The next few weeks were a pain to say the least, but it was no surprise to Briana in the least. She couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts. Every second with the Dursleys was hell.
She thought this over as she sat in the kitchen the following morning. Harry wasn't up yet, but Dudley was and was already digging into his breakfast, his fifth chin flapping happily. I watched him with a look of disgust.
Aunt Petunia was making sure to keep up with the breakfast as Vernon watched TV.
Briana got sick of watching Dudley and got up to sit on the coach in the living room. Uncle Vernon ignored her as he watched the TV.
Uncle Vernon was watching the news. They were currently broadcasting a warning about a newly escaped criminal.
"We are told that Sirius Black is highly dangerous. If seen, contact the police right away," the reporter was saying.
"No wonder," Vernon spat at the TV, "Look at his hair!"
Black indeed had long curly black hair along his shoulders. Briana stared at him for a moment.
"Where did he escape from?" Briana asked.
Uncle Vernon blinked at her in surprise. Usually Briana wasn't one to go asking her Uncle or Aunt questions. Typically she tried ignoring them as much as possible.
"Idiots didn't tell us," for once, it wasn't Briana being called the idiot, "How are we to know where the maniac is!"
At that moment, Harry came walking into the kitchen. He had some kind of form clutched in his hand. He sat next to me and handed one of two over to me.
It was a Hogsmeades permission slip form. Briana had almost forgotten that third years were allowed to visit the village. Hogsmeades had tons of shops, candy shops, joke shops...... lots of different stuff. It looked as if they needed a signature to go though, which wasn't good on there part.
"He'll never sign it," Briana whispered to Harry, motioning towards Uncle Vernon.
As for Uncle Vernon, he was still raging on about Sirius Black, "When will they understand the only way to deal with these people are hangings!"
"I agree," Aunt Petunia had entered the living room and was glaring out the window.
The sound of the mailbox flipping sounded from the front door. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley all looked at Harry and Briana.
"I'll get it," Briana muttered as she stood.
Briana reached down and grabbed the mail from the floor. Mostly bills were contained in it, and a few cards. Briana headed back to the living room.
Briana tossed the letters to Uncle Vernon. She realized that Harry was in some kind of argument with their relatives.
"She's not coming here, is she?" Harry was asking.
"She is a for a week," Uncle Vernon spat, "And you better behave yourself!"
"Who?" Briana said cluelessly. Wow, that was the second question she had asked. She was on a roll.
"Your Aunt Marge," Uncle Vernon snapped.
Briana couldn't stop the words that came from her mouth, "Oh no."
Aunt Marge wasn't technically Briana or Harry's aunt. She was Uncle Vernon's sister well her mother had been Aunt Petunia's sister. Uncle Vernon still expected her to be called Aunt Marge. Aunt Marge lived where she bred bull dogs. Aunt Marge usually cried at the thought of leaving her precious dogs for long periods of times, but once in a while she would come on over.
In Briana's eyes, Aunt Marge was worse then Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and even Dudley. Aunt Marge had a serious grudge against Briana.
The first time Briana remembered meeting the witch was when she was about five. Aunt Marge had called her a little brat so for revenge she added hot sauce to her stew.
Of course Briana's ways of torture to her had increased. A year before Harry and Briana had gone to Hogwarts, Briana had gotten so mad at Aunt Marge's rude comments she had told Aunt Marge that she would get her a razor for Christmas because she needed it for that disgusting mustache on her face. This of course had resulted with both Briana and Harry getting punished, but the two still laughed about the look on Aunt Marge's face.
As Briana tried to come up with another plot, Vernon continued, "As we are on the subject, we might as well get something's straight!" Vernon declared.
"First off, while Aunt Marge is here I expect you to keep a civilized tongue!" he said, looking pointingly at me. Apparently the incident was still fresh in his mind too.
"OK," Briana said, "As long as she does."
"Second," Vernon continued, "As Aunt Marge knows nothing about your abnormality, I would like it to stay that way."
"You mean ma....."
Harry cut me off, "We will."
Uncle Vernon nodded, "You bet, boy. Thirdly, I have told Aunt Marge that you attend St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys."
"What!" Harry exclaimed.
"Oh, what criminal school do I go to?" Briana asked sarcastically.
