Bree's newest cousin, Christina Smith, had blue-grey eyes and a tuft of black hair on her head. She was tiny,with little fingers and toes and limbs that she liked to fail about in an attempt to understand how they moved. She terrified Bree to no end. She was small and completely dependent on others to care for her, just being in the same room with her made Bree panic.

Alice had a similar reaction to the family's new addition ,but there was also an underlying sadness. The day Alice had been "born" had been filled with confusion, terror, and death. Except that she hadn't really been born at all, just thrust into existence with fourteen years' worth of memories in a brand new body. A body that grown in the two years she had been alive until she resembled a seventeen year old. That meant that she had seventeen years' worth of memories but only two years of memories that actually belonged to Chrissy would have a childhood and parents and would actually get to meet the rest of the family.

Vince and Lisa loved their little girl, but still made time for Alice when they could which, between the needs of the new baby, Vince's therapy, and the effort to reclaim lost territory, was difficult but appreciated.

Leo spent the most time with Alice. He taught her about his specialty, smuggling. He was one of the few people that saw the differences in personality that Alice and Bree were developing and he was working to encourage it. The world really didn't need more than one Lisa per generation.

George took Bree out to dinner on her birthday. He took her to a fancy restaurant and afterwards they went for a walk. It was rather uneventful… for them anyway. They were too distracted by each other to notice Ben and his camera being put into the back of a squadcar.

A few days after Bree's birthday Leo and Alice were watching while Bree was combing through every newspaper she could get her hands on looking for information about... something she wouldn't elaborate on

"Any idea what she's looking for?" Leo asked his sister a few days after Bree's birthday. Alice shrugged.

"Something to do with the Doctor. I don't really remember what. I don't think she does either." she replied.

"I found it!" Bree exclaimed, holding a newspaper up over her head. Alice took the paper from Bree.

"Harry Saxon..." Alice mumbled, frowning.

"Wait for it..." Bree said. Alice looked through a few of the other papers Bree had laid out. Her eyes widened.

"Holy shit!" Alice shouted. Leo looked around wildly to make sure that his mother hadn't heard because he would be blamed for his sister's curseing just like he had been blamed when Bree had said her first curse word. It wasn't his fault, how was he supposed to know she had been listening at the time? He calmed down when he remembered that Lisa was out "running errands."

"We're all going to die!" Alice continued.

"We probably already did." Bree replied.

"What are you two talking about?" Leo asked.

"Harry Saxon, aka, the Master, and his paradox machine." Alice answered.

"Which has been deactivated." Bree added.

"You sure?" Alice asked.

"Harry Saxon is dead." Bree replied

"So we missed the end of the world, everything worked out, and we didn't have to do anything." Alice stated.

"Exactly." Bree said.

"Sweet." Alice said.

"I have no idea what's going on." Leo complained.

"THE STARS ARE GOING OUT" MORE DEATHS TO COME? Read the headline of the Daily Prophet. Bree skimmed the article. Apparently Slughorn had taken her statement to mean that "the wizarding world's brightest stars" were in danger and told the reporters as much.

Why couldn't anyone look at the sky and go "Oh yeah, the stars ARE going out!"? But no, they had to look for some nonexistent deeper meaning. Idiots.

There had been a breakout from Azkaban. There had been no announcement by the ministry or anything in the media but once Death Eaters that were supposed to be locked up started turning up as victims of battle it became rather clear.

"They're getting more daring." Lisa said to Bree as they sat in her office. "They'll have the government under their control soon, and once that happens things will become problematic."

"Problematic?" Bree echoed.

"Other nations noticing, Voldemort deciding to take over other countries, all-out war, that sort of thing." Lisa explained offhandedly.

"Oh, is that all?" Bree replied sarcastically. Lisa ignored her.

"My forces are divided between stopping Vodemort and reclaiming lost business from our competitors." she explained. "We're having difficulty doing both with our available manpower, we need to recruit some more allies, that's where you come in.

"Me?" Bree questioned.

"You're going to be our new recruiter." Lisa stated. "You'll travel around calling in old favors and collecting old debts, maybe making new friends."

"Traveling where exactly?" Bree inquired.

"Everywhere. There are many people outside of England that owe-" Bree cut her aunt off.

"You're getting rid of me." she accused.

