a/n: Quite a long chapter now. Hope you enjoy it. It is also rather pointless and fluffy, but the action picks up soon. There will be about 15 chapters and an epilogue and I've got up to 13, so updates should be pretty quick.
He had been a bit restless ever since he had seen Bree's necklace that time at breakfast. He'd pushed it to the back of his mind during the week, due to the hectic new timetable. The amount of student's names he had to memorize! It was almost too much for even his super brain to handle!
The thought nagged him all through Saturday, and he decided to pay a visit to the TARDIS on Sunday.
As he strolled through the snow-covered grounds, the Doctor heard screams and laughs coming from the lake. He peered round a bush, and saw Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luke, Ginny and Bree ice-skating. He smiled, until he saw a flash of silver around Bree's neck. He remembered when he saw it the first time. The swirly markings on the silver locket looked a lot like gallifreyan script, the writing from his planet. Where could she have got it from? Unless…
He flung himself into the TARDIS, and was glad to find that the computers still worked, even if nothing else did. At least he could watch TV and surf the internet.
The Doctor set a search for Time Lord technology in the near area. He'd forgotten about the energy pulse, however, and the TARDIS didn't pick up anything. He needed to get a closer look at that necklace.
He walked slowly back through the gates flanked by winged boars, and he caught sight of a Thestral swooping over the forest. He thought of all the death he'd seen, and a weight entered his chest.
He arrived at his office with wet feet. As he passed the window, he saw the students head back to the castle, looking happy. He had to find out what that necklace was!
He plotted for a while, and decided to take action the next day, after the lesson.
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They all sat around the fireplace, warming their feet by the fire.
'Ow, ow, ow, OW!'
'Stop complaining!' Bree was dipping her hand in some essence of murtlap, provided by Hermione, and she found out dipping an open cut in liquid is very painful. Harry looked over his shoulder at them.
'Once it's in, it's lovely, trust me,' he told her. 'That happened to me in fifth year,' He said. Bree grimaced and tentatively hovered her hand over the bowl.
Ron and Luke also peered round their armchairs, sympathetic looks on their faces.
'Sorry,' said Ron, guiltily.
'Are you OK?' asked Luke, looking concerned.
'Yeah, just fin… OW! HERMIONE!' she shrieked, as Hermione finally lost her patience and dunked her hand in the Murtlap essence. Everyone laughed, even Bree, once she got over the pain. Harry looked over to Ginny, to see if she was laughing, but she was curled up on one of the armchairs, asleep. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply.
'What time is it?' asked Ron, yawning himself.
'Nearly half-nine,' Hermione replied.
'Well then, I might follow Ginny's example and turn in.'
'Good idea,' said Bree, and made to get up. Hermione pushed her back down.
'You're staying here until the cut closes,' she said sternly. Bree groaned. 'Goodnight,' said Hermione. 'Make sure she doesn't leave until she can,' she said, gesturing to Bree. Harry took no notice of this; still staring at Ginny's sleeping form.
'Harry, are you coming up? Harry? HARRY! EARTH TO HARRY!' Ron shouted into Harry's ear. He jumped about a foot in the air, and looked up guiltily. Ginny woke up as well, and went up the stairs with Hermione.
'Don't leave me!' called Bree plaintively. Harry and Ron got up as well.
'Sorry Bree, but I'm think I'm going up too,' said Harry,
'What, nothing for you to look at anymore?' smirked Bree. Harry blushed, and Ron, who was as usual completely clueless, looked confused.
'What's she talking about? Harry?' But Harry had escaped up the stairs to the boy's dormitory before Ron could question him anymore. Ron ran up after him, hastily calling, 'G'night,' over his shoulder as he did.
Luke got to his feet too, but Bree called him back.
'Don't leave me all on my own!' Bree's voice was getting panicky now. Luke could see her getting scared and agitated, and walked over to sit next to her.
'Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Why are you so worried, anyway?' Bree blushed and ducked her head. She mumbled something under her breath. 'Pardon?' said Luke. Then he realized something. 'This hasn't got anything to do with why you were hiding on the TARDIS in the first place?' he asked, dawning comprehension on his face. She nodded. 'Do you want to talk about it?' he asked softly, putting an arm around her shoulders.
