Briallen Bevin and the Clocktower Guard

Chapter 1: Bad Weather

It was mid-August, the time of the year when the heat can be so intense, most kids live in their swimsuits, and the adults never leave the comfort of an air conditioned building. Yet, the weather in Dustum, Virginia and the surrounding area had been unusually chilly for the past week. It was the sort of chill that better fit the month of November than August, and it had put the local residents into a sort of dull funk. They had to dig into the back of closets for their winter clothes, and some of them even had to chop wood for their fireplaces.

Then there was the fog. The fog that had arrived days ago but still hadn't lifted, and it came, endlessly, out of the east and moved slowly to the coast. It didn't help that the smoke floating out of the chimneys of nearly every house in the county merged with the fog and created a denser, more opaque mist that almost looked alive as rolled between trees and cars, and along the roads. People were staying indoors, aside from the occasional run to the supermarket or post office, while the farm animals made their beds under trees and in barns, sleeping until the cold fog lifted. The reporters on the television offered no real answers as to the cause of the strange weather, aside from a vague 'meeting of two fronts' explanation, and, to the dismay of the local residents, they didn't spend much time discussing it after the first day, leaving everyone mystified by the strange weather.

At Will and Meda Bevin's house, just off of Polk highway, fire crackled in both the living room and dining room fireplaces, and the warm, hearty smell of nacho cheese and chicken wafted through the house. In the living room, three young girls sat around the fireplace, while the eldest of them finished telling a story with dramatic flourishes of her hands. She had noticed the weather, of course, but she didn't let it bother her, nor did she think much of it while she had her family for company.

"And then, after destroying the evil witch's mutant monsters, the great king threw the evil witch off of the princess, and destroyed her! Then he carried the princess back to their castle, where she lived happily ever after... At least for a little while," Briallen Bevin told her two much younger, and very much enraptured, cousins.

"Did the king marry the princess?" asked the youngest, Holly. She was only three years old and her eyes were wide and hopeful, as she waited for Briallen to confirm her idea of a happy ending.

"Nope. The king had himself a queen back at the castle, so he couldn't marry the princess. And the princess was way too young to marry him anyway."

"Duh," said Joanna, Holly's older, and naturally wiser, sister, at five years old. "Princesses marry princes, not kings. The princess married a prince, right?"

Briallen shook her head, and bit her lip to keep from smiling. "The princess didn't marry anybody because she likes being a single princess. Princes need too much attention, and she's a very busy girl."

Joanna made a face that showed Briallen she disagreed with the story's ending. "Well, that's stupid. I would've married the prince. They're always the most handsomest of all the boys in all the land."

"Did the king marry the queen? And did they have babies?" asked Holly, hopeful again. She hugged her baby doll close to her. Recently she had become obsessed with the idea of babies, after seeing a picture of herself as a infant (and thoroughly refusing to believe she had once been so small and helpless).

"Not yet," replied Briallen, thoughtfully. "But I think they will someday."

"You talk about them like they're real people, Briallen," said the girls' Grandma Apokni from the rocking chair near the fireplace. Apokni had been a member of Briallen's audience as well, though she knew the true story. Briallen had the greatest admiration for her grandmother, who always awed Briallen with her knowledge. Shortly after Briallen had received her invitation to Bergamot a year ago, her Apokni had called to ask, rather obscurely, what school Briallen had chosen. How her Apokni knew of witches and wizards and magic, Briallen (and her mother, who was Apokni's daughter) had no idea. But they accepted the fact the old woman somehow knew everything, and so made no effort to hide the details of Briallen's magical life from her.

"Well... maybe they are." Briallen turned and winked at the two little girls, who then giggled.

"Alright, that's enough fairytales for tonight. Dinner's ready now," announced Briallen's Aunt Oka, who was also Holly's and Joanna's mother. She stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room and waved for them to come in. Her own children ran into the kitchen, which shared one large room with the dining area, jumping up and down and already asking if they could eat their dessert first.

Apokni rose slowly from the rocking chair and put her arm around her eldest grandchild. "Are you excited to be going back to school soon?"

"I am," said Briallen with a large smile. "I miss all my friends - Ben was the only one to visit this summer, so far - and I miss The Village, and Bergamot and... everything."

"Even after all that happened to you last year?"

