Disclaimer: Bree and the list, and Bree's sitter and any other characters that only exist because of Bree are mine, the rest is not.
The week before school started Bree went to Diagon alley with her mother to get her school things. It was rather uneventful until she got the Monster Book of Monsters. It had tried to bite her. This had caused her to slam the book against the counter repeatedly while shouting "Bad book! Bad! No biting!" until the book had stopped trying to gnaw her hands off. Then Bree had started petting the book, (That's a good book, there's no need to be mean… Hey look! It really likes it when you pet it's spine!) thus solving the shopkeeper's dilemma on how to handle the ferocious books.
When Bree got on the Hogwarts Express on September first she did so with a new addition to he usual luggage. In a cat carrier she had a long haired, gray tabby that her Aunt had dubbed Muffin. Bree had tried to change her name to something more dignified, but her mother wouldn't allow it. This was because Bree kept picking Ancient Greek names that had far to many S's to be pronounceable.
Bree found a compartment on the train, sat near the window, closed her eyes, and tried to nap. Her new cat had kept her up most of the night by attacking her feet, although, it was an improvement, when Muffin had first arrived at Bree's house it was two days before she would come out from under the bed.
It wasn't long until the twins found her.
"Don't even think about it." Bree said without opening her eyes, just as Fred was about to draw on her face.
"I thought you were asleep." Fred stated.
Bree opened her eyes. "Who could sleep with you two around?" she said.
The Hogwarts Express moved steadily north and the scenery outside the window became wilder and darker while the clouds overhead thickened overhead. I began to rain. The rain thickened as the train sped yet farther north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks.
Bree was playing Exploding Snap with the twins, when the train began to slow down. The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.
Bree looked out the window. Through the darkness and the rain she could see black forms moving. Someone came crashing into the compartment. "Lumos!." Bree's spell lit up the compartment. "Malfoy! What are you doing here!" she snarled as soon as she saw the blond boy in a heap on the floor.
"I was j-just" he began.
"Move. I'm going to see what's going on." Bree interrupted. She went out the door, and had only just turned toward the front of the train when she encountered a black cloaked figure. It towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood.
And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings. An intense cold spread through the area. Bree felt it right down to her core.
Bree's worst memories started drifting through her mind. The thing got closer, it' face only inches from Bree's and… George grabbed Bree by the arm and pulled her back into the compartment and shut the door. Bree sat down. She focused on breathing and getting warm until the lights came back on and the train started moving.
"What was that?" Bree asked in a whisper. Draco sneered. "You don't even know what a dementor is mu-" he was interrupted by Bree standing up and yelling "Just get out, you filthy little bastard!" she waved her wand in his face. Malfoy backed out of the compartment. Bree sat back down.
"What's a dementor?" she questioned.
"Dementors are the guards of Azkaban." Fred explained.
"They suck all the happiness out of you." George continued.
"They were probably searching the train for Sirius Black." Fred concluded.
Bree was silent for the rest of the trip.
Bree paid little attention to the sorting. Once it was over Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.
"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…"
Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."
"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises, or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, and Harry and Ron glanced at each other. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors," he said.
Percy, who was sitting a few seats down from, puffed out his chest and stared around impressively. Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and nobody moved or made a sound.
"On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.
"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause.
"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his game keeping duties."
"Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!"
The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink.
Bree was the last one up to the dorm. She seemed happier than she had been at the feast.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked.
I set a new record. I sufficiently traumatized all of the Gryffindor First Years and we haven't even had our first class yet." Bree said excitedly.
Hermione sighed.
233. Not allowed to greet new students by saying "Welcome to hell. There is no escape. Muahahahahaha!"
(For more about this rule see chapter 14 of "88 rules for a peaceful Hogwarts experience.")
The first thing Bree saw she went to the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story. Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter.
"They're laughing at you, not with you." Bree stated as she passed. She got to the table in time to hear Harry say "You didn't pass out, though, did you?" to George.
"No. But I froze up and George had to pull me back into the compartment." she said as she sat down next to Fred.
"Why were you outside the compartment?" Hermione asked.
"I wanted to see what was going on." Bree explained.
"Oh, but it was pitch black, how did you see?" the bushy haired girl inquired.
Bree gave Hermione a blank stare, before saying one word that explained it all. "Lumos."
Hermione flushed red, apparently she hadn't thought of it herself.
The First class was Divination.
"Do you think I should have brought my own goat?" Bree asked Hermione ask they walked to class.
"What?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"For the sacrifice to the pagan gods so that I may open my inner eye and see the future." Bree explained with exaggerated hand movements.
"What on earth have you been reading!" Hermione exclaimed.
77. Divination does not require that I sacrifice a goat.
The Divination classroom didn't look like a classroom at all, more like a cross between someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea shop. At least twenty small, circular tables were crammed inside it, all surrounded by chintz armchairs and fat little poufs. Everything was lit with a dim, crimson light; the curtains at the windows were all closed, and the many lamps were draped with dark red scarves. It was stiflingly warm, and the fire that was burning under the crowded mantelpiece was giving off a heavy, sickly sort of perfume as it heated a large copper kettle. The shelves running around the circular walls were crammed with dusty-looking feathers, stubs of candles, many packs of tattered playing cards, countless silvery crystal balls, and a huge array of teacups.
