A Use of Time


"I request your time and service gold keeper."

"Yes, human?"

"Please find for me Master Bloodbiter and tell him the key holder for vault 749 requests his time and service."

A few minutes later Briar was seated in an office opposite a particularly wrinkled goblin.

"I see you wear the face of an old human male again," Bloodbiter growled. He wasn't angry, that much Briar knew from experience, just stating the fact that he, like most goblins, could sense her magical aura and knew it didn't match the face. He was irritated though, as he still didn't know what her natural appearance was.

"A certain amount of consistency could prove useful," Briar grumbled back in a deep man's voice. The goblin nodded.

"I have the items you requested."

"Were there any difficulties?" She asked taking the rather large bag.

"None more than expected," he sneered, referring to the problems goblins normally faced when dealing with humans.

"The profit from the sales?"

"Most lucrative." His smile was almost pleasant at the thought of his 10% cut. It was more than any other wizard would give a goblin, but Briar needed his favor if she wanted his help.

"The account report?"

"Of course," he handed her a roll of parchment. Scanning it, Briar couldn't keep a small smile from surfacing. It was enough to pay for her Hogwarts tuition until her sixth year. Not that she planned to use it for school; it would be too suspicious if an orphan suddenly had so much money.

"I bow to your respect of gold, Master Bloodbiter."

He blinked at the praise and took back the scroll as the human in front of him stood.

"Thank you for lending me your time and service this day."

Bloodbiter stood as well, nodding politely at the goblin style dismissal, "Good day to you key holder."

The sack was picked up and put in an expanded pocket as the man left. Once out of the office Briar checked her watch. She had eight minutes before the polyjuice potion wore off. Moving quickly she left via the Leaky Cauldron and walked quickly through non – magical London. When she was sure that she was far from the nearest witch or wizard she slipped into an alley and transformed, flying back to Hogwarts.

Briar flew through the window and shifted, body back to looking like an 11 year old girl.

"Teagan? Teagan!" There was a soft rustle and the Sorting Hat appeared, courtesy of the Room of Requirement. "There you are!" She swept him up and onto her head.

'My are you excited today!'

"They're here, they're here! The goblins finally got everything and now they're here!"

'Well stop dancing around and let us see these wonderful toys of yours.'

"They're not toys," she tried to pout, but failed miserably as she pulled out the bag and rifled through it, pulling out a shrunken trunk and enlarging it. "Ready for the grand tour?"

'Most definitely!'

The trunk had four compartments. The first looked like an ordinary school trunk, only empty, "I'll fill it with 'normal' stuff later." The second was divided into several parts; one half of the room looked like a study with plush carpeting and had shelves for books and pigeon holes for scrolls with a desk and work table in front with a squishy chair sitting in the corner; the other half was devoid of carpeting and was a standard potions lab with cabinets for potions and ingredients and a large work table; in the center of the room was a large circular depression, ideal for rune circles.

The third compartment looked like a storage center, also empty. The final key unlocked a pit, much like the one she'd seen in Moody's trunk when she'd helped him pack at the end of her original forth year. The difference was that hers was much bigger and deeper, nearly 20 meters, and had a ladder on one wall and a door at the bottom of another.

'The ladder I understand, but the door?'

"Ah yes, I was hoping you would ask about that," she said excitedly, walking over and running a hand over it. "This is an exit. The idea behind it was to be an escape way in case you got locked in or something."

'You intend it for different purpose?'

"Naturally," she replied smugly. "I've been doing some research on wards and other magical protections. All wards stop once they hit the ground and it takes separate wards to cover any underground areas, a precaution that almost no one takes. The same is true for other magical protections and alarms.

"It seems that dirt acts like a natural barrier or stopped for magic; which makes sense if you think about it. After all, every spell, even the killing curse, can be stopped by a thick enough layer of dirt or hard enough rock. So, I figured my best bet would be to attack from underground.*

"I'll dig a hole as close as I can and bury the trunk up to the lid, which I'll camouflage, before I enter and close the lid. When the door opens it does so 20 meters below where the trunk sits, which is why I'm not opening it now. I plan to tunnel to wherever it is I'm going, siphoning the dirt into here, and once I've got there, BOOM!"

