To lizzie: Lisa and Vince have a son that I have mentioned before. He's Bree's cousin Leo who was first mentioned by name way back in chapter 39, which is also the chapter where we first see Vince.
Alice came to visit after the shop and closed and Bree was restocking shelves.
"What are you doing here?" Bree asked in a hushed tone.
"I needed to talk to you in person." Alice replied, her voice equally hushed.
"What is it?" Bree hissed.
"Percy's getting worse." Alice muttered. "He's feels isolated."
"He is isolated." Bree pointed out.
Alice sighed. "We need to do something to correct that. It's kind of our fault." she said.
Bree made an irritated sound.
"And what do you suggest we do about it?" she asked.
"Tell his double trouble brothers that he isn't a complete prat, like they think he is." Alice answered.
"I knew you'd say that." Bree grumbled.
Alice shrugged. "Great minds…" she said.
"The problem with that is, just how much to tell?" Bree said.
"Why not just tell them everything?" Alice suggested.
"Everything?" Bree questioned.
Alice nodded. "You trust them don't you? I mean you are dating George. And if you don't tell them and they find out later…"
"You don't seem to be aware of what "everything" entails." Bree stated. "It's more than just Percy's current position. It's my involvement in Umbridge's death. It's the truth behind "the family business." It's everything that happened the day you were born. It's how you came to be."
There was a flicker of fear in Alice's eyes.
"Do who really want to tell them everything?" Bree asked.
Alice steeled herself and gave Bree a determined look. "Yes." She answered.
Bree let out a little laugh. "I know. So do I." she said. "We're both changing, but I guess we're not all that different yet."
She walked over to the back room. "Fred! George! You two come out here!" she called.
"There's no proof that we did it!" two voices yelled back. Bree blinked.
"What?" she question incredulously.
"Sorry." George said as he walked out of the back room. "Force of habit."
"Usually it's Mum or McGonagall yelling at us." Fred stated as he followed his brother.
"So what is it you need?" George asked.
"We need to talk." Bree stated reluctantly.
"About what?" Fred inquired.
"About Percy." Alice replied somewhat quietly, she was always a bit nervous and awkward around the twins.
Both twins gained unhappy frowns.
"What about him?" George asked.
"He's not doing well." Alice stated.
"Yes, it seems your brother is on the slow path of self destruction that ends with liver failure and death." Bree added.
"What?" Fred said.
"He's turning into an alcoholic, and not a funny alcoholic like Snape, he's becoming a sad and depressing alcoholic that's bound to suck all the comedy out of the story, and we really can't have that." Bree explained.
"And what do you want us to do about that?" George questioned.
"Well one of the reasons that Percy has turned to alcoholism is because he's feeling isolated from his family." Bree replied.
"It's his own fault." Fred stated.
"He could have admitted that he was wrong about Voldemort being back." George said.
"Oh, he was never in doubt about that." Bree interrupted.
"He always knew Voldemort was back, that was never in contention." Alice stated.
"Of course I suppose you didn't know that because you left after he started fighting with your mother." Bree continued.
"The problem isn't the Volodemort issue, the problem is Dumbledore." Alice explained.
"Dumbledore is a manipulative old coot that takes credit for the work of others." Bree stated.
"You've said that before." George said.
"It's true." Alice replied.
"Dumbledore didn't show up to defeat Grindelwald until the Axis was already losing." Bree told them.
"If he was really that powerful, couldn't he have turned the war around before America got involved?" Alice asked.
"All the battles fought and the lives lost and he swooped in at the last second to claim all the glory." Bree said.
"And then with Voldy's first rise…" Alice trailed off.
"Oh don't even get me started on that, taking credit for what Aunt Lisa's forces were doing… disgusting." Bree hissed.
"And when the Aurors that belong to his little group do something right he takes credit for that as well. I mean, it's not like their Auror training had anything to do with it." Alice said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Okay, you've raise some good points," George began, "but I have a couple of questions: How are you doing that and what did your Aunt do during the last war?"
"Doing what?" Alice asked.
"I think he means the thing where after one of us finishes a sentence the other one continues with the following sentence, making a coherent half of a conversation." Bree replied.
