Chapter 16

"I frankly just don't see the appeal of flying hundreds of feet in the air surrounded by heavy metal balls being flung around in every direction. It's dangerous!" Hermoine was complaining to Vivian as she sat in between her and Ron while the three of them watched the Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw quidditch match. A match that Vivian had been fully intending to skip, seeing as it was February in Scotland and her bed was much more comfortable, friends on the team be damned.

Unfortunately for her, Ron and Harry were still pissed at Hermione for giving McGonagall the broom Harry received for Christmas and Ron was even more pissed about his rat going missing. The younger girl had all but gotten on her knees and begged Vivian to come to the match with them in an attempt to diffuse any tension between the third years. A request she had reluctantly agreed to despite wanting nothing more than to stay in the warmth of Gryffindor.

"Well of course you don't," Ron snorted at her, leaning across Vivian to glare at Hermione.

"Ron…" Vivian sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose. They had been snapping at each other like this literally the entire match and she was beginning to lose her patience with the two of them.

"I'm allowed to have an opinion, Ronald." Hermoine replied with a glare as Vivian's eyes rolled to the back of her head in irritation.

"You shouldn't criticize things you don't understand, Hermoine."

"Oh my god," Vivian mumbled to herself as the two continued to bicker, willing this match to come to an end soon. As much as she enjoyed watching George fly around in his quidditch uniform, listening to the two third years argue was beginning to give her a headache.

"What the hell is that?" the voice of another spectator behind her jerked her attention back towards the game just in time to see a dark hooded figure rising up from behind the stands. She felt her pulse quicken, certain they were able to see a repeat of the year's earlier match with Hufflepuff.

Before her worries could spiral too greatly however, Harry's stag patronus was rushing towards the figure, knocking it down to reveal Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Despite the threat being less serious than initially presented, Vivian couldn't help but be proud of Harry, having worked with him on the spell for several hours the other night.

The rest of the match went by without much excitement. Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw by a landslide, Lee almost got kicked out of the announcer seat for his less than appropriate commentary, Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw captain, threw an incredibly entertaining fit–overall it was a good game, though she was, of course, grateful for it to be over so she could return to the warmth of her common room.

Thanks to Ron and Hermoine's ceaseless arguing, her headache was threatening to turn into a full blown migraine by the time they had walked down the stands and were waiting outside the Gryffindor locker rooms for the team to finish changing. She had her head pressed against the stone wall, eyes shut trying to tune out the quarreling third years as she debated whether or not the other fifth years would be pissed if she just said fuck it and went back to the tower alone. Sure it would be a bit rude but Hermoine and Ron were truly being insufferable.

"Well at least I'm not a tattletale snitch!" Ron shot at Hermione, for probably the tenth time in the last hour. And with that, Vivian turned on her heel, fully intending on going back to Gryffindor solo when the locker room door opened and the twins strolled out followed by Alicia and Angelina.

"Finally!" Vivian exclaimed, her relief a bit too obvious in her voice. "You guys sure took your sweet time!"

"What's the matter love, sick of hanging out with the third years?" George asked with a grin as he slung an arm over her shoulders

"Yes actually. I think I'm going to go insane if I have to listen to them argue about that stupid broom for one more second," she replied in a long suffering voice as the group began to make their way back to Gryffindor.

"'Stupid broom'?" an incredulous Fred shoved his way in between the two to glare at Vivian. "It wasn't just a stupid broom, it was a Firebolt."

"Oh, believe me Fred I got every last conceivable detail on the broom from Ron," she replied, rolling her eyes at his dramatics.

"The fact that you called it a stupid broom tells me you haven't even begun to learn about the Firebolt," Fred said haughtily as he pushed past them to walk ahead with Alicia and Angelina.

"Whatever," she mumbled to herself before turning to George with a smile. "Congrats on the win by the way."

He grinned at her, the tips of his ears turning pink at the compliment from her.

"Why, thank you," he replied as he laced their fingers together and pulled her closer to his side. "Fred wanted to throw a celebration."

"A celebration you say?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"A party," he admitted before suddenly turning serious. "But you and I can do something else if you want, we don't have to go."

She studied him for a second, well aware of what George was saying between the lines.

"George, believe me, no one wants me to jump back into the lake less than I do. I promise it won't happen again, okay?" she said firmly, squeezing his hand to emphasize her point.

"I wasn't worried about that," George lied, though Vivian did note that he seemed suspiciously relieved for someone who supposedly wasn't worried. "Maybe I just wanted to spend a little one on one time with my girlfriend, is that such a crime?"

