OH NO, OH NO, OH—!

♡

the countdown gets to ten, knowing fully that she's at the end now. Today is the ninth of June. Her heart jumped when she woke up and it was June, even though she had spent all of May dreading it, knowing she was almost at the fatal month. Every day as she writes the date down in her schoolbooks, she stares at it a little longer than usual, the countdown a constant thought in her head. It used to be it's in two hundred days, it's fine, but now, it's ten days. Almost single digits. She's almost there... Whatever there entails...

She wants to grab a crystal ball and stare and hope she can have the vision now, but she's scared. It's as if her mind knows, that something bad is going to be predicted. What is she saying? Her mind does know, it's known for almost a year, it just doesn't want to tell her... Not until the nineteenth... But what makes the nineteenth so fucking special?

By this point, Fred and George have left school, giving the new Defence teacher Umbridge one final mess to clean up. Briar's glad she wasn't at Hogwarts for any of that... She's glad she got to have a break from the endless hysteria that comes with being in Gryffindor. She loves her old house, she does, but she loves Beauxbatons more — or, at least, she loves the Beauxbatons version of herself, a lot more than Gryffindor.

Because at Beauxbatons, Briar gets to help others. She wants to become a Healer now, she knows this because of the fact that she's been able to help out at her school's hospital wing, help out with the first years finding their feet, and she knows by now, that she wants to help others. The werewolf thing isn't an issue to her, or at least as much as it used to, because she knows now, that she's got the best support system in the world. But other people like her, they don't have that. And Briar wants to help them get it.

But the reminder of the fatal vision is stressing her out — and she thinks it's stressing Fred out, too, the closer it gets. She hasn't told her dad, or anyone else, and she doesn't know why, exactly, all she knows is that she was about to, but she got a bad feeling about it. Like she shouldn't tell anyone... She even started to feel regret, and guilt, about telling Fred, which confused her completely... What is this vision going to be, how terrible is it going to be, that's going to make her feel so awful for saying she's going to have a vision soon?

She doesn't even know the contents of the vision yet, and yet the idea of it is enough to make her stomach churn, her full moons become blank and visionless, as if her entire being is truly gearing up for the nineteenth of June...

It's on the fourteenth of June (five days before) that Fred comes to visit. He could visit any day now, but Briar's got exams until next Tuesday, meaning she's been busy throughout the week. She can leave school after that, earlier than the other years, because she's in her final year — everything's over after her last exam, Tuesday afternoon. Every minute spent in a Hogwarts and Beauxbatons classroom ends, next Tuesday. How weird is that?

Because of the joke shop the twins have opened on Diagon Alley, Fred turns up in an emerald suit. Briar's heart almost skips a beat, because shit, he looks fit. She does a little skip when she reaches him, and she kisses him lightly. "You look nice," she says, with a massive grin. "Like, really, really nice..."

Fred grins back at her. "Is this all I had to do, to be good-looking enough for you?" he says. "I would've started dressing like this years ago..."

She rolls her eyes, taking hold of his hand and walking in the direction of the French town's high street. It's sunny today, and Briar's in a yellow-and-white checked dress, and white Converse. She looks a little odd, next to Fred, but then, she dressed for the French summer, he dressed to show off.

"So how's George been?" says Briar.

"All right," says Fred with a shrug. "But what about you? Are you having any visions?"

"I haven't had one in a while," says Briar, and she wishes she lied, to make him worry less. "But I'm fine! Everything's fine! I'm sure it'll be fine, Fred, don't worry..." She says Fred to make sure it sticks. And she thinks it does, because he nods, as if he gets it. He pulls her into another hug and kisses her forehead. "I love you, Freddie."

"I love you, too," says Fred, and then he bursts into his normal cheeky grin. Briar already knows he's going to erupt into some spiel about some joke product, or something, because he's got the look on his face. She can't describe it, but she knows it exactly. She loves it, how excited he gets over these joke shop ideas, and she thinks he and George deserve every single ounce of success they've gotten, from their shop. "I was going to wait for your birthday to tell you, but..."

Briar raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"Did I tell you, that we had some more... uh, girly, products, in development?" says Fred, making a face at girly, not sure how else to describe them.

She frowns. "Uh, I can't remember, but maybe."

"Well," he says, the grin on his face again. "We have this whole collection, or at least an idea for one, planned out. And... I was thinking of naming it after you."

Briar's heart grows twice in size. "That's the most amazing thing I've ever heard!" she exclaims, smiling brightly. She hugs him again, and then she pulls him to a bench next to them, looking over the view of the French countryside. If you turn the opposite way, you can see the village, with Beauxbatons in the background. Both views are pretty, Briar thinks. "So, what are you thinking?"

"You see, me and George want to make them useful, as well," he explains. "Obviously we were thinking scrunchies... To be honest, we started basing most of the ideas off of what we knew you used to use, when you went to school with us."

