Bree was currently sitting is the Headmaster's office next to Draco. After Bree's revelation during Care of Magical Creatures, both she and Draco had been whisked away to Dumbledore's office in the hopes that he could convince Bree to be reasonable. That plan having failed, Dumbledore was making a few floo calls.
Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room, there was a "Bree's going to take all of Malfoy's money and leave him broke" party going on because everyone in Gryffindor pretty much hates Malfoy and if there's ever a zombie apocalypse any infected Gryffindors will retain enough of that hate to eat Draco first. There were a few people that weren't interested in partying. This was because they had thought about what might actually happen if Bree had access to the Malfoy family fortune. We call these people Hermione and Neville.
"Come on. It's a party, you should celebrate." Ron said to the duo that was trying to stay out of the festivities.
"Ron," began Hermione, "have you thought about what would happen if Bree had that kind of money?"
"I have. It's terrifying." Neville commented.
"Think about all the chaos Bree manages to cause without funds and imagine what might happen if Bree had the Malfoy fortune at her disposal." Hermione had caught everyone's attention with this statement. The common room was silent as they thought about it.
"Oh my god! We're all going to die!" Seamus exclaimed.
The party became an "It's the end of the world so we'll party like there's no tomorrow because there probably won't be" party.
Meanwhile, in the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore was back with Draco's parents, Sirius, Remus, and, for some reason, the Minister of Magic. Sirius was on the side of taking all of Malfoy's money. Narcissa was glaring at him. Remus was trying to get Sirius to realize why taking all of Malfoy's money was a bad idea, but he had trouble coming up with a god reason not to. Lucious and Fudge were trying to talk Bree out of taking all of the Malfoy's money. Fudge's argument seemed to revolve around trying to get Bree to sympathize with the Malfoy's, since they would of course by left knutless, homeless, and without a means to provide for themselves. Bree's response was "I don't care. They can keep their house, and get a job you lazy ass."
The Minister pleaded with her to look into the kindness of her heart. This caused Bree to start laughing hysterically. When she finally calmed down, she asked "What on earth would make you think I'm kind?"
"You saved Draco from a rampaging hippogriff." the Minister answered.
Bree smirked. "That was kindness for the hippogriff, not for Draco. If Draco were to drop dead, I would go to his funeral so that I could dance the Macarena on his grave. He's a evil little S.O.B that delights in the pain and humiliation of others. That folks, is what we call a sociopath." she said.
"You do that too!" Draco accused.
"Only with my enemies. I'm very nice to my friends, and you Draco… do you even have friends? Crabbe and Goyle don't count." Bree stated. Draco fumed. Sirius snickered. Lucious finally seemed to realize something.
"Did you just call my wife a bitch?" he asked angrily.
Bree actually had been, but without missing a beat she replied. "No actually, I was talking about you." Leaning toward Narcissa she stage whispered "You could find someone better… and less gay."
Before either of the elder Malfoys could respond, Professor McGonagall came in. Bree's eyes widened in horror when she saw who was behind her.
"I've brought Bree's mother." McGonagall stated. Bree looked as if she was about to break into horrified sobs.
"If I could have a moment alone with my daughter so that I may speak with her?" Mrs. Smith said. It was less of a request and more of an order. The other occupants of the room obliged.
"Help me." Bree mouthed at Sirius and Remus right before the door shut. Yelling ensued.
Ten minutes later the door opened. Mrs. Smith seemed calm, but Bree was trembling near tears. Five minutes later Bree's mother had negotiated a trust fund for her daughter. Bree literally felt the magic of the debt lessen, but it was still intact. On the bright side, Draco was instructed to never lie to the press again. Or else.
Bree grumpily walked into the Gryffindor common room. The Gryffindor students, not sensing Bree's mood, cheered. And Bree killed them all… No, not really, but she wanted to, but she was still traumatized from her mother's rant. She glared at them all.
"What's wrong?" Fred asked.
"I didn't get any money." Bree stated.
"You changed your mind?" George questioned.
"No… Professor McGonagall showed up with my Mom." Bree twitched slightly when she mentioned her mother. "She yelled at me."
"Professor McGonagall?" Colin Creevy asked.
"No. My Mom." Bree twitched again.
"So you didn't get anything?" Fred asked.
"I got a trust fund that I can't touch till I'm seventeen." Bree explained.
Neville looked relieved. "So you won't be taking over the word then?" he inquired.