Uncle Vernon shook his head, "You will continue going to your school you've always gone too."
"I'm not a criminal," Harry said, "If anything, Briana is."
Briana nodded in agreement.
"Don't screw this up!" Uncle Vernon yelled, "Now I'm going to go pick Aunt Marge up from the airport. You two better behave and stay out of Aunt Petunias way when she cleans!"
"My pleasure," Briana said as she tried to walk off but Harry grabbed her wrist.
"I have an idea."
Briana followed Harry after Uncle Vernon, who was standing in the hallway, getting on his coat. He looked over when we appeared.
"What do you two want?"
"I need you to sign these," Harry held out the two permission slips.
Uncle Vernon snatched them from his grip, "What are these?"
"Sometimes at our school they let us go to the village," Harry said.
"And why should I sign this?" Uncle Vernon questioned. Briana thought this was a great question.
Harry shrugged, "If its not signed, I might have a pretty hard time remembering I go to......"
"St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys!"Uncle Vernon snapped.
Harry, you fricken genius.
"Yeah," Briana joined in, "I might forget to keep my manners and then bam," Briana snapped her fingers, causing Uncle Vernon to jump, but nothing happened, "The pudding could go flying in the air again."
"You wouldn't!" Uncle Vernon breathed out, "Your not allowed to do it outside of school!"
"Right you are," Briana said smoothly, "But that wouldn't erase what Aunt Marge saw."
Uncle Vernon looked between the two of them
"I may sound more convincing if you sign it," Harry pushed it under Uncle Vernon's nose, "But if you sign them then I'll act as normal as possible."
Uncle Vernon eyes us, "Very well. I will be monitoring your behavior throughout Aunt Marge's visit. If you keep to the story, then I will sign both of your forms."
With that, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut behind him.
In sync, Harry and Briana turned to each other.
"Their goes my enjoyment of being rude to that witch," Briana muttered.
"I really want to go with Ron, Hermione and Ashley to Hogsmeade," Harry said, "Can't you control yourself around her for a week?"
Briana shrugged, "We'll see."
Briana returned to her cupboard and sat there. This was terrible. What was she going to do now that she couldn't bother Aunt Marge?
It seemed like only a few minutes before Aunt Petunia was yelling that their guest had arrived. Briana stood up and looked in the mirror. She tied her hair back so that way her scar was so obvious that anybody could notice it, she left the room.
Harry was already standing there and seemed to have done the exact opposite. His bangs caused his scar to be well hidden under his hair.
Briana walked over and stood next to him. The door bell rang and Aunt Petunia looked at Harry pointedly to answer it.
Harry opened the door. As soon as it was an inch open, Aunt Marge shoved it open and appeared, in one arm a suitcase and in the other, one of her bulldogs named Ripper.
Aunt Marge was almost identical to Uncle Vernon as far as looks. She had short, yet curly light brown hair and a barely visible mustache. She wore a skirt and dressy shirt with dress shoes.
"Petunia!" Marge ran past Briana and gave her a wet kiss on the cheek. Briana felt sorry for poor Petunia.
Harry shut the door after Uncle Vernon had walked in and came to stand next to me. He already looked rather irritated.
After giving Dudley a kiss as well, Aunt Marge finally noticed the two Potters standing nearby.
"So you two still live here?" Aunt Marge asked.
"Yes," Harry said.
"Don't say that with such a unappreciative voice boy, you're lucky my brother and Petunia took you in."
Harry took a deep breath, "I wasn't,....."
"Look at this lovely luggage," Briana interrupted him, "Perhaps we should take it to Aunt Marge's room."
Harry nodded reluctantly and grabbed the suitcase. Briana was about to follow him, but Aunt Marge stopped her.
"What's that on your forehead?" she asked, pointing to Briana's obvious scar.
"I got it when my parents died," Briana told her with a straight face, "I would tell you how, but you might not believe me if I did."
With that, Briana headed upstairs.
Harry had just set Marge's suitcase down when Briana entered.
"We need to keep calm," Briana told him, "Its what she wants, us to get all angry at her. Just take her remarks as compliments."
The next six days went by peacefully enough. Briana was happy when the last night of Marge's stay came. Aunt Petunia was cooking a lovely dinner and Briana even decided to wear her only dress for the occasion. This was time for celebration.
