Title: Through Thick and Thin

Summary: Second installment for Trial and Error. POA. As Vanessa Potter's fourth year approaches, her feelings for a certain Weasley twin are becoming harder and harder to ignore. With Tori's inability to mind her own business, Fred's increasing irritation with his twin, and Harry attracting the attention of yet another madman, she has no indication that this year will be any easier than her last. As the truth begins to unravel around her, it has the potential to turn one of their world's upside down.

Disclaimer: I'll do this once to avoid the repetitiveness of repeating it every chapter. I do not own any of the characters in this story other than my OCs. All Harry Potter storyline plot and characters belong to J.K. Rowling and/or Warner Bros. and I make no profit from this story.

Chapter One

They'd been home for only a month, but already, this was the longest summer of her life. It was odd to be so miserable at Privet Drive. Typically, she just ignored her aunt and uncle and did what they asked and then before she knew it, she would be back on the Hogwarts Express. But this time, every day felt like it was dragging.

The moment they'd arrived home from Kings Cross station, they'd taken their wands, trunks, spellbooks, cauldrons, and Harry's broomstick and locked them up in the closet under the stairs and forbidden them to talk to the neighbors. She had no idea what difference the last part would make. It wasn't as though they'd have gone blabbing about the fact that they were a witch and wizard and left for nine months out of the year to study magic at Hogwarts. For one thing, alerting muggles to magic was against the rules and for good reason. Her aunt and uncle were proof positive that they feared the things they didn't truly understand.

But the Dursleys cared very much about what the people in the neighborhood believed of them. It would likely be the worst day of their lives if anyone ever discovered that, though they themselves prided themselves in being totally normal, the two children that had been forced into their care were absolutely anything but. She'd spent the first few weeks keeping her head down and cleaning every nook and cranny of the house without even needing to be asked. It was a nice distraction from the glares her Aunt Petunia gave her and kept Dudley at bay because he wouldn't have been caught dead near any cleaning products.

Eventually, though, there wasn't anything else to clean. The Dursleys were already not particularly dirty people to begin with and Aunt Petunia had nothing better to do when they were away than keep the house near spotless. When that had been stifled, she had begun sneaking books off of the bookshelf again as a means to keep herself occupied. She'd gone through two or three before the Dursleys had caught her taking them and forbidden her to do so. She had no idea why reading Muggle literature would be so offensive to them, but they did not bend on the rule. In fact, Uncle Vernon had hired someone to move the bookshelf upstairs and into his and Aunt Petunia's bedroom. She tried not to be amused by the absurdity of this, but instead, tried to find something else to do instead.

As it was, the only thing that could really be done was play with Peanut or Archie (the Dursleys had been particularly frantic about the Puffskein's presence in their home because he was so clearly abnormal), both of whom the Dursleys had forbidden to let out of her and Harry's shared bedroom, and lounge around with Harry. While not entirely unpleasant, she'd have preferred to engage her mind in some way. It helped beat back the tendrils of her anxiety and kept her from feeling restless.

It had been after several days of nothing that she and Harry had plotted a way to get their school books from the cupboard they were locked in so that they could work on their homework in secret. They'd seized their chance when the three Dursleys had gone out into the front garden to admire Uncle Vernon's new company car (in very loud voices, so that the rest of the street would notice it too). Sneaking quietly down the stairs, Nessa had picked the lock in the same way she'd seen the twins do on a handful of occasions, and helped Harry grab some of their books. They'd hidden them under a loose floorboard beneath the bed and used them regularly when they were sent up to their room after dinner each night.

Harry was particularly cautious because he had taken to doing his homework on the bed and had to be extremely cautious not to get ink on the bed sheets so their relatives would not guess what they were up to. Nessa had taken a more cautious route of working on the floor. She thought Harry's insistence on working on the bed was particularly brave, as the Dursleys were already particularly sore with him, all because he'd received a telephone call from Ron Weasley one week into their vacation.

Ron Weasley, a very good friend to Harry, having grown up a pureblood wizard, had absolutely no idea how to use a telephone. Though the Weasleys had taught her and Harry a great many things they may not have known otherwise, their understanding of the Muggle world was a tad lacking. And, as luck would have it, Uncle Vernon had been the one to answer the call when it came in.

"Vernon Dursley speaking."

Harry and Nessa, who happened to be in the room when the call had come in, setting the kitchen table for lunch, had frozen as Ron's voice floated over to them.

"HELLO? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I — WANT — TO — TALK — TO — HARRY — POTTER!"

