Previously…

i "He's quite a kid," Ted observed quietly. Brethany sighed. "What was the sigh for?"

"That kid is sixteen years old, Ted, and he's already seen two people murdered right in front of him. His life has been in nearly constant danger since he was eleven, and he's had no one to really rely on but himself." She watched the teenager sooth a nervous thestral. "You know, I can see the thestrals because of that assassin who came after Dad. I 'saw death' when I was thirteen years old, when the guy had his own spell ricochet back at him. I had nightmares for a couple weeks, and that was it. Harry sees them because he watched a schoolmate murdered by someone who barely even noticed casting the Killing Curse." The twins winced. "He really i is /i a great kid. He's so much like me, in fact, that it's scary."

Her brothers exchanged grins. "We'd noticed," they spoke together, glimmers of mischief in their eyes. /i

And Now…

Brethany was sorry to see her brothers leave when the time came, but she bade them farewell with a niggling sense of guilt at the tiny part of her that jumped for joy. She loved them, really she did, but they just didn't fit in her world at Hogwarts. They were a distraction, and they knew it. It was why they were leaving. They had admitted as such to her the evening they announced their departure.

u Flashback /u

"You're happy here, aren't you, sis?" Ed asked fondly as he watched Brethany grade tests. Ted's head came up from the book he was reading in order to hear the answer.

"Well, yes, I am," Brethany spoke quietly, giving her elder brother a look of confusion. "I like teaching, for the most part, although I can't say I like i all /i of it." She paused. "But it's not just the teaching that I like. I like the people here, the teachers and the students. I've made friends here, the sort that I didn't get the chance to make at home. Albus, he's my mentor of sorts, but he's also my equal, and my friend. I've gotten to know him in a capacity that I hadn't before. Minerva McGonagall, she's…well, she's somewhat like Mom, except that we can have a relationship that's not that of mother and daughter. She sees things about me, she knows when I'm having a bad day, she knows when to leave me to stew things out in peace, she knows to give me a good kick in the rear when it's needed." The young woman grinned, and her brothers chuckled.

"And Snape?" Ted slyly asked, laying the book down in order to better concentrate on his sister.

Brethany groaned. "Snape…oh, boy, how to describe my relationship with Snape? Um, I don't suppose we could skip that part?" The twins instantly grinned evilly. "Crap. Shouldn't've said that. Ok, um, let's see. My relationship with Severus Snape, Potions Master…um…"

"You argue with him, trade insults with him, glare at him when he refuses to look at you, ignore him when he's not in the mood to argue, which from what I've seen is almost never, and generally amuse each other beyond anything anyone else has ever seen of either of you," Ted summed up. "Tell me, Brethany, have you ever read Shakespeare's i Much Ado About Nothing /i ?" Brethany rolled her eyes, trying to suppress a smile, seeing where he was going. "Beatrice and Benedic?" Ed choked on a laugh, and Ted grinned.

"Are you suggesting trying to con Severus Snape into falling in love with me," Brethany asked wryly. "Have fun with that, make sure you video tape it so I can see you get turned into potion ingredients." The twins laughed.

"Oh, we would gladly try it if we thought it would work," Ted told her, a mischievous grin on his face. "As it is, we just want to meddle in your love life. First, we need to know if you actually i like /i Severus Snape in that way."

His sister rolled her eyes. "If you must know, yes, I do i like /i Severus in that way. It does not, however, mean that I want our relationship to change in any way from what it is. I am just fine with us remaining friends. I'm not in love with him, and he doesn't need to be in love with me for me to be happy with our relationship."

"But you i could /i be in love with him," the younger twin chimed in. "Just because you're not now, doesn't mean you couldn't be in the future. Do you want a romantic relationship with him?" Suddenly, his face screwed up in disgust. "Wait, what am I asking? You're my little sister, I don't want you to have a romantic relationship with anyone until you're thirty, or at least fifty!" Ted stood from his seat, walked over to his twin, hit him over the head with a book, then returned to his seat. "Hey!"

"Oh, grow up, already," his older brother retorted loftily. "But he is right, Brethany. About the future thing, not the other, I mean."

"He might be," their sister nodded. "That doesn't mean that I need you guys here, trying to set us up."

