, in a lot of a ways, is still somewhat of a first draft. It's a lot of fun this way because it means my brain can't over or double think thinks. So, while I have a general idea of how this is going to pan out, getting there is as much a mystery to me as it is to you all.
If there's any big problems with it, however (complete errors in characterization, gaping plot holes, etc.) let me know. I have some things that will be explained coming up, but I do want to make sure everything is taken care of appropriately.
Thanks all.
=] Kiko
