Chapter 4
"I don't see why I have to be the one to distract him."
"Because Vivian, he'll suspect something if one of us tries to. The bloke knows we both loathe him. It wouldn't make sense for us to suddenly be interested in a chat."
Vivian glared at Fred. He had been trying to talk her into this plan for 20 minutes, unsuccessfully.
"What would I even talk to him about, Fred? You haven't thought this through."
"I don't know? Talk about a potion or something? It doesn't have to be a brilliant conversation," he replied, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.
"If all else fails you can show a little cleavage and distract him that way," said Alicia with a raised eyebrow, inserting herself into the conversation from her position in front of the fireplace.
Vivian scowled back at her from the armchair she had been forced into by Fred. She was never telling her anything again.
"Huh?" a perplexed looking George asked, looking between the two girls.
"Oh you haven't heard?" Alicia said with a smirk, "Vivian would totally shag Snape if she had the opportunity."
"WHAT?" The twins both shot up from the couch looking at Vivian in pure horror.
"That is NOT what I said, Alicia," Vivian responded, glaring at her friend, who grinned in response. "Besides, we talked about that during wine night. Is nothing sacred? Did I tell anyone what you said about Hagrid?"
"HEY now we don't need to get into all that…" Alicia laughed sheepishly.
"Hang on hang on hang on so what did you say about Snape?" said George, interrupting the girl's squabble.
"Yeaaaaah, and what did you say about Hagrid?" asked Fred, who now looked at Alicia quizzically.
Vivian shot an annoyed look at Alicia and rolled her eyes at the twins.
"Nothing, I just said he isn't the worst looking professor in this place."
Alicia made a loud noise of disagreement, causing both twin's eyebrows to shoot past their hairline.
"Do NOT make me say it, Alicia," Vivian warned, pointing a finger at her. "I will tell them what you said about Hagrid's-"
"Alright alright truce," Alicia said laughing quickly and waving her hands out in front of her.
The twins, however, did not appear like they wanted to drop the matter.
"So the plan?" Vivian said loudly, before either of them could question the girls further.
The twins exchanged a look that Vivian could only describe as befuddled before launching back into their plan.
"While you're distracting him, we're going to sneak into his office and put a healthy dose of sleeping draught into his tea," Fred began.
"Once he's out, slipping his keys from his pocket will be a piece of cake," nodded George.
"And from there it's only a matter of getting to his room and back before he wakes up," Fred finished, a proud grin creeping onto his face.
Vivian sighed. They seemed particularly confident that this would work, but she was still worried.
"But how are you going to know when he's asleep? It's not like you can peek into his office every 30 seconds until he's unconscious."
"Easy!" the twins said together.
"Potter's gonna let us borrow his invisibility cloak. We're staying in his office til the bugger is asleep," said George excitedly.
"Okaaay but what if he wakes up before you bring his keys back? He'll know it was you that took them as soon as he sees the book missing.
"He'll know we took them anyway next time he opens the trunk and sees our book gone," Fred said with an unconcerned shrug. "Besides, if we spent all our time worried about getting caught, we'd never have any fun," he grinned at her.
She couldn't argue with the logic. She bit her lip considering.
"When would we do this?" she asked Fred and George who grinned, taking this as her agreement to the plan.
"Tonight after dinner. Snape always spends most of Wednesday nights in his office grading papers," said George, pulling her up to stand with him and his twin.
"Okay," she nodded. "She is helping me with the distraction," she added, pointing at Alicia who had been absentmindedly doodling in her notebook.
"What? Why do I have to be involved?" Alicia whined.
"Because you are my friend and if I have to do this then so do you," she replied, not bothering to hide the lack of enthusiasm in her voice.
"Great so it's settled," Fred said, pulling Alicia up from the floor so he could wrap one arm around her shoulder and his other arm around Vivian's."You are both the lights of my life, my knights in shining armor," he serenaded, kissing them both on the cheek, making the girls laugh as the group headed to the Great Hall for dinner.
0-0
Standing in the corridor, around the corner from Snape's office, Vivian was pacing back and forth while Alicia leaned against the wall watching her. She wasn't overly worried about the plan itself now, it was the waiting that was killing her.
