Disclaimer: Bryn's mine, but most of the other stuff in this belongs to J.K. Rowling.
A/N: No, no, NO, James is not Bryn's dad! However, if you don't know who her dad is by the end of paragraph two, you need to reread the books. Oh, and I should say this now; this is a twisted HBP fic. Some plot details will be used, but others won't. If that bugs you, I'm sorry. Also, thanks to those who voted. Lastly, I'm sorry if this is confusing, but when I wrote Bryn's booklist, I had her taking Care of Magical Creatures. Please forget I did this, because she's not taking that, but she is taking Herbology, which, like a dummy, I forgot all about. Oops!
Chapter 4 – First Day: "I'd like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Tonks." Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ron's sister Ginny were all grinning; they obviously knew the brown-haired (for those who've read HBP, you know why her hair's brown) young woman Dumbledore had indicated.
That seemed to be the final announcement; the students were dismissed. Bryn followed her House-mates to Gryffindor Tower, and then went to the sixth-year girls' dormitory with Hermione. Two other girls, who introduced themselves as Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, were already there. Hermione went to her bed and Bryn walked over to the only vacant bed. She changed into pajamas, pulled her Walkman back out, switched the CD from Nightwish to Evanescence, put on her headphones, and climbed into bed. She dreamed, not of strange men in fog, but of being a small child, of a large black dog and people who laughed and joked. She dreamed of her tall, dark-haired father, whose face was unclear, yet she could hear his teasing voice and his unique laugh, almost like a dog's bark.
The next morning, Bryn was distracted from silent contemplation of these dreams – which she was sure were really memories of her past – by Professor McGonagall, who was handing out schedules for classes. Bryn's first class was Study of Ancient Runes, followed by Transfiguration and Herbology. Then came lunch, followed by Divination, which, weirdly enough, was taught by a centaur named Firenze, at least for her class. A few of the other years had some lady named Professor Trelawney, who, according to Ron, was completely batty.
Bryn's last class of the day was Potions. Back at Salem, she'd liked Potions, but judging by the expressions on her classmates' faces, she felt that she wouldn't much like the class here. She was right. As it turned out, Snape, the Potions master, was the ugly teacher who'd seemed to hate her so much. Not that she knew why. He hated Harry too – something to do with Harry's dad, James – but that didn't explain his problem with her.
When Bryn entered the dungeon classroom where Potions was held, she followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione to a table at the back, as far from Snape as possible. Copying the others, Bryn took out her book, which stood out because it had a green book cover on it. No one else covered their books, but it was habit for Bryn, since it was required back at Salem. Plus, covering her books meant that no one could tell her necromancy books apart from the other books. Unfortunately, Snape didn't like covered books.
"What is that?" the teacher asked silkily, coming over to Bryn's table. Bryn looked up at him. "My Potions book, sir," she replied. "Ah. And why is it covered? At Hogwarts, books are not covered."
"Force of habit, sir. I'm used to book covers being required." Bryn had no idea what was going on. "Take them off, now, on all your books. We shall see if these covers hide anything...unusual," Snape ordered. OK, this was odd. Sure, the teachers didn't exactly trust her (McGonagall in particular watched her like a hawk), but none of them had searched her. So why was Snape? What books might she have that would be considered 'unusual'?
And then Bryn got it. Snape knew she was a necromancer and was trying to reveal that to everyone here. Luckily, Necronomica Advantica was still upstairs in her trunk. She still considered refusal, more for the principle of the thing. At Salem, she wouldn't have obeyed him, but here, she was already on a knife edge. She really couldn't afford any trouble. So she stripped the covers off, careful not to rip any. She slid the covers back into her bag as Snape inspected the books. Finally, he pushed them back at her, scowling. The lesson proceeded without further interruption.
When classes were over, the students headed back to the Great Hall for dinner. Bryn was still upset over the events in Potions, but Harry said to ignore Snape. Ron added that the Potions master was just a "slimy old git." This made her laugh. Ron had a point.
Climbing back into bed that night, Bryn lay awake for hours, her mind once again on her dreams. She wished they had been clearer. Eventually, though, she fell asleep, hoping for the same dream. But instead, she dreamed of veils, and a man hidden by fog, a man who was somehow trapped.
Meanwhile, somewhere between life and death, a man waited. For what, he wasn't sure – but then, he wasn't even sure who he was. He remembered a fight, and jets of light, and a boy with green eyes and messy black hair. But it was all fading, and the only clear thing was the sense of a girl, of someone who, somehow, might be able to help him...