A/N: er. I really have nothing to say. except that I feel terrible and I am a pititful excuse for a writer. I hope you don't hate me too much.. that is, if you do, I understand, cause I'm kinda hating myself right now anyways, but I really hope you don't..
Chapter 26 - Between Pointy Bishops and Risking Life & Limb and Even More Eggnog in the House, well, you have to admit that this has SIRIUSLY been a Brilliant Christmas
He was standing on a hill, a shovel in his hands. A gaping hole opened up at his feet. No, not a hole, a well; a well cut straight through a thick slab of grey stone. He bent closer to it, entranced by the flickering reflections of light on the water deep below. They came together, forming a lopsided circle; it looked like someone had bent a globe out of shape and then tossed it aside into the well. He was filled with the sudden urge to dispose of it better. Looking at the shovel in his hands and running his fingers across the smooth metal, he dug it into the earth and tossed dirt into the well, smothering the globe.
It seemed to take only a short time for him to fill the well completely. Water still soaked through the dirt, but it was shallow; the reflections were gone. A voice called out to him, a muffled voice, the words impossible to make out. He ignored it, gently probing the earth with his fingertips, feeling roots uncurling from the seeds hidden inside it, watching small leaves poke out from the topmost layer of soil. In the light, they were a vivid green, so bright that they hurt his eyes.
The ground shook underneath him as the muffled voice continued to call out louder. Dirt fell in huge clumps around him. Somehow, he managed to fall into the earth, towards the source of the brilliant green light.
Now the words were decipherable. As he recognized this, he could feel himself fading, and he allowed himself to be swept away even as he wished he could go back and follow the light down into the darkest layers of the earth.
The voice was cutting into his dreams, calling his name. With a final, regretful sigh, he opened his eyes.
"Briar, Briar, are you up yet?"
"I am now," he mumbled, blinking until the blurred redhead came into focus.
"Well, happy Christmas!"
"Er, you too, Ron," Briar said with a slightly bewildered grin. Even now, he could feel the remnants of the dream-earth around him; waking up so quickly after a dream like that was disorienting. He pushed himself into a slightly more upright position, yawning widely before pushing the blankets aside and jumping bodily off the bed. His muscles were stiff from sleep, and halfway through stretching them out Briar realized that there were several paper-wrapped packages next to his bed.
"Are those for me?" he asked the others.
Harry laughed at his surprise. "You're one of us, Briar; you didn't think we'd forget you on Christmas, did you?"
"I think that one's from Mum and Dad," Ron said, gesturing towards a small, paper-wrapped bundle. "Open it up, see what you got."
Hesitantly, Briar tore off the red paper to reveal a pair of woollen green socks.
"Mum always knits things for Christmas gifts," Ron grinned, waving a hand towards the maroon sweater he was wearing over his faded pyjamas. "She's got these enchanted needles, they do a brilliant job." He pulled open one of his own gifts, adding, "Go on, Briar, don't be shy, you can open them."
"Briar? Shy? I don't think we'll live to see that day," Harry commented dryly. Briar was glad to see that he was doing better. Well enough to make jokes, at least.
"Good haul this year," Ron commented, crumbling up his leftover wrapping paper into balls and tossing them into a pile by the door. "Thanks for the broom compass, Harry, I've been wanting a new one for ages. Beats Hermione's, she got me a homework planner."
"Hey, same here," Harry said, pulling out a thick notebook. Opening the leather cover, he blinked in surprise as a cheery voice announced, "Do it today or later you'll pay!"
"She got me a present too," Briar added, lifting a rectangular parcel in surprise. "Now I feel bad; I didn't get her anything."
"Don't feel bad, she won't mind," Ron assured him. "I mean, think about it.. in helping out Fred and George with their crazy schemes, you've been keeping them from experimenting on the first-years and brewing potions in the common room, which prevents her from having to interfere and stop their fun. Which, believe me, is very hard to do."
"I've gathered." Briar unwrapped the gift; it was an Advanced Herbology book, with tiny diagrams in the margins that would magically enlarge and float off the page when they were tapped. He also had a small bag of Honeyduke's Holiday Mix from the Aurors.
"Merlin's pants, look at this," Harry said suddenly, showing them a large textbook titled Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts. "Lupin is brilliant; this is going to help the DA so much."
"I will never get tired of your magic," Briar said dreamily, staring over Harry's shoulder as he flipped through pages of moving diagrams.