"Where are they?" she whispered to Alicia now, the agitation showing slightly in her voice.
"I'm sure they'll be here any minute," Alicia murmured quietly. "They just had to pick up the cloak from Harry."
Vivian suddenly flinched as she felt a hand lightly pinching her cheek, followed by the twins' disembodied laughter in front of her.
She breathed out a sigh of relief, thankful they could get this over with.
"Okay. Ready?" she asked Alicia, who nodded in confirmation before dropping to the ground and dramatically arranging her limbs as if she had collapsed.
Vivian quickly began breathing in and out as though she was hyperventilating and ran to the potions professor's office before urgently knocking on the door.
Snape answered, with a look of irritation for being interrupted that flashed to confusion for a brief second when he saw the hysterical Gryffindor in front of him.
"Professor, I need help right now! My friend fainted in the hall and she won't wake up. I can't carry her to Madam Pomfrey's myself!" she said, trying to make her eye's as big and honest as possible, hoping that Snape took the anxiety in her voice as worry about her friend rather than guilt.
Snape looked at her for a moment before briskly stepping out of his office.
"Show me where," he commanded in his usual monotone voice.
She sighed with relief, glancing behind her for signs of the twins before quickly leading the professor away from his office.
0-0
George didn't know what Vivian was so worried about. Her plan to distract Snape had worked perfectly. He thought she did a great job of playing the terrified friend. He would have believed it in a heartbeat.
She had been so convincing that he'd already begun to consider what other schemes they could use her for. She hadn't been too hard to talk into this one and it never hurt to have a good actress on your team.
The plot to drug Snape and wait in his office until he fell asleep also went off without a hitch. As soon as he had returned from taking the girls to the hospital wing, he downed the remainder of his cup of the enhanced tea. Within 10 minutes, his head was slumped back and the professor was snoring loudly.
Quickly, still under the invisibility cloak in case anyone came in unexpectedly, the pair walked in sync to the professor, Fred grabbing the key ring while George anxiously watched Snape's face for any sign that he may wake up.
He needn't have worried though, as the professor continued to sleep soundly in his chair as Fred fished the key ring out of his pocket and the two hurriedly left the office and headed to the faculty wing.
"Is the key there?"
"Yep, cardinal as a handle just like she said," replied Fred, holding the key up for George to see.
George grinned back at his twin. They were going to owe Vivian in a big way when this was over.
0-0
Vivian nervously bit her cuticles while her knee jiggled with anxiety as it had been since Snape dropped her and Alicia off in the hospital wing. She was sitting in the chair next to Alicia's hospital bed as she resisted the urge to get up and start pacing the room. Where are they?
"I'm sure they're fine," Alicia said to her, reading her mind.
Vivian grimaced. She knew the two could hold their own, but that didn't stop her from worrying. It had been nearly an hour since Snape had left them. What if her distraction hadn't given them enough time?
"I know," she groaned eventually. "I just wish they would get here already."
Alicia smiled at her sympathetically.
Vivian jumped up as she heard footsteps approaching before seeing the twin's identical red mops of hair entering the hospital wing.
"Did you get it?" she asked, feeling her eyes get as wide as saucers while she waited for one of them to tell her the results of their heist.
"Oh I don't know…does this answer your question?" Fred replied, playing upset before proudly thrusting the book above his head with a giant grin plastered on his face.
Vivian gasped and nearly squealed as she ran around the side of the bed to throw her arms around both of their necks and pulled them into a hug.
"That's amazing! You guys are incredible," she laughed as Fred ceremoniously bowed, handing the book to George who planted a kiss on the cover before quickly stashing it in Vivian's book bag as Madam Pomfrey came up to shoo them out of her wing.
"Your friend needs her rest," Madam Pomfrey said with a pointed look to Fred, George, and Vivian. "It's nearly curfew, the three of you ought to get back to your dormitories."
Giving a sympathetic look to Alicia, who had to spend the night in the hospital wing under Pomfrey's orders, the three others quickly headed back to Gryffindor.