Ron had been yelling so loudly that Uncle Vernon had jumped and held the receiver a foot away from his ear, staring at it with an expression of mingled fury and alarm.

"WHO IS THIS?" he'd roared in the direction of the mouthpiece. "WHO ARE YOU?"

"RON — WEASLEY!" Ron had bellowed back, as though he and Uncle Vernon were speaking from opposite ends of a football field. "I'M — A — FRIEND — OF — HARRY'S — FROM — SCHOOL —"

Uncle Vernon's eyes had swiveled to the two of them. Harry was rooted to the spot in shock, which she didn't entirely understand because of course Ron had no idea how to use a phone — his dad had asked them about the function of a rubber duck last year, for God's sake. Nessa, however, had had to turn away because she was trying so hard not to laugh and was very close to breaking.

"THERE IS NO HARRY POTTER HERE!" her uncle had roared as she'd tried to keep her shoulders from shaking too obviously. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT SCHOOL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! NEVER CONTACT ME AGAIN! DON'T YOU COME NEAR MY FAMILY!"

He'd thrown the receiver back onto the telephone as if it were a poisonous spider and rounded on Harry immediately. The fight that followed had been one of their worst ever. Nessa had had to push them both apart when Uncle Vernon had grabbed Harry's collar violently and had dragged her brother up the stairs before it could get too far out of hand. Thankfully, the time since this call had been relatively quiet, but the Dursleys were still not quite ready to forgive him. Nessa had stayed well clear of them as well. It was better not to tempt fate in her opinion.

On the night of Harry's birthday, they were sitting in their room, Harry on the bed working on his homework, and she on the floor doing the same. She'd long since given up on trying to cheer him up as he'd not been particularly receptive to it anyway. She felt mingled irritation and sadness for him. Most people looked forward to their birthdays — a day dedicated solely to them, gifts, birthday cards, cake — but Harry had never had the pleasure of enjoying a birthday.

Unlike Nessa, whose birthday was in the middle of the school year, Harry's birthday fell during the summer, when he was not surrounded by his friends. It was rather lonely for him and she wished there was anything she could do to spare him the loneliness. The Dursleys, as always, completely ignored the significance of the day, and, while they had let Harry let Hedwig out at night this summer, they had made both of them swear not to write to their friends, which didn't leave him much room to speak with the people he missed the most.

Harry sighed and closed his History of Magic textbook. She closed her Potions text — she had no homework left, but she had been idly reading through it because she enjoyed the subject. Watching him go to sit on the window seat and look out the window, she frowned and went to sit across from him.

"We'll be back soon, you know," she said softly as he continued looking out the window without looking at her.

"You're much better at being away from Hogwarts than me," he said matter-of-factly.

She wasn't quite sure she agreed. In previous years, absolutely, but this summer she had been attempting to keep herself busy merely so that she didn't feel so lonely. She missed the twins — they always kept her in such high spirits. She missed Tori, who felt more like a sister to her than a friend. She even missed Ginny, who she had grown incredibly close to in the last year. Being apart from all of them was particularly difficult. More difficult than she had really expected.

"I'm having a hard time too, Harry," she said quietly. "I hate it here. If I could get us out of this house, I would do it in a heartbeat."

He smiled at her.

"I know you would," he said with a heavy sigh. "You don't usually mind coming back for the summer."

"No, not typically," she agreed, staring out the window to avoid his gaze. "Maybe Dudley has just been particularly more annoying this summer."

Harry snorted.

"I don't know if that's really possible," he replied. "But at least he's stopped complaining about how far the kitchen is from the TV."

"Yes, what a treat," said Nessa with a light laugh. "I don't know how they afford to feed him at this point."

"Well, they probably save money by not feeding us," he said with a derisive snort.

"Harry —"

She was cut off by him jumping off of the ledge and staring out the window in horrified confusion. The look on his face caused her to follow his lead and she stepped hastily back from the window and looked out of it anxiously. There was something flying directly toward their window, something large and misshapen. Harry kept his hand on the window latch, clearly trying to decide if he needed to close the window, but when the shape flew over one of the lamp posts, it became clear that it was merely three owls. It had only looked misshapen because two of them, Hedwig and an important looking tawny owl, were being forced to carry another that had clearly passed out mid-journey.