Briallen absent-mindedly ran her hand under her shirt and along her stomach, where her fingers followed a long, raised scar. She knew it was pink and shiny, though she hardly ever looked at it, and that it would take years to fade but would never really disappear. She winced as flashes of teeth and a blur of green raced through her mind, and she remembered the night she got the scar. The morning after it happened, she thought she would be fine, that she was mature enough to deal with what had happened to her, but soon after she began having nightmares of the night, nightmares of werewolves. Her parents were already more than willing to have Briallen return to her Muggle school in Surry County, given all of the horrible things that had happened to Briallen during the school year, and the nightmares only convinced them further that their daughter shouldn't return to Bergamot. But Briallen had found a way to dull the memories and rid herself of the nightmares, by turning the whole experience into a fairytale, and slowly, she convinced her reluctant parents to allow her to start her second year at Bergamot Academy for the Magically Gifted.

"It was a one time thing, Apokni. Grandpa Cal thinks things will be much better this year. And more normal, I'm sure of it. I'm going to try out for Quodpot, and I'm going to be a student aid for Professor Conleth, my Elemental Magic professor," explained Briallen, shaking off the nightmarish memories of the previous school-year.

"And you're going to do better in your classes?"

"Yes, yes."

"Good... And will you promise me one thing, Briallen? Don't become too dependent on your magic when there's trouble. It won't always be able to save you. You may be a Bevin by way of your father, but you must remember that you are also of me, and our family relies on knowledge and instinct. Be cunning, be clever, and never show your fear. Showing fear when faced with danger can cost you control of the situation."

Briallen looked at her grandmother, and saw that she was very serious. She knew that her grandmother did not ask for promises often or lightly, and the nature of this specific promise had Briallen wondering whether her grandmother knew something that she did not, which was entirely likely. Sometimes Briallen got the feeling that her Apokni knew what was going to happen before anyone else. "I promise, my Apokni."

"Good. Now let's go eat."

"Yes, please," said Briallen as she let go of her grandmother and left the austerity of their conversation in the living room. She skipped into the dining room, her mood instantly improving once she saw the table set and her family already sitting. "Mm... smells good, what is it?"

"Chicken taco casserole," announced Briallen's mother, Meda, as she put a large scoop of the casserole on everybody's plate.

"Are you sure it's safe to eat the nachos you cooked in here?" asked Will Bevin, lifting a forkful of the casserole up to his nose to sniff it. With Briallen home for the summer, and her wand locked safely away in his filing cabinet, Will Bevin had opened up again and become the man he was before he learned of the wizarding world (so long as Briallen didn't mention or do anything strange). Briallen was glad things had returned to normal with her parents, and she didn't even mind having to pretend she was a Muggle - to her, it was like taking a late lunch break during the work day.

"Why wouldn't it be?" as Meda, her hands on her hips.

"Because the nachos were already cooked?"

"So cooking them further would make them inedible?" asked Meda as she sat down between her husband and daughter and raised her eyebrow. She was trying not to smile. "Watch your sass and eat the casserole, William. I promise you it's fine."

"If you say so, love," mumbled Will before he put the casserole on the fork into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed and gave his wife a wink and smile. "I suppose since I'm not dead yet..."

Apokni leaned forward towards Briallen and whispered loudly, "Isn't it disgusting watching those two lovebirds when the rest of us women don't have our own men here?"

Everybody laughed, except for Joanna and Holly who didn't really understand Apokni's joke. The family started their dinner with laughter and high-spirits, and soon the conversation turned to the topic of Joanna's very first day of school being only a week away. Oka had tears in her eyes as she spoke of how quickly her little girls were growing up. Meda nodded in agreement and patted Briallen's hand in a lovingly maternal way.

"I remember the day Briallen first started school like it was yesterday. Will wanted me to let her take the bus, but she was my baby, and so I drove her to school every day. It made things a bit easier than just shoving her on the bus, which was difficult enough to do when she started first grade."

"Or it could have been much easier if you lived in an actual city that has its own school nearby," countered Oka. "When Sam and I moved into our house in Williamsburg, there was that gorgeous little colonial for sale right across the street that you two could've bought."

"We wouldn't have been as happy," said Briallen suddenly. "I like the farm. All the open space, and all the nature, and animals... and I wouldn't have Miko if we lived in the city."

"There are stables in the city that would've housed your horse, Briallen... moving on, what were we talking about again?" mumbled Oka, actively avoiding another argument with her big sister, Meda. The two of them had had this same conversation hundreds of times it seemed, and it always ended badly.

"My first day of school," muttered Joanna sulkily. She was not looking forward to it at all, mostly because she didn't know anybody who would be going to the same school as her. "I want to go to school with Briallen!"

Meda choked slightly on the spoonful of refried beans she had just put in her mouth. "Joanna, honey, Briallen is a big kid and goes to a school for big kids. The rules at Bergamot say you have to be at least eleven years old to go there."

