So "SomeofAwe" says "Amazing story! The only thing I don't like is how Harry is still such a golden boy after spending years with Bree's delightfully corruptive influence... Also, please let Ginny be run over by a hippogriff... or tardis... she's that annoying."
Well, it's like when you're little. Bree is that one kid that tells you Santa isn't real, but your parents and your friends tell you he is, you believe your parents right? Later you start thinking that maybe that one kid was right, but you don't want to believe it so you still act like Santa exists until you finally have to grow up and admit there is no Santa. Harry is still at the "acting like Santa exists" stage. Dumbledore is Santa in this analogy.
As for Ginny, I don't really have a problem with her, certainly not enough to run her over.
"Wow. It's like an earthquake hit." Bree stated as she surveyed her mindscape.
"Yep. That's what you get for touching the mystery orb." Replied the Not-Bree. "Here, you'll need this." She said, handing Bree a catch-pole.
"What's this for?" Bree asked.
"The nightmares are in the garden. We've got to stick them back in the forest." Not-Bree responded. She was wearing a safari outfit that had appeared on her body out of nowhere. She was holding a net.
"Great." Bree muttered.
"Wow you've really upped the security for the forest." Not-Bree stated as she watched Bree adjust a large mirror that was hanging in midair.
"What security?" Bree muttered. "It was just a pathway that led into a dark creepy forest. Putting the forest inside of a mirror inside of a dark room full of other mirrors is a massive improvement. Good luck finding the exit now you stupid nightmares!"
Not-Bree peered into the mirror once Bree had gotten it just right.
"The Not-TARDIS isn't in there!" Not-Bree chirped.
They found the Not-TARDIS in the middle of the Chessboard. It had apparently crashed and left deep fissures radiating out from where it had impacted. The windows of the Not-TARDIS were cracked and one of the doors wasn't hanging right. Bree pried open the door and stepped inside. The console was cracked and photos (the magical kind) were flying out of the cracks and up into the air. Most of the pictures were either blurry or full of static.
Not-Bree looked in. "I'll get the net and the duct tape!" she exclaimed.
"Get. In. The. Stupid. Mirror!" Bree grunted as she tried to stuff the Not-TARDIS into the mirror that contained the Forest of Nightmares with a plunger.
"Why don't you just make the mirror bigger?" Not-Bree asked. Bree stopped and stared at Not-Bree for a moment. She grumbled something under her breath as she made the mirror bigger at put the Not-TARDIS back into its clearing.
Bree sighed as she flopped into the grass in between the Chessboard Battlefield and the new Door to Nowhere which actually opened up into Hall of a Thousand Mirrors.
"Are we done now?" she asked.
"Well, we've put the nightmares back in the forest, made in so those bastards won't be able to get out of the Hall of a Thousand Mirrors if they escape again, fixed the Garden of Good Memories, rebuilt the Canyon of Graves, put the memories that aren't back into the Not-TARDIS console, and everything else was taken care of by the others, so… we're done." Not-Bree replied.
"So I can wake up now and I won't by all loopy?" Bree inquired.
"Yeah, but I liked it when you were loopy, you listened to me more." Not- Bree pouted. "Anyway, it probably would be a good idea for you to wake up now. You've been in a coma and people are worried."
"Wait, what?" Bree said. Then she woke up.
Before we go over what happened after Bree woke up, let's go over what happened after she fell asleep. Shortly after Bree had fallen asleep Sirius, Remus, and Aunt Lisa appeared. Lisa immediately went over to Bree. They took the teens back to Hogwarts. Bree didn't wake up so Sirius had to carry her.
"Poor thing is exhausted." Lisa murmured.
In the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey was already fussing over Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Luna. She fixed up Neville's nose and used a couple of diagnostic spells on Bree.
"She's suffering from severe magical exhaustion. I won't be able to tell you much else until she wakes up." The nurse reported.
After everyone was settled, Sirius explained what had happened after Harry, Bree, and Neville had left the ministry. Dumbledore had shown up and fought Voldemort until some Ministry workers, including the Minister of Magic, had appeared. Voldemort fled and the Death Eaters were apprehended.
"But how did you know we were at the Ministry?" Harry asked.