A voice came suddenly out of the shadows, a soft, misty sort of voice.
"Welcome," it said. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last."
Professor Trelawney moved into the firelight, and they saw that she was very thin; her large glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size, and she was draped in a gauzy spangled shawl. Innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck, and her arms and hands were encrusted with bangles and rings.
"Sit, my children, sit," she said, and they all climbed awkwardly into armchairs or sank onto poufs.
"Welcome to Divination," said Professor Trelawney, who had seated herself in a winged armchair in front of the fire. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."
Nobody said anything to this extraordinary pronouncement. Professor Trelawney delicately rearranged her shawl and continued, "So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you… Books can take you only so far in this field…"
"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future,"
Professor Trelawney went on, her enormous, gleaming eyes moving from face to nervous face. "It is a Gift granted to few. You, boy," she said suddenly to Neville, who almost toppled off his pouf. "Is your grandmother well?"
"I think so," said Neville tremulously.
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," said Professor Trelawney, the firelight glinting on her long emerald earrings. Neville gulped. Professor Trelawney continued placidly.
"We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," she shot suddenly at Parvati Patil, "beware a red-haired man."
Parvati gave a startled look at Ron, who was right behind her and edged her chair away from him.
"In the second term," Professor Trelawney went on, "we shall progress to the crystal ball, if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us for ever."
A very tense silence followed this pronouncement, but Professor Trelawney seemed unaware of it.
"I wonder, dear," she said to Lavender Brown, who was nearest and shrank back in her chair, "if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"
Lavender, looking relieved, stood up, took an enormous teapot from the shelf, and put it down on the table in front of Professor Trelawney.
"Thank you, my dear. Incidentally, that thing you are dreading, it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October."
Lavender trembled.
"Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink, drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer, wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear," she caught Neville by the arm as he made to stand up, "after you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."
Sure enough, Neville had no sooner reached the shelf of teacups when there was a tinkle of breaking china. Professor Trelawney swept over to him holding a dustpan and brush and said, "One of the blue ones, then, dear, if you wouldn't mind… thank you…"
Bree waited for the tea to cool off a bit, downed it quickly, then drained it and swapped with Hermione. Bree went first.
"Well this looks like an animal… um maybe an alligator. Oh that's not good. Personal distress possibly caused by people close to you along with mental disturbance and worry." Bree stated. Hermione didn't look very worried.
"Right then," Bree continued "you also have… an open book. It means you have a desire for information."
Hermione rolled her eyes a looked at Bree's cup. "You have an arch, which mean a journey abroad, and a beehive, that's a symbol of eloquence, mental capacity, and much energy in forming new schemes and carrying them through." Hermione was apparently quoting the book.
They were distracted when Professor Trelawney took Harry's cup from Ron.
Professor Trelawney was staring into the teacup, rotating it counterclockwise.
"The falcon… my dear, you have a deadly enemy."
"But everyone knows that," said Hermione in a loud whisper. Professor Trelawney stared at her.
"Well, they do," said Hermione. "Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."
Professor Trelawney chose not to reply. She lowered her huge eyes to Harry's cup again and continued to turn it.
"The club… an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup…"
"I thought that was a bowler hat," said Ron sheepishly.
"The skull… danger in your path, my dear…"
Everyone was staring, transfixed, at Professor Trelawney, who gave the cup a final turn, gasped, and then screamed.
There was another tinkle of breaking china; Neville had smashed his second cup. Professor Trelawney sank into a vacant armchair, her glittering hand at her heart and her eyes closed.
"My dear boy, my poor dear boy, no, it is kinder not to say, no, don't ask me…"
"What is it, Professor?" said Dean Thomas at once. Everyone had got to their feet, and slowly they crowded around Harry and Ron's table, pressing close to Professor Trelawney's chair to get a good look at Harry's cup.
"My dear," Professor Trelawney's huge eyes opened dramatically, "you have the Grim."
"The what?" said Harry.
"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" cried Professor Trelawney, who looked shocked that
Harry hadn't understood. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen, the worst omen, of death!"
Bree burst out laughing. "Professor," she began once she had calmed down, "a Grim is nothing more then the guardians of Churches." she explained.
"My dear that my be the muggle explanation but" "Do you know how a Grim is created?" Bree interrupted before Trelawney.
"Excuse me?" Trelawney said, confused."
"Do you know how a Grim is created?" Bree asked again. Receiving no answer she continued. "I do. Back in the early days of the church, in places like Britain and Scandinavia, a black dog would be buried alive on the north side of the grounds of a newly built church, in order to create a guardian to protect the church from the devil. Now if you had said that you saw something like Cŵn Annwn, Black Shuck, or a Cù Sìth in Harry's cup, I might have believed you."
