Flight of theImagination

Chapter Five

Harry and Ron stared, as Bree turned to them.

For a moment, her eyes soared to them as if they were only specks of dust, then she stopped and looked again at Harry, her golden eyes gleaming as the flowed to his forehead.

Harry felt his face redden and fought the urge to cover his scar with his hair.

"Sorry," Bree apologized, catching his eyes. She turned to Ron and looked at him, surprised. "Hey…"

"Hi…" Ron said awkwardly.

She turned back to Harry.

"You're Harry Potter…oh, sorry for staring like that…you must be so annoyed about me doing that…everyone stares at you like that, don't they? My apologies…I didn't intend to make you feel uncomfortable…" Bree said formally as she smiled. It was a beautiful smile, bright and blissfully. "And you must be Ron Weasley…" She said turning to Ron and grinning. "Cho has always talked about you guys when I went to visit her…I'm her cousin…"

"Er…" Harry found nothing to say. Finally, he said, "So…Dumbledore invited you here to keep a guard out, huh? So…err…that is, are you staying here for the rest of the year then?"

"Of course…" Bree smiled again. "Dumbledore's request, of course!" She said with a look of honor and appreciation.

She turned and looked up into the sky, her eyes gleaming.

"Dumbledore is a kind person…he's…like a grandfather to me…how could I refuse an offer of his?"

"Yeah…" Harry said. Strange, he felt this way too…but he just never thought of Dumbledore as a grandfather figure before, until now.

"Dumbledore is great…" Ron added. "After all, he's the only one you-know-who feared…"

"So he is..." Bree answered. She looked around. "Aren't there supposed to be three of you?"

"Huh?" Harry said, confused and oblivious that Hogwarts now looked towards Ron, Hermione and him as a trio.

"Oh, Hermione…she went to class already…" Ron said. "Thought she'd be late or something…" He said with a tone of irritation.

Bree chuckled. "Well, I wouldn't expect less. I hear from Dumbledore the smartest student he has is one of Harry Potter's best friends…" She looked at them. "I'm sorry, I wanted to meet you last night, but I never got the chance…I was too tired…"

"So you came from somewhere else?"

She nodded. "Asia…as you might have noticed on my coat last night…" She said in a bashful tone.

"How'd you get to the window?" Ron blurted out. "I mean; you can't fly…can you?" He said, going back on the 'blue swallow' title on her coat the previous night.

Bree laughed. "No, no, no…I jumped…it was quite easy, actually…but to everyone else here, it might be a bit supernatural…"

They started walked towards Flitwick's classroom while Bree started on how it was so different here than where she had been.

"So Professor McGonagall knows you?" Harry asked.

"Well, I met her a few times before…but we never talked…" Bree said, scratching her head and laughing sheepishly. "She's just like what I imagined though, strict but fair."

"Yeah, she is…" Ron said.

Harry listened intently as Ron launched into the story of how McGonagall had given them an impossible amount of homework the previous year.

"Wow," Bree chuckled when he was done. "That's something that might fit her…but she's a fairly respectable person…"

"Yeah…" Harry nodded. "So you've met her in…" He lowered his voice. "…The Order?"

Bree nodded. "Yeah, I met her there. And I know Moody when I arrived at the Ministry here in England…man, he's a great auror too, from what I've heard…"

"Yeah…" Harry answered.

They entered the classroom, where Flitwick seemed to be arranging books for class.

"Ah, Bree…welcome…" He greeted cheerily. "Welcome to the start of term Mr. Potter, Weasley…" He addressed to them. Ron's ear turned slightly pink.

"Morning!" Bree smiled.

"Well, um…nice meeting you…" Ron said as he and Harry took their seats in the classroom.

"Bye…" Bree waved.

"Ah, yes…" Flitwick turned to Bree. "They will be arriving this afternoon, Dumbledore wanted me to tell you…"

"Oh, thanks…" Bree answered, looking into the classroom with interest. "You teach Charms then?"

"Yes…very well, if I might say so myself…" Flitwick replied.

Harry and Ron listened to their conversation intently, as did the many others who had arrived. Most doubted Flitwick's statement but said nothing. Obviously, most of them had missed Bree's collision chat with Professor McGonagall that morning and were now staring at Bree's weird fashion of clothing.

"I would be glad to think so…" Bree was replying.

"My dear…that is certainly a extraordinary fashion of clothing…" Professor Flitwick said, as if he had just noticed her wearing it.

"Ahh, yes…Minerva just gave me a lecture on it…" Bree said, chuckling.

Harry was surprised that she could call Professor McGonagall 'Minerva' when she was only a few years older than he, who was still calling her 'Professor'. But this was obviously because she had the authority to, and because she worked for the Ministry and Dumbledore on orders. Still, he wondered how she would do magic, she didn't have a wand at all, and she seemed as far away from magic as Neville. But this was only an assumption, since they had never seen her really do anything…yet.

The door opened and Malfoy stood at the entrance, with Crabbe and Goyle by his side, obviously. Pansy Parkinson waved to him from the corner of the room, Harry and Ron hadn't seen her there and were surprised when they saw her movement and had mistaken it as the wall.

Malfoy stepped in, sniggering at Harry and Ron, as if both of them would've done anything to be in his place, something that they would rather die than do.

His eyes flew to the bright dress near Flitwick as he took his seat.

Harry saw that even he was surprised that she had the nerve to talk and dress the way she did.

More and more people came in, either staring or admiring Bree's tradition dress. It was beyond the strangest thing they had ever seen, since most of them had never seen anything like it before but cloaks and wizarding clothes.

"Well, my dear…it certainly is an interesting piece of clothing…" Flitwick was saying.

Bree laughed. "It's a tradition dress in Japan…I like wearing traditional Asian clothing…it just seems more comfortable to me… my cousin's mother made it for me… you know, I think you teach her too…"

And even if Bree had said it already, Harry knew that she was talking about, of course, Cho Chang. He took a few brief moments to think about Cho in one of those traditional dresses. He immediately shook this thought from his head and took out his Charms textbook.

Class was starting.