"About that," said Oka as she looked pointedly at her sister. She didn't know why she kept trying to pick a fight with Meda but suspected their foul moods were at least the fault of the bad weather. "I asked some of the other moms in my neighborhood about Bergamot and none of them have heard of it. Then I asked the women in my sewing group and book club as well, and out of all of them, only Becky Price had heard of Bergamot. She said her daughters go there. If this school is so prestigious then how come more people don't know about it? No offense to you or your father, Will."

"None taken. And I would think that not many people have heard of Bergamot because it's... it's an invitation-only school. They search all over the nation for those students with... certain skills, but they like to stay out of the spotlight," Will explained carefully, trying to remain vague and not offend Oka.

Will and his father were on speaking terms now, though they weren't as friendly as they had been in the past. Cal Bevin thought that if only his son were more knowledgeable of the wizarding world and its history, then he would understand the decisions Cal made and forgive him. So Cal had bought dozens of books on the history of Bergamot and the wizarding world and sent the to Will. Will read them all, soaking the knowledge up like a sponge, but he still didn't entirely forgive his father, and knowing more about magical history had only made him more anxious of the world Briallen was now a part of.

"Isn't that a bit prejudiced?"

"It is a private school."

Oka laughed sharply, obviously offended and annoyed. "So when Joanna is eleven does she have a chance of attending Bergamot?"

"No," said Will Bevin at the same time that Briallen said, "Maybe." Will gave his daughter a look that told her to keep her mouth shut, and then shook his head as a warning.

Briallen brazenly ignored her father and continued, "Joanna does have a chance. So does Holly. You never know, dad... just remember what grandpa said about our family that night he visited last summer and told us about Bergamot."

"She has a point, sweetie," said Meda as she placed a soothing hand on Will's forearm. He was angry, poking his chicken with his fork, but he said nothing.

Apokni spoke up just then. "I think Joanna has an excellent chance of attending Bergamot, judging by some of the things I've seen her do." Briallen, Meda and Will stared at Apokni, who smiled knowingly, her wrinkles growing deeper. "She's my granddaughter, same as Briallen."

Briallen smiled happily, thinking about how great it would be to have more family she both liked and knew, be a part of the wizarding world with her. And then abruptly turned to her Aunt Oka, as she remembered she had mentioned a woman by the name of Price. "Did you say you know a Becky Price that has daughters that go to Bergamot?"

"Yes, do you know them?" asked Oka, curious to learn more of Briallen's mysterious prep school.

"I'm friends with them. Well, there are four Price girls, see, and I'm pretty good friends with Ashley, Mindy and sort of Kara. I don't really know Lindsay that well. Ashley is in my grade, though, so I hang out with her the most out of all of them. She's one of my best friends!" Briallen loved to talk about her friends, having never really been able to before she went to Bergamot since hadn't ever had any real friends before that time.

"Do you know much about them, then?"

"Why? Like what?"

"Just, anything, really. Becky's kind of odd - we're in the same book club and whenever it's her turn to suggest a book, she always chooses one about magic or something. The last one we read that was suggested by her was The Witch of Blackbird Pond."

"Oh! I had to read that for school a few years ago, it's a good book!"

"I agree. I'm just saying that all the books she chooses are along that vein."

"Maybe that's just what interests her," suggested Apokni, officially ending a conversation she knew would eventually lead to a fight. The past few nights that they had all eaten dinner together, there had been a fight, and since she, Oka, and Holly and Joanna were leaving the next day, Apokni was actively making sure they all remained friendly.

The old woman looked out the sliding door that led to the back porch, and examined the dimming sky. The fog concerned her, though she wasn't sure why; she felt its presence everywhere and could see that it infected anyone it touched with what seemed to be a lethargic, irritating, little scratch at the base of the brain, like a warning you just can't understand. And, for Apokni, not knowing exactly why this fog was different, and why it affected folks the way it did, was the most troublesome part of this strange weather.

O * O * O * O

The next afternoon, after her relatives had all left, Briallen lay on her stomach on her bed, reading Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, which was one of her favorite school books. She was very much into animals before she first started at Bergamot, and had been thrilled to learn about the hundreds of new, magical, species that existed which she had known nothing about before going to Bergamot. She had even chosen a new favorite animal when she first read Newt's book, the dragon, and in second place, ever since the detention she had to serve at the bottom of the lake her first year, Plimpys. Toby Davis, one of Briallen's best friends at Bergamot (and who just so happened to serve that particular detention at the bottom of the lake with Briallen), had teased her for her interest in the strange fish. But as she read the page on the Plimpy, for the hundredth time no less, she convinced herself it would make a great pet. On the floor next to the bed was a crumbled page, torn from the book, with a bid, bold 'W' just visible along one of the edges.

