Chapter 4: Back to the Summer House

*************

On the last day of her stay in Hogwarts, Briana made sure she didn't leave anything behind.  She also named her eagle owl, Artemis.  She named after her favorite Greek goddess with the same name.  Her uncle was taking her back to the Summer House later that day.  So he made her stay in his study next to his office.  He also rented a ministry car to use to go back to the Summer House.  It was already noon and Briana was growing impatient.  She heard some voices conversing next door to her uncle's office.  He must have a meeting, Briana thought.  She caught a few words. 

  "We just don't want him to grow up not knowing magic, sir," said a male voice.  "I mean we are a wizarding family for generations."

  "Hmm…I am quite sure that we can work something out, Mr. Lupin.  I will be damned if I don't let a brilliant boy like Remus come to Hogwarts.  I just wouldn't live up to the school's standards. No, Remus will be attending this school year," said her uncle. 

  "Oh, thank you, Professor Dumbledore, you truly are a great man," said a woman's voice.

  "Oh, please, you are making me blush.  Well, anyway, Remus, we are quite happy for you to attend Hogwarts.  I hope you would be quite an assent."

Briana opened the door a little.  Her uncle was talking to a boy with light brown hair.  He hadn't looked so tired; Briana could have assumed he was nice-looking.  His parents, as Briana can see, looked like him.  They both have light brown hair and honey-colored eyes. 

  "Uncle?" she called.  Everyone stopped and looked at her. 

  "Ah, Mr. Lupin, Mrs. Lupin, Remus, this is my niece, Briana Sullivan. Briana, this is Mr. And Mrs. Lupin and their son, Remus.  Briana will be attending Hogwarts this coming year.  I'm sure that you two will see each other then."

  "It's nice to meet you, Remus," Briana smiled broadly at Remus, but he turned bright red and became really amused with his sneakers.  What an unusual boy, Briana thought. 

  "You are Francis Sullivan's daughter? We have heard of what happened to them.  Muggles shouldn't be allowed to fly those hideous things. We are truly sorry for your parents' death, Ms. Sullivan," added Mrs. Lupin.  Briana remained silent.  

 "Well, I think that that is it.  I expect Remus to be on Hogwarts Express on September 1st. Everything will be taken care off, I assure you, none of this would be let out," Dumbledore said to Mr. Lupin.

  "Thank you, thank you for everything, Professor.  We really appreciate it." 

With that the Lupins left.  Briana looked up to her uncle.  She knew not to ask him about that meeting but her curiosity got the better of her.

  "Uncle, what was that all about?"

Dumbledore turned to her and, very gently, said;  "It's just settling something very important before school starts.  Annie dear, why don't you go and check if the car is here?"

She knew that her uncle didn't want to pursue that subject any longer.  She did what she was told and went outside on the sunny grounds of Hogwarts where she found Hagrid tending on some ground duties.  She called out to him. 

  "Leavin', aren't yeh?" he said to her. 

  "Yeah, and the next time I see you, I would be a Hogwarts student," she beamed up at him.  This made Hagrid laugh.

  "Jus' promise me somethin', Annie, will yeh?  Promise me tha' yeh will be the best damn witch tha' ever entered Hogwarts.  Promise me tha', Annie."

Hagrid looked down at her positively glowing with pride.  She grinned and said, "I will Hagrid, I will!" She hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  She heard a car pulling over on the grounds.  She said goodbye to Hagrid and followed the driver up to the castle. 

*   *   *

  "Well, here we are.  The Summer House," said Dumbledore as the driver pulled up in front of a grand manor.  It was a large stone manor.  You can almost call it a Summer Manor rather than a Summer House.  The driver unloaded Briana's things out of the car and into that house.   Mrs. Turningcoat, the housekeeper/nanny, came out to greet them. 

  "Thank goodness, you are back safely.  Oh, Annie, how are you doing? Come in, come in.  Barnabie has made some snacks for you.  Tell me all about what you did in Hogwarts.  I heard you got the letter.  Oh, I am so happy for you, Annie."