Vivian laughed as Fred and George whooped, and linked arms as they skipped in circles down the hall. She had never seen them so giddy before. The walk to Gryffindor Tower took twice as long as it normally did because both twins kept stopping to hug her and kiss her cheeks.
"Vivian, we owe you the world, you have no idea what this means to us," they kept saying to her.
She grinned up at the both of them. She was feeling a little giddy herself, relieved to see them both so happy again. If it meant never seeing that devastation on either of their faces again, she would have flown to the moon.
As they arrived back in the Gryffindor common room, Vivian retrieved the recipe book from her bag and handed it to a very eager Fred, who whooped again and ran up the stairs to the boy's dormitories, saying something about locking it in a safe from now on.
She smiled up at George, who was still looking at her as though she had saved the world.
"Well," she yawned, suddenly exhausted. "Think I'm gonna-"
"Hey," George said softly and lightly grabbed her wrist as she turned to leave, causing her to look back at him in surprise.
"Thank you. Really. For everything. If it wasn't for you, me and Fred would be crying ourselves to sleep tonight," he said to her in a serious voice that sent a flutter through her stomach.
"I'm just glad you got it back," she said softly, looking up into his eyes
He let her hand drop as he reached up to her face, letting his hand cup her cheek briefly before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tight against his chest.
"Seriously. Thank you," he leaned down to whisper into her ear in a voice that was so low it sent goosebumps down her back before releasing her and walking backwards up the boy's dormitory steps.
"Goodnight Vivian," he said, his eyes still locked with hers.
"Goodnight George," she replied with a small smile before heading up the girl's staircase
0-0
"Helllllllooooo everybody!" Vivian chirped as she joined the Gryffindors at the breakfast table on the morning of Halloween.
"You're in a good mood," Alicia said dryly as she took a seat next to her. To Alicia, the only important thing about the holiday was that it signified the end of October and the start of November, or more importantly, the start of Quidditch season.
"It's Halloween." Vivian replied as if she didn't understand the question. She loved Halloween. She loved any candy-based holiday but especially Halloween. And she was particularly excited for this year after Angelina told her that the Hogwarts Halloween Feast was the most impressive one of the year. "Besides, I'm excited to see this Hogsmeade everyone's been telling me about."
Vivan had been more than a little thrilled to learn that Hogwarts offered day trips to the nearby town for 3rd years and above. She was starting to feel a little…confined at school. As big as Hogwarts was, she wasn't used to having such strict boundaries to her movements or so many rules she had to follow. It almost made her feel claustrophobic, like she was constantly under a microscope.
George had had to give her more than one stern talking to about Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest on the handful of times she suggested adventuring into the wooded area, and she had already been yelled at by Madam Pince on several occasions for wandering into the library's restricted section - why even have the books in the school library if students aren't allowed to read them? It made no sense to her.
But today, they would be free (or as free as possible) in Hogsmeade. Something she was all but yearning for as she bounced on her heels nervously, waiting with her friends at the front of the castle for McGonagall to come lead the students into town.
"Viv, relax we have all day to be there," George said, laughing at her impatience though he definitely couldn't blame her for her excitement. If there's one thing he understood it was wanderlust. He and his twin had been chomping at the bit since they were little, always venturing out further than their other siblings, more interested in what the world still had to offer than what they already had.
"I can not wait to get out of this castle," she replied, singing the last word for dramatic effect before nearly crying out in relief when she saw McGonagall finally making her way to the front of the crowd. She had to refrain herself from grabbing onto her friends' hands to speed up the journey into town.
Hogsmeade was a very charming town with cobblestone streets lined with little shops and restaurants that were swarmed with people in robes, truly marking the town as wizard territory. Aside from the people who clearly did not belong in the non-magic world, it reminded Vivian of the Christmas village that her parents had taken her and Eli to every year when they were kids. There was a cozy vibe to the entire place, despite the slightly chilly temperatures outside. She decided she liked it immediately.
Alicia and Angelina wanted to go Spintwitches to look at a new broomstick that Angelina had her eye on, but as Vivian made to follow them, George grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her towards a red paneled building with "Zonko's" painted above the door in gold letters.