"Yes, that. That's what Fred I usually do, how are you doing it?" George asked.
"It's just a simple as knowing what the other person well enough to be able to accurately predict what they are going to say next and saying it for them." Alice explained.
"But how do you know that? I mean, Bree grew up in America, and Alice, your parents have always lived in England." Fred said.
"We're getting to that part, but George asked two questions, let's address the second one." Bree stated.
"Mom killed Death Eaters during the last "war", though I wouldn't really call it a war, unless you count a war on terror." Alice stated.
"America does." Bree responded.
"Okay then." Alice said.
"Your Mom killed Death Eaters?" George asked skeptically.
"Yep." Alice replied.
"But how did she even know about them? She's a muggle isn't she?" Fred inquired.
"Well yeah." Bree answered. "But the Queen of Crime gets certain privileges that others don't."
"Queen of Crime?" George questioned.
"That's right." Said Alice.
"Aunt Lisa's organization has been around for generations, and her ancestors have had dealings with many races from many worlds. She and Uncle Vince knew that alien were real before I was even born, and magic has had and influence in the organization for as long as anyone can remember." Bree told them.
"During the last war there was a division between light and dark, Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore and Voldemort. It seemed that there were only to options, but my parents gave people a third." Alice explained.
"They actually trained their new forces to make sure that they were ready to fight and they also made sure that some of them specialized in healing. Best of all, they put muggle and magical fighters together on the field." Bree stated.
"Bullets travel faster than most spells, but muggles can't cast protection charms." Alice elaborated.
"Aunt Lisa has spies within the ministry." Bree stated.
"Percy's one of them." Alice said.
"What!" George exclaimed.
"Since when!" Fred shouted.
"Um…?" Alice said, looking to Bree for an answer.
"Since he got his promotion." Bree replied.
"But why would he-" George began, Bree cut him off.
"That… is a very long story." She stated.
She told them everything. To say the twins were shocked would have been an understatement.
"What? But, I mean- she's you?" Fred stammered.
"This is a lot to take in." George stated.
Bree was staring at the floor; Alice rubbed the back of her head and didn't make eye contact with anyone.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" George asked.
"I was scared." Bree murmured.
"Why?" George inquired softly, lifting Bree's chin so that she would look at him.
"My life is really screwed up, my Aunt is feared by the Russian mob, the secrets of the universe are inside my head, and I have clone with all of my memories up until the day she was born, who would want to be involved in that?" Bree replied, distressed.
"I would." George answered immediately. Bree's eyes widened in shock.
"What?" she asked weekly.
"We've known you were different ever since we first met you on the train." Fred answered. "Admittedly we didn't know how different, but you've always been our friend, and now George's girlfriend, and that's not going to change just because your life is more complicated than we ever could have imagined."
"This does make being around Alice a bit awkward though." George stated.
"So, don't think of her as being me, because she's not, not anymore. It's like, we started out as the same person, but we're going two different ways and becoming different people, and who knows what we'll be down the line." Bree replied. There was silence for a moment.
"So…" Alice began, "Can you two visit Percy while were away at school and keep him from killing his liver?"
"Yeah."
"Definitely."
"Now that we know he's not as much of a prat as we thought he was."
"Great!" said Alice. "So what now?"
Bree thought for a moment before turning to George.
"Want to go on a date?" she asked him.
"What do you feel like doing?" he replied.
"Let's go get ice cream!" Bree suggested.
George frowned. "The parlor closed down, remember?" he said.
Bree rolled her eyes. "Muggles sell ice cream too." She pointed out before grabbing George by the arm and leading him out of the store.
"Seems we've been forgotten." Fred stated.
"Bree gets like that sometimes." Alice replied.
"You would know, wouldn't you?" Fred responded.
Alice smiled a bit. "The worst part is that she's got me wanting ice cream." She said.
"Shall we?" Fred asked, offering his arm to her. Alice grinned and looped her arm into his.
Bree decided that she was going to have fun with Draco that school. Oh yes, so much fun. You see, Draco was up to something, something dark. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had followed Draco into Knockturn Alley where he had gone into Borgin and Burke's and talked to the shopkeeper about something. Something that Draco didn't want his mother to know.
