Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. All that belongs to JKRowling.

The sky outside was a bright blue and only broken that the occasional small puff of white clouds. It was a perfect for a chance to try and forget about the terrors that had happened only two weeks prior. At least for a little while.

Fifteen-year-old Bryt Watkins took advantage of this. She was walking along one of the London streets, trying not to think about what happened during the Triwizard Tournament, and what resulted from it. Bryt chose to push the thoughts from her mind the best she could, but it only brought up thoughts of what was happening now.

It had only been a week since the summer vacation started but a lot had happened. The Daily Prophet was painting Dumbledore as insane and Harry Potter, one of Bryt's closest friends, as an attention-seeking nutter. To add to it, Bryt had received a letter from her boyfriend, Ron Weasley, that his father had gotten into an argument with one of Ron's brothers, Percy, and Percy was apparently no longer speaking to the entire family. Ron didn't specify in the letter what the argument was about, but Bryt was sure it had to do with what had happened a couple of weeks before—especially considering how ambitious Percy was. A year ago, Bryt wouldn't have thought it. But after seeing everything that had happened with Barty Crouch and his son, Bryt didn't have much doubt that, if it came to it, Percy would put his job above his family. And it seemed he had.

Bryt desperately needed a distraction and having Sofí García around would be a perfect way for it, which was why Bryt was glad Sofí and her brother, Julio, were arriving that day to spend the summer with her.

One year older than Bryt, Sofí was the type of girl who was best described as a hyperactive accident waiting to happen. She was constantly smiling and making jokes, giving her this way of cheering anyone up—usually by annoying the hell out of them until they were more focused at yelling at her instead of thinking about their troubles. Even though Bryt knew Sofí her entire life, she still had no idea if Sofí did these things purposely, or if she was just naturally the type who seemed clueless to others' worries. It was hard to tell with that girl.

It was late afternoon when Bryt finally arrived back at her house, which sat at the end of a street near the edge of London. She noticed her younger brothers, twins Mike and Drew—who were almost as different in personality as they were identical in appearance—were sitting in front of the house while Drew's black-and-white cat, Merlin, was curled up in Drew's lap.

"Dad's gone to get Sofí and Julio," Mike said as Bryt came up, "Mom's working on supper. She's upset again."

Bryt sighed. Every day for the past week, Mrs. Watkins became annoyed when Bryt received the Daily Prophet, and she had been just as annoyed when Bryt's barn owl, Joey, had arrived with Ron's letter about Percy. Mrs. Watkins had loudly insisted on one afternoon that she didn't want to hear anything about the magical world. Bryt had thought her father had been able to talk Mrs. Watkins and get her to be okay with the wizarding world after Voldemort's return two weeks before. Apparently, it hadn't worked so well.

'She probably thinks that if she ignores it, she can pretend it's not real,' Bryt thought. She had gone through something very similar, though it had involved her feelings towards her long-time friend and now boyfriend.

"I'll be sure not to say anything to make it worse," Bryt said, stepping past her brothers to head inside. As she got closer to the kitchen, she could hear her mother running water inside. Bryt stepped into the archway to see Mrs. Watkins was filling a pot, and a frying pan with ground beef was already on the stove.

"Anything I can help with?" Bryt asked. She wasn't much of a cook, but she still felt she should offer.

"Spaghetti's not hard to make, I'm fine," Mrs. Watkins said without looking up, "Sofí and Julio'll be here soon, you'll want to talk with them."

Bryt sighed, knowing her mother wasn't in the mood to talk. Instead, she turned and went to her room. She'd only been home for a week, but Bryt's school supplies were already scattered around the room. Bryt ignored the mess, flopping down on her bed and closing her eyes. She was sure that she had dozed off because the next thing she knew, someone was flicking on and off her light overhead.

Bryt groaned, opening her light brown eyes and looked towards the doorway, where Sofí was standing at the light switch. She was grinning brightly and Julio, her one-year-older brother, was standing beside her. Bryt grinned, sitting up and crossing her legs as she ran a hand through her chopped-short blonde hair.