"We're doing a little reconnaissance mission," he whispered into her ear as they entered the shop.
"For our store," whispered Fred, into her other ear when she just looked at George in confusion.
Vivian nodded in understanding. The twin's ultimate goal was to own a joke shop, where they could sell their various jokes, products, and gags. And good businessmen always scope out the competition.
Entering the shop, she was greeted by an array of products; dungbombs, trick wands, frog spawn soap just to name a few. Her eyes went wide as she took it all in. She had never seen a store like this before. Everything wizard related back home was sold quietly, the elders constantly watching over for fear of the non-magics or even another family discovering trade secrets.
This, however, was anything but quiet. This was loud. Flashy and ostentatious, it screamed look at me in a way that Vivian couldn't have dreamed of in the states. It was, without a doubt, magical.
"Wow," she said in a breathless voice, as the twins led her to a display of trick wands.
"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies," George nudged her, with just a hint of bitterness in his voice when he saw how dazzled she was by their competition.
"This is….wow," she stuttered, still not fully recovered from her initial shock.
"Yeah, well our shop is going to be much more impressive than this, Vivian," Fred hissed back at her, giving her a betrayed look as he turned back to the trick wands.
"And I don't doubt that! But until then…" she drifted off gesturing with her hands as she ventured further into Zonko's.
She had bent down to examine a shelf that contained cans labeled "Bewildering Can of Mystery" and had been so absorbed in trying to figure out what the mystery could be that she hadn't noticed George sneaking up behind her with a shrieking yoyo.
Flinching hard at the sudden screaming in her ear, she stumbled into another display and instinctively raised her hand, an offensive spell on the tip of her tongue before remembering where she was.
She let out a breath of relief before glaring over at George who still stood with his hands raised in shock at her intense reaction.
"Woah sorry," he said with a sheepish grin. "I really didn't mean to scare you that much," his apology slightly diminished by the laugh in his eyes.
She only continued to glare at him in response before turning to find Fred who had moved on to what appeared to be an assortment of tonics in multicolored jars on the other side of the store.
"So were you going to hex me just there?" George teased, following her through the aisles.
"I still might," she grumbled, which only earned her another grin from George.
"Because I think killing me over a joke would be just the tiniest bit of an overreaction,"
"Who's killing you over a joke?" Fred asked, as the two joined him in front of the display
"Vivian. Shoulda seen her, Fred. But how was I supposed to know that a screaming yoyo would send her into such a tizzy?"
"You guys are just soooooo funny," she said in a barbed voice as she examined a bottle with a cat's face on the label. "What's this one do?"
"Turns you into a cat for an hour," Fred answered. "George and I have been trying to figure out our own version of these but it's been…difficult to say the least."
"Which is why we're here to buy the lot of them. If we can test them we should be able to figure out how they're made and then improve them," George added.
"Weasley touch!" they both said, pride evident on their face.
She smiled up at them. There was not a doubt in her mind that they would do just that.
0-0
"Ugh!" Vivian stumbled backwards as a flier flew directly into her, covering her entire face. Her and the twins were walking back to the castle, the afternoon sun just beginning its descent. They had spent the entire morning in Zonko's while the twins carefully took note of every product the store offered as the shopkeeper eyed them in annoyance.
Afterwards, the twins had pulled her into The Three Broomsticks Inn and Pub where they'd spent the better part of the afternoon drinking butterbeer, a drink that very quickly became her favorite when she noticed the nice warm buzz it gave her.
Now, walking back to the castle before the Halloween Feast, she was still a little tipsy and she wasn't sure if the flush on her cheeks was from the biting chill that had taken over or the beverage that went to her head.
"HA!" yelled Fred, from further ahead of her as she peeled the paper off her face, ignoring the daggers she stared at him in return.
Looking down to investigate the paper that had just blinded her, she was met with the moving picture of a disheveled looking man with greasy black hair and an unhinged look in his eyes. The man appeared to be wildly looking around the room he was in as he hysterically laughed. Or maybe he was screaming? The burning hatred in his eyes made it difficult to tell.