Mrs. Turningcoat was an old lady with graying hair and friendly blue eyes. She has been with the Sullivans since Briana was born. As soon as Briana step into the house, something small had collided with her that almost made her fall. 

  "What the-"

  "Oh, Miss, Barnabie is missed you so much!  I is hoping that Miss would come home soon!"

Briana looked down and saw a house-elf hugging her on the middle. 

  "Barnabie!  It's nice to meet you too! Er, you're hurting me."  Barnabie the house-elf looked up with tears brimming around his giant, amber eyes.  He was wearing a clean pillowcase. 

  "Miss should know that Barnabie is making a good dinner with everything Miss wants.  Will sir be staying for dinner too?"

  "Yes, Barnabie, but I would be returning back to Hogwarts.  Annie, I will be right back.  I just need to take care of something."  With that he disappeared with a blink of an eye.  But he came back and kissed Annie on the cheek.  It took a while for Annie to realize what he has done. And, when she did, he had already left.  Mrs. Turningcoat was looking at her.

  "Do you want to unpack in your room?" Briana nodded.  Mrs. Turningcoat followed her to her room. It had looked the same way it was when she left to Hogwarts.  Her room was big with the four-poster bed with hangings beside the wall.  On the foot of the bed laid her toy chest.  It was filled with things that she played with like a quaffle and a broomstick. 

  "I'll leave you to unpack.  Just come down whenever you want to," said Mrs. Turningcoat.

Briana looked around her room.  She felt like it was a long time since she been in here, though it was only two weeks.  She got to work unpacking and tidying things up. She put Artemis and her cage on top of her desk near the window.  After all that, she grew bored.  She didn't feel like going downstairs for the moment.  So she had an idea.  She opened the door to her room and tiptoed her way down the hall.  Three doors down, she stood in front of a door.  She slowly turned the knob and it opened.  She went inside the biggest room in the house, her parents' bedroom.  It was a splendid room with rich furniture and lovely, fresh flowers.  Her mother loved fresh flowers.  Next to the wooden desk, stood a large closet.  Her mother never wanted her to touch that closet, but since she was dead, Briana had the urge to see what was inside.

She approached it with care.  She slowly opened the closet door.  It contained dark detectors of many sizes and shapes.  However, what attracted Briana was the long liquid-looking piece of cloth.  She took it out of the closet and examined it.  Blimey! It's an invisibility cloak! Wow! She ran her fingers through it.  It looked wonderful and large.  She hopped in front of a mirror and tried it on.  She disappeared quickly.  She grinned.  There are so many possibilities I could do with this. At that moment, she heard Mrs. Turningcoat calling her.  She ran back to her room with the cloak and hid it in her chest. 

*    *    *

  "Annie, dear, wake up.  You don't want to miss getting your things from Diagon Alley," said Mrs. Turningcoat, tapping Briana on the arm.  She knew that Briana is a heavy sleeper but she knew all the right places to wake her. 

Briana groaned.  She was having such a wonderful dream about a handsome prince and a beautiful princess.  "Oh, Prince Sirius don't go…No, let's stay like this forever…"

  "Briana Amelia Dumbledore Sullivan! You don't get up right now; you'll miss getting your things for school.  Now, stop all these nonsense and get out of bed."

Briana opened her eyes.  The memories of last night dream disappeared as she opened them. 

  "Blimey! I have overslept!"

She hastily got out of bed and went downstairs with her pajamas still on.  She saw her uncle sitting on the dinner table and eating breakfast.

  "Well, good morning, dear," he said. He looked at her with her pajamas on.  "I do hope you are not wearing that when we go to the Alley.  It would be dreadfully cold in it," he said with his eyes glittering. 

  "Oh, uncle, I'm sorry I woke up late," she said, giving him a hug. 

  "Now, eat breakfast and get dressed.  We are going to Diagon Alley to get your things."

  "We?" choked Briana.  "You mean you and I?"

  "Of course, who else would go with you? Now, let's see, dragon-hide gloves, yes, yes, that's good, robes, wands…" he said as he looked over the list on the parchment. 

