Hey! I'm back! I'm terribly sorry for the ridiculously long wait for this story. I had some personal stuff to deal with and a very long bout of writer's block. However I am back and ready to continue with this story. Actually, I have to thank the wonderful people who reviewed for the continuation of this story. It was rereading your kind words that convinced me to return. I felt I owed it to you. Anyway, this chapter is a bit longer than the last few have been. Hopefully it makes up for the long wait. Forgive me please?

Disclaimer: Regretfully I still have not managed to convince JK Rowling to hand over the rights to Harry Potter, so I must tell you that I do not own Hogwarts or any of the characters belonging to JK Rowling. I have only my few original characters.

P.S. Morgan, if you're still reading this after all of this time, I promised you I'd write you in, and I always keep my word. See if you can guess which character is yours. ;) I bet you can.

Chapter 8

Articles, Newcomers, and Nostalgia

The next two weeks passed in a blur. Brynne spent most of that time in a state of bliss. After leaving the Room of Requirement, she and James had returned to the common room to announce to the others the latest development in their relationship. Albus had smiled knowingly. Roxi and Fred had done a celebratory dance. Rose hadn't been there.

That was the only dark side of the past two weeks. Brynne couldn't ignore the way Rose refused to look at her, or the way she left the room whenever Brynne entered. The others kept insisting that Rose would come around eventually, but Brynne had her doubts. In a way, she was relieved. It was one less friend she had to worry about dying because of her. Even though it hurt, Brynne would gladly suffer through it in silence if it meant Rose would be safe. Whenever the others talked to her about reconciliation, Brynne just shrugged them off. She smiled and said she was fine. Rose had made the choice best for her. James, of course, didn't like this plan of action. Once again he was refusing to talk to his cousin, but this time it wasn't because he thought Rose had betrayed him. Now Rose had betrayed Brynne, and in James' mind, that was ten times worse.

Brynne entered the Great Hall Saturday morning to find James and Albus already eating breakfast. Brynne quickly gave James a peck on the cheek and sat down in the empty seat on his right. James smiled at her in welcome and pulled her in for a real kiss.

"Good morning," he greeted her once he'd pulled away. Brynne blushed as she bit her lip. She had discovered that she was quickly growing addicted to James' kisses.

"Morning," she murmured as she quickly turned toward the food. Albus was looking at her and his brother with a look of disgust.

"Not that I don't love the fact that you two are together now, but the morning snog sessions are a bit of an appetite killer," he told them. Brynne blushed, but James looked unashamed.

"You might as well get used to it," he told his brother firmly, "because I have no intention of stopping to spare your delicate eyes." Albus scowled.

"My eyes aren't delicate," he snapped, "I just don't want to see you two sucking face while I'm eating. Go find a broom cupboard for that shit." James looked as if her were considering the idea. Brynne slapped him playfully.

"After breakfast," she told him firmly. She had missed dinner the night before, and she had every intention of making up for that this morning with a large helping of scrambled eggs and toast. Not even the promise of James' kisses was enough to get her away from the table right then, although the idea was tempting. James pouted, but said nothing, instead returning to his food.

A large barn owl swooped down from the air and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet in Albus' lap. It landed on the table and held out its leg, waiting for payment. Al dug through his pockets before pulling out a few coins and dropping them in the waiting pouch. The owl hooted with dignity and took off once more. The others watched as it flew away before turning back to Albus.

"Anything interesting in the Daily Prophet today?" James asked. Albus shrugged as he unrolled the paper and opened it to the first page.

"I'll let you know," he murmured absentmindedly, his thoughts already absorbed by the words on the page.

Roxi and Fred both stumbled into the Great Hall, their eyes still half closed from sleep. Anytime before noon on a Saturday was too early in their opinion, but James had scheduled a Quidditch practice in for eleven that morning, and they couldn't practice on an empty stomach.

Mumbling incoherent greetings, the twins plopped down at the table and began to fill their plates with food. Brynne smiled indulgently at her friends. She had always been a morning person herself, but she knew that to the twins, morning was somewhere between noon and one in the afternoon. Anything before then was sleep time.

"Why are we having practice so early again?" Roxi groaned. James scowled.