Teagan jumped. 'Boom?'

"Explosions. I'll attack the supports and bring the building down. Saw it in a muggle movie, looked like a good idea."

'What will stop them from apparating out?'

"Most of the buildings I plan to attack have antiapparition wards up so all I'll have to do is keep them from running out the door, or get them when they do."

'If your plan wasn't so reckless, it would be cunning enough for even Salazar. As it is, there are a lot of holes in that plan,' Teagan said cautiously. Briar sighed as she climbed back out.

"Yeah, I know, but it's the best plan I have right now. That's also why I plan on testing it out when I get the ring, hopefully that will give me a chance to work out some of the bugs on something relatively safe."

'I think we need to redefine "safe." I believe we have very different definitions.'

"Safe as in, no people to fire spells at me and I doubt old Voldy will have put any protection underground. Anyway, onto the rest of the goodies!" She grabbed the bag and pulled out a set of crystal vials.

'To hold your memories?' Teagan guessed.

"Yeah, I'll carve the stasis runes into them later, but I figured it would be safer, in case I get caught and someone tries to mind rape me."

'Good idea, echoes of memories are much harder to find and read, nearly impossible if they are hidden.'

Next came boots, gloves, 2 wand holders, a shirt, and pants, all made to fit anyone who wore them.

"Now I won't need different clothes for every time I disguise myself. Thank Heavens!**"

Next she extracted a small bag that she dumped on the carpet, revealing a collection of gems and stones in various colors and sizes, the largest being. . .

'A diamond-tipped stylus?! You plan to make rune stones!'

"Yep, you'll find out why when I show you the last thing I got." She pulled out a bundle of cloth and shook it.

'A... cloak?'

"Your enthusiasm is killing me," she commented dryly. "It's not just any cloak. It's made of demiguise fur on one side."

'Demiguise fur?'

"You don't know it? The fur is used to make invisibility cloaks. Since actual invisibility cloaks are rare enough to be nonexistent and the process of making anything similar too long and expensive I had a cloak made from just the fur. It has chameleon-like properties so it'll blend into the environment, making it harder for anyone to see me unless they know I'm there."

'Fascinating,' Teagan murmured. 'You said "on one side" I take it there is something else on the other?'

"Moke skin."

"So the size will adjust? Ingenious! But why not dragon skin? As far as I know neither demiguise fur nor moke skin will offer much protection from spells.'

"I know, but dragon skin doesn't change size which means any cloak I had made would be either too big and get in the way, or too small and restricting. And for me, it's more important to not get caught."

'But if you are killed before you fulfill your contract. . ?'

"That's why I got the stylus and these," she gestured to the pile of stones and gems. "I'm going to carve them into protection runes and attach them with unicorn hair. Between these, the stylus, and the cloak, it cost me a tablespoon of venom."

'That much venom on the market may cause problems later, but the idea is a good one. However, that will take some time, yes?'

"Yes, but I'll manage." Briar answered with a shrug, packing everything back up.

'Hmm.'


"Evans!"

Lily jumped as James and Sirius crashed into the table, screaming her name.

"Be quiet," she hissed, "this is a library!"

"Which is why we have Remus distracting the book hag."

"Book hag?" Alice asked, looking around worriedly while Marlene laughed.

"They're talking about Madam Pince," Lily told her, fighting a smile.

"An apt description," Sev, he'd giving up on fighting the nick name months ago, commented, idly turning a page in the book he was reading. "Though with her somewhat violent tendencies I think book troll might be a more fitting title, especially since she always carries around that duster like a club."

They all laughed.

"Ya know, you're alright, Snape." James told him.

"Even if you are a potion loving bookworm," added Sirius as they sat down.

Sev sneered at them and Lily elbowed him, "Sev! They're trying to be nice. . . I think."

"We are being nice," Sirius cried indignantly.