Bree was confused. She'd been irrationally scared of being left alone, even though she knew that those men were safely out of reach in 2011. But now she just felt… hot. Luke was very close, and was gripping her shoulder comfortingly. It made all the fear fly out of her, and she told him what had happened. The re-telling made her feel less heavy, as though she was putting down a weighty load, but it also brought back her fear.
Luke listened to her story with growing horror. He had the sudden urge to go and kill those men, not a rational thought at all. He felt Bree shaking and gathered her up in his arms, rocking her gently, like a baby. Her hitched sobs calmed down, though her heart was going extraordinarily fast. She finally drew back, and looked at his soaked shirt ruefully.
'Sorry. It's just…' she shook her head, to clear it. Luke understood.
'Do you feel better now?' he asked. She grinned, returning to her old self again. Luke sighed, relieved.
'Can you… not tell the others, just yet?' she asked, biting her lip.
'Sure. No problem.' Luke agreed readily. She grinned up at him again, as he was at least 4 inches taller than her when they were sitting down. All her height came from her legs. Luke averted his thoughts from her legs quickly.
'Night,' she said, and took her hand out of the murtlap essence. 'I think it's done now,' she said, drying it on a towel Hermione had given her before. She was about to walk away, when the fiery spirit of Ginny suddenly seemed to possess her, and she whipped around and brushed her lips on Luke's cheek. Then she legged it up the stairs, bright red and embarrassed.
Luke sat there for a long time, his hand on his cheek, which felt like it was on fire.
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They awoke the next morning to a silent, white world. Ginny broke the calm when she came barrelling into the sixth year girls dormitory.
'It's snowed! SNOWED! It's about 5 metres high!' she shrieked delightedly. Lavender and Parvati turned over and groaned, and Hermione, who was propped up on her cushions reading a large, heavy tome that looked extremely boring, gave the window a cursory glance before continuing to read Azkaban Trials 1872-75. Bree, having lived all her life in England, where if there ever was any snow, it was a pathetic inch that immediately turned to ice, jumped up excitedly.
'Wow! There's so much! Look, that snowdrift comes up to Hagrid's neck!' She stuck her head out the window, her breath crystallising in front of her as she watched Hagrid dig out his cabin. She'd had tea with him last weekend, and had experienced his cooking firsthand. She didn't fancy sampling it again.
Large fat flakes swirled down to the white grounds, and Bree reached out to catch some. Ginny shivered and pulled the window shut. Bree groaned suddenly.
'What?' asked Ginny.
'It's Monday. I hate Monday mornings,' she grumbled. Ginny grinned.
'There's no school today, remember? It's the first day of the Christmas holidays! And I think loads of people are going home, so we'll have the whole tower to ourselves!' she bounced around happily. Hermione looked up from her book.
'Aren't you going home?' she asked.
'No, Mum said its safer here than at the Burrow, as Dad's working a lot. But loads of people are going home because their parents want to keep an eye on them.'
'Yeah, I had to bully my parents into letting me come back this year,' chipped in Lavender. 'They gave in on the condition that I came home every holiday.'
'Same,' sighed Parvati. 'Well, we better pack, the train leaves in three hours.'
Leaving the two girls to pack, Ginny, Hermione, and Bree made their way down the stairs, still in their pyjamas, because, as Ginny said, 'I can't be bothered to change if there's no lessons.'
After a very relaxing morning doing absolutely nothing in front of the fire, the girls waved goodbye to Lavender and Parvati, and the other Gryffindor who were leaving, and then they went upstairs to get changed.
'We should have a sleepover,' said Ginny, to the room at large. Bree, who at the time was trying to put on a sock while standing up, fell over with a thud and swore.
'Bree! You sound like Ron!' Hermione walked out the shower and looked at Bree shocked at her language.
'Sorry, but that really hurt,' she said, getting up and rubbing her bum.
'Anyway,' said Ginny breezily, 'What do you think?'
Bree said 'errr,' at the same time Hermione said 'About what?'
'We should have a sleepover!' said Ginny again, gesturing with her hairbrush.
'Yeah, and we could read magazines and do manicures and pedicures and stuff!' squealed Hermione.
'And eat loads of chocolate!' said Bree.
