Last Time…

i "Ed, Ted," Brethany tried to smile, but failed terribly. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, but I meant what I said: I can't handle you two right now. In a couple days, maybe, but not today, and probably not tomorrow. I love you, I really do, but right now, I'm emotionally, physically, and mentally drained, and both my magic /i and i my hormones spiked recently." All four men blanched slightly, suddenly understanding part of the whole dramatic episode. "Hm, yes, I see that you're beginning to comprehend," the young woman spoke dryly, her emotions subsiding slightly. "Severus? If you would, please?" The Potions professor silently offered the support of his arm, not even noticing the usage of his given name. "Good day, gentlemen, I'm going to go take a bath, then go to bed and try to forget the fact that I'm alive. Please do the same for a couple days." /i

And Now…

Blearily, Brethany raised her head, trying to focus through the haze of sleep in order to discover what had awoken her. Slowly, the sound of knocking on the door permeated sluggish ears and she managed to sit up.

"Rrrghchmntwtscnd," the young woman managed to mumble as she staggered out of the bed and toward the door. "T's t'early fer th's." She managed even through the haze over her eyes to grab a robe on the way, just tying it as she opened the door.

"Brethany?"

"H'rry? Wh'tchuu doin' 'ere?" Brethany squinted at the young man in bleary confusion. The Gryffindor merely looked amused.

"I'm here to wake you up, if you were asleep, and if you weren't, I'm supposed to make you go to bed." The teenage boy grinned. "I'm going to assume you were asleep, judging by the pattern of lines imprinted on the side of your face." His teacher gazed at him without comprehension before grunting and turning to go back to her bed. "Was that a 'come in'?" Harry was left standing in the doorway as Brethany disappeared into her bedroom. "Right-o, I'll just come in and make myself comfortable, shall I?" There was another grunt in reply. "I'll take that as a 'yes', then," the boy muttered to himself, then went about exploring his teacher's sitting room.

Ten minutes and a i very /i cold shower later, Brethany emerged looking relatively human. At once, she saw the teenage boy curled up on her couch, a large book cradled in his lap.

"Enjoying yourself," she asked impishly, delighting in the boy's startled jump. "Careful, Harry, I wouldn't want that book broken."

Harry sheepishly closed the book, hiding a small grin. "Well, i you're /i certainly in a good mood today. Feeling better?"

"Mm. Some. I still feel tired and a bit woozy, but I think the power spikes have stopped." Brethany began rummaging through a shelf of books. "Ahah! Here it is!" She delightedly waved a large, square package in the air. "This is my emergency stash. If you're really, really nice to me, I'll share it with you. Otherwise, as you Brits say, bugger off."

"What is it?" The teenage boy watched with interest as his teacher tore open the box and pull out several smaller items. "You're joking…sweets?"

"Chocolate, young man, is i not /i just candy. It's ambrosia, a mud-colored, smooth, thick ambrosia that the Greek pantheon of gods were unlucky enough to never taste." Brethany tore into a bar of chocolate, her expression hungry. "I'm sure having Hermione as a friend, you understand that standing between a girl and her chocolate is, at times, suicidal?" Harry gulped; he knew. The whole Gryffindor house knew not to mess with the bushy-haired girl when she had sequestered herself in a corner with stacks of chocolate and books. Sometimes the stack of chocolate was higher than the stack of books; when that happened, not even Ron was stupid enough to approach their friend.

"I see you understand me," Brethany spoke wryly, looking at her student with a small grin. "Here, try this." She tossed him a candy bar.

"Snickers?" the teenager looked at the young woman curiously. "A candy bar called 'Snickers'?"

"Just eat it, Harry."

There was quiet for a few moments, but for the tearing of wrappers. The two sat in companionable silence, occasionally grinning at each other around a bite of chocolate. After several bars of chocolate, plus a few other pieces of candy, Harry started looking a bit green. Brethany noticed, and grinned.

"OK, that's enough candy for you, mister. I'm cutting you off." She looked regretfully at the box of candy. "I suppose I'd better quit for a while, also."

"Ergh." Harry groaned. "How can you want to eat more of that? You already ate twice as much as I did, and I feel like I'm going to heave."

Brethany laughed. "I'm a girl, and girls can consume a massive amount of chocolate at certain times. It's the only way we keep from killing off the male population." She gave him a sly grin. "Why do you think the South Americans created it? They didn't have Midol, so they invented chocolate." She smirked at the blank expression on the boy's face. Too much information, perhaps? Of course not.