"About time you woke up," Sofí said, coming over and sitting on Bryt's bed. Half-Hispanic, both Sofí and Julio were tall—both at least a foot taller than Bryt's four-foot-eight—and both had black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Glad you could get here," Bryt said.

"Just in time, too," Julio replied, "Yer mom's not that happy right now, and Mr. Watkins is tryin' t'calm her down."

"What happened?"

"Mr. Weasley's here."

Bryt blinked in surprise. Though Bryt's father and Ron's father were friends, Mr. Weasley didn't come over much. At least, not while Bryt had been home for the holidays. Bryt swung her legs off her bed and went towards the hallway just as she heard her mother yelling from the living room directly across the hall.

"Absolutely not! Bryt hasn't spent a holiday home in nearly two years! I'm not gonna let her go spend the summer away again just because you think it's important!"

"Amelia—"

"No, Greg! Bryt's staying home this time! That's final!"

Bryt, Sofí and Julio went towards the living room, where Drew and Mike were already standing, and glanced in. Mrs. Watkins was standing near the fireplace, her back to the door as she was facing Mr. Weasley, who was dressed in ordinary Muggle clothing. Mr. Watkins was standing next to his wife, obviously trying to calm her down.

"Maybe we should just hear him out, Amelia," Mr. Watkins said.

"Please, Amelia," Mr. Weasley said, "I can't explain everything to you, but this is important. I assure you, Bryt will be perfectly safe with us—"

"Like she was last year at that World Cup?" Mrs. Watkins snapped.

Mr. Weasley didn't seem to know how to respond. He glanced around, then seemed to notice the group in the doorway. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins turned as well. Bryt's mother stared at them, her face tense, then turned back to Mr. Weasley.

"Bryt's not going," Mrs. Watkins said simply.

"Can't I have a say?" Bryt asked, coming in, "I want to know what's going on."

"I can't say here," Mr. Weasley said before Mrs. Watkins could lash out again, "Just that it has to do with..." Mr. Weasley trailed off with a glance towards Sofí and Julio. Bryt had a good idea what was going on.

"With Voldemort?" Bryt asked and Mr. Weasley flinched, "Why do only I have to go? Are we in danger?"

"No, no you're all safe," Mr. Weasley said reassuringly, "This is Dumbledore's orders. He wants you to spend the summer with us—"

"I'll say again, it's not happening," Mrs. Watkins snapped.

"What about my friends?" Bryt asked, "Sofí and Julio're spending the summer here with me. I can't leave without them. Besides, they already know everything."

Mr. Weasley looked over at them for a moment, but finally nodded. "I don't think Dumbledore would mind a few extra hands around."

"I want to go, Mom," Bryt turned towards her parents, "If Dumbledore wants this, it's important."

Mrs. Watkins was glaring towards Mr. Weasley and Mr. Watkins sighed, taking his wife by the arm.

"You can go, Bryt, I'll talk this over with your mother," he said, "Go get packed."

Bryt nodded, turning and heading back to her room before her mother could start yelling again. Sofí and Julio followed close behind.

"What d'you think Dumbledore wants?" Julio asked.

"No idea," Bryt said, starting to pack up her things as quickly as she could, "It's got to be important, though. I just hope Mom won't be too mad."

"She looks like our mom when we start talkin' about school," Sofí said and Bryt sighed. She didn't like the idea of her mother becoming fearful of the magical world.

"Hopefully Dad'll calm her down," Bryt said, closing her trunk. Julio offered to take it for her and Bryt went to say goodbye to her family. Drew and Mike both gave her hugs, saying they'd try to see her on the Hogwarts Express. Mr. Watkins kissed Bryt on the forehead and told her to be careful, while Mrs. Watkins simply gave a stiff 'take care' and left the room. Bryt sighed, trying to push back the pang of disappointment. For a moment, she thought about saying she wasn't going to go, but then reminded herself that Dumbledore wanted her to stay with the Weasleys for a reason.

Bryt gave a last goodbye, then picked up Joey's cage and headed outside where Mr. Weasley was waiting.