"You're being targeted. The wizarding world believes that you are a seer, more importantly, Voldemort believes you are a seer." Lisa explained. "He wants is forces to take you alive. Greyback has ordered his pack to make you suffer first. You're leaving after the wedding."

She left no room for arguement.

Line line line

Bree wrote to Neville and Luna telling them that she would not be returning to Hogwarts that year and, consequently, neither would Ben.

Harry had been moved from Grimmauld Place to the Burrow. The trip had been uneventful. Mad-eye had come up with a convoluted plan involving decoys polyjuiced to look like Harry, broomsticks, and thestrals. Sirius came up with a much saner plan of polyjuicing Harry to look like a nondescript business man and taking him to the Burrow by car.

Moody seemed rather let down.

Tonks and Remus got married in a small ceremony. They wouldn't let Sirius blow as much money as he could on the wedding, despite his insistance that he wanted to do something special for his favorite cousin. They did let Sirius be best man though, a move that Remus later regreted. Sirius had gone all out for the bachelor party. The day after the party turned out kind of like the movie "The Hangover" only in Bristol. The party had been in London.

It had been two years and Bree's idea n of "making space bigger on the inside" had finally been realized. Sort of. Two runic tattoos, each the size of a postage stamp, on each of Bree's wrists and she had a storage space that could store about a hundred pounds of material. It worked by running magic through the runes and thinking of the item you wanted to store or retrieve.

Harry's birthday was the day before the wedding. A dinner was held at the burrow. Several tables were placed end to end in the garden. Fred and George bewitched a number of purple lanterns all emblazoned with a large number 17, to hang in midair over the guests.

Hermione made purple and gold streamers erupt from the end of her wand and drape themselves artistically over the trees and bushes.

"Nice," said Ron, as with one final flourish of her wand. "You've really got an eye for that sort of thing."

"Thank you, Ron!" said Hermione, looking both pleased and a little confused

"Out of the way, out of the way!" sang Mrs. Weasley, coming through the gate with what appeared to be a giant, beach-ball-sized Snitch floating in front of her. Seconds later Harry realized that it was his birthday cake, which Mrs. Weasley was suspending with her wand, rather than risk carrying it over the uneven ground. When the cake had finally landed in the middle of the table, Harry said, "That looks amazing, Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh, it's nothing, dear," she said fondly.

By seven o'clock all the guests had arrived, led into the house by Fred and George, who had waited for them at the end of the lane. Hagrid had honored the occasion by wearing his best, and horrible, hairy brown suit. Although Lupin smiled as he shook Harry's hand, he looked rather unhappy. It was all very odd; Tonks, beside him, looked simply radiant.

"Happy birthday, Harry," she said, hugging him tightly.

"Seventeen, eh!" said Hagrid as he accepted a bucket-sized glass of wine from Fred. "Six years ter the day since we met, Harry, d'yeh remember it?"

"Vaguely," said Harry, grinning up at him. "Didn't you smash down the front door, give Dudley a pig's tail, and tell me I was a wizard?"

"I forge' the details," Hagrid chortled. "All righ', Ron, Hermione?"

"We're fine," said Hermione. "How are you?"

"Ar, not bad. Bin busy, we got some newborn unicorns. I'll show yeh when yeh get back" Hagrid rummaged in his pocket. "Here. Harry "couldn't think what ter get teh, but then I remembered this." He pulled out a small, slightly furry drawstring pouch with a long string, evidently intended to be worn around the neck. "Mokeskin. Hide anythin' in there an' no one but the owner can get it out. They're rare, them."

"Hagrid, thanks!"

"'S'nothin'," said Hagrid with a wave of a dustbin-lid-sized hand. "An' there's Charlie! Always liked him, hey! Charlie!"

Charlie approached, running his hand slightly ruefully over his new, brutally short haircut. He was shorter than Ron, thickset, with a number of burns and scratches up his muscled arms.

"Hi, Hagrid, how's it going?"

"Bin meanin' ter write fer ages. How's Norbert doin'?"

"Norbert?" Charlie laughed. "The Norwegian Ridgeback? We call her Norberta now."

"Wha ¨Norbert's a girl?"

"Oh yeah," said Charlie.

"How can you tell?" asked Hermione.

"They're a lot more vicious," said Charlie. He looked over his shoulder and dropped his voice. "Wish Dad would hurry up and get here. Mum's getting edgy."

They all looked over at Mrs. Weasley. She was trying to talk to Madame Delacour while glancing repeatedly at the gate.