Suddenly, with a loud crack, her grandfather was standing next to her bed.

"Grandpa? Do you think I could have a pet Plimpy?" asked Briallen, not even looking up from her book, and behaving as if people appearing out of thin air was as common as sliced bread. Had her parents witnessed the same thing, they wouldn't have been so nonchalant about it, and probably would have shouted at Cal Bevin for not driving or using the front door, which is why he chose to apparate into Briallen's room.

"When you are out on your own, you can have any pet you want. So long as it's legal, that is," said Cal Bevin with a chuckle, taking a seat next to her. "I've just stopped by to ask if you would like to spend your last few weeks of summer in The Village with me. Their annual faire is this weekend... Also, Hayden Van Vlerah stops me every single time he sees me to ask about you." He winked at Briallen. "I think the boy fancies you."

Briallen rolled over onto her side and laughed. "I know! He won't leave me alone either! I get an owl from him almost every day; it drives dad crazy!"

"He is rather obvious about it, isn't he?"

"Grandpa, what do you think of the Van Vlerahs? Marisol says they're a weird family... and Lucan called them a bunch of hippies."

Cal Bevin looked thoughtfully at his granddaughter and chose his words carefully. "They are a bit eccentric... then again, most wizarding families are. You should remember, though, Briallen, that just because someone does something a little... differently than you, it doesn't mean they aren't worth getting to know."

"I know that, and I like Hayden well enough, and I want to get to know him better. But somebody like Lucan wouldn't though, you know? I had so many arguments with him last year about the differences are between purebloods, half-bloods and Muggle-borns - magically, I mean. I don't think there are any myself but, of course, he does. I don't get why he even bothers trying to hang out with me when we don't ever get along..."

"Maybe he likes a challenge."

Briallen looked at her grandfather, feigning offense. "What do you mean? Are you saying I'm difficult?"

"Oh, of course not..." Cal winked at his granddaughter. She had put him in difficult situations and stressed him greatly during her first year at Bergamot, but she was still his granddaughter and he loved her very much. "Now, are you wanting to stay with me?"

"I don't know... it depends on Mom and Dad. If they say yes, I'll pack my bags right away," said Briallen with a smile. Though she appreciated the vacation, she was eager to rejoin the wizarding community as soon as possible, and to start officially Quodpot training with Benjamin Beauvais, since her father wouldn't let them on their brooms every time Benjamin had come to visit. "If they say yes, can you owl Ben for me and let him know I'll be there soon? We should start practicing right away... I can't believe I haven't been on a broom for almost two months! I bet I'm worse than before."

"One of the most important things to remember when playing a sport, any sport, is to remain positive, Briallen. You'd be surprised by just how much a positive attitude can affect your game play," said Cal as he picked up a Brenda Lance doll from the floor next to Briallen. "Are you a Brenda fan? Or, what do they call themselves? Lancers and Lancettes?"

Briallen shrugged indifferently but took the doll from her grandfather's hands anyways and straightened her green-sequined dress robes and hat. "Marisol got her for my birthday last year. I tried playing with her and with my Barbies once but she kept smacking them. I like the real Brenda, kind of. Some of her music is cool."

"She's playing at the faire this weekend."

"What?! Really?!" cried Briallen, unable to contain her excitement any longer. She wasn't the biggest Brenda Lance fan but she and Marisol and her roommates spent a lot of time the year before, jumping around the dorm room or common room to Brenda's dance songs, or singing along dramatically to her ballads.

"Yes, she is. I bet if you told your parents about her concert being this weekend, and that all your friends were going, they'd be more than happy to allow you to join them for an evening of pop music," hinted Cal.

He knew Meda and Will wanted Briallen to stay the entire summer at home, but he also wanted her to spend some of the summer in The Village, not just for his own benefit, but because he knew it would be good for Briallen to see how witches and wizards lived their day to day lives, and to get her away from this strange fog. He glanced out the window and then back at Briallen, who had brought out one of her Barbie dolls to show her grandfather just much her Brenda Lance doll disliked Barbie. He was distracted though, there was something magical about this fog, something dangerous, and he didn't want her anywhere near it.