"It's not early," he assured her, "you too are just lazy." The twins glared at him murderously.

"Brynne, control your boyfriend," Fred growled. Brynne laughed.

"I'm the one who convinced him to have it at eleven in the first place," she told the twins, "He was going to have it at seven this morning." The twins blanched at this idea.

"Mate, I'm all for winning the Quidditch Cup, but one more morning practice might kill me," Fred told James seriously. "You're bloody insane to want to be up that early." James just shrugged.

"There's less of a chance of any spies that early in the morning," he stated coolly. Roxi snorted.

"He just means there are less giggling bimbos sneaking in to flirt with him while he's all hot and sweaty," she corrected. James stuck out his tongue.

"It's not my fault I'm attractive," he sniffed. Brynne raised one eyebrow at this. He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. Brynne just rolled her eyes.

"I remember when a statement like that would've earned you a smack on the head," mused Roxi nostalgically.

"Makes me almost miss the days when you two weren't dating," Fred agreed wistfully. Brynne laughed.

Their banter stopped when Albus lowered the paper, his face grim. Seeing his expression, Brynne frowned.

"Bad news Al?" she asked curiously. Albus merely pushed the paper in her direction, pointing to an article on the first page.

"Read this and tell me what you think," he demanded seriously. Brynne grabbed the Daily Prophet and began to read. As her eyes progressed across the page her face blanched. Her knuckles turned white as her grip tightened.

"What is it? What's wrong?" asked James nervously. He didn't like her reaction at all. The others all watched Brynne with baited breath. Albus' own expression was fierce. When Brynne finally looked up, her eyes were wide with fear.

"Werewolves," she told them quietly. "That's what the prophecy meant by 'wolves.' Not the animal, but werewolves. I hadn't made the connection before, but Malfoy said that the man who attacked me, Fenrir Greyback, was one of the most feared werewolves to ever live." James frowned in confusion.

"What does that have to do with the Prophet?" he asked. Brynne lowered the paper so that they all could read the headline.

"That's what it has to do with it," she explained gravely. They all looked down at the headline in fear.

Werewolf Attacks on the Rise

By L. Longbottom

Typically werewolf attacks are rare and spread out, especially since the discovery of the Wolfsbane potion in 1986 which gives the people afflicted with this curse the ability to retain their human mind during their monthly transformations. However, recently statistics have shown a steep increase in the amount of werewolf attacks. In this past month alone there have been 58 reported attacks throughout Great Britain. This is an unheard of number. Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, had this to say, "No one knows why the number of attacks have increased so recently. The Department of the Control of Magical Creatures has launched an investigation in the hopes of finding a pattern, but right now we have no answers." Michael Gawshawk, head of the Department of the Control of Magical Creatures was unavailable for questioning, but an insider who wishes to remain anonymous did say this, "So far none of the attacks have been fatal, but it's only a matter of time before someone is killed." With 58 attacks this past month, 42 the previous month, and 38 in July, it's not hard to agree with this person that it is only a matter of time. The attacks are spread out throughout Great Britain and include a range of victims from ages 4 to 17, but other than that, authorities have no further information. They cannot even say the names of the culprits who attacked. Hopefully the Ministry will have more information soon, but until then, I advise the public to keep track of the full moons, and take full precautions. I myself have found that a potion made from lacewing flies and ground gurdyroot helps to repulse Werewolves. They don't like the smell. For the recipe please see pg. 8.

There was silence at the table as they all absorbed the information they had just read.

"What does it mean?" Roxi asked. "I don't understand what the connection is." Brynne looked up, her eyes grim.

"I don't either Rox, but I find it hard to believe that it's a coincidence that I get attacked by the most infamous werewolf in Great Britain at the exact time that werewolf attacks begin to rise. There has to be a connection." The others all nodded in agreement.

"Where the bloody hell did she get that gurdyroot advice?" asked Fred after a moment, his nose wrinkled, "If she's basing it off of Teddy's reaction then it's rubbish. I don't blame Teddy one bit for avoiding that shit. It's disgusting." The others chuckled darkly at the memory of Mrs. Longbottom's infamous gurdyroot tea. They had all been subjected to it at some point in their lives, and none of them had particularly fond memories of the experience.