A loud crack from behind them caused Harry to fall backwards off the bed, Briar snatching the book out of the air as it flew out of his hands.
"Woah, sorry about that," George's voice said from behind him. He jumped lightly off the bed and held out a hand to Harry.
"Nice reflexes." Fred grinned at Briar. "You ready for your first game?"
"Oh yeah. Hufflepuff is going down."
"Well thanks, Briar," Harry said with a grimace as George pulled him to his feet. "I feel really valued right now. Supposed saviour to the wizarding world, right here, and you had to choose the book over me."
"You fell on a foot-high pile of wrapping paper, I doubt it would've done much damage," Briar pointed out. "Besides, I don't see you in any upcoming Quidditch matches, so even if you had somehow injured yourself falling off a bed it wouldn't really matter."
"Who's this from?" Fred asked, gingerly lifting a picture from Harry's bed.
"Dobby made it. He painted it himself," Harry told him.
"What's it supposed to be, now that's the real question," Ron put in.
"It's supposed to be Harry, says so on the back," George pointed out.
"Really? Looks like a gibbon to me." Fred turned it around, looking at it from a variety of different angles before shrugging and placing it back on the bed. "Good likeness, anyway."
Harry chucked his new homework planner at him; the former Beater ducked it easily and it hit the wall, where it said in a strained voice, "If you'd only work harder today, then tomorrow you can play."
Ron frowned. "Man, those things are annoying."
Briar shrugged, trying a piece of fudge from his Honeydukes bag. "Could be worse. I wonder if breakfast's ready?"
George shook his head. "Don't go downstairs yet."
"Why not?"
"Mum's crying again. Percy sent back his Christmas jumper, the prat," Fred said heavily. "Without a note or anything."
"We tried to comfort her, told her Percy's nothing more than a humungous pile of rat droppings."
"Didn't work so well, so Lupin took over."
"Best to let him cheer her up a bit before we go down, I reckon." George snagged a Chocolate Frog from the box on Ron's bed. "S'alright, you can have the card, I just want the frog," he reassured his brother as he tore off the wrapping and popped it in his mouth. Tossing the card to Ron, he stood up and gave them a cheery wave before Apparating with Fred back out of their room.
Left in peace, the three were able to tidy up a bit and pull on their Muggle clothes before leaving their room. On their way downstairs, they exchanged shouted Merry Christmases with the other occupants of the house.
Breakfast was a cheery occasion, despite Mrs Weasley's red eyes and the abandoned package still sitting on the window ledge. Each of the Weasley kids wore a knitted jumper over their Muggle clothes. Tonks had a wide knitted scarf around her shoulders, and even Sirius was wearing a thick pair of brightly coloured woollen socks. When Sandry came down, Briar laughed to see her wearing a knitted cap with blue stripes.
"We're going to go down to St Mungo's after breakfast to give our Christmas greetings to Arthur, would any of you like to come?" Mrs Weasley asked as she handed a plate of fresh pancakes hot from the stove to Lupin.
"Sure, I'd like to come," he replied, taking a pancake and passing the plate along the table.
"I will too," Hermione said.
In the end, Lupin, Hermione, Sandry and the two Aurors decided to go with the Weasleys. They were just finishing up with breakfast when there was a loud honk from outside.
Ginny, who had been keeping watch at the window, cried out, "Mum, it's Mundungus!"
"Oh, good, he's right on time," she replied.
The group scurried to get ready, and within five minutes were on their way to the hospitals in Mundungus' car. While Sirius placed Self-Cleaning Charms on the dishes piled in the kitchen sink, Harry led Briar to the sitting room, where he pulled out a chess set and proceeded to teach Briar how to play wizard's chess.
"The goal of the game is to get your opponent's king into checkmate position, that's when he's cornered and can't make any more moves. You move your pieces around the board trying to trap the king. If you land on a square that has one of your opponent's pieces on it, you capture that piece, take it out of play. In the same way your pieces can be captured by your opponent. But the thing that makes it tricky is that each of your pieces can only move in certain patterns.
"Your weakest character is the pawn; they move one square forward at a time, unless it's the first move, then they can go two. The pawn is the weakest because they can't land on occupied squares; they have to capture pieces on a diagonal. On the other extreme is the queen, she can go any number of squares in any direction. The king is in the middle of the two, he can go in any direction but only one square at a time. With me so far?" Harry asked, setting out the pieces on the board.
"Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. What about the horses and those pointy guys?"