Harry told Sirius, who told Lisa, who in turn told Bree with the instructions to keep an eye on Draco. Bree was going to have so much fun with him. Once she got to Hogwarts that is.
Alice left for America a few days before Bree was to leave for Hogwarts, but before she left Aunt Lisa gave the girls gifts, perception filters. Handy little devices, they generated a field around an object directing attention away from the object or its bearer, rendering them unnoticeable. They're better than an invisibility cloak because even if you bump in someone they won't be surprised because they sort of knew you were there, but weren't really looking at you and even if they try to see what they bumped into their eyes will just slide right over you. It brings a whole new definition to "hiding in plain sight."
Alice's filter looked like a silver pendant with a blue stone set in it. The stone was actually a button to activate the filter. Bree's filter was in the form of a pyramid studded leather bracelet, the button that activated it was disguised as one of the studs.
The gifts were received with gratitude and two identical grins.
Percy had been doing better once the twins started visiting him, secretly, with the help of their own perception filters that Lisa had given them after a long talk about what would happen if they ever did anything that hurt Bree or Alice. Percy complained about the visits, mostly because the twins would barge in at the most inopportune times, like when Percy was changing his clothes or while he was showering and would then try to have a conversation with him as if everything was normal even as Percy shouted at them to get out and wait until he was clothed. Despite his protests it was easy to see that he was happy be spending time with his brothers.
"I'm not saying that we need to kill all of the stupid people," Bree said as she walked through Kings Cross toward platform 9 ¾, "I just saying that if we took the warning labels off of everything the problem would sort itself out."
"But then where would we get politicians from?" George asked.
"Oh, it would sort itself out." Bree replied.
"It's like they were made for each other." Ben muttered to Fiona.
"I know, isn't it cute!" Fiona replied.
They passed through the barrier between platforms nine and ten.
"Hey, look! It's the rent-a-cops!" Bree exclaimed pointing out two beaded, stone faced aurors in suits who were apparently there to keep Harry safe.
"Now, now, don't insult them like that," Lisa reprimanded. "Rent-a-cops can at least keep schoolchildren from getting into places they're not supposed to be. It helps that they've been trained to use those new security devices, what were they called? Oh, I know! Locks!"
Both Aurors looked very unhappy.
"Bree, don't antagonize the Aurors. They're here to keep us safe." Hermione scolded.
"Really, with only two officers?" Bree asked incredulously. "I have four body guards. Five if you count Aunt Lisa." She said, gesturing to Lisa, Ben, Otto, Fiona, and Owen.
"Not really a good showing for the ministry here, unless, they're only here to protect Harry, in which case two is just fine, but it does leave everyone else out in the cold so to speak." Bree stated.
"You'd better get on the train, there are only a few minutes to go." Mrs. Weasley said, examining her watch. "George did you come to see everyone off?"
"Er- yeah." George answered.
"Have you told her that we're dating?" Bree whispered.
"No." George answered in a hushed voice. Bree gave him a look.
"You've never seen her when she gets on Bill and Charlie about grandchildren." George replied.
Aunt Lisa suddenly appeared behind the two.
"Alright Bree, it's about time for you to get going, now what do you do if Death Eaters attack?" she asked.
"Tell Dumbledore exactly what I think of him, stupefy him, then use him as a shield." Bree replied.
"Close enough." Lisa replied, giving Bree a kiss on the cheek before skipping away merrily.
"If she was like that when she was expecting Leo I can sort of understand why Uncle Vince decided to hide. Adults shouldn't skip." Bree muttered before turning to George.
"I'll let you know when the first Hogsmade weekend is." She said.
"Alright, I'll see you then." George replied. There was a whistle behind them. Bree gave George a quick kiss before hurrying to get on the train.
"George, did I just see- Are you two dating?" Mrs. Weasley asked. George flinched.
213. Not allowed to refer to Aurors as rent-a-cops.
625. "Tell Dumbledore exactly what I think of him then stupefying and using him as a shield" is not what we do if there's a Death Eater attack.
Bree saw Harry not that far ahead of her on the train. People were staring at him as he approached Ginny. Bree activated her perception filter, it worked like a charm. People moved around her but didn't really see her.