"Something's not right here," Brynne started at the sound of Lily's voice. She hadn't heard it since the day she'd decided to be honest to her friends about the prophecy. She had begun to hope that Lily was gone for good.

"Keep dreaming," Lily told her.

"Stay out of my head!" Brynne growled silently. The others were all looking at her curiously.

"Something wrong Brynne?" asked Albus. Brynne grimaced.

"It's Lily," she admitted, "She says something's not right." The others all sat up in interest.

"Dead grandmother Lily?" Roxi asked excitedly. She had already admitted her admiration for Brynne's newfound 'talent' as she called it. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"No, your cousin suddenly found away to talk to me telepathically," she deadpanned. Roxi rolled her eyes.

"What does she mean by 'something's not right?'" asked Albus.

"I think it's pretty clear that something isn't right, judging by the looks of this article," Fred pointed out dryly. Brynne shook her head. She agreed with Lily.

"No, something else. Something about the attacks isn't right," Brynne told them.

"What?" asked James. Brynne bit her lip, thinking hard as she looked over the article one more time.

"I don't know," she admitted finally, "I can't put my finger on it, but something's definitely wrong."

"What about my grandmother?" James asked, "Can she tell you what's wrong?" Brynne frowned and listened for Lily's voice. She could sense a presence in her mind, and she could feel a hint of frustration coming from it.

"I don't know either," said Lily, "But there is definitely something wrong here." Brynne shook her head.

"She doesn't know what it is yet either," she told them. They sat quietly for a moment, thinking on the article. They were interrupted by the approach of Colin Creevey.

"Hey Potter!" he called cheerfully, "Isn't practice in fifteen minutes? Shouldn't you lot be headed down to the pitch?" James looked down at his watch and swore colorfully. It read 10:48.

"Less, actually," he answered Colin as he jumped up from the table. He looked at the group apologetically. "I have to run," he told them, "I left the playbook in the dorm, and I still need to grab my broom. You lot head down to the pitch without me." Quickly he kissed Brynne on the cheek, and then he was gone. The others frowned.

"I suppose we'd better start heading down to the pitch as well," said Brynne. The twins nodded and stood to leave. Albus was still examining the article as if trying to solve a particularly hard equation in Arithmancy.

"You lot go on," he waved them away absentmindedly, "I think I'll head over to the library and start doing some research on werewolves. Now that we know what we're dealing with it'd be best to know as much as we can about them." The others all nodded and then disappeared, off to practice. Albus left the table soon after, taking the Prophet with him.

Quidditch practice was grueling that day. Due to her fight with Brynne, more than half of Rose's teammates weren't speaking to her except to yell at her for doing something wrong. Rose tried to ignore the hurt at having lost her family as well as her teammates, but it wasn't easy. The only people talking to her still were Lily and Hugo, and Rose didn't exactly like having to spend all of her time with her kid brother and younger cousin. She had taken to hanging out at the Slytherin table with Scorpius. Over the past two weeks she had discovered him to be a good person: caring, decent, intelligent, and loyal. If James ever decided to speak to her again, Rose made a note to get him to see past Scorpius' family name. She had a feeling the two boys would get along well.

After two hours of unsuccessful practice, James finally released them for lunch. His scowl as they made their way back to the castle showed his displeasure at their progress that day. The first match of the season was approaching in a month, and they were nowhere near ready to play. If they didn't find some way to work together as a team, they wouldn't ever be ready.

Lunch was uneventful compared to breakfast. They were all too worn out from practice to do much talking, and Albus had still not emerged from the library. Brynne was just thinking that a nap sounded nice when two letters dropped into her lap. Startled, she nearly spilled her pumpkin juice. Looking up, she saw that the others had all received letters of their own. Brynne hesitantly opened the first letter. Professor Weasley's handwriting was quickly becoming recognizable after a month of similar notes.

Your final detentions will take place at precisely 6:00 this evening. Don't be late.

Sincerely,

Hermione Weasley

Deputy Headmistress

Brynne felt a thrill of relief at the thought of her last detention. The past month hadn't been as bad as she'd anticipated, but she was ready for her punishment to be done. She had better things to worry about now.

"What do you reckon she'll have us do this time?" Fred asked.