"No, you don't," Ted acknowledged. "In fact, you don't really need us here at all." When she began to protest, he halted her. "No, I mean it, Brethany. When Ed and I showed up at your class a week and a half ago, I knew it then. You're an adult, you're well trained in defending yourself physically, magically and verbally, and you're completely capable of pursuing what you want and need. You don't need us to protect you anymore. You don't need us here, so we're leaving in just a few days for home." At her expression of surprise, he grinned. "Ed and I talked it over last night and came to that conclusion." Brethany turned to look at her other brother.

Edward went over and embraced his sister. "Our baby's all grown up now," he cried dramatically into her hair.

"Oh, get off, you big oaf." Brethany grinned as both her brothers hugged her. "Ergh, not so tight, eh?"

u End of Flashback /u

So, late Sunday morning, three days before Halloween, her brothers portkeyed out of the Headmaster's office. Their goodbyes were simple, consisting of several shoves, gentle punches, and smirks, all of which caused much bewilderment in those who had come to see them off. The siblings, however, understood the love meant in the careless actions, and enjoyed the chance to baffle those around them. Finally, the two men were gone, and Brethany enjoyed a quiet sigh of homesickness before returning to her senses.

"Back to normal life," she murmured to herself, surprised at the rush of pleasure the thought brought. "I need some vacation if the thought of working is enjoyable," the young woman announced. Dumbledore chuckled.

"It's a good sign, my dear, that you were a born teacher," the old wizard told her with a twinkle in his eye.

Brethany sighed, a sudden thought striking her. "Alright, Albus, since I'm here, and since I know that everyone here knows what I'm talking about, I'm ready to ask that question." The headmaster looked at her expectantly, and she grinned slightly. "How do I become part of the Order of the Phoenix?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Remus laughed at her, shaking his head. The others, too, had similar reactions, and Brethany found herself overwhelmed with excited members of the Order.

"You've just invited yourself into the madness," Harry told her wryly. "You're about to find out just how exciting my life can be."

"As though I don't know already?" Student and teacher shared amused looks, quite aware of how much they shared due to the Occlumency lessons.

u Flashback /u

"So, how are we going to do this?" Harry asked quietly, following his teacher through the corridors on the Saturday after first week of classes.

"The headmaster showed me this room that would be just right for us," Brethany told him over her shoulder. "He called it the Room of Requirement." Harry's face brightened in recognition. "This is it." They stopped in front of a blank wall. "Ok, Mr. Potter, let me set it up how I want it, and then we can go in."

Harry watched as the young woman paced back and forth in front of the wall. Brethany, for her part, simply concentrated on what she wanted, hoping that it would work. Finally, a door appeared in the center of the wall.

"Cor," the teenager remarked, "I don't think I've ever seen the door look like that."

The door was indeed unique. It was round, a perfect circle, and was a solid, matte black. The handle was a simple knob, another perfectly circular, black object that was nearly impossible to see against the likewise black background. Brethany beckoned for Harry to enter first.

The room was completely dark, and no light seemed to enter through the open door behind him. Harry lost all sense of balance the instant he stepped in, and it seemed as though he was completely alone, lost in empty space. It wasn't until a hand grasped his elbow that he realized his teacher had followed him through.

"Hey, are you ok?" Brethany's voice came from just behind his shoulder, and he instantly realized that they must be standing upright. "Don't worry, I know it feels weird," she assured him, "but I've just had the Room take away your sense of gravity. You're standing in the middle of an empty room, so don't worry about running into anything."

"So, how exactly are we going to do this," Harry asked again, squinting his eyes to try to see something, anything in the darkness. He tried walking, but discovered that it felt as though he was walking place, not actually going anywhere. When he said as much, Brethany chuckled.

"You aren't going anywhere," she confirmed. "You're not going to be able to physically move anything but your head."

"Ok," Harry said slowly, "How is this supposed to help with Occlumency?"

Brethany laughed. "I designed this for myself, when I was learning. I know it's kind of crazy, but it worked really well for me." She placed her hands on either side of his head.

"Your hands are cold," he complained, restraining the urge to shake his head loose of her grasp.

"Sorry," she spoke glibly, her grin apparent in her voice. "Now stop distracting us. Just listen to what I say, and keep looking into the darkness." Harry sighed, and did as directed. It was rather boring, to say the least.