Briar nods. "Cool..." she says. "So, like, normal scrunchies?"

"We were thinking of ones that maybe, I dunno, did something," says Fred. "But we don't know what... And we were thinking of perfumes and stuff, too, that are mixed with some kind of love potion, maybe..."

"That would be cute," says Briar. She glances down at the pink scrunchie wrapped around her wrist, and she looks up at Fred. "Maybe... The scrunchies, could, like, keep someone's hair curled, like, perfectly curled. Or they can change someone's hair colour... But like the worst thing about scrunchies is that it takes forever to make them look right, sometimes... And if you figure out the magic way to solve that... You'd make money." She winks at him. "And, you could maybe expand it, to like, butterfly clips, and headbands, because honest to God, people would buy that stuff. I would buy it, for definite."

"Well, you'll get it for free," says Fred.

"Maybe I wanna support you," says Briar, twisting her lips into a pout.

"Maybe," says Fred, putting an arm around her. "I wanna support you."

He leans in to kiss her, but Briar shifts backwards, her brows furrowing. "Woah, woah, woah, what does that mean?" she says.

"I just mean that, you know, one day when we're married and all that, I'll be looking after you, same as you with me," he says, a little slowly, as if hesitant about what he's going to say. "If you're going to be training to become a Healer, you won't be earning much for a while, so I want to, erm, look after you."

Briar raises an eyebrow. "So you wanna... live together?"

"Well," says Fred. "There's a flat above the shop that me and George are sharing, but you and me could share a room, if you wanted to... And the way the flat works, there's a room downstairs, and another upstairs, and George has the one up there so it wouldn't be, you know, weird or anything..."

"He might think about Mia, when she leaves school next year, too," says Briar, softly, as side-thought.

Fred nods. "We could move out completely, even."

"You really wanna live together?" says Briar.

He smiles sheepishly. "If you want?" he says. "But obviously if you don't want to, ignore all of this—"

Briar giggles. "I'd like to live together," she says softly. "But let me think about it first! It's a big thing, you know, doing that... Especially since your mum still doesn't know..."

"If anything, it's shocking she didn't see us snogging all those times in Grimmauld Place," says Fred with a grin. "Actually, by this point, maybe we should just wait until we're married."

"I feel like by that point, she'll have found out," says Briar.

"She's very unobservant when she wants to be," says Fred.

Briar pulls a face, and puts a hand on her heart. "So you think she doesn't want me to go out with one of her sons? I'm offended—"

"Merlin, no, the opposite," he says, shaking his head. "She probably thinks I'd corrupt you, or something."

She frowns. "Oh, because the years of being best friends did nothing?"

"Absolutely not," he says. "You're the same innocent, naïve girl from first year..."

"Naïve to willingly sit with the devil twins," she says with a grin. She glances at the high street, already filled with Beauxbatons students she recognises, walking in and out of the different shops. She stands up, taking Fred's hand to pull him up, too. "C'mon, I wanna get ice cream..."

"Shame there's not a joke shop here," says Fred.

Briar shrugs. "Well, maybe in the future, you could open one..."

"Now that's an idea," says Fred, and he squeezes her hand.

"You know, it wouldn't be that tricky, either, because you've got me to translate," says Briar. "And, then, once we've got a family, we could, like, use the shop here as an excuse to go on holiday, like, in France, in the summer...?" says Briar, smiling. Fred's face lights up at the mention of kids. She thinks it's sweet. They haven't really talked about it before, so it's nice, Briar finally saying this sort of stuff out loud.

They pass the florists, with big bouquets in the Beauxbatons colours, put outside especially for the students visiting over the weekend. "Anyways..." she says. "I gotta get these exams finished, before I can think about the future."

"I'm so happy I didn't have to take my N.E.W.T.s," says Fred. "And Mum's fine with it! Could you imagine, my mother, completely fine with the fact that me and George dropped out of school?"

"It's nice," she says. "At least she's come around now..." Briar lets out a sigh. "I wish I didn't have to do my exams..."

Fred lets out a laugh, as Briar pouts at him, and he puts his arm around her again. She can't help but break into a smile. She's so smitten sometimes, she can't even believe herself.

♡

BRIAR HAS BEEN A NERVOUS wreck, all day. She thinks her heart might stop working, from how harshly it's been pounding. Maybe she won't even get to have this fucking vision, because she'll be too nervous and she'll just die, just like that, right on the spot. Weirder things have happened, right?

It's the Wednesday, meaning yesterday afternoon, Briar finished her last ever school exam. She packed everything up on Sunday, so last night she went home, Maxime finally giving in and letting her use the Floo Network in her office.

"I hope to keep in touch," Maxime had said with a smile. "I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you, Madame Maxime," Briar had replied. "For... everything."