"Yeah, Sev, lighten up. Besides," James continued, losing the smirk, "we wouldn't annoy the people we want to help us." His comment was met with four disbelieving stares. "What?"

The three Gryffindor girls and lone Ravenclaw exchanged looks.

"Wasn't it you guys that released those birds on Valentine's Day?"

"After painting them pink?"

"And charming them to fly around singing love songs?"

"And dropping balls of paint on couples?"

"Wasn't it your prank that caused Renegade to retaliate by turning everybody into cherubs?"

"With purple wings and diapers?"

"I still have my diaper," Sirius happily told the horrified group.

"It was brilliant," James smiled, "especially making it so that no matter what anyone did they wouldn't come off!" They sighed happily.

"You still have your diaper?" Marlene asked in disgust.

"Of course! Such brilliance must be remembered."

"And honored."

"They're trying to figure out the spells Renegade used on them," Remus explain, sitting down. "Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for the rest of us, they haven't."

"We would have, if you'd just help us!"

"No."

"Thank you," Lily said gratefully, turning to Remus, who smiled.

"I guess they haven't told you why we're here?"

"You mean other than to annoy us?" Sev sneered.

"Ack, that's right! We totally forgot!" James and Sirius looked at each other and nodded. "We need your help."

"Desperately!"

"It's utterly vital that we have your cooperation."

"A matter of life and death."

"We want to borrow you history notes," Remus interjected, when it seemed James and Sirius weren't about to get to the point any time soon.

"Our history notes?"

"The ones with the pictures!" Sirius added.

"But we can't find. . um, your roommate," James explained, "and we want to borrow her notes –"

"The ones with the pictures!"

"– for the upcoming test."

"You mean the one in two days?" Sev asked dryly.

"Er. . ." the trio exchanged guilty looks. "Yes?"

"And why can't you just ask her?" Marlene crossed her arms and looked at them. "Instead of bothering us?"

"He told you," Sirius pointed to James. "We can't find her!"

"That," said a voice behind them, "is really sad."

The whole table jumped and turned to look at the newest arrival. A girl with shoulder length hair brown hair was leaning against a book shelf, a small smile on her lips.

"Really, truly sad. Especially since I'm a Gryffindor and we share a house, a table, and all of our classes together."

Remus blushed guiltily while James and Sirius launched themselves at her, begging.

"Oh wise and understanding history angel," James began, "please share with us your knowledge –"

"–that we lowly creatures may come even a little closer to your greatness," finished Sirius.

She looked over their heads to the group sitting at the table. All three girls were muffling their laughter behind hands while Sev sneered at the groveling boys, and Remus groaned softly.

"And what will you do for me if I do?"

The boys blinked and looked at each other. "What do you want?"

The girl considered, titling her head so the light caught her glasses. Again Remus was struck with the feeling of déjà vu. He blinked and shook his head.

"A favor, every time you borrow my notes, which you have to fulfill no matter what." She pulled out a scrap of parchment and scribbled something on it. "For now, just sign this IOU and I'll give you a copy of my notes."

"Deal!" They signed the paper and she threw them the notes.

"Well," she tucked the IOU into her pocket, "I need to be going, tah!" She turned to leave and then paused. "Oh, and Remus?"

"Yeah?"

"A friend of mine wants to know if you enjoyed your Valentine?"

Remus turned scarlet at the memory of the large box of chocolate he'd received a month ago. Each candy had turned his hair a different color.

"That was her?"

The girl laughed. "Yup! She wants you to know that she thinks turquoise is definitely your color."

The table erupted into giggles as Remus sank lower in his chair. Chuckling the girl turned to leave.

"Wait! You said she's your friend?" The girl nodded. "Can you tell me her name?"

"I can," she said slyly, "but I won't." Remus' face fell and she sighed. "But I will give you a clue: she's often right in front of you." With that and a wave of her hand she left, leaving a puzzled Remus and a curious table.

"What was that about?"


"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stu –"

'You should know this is hurting me.'

"– pid. Hu?" Briar stopped banging her head, which Teagan was sitting on, against the wall and straightened his brim. "Sorry. I just can't believe how stupid I was. I practically told him who I was!"