Harry moved aside hastily to allow the three birds in, but Nessa was forced to lunge sideways in order to avoid the talons. They all landed on the bed and all were carrying parcels. Harry removed the letters and parcel from Errol and then set him in Hedwig's cage to regain his strength. Nessa smiled fondly when he hooted thankfully and immediately began drinking water. Nessa removed the parcel from the tawny owl, who was clearly from Hogwarts, and it ruffled itself self-importantly before taking off out of the window.

"This one is for you," said Harry suddenly, rifling through the parcels that had arrived and handing her a letter and a small package.

"Really?" she said excitedly, jumping off the bed to take it from him with a grin. She'd never received packages over the summer. Tori had always been very careful not to send her anything because the Dursleys were particularly harsh to her.

She began tearing open the letter and grinned at the recognizable cursive that lined the page.

Dear Nessa,

Ron said he would send a clip of the Daily Prophet in his letter to Harry, so I'll skip over the explanations. I wasn't going to send anything, but I figured if those horrid Muggles you live with saw the packages, you could just lie and say they were all for Harry. Fred and George have said to just say the word and we'll come break you out again.

Anyhow, we're visiting Bill in Egypt at the moment with the money Arthur won. He's been taking us around to visit all of the tombs. They're a bit disturbing, actually, but don't tell Molly I said that. She's been trying to keep me and Ginny from going into some of them, but I don't listen well, as you know. She did keep Ginny from going in the last one though. It was full of skeletons of Muggles who had broken in and grown extra heads and limbs.

Percy made Head Boy, by the way. He'd like me to mention this even though I told him you wouldn't care. We tried to lock him in one of the tombs to get him to stop talking about it, but Molly caught us. A real pity, too, because he's been particularly annoying since he got his letter.

We'll be back the first week before term starts and are going to London for supplies. Be there or I'll throw a fit.

Tell Harry happy birthday from us! I love you!

See you soon,

Tori

The next set of messages on the letter were in similarly untidy scrawls and she grinned.

P.S. Hello, munchkin, we had to open this back up when Tori was sleeping because she said you wouldn't want to deal with our "ridiculousness." If that's true, I find that particularly hurtful. But, of course, it wouldn't be. I won't tell her that you miss us more than her, don't worry. Our love will remain a secret, darling. If the Muggles won't let you come to London, put beetles in their soup. We did that to Bill last night and he ate the entire thing. - Fred

P.S.S. Hello, love. Tori woke up so I have to make this quick before she and Fred kill each other. I heard Dad telling Mum that if the Muggles won't take you to London, then he'll come get you himself. Although, I still think you should put beetles in their soup. We sent you some to use in case you decide to go that route. - George

Nessa grinned and shook her head as she finished the letter. All of them were ridiculous in their own way. God, how she missed them. Even her sudden feelings for George did not deter her desire to be with them again. Sighing heavily, she grabbed the package that had come with it. It was small, long, and thin, which was curious. Remembering George's addition to the letter, she opened it gingerly.

She gasped in shock at the quill that lay within the wrappings. The feather was unusual — a bright orange color and incredibly soft as she ran it through her fingers. She set it aside and grabbed a small bag that lay within it. She jumped in fright when she opened it and saw the dead beetles at the bottom.

"Are you alright?" said Harry, looking up from his own letters and packages. He had been eyeing a Broomstick Servicing Kit quite excitedly when she'd jumped. She handed the bag to Harry without a word, who laughed. "Are these the beetles they put in Bill's soup last night? Ron mentioned it in his letter."

"Yes," she said with an eye roll despite the grin on her face. "They suggested we put them in the Dursleys' soup."

"Excellent," he said with a grin. "We can add it to Dudley's cereal. He probably wouldn't notice now that they've moved the TV into the dining room."

Nessa laughed and snatched them back with a wry shake of the head. She had no idea what she was going to do with a bunch of dead beetles, honestly. She picked up the note that Tori had left within the package and read:

Nessa — the quill is from a Fwooper. They're birds native to this area. Apparently their song can drive the listener insane. I was tempted to buy one for you so you could give it to Dudley, but I figured the quill was more practical. Also, sorry about the beetles. The twins insisted.

The last letter to open was the Hogwarts letter.

Dear Miss Potter,

Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross Station, platform nine-and-three-quarters, at eleven o'clock.

A list of books for next year is enclosed.

Yours Sincerely,

Professor M. McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Fourth year students will require:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 by Miranda Goshawk

The Monster Book of Monsters

The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger

"Nessa?"

She looked up to see her brother eyeing one of his packages uneasily. She was about to open her mouth to ask what the problem was when she noticed the package quivering. She eyed it anxiously.