"Knowing Aunt Hermione, it'll probably be something extra cruel, seeing as it's our last one," James muttered darkly. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"They're not that bad," Brynne defended. The others merely looked at her with blank expressions. Brynne turned her attention to the second letter. It was from her mum. She moved to open it, but was interrupted by a newcomer.

Elise Davies was Hogwarts' most notorious and well-informed gossip. She knew everything that happened before anybody else, and she was always willing to share. Brynne normally didn't have a problem with her, but Elise Davies was also the president of Hogwarts' own James Potter fan club. As the girl sat down a little too close to James for comfort, Brynne shot her a suspicious glare.

"Davies," she greeted coolly. James shot her a curious glance. Brynne was typically friendly to just about everyone, with the exception of Vera, and on occasion him. Elise flipped her long, blonde hair and flashed James her most flirtatious smile.

"James," she cooed. James shifted uncomfortably under her hungry gaze. The twins both groaned quietly while Brynne glared pointedly at Elise.

"Er…Elise?" James greeted hesitantly. Elise giggled as if he'd said something funny.

"So, have you heard the news?" she asked.

"What news?" snapped Roxi, who was not overly fond of girls like Elise Davies. Elise shot her a look.

"There's a new girl at Hogwarts," she announced confidently.

"A new girl?" Fred questioned, confused, "But we're a month into school."

"She just transferred here," Elise explained, "She used to be homeschooled. Her name's Ariel Jennings. Get this. She's a fifth year." Brynne, who was the only fifth year at the table, shifted in interest.

"What house is she in?" asked Brynne, curious despite herself.

"Well, I heard she was in Slytherin," Elise answered, "But I haven't seen her yet so I don't know for sure. Apparently her family's loaded. Her grandmother is Celestina Warbeck!" Fred snorted.

"Isn't that the witch your grandmother loves so much?" Brynne asked James. James smiled slightly, his eyes alight with laughter.

"Yeah," he answered, "She's bloody awful. Grandma Molly makes us listen to her during the holidays…" he shuddered at the memory, "It's not pretty."

"Understatement," grumbled Roxi. Fred snickered.

"Aww, does someone not like our grandmother's taste in music?" he teased his sister. Roxi wrinkled her nose.

"Who does?" she demanded.

"I think she's brilliant," Elise Davies chimed in, "She's got that classic sound, you know?" Brynne snorted.

"Oh yes, A Cauldron Full of Hot Strong Love is a real classic," she agreed sarcastically. James laughed and put his arm around her, dragging her in for a hug. Brynne beamed at the contact, noticing the look on Elise's face. Elise humphed in offense, but said no more before getting up to rejoin her friends over at the Ravenclaw table.

"How that girl managed to get into Ravenclaw, I'll never know," Roxi mused, "She's got no brains to speak of." Brynne snorted in agreement.

"That's hardly fair," Fred argued half-heartedly, "she must have something in that head of hers. How else could she know so many secrets?"

"I still say that she makes up half of those rumors," Brynne said. James chuckled.

"So what do you reckon this new girl is like?" Roxi asked. James frowned.

"She can't be any good if she's in Slytherin," he stated confidently.

"They're not all bad," said Fred, thinking absentmindedly of Vera. James said nothing.

"Well, frankly, I'm in no mood to meet anyone who has Elise Davies this excited," Brynne announced, "I'm off to go finish some homework before detention. Anyone want to join me?" The twins shot her disgusted looks.

"Homework? On a Saturday? Blasphemy!" cried Fred. Brynne rolled her eyes and turned to James expectantly. James ran a hand nervously through his hair. He tended to agree with the twins on this particular point, but he knew if he let Brynne go off to do homework he wouldn't see her until detention. And that just wouldn't do.

"I guess so," he agreed reluctantly. The twins shared looks of betrayal.

"You've corrupted him, you have," Roxi accused Brynne grumpily.

"He'll never be the same," Fred cried mournfully. Brynne laughed before motioning for James to follow her out of the Great Hall, leaving the twins on their own to spend their Saturdays the way they always did, getting into mischief.