"Ben told me." Lisa explained. "I alerted Sirius, and since there were several members of the Order of the Phoenix present, they were informed as well, and I suppose that one of them told Dumbledore."
"How did Professor Grimsley know?" Ron inquired.
"Alice told him." Lisa informed him.
"Alice?" Neville said in confusion. Lisa looked around.
"Oh for the love of…" she sighed and walked over to one of the curtains.
"Just ignore the girl behind the curtain." A voice that sounded a lot like Bree said.
"There's no need to be so shy." Lisa replied.
"Yes there is." The voice responded. Lisa grabbed the owner of the voice and pulled her over to where the others were.
"This is my daughter Alice." Lisa announced proudly.
"There are two of them." Ron murmured as he looked from Alice, to the bed where Bree was and back.
"You have a strong resemblance to Bree." Luna commented.
"Well we're cousins." Alice muttered as she fiddled with the invisibility cloak she was carrying. "Here." She said, holding it out the Harry. "I picked it up from Umbridge's office after I was done drawing on all the unconscious Slytherins."
"Er- thanks." Harry said as he took the cloak from Alice.
"Wait." Said Ginny. "Why was she here earlier?"
"American schools get out earlier than British ones." Lisa explained. "Alice got kind of bored and decided to come visit her cousin."
"That's not it at all." Alice mouthed behind her Mother's back.
"Bree took the cloak so that Alice could move around the school without being found by Umbridge." Lisa continued, unaware of what Alice was doing. Dumbledore walked in and Lisa pulled him out into the hall to confront him. Alice looked over at the closed door her Mom had just walked out of before looking back at everyone else.
"Mom's pregnant. It's terrifying." She explained.
"You came here to hide from your Mum?" Ginny asked incredulously. Shouting could be heard from the hall.
"Yes." Alice replied.
The next day, everyone had had a nice rest. Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Harry were all allowed to leave the hospital wing.
There were still deep welts on Ron's forearms where the brain's tentacles had wrapped around him. According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deeper scarring than almost anything else, though since she had started applying copious amounts of Dr. Ubbly's Oblivious Unction there seemed to have been some improvement.
The curse that had been had used on Hermione had caused, in Madam Pomfrey's words, 'quite enough damage to be going on with'. She had to take ten different types of potion every day.
Bree had not woken up. She was eerily still and none of Madam Pomfrey's efforts were able to wake her.
"But she was fine. She was acting a bit strange… er than normal, but she was fine." Harry said.
No one who examined Bree had any explanation for why she would not wake up other than some kind of delayed effect after touching the prophecy orb in the department of mysteries.
Dumbledore was reinstated as headmaster. He had sent for Harry so that he could speak to him. Before Harry went up to the headmaster's office, Sirius pulled him aside.
"Listen Harry, I know that Dumbledore is a powerful and widely respected wizards, but he cannot be trusted." Sirius said.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"He's manipulative and a liar." Sirius stated.
"Bree told me the same thing after she found out about my occulumency lessons with Snape." Harry said quietly.
"You should listen to her." Sirius replied.
"But, I mean… Dumbledore always tries to do what's best for people, doesn't he?" Harry asked.
It had been three days since Bree had gone to sleep. Bree's parents hadn't been informed yet because Bree's mother had decided to let Lisa and Vince handle anything that happened while Bree was at Hogwarts because they were trying to be in denial about the full scope of magic. Bree was enough of a danger to herself without being able to create fire from thin air. Bree wasn't allowed to use magic in the outside of school so any trouble she got into they could handle. Throuble she got into at school was more like "What the, how is that even possible?"
Lisa and Vince were hoping Bree would wake up before summer break, because if she didn't they would have to explain visions and prophecy orbs and how seven teenagers were able to get into a highly restricted section of the Ministry of Magic, and frankly that would lead to a lot of yelling, not only from Bree's Mother but from her Father as well, which had only happened once in all of Bree's fifteen years.
The story of what had happened at the Department of Mysteries had been told many times. Especially the parts about Bree, because the Healers were trying to figure what was wrong with her. The story found its way to Dumbledore. The headmaster became concerned that Bree would become a target if the Death Eaters believed she was a seer. He suggested that there be guards assigned to protect her, and of course the guards would be from the Order of the Phoenix.