'Should we have it here, or in my dormitory?' asked Ginny.
'If we're banning the boys, which I think we should…' Bree and Ginny nodded violently at Hermione, 'then we should do it in Ginny's dormitory, because they won't suspect we're there. I'll look up some charms to keep them away, though I'm sure the staircase will be able to keep them away.'
'I'll bring nail varnish and stuff,' said Ginny, 'and Bree, could you get some magazines from the room of Requirement?'
'Sure, and Hermione can get some food from the kitchens!'
'I'll get some stuff for face masks and things as well,' said Hermione. They all squealed excitedly.
Ginny was still slightly red from excitement when they came down the stairs. Ron, Harry and Luke were in the Common Room.
'You're looking very flushed Ginny, are you coming down with a bug or something?' Harry asked, walking over and laying the back of his hand on her forehead. 'You're burning up.' Ginny, if possible, turned even redder.
'I'm fine, really,' she said, ducking away from his hand, 'We just got a bit hyper, that's all.'
'Why?' asked Ron, looking curious, but also slightly nervous. 'You're not plotting anything, are you?' He looked worriedly at each of the girls. Ginny grinned mischievously back.
'Don't worry, Ron, it's nothing you need to worry about,' she said sweetly, and she headed out the portrait hole, cackling loudly.
'Cause that's made me feel a whole lot better,' said Ron, and he, Harry and Luke followed the girls cautiously to the Great Hall for a very late breakfast, or a very early lunch.
The boys continued to feel nervous throughout breakfast, as the girls kept looking at each other and grinning.
'I can't take any more of this,' Ron whispered to Harry and Luke, 'my nerves are already in shreds and I haven't even had lunch yet!'
'We'll have to figure out a plan,' said Harry, 'So we can find out what they're up to.'
They put their heads together, and came up with a reasonably good idea.
Bree watched them confer, and turned to Hermione.
'Should we be worried that they're so interested in what we're doing?' she asked. Hermione did not answer straight away, as she was having a bit of difficulty balancing her book, the jug of pumpkin juice it was resting on, and her full fork all at once.
'I don't think so.'
'Luke's pretty clever though…' Bree trailed off.
'And if they find out, they might use extendable ears to listen in when we play truth or dare!' said Ginny, through a mouthful of eggs. Hermione looked disdainful.
'Hmmm, I don't think so. They won't know unless we tell them, will they? And we won't tell them, however clever Luke is.'
'No, but still…'
'Stop being such a worry-guts, Bree! It'll all be fine,' Ginny said confidently, swigging her juice. Bree wasn't satisfied, though, and glanced warily at the boys, who had finished their whispered conversation and wore big grins.
'They seem pretty sure of themselves,' she jerked at thumb in their direction. Hermione sniffed haughtily and Ginny smiled.
'They're all under our thumbs,' she said, 'watch!' Ginny turned to the boys and winked evilly. To Bree's amazement, it had a huge effect. Harry went red, and suddenly found his cereal very interesting, Ron went even paler and Luke didn't look too good either.
'Wow,' said Bree appreciatively.
'See what I mean? We'll have no problem,' Ginny said confidently, and Bree could only agree.
'I HAVE A PLAN!' called Ron, and everybody looked at him. 'Oops, did I just say that out loud?'
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Ron slammed the huge book onto the table, creating clouds of dust.
'What's that?' asked Luke, coughing and fanning his hands.
'This, my dear friends, is a book,' Ron said.
'Yes, thanks Ron, but I think we'd got that far,' Harry said, grinning.
'But it isn't just any book. It's a book all about women,' Ron said, his tone reverent as he gazed at it. 'It'll tell you all you need to know about the female sex.'
'Speaking of the female sex, I haven't seen Lavender around for a while,' Harry said casually.
'Oh, we broke up,' shrugged Ron indifferently.
'What? Why? When?' asked Harry and Luke.
'Well, I kind of fancy someone else,' he said, going scarlet. Harry dropped the subject, having a good idea abut who the 'someone' might be. Luke cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
'And this comes into your plan how?'
'Well,' said Ron, 'we need to get information out of the girls, yes?'
'Yes,' chorused Luke and Harry.