"Fancy trying to find a compartment?" Harry asked Ginny.
"I can't, Harry, I said I'd meet Dean," said Ginny brightly. "See you later."
"Right," said Harry. Neither one of them noticed Bree standing nearby.
Then he blinked and looked around: he was surrounded by mesmerized girls.
"Hi, Harry!" said Neville.
"Neville!" Harry exclaimed, relieved.
"Hello, Harry," said a girl with long hair and large misty eyes, who was just behind Neville.
"Luna, hi, how are you?"
"Very well, thank you," said Luna. She was clutching a magazine to her chest; large letters on the front announced that there was a pair of free Spectrespecs inside. She looked right at Bree.
"The Quibbler still going strong, then?" asked Harry.
"Oh yes, circulation's well up," said Luna happily.
"Let's find seats," said Harry, and the three of them set off along the train through hordes of silently staring students. At last they found an empty compartment, and Harry hurried inside gratefully.
"They're even staring at us," said Neville, indicating himself and Luna. "Because we're with you!"
"They're staring at you because you were at the Ministry too," said Harry, as he hoisted his trunk into the luggage rack. "Our little adventure there was all over the Daily Prophet, you must've seen it."
"Yes, I thought Gran would be angry about all the publicity," said Neville, "but she was really pleased. Says I'm starting to live up to my dad at long last. She bought me a new wand, look!"
He pulled it out and showed it to Harry.
"Cherry and unicorn hair," he said proudly. "We think it was one of the last Ollivander ever sold, he vanished next day-oi, come back here, Trevor!"
And he dived under the seat to retrieve his toad as it made one of its frequent bids for freedom.
"Are we still doing D.A. meetings this year, Harry?" asked Luna, who was detaching a pair of psychedelic spectacles from the middle of The Quibbler.
"No point now we've got rid of Umbridge, is there?" said Harry, sitting down. Neville bumped his head against the seat as he emerged from under it. He looked most disappointed.
"I liked the D.A.! I learned loads with you!"
"I enjoyed the meetings too," said Luna serenely. "It was like having friends."
"Oh, don't say that Luna, I'm your friend." Bree stated, deactivating her perception filter and sitting down next to Luna. Harry and Neville jumped.
"How long have you been there?" Harry asked.
"She's been with us ever since we met up earlier; she was being rather quiet though." Luna replied.
"You are a very interesting girl." Bree said to Luna.
There was a disturbance outside their compartment door; a group of fourth-year girls was whispering and giggling together on the other side of the glass.
"You ask him!"
"No, you!"
"I'll do it!"
And one of them, a bold-looking girl with large dark eyes, a prominent chin, and long black hair pushed her way through the door.
"Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane," she said loudly and confidently. "Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them," she added in a stage whisper, indicating Neville's bottom, which was sticking out from under the seat again as he groped around for Trevor, and Luna, who was now wearing her free Spectrespecs, which gave her the look of a demented, multicolored owl.
"They're friends of mine," said Harry coldly.
"Oh," said the girl, looking very surprised. "Oh. Okay."
And she withdrew, sliding the door closed behind her.
"People expect you to have cooler friends than us," said Luna.
"You are cool," said Harry shortly. "None of them was at the Ministry. They didn't fight with me."
"That's a very nice thing to say," beamed Luna. Then she pushed her Spectrespecs farther up her nose and settled down to read The Quibbler.
Neville emerged from under the seat with fluff and dust in his hair and a resigned-looking Trevor in his hand.
The weather beyond the train windows was as patchy as it had been all summer; they passed through stretches of the chilling mist, then out into weak, clear sunlight. It was during one of the clear spells, when the sun was visible almost directly overhead, that Ron and Hermione entered the compartment at last.
"Wish the lunch trolley would hurry up, I'm starving," said Ron longingly, slumping into the seat beside Harry and rubbing his stomach. "Hi, Neville. Hi, Luna. Hi, Bree. Guess what?" he added, turning to Harry. "Malfoy's not doing prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins, we saw him when we passed."
Harry sat up straight, interested. It was not like Malfoy to pass up the chance to demonstrate his power as prefect, which he had happily abused all the previous year.
"What did he do when he saw you?"