"'Have you seen this wizard? Approach with extreme caution. Do not attempt to use magic against this man'" she read aloud. "Who is this?" she questioned the twins who had looped back to stand by her.
"You don't know who Sirius Black is?" George asked, in a disbelieving voice.
"Should I?" she replied, doing her best to keep the irritation out of her voice when she said this. Why would she have ever heard about some random criminal in England? You didn't see her questioning them about all the wanted murderers in America.
"Well he's the reason there are dementors at Hogwarts right now…you know, broke out of Azkaban?" Fred said, mirroring his twin's incredulity.
"Oh. OHHHHHH," Vivian gasped, finally connecting the dots between Dumbledor's speech at the first dinner and the man she was looking at now. "SERIOUS Black, what a name," she laughed. "What'd he do?"
"Jeez Vivian, do they not get the news in the United States?" George replied, shooting a confused look at Fred.
"News about one killer on the other side of the globe? Forgive me for being unfamiliar, George but I think we're a little busy managing our own offenders to worry about yours," she said, turning to continue their walk back towards the castle.
"But surely you would have heard of this one? He was in league with You Know Who. He betrayed the Potters, killed Peter Pettigrew, is thought to still be after Potter now to finish You Know Who's bidding," Fred insisted as he and George ran to catch up with her on the path.
"Potters as in Harry Potter from Gryffindor?" she asked, only half interested.
"Yeah…What?" George fully stopped walking to stare at her now.
"As in Harry Potter, the boy who lived, Vivian? Defeated the dark lord when he was only a baby? That Harry Potter?" Fred said now, equally as confused as George.
"Oh. But I thought the boy who lived thing was just like a quidditch nickname you guys gave him or something?"
"No!" they both yelled at her.
She sighed, struggling to keep her impatience with the both of them from becoming too apparent.
"Well we weren't super involved in the Voldemort stuff back home," she admitted, raising an eyebrow at the flinch both boys gave when she said the dark lord's name.
"You can't just say his name!" Fred hushed her while George glanced around the empty path to make sure they weren't being overheard.
"What?" Now it was her turn to look at them like they'd sprouted a 3rd head.
"Don't speak his name. It's taboo," George said, still looking anxiously around them.
"And what happens if I do," she asked, turning and looking at them blankly. When neither of them answered her she gave a pointed nod and continued to the castle.
"Wait so what do you mean you weren't super involved in the..in the you know who stuff?" George asked, emphasizing the nickname.
"I don't know. I was what, like two years old when that all went down? But my parents told me once that all the US families stayed out of the conflict. Probably wasn't enough in it for any of them to get involved," she said with a shrug before kicking herself when she realized she'd mentioned the families.
"What families? Your family?" George asked, now looking at her with the interest she had become familiar with seeing in him.
"Yes my family," she nodded, grateful she didn't have to lie.
"But how could an entire country just stand by?" Fred said to her. "People were dying. You Know Who and the Death Eaters, were planning on taking over the world."
Vivian sighed again. She liked Fred and George. She really, really did. But sometimes they just did not know when to drop a subject. And this one was complicated. She wasn't sure if explaining the whole thing would make matters better or worse.
"To be honest you guys, we sort of take care of our own over there. We watch out for our own and when someone gets out of line, we handle it in-house. We aren't worried about what's happening in Europe because that's your family to look after, ya know?" she said with a shrug to both boys.
"But-"
"Look, I'd really rather not get into the politics of the United States right now if you don't mind," She interrupted, wishing they would just go back to discussing the twins' plans for their future store.
It's not like she was unsympathetic to the cause. From what she had heard, the destruction and carnage that Voldemort and his followers created was horrific. There is nothing not horrific about the deaths of innocent people. But when the High Elder makes a decision, the entire family has to follow that decision. And she meant that literally. Unbreakable vow literally.
She ignored the look that the twins exchanged as they walked through the doors of the castle. She chose instead to focus on the gigantic meal she was about to consume.
0-0
"I think I'm going to explode," Vivian groaned as she clutched her stomach as the Gryffindors made their way back to their common room after the feast was over. She had eaten way too much and she wanted nothing more than to lie on her bed for the rest of the night, maybe even the rest of the week.