Briar went to her dad's, mostly because it was quicker, and easier than explaining to Maxime her living plans once she's left school. To be fair, Briar's been figuring it out, and it would be easier to get to St Mungo's for training if she lived in Diagon Alley... And, sure, she'll Apparate, but she likes to walk. If she's putting herself in charge of people's health, then she needs to look after herself, too.

The full moon's on Saturday, so she plans to stay at her dad's until that's over. She'll sleep over at the twins' flat tonight, depending on how bad the vision is, but she still wants to see this flat of theirs — and the shop! Briar cannot wait to see the shop... She also cannot wait to get this vision over and done with, because then she can finally celebrate that she's finished school.

Maybe I should tell Dad, Briar thinks, as she sits with him in the kitchen. He woke up early to make her breakfast, which she thought was sweet, and he started telling her how exciting it'll be, moving out.

"Not that I'm kicking you out," he said with a laugh.

Briar had shaken her head. "Oh, sure, Dad...!"

"All I'm saying, is that it's a big thing, moving out for the first time," he told her, as he handed her a plate of pancakes. Briar sprinkles blueberries and strawberries on top. At Beauxbatons, they had these pancakes with blueberries in the paste, so that the pancake itself was blue, like the school colours... Malecrit, Briar misses it there. Already. "They've probably got enough furniture and all that, but I've got your grandmother's old cookbooks, and if you need anything..."

"I'll be fine," said Briar, with a small smile. I'll be fine, once this vision is over.

But she looks across at her dad, and the timing feels right. Or... is it bad, for her to tell him, this late? Maybe she should say the countdown wasn't as long as she said... She doesn't want to lie, but like, she knows, it'll sound a lot better, leaving out the part that she's known for over three hundred days, and it's the day of, when she decides to tell him.

She doesn't like lying, though...

"Dad," says Briar.

"Yeah?" he says, looking up from his book.

"I... think I'm going to have a vision today," she says, slowly. Her insides are wrestling with what she should say — should I just tell him? Should I not? What if he gets upset, that I've only just told him? "And... I don't know, I feel like it's going to be a big one..." He nods, but his brows are furrowed in the same way they were when she told him she was a werewolf, like him; how he was immediately overwhelmed with guilt and worry because he thought he gave the condition to her. She hates seeing him upset like this. "It might be nothing, but I just wanted you to know..."

Remus nods. "Maybe we should speak to Dumbledore, in case it's anything... to do with the Order," he says, quietly. He looks worried already. "Although, I don't know where he is, right now..." That's right. Dumbledore, as mad as it sounds, happens to be on the run, because the new Defence teacher has turned into a full-on tyrant. "I'll write to Moody. Just in case it's anything bad..."

"I don't want to worry anyone," says Briar, softly.

"Briar, don't worry about that — this could be helpful, and if it's not, then that's fine," says Remus, and he stands up. He's about to go and get the parchment and quill, but before that, he moves to hug her. "I'll let the Order know what's going on... Don't worry, OK?"

And then her dad disappears for a few minutes, to write to Moody. Briar grabs the piece of parchment — really, she should talk Fred into marketing these, since they're a God-send — and writes to Fred, Just told Dad.

Fred writes back, Let me know when it's happened.

Will do xx, she says back to him, before she puts the parchment back away.

She holds onto her cup of tea, comforted by the warmth of the mug despite the hot weather currently taking the UK by storm. If she wasn't so worried about this vision, she'd be sitting outside, but the idea of lounging around makes her feel uneasy. She needs to be ready, just in case this vision turns out to be bad — and if the vision's predicting something that's going to happen soon, then what? She needs to be ready. Whatever happens, it won't be the same as Cedric. She'll stop it this time.

Remus returns to the room, with a frown across his face. "I've just thought... it isn't safe for me to write to Moody," he says.

Briar frowns. "So what do we do?"

"I think we should go to Grimmauld Place," he says. "There's supposed to be a meeting there tonight, so hopefully we'll be able to let someone know, what's going on... And Sirius will be there, anyway..."

Briar's brows furrowed. She doesn't like the idea of her godfather, all locked away and unable to leave his old family home... She can imagine herself, his age, being forced to stay with her grandparents. She loves her grandparents regardless but she remembers the fear she felt when she realised what had happened with Uncle Barty. She missed the idealised version of her life with her grandma and grandpa, not the version that made her leave, right then and there.

So they go to Grimmauld Place. Sirius is sitting in the kitchen, when they arrive, and his face lights up, the second he sees them. He hugs both of them. Briar wonders if he goes to see Mia, or if they're the first people to visit, outside of Order meetings...

"How are you, Moony?" says Sirius. He grins at Briar. "Moony Junior."

Briar smiles softly.

"Briar says she's going to have a vision," says Remus, and instantly Sirius' brows furrow in concern. "I thought we could stay here, for a while, just in case it's anything to do with the Order."

Sirius nods. "That's fair enough."