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xxiii. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

SPINNERS END.
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          BRIAR SAT ON THE FLOOR of her room for most of the night. As soon as she'd bolted the door behind her, her legs had given way and she'd collapsed onto her carpet. For what seemed like hours, her body couldn't move. Finally, once the daylight began to stream in through her bedroom window, she opened her eyes and realized that she had to do something.

Getting to her feet, she wobbled over to her desk and pulled out a quill and a sheet of parchment. Her hands trembling, she tried to write. Her quill blotted constantly, but she managed to finish the letter and rattled Amber's cage to wake her up. Tying it to the sleepy owl's leg, she stroked her wing gently.

"Be quick, Amber. And wait for a reply," she whispered softly to the owl. Then she walked over to her bed, pulled out an old duffel bag, and started to shove in her clothes and other belongings. By the time she'd gotten everything she needed, she zipped up the bag and sat impatiently, waiting for Amber to return.

At about nine am, a knock sounded on her door. Briar ignored it, but the knock sounded again. Her father' voice came in muffled through the door. "Rose? Are you awake? Why is the door locked?"

Briar froze. She couldn't face him, not now. But if she didn't open the door, she knew that he would find some way to open it easily. Taking a deep breath, she slowly walked over to the door and unbolted it. Her father walked into the room, his face stern.

"You're awake. Good. We need to talk."

Briar sat on the bed silently. She couldn't bring herself to speak. Even if she did, she had no idea what she'd say. Christian D'Alessio stood stiffly, and glanced at the packed duffel bag on her bed.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"A friend's house," Briar replied. "She invited me over for a few days."

"Your mother said that was on the 25th."

"I decided to prepone."

Christian paced the room for a few seconds, his expression stern. Then he glanced up at his daughter. "Briar, I want us to be frank. I know that what you saw last night may have surprised you-"

Briar laughed drily. "Surprise? Father, surprise is when you get an expensive gift for your birthday. What I felt last night was far from surprise."

Christian stared at her. "So you already knew."

"I saw Lucius's Dark Mark. I thought he was a misguided boy. I had no idea that this was actually a family business," she spat.

"You will not use that tone with me. I'm your father, you do not judge my actions," he snapped. Then he took a deep breath, and forced himself to calm down. "I understand that you're scared. But you should know that I will always protect you. You have nothing to worry about."

Briar gave her father a chilling look. "I see. And who will protect the Muggle children whose fathers you've killed? Who will protect Daniel Longueil's family once you dispose of him?"

"You will not speak to me that way!" Christian was angry now, but Briar found that she didn't care. His anger was nothing compared to the pain she was feeling now.

"How should I speak to you, Father? The way you speak to Voldemort?" Briar challenged.

"We do not use that name in this house!" The older man hissed, his eyes widening. He stared at his daughter, who was sitting calmly on the bed. "This is why I never told you. You're too innocent, too young to understand-"

"Too young? You didn't think Lucius was too young to join you! How could you do that to him? Do you know how scared he is? He's deluded himself into thinking he'll bring some sort of honour to his family-"

Christian frowned. "What Lucius has done is his father's choice, not mine. I am not responsible for your cousin, but I am responsible for you. Now you will unpack that bag instantly, and come downstairs to have breakfast with your mother and me."

Briar shook her head. "No. I'm going to Lily's. I'm ready, and I only need to wait for her to return my owl. I should be back on the 26th, thought I wouldn't suggest that you wait up." She glanced towards the window, and saw, to her relief, that Amber was flying towards the house. She stood up to open the window, but her father stopped her.

"You are not going anywhere," he ordered. When Briar still made to move Christian D'Alessio grabbed his daughter's arm and pulled her back roughly. "I said sit down!"

Briar looked down calmly at where her father gripped her elbow. The sleeve covering his forearm had ridden up, and she could clearly see the end of the skull and snake tattoo poking out from under the cloth. She looked up coldly into his eyes. "Are you going to hit me, Father? Go ahead. All it will do is prove that you really are the monster I saw last night."

Christian D'Alessio looked like he'd been slapped. He dropped Briar's arm immediately and recoiled back, as though he couldn't believe what he'd done. There was a short silence, as he stared at her. Briar  didn't know what she saw in his eyes. He looked angry and hurt, but there was also a sense of pain in his eyes. Tearing her gaze away from him, she walked over to the window and untied the letter from Amber's leg.

The door slammed shut behind her. Briar glanced back, and saw that her father had left the room. Biting her lip so that she wouldn't cry, she quickly opened the letter and read the few words on the page.

"Dipsy?" she called out. A few seconds passed, and then the small house elf apparated into the room.

"Yes, my Lady?"

"I need you to take me to this address."

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Briar had to admit, she was excited. As she and Dipsy apparated in the Evans's front garden in Coketown, it struck Briar that she'd never met a Muggle before. Certainly, she had whatever theoretical knowledge that she'd learned in Muggle Studies, but to be actually faced with one was a different matter altogether.