'This book will tell us how!' Ron said triumphantly, stabbing his finger at the book.
'Well, then, what are you waiting for?' asked Harry, and he flipped the book open, filling the air with yet more dust. Ron ran his finger down the contents page.
'Look at this! It's got everything! There's a chapter on first dates, what to do when you ask a girl out, and… ah ha!' Ron grinned and pointed at the chapter. 'There we go. Chapter 8, how to find out their deepest secrets!'
'There's a chapter called that?' asked Luke, amazed, looking over Ron's shoulder at the page.
'Page 65, page 65,' Ron muttered feverishly, as he flicked through the huge book to the chapter. He found the page, looked around warily, and began to read it out quietly to Harry and Luke. 'If you want a girl to be like putty in your hand, one way is to seduce them.'
Luke and Harry exchanged raised eyebrows.
'This book was in the library!' asked Harry, astonished. Ron ignored him, and carried on.
'There are several techniques that can be employed, depending on the height of the girl, the features and the personality. For tall girls…'
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The Doctor was in the TARDIS, stroking the levers and murmuring encouragingly to the machine. He wouldn't want the TARDIS to think he'd abandoned it. And also it was quite a nice change to have some intelligent conversation.
The TARDIS didn't actually talk back, of course, but the Doctor felt like she understood everything he said, and it felt quite nice to be understood. He was thankful it was the holidays, as Mondays for him were the worst day. First he'd have the Slytherin sixth year. Those two boys Crabbe and Goyle were going to be the death of him! At the very though of the answers they'd given to the most simple question, the Doctor threw his hands up and whacked his head on the console.
At least he had Bree and Luke at the end of the day. It made a nice change from the monosyllabic students he usually had to put up with. The first years were actually quite bright, the second years were good too, the third years were pretty quiet, the fourth years were more interested in the Bunsen burners and the fifth years were blooming rude. The sixth years he despaired over, and the seventh years tended to put themselves above anything not in their NEWT's, so not much lesson participation there.
Today it had been the first day of the Christmas Holidays, so he'd spent most of his time skulking around Bree, trying to get a good look at her necklace. He'd been spotted a couple of times, but overall he thought it went well.
He couldn't get his head round Bree. She was too clever for a human, as she was almost as good as Luke. Any normal brained person wouldn't present much of a challenge to him, but Bree kept him on his toes. She also felt… familiar, like he'd seen her before. She had always been comfortable with him as well.
The Doctor banged his head on the console, before deciding it would be safer for the TARDIS, and his brain cells, if he went back to his office.
As he trudged through the slushy snow covering the path, feeling the biting cold seeping through his converse, he contemplated Bree, until he got a headache and moved his thoughts elsewhere.
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The boys had shot off after breakfast, gabbling something about needing to go to the library.
'The library!' Hermione snorted. 'How can they find out what we're trying to do in the library?'
'They won't, so we're fine, just like I said,' said Ginny, tossing her hair over her shoulder confidently.
Bree was getting very excited.
'Let's split up and get the stuff we need now! While the boys are gone! Then, we can hide it in our dormitory.'
'Good idea,' said Hermione. 'So, Ginny, you go and get nail varnish from our dormitory, Bree, you're going to the room of requirement and I'm going to the kitchens!' she finished brightly.
'Let's go!' said Ginny, and they went their separate ways. Bree almost ran to the room of requirement. She found a large box in the room full of sleepover stuff, like magazines, so she shrunk it and slipped it in her pocket.
Her journey to the Gryffindor Common room wasn't so smooth, however. Turning round a corner, she walked straight into Malfoy and his two thugs. Harry and Ron had warned her about them, and she tried to pass unnoticed.
'Oh, look. It's the new girl. The muggle.' Draco sneered at her, blocking the corridor.
'Excuse me,' she said, trying to dodge past.
'Oh, I don't think so, muggle,' he sneered, and motioned to Crabbe and Goyle. They each grabbed one of her arms and twisted it behind her back. It hurt like hell but she didn't cry out. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing they'd hurt her.
'We don't think a muggle should have been let in the school, do we Crabbe, Goyle?' Draco sneered. Crabbe and Goyle twisted her arms further behind her back, forcing her body back. Draco drew closer.