"I think we'd better start without Arthur," she called to the garden at large after a moment or two. "He must have been held up at ¨C oh!"

They all saw it at the same time: a streak of light that came flying across the yard and onto the table, where it resolved itself into a bright silver weasel, which stood on its hind legs and spoke with Mr. Weasley's voice.

"Minister of Magic coming with me."

The Patronus dissolved into thin air, leaving Fleur's family peering in astonishment at the place where it had vanished.

"We shouldn't be here," said Lupin at once. "Harry ¨C I'm sorry ¨C I'll explain some other time¨C"

He seized Tonks's wrist and pulled her away; they reached the fence, climbed over it, and vanished from sight. Mrs. Weasley looked bewildered.

"The Minister, but why? I don't understand."

But there was no time to discuss the matter; a second later, Mr. Weasley had appeared out of thin air at the gate, accompanied by Rufus Scrimgeour, instantly recognizable by his mane of grizzled hair.

The two newcomers marched across the yard toward the garden and the lantern-lit table, where everybody sat in silence, watching them draw closer. As Scrimgeour came within range of the lantern light. Harry saw that he looked much older than the last time that had met, scraggy and grim.

"Sorry to intrude," said Scrimgeour, as he limped to a halt before the table. "Especially as I can see that I am gate-crashing a party."

His eyes lingered for a moment on the giant Snitch cake.

"Many happy returns."

"Thanks," said Harry.

"I require a private word with you," Scrimgeour went on. "Also with Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger."

"Us?" said Ron, sounding surprised. "Why us?"

"I shall tell you that when we are somewhere more private," said Scrimgeour. "Is there such a place?" he demanded of Mr. Weasley.

"Yes, of course," said Mr. Weasley, who looked nervous. "The, er, sitting room, why don't you use that?"

"You can lead the way," Scrimgeour said to Ron. "There will be no need for you to accompany us, Arthur."

Mr. Weasley exchanged a worried look with Mrs. Weasley as Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood up. From then on there was awkward small talk until they heard raised voices from inside the house and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went to investigate.

It turned out that the Minister had come to release the contents of Dumbledore's will. He had left Hermione a book entitled ""The Tales of Beedle the Bard", Ron received Dumbledore's Deluminator, and Harry got the first Golden Snitch he had ever caught. Harry was also supposed to receive the Sword of Gryffindor but the Ministry said that it wasn't his to give away.

The three objects were passed from hand to hand. Everyone exclaimed over the Deluminator and The Tales of Beedle the Bard and lamented the fact that Scrimgeour had refused to pass on the sword, but none of them could offer any suggestion as to why Dumbledore would have left Harry an old Snitch. As Mr. Weasley examined the Deluminator for the third of fourth time, Mrs. Weasley said tentatively, "Harry, dear, everyone's awfully hungry we didn't like to start without you... Shall I serve dinner now?"

They all ate rather hurriedly and then after a hasty chorus of "Happy Birthday" and much gulping of cake, the party broke up. Hagrid, who was invited to the wedding the following day, but was far too bulky to sleep in the overstretched Burrow, left to set up a tent for himself in a neighboring field.

Bree finally got a moment alone with George.

"You've been awfully quiet tonight." George commented.

"I'm leaving the country soon." Bree replied.

"Another family reunion?" George asked.

"No. Lisa's moving me overseas under the pretense of "recruiting more allies" but really she thinks my chances of survival are better if I'm a moving target." Bree answered.

"Well," George began "I guess we'd better make the time we have left together count."

The wedding was gorgeous. A great white marquee had been set up in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests. Fred, George, Ron, and Harry, who had taken some polyjuice potion so that he looked like a red-headed muggle boy that lived in town, were charged with showing people to their seats.

White-robed waiters and a golden jacketed band were "waiting in the wings" as it were. The entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles were entwined with white and gold flowers. Fred and George had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife. Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow.

Lisa's personal body guard, Fiona, was Bree's escort for the event. The Irishwoman was dressed in a green ensemble that showed off her curves and Bree wore blue.

The very last guest to arrive was Victor Krum who caused quite a commotion among the guests, especially among Fleur's Veela cousins. The wedding could finally begin.

A sense of jittery anticipation had filled the warm tent, the general murmuring broken by occasional spurts of excited laughter. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley strolled up the aisle, smiling and waving at relatives; Mrs. Weasley was wearing a brand-new set of amethyst colored robes with a matching hat.