"Alright, so you are, obviously, standing in complete darkness," Brethany began. "Stop rolling your eyes, Mr. Potter, and i listen /i ." She sighed. "Ok. Close your eyes for a few seconds, then open them again." He did so. "The darkness is still there. Search the darkness, looking for anything, anything at all that you can see."

"There's nothing there," Harry's voice was soft in the darkness.

"There's nothing there but darkness." Brethany's voice became quieter. "There's no one here. I'm not here, you can't hear my voice, and you can't feel my hands on your head." And suddenly, he couldn't. He was completely alone, floating in the darkness, unable to move anything but his head.

"Professor?" The whisper died away in the darkness, as though it had never been spoken. Harry briefly considered panicking, then relaxed. The darkness actually wasn't too bad…it was silent, with no expectations, and there really was nothing there to harm him. It was…comforting. Harry's mind drifted away, free of analyzing any sensory input. There was nothing to think about, there in the darkness. He didn't need to think about anything…

Suddenly, Brethany's hands were back on his head, and the darkness faded into light. The light was everywhere, just as the darkness had been. It was all consuming; it ate away at his very being. As the complete darkness had brought peace, so the complete light brought overwhelming chaos. It was so overwhelming that, where before the darkness had deprived him of the i need /i to think, the light deprived him of the i capability /i to think. Blinking did nothing to diminish the effect of the light, and Brethany's hands on his head kept him from twisting it back and forth in a helpless effort to escape the light. For hours, it seemed, he stayed there in the brightness.

"Look," Brethany's voice spoke softly, barely heard over the chaos of the brightness. " i Look /i ." He looked, and suddenly saw. A tiny, miniscule spot of black appeared far away in the brightness. Instantly, he desperately zoned in on it, only to find it gone again. "Relax. It will come back." Harry struggled to obey, to relax his mind, but the light seemed even brighter than before. The hands against his head pressed harder, and Harry's mind latched onto the physical sensation like a lifeline. He focused on the pressure, on the minute pain it elicited, and felt the chaos of the brightness begin to relent. Off in the distance, the spot of darkness appeared once again.

Harry struggled not to instantly zone in on it. Time and again, the spot of darkness disappeared, and he worked through the process of bringing it back. Finally, he managed to remain focused, his mind barely even recognizing the presence of the light around him any longer. The spot of darkness became his entire world, until it seemed as though it was growing to encompass him once again. For hours, it seemed, he remained almost in a trance, until suddenly Brethany's hands reminded him of her presence.

"Alright, Mr. Potter, I want you to draw back from the darkness." Her hands tightened imperceptibly when he didn't acknowledge her. "Harry, I know that you want to stay in the darkness, but you can't. Part of this lesson is that the light is more a part of you than the darkness is. The light, that bright chaos, is what your mind is like. The overwhelming commotion of your memories, emotions, and expectations are what compose that light. The darkness is the absence of those things, and is what will shield Legilimens from entering your mind. You have to learn how to i use /i the darkness, Harry, not just hide in it. Now come back out of it, slowly…" Gradually, she used her voice to pull him out of the trance, making certain not to jog his concentration as he went.

Harry blinked in sudden shock at suddenly finding himself standing in a bare stone room. His vision wavered as he tried to reorient himself. "Careful, Harry," his teacher laughed from behind him. "You need to get your land legs back." The teenager blinked several times, and suddenly realized that his senses were back…and his legs were asleep.

"Oof!" Harry sat down abruptly, his eyes wide in shocked surprise. "Ow," he spoke absently, staring down at the floor in dazed wonder. "What…what was that?"

Brethany laughed. "That, Harry, was your mind. Tricky little bugger, isn't it?" The teenager chuckled half-heartedly. "Quite the experience, huh?" she asked, seating herself on the cold floor.

"U-huh," the boy replied absently, then looked over at her with wide eyes. "That was my mind?"

"That was one way of i seeing /i your mind," his teacher corrected him. "There's pretty much an infinite number of ways to visualize it, but that way worked really well for me." Harry grunted in agreement. "You seemed to work with it, too." She gave him a small smile. "The darkness is comforting, isn't it?" They shared a long look, understanding each other in a way that most people would not understand.

u End Flashback /u

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