Albus had forgone lunch in the hope of finding something on werewolves that would help him see what they were missing. He'd looked over the article in the Prophet dozens of times, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was bothering Brynne. The library's collection on werewolves was extensive, but unfortunately that meant that he was stuck sorting through the plethora of information for something useful. So far he had come up empty-handed. Albus was so absorbed in his research that he didn't notice the girl until she was standing right in front of his table, clearing her throat.

"Excuse me," a voice sounded from above him. Albus looked up to meet a pair of ice-blue eyes that seemed to stare straight through him. It took a moment for him to process the fact that the owner of those eyes was talking to him.

"Erm…yes? Can I help you?" The girl with the blue eyes laughed happily at his response.

"Oh good," she exclaimed, "I was beginning to worry you were deaf or something." She fixed him with a brilliant smile that left Albus momentarily stunned.

"Erm…sorry," he stumbled awkwardly, "But was there something you needed?" The girl smiled knowingly, as if she understood the effect she had on him. She tucked a strand of strawberry-blonde hair behind her ear nervously.

"Yes, I was wondering if you could help me? You see, I'm new here and I need to find a book on defensive spells, but I'm not entirely sure where to look." The girl looked down at him hopefully. Albus felt as if he were waking from a dream, dazed and confused.

"Um…yeah," he answered quietly, "Defensive magic is over there." He pointed in the right direction and waited for the mysterious girl to leave. Her eyes flashed with something that looked a bit like disappointment.

"Right, well…I guess I'd better go find that book then," she told him before turning in the direction he had pointed. Before he could return to his research, she turned back and fixed him with another one of her unsettling gazes.

"I'm Ariel by the way, Ariel Jennings," she introduced herself. Albus blushed, although he didn't exactly know why he was blushing.

"Albus Potter," he answered back shyly. Ariel beamed.

"It was a pleasure meeting you Mr. Potter," she declared brightly before turning toward the bookshelves and away from him.

"Yeah…" murmured Albus to himself, "You, too…"

Brynne found herself in an odd mood before detention. She had opened the letter from her mum only a few hours ago and the words were still running through her mind. It was good news. Her mother had been writing to tell Brynne that her younger brother, Kevin, had shown his first sign of accidental magic that week. He had accidently fallen off of a shelf he'd been trying to climb. But instead of hitting his head on the hard tile below, he had miraculously done a flip in mid air and landed halfway across the room on his feet. Kevin was seven now. In four years he would be attending Hogwarts himself.

The news should have made Brynne ecstatic, and it did. Truly. But for some reason, all she could think of was of Vera, who had been there the day that Kevin was born, and who had been almost like a second older sister for him for most of his life. She would've rejoiced to hear the news of Kevin's magic. It was something that she and Vera should have shared together, as they had shared almost every other memory with Kevin. His first steps, his first words, everything. Vera had been there when Brynne had shown her first signs of magic, and vice verse. It seemed wrong that this time Brynne could not share a memory with her old best friend.

Brynne made her way to Professor Weasley's office quietly, and she watched in silence as Professor Weasley paired them off for their last detentions. Fred and James. Scorpius and Rose. Roxi and Albus. Finally, all that was left was her and Vera.

"You two will be sorting potion ingredients tonight," Professor Weasley told them. Brynne nodded and followed Vera down to the dungeons in silence. She watched her old friend silently as they headed down. Vera looked tired. Dark circles ran beneath her eyes, and she looked as if she had lost some weight. Her brown hair was pulled back in a braid, but it looked as if she hadn't washed it that day. Brynne knew Vera well enough to know that something was wrong.

They began their detention in silence. Brynne felt the tension in the air, and she had a sudden need to say something, anything. Half an hour into their work, she finally broke the silence.

"Kevin did magic," she announced simply. There was no preamble. "I thought you might like to know that." Vera didn't look at her, but Brynne caught the sad smile on her face, and the tension in her shoulders as she froze.

"That's wonderful," Vera said finally, and there was a note of sincerity in her voice. Vera had always looked at Kevin as her younger brother, and she could not help but feel a hint of sisterly pride at the news.

"He misses you," Brynne told her. Vera said nothing, but a pained look crossed her face briefly before she could conceal it under a mask of indifference. She shrugged nonverbally. Brynne tried again.

"You should see him," she mused fondly, "He's grown so much sense we were twelve."