Briana had only been to Diagon Alley twice.  Once when her father gave her the tour of the Alley and second was when Mrs. Turningcoat took her to grocery shopping.  She felt that this on was more important than the other ones put together.  They used the Floo Powder to get into the Leaky Cauldron, the entrance to Diagon Alley.  When everyone saw Albus Dumbledore at the Leaky Cauldron, they were ecstatic.  It took about fifteen minutes with the excitement to cool down.  Briana, overcome with impatience and excitement, pulled her uncle out of the crowd.  

  "Come on," whispered Briana.  This made her uncle smile.

  "All right, our first stop is at Gringotts to get some gold out.  Which reminds me, your parents left you some gold in their vaults.  About 1.5 million galleons, I think," said Dumbledore thoughtfully.  Briana's jaws dropped.  That's a large amount of money. "Now, shall we?"

They entered Diagon Alley and went to the large marble building that was known as Gringotts Banks, which was run by goblins.  After they got some gold out, they went out to the sunny sidewalks of Diagon Alley. 

  "So, what are we doing first?" asked Briana, looking up to her uncle.

  "Well, every Hogwarts students need robes," he winked.  "So we will go to Madam Malkin's first." 

They entered a shop where a lot of children were being fitted for robes.  A small, squat woman greeted them.

  "Hello, Professor Dumbledore, what a wonderful surprise! I haven't seen you since you had your dress robes refitted.  How may I help you?"

  "Well, Madam Malkin, as you know, Hogwarts is starting again and my niece, Briana is starting.  Will you fit her into her very own Hogwarts's school robes?" said Dumbledore.

"Most certainly, come over here, please, this way."  Madam Malkin led Briana a distance away from the other children.  "Stand up there, that's good.  This is our very busy time of the year, indeed." 

After that, they bought three school robes and went to buy some potions ingredients.  They bought her books.  Dumbledore decided to take Briana for an ice cream so he bought her an ice cream.  As they were walking along, Briana stopped in front of the Quality Quidditch Supplies.  Sitting there behind the window was the glittering, shining, new-

  "Cleansweep 3! It just came out! Oh, uncle, can I please have one!" exclaimed Briana. 

  "But Annie, first years can't have broomsticks.  Maybe next time," said Dumbledore.  Briana, taking a last longing look at the broom, followed him.  "Our last stop, the most important part of any witches' studies, a wand."  He led her to the Ollivander's wand shop.  It was a really old shop. 

  "Good afternoon," whispered a voice next to Briana.  This made her jump.  "Ah, I thought I would be seeing you today.  Albus Dumbledore, nice to see you again.  Still have the wand that father had sold to you?"

  "Very much, and I never go anywhere without it," smiled Dumbledore. 

  "And this must be Briana Sullivan," Mr. Ollivander said as he touched the tip of her nose.  "Pity of what happened to your parents.  My father sold them their wands too.  It's a great shame that it was quite useless for them to use it to save themselves."

Briana felt angry.  Before she could stop herself, she said, "I would think that if they could, they would do anything to prevent anything like that from happening."

  "Well, indeed, you are quite like your mother, very outspoken. And I see you have your father's looks," laughed Mr. Ollivander.  "Now, for the wand.  Every Ollivander's wand is different in sizes, never the same length.  We use dragon heartstrings, phoenix feathers, and unicorn tails for our cores.  Now, which is your wand arm?"

  "Er, right," said Briana, beginning not to like this guy.  Mr. Ollivander used a tape measure to measure her.  Then he handed her a bunch of wands that didn't fit her. After the seventh wand she tried, she began to feel restless and then Mr. Ollivander said,

  "Here, try this.  It's fifteen and a quarter inches, redwood, phoenix feather."

She held it between her fingers.  She felt warmness all over her.  She gave it a wave and the wand started shooting out blue and bronze sparks. 

  "Ah, wonderful, quite wonderful. And a phoenix feather, how interesting.  I think we will be seeing many great things from you."

When they got out of the shop, Briana started to complain. 

  "And I reckon he says that to everyone else."

  "Well, I don't think I would blame him for saying it.  I do think we will be seeing many great things from you."

Okay, to Hogwarts, we come next chapter! (Squirms with joy) Okay, please leave a review.