"Girlfriend? When did that happen?" she teased, a grin taking over her face at the word.

"Earlier today," he said blandly, as though this were old news and continued to pull her through the halls.

"Oh really?" she laughed, her cheeks flushing when he suddenly stopped walking to look at her, a new intensity in his eyes that would have made her nervous, had it been coming from anyone but him.

"Yes," he said very seriously, his gaze boring into her. "I had an epiphany this afternoon, wherein I realized that if I had to go one more day without you being mine, I would simply go insane."

Vivian was silent for just a moment, stunned by his confession before pulling him by his shirt collar down to her height and pressing her lips to his, her racing heart making her feel breathless.

"I am yours, George. I've been yours," she whispered against his lips before kissing him again, feeling his grin as he returned the kiss.

"Oi lovebirds hurry up back there! You can flirt with each other while we're setting up for the party!" Fred's voice called from further down the hall, pulling the two from their bubble. They rolled their eyes, laughing to each other before following the rest of the group back to the common room to join the rest of their house.

0-0

She was awoken by screaming and the sound of footsteps rushing towards the boy's dormitories. Shooting up from her bed, she followed her roommates towards the source of the commotion where a frantic Ron appeared to be the center of attention.

"He was here I'm telling you!," the younger Weasley was insisting to Percy, who looked like he was attempting to calm his brother before the entirety of Gryffindor joined them.

"What's going on?" she whispered to George as she came to stand next to him, lacing their fingers together while she stood on her toes in an attempt to see over the crowding heads of other students.

"Ron thinks Sirius Black tried to kill him," he whispered back to her, eyeing her floral pajamas with great interest.

"He did try to kill me! He was standing over me with a knife!" Ron shrieked, his voice reaching a hysterical pitch.

"What is the meaning of this?" McGonagall suddenly appeared in front of the crowd, her robe and hair askew from having been forced out of bed at such a late hour.

"Ron says Sirius Black was in their room," Percy answered, looking skeptically at his younger brother.

"What? That's impossible. He couldn't have gotten in without the password!" McGonagall insisted, though her face gave away her uncertainty. Without another word she marched over to the current portrait door, followed by the near entirety of Gryffindor house. "Sir Cadagon, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!" the painting answered proudly.

"You- but the password-" McGonagall stammered above the rising whispers as the news made its way through the crowd.

"He had it! Had the whole week's on a piece of paper, my lady!"

"Who wrote the passwords down," McGonagall whirled around to face the students, furry written all over her face. No one did anything for a moment, and Vivian was sure that there was no way the culprit was going to fess up to such a dumb mistake until a small hand in the back raised, the crowd parting to reveal an ashamed looking Neville as the whispers started up again even louder. "Come with me Mr. Longbottom," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Everyone else return to your dormitories."

"Eesh. Would not want to be Neville right now," Vivian grumbled as the crowd began to disperse to their respective rooms.

"No," George agreed as he turned to face her, reaching for her hand again to trace shapes on her palm with his thumb. "You know Vivian, with a murderer on the loose in the castle, it would be perfectly understandable if you were too afraid to sleep alone tonight," he said in a far too casual voice, a smirk taking over his features.

"Oh would it now?" Vivian giggled, not bothering to fight the smile that made its way onto her face.

"Mhm," he nodded. "In fact, if you needed to sleep in my bed with me, I would be more than happy to accommodate you. To make you feel safe of course."

"Why, that is just so generous of you, George."

"I'm nothing if not a gentleman. So what do you say?" he asked, already attempting to tug her towards the boy's staircase. The hopeful look on his face would have made it impossible to say no to him, even if she had wanted to.

"Well I wouldn't want to feel unsafe now would I?" she grinned at him, following him up the stairs to the dorm he shared with Fred and Lee.

"Hey you two, sleeping only," Fred pointed a finger at them in warning from his own bed as they both got under George's covers. "I don't want to wake up to any noises I'm too innocent to hear."

"Shut up, Fred," George snapped, his face turning bright red as his roommates snickered between themselves. As the lights in the room dimmed, he pulled Vivian in closer to him, wrapping an arm around her waist and burying his face in her honey blonde hair, the smell of jasmine and patchouli flooding his senses.

"If Sirius Black can get into Hogwarts over and over while so many people are looking for him, then anyone can, right?" Vivian's voice broke the silence, quiet enough that only George could hear.

"Like who?" He felt her shrug against him noncommittally.

"Like anyone. I dunno…"

"Are you worried about something?" he asked gently, careful to keep his voice low so his roommates didn't hear.

She stilled for a moment, taking several beats to respond.