'Well well, what have we here?' He grabbed the chain of her necklace and pulled it out from underneath her robes. 'A locket.' He inspected the fine engravings on the silver necklace, before yanking on it hard. The chain snapped and he moved back, holding the locket in one hand. 'But what's in it, I wonder?' He flicked it open, and Bree convulsed suddenly. She could here an ethereal song, reverberating in her head. It hurt, it was too much. She felt a stab of pain in her chest, and her head hurt so very badly…
'MALFOY!' The shout came from two directions. Draco jumped, and snapped the locket shut. He threw it at Bree, who had collapsed when Crabbe and Goyle let go.
The Doctor came storming up, and Luke was close behind him.
'Come with me, young man. And you two,' he growled at Crabbe and Goyle. They slouched off after him.
' Bree, are you OK?' Luke rushed over and helped her up. She groaned and doubled over, clutching her chest. 'What's the matter?' Bree suddenly looked up, confused.
'I don't know. The pain just, went.'
'Did Malfoy hurt you?' Luke almost growled. Bree shook her head, and bent to pick up her necklace.
'No, but her broke the chain, look!' It was snapped, by the force he'd used to yank it off her neck. 'Could you fix it for me?' she asked, holding it out to him. He took it, and she turned round, moving her hair off her neck so he could put it on. He gasped when he saw the red welt.
'He did hurt you!' He ran a finger along the red line, and Bree shivered. 'Sorry.' He put the chain around her neck gently, and fixed the ends so it stayed on.
'Thanks,' she said, and she turned around to smile at him. Luke gulped, and thought back to what the book said.
'So, what are you girls planning?' he asked, smiling slightly. She grinned.
'Nothing you need worry about.'
Slowly but surely back them against a wall, so they can't make a quick exit. Trap them with an arm against the wall.
Luke somehow managed to arrange them so Bree's back was very close to the stone wall.
'Why don't you want to tell us? Is it something you don't want us to know?' he asked, leaning closer to her and resting his arm on the wall. He was very close. He saw her breathing hitch slightly. He himself was having a little trouble breathing. He was so close, he could smell her shampoo. It was a very nice smell.
'Umm,' she breathed, her eyes slightly foggy. Was he really having this affect on her? And here he was, thinking she would laugh at him.
Bree was having a little trouble with coherent thought, and she struggled to answer.
'We were just… pretending,' she gasped, her head light from lack of oxygen. 'Just to make you guys nervous.'
'Oh, OK.' Luke stepped back.
'I was just going…' Bree pointed and then scratched her neck awkwardly.
'I'm going that way,' said Luke, gesturing in the opposite direction.
'Oh. See you.' Luke watched her trip down the corridor, before heading back to the library to report his findings to Ron and Harry.
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'Oh my GOD!' Bree shrieked as she ran into the girl's dormitories. Hermione and Ginny were already there, both with dazed expressions on their faces.
'Hey Bree. Did they get you too?' said Hermione, who seemed to be in slightly better shape than Ginny, who was having trouble enunciating.
'Yup. But I didn't give it away,' Bree said proudly.
'Me neither. I told them we were just pretending, to scare them,' said Hermione.
'Me too! That's good.'
'It's very out of character,' said Hermione thoughtfully. 'They must have really been rattled by our secret planning.'
'Umm, guys?' said Ginny, looking up at them from the bed with big brown eyes. 'I kind of told Harry about the sleepover.'
'What?' Hermione and Bree both shrieked.
'I'm sorry!' wailed Ginny, 'but I just couldn't think! You know I've fancied Harry for ages…'
'Well, hopefully they will just think you were lying, if Bree and I both told Ron and Luke we were just pretending,' said Hermione. 'Don't worry, Ginny. We'll just have to be extra careful.'
A/N: As I said, kind of fluffy. The book in question does exist, but I changed the name. Me and my friends had a good giggle about it one sleepover. So, I've had three reviews, after six chapters. Please tell me what you like, what you don't, because I can't read minds, unlike Edward Cullen. So telling me would be a good idea. Just don't be too harsh in your criticisms. Thank you. And the random ddddddddddddpppppppppppppppp means different place or different person, basically scene change, as the dots I use don't show up sometimes. So I'm avoiding confusion this way.