Lisa went ballistic. She was offended that Dumbledore had implied that she couldn't protect her family. She pointed out that Dumbledore had once attacked Bree himself, so why would she let any of his little groupies near her niece.
"Mom, all that stress is bad for the baby." Alice reminded Lisa.
"You're right sweetie. I should do something relaxing. Go get Mommy's shotgun." Lisa replied.
After some therapeutic blasting of stuff, Lisa stationed herself outside of the hospital wing in a massage chair for the express purpose of keeping Dumbledore away from her niece. Her bodyguards, Fiona, an Irishwoman with red hair and green eyes who was in her early thirties and built like an amazon, and Owen, Fiona's younger brother who was twenty- five and well built, were there with Lisa.
The twins came and visited Bree every day after they found out Bree was in a coma. Not at the same time though, one of them had to run the shop.
Five days after Bree had gone to sleep, George was visiting. He was sitting in chair by Bree's bed, holding her hand.
"You really care about her don't you?" Alice murmured.
"Yeah." George replied softly. "Seeing her like this it's…"
"It's not normal. She's always so loud and vibrant." Alice finished.
"Yeah." George agreed. "… So are you two close?"
"Well… yeah. I mean… I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for her." Alice responded.
George looked surprised, but before he could ask anything shouting up from the out in the hallway. Alice sighed.
"I'd better go make sure she doesn't shoot someone, since Daddy's to scared of her right now to even show up here." She said. She went out into the hall. She found her mother screaming at Dumbledore, two Aurors, and three Healers from St. Mungo's, all of whom were there to move Bree to the long term ward since it seemed that she would not be waking up for a long time.
Meanwhile, back in the hospital wing…
George was staring at the door Alice had just walked out of. The yelling had intensified and he was fairly sure he could hear Alice saying "Think of the baby, Mom, think of the baby." He didn't notice that Bree had opened her eyes until she squeezed his hand and tried to sit up.
"Bree!" George exclaimed. "You're awake!" He grabbed her and hugged her.
"George?" Bree said, her voice slightly muffled by his chest. "How long was I asleep?"
"Five days." He murmured. "They didn't know when you were going to wake up."
"Oh." Bree replied. The doors burst open.
"Mrs. Smith, I must insist that" one of the healers was saying. Silence descended when everyone saw that Bree was awake. Lisa and Alice rushed forward to embrace Bree, pushing George to the side.
"We were so worried." Lisa sobbed.
"That's nice; can I have some air now?" Bree wheezed. Alice and Lisa let her go. Lisa turned to the healers, the Aurors, and Dumbledore.
"Well, I see no need to transfer her to St. Mungo's." she stated.
Hagrid had returned while Bree asleep. Grawp had apparently missed him and was easier to be around. Hagrid was talking about getting him a "Lady friend."
Umbridge had been rescued from the centaurs by Dumbledore. Since she had returned to the castle she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered a single word. Nobody really knew what was wrong with her, either. Her usually neat mousy hair was very untidy and there were still bits of twigs and leaves in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed.
"Madam Pomfrey says she's just in shock," whispered Hermione.
"Sulking, more like," said Ginny
"Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this," said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clipclopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking around wildly.
"Anything wrong, Professor?" called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.
"No… no…" said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows. "No, I must have been dreaming…"
Bree squeezed her eyes shut and muttered "I know nothing about the centaurs of Greek Mythology. I know nothing about the centaurs of Greek Mythology."
"Speaking of centaurs," said Hermione, when she had recovered a little, "who's Divination teacher now? Is Firenze staying?"
"He's got to," said Harry, "the other centaurs won't take him back, will they?"
"It looks like he and Trelawney are both going to teach," said Ginny
"Bet Dumbledore wishes he could've got rid of Trelawney for good," said Ron.
"Mind you, the whole subject's useless if you ask me, Firenze isn't a lot better…"
"How can you say that?" Hermione demanded. "After we've just found out that there are real prophecies?"
"Prophecies don't necessarily dictate a person's life unless that person lets them." Bree stated before looking pointedly at Harry.