"The knights move in L shapes, or in a backwards L.. it's basically three squares in one direction and one in another. Like, you could move three squares forward and one to the right. The 'pointy guys' are called bishops; they move in diagonal lines, however many squares you want." Harry pulled another piece shaped like a turret out of his bag. "This is the rook, or castle. They move in straight lines, again in whatever distance you want." He placed the piece on the board.
"Alright, let's play," Briar said, looking the pieces over.
"One last thing. You can move your pieces by hand, or direct them on what square to go to," Harry told him, pointing out the numbers and letters written along the side of the board.
"Good to know. Can I be the black pieces?"
"Sure. As white, I'll go first."
Their game progressed slowly. Harry gave Briar plenty of time to analyze the board and study the different pieces before each move. He quickly got the hang of it, and soon the friendly atmosphere of their game became much more competitive. Sirius came to watch them, cheering both boys on and frequently offering to help Briar, arguing that the game wasn't really fair since Harry was second only to Ron. That only spurred him on more to do his best to win the game.
The board had been steadily emptied of pieces when the doorbell rang, followed immediately after by the shrill screams of old Mrs Black. Grumbling, Sirius got to his feet and went down the hall, silencing his mother's portrait in the middle of her cursing.
"Pawn to E4," Briar directed.
"What are you doing here?" he heard Sirius' faint voice say blankly as Harry contemplated the board.
"Stop gaping, Black, and let me in, it's snowing if you hadn't noticed, all holed up in your house," came a dry voice that surprised both boys. Briar raised his brow at Harry, who shrugged and waved his rook on to capture one of Briar's bishops. Outside, the two men in the hall continued talking in low tones to each other, their voices slowly getting louder as they came down the hall.
Sirius pushed the door to the sitting room open and led Snape inside. He immediately flopped onto the couch, leaving Snape with no alternative but to sit in the last remaining chair in the room, an elaborately carved yet highly uncomfortable wooden armchair. Sweeping his long robes around him, he sat down and immediately turned to the boys.
"I was supposed to speak to you alone, Potter, but as Black has.. insisted on staying.." Snape trailed off with a disapproving sneer and said pointedly, "Moss, would you be so kind as to leave?"
"Anything you say to Harry you can say in front of us," Sirius said firmly. Briar nodded in agreement, stopping when Snape glared at him.
"Very well, stay, I know you like to feel involved."
Sirius frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Merely that I know it must be frustrating for you, to know that there is nothing useful you can do for the Order." Turning back to Harry, Snape continued, "The Headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term."
Harry looked at him blankly. "Study what?"
"Occlumency, Potter," Snape repeated. "It is a magical defence of the mind against external penetration. An obscure branch of magic, but extremely useful, and very powerful when mastered."
Harry glanced at Briar, clearly startled and disturbed by this, before asking quickly, "Why do I have to study Occu- occlu- occluthing?"
"Because the Headmaster thinks it is a good idea," was Snape's smooth answer, if such a response could even be called an answer, Briar thought.
"How's Harry going to be studying this?" Sirius questioned.
"He will get private lessons once a week - lessons that must stay private, especially from Dolores Umbridge," Snape said with a surprisingly meaningful look at them both.
"Who's going to be teaching me?" was Harry's wary response.
At once, Snape had the old sneering expression on his face again. "I am."
Harry groaned quietly, Briar looking at him in sympathy. "Why not Dumbledore, if he's the one wanting me to take it anyways?" he asked with a touch of desperation.
"I assure you, I did not beg for the job. It is part of the Headmaster's duty to delegate.. less enjoyable tasks." Snape got to his feet. "I will be expecting you at 6 o'clock on Monday evening, Potter. My office. If any questions come up, you are to tell the questioners that you are taking remedial Potions. I doubt anyone who has seen your work in class would find that suspicious. Now, if there aren't any more questions.."
"I've actually got one, Professor," Briar spoke up suddenly.
Snape turned to him with an exasperated look, and he quickly confirmed, "Not about this Occlumency thing, that's between you and Harry. No, I was actually wondering about the mark you gave me-"
"-for your essay on the Confusing and Befuddlement Draught? Likening the herbal ingredients to ones found on your planet will not earn you extra points, Moss. If you don't know enough material to stick to what we've learned in class during your reports, then perhaps it is time you made a visit to the library; I'm sure there will be some books there that will keep your interest for more than twenty minutes at a time."
"No, Professor, it's not that, I wouldn't expect you to give me extra points for having knowledge unavailable to the rest of the school," Briar said, trying with difficulty to keep the slightly mocking tone out of his voice. "I was actually going to point out that you marked me wrong for saying that sneezewort shouldn't be added as a raw ingredient into the potion, when I know for a fact that its properties would better contribute to the potion's purpose if it was crushed first."
Snape was silent for a moment and then said curtly, "We learn by the book, Moss, not by whatever otherworldly instincts run rampant in your brain."
"But wouldn't you agree that it's wrong to teach inferior material to students? Shouldn't the knowledge generated by others who are more advanced in specific areas be added to the class material in those same areas, in order to increase the general knowledge of the population and better contribute to the magical society?"
Snape just looked at him and then turned to leave the room. "I suggest you pass your enlightening thoughts to the Headmaster, Moss. Good day."
Sirius, who had been looking blankly back and forth between the two, jumped to his feet and followed Snape down the hall. Harry stared at Briar, who grinned at him and said airily, "Just testing a theory."
"What theory is that? The theory of how best to confuse someone completely, to the point where life doesn't make sense anymore?"
Briar rolled his eyes. "It wasn't that confusing."
"Combining it with the fact that you were criticizing Snape, it was."
Briar considered that for a moment, then shook his head. "Yes and no. You see, I wasn't criticizing Snape, I was.. pointing out errors in his teaching.. ok, criticizing his teaching.. but with clear evidence and reasonable arguments. Therefore, no detention."
Harry blinked and looked away, his eyes widening suddenly before looking back at Briar and saying softly, "You took a pretty big risk there, mate."
Briar shrugged. "It was a risk that paid off. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I feel some uprising tension in the hall that should probably be interfered with to avoid some kind of major catastrophe."
"What?"
Briar got to his feet and led Harry out of the room. Once in the hall, it appeared that the two men had barely made it to the door before breaking into argument.
"I've warned you, Snivellus," Briar heard Sirius whisper threateningly as they came closer to the pair, "I don't care what Dumbledore thinks, I know better."
"Well, why don't you tell him so? Or are you too afraid that he won't take seriously the advice of someone hiding in his mother's house?"
Sirius' nostrils flared. "Who's hiding? Lucius Malfoy, perhaps? I expect he's pleased that his lapdog's working for him at Hogwarts."
"Speaking of dogs, did you know that said Malfoy recognized you on your last trip outside? Clever idea, Black, getting yourself seen on a safe station platform.. gave you a good excuse to push the action along for those of us who are allowed to leave our hidey-holes, didn't it?"
Sirius reached to pull his wand from his robes; before his hand even touched the wand, Harry jumped in front of him, years of Quidditch training clearly not forgotten in his temporary absence. Snape's wand was in his hand by now as well.
"Are you calling me an interfering coward? 'Cause I think that term better suits yourself," Sirius said angrily as he tried to push Harry out of the way.
"Why, yes, I suppose I am," Snape responded, his wand twitching.
Briar was dying to get involved. As strange as it felt to admit, even his shirt seemed to agree with him, the long sleeves trying to push his knives into his hands. Repressing the urge, he instead pulled out his wand just in case a fight started, keeping a wary eye on both men as they stared each other down. Harry continued to stand defensively between them, as if he could hold off their anger with his hands.
Briar guessed about ten seconds passed in absolute silence, save for their heavy breathing and the low growl in Sirius' throat. Just when it looked like the tension between the two was too much for them to bear, the front door swung open and the rest of the household crowded in through the doorway with Mr Weasley in the front.
"Completely cured!" he announced cheerfully to the room at large, before realizing what was happening in front of him. Snape and Sirius turned their heads towards the group at the door, wands pointing at each others' faces, while Harry and Briar stayed immobile between and next to them.
A faint grin tugged at Briar's mouth, amused at the scene before him as the Weasley family, Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Hermione and his sister froze in the entry and stared at the four.
"Merlin's beard," Mr Weasley finally said, "what's going on here?"
Sirius and Snape lowered their wands at the same time. Sirius glared warningly at Snape as the latter pocketed his wand, giving them a curt nod before sweeping past the Weasleys. He left the house, only pausing briefly to call over his shoulder, "Six o'clock Monday evening, Potter," and then he was gone.
"What's been going on?" Mr Weasley repeated, the serious look on his face dulled slightly by the fact that he was still wearing boldly striped pyjamas underneath his winter coat.
"Nothing, Arthur, just a friendly little chat between two old school friends," Sirius said, still looking a bit angry as he tucked his wand away. With an effort, he smiled. "So, you're cured? That's great news. Really great.."
"Yes, isn't it?" Mrs Weasley took over, helping her husband take off his coat and handing it to Fred to hang up. She led him to a chair, continuing to tell them that an antidote had been found to the poison in the snake's fangs. "And Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?" she finished, rather menacingly.
"Yes, Molly," said Mr Weasley meekly.
"Now you just sit there and rest, and we'll get dinner ready straight away," she instructed, Transfiguring the lamp on the end-table into a thick blanket for him.
Sirius nodded briskly. "The turkey is all ready to go; I'll just cast a quick Thawing Charm on it, then we can stuff it and put it in the oven. Fred and George, perhaps you two can help me with the stuffing. Um, let's see.. Ron, Harry and Briar, between the three of you I bet you can get some wicked potato and other vegetable salad-y type dishes rolling. What else is there, Molly?"
"That's it for dinner, since the buns are pre-made. Ginny, Hermione, Sandry, I could use your help to get the desserts ready. And that leaves Remus and Alastor to get some other supplies; we'll need more firewood, and some candles too, I think there might be some in the attic-"
"We can find something, Molly, thanks," Lupin said, pulling his coat back on. "I'll run outside and grab the firewood, Mad-Eye, there's nothing like a good natural wooden fire to clear the mind."
"And the sinuses," grunted Moody with a half smile as he stumped upstairs.
"Wait," Sirius said suddenly, "what about my dear cousin?"
Tonks grinned, twisting a curl of her electric blue hair around her fingers. "I'm making my famous eggnog, of course," she informed him.
"Of course," Sirius sighed. "Come on, boys, into the kitchen it is!"
Briar had never seen a meal made so quickly. With everyone having a job to do and magic to speed the process up even more, time went by incredibly fast. While mashing potatoes in a large bowl, he mentioned this to Tonks, who laughed and replied, "That's the wizarding world for you; systematically impatient."
"So you always make the eggnog?" he asked her.
"Yup. I'm not much of a cook, but I can make a mean glass of eggnog."
"Mean here having the definition of hard to ingest," Sirius put in, overhearing their conversation.
Tonks shook her mixing spoon at him threateningly. "You're just jealous. I have skills with eggs."
Sirius shook his head. "Please. The last time you cooked an omelette, you sent your own father to the hospital."
"I forgot he was lactose intolerant! Which is really easy to do, being surrounded by allergy-free wizards all day," Tonks insisted. "And I had a prestigious enough reputation in the Ministry that I was able to get those Healers to go undercover at a reduced rate to fix him up and spell his allergies away."
"Bringing up your job of all things doesn't give you any headway in this debate."
Briar put his head down on the table, his shoulders shaking with laughter at hearing the two adults arguing like kids. Realizing this, Sirius whacked him with a fork, spraying bits of stuffing across the table. "Back to work!"
Within minutes, their meal was completely ready. Mrs Weasley and the girls came up from getting the desserts ready in the pantry while the finishing touches were made. Moody floated about twenty lighted candles into the chandelier above the table, Briar and Ron set out plates and utensils for everyone, Lupin helped Mr Weasley into the kitchen, Mrs Weasley tapped their Christmas tree with her wand and set magical gusts of snow to blowing about the room, and Tonks proudly sprinkled some last-minute spices into her pitcher of eggnog.
With that, they sat down for a marvellous feast that lasted well into the night. After all the food was finished up, pudding and cookies were brought out, as well as a large iced cake. They stayed up late, chatting and laughing with each other.
As Briar looked around at the cheerful faces, it was almost too easy to forget about school, final exams and even his two missing sisters in the excitement of Christmas. But nice as it was to be sitting with such a happy group of people, not to mention eating such delicious food, he couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts. And not just because of the Quidditch game, either. Without his sisters, all his sisters, life just felt a bit stranger.
He returned from his musings just in time to see Tonks dump a mug of eggnog into Sirius' hair. The room burst into laughter and a temporary food fight ensued, paused only when the twins' cracked open a pair of loud Christmas crackers. Smiling, he didn't get up to grab a cracker like the rest of the teenagers, instead giving a final glance around the room.
In the chair beside his, Sandry met his eyes. She, at least, could understand exactly how he was feeling. There were some things even their internal connection wasn't needed for.