"This is the house, my Lady," Dipsy said. Briar nodded, looking at it. It was a pretty brick structure, nothing too grand but it certainly looked very comfortable. The front garden was neatly maintained, with a few small flowerbeds. Briar smiled. It looked very homely. "Will that be all, my Lady?"

Briar turned to look at Dipsy, suddenly remembering that they were in a Muggle neighborhood and that she couldn't traipse around a house elf in broad daylight. Briar nodded, quickly taking her bag from Dipsy. "Yes, thank you, Dipsy, you'd better go. It wouldn't be too good for you to be seen here."

The house elf looked confused, but nodded and disapparated quickly. Briar picked up her bag and quickly made her way to the front porch, trying not to stomp too much on the grass or ruin any flowers. She rang the doorbell, and heard running footsteps a few moments later.

"Rose!" Lily cried, looking happy to see her. Her long red hair was loose about her shoulders, and she was dressed in casual Muggle clothes. "You're finally here! I was so excited when I got your letter; well, actually, I was asleep but your owl woke me up. Rather persistent, isn't she?"

Briar smiled. "I suppose she is. Lily, I'm not causing you any trouble, am I? I know we decided on the 25th, but..."

Lily shook her head, as she helped Briar pull her bag into the house. "Of course not! I mean, I was a little surprised, your letter came in the middle of the night... Everything's all right, isn't it?"

Briar winced.

"Oh no. What happened? Is it your parents?"

"Not... exactly. I mean, we had a disagreement. I just wanted to get out of the house. Don't worry, I'm sure it'll blow over soon enough."

Briar felt awful lying to Lily. It wasn't just a small disagreement, and there were very little chances of it blowing over. But somehow, she couldn't get herself to talk about it. She wanted to enjoy the few days she had to spend here.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry," Lily said. She smiled at Briar. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll feel better soon enough. Come on; Mum's in the kitchen, she'll want to meet you."

Briar liked Mrs. Evans the moment she saw her. She was a short woman, with the same red hair as Lily and plump cheeks. She was bustling around the kitchen with an apron and flour all over her hands. The huge smile and welcome greeting she gave Briar made the girl feel warm inside. She was baking cookies, she told them, and they would be ready in half an hour. Then she sent the girls upstairs to go put Briar's things in Lily room.

"I pulled out one of those old inflatable beds from the attic, I hope you don't mind," Lily apologized. "We have a guest room, but it's under renovation at the moment. We can take turns sleeping on it, you'll be here for a few days anyway."

Briar shrugged, plopping down on the inflatable camping bed. It was bouncy, and she found herself smiling like a child as she bounced up and down. "I like it! It's actually comfortable... I've never been on one of these before."

Lily plopped down hard beside Briar, causing her to slide off the bed entirely and land on the floor. The two girls laughed together, and to capture the moment, Lily got up and pulled out her a polaroid camera and snapped several pictures of the teenage girls, until there was a knock on the door. Lily headed towards the door quickly and opened it. Standing on the other side was a rather bony girl who looked a few years older than Lily. She sneered when she saw Briar.

"I see your freaky little friend is here. Must you bring them home?"

Lily narrowed her eyes at her. "Go away, Petunia."

"As long as you two keep it down. Vernon's coming over for dinner tonight, and I don't want you two scaring him off with your freaky behavior."

Lily rolled her eyes, and closed the door in Petunia's face. She turned back to see Briar
looked confused.

"Your older sister?"

"Yes. She doesn't like wizards much. She was sort of jealous when I got a Hogwarts letter and she didn't. She's not that bad, honestly, but I think it's hard for her to be nice to you."

Briar nodded. If wizards could hate Muggles, she saw no reason why Muggles shouldn't be allowed to hate wizards. She made a mental note to just stay away from Petunia Evans. "And who's Vernon?"

"Petunia's boyfriend. He's a bit of a pig."

Briar snorted.

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Briar had to admit, the next two days at the Evans household passed by like a blur. Mrs. Evans made the best homemade chocolate chip cookies that Briar had ever tasted, and she seemed quite flattered that Briar enjoyed them so much. Even Mr. Evans was a rather pleasant man, who was very interested in how the Ministry of Magic worked, and the sort of work that Briar's father did in it. Petunia was the only one who shot Briar surly looks, but they didn't see her much anyway. She stayed away from Lily and Briar for the most part.

"The park is down there," Lily pointed out, with a smile. "I used to go all the time when I was younger. Petunia and I always fought for the swings. And if you go up and take a left, there's a bakery where they sell the most delicious chocolate muffins, maybe we can go later today."

Briar nodded. They were walking aimlessly around the neighborhood, as Lily showed her around. Briar had to admit, she was surprised. She'd had no idea what a Muggle town would be like, but to be honest, she couldn't see much of a difference. "What's down there?" she asked, pointing in another direction.