"The usual," said Ron indifferently, demonstrating a rude hand gesture. "Not like him, though, is it? Well... that is"-he did the hand gesture again-"but why isn't he out there bullying first years?"
"Dunno," said Harry, but his mind was racing. Didn't this look as though Malfoy had more important things on his mind than bullying younger students?
"Maybe he preferred the Inquisitorial Squad," said Hermione. "Maybe being a prefect seems a bit tame after that."
"I don't think so," said Harry. "I think he's-"
But before he could expound on his theory, the compartment door slid open again and a breathless third-year girl stepped inside.
"I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom, Bree Smith, and Harry P-Potter," she faltered, as her eyes met Harry's and she turned scarlet. She was holding out three scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbon. Perplexed, Harry, Bree, and Neville took the scroll addressed to each of them and the girl stumbled back out of the compartment.
"What is it?" Ron demanded, as Harry unrolled his.
"An invitation," said Harry.
"Professor Slughorn wants us to join him for lunch, apparently." Bree stated.
"Who's Professor Slughorn?" asked Neville, looked perplexedly at his own invitation.
"New teacher," said Harry. "Well, I suppose we'll have to go, won't we?"
"But what does he want me for?" asked Neville nervously, as though he was expecting detention.
"No idea," said Harry, which was not entirely true, though he had no proof yet that his hunch was correct. "Listen," he added, seized by a sudden brain wave, "let's go under the Invisibility Cloak, then we might get a good look at Malfoy on the way, see what he's up to."
"Have fun with that." Bree replied as Harry moved to retrieve his cloak. His plan wouldn't work, it was too crowded in the corridors, people waiting for the lunch trolley would bump into him and he would be discovered. Bree didn't have that problem. With the perception filter activated she was able to navigate the hall quite easily as students moved out of the way of something they weren't quite aware of. Bree was enjoying the ability to essentially disappear from sight and then reappear at will. It felt so natural.
When Bree got to the compartment she chose not to deactivate the perception filter right away. Instead she observed the occupants of the compartment. A man Bree assumed was Professor Slughorn was there of course. He looked a bit like a walrus in human clothing. There were other students there as well, but before she could identify them all Harry and Neville showed up.
"Harry, m'boy!" said Slughorn, jumping up at the sight of him so that his great velvet-covered belly seemed to fill all the remaining space in the compartment. His shiny bald head and great silvery mustache gleamed as brightly in the sunlight as the golden buttons on his waistcoat. "Good to see you, good to see you! And you must be Mr. Longbottom!"
Neville nodded, looking scared.
"Ah, and here's Miss Smith!" Slughorn exclaimed. Harry and Neville glanced back at Bree, bewildered and not quite sure when Bree had arrived.
At a gesture from Slughorn, they sat down. It was rather squished. Bree eyed the other guests.
A tall black boy with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes; there were also two seventh-year boys Bree did not know and, squashed in the corner beside Slughorn and looking as though she was not entirely sure how she had got there, Ginny.
"Now, do you know everyone?" Slughorn asked Harry and Neville. "Blaise Zabini is in your year, of course-"
Zabini did not make any sign of recognition or greeting.
"This is Cormac McLaggen, perhaps you've come across each other-? No?"
McLaggen, a large, wiry-haired youth, raised a hand, and Harry and Neville nodded back at him.
"-and this is Marcus Belby, I don't know whether-?"
Belby, who was thin and nervous-looking, gave a strained smile.
"-and this charming young lady tells me she knows you!" Slughorn finished.
Ginny grimaced at Harry, Bree, and Neville from behind Slughorn's back.
"Well now, this is most pleasant," said Slughorn cozily. "A chance to get to know you all a little better. Here, take a napkin. I've packed my own lunch; the trolley, as I remember it, is heavy on Licorice Wands, and a poor old man's digestive system isn't quite up to such things... Pheasant, Belby?"
Belby started, and accepted what looked like half a cold pheasant.
"I was just telling young Marcus here that I had the pleasure of teaching his Uncle Damocles," Slughorn told Harry, Bree, and Neville, now passing around a basket of rolls. "Outstanding wizard, outstanding, and his Order of Merlin most well-deserved. Do you see much of your uncle, Marcus?"