A moment later Bill and Charlie stood up at the front of the marquee, both wearing dress robes, with larger white roses in their buttonholes; Fred wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of giggling from the veela cousins. Then the crowd fell silent as music swelled from what seemed to be the golden balloons.

A great collective sigh issued from the assembled witches and wizards as Monsieur Delacour and Fleur came walking up the aisle, Fleur gliding, Monsieur Delacour bouncing and beaming. Fleur was wearing a very simple white dress and seemed to be emitting a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else by comparison, today it beautified everybody it fell upon. Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses, looked even prettier than usual and once Fleur had reached for him, Bill did not look as though he had ever met Fenrir Greyback.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said a slightly singsong voice, it was the same small, tufty-hired wizard who had presided at Dumbledore's funeral, now standing in front of Bill and Fleur. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls..."

"Yes, my tiara set off the whole thing nicely," said Auntie Muriel in a rather carrying whisper. "But I must say, Ginevra's dress is far too low cut."

Ginny glanced around, grinning, winked at Harry, then quickly faced the front again. "Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle...?"

In the front row, Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour were both sobbing quietly into scraps of lace. Trumpetlike sounds from the back of the marquee told everyone that Hagrid had taken out one of his own tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs.

"...then I declare you bonded for life."

The tufty-haired wizard waved his hand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiraling around their now entwined figures. As Fred and George led a round of applause, the golden balloons overhead burst. Birds of paradise and tiny golden bells flew and floated out of them, adding their songs and chimes to the din.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" called the tufty-haired wizard. "If you would please stand up!"

They all did so, Auntie Muriel grumbling audibly; he waved his wand again. The chairs on which they had been sitting rose gracefully into the air as the canvas walls of the marquee vanished, so that they stood beneath a canopy supported by golden poles, with a glorious view of the sunlit orchard and surrounding countryside. Next, a pool of molten gold spread from the center of the tent to form a gleaming dance floor; the hovering chairs grouped themselves around small, white-clothed tables, which all floated gracefully back to earth round it, and the golden-jacketed band trooped toward a podium.

The waiters popped up on all sides, some hearing silver trays of pumpkin juice, butterbeer, and firewhisky, others tottering piles of tarts and sandwiches.

Bree and Fiona found seats at a table. Bree spotted Luna and a man that was presumably her father at a nearby table. They were both dressed in yellow. Luna had a sunflower in her hair.

The band had begun to play, Bill and Fleur took to the dance floor first, to great applause; after a while, Mr. Weasley led Madame Delacour onto the floor, followed by Mr. Weasley and Fleur's father.

Luna was swaying in time to the waltzlike tune, and a few seconds later she stood up and glided onto the dance floor, where she revolved on the spot, quite alone, eyes closed and waving her arms.

George invited Bree to dance. Fiona kept a close eye on them while still being aware of everything else going on.

Bree had been to a wedding before when she was rather small. She had been the flower girl and only had vague memories of a church and a slice of cake. It had definitely hadn't included a wedding cake topped with two model phoenixes that took flight when the cake was cut, or bottles of champagne that floated unsupported through the crowd.

As the evening drew in, and moths began to swoop under the canopy, now lit with floating golden lanterns, the revelry became more and more uncontained. Fred had long since disappeared into the darkness with a pair of Fleur's cousins; Charlie, Hagrid, and a squat wizard in a purple porkpie hat were singing "Odo the Hero" in the corner. Bree and George slipped out into the garden.

They sat quietly. George had his arm around Bree and she was leaning on his chest.

"I don't want this moment to ever end." Bree whispered.

"Neither do I." George mumbled.

Time must move forward. No moment, no matter how perfect, can last forever.

Something large and silver shot towards the marquee. Bree and George rushed over. They heard the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed.

Guests were sprinting in all directions; many were Disapparating. Protective enchantments that had been placed around the Burrow had broken.

"Perception filters." Bree said. George nodded. Bree gave him a quick kiss.

"Be safe." George said before they both vanished into the crowd.

Bree quickly found Fiona, or Fiona found her. Bree hadn't yet activated her perception filter when Fiona grabbed her and apparated away.

The next chapter will stray completely from the Harry Potter books. Crossovers will come later. SOme will be a little more in depth than others.