"Oh, um, that area's called Spinner's End," Lily muttered, looking suddenly uncomfortable. She paused for a fee moments, before sighing. "Sev-, erm, Snape lives down there."

Briar was surprised. She'd known that Lily and Severus had been friends during the first few years of school, but she didn't know that they lived so nearby. To be honest, by the time she and Lily became good friends, the red-head had already severed her ties with Severus. They'd never spoken about him much. "Oh. That must have been nice, it's within walking distance."

Lily nodded. "It is. Oh! And I almost forgot, here's the bookstore where I buy all those Muggle books I lent you! Come on, let's go see if there's anything new."

The sheer number of books in the store surprised Briar. It was fascinating how many novels there were, and she'd certainly never seen so many at once. She pulled books off the shelf one by one, reading their back covers eagerly. She wanted one so much, but...

"Are you going to get that?" Lily asked, peeking over at the book that Briar was looking at. "It looks interesting, doesn't it?"

Briar blushed, quickly putting the book back on the shelf. "Um, no, that's all right."

"Oh, why not? You love those kind."

"I, um, I don't have any Muggle money." Admitting it was somewhat difficult for Briar. She was used to always having enough money for whatever she wanted; both her parents always gave her more than she really needed. Not having money was an unfamiliar feeling to her. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Don't be silly, I'll get it for you!"

"No, Lily, that's all right-"

Lily grabbed the book, and started walking over to the payment counter. "Don't argue with me. If you're so determined to pay me back, we can go to the Three Broomsticks once school starts again, and you can buy me as many Butterbeers as I can drink. And believe me, I can drink quite a few.."

Briar laughed, her embarrassment disappearing suddenly. "All right, it's a deal..."

When the two girls got back to the house, it was late evening and Mrs. Evans was almost finished with dinner. Briar helped her set the table, while Lily noticed an owl waiting for her in the dining room window, and quickly went to open it.

"Who is it, dear?" Mrs. Evans asked, as Lily came back to the room with the letter in her hand. "It's not from your school, is it?"

Lily shook her head. She looked both embarrassed and uncomfortable. "Actually, no. Erm, James Potter wrote me."

Lily's mother smiled. "That boy you always used to complain about? That's so sweet. Didn't you say that he was going to come down here sometime this week? We'd love to meet him, wouldn't we, Patrick?"

Mr. Evans, who was sitting nearby reading a book, looked at them over the top of his glasses. "A boy? Well, absolutely. It's been a while since I scared one of those off. I don't want to lose my touch." He joked.

Lily flushed red. "Dad, no. I remember how mean you were to Vernon when Petunia first brought him home. There's no way I'm introducing you to James if you behave that way again."

Mr. Evans laughed. "I can't help it, dear. It's my job to make sure that any boys that you girls bring home are good enough for you. I'm sure Briar's father does the same. Doesn't he, Briar?"

Briar smiled uncomfortably at Mr. Evans. She wasn't sure how to explain that it would most likely be her father bringing the boy home in her case. "Of course, Mr. Evans. But I can vouch for Potter; I don't think he's capable of hurting Lily."

Dinner was a pleasant affair. Petunia didn't come down, preferring to eat upstairs because she was studying for something. The conversation flowed easily; revolving mainly around Lily and James. Briar almost felt jealous; she wished that she could simply bring a boy home to her parents and have them joke around about it. Her mind flashed back to Sirius, and she couldn't help but think how that might be possible. If only he hadn't run away from home...

"Can I talk to you?" Lily asked, pulling Briar aside after dinner. The two girls went into the sitting room, and sat down on the sofa. "It's about James. He's coming tomorrow, and erm... he's bringing Sirius."

Briar frowned. "Oh."

"I'm so sorry! It's just that we've been thinking about introducing him to my parents since June, and I told him that we should have it before your planned stay, except that got preponed, and.... I don't know what to do. I can tell him that we'll have to do it another time, if that makes it better."

Briar shook her head. "Absolutely not. I can tell you've been waiting for this for a while now, I'm not going to ruin it for you."

"But after everything with you and Sirius..." Lily looked hesitant. "I know! I'll just tell James to come alone. He only wanted to bring Sirius because he thought it would make the whole thing a little less awkward; you know how Sirius is, he can make anyone laugh."

Briar shook her head firmly. "Lily, no. Tell them to come, it'll be perfectly fine. It won't be awkward at all, there'll be so many people around. I honestly don't have a problem with it."

Lily frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. If worst comes to worst, I'll go upstairs and hide under the bed."

Lily laughed. "That'll be a little difficult with the inflatable mattress..."

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hiiii, so sorry for the long wait, but i really didn't feel like updating for so long,, but alas i hope you enjoy this chapter! ty for the love

━━━ sel 💓💞💝💘💘