"No, of course not. Just thinking out loud," he frowned against her neck, tightening his grip on her waist. Something in her tone said that there was more to the question than she was letting on but he knew she never responded well when he pressed her for information.

"Dumbledore would never let anything happen to students," George tried reassuringly.

"I don't know if that's true," she murmured, quiet enough that he wasn't sure if she'd actually intended for him to hear it.

0-0

There were a few reasons Vivian would absolutely not want to be Neville Longbottom. First and foremost; the name. Just a tough break in general. Secondly and perhaps more pressingly, everyone, and she did mean everyone at Hogwarts knew he was the reason Sirius Black got into Gryffindor, albeit indirectly. Oh and of course who could forget the fact that no one was allowed to tell him the passwords anymore and he was banned from Hogsmeade visits for the rest of the year.

And to top it all off, just when Vivian thought things couldn't get any worse for the poor guy, he received a very loud howler from his grandmother in the middle of breakfast the following Tuesday. The woman was…disappointed in her grandson to say the least.

"I just feel bad for him," Vivian said to the other fifth years after the laughter in the Great Hall had died down. "It was an accident."

"It was pretty careless of him to lose the list of passwords. He's just lucky that Black didn't have a chance to hurt anyone," George replied, before nudging her shoulder to get her to notice the speckled barn owl perched in front of her plate, a thick bundle of letters wrapped around its leg.

She blinked at the owl in surprise. She rarely got any mail, and when she did it was usually just Lizette sending her a few polaroids or a magazine clipping she hadn't been able to show her via fire-call. She fed the bird a strip of bacon before untying and shuffling through the stack of letters, tearing open the one sporting Lizette's blocky handwriting first.

Vivian,

What the hell bitch! You told me Hogwarts was some kind of impenetrable magical fortress! Why am I reading in the Chicago Wizarding Times that some actual psychotic killer keeps breaking in? You're in the house that starts with a G right? The same one as that glasses boy the killer is after? Don't even bother answering that because I know I'm right.

Let me just make sure I have this correctly: an escaped murderer got into your school and was basically down the hall from your dorm in the middle of the night in what I have been repeatedly reassured is the safest place in the wizarding world–do I have that right?

Don't bother answering that either because I know I'm right about that too.

What the fuck Vivian!?

Evan is totally freaking out and honestly, I'm not too far off from that myself. I know you don't want to hear it but don't you think you'd be safer here with the family and everything? My parents already agreed to let you stay with us if you moved back home and I really think you should at least consider it.

x Liz

"Ooh boy," Vivian sighed loudly as she tucked Lizette's letter into her pocket and tore open the next one. "Looks like they're reporting Black's latest break in back in the US."

"You're getting letters about him?" Fred asked between a mouthful of french toast.

"Mhm. They want me to move back home. For my safety or whatever."

"You're not going to though right?" George asked, his voice laced with a panic that she was sure he meant to be far more subtle about.

Hey,

I'm not sure if you want to hear from me. Liz told me you're all about some guy at your school now?

Everyone's talking about Sirius Black breaking into your school to kill a kid. Oh sorry, I mean his second break in at your school to kill a kid. Must have been easy for you to forget to mention that last time we talked huh?

I'm just going to cut right to it: I think you're being stupid by staying there. Whatever letter your parents wrote you, I guarantee they weren't accounting for a deranged psycho killer on the loose at Hogwarts. They would want you to come home.

I get it, you don't want to be around me, or your memories, or whatever point it is you're trying to prove by staying there but get real Vivian. The blood of the covenant will always be thicker than the water of wherever the hell in Scotland you are.

You will always be one of us. It's time to accept that and come home.

-Evan

"No I am not," she answered George, letting Evander's letter burst into flames in her hands.

"Woah," Lee laughed, pulling his plate closer to him to avoid the ashes raining down on the table. "That bad huh?"

"You have no idea," Vivian sighed again as she opened the final letter.

Dearest Vivian,

I hope you're doing well and I do apologize for not coming to see you while you were in town a few weeks ago. I get very busy around this time of year and was simply unable to find the time.

I'm sure you're aware that word of Sirius Black's break-in has reached the family–I believe my son wrote to you on the matter?

He's expressed to me some concerns regarding your safety. Wants you to come home, if I'm not mistaken. Though, I think out of all of your year, you are the best equipped to handle any danger that should come your way. Your mentors were always telling me what a star pupil you were, independent and willing to do what it takes–those are qualities I look for in my top men, you know.