Professor Umbridge left Hogwarts the day before the end of term. It seemed she had crept out of the hospital wing during dinnertime, evidently hoping to depart undetected, but unfortunately for her, she met Peeves on the way, who seized his last chance to do as Fred had instructed, and chased her gleefully from the premises whacking her alternately with a walking stick and a sock full of chalk.
Many students ran out into the Entrance Hall to watch her running away down the path and the Heads of Houses tried only half-heartedly to restrain them. Indeed, Professor McGonagall sank back into her chair at the staff table after a few feeble remonstrance's and was clearly heard to express a regret that she could not run cheering after Umbridge herself, because Peeves had borrowed the walking stick she needed while she was recovering from the four stunners she had taken to the chest.
The next day Bree ran into Luna on her way to the Great Hall for the last feast of the school year.
"What are you doing Luna?" Bree asked.
"Hogwarts in helping me find my things." Lunaa answered serenely. I' "People take them and hide them, you know. But as it's the last night, I really do need them back."
Bree frowned. "I'll have to do something about that next year." She muttered.
"Need any help?" she asked.
"Oh, no." Luna replied. "I'm almost done. Hogwarts had been very helpful."
"Alright then." Bree replied.
The journey home on the Hogwarts Express next day was eventful in several ways. Firstly Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who had clearly been waiting all week for the opportunity to strike without teacher witnesses since they felt Harry was responsible for the imprisonment of their fathers, attempted to ambush Harry halfway down the train as he made his way back from the toilet. The attack might have succeeded had it not been for the fact that they unwittingly chose to stage the attack right outside a compartment full of D.A. members, who saw what was happening through the glass and rose as one to rush to Harry's aid. By the time Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot had finished using a wide variety of the hexes and jinxes Harry had taught them, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle resembled nothing so much as three gigantic slugs squeezed into Hogwarts uniforms as Harry, Ernie and Justin hoisted them into the luggage rack and left them there to ooze.
"I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing Malfoy's mother's face when he gets off the train," said Ernie, with some satisfaction, as he watched Malfoy squirm above him. Ernie had never quite got over the indignity of Malfoy docking points from Hufflepuff during his brief spell as a member of the Inquisitorial Squad.
"Goyle's mum'll be really pleased, though," said Ron, who had come to investigate the source of the commotion. "He's loads better looking now… anyway, Harry, the food trolley's just stopped if you want anything…"
Bree impatiently walked up and down the length of the train. She wanted to talk to her Aunt and Uncle where they could discuss getting rid of Umbridge and how to go about watching Azakaban since the dementors had revolted and there were likely to be escapes. Finally Hermione grabbed her and made her sit down.
"You just got out of a coma." She reprimanded. "You need to be resting." Bree grumbled that she had already gotten plenty of rest, but she complied anyway.
"Did the healers ever figure out why you went into a coma?" Harry asked.
"No." Bree replied. "But then again I didn't tell them."
"Wait," said Hermione. "You know why you were in a coma?"
"Yes. The magic that protected the prophecy orb designated it for one man; anyone else would have their mind destroyed." Bree explained.
"You didn't." Ron pointed out.
"The magic hit the barrier around my mind and it got confused." Bree stated.
"Because you're the one who gave the prophecy, right?" Hermione guessed.
"No. It's because the barrier around my mind was put there by the man the prophecy was meant for." Bree corrected.
"You mean the Doctor?" Hermione asked. Bree nodded. "You've actually met the Doctor?"
"Of course I have." Bree replied. "Otherwise, he's just a story, isn't he? Besides, you all have met him too."
"I think I'd remember that." Ron stated.
"Remember John Smith from last year?" Bree asked.
"You're not saying that," Hermione began, stunned. "That John Smith was the Doctor?"
"Is the Doctor." Bree stated.
"Why was he at the tournament?" Harry asked.
"To watch it, of course." Bree answered. "Anyway, the magic hit the barrier and, after shaking my mind like a snowglobe, backed of because it had gotten confused. The result probably would have been about the same even if I'd picked up an orbnot meant for the Doctor. The barrier the Doctor put around my mind is very powerful.