"That's disturbing." Seamus Finnegan said, commenting on how a Grim was made.
Bree smirked. "That's nothing. I haven't even told you how inugami a created." she stated.
"I think we will leave the lesson here for today," said Professor Trelawney in her mistiest voice. "Yes… please pack away your things…"
Silently the class took their teacups back to Professor Trelawney, packed away their books, and closed their bags.
"Until we meet again," said Professor Trelawney faintly, "fair fortune be yours. Oh, and dear," she pointed at Neville, "you'll be late next time, so mind you work extra-hard to catch up."
Professor McGonagall's transfiguration lesson was about animagi. That is, wizards that turn into animals. No one but Bree was really paying attention when she transformed herself in front of their eyes into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes.
"Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, turning back into herself with a faint pop, and staring around at them all. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."
Everybody's heads turned toward Harry, but nobody spoke. Then Hermione raised her hand.
"Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and —"
"Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"
Everyone stared at her.
"Me," said Harry, finally.
"I see," said Professor McGonagall, fixing Harry with her beady eyes. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybil Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues —" Professor McGonagall broke off.
She went on, more calmly, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney…" She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."
"Bree, tell Harry just how bad it is to have seen a black dog. Even if you don't believe in the Grim there's still that koo sith and Black Shuck you talked about." Ron requested at lunch. Bree stared at him.
"A Cŵn Annwn you have to hear. Black Shuck just scares you, or signals the death of a family member. Sometimes it's reported to have accompanied women on their way home as a guardian. Cù Sìth are dark green in Scotland, and black in Ireland and the Irish ones have glowing eyes." she explained. Ron was about to say something else about it, but Bree decided she had had enough of death omens, and left.
It was nice to be outside after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale gray, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as Bree set off for her first ever Care of Magical Creatures class.
Bree good mood died an early death when she realized that she had this class with the Slytherins.
Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start.
"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.
"Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it, make sure yeh can see, now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books"
"How?" said the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.
"Pet the spine. Idiot." Bree, who already had her book open, snapped at the boy. Several others had their books open as well and those who had been restraining their books with belts and spellotape quickly followed their example.
"Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "so — so yeh've got yer books an'… an'… now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on…"
He strode away from them into the forest and out of sight.
"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father will have a fit when I tell him."
"Too bad there's nothing that pimp wannabe can do about it. He's not on the board of governors anymore, remember." Bree said in an annoyed tone.
"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.
Trotting toward them were a dozen odd creatures. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.
"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.
"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"
each Hippogriff was a different color: stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.
"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer…"
No one seemed to want to. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Bree, however, approached the fence cautiously.
"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an undertone and Bree felt that they were plotting how best to disrupt the lesson.
"Yeh always wait fer the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt."
"Right, who wants ter go first?"
Most of the class backed farther away in answer. Even Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Bree had misgivings. The Hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.
"Harry will do it." Bree declared as she shoved the boy forward.
"Good man, Harry!" roared Hagrid as Harry claimed over the fence. "Right then — let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."
He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray Hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes were narrowed maliciously.
"Easy now, Harry," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink… Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much…"
Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harry with one fierce orange eye. "Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Harry… now, bow."
He gave a short bow and then looked up.
The Hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move.
"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right, back away, now, Harry, easy does it."
But then, the Hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.
"Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right, yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"
Harry moved slowly toward the Hippogriff and reached out toward it. He patted the beak several times and the Hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it.
The class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.
"Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!"
"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that…"
Harry put his foot on the top of Buckbeak's wing and hoisted himself onto its back. Buckbeak stood up.
"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the Hippogriffs hindquarters.
Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Harry, he just had time to seize the Hippogriff around the neck before he was soaring upward.
"Good work, Harry!" roared Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle cheered once Harry and Buckbeak had landed. "Okay, who else wants a go?"
Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the Hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. Bree was with them in order to make sure that they didn't do anything stupid. Buckbeak had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.
"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Harry to, hear him. "I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it… I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff. Bree got ready to interfere. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"
It happened quickly. Bree tackled Malfoy just as talons came down. In a moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy. Draco moaned pitifully, "My back, I think it's broken." Bree ignored him in favor of addressing the deep gash she now sported. It started at the collar, going diagonally all the way across her shoulder. She put her hand over it to stanch the flow of blood, and "accidentally" kicked Malfoy in a certain area as she made her to the gate of the paddock.
"Someone want to open this for me?" Bree questioned, looking pale.
Hermione ran to hold open the gate. Bree stumbled as she began to feel light headed. Hagrid picked her up and rushed her to the hospital wing.
In the hospital wing, Bree was getting fed up with Malfoy moaning about his back, and so was Madame Pomfrey.
"You can go back to your dorm now." she stated.
"But my back." Malfoy groaned.
"You're fine! Now get out and stop disturbing my patient!" the nurse shouted. Draco fled. Bree was stuck spending the night in the hospital wing.
That's all for this chapter. If you want more Bree you can check out my new Harry Potter themes story. She appears in some of the oneshots there.
Review Please!