I'm curious Vivian, how is your Headmaster Dumbledore these days? You may not know this, but I was very well acquainted with Albus quite a few years ago when he spent a summer in our beloved city, though I'm sure he would prefer it if I did not share that story with you. I recall him being an extremely powerful and intelligent wizard, which leads me to wonder how it is that one man seems to be posing such a threat to his institution? I would hate to think that the great Albus Dumbledore has lost his touch.

I hope to hear from you soon. Perhaps it would be mutually beneficial for us to establish regular communication. I'm sure I have plenty of information you'd be very interested in hearing.

Sincerely,

Evander Canmore II

"What…the fuck?" Vivian mumbled to herself as she read the letter a second then a third time. There was no conceivable reality in which this letter made any sense to her. As far as she was aware, she had never been on the High Elder's radar, beyond the fact that she had dated his son–and even that was minimal. She had probably personally interacted with the man a grand total of ten times in her entire life? Why on earth was he writing her this overly friendly letter complete with a personal anecdote about her headmaster?

The fact that he knew Dumbledore at all was a whole other pill she was going to have to swallow later. The part that bothered her the most was the "information" he supposedly had for her. She did not like the sound of that one bit. The entire letter reeked of quid pro quo in the making, her problem being, she hadn't the faintest idea what Canmore could possibly want from her.

"Is everything okay?" Alicia asked, alarmed by the look on her friend's face.

"Yeah…um, my uh, my uncle is just saying some crazy stuff, it's nothing," Vivian answered, quickly folding the letter and stuffing it in the pocket of her robes alongside Lizette's, her leg shaking anxiously underneath the table.

The rest of the meal passed by in a blur, her mind stuck trying to come up with any scenario in which the letter she received from the High Elder wasn't a horrible ominous indication of things to come. But any possible solution she could come up with always ended up feeling a bit too naive for even her to swallow.

As anxious as the letter made her, there was a nagging part of her that was dying to know what information he had that she would apparently find so interesting. There was very little the man knew about her personally. A tiny voice in the back of her mind couldn't help but wonder if that information had anything to do with her parents, or even her brother. What would she be willing to do for him if that were the case?

She tried to shake the thought away. If she were smart, she would have incinerated the letter along with his asshole son's. She would forget she had ever received it, driven the man and whatever shady proposition he was offering far from her mind and focus on her new life here.

But there was a reason she was sorted into Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw.

By the time breakfast had ended, she had worked herself into quite the state, her mind ping ponging between wanting to write him back and wanting to forget the entire thing had even happened. As they stood from the table, she was steadfast in the decision that she would not be responding to Canmore's letter. As she collected her bag she was convinced a simple few sentence reply wouldn't hurt anyone. As she headed towards the Great Hall doors, she decided that it was better safe than sorry–she would not be responding. And as they approached the turn that took them to their Charms class, she came to the conclusion that she owed it to her parents to find out the truth or, at the very least, find out what she had to do to get the truth. So, instead of making a right and following Angelina and Alicia to Charms like she normally did, she made a left, towards Gryffindor, set on drafting a letter in the privacy of her empty dorm room.

"And just what do you think you're doing? I believe you're supposed to be in class right now, young lady," a cocky voice called from behind her. She could hear the smirk in his voice without even needing to turn around.

"I am skipping my class," she informed George over her shoulder, not slowing her pace as he lengthened his steps to catch up with her.

"Because?"

"Because I so please."

"Ah, vague and evasive as always, one of the things I lo-like the most about you," he choked slightly on his words, the tips of his ears turning pink, not that Vivian noticed, still lost in her own thoughts.

"Shouldn't you be in class now too?" she accused, attempting to shift the focus off of herself.

"I'm obviously skipping with you," he rolled his eyes at her, looping his arm around her waist as they neared the newly repaired Fat Lady and gave her the password for their entry.

"Don't let me be a bad influence…"

"Oh please, the skiving was going to happen whether you were involved or not. You being here just makes it more fun," he laughed tugging her towards his dorm. "Come on, I want your advice on a potion."

"Okay, okay," she laughed, letting him pull her into his room. Her letter to Canmore would have to wait. Or maybe this was a sign that she really shouldn't be writing him back? Some sort of divine intervention preventing her from making a horrible mistake? She really was being annoyingly indecisive on this.

George guided her to the back of the boy's dorm, seating her in front of a cauldron they had bubbling and tucked into a corner to make it less conspicuous, explaining that the green shimmery potion in front of her was supposed to be orange and opaque.

While she hmm'd over the potion, stirring it in an effort to gauge the consistency, George pulled their recipe book out to show her their ingredients, glancing at her wearily as he turned back around.