'Yes, you did and that was stupid, but what is done is done, so get over it.'

"Thanks for the sympathy," Briar grumbled.

'In addition, it seems your plan to get Mr. Snape accepted seems to working.'

"True, although I think that's more because he's not in Slytherin rather than a result of anything I've done." She sighed and stood up. "Seraph!"

The tawny owl stared at her from its perch by the window.

"Ready to train?" An affirmative hoot. "Alright then," she placed Teagen on a table so he wouldn't be accidentally hurt and pulled out her wand.

The training had started shortly after her feathery angel found out about the basilisk. Seraph had not been happy his human had done something so dangerous without him. He had allowed Briar to go reaping alone only because he had been a hatchling when she had started and it was easier for her to go without him. But now, at nearly two years of age, Seraph decided he was old enough to help.

It had been a strange conversation for Briar as she listened to Teagan translate the hoots coming from under his brim. After agreeing Seraph could help once he was trained to Briar's satisfaction, she'd sent Seraph out with an order for a book on animal attacks and how to fight and protect against them. The next night they'd begun training.


Briar sighed and rubbed her eyes.

'You should rest.'

"Can't. Work to do."

'You are a walking zombie. You only need to stop talking and you will be a zombie.'

"Uhhnn."

Teagan sighed, 'Listen and listen well child, you have been working nonstop since you came here. Instead of celebrating Yule and resting you spent two weeks skinning and gutting a 50ft snake. Only to have to go back to class as soon as you finished; granted, you have already gone through the courses so one would think that would offer a break. However, you spend them working on runes, spells, and your projects, and ever since Yule you have come here every night to work. You leave little time for rest, which you so desperately need.'

"What was your point again?"

'Rest! Your body is only 11, not the near 23 your mind is. You need rest and I am banning you from this room until you get it!'

"You can't be serious!"

'I am.' He hopped off her head and pointed his brim at the door. "Out! For at least a week."

Briar gaped at him. "You. . you can't. . .you can't kick me out!"

"Yes, I can. As a magical item of Hogwarts I have access to the school's magic and can use it if necessary. So, to bed with you!"

The chair she was sitting in shot toward the open door and dumped her in the hall.

"Seraph!" Teagan called. "Make sure she goes to bed and sleeps."

Seraph nodded and grabbed beakful of Briar's cloak. Spluttering with indignation, Briar stumbled down the hall, her feathery little angel dragging her along.


'Looks good.'

"Thanks, you don't think the rune stones stand out too much?"

'Nope, you sized them small enough. I would worry more about the woven runes.'

Briar stood in front of a large mirror wearing her demiguise cloak. Tiny little stones and gems carved into runes decorated the hems by her feet and ankles and ran along the lapels on the front. The buttons that would hold it closed also replaced by rune shaped stones, all a light, almost grey, amethyst. Tying the stones to the cloak were strands of glittering unicorn hair, which she had also used as thread, stitching additional runes in between the stones.

She ran a hand over them. All the runes were ones usually used in making protection wards, giving her a portable shield strong enough to protect her from hexes, jinxes, and lower to mid- level curses.

"You're right, the unicorn hair stands out more than I would like, but I knew that would happen." Her voice was a neutral tone, reaching a pitch that could be either male or female. A feat achieved by the silver collar around her throat that glowed mutely with blood runes.

'The voice changing necklace is a nice touch, but if someone sees your face it will be pointless.'

Briar sighed, "I know, but that's why I've made a batch of polyjuice potion every month this year."

'And when it wears off?'

"I'll keep the hood up."

'If it should fall off? You cannot add a sticking charm, as it would interfere with the runes.'

Briar crossed her arms and glared at her reflection. It was the one real flaw in her disguise. Her glasses were too noticeable, and even if she did use them, they, like the hood, could easily fall off.

After several minutes of frustrated silence, Teagan spoke again. 'I have an idea: a mask.'

"A mask?" The image of a white Death Eater mask filled her mind. "No way, I'd rather be caught."