"If he's so powerful why doesn't he do something about the Dark Lord?" Ron asked.
"He's not powerful in the way you're thinking of. He's not a wizard. He's very old and very clever, and anyway, I already said it. The Death Eaters are not a big enough threat." Bree replied.
"They seem like a pretty big threat to me." Ron muttered. Bree grinned.
"Good, because once Voldemort is defeated you'll feel safe. Of course you won't be safe. There's about a billion other things out there just waiting to burn the whole world. But it's best you pretend you're safe, so you can sleep at night. You'll be safe, but not really." She stated.
"What things want to destroy the world?" Hermione asked.
"You're better off not knowing. Having that kind of knowledge… it changes people. It changed Percy, it made me who I am." Bree explained.
"What about Percy?" Ron asked.
"Don't worry about it." Bree replied.
"Don't worry about it!" Ron shouted. "He's my brother!"
"I thought you hated him." Bree stated. "I've heard you complain about him practically since the day I met you. You always have nice things to say about your other brothers, but you've never complimented Percy even once. He's always been the odd one out in your family. He's not "fun" so you and your siblings tend to ignore him."
Ron was silent.
"You know, Percy's convinced that your whole family hates him, especially after that fiasco at the hospital. Dumbledore is mentioned and it starts a fight." Bree sighed. "Percy had a point you know. Your father wouldn't had gotten injured if Dumbledore hadn't put him on guard duty, and putting someone without training in charge of protecting someone that will tear apart the mind of anyone that isn't meant to have it is a very bad, not to mention stupid and irresponsible, idea."
Bree sighed again. "He may have been great once, he may have even truly cared about people, but he's gotten so old. My mother has treated many patients since she first started working. I've visited her workplace, I've seen some of her patients. Some are young, most are elderly. The older you are, the more you need to visit a hospital. You see, as you age your cells decay, your joints wear out it becomes difficult, even painful, to move. It becomes hard to do little things like dressing yourself. Your mind loses function. Something as simple as tripping and falling can be devastating as your bones become brittle. Age is the most widespread and devastating disease of all."
It was silent in the compartment until the train arrived at King's Cross.
When the ticket inspector signaled to Harry, Ron and Hermione that it was safe to walk through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten, however, he found a surprise awaiting him on the other side: a group of people standing there to greet him who he had not expected at all.
There was Mad-Eye Moody, looking quite as sinister with his bowler hat pulled low over his magical eye as he would have done without it, his gnarled hands clutching a long staff, his body wrapped in a voluminous traveling cloak. Tonks stood just behind him, her bright bubble-gum pink hair gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the dirty glass of the station ceiling, wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend The Weird Sisters. Next to Tonks was Remus, who seemed to have gotten a better wardrobe. At the front of the group stood Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, dressed in their Muggle best, Sirius, in leather and denim, and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand-new jackets in some lurid green, scaly material.
"Ron, Ginny!" called Mrs. Weasley, hurrying forwards and hugging her children tightly "Oh, and Harry dear - how are you?"
"Fine," said Harry, as she pulled him into a tight embrace. Was Ron goggling at the twins' new clothes.
"What are they supposed to be?" he asked, pointing at the jackets.
"Finest dragonskin, little bro'," said Fred, giving his zip a little tweak. "Business is booming and we thought we'd treat ourselves."
"Hello, Harry" said Lupin, as Mrs. Weasley let go of Harry and turned to greet Hermione.
"Hi," said Harry "I didn't expect… what are you all doing here?"
"Their obviously here in case snake face tries something." Bree replied before she too was swept up in a hug by Mrs. Weasley.
"We were so worried about you!" she told Bree, fussing over the blond a bit before releasing her. Bree walked over to the twins.
"So what do you think?" George asked, showing off his new jacket.
"It would look better in a different color. And by different I mean, any color that dosen't make my eyes scream, "Rip me out! Please rip me out!" I'm thinking black." Bree stated before running her hand down the arm of George's jacket in order to feel the material. "Yes, I think black would look very good on you."
George went red.
"Bree!" a voice called out. Bree turned and found herself being hugged by her Aunt.
"We've got a lot to talk about." Said Lisa.