"We told you that three pumpkin pastries was way too many," Alicia laughed at her.
"How dare you?" Vivian responded in mock anger. "I am free to make my own choices and-"
Her train of thought was interrupted by the crowd of students swarmed around the Fat Lady. As Percy Weasley pushed through the crowd. Vivian glanced around and saw that the surrounding paintings all looked terrified, as if they had witnessed a horrible event.
"What's going on? Can you see what's happening?" she asked George, who had moved to stand next to her. She had to stand on her toes to get any kind of vantage point but her view was still solidly blocked by taller students.
He was silent for a moment, before looking down to meet her eyes.
"Someone's torn up the Fat Lady's painting."
"What? Why wou-"
She was interrupted by Dumbledor, making his way to the painting, the crowd of students parting to make way for him. She watched as Filch said something to the headmaster, causing Dumbledor to hurriedly take off to the second floor, followed by the Gryffindor house until the group stopped in front of a painting, where Vivian could see the Fat Lady cowering behind a large boulder.
"Who did this to you?" Dumbledor quickly asked her, concern evident in his voice. Vivian's stomach churned at this. The Hogwarts' headmaster had always been so stoic every time she had been in his presence. To see him rattled made her nervous.
"Eyes like the Devil," The Fat Lady, choked out through her tears. "It's him, Headmaster. The one they all talk about. He's here! Somewhere in the castle. Sirius Black!" she cried before ducking back down behind the boulder.
Dumbledor appeared stunned at this, adding to the growing knot in Vivian's stomach.
"Secure the castle, Flich. Professors and Prefects please gather all students to the Great Hall immediately," he commanded the crowd of students and professors who had begun to whisper frantically to each other as the news of Black spread.
Walking back to the Great Hall with her friends, she couldn't help glancing at Harry Potter, who walked several steps ahead of them with the twins' younger brother Ron and their friend Hermoine.
If what Fred and George had told her earlier was true, then Sirius had most certainly tried to break into Gryffindor to get to him. To kill him, probably. But, for a 13 year old boy who had a psycho killer after him, literally breaking into his school to harm him, he seemed remarkably undisturbed. His friends looked more upset with the news than he did.
She decided she admired this about him. One of the first things the mentors had taught them back home was to remain calm in the face of danger. Rash emotions, like anger or fear, are what lead to mistakes and mistakes lead to death.
From what she had learned about Harry (the Gryffindor 5th years had given her a synopsis on his story at dinner after Fred and George had loudly announced her ignorance to the group), he seemed to be constantly toeing the line of certain peril, quite literally fighting off Voldemort since he was a baby. She thought if he was able to be this composed when one of Vold's servants tried to kill him (again) in what was supposed to be one of the safest places in the wizarding world, then he must have been cut out for the job as The Boy Who Lived.
As they lingered in the Great Hall waiting for news or instruction, they were quickly joined by the students from the other houses, looking confused at the sudden disturbance of their night.
"This is mental," Fred said, watching the Prefects nervously patrol the door waiting for Dumbledor to return.
"How did he even get in?" she wondered out loud. "Why didn't the dementors sense him?"
"Well he's one of Who Know Who's followers right? Maybe he gave Black some kind of charm or spell that made him invisible to dementors?" George answered quietly, his eyes focused on Dumbledor who had just stepped into the room in deep conversation with Snape.
"Attention everyone!" Dumbledor said with a wave of his hand that immediately quieted everyone. "There has been an intruder to our castle. We will need to be doing a thorough search of the castle, and for your safety you will be sleeping in here for the remainder of the night."
Vivian couldn't help groan a little at this, purely out of selfish reasons. She had been so looking forward to her bed.
"The Prefects will be standing guard over the entrances and the Head Boy and Girl will be in charge for the time being. If anyone notices any disturbances, report them to the Head Boy and Girl immediately."
With a wave of his hand, the room was covered in sleeping bags and he was briskly walking out of the room, trailed by Professors Lupin, McGonagall, and Snape who was giving Lupin a look that Vivian thought looked like a mix of disgust and hatred.