'Trust me, please?'

Briar took a deep breath, "fine."

'Thank you, now close your eyes.'

She did and felt the room tip and spin, followed by the feeling of falling several feet. When she opened her eyes she was standing in the Room of Lost Things.

"I hate doing that. Alright, Teagan, where are we going this time?"

They'd made frequent trips to the room; it being a great source of free, if questionable, supplies, and Briar had come to rely on the Hat to get around the confusing piles. His connection to the school allowing him to know where things were. . .more or less.

"You've got to be joking."

Teagan had led her to a pile of masks, hopping off her head to dig through it with his brim. She stared at the thing he'd pushed in her direction.

It was blood red and appeared to be made of several left over pieces of leather all sown together. It had no design, but the stitching of the cloth gave the impression it had been cut from a suit of armor. It was an odd shape, looking nothing like any mask she had ever seen. She picked it and Teagan up.

"A ball mask? Why does the school even have these?"

'It was traditional,' Teagan began, his tone one of an old man reminiscing, 'that every Samhain*** would be celebrated with a feast and a ball, a masked ball being the most popular choice.

'It wasn't until a student was killed that the masks disappeared as the headmistress at the time believed it to be the work of foul play, but could not figure out who was behind it, the masks making it near impossible to tell who was who. For the rest of her time as headmistress she refused to allow anymore masked balls.

'By the time she was replaced they had fallen out of style. Eventually even the dances stopped until all that is left is the feast. Although now it is called the Halloween feast and Samhain and its traditions and festivities forgotten.' His voice was sad and wistful.

"Hmmm, we shall have to bring it back then. Perhaps Renegade can help?"

The Hat chuckled, 'you do me good, child. Now put on the mask. The magic will have faded so you will be able to adjust it and add whatever charms you like later.'

With a shrug, she slipped it on, sizing it as she walked over to a propped up mirror.

"Woah." It started slightly above her right temple and fell diagonally down her face, covering her left eye and its scar completely. It curved slightly at the bottom, ending an inch from her mouth.

'Woah indeed.'

"I look like a knight."

'You look like a protector,' Teagan corrected. 'Which is what you are; a protector, a defender, a guardian.'

"I love it," she breathed. "Thanks, Teagan, but," she took it off, "I'm changing the color."

'Why?'

"Red is a Gryffindor color and Gryffindor fought against Slytherin. It's only a matter of time before people hear Voldemort's claim to Slytherin blood and I don't want people to think I'm Gryffindor's heir or something come to fight against the 'evil Slytherin.' Besides Gryffindor was a light wizard and I'm not light, I'm grey." She tapped her wand against the mask and put it back on. It was now a deep royal purple.

'Purple? Like Renegade?'Teagan's tone was amused.

"Minus the sparkles, yes. The color has grown on me, besides it has no relation to any of the other houses."

'You wear it well.'

"Thanks!"

'All that's missing is a sword.'

"I'm not wearing the sword! It's gaudy and heavy!"


Briar took one last look through her trunk. In storage she had the leftover basilisk skins, bones, and teeth, all carefully labeled, as well as several items she'd gathered from the Room of Lost Things. In the study she ran a hand over the spines of the books she'd gathered; some bought, a few stolen, and a fair number collected from the Room of Lost Things. Those she'd had to repair and restore a bit.

She carefully checked over the scrolls, making sure nothing was missing or forgotten. She lifted the lid of a large box. Inside were the notes, papers, charts, and even tests from her original years at Hogwarts that she'd copied from memory with the help of Dumbledore's pensive; provided by the room. Briar smiled at the arguments she'd had with Teagan, which she ended.

"I wrote them, I did the research, put in the time and the effort to complete them. It's all my work, my original work from when I was actually in those years. It makes much more sense to use the work of someone who didn't have prior knowledge than to dumb down my current work. Besides, not only will it save me a great deal of time, but I want to use them. I'm not - I don't want my work to be wasted."