"Briallen, another owl arrived with a letter for you," Will shouted, annoyed, as he walked up the stairs. As quick as she could, Briallen hid her Brenda Lance doll (it made her dad anxious), and looked frantically around her room for a space large enough to fit her grandfather, figuring she might as well hide everything that she knew would make her father anxious. Cal watched her, amused. Before she could hide Cal, however, Will walked in, a bottle of beer in one hand and Briallen's letter in the other. Everybody froze. "Dad? When did you get here? I didn't hear you come in..."

Cal cleared his throat and clasped his hands behind his back, and in his most conservative and casual voice said, "That is because I did not enter through a door."

Will looked around his daughter's room, suspicious and slightly affronted. "I take it you don't mean you climbed through a window."

"Of course not! How ridiculous," Cal declared facetiously.

Will raised his hand, which still held his bottle of beer, and pointed a finger at his father, obviously preparing to shout at the old man. Briallen ran up to Will just then and hugged him, though, distracting him. "Thanks for bringing me my letter, Daddy!"

"What? Yeah, of course," mumbled Will as Briallen took the letter from him. "If it's from that boy, tell him to stop writing you all the damn time. I'm getting sick of seeing those owls every day, and having to clean up after them."

Briallen nodded obediently, if only to humor her father, and threw the letter carelessly on her bed.

"Speaking of Hayden, Briallen and I were discussing her plans for the remainder of her summer vacation. We thought it would be nice if she could stay with me in The Village for a short while, before classes start. This weekend there will be the annual village faire, and a very popular singer who Briallen and her friends like very much will be performing there - I'm sure she'd like to go to the concert with her friends. You and Meda are, of course, more than welcome to come along as well," explained Cal, politely.

Cal understood Will's hesitance and disregard for the wizarding world, especially after what happened to Briallen just a few months earlier. He was trying desperately, though, to make his son understand how important it was to accept the world his daughter was now a part of, and that meant learning to deal with the dangers inherent to the wizarding world. Nothing he said or did seemed to have any affect on Will, however. It only managed to make him more skeptical. And now, Cal could see that Will was going to say 'no' to his request that Briallen spend the rest of her summer break in a wizarding town.

Luckily, Briallen wanted badly to visit her grandfather. "Please, Daddy! Pretty please? There my friends! And they're all going to be there!"

"Why don't you play with your friends here, in Dustum?" questioned Will.

"Because I don't have any Muggle friends!" countered Briallen. She was now angry, angry at her father for not knowing she never made friends in elementary school. "They know I'm different, and think I'm weird and stuff. They tease me, and laugh at me, and won't come anywhere near me!"

Will winced, but he understood. He took a swig from his beer and, staring at the floor, nodded just barely before walking out of the room. Briallen waited until she heard her father shut the screen door and then turned to her grandfather, a big smile on her face. Cal smiled back, even though he was sad and disappointed that Will was hesitant to trust him.

Cal stood up from Briallen's bed. "I suppose I should go tell your mother, and ask for her permission as well."

"She'll say yes," said Briallen quickly, already packing her trunk. Her mother, frightened of the wizarding world as she was, knew the importance of Briallen experiencing what it meant to be a witch, and warily approved many magic-related requests. Cal guffawed, and left Briallen to finish her packing.

Briallen crouched down on her floor to retrieve her Brenda Lance doll that she had hastily shoved under her bed with her normal dolls. The doll wore a look of indignance, as well as her Christmas Holiday Barbie's red and gold frilly dress. Briallen grimaced at the gaudy outfit, found the Brenda doll's original dress robes, and threw them both on top of her bed. As Briallen fought with the doll to re-dress her in the orange dress robes, a loud crinkling sound under her foot caught her attention. She put down the doll, which instantly began removing its dress robes, and lifted her leg. It was the letter her father had brought her.

She smoothed out the parchment paper the best she could and tore the letter's seal. Briallen wasn't too eager to read the letter, assuming it was just another random missive of thoughts from Hayden, but after reading the first line she realized the letter wasn't from anyone she knew. In thin, looped writing, the letter read:

Please do not underestimate the importance of my letter. I send this as

discreetly as possible to prevent those working for the Dark Lord from

detecting both it and you. Be wary of the hunt. Be wary of whom you

trust with Fewter's knowledge. I am tied up in other matters at this

moment and regret I cannot offer further help. I will find someone

trust-worthy to send in my place. And when the time comes, you

must tell him.

The letter was unsigned and without any name or address on it, nor was it addressed to a specific person. Figuring she received someone else's mail by mistake, and because none of it made any sense to her, Briallen tossed the letter in her trash can and resumed packing her trunk, happily looking forward to returning to the wizarding world.