Previously…

i Severus Snape entered the hospital wing with an expression of distaste, several small packages in his hand.

"Oh, presents!" Brethany grinned widely, trying to push herself up into a higher sitting position.

"Let me help you," Remus spoke up, moving quickly to her side. With the man's hands helping to lift her, she managed to sit almost straight up, with several thick pillows supporting her.

"Must you put your paws all over her in such a manner, Lupin?" Snape's tone was sharp. "Such repulsive displays should be saved for privacy, I should think," he added in disgust. Harry opened his mouth to begin shouting, but was deterred by the identical smiles of mischief on the other two adults' faces.

"Why, Severus," Remus began, moving to place a hand on the other man's shoulder. "Are you jealous?" Brethany finished, a bright smile on her face.

The Potions Master shrugged off the werewolf's hand, scowling at the two. "Your parents portkeyed these into the Headmaster's office," he said brusquely, ignoring the question. He tossed the packages onto Brethany's bed, then stalked off, his robes swirling ominously behind him. Remus and Brethany exchanged small grins before breaking out into chuckles. /i

And Now…

"What do you suppose my parents sent me?" Brethany wondered, picking up the largest of the packages and shaking it languidly. She was beginning to feel tired, and hungry, and just a little crabby, as well. Granted, she felt much better than previously, but she obviously was not completely mended.

"Well, go on and open them," Harry urged, his own curiosity plain on his face. Brethany grinned, and began to tear through the brown paper.

The first package yielded a basic care package consisting of woolen socks, scarf, and cap, a dozen of her mother's ginger cookies(still warm), a pint of homemade blackberry preserves and several freshly sharpened eagle-feather quills. The second package, while smaller, proved to hold more, for when opened it revealed half a dozen books, shrunk with a charm.

"Is that i Hutchinson's Guide to Dark Creatures /i ?" Remus was practically drooling. The younger woman watched in amusement as the werewolf caressed the miniaturized book. "This must be at least four hundred years old!"

"That's Dad's edition," she told him with a grin. "I owled him for it last week. I wanted the students to have a fairly reliable source to find stuff about vampires out in." The teacher paused, a slightly befuddled expression on her face. "I must be more tired than I thought. That last sentence did not come out right at all."

"What's this?" Harry pulled out a small, slender book with no title and flipped through it. "There's nothing inside."

"Oh, that's my old journal," Brethany informed him, taking the book. "Everything that you write in it gets stored so that you never have to buy another book. If you want to read past entries, you just press your thumb to the front page and say what entries, by date, you want to see. It's keyed to my thumbprint, so no one else can read it. Handy old thing," she spoke fondly.

"Oh," Harry frowned. "It sounds similar to Tom Riddle's diary." He grimaced. "I wonder if Ginny's ever seen something like this before."

"These sorts of diaries are fairly common over in the U.S.," Brethany pointed out. "They're likely just as much so over here." She paused. "Who is Tom Riddle? The name seems familiar." She watched the two males exchange glances. "Order business?" she guessed, and was rewarded with expressions of surprise. "Albus says that to me quite often. 'Excuse me, Brethany, I have some Order business to take care of.'. 'You'll pardon an old man his secrets, my dear, but that is an Order secret and Order business.'" The young woman growled in annoyance. "I know he's just doing it to get me riled up enough to challenge him on it, but really! If he wants me in the Order of the Phoenix, all he has to do is ask me!"

"Ah, but Brethany, I have been waiting for you to ask me," Albus Dumbledore's cheery voice spoke up from the door.

Brethany sighed in resignation, hiding her surprise behind her amusement. "I suppose I should have been expecting you to be there. Hello, Albus, how has the Defense class been for you?" she asked dutifully, lolling her head back against the pillows in order to see the old wizard. "My students have been good for you, I hope." She raised an eyebrow at Harry, who grinned.

"Oh, yes, very good," the teenage boy reassured her. "Professor Dumbledore has been very…interesting." His voice was full of restrained laughter.

"What have you been teaching my students, Albus?" Brethany asked tiredly, then quickly amended, "Never mind, I don't want to know." Remus laughed quietly at her small shiver of apprehension.

"Several more packages just arrived for you," the Headmaster spoke jovially, his eyes twinkling bright. "I'm beginning to think my office is a delivery station. Fawkes is unhappy with me, I'm afraid, but he is rather temperamental during his molting period."

"More presents?" Brethany's eyebrows shot up in surprise. What on earth… Dumbledore set the three packages on the bed, and the sick young woman chuckled. "Oh, I see. They're from my brothers, the twins." She gestured to the labels on the brown paper reading ' b TOXIC, handle with care /b ', ' b This Side Up When Portkeying; Reverse When Apparating /b .', ' b Handle With Care: Spontaneous Combustion May Occur /b ', ' b Do Not Open Without Secret Code b ', and lastly, ' b Beware of Grape With Wooden Mallet /b '. Brethany proceeded to tear into the smallest package with an insane cackle of delight.

