Bree sighed and looked at Hermione for a long moment before she answered.
"Ancient security wards." She replied. "I accidentally activated some of them back in our fifth year. They'd been dormant for hundreds of years before I stumbled across them. The wards are bound to the castle but they have to be tied to a person so that they can be used properly."
"And you tied them all to yourself." Ginny stated.
"One fourth of them. The wards are supposed to be divided between four people. If any one person were to activate all of them they would die." Bree said.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Mrs. Weasley demanded. "You could have gotten all of the wards activated by Dumbledore and some of the Professors."
"I did tell people. All of the wards are active at the moment. I'm in charge of all the restraining and banishing wards but detection wards are shared." Bree answered.
"Who did you tell and what do you mean by detection wards?" the ever curious Hermione blurted out.
"I told Ben first, and then I waited and found people I could trust to help with the wards." Breereplied.
"But who were they?" Hermione pressed. Bree refused to speak.
Luna spoke up. "I was one of them." She said. "I have the healing wards and half of the shield wards."
"I've got attack wards and the other half of the shield wards." Neville stated.
"What wards does Professor Grimsley have?" Mrs. Weasler asked.
"Ben was the last one to be tied to any wards." Bree answered.
"I have all of the killing wards." Ben stated. Mrs. Weasley went pale.
"K-killing?" she stuttered.
"Well I couldn't let teenagers have control over something like that." Ben replied.
"Yes well, you shouldn't have let them have control over any of the wards. You should have told Dumbledore so that responsible adults handle them." Mrs. Weasley replied.
"And I suppose I should have pledged my undying allegiance and followed him blindly to my death as your family seems intent on doing." Ben responded dryly.
Mrs. Weasley went red with anger. "Dumbledore was a great man." She said, trying to keep her voice down, they were in the hospital wing after all.
"That doesn't make him a good man." Bree interjected. "He made decisions that got people hurt, that got them killed. He gave the members of his Order dangerous missions without proper training. There's nothing wrong with fighting for you beliefs but you need to know how to fight if you want to be effective. The Order isn't effective. It was never effective. Dumbledore just took unclaimed credit. He defeated Grindlewald, I'll give him that, but you wizards always forget the soldiers that fought and bleed and died fighting long before Dumbledore ever got there. He was such a "great wizard" why couldn't he have stopped the war before all of those young men left home and came back forever changed? Why couldn't he have acted before all of those families said goodbye to their brothers, sons, fathers, and husbands and never saw them return?"
Mrs. Weasley went silent.
"That was very clever of you." Hermione said later in the common room.
"What do you mean?" Bree asked.
"Making everyone forget about the wards by distracting them." Hermione replied.
Bree smirked. "I just gave them my honest opinion of Dumbledore, it's not my fault that no one wanted to talk anymore after that." She said.
"You've changed." Hermione whispered, remembering the carefree first year that would cause chaos for the sake fun and how that first year was nothing like the malicious figure in front of her.
"That's the way of all things. Nothing stays the same. Nothing can stay the same. You've changed too Hermione, so has everyone else." Bree responded.
"Not as much as you have." Hermione muttered.
"Change is a good thing." Bree stated.
"Not when it makes you hide things from your friends." Hermione protested.
Bree rolled her eyes. "I haven't hidden anything from my friends." She said. "You and I aren't friends."
Hermione's eyes widened.
"I could never be friends with someone like you. You've always have this wall of books and logic around you and a blind faith in authority along with a refusal to accept that impossible things you've never heard of might exist, so why would I tell you anything when you would refuse to believe it?" Bree continued.
And once again the conversation was diverted. The wards weren't brought and Bree never had to say that she could have saved Dumbledore's life if she had wanted to, she just hadn't wanted to.
All lessons were suspended, all examinations postponed. Some students were hurried away from Hogwarts by their parents over the next couple of days-the Patil twins were gone before breakfast on the morning following Dumbledore's death and Zacharias Smith was escorted from the castle by his haughty-looking father. Seamus Finnigan, on the other hand, refused point-blank to accompany his mother home; they had a shouting match in the Entrance Hall which was resolved when she agreed that he could remain behind for the funeral. She had difficulty in finding a bed in Hogsmeade for wizards and witches were pouring into the village, preparing to pay their last respects to Dumbledore.
Bree had wanted to leave because she saw no point in staying. Lisa had insisted on "keeping up appearances" and Bree was forced to stay for the funeral.
Black was the color of choice for the event and Bree hated being unable to pair it with some nice red.