Grabbing a sleeping bag, she followed the twins, Lee, Angelina, and Alicia to the far right corner of the room as she listened to the excited whispers of the students she passed. It seems that the news that Sirius Black had spread through the student body extremely quickly as well as the theory that he had been breaking in to hide under Harry's bed to kill him in his sleep. She shivered a bit at this. That was a horrific thought and she felt a pang of sympathy for Harry, who she could see was doing his best to ignore the odd looks he was receiving from his fellow students.
Sitting down, she watched the room distractedly, glancing up as Fred and George laid their sleeping bags down on either side of her. She was vaguely aware that George was trying to say something to her, but her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Sirius Black and his master.
What she had told Fred and George earlier that day had been the truth. The US families had chosen not to get involved in aiding or stopping Voldemort's crusade. She highly suspected that the reason for abstaining from the fight had had more to do with the fact that Voldemort hadn't offered the High Elders of any family a partnership deal than any actual concern or disdain for the man's actions.
She had also been told on more than one occasion that the reason Voldemort never attempted to invade the US was because he feared the families. The combined members of all the families throughout the country were legions. And, despite the fact that most of the time half the families were trying to end the other half, no family would have tolerated the invasion of another, simply for the reason that it could set a dangerous precedent that could lead to them in turn also being invaded.
She thought now, how her family would have addressed this Sirius Black situation, if it had gone down on their turf. If it so happened that an outsider was trying to kill a member of a family (any family) the High Elders would meet and decide how to handle the threat. Any interfamily conflict would be set aside completely until the larger matter was resolved. The full force of every American family would be sicced on the offender until they could be brought to justice.
And then the perp would be dealt with. End of story.
"Vivian!" she was pulled from her thoughts when she realized that George had been trying to talk to her for the past several minutes as she, seemingly, stared into space.
"You okay?" he asked her, concern in his eyes when she blinked up at him in surprise.
"Yeah. Just thinking I guess," she said quietly as she laid down in her sleeping bag and turned on her side to face him.
He laid down in his sleeping bag and turned on his side facing her, so that their faces were inches apart.
"You know you can talk to me right? About anything. You don't have to keep things bottled up if you don't want to."
She felt her eyebrows shoot up in confusion as she looked at him, unsure where this declaration was coming from. His eyes were so serious as he stared, unwavering back into hers. She had no doubt he meant every word he said.
"Thank you George. But I'm not bottling anything up"
"Tell me what you were thinking about just now then."
"Hmmm," She mused, still looking at him. "I guess I was just thinking about the way things are here and back home."
"And how are things back home?" he asked, surprised she'd answered him at all.
"Different. In good and bad ways. But mostly right now I'm just thinking about what my family would have done if Sirius Black was after one of us."
"What would they have done?"
She looked at him, considering. It had been drilled into her head, from the day she was old enough to form a cognizant thought, that there was nothing more important than preserving the family secrets. There was nothing above loyalty, or so she had been taught.
But she wasn't really a part of that family anymore now was she? Her parents were gone, her brother was gone, the friends she'd known all her life disappearing once she moved away. Even Lizette's letters had become less and less frequent in the last few months. Since leaving the family she had felt untethered, aimless and alone in a way she had never been before. She had clung on to the family secrets, perhaps as a way to cling on to the family, in the last way she could. But now, thousands of miles away she had never felt more disconnected from them. They were there.
And George Weasley was here. Looking at her, as if she were the only person on the planet, as if nothing has ever mattered to him more than the words she might say.
"They would have all teamed up with the neighbors," she whispered to him as the Great Hall began to fall silent. "Combine their armies, track him down, and take him out."
"What kind of family has armies?" he whispered back to her, his expression unchanged.
She looked away from him then, focusing on pulling at a loose thread on her sleeping bag so she wouldn't have to meet his gaze.
"I guess it's not really a family like you're thinking. We aren't all related but we're bound to the same group, follow the same leaders, that kind of thing."
He waited for her to continue but she was already second guessing that she hadn't said too much as is. She did not want to accidentally start rambling just because his deep stare made her nervous.