"Are those…potions?" Harry asked in confusion. Brethany's head popped up, an expression of unholy glee on her face.

"Oh, you've no idea," she purred out with delight. "The twins like to experiment with potions, rather like the Weasley boys…some of their best ideas were based on some joking remark someone has said…they make the best prank potions i ever /i . They turned the entire house into gingerbread last Christmas, and then had the gall to blame it on my sister and I." The young woman's grin threatened to split her face. "Mom pulled the old couch and sibling-Inquisition trick, and they confessed." She grinned at the men's befuddled expression. "She sat us all down on a couch, stuck us there with a sticking hex that none of the rest of us know the counter to, and then left us there until we'd pretty much verbally beaten the truth out of the guilty party. Works every time."

"You have an odd family," Harry remarked wistfully, then grinned. "Maybe as odd as the Weasleys."

"It's a large family thing," his teacher replied distractedly, tearing into the second package. "You have i got /i to be kidding me," she spoke flatly, staring down into the small cardboard box. "I'm going to kill them; kill them dead."

"What is it?" Harry craned his head over Brethany's shoulder. "What i is /i that?" The plain disgust in the teenager's voice startled Remus out of his book. Even Dumbledore joined in staring down at the box's contents.

It was a mass of writhing, gray wings, and tiny squeaking noises occasionally escaped the confines of the box. Brethany let out an annoyed sigh and reached into the box. Grimacing slightly, she lifted the bundle of writhing creatures out by invisible strings. As expected, there were other small bundles beneath, also wrapped in invisible netting.

"Fresh potion ingredients," she finally explained to the curious males. "They i know /i I hate bats, so of course they put them at the top of the box."

"That's definitely as fresh as they get," Harry groaned. "They expect you to kill all those yourself?" Brethany had to laugh.

"Oh, they're not for me," she chuckled. "I'm afraid I've never had any particular affinity for making potions, though I'm not bad at it. There's a certain similarity between Potions and Wand-Making…oh, look, they sent me some new cores, too!" The young woman delicately lifted out a small wooden box. "Oh, I like this box. Very nice, very strong nullifying characteristics…they're getting extra Christmas presents for this." She suddenly squealed in excitement. "They sent me a collection of woods? I love them! I can finally make that wand!" The three males watched in bemusement as the young woman began mumbling over the packages.

"What is all this?" Poppy's sharp voice entered the room before the nurse did. "Brethany! You should be resting! What are you all doing in here?! I have sick patients here! Out! Out!" The three males fled, looking properly chastised, rather as though they'd been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

Poppy then turned on her patient. "As for you, Brethany! You know you should be resting! You'll have a relapse!" The nurse caught sight of the young teacher's tired grin, and huffed in annoyance. "You are entirely too much like those two boys that just left. You three don't even have to look for trouble; it simply finds you." Brethany affected an innocent look, and the nurse snorted inelegantly. "Don't you give me that, you horrible child," she spoke fondly even as she moved packages from the bed to a nearby table.

"I'm not a child," Brethany pouted slightly, too tired to protest the treatment. "Poppy, can I have something to eat, I'm hungry," a hint of whining crept into her voice. "You wouldn't dare starve your patients, would you?"

"Deign to remove that pathetic expression from your face, Miss Lewis," Severus glided through the door before Poppy had time to respond. "Please at the least pretend you are older than the majority of the students here."

"I don't know, Professor Snape," the younger teacher pouted even further, "When you and Poppy treat me as though I'm twelve, I don't see why I can't act as though I am twelve." She grinned slightly. "Besides, you're doing the verbal equivalent of yanking my pigtails, and you know what they say about the boy who yanks a girl's pigtails…"

The potions master raised a dark eyebrow. "No, Miss Lewis, I am unaware what 'they' say, but I am sure you are about to enlighten me."

Brethany's grin widened. "You only pull the pigtails of the girl you like," she quoted in a sing-song voice. Both women watched in fascination as Snape's face flushed, then paled, then flushed again. Wordlessly, the man tossed a vial onto Brethany's bed, then turned and swept out the door, his face still unusually flushed.

"Oh, my goodness," Poppy breathed out in astonishment, "I've seen the impossible." Visibly gathering herself, the nurse turned and swooped down upon her patient. "Here, drink this, Brethany." The young woman was barely given time to open her mouth before she was force-fed the potion Severus had left. "You can't eat just yet, but this will provide what you need. Now, you go to sleep, or I'll hex you there." Brethany grimaced, then slumped in exhaustion. She really was tired…

Word Count: 1621