Unfortunately, Belby had just taken a large mouthful of pheasant; in his haste to answer Slughorn he swallowed too fast, turned purple, and began to choke.
"Anapneo," said Slughorn calmly, pointing his wand at Belby, whose airway seemed to clear at once.
"Not... not much of him, no," gasped Belby, his eyes streaming.
"Well, of course, I daresay he's busy," said Slughorn, looking questioningly at Belby. "I doubt he invented the Wolfsbane Potion without considerable hard work!"
"I suppose..." said Belby, who seemed afraid to take another bite of pheasant until he was sure that Slughorn had finished with him. "Er... he and my dad don't get on very well, you see, so I don't really know much about..."
His voice tailed away as Slughorn gave him a cold smile and turned to McLaggen instead.
"Now, you, Cormac," said Slughorn, "I happen to know you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius, because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting Nogtails in, I think, Norfolk?"
"Oh, yeah, that was fun, that was," said McLaggen. "We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour-this was before he became Minister, obviously-"
"Ah, you know Bertie and Rufus too?" beamed Slughorn, now offering around a small tray of pies; somehow, Belby was missed out. "Now tell me..."
Everyone there seemed to have been invited because they were connected to somebody well-known or influential... everyone except Ginny. Zabini, who was interrogated after McLaggen, turned out to have a famously beautiful witch for a mother (she had been married seven times, each of her husbands dying mysteriously and leaving her mounds of gold). It was Neville's turn next: this was a very uncomfortable ten minutes, for Neville's parents, well-known Aurors, had been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and a couple of Death Eater cronies. At the end of Neville's interview, Bree felt that Slughorn was reserving judgment on Neville, yet to see whether he had any of his parents' flair.
"And Miss Smith, our up and coming young seer!" Slughorn exclaimed when he got to Bree.
"I'm not" Bree began to protest.
"No need to be so modest, I hear you even have a record of one of your prophecies stored in the Department of Mysteries!" Slughorn interrupted.
"That was destroyed along with many others just this past June." Bree replied. "And anyway it wasn't exactly a prophecy."
"What do you mean?" Slughorn asked.
"When a prophecy is given the seer giving it goes into a sort of trance and doesn't remember what they said when they come out of the trance. The prophecy is then subject to interpretation or even twisted for someone's own selfish purposes." Bree explained. She sighed.
"I've never gone into a trance. I always remember what I say and what I said during my Divination exam was not a prophecy, it was an echo. I suppose the echoes are similar to prophecies in that they are both messages meant for certain people, but prophecies are sent through one messenger and echoes are sent through many. When you here an echo all you can do is echo it back." She said.
"And where did you hear this echo?" Slughorn, who had been listening intently to Bree's every word, asked. Bree face betrayed the state of utter confusion that question had sent her into.
"Where did I hear it? I didn't hear it anywhere. It was just there in my head along with everything else I picked up from the universe." Bree answered.
"Do you mean more echoes?" Slughorn asked eagerly.
Bree shrugged. "Some of it. Most of it is memories though. Memories of the human race, where it's been, where it's going." She stated.
"You've seen the future!" Slughorn exclaimed excitedly.
Bree nodded.
"That's quite a gift you have there, Miss Smith!" the Professor complemented.
"In a white elephant sort of way I suppose." Bree replied coldly. Now it was Slughorn's turn to look confused.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"A white elephant is a gift that is considered valuable, is impossible to get rid of, and is detrimental to its owner." Bree explained.
"But knowing the future must have benefits!" Slughorn insisted.
"Humanity's future isn't all that different from its past." Bree responded. It was a rather morbid thought, but it was the truth. "History repeats itself; humanity as a whole will pull through when the next great disaster occurs, though many individuals may not."
"What is the next great disaster?" Slughorn asked worriedly. Bree stared at him for a moment before answering.
"Someone like you is better off not knowing." Bree stated as she stood up. "Just enjoy what time you have left."
And with that final statement she left the compartment and activated her perception filter. Slughorn stuck his head out, as if he wanted to say something to Bree, but to his eyes she had already disappeared.
Bree's not even at Hogwarts yet and she's already messing with the teachers.