A vast array of people from many walks of life were in attendance. The Minister of Magic, Percy, members of the Order of the Phoenix: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, her hair miraculously returned to vividest pink, Remus Lupin, with whom she seemed to be holding hands, Sirius Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill supported by Fleur and followed by Fred and George, who were wearing jackets of black dragonskin. Then there was Madame Maxime, who took up two-and-a-half chairs on her own, Tom, the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, the hairy bass player from the wizarding group the Weird bisters, Ernie Prang, driver of the Knight Bus, Madam Malkin, of the robe shop in Diagon Alley, the barman of the Hog's Head and the witch who pushed the trolley on the Hogwarts Express. The castle ghosts were there too, barely visible in the bright sunlight, discernible only when they moved, shimmering insubstantially in the gleaming air.
Even with so many people in present two stood out more than anyone else: a tall pale sinned woman with long layered black hair and a blond haired man with green eyes and the thickest eyebrows Bree had ever seen. Bree got the strangest vibe from them; oddly enough no one else seemed to notice..
Hagrid was walking slowly up the aisle between the chairs. He was crying quite silently, his face gleaming with tears, and in his arms, wrapped in purple velvet spangled with golden stars, was Dumbledore's body.
Hagrid placed the body carefully upon a table. Now he retreated down the aisle, blowing his nose with loud trumpeting noises that drew scandalised looks from some, including. Bree glanced at the back row to which Hagrid was heading and saw, dressed in a jacket and trousers each the size of a small marquee, the giant Grawp, his great ugly boulder-like head bowed, docile, almost human. Hagrid sat down next to his half-brother and Grawp patted Hagrid hard on the head, so that his chair legs sank into the ground. Harry had a wonderful momentary urge to laugh. But then the music stopped and he turned to face the front again.
A little tufty-haired man in plain black robes had got to his feet and stood now in front of Dumbledore's body. Bree didn't care about what the man was saying. Odd words floated over her.. "Nobility of spirit" ... "intellectual contribution" ... "greatness of heart" Bree had the urge to burst out laughing, to pull out her wand and disrupt the whole thing, Lisa gave her a hard look and Bree remained sitting quietly.
The little man in black had stopped speaking at last and resumed his seat. Harry waited for somebody else to get to their feet; he expected speeches, probably from the Minister, but nobody moved.
Then several people screamed. Bright, white flames had erupted around Dumbledore's body and the table upon which it lay: higher and higher they rose, obscuring the body. White smoke spiralled into the air and made strange shapes: in the next second the fire had vanished. In its place was a white marble tomb, encasing Dumbledore's body and the table on which he had rested.
There were a few more cries of shock as a shower of arrows soared through the air, but they fell far short of the crowd. It was the centaurs' tribute.
As soon as the funeral was over Bree hurried back to the castle to change. Buckled black boots with sensible heels so that they were easier to run in, dark jeans, a red shirt, sliver skull and crossbones earrings, fishnet gloves, gold skull ring, chain bracelet, perception filter disguised as pyramid studded leather bracelet, pyramid studded belt, studded leather choker, and her favorite black cadet cap.
"Perfect." Bree stated as she looked at herself in the mirror. All of her things had been packed the day before. She would be leaving with Lisa instead of taking the train with the rest of the students. She wouldn't be going home, she couldn't. The house had been emptied and put up for sale. Lisa had moved Bree's parents back to America where they would be safe from the upcoming war. Bree hadn't even been able to say goodbye, but it was better that they were out of the way, one less thing to worry about.
There was so much to do. Meet the new baby, turn seventeen and finally be able to use magic outside of school, go to Bill and Fleur's wedding, watch out for anything more dangerous than Voldemort, find Horcruxes and destroy them, find out if cousin Donna was traveling with the Doctor yet, kill Voldemort, kill Death Eaters, keep an eye what happens at Hogwarts, kill rival mafias, and get some new allies.
Yeah, this was going to take a while.
Last chapter of this story. Sequel is in the works, I'll let you all know when it's up. Here's some quotes I intend to use in it in no particular order.
"You shouldn't have done that."
"It's not a nervous breakdown. I'm having a calm, rational breakdown based on an understanding of how we're all going to die horribly!"
"Cousin Rufus misunderstood the meaning of "strip mall" again, let's go bail him out."
"Why can't creatures whose only weakness is fire be a little more flammable?"
"John Winchester is dead."
"We're robbing him, go ahead and take a candy bar. Take all the candy bars, hell, throw in some potato chips, just be quick about it."
"Stop mumbling exorcisms under your breathe. They're children, not demons."