"Alright, Harry," the young woman finally sighed. "What are you doing here?" The teenager hurriedly assumed an innocent face. "U-huh. Sure. I don't think so. Try again, Harry."

"Er…" her student looked vaguely embarrassed. "Your brothers asked me to visit you. They said you were having a hard time coping with the convalescent stage, whatever that means, and that you needed someone to cheer you up." Brethany snorted in aggravated amusement. "Er…were they right?" Harry asked carefully, looking ready to flee should the need become apparent.

"Partially," his teacher admitted. "I am going a bit stir crazy, but that's mostly Poppy's fault. I haven't been permitted to do anything constructive for almost a week."

"She does that to everybody," Harry informed her, a small grin playing on his face. "Although, I do think she has some favorite patients to torture. I'm one of them, as is Snape." The two unfortunates grinned at each other in mutual aggravation.

"Anyway, I may have lost my temper rather spectacularly last night," Brethany admitted guiltily. "Between almost fainting in the hallway, being unable to walk under my own power alone, and having my older brothers scolding and worrying over me, I'm afraid I let the annoyance of being stuck abed for a week get away from me. I'm surprised you didn't hear me yelling at my brothers last night," she chuckled weakly. "I don't deal well with a steady build up of annoyances. The combined stress sneaks up on me unnoticed, and then I just blow up at whoever's nearby. It's very good stress relief, yelling is, but not at all fair to whoever's on the receiving end."

Harry gave her a 'duh' look. "So you're not at all mad at your brothers for getting worried over you?" Brethany cast him a sharp look, at which he smiled sheepishly. "They told me about the nightmares. Believe me, I understand. If anyone understands someone having a problem with nightmares, it would i definitely /i be me. Not very many people dream about what Voldemort's doing every night, i and /i know for a fact that the dream is real."

"Mm." Brethany murmured in agreement, watching her student's face. For a long moment, they sat in silence, just looking at each other. Finally, the teacher stirred herself to ask, "Have you been practicing your Occlumency while I was sick?"

Harry brightened. "Yeah, I have. I've been going to the Room of Requirement every evening." They shared grins. "I'm down to three seconds of concentration before my shields are completely raised." At her expression of surprise, he shrugged self-consciously. "I've been using it during the day to control my emotions…"

"Let me guess," Brethany spoke teasingly, "A girl?" She chuckled at his embarrassed flush. "Who is it? I know it's not Ginny Weasley, and it's i definitely /i not Hermione. I've watched the rest of your female housemates, and none of the ones your age are really interested in anything other than a superficial relationship with the Boy Who Lived." She watched his expression of mild disgust. "So…it's someone from a different house…between fourth year and seventh year…it is a i girl /i , right? Right, right, girl, check…hmm…" She kept her eyes on the blushing boy in front of her. "It's Pansy Parkinson, isn't it? She's secretly a spy for Dumbledore against the Dark side, and she's fallen in love with you…you finally discovered her love when your hands met under the table in the Potions laboratory…now you'll do anything to keep her from getting hurt, so you must keep your relationship secret from everyone, even your own friends, lest her parents swoop down upon Hogwarts and take your love away from you." She sighed dramatically, then grinned at the horrified boy. "So, am I right?"

"You," the teenager sputtered, "Are terrible. Pansy, she's just- I can't believe you- she's as bad as- I dunno-"

"Luna Lovegood?" Brethany suggested mischievously, delighting in the instant rush of color. "Or is Luna infinitely more attractive?" The embarrassed glare answered her question. "I knew it! You know you can't hide anything from me, Harry. I've been ferreting out my siblings' secrets for so many years that it's become second nature." Harry crossed his arms and attempted to glare at her, the very image of a petulant teenage boy.

"That wasn't very nice," he mock-sulked, a tiny grin hovering around the corners of his mouth.

"I'm a teacher. Teacher's aren't supposed to be nice."

"Oh, well, i finally /i one of you admits it! Tell me, is it true that the OWLs and NEWTs were specifically designed by the teachers as revenge on the students?" A mysterious grin was his only answer. "Trust me to befriend one of the more sadistic teachers," Harry muttered to himself. "The DADA position is cursed. Cursed!"

Brethany snorted her amusement. "So I've been told." She sighed regretfully. "Alright, I can't put it off any longer…Harry, would you do me a favor? I need to talk to my brothers, but I want you here as well…as a kind of buffer, you understand? I don't want to start yelling at them again, and I think if you're here, they'll hold back on a lot of their babying me." At his nod, she sighed again. "Let me go fire-call them, then."

Word Count: 1738