"Are we gonna Apparate?" Bryt asked as she stopped with Julio and Sofí, who both had just got their suitcases from the Watkins family van. Bryt wasn't looking forward to it if they were. She didn't like Apparating.

"Yes, though where we're going is still in London," Mr. Weasley said and Bryt exchanged a surprised look with her friends.

"We're not going to the Burrow?" Bryt asked, wondering why Dumbledore was going to have Bryt stay somewhere that was in the same city she lived in already.

"No, I'll explain when we get there," Mr. Weasley said, "C'mon, let's get going."

Bryt sighed, reaching out and taking Mr. Weasley's arm as he held it out. She let out her breath, held it, and closed her eyes in preparation. One short, uncomfortable experience later, the four were standing in an alley, where Mr. Weasley was pulling a piece of parchment from his pocket.

"Here, read this," he said, holding it out, "But don't say it out loud, just memorize it."

Confused, Bryt, Sofí, and Julio leaned over to read the piece of paper, which simply had 'The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London' written on it in a very neat handwriting that reminded Bryt a little of Julio's.

"Ord—ouch!" Sofí hissed as Julio elbowed her hard in the side. Bryt glanced up at them, wondering the same thing as Sofí was obviously about to ask. What was the Order of the Phoenix?

"Just keep that address in mind," Mr. Weasley said again, setting the note aflame, "C'mon, we're almost there."

Bryt nodded and followed behind Mr. Weasley, still holding Joey's cage in her arms as Julio carried his own suitcase and dragged Bryt's trunk. As they walked along the street, Bryt's mind went back to her mother. She couldn't help but think Mrs. Watkins would never have let Bryt leave, no matter what Mr. Watkins tried to say or what Bryt thought, if she had been told that Bryt would still be staying in London. Bryt couldn't blame her. If they were still in the same city, why couldn't Bryt have just stayed home and visited every now and then?

Though as Bryt looked around, she noticed they were definitely in an area of London she hadn't been to before. It could be this was a place that would be too far for Bryt to walk daily, as Bryt had become very familiar with the area around where she lived.

"He we are," Mr. Weasley said, stopping halfway down a street. Bryt, Sofí, and Julio all stopped as well.

But as they looked up, they noticed there was a number eleven, Grimmauld Place, and a number thirteen, but no twelve.

"Mr. Weasley," Julio said, "Where's—"

"Just concentrate on that note," Mr. Weasley said with a grin, "You'll be fine. I'd love to help you settle in, but I really must get back to the Ministry. I risked enough leaving as long as I did to get you here, but we figured we had the best chance if I talked to your parents, Bryt."

Bryt nodded as Mr. Weasley left. Considering Mr. Weasley's friendship with Bryt's father, he definitely was the best choice to talk with Bryt's parents. Bryt doubted the conversation would have gone as well as it did, despite turning into a loud argument, if Mr. Weasley hadn't been the one who came.

Bryt looked back between Sofí and Julio, then back to the buildings in front of them and did as Mr. Weasley instructed, thinking hard on the address on the piece of paper.

Slowly, houses eleven and thirteen seemed to separate, a new building forming in between them. Once it fully emerged, Bryt blinked, looking to Sofí and Julio. Both of them had apparently seen the same thing. Julio looked impressed and Sofí was grinning.

"That was awesome," she said, "C'mon, let's go."

Bryt nodded, starting up the steps. Not feeling comfortable with just walking right in, Bryt reached up and rang the doorbell, then jumped as she heard someone shouting on the other side of the door. Bryt couldn't quite make out what was said, but she was almost sure she heard the word 'mudblood' used.

"I'm not sure we're in the right place..." Julio said. Bryt agreed. Why would they be going anywhere where someone seemed fond of the racial slur for Muggleborn witches or wizards?

"I wish Mr. Weasley hadn't have left so quickly," Bryt said, "Come on, I can write a quick letter to Ron and maybe he'll send someone to help."

Bryt turned and was about to start back down the stairs when the door opened behind them.