"Who's it from?" she queried.

"Hagrid," he said, but he did not sound relieved. In fact, this seemed to make him more nervous. She could understand why — while perfectly lovely, Hagrid did have a particular affinity for dangerous creatures. Aragog had been the last one they had come into contact with and Nessa did not wish to ever relive the experience.

Harry eyed her for a moment longer, grabbed the lamp from the bedside table and held it over his head to strike, and ripped off what was left of the packaging. It was a book. Nessa breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could register anything other than the handsome green cover, the book flipped on its edge and scuttled sideways along the bed like a crab. Nessa squealed quietly as it toppled off the bed with a loud clunk and shuffled rapidly across the room.

Harry went after it as she hastily pulled her legs up off the bed in case it decided to come back in her direction.

"Ouch! It bit me!" he said to Nessa in shock as he reached around underneath the desk to grab it.

She stared at him with wide eyes just as the book came barreling out from underneath and attempted to hide under the bed. Harry threw himself forward and managed to flatten it before it could. Nessa froze as she heard Uncle Vernon give a loud, sleepy grunt, but she didn't hear any noise outside of it so she relaxed again.

Turning back to her brother, he used a belt to clamp the book shut and threw it down next to her on the bed. In gold lettering on the side, it read Monster Book of Monsters. Her stomach clenched. She was required to get that book for Care of Magical Creatures.

"He says we'll need it this year, but he isn't saying anything else. Why would we need a biting book?" said Harry in exasperation. "Here, Ron sent this with his letter and told me to show it to you."

She grabbed the newspaper clipping and tore her eyes away from the ferocious book next to her briefly.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE

SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE

Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Ar-

tifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the

annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw.

A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet,

"We will be spending the gold on a summer holi-

day in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as

a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank."

The Weasley family will be spending a month in

Egypt, returning for the start of the new school

year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley chil-

dren, as well as their adopted daughter, currently attend.

The photo attached to the print made her grin widely. All nine of the Weasley family, as well as Victoria, were waving at her furiously, standing in front of a large pyramid. Fred and George were wearing some ridiculously striped robes and headwear and clearly giving a hard time to Percy, who was looking particularly smug and had pinned his Head Boy badge to the fez perched jauntily on his head. Tori and Ron stood in the dead center of the photograph, arms around Ginny, and grinning widely. They had even brought Scabbers, who was perched happily on Ron's shoulder.

There was no one in all the world who deserved the money than the Weasley family. They were among the nicest people she had ever met. They'd not made her or Harry feel awkward despite their history, they'd taken them in last summer when the Dursleys had locked them away for the summer, Mrs. Weasley had always made them sweaters and sweets since they had become friends with Tori and Ron. They'd even taken Tori in when her parents had died in the First Wizarding War. They were truly the greatest family she'd ever met, but were very poor.

Oh, how she missed them. Outside of Harry, they were the closest thing to a family she'd ever had.

She lay down next to her brother, who was now grinning at her happily.

"Happy Birthday, Harry," she said, grinning back at him.

Clearly, the gifts and letters had brought his spirits up. She would not be the only one counting down the days to seeing her best friends again. Thirty more to go. She could make it thirty more days.

-o0o-

When Harry and Nessa made their way downstairs the next morning, the three Dursleys were already sitting down for breakfast, watching a TV that had been placed in the corner of the room, and pretending they did not notice the two of them entering. The TV had been a present for Dudley, who had spent a lot of his time this summer at the dining room table, eating constantly and watching the TV with his piggy little eyes.

Nessa and Harry took a seat across from each other, Harry having taken the seat next to Aunt Petunia, in order to spare an argument so early in the day. Aunt Petunia did not like when Nessa sat next to her and would get up and move if she attempted. It was a behavior Nessa did not fully understand, but she wondered if her resemblance to their mother played a factor in the cold shoulder her aunt gave her.

They helped themselves to a piece of toast each and then looked at the broadcast on the television, who was halfway through a report on an escaped convict:

"...The public is warned that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hot line has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately."

"No need to tell us he's no good," snorted Uncle Vernon, staring over the top of the newspaper at the prisoner. "Look at the state of him, the filthy layabout! Look at his hair!"

Nessa rolled her eyes. She refrained from pointing out that he'd been in prison and likely did not have cause to care about his appearance. The man on the TV did appear as if he'd been through hell and back. His face was hollow and gaunt and surrounded by matted, elbow-length black hair. As the picture faded and the reporter reappeared to discuss the happenings within the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Uncle Vernon lost patience.