"I don't think I understand," George finally said, quietly. "But I'd like to."
Her eyes snapped back to his and a small smile returned to her face.
"You're such a good guy, George," she sighed as she closed her eyes, still facing him. "I wish I'd met you sooner."
She heard George chuckle quietly before he reached out and lightly squeezed her hand before rolling into his sleeping bag.
"Goodnight Vivian," he whispered.
"Goodnight George," she murmured back, before succumbing to her exhaustion.
0-0
He couldn't sleep. Maybe it was the excitement of the day or the odd conversation he had had with Vivian, but his mind would not stop racing.
Sighing he rolled back over onto his side to stare at her. She was laying on her stomach with her face pointed towards him and her eyes closed and wisps of her blonde hair in her face. Her right hand had come out of her sleeping bag and was laying palm up on the floor between them, in what George thought looked like a very uncomfortable position.
He sighed again as he watched her breathing slowly, in deep sleep, replaying the words she had said to him earlier that night.
He had asked her what she was thinking, expecting one of her trademarked nonanswers, but she had surprised him. Not only had she told him what was on her mind, but she also willingly talked about her family, (well her "family" as she seemed to put it), totally unprompted! He'd had to put a great deal of effort into not letting the eagerness show in his eyes, for fear that she would think he was laughing at her, or not taking what she was saying seriously.
Armies, she had said. And this family of people she wasn't related to. As excited as he had been initially at this new lore about her, it now left him with more questions than answers. Who were these people she had seemingly spent her life with? Is this the "family" that taught her magic like that blood spell to find their book?
He shuddered at the memory, still not fully recovered from seeing her lose all that blood. I've had much worse she had said when he wouldn't stop fussing over her wound. He gulped, unable to stop himself from wondering about the other things she had been taught to do to herself that she considered much worse.
He'd felt an odd urge of protectiveness for her since that day that he didn't quite understand. Anytime she was out of his sight, he couldn't stop the tiny worry in the back of his head that told him something had to be wrong.
So much so that when they came upon the Fat Lady's shredded painting and the news of Sirius Black's break in, his first thought hadn't been for Harry or even any of his siblings. It had been for her. As soon as the words "Sirius Black" had escaped the portraits' mouth, his eyes began darting around in a panic until they landed on her, relieved to find that, yes, she was still next to him and hadn't somehow become Black's next victim in the 30 seconds he had looked away from her.
It's just because she seems so unconcerned with her own wellbeing, he told himself over and over to justify his sudden overprotectiveness. And if she doesn't then someone has to. Right?
He sighed once more. Reaching over, he gently lifted her wrist from the floor and moved it to her pillow. He moved to brush the hair from her face when a sharp voice interrupted his racing thoughts.
"George!"
George looked up and felt his cheeks turn scarlet as he saw his twin sitting up from his sleeping bag and staring at him in confusion.
"You've been staring at her all night and now you're touching her?" Fred whispered across the sleeping girl. "You're being a bit of a creep mate."
George could only look guilty back at him. He had no defense here. He was being a bit of a creep.
Fred sighed at the embarrassed look on his brother's face.
"Just ask her to go to Hogsmeade with you. Or take her on a walk around the lake. I hear most women like to be wooed when they're awake," he said with a smirk and knowing look at George.
George scowled back at him. He hadn't told Fred of his budding feelings for their new friend, but his twin had of course seen the change in his demeanor and quickly put the pieces together. But he had sworn under threat of severe bodily harm that he wouldn't say anything to anyone especially not Vivian. Based on how she hadn't moved a muscle in hours, he wasn't overly worried about her finding out, but you could never be too careful.
"Come on man," Fred said in a cheeky voice, taking his lack of an answer as hesitation. "What's the worst that could happen? She brutally rejects you in front of the entire school and goes on to snog some pretty boy bloke like Diggory? The chances of that happening are slim at most!" he laughed softly as he laid back down.
George grimaced as he did the same, rolling onto his back so he could stare up at the ceiling. He had to get a grip. He had to get a hold of himself. She's just a girl he kept thinking to himself, knowing even then that it was a lie.
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