Teagan had let it go after that. So far she had the essays and notes through forth year, even those for Defense despite there being a different teacher each year. She closed the lid and walked over to her potions cabinet. She had two whole shelves devoted to healing potions and polyjuice filled another three. The last two held various other potions.

Her memory vials, half of which she'd filled, sat in a locked cushioned box next to another locked box that held the broken pieces of Ravenclaw's diadem. Both sat in the depression in the middle of room surrounded by glowing blood runes that would allow none but her to enter.

Satisfied she made her way to the exit, pausing to look at the items hanging next to it. Her cloak, gloves, and mask hung on the wall, waiting. Above them was Gryffindor's sword which Teagan had insisted she take.

She closed the lid and reopened it to reveal a standard student's trunk filled with books, clothes, and other junk. She threw in the last of her things and slammed the lid, sliding a small panel that hid the other three key holes back into place.

"Finally, all done packing." She flopped on her bed, absently stroking Seraph. The runes she'd stuck to her bed were gone, having faded three weeks ago along with the compulsion spell. No evidence, no surprises, no questions asked - that was the plan anyway, and so far it was working.

Her roommates chattered, making plans to write and visit while they packed. Eventually it was time to head down to the leaving feast.

"Don't forget to follow the trunk down to the train tomorrow," she told the dozing owl for the thirtieth time. He blinked at her.


The Great Hall buzzed with talk, a little louder than normal as people occasional shouted to someone down the table to meet them on the train, which would be leaving in an hour. It was perhaps the only breakfast of the year that didn't have owls swooping down to drop letters.

The banners bearing the crest and colors of the winning house began to sway and then flap as if caught in a storm. Silence fell, only to be broken by a scream.

"Look! Look at the crest!"

All heads turned to stare at the large banner above the staff table. The mascots were moving, stretching and yawning as if waking up. Suddenly they jumped, landing in front of their house tables.

"Greetings students," the Eagle spoke. "We are here as representatives of a group of students."

"Students," hissed the Serpent, "who long for freedom from confining traditions."

"Students," the Badger continued, pawing at the ground, "who believe in breaking stereo types."

"Students," the Raven cawed, "who seek to be creative and inventive."

"Students," roared the Lion, "who strive to be unbiased, open–minded, and fair."

"We seek to unite the school," the Serpent hissed, raising itself high.

"To help those in need," rumbled the Lion.

"School related or not," added the Badger.

"Through laughter and understanding," the Eagle finished.

They opened their mouth and spoke as one, "We are Renegade and we aim to better Hogwarts."

"We bid you good bye until next year," the Eagle finished, flying into the air. All four raced around the Great Hall before making for the banner they came from, freezing as they landed. The Eagle making a slight detour and landing on Flitwick's chair.

"Congratulations on the win Professor," the Eagle told him and then flew to its place on the banner.


No one noticed the relieved smile on a young girl's face as the Great Hall erupted into excited talk and laughter. No one noticed how one girl sat with only an owl for company on the train. No one noticed as she watched from the window as students rushed off the train and into waiting arms, a look of longing and pain on her face. No one noticed has she watched certain students closely as they left and waited until the station was empty before leaving. No one noticed when she got off the train and made her way to the exit with no one to greet her. No one noticed as the girl made her way through the muggle train station to a bus stop. No one noticed as the girl disappeared.


Author's Notes:

In case anyone's curious, I get most of my information on spells, animals, and such from this website:

* I'm just assuming this is true based on the fact that in the books, Dumbledore stopped many of Voldemort's spells with various rocks, statues, and such, including the killing curse.

** Since she uses polyjuice potion so often in an attempt to keep her identity hidden, she would need something that would fit multiple sizes and shapes. That or she would need a bunch of different outfits which would be expensive and difficult to hide and carry. This ties into her later comment about the cloak either being too big or too small: with the different sizes of the people she impersonates (ranging from petite women to large men) any cloak that didn't changes sizes would be problematic. IE too large for the small women and too small for the men.

*** Like Yule this is an older version of Halloween, something I can easily see wizards and witches celebrating given their connection to spiritual matters and the dead (ghosts anyone?).