Briana went downstairs before everyone else and went to the kitchen. Aunt Petunia was the only one in there, setting the table. She looked up when Briana walked in.
"That's a lovely dress," Petunia said.
Briana tried not to act surprised. Aunt Petunia's eyes widened as soon as the words came out and looked back down at what she was doing.
"Do you need help?" Briana asked.
Aunt Petunia shook her head, "Go tell the others that dinner is ready."
Briana nodded and walked towards the stairs and yelled for everyone to come. She barely got the words out before Dudley came hobbling past her.
Briana chuckled to herself as she sat at the table. Harry soon joined her as Aunt Marge and Uncle Vernon started eating.
"One more night," Briana whispered, winking at Harry.
"More wine, Aunt Marge?" Uncle Vernon asked as he held up a bottle of wine.
"Yes please," Aunt Marge said, "More, More, thats the ticket."
Briana watched in disgust as Aunt Marge drank from the wine.
Aunt Marge suddenly looked up, "What are you staring at, girl?"
"Nothing," Briana muttered, looking away.
Aunt Marge straightened up, "I've seen these in women before, Petunia. Stubborn, mindless...."
Aunt Marge stopped as suddenly the glass in her hand shattered into pieces. Briana knew she hadn't done it and their was only one other wizard in the room. She looked over at Harry and saw his face was red with anger as he looked at Marge.
Uncle Vernon seemed to notice to, "Why don't you two go to bed."
"No, Vernon," Aunt Marge waved him off, "Its the same with the boy to. Weak. Unintelligent. What did you say their father did?"
"No job," Aunt Petunia whispered.
"A drunk," Uncle Vernon added.
"My father wasn't a drunk," Harry muttered under his breath.
"What was that boy?" Aunt Marge asked.
"My father wasn't a drunk," Harry said louder.
Aunt Marge ignored him, "Its not always the father though. Nothing against you, Petunia, but your sister was a little off the rocker. It's the same in dogs you know, if theirs something wrong with the bitch, then theirs something wrong with the pup."
Harry suddenly stood up. Briana grabbed his wrist, "Harry," she warned.
"I really think..."
Aunt Marge interrupted. "Go on, boy. Tell us how proud you are of your parents. How they died in a car accident and left my brother with a big burden! They were drunk I presume."
"They didn't die in a car accident!" Harry yelled. Briana suddenly noticed that Harry was shaking from anger.
"Time for bed," Briana got up and tried to drag Harry away.
"They did, you liar!" Marge shot by, "Bet they...."
Aunt Marge had stopped. She was now staring at her finger, that had suddenly turned the size of a cherry. That wasn't the only thing that was growing bigger. Marge was suddenly so big she was floating into the air like a balloon.
"Vernon, help!" Marge was now floating out the door.
"Nooooo!" Vernon screamed, "Marge!"
Vernon ran forward and grabbed Marges foot, but let go when he was bit by Ripper. He screamed in pain as Marge continued floating up and yelling in panic.
In the kitchen, Aunt Petunia and Dudley were looking on in shock. Briana and Harry stood side by side.
A smile slid on Briana's face, "That's unfortunate."
Harry looked over at her, "Lets get out of here."
Briana nodded in agreement. Briana headed to her cupboard and started packing clothes. She put on some leather boots and slid her wand inside her left boot before pulling a sweatshirt on. Briana grabbed all her books, potion supplies, The Marauders Map and all her presents and stuffed them in her trunk with her clothes.
Briana met Harry at the end of the stairs. He also had his trunk. Briana headed towards the door, but Vernon suddenly blocked it.
"Set her right!" Uncle Vernon yelled at them.
"No!" Harry spat, "She deserved what she got!"
"You can't leave!" Vernon yelled.
"Oh yeah, watch us," Harry challenged.
"You have no where to go!" Vernon yelled, "You'll be on the streets."
"Great," Harry said, "Anywheres better then here."
Vernon blocked their path still. Briana yanked her wand out and pointed it at him, "Move."
Vernon gave a panicked experrison.
"Move now!" Briana screamed.
Vernon stepped back reluctantly. Harty shoved past him as Briana followed, wand still in hand. The two went out the door and into the street.