"Why are you telling me this?" Vera demanded harshly. Brynne looked at her in surprise.

"I thought you might want to know," she answered simply, "You're as much his sister as I am." Vera shook her head sadly.

"Not anymore," she murmured to herself. Brynne pretended not to hear this last thought, and returned to her work in silence. This time, it was Vera who spoke.

"Scorpius told me you knew. About…about what really happened that day in Hogsmeade?" Vera sounded unsure, a rare occurrence. Brynne looked at her coolly.

"That's right." Brynne answered calmly. Vera looked ashamed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered almost inaudibly. Brynne shot her a confused look.

"What for?" Brynne asked, "You didn't attack me." Vera shook her head and quickly wiped a tear away before it could fall.

"I should've stopped it," she insisted, "I should've screamed for help; I should've done something." She choked on her tears and fell silent. Brynne shook her head hurriedly.

"There was nothing you could do," she assured Vera quietly. Vera sobbed.

"It was horrible!" she admitted to Brynne, "Standing there and watching them hurt you. Feeling so helpless. I've had nightmares for weeks now. Every time it's like the first time. Watching them torture you, hearing you scream. Seeing all of that blood." Without thinking Brynne moved to wrap her arms around Vera as she watched her old friend fall apart. Vera leaned into her, hiding her face from view.

"I don't blame you Vera," Brynne explained quietly, "I'm glad you didn't get involved. They would've killed you." Vera scoffed.

"Why should you care if I die?" she demanded harshly, "You haven't said one kind word to me in years." Brynne backed away as if stung.

"That doesn't mean I want you dead!" she cried, "Vera you were my best friend! I could never want you dead!"

"But you hate me!" Vera accused her. Brynne shook her head, suddenly feeling drained.

"I've never hated you," she admitted sadly, "I just couldn't handle the hostility between you and James. The two of you were the most important people in my lives. And you hated each other. I had to choose."

"And you chose him," Vera spat harshly. "I was your sister in every way except blood and you chose him!"

"I didn't have a choice!" Brynne shouted. "I never had a choice with James!" There was silence as the two of them breathed harshly. Brynne sighed and rubbed her temples. She could feel a headache coming on. She gave up on metamorphosing, allowing her guard to come down in front of Vera. Allowing her to see the real Brynne.

"I can't explain it," she whispered, "but it's like he's a part of me. Like he's some vital organ I never knew I had, and if I remove him, I'll die. I can't not choose him. Do you understand?" Vera stared at Brynne for a long time.

"I understand," she agreed finally, "but it doesn't mean I can forgive you for it." Brynne looked as if she'd been slapped. Finally she nodded.

"I guess that's fair," she said after a long silence. And with that the two girls returned to their work. They didn't speak again for the remainder of their detention. And when the work was done, both girls returned to their separate common rooms and cried for a friendship that had ended long ago.

So...what'd you think? Good? Terrible? Let me know. I realize I probably don't deserve the reviews after the wait I put you through, but do it anyway. Please?

A couple of notes:

1. There have been a few questions concerning everyone's age. Let me clarify. Rose, Scorpius, Brynne, Albus, Vera, and Ariel are all fifth years. Lily and Hugo are both third years. James, Roxi, and Fred are sixth years.

2. I make no promises, but I'm going to TRY (note the TRY bit there) to update every week, probably on a Friday or during the weekend. However, if I don't update for a bit, please bear in mind that I am currently in the middle of my senior year at high school, and that I do my own laundry. I'm a busy person, and my life has sort of hit stress level 900 at this point. Seriously. I've got classes, college, financial aid shit, not to mention the fact that I have two parts in my school's senior play in addition to handling costumes. I have a grand total of zero free time. (This is not an exaggeration.) However, whenever I do find free time, I promise to work on getting out this story. I think I can manage a chapter a week. But if I don't, please don't murder me.

3. Some of you might be tempted to read my other story, The Black Chronicles: Book 1. If you haven't already started it then take my advice; don't. It's on temporary hiatus and shall remain so until I finish this particular story. I just don't have time to concentrate on both stories right now. I apologize for anyone who has already begun that story, but I promise I WILL finish it eventually, and as you might have noted from earlier, I always keep my word.

I love reviews. ;) Until next time.