"Hang on!" he barked, staring furiously at the reporter. "You didn't tell us where the maniac's escaped from! What use is that? Lunatic could be coming up the street right now!"

Nessa hid her smirk as Aunt Petunia whipped around and peered intently out of the kitchen window. She was the nosiest woman Nessa had ever met and she imagined her aunt would simply love to be the person who caught the escaped convict.

"When will they learn," said Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his large purple fist, "that hanging's the only way to deal with these people?"

"Very true," said Aunt Petunia, who was still squinting into next door's runner beans.

Uncle Vernon drained his teacup, glanced at his watch, and added, "I'd better be off in a minute, Petunia. Marge's train gets in at ten."

Both Potter siblings froze for several moments.

"Aunt Marge?" Harry blurted. "Sh — she's not coming here, is she?"

Nessa tried not to groan, both at her brother's lack of tact, but also because the thought of dealing with Aunt Marge would successfully ruin what little happiness she had left for this summer. Even though she was not a blood relative of either of them, they had been forced to call her "Aunt" all their life. Aunt Marge lived in the country, in a house with a large garden, where she bred bulldogs. She didn't often stay at Privet Drive, because she couldn't bear to leave her precious dogs, but each time she did was one of Nessa's worst nightmares.

She'd been there for Dudley's fifth birthday. They had played musical statues — well, most of them had, Nessa had been told to sit out because she was not welcome to celebrate with them — and Marge had whacked Harry in the shins with her walking stick to keep him from beating Dudley. She'd turned up a few years later at Christmas, with a computerized robot for Dudley and a box of dog treats for her and Harry. The note had been Nessa's favorite — To Harry and The Little Bitch. She assumed Aunt Marge had found the pun rather amusing, but Nessa, who had been only ten, had spent the rest of the holiday hiding in the cupboard in tears.

Marge had not been to visit since the year before Harry had gone to Hogwarts. It had been a blessed three years because the last visit was particularly painful. Harry had accidentally trodden on her bulldog, Ripper's, tail and he had chased him up the tree in the garden. Aunt Marge had not called him off until past midnight. The memory of this incident still brought tears of laughter to Dudley's eyes and tears of rage to Nessa's. She'd attempted to help her brother in this incident but the dog had bitten her on the arm, drawing blood, and the Dursleys had not taken her to the hospital until after Marge had left. She'd needed ten stitches and she'd been sent to their cupboard without dinner for a month because she had caused the Dursleys a night in the hospital which Uncle Vernon had considered to be "ungrateful."

"Marge'll be here for a week," Uncle Vernon snarled, "and while we're on the subject" — he pointed a fat finger threateningly between the two Potter siblings — "we need to get a few things straight before I go and collect her."

Dudley smirked and withdrew his gaze from the television. Watching the two of them be bullied by Uncle Vernon was Dudley's favorite form of entertainment.

"Firstly," growled Uncle Vernon, "you'll keep a civil tongue in your head when you're talking to Marge."

"We will if she will," said Nessa bitterly, with a haughty raise of her eyebrow.

"Secondly," said Uncle Vernon, acting as though he had not heard her, "as Marge doesn't know anything about your abnormality. I don't want any — any funny stuff while she's here. You behave yourself, got me?"

"We will if she will," said Harry through gritted teeth.

"And thirdly," said Uncle Vernon, his mean little eyes now slits in his great purple face, "we've told Marge you attend St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys."

"What?" Harry yelled.

Nessa didn't know what he was so upset about. When she'd come the year after Nessa had gone to Hogwarts, they'd told her that she was really at Bedlam Hospital being treated for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Marge had spent the entire trip telling Nessa how ugly, stupid, and lazy she was because she believed that they were being too soft on her at Bedlam. Beatings and insults, Marge believed, were the best ways to cure the sickness in her head.

"And, you'll be sticking to that story, boy, or there'll be trouble," spat Uncle Vernon.

Nessa watched her brother with weary eyes. He was white-faced and furious, but seemed to have nothing else to say to convey how incredibly insulting he found the lie.

This was going to be the longest week of her life.

-o0o-

The first chapter! Mostly just setting the stage, so I'll post the next one as well before the end of the night.

Responding to the reviews from the last chapter of Trial & Error:

bookcozy: Those two instances were my favorite to write about George and Nessa! He kills me sometimes. Thank you for the review! I appreciate it so much! Enjoy!