"So what was that about back at breakfast?" he asked, with forced casualty.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just family stuff. My uncle like I said," she replied absentmindedly furrowing her brow at the list of ingredients George claimed to have added to their potion. There was absolutely no way they had included everything they said they did–some of these ingredients were completely incompatible with the concoction she had in front of her.

He huffed, an annoyed edge taking over his expression for a brief second as he moved to sit across from her on the floor.

"Okay, I'm just gonna save us both the time and let you know right now that I know that's total shite," he said plainly, leaning his back against the side of Lee's bed as he raised an eyebrow at her.

She groaned quietly, before turning to face him, trying to set her expression into one of unconcerned nonchalance.

"It's…complicated. You really don't want to know."

"Yes, I really do. I want to know everything about you," he insisted, sitting up straighter as they stared each other down.

For once, Vivian was the loser.

She sighed, letting her shoulders fall before turning her gaze down to the floor, tracing the defects in the stone floor with her finger, letting the silence in the room stretch for several minutes before speaking. As anxious as the idea made her, she wanted to let someone in. She was so tired, so unbelievably exhausted with keeping secrets. And if there was anyone in this country she could trust, she knew it was George. Her boyfriend.

"Well," where to even begin? "My family–my parents, my brother, and me–we were- are…involved in sort of a bigger picture back home."

"A bigger picture?" George raised an eyebrow though his expression remained neutral.

"It's a family. It's like a big family of magical folk who, um, protect each other and work together," she nodded to herself as she spoke, trying to soothe the fear that suddenly flared in her chest at this divulgation.

"Protect each other?" George asked, his confusion obvious. "Protect each other from what?"

"Umm anything really," she shrugged. "Other witches and wizards mainly."

"The aurors in America don't do that well enough?"

"We don't have aurors there," she laughed, amused by the idea. "We don't even have a ministry of magic really. It's kind of lawless over there honestly."

"How does that even work though? Like how do international relations work? Portkeys and everything?"

"Every family has friends in high places," she shrugged again, never having given much thought to the logistics of the whole thing.

"Okay, but how does a whole country of wizards keep the secret without the laws telling them to?"

"I guess that's sort of the bigger picture part. The families manage themselves. If someone gets out of line it's…handled." she answered, choosing her words carefully.

"Handled?" he questioned, not bothering to hide the incredulous expression on his face.

"We don't have to get into every detail right now," she dismissed, turning back to the potion and adding an eye of newt, hoping to neutralize whatever had turned this potion green. She smiled triumphantly when the green potion faded into a reddish hue. "Anyway, the letter I got from my "uncle" was from my family's leader. Our High Elder."

"What did he want?" George's brows were furrowed as he tried to digest this new information at once.

"I don't know. He didn't say that much really. Just that he wanted us to have communication and that he had information I would want. And he was saying all this stuff about Dumbledore, who he apparently knows quite well," she rubbed her eyes, frustrated with her inability to see through Canmore's plans. "But the whole thing is weird. I don't trust him."

"So you're not going to write him back?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I know I probably shouldn't but part of me needs to know what he knows."

George didn't say anything in response at first, instead reaching forward to tug her into his lap where he started toying with a piece of her hair before speaking.

"I think you should go with whatever your instinct is telling you to do. But just be careful. This guy sounds powerful, and in this world, powerful usually means dangerous."

She hummed in response, leaning her head back into George's chest as she considered his words.

"You're very wise, you know that?" she stated plainly, smiling when she felt him chuckle beneath her.

"My mum would disagree with you. She thinks me and Fred are all but lost causes at this point. Wants us to get ministry jobs because she doesn't think we're bright enough to do anything else," he posed the statement as a joke, but Vivian detected the slightest hint of bitterness at the statement.

Turning to face him as best as she could while still sat on his lap, she gave him a stern look, making sure he was paying full attention to what she was about to say.

"You and Fred are two of the smartest people I've ever met. There is not a single doubt in my mind that you'll be successful at whatever you do. And if she can't see that then she's the stupid one."

He gazed at her for a moment, a glimmer of something in his eyes that she couldn't quite read before he leaned down to capture his lips with hers. They stayed that way for a while, forgetting the potion they were supposed to be working on completely, both groaning in disappointment when the end of hour bell rang.

"Should we…skip our next class too?" she asked, grinning slyly and gazing up at him through her eyelashes, knowing full well he could never say no to her when she looked at him that way.

"Well we really didn't make any progress on the potion now did we? We couldn't possibly go back to class now," he grinned back at her, kissing her once more and sending all thoughts of Canmore and the family to the very back corner of her brain.