"No. I haven't even thought about before… although now that you mention it…" Bree trailed off thinking.
"Stop giving her ideas!" Hermione hissed.
January was mind numbingly boring. Bree didn't really have much to do as she had the egg figured out and had found a charm that would allow her to breath under water. It was pretty easy thanks to the list of spells Remus had given her. She ordered a wet suit because that lake would be cold in February and there was no way she was going to swim in it in a normal suit.
So Bree was very, very bored. And then she remembered something she had told Ron in December.
Flashback
"Ron, you're a prat. And since you're a prat, it is now my duty to might you're life miserable, or at least somewhat irritating." said Bree, before she left the common room.
End flashback
Bree grinned. It was time to carry out that promise/threat.
Bree went back to the closet that she had previously trapped Draco in. She cut a hole in the door and installed a one way mirror so that people could see in, but not out. Then she charmed the mirror unbreakable. Preparations complete, Bree walked around the castle until she found Ron, alone.
She used stupefy to knock him out, then she put him in the closet. Then she went looking for Draco and knocked him out and put him the closet. Once the two were awake they, naturally, began fighting. Bree found it entertaining. She sold tickets and soon people form all the houses, and Drumstrang, were making bets about who would win. After three hours Hermione caught wind of it and everyone present, excluding the Drumstrang students were dealt with by Kakarroff, were given detention. Bree was fine with this as she had made a profit of two hundred and seventy galleons.
493. Not allowed to trap Ron in a closet with Draco in order to see who will come out alive.
- not allowed to sell tickets to the above.
There was a Hogsmeade visit halfway through January. Hermione was very surprised that Harry was going to go.
"I just thought you'd want to take advantage of the common room being quiet," she said.
"Really get to work on that egg."
"Oh I - I reckon I've got a pretty good idea what it's about now," Harry said.
"Have you really?" said Hermione, looking impressed. "Well done!"
Bree snickered. Harry's body language screamed "I'm lying."
"Got yourself a pair of trunks then?" she asked when Hermione left.
"What?" Harry said confusedly.
"I figured the egg out a while ago. Had a little help though." Bree stated. "Here's some advice: Take a bath." Bree left the room laughing.
On Saturday Bree, Fred, George, and Lee went down to Hogsmade. Ludo Bagman was in the Three Broomsticks.
"Hello, Mr. Bagman," said Fred brightly. "Can we buy you a drink?"
"Er… no," said Bagman, with a last disappointed glance at Harry, "no, thank you, boys…"
Fred and George looked quite as disappointed as Bagman, who was surveying Harry as though he had let him down badly.
"Well, I must dash," he said. "Nice seeing you all. Good luck, Harry."
He hurried out of the pub. A group of goblins all slid off their chairs and exited after him.
"He owes a lot huh?" Bree asked one of them as it went by. The only reply Bree received was a sharp nod.
"Shame he doesn't owe money to my cousin. I could work with that." Bree mused as she sat down at a table.
"Which cousin?" Fred and George chorused. Bree paused for a moment, then shrugged.
"Any cousin really. I have a lot of them on both sides. Most of them are older than me though. When I was little family reunions usually consisted of me passed around and fawned over. It was always a little odd for me 'cause… well, both my parents are kind of tall right?" Bree asked.
"Yeah." Fred agreed.
"Well, it runs in both sides. The woman are a little above average, but the men tend to push six feet, especially on my Dad's side, and none of them really have "normal" jobs…" Bree trailed off.
"They don't do anything illegal, do they?" Lee asked.
"I don't know. And if I did I wouldn't tell you. But I have some relatives in the military, a few work for government agencies, and… Rita Skeeter just came in." Bree said.
Rita Skeeter was wearing banana-yellow robes today; her long nails were painted shocking pink, and she was accompanied by her paunchy photographer. She bought drinks, and she and the photographer made their way through the crowds to a table nearby. Harry, Ron, and Hermione glaring at her as she approached. She was talking fast and looking very satisfied about something.
"… didn't seem very keen to talk to us, did he, Bozo? Now, why would that be, do you think? And what's he doing with a pack of goblins in town anyway? Showing them the sights… what nonsense… he was always a bad liar. Reckon something's up? Think we should do a bit of digging? 'Disgraced Ex-Head of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman… ' Snappy start to a sentence, Bozo - we just need to find a story to fit it -"
"Trying to ruin someone else's life?" said Harry loudly.
A few people looked around. Rita Skeeter's eyes widened behind her jeweled spectacles as she saw who had spoken.
"Harry!" she said, beaming. "How lovely! Why don't you come and join-?"
"I wouldn't come near you with a ten-foot broomstick," said Harry furiously. "What did you do that to Hagrid for, eh?"
Rita Skeeter raised her heavily penciled eyebrows.
"Our readers have a right to the truth, Harry. I am merely doing my-"
"Who cares if he's half-giant?" Harry shouted. "There's nothing wrong with him!"
The whole pub had gone very quiet. Madam Rosmerta was staring over from behind the bar, apparently oblivious to the fact that the flagon she was filling with mead was overflowing.
Rita Skeeters smile flickered very slightly, but she hitched it back almost at once; she snapped open her crocodile-skin handbag, pulled out her Quick-Quotes Quill, and said, "How about giving me an interview about the Hagrid you know. Harry? The man behind the muscles? Your unlikely friendship and the reasons behind it. Would you call him a father substitute?"
Hermione stood up very abruptly, her butterbeer clutched in her hand as though it were a grenade.
"You horrible woman," she said, through gritted teeth, "you don't care, do you, anything for a story, and anyone will do, wont they? Even Ludo Bagman -"
"Sit down, you silly little girl, and don't talk about things you don't understand," said Rita Skeeter coldly, her eyes hardening as they fell on Hermione. "I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl… not that it needs it -" she added, eyeing Hermione's bushy hair.
"Let's go," said Hermione, "c'mon. Harry - Ron…"
They left; many people were staring at them as they went. Harry glanced back as they reached the door. Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill was out; it was zooming backward and forward over a piece of parchment on the table. Then Rita caught sight of Bree.
"Bree! Would you mind answering a few questions? I'm sure our readers would like to hear about how you tried to seize the Malfoy fortune.
"You want me to talk to you? No. I've seen articles in Cracked Magazine that are more factual then the trash you write." Bree stated before leaving.
Rita was forced to print a retraction and Hagrid finally returned to teaching. Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, Bree wasn't sure, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.
Today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. Parvati and Lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them. Bree like them better then the adults. They were cute.
"Easier ter spot than the adults," Hagrid told the class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun four. Don' go pure white till they're full grown, 'round about seven. They're a bit more trustin when they're babies… don mind boys so much… C'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want… give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps…"
Harry had apparently figured out the egg. He, Ron, and Hermione were spending a lot of time studying. They hadn't found anything and were still pouring over spell books the night before the second task while Bree watched in amusement. Harry finally realized something.
"You told me that you figured it out weeks ago." he said.
"Finally remembered that did ya?" Bree said, amused. She smirked.
"So you have a have to stay under water for an hour?" Ron asked.
"Yep." Bree answered. There was a long pause.
"Are you going to tell us?" Hermione inquired.
"Well it's to late to order Scuba gear, so if you want to know the magical equivalent," Bree stuck her hand out, palm up. "Ten galleons."
"What?" Hermione exclaimed, scandalized.
"You heard me." Bree responded. "I'm not going to help you, unless you pay me."
"That's extortion!" Hermione shrieked.
"No. That's business." Bree replied.
"Money means more to you than Harry?" Hermione asked. Bree rolled her eyes.
"Worst thing that'll happen is he won't be able to dive deep and he'll keep having to surface for air." she stated.
"Well, we'll just find it ourselves." Hermione said defiantly. Bree shrugged. "I'll be here if you change your mind. Either way, I'll gain.
About and hour later Hermione was getting frustrated.
"Oh this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"
"I wouldn't mind," answered Fred Weasley's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up. Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.
"What're you doing here?" Ron asked.
"Looking for you," Fred answered. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione. She wanted George too."
"Why?" said Hermione, looking surprised.
"Dunno… she was looking a bit grim, though. I'msupposed to take you down to her office." Fred stated.
Ron and Hermione stared at Harry.
"We'll meet up with you later, alright?" Hermione said.
They left. Bree went to bed early, so she didn't notice that Ron and Hermione never came back.
As mentioned earlier, Bree has a really big family. This will be important during Seventh year, which as I mentioned somewhere before will involve crossovers and a trip around the world and Bree will be meeting up with some of her family, mostly in America and England, and I had the idea that some of her relatives might be characters that we know from other fandoms, but I would like some ideas on what you (the readers) would consider realistic. There will of course be ocs that she's related to, but I'd like some